Matt Pickens has been waived. http://www.coloradorapids.com/news/2014/03/matt-pickens-waived-rapids Thanks for the incredible Cup run! Best of luck to him.
Couple of hundred K freed up. Not to be ridiculous or vent, but I think the Rapids handled this poorly. I find it hard to believe they couldn't make a deal for Pickens at any time in the last year.
you always think that... noone wants him at 200k or 180k or whatever it is... thats why the rapids had a hard time moving him
The Rapids could have agreed to pay part of his salary. We'll see what some of the keepers who moved teams this year make when the salaries come out but I think there was probably a deal to be made. Maybe the team was too caught up in dealing with Pareja while those other teams were making moves?
Would that portion have remained on their books/applied against their cap figure? If waiving him means full salary cap relief, maybe it's not so bad. Though I guess I am assuming they've been trying to trade him since the season ended.
Then it seems like letting him go is better than trading him and losing part of the cap. Perhaps they think they can get a better player from another league than what they would get in trade. Or don't need another draft/international slot. Although more likely is that they were busy dealing with the OP situation....
I think the idea at least from what I read on here it is probably making space for Galindo. For me the time I saw him in pre-season games on crappy feeds was more than underwhelming. I'm guessing he looked better in practices? For his background I would have expected a much better "cushiony" touch. The fact he is coming from Arsenal seems like it might be expensive, but, I don't know much about those things.
And my apologies since this is the Pickens waived thread... I wish nothing, but, the best for him as mentioned in the article he was great for the Rapids both on the pitch and in the community. Stand up guy and good goalkeeper!
BTW, the only remaining MLS Cup team players are Moor, Mullan, and Wynne. Of course Pablo and Smith are now in the coaching ranks.
I personally don't think there was much of a market for an overpriced, aging, keeper who lost his job to an unheralded rookie, and looked okay (but nothing close to great) in the limited reserve action he saw last year. Even if the Rapids pick up the majority of his salary, I can't think of many teams would send us usable draft picks (round 1-2), comparable players, or international slots. Certainly, they weren't getting any allocation money back in a trade where the Rapids are picking up the salary. I never considered the salary cap, but the Rapids would have needed to acquire another keeper to back up Irwin. Did they even have room under the cap if they paid the majority of his salary and needed to bring in another keeper? Finally, the team made the playoffs last year. How awesome would it have been if Irwin went down in early October, and we're bringing in some unknown keeper to replace him because we had already traded Pickens for a 4th round draft pick? I'm sure we would have gone easy on the FO, because "at least we got some value for Pickens".
I'm kind of surprised his contract didn't go "Guaranteed" at roster compliance date, seems to meet all requirements. Are we sure or positive we don't owe him his salary and it counts against our cap? III.) METHODS OF RELEASING PLAYERS (A) WAIVERS Teams may waive players based on performance at any time during the MLS season. Players with guaranteed contracts will continue to have their salary budget charge applied to the team salary budget, subject to any settlement. Players on semi-guaranteed contracts can be waived prior to July 1 of any year and free up the corresponding budget space. If a player on a semi-guaranteed contract is waived after July 1, his salary budget charge will count against the team’s salary budget and the team waiving the player will not receive a replacement except under the normal player acquisition mechanisms. Any settlement amount will be charged to the team’s salary budget. Buy-outs can only happen in offseason (D) BUYOUT OF GUARANTEED CONTRACT Teams may have the ability to buyout one guaranteed player as follows: A Team may buy out one (1) guaranteed player (including a DP’s) contract during the off-season and free up the corresponding budget space. Such a buyout is at the particular MLS Team’s own expense. A Team may not free up budget space with a buyout of a player’s salary budget charge during the season. Such a buyout will be conducted by the League and count on a Club’s budget in a manner consistent with current MLS guidelines.
The roster compliance date and the guarenteed contract date hasn't been the same date in the past. IIRC the guarenteed date is usually a couple of weeks after the season starts, so probaly any day now (thus probably the reason he was waived yesterday).
I just recall FO excuse for OP's first year that no roster changes were made due to contracts that "guaranteed" in like December. Probably just more mis-information from them.
Thanks Matt. I think this is the right move all around, he will get picked up and start somewhere. Vancouver if I had to guess.
Waste not, want not. Waste much, want much? Seems a waste in some way to just release a quality GK. Yes I've read the rest of the thread but I'm commenting on this case in the context of other similar instances. Maybe a weekend retreat for FO personnel to work on strategic, long range, planning would have merit? Not just for player moves in and out but also -- what if Pablo leaves? ;>)
Emphasis mine - He is 32. That is hardly aging for a keeper. The guy should be coming into his prime. He just got extremely unlucky with the broken arm last year. The rumors that he asked to be traded before last season didn't help his cause either. This is my concern. I think there can be different dates for when a guy is guaranteed and it is based upon the contract. Hopefully his was one that will only become guaranteed at the end of the transfer window and we really are out from under his contract. If he became guaranteed when they didn't put him up for re-entry draft, then this is a poorly managed situation. I think waving him even if he is guaranteed is the right thing to do because he clearly wasn't going to be around and why deny the guy the chance to play. It sucks, but they made this bed, they need to lie in it.