I have no problem with the move to bring in another young keeper like I have said in the past, I think they just gave up too much to get this specific GK. Also, if they think Hamid has a bright future, then I might loan him down to someone like Richmond, were he can still get guidance/training from Onstad.
Last year, we were one decent goal scorer away from being pretty solid. But I strongly disagree with the assertion that Angel is a decent goal scorer.
This is where United have gotten themselves into trouble in the past, making deals like you suggest above. Not picking on you per se, just the idea. This was a top-heavy draft with about a half dozen or so impact players most likely next season. There is a pretty noticable drop-off in talent according to those in the know for this draft and it's not nearly as deep as the 09' or 10' drafts were. Therefore, it made perfect sense to do nothing but take your natural picks. United trading the two Supplemental picks are akin to throwing deck chairs off the Titanic. Very negligible return for that move. Just out of curiousity, what would you expect in return for Simms? If I had to venture a guess, I'd say he would be worth a 2nd round pick and that's about it. He makes pretty good money ($171,000 last season) that would scare away a lot of teams. And let's be brutally honest here, Simms has not played all that well as of late. If I'm another team, I wouldn't touch Simms with a 10-foot pole.
I would take allocation money/3rd round pick in next years draft for Simms right now. I only mentioned throwing in paying some of his salary to make the offer more appealing to a club. I would not touch Simms either if I was another club but you never know sometimes people take the bait.
I, too, thought trading Simms for a pick would be a good idea, and when Kitchen was chosen I wondered why we hadn't unloaded Clyde. But Goff says Ben has Kitchen slated as a central defender, not a DM, in which case keeping Clyde around makes some sense. As for a third keeper: Don't assume Hamid will be fully recovered when the season starts. Shoulder surgery is a bit of a crapshoot - your strength comes back, but range of motion often suffers, and range of motion is crucial for a keeper. My son, a whitewater kayak racer has had two such surgeries and can attest to what I say (I've had one, but as long as I have sufficient range of motion to extract the bottle of Abita from the 'fridge I'm good).
Funny moment yesterday in the media room as Ben was being interviewed just after the selection of Kitchen. Paul Gardner of Soccer America, long past his prime and just a general curmudgeon overall, was asking Ben if he was a defender or a midfielder. "Both" replied Ben, which seemed to confound Gardner. "What do you mean both?" replied Gardner. "He can play defense or in midfield" said Olsen. "Clearly I'm not going to get an answer from you" said a frustrated Gardner who walked away, to which Olsen and pretty much everyone else in listening distance chuckled a bit at the Old School Gardner. Looking forward to how Gardner will spin this in his Draft column in Soccer America.
In the immediate wake of the draft, I would grade pass/fail. I would grade "pass". 2-3 years from know if Kitchen and Korb are starting, I would grade "A". If Kitchen is starting and Korb is depth, then "B". Anything less than that is a "C" or worse. If Willis remains as depth as the No. 2 keeper, move the grades up one-half. I'm cautiously optimistic here. DCU might have the youngest team in the league next year. Plenty of mistakes, but, hopefully, plenty of upside as well. Beats what has been on display that past 3 seasons.
Gardner apparently tried to get Kitchen to answer the same question, to which Perry responded "Ask Coach". Perfect answer.
You really expect a low second-round draft pick to be a starter? And you'd judge this draft to be a failure in some way if he makes the team but doesn't start?
They just signed him, while acknowledging that he is a 1-3 year project, but they see potential. We can't just keep dumping young guys we take on as projects when they don't magically progress two-years worth of time at the instant they put ink to a contract. Have some patience with the kids, please.
I understand hes an international spot, but IIRC we have 4/8 taken up, so Junior isnt killing us there. And hes a project as stated above. If we dumb every teenage project we sign in a matter of months, were never gonna get any more high potential youngsters
Maybe this Hamid guy could fit in there, too! Goff and I get along very well. However, we're not competitors. Actually, there are a few chairs between us and Bill Archer was sitting (not at that time) between us.
No, that's not what I meant, I apologize if I was unclear. What I meant was that if both Kitchen and Korb become starters after several years, then the draft is an "A" because you don't necessarily expect a second round pick to become a starter. I'm using "A" as an exceptional draft. My "B" grade presumes that both Kitchen and Korb pan out as expected. That is a superior than average draft result because you got two useful players from the draft, but not outstanding. A "C" meant you get at least one player from the draft that remains on the roster after several years. I would call that average, although if Kitchen doesn't become a starter, that would be a disappointment given his status as the #3 player picked. Maybe I'm grading harder than most, but I'm old school on an "A", it should mean exceptional performance, not just better than average.
I read an inTeresting way of judging our draft. We got two players from what could be considered one of the best college soccer teams of all time. I am not trying to verify the validity of the statement, but if akron is that great of a team, then we did have a fantastic draft. Toughts?
That's a pretty high standard. Most teams are lucky if at least one player manages to stick around for one season, let alone "several". So if Kitchen was a Rookie of the Year finalist, would that make the draft an "A" or a "B"? I ask because I expect Kitchen to be in the running, and, to me, that'd be a pretty good draft considering we were picking third.