Well the general consensus is that this team should be abolished, never to be spoke of again. The question is are there any players worth keeping on it? Thoughts?
Honestly? Keep: Jakovic, Pontius, Hamid, Najar, Simms, James Undecided: Wallace, Allsopp, Cristman, Quaranta, Graye, MacTavish, Burch, Perkins Not enough info: Barklage, King, Rice Toss as far as humanly possible: Castillo, Morsink, Khumalo, Emilio, Talley Tell to retire gracefully: Moreno, Pena One way or the other, the roster is going to get overhauled (again). The question is how soon it starts. Chang has stated there will be signings in the summer, so roster moves should start around the World Cup break. Most of the players with guaranteed contracts are in either the keep/undecided group, so any waivers from the other groups shouldn't have an effect on the cap. Bring in two or three solid players, try to develop the younger players into a unit, and manage to not go down as the shittiest team in MLS history.
Pena--with better outside backs he'd be alright Hamid--prospect Castillo--looked alright when he moved to the center...he may get better so worth keeping Moreno--still the best player on the team at age 56, which says so much about this season Boswell--in spite of his blog, a great center back...wait, what? BTW can Oduro play for the USA? that dude is lethal.
Add Najar. Would trade Simms and see if we could get anything for him. The rest...get a new job, boys.
I think your being way too kind, this rot is deeper. Hence my surgery cuts further. Keep: Jakovic, Pontius, Hamid, Simms, Wallace Undecided: Graye, MacTavish, Perkins, Najar, Allsopp, Cristman Let go: Castillo, Morsink, Khumalo, Emilio, Talley, Barklage, King, Rice, James, Quaranta, Burch, Tell to retire gracefully: Moreno, Pena Even with my keepers, Hamid is still very much a raw prospect. And Simms is there but if he continues to have more games where he is ineffective I begin to wonder and would move him to Undecided. On my undecided, both Allsopp and Cristman may make excellent journeyman backups to 2 first rate strikers, but they would not be players to build an offense around. Graye seems to have lots of potential with great speed, athleticism and skill. However, his positioning and judgment have been questionable. Is this a matter of just more experience or is it a fatal flaw at this level? Najar is very much a young prospect. His lack of size and toughness on the ball concerns me. Perkins is not what I expected after all this experience overseas and the big salary. MacTavish is a sold journeyman but no more.
HUH? You don't watch MLS much, do you? Over the last three years, he's arguably been the worst forward in the entire league. Yes, I'm including Franco Niell in that assessment. That's why he's been traded more often than an STD at the Jersey shore.
My cuts were reflective of the nature of MLS. You have to have at least a handful of journeyman/role players on a roster. You also have to have a few players to develop over time that either rise to or at least meet that same expectation. I think Quaranta and James are capable starters/backups on any given day, so I can see a need to keep them around. The only other difference is that you combines my "don't have enough info" with the toss bin. I would see if any of those players have anything to offer during the second half of the season rather than cutting right away. Either way, the evaluation for the 2011 squad should be getting underway any moment now.
I think it's the "DC United makes anyone look all-world effect." Ballsmoochie had his best game of the season for Colorado against DCU. Stands to reason that Oduro would look competent playing against an incompetent, and slow, central defense.
I hope its been going on since training camp. However, I seriously doubt that anything has been going on regarding long-term planning for the last several years. The departure of Maessner just adds to the malaise surrounding the entire club.
Can't watch as much as I used to due to two boys under two at my house now but I try to catch games when I can. Is Oduro really crap? I swear, last night he looked fantastic. Not sure if you were being sarcastic but there's no way that midget Niell ever looked close to that level. And was it just me, or did Castillo start out on the wing, or at least loiter in that area in the first half, and then come to the center in the second half? Because he looked alright in the center. Anyway, I've watched this team since 96 and suffered through the worst of the Hudson years. This team is worse than anything RH put out on the field, but I think the malaise from the stadium non-situation is making things worse in terms of fan attitude. That and the constant stream of underachievers Payne and Kasper have brought back from South America since what, 2005?
You're right, Niell didn't. But Oduro never looks close to that level, either. There are several things going on: one, as griffin1108 said, weak players can look good when playing us; two, he *is* fast (which is the reason he still has a job in this league, despite his poor play), and we have two very slow centerbacks; and three, he did play better than he usually does last night. But while he had some good moments last night, he also had some periods in which he was much worse. And more importantly, one match is not much of a baseline for evaluating a player. A decent match here and there doesn't make up for being awful the rest of the time. He got himself benched at Jersey last year -- earned his way onto the bench of the worst team in the League last year. He's not good.
I feel like none of this really matters unless we get rid of Onfalo and Payne.. The sooner we cut that snakes head off the better.. What is Will Chang waiting for?
Keep: Jakovic, Pontius, Hamid, Simms, Wallace, Perkins, Quaranta Undecided: Graye, MacTavish, Najar, Allsopp, Barklage Let go: Castillo, Morsink, Khumalo, Emilio, Talley, King, Rice, James, Burch, Cristman Just plain tell to retire : Moreno, Pena
Before this season, I had serious doubts that he could play in MLS (based upon watching him 4 times live and 7 or so times on tape). However, he's played acceptable in reserve games. With his athleticism, he could fit into the first team, if he was healthy.
You're one of the very few people here whom I'd expect to have an informed opinion of him; and in fact, you gave that opinion in your pre-draft writeups. But for those of us who don't aggressively follow college ball . . .has he had a single minute of DCU first-team action yet? How much time has he had in reserve matches that the public could actually watch? I can't imagine coming to a conclusion on this guy at this point.
No idea for how others reached their conclusions, but that's why I put him in my "not enough info" category. It's hard to say a guy sucks when he hasn't gotten many minutes with the team, and it's hard to say he categorically sucks if he can't crack this line-up. Onalfo has played favorites, rearranged deck chairs, and gone on tilt to the point that I'm not nearly as certain about some players as I would have been before the season began.
Replacements. Who is out there, currently unemployed or open to being lured away, who would be good replacements for Payne, Kasper and Onolfo? Wilt is running a WPS team. Pasterino is running US Team Handball. Hamlett is being considered by the Timbers. There's a replacement trio, all fired from their respective teams. Blowing something up is only something to be done if you've got solid plans for repairing the crater. And who does Chang turn to for advice? His San Francisco Giant co-owners? He can't exactly go up to Kevin and say, "Hey, Kev, buddy? Who do you think would be a good replacement for you?" I sure as hell hope he's latched on to some decent advisers for this one. I don't envy his position at all.
Wilt certainly is one that Chang should speak with, I know he tried to get an MLS syndicate for Milwaukee that fell apart. While he may be running a WPS operation now, that is not a ticket for long-term job security. (Has St. Louis Athletica folded yet?) I also hope someone could arrange a chat between Leonsis and Chang. Leonsis also "blew up" the Caps and got things right. Interestingly in that case, he used the same GM, George McPhee. Does that mean I believe Payne and Kasper can right the ship? No. Kasper has demonstrated absolutely no ability in this league to build a winner. He took over after 2004 and brought us Erpen, Filomeno, Niell, the Gonzalo brothers, Gallardo, Castillo, Allsop and bucketful of USL D-2 "superstars."
