2012-13 Crew Offseason Roster Thread

Now that the season is over, is there a list anywhere of who is out of contract, who the team has options on, and who is under contract for 2013?

My list of who should go starts with RW but more reasonably will have mid to high priced non-starters. Vukovich, Hesmer, Vargas, maybe Renteria, Mirosevic, or Tchani. I'd let the first 3 leave and try to keep the second 3.

Which players raised the consensus view of themselves the most? I'd say Gruenebaum and Williams. Which lowered the general opinion of themselves? Marshall.

What positions do we need to fill for next year? I'd say left back, left mid, and 3rd forward.

With no expansion draft we should be able to keep some of our depth. We'll have midround picks in the superdraft so shouldn't expect any help there. We should have some money to spend and plenty to trade with.

Our depth chart looks something like this:

Goalkeeper: Gruenebaum, Lampson, perhaps Luthy. A strength, and good value.

Centerbacks: Marshall, Williams, James, ?. Perhaps Mendes is back or Gehrig gets better. O'Rourke and Balchan can cover here too. I'd re-sign Mendes.

Fullbacks: Miranda, ?,O'Rourke, Anor, Findlay, Balchan. I'd bring in a starter at LB and move Wiliams to the middle.

D-Mids: O'Rourke, Mirosevic, Birchall, Grossman, Balchan, Tchani.

Wide Mids: Gaven, Speas, Meram, Duka, Renteria, Findlay. Speas looked good in limited minutes but TFC was tired and depressed, missing their best players and not very good. Will Duka be back?

Central mids: Higuain, Mirosevic, Tchani, Gaven, Duka

Forwards: Arrieta, Higuain, Renteria, Vargas, Heinemann, Schoenfeld, Horton. I'd keep the first 3 and look for better depth.

You'll see Hesmer, Mendes, Vukovic, Renteria, Schoenfeld for sure. I would bet also on Gehrig, Meram, maybe Duka and Mirosevic too. I think Tchani is also probably done.

I'm also hoping they work a deal for Marshall to offload him. He's at, or just past his expiration date.

Disagree with Marshall. I want to keep him around. Solid player still, a good veteran player and been with the Crew since the beginning. I don't want to see him in another teams uniform.

Who I would be ok with seeing leave (No idea about contracts), Tchani, Vargas, Gehrig, Anor, Heinamann, Schonefeld.

For the first time in a long time, we don't need to add a striker but rather central defenders. Much easier to fill than striker. We always--ALWAYS--need a good left back. But, who the F doesn't?

10 players? shit, dude, last thing we need is another massive roster turnover excuse to finishing last place in the east.

Vuko, Vargas and Renteria are gone, I'd say. Miro? Doubt it, personally. Good chemistry with the locker room, 3rd captain. He'll probably stay. Hesmer is probably gone too with his salary and Andy cementing the starting role. Tchani may stay. I think the club will likely pick up his option.

Why left back? That's a platoon spot for all takers. RW's point of view shows that we have at least 23 players deep there.

See the scary thing here is that I honestly can see RW thinking that with Williams there, we're fine, along with Anor healthy. I can't say that he would think of Williams as a CB anymore. And if that's the case, we need some serious work at CB.

I say we could also use a target forward to pair up with Jairo Loompa up top and use Higs as a ACM.

Another key player here is Duka. Is he gone? What is his value to the team? Will RW put some over-stock in Speas' corner after his solid single performance as a justification to jettison Duka? Plus Gaven can play anywhere, so maybe left wing isn't as huge a need?

Okay, back on my ground here. LB is a huge need because we NEED Williams at CB. Key here is the spine. Pair him up with Marshall to further help our Andy "I've been left on an island again" Gruenebaum.

Next, Make sure DCM is wholly Birchall's. O'Red is not the starter of the two.

Going forward, unless the FO is stupid, we're actually looking alright. Another year of working together, and they may be very potent. But the defense needs the most help right now.

Honestly, O'Rourke needs to be cut.

The first five on my list are for sure in my mind. Hesmer has already insinuated as such on his FB status. Mendes is out of contract. Vuko, well, he's Vuko, and Robert hates him. Schoenfeld has flopped. #nowonderMontrealcuthim. Renteria is also out of contract I believe. Unless these guys agree to much smaller contracts, they're moving to the Ex-Crew thread. Add Vargas to this list.

I thought O'Red would be on the "for sure" list, but it looks like he's gonna stick around. Gehrig and Meram are guesses on my part. Duka and Mirosevic are speculative on my part as well. I'm ok with Gehrig and Meram MUCH, MUCH more so than Duka and Mirosevic.

I have great pause for great concern for this massive offseason.

Isn't Tchani in the last year of his Gen AD contract or did that expire already?

I think Vuko is gone because Robert is an idoit and doesn't know that He is a LB. Vargas, Hesmer, Mendes, Schoenfield, and Tchani seem to make sense on the leaving part.

I really Disagree on Meram. He has a low salary and is a serviceable Offensive option of the bench. Plus our Idoit coach seems to think that everyone plays Midfield. I'm surprised he hasn't put Lampson or Hesmer there.

If you ask the person who really needs to go is RW.

If I had my choice:

Stays
Higuain
Arrieta
Gaven
Mirosevic
Birchall
Miranda
Vukovic
Gruenebaum

Goes
As far as I'm concerned, everyone else.

Gone:
75-100%: Hesmer, Vuko, Duka, Vargas, Danny
50%: Gehrig, Heinemann, Renteria
25%: Tchani, Miro, James

I know Vargas doesn't get much love around here, but I'd like to give him a chance up top with Arrieta and Higgy as the CAM. I think his height could be useful, especially with Mr. Magic Socks dishing it out.

At the very least, we need him to keep our Reserve side rampant. Gunning for that triple title, y'all.

It's not so much i want him gone. It has more to do with our idiot coach. Vargas is in his dog house like Vuko.

I like to look at cost to rank (ranking IMHO). Every FO is looking at value and I am sure this type of work is being looked at before the SuperDraft. I am not sure who is out of contract so I am just going with the theory that they all are. It seems the best way to see which players are worth their salary.

GK =
Gruenebaum - $79k
Hesmer - $181k
Lampson - $44k
Gruenebaum looks like he has the starting job for now. If Hesmer is okay, is an experienced back up worth $181k?

D =
Miranda - $140k
Marshall - $341k
Williams - $42k
Mendes - $102k
James - $100k
Vukovic - $126k
This is a solid group, when they work well together and a pretty good value. It is arguable if Marshall is too high. 4 CB, two with the ability to play wing back is fair. The clear need is a strong left back.

D/M =
O'Rourke – $146k
Balchan – $69k
Gehrig – $44k
George – $34k
There are some good versatile options and at reasonable prices. Balchan could be a huge steal if he is healthy. Are O’Rourke’s injury days behind him?

CM =
Mirosevic – $223k
Birchall – $109k
Tchani – $209k
Grossman – $44k
The FO has shown they will pay a bit more for this position. There are good things and bad things about each of these players so are these the right players?

M =
Gaven – $195k
Duka – $243k
Speas – $58k
Meram – $71k
Anor – $44k
Finlay – $60k
Gaven is a lock. There is young depth here at a good cost. If Duka is not seen as a constant starter here, is his salary too high to keep?

F =
Higuain – $324k
Arrieta – $225k
Renteria – $134k
Heinemann – $47k
Vargas – $175k
Schoenfeld – $38k
Horton – $71k
Higuain and Arrieta look to be a good value. Renteria has shown a versatility that will probably keep him around. Heienemann and Schoenfeld seem cheap enough to keep around. Vargas and Horton look to be too expensive compared to their time.

What's the deal with Duka? I'd like to keep him as I think he's got great potential, but he and Warzycha seem like they are unable to work together.

Next year I think I'd like the lineup to look like/will be

-----------Hammer-----------
Seba----Chad---Josh----New
---------Milo-----Birchall-----
------------Higuain------------
Gaven------Target------Arrieta

The target is either Vargas or someone we can pick up in the offseason.
Left back could be williams if we pick up a bona fide CB to pair with Marshall.
I think Marshall's biggest concern is his lack of a stable partner.

Other needs include: backup right back

Who to let go:

GK: William Hesmer. Jardy has said William isn't retiring, but he has already said his goodbye to the fans. We can't have a backup keeper making 170k. Andy is an absolute steal at 78k and with Lampson making the minimum, we'll be able to bring in another young keeper to battle for the #2 spot (Luthy maybe?) and save a bunch of cash.

D: Nobody really sticks out as having a horrible contract. I wouldn't complain if Mendes left because he is making 100k, is getting up there in age, and isn't great. But he is a solid backup. I don't like Julius James, but 100k for him isn't bad. Like Mendes, 100k for a backup isn't a terrible deal. The problem will be that we could keep 1 of them, sign some younger defenders to be backups (We offered a HG deal to Matt Wiet (UCLA) last year but he declined to finish up school, but now that he is done, I'm almost positive we'll bring him in along with Chad Barson (Akron).) and let the other one go in order to save some $$.

M: Tony Tchani has to be gone. Over 100k for someone who really doesn't offer anything to the team is just wasteful. No reason to keep him around. 2 other guys that could be on their way out are George and Anor. Anor really has a lot to prove in the off-season. He is coming off a major knee injury and really hasn't impressed me in his time with a team that has a fair share of wingers (Gaven, Meram, Duka, Speas, Finlay). George just seems to be at the bottom of the totem pole in the center of the park. Especially if we bring in Trapp, I wouldn't be surprised if George is done with the Crew.

F: The most obvious guy to let go is Aaron Horton. He isn't mature enough for this level, doesn't bring anything to the team, and is making more than we should be paying the worst player on our roster. Schoenfeld, Heineman, and Vargas could all be let go and I wouldn't lose a second of sleep. Vargas hasn't really impressed and is making 170k, but if he got healthy and had a whole season he could turn out to be ok. Schoenfeld really isn't good, but he is making the league minimum. Heineman isn't much better than Schoenfeld, but he is ok and is making a fairly low salary (47k). Overall, I'd let Vargas and Heineman go and keep Schoenfeld. We should be looking at strikers in the draft.

In summation-

Release Hesmer, James, Mendes, Tchani, George, Horton, Vargas, and Heinemann.

Sign Luthy, Wiet, and Barson to HomeGrown contracts. Offer Trapp a HomeGrown contract.

Bring in Andy Lubahn (forward from Wake Forest) and Miguel Ibarra (attacking midfielder for the Minnesota Stars of NASL) and whoever else we can for trials.

Draft the best strikers available. Unless Jared Watts (center mid for Wake Forest) is available.

If there was a way to make the text sparkle, dance and since on this part of your quote, we would need to do it.

Doesn't matter who we bring in. The dumbmotherf****r in charge of this team at the moment will run him dead because that same dumbmotherf****r in charge is dead between the ears.

(Mod note: OK, seriously people -- and I'm not picking on you specifically -- can we lay off the f-bombs here?)

Wish Duka and Tchani were paid less to keep them around to develop, but they aren't on development salaries. Making around/more than Arrieta and Gaven isn't acceptable for their production this year. Crew could recover +500k of salary between those 2 and Hesmer.

Interesting with the roster expansion from last year that high player turnover really doesn't have to impact the 18.

Do homegrown contracts count against the salary cap?

Who knows, maybe Duka might consider pulling out his kinfolk's EU card and become a Yank Abroad. Bittersweet, considering his sister's importance to the club

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