Ahead of Wednesday’s Expansion Draft, involving Orlando City SC and New York City FC, the Colorado Rapids have released their list of protected players. In doing so, they have also exposed players now available through the Expansion Draft (full list below).

The Expansion Draft consists of 10 rounds, and takes place from 12pm MT on December 10. It was last held in 2011 ahead of the Montreal Impact's first season in the league.

Of the Rapids’ players not on the Protected List, midfielder José Mari has indicated a desire to return to Spain. The 27-year-old spent time at Real Zaragoza before joining the Rapids at the start of the 2014 season. He featured in 20 games, netting four goals and providing one assist.

Each current MLS club has had the opportunity to protect 11 players from their 2014 roster. Generation adidas players (who did not graduate at the end of the 2014 season) and Homegrown Players are automatically protected and do not count against a team’s 11 protected roster spots. MLS Clubs may lose no more than two players from their 2014 rosters during the Expansion Draft.

Also, Designated Players are not automatically protected, and teams have a choice to protect them, except in cases when a DP has a no-trade clause in his contract. In those instances, teams are required to protect those Designated Players.

Rapids' unprotected players:

Gale Agbossoumonde, Carlos Alvarez, John Berner, Edson Buddle, Marc Burch, Tony Cascio, Geoffrey Castillion, Charles Eloundou, Kamani Hill, Dimitry Imbongo, José Mari, Brian Mullan, Danny Mwanga, John Neeskens, Thomas Piermayr, Grant Van De Casteele, Marvell Wynne.

Protected players not available in Expansion Draft:

Davy Armstrong (HGP), Deshorn Brown (Int), Caleb Calvert (HGP), Marlon Hairston (GA), Michael Harrington, Clint Irwin, Chris Klute, Zat Knight (Int), Nick LaBrocca, Drew Moor, Shane O’Neill (HGP), Dillon Powers, Vicente Sánchez (Int), Dillon Serna (HGP), Gabriel Torres (Int), Jared Watts.

Teams are also limited in the number of international players they protect. They may make available a number of international players equal to their total number of international players minus three. The rules state that any non-domestic US players will count as international players for the Expansion Draft.

To see a complete set of rules for the 2014 MLS Expansion Draft, click here. For more information on MLS roster rules, click here.