Well, that was a great season!(not) Our current roster and player salaries: Angulo Jose F $ 33,750.00 $ 33,750.00 Arteaga Jhonny F $ 44,000.00 $ 44,000.00 Barklage Brandon M $ 44,000.00 $ 45,566.67 Borrajo Jonathan M-D $ 44,000.00 $ 44,000.0 Cahill, Tim ** M $3,600,000 Conde Wilman D $ 125,000.00 $ 141,666.67 Cooper Kenny F $ 275,000.00 $ 292,500.00 Diago ** D $90,000 Gaudette Bill GK $ 60,000.00 $ 63,255.00 Henry Thierry F $ 5,000,000.00 $ 5,600,000.00 Hertzog Corey F $ 75,000.00 $ 103,500.00 Holgersson Markus D $ 190,000.00 $ 190,000.00 Keel Stephen D $ 65,000.00 $ 65,000.00 Lade Connor D $ 33,750.00 $ 33,750.00 Le Toux Sebastian M $ 145,000.00 $ 169,000.00 Lindpere Joel M $ 170,000.00 $ 195,000.00 Maduro Ryan M $ 44,000.04 $ 44,000.04 Marquez Rafael D $ 4,600,000.00 $ 4,600,000.00 McCarty Dax M $ 174,375.00 $ 194,375.00 Meara Ryan GK $ 33,750.00 $ 33,750.00 Miller Roy M $ 112,495.50 $ 112,495.50 Palsson Victor M $ 80,000.00 $ 95,000.00 Pearce Heath D $ 292,499.00 $ 301,999.00 Robles, Louis ** $46,500 Ruthven Tyler D $ 33,750.00 $ 33,750.00 Sam, Lloyd ** M $140,250 Solli Jan Gunnar M $ 185,000.00 $ 185,000.00 Tainio Teemu M $ 200,000.00 $ 205,000.00 Vuolo Jeremy GK $ 44,000.00 $ 44,000.00 Victor Palsson ??? Generation Addidas?: Hertzog Corey F $ 75,000.00 $ 103,500.00 Homegrown?: Lade Connor D $ 33,750.00 $ 33,750.00 MY List of Needs: 1) LM/RM- We desperately need help on the sides. Dax is not a RM and Lindpere should be played centrally. We need some speed and creativity desperately there. 2) CB- Pearce/Hulk are a decent pairing although we need to find a third choice who can be a reliable starter. I also think Ruthven can be a solid 3rd or 4th choice CB 3) LB- Pearce should play as CB and Lade should go back to the midfield.. I think we may be able to draft a LB/RB. It seems that the draft has produced some talented fullbacks in recent years. 4) AM- It would be good to have a AM off the bench and will give us some versatility 5) ST- A third or 4th choice striker off the bench is needed. Henry will get hurt.. Luke Rogers? Keep: Barklage Barrajo Cahill Cooper Henry Hertzog(If still under GA) Hulk Lade Lindpere Dax Meara Palsson Pearce Robles Ruthven LLoyd Undecided/Needs contract restructures: Conde- He's at a good price of 125k but I think he's on a one year contract and he'll most likely demand much more than that Keel- Good backup but doesn't get much burn Solli- I like him as a player but he isn't worth 200k due to his injury problems. But if he can take less(unlikely?) than I'd love to have him around Tainio- I don't see him lasting another season. He's a tank when healthy but that's not much and we can't afford to waste 200k on a guy who'll miss 3/5 of the season Le Toux- I think he'll be asking for much more and it's much more sound to waste the money on keeping Cooper. NO!: Marquez Miller Arteaga Gaudette- Was a solid pickup but we have a logjam at GK's. It would be smart to see if we can get something in return for him the rest A bad projection of cap space freed up- 1.2-1.5m
I think Conde and Le Toux were brought on with 1 yr contracts as well and I think the minimum guys like Arteaga and Angulo are on 1 year contracts as well
F-Henry, Cahill, Cooper M-Lindpere, Dax, Lade, Sam D-Pearce, Barklage, Holgersson, Ruthven K-Meara, Robles, Vuolo Need to decide Palsson Hertzog Solli Gone Marquez Miller Le Toux Diago Gaudette trade for something Conde Keel Tainio like him, but for the $ we could get something younger and better
Why bother at this point? Red Bull as on organization is clinically insane : They are going to make the same exact style of hires and expect different results. At least 2/3rds of what could be a championship roster with a few tweaks and time to gel further(and a Rafa launched into the East River with weights around his ankles) will be gone by Oct 2013. They will fail. And this time, NY2 will be waiting to capitalize.
Le Toux's contract is definitely up. I think Tainio signed a 2 year deal before the 2011 season so I think his is up as well. Not sure about Solli but if I were to guess I would think he has some time left on his deal. I doubt Miller had more than a 3 year deal so maybe his contract is up but that's just speculation. No way Conde signed only a 1 year deal. Guys like Arteaga and Angulo are irrelevant. Their contracts are not something to worry about.
I'm not sure about the actual length of the contract, but the deal was set up so that if we do keep him on the roster then we have to pay Portland some allocation money, about 100k I think?
Achievers Coop Dax (my player of the year) Pierce Henry (Not perfect, but worth every penny) Sam Barklage Lade (but only as a midfield sub) Under-achievers Cahill (Nice guy and all, BUT has he really had an impact anywhere close to his price tag?) Rafa LeToux Miller Tanio (Why did I remember him being much better last season)
It was worth the gamble this year, but maybe not for next. 100K on top of his already expensive salary is a lot. That being said I think he's a good fit for us. Other options: 1. Dump him, move Cahill up next to Henry, and get another high quality CM. 2. Dump him, and buy another striker to compliment Henry (Rodgers? )
He's been depolyed as a CM. Also, it's a historical fact that players do not come over from Europe mid season and play very well. He's actually the perfect compliment for Henry because he's excellent in the air and has that bulldog mentallity to make hard runs and get on the end of things. That's the same reason Rodgers was so effective next to Henry (minus the "in the air part"). And I think we can all agree Cahill is an upgrade over Rodgers.
On paper, I agree. Perfect fit. From what I have seen from him this season, I dunno. I wouldnt put my eggs in that basket. I'd prefer to see a proven scorer up top.
I disagree with dumping Cooper. He is a great partner for Henry. Henry is old and injury prone. Cooper didn't get injured at all this year. Why create a need at forward when Cooper did that well? I think he is definitely worth using that allocation.
I'm crunching the numbers and they don't look good. Using base salary only, even if we take Tainio, Solli, LeToux, and Miller off the books we are still in the red for next year (not counting allocation money of course). Red Bull has to get Rafa off this team. It's imperative so that we can sign new players. Also, just looking at the numbers (and again not counting allocation money) it seems as though one of Pearce or Cooper would also have to go in order to sign the pieces we need.