2017/18 Offseason Player Movement & Rumors

I made some rough guesses about our remaining cap space by cancelling out arrivals with departures:
Onyewu ---> Corey Burke
Pontius ----> Andre Blake's raise
Davies----> Herbers cap hit (post GA status)
Wijnaldum---->Ayuk
Edu----> Accam (let's call this a wash)
Carroll----->140K
Alberg----->400K
Ilsinho's pay cut----->250K (I'll assume he takes 1/2 salary cut from his 500K salary)

That leaves 790K in cap space (Again, total guess)

We should still have the cap space for another DP (550k) and a mid-level signing (150k-250k) and perhaps more if we buy down a cap hit with remaining TAM (i.e. Simpson). We'd have more but for some reason we now have a log jam of backup wingers (Ilsinho, Herbers, Ayuk, Epps).

 

Don't forget, they can now loan Epps and/or Ayuk to BSFC for the season to free cap space as well...

 

Just for comparison between 3 recently traded players who are all 27 years old right now:
David Accam: 1.2 million allocation
Darlington Nagbe: 1.05 million allocation + up to 600K based on performance
Dom Dwyer: 900K + up to 700K based on performance

 

I like all those players but I feel the best about Accam. Nagbe is inconsistent and I don’t think Dwyer is really a game changer without a strong supporting cast.

 

Stop it. Not fair.

 

Should probably remove McInerney (36 goals, all star game, USMNT call up) and M. Farfan (all star game) from your list. Okugo was a solid MLS starter who was played out of position for the most part.

 

Eh, Marfan only had a good year and a half before being moved out of position into a role he was terrible at. He retired early for a reason. He may have been a decent player if kept on the wing.

 

I think it’s safe to say all three of those players significantly underperformed expectations.

 

Remember when we assumed players would continue on a development continuum? Like Mwanga would be challenging for minutes at Bayern by now or something.

Those were the days.

 

So between Dre extension and Accam purchase are we tapped out on the league provided TAM?

Accam and Edu were both on 750k last year, so spending wise that’s pretty much an even swap. Jay promised more spending, do we think it’s a possibility he dips in the chopper fund and buys some more discretionary TAM, or dare I say, a 3rd DP?

 

No. First, the Accam deal is $600k of allocation money for 2018 and $600k for 2019.

More importantly, and something getting lost in all of this, is that the $1.2M number is the transfer fee. Accam’s 2017 salary was $820k and presumably more for 2018.

The Union are NOT using TAM to pay down his salary, opting instead to retain TAM for another signing and making Accam a DP. The Union ARE paying money out of pocket (the difference between Accam’s salary and the DP cap hit) to keep TAM for a future signing.

This means that the Union WILL sign another significant player. If they do no do so, they needlessly would be paying real cash out of pocket, something that they just wouldn’t do.

 

Yes. There's a couple interviews from the draft of both Curtin and Stewart clearly stating they hope to bring in a #10 soon. They were adamant about it (by their standards at least).

 

Back then when they sucked we thought they just needed more time. Now when they suck we know they just suck (hi Leo).

 

Another key aspect is that TAM has to be used within a certain time frame. The TAM they traded away could be left over funds from last season for example. IMO that's why they gave up TAM and a draft pick for Charlie Davies. That TAM was likely going to expire anyways, so why not use it and take a flyer on a player. The draft pick was a calculated risk based on the rise of MLS academies (HGP signings) diluting the college player pool of players that have professional potential.

Unlike general Garber bucks, TAM can't be horded and accumulated over years and years.

Here's a Q&A with the Earn: https://www.brotherlygame.com/2018/...tewart-david-accam-mark-mckenzie-matthew-real

MLS was a much, much different league in 2010-2014 then it is today. Jack Mac is still in his mid 20's and his having a difficult time getting minutes. And let's not forget, being the "best" players on bad teams, doesn't necessarily translate to them being good players in the overall picture of the league....

 

I will say the Farfan brothers probably don't deserve to be called underachievers. Pretty sure Michael was a second rounder and Gabe was undrafted. Michael in particular raised a lot of expectations as a rookie, but they both had OK careers considering how they entered the pros.

 

Regardless of how you classify the Farfans (although they coaching staff was super proud of itself when they picked Marfan and most of the articles talked about how some people expected him to go in the top 5) my point still stands that we have a piss-poor track record of developing players

 

Oh I totally agree, I just felt bad lumping those two in with Okugo and Jack.

 

I am by no means a Jack McInerney fan. He was always kinda a jerk in my opinion. However, I would say he HAS fulfilled what is expected of the #7 pick in the draft. I’m not sure what more you all “expected”, but the guy has scored 43 MLS goals and made an All Star team. He had a USMNT call-up. He ranks third in all time goal scoring for the Union. He is not a future hall of fame type player, the league has passed him by, but he totally fulfilled what was expected of him in 2010.

 

955165850130149376 is not a valid tweet id

 

Welcome to Philadelphia @iamdavidaccam! pic.twitter.com/5hp0cCb2K9

— Sons of Ben (@SonsofBen) January 21, 2018

 

I see we picked three people in the draft. I'm not familiar with any of them.

Also, it looks like Jimmy's brother is apparently our scouting department in some weird, insider trading sort of way:

Interesting to note that @philaunion 4th round pick Matt Danilack‘s agent is Jeff Curtin’s, Jim’s brother. He is/was agent for @philaunion 2017 draft picks Jack Elliott and Aaron Jones. #FamilyBusiness https://t.co/z1lAGMzQc4

— Union Rumors (@UnionRumors) January 21, 2018

 

And you never will be as they will be cut, or go to the Steel for a year and then get cut

 

Or make the team and start the majority of games this season. See Elliott, Jack, 2017.

 

Have no problem with it if we somehow get guys like Elliott.

 

That brother was my sons coach for three years. Really good person and good youth coach.