OFFICIAL 2011-12 Offseason Moves Thread *RUMORS+OFFICIAL*

Scott French (who gives us actual unbiased information on the team) is reporting that Andy Iro, Robbie Rogers and an unnamed gk are training with the team. I'm guessing Robbie is here simply to keep in shape while staying close to home but Iro and the gk?

Or are they thinking of Rogers as a replacement if Donovan leaves to Europe?

He's part of the USMNT pool and we're still pretty far down the allocation pool, so even if he was aiming to return to MLS the fact that he is training in LA wouldn't give us an inside track.

Columbus still owns his rights, so we would have to trade for him. Columbus offered him a "qualifying offer" to re-sign but he rejected their offer and went on a free, so they still retain his rights for a period (I think two years). If he had been waived and no one took his rights on the waiver wire, then he'd be subject to Allocation. The same goes for a guy like Johnny Bornstein being drafted by the Timbers even though he was out of contract.

I don't think he's coming here. Likely just a training stint.

I really hope we don't sign Iro. I don't rate him.

Thanks for the correction. If Leonardo is out for an extended period again and we think Lopes isn't cutting it, I could see Iro being next in line. It's not like we can afford to be picky at this point. We just need someone who can stabilize things. His rights may still be owned by Toronto FC too though.

Agreed - Iro is no better than Lopes.

Arena confirmed to Scott French that they are taking a look at Iro, who's rights are owned by TFC.

Oh, my!!!

So much for us tapping into the transfer market...

He's just solving this CB problem with one terrible band-aid after another isn't he?

Another reason why I want Arena out. He's not finding the right solutions to the ongoing problems we have concerning our team.

I will gladly take Iro. I don't get all the flack he's taking here. I think he absolutely can be a useful player for us. There are more than a few Crew fans who would like to have him back. If it means dumping Jordan or Boyens then it's even better.

Or maybe he's not waiting for the transfer market? In case you hadn't noticed, we need help immediately. Gaul is injured. Leonardo is still injured/not 100%. We have AJ, Lopes and Meyer as our only serviceable CB's right now. I don't see how signing Iro would in anyway prevent us from being active once the transfer window opens. A much bigger factor than Iro will play into that and that is the fact that we don't have cap space.

Yeah, with the new CBA, you can't just drop players like you used to. Now only the younger players (who generally don't make much money) can be dropped to free up roster and cap space. So with all of our high-price players eating up so much cap space, Arena might not have much wiggle room in the transfer market...

He should maybe go after Carlos Bocanegra, lure him back to MLS. Isn't he free - let go - from Rangers due to their financial problems?

Could he be a useful player? Absolutely. As a starter, I don't rate him in this league. If we're signing him and dumping Boyens I could get on board, but Boyens is on a guaranteed contract and waiving him would keep his salary on the books.

Just seems a retread of a player who was never a convincing starter in my eyes and isn't going to get any better. I'd rather have kept with the growing pains of Meyer or Gaul because at least there is a chance they'll become a decent MLS player. We're signing players rejected by TFC and Chivas as stop gaps but they're not even that. Lopes and Boyens have probably created more problems than they've solved.

With our injury problems, a 6 month deal makes sense, if we can fit it. One of the things that Bruce has brought in the past is roster consistency, which helps immensely in MLS because there really isn't too much difference between teams. We haven't had that this season. He's tinkered and tinkered and never let anyone settle down.

In some ways, I just see Bruce finding anyone over 6'2" and hoping he can play next to DLG. It reminds me of Bob starting Findley in the '10 World Cup. He needed to replace Davies and went with someone who fit the mold, but was not good enough for the lineup, instead of adjusting and playing a better player.

There is always a tendency to think the new guy will be better than what you have. Go take a look at the general sentiment when Cristman was signed. Is Iro better than Boyens? Likely so. If it were the beginning of the season and we were choosing between signing the two, I'd pick Iro, but we're mid season, can't dump salary that easily, have had no lineup consistency, and signing another backup level player isn't going to solve anything.

Now, if we sign him and he steps in and kicks ass, I'll gladly eat crow, but I am against it currently, unless we can move Boyens.

Gonzalez cannot come back soon enough to end this madness.

We are not in a position to get a player like Boca. Not enough cap room and we are not high enough on the allocation list for returning USMNT players.

Let's not try to revise history now. Toronto didn't reject him. He rejected their offer. Meyer and Gaul may well develop into quality CB's but they are not there yet. Iro is a serviceable CB in this league with CCL experience to boot. My guess is if he is signed he will be a better option than either of the rookies, Boyens or Lopes. Signing him also gives us the option to continue using Meyer @ RB where he has looked pretty good.

Maybe Toronto wanted to re-sign him, but that's hardly a glowing endorsement. He probably was looking for $100k+ at least, and I'm guessing Toronto wasn't willing to offer that to him because he was on ~$80k when his contract ran out, so he went to Forest looking to actually make some decent money. He wasn't worth a large salary hike to Toronto.

What would he ask from us? $60k? $80k? $100k? Is adding an extra $80k in salary to our cap worth the marginal upgrade? Could that have been used elsewhere? Maybe to sign a half compliant winger?

In the end, I don't see him as enough of an upgrade to warrant signing him. I would agree he's an upgrade over Boyens and Lopes, but we need to dump one of them to sign him. Lopes is quite cheap and even though his contract likely isn't guaranteed, you're going to not see a lot of cap space open up by signing him.

You disagree, no worries. I can see where you're coming from, but I think signing him would be just another exercise in futility.

OMHO, Iro is too much of a gamble. Bruce has tried this approach twice this season with Boyens and Lopes. Iro may be a marked upgrade, but he doesn't have enough quality to make him a clear solution. This smacks of yet another desperate attempt to just try something and hope that it works.

If this guy doesn't slot in quickly or even worse, doesn't pan out at all, then what? We go and find another journeyman or try another roster member?

I say put Meyer back in there until we have Leo or Gonzo back, and let him earn experience. Explain to the kid that this is largely a learning project so he isn't crushed by the pressure and doesn't have his confidence trashed if he does make some mistakes. Then we live with his rookie errors and hopefully a partnership can develop from having a settled backline.

The fact is, if Bruce does bring in Iro, it will take another notch off my patience (though frankly, if he came in and we suddenly stopped conceding, I would happily eat crow) because:

a) It's another short-term band-aid.

&

b) If he does this, then it's a serious mark against him not making a play for Califf.

A mark against him? Seriously? How in the world would we fit Califf and his $275,000 salary under our cap?? We can't.

I think the key thing here is that Iro is trailing with the team - which means the coaches get a chance to see him for a week and determine if he is worth picking up. Very different than when you trade with a team and pick up a player that you only get to see in games on tape and not training with your players...

And I say all of this personally leaning toward Iro not being much of an upgrade. But I also don't know how serious the Gaul and Leonardo injuries are -- and I rate those 2 as our best centerbacks while Gonzilla is out... So if they are gone for significant time, then maybe we need to seriously consider Iro....

Not to mention that the continual changing of cb's may be almost as big a problem as their somewhat limited abilities. We have been asking AJ to coordinate a defense for the 1st time while simultaneously pairing him with an ever-changing string of cb partners and goal keepers and, oh yeah, moving him back and forth between playing left cb and right cb. No wonder the young man's head is spinning!

Same for the keepers - it takes a while to know what to expect from a cb, so that you can complement each other. But with a new cb in front of you each week there are bound to be mistakes just due to lack of game time experience playing together.

Agree. Lack of any consistency whatsoever this season has really been a big problem...

Wow. Didn't know he was on that much.