Exit Interviews, part 2: The core of the roster

Max Aquino / Sounder at HeartIn the second part of our series examining the Seattle Sounders roster, we dig into the players that aren’t quite stars but who have clearly graduated from developmental pieces.

These are the types of players who largely define how well a team performs during the regular season. As nice as it is to having promising youngsters and superstars, these are the guys who are taking up the bulk of the minutes and carrying you through the dregs of summer when international duty can often lay waste to a roster.

If you want to know how the Sounders managed to get to 60 points despite their four highest-paid players appearing in less than half of the available minutes, look…