MLS Offseason News and Rumors Thread I

His other options are Norway or Austria. I think MLS is a step up.

He hasn't received any offers from Holland, Belgium, or any big leagues.

 

My guess is it would actually be Boyd, if someone wants to take on his salary - he underperformed quite a bit given expectations last year. His name has already come up in trade talks.

 

Four forwards is not too many, especially if they are playing a 4-3-3.

 

Commentary: Less gambles, more guile from Timbers in '13
December 13, 2012
Dan Itel
MLSsoccer.com

He's already figured out what Burns still hasn't figured out in all his years here...

 

I was not clear. I was a talking from a salary cap perspective. You can't have forwards chewing up that much of the cap and build a balanced team.

Boyd is a DP, Mwanga is highly compensated, and Johnson makes in the 6 figures.

Don't forget they also have Valencia who was signed as a youth DP last year so he will chew up another $150k if he plays this year.

And beyond that they still have Fucito who is a serviceable forward in MLS and Dike.

I still think they will be shopping a forward.

 

sure, they can manipulate/work the cap the best they can but eventually you have to make the numbers fit and putting so many eggs into the forwards basket is going to take away from another position I think.

This will be a non starter though if Valencia is off the books/roster this year as they can probably get buy cap wise with the 5 other forwards they have (assuming they don't draft another one).

They also have a home grown forward in Brent Richards who made a handful of appearances last year for the Timbers. He does not affect the cap but certainly adds to the glut of players they have in this one position.

 

He doesn't need to know how MLS works, just have the right people on his staff that know some of the idiosyncrasies.

Jay's spent his whole career here..sure helped him a lot!

I'm guessing that Chivas will definitely be higher on the table than us in 2013..but, don't wager with me. I'm already losing, so far against a friend that LPool will be higher than the blue team in the same city..! =)

 

Dan, I endorse that bet with your friend.

Agree on Jay Heaps, having MLS experience as a player doesn't necessarily mean you will be a successful coach. Heaps is like a frequent flyer - even if he has 10,000 miles as an experienced passenger doesn't mean he knows how to fly the plane.

 

Has anybody heard anything about the Revs possibly signing Bilal Duckett? I seem to remember reading an (bent musket?) article right near the end of the season, that said they had him come in during the last few weeks of the season and train with the team. Also mentioned they werre looking to sign him.
Just thinking about that today as it would possibly affect what picks we make in the Re-Entry Draft and beyond.
Hes 6'2" but played mostly RB (with some CB & LB) for the Whitecaps, IIRC

 

Nah, it's not fair to call it luck. They did very well in the draft in the first half of Nicol's tenure. He deserves credit, because he did well.

I don't think anyone felt they could rely only on the draft (there may have been some degree of over-reliance, though), but the fact then as now, was that most of the attempts at other acquisitions failed pretty miserably. It's not like they didn't attempt to bring in players other ways, they just didn't do it effectively.

I think Nicol did very well in the draft for a while, then got too speculative and maybe felt that the staff's evaluations were better than anyone else's, and started picking guys they liked way too high (Wellsey, de Oliviera, Valentino) from 2006 to 2008. They seemed to refocus on safer/more conventional picks and started getting better results from 2009 on.

 

Juninho reportedly has registered with MLS and will be going to the NY Red Bulls
http://www.sambafoot.com/fr/informa...inscrit_au_new_york_red_bulls_par_la_mls.html

 

Is this Juninho Pernambucano, who was last seen living the good life in Qatar?

 

It was luck. We reached for Dempsey, and he turned out to be arguably the best draft pick of all time. We did the same thing with Oliveira and Thompson and they both turned out to be major busts.

Dempsey, Parkhurst, and Noonan were three fantastic draft picks, but you can't forget Oliveira, Igwe, Valentino, Thompson, Maxwell, and Schilawski who were all busts. I'd argue that even the Soares pick doesn't look great considering the players who were selected immediately after him (Sarkodie, Anibaba, Sapong, and Bruin).

The place where we really got lucky was with supplemental picks. Finding Larentowicz and Dorman in those later rounds really helped us remain competitive and contend for MLS Cups.

 

Same player but he has been playing in Brazil at Vasco for the past couple of seasons.

If he does not take up a DP slot, this would be an interesting pick up. The guy is still scoring on free kicks.

 

Sounder's GM Adrian Hanauer re-elected with a whopping 96.7% of the votes in his favor.

Democracy in sports? The Sounders believe it can work
December 14, 2012
Jeremiah Oshan
MLSsoccer.com

 

Looks like there is a team from Holland now in the "mix" per MLSsoccer.com

 

Wow...environment and a fan base can attract talent? Who would have guessed.

Timbers and Mixx

 

Once a "smart" player has knowledge of a club's interest in him; why on Earth, other than VERY GOOD MONEY, would said player ever want to play in Flocksboro?

Even then...any player who decides to give in and play for the Revs..does so knowing he has no other options or the money is decent enough to allow him that last hurrah before fading into the background.

There is absolutely nothing about this team that is a magnet to any aspiring player...nothing!

 

Honest question. Is there a reason you still follow the Revs and continue to post how much you dislike everything about the Franchise?

 

Honest Answer:

Because after 18years I would have hoped we weren't so behind even the minimalist view of what a team should be like in MLS.

And I always harbor some delusional hope that Kraft would sell the team to a more committed and dedicated group/owner.

So during that spell, even if it doesn't happen..I don't want any new or old fans to get complacent about the state of this team. I don't want anyone to think that whatever this team is doing now is anything but blowing smoke up our ass.

It's going to take a whole lot for me to change my mind about Krapathy...The harm done to the sport, MLS and this team's brand is almost irreversible. But, people forget quickly once a SSS breaks ground and new logos and kits get presented. I'm just hoping that if that time does come...Bob will NOT be at the helm.

I can dream... =)