2012-2013 Off-Season Player Movement Discussion

I love the Galaxy dumping Buddle. He looked really, really poor last year. Like some alien life form had inhabited his body - looked nothing like the guy who left in 2010. Definitely best to dump him now than struggle with that again.

They've made good moves in quickly dumping JPA and him in the past few years. Wish the Red Bulls had been nearly as decisive with dumping Rafa.

 

Nobody should ever want Chad Barrett on their team.

 

Great guy, and very intelligent. Should have a future as a broadcaster. Played well for the Quakes in 2005. But man, he was slow when he was 25. At 34 he will be glacial.

 

Not really player related, but interesting.

FCD has just fired assistant coach Daniel Hernandez...................

http://www.3rddegree.net/2012/12/15/fc-dallas-parts-ways-with-daniel-hernandez/

Truly bizarre since he and Hyndman have a very close relationship.

 

Portland seems to be going after Diskerud. That would be a fantastic signing for them and he would count less than the average DP due to his age.

It's going to be interesting to see what Porter does in Portland with all that young talent.

 

it would be really funny and a dick move if TFC claims Diskerud before Portland

 

People are claiming that, as a part of the prior trade, there was a gentleman's agreement that TFC would pass on a player Portland was bringing back in through allocation. I don't know that I believe that, but it could be.

 

NYRB didn't even bother to show up to the 2nd-round re-entry draft. They were obviously not interested at all in anyone available.

 

All indications are that SKC will announce the signing of Claudio Bieler on Tuesday. I would think that he qualifies as "a true DP forward."

 

I most certainly agree--I meant of the teams I mentioned with aging forwards often stuck up top alone in a 4-5-1 or 4-3-3. SKC isn't one of those since Sapong is so young. And Bieler is in his prime.

To think that a Pajoy or Blas Perez or Casey or Buddle is going to be "the" season-long answer in those formations is farcical. The Koevermans/Hassli duo might work if they can alternate injuries and playing time down the stretch.

 

MLS should invite 2 Canadian college players a year to the draft combine. There are some good players in Canada. It's just impossible to ever get scouted on their own.

 

You mean players that play in Canadian colleges., right?

Not Canadian college soccer players, right?

 

Barrett absolutely gets undervalued. Take a had look at his production stats from 2010 in Toronto (last year he was looked at as the primary, starting scoring option on a team. They are much better than most people assume they would be -- and they were put up while with TFC.

 

Yeah, Barrett was pretty useful in 2010 and 2011. His goals/90 in 2011 was basically the same as Espindola or Dominic Oduro (during what was hailed as a breakout year). He was around .4 g/90 in 2010 as well.

He isn't someone you can win a title with as your go-to goalscorer, but he is fairly useful (although perhaps overpaid at $220k).

 

Correct. Canadian college players playing in Canada.

 

If they aren't eligible for the draft, what is stopping Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Edmonton from signing them? It's apparently freely available Canadian talent that's just there for the taking. Unless...they aren't that good. I don't know anything about Canadian college soccer players, but I'd imagine that if some of them were pro quality that someone, somewhere would sign them.

 

Inviting two to the combine might convince some that they can compete after seeing them play vs the competition. It would also give them exposure to 16 more potential teams. There are a few more Emery Welshman/ Kyle Bekkers out there, it's just tough to get seen.

No different than the Canadian USSDA/MLS academy grads now playing in the NCAA. The majority of those kids would never get any exposure to NCAA coaches prior to the USSDA/Sum Cup. Are some of the players better now in an academy environment? Sure. However, there have always been good players, they just couldn't get scouted.

 

SKC to introduce their new designated player tomorrow. All signs point towards Claudio Bieler. Will be interesting to see if it is because of salary or mainly because of transfer fee.

 

Lottery for Mobi Fehr to be held tomorrow. Portland, Seattle, and San Jose the only teams participating.

Portland: 83.1%
Seattle: 15.5%
San Jose: 1.4%

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/12/17/us-youth-intl-fehr-set-land-one-three-mls-teams

 

So I guess a condition of him signing with MLS is that he had to play in the northwest.

 

Or San Jose.

 

but not Vancouver

 

As any Canadian will tell you, Vancouver is in the Southwest.

 

touche