The Ghost of Offseasons Past: 2005-10 (Now Including the post-MLS Cup Offseason))

Discussion in 'Real Salt Lake' started by Ismitje, Dec 8, 2012.

  1. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

    Dec 30, 2000
    The Palouse
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Indeed - 13 out and 12 in - including six rookies, which shows we hadn't yet reached an ideal roster.

    OUT

    Chris Brown, Kyle Brown, Steve Curfman, Alecko Eskandarian, Atiba Harris, Duke Hashimoto, Christian Jimenez, Ritchie Kotschau, Jean-Martial Kipre, Chris Lancos, Eddie Pope, Jack Stewart, Jamie Watson

    IN

    Nat Borchers, Tony Beltran, Matias Cordoba, Kenny Deuchar, David Horst, Ian Joy, Dema Kovalenko, Alex Nimo, Jamison Olave, Kevin Reiman, Brennan Tennelle
     
  2. UPinSLC

    UPinSLC Member+

    Jul 11, 2004
    SL,UT
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Lol, I was wondering why Mitje repped a post of mine from 5 YEARS AGO, had to go check out what post it was and it was a post I made after the "Jason's stupid cry kids" epicness. Man, it seems like yesterday we were going through that nonsense, hard to believe it was over 5 years ago.

    This was a good offseason, easily the most eventful one in our short history IMO. Pope retiring was extremely sad and it felt like this team would never be a half way decent team without at least him in the backline. Then this monster showed up, he was brutal and violent and his physical play far proceeded his reputation, he ended up getting thrown out of a lot of games, but man it was a pleasure to watch him.

    Trading Atiba seemed like a stupid move at the time, he had a lot of potential but was just too damn clumsy and got too many red cards. Also trading Alecko was kind of tough, while he didn't produce much he seemed like a fan favorite. Then we brought in Dema "I'm going to break your leg" Kovalenko. Who promptly didn't do much other than let his dog shit on the Rice-Eccles turf. Dr. Goals came on, scored a couple headers and then completely disappeared.

    Very very eventful offseason.
     
  3. SenordrummeR2

    SenordrummeR2 Member+

    Jul 21, 2008
    Layton, UT
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Didn't Dema score one of the goals that moved us past Chivas and into the WC finals?
     
  4. SoccerPrime

    SoccerPrime Moderator
    Staff Member

    All of them
    Apr 14, 2003
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    He scored the go ahead goal.
     
  5. Taragui

    Taragui Member+

    Aug 13, 2006
    Northern Utah
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Sadly, or perhaps justifiably, Dema's dog will have a much more memorable place in RSL BS lore than Dema does.
     
    15 to 32 repped this.
  6. SoccerPrime

    SoccerPrime Moderator
    Staff Member

    All of them
    Apr 14, 2003
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Not me, I will always love Dema and was glad he spent some time with the club.
     
    SenordrummeR2 repped this.
  7. phills

    phills Member

    Nov 24, 1999
    Meaning- good job or bad job on Garth"s part?
     
  8. DrownedElf

    DrownedElf Member+

    Jul 5, 2010
    Ogden
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Overall I'd say it turned out rather well. Our team certainly isn't that bad that we need to blow it up to that degree again. I'd say the pieces we removed were mostly needed, and I'm excited to see who is brought in.
     
  9. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

    Dec 30, 2000
    The Palouse
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I will add another offseason or two in the next week and a half.
     
  10. UPinSLC

    UPinSLC Member+

    Jul 11, 2004
    SL,UT
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Goodness, Mitje is on a roll with the necro-bumps.
     
  11. Taragui

    Taragui Member+

    Aug 13, 2006
    Northern Utah
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Don't they have a prescription cream for that?
     
  12. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

    Dec 30, 2000
    The Palouse
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Perhaps it is time to update this one. We didn't have super-active offseasons from 2009-2014 but this trio of mega-active offseasons are interesting comparisons.
     
  13. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

    Dec 30, 2000
    The Palouse
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Here's what I think happened in the 2008-09 offseason, more or less in order:

    1) Released Kenny Cutler and Dustin Kirby ahead of the expansion draft (and officially acquired Olave) and at some point released Brennan Tennelle and Nik Besagno around the same time;

    2) Lost Nathan Sturgis in the Expansion Draft to Seattle;

    3) Traded Dema Kovalenko (and, presumably, his dog) to Los Angeles for a draft pick and some allocation money;

    4) Picked up Jean Alexandre, Raphael Cox, and Striker of Destiny Futhi Bhembe in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft with Alexandre and Cox sticking for the season.

    * We had no second round pick after being assessed it in punishment for tampering with Jeff Cassar while he was gainfully employed by Dallas

    5) Released Kenny Deuchar (technically bought out his contract), which was the beginning of the end for gretnepie;

    6) Released Fabian Espindola rather than purchase his contract, though he would be back in May;

    7) Kept Ian Joy around, sort of - he was in and out of camp, dealing with depression and a hamstring injury. If you never read his article on depression in soccer, or haven't for a long while, give it a whirl here. It'll make you feel good about our team.

    8) Acquired Luis Escalada from LDU Quito on loan as our big offseason acquisition;

    9) Selected Ned Grabavoy in the 2009 Waiver Draft from San Jose.

    . . . and I think that was it. We later picked up Nelson Gonzalez and Rachid El-Khalifi in the summer, plus Pablo Campos. And Fabi of course.
     
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  14. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

    Dec 30, 2000
    The Palouse
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    So the totals for offseason 2008-09:

    Out
    Besagno, Cutler, Deuchar, Espindola, Joy*, Kirby, Kovalenko, Sturgis, Tennelle

    In
    Alexandre, Cox, Escalada, Grabavoy
     
  15. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

    Dec 30, 2000
    The Palouse
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Taking a crack now at how things played out in the aftermath of the 2009 MLS Cup win:

    1) Somehow did not lose Ned Grabavoy in the Expansion Draft to Philadelphia - or anyone else for that matter;

    2) Ah, but we traded Chris Seitz to the Union on the eve of the draft in exchange for allocation money, purportedly with the promise none of our guys would be picked;

    3) Picked up Abe Thompson from Kansas City in the Waiver Draft;

    4) Despite him having signed a pre-contract with Danish club Randers in July, only finally lost Yura Movsisyan on a free in November, less than a week following the MLS Cup victory;

    5) At the/on the eve of the SuperDraft, traded Clint Mathis and our first round pick to the Galaxy (at his request) in exchange for their 2010 first rounder and a 2011 third rounder;

    * They had the 15th pick, we had the 16th pick; it was a weird exchange.

    6) Selected Collen Warner, Justin Davis, Chris Schuler, and Kris Banghart in the MLS SuperDraft (Davis and Baghart were never signed);

    7) Picked up Rauwshan McKenzie on waivers from Kansas City;

    7) Acquired Luis Gil from Kansas City (who still get 25% of any sale outside of MLS) after KC won his rights in a lottery and he went all John Elway on the then-Wizards;

    8) Released Tino Nunez;

    6) Waived Rachid El-Khalifi and the aforementioned Abe Thompson;

    7) Acquired Alvaro Saborio on the eve of the campaign on a season-long loan from FC Sion;

    8) Signed goalkeeper Tim Melia from Rochester and released Raphael Cox
     
  16. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

    Dec 30, 2000
    The Palouse
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    2009-10 offseason:

    Out
    Seitz, Movsisyan, El-Khalifi, Cox, Nunez, Mathis, Thompson

    In
    Melia, Saborio, Gil, Schuler, McKenzie, Warner, Thompson
     
  17. 15 to 32

    15 to 32 Straw Hog

    Jul 1, 2008
    Salt Lake
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    reading through that list makes you realize that Garth and his team didn't always make solid moves. In fact, their "batting average", if you will, was actually pretty bad. Granted, you're not going to have a high average. That would be insane and completely unrealistic.

    Still, looking at a lot of those names, even as a RSL nerd, makes you go "who the ******** is that?"

    My point? We like to shine a lot of light on Garth and his supposed amazing abilities as a GM. I think he is a tremendous one, but he was far from a perfect one. We should be fine going forward
     
  18. Allez RSL

    Allez RSL Member+

    Jun 20, 2007
    Home
    I've always wondered what kind of "hit" rate makes a good GM. If you just classified signings as "good" or "bad*," what is the minimally acceptable percent of "good" signings? 25%? 50%? It seems like anything over 50% might not even be possible.


    *Where a player's quality is determined by some complicated formula of wages, playing time, development level, media hype, number of times the GM compares him to a baby elephant, etc.
     
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  19. 15 to 32

    15 to 32 Straw Hog

    Jul 1, 2008
    Salt Lake
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    the other thing is that we don't see a good chunk of the GM's actual job. I know that is an obvious statement, but let me clarify: Garber Bux. We have no clue how a GM negotiates a deal. Prime example - Jamison Olave returning to RSL. We've all said that if it was done for a certain amount of allocation money it was either an awesome or really dumb move. The thing is, we'll never know that number. We get speculation, but nothing is concrete.

    Further, we have no idea how many garber bux you get for CCL or expansion draft picks or for finishing low or for being LA. MLS is so secretive in what actually happens in transactions that you can never really say this guy was a winner or loser in a trade. It's actually quite frustrating when you think about it

    then you add in that salary numbers that are actually published are never accurate according to anyone who is somewhat connected to the league. that the league operates as a single person when it wants Clint Dempsey for Seattle. That the league, according to our very own former GM, doesn't strictly enforce the cap...

    Man, what the hell do we know about the GM?
     
    BalanceUT repped this.
  20. Allez RSL

    Allez RSL Member+

    Jun 20, 2007
    Home
    Agreed, except for the salary numbers. I understood that the salaries reported by the Players' Union were pretty accurate. Have you heard differently?
     
  21. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

    Dec 30, 2000
    The Palouse
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Now getting easier - less to consider for 2010-11 etc.

    1) Lost David Horst and Robbie Findley in the Expansion Draft, both to Portland (Vancouver also picked that year). Findley was out of contract anyway and headed to England; we could have lost Grabavoy, Schuler, or Russell that year instead;

    2) On the same day as the draft, traded for Arturo Alvarez, who had been picked up by Portland in the draft (we sent a second round pick in the SuperDraft);

    3) That same day, released Alex Nimo who played zero minutes over several seasons;

    4) Drafted Jarad Van Schaik in the SuperDraft - our only pick - who did not stick with the club;

    5) Won the lottery for Cody Arnoux (two appearances in 1+ seasons with the club);

    6) Released Pablo Campos;

    7) Signed Donny Toia as our first homegrown player.

    And I think this was it.
     
  22. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

    Dec 30, 2000
    The Palouse
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    For 2010-11 then:

    Out

    Horst, Findley, Campos, Nimo

    In

    Alvarez, Arnoux, Toia
     
  23. 15 to 32

    15 to 32 Straw Hog

    Jul 1, 2008
    Salt Lake
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    they don't take into account any bonuses actually paid out
    it's all very "yeah, this guy makes this much.... (snicker snicker)"
    I work in the banking business - if you only published the base salaries of the guys I work with it would be very misleading
     
  24. DrownedElf

    DrownedElf Member+

    Jul 5, 2010
    Ogden
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The other thing that throws it completely off is Garberbux. It might be reported that someone makes 400k, but Garberbux could bring it down to 200k or whatever amount. So while the salaries show a good chunk, it's hard to base cap hits off of any of it.
     
  25. SoccerPrime

    SoccerPrime Moderator
    Staff Member

    All of them
    Apr 14, 2003
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Pablo Campos. I remember several posters here getting pretty upset at that one. Nowadays he is the backup in Minnesota. I expect the guy who has supplanted him to be in a RSL jersey soon (Christian Ramirez).

    I wonder if Toia will do anything in Montreal. Theres got to be an opportunity for him there.
     

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