If this is a two year rebuild, which it may be, there ought to be a succession plan for Pipa. Last year we played Jimenez, Tchani, Duka, Martinez, and others in his role, all to varying degrees of failure. Somehow, coming into this season with Pipa coming off injury we still are faced with the same succession plan. It's bizarre to me and a huge gap in the roster. If we are in the 4th-6th range at the end of the season, with no reasonable path to true contention, and still no realistic succession plan for Higuain that is a completely failed season.
That is an astute observation that I hadn't considered. The defense obviously needed help. The Sauro issue added to this as it ties up that salary. Sorting out the defense this year, freeing up the Sauro cash for next year and hitting the market for 2018 with an eye for attacking talent seems reasonable.
If it is a two year plan, I would imagine that Gregg will be working toward a Pipa replacement this year. That may be someone brought in during the summer transfer window or it may be just getting the wish list ready/initial talks for the next off season. Or who knows, maybe succession plan is Martinez with an attempt to upgrade our wings, instead of having that DP CAM. Or maybe this year is all there is. Gregg may look at 2015 and think that 2016 was just a bad/unlucky year and all we had to do was shore up our defense to be a contender again. I would somewhat understand if that's his view, but if it is his view and he's wrong, then he needs to go.
Do you really expect someone who is currently on the roster to replace our DP #10? Do you expect us to acquire someone of that caliber who won't really play this year but sit and suddenly become an amazing #10 next year?
I'm not really sure why I started thinking this way. But it does seem to make sense to me. Pipa was just an option pick up, so it's a one year thing only, not a renewed multi-year contract. We all expected some sort of winger to at least challenge Ethan or Meram, but we didn't get that. It just seems like complete focus is on defense. And while I'm not sure I completely agree with it, conventional wisdom is that defense takes a little longer to start operating as a unit. So idea may be getting the primary pieces of defense in first, where maybe you need to make one more tweek still for 2018, but it won't be an overhaul. Then going and overhauling the offense.
Beat me to it. It's hard for me to see 'the succession plan' being anything other than buying a starting playmaker when it becomes time to replace Higuain. Put another way (as you point out), what are the odds on signing a player that, (1) once fully developed is at least as good or preferably better than Higuain, that (2) is affordable under the cap right now and (3) will be ready to go as a starter right when we need him (three months? a year? two?)? Pipa is Schelotto's successor. We certainly couldn't have had both on the roster at the same time. I wish I had more confidence in our ability to groom a younger player to take over that role, but I don't.
Playing it out of the back doesn't mean f*cking around with it under pressure inside your six. GB should get a few more years worth of goodwill for having the balls to throw Clark and Parkhurst to the curb.
Well first off our DP #10 wasn't "an amazing #10" last year. That was a problem. That was a problem for the majority of the season. After being a problem for the majority of the season, it was not directly addressed in this offseason. That's fine if Gregg believes that Martinez or Jimenez or Midfield Boss Tony Tchani is the successor. I don't think any of them is capable of that, but I'd love to be proven wrong. Succession plans can happen with wise roster construction. Dax McCarty was one of the most, if not the most, valuable player for the Red Bulls over the past few seasons. Leaving aside that BWP and Sacha get most the publicity Dax was the unquestioned leader of the team and vital to how that midfield works. The Red Bulls felt comfortable trading Dax because they have both Sean Davis and Tyler Adams who can fill in for that role. While some may see the Red Bulls taking a small step back this year, they are definitely still one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference and among the favorites to emerge from the East. The Red Bulls had succession planning within their roster and are moving forward. On the other hand we have Crew SC who faced a full year with minimum production from their amazing DP #10 last year through a combination of injury and old age. And we still don't have a clear succession plan. We can guess that this is a two year re-build and that Gregg is waiting to get Pipa off the books and bring in someone else next season. And that's fine, but then lets also call it what it is, wishful thinking and hoping to catch lightening in a bottle. More than that it also shows lack of ingenuity and ambition from our Sporting Director. After a lost season, we are then expected to sit through another lost season, perhaps a transition year at best, because it takes over two years to replace Pipa. Maybe it's not completely Gregg's fault. Maybe Precourt is in a panic that we need some recognizable face besides Wil Trapp to sell tickets. Any manager worth his salt in any line of work is responsible for succession planning. Any manager waiting for someone below them to retire or walk away while receiving constantly diminishing returns will be under fire from their superior. At some point you need a succession plan, or at the very least a plan b. Gregg hasn't shown the ability to acknowledge or develop that.
It's an opinion so it isn't any more wrong than yours I will give Greg the benefit of the doubt because of it regardless of if you think it's wrong or not.
Man, this thread is really messing with my positive vibe about the season. Can't we at least lose to Chicago before the knives come out???
Which apparently nobody on the coaching staff told them. It was a disaster waiting to happen and unfortunately happened at about the worst time.
I'm all for pointed discussion but being told my opinion is just wrong got on my nerves. Disagree? Fine. Tell me my opinion is wrong? FU.