News: Seasons over. Here's to next season! (aka - the 2016-2017 long offseason thread)

There went my chance to reply I here you

 

Heck ya. Keep building this team like the f.o. Did this season.

Next step is protecting the roster in the expansion draft

 

F MLS!

Let's hope this style of play continues next year!

 

Shouldn't actually be that hard to figure out who's over the hill and who's not good enough to protect. I'm sure somebody who knows how many players we get to protect will start a separate thread on this...

 

Also who is going to retire and who wants to leave. It seems inevitable we lose at least 2-3 core players this offseason. My guess is still Acosta, maybe Birnbaum and probably one or two of Sarvas, Saborio and Boswell

 

Honestly given the signs we've had, Acosta staying is probably in the 30-40% likely range. I don't think you can consider a guy more talented than his teammates a developmental project just because he's "young" (in soccer terms at a global level 22 isn't really young). We're either going to have spend actual money (not young DP money) on him or he's gone.

 

And, this afternoon, Montreal takes out the Pink Cows in Game 1. Let's not blow what could have been yet again.

 

Montreal takes out SwampCow FC in game 1. I've got to be honest, I'm rooting for Montreal to take the whole thing at this point.

 

If we don't "lose" Saborio we should fire Kasper.
I wouldn't mind if we lost Boswell depending on what kind of role he's willing to take. Same for Sarvas.
Birnbaum seems quite possible.
I'm not convinced we're going to lose Acosta. I'm not surprised you are.

 

I'm certain Lucho will be here. He loves the States, and he has just started a family. United already knows the ball park for the transfer fee, and they do not sound hesitant.
They will get what amounts to a summer transfer in Durkin, once his international business is over.
That's a start. I still want to see United bring in at least 5 new players with all the avenues available to them. I want to see United back up their rhetoric regarding building upon this season.

 

What signs?
How is he a developmental project?

 

What rhetoric are you referring to?

 

I'm saying he is not a developmental project, which means a few things. First, his upside on this particular team is not much higher than what we've seen. Second, he should have an expectation of salary above a developmental project and view himself closer to a Valeri-like figure.

What signs? How he's been used? When he's been put on and taken off? If I were him or his agent (or Boca Juniors) I would have an understanding of my leverage over DC United. Given a lack of funny money this coming offseason, I don't see why I should be optimistic about us keeping him.

 

Not being a "developmental project" doesn't mean he has no upside. I definitely see him getting better after age 22. Players all over the world do it every day. He might not have the same high end as Valeri. But he can absolutely get better in terms of his own game and how well he works with a team built around him that gets to practice all the way through training camp. The main guys he attacked with when they were playing well the last two months, 2 weren't here until the summer and one was new to the team just like he was during training camp.
If you're gonna go back and look at how he was used in the first 3 or 4 months of the year that's your choice, but I feel like everyone else knows that's not the way to use him and isn't relevant in any way at all.
There may not be new funny money coming from new CCL or you suck allocations, but dropping Saborio and maybe one of Rolfe (depending on the salary rules if he becomes a coach too), Boswell, or Sarvas means we will have cap room. We also dropped Halsti and Espindola this season. Don't we also have TAM and or GAM.
In terms of leverage, as I understand it, the transfer fee was written into the original contract and is above $1M and below $2M. I get the impression it's closer to 1 from what I've read, but who knows.
Everything I've read or heard makes it seem like we are interested and willing to actually drop some cash on him. Add to the fact that we basically built our team/roster around him. Maybe Acosta/his agent will to try to fight us on salary, but I'm not sure where he thinks he'll go to get more $ than MLS. I don't know what he's making at Boca... but it can't be that much.

 

If we're willing to drop around a million for Acosta I would be genuinely surprised, but it wouldn't be the first time in my life so who knows.

 

With TAM or GAM it wouldn't be a Million of our owners' money. I think some people have estimated that we could cover a lot of it with funny money although actual #s are hard to come by.
What the hell would the point be of bringing him in, building around him and then not having any plans of even being willing to pay to bring him on?! I know or FO has done a lot of dumb things, but that would have to be one of the dumbest yet. It's not like we felt like we were one player away this year and the loan was just to get us over the top.

 

Latest Goff piece.
Olsen: "We certainly want (Acosta) back and think he's going to be a vital piece of this organization for the next couple of years."
Regarding the roster, "if we add to it, we're hopefully going to be able to put the kind of performances in the second half over the course of a full year."
Levien: "Now we need to take the next step."

 

They'd bring him in because they get a year of his services for relatively little and they might be able to negotiate down a deal. As for whether or not we felt we were a 'player away this year [from the playoffs],' maybe we did feel that way at the time. As the season went on we made a few long shot grabs when it appeared we were borderline, in Igbo and Kamara. Mullins was also a bit of a long shot since he hadn't produced all year, but I liked the get. If it weren't for Espindodrama then it wouldn't have happened.

The end run of the season was improbable and a statistically unlikely. It's been years since we got 4 wins in a row, and we made the playoffs by 4 points. I'd call that "borderline" all the way through to the end.

 

Birnbaum, I think, is in the catbird's seat. He's attracting interest in Europe, Klinsmann is giving him starts and his contract expires next year. My guess is that he plays out his contract while waiting for United to give him an offer he can't refuse.

Frankly, there's no career reason why Birnbaum ought to go to Europe so long as his contract demands are met. Unless he wants the challenge, of course. On the other hand, there's something satisfying in spending your entire career with team as Wesley Unseld, Ernie Banks and Cal Ripkin, Jr., would be first to tell you.

 

Shammy, I hope you're wrong about Acosta. A lot depends on him and how comfortable he's become here. I think we'd pay the transfer fee if it made sense to do so. If Acosta indicates he wants to stay, done deal. I don't think he wants to go back to the mother ship. But if European clubs are coming to Boca and they are throwing around salary numbers over $1.5M (and they may be), things will get complicated.

I disagree that he isn't still developmental - that's actually part of our problem. He really is a better player now than when he got here. He's still a hothead who gets forced off the ball too much (because he puts himself in positions for this to happen), and who can't consistently play 90, at 22. Not being particularly fast or tall are problems he still struggles with on occasion. His statistics are good, but they alone don't justify significant DP money. I expect his trajectory will continue in 2017, tho, and then we will have to spend real money to keep him around, so I hope the ownership has the foresight to negotiate a 4 year $800K deal rather than a 2 year $400K deal. It's a drop in the bucket in the larger scheme of things, but I'd understand skepticism on this point.