Preseason: Houston Dynamo v. Colorado Rapids, Sunday, February 2

This was my point. Your comment seems reasonable to me. And I would like to see him work in this year. However, I have no idea what Dom's thoughts are. They may have purchased him for the last two years of his deal. From the coach/GM perspective he is a relative middle of the road cap hit with upside due to age which makes it palatable. The fact that it costs a million in transfer has no bearing on the cap hit or his development.

 

My only issue if he doesn't make the starting XI is that he's taking a young DP spot right? Those should be for players that will actually get minutes. You cannot develop in this sport without minutes, so it's a waste of time.

 

He takes up a DP spot, of which we have one left (should we want) anyway. There is no limit on young DPs. So he is not taking a DP spot that otherwise would go elsewhere.

He is using 200k in budget room which is either acceptable to Dom for a developing player or not; we don't know. But consider, they would have offered similar money anyway to Sebastian Ib. two years ago to sit on the bench as well. Not the same type of budget hit (HG exempt) but very similar situation.

Dom has some timeline in his head for young players (Dixon, Cisco, Deric, Salazar, Lopez, SI.) and I don't know what it is . . . but all of these players were signed (or offered) with little chance of breaking into the lineup in two years and all were young.

 

You can't develop players unless they are playing competitive matches. He needs to either be playing for the Dynamo, or he needs to go on loan, if he's going to be a "developing" player. That's just how it works. I've never seen a player develop into a great player by just training.

I'm not criticizing Dom, I'm just giving my opinion. Whenever I give my opinion, it's not meant to be insulting to Dom's intelligence, and I'm not insulting other supporters.

 

On that I agree; but frankly that is a problem for MLS that has little to do with Lopez or Dom. This is one of my biggest issues with the friggin partnership deal as it kills the reserve league. Not just Lopez, but all but four of our guys from roster spots 16-28 (or so) are going to get very little time. This will be true for every team, if not this year than next, unless they have a full PDL side. So I agree with you, I just don't think I would judge the development of Lopez any differently than any other player on the back end of the roster. There isn't much more that Dom or he can do absent a loan deal for a year. And only four guys (I would be shocked to see more) are getting that deal.

 

Yeah, that is a big problem for the sport, I think. Teams that can afford to will field a B team, like LAGII. That is going to be an advantage one day. For a team to be able to pull players from their B sides that are constantly getting minutes, are match fit, and developing, will grow the sport.

 

Man I wish they just would have spread out the timeline and said every team must field a PDL team in five years - until then we will keep the Reserve schedule. This partnership is going to lead to more "have and have nots" then any roster rule change because only a handful of teams are going to have their young players developing through actual competition - those teams will always have a crop of battle ready players.

 

I actually meant USL Pro and not PDL . . . I was think of Austin when I wrote it . . but same principle.

 

I meant number 35. My bad. Hahaha.

 

But only Lopez cost us a transfer fee. It is still cash wasted that could have been spent elsewhere (on a veteran transfer) if he doesn't develop. They may have some development timeline in the coaching staff for each player, but Dom has NEVER been a guy who coached for the future IMO. It's very much a game-by-game, year-by-year approach, and I don't think development is really a big issue to him (that's not saying he doesn't develop guys, but its more sink or swim).

Let's see where Lopez is at the end of this season. But when a Warren Creavalle can step on the field as a rookie and contribute, a young DP should be able to get his way onto the pitch. I think buying younger Central American and Caribbean players is a good sound strategy, just need to see if we are picking the right guys.

 

I would've loved for Lopez to stay in Olimpia on a multi-year loan so that he would've continued developing as a player there.

 

Doesn't matter. The fact that he is a young DP doesn't mean anything real. He is a young player that is using 200k of budget space. If you want to argue he isn't worth the 200k . . . I can see that argument. But it has nothing to do with being a young DP. Whether we paid 1 million or 200k; it is the same budget hit. Personally I don't lose sleep over wealthy cats spending their own money. I watch the budget hits as it impacts who we can sign. Also, there has never been any indication from any owner that missing on a transfer is going to impact future spending. Several guys we have missed on; had decent transfer fees attached. If that was the case, we wouldn't have had OBG or Alex after Landin and the near Koke experiment.

Naw, I am not going to sweat their million dollars.

This is a good point, but I think it is a past perception we have of Dom because I think several things have changed. Since he made the "win now" quote and paid veterans one year too many; a lot has changed. Homegrown youth players are becoming a real percentage of several teams. The roster size has increased (remember the time we didn't have reserves). And a young DP system in now here. I look at some of the players he has kept around the past few years; and they were guys with potential but were never going to sniff the field. At some point, they either make it into the lineup or get cut; but he seems to invest more time now. He also has that luxury now with the budget exempt expanded roster.

* Also, I think from an organizational standpoint, if your ownership is not going to drop 5 million, this type of one million dollar risk is really "your play." You almost have to develop players.

One guy to prove the exception is maybe not the best example. For every Creavalle there are a dozen Sam Appiahs. Fact is it is a crap shoot when you are a smaller league and cannot just go out and buy proven talent. Maybe he is a bust. Maybe he turns out to be every bit as good as Beckerman - solid MLS player. Who knows, but I am with you . . . the cards have been played and I am not going to worry about it too much. When Dom thinks he is a lost cause, he will be jettisoned.

 

Nice discussion here.

 

personally I think we have to get with the program-a lot of other teams, LA, PHI, etc are really ramping up their youth systems and academies. It's going to be an arms race in 5-10 years and the longer it take to start the process the further you get behind.

I think in MLS it is way cheaper to develop your own talent than to go out and pay for some and bring it in.

Why spend 5 million on one blockbuster DP when you could drop that on a permanent facility (store front) and start a school/academy in house like Philly. Teach them the Dynamo way. That is the investiment that will keep giving 10 years down the line when that 5 million dollar DP is done and sitting on a beach in Dubai.

Build a small building down next to HASP (I am sure if you do some sweet negotiations with the COH) you can get some breaks-call it an athletic charter school. Get a place where you bring in the teachers and the chefs and get those kids playing futbol 5 hours a day while still getting them to graduate. Even if a whole class bombs-you have to think that after 10 years, the players that do make it to the first team, or you later sell, should make up for you spent setting up the facility.

 

Agree 100% I will point out though I don't think any club is really all that far ahead despite the PR rhetoric. MLS really hasn't gone all in on academy and player development. They seem to be sticking their toes in here and there. In my humble opinion....it is going to be tough to go all in and get buy in from kids and parents until salaries are much higher. It is great to put a resident program together and take care of all their needs but what is the incentive if all you can offer them is lost college eligibility and 42 grand a year.

 

As my post mentioned it is wasted CASH. The budget hit isn't the issue, its ownership's perception of investing money in a prospect that doesnt pay out or contribute on the field. We've gone from Tim Leiweike's "go big or go home" pronouncements to trying to figure out how to build a team only using limited DP cash funding. Personally, I think the Bradley and Defoe and even Dempsey deals are silly and will ultimately prove to be very bad business deals, but because the league is subsidizing or sharing some of the risk, the teams spending the stupid money won't be penalized like they should. It's sort of like the guy who buys a huge house on a short-term ARM then defaults when the payment resets but gets to stay in it for years because lenders can't foreclose and put a ton of homes on the market at once and decide to modify his mortgage. Instead of being penalized, he actually gets far more benefit than if he had saved and gotten a conservative loan. The teams with the financial wherewithal to take on the large salaries are essentially getting league (or SUM or private equity fund) matching funds for their investments in salary. I'm not sure even if a star wanted to come here and the league would cover the transfer fee if the Dynamo would take on the salary. There's not going to be much financial payback for it so I can't blame them for not doing it.

Dynamo have never had many top salary players but always had a strong roster of upper middle-class guys. That plus excellent coaching has been the winning formula in MLS for the most part. Will it continue to be?

I am of the opinion - part based on knowledge of another stadium's financial operations, part based on speculation - that the Dynamo and stadium ownership are probably not raking in a ton of cash from the stadium. I am sure every revenue stream is enhanced but the debt service eats up a bunch of the new cash. So we will always be a limited-risk, limited-reward sort of club with the current ownership.

 

Don't care and you shouldn't either. The amount of wasted transfer money in this sport and yes in this league is substantial yet it is a cost of doing business. To your point our owners have already gone the path of low risk and one million in transfer for a 20 year old is low risk: but still a risk. As I said if that was a deterrent for future decisions....no transfers would ever be made and we would still be buying Landin happy meals.

 

But do our owners (the non-Leiweike AEG and Brener and Golden Boy) feel that way? When they go back this summer for some El Salvadorian transfer for a $1 million, do the owners just pony up? I just don't know. I've always sensed they run this thing a little leaner than other owners when it comes to spending to win without a tangible financial payback. I may be wrong. But Tim Leiweike and a few others will just keep firing bullets after mistakes.

 

They signed OBG. They signed Lopez. The owners are doing just fine. While MLS may be designed to lose money are break even...their independent ownership stake in SUM all but guarantees ownership profitability for the enterprise. Owners from the early days may be gun shy still recovering the first ten years of pumping money in....but there is little likelihood of overall losses year over year now.

 

The problem I see with this Lopez signing is that with a DP or even a Young DP spot comes with a impression that they need to immediately impress and contribute. As far as we know from the whimsical mind of Dom is he see a future in Lopez and is willing to mold. Bigger teams spend this kind of money on YOUTH players all the time, but for obvious reasons there isn't a huge discussion about it if they don't work out. With our smaller budget it gets blown up as wasted money we could use on someone else. I think we can all mostly agree the Dom has made good on his business in the small market(barnes, ngwenya, carr, etc.) and in the draft(cameron, holden, sarkodie, ashe, etc.), but the large market is a lot trickier than we all really realize. We are spoiled with OBG's play and impact on the team, then frustrated by every other DP we have signed.

The league its self has mostly had a bad taste in there mouth with DP's. It will continue to be a shot in the dark signing these kind of players until we get better at scouting, negotiating with outside of the USA clubs, the money is more flexible and teams get a far shake at better players over the babied teams( LA and NY)

 

The Galaxy just started this year of having academy teams for their club. The academy teams will be mixed in with the starting club team members and they will all play together no matter what age you are. This will be the start of a new trend in MLS and should be for a more consistent league.

 

ya you are right newtex, I meant pro teams but for some reason i was writing academy teams. all the clubs pretty much have academy teams. I was at dynamo training yesterday to do some interviews and asked Dom about the dynamo having a pro team. He didnt know tho