Really glad to read that LaBroccas back. I'm a fan. He's got a better short passing game and provides far better movement than JL, that should help with the 433 thing. I don't think we did to well on the JL move. Maybe last year hurt that much, but a bad team makes it too easy to justify throwing away talent.
Deferring judgement on the JL trade until we see all the cards ... hopefully this works out. I would've liked a higher pick for a guy good enough to get a USMNT camp invite. Somewhat related, I just reviewed the comments about the trade on the Rapids FB page. Lots of venom/whining etc. Not that they have to but I hope Hinchey/Bravo/OP say something about why they've done this and what their vision/plan. We've lost almost all of the fan favorites in a very short time. Also, with JL now gone, who is the face of the franchise? Pickens or Moor?
wynne and pablo = face of the team. i hope everything works out and we get a promising center-back. even if his mistake prone he can't be worse then marshall and pagulata
mullan's pushing 34.... great player yes. replaceable yeah very easy to be honest. if we get nick back in my mind there very similar. mullan to me was the worst performer last year. his not a winger his a center mid / right mid. big difference wingers and actual wide mid's are two different things in my book. but hey what do i know i dont hold on to nostalgia around player's hill calistron tony cas harris all very capable of playing winger better then mullan.
Once again we prove the team you're watching and the team many of us are watching are very different teams. Are you perhaps in an alternate dimension from the rest of us?
I honestly don't recall any goals from mullan last year. his been on the team since what 2010 with only 3 goals? is this stat correct? tony c has the same goal total.... with half the appearance. almost at 110 k cheaper too.. mullans great player yeah no doubt i do not question this great engine leadership and always up to par performer... but if he can help us grab a better number then 6 in the draft i'd do it specally if we do get zimmerman and he does turn out to be a great center back. the one thing the rapids team has lacked the last 10 years
We needed to receive more for all 3. Period. As an organization we're showing we learned nothing from the Beckerman-for-Ballouchy trade, nor from the better trades we had recently (Mullan for Clark, Ballouchy traded away for anything, Wynne for Labrocca+3rd rounder, etc). You don't give away proven, reliable contributors for peanuts, or let yourself be talked into the potential of "projects" unless you're getting a dollar for a dollar in the trade. And we've apparently shown zero acumen in the art of negotiation, where something as simple as an all-star appearance alone should've allowed us to claim 10 cents more on the dollar in every one of those trades. For example, no 30th pick given to Chicago. For example, a player better than Sturgis from the team that was just the MLS Cup Runners' Up 2 years in a row. For example, anything for Casey. And that's before we get to any of their other individual achievements or the team achievement of winning silverware. Individually, I'm sad to see all 3 go, but at different levels. All 3 I'm sad to see leave as they were part of the Cup team. With Casey, there's that, but I'm understanding and accepting of the situation (injury, salary demands, etc.) that predicated it. Omar, the memories of '08-'10 are all I'm hanging onto, but it was time for him to move on. For the above two, those feelings don't change that we should have received more for them. Trading Larentowicz after one mediocre year is lunacy and will come back to bite us in the ass before this year is up, hopefully not a la Beckerman, but I'm nervous about that possibility. Or, you know, trade him for assets, like any other competent organization that recognizes the values of its assets and has enough self-respect would do. If Philly was willing to take him on, at or near full salary, I find it really hard to believe that we couldn't have gotten them (or another team) to give us even as little as a draft pick for him.
Yeah, because trading players for assets has gone over so well with this fanbase in the last 12 months. Talk about a dammed if you do, dammed if you don't situation. You trade the assets you get "Waah, why are you trading away a championship team?!", you don't trade them away and you get "How incompetent are you to let Casey walk away?!". Seriously, what was the realistic scenario with Casey, a player coming off a major injury, fighting injuries through 2012, and eventually being sat down to heal before the end of the season? What realistic move would have kept people from flipping out?
I agree with this. Don't see what could have been done with Casey. However, don't see the point of resigning JL and not maximizing value. People need to stop being so defensive and recognize people can support the overall direction and question individual decisions. I'm tired of the lazy Smith vs. Pareja pick a side crap.
That's a good point on the re-signing issue. Again it seems like the various contract decisions made in 2012 were haphazard with no long-term planning.
If people are going to flip out anyway, you suck it up and try to get more in return for your assets than 0. At least in that circumstance, there's the ability to change people's minds if somehow the asset you received pans out. To go to the next logical example, if Sturgis contributes in a meaningful way with the Rapids, I'll have no problem eating crow over my opinions of that trade. I gave you a realistic move. I could give several other: Casey for a combination of any of international slot, draft pick and/or allocation dollars is 100% reasonable. If you want to argue it's not, I only have to point how we gave up allocation dollars for Buddle when he's just two months younger than Casey, has a pretty high cap number and is in a similar injury/drop of form situation. I can't control or even accurately predict peoples' reactions to the moves, nor can anyone, so I don't factor that into whether a move should be made.
For JL and Casey it was a matter of buying high and selling low. For Cummings, we bought low, missed the high and went back to selling low. I don't think the trades were great, but the players didn't have great value at the time they were dealt. I'm not sure what folks wanted for Casey. The only way the Rapids could get any value after his injury last year was for him to step on the field and perform...that didn't happen. Where I have a problem is the collecting of assets and not using them (see the Nugget's trade of Camby for a $10,000,000 salary cap exception and never used it, or the grossly underfunded Avs when they had plenty of salary cap room and chose not to use it, instead allowing the team to tail-spin). This team has to do more with less....some of the assets will go unused and that's unfortunate. Not whining at this point (gotta save that the for season), just the facts. I think the Rapids have done ok with these trades, but it's what they do next that really counts.
Bianchi is reporting that LaBrocca is in fact out of contract. He must have been initially working with Chivas on a new deal and removed himself from the Re-entry process a al Wynne, just much sooner so it wasn't even new. Perhaps the clubs have not announced this trade because they are both working on finalizing contracts (dotting i's and crossing t's. Why make the trade if you hadn't come to terms informal agreement with the player) Just to throw some water on those complaining about not getting anything for Casey. Why would a team have traded for him? They knew we were cutting him. If he would have been taken in the first stage, then you could make that case, but a team was only willing to take him once they could get him without his then current contract. Today was an exciting day. It will be exciting to see what happens tomorrow!
So it was in fact the rights to Avila for the rights to LaBrocca, a moot point if signed. Now this trade makes much more sense on both sides. I'll be sure to take note of each players number when the salaries are released later this season.
Totally unfamiliar with La Brocca. Anyone have a description of his play and what he might bring (back) to the Rapids they would like to share? I looked at his basic stats for his MLS career. High of 8 goals and 6 assists for 2011. Other years scoring and assists much lower but all years (minus his first) he logged 2k+ minutes.
That is why I'm hoping we get a good interview with Hinchey/Bravo/OP after the draft that explains their sight picture for all of these trades and their vision going forward. A lot of fan favorites are gone and the natives (at least those who comment on FB) are restless. I'm sure they have very good reasons for all these moves but, unless it is about money, they should share. Otherwise, here we are speculating.
And wasn't going to be available in the Re-Entry Draft. That's the issue. Once Casey was sat down for the season no team had any incentive to trade for him, knowing that he'd be in the Re-Entry Draft. If he wasn't, the Rapids obviously valued him enough to give him a high salary, so he wasn't going to be a cheap pickup in a trade. We could have traded him during the season while he was still playing for something you suggest, but I'm not sure the BigSoccer and Facebook servers could have handled the outrage that would have come from some corners of our fanbase on that move...
High work rate on defense and off the ball. Tidy with the ball. Good at always showing up as an outlet for passes, and is good in combination play. Is less likely to try to switch the play as a first response every time he gets the ball - my knock on JL and Pablo for that matter. Can actually turn with the ball. Not the solution for the final ball. He could be a very nice partner for Rivero as he'll allow Rivero to keep finding space and keep feeding him - if all goes as planned.
I think he has improved his offensive game in the last few seasons. He often played behind the strikers at Chivas as a AM. He has a good shot and gets in good positions in the box to score goals. He is very versatile.
even tho Hinchey is new & proposes grandiose things, he is still working within the same confines (sans Bravo whom many people debate his maximum value) as the previous regime. I just don't see how the results could be expected to yield near maximum value of anything. This organization kept around a coach that was destroying the team just so they wouldn't have to pay his salary in addition to a new gaffer. almost like our tagline should be, 'We can do it cheaper!' that said, I'll wait and see what happens as the end result. just cause we get spots doesn't mean we'll use them effectively and we certainly won't use the cash nor dp. "Those that cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Wait, if Castrillon is out of contract, how can they sell him? He could just leave on a free transfer. Maybe what's really going on is the team has an option on him, and they have a really favorable deadline for deciding on it?