Here’s the buzz… as the thread says, fun - but probably not all true. (1) Dallas will offer Toronto the #11 pick and Adrian Serioux for the #2 pick. Dallas would like Omar Gonzalez at #2 and Kevin Alston at #5. (2) If Dallas fails with Toronto, they will offer #5, #18 and Dax McCarty to Seattle for the #1 overall pick. (3) Chicago will offer un-settled Wilman Conde to Toronto for the #2 pick in the draft, and then select Omar Gonzalez. Then use Conde’s salary and International spot for a transfer signing. (4) Hearing that TFC would like to deal picks for players, Real Salt Lake has gauged Toronto’s interest in Canadian International Will Johnson in exchange for the #4 pick. RSL would target Marcus Tracy. (5) New England is interested in trading up from #10 for Jeremy Hall (to replace Khano Smith). (6) Toronto has asked Los Angeles about Ante Jazic for the #13 pick. (7) Chivas USA has inquired about Red Bull New York’s second DP spot (which they got from Chivas in the first place). Chivas are floating multiple players and the #9 pick in the draft. (8) San Jose will offer Chivas USA the #32 pick and minor allocation $ for the MLS rights to out-of-contract (and oft-injured) Ante Razov. (9) New England has gauged Colorado’s interest in trading out-of-favor Christian Gomez for the #15 pick. 2009 is the last year of his deal with MLS. (10) Seattle is asking MLS to sign out-of-contract Joseph Ngwenya, so they can take him in the allocation draft.
In a second! Interesting stuff! Where's it from? The latest rumor from 3rd degree is that Tracy is going to Europe That seriously knocks down the value of the third pick.
All over the place. Some credible, some not remotely credible. It is just fun to read the speculation. Here's what I've heard on Tracy --- MLS came in with a mid-level, 5-figure/year deal (like the one with Lahoud). Tracy would like to make the 6-figure/year money that some generation adidas players land. His offers from Europe are trials - which don't guarantee anything.
If that is the case expect MLS to tell him to pound sand and have fun in Europe. They reserve the 6 figure salaries for GA signings because they want it to be an incentive to come out early, develop more, and be sold for more money. Staying in school for the full 4 years kills your value to MLS (so, the exact opposite of the real world). To give him that would set a bad precedence that MLS won't want to deal with. He'll go to Europe and either pull a Charlie Davies and thrive or a Mike Videira and be back in a year or two and making near the league minimum.
Totally agree with all you said, but you forgot the third option... pull a Baggio Husidic and publicly say that he wants nothing to do with MLS, only to sign the deal they originally offered. There's a big difference with this guy in comparison to Charlie Davies - who had international exposure before coming out of BC. I'm not totally convinced Tracy has demand abroad.
Well Baggio is a GA signing so he will make more than Tracy in MLS. The reason Davies left is that he wanted a larger GA deal than was being offered (think Freddy Adu sized) and the league said no. Tracy is assuming that his skill will be able to get him a much better paying deal. Problem is that he spent 4 years in college. He has no pro resume to back up his claims when he goes to Europe. He is already 22 years old so he has to prove to a team he is ready to start now or be ready in a year because he is too old to be looked at as a prospect. Very few 4 year college players go over to Europe and make a good deal of money. It can happen but is rare for them to succeed.
Ives reported a possible trade between Toronto, Dallas and an unnamed third team. That might be us. I'm not sure how it would work but it might involve Jazic and Serioux to Toronto, Dax to LA, Toronto's pick at #2 to Dallas, our #3 to Toronto, Dallas's #5 and #13 to us, Toronto's #13 to us, plus something to Dallas. I'm not even sure if all that adds up , but it would be a blockbuster!
Okay... back with some news... Rumor is plausible. Here’s the skinny from my mole… (1) Mo Johnston (Toronto GM) called Mike Hitchcock (Dallas GM) and offered the #2 pick for Adrian Serioux. Dallas rejected that deal. (2) Johnston called Hitchcock again and asked if Dallas would be willing to include Adrian Serioux and the #5 pick in a trade that would land Dallas the #2 pick and Eddie Lewis. Hitchcock confirmed they would consider that deal. (3) Johnston called Arena and offered a three-way deal. The #2 pick and Eddie Lewis go to Dallas. Adrian Serioux and Ante Jazic go to Toronto. The #4 and #5 picks go to Los Angeles. Arena rejected the deal immediately. If true, I congratulate Arena. That is a great deal for Dallas and Toronto, and terrible deal for LAG. What makes this rumor plausible is that Mike Hitchcock and Schellas Hyndman have gone on record saying that Dallas is pursuing a left winger within the league (thought to be Hyndman’s SMU boy Colin Clark), and TFC have gone on record saying they would like veteran players in exchange for their draft picks.
anyone think toronto would take our #3 pick and jazic for the #2 pick? from a galaxy perspective it would be a good deal, and i also think it would be good for toronto. thoughts?
It would be great for Toronto and terrible for LAG. Keep in mind, Nick Garcia went for the #1 overall pick last year. This isn't the NFL or NBA where the top 5 picks are super valuable. If Toronto wants Jazic for a draft pick, we should demand #2 overall and some minor allocation $.
i don't agree . . . reason being, i think jazic is going to get dumped if we don't trade him during the draft. considering we have lewis and randolph . . . why do we need a 6 figure international bench warmer? toronto knows this, and therefore won't be willing to give much for him. but, that is just my opinion.
As long as we then turned around and traded our #2 pick to FCD for their #5 pick and Dax McCarty, then I think it would be good. In my humble opinion, Dax plus #5 > Jazic plus #3.
Toronto won't take anything that involves a pick unless they have a trade lined up for the pick they receive. Most of the picks are no good to Toronto because they draft US players that then count against their international limit. Their goal is to start getting competent Canadian players from the other MLS teams.
Lewis is our left winger, not left back. Randolph started one game under Arena. After Jazic got hurt, Arena kept Randolph on the bench in favor of Greg Vanney at left back. That should tell you a lot of his valuation of Randolph. He then left Randolph unprotected for the expansion draft (and protected Jazic). Toronto is not in a strong position. The value of the draft was damaged by the rules changes that were launched in November. Already, TFC have had two trade proposals rejected for their draft picks. They'll be the ones compromising, not the other way around. Particularly, if they want Canadians - as reported. There are only 5 in the league (Serioux, Onstad, Johnson, Williams and Jazic) who don't play for TFC. The whole point for TFC is to clear International spots so they can go after some big names in the summer (including a DP). They are really loaded with allocation $.
The irony is that the two teams looking to dump picks, Toronto and Dallas, have something the other wants and are being forced to deal with each other. I don't get Bruce's liking of Vanney over Randolph. Not that Randolph is so great, but Vanney looked exactly like a guy who was going to retire at the end of the year (and should have retired the year earlier). Maybe it's just that coaches like veterans, or maybe it's because Vanney was Bruce's guy from the Nats days.
I believe you've hit upon it. Bruce likes his old guys. He's probably working on getting Claudio Reyna to come out of retirement. [just kidding. He wouldn't really do that, would he?]
Per the N&A threads,. Tracy is skipping the combine and looking to sign directly in Europe That knocks out one possible approach: draft and trade of Tracy for a defender. BTW, and seriously, don't you feel better going into the draft with BA at the controls rather than Lexi/Ruud? Sure, Bruce has made his share of mistakes. The draft is a crap shoot and everybody selects some busts. But on the whole, it is comforting to know that we finally have a non-crazy soccer guy doing the drafting.
this can have its upside . . . as tracy only has tryout offers in europe, yet it will definitely drive down his initial MLS value. i think the galaxy may be able to swing a trade where they can get a late first round pick and grab this guy. talk is that tracy is too old to get on a european squad as a development guy, yet not experienced enough to attain a non-dev spot. if that is the case, we could land him in 6-9 months dirt cheap. last season, yes . . . as his legs are only getting older, i think he may be moving to leftback in the near future. who would we insert at the left wing? who knows, but i would love to see someone with a little more speed at that position. if we lose LD to BM, maybe we could swing a deal for beaz? toronto may not be in a strong position for trades, but the waiver wire is a different deal. i am curious to see where they are in the waiver priority list. if they are near the top, they would most definitely use that against us regarding a guy that we are likely to dump (if we can't trade) because of his high salary, international slot requirement and nack for getting injured. i just don't see anyone other than toronto seeing value in jazic, and toronto knows that. if toronto is the only person that we can trade him to, and they are also high on the waiver priority list, we are screwed.
Jazic made only $126k last year - hardly a tough cap hit. At that rate, their are several teams across MLS that would take him as defensive cover, even if he is injury prone. This is not a fullback-rich league. Also, Jazic got his green card last year, and is not an International for us. He is one of the rare players that would not count as an International for any of the 15 teams. If the report about Dominguez leaving is true, the only Internationals we carry are Ricketts, Beckham and Sesay... and Sesay was working on his green card this past season.
Arena was very unhappy with the midfield play last year and is alledgedly going for experience in 2009. This is why he is considering a 4-2-3-1 with Beckham (HM), Klein (RW), Lewis (LW) and Kirovski (CAM) all featuring in the midfield (assuming Landon does not return). That's another reason we keep being associated with a trade for Kovalenko (to fill the second holding spot). Hence, I seriously doubt Lewis ends up at fullback. The reports from MLS beat writers have Beasley wanting a salary north of $1MM/year -- so it doesn't look like LAG is an option. However, I think it is very unlikely he'll be back in MLS. For starters, MLS would have to buy him from Rangers. Second, if the Rangers firesale is going to happen, DeMarcus can hang on in Europe until the summer, and then he'll have a stage at the Confederations Cup to show the Euro clubs that he still has it.
Fox soccer channel reports that the Galaxy contacte Panucci....... Panucci's contract is almost up.....
I agree. Jazic wasn't healthy a lot of last year, but I thought he played well and was our 2nd best defender, easily, when he did. Bruce didn't seem to have much faith in him, though, so I thought he was going to be shipped.