2013 Off-Season Discussion Thread

Tons of stuff to respond to here. Too bad I'm at work.

That's nice to hear for us fans, in-so-far-as our team will remain mostly intact, but it's a bit a drag for the players, that in what are very short careers, they must sometimes agree to less cash in exchange for sticking with a team that they like. This is why I really want to see the game grow here in the states, such that MLS can pay $100K minimum salaries and not go broke.

I have to agree with this. I know that I've been one of the most consistently negative people in this forum, but I have to say that this season was magical.

I have to say that while I really like Baca, and thought he was great at the beginning of the season, he did tail off there at the end of the season. Which brings be back to: "How would this have worked out if in '10 we had gone with Khari and Cronin at the central mid spots, and committed to that through '11 and maybe '12 too?" We keep changing our central mid players. Maybe if we had put Khari at his best position and left him there, we'd have had a better team?

OK, back to reality and now. Clearly, we need to keep Baca, and we either need to commit to him and Sam as our central midfielders (my first choice, and I think a good plan), or we need to commit to finding a killer central midfielder to who take over our team and lead us to glory. I'm thinking someone in his mid to late 20's, lifted from Central America, or maybe Argentina (because their economy is imploding again).

I agree with all of these, except maybe TheBusch. I think he had a better than average year. He's still a damn good keeper and a major team leader. I think we need to keep him, and start him. If Bingham is willing to stick around, great. If not, trade him. Good keepers are plentiful and inexpensive in our league, and we've got a great keeper in our academy, so Bingham might not be our future keeper anyway.

My only question here is Dawkins. Does he want to come back? And what would it cost us to buy his contract? Or do we wait to get him on a free, in which case, he doesn't make it into camp until just before the start of the season? And, if we're committing to Baca ... I can see a good argument for not re-signing Dawkins and instead going after Jaime Alas, or some other serious outside mid. Also, we have Ring and Hustedt on our roster ... see below.

I'm a big believer in consistency and not ripping your roster apart every year. Some upgrades yes, but major changes should only be on the table if you had a terrible season, and even then not necessarily.

We should keep DB unless he hates us, my precious.
We need to move Ramiro to another position in the organization. His time is up. Sorry Ramiro.
SG stays. He's got some stuff, and we need speedy backup outside mids.
Jason just re-signed with us, so we've got him. Again, he's got some skills, and he seems to be learning from Big Vic. If nothing else, he knows how to play with the rest of our guys and he's still young enough and fast enough to cope.
Shea should recover his early season form during the off-season. If so, he could even start. I know that many of you are not convinced, but Simon was a bench player behind the more effective Shea until Rafa the Prick broke Shea's collar bone. (How the #$%& did Rafa not get a ten game rip for that? or expulsion from the league?! Bastard!)
JedZ - Useful backup at a position where we are painfully thin. He stays.
Jacob Hustedt - He's a cheap backup central mid. We should keep him around and see what he's got.
Brad Ring - Ring has more bite than Cronin, or any of our other central mids. Also, he plays really well with Cronin. Here's another case where we could have played Sam and Brad in central mid, and given them the time to develop into a dominating pairing. But we didn't, because Frank lacks patience. We should keep Brad. If Baca or Sam falter, he's our go to guy.

Which brings me back to ... Let's not re-sign Dawkins. If we can get Simon for cheap, and get him early so that he has all of pre-season with us, then fine. But I'm not interest in breaking the bank for Simon, when he's not really an outside mid, nor is he what Frank wants at a-mid. I know that some here want Simon to play a-mid for us, and that might work out great, but Frank's not going to do it, so where does Simon fit into our plans? I think somewhere in Europe where we don't have to pay him to not fit in with our team. We spend that money on a serious outside mid and commit to Baca at central mid. (And I think that Frank will commit to Baca, but he might try to keep Simon too.)

We should keep DP. He's inexpensive and may well develop into the real deal. Also, he's depth for Flash and Lenny, should either of them get hurt or suspended, which is massively likely. DP has to be better than anyone we could draft. He knows our guys, our system, and he's practice with us. Patience.

Ike - Same deal. We keep him, but at a hugely reduced salary. He might be worth $75K, which he should take. He has yet to prove himself to us, or anyone else.

Gjoey, Tim, Khari, Jean-Marc, and Sercan all go. Ramiro retires to a coaching or scouting position. That's six roster spots and a bunch of cash. We may lose Dawkins as well, so seven spots. That's plenty of turnover.

Also, we have Marcus Tracy on the roster, so he's another potential forward. Oh, and Evan Newton stays. Again, a guy who has worked out with and practiced with us is better than a guy who hasn't.

GO QUAKES!!!

- Mark




2013 ?
Jean-Marc Alexandre - Not enough playing time..
Mehdi Ballouchy - Could be a solid sub. I would prefer to release him.
Sercan Guvenisik - I liked him, but didn't produce...[/quote]

 

Folks are forgetting about Marcus Tracy. If he's as speedy as promised, he may be someone who can come in and make us forget about Simon (assuming Simon leaves)...

 

As far as I know, Tracy is a forward, and Dawkins is more of an a-mid (though can play forward also). I haven't seen an indication that Tracy is a guy who is good at taking on defenders in traffic from a midfield position, etc. but we'll see. And I wonder how he would get playing time if Wondo, Gordon, and Lenhart are all back. But he is sort of a wild card - could turn out that he really helps the team.

 

from what I've seen, Tracy is a big, fast, strong, MF (and that doesn't stand for midfielder!) Do you have such a short memory that you've forgotten the whole Yallop/Convey dustup? FY doesn't care if a player feels he is a forward. If Frank says he's a midfielder, he'll play there! I mean, Dawkins came to the Quakes as a forward... JJ -- I love you, but you are way wrong here!

 

1) He's got bad knees - may never really be able to play again. Is that a guy you want to have running up and down the field as a midfielder?

2) Dawkins came to the Quakes as as an a-mid / forward. In fact, he played midfield when he played a scrimmage with the Quakes against Tottenham. That was the match that convinced the Quakes to try to sign him.

3) Yallop calls Tracy a "striker" and highlights his ability in the air. That's not a guy you want to play in midfield normally. Dawkins is not an air guy. He's a play the ball on the ground guy. Sounds like Tracy is an air guy.

“We liked what we saw of Marcus when he finished his career at Wake Forest,” said Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop in a club statement. “He’s an athletically gifted striker and is dangerous in the air. We look forward to bringing him in.”

4) "big, strong, fast"? From what I've seen, he looks somewhat tall, he may be fast, but strong? These legs look more Manute Bol than Frank Gore to me.

1) That would be a first, and 2) Nope! :--)

 

we don't need draft picks or young projects. we need veterans who can step right in and contribute today. who cares if they decline in a couple years. we have a team built to win now - this our window, let's go for it. we have the player who just put together the greatest statistical season in MLS history.

NYRB released jan gunnar solli and teemu tainio today. I think both of those guys are better than Khari at this point... perhaps we could put his salary to use signing one of them to be our first-off-the-bench midfielder next year. Tainio declined this year but Solli is definitely still a starting-caliber player.

http://www.nj.com/redbulls/index.ss...gins_as_club_cuts_ties_with_four_players.html

 

I think that it is a great idea to sign released players from other MLS teams:
1. Bill Gaudette - Since Bingham may leave due to his lack of playing time
2. Dicoy Williams/Ty Harden - CB depth
3. Josh Gardener - RB depth, likes to get forward like Beita and Morrow
4. Bryan Levya - Young w/ potential
5. Ruben Luna - From what I've seen I think he's a tank, and young, so could hold to him for the future (loan+USOC+CCL?)

 

Ya know, this is right on target. I think that we should spend the draft pick that we have, and I can make a good argument for keeping some of our young players, like Diaz Pizarro, but we are one or two pieces away from having a team that completely dominates every other club in MLS. So yeah, we should go for it. Based on that, I would ...

• Ditch Dawkins, Khari, Corrales, Gjoey, Ward, Jean-Marc, and Sercan.
• With the savings there, re-sign whoever we have to.
• Then score a major a-mid. Maybe we only get one or two good seasons out of him, but that means that we hoist the Cup once or twice. Someone Baca can learn from. Someone who plays the ball on the ground and can make the killer penetrating pass. Someone with vision, and enough pace to avoid being closed down by speedy MLS defenders and d-mids.
• Sign another killer central defender.

I think that will do it.

- - - - - - Lionheart
- - - - - - - - - - - - Wondo
Shea - - - Riquelme - - Chavez
- - - - - - - - - Cronin
JM - - - Chico - - BigVic - - Beta
- - - - - - - - TheBusch

Clearly, I don't necessarily mean Riquelme or Chico. Just top flight players at those positions. Is Shea the best in all the land? Not necessarily, but with the rest of those guys on the pitch, he'd be a lot freer to do his thing.

GO QUAKES!!!

- Mark

 

I believe we also need to upgrade Salinas. His crossing is too suspect at this point, if we intend to play the target forward game.

 

In 1099 minutes, Shea had seven (7) assists. That's pretty damn good.

Yeah, he never recovered his form after Rafa the DirtBag broke his collar bone. But I expect that he will. Shea is very fast, he's a hard worker, he loves our team, and he's still young enough that we should expect him to continue to get better.

Also, with better players around him, he is likely to be more productive. We need someone who will pass to Shea, then move into the open space for the return pass, so that Shea is not always limited to just crossing the ball in.

GO QUAKES!!

- Mark

 

for the off-season i would buy Shea a ticket to Brazil, so he can hang there for a few months and learn about 20 different shimmie-shakes (thanks wiggles) that you can learn to blow by your defender and be on your way to feed the ball in the middle or make the perfect in the box cross.

 

I saw Tracy on the field before a Quakes game while the refs were inspecting the field. He has bulked up considerably since this photo was taken and looked pretty damn fast and strong to me. I guess time will tell if you are correct or I...

 

Well, maybe, but here's another photo, where Marcus is shown pumping his skinny arms and raising his finger to indicate "JazzyJ is #1, I'm a striker bro!" :--)

 

Marcus looking rather less wimpy here.


I hope he works out for us, but I'm not going to bet the farm on it.

GO QUAKES!!

- Mark

 

Oh yeah, so far he only has that Ian Russell move.

 

I must say, I was perplexed by the lack of playing time for Ring this season. He logged 1600 minutes in 2011 and just 76 in 2012. That's a 95% drop in playing time. I thought there was very little that separated him from Cronin, and that Ring was more confident on the ball and was better at passing forward then Sam. Heck, I think it was pretty rare that Brad was even on the 18 on game day.

Yes, I know Sam had some injuries in '11 and was remarkably healthy for a CM in '12, but still, I thought it curious.

 

http://m.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/11/16/end-era-rapids-part-ways-casey-7-more
Zapata and Wahl could be used on defense for depth, if none get picked up in the re entry draft.

 

I'm glad that someone else noticed / cared. I don't know if he is a better passer than Cronin, but he plays defense with more bite / actually makes tackles. He can be a good starting d-mid in this league. Cronin just didn't get injured at all last year, played pretty well overall, and it's not like the team was struggling. So I think Frank probably just told Ring to be patient - he'll get another shot. And with CCL he will probably see more time in meaningful games next year and have a chance to make a case for himself.

 

Yeah, and we know how Frank doesn't like to change things that are working. I thought we might see a bit more of Jean Marc Alexandre as well, since he did get some playing time with RSL the year before.

 

JMA looked slow against the Stars, a second division team.

Also, JMA is currently listed as "inactive" on mlssoccer.com player search. Wonder if he's already been cut.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/players?field_player_club_nid=All&tid_2=198&title=alexandre

 

According to wiki, Marcus Tracy has played in 18 total competitive professional matches in 5 seasons scoring 3 goals. Is this supposed to be a player we hope will develop and if so when will that be? I mean unless he turns into another Wondo, at 26 years of age, he better start showing something soon otherwise he will be gone before his first game.....

 

We should strive to keep the team intact.

A lot of sensible stuff posted, agree with Revolt and JazzyJ. Marcus Tracey is no replacement for Dawkins, but I'd love to have another fast target man if he's healthy.

Salinas is fine as a 30 minute guy on the wing if he regains his midseason form. It wasn't the Marquez thing that preceeded a dropoff but his next injury.

I actually think Cronin was an elite player last year, he's a lock. He's so comfortable in the system. The backline is solid with Opara as "young guy ready to step in as older guys become unavailable".

We could have used Corrales in that LA debacle, he might have completed a pass or two, which our outside backs completed failed at, as did pretty much our entire midfield.

We have to fight to keep Dawkins, because without him we are basically re-rolling our attack, and I don't want to make that kind of gamble with a Shield-winning team. Hopefully Garza will develop into the dangerous player we see glimpses of.

If Mehdi comes back strong he can compete with Baca for the linking midfield spot.

I'm not sure about Bingham/Busch.

We can't entirely just stand pat though, because those CCL games are going to be draining.