Who screwed who?

A little bit of both.

The Revs operate with a Pats-like mindset, where the labor market is 98% domestic. They seem to have developed no competency for bringing players in from overseas, so it's not surprising that they have no sense of the opportunity they may be denying Taylor. In addition, they are tacitly admitting they can't replace him.

Twellman (and his agent) should have had a buyout clause. They say they never thought this opportunity would present itself. They were wrong.

Finally, the Noonan loss can't have helped Taylor's situation. To go from Twellman & Noonan starting in MLS Cup to Cristman and Mansally kicking off 2008, would make the Revs look like, well, idiots.

 

No one got screwed. There are no perpetrator's or victims here. It's just the way the business of sports contracts plays out.

 

spot on,,,,,as ugly as one may want to make this whole situation out to be at the end of the day its Business.

 

TnT should have negotiated a buyout clause in his contract.

 

I think this should be a third option, as I also agree it's a little bit of both.

 

considering that, even with the new "big" contract, the revs are paying Twellman 10% of what they believe he's worth, I'd have to say it's a little of both.

We can say he should have negotiated a buyout clause, but we don't know if that was on the table, or what was told to whom about potential overseas offers.

At the end of the day, it's the same as the Joseph situation--Twellman will either play for the Revs or not play at all, and just like Joseph he'll be a pro on the field.

This type of atmosphere cannot be good for the locker room or the training ground, though.

 

******** twellman.

tell them if they want him, the price is 6 mil. we take the money and go buy 2 forwards.

 

In my opinion Twellman and Twellman's agent did not do the best job re-nogitating - if the Revs said they would sell if they got a decent enough bid - it should have been in the contract with the specific price.

If he wanted a buyout clause, it should have been in the contract.

In light of these things, that meant he took a salary that was 10K less or something, he should have planned for that.

Now, contractually, the Revs are not at fault here. BUT, the Revs are setting a precedent that will have much longer impacts as young players will look at these decisions and how the Revs treat their players and think twice about signing extensions, long contracts, etc.

 

PNE screwed the Rev's and Twellman. OK, maybe screw is the wrong term but if they had indicated interest in Twellman in late November/ early December maybe the Rev's could have planned accordingly. Dorman could have been signed, Noonan kept and Nicol and Mariner could have added a Striker to the wish list when they went on their trip down to Argentina.

 

Dorman said he wanted to stay in New England. Noonan's contract situation was handled horribly.

If they wanted to keep these players, they'd have offered them the salaries they wanted, and the salaries they deserved. We were frugal, attempting to sign players to long term contracts on the cheap, it's something we've done time and time again.

The Revs are at fault in this situation, their strategy for signing players is pathetic.

 

Definitely. I don't think this situation is clear-cut enough to designate a "good guy" and a "bad guy". Really, both sides could have benefited, and now it's just turned into a giant power struggle.

 

We could get $100 million and I doubt we'd know what to do with it. Maybe get LA's 2nd round pick for the next 500 years.

 

As much as I hate the Revs miserly ways, if Twellman had his heart set on going to Europe he shouldnt have signed a 4 year deal to play in MLS, you cant have it both ways. If he wants to go to Europe so bad, he should try to score so many goals this year that the team gets offers they cant refuse. He didnt help his chances of getting there with his performance against Sweden last week(where Noonan on the other hand did.)

 

Twellman has renegotiated his contract three times now - each time getting more $$ and more security in exchange for more commitment.

I think it's rather disingenuous to say now that they had no idea an offer like this would come along. If he has another year like '06, should he give money back to the Revs - because they had no idea he'd suck so bad?

 

Personally, I think Twellman and his agent are at fault.

So Twellman signed a new contract at the beginning of last year. 4 years, 2 guaranteed and 2 option years. So this is his last year of guaranteed money. Is this correct?

If the above is correct, Twellman should fire his agent. With his track record he should have had 4 guaranteed years. His agent also should have had a buyout clause or transfer clause in the contract if it was 2 guaranteed years.

Every other year since joining the revs Twellman has complained\whined about money/contract and I'm getting a bit tired of it. See if PNE will pay 4 million and sell him. Use that money and sign 2 forwards.

Thanks for the goals Twellman, enjoy the meat pies!

 

MLS has to be clearer about what players they want to keep and why. If players are to be deemed a national treasure, as Pele was in his day, and told in effect that their careers are going to be stateside, then they should be paid accordingly.

That said, none of us can walk away from contracts and expect a pat on the back. I don't think Twellman has a leg to stand on, particularly since SJ has already had to suck it up as well.

That said, I wish I was as confident as some others about his motivation if (when) he ends up staying. I think it's fair to say that his impact on games has varied widely. I think it's also fair to say that there have been any number of times when he has been visibly frustrated. Perhaps it is because he needs a certain kind of support and service to succeed, and some games he just doesn't get it. In any case, it seems (to me) that he decides for himself whether any given game is worth killing himself over.

Given that next year is shaping up to be a rebuilding year (again, just my opinion), it's possible that Twellman will not see great service, will get frustrated, and his productivity may drop off. We may end up wondering whether it wouldn't have been best, all in all, just to let him go.

 

Taylor's frustration level is likely to be in inverse proportion to how much USMNT action he sees. If he is excluded from the WC qualifying matches, I think he will realize that a window (for ever getting a UK work permit) is closing and the frustration will go up.

I say the revs get him a top class attacking mid to cheer him up!

 

After thinking about it a bit, I'm not sure that I agree with that part of my post either.

 

The Revs have not replaced a guy who last played for them in 2006, what makes you think that they would replace Twellman if they sold him? In one sense, I give the Revs credit for knowing enough about themselves that they aren't even going to pretend they'd try to buy a striker. On the other hand, I am disgusted that they haven't replaced any significant players going back to 2005.

You can argue about the relative worth of Cancela, Hernandez, Dempsey, Dorman, and Noonan, but collectively, they could be the nucleus of a pretty good team. Just ask San Jose or Toronto if they'd like to have that core to build around.

 

Cancela's and Hernandez' time has come and gone. Any team in MLS could have had them and no one stepped up.

 

And if someone comes in next Monday and offers a fantastic sum for Tom Brady's contract, would anyone be saying the Patriots screwed him if they did not accept the offer? Of course not.

Twellman signed - end of story, shut up and play