Red Bulls bring Petke back into fold

The New York Red Bulls replaced one beloved longtime central defender with another on Wednesday, signing Mike Petke hours after losing Jeff Parke in the Seattle Sounders FC expansion draft.

Petke, 32, was picked up by the Red Bulls after he was waived by the Colorado Rapids. Petke played in 143 games for the MetroStars from 1998-2002, earning MLS All-Star honors in 2000 and 2002. Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio was an assistant coach under Octavio Zambrano in 2000 and 2001.

The Bohemia, N.Y. native, who was originally picked eighth overall by New York in the 1998 College Draft, was dealt to D.C. United in a blockbuster deal that brought U.S. international Eddie Pope, Jaime Moreno and Richie Williams to New York.

Petke spent three seasons with D.C. United and was a starter on the 2004 MLS Cup championship squad. He moved to Colorado midway through the 2005 season and spent parts of four seasons there.

Petke started 10 of 11 games this year after early-season foot surgery, scoring two goals, including one against the Red Bulls in a 5-4 Rapids win on Sept. 27 at Giants Stadium.

Parke was one of 10 players selected by the Sounders on Wednesday. He was one of 19 players left unprotected by the Red Bulls.

"It's obviously a sad day for the New York Red Bulls in losing Jeff Parke," Red Bulls sporting director Jeff Parke said. "At the end of the day we just weren't able to protect every player we would have liked to protect. Unfortunately Jeff was selected, but we thank Jeff for his contributions to the club and his long history here in New York. We will obviously miss him both personally and professionally."

Along with Dave van den Bergh, Parke was arguably the most consistent Red Bulls player this year. He anchored the backline, starting 23 of 24 games, playing 2,025 minutes. The 26-year-old spent five years with the Red Bulls, starting 126 of the 132 games he's played in and was second behind Petke on the team's all-time list of games played.

The last pick of the 2004 MLS SuperDraft, Parke's Red Bulls career ended with the first-ever performance-enhanced drug suspension in league history. Along with goalkeeper Jon Conway, Parke still has four games remaining on 10-game suspensions handed down by the league.

"It just came down to a numbers game," Agoos said. "We were only able to protect 11 players, I think three of which had to be international players, and we just didn't have the room to protect every player we wanted to."

Continuing with the defensive restructuring, the Red Bulls waived Venezuelan international Gabriel Cichero, who struggled mightily down the stretch of the regular season, as well as midfielder Gordon Kljestan and forward Sainey Touray.