I thought we could have a thread for roster moves in preparation for the 2014 season. The first domino has fallen. Ramon Nunez, Erick, and David Ferreira are out. http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...mvp-david-ferreira-two-others-clearout-begins Decisions need to be made on 15 other players either on expiring contracts or in options years. Ugo Ihemelu Jackson Zach Loyd Chris Seitz Victor Ulloa Kyle Zobeck Jair Benitez Kenny Cooper Andrew Jacobson Stephen Keel Peter Luccin Michel Jonathan Top Bobby Warshaw Je-Vaughn Watson
Michel and Jackson I would definitely keep. However, Michel I would keep as a platoon player of holding mids. If he was hell bent on being a slow left back, I'd pass. Jackson single handedly, is our team's most dangerous player. Sometimes that is meant as a positive, and sometimes that is meant as a negative. But, I sure as hell don't want him going to any Western Conference opponent. He would surely punish us. Jair, KC, AJ, Seitz, and Luccin are veteran guys who can fill a role. Probably not a star role, but can help. If they don't rock the boat or cost us a fortune I give them a thumbs up. If their demands are more than than, then I would amicably help them find a more suitable team.
Zach Lloyd, I'd keep. But, given his crap year I'd expect terms favorable for FCD. And, reason to believe that next year we would get the old Zack back. Ugo, goes to the Youth Coach payroll ledger and I give him the honorable retirement party and the gold watch. Zoebeck, Ulloa, and even after deliberating, I include Top, either they become the stars of the FCD development team at a deep discount, or I wish them luck in the lesser leagues. Same for the older Warshaw and Watson.
Arevalo Rios wasn't retained by the fire. There are probably cheaper Def. Mid. options, but none as good as him (or starting on the Uruguayan National team)
The only one I'd keep for sure is Michel and just because he's pretty highly skilled. Loyd is a workhorse and has done a lot for the club but one more injury plagued season and he becomes a bad deal. Jackson is too much negative to go with the positive. This band of misfits needs to be dispersed.
It's unclear who on that list of 15 we actually want to keep. You can't throw away 17-18 players from a 30 man roster................can you? We do have to remember that our 10-player developmental roster is completely full right now. So if we want to sign a couple of homegrowns, draft picks, etc..............................then a couple of those players have to go by definition I wonder whether we can sign Jonathan Top and Victor Ulloa to USLPro deals if we start that USL team.
Sad to see DF career here come to this type of end, but sadly he brought it upon himself with his play. Would have been nice if at any time in his career he got any sort of protection from hacking, I think that took a lot of his desire and drive out of him. I like the idea of getting the bottom of the roster guys off the MLS roster and on to the USL team roster, free up space and get them in an environment they can play in. I still think you have to dump Jackson, he just kills this team too many times and I think his selfish nature likely doesn't play well in a team locker room either. The rest of the bunch you can keep or dump, I don't think it impacts the roster too much one way or another. My guess is they keep them, and focus on bringing in top difference making type players.
My analysis of the players we need to make a decision on. Ugo Ihemelu-Unless the diagnosis changes, we can't re-sign him Jackson-Not my cup of tea. Zach Loyd-Acosta showed he could play RB at a lower price. Love the guy, but it's off to Europe for him. Chris Seitz-Sanchez is ready to take over as #2 at a lower price. Time for him to be a #1 somewhere. Victor Ulloa-Hasn't had an impact, USL contract would be great Kyle Zobeck-Gonzalez isn't ready to be #3, and he's cheap. Jair Benitez-Adios, thanks for the memories. Kenny Cooper-Yes, I'm on board with Kenny. Why? Faith I guess.................. Andrew Jacobson-I keep Andrew. Good squad rotation player at a good price. Stephen Keel-CB depth at a cheap price. Only made 46k last year. Peter Luccin-Soon to be 35 year old Swiss league reject. We can do better. I hope....................... Michel-Good squad player at a good price. Made ~80k last year. Jonathan Top-This is the real tough one. Borderline case. I give him another year. Bobby Warshaw-He can stay in the Swedish 2nd division. Je-Vaughn Watson-Not remotely good enough.
I won't be heartbroken if any of these guys leave. Ugo Ihemelu-Good guy. Good player. Bad situation with the concussions. Jackson-Sometimes our only offensive threat, but we can live without him and his hotheadedness. Zach Loyd-Off year last year for Zach. Good guy. If we can keep him at a reasonable price, love to have him stay. If not, we have his spot covered. Chris Seitz-Played well for us, but I'd like to see Sanchez play. Victor Ulloa-Give him a chance to play or dump him. Kyle Zobeck-Why do we carry 5 (FIVE?!?) GKs? Jair Benitez-He's 34, but he plays like a younger player - good for fitness and energy, bad for stupid decisions. We have younger cheaper guys who can play his spot without so much stupidity. Kenny Cooper-Soooooooo disappointing. I don't know how we can give him another chance. Andrew Jacobson-We can do better. He fails to provide a link from defense to the attack. He seems to dislike having the ball. Doesn't work hard enough to make up for his lack of skill. Makes almost no impact on the field. Stephen Keel-Good guy. Played OK when called on. Works for cheap. I'd keep him. Peter Luccin-Looked decent at the end of the season, but seems prone to fitness and injury issues. Pass. Michel-I wouldn't pay much for a guy who can't find a position to play other than designated set piece taker. Doesn't work hard enough in midfield. Can't defend. Jonathan Top-Looked pretty good to me on the rare occasions he got to play. Play him. Bobby Warshaw-He's scoring goals in the Swedish 2nd division. I don't know what this means for MLS ability. I'd give him a chance if he wants to come back for not much $. Je-Vaughn Watson-I've been a Watson hater, but he's grown on me a little. In the second half of the season he was one of our few offensive sparks in several games. He's brilliant for about 3 minutes in every game he plays. He's worthless for the other 87+ minutes. Offer him a good salary multiplied by 3/90 = 1/30. I noticed that Eric Hassli isn't on this list. How did our braintrust offer this 32 yo a multi-year deal?
I saw an interesting take that Dan Hunt doesn't like international spots used on backups. That makes a lot of sense especially with a good academy. That would eliminate Luccin, Watson and Michel. Would eliminate some who's options aren't up also like Hassli but this may take a few years and there may always be exceptions.
Ugo Ihemelu - either he gets healthy enough now or hes gone. PASS Jackson - not a team player. Turnover machine. Too much bad, not enough good. PASS Zach Loyd - Acosta took his spot, let him go. PASS Chris Seitz - one of the top backups in the league IMO. KEEP Victor Ulloa - will he ever make it? SH said hard worker but he couldn't hold onto the ball. 1 more chance KEEP Kyle Zobeck - do we really need this many keepers? Unless we sell sanchez PASS Jair Benitez - another year older, still a moron. PASS Kenny Cooper - still have faith, but didn't fit the formation of SH. KEEP Andrew Jacobson - average midfielder, worth keeping for depth KEEP Stephen Keel - " " defender, but we have Zim and I want to see Woodberry get time so I'll PASS Peter Luccin - why did we waste time and money on this? PASS Michel - If he will play DM full time and renew his work ethic KEEP Jonathan Top - It's either him or Warshaw as 4th F, I'll take BW PASS Bobby Warshaw - interested to see his ability as F in MLS, give him 1 season to see if he can do it over here KEEP Je-Vaughn Watson - as much of a moron as Jair PASS By my count, thats 6/15 kept on the roster. Puts us at the following numbers: F: Warshaw, Blas, Kenny, Hassli Wingers: Castillo CAM: Diaz/maybe Jacobson? DM: Michel, Jacobson, Ulloa? CB: John, Hedges, Zim, Woodberry RB: Acosta, Woody for cover LB: ? Leaves us needing a true LB, solid DM, and at least one winger. I've been told that the speculation around a DP is a winger. I'm going to assume that's correct because it's such a huge empty hole without Jackson. We have the 5th pick in the draft so I say we draft a DM (Pedro Ribeiro from Coastal Carolina perhaps?) to start developing one, as Warshaw is a F now, and Michel and Jacobson are both old. That leaves us needing a LB. Connor Lade of NYRB seems to have been frozen out, so I'd consider him. He's making 55k, is only 24 and started 22 games in 2012. Heath Pearce is also available again, but that'd be upwards of 200k. Other than that, maybe we look back to central or south america. Edgar Castillo from Tijuana?
http://www.fcdallas.com/news/2013/12/fc-dallas-announces-flurry-roster-moves FCD announces they have come to terms with Ryan Hollingshead, trades Jackson to TFC, extends 15 other contracts.
Am I reading this right on Jackson? An enigma who has offensive talents to take over the game, has the physical attributes, but makes a lot of bonehead plays and turnover machine who has a temper problem.
I have to be honest. I don't understand why we retained some of those players. Jair Benitez? I like Seitz, but did we need to retain him with Sanchez and Zobeck also on the roster? Je-Vaughn Watson? I do like that we appear to be giving Jonathan Top another season to make an impression.
Anyone know how much money we got for him? Hope it was a decent clip, I heard we paid Sao Paolo a decent amount for his rights.
You'd think Moises Hernandez would make Benitez expendable, but maybe Clavijo doesn't trust Hernandez yet. Is Fernandez returning at GK? Right now they show 5 goalkeepers on the 30 man roster. That seems 2 more than necessary, no?
For every game that you say "Wow, that guy can play," you'll have about 3 games of "holy Santa Claus shit, where did we find this clown?"
Maybe this is the year Moises Hernandez finally gets a chance again? Seems logical with Benitez's age and Michel's inability to stay with the wingers in MLS. Re: keepers, I'm really starting to wonder what the deal is. Considering the lack of news, beginning to think Fernandez may not be coming back.
Where the F is the new gaffer and who is making these decision? I don't disagree with much of this but Hassli is a total waste, Castillo still is just a sprinter and not a soccer player, and the MF on that list pretty much sucks except for Diaz - who is phenomenal, and Jacobson as a purely defensive MF. There are NO wingers or wide players, esp. with Jackson being traded. Did not need to keep Seitz. Need another striker, and I mean a real forward not some spare, 2 wide MF players that can both cross the ball and attack defenders off the dribble, and depth at all MF positions. FCD continues to be the keystone cops of MLS. Schellas "resignation" was announced well before the end of the season, FCD says they want a new coach by 11/30, it is now almost mid December and we are nowhere close to a new gaffer and personnel decisions for the new gaffers team are being made. Is everyone in the FCD front office aware the MLS season starts 3 months from yesterday?! I will always support FCD but if they were an English club they would be Everton but relegated so many times they'd be in a regional league.
re Jackson: when outsiders referred to FCD as a, "team with tons of individual talent", they could point to Jackson as a prime example. A guy who individually was fun to watch, but brutally and continually refused to play any sort of team game. Once the ball got to him, you could pretty much bet no one else would see it again until the keeper had the inevitable goal kick. Remember: Hassli is under contract. Dallas can't just dump him without a major $$$ hit. So either he retires, or some sucker MLS team trades for him - he's in FCD next season (not that he'll actually play). Also remember: Some of these players may have been retained for the purposes of trades. I wouldn't be surprised to see some of these end up in other places, but I also wouldn't be surprised to see them back. (i.e.: Cooper could clear the re-entry draft and come to a new deal with Dallas, but that is unlikely). Biggest problem: No coach. Frankly, at this point the best move would be to announce Marco as coach and let Clavijo continue making decisions. Anyone that comes in after all of this would be at a terrible disadvantage and anyone willing to take the gig at that point probably isn't a fantastic choice anyway.
I still don't think it's too late as most of these are obvious based mostly on salary and like you said the ones still here can be traded. Be nice to get a new coach before the draft and before it's too late to make trades. Saw somewhere that Colorado signed Oscar two days before the draft when and that has worked ok. Perhaps you really don't have any confidence in Clavijo. I am sort of skeptical about him but this year should be where he proves himself one way or the other.
i'm with hitman. these decisions being made without a coach is concerning and quickly moving toward a GM-run team (working out not-so-well in the big new stadium in arlington). the only thing keeping me slightly optimistic is that our holes are so seemingly glaring and obvious (e.g MF, esp CM) that anyone could see where we need to get better. getting rid of players like jackson, as individualistic as they are, may go against a new coach who might feel they could get more out of said players through motivation, new system, etc...not to mention jackson was one of our more versatile players so who knows what role a new coach might have envisioned for him (or anyone else we've let go)?
I don't think it's ideal but in many ways the system in MLS is sort of backward. Take Barcelona or Ajax examples. They both have a style and it doesn't matter too much who the coach is. Their academy trains all the players in that style and any player acquisitions must also fit that style. I know in MLS that's not the way it works and even if it did the jury is certainly out on Clavijo as someone to create and implement it. However, jumping back and forth to different styles every time there's a coaching change is also silly. It also takes time that wouldn't be necessary if the team already had a style and just needed a coach to implement it.