We did some of this in the offseason, and now it's time to do it again. We've played 16 games - one fewer than half of our schedule - and are on pace for 30 points. The secondary transfer window opens on 10 July, by which time we will have played an additional four games. We also have salary cap challenges to deal with, and we're never altogether sure how much money we have remaining. While some players have guaranteed contracts, all players are guaranteed their annual salary as of the "contract guarantee date" (1 July, though if a player and the team agree to do so, this can be extended until mid-August pending league approval). Someone transferred or traded is outside this rule, but if you waive or cut them and no one signs them, you are still on the hook. So: let's hear it. Figure you can bring in two players, one a mid-range signing and the second closer to the minimum. You can also use the remaining salary from any player not on a guaranteed contract you opt to cut. As a reminder, the salary info is here. Be the coach too while you are at it, in deciding who to play and not to play.
Center-back. Center back. Center back. Center back. Center-back. Center back. Center back. Center back. Center-back. Center back. Center back. Center back. Center-back. Center back. Center back. Center back. Center-back. Center back. Center back. Center back. Center-back. Center back. Center back. Center back.Center-back. Center back. Center back. Center back.
I read that Horst will be back after the international break. If so, I would shift immediately to him and Glad. It isn't so much that I rate Horst, but right now I think both Maund and Schuler are damaged goods and I would rather not pair Glad with either of them. Then as summer progresses, I would shift to: Glad New CB Horst Schmidt Maund and Schuler would be gone. But I doubt we do this with Schuler after waiting for him all last year, so it's Maund who is the sacrificial lamb.
We NEED a GM by July...someone that has a stake in the future to actually help shape the future. We have seen the future through Waibel's eyes, and we need to move on from that...it simply isn't working. In another thread I offered up the idea of talking to LD. Maybe even selling him a slice of the team. He grew up an academy kid (in Boca, with KB), so he has seen that. He was a young star in this league, flirted with Europe and returned. He has seen a host of coaches and GMs. He has been on championship teams and been on dysfunctional teams. He has experience in EPL and Bundesliga, in addition to MLS. He understands MLS. Moreover, he was offered up by our GM as the missing piece to this year's team...enough so that our owner signed off on offering him a better deal than anywhere else...yet he declined. Why? What did he see? I'd want to at least speak with him and solicit his POV. If you ran a business, and one of your managers came to you and said "this guy's our answer"...but then "this guy" turned you down...and then business fell off a cliff...wouldn't you seek "this guy's" point of view? I would. We aren't hiring away another MLS GM. Are there any AGM's worth talking to? Maybe, but the list ain't long...so we may need to be creative. A guy who understands the game, the league and the difference between dysfunctional and championship is probably a good guy to speak to....even if he isn't "the guy", you may at least get smarter. There isn't a situation he hasn't been in.
I would be content selling Joao and either not playing or waiving or whatever to/with Yura. Keep the wingers we have and bring Chandler Hoffman up from the Monarchs. Use the money in defense and midfield, see what Hoffman offers along Savarino, Lennon, Saucedo, Velazco, etc. But Plata and Savarino seem to have some chemistry.
New Players: 1. bring up Velasquez(M) and Hoffman(F) from the monarchs 2. Sign a new Central Defender. Someone good... Lineup tweaking: 1. Bench beckerman for 3 games, let Sunday play deepest D mid and see what happens. 2. Mulholland Benched, let allen/velasquez/saucedo/holness vie for the spot. Sacrificial lambs: 1. Reagan Dunk to Monarchs 2. Wingert walks (i think he has guaranteed salary, alas, but i just don't want him around at all) 3. Silva walks. I know, he was smiling a week ago in philly, he seems to be better than Movsisyan. True enough, which is saying little and less. But movsisyan is paid too much to kick him out the door. it would be embarrassing. one of the two needs to walk, its gonna be silva. starting lineup for next 3 games: Rimando Beltran Glad NEWGUY(horst/schuler until then) phillips Sunday _______* Lennon Rusnak Savarino Hoffman Bench: VanO, horst, beckerman, ______*, mulholland, plata, movsisyan * notes either Allen, Saucedo, Velasquez, or Holness for now This lineup is supposed to inject novel variables into areas that have until now been deficient. Maybe Lennon could be a central forward type? But as an aside.... Lennon, Rusnak, Savarino, what an attacking 3. That alone makes the games worth watching!
Acosta is our future right now at LB, he's amazingly well composed for a 19 y/o, play him every game. Bring up Taylor Peay and Emilio Orozco from Monarchs, demote Wingert, Schuler, Maund. Sign SA CB, and we need a real target CF, someone over 6' that can hold up the ball and score with his head.
This is my depth chart for center backs - Glad + New CB, backed up by Horst and Schmidt. Outside backs: Beltran backed by Acosta right, Acosta backed by Phillips left, Wingert as third in both places.
I would definitely bring in a CB through any means necessary. Be that the next transfer window in July, via trade or even give a couple Monarchs players a go. I would also look to bring in a DM to help in the replacement of KB next and then a scoring threat if necessary. I really believe that there needs to be actual turnover of players on the team. Someone needs to go. A couple of people need to go. Sacrificial or not. Players that I would, as GM, consider trading or packaging together in trades: Tony-We have Acosta and maybe RSL could trade Tony for another RB. There has to be a team that has a more offensive minded RB that's looking for a more defensive minded player like Tony. Minnesota? Orlando? JK looks to be getting the band back together down there. Joao-I have been saying trade Plata for ever but he really doesn't look to be the problem. He might not be the solution but maybe a trade or rumored sell could be beneficial. Jordan Allen-Can't find a position here maybe another team would know what to do with him. Unlikely with the injury bug he's working through. Lalo-From the looks of it RSL has some good options in Goal. Connor Sparrow with the Monarchs is having a good season but that might not translate to MLS but there's not really a lot of evidence that says Lalo will either. I like the Col. Van O and think he deserves a shot with RSL actually playing defense and not hanging him out to dry like there's no tomorrow. Sunny-I think that he has some trade value and I really don't think that he's the answer at all for KB. Demar-Same here. Improvements need to be made at his position. Yura-From what I can see he just might be the fly in the ointment sadly. I love Yura but there is definitely something going on with him. I think he has played a way any trade value for the cost of his contract but I would definitely give it a go. ? Players: Maund-Wow, what a howler he had on Saturday Schuler-Not the answer, not the future. Probably good depth. Silva-I could take or leave Silva. He's slower than a retired offensive lineman but seems to work well on the field with others. VanO-This guys deserves a shot with an RSL team that wants to actually play defense. Got to feel for this guy. Hernandez-too small? Dunk-Too slow? Barrett-Too old? Players to keep for sure: Acosta Beckerman Glad Holness Horst Lennon Mulholland Rimando Rusnak Bofo Savarino Schmidt Velasco Wingert-Yes, Chris is the kind of professional you need on a team. Regardless of whether or not you think he's over paid, probably, the guy hustles and plays where you want when you want. He must be great in practice and off the field too because he seems to have earned the respect of Petke. I would package players in the trade and ? lists and see what I could find. I really think that for the good of the team and for the good of the coach a couple faces need to change whether its a neutral or positive change heads need to roll. Sadly that might not be fair to a couple players but for the good of the team and RSL's future changes need to be made/
No reason Acosta shouldn't be the starter. I've seen nothing from Phillips this year that makes him that much better (if at all) than Danny
According to the Sopabox, the wrong people are all gone and things are fine with this group of decision makers
"I find it kind of odd that no one has gone to where the blame should really be placed; squarely on the shoulders of Garth, Jason, Bill, and all of us as fans." "After the summer and the winter transfer windows we’ll have a better idea of what Craig (who I think has more than proven himself and we’ll see more of this in the summer)...can do with the club going forward." Holy hell. Edit: Go read 15's response on the Soapbox piece. The only four paragraphs on that whole page that make any sense.
I am friends with the writer and we have good banter... but holy ******** I don't get the logic on this one. Have we really reached alternative facts level stupidity here in that we're going to blame the guys THAT ********ING BUILT US TEAMS THAT WON US GAMES for why we're not winning games THREE YEARS LATER?!?!??!
It's Lagerwey and Kreis that have prevented the team from signing a starting level CB? If that's the case, someone at the league office needs to do something.
Its the oldest deflection in the PR world: The guys who were here before us left this place a shambles. Its taken us this long just to clean up the mess. We've had no time to actually build anything.
If it were up to me, I'd sell/trade Plata. We have Lennon/Savarino and enough backups. Use the Plata sale or trade to pickup a good CF. Maybe Yura having competition makes him better, if not, he was replaced anyway so no biggie. Midfield: I think we could use a body here, but it'd be last on my list depending on what kind of cap space we have. Still need to find someone to take over for KB. That's something that should've happened 2-3 years ago, where we took on a young player with promise and slowly gave him games to prep him for the eventual change. Defense: We needed a top CB 3 years ago. Nothing has changed here. Use Beltran as bait if needed, but make it happen. I think we could make a Phillips/Acosta tandem work on the outside. Glad + top CB in the middle. Would keep one or two of Maund/Schuler/Horst as backups. I'd lean towards Maund, then Horst just due to injury histories. I don't see how the current team isn't the fault of Weibel and/or Cassar. Guys like Horst, Schuler, Silva, Barrett and Wingert should've never been signed. They probably should've stayed clear of Yura. The way Javi's exit was handled. We've signed a bunch of average players and are hoping they somehow play above average. I'm not even sure Arena could make this team a contender, and he's one to get his teams punching above their weight.
Talk about beyond idiotic article, I could barely get past the first paragraph. Once again it reads like a Utah sports fan's typical mindset, find the easiest people to blame and don't ask the critically tough questions of the current regime. It's so easy to pass blame on to people who have been gone for 3 YEARS now, as if the writing hasn't been on the wall for more than the last 2-3 months. I begin to question whether any of these blog/sports writers have any ********ing clue what they are talking about with this shit anymore, the lot of them have become so passive and will to pass the blame it's disgusting. Meanwhile the fans that actually have a ********ing clue have been saying the same exact thing since the beginning of LAST year. But by all means, continue to sit there and pass off this bullshit. Living in the past is exactly what has put this franchise in its current predicament and continuing to do so by blaming guys who have been gone for 3-4 years will only further put us in the hole.
OK. I just listened to some episodes of The RSL Show. I didn't even know it existed until today. They were saying that a Savarino-level deal has already been made and will be effective as soon as the Summer transfer window opens. They also said another high level deal is close. They talked about a possible 3rd deal within the league. Any thoughts on those? A consistent theme out there is that the Joao and Yura experiments have failed and both need to go. I think that happens this year. I think Kyle is off the team by the start of next season. Maybe Sunny assumes his role? I'm not sold on that idea but some observers thin the 6 position is his natural one. I think Silva will be gone before the season ends. I would still like to see him be given a chance up top. Maund needs to go. I would keep Shuler as as a future 3rd or 4th CB until he gets hurt again. Then jettison him.
I'd keep Maund myself. We already know Schuler's injury history, so trying to bet against the odds and hope he stays healthy just isn't worth it. Maund at least stays healthy for the most part, and is just as good as a backup. I'd love if we could jettison Yura in the summer, but I just don't see it happening. Plata seems the most likely to go, and I would hope we invest that into a 9. I can live with Yura as a backup, but he's just not getting it done as a starter. Who would take Silva? If we could somehow move him, that'd be massive. Heard this far too many times to get my hopes up. I fear it'll be like the CB saga that never panned out, or the big signing that wound up being Barrett. I'll believe it all when I see it.
Wow. That Soapbox piece was a doozy. Personally, I believe that any decision-maker who felt our defensive corps going into the 2016 and 2017 seasons were fine should be fired. We got all that smoke up our butts about how there will be competition in every spot in back in every game. I'd like someone to please find an example of a successful team that had so little idea of who the starting centerbacks, let alone the whole backline, should be game-in, game-out. I can't think of one. There's plenty of blame to go around, but this board seems to be one of the few places pointing at all to Waibel. DLH has both meddled too much in team operations AND shied away from holding "his guys" accountable. CB has been a big problem ever since Borchers left (he only had 1 more good year left in him). Waibel addressed it in the first "chats" when he came to the club. We've had no successful nor high-profile signings at CB since, unless you count Glad's contract. We've spent the money on several high-profile attacking players, but never addressed the most glaring deficiency. Props on Rusnak. Huge deal. I'm not being sarcastic. I was stoked on Burrito too. But until we solve the CB issue and seem to earnestly look for a KB replacement, I'm not convinced that our FO has the correct vision of how to make this team successful. They seem to want to follow Dallas' example, which I applaud. However, they've got to figure out how to honestly discuss/assess their weaknesses, get a solid coaching staff AND philosophy, and bring in veteran players where our academy isn't producing adequate players. The Monarchs are doing well, so something is going right. Holding onto Cassar past September last year was an obvious mistake. Not getting a quality CB was/is an obvious mistake.They're plenty more, but I'm done talking about it.
This is one that cracked me up, especially to openly admit it. I can somewhat understand going into preseason thinking that every spot is up for grabs, but even going into preseason, you should already have a preferred 11 in mind, and only changing it if someone really impresses. But to go in thinking that every spot is up for grabs signals to me that there's no confidence in that group.