JoeW
27 Jul 2004, 10:41 PM
Right now we've got cap room. As near as I can tell, we've probably got $200K in cap space. Here's a radical idea: trade some of it for a draft pick.
The going rate is cap space for a first round pick (what Dallas got from Chicago and from us). Furthermore, that isn't a first round pick for a lot of space--I thought the Fire only got about $60K for their first round pick and we got about $90K (though I could be wrong).
Why do this?
Well, the talk about the expansion draft got me thinking about our roster. I think Nowak went into the season willing to give people a trial--to see if they could cut it. I think his hands were also tied--we had so many cap commitments (and then injuries) he really couldn't add people.
I actually think we may be in a situation where going into the expansion draft we will not expose anyone to the draft that the team is interested in keeping. In otherwords, I think we'll have less than 13 players on the current roster than Nowak wants back.
Petke has seen his game slip, he's expensive and doesn't play well in a back 3. Hendrickson--has value but we're not going to build a defense around him. Nelsen--he's great but Nowak may feel he isn't worth MLS max, may prefer a taller central back and he probably won't re-sign anyway. Prideaux--he's in the Petke category except he's cheaper. Stokes probably returns b/c he's P-40 and local. The only defender I think who's a lock to return and be protected is Namoff. At goal, only Perkins returns. And even that would be iffy--he's cheap but there are also good bargains to be had at GK and the USA produces plenty of them (Perkins is just one example).
Midfield--assume Stewart is either gone or returns at less money. Carroll, Gros, Kovalenko and Olsen return. Ara returns. At forward, Moreno and Eskandarian return (I'm assuming he loses P-40 status). Who knows about Martin and Quintanilla and Quaranta--we can't cut them if they're hurt but they may or may not be in long range plans.
Plus, this team plays hard and well when we've got all or most of our pieces. But we struggle to win b/c we are missing some key ingredients. Using the Convey allocation now isn't likely to fill enough of those key holes. We could use a finisher, a playmaking midfielder and next year, probably an organizer on the backline.
Bottomline--I'm not writing off this year. But I don't think acquiring one very good player is going to do it for us. We'll still struggle (either b/c Nelsen is off and our defense will be inconsistent or b/c we can't finish). So this team needs to add several players and will likely jetison a bunch to have a cohesive side that compliments what Nowak wants to play. Especially if we're talking (as Payne has hinted at) in saving the allocation until the off-season.
If that's the case, why hang on to all the cap room? I bet NE, Columbus and Colorado would all try to get cap room. I think we've got enough of it to sign 2-3 players at league minimum and still acquire a #1 pick from someone by dealing cap space. That would mean not trying for a stud finisher or skillful A-mid--but again, we may not be using the allocation this season anyway.
Thoughts?
The going rate is cap space for a first round pick (what Dallas got from Chicago and from us). Furthermore, that isn't a first round pick for a lot of space--I thought the Fire only got about $60K for their first round pick and we got about $90K (though I could be wrong).
Why do this?
Well, the talk about the expansion draft got me thinking about our roster. I think Nowak went into the season willing to give people a trial--to see if they could cut it. I think his hands were also tied--we had so many cap commitments (and then injuries) he really couldn't add people.
I actually think we may be in a situation where going into the expansion draft we will not expose anyone to the draft that the team is interested in keeping. In otherwords, I think we'll have less than 13 players on the current roster than Nowak wants back.
Petke has seen his game slip, he's expensive and doesn't play well in a back 3. Hendrickson--has value but we're not going to build a defense around him. Nelsen--he's great but Nowak may feel he isn't worth MLS max, may prefer a taller central back and he probably won't re-sign anyway. Prideaux--he's in the Petke category except he's cheaper. Stokes probably returns b/c he's P-40 and local. The only defender I think who's a lock to return and be protected is Namoff. At goal, only Perkins returns. And even that would be iffy--he's cheap but there are also good bargains to be had at GK and the USA produces plenty of them (Perkins is just one example).
Midfield--assume Stewart is either gone or returns at less money. Carroll, Gros, Kovalenko and Olsen return. Ara returns. At forward, Moreno and Eskandarian return (I'm assuming he loses P-40 status). Who knows about Martin and Quintanilla and Quaranta--we can't cut them if they're hurt but they may or may not be in long range plans.
Plus, this team plays hard and well when we've got all or most of our pieces. But we struggle to win b/c we are missing some key ingredients. Using the Convey allocation now isn't likely to fill enough of those key holes. We could use a finisher, a playmaking midfielder and next year, probably an organizer on the backline.
Bottomline--I'm not writing off this year. But I don't think acquiring one very good player is going to do it for us. We'll still struggle (either b/c Nelsen is off and our defense will be inconsistent or b/c we can't finish). So this team needs to add several players and will likely jetison a bunch to have a cohesive side that compliments what Nowak wants to play. Especially if we're talking (as Payne has hinted at) in saving the allocation until the off-season.
If that's the case, why hang on to all the cap room? I bet NE, Columbus and Colorado would all try to get cap room. I think we've got enough of it to sign 2-3 players at league minimum and still acquire a #1 pick from someone by dealing cap space. That would mean not trying for a stud finisher or skillful A-mid--but again, we may not be using the allocation this season anyway.
Thoughts?