I dunno. I think Antinella might still be behind Irwin in the depth chart. I'm sad to see him go also.
Sad to see Jeff go, I liked him. But, for his career, this is (potentially) a great move. Hopefully he gets a first team gig somewhere. RSL just free'd up another 95K of cap space. Of course, we also just added to our list of "needs" but this is one you can address pretty easily. In the upcoming draft, find a good GK and take 'em.
You are forgetting who RSL's front office consists of. Since when have they shown anything is pretty easy for them?
I have zero confidence in him. I watched him a lot in the Monarch games. That backheel through the 5-hole when he got to moonlight with RSL against that Mexican team was pretty much par for the course for him.
That was against Inter, but point stands He isn't great and the (now former) Monarch player I knew said he wasn't first team material. This is why I think we should draft a top rated GK with our 13th pick. Nicky is good for another year, at the least
We could go into the season comfortable with our CBs or comfortable with our GKs, and apparently decided we could replace a backup GK more easily than getting another starter-quality CB. Whether we actually have that I am unsure, but the FO thinks we do. Hence, protect Schuler, lose Atinella.
Would anyone take Schuler, or make a deal with an expansion team (Kreis) to trade for Schuler? I think the latter scenario is more likely than the former. Jeff was a good value pick in the spirit of Moneyball.
Schuler was more likely to get picked up with his upside and salary - $62K. RSL gambled on leaving Jeff exposed and lost. I think assuming that RSL protected Schuler as a starter is wrong. I hope thats the case, at least. Schuler is great depth to have but this team needs a DP level CB next to Glad to be successful. Further, Nicky had an "off" year last year, and still was by no means terrible. He has years left in him. Finding a decent enough backup through the draft or USL is so much easier with a GK than a CB. I dislike a lot of what Waibel does, but this makes sense
Having trouble excepting the idea that a player so often injured would be picked by a expansion club.
I'm El-ahrairah and I approve this message. GK, unlike other players, can and do play into their 40's, so Nicky still has some more years left in him (unless he decides to pull a Garlick and retire in February). Given that reasoning, I would think that maybe Antinella asked to be left un-protected so that he could become the number 1 GK at another club.
Keepers are rated by shot stopping, organization, taking crosses, foot skills and physical attributes... I rate Attinella at below average at most everything except shot-stopping. There is a reason he is a career backup, and it isn't because he was behind Nick. (and if anyone cares - Nick is below average on crosses, average on physical attributes because his quickness makes up for lack of height, and above average on the other three. IMHO of course.)
Schuler is a quality BACKUP center back. It's hard to find a player with that experience and known upside for the cost. The injury woes are what they are. When I saw the salary numbers, I bought into Schuler coming back. So long as he isn't constantly a starter and/or stealing minutes from Glad. Glad, btw, is your quality CB
I think Jeff is a decent enough GK and good enough to be getting first team minutes in MLS. He isn't top 5 or even 10 material, though, as some people (on twitter, especially) like to believe. I agree with a lot of your assessment but don't think he'll ultimately be a career backup. I mean, shit, look at some of the GK's in this league. He'll be middle of the pack or bottom of the middle, I think. He's definitely better than Saunders and Irwin, IMO. Probably most comparable is Tim Melia.
@TheCrossbar was tweeting that he was at least somewhat confident in him. One of the few positive notes I've seen on it
Meanwhile, over on RSL SoapBox, there's a fan post titled "Wrong Gone" that posits we should have exposed Rimando instead. The poll accompanying the post suggests many people agree with the sentiment, 69-53 right now.
I guaran-********ing-tee that had RSL left Rimando exposed and one of the two teams taken him, you'd see an article crying about RSL losing him. Answer this question for me: name three goalkeepers in this league you don't want to have to play against. Ask anyone that question. Nick Rimando will make the list 99% of the time. You keep Nick. We don't need our moron of a GM having to ******** up another search. Further, this has been stated, Attinella is good but not great. He'll do fine at Minnesota, but thinking he would step into the RSL #1 spot and we wouldn't see any sort of drop is laughable. Nicky's distribution, alone, is worth keeping him. one last thing: Nicky isn't the guy you switch to protect Attinella. That's Schuler or Luke