NOTE: This is an honest question, and has nothing to do with ADU, only his salary. Please Do not comment on him! The Union have ~2.8 million in Salary Cap to fill the roster. A DP counts $350,000 toward that cap. I'm assuming Adu is a full $350,000 hit. I realize the owners are paying more than that but since this is only about the cap we only need to focus on the $350. My question is, with such a tight cap, can a team even be competative, if they have to write off $350 and essentially lower our cap space to $2.45 mill? It seems our choices are: 1) Buyout (i'm not sure when the deadline is, but you have to do it before the season starts). 2) Trade: even if we have to pay part of his salary, so that it isn't a full cap hit. 3) Pay his salary during the season while waiting for someone to pick him up. 4) other option i'm not aware of. MLS teams aren't flush with money, but have we seen teams buyout a DP salary? So back to my question: If we can't get a trade by the start of the season. How competitive can we be, by essentially lowering our cap?
The one saving grace the Union have is that they have a lot of younger players in the 45-60k range that allows them to keep players at a lower cost that are contributing. Without specifically looking it up the numbers are somewhat like this to the best of my recollection Casey - 300k give or take a little Soumare - 280k Le Toux - 200k +/- MacMath - 180k Okugo - 175k (really not sure here if I am close) Parke - could be in the 200-250 range but not sure Jack Mac - 150k +/- Carroll - 150k The rest, I believe fall under 100k so adding those up (including Adu) it is roughly 2.01 mil leaving them 800k or so to complete the roster with 21 players. Three players are off books in Hernandez and McLaughlin as HGs and Hoffman as GA. The U do; however, have everybody's favorite acquisition Al O'Cation in abundance so certain players such as Adu could be bought down with this.
If a player is on a guaranteed contract but gets hurt, can the team get his space and salary back? If so, what constitutes an injury?
By dropping his name, and because he's such a polarizing figure, this thread is bound to spiral into an Adu-centric one. Can't wait for the racist accusations to come out. We could always try and treat this as a hypothetical, "I have this friend" type conversation.
The entire premise of your question is faulted in my opinion, mostly for the following two reasons. 1) The murky nature in which teams use of allocation money makes it next to impossible to really judge ANY teams salary cap situation. We have a little advantage in this regard because we have Inspector Zman on the case, but even so we still have no idea what the cap situation really is for the 2013 Union (or the Galaxy in any of the last 6 years for that matter) 2) Rather than asking the question: You should first ask whether or not this team could be competitive even with an unlimited salary cap. I don't think the Salary cap has been a major issue for this team in previous seasons. I doubt it will be one this year. Their success or failure this year will come down to other factors more than the salary cap.
Year 2 of the Union had our sights set high by looking at playoffs. It now seems that was a fluke. I guess part of the argument i'm trying to make is that in order to build a quality side that is in the fight for the cup, you have to be willing to put down money for a DP and or be willing to buy out players so you can improve. In other words you can't buy your way out of problems (ie Red Bulls, but not spending any is a clear indication you don't care either ie Chivas, NE, etc). 2012 was a rebuilding year, but part of my questions with the handling of our DP is that i'm beginning to wonder if 2013 will be the beginning of a trend of "rebuilding years". it sounds from your comments that you might agree, but coming from a different angle.
I honestly don't think we're that close to the salary cap as it is. If Adu is taking a 350,000 hit then we're fine. What I don't understand is why we chose to pay him in Allocation money rather than making him a DP and paying other players in the allocation money to save cap space. Either way, I think we're no worse off than before, and we have room for some additional signings if need be.
To the allocation money, I think I thought I saw somewhere that it evetually goes away if not used, shelf life of a couple of years but also depends on source. Zman Gunner would probably have more specific insight to this.
It's my understanding that he is a DP @ $519k guaranteed compensation, with $350k of that counting against our cap space. The team wouldn't be paying him with allocation money. They would be using the allocation money to buy down the salary cap hit. Basically what it comes down to in my mind is that we're losing more in terms of: (a) the roster spot, (b) the team chemistry, (c) goodwill with the casual fan, and (d) trust between players and front office than we are losing in terms of salary cap or roster budget. If they are able to play with team chemistry, if they employ a workable system of play, if Hackworth has the ability to make in-game adjustments, if they man-up on set pieces both offensively and defensively... then they will be successful. If not, then they won't. People might blame it on the Adu factor, but it won't be because of that. It will be because of those other things.