With the Reds being just a single point from being officially eliminated from the MLS playoff race, the club announced Wednesday that Frings will need hip surgery and will miss the rest of the season. He joins Danny Koevermans, who is out with a torn knee.

DPs for sale or rent... rooms to let 50 cents... OK, apologies to Roger Miller for that one. But, when Major League Soccer released the lists of players its existing 16 teams had made available for Wednesday’s expansion draft, the Designated Players jumped off the page. The Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers could each max out the three DPs allowed on their rosters in the first three rounds of the draft. Not that either would do that.

It is troubling that the only evidence the committee will have to work with comes from four shambolic years of TFC mismanagement. It’s like having to decide on new rules of the road based on the actions of one chronic drunk driver.