2017 Roster moves

Did you read what I said? Get a third one. In terms of who to start, I could rattle off stuff I see when Willis plays that is still "Willis" to me, but we have two main guys and Deric hasn't played like the Deric I liked.

The Deric I liked was basically a perfectly timed sweeper keeper who beat opposing forwards to balls and also stopped shots from his line better than Willis and dominated his area aerially. Whatever "this" is it's tentative, has been beat to sweeper balls, and less dominant of his box.

Part of what I liked was the low GAA and he's at 1.8 now.

I react to facts as much as y'all and try not to be stubborn. I see what I see but well this season I don't see what used to favor one over the other. And if that's less the case then we have to do something for now, and Willis is a better distributor, and maybe in some future window we resolve this with trades and signings.

I also still think we can do better than Torres and his two big whiffs last night underline that one too, but for right now he's the leading goal scorer and our kick taker and should be in the rotation and/or starting so we have the deadball capability. So for this season roll with that one too and maybe see in the future windows if we can get a middie who can take those free kicks and a striker with better finishing.

 

Agus gone via waiver. Not really surprising given he's rarely been fit. Story of his career - tons of potential, ruined by injury. Opens up an international slot for a new player, though.

https://www.houstondynamo.com/post/2017/06/09/houston-dynamo-waive-agus

 

Ack. Dude makes $143k, takes a foreign player slot, never plays (last saw the field 8/16), and is probably not guaranteed. We would rather play Garcia, Anibaba, etc. before him. That is the easiest personnel decision in the world. He was a second division Spanish player and an earlier and similarly unsuccessful foray down that street lasted, what, weeks? He played ok a couple of games. We deserve better than ok if we have aspirations. I identified this as an easy dump decision last season. I took it as a sign of fecklessness he lasted this long. Even if you liked him he wasn't playing. You don't burn money and spots on people who don't play.

Since it's not described as a mutual decision I assume he didn't sign off, but it frees him up to sign where he wants, including back home, and it may be a hint we may go sign (or at least shop for) a playmaking midfielder after all.

 

With that shoe having dropped, the other ones I would consider canning would be:
Cabezas, loan, expensive contract, mediocre;
Clark, expensive deal, old;
Deric, if we don't intend to commit to him;
Wenger, expensive deal, mediocre.

I'm also no Alexander fan but that would have to wait.

I actually think Boniek is on the downside but I don't see us cutting Hondurans before their team makes or misses Russia and plays there if they make it. If Honduras happened to get eliminated this fall/winter I would be curious if we would be as concerned with keeping the band together.

I also think we should take a long look at the people making reserve money and whether they have any more of a future here than someone we can give a runout from RGV. Escalante, Hunter, IMO Memo, should we really be carrying RGV players? Our decision making process needs to speed up.

To me the midfield is routinely outplayed and we need to take a long look at everyone playing it.

 

Our midfield needs to improve some not doubt. I'd like some players with some more game awareness and the ability to close games out and dictate tempo to a match. Right now with have ball winners and some decent long ball capability, but we don't have enough in the field to dictate flow. Rico, I love you, but your time as a starter is at an end... I agree with you that Holland could probably play there based on our current squad.

 

Dynamo found a way to trade out of the number 1 allocation spot, avoiding having to make a call or pass on a returning high-dollar player in the summer window

http://www.chron.com/sports/dynamo/amp/Dynamo-acquire-allocation-money-international-11233671.php

 

Got $175k in various allocation money, not bad, not great although the Dynamo value the Garber Bucks to avoid having to spend any real cash on players if possible.

The notion that "the Dynamo just didn't see anyone they liked" on the allocation list is laughable. Maybe they have info that says nobody is in talks with MLS (unlikely) or they won't spend what it takes to sign a legit player on this list.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/allocation

We get:
•$100k General Allocation Money
•$75k Targeted Allocation Money
•2018 International roster slot
•No. 9 spot in Allocation Order pic.twitter.com/NDoo7uMTEZ

— Houston Dynamo FC (@HoustonDynamo) June 20, 2017

 

Sure could use a skilled central midfielder

 

We could use a very, very specific breed of central midfielder that would be hard to find and likely expensive to buy.

 

It would require actual cash, not Garber Bucks therefore it won't happen. An owner with real ambition would take a look at the standings (really pretty open in the West), the shortcomings/slow start of some of the traditional powers in the West, and the Dynamo's improved offensive play this season and see an opening where a big acquisition (like Lodeiro) could make a real difference.

Instead, we'll get a guy on loan or a 2nd division guy from South America and spend $100k on remodeling a concession stand

 

Are GAM or TAM permanent or do they expire/reset at each season's end? While one use for the tools is to buy new, a cynical use is to buy down the cap on old.

Didn't Agus being waived free up an international slot? Are we that tied in to Holland (I like but they don't seem to), Escalante (who? he's still here?), and Cabezas?

This is a "next year" move for a team that as constructed is a "this year" competitor. It's kind of like we looked at the allocation pile -- honestly, not a lot at need positions -- and then half-tried on one dude we scouted, then quit for the year. There's no one useful to us on DC's roster? Nothing we could do to increase our chances this season? The reality is when this season is over there will be some choices and a fair amount of retooling, and there's no guarantee what the team will look like and whether it will perform the same, better, worse.

 

I don't know about our international slot usage and capacity - seems like we've swapped some over the years and Ive lost track.

On GAM/TAM, I believe those do have expiration dates on them. But for GAM you can "use" it to buy down a contract that frees up space for the next year so even if it expires say end of 2017, a creative use can push the benefit to a future period.

TAM I thought was more restrictive because it wasn't created for teams to use for salary budget purposes but to use to actively improve the current squad.

 

GAM has an expiration but its something crazy like 5 years so effectively it doesnt expire. I can only think of NE letting theirs go bad once some years ago for a trade they did waaay back when.

TAM has a 2 year shelf life.

GAM is used on senior players of any salary. TAM is only used on those making DP+ ($500K) - $1M. Once used you have to replace that player with another one of equal or greater cost.

You cant use both on the same player.

Still waiting for the day when transfers dont hit the cap.

 

if this is true I can't imaging they would take a risk in buying this player. I would only take him on loan before deciding to buy.

he used back up Mauro Diaz at River

very small luxury player - not a true two way like Alex

one web site says 5'9" but another site I looked at said 5'7"

 

i watched one River video when he comes in for Diaz and he loaes the ball like three times in the first 2 minutes.

Lets hope Cabrera has done the scouting and not Jordan or Kowba.

 

It's true

 

Better than nothing at this point.

 

This is our second Argentinian youth national team signing after . . . . Franco Carraccio!!!!

 

Charlie Ward has been signed to a real MLS contract for the Houston Dynamo

 

Portuguese media has called Martinez, "the disappointing Tomas Martinez". Paid 1.2 mil euros to acquire him last season, media says Dynamo getting him for 1.7 mil euros. That's a nice return after one year for a player that wasn't good enough to get on the pitch.

 

Good to see we don't discriminate against soccer players with just one foot. =p