Keep 'em Cut 'em

With the possibility of Korb I can't find any reason to argue with your list.

 

CUT 1 Goalkeeper Travis Worra United States
Keep 2 Defender Taylor Kemp United States
Keep 3 Defender Chris Odoi-Atsem United States
Cut 5 Defender Sean Franklin United States
KEEP 6 Defender Kofi Opare Ghana
Cut 7 Midfielder Marcelo Sarvas Brazil
CUT 8 Midfielder Lloyd Sam Ghana
Cut 9 Forward José Ortiz (on loan from Herediano) Costa Rica
Keep 10 Midfielder Luciano Acosta Argentina
KEEP 11 Forward Sébastien Le Toux France
Keep 12 Midfielder Patrick Nyarko Ghana
Cut 13 Forward Lamar Neagle United States
Keep 14 Midfielder Nick DeLeon United States
Keep 15 Defender Steve Birnbaum (Captain) United States
Keep 16 Forward Patrick Mullins United States
CUT17 Forward Deshorn Brown Jamaica
Retire18 Forward Chris Rolfe United States
Keep 20 Defender Jalen Robinson (HGP) United States
Keep 21 Midfielder Chris Durkin (HGP) United States
KEEP 22 Defender Chris Korb United States
Keep 23 Midfielder Ian Harkes (HGP) United States
Cut 24 Goalkeeper Eric Klenofsky United States
Cut 25 Midfielder Jared Jeffrey United States
KEEP 26 Midfielder Rob Vincent England
Keep 28 Goalkeeper Bill Hamid (HGP) United States
Cut 32 Defender Bobby Boswell United States
Keep 33 Midfielder Julian Büscher (GA) Germany

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My differences:

Worra - hasn't shown well for some time, not the backup we need. Love the story, but the USL beckons.
Opare - has enough solid games that he's worth keeping around. So far, comparable to Birnbaum, frankly, at a much lower price tag.
LeToux - Flexible, and costs us peanuts. Keeping him allows us to drop players at wing and forward, and still have a reasonably reliable, experienced backup.
Brown - this is a provisional CUT. Has not shown he's worth DP money, which is what we will be paying him if we keep him. I'd rather spend that on any of a half dozen proven MLS reatreads. I hope he changes my mind.
Korb - The guy's 29, not particularly expensive. He and Birnbaum aren't exactly lighting it up together, but I don't think that's entirely Korb's fault, and he generally looks good on the ball and one-on-one in defense.
Vincent - provisional KEEP, if he can get healthy again. Cheap and played well down the stretch last season. More than any other player aside from perhaps DeLeon, has shown he will work and adapt his game. Smart defense-first player who can switch fields, put through a good ball, and crack a shot. A healthy Vincent is better than an aging Marcelo, and Durkin at 17 is still a years-long project.

 

I forgot, I'm not dismissive of Opare.

 

Keep one of Jeffrey/Vincent?

 

Who would want any of these? - other than ourselves, that is

 

I'd cut Worra, DeLeon, Robinson and Vincent in addition to your cuts. I'd keep Buscher another year before cutting him if be doesn't show anything more.

 

Keep 1 Goalkeeper Travis Worra United States
Keep 2 Defender Taylor Kemp United States
Keep 3 Defender Chris Odoi-Atsem United States
Cut 5 Defender Sean Franklin United States
Keep 6 Defender Kofi Opare Ghana
Cut 7 Midfielder Marcelo Sarvas Brazil
Keep 8 Midfielder Lloyd Sam Ghana
Cut 9 Forward José Ortiz (on loan from Herediano) Costa Rica
Keep 10 Midfielder Luciano Acosta Argentina
Cut 11 Forward Sébastien Le Toux France
Keep 12 Midfielder Patrick Nyarko Ghana
Cut 13 Forward Lamar Neagle United States
Keep 14 Midfielder Nick DeLeon United States
Keep 15 Defender Steve Birnbaum (Captain) United States
Keep 16 Forward Patrick Mullins United States
Keep 17 Forward Deshorn Brown Jamaica
Retire18 Forward Chris Rolfe United States
Keep 20 Defender Jalen Robinson (HGP) United States
Keep 21 Midfielder Chris Durkin (HGP) United States
Keep 22 Defender Chris Korb United States
Keep 23 Midfielder Ian Harkes (HGP) United States
Cut 24 Goalkeeper Eric Klenofsky United States
Cut 25 Midfielder Jared Jeffrey United States
Keep 26 Midfielder Rob Vincent England
Keep 28 Goalkeeper Bill Hamid (HGP) United States
Keep 32 Defender Bobby Boswell United States
Keep 33 Midfielder Julian Büscher (GA) Germany

Franklin and Boswell would be earning contracts at camp next year, but I would prefer to keep Boswell as he organizes the defense quite well.

Sarvas Vincent and Jeffrey are just not getting it done right now. Would like to see Vincent 's form so cutting the other two would probably be amenable

Le Toux seems like an older NDL that can score occasionally. His salary is not killing us so keeping him around ain't gonna kill me

 

I wonder ...... is Boswell interested in replacing Chad Ashton?

 

As what - assistant coach or the person in the DCU organization you hate most?

As for Shawn's list, I would keep Korb and Opare, otherwise hard to disagree. My only observation is that if you cut all those guys, that is a lot of roster spots to fill.

 

I could never hate Bobby Boswell (.com). I did want to shoot an old girlfriend of his in the face for being extra rude to my GF and me once at an event where his fans were obviously too low-class for her to have to deal with at a club. But I believe he dumped her when we traded him.

So ..... defensive assistant coach
Not sure how well the fact he often knows what's coming and how to read plays can be taught, or taught by him, or taught by him to ex-teammates, is a question I trust those interviewing him for such a position would try to figure out first

 

If I hadn't just swallowed my drink I would have sprayed it out all over the screen.

 

The key to playing good defense is being aware of 3 or 4 things simultaneously.
1) Where your fellow defenders are and are they in line
2) Where the (vulnerable) open space is near you
3) Where the attacking player is (players are)
4) Where the ball is

It's surprising how many top league defenders seem to concentrate only on #4

 

I think you have to take salary & age into consideration when making these decisions. Based on the MLS Salaries listed earlier this spring, my preferences are listed below. We could save over $2,250,000, and have only $3 million salary taken up for next year based on these picks.

If you add Deshorn Brown (I would probably keep depending on his salary figure) you would need to adjust those totals...

 

Wow, NDL makes more than Nyarko? If I were a defender, I know which one of those guys I would be concerned about.

 

That list is missing Korb, who I would keep, unless I thought DeLeon would be equally serviceable at RB. (But Korb can play on the left, also.) And I think I would keep Lloyd Sam.

 

Yep, I forgot about Korb. Definitely in the "keep" column unless his salary is was higher than expected IMHO

 

I don't know how Dave Kasper has a job. We're overpaying for this team. Yet somehow he signed Mullins for a bag of magic beans.

 

Let's hope they were Magic Beans.

 

I can't believe they resigned NDL for more money than he earned last year. I thought his only chance of staying with DC was if he took less money to play at RB. Reality is you could cut the whole team and the point totals wouldn't be much different.

 

All those guys and only only 2 can play at first division levels Hamid and Acosta and one has a future if brought along right Harkes. No wonder the season is such a disaster. Take them all somewhere to live on a farm with old sick Sparky the dog

 

I see a lot of people keeping Nyarko. I wouldn't. Nothing personal ... just being pragmatic. This season makes it clear that physically he's unable to consistently contribute 90 minute shifts. It's not likely to improve. And the next concussion is probably the last.

I also see Kemp being a nearly unanimous keep. I guess I can live with that, but I also wouldn't mind dangling him out there as trade bait. I like his left foot, and his defensive positioning has gotten better. But he's just physically inferior to be an above average left back in this league. Too slow, no aggressiveness, no upper body strength, mediocre tackling and poor aerial game. I'd rather scout for the left back version of Odoi Atsem.