Extra, extra, read all about it - Christian Gomez is back in black. BehindTheBadge.com has the official news.
I really hope I'm wrong, but this trade sounds terrible to me. Don't get me wrong, I really like Gomez, and I know he's a fan favorite, but it just seems like too much to give up Guerrero, a DP roster spot, a 2010 SuperDraft second round pick and "salary cap considerations" for him. I watched a fair number of Colorado matches last year just to watch Gomez, and his benching was justifiable. He just looked lazy, old and disinterested. Like I said, I really hope I'm wrong, but this year's team is reminding me more and more of the dark years right before and after Etch retired..... Does anyone have any further insight on the meaning of "salary cap considerations"? The only way this makes any sense is if Colorado is picking up part of Gomez's salary, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Glad to have Gomez back, but we gave up way too much (Guerrero + DP slot) to get him. I'm a little bit stunned that KP/DK gave up so much, given Gomez's iffy '07. In the last week, we're down Roger, Gallardo and Guerrero, and up Gomez. I expect this roster to have a few major additions by August.
Grumble. That's a very high price to pay. I guess the FO was worried about time away from the team with the qualifiers for Guerrero. That's a pisser. The DP wasn't enough for those greedy bastards? Oh well, Welcome back Christian!
My bad - I had salary cap considerations in the wrong spot. WE'RE receiving salary cap considerations, not Colorado. It's fixed on BTB.
I really don't like the idea of giving up Guerrero, but if the Gomez we all remember is back, I'll probably deal pretty quickly. -- Now, about the center of defense...
Whew, that makes me feel a little better. Still, we're giving up way too much for him in my view. Any indication of how much of his 400k salary Colorado is picking up? Even better yet, does anyone know where we currently stand in terms of the salary cap given: 1. Gallardo's departure; 2. Roger's non-signing; 3. the Gonzalos' departures; and 4. the Gomez's signing? It would seem that we have a fair amount of money to play with. Inquiring minds want to know!
United1, erdosain and Grasscutter have called it. Colorado really does not come off looking the part of the desperate one in this. I know that with BIG risk comes big gain, but this is uncomfortable. Let's start the prayer vigil campaign... our mantra "May Moreno's 2nd time around voodoo magic come again." Furthermore, let's be prepared to support him and the rest like they never parted.
plus we picked up another GK, Mike Graczyk, in the deal. Seems like the FO gave up too much. I understanding the DP slot and the draft pick, but Guerrero?
But think of it as offloading Gallardo and Guerrero and a draft pick for Gomez, the Goalie (not sure why) and netting a LOT of $ on both ends of that deal. Agreed about the center of the D. Hopefully they can use some money to address that.
I love Gomez and am happy to have him back... but I've got to agree with the folks above. Absolutely too much to give up. However, Guerrero is expensive, and this does provide a fair amount of salary cap space for us. Hopefully there is another signing or something coming.
Gallardo was on the books for the max ($400K?) Gonzalo Martinez had a guaranteed salary of $244,750 Peralta was at $199,000 Guerrero was at $147,000 Leaving aside the other player moves (Wells' likely retirement, etc.), that's around $1 million of cap space cleared, less whatever portion of Christian's salary DC will be on the hook for...say it's half of his max contract, or around $200,000...that still leaves a big chunk of change for new players. The problem, of course, is that you have to actually *sign* new players. Also, Guerrero is a really good MLS player - a very talented 2-way player who doesn't chew up too much cap space. He'll be tough to replace at that price.
Burch, Zaher, Fred, and Wallace are all left side players. Guerrero is expendable. I think the biggest tell is picking up Graczyk. Wells leaving caught the team by surprise. Kocic hasn't been up to billing, and probably isn't a good #2, either is Thorpe. With Crayton's shoulder acting up, another possible hole.
For what we gave up, awful. I'm dead serious -- I'm starting to wonder if the F.O. of this team isn't operating like the upper management of the Cleveland Indians in the film Major League -- trying to fsck the team badly enough that its attendance tanks and they can move it to another city. If we just got the 2005 or 2006 Christian Gomez, this is a good move. If we got the 2007 Christian Gomez, this is a bad move. If we got the 2008 Christian Gomez, this is an epic fail. We just traded away the only true wing on the entire team. Brilliant. I'm going to go stand in traffic now.
None of Burch, Zaher or Fred play left wing worth two shits on half-off day. Wallace we don't know about yet, but he's a defender.
I hope there' more irons in the fire or this year's defense is gonna ship goals like FedEx not impressed at the moment
So the preferred starting 11 right now is.... ---------- Crayton----------- Namoff---Janicki---McT---Burch -------Q---Simms---Fred------ -----------Gomez------------- --------Emilio---Jamie--------- That doesn't have me excited, especially when you take a look at the bench. The average age of that attack is what, 31?
Goddammit this pisses me off. We had one true wing player on the team. One. Now we have zero. Zero. On the left side, for left wing and left back, we have Fred (who's right-footed, can't cross from the left and has to cut inside), Burch (who isn't that strong a defender, and has consistently sucked as left wing), Zaher (a hard worker, but no skills to speak of), and Wallace (talented, but young and raw; a project). That's our left side of the field all the way back to the endline. Maybe we just got the 2005 or 2006 Gomez. Maybe this will be like the return of Jaime Moreno. God I hope so, because right now it looks like the only questions our F.O. asked on this deal were: when do we bend over? how far do we bend over? when we bend, do we spread? who's got the Crisco? ((c) FZ) Jesus.
I like Burch and Fred but I think Guerrero did more for the team than either of them did last year. I liked what I saw from the limited exposure of Zaher last year and I read your good reports about Wallace but they are still inexperienced in this league and as most everyone has been calling out for, experience and grit are things this team needs (granted Gomez has it in spades) but so does Guerrero. Hopefully, Fred comes back on form and Burch, still young, proves out and Wallace proves out and Zaher proves out but based on play on field Guerrero is not the one to trade. All that being said I expect Gomez will return, lead and dominate. Damn it. Bootsy said what I wanted to first. Well, I guess this is the first similar post in the history of BS.