From a couple of the players I've spoken to, they seem to love having him on the roster. So I'd love to hear more?
This is one of the best pieces written about this team in years. Complete indictment on the failure of this front office.
A bunch of disorganized Jones thoughts that I have been having for a while. I would like to see the Revs keep Jones, but not at $3M. This team is still just a player or two away if they can keep Jones (and Goncalves). At the same time, this team is still in need of forwards and defenders (the whole back line) regardless of whether or not Jones is resigned. This is a big off season. Given all the needs and work that has to be done for this roster to be successful again next year it might be easiest to sign Jones. I wonder if he would take an incentive laden deal with a base closer t0 $1.75-2M? I wonder what is driving Jones on his next contract? I assume the factors include the following: Money, his family, the USMNT. The Revs might be a good place for him as he will not have to take part in the Champions League. This should give him more family time (less travel/games), reduced travel wear and tear, and reduced exposure to injury (less games). If Jones is not signed, they will not look at the situation as having $1-3M to spend elsewhere. They will look at it as having whatever his DP cap hit is these days ($350K?) to spend elsewhere. They will look at it as a test to see how the team can do for a season without him. If things do not go well, they will start looking mid season, but it will be too late or they will not be able to deliver the needed help based on this season and history as a guide. If Jones is not signed, then I suggest that they do their best to trade him within MLS. Maybe a multi-team deal that brings multiple, established players to New England. I do not have anything in mind at this point, but we would be best served getting good, known MLS players in return for Jones than trying our best in the International pool. If Jones is not signed, how does that impact other players who are at the end of their current contracts such as Goncalves? How does that impact our formation/approach? Does that allow us to play two forwards at once? If Jones cannot be signed, any possibility that we could trade him to LAFC and get him on a loan for next season? Not sure what they could offer us? Maybe pay a great deal of his salary next season in exchange for nothing else? Could they offer us some expansion picks? Money? Something else that might work best for both sides? Could Jones be signed as a player/coach and spread his salary out that way? Does he have any interest in staying on as a coach after his playing career ends? 2016 is a huge year for Jones and his future with the USMNT. He needs to play well for the Revs and the USMNT next year to have any chance of remaining in the USMNT pool in any role other than veteran leader, true professional as 2018 is still years away. That team is already going to have a lot of competition for such a role/roles. What contracts/needs do the Revs address first in this off season?
After an afternoon game last year, a group of my friends went for dinner at Bar Louie. Jermaine and about 10 of the players plus WAG's came in as a group and sat near us. The way the conversation went among the players, it was really clear that there was a ton of respect for his knowledge of the game (for instance Davies at one point asked what he should have done differently in a certain situation that had happened). I got a sense that he was a real plus guy from the bits of the interaction that I observed.
Maybe the players issue should be with management who allow JJ to receive preferential treatment...and maybe it's in his contract that he gets to visit his family on the west coast...
I have no issue with JJ except that the quality of his play has been below average (maybe due to age/injury) and I have it on good authority that his absences are not looked upon favorably by members of the organization....read into that what you want...
You mean when he was injured, and he rehabbed in California and not Boston? I was under the impression that since it happened under the USSF watch he was visiting with their doctors and not one linked to the Revs. Or he could have preferred the USSF doc for all I know. So this boils down to someone having beef with the fact that when he was unable to practice, he was not hanging around trying to encourage the lads? I know Heaps doesn't have (or, according to some, want) and assistant coach, but you'll have to get more specific than the old "trust me, somebody dunn tole me" variation of the anonymous source for me to believe this.
I agree; there's no defending the front office on those charges. He's pretty much nailed it. I can see the team being very reluctant to guarantee $6M for a guy who has just missed half the season and been below par for much of the rest of it (and is only getting older). OTOH, he is really important to the team in a number of ways. I can see Jones being reluctant to take a short-term deal, if it means either moving or living away from his family. You would think both sides would find a way to resolve it (maybe with a 2nd year kicking in based on # of appearances, or a 2 year deal with a size-able buyout price for the team on the 2nd year). I still maintain that Jones isn't going to have better options. Other teams, include euro, will see what this season has been like and they know how old he is. The Revs aren't likely to bargain against themselves, so this may take a while to resolve. Well, salary cap rules make that a much more expensive option. Not only would you be using 3 DP slots (valuable commodities in themselves), but you'd have more than 3x the cap hit that you would for one bigger DP (I'm pretty sure the 3rd DP has a bigger cap hit than the first and probably the 2nd too?). Signing a $3m DP, is one cap charge (isn't it like $350K?); signing 3 $1M DPs, is more than 3x as much.
This conversation reminds me a bit of the back and forth we had about Shalrie later in his career. It's hard to know when to let go, at what price, etc. One constant seems to be the widely held perception that the club will be unlikely to find a comparable replacement for the player.
The Jones discussion is amazing to watch. Random comments - I suspect the REVs will (have?) come in low - I expect Jone's agent is trying to get other offers Jones will be willing to take at the salary he wants - I bet the REVs ultimately have to decide whether to pay him what he wants or watch him leave. We'll find out how much they agree with posters here who think he should take a 33% or more pay cut. - I'd argue that Nguyen, Davies, Bunbury, Daigo all had worse seasons than last year. Some of it form, some of it injuries or both. Maybe they should all take 1/3 pay cuts too? Maybe 2014 was a peak of form for them and 2015 was a relative low? Maybe they'll be somewhere between the two in 2016. Maybe Jones will be too? - Jones was played out of position and injured for large portions of the season and the above players weren't playing as well either. Is it all his fault? We get our first real DP and expect he should overcome every problem? It's still an 11 man game. - Despite his injury, Jones has played a fair number of games this year and been okay, if not great, in many of them. What's with the injury impatience? We waited nearly 2 full seasons for Twellman to recover but we should cut Jones' pay because he isn't playing at MVP levels after his injury? - How many people that want him to take a 1/3 pay cut or more have ever taken that big of a pay cut? No one has had an average to mildly below average review at work and STILL gotten a raise? - I hope they reach agreement with him. Barring further injury, I feel pretty certain he is and will be better than what they bring in for an alternative over 2 seasons, assuming Burns can find anyone at all other than a draft pick. - They won't immediately go out and sign a different, multi-million DP if Jones leaves. We'll have to wait for ALL of the stars to align again. - The beauty of MLS is that if the REVs make the playoff and Jones plays great for 4-5 games and carries (helps carry) the team to the finals he will, win or lose, be our hero again and we'll be saying the Krafts better sign him for $4M or more. That's a problem with MLS "parity" in my opinion. They don't have to play at top form all season.
That would put the whole preferential treatment thing to rest, as they'd be treating his leaving the same way they treat most other players leaving.
A) I don't car how much they pay Jones if takes up a DP slot. That reduces his cap hit to $436K. Whatever he makes above that comes out a pocket Bob Kraft rarely dips into with the Revs (his own). $3M? Fine by me. No one else is getting that cash. Make it $10M for all I care. It's not like there's a chance someone else, or multiple someone elses, will get that money otherwise.
OK, so let me ask you again. "Members of the organization" can mean a lot of people and things. Pure random guesses, but it could be any of these kinds of things: Some intern felt that he snubbed him one time when he was in a hurry to go somewhere? Someone at the top, who is not that involved in day-to-day matters, who feels he should be rehabbing his injury in Boston, so he could be with the team, and not in LA (after all, that's how the Patriots do this)? Some by-the-book, policy-driven quantitative analyst from MIT looks at the numbers and doesn't understand why, maybe in certain cases, it's better to have some flexibility, and then he goes back to check the inventory numbers of Gronk jerseys? You can always dig up someone who is willing to say something bad about someone, regardless of their reputation otherwise. By pretty much every single account, Jones' presence here is viewed as a major positive, both on and off the field. It is a cheap shot to throw out an unsubstantiated negative comment that goes contrary to pretty much every public and private statement that has ever been made about the guy in the last two years. This is a large part of the reason I didn't put too much stock in the Bob Kraft article in Boston Mag, where they author quotes some "anonymous source" saying he is the most insecure person he ever met. Not disagreeing, per se, but you need more than that to make me believe your point. The burden of proof is on you, snootie.
It's so easy to be anonymous on the internet and just throw out comments that would be considered slander in real life situations.
None of those guys are designated players. None of those guys are 34 year old NT starters with a decade+ experience in a top 4 European league. The expectations are different - those guys are solid MLS starters but nowhere near a Jermaine Jones. They need to step it up but you expect your most talented best paid player to perform well all the time. Just how it is. A "fair number" is 18 games, or a little over half. Playing "okay, if not great" is fine if this team didn't need him to dominate in order to win anything. He's been mediocre this year. When you get older you're more susceptible to injuries. What makes you think Jones will ever be the 2014 Jones again? I'm not saying a 1/3 paycut but they shouldn't guarantee him a raise either. Most of us here, I'd venture to guess, aren't pro athletes. Our careers typically extend well beyond 34-35. If you get a raise in spite of mediocrity in a office job, your organization rewards mediocrity. Are you really arguing for that while complaining about parity in the same post? C'mon Eyore. Agree the FO is inept at finding a replacement. However, Jones is not 27 and hitting his peak. Contracts are for what a player is predicted to do, not what they have done. Giving him a guaranteed raise is silly when chances are his body will break down and he will miss a lot of time over the next year. Sign Jones to an incentive based contract with the expectation, he will miss time with injuries. Or, make him an assistant coach where he can still influence the team and not be stuck recovering from injuries half the year.
It's a given that if he doesn't come back, we ain't signing anyone to take his place. Just like Andy Dorman was Clint Dempsey's replacement and Andrew Farrell was AJ Soares', Scott Caldwell will be Jones'. But the question that never gets addressed is who will take over Caldwell's role next year if this happens? Maybe we can pick up some guy who couldn't cut it with Philly or Houston and put him in the starting role, that should work! I like the idea of an incentive-based contract. If he plays in, say 95% of the games, if he has reasonable goal/assist totals (this can be tricky for a DM), and maybe a few other things like team win bonuses, then he can make +/- what he's looking for. If he misses half the games due to injury, then he gets less. I like the idea of him as an assistant, but (not to go into "snootie" territory), how would Heaps feel about this? I can't say this is the case, but I get the sense that the players really listen to Jones, and would Heaps feel that he is undermining his authority as the HC? Notice how the mood of the team picked up (and players said as much) when he came back and was training with the team. If he and Heaps have a good understanding and working relationship and no egos get in the way, this could be the best solution. Plus, Jones, as an experienced player at a high level, might know a thing or two about in-game tactical adjustments.