New protected list guesses: 1. Santos, 2. Zardes, 3. Mensah, 4. Diaz, 5. Valenzuela, 6. Trapp, 7. Room, 8. Artur, 9. Jimenez. I feel good about the top 9. Last 3 a tad iffy. 10. Mokhtar, 11. Abubakar (if not traded), 12. Cadden (if we need to). If we have more spots open: 13. Francis 14. J. Williams I did not consider they guys who might be back (Afful, Maloney, R. Williams, Hamilton). Only Afful could claim a protected slot (13th on my board).
You get to rest your primary playmaker from time to time. You get fresh legs. You get fantastic injury/call-up insurance. And at 1-0 down, you are not subbing Pipa in for the #1 playmaker, it is likely for Artur/Trapp to change the shape of the MF, or play Pipa/Santos/new DP as a 2nd forward, or for a defender.
Rather than play our back up playmaker when Pipa went down, we shoehorned another player into that spot making us worse at 2 spots. While respecting some of what Pipa did for this club over his tenure, what he offered when last healthy is nothing I want to tie up a roster spot with.
Well said, buddy. I love the guy. He's in the top three of most talented players ever to play for us. But there comes a time when you have to cut the cord. He's older and injury-prone, so he's unreliable. He's slower, so he slows the offense down. As you mentioned, he doesn't really have a secret weapon that is suited for off-the-bench play. His salary makes it prohibitive to keep him in a reduced role. And for a coach that's transitioning the team into HIS team, and frankly, basically already had a season where he managed the team without him... there are more reasons to lose him than keep him. Muchas gracias to Pipa, and his chips. Wish him well.
Not sure why the clips here are in reverse chronological order, but anyway... I remember when he hit the first one, I lost my mind. I was in my usual spot in 107, with a perfect view, and I just couldn't believe he even TRIED it, let alone pulled it off. It was a thing of beauty. The next time he did it (the middle goal in this video) was basically the next week (or the week after), and I was flabbergasted that he did it AGAIN. And this doesn't even mention his debut game for us. We were down 2-0 to New England at home, and he scored two free kick goals -- which I'm pretty certain no one has ever done for us -- before halftime en route to a 4-3 win. Second of those two free kicks below.
It really boils down to this, in this league, at this time. Pipa has made a DP-level salary in this league since he arrived. Even if he were willing to accept something below DP-level, he'd still be in a tier that, for MLS, you can't justify as a specialized bit player (I mean, he only plays one position, after all). And the looming new CBA makes it harder to justify signing him at any level since you really can't know what roster budget realities will be next year.
Mokhtar makes $460k base, and he is a likely bench player next year and only plays one spot. With all the funny money we have, I frankly just do not buy that salary based argument. Really, at any level of salary below what he was making, and certainly not at below DP level. I think I would need to see someone show their work. But that will not happen.
When we look back at those teams, with the talent, I wonder where we will trace the lack of hardware. I always put the blame squarely on Berhalter. Not sure how others feel. And whether certain folks like it or not, those years saw the very limited interest of HSG followed by the group formerly known as PSV, which deserve a bit of an asterisk in the echelons of Crew history. Higs will always be black and gold. Not up there in my top five favorites (or maybe even top ten). Yet I respect him, and I wish the best for him and his family. Truly thank you, Higs, for sticking around when shit was hitting the fan and saying that rat bastard would be killed in Argentina if he tried his bullshit there.
It's easier if you separate the salary issue from his actual performance on the field and come to the realization that he's just not good enough anymore. @zman31 covered his deficiencies as a bench guy, and there frankly isn't a team in the league with designs on winning a damn thing that would turn over the keys to midfield to him on an every game basis in the starting 11. He had his moments here but he was nowhere near a top 15-20 player in the league at any point after maybe 2013? For all his playmaking prowess he had one season of double digit assists. If he wasn't gonna win anything here on the back of Kei Kamara's super human 2015, it was simply never gonna happen. It is what it is. It's no secret that Higuain was not my favorite player. And while I'm not at all heartbroken to see him go, I'm more celebratory that we have a GM who does not look a slave to sentimentality. For those more emotionally affected by his departure, at least he got another season in Columbus. When he signed his last extension, that wasn't even a certainty. So that's something to hold onto. As for me, I'm happy to look forward....unlike so many sideways or backwards counter-attack stalling Pipa looks.
As someone who came post-2008 and didn't know anyone from that timeframe, Higs is about as close to a GBS-esque figure as I have from these teams. He'll be #1 in my book.
No need to protect Artur and much rather protect Abubakar. With almost zero knowledge of his skills I am ready to say Cadden won't be the long term solution to the RB position.,
We have to CDM currently unless Argudo, Cadden or Jimenez end up helping there. You absolutely have to protect Artur. I do think we will sign Nagbe but we will be thin on CDM so we may add 2 of them
I'm not surprised at all. I thought he showed some promise, certainly good enough to keep as a sub. Like Jimenez, he can play multiple positions, which adds to his value.
I guess I dont follow the need to protest our 3rd or maybe 4th string center midfielder if we follow your assumption of signing Nagbe and maybe another.
At last we have some clarity on whether or not we need to protect Lalas and Cadden for the expansion draft. We do. Is Crognale aging out of HG status? Since he's immune for expansion draft purposes (which are forward looking), I'd have thought he'd get another year. Our goal differential was terrible. The defense was adequate but the offense wasn't. The 15 game stretch midseason where we scored less than 1 goal per match was what kept us out of the playoffs. If we add a quality playmaker and have average to good health next year, we'll be a playoff team. But not a championship contender. I'm curious if Porter will remain married to a 4-5-1. We have the personnel for it but it's awfully dependent on Zardes staying healthy. If we played 4-4-2, Diaz might not play enough defense, especially with Afful or Cadden behind him. We aren't likely to splash the cash for an Almiron or Giovinco caliber addition. But we should be able to get someone similar to Pozuelo or Gil or Valeri when he came to MLS. A CAM who can score 10 goals and provide 12-15 assists would help us a lot. I could see us trading in Artur for a more offensive minded midfielder, maybe a Nagbe clone.
Regarding Chris Cadden, here's the deal: He was loaned to Oxford United on what everyone agrees is a " season long loan" Which h would seem to mean he cant come here until they're done over there. However, there is reportedly a " recall option" which allows the Crew to terminate the loan and bring him over in January and everything that I've seen from Oxford and from Cadden himself assumes that the Crew will exercise that option. So it's entirely up to Bez when the kid comes over and one has to assume that he'll request a January recall.
Well, I guess we'll see if Mokhtar is a bench player next year. If so, I'd assume his stay with the club will be a short one. In any event, we don't really know what sort of salary demands or expectations Higuain might have had for 2020. His guaranteed compensation this year was $1.1 million, so at least for 2019, he was in a completely different salary territory than Mokhtar. I wish him well and will miss him, even if I agree that letting him go was the right decision.
But we get upwards of $4 million of GAM/TAM per year, not including trades. That is my point. More than enough to buy down the contracts of Mensah, Pipa, Trapp (and possibly Santos if we want) and still keep us under the cap. Provided the money is allowed to be used for that purpose. I am admittedly fuzzy on that part. But it seems so. Anyway, it does not matter now. Regarding Cadden, if Bill is on the money, it seems like we might not have to protect him. That seems sort of like us getting an extra protected player somehow, bully to Bez if so.
Of course we cant really know, but it seemed to this observer from a comfy seat in 107 that Mokhtar never got in sync with the program. He seemed to be thinking much more than simply reacting. I believe part of it was a substantial language barrier combined with culture shock and not really understanding what his role is. Honestly, and I may be alone here, when the guy was in a situation where he was just required to be a soccer player I thought he looked terrific. I think some of you are making a serious mistake about the guy. I really think that hes got some serious game a d will be a team stalwart in 2020.