Luis Zapata sent a tweet to Wells Thompson wishing him good luck with his new club. Others are speculating he is going to Chicago.
My first instinct is that this will probably just be a swap of bench players. I liked Wells in the "come off the bench to protect a 1-0 lead" role, but never anything more than that.
Link? Seems like there should be another shoe dropping. Either in the form of us getting a player from the team we trade him to, or a signing from outside the league. But the timing is weird - I know the roster freeze is coming up soon, but so is the end of our season, after the LA and VAN games. Might as well wait till the offseason and use him as an asset in a multi-person trade to get a bigger value that fills a hole for us.
I doubt Chicago has a player that will fit nicely in the 2013 roster so I think the best deal would be for a draft pick or allocation money. That gives the team time and a better feel for how much money they have for 2013.
Based on precedents we will get an International slot (that must be used on a Filipino - by Wednesday), a pallet of Gatorade sports drink, and a bag of basketballs. I know that sounds like a lot for just one 'super' sub but the folks at MLS rumors are saying the Gatorade may be expired and some of the basketballs have those annoying slow leaks. The up side is we won't be using them so the joke is on Chicago.
Chris Bianchi on MLS Soccer: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...hompson-requests-trade-seek-more-playing-time Looks like Wells requested the trade. Sorry to see him go, he showed improvement this year. He was good in a come off the bench, protect a lead and draw a foul mode. Wish him well at his new club.
Considering he's 28, I can't say I blame him for thinking he should be getting starters minutes by now. Considering his talent, though...I don't know where he thinks he could go in MLS that he would be starting. He's a very average player, with his preferred positions in places where most teams can't afford to start "average" in this league any longer.
Interesting comment, because one would think that average is average for a reason. Also the position where you can afford average very much depends on style. I think there are a few strategies in this league that would have a place for "average." Obviously, teams dealing with injuries. That's a copout I know you are talking about starters. I was thinking a team that has a lopsided roster with a DP or two. Maybe even a team looking for depth that could have a stretching out effect that makes starting quality go down where the bench quality is high. At any rate, I wish him luck. I always liked his work ethic and I fear with curiosity who on this team’s ankles he might go after…. (I can't be the only one thinking this).
It would be nice to have many Conor Casey's out there trying to get to Denver to play for the Rapids.
When I think "average", I'm thinking of it as "the average of all players in MLS" in terms of quality. I think if you compared him to the average starter in this league, on the other hand, I don't think he'd be in the top half or even the top 2/3rds. But your, and some coaches' in the league, mileage may vary.
I'm with you, I wasn't even speaking about Wells... I was speaking of "average player." Talking about where "average" works. Considering Wells isn't that I guess it makes the results of this trade moot to this conversation (sidebar).
No, your point is good. I think there are a few teams that have gotten themselves into situations like you pointed out with multiple DPs, that have to settle for average in other places on the field. I could see a team like Toronto starting him, for example, especially with the Mariner connection. But I don't know if they can afford to start him, from a quality standpoint, because he's not likely to improve the situation for them in any noticeable way. They would just be doing so because, financially, they can't afford to start any better player.
No Mastroeni. So let's trade one of the players who shows reals guts out there and doesn't take any crap from anyone! WTF? And I don't care if he asked out. Tell him no.
I wonder if there was an element of "New coach, that's the reason I'm not getting playing time!" Forget the fact that under most coaches he wouldn't get on the pitch unless there are injuries. I remember after the Jeff L. trade he made comments like. "I prayed to get out of there." I'm hoping for a juicy nugget like that from him in the next few days. Of course, he might have just been trying too hard to let new press know that he's a J freak and it came off sounding bad. I feel conflicted about letting players like this go when requested. On one hand its good to not keep players that dont want to be kept. On the other hand, these players are still assets and I fear letting them go for next to nothing smells similar to the Berkerman trade.
Better than trading one of the players with real talent. Thomas, Ginger, and Nane are all higher on the depth chart than Thompson as a central mid starter in OP's mind (and mine too, at least for the first two). Shane O'Neil is also coming on in that position and notably came on instead of Wells on Wednesday. In reality the best Wells can probably hope for at this point is 4th choice at central mid even after Pablo retires.