Funny you should mention that. According to his own assessment, Shea does not exactly consider himself to be "Mr. October". . He has played 54 minutes - no goals, assists, or even shots. "It's getting late in my career and I'd like to do a little more in the playoffs," Salinas said before the announcement Tuesday. http://www.mercurynews.com/earthqua...akes-give-winger-shea-salinas-multi-year-deal
That is very close to something that I utter to myself many times per game. Except you are missing an "r".
Super-subs is Salinas and Barrett's job. That is where they have a proven track record and what they are paid to do.
I think it's only been this year that Salinas has really been a super sub. I think he has mostly started otherwise. Possible exception may be 2012, at least part of it. He has 5 starts this year, and I think they have ranged from pretty poor to real poor.
If they re-signed him as a starter, that's a mistake. Hopefully they signed him to his specialist role....super-sub and occasional starter to cope with injuries and occasionally for specific match-ups requiring speedy defensive ability (like Castillo against FCD recently).
Are specific roles usually spelled out in these contracts? Maybe that's the problem with Innocent: "the contract didn't say I had to score goals!"
Salinas just turned 30 today I think. Somehow he doesn't seem to be getting any slower. He is probably good for another 2 years or so. But once he starts slowing down, he is done. His game is 90% about speed - he is kind of the Ian Russell of his day. Actually I think Ian was even faster, but did not have the dribbling skills that Salinas has.
Is Ian Russell done? He's managed to parlay his below-Salinas dribbling skills into a nice post-playing gig. Seems to me Salinas has good prospects if he wants to stick around the game after he stops playing. He's incredibly personable and community-oriented. And he's already in his ninth season as a pro. Even under your churlish assessment, Salinas will retire with more than a decade of professional experience, which has to put him at or near the one percentile of all pro soccer players. Viva Shea Salinas!
Yes, even Salinas himself has expressed surprise that he has lasted this long. Agree that by all accounts he is a super nice guy, and community-oriented.
From mlssoccer.com The 28-year-old Dawkins has made 19 appearances, all but one starts, in league play for the Quakes, but he’s been fighting various “niggles,” as he called them, throughout the year, including issues in his groin, knee and back. The problems have not cost him whole months in one fell swoop, but instead chipped away at his maximum level of effectiveness. “Going into the Houston game [on July 31], I felt my groin injury was getting better,” Dawkins told MLSsoccer.com this week. “I felt a lot better and then this had to go and happen. It’s kind of frustrating. . . . I think in recent weeks, my performances have been getting better. I just want to try to continue and make a difference for this team.” Quakes coach Dominic Kinnear said he doesn’t want to “risk playing anybody who’s not 100 percent,” but acknowledged earlier this month that Dawkins and Alberto Quintero are his first-choice wingers. And any coach is dependent on the player’s assessment of their own fitness.
Shea has a new namesake among the fan base: Baby Shea (born in January), as re-tweeted by the Quakes today.