Decisions have been made on Justin Meram and Bernardo Anor, but the Crew will have a number of other problems to consider before the preseason begins.

Tuesday afternoon, the two midfielders were rewarded for breakout seasons with new deals after both entered the offseason out of contract. Defender Eric Gehrig is the lone player from 2014 who remains out of contract, and his status is just one situation the Crew will now need to address.

Decisions have been made on Justin Meram and Bernardo Anor, but the Crew will have a number of other problems to consider before the preseason begins.

Tuesday afternoon, the two midfielders were rewarded for breakout seasons with new deals after both entered the offseason out of contract. Defender Eric Gehrig is the lone player from 2014 who remains out of contract, and his status is just one situation the Crew will now need to address.

The big event looming on the horizon is Major League Soccer's expansion draft, which will take place Dec. 10. Teams can protect 11 players, and the Crew will have one homegrown player not automatically protected from the draft. That player appears to be Ben Speas.

The Crew also has one player it has to use one of its 11 spots on: forward Kei Kamara, who signed during the fall and will be officially added to the roster Jan. 1.

"We have to protect Kei Kamara, so that's something that at the time we acquired him it was unclear and now it's very clear that we have to protect him," coach Gregg Berhalter said.

Other than that, there are certain stipulations on foreign players (read the full list of rules here) that the Crew is still wading through. However, Berhalter said the staff is "pretty close" to finalizing its list.

The re-signing of Meram and Anor gives the Crew more midfield depth in advance of the draft.

"It gives us depth at those positions and it gives us flexibility," he said. "I think that's the most important thing, that we have a number of guys at those positions and it gives us room to operate. I think that's key moving forward."

The Crew did entertain trade offers for both players, Berhalter said.

"That's our job," he said. "Our job is to explore all the options. I think that especially at this time with the expansion draft coming up, you want to position your roster in a way that you can benefit from all these moves that are taking place."

Berhalter said that while there is no specific timeframe for finalizing a decision on Gehrig, he'd like to have done so by the 20th.

"We'd like to have a better grasp on the roster (by then)," he said. "Certainly things are going to change next week with the expansion draft and we're going to have to see what type of shape we're in after that."

On the sideline, Berhalter has assembled a coaching staff with assistants who aspire to be full-time coaches. Pat Onstad and Josh Wolff both said after the season ended that Berhalter encourages his assistants to move on up if they have the opportunity in the same way that he encourages his players to do the same. However, he said it was assistant Rob Maaskant who had an offer on the table – and he turned it down.

"Rob has had discussions with a first-division team in Holland," Berhalter said. "They offered him a job that he declined. We're hoping (to keep guys). We've been contacted before about our assistant coaches in this league as well. Recently, it hasn't come up but that has happened this year already. I'm more than willing to give these guys opportunities if it's going to benefit them."

And as for where the preseason will take place, that is yet to be finalized.

"We're going to be traveling this week and checking out a site," Berhalter said. "We're getting close."

ajardy@dispatch.com

@AdamJardy