If that were the case and by this reasoning, he would be playing a lot better at a reduced salary. Kind of contradicting to play better while making a lot less than he is now.
I don't think Dawkins has been "bad", he just hasn't played at a DP level, even a relatively cheapo DP level. Sometimes I think he's been close to it, and I thought he was going to round into form, but recently he just hasn't been impactful enough. That's where the bar is - he has to be impactful.
I also believe Dawkins, and other players (MPG TT etc) have underplayed, mostly due to the system we play.
That's what's so tricky about trying to evaluate players under a system that doesn't work. We only know what happened on the field, we can't know what might have happened under different circumstances. For instance, we know Dawkins has a very limited shooting capability. He blew many golden opportunities at close range by firing over the bar. That is an individual problem. He might (and I would guess probably will) continue to do that. The number of opportunities he's had over the course of the season is a different matter, and is probably less about him as an individual and more about how the team was constructed. I was under the impression earlier on in the season that he would get familiar with the league again as the season went on and he would start to produce regularly. That never happened, but I'm not convinced he can't become a good player again. I don't think he'll turn into one of the top midfielders in the league, but like I said before, I wouldn't be upset to have him return. There are plenty of other players that will be gone so finding room for him on the roster overall won't be much of an issue. The money might be a problem, but not a huge hurdle.
The odd thing is that Dawkins shot very well in his prior your of duty with the Quakes. He had 3-4 quality medium to medium long shots that beat the keeper, and he was really the only one making those kinds of shots on the team back then. I think maybe he has been a little better lately but earlier in the season he put several good chances over the bar. So I don't think he's incapable. He's just been in a slump or something - just rushing and blowing his technique. But recently it is more like he's not working his way into getting the opportunities. It's not that he's shooting bad, he is just not taking people on and working his way into position to shoot.
If you weren't familiar with the Simon of olden days, and he was just a new guy on the team this year, would you rank him above most of his teammates? He's in the top 50% but that's about all.
Maybe top 75%. He is the second leading goal scorer behind Wondo I think, and generally his combination play, and final 3rd passing is good, sometimes very good. But we still need more from a DP. Needs to really take the game by the scruff, and I think he's only looked like he is doing that a few times this season.
I agree, but, he doesn't seem to have that particular quality. He needs to improve his scruff taking.
Yeah, geez, clearly he is not staying after practice to work on his scruff taking. Again, doesn't make sense to me given that in 2011-12 he was constantly making piercing centering runs with the ball, just right up the gut, sometimes through 2 or 3 defenders. If there was any hand-wringing about Dawkins , it was that he'd sometimes lose the ball (which is a natural by-product of "going for it", and should be tolerated to some extent), but there was no disappointment in his willingness to attack. Now it is the opposite. He seems too willing to pass it off. Has he lost his confidence? I don't think Dom beat it out of him, because he's made comments about wanting Simon to take the initiative on the attack.
Simon wasn't really that good during his first go 'round with us. He had a few moments of quality but not many, really. Only Quakes would think to pluck him off the Derby bench and make him our big DP signing.
No, he was really good in 2011 and 2012. Often the best player on the field, was really effective attacking centrally, and hit some big-time medium / medium-long range shots.
I'm just going by what I witnessed with my own eyes. I will concede that he was a bit better back then. Either way, a laughable DP signing.
Well, chalk it up to just two people looking at the same thing and seeing different things, one seeing it right and the other not so right .
IMO, there have been games this season where Simon was the best player out there and games where he was the worst. Let's just say he's been inconsistent!
The biggest problem with Simon is that he is not producing like a DP and he is a DP. We need a cost benefit analysis for our players. This is a capped league, so we need to pinch pennies. We need to get good production out of our expensive players, and we don't!!! Here are some examples: Berenardez = $251.6K, and well past his use by date. Yes, he's having a terrific season for us, but the year before he missed a ton of games. Goodson = $342K. He's done, whether he knows it or not. Both of these guys need to retire at the end of this season. Shaun Francics = $103.3K, which is too much for a guy who's a sub, at best. Reduce that salary or cut him. Shea Salinas = $166.5K, again, way too much for a sub. Cordell Cato = $114.2K. He has gotten a lot of minutes, and he is versatile, and he's still young. But this is borderline. Simon Dawkins = $800K, compared to $190.7 for Alberto? Simon is way overpaid. Innocent = $1300K, also, way overpaid. I think a new coach needs to give him a look, but I see the old heave ho in his future. Quincy = $260.7k, do we really want to pay that much for a sub? It's not about whether these guys are worth that much compared to the salaries in other leagues, it's about the percentage of the salary cap that they eat and whether or not we could put that money to better use on other players. Simon hasn't been good enough this season, and yes, he's been hamstrung by our awful "strategy and tactics." But I don't see him suddenly blossoming under a new coach. Go Quakes!! Fire Dom!! - Mark
He was never good enough before to qualify as a DP. I'm not saying he wasn't a good player in 2012 but he also had a great surrounding team that season. He is a good player but $800K for this league is exaggerated. I'm happy for him that he is expecting his first baby by the weekend. Hopefully, his DP salary will come in handy for his family.
His baby should be eligible to play for the USMNT/USWNT, that's a plus in the grand scheme of things!
His baby could make the team in 20 years. Simon couldn't make the USMNT at 28 years of age though....
I think his performance in 2011-12 was good enough to warrant a DP salary - a relatively cheapo one but a DP nonetheless. Problem is that for whatever reason he is not quite the same player. If think if folks went back and watched him in some of those games in 2012 or 2011 they'd be surprised at how good he looked. And he was producing goals at about 2x the rate that he is now.
I certainly understand your point, but disagree a little bit on amount. 100k isn't very much, even by MLS standards, so guys making between 100 and 150k whose primary roles are subs is not a huge issue for me. You aren't going to get that many players under 100 who have been in the league for more than a few years, that's just how it works. So you have to decide how much production is enough. I would argue Salinas has been one of the most, if not the most productive sub this year, so he's earned what he's made. In past seasons I'm not sure I would agree, but this season, certainly. I won't go through your whole list, and you are right, cost benefit analysis is the key to any successful sports enterprise. It's something the Quakes have been surprisingly good at sometimes and horrifically bad at other times. Nearly all of their higher profile signings have been busts, yet they've managed to find several key contributors for well below what one might expect to pay. My argument would be that they continue to focus on finding as much value for as little cash as possible as they seem to have a better understanding of that, plus, if they don't work out, you move on without feeling you invested too much into any one player. There will continue to be higher paid players brought into this team, I'm pretty sure, so hopefully they learn a few things and the quality of those signings increases. I'm' very wary about it, though.
I don't have issues with the salaries other than Simon's and of course Indolent's. Goodson too, but that's soon to be history. There are 22-year-old programmers pulling in those $100-150k salaries. This is an expensive place to live, not that the league adjusts for that.
Salinas = $166.5K, so above your $150K argument. Just sayin'. Which means that we need more guys with only two to three years under their belts that we can pay $60K to $80K or less. We should have three DPs (who we assume are starters), a few starters north of $200K, and a few in the $100K to $200K range. The salary cap being what it is, if we want our subs not to suck, we're going to need to have some rookies and dudes on protected salaries. That means getting away from having so many veterans on the roster. Home grown contacts have a time limit on them right? So we're pissing away TT's protected status and free years against the cap. We ought to have more homegrown dudes. We ought to stash guys on Reno 1868. We need to use the salary and roster rules that are available to us, and that's the GM's job. Clearly, an area in which JD sucked. But our coaches have also been veteran obsessed. Thus, we have a bunch of dudes who are in their 30's, earning big pay checks, who we cannot count on for four or five years of productivity. And many of those players have come from Central America where we can afford to buy their starters. There are places in South America and Scandinavia where we can buy quality players (maybe not DP's, but starting quality dudes) for bargain prices. We need to exploit those. The same as I'm saying. Well, with someone other than the JD/Frank/Wat(TF)/Dom cabal making those decisions, my confidence is hugely increased. Go Quakes!! - Mark