Tonight we learned that a child’s STM gift was 25% of an adults. The guys behind us picked their seats after ours so they haven’t been an STM as long and I assume they’re the same seating tier as us. They got $20 for 2 seats. We got $25 for 4 seats. I’ve always felt like the team valued a kids seat less than beer buying adults seat. Can’t say I felt like I’d see it confirmed in quite such stark terms.
How do they know it’s a kid? I got $25 for SEVEN seats! I sit in 127 so that’s not exactly the cheap seats.
My impression of the team is that they don't value a child seat because they don't buy alcohol and based the assumption that more than 2 seats includes children. TBF I'd have been fine with some flimsy $5 scarf as opposed to putting a value on each seat. And I am sure you're seats are just as expensive as mine, I in the front row of 129.
Believe it or not, this The Athletic article lauds Dave Kasper for building a "Strong and Balanced" roster that is capable of competing for silverware with a limited budget: There is nothing particularly spectacular about D.C. United’s roster once you scroll past the top name. Even with Wayne Rooney’s DP investment, D.C. United sits in the middle of the table in spending in MLS. That’s because Rooney is the player that turns a very solid, budget-friendly team into one capable of making a playoff run. D.C. United GM Dave Kasper is one of the best at manipulating a limited budget and he spent two years building a core that could be elevated by a top DP. There were a couple misses, sure, but hits on players like Lucho Acosta, Steve Birnbaum, Bill Hamid, Lucas Rodriguez, Russell Canouse, Joseph Mora and Junior Moreno, all acquired through different mechanisms, has put D.C. in contention for silverware. D.C. ranks fifth in points per salary dollars and has a balanced roster with flexibility to add on the top end—even more so if they sell Acosta this summer to open a DP spot. Overall, the authors access Kasper as having assembled the 5th best assembled roster in their article: Introducing the MLS roster construction rankings: How effectively all 24 teams have used their salary budget. Chew on this if you will.
Dave Kaspar has always know how to navigate the league's Calvin Ball rules on salaries, fees, TAMs and trades. Its the scouting that finds the players. Kaspar is the one who figures out how to pay them.
Kasper is generally good at navigating the MLS bargain bin the problem is we usually hold on to these guys too long and end up with a slow start to the season until they can be replaced.
As I said somewhere else, take Rooney away, this is a bottom 5 payroll. Take Arriola away, this is likely the bottom payroll in the league. Why do we think @shawn12011 basically refers to everyone as a deck chair? With only a couple of exceptions, that's what we've got. Segura is a credible backup in the midfield. Durkin is decent in DM. Maybe Pines is a decent central defender. Yow might be credible attacker in this league some day, but thats not for sure yet. They're both young and not who you want be hanging your hat on. This team 1 deep at nearly every position and we're seeing what that looks like right now with our injuries and 2 starters away on NT duty. We saw it Saturday night, a similarly depleted Toronto team hung with us and we had Rooney who is better than anyone they might field on their best day. Our backups don't cut it. Don't even come close. Rooney papers over a lot of cracks and flaws, but over the long haul guys get hurt, guys play with their national teams or they need rest and that's not a luxury our current roster make up affords us. I read that piece and its very superficial. It doesn't consider what happens to Toronto when Jozy & Bradley are away just like it doesn't consider what happens when Moreno or Arriola are away or Mora gets hurt. It really only considers the full strength starting 11, maybe the first 2-3 subs perhaps, but I doubt it. I have very little doubt that Dave Kasper knows how to find the best possible options from the MLS bargain bin, but you've got a much bigger chance of a bust when you're shopping the bargain bin. Sometimes there is nothing in the bargain bin. People can cite Pity Martinez's current form and all the money spent on him, but I'd love to have seen him play for Tata rather FDB along with the rest of the ATL faithful.
Of course if you take Rooney and Arriola away we would have the worst payroll in the league. The comparison is pointless unless you do the same across the board. I suspect every team except the big hitters would have the worst payroll in the MLS if you took their two highest paid guys out of the equation. All the blame falls on ownership not Kasper.
Some teams (LAFC) did really well scouting and ended up players like Mark Anthony Kaye, Eduard Atuesta, and scraped Lee Ngyuen off the dustbin of Brad Friedel's failed experiment. They still have key pieces that require a bit more - Vela, Zimmerman, Rossi. Still they can fail to beat Colorado (no Kaye and Atuesta and the midfield lacks dynamism and a chicken with his head cut off in Blessing). We don't have a single player after Rooney, Acosta, and Arriola that is as good of a find as Atuesta or Kaye. We now know that Durkin (currently) isn't good enough to take Canouse's place. Steiber is better than the bench but nothing can convince Benny of that. Jalen Robinson and McCann have no business being on the back line. Griffin Yow needs 30 minutes per match with the first team. Anything else would be stupid - no - he shouldn't start. That's all I've got. One solid summer pickup with speed and scoring ability could allow DC's attack to be much more dynamic. Though we've now all been asking for a striker signing for years - I'm now dead from holding my breath but back thanks to the drowned god - what is dead shall never die. James
We agree 100% on this. The point I was making is that this roster has zero depth and if you filled those 1-2 guys in with the typical sorts of players we've gotten in the past and even lately as depth (Pedroso, McCann, rookies) its a shit roster that mostly Rooney is making look much better than it is. We should have been able to lap Toronto the other night, instead they came into our building and managed to minimize Rooney and take it to the other 10 guys on the roster. Not that there aren't some good players besides our 2 DPs, but not nearly good enough top to bottom, side to side. You're prolly right that most teams are only their DPs away from wooden spoon oblivion, but I don't really give a ******** about any other teams fortunes, just DCU. TAM, dTAM were all supposed to bolster the middle of the roster and I am not sure we've done that so well, or perhaps we've just the same dollars chasing resources in a big macroeconomic experiment where no one gets ahead but the owners who really spend vs the ones who pretend to spend like Levien/Kaplan.
Just looking at the standings this morning, I'm feeling even more depressed. Philadelphia, Montreal & United are all even with 20 games played. But, Atlanta, and Red Bull NY have two games in hand on us while the NYCFC has a whooping four games in hand on us. New England and Toronto both have one game in hand on us. Accordingly, next week's game against New England is going to be huge. If we don't take three points away from that game, we'll be in danger of - believe it or not - crashing out of the players. As it is, based on our current run of play, I see our best case scenario as sliding down to playoff slots 4, 5, 6 or 7.
I forget who it is, but the 8th place team and those below are quite a bit behind us. Unless a couple teams go on runs I think the playoffs are pretty likely. I do agree that we look likely to end up 4th-7th. The east is bad. Unless we pick up 2 or 3 players. Getting Arriola back *could* make a pretty big difference too.
Yamil Asad dejó de ser jugador de @Velez. El jugador no llegó a un acuerdo con económico con el club y quedó en libertad de acción. Tras su regreso de la #MLS, solamente jugó 20 minutos en el 4 a 0 a Lanús en la última fecha de la Superliga. pic.twitter.com/QJPiLmZM37— Pablo Pino (@Pablopino3) July 7, 2019 Yamil Asad is now a free agent.
Yamil Asad (@YamilAsad11) <a href="Se termina una etapa y siempre voy a estar agradecido al club que me formo como jugador y persona, me llevo lo mejor y le deseo lo mejor, gracias @velez ! pic.twitter.com/icbWC3x4Er— Yamil Asad (@YamilAsad11) July 8, 2019 " to all my ventilators: A stage is finished and I will always be grateful to the club that formed me as a player and person, I take the best and wish you the best, thank you