Harden Retired? Vanney In?

I agree with you that we badly need that pipeline to talent in the south but it's not there yet. Since it is not established yet and given our salary cap issues I'd say he is doing a decent job of working with what is available to us in the league.

Let's face it. If Yallop doesn't give up Shavar Thomas we wouldn't even know who Ty Harden is and wouldn't think twice about him quitting. We probably wouldn't need to go giving up more youth for Vanney either.

 

Knowing Alexi, we'll probably trade his rights to Seattle for allocation money.

 

Yeah, the Shavar Thomas move was puzzling. In some ways, we're spending this year trying to fix all the trades that Yallop made last year.

Given our situation, we can't really write this year off. But the smart thing would be to treat this year as a building year and hope to have a good team next year.

 

Yallop obviously saw something in Harden right off the bat. He started every pre-season match and he started every match he was fit for last season.

I personally had some serious reservations about putting so much responsibility on a rookie center back and felt Harden looked a little awkward back there, but he had a lot of upside.

Funny, I remember my impression from the first time I ever saw Harden play, and it never really changed a whole lot after that.

https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=11105865&postcount=13

(That was in the scrimmage against the California Victory last pre-season) no one at that game thought he was a potential starter. No one. Everyone assumed he was playing due to pre-season.

 

The Harden thing is interesting. Goff linked to another site that said it really wasn't about money for Harden, but that he was having a really hard time adjusting to be a full-time, professional soccer player. It said that he suffered prolonged bouts of loneliness last year, so I guess he's a guy who really loves his family and felt out of place in Los Angeles.

 

1. Goff confirms that Kirk is a Gen Ad this season. He just doesn't play enough to have his Gen Ad status removed.

2. Acquiring Needham just got more complicated. DCU holds his MLS rights. But he's still under contract to Puerto Rico. So you'd have to deal with both teams. I'm guessing a deal with PR would involve something like $ or a willingness to play them in an exhibition match. For DCU, probably a draft pick in the future.

 

Hmmm - Why is this suspicious??

CLICK ON: CONSPIRACY-MODE

While I'm in this whole conspiracy-mode place .. .. Who wants to bet that Mr. Harden is the opening day centre-back for SEATTLE in 2009??

I can see/hear it now, "I loved working for my dad, but something was just missing in my life!"

Who is Seattle's GM anyhow??

Betcha he (or Chris Henderson) may know Papa Harden .. ..

Nothing wrong with that, if so .. .. Just interesting to speculate .. ..

 

I would so rep you if I could. (post cut b/c of length)

 

Re: Hmmm - Why is this suspicious??

I hope he is the starting CB for Seattle in 2009. That means that they are going to suck quite badly and I look forward to us taking 3 points from them everytime we play. Harden was marginal at best and if he thinks he can take a year off from the game and just step right back into it he is sadly mistaken. Let him go to Seattle and make the same stupid mistakes he made hear week after week. I look forward to it.

 

I'm pretty sure we just deal with one team: Puerto Rico. DCU doesn't hold his rights anymore, the Islanders do though. Shouldn't be too difficult to strike a deal with them, but, as he originally went to USL because DC didn't pay him enough, finding money to pay him could end up being a problem.

Speaking of $$$, Vanney is dependable (sort of...he's not THAT old) but his salary is crazy. Maybe we can pull off a Clint Mathis and deal him away and use him as trade bait? Haha, wishful thinking.

But Vanney's definitely not worth what we are going ot pay him, which worries me. I would have much rather signed Nat Borchers.

 

Goff says Its Official!!

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/

 

Thank god for east coast reporters!!!

Nothing on our official site.

Nothing on our official blog.

Great media use Galaxy!

 

It is on the website:
http://la.galaxy.mlsnet.com/news/te...ent_id=139162&vkey=pr_lag&fext=.jsp&team=t106

 

As is the Press Release about Harden:
http://la.galaxy.mlsnet.com/news/te...ent_id=139153&vkey=pr_lag&fext=.jsp&team=t106

 

So is the Vanney signing...

http://la.galaxy.mlsnet.com/news/te...ent_id=139162&vkey=pr_lag&fext=.jsp&team=t106

 

I stand corrected. Nice to finally see. So now that it's "official" I guess the blog will be free to comment on it.

Steve, I think my point about media in the "LA Galaxy wants you" thread is legitimate and I'd appreciate it if you could get some FO response on that.

 

I agree. Steve R. and I talked about this point at length on the phone after you posted. We will certainly talk to the FO about this.

-Steve L.

 

I really appreciate that.

 

DC holds his MLS rights while PR holds his playing rights. In MLS, you can keep the rights for a couple of years even if you don't sign the player. We'll have to make a deal with both.

I doubt he'll ask for a lot of money. We could probably get him for around MLS minimum. The problem is finding the open roster spot.

 

I never thought he was such a promising player that I should even care about this . . . but he did work hard and he did improve during a difficult season. So I'm not really pissed AT Harden but I will bust balls a little bit because this seems lame for a couple reasons . . .

RETIRES?? WTF, dude's 23. The only things you should retire from at 23 are being an Eagle Scout or a dorm RA. Couldn't he fight off severe bouts of lonliness with a 12-pack like most guys who move to LA in their 20s? And if it's about the money then I guess he's got to look out for himself, but the turn-the-tables bit still doesn't sit well with me. If he turns up in Seattle then good for him I guess . . . whatever.

 

We do know that the MLS is not an over 30 league ... right??

 

Yeah I kind of agree. Its good to see him following his actual dreams, and doing something he considers worthwhile. But man, does he know how many people would trade places with him, how many people dream of playing professional soccer, and he gives it up? All he had to do was drop by the open tryouts last week to see 400 guys dying to be able to do what he was considering quiting. You would think that would have made him reconsider.

 

My understanding is that Needham's contract with Puerto Rico pays more than the MLS minimum for senior roster players. A year ago as a rookie, he turned down a upper developmental contract with DCU. Now he's got a year's pro experience and a fall-back deal so I don't imagine he'll settle for less money. In any case, this is academic if y'all decide he's not good enough to make your senior roster.

As for finding an open roster spot, let's be honest here: in 2007, the only team that could honestly say that they had "maybe" 18 players worthy of being on the senior roster and serious contributors was Houston. And even then they'd have to include Dalglish (who missed the season with injuries). Most MLS teams had trouble going more than 13 players deep (and some like TFC and RSL might have arguably been only 8-9 players). Needham is not in DCU's camp because the team didn't think he make the senior roster--and we're not 18 players deep--not even close to it. So if Needham proves he's capable of helping you in central defense and playing at an MLS level, I doubt you'd have trouble finding a senior roster spot for him.

 

We needed to take care of that BACKline, but now our GK migth be a problem. How many starts does our GK have under his belt. That migth become an ISSUE. We need someone with Munutes WIns Shotouts under his belt.