"NEWS: Earthquakes Sign Nick Lima to Homegrown Player Contract" (SJEarthquakes.com - Wednesday, 12/21/16) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
For what it's worth, MLS Analyst Matt Doyle is a fan: Yes. Very good RB - potential Day 1 starter. Tony Beltran-esquehttps://t.co/G0LlZZhxM5— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) December 21, 2016
It would be awesome to have a coach who is willing to play Colvey and Lima and just let them go to work without the fear of being yanked for Wynne or Francis.
Disagree. Part of being a professional is competition. A huge problem with the Quakes has been a lack of competition at certain positions. Young players need to compete every time they step on the field, not be handed a position.
Exactly! I am tired of the overly-conservative crap where we are so worried about a young player making a mistake we keep trotting out mediocre veterans. As I mentioned in another thread, Justin Morrow had 9 starts in his career when he was more or less handed the LB starting job in 2012. A few months later he was an MLS all-star. Sure they should have to compete for the job. They should get to compete for the starting job, which is something that I don't really think they are allowed currently. I don't think we saw enough of Colvey last year for me to say that Francis "beat him out". IMO he did not.
That's what I meant -- and as far as I can tell our crappy veterans are handed starting spots despite poor performances, with little opportunity for young players to show they are better.
He is a Dayak type of player only faster. Hope he does well! Go Cal Bears! MLS Moves: Quakes ink Homegrown defender Nick Lima
Did I say otherwise? In fact, I stated that was part of the problem with the Quakes. We didn't have the competition whether young, old, or broken.
If they're good enough to start let them start. Our coaches have relied too much on "experience" instead of best to play the position.
We have 11 open roster spots, I think. Lima was about getting a guy that they know well and they think can play at this level. Wynne is about getting a versatile vet with a couple more seasons in him--he just has to be on a reasonable contract. Hard to know if any other clubs are out there that would value him more.
Not all that familiar with the union rules, but I would assume they couldn't significantly reduce his salary considering he's been in the league so long and his performance this year was good. He won't make what Goodson made, so that alone will make whatever he signs for more reasonable. Without Stewart and Goodson, paying Wynne won't make as big an impact overall. The other defenders really aren't very expensive.
The whole "free agency" thing is a mechanism for young players to get serious raises, and for older players to get the salaries reduced. Unless Marvell can hook on with another team, he's going to play for us at a reduced salary, which kind of sucks from a how the firm treats it's employees point of view. So, I'm the one who's been complaining about our defenders forever, here's who we've got: Big Vic (a mistake in my view) Andrés (should have played him more last season, so he'd be ready to lead our D this season) Cato (now listed as a defender, oddly) Francis (not good enough) Kip (right on!) Lima (right on!) And we have Silva and Fatai who could play D in a pinch. Normally, we think that we need eight defenders on the roster, so we need to sign two more to the first team, and we need to stash some with Reno. I think there's a good chance that we re-sign Marvell, but you never know. Cato and Lima would be our right back players? Not sure about that. Go Quakes!! - Mark
Sarkodie is still under contract as well. I'm not sure what his ability to play center back would be, but he'll either fill in as necessary like he did last year or supplant Cato to start, which I think he should. I looked up Lima to try to see where he might fit in, but accurate info was difficult to come by. The SJ article didn't include which position he played in and the Cal Bears site lists him as a forward. It's amusing but incredibly frustrating that even basic info from a pretty well regarded men's soccer program at the college level is practically worthless.
Don't worry -- here's a picture from a Quakes preseason training session showing the crack coaching staff assigning players to their positions:
As far as I know, he started as a forward but moved to outside back. I think he actually played left back as a right-footed player, making him sort of an "inverted fullback". Colvey is right-footed also I think but often plays left back. But he crosses well with either foot.
Hmm, that makes it even more curious. At 5'9" he certainly wouldn't make the most aerial center back, but something tells me that's where Kinnear wants to put him. If you're right, Lima would make the third left back the team signs. So either Kinnear doesn't want to use him there or maybe he just really loves competition in the outside spots. There's evidence for that as he kept switching up Stewart and Francis despite Stewart routinely putting in worse games than Francis. That leads me to think Kinnear really might not have learned anything this season, and that's not surprising but still frightening.
The Quakes website says that Sarkodie is out of contract. I do not suggest that that information is 100% accurate, but it is what the website says. I thought I heard that Lima was a right back, but I can't be certain of that. He does play as an outside defender, and a good player should be able to switch sides. I agree that college sports team websites are lousy. Go Quakes!! Hire te Kloese!! - Mark
I'm guessing that Lima could play on either the right or the left, and in fact in Kinnear's "system" he would not want them cutting in as much as providing width. If he's right-footed he is probably better at delivering crosses from the right side. Colvey can also play on either side. So I would not get too hung up on the "left back" thing.
It's possible that the report I read was wrong. I would hope the team's website tracker specifically made for this task would be up to date. In any case, if they aren't going to sign Sarkodie to another contract, then Lima's signing isn't so unusual. Probably leaves Cato without a spot unless another right midfield player goes unsigned. I'll be curious to see Lima. Hopefully he'll get time during preseason. Pretty clear that Dom will stay with four in the back, which is a waste, but what can you do?