Last year's cap, IIRC, was 2.3M. From last year's roster, these players are gone: Allen, Fred, Emilio, Gomez, Habarugira, Jacobson, Janicki, John, Kocic, N'Silu, Olsen and Szetela. Quite a few, huh? Adding together their base salary figures (in Emilio's case, just the $400k cap hit) from last year gives $1.216M *plus* whatever fraction of Christian Gomez' salary we were paying (I don't really understand the 2009 figures for him in the MLSPU release; they seem low to me, given the terms under which he went to Colorado in the first place). I don't think it's unreasonable to say we dropped at least $1.4M in cap hit. We've since brought in: Allsopp, Castillo, Cristman, Hamid, Morsink, Perkins. What do we know about what we're paying them? The only one I've heard a concrete figure for is Perkins, and even that was just "above $200k." Let's say it's $250k, just for the sake of argument. Let's also say that Christman and Morsink, despite being waived, are being paid here as much as they were making at KC ($34.65k each). Again, for putting something concrete down, I'll say $200k for Allsopp, $250k for Castillo, and $50k for Hamid. That's a total of about $820k. That means we still have at least $580k in cap space -- and that's using last year's cap. Rumor is that this year's increase, assuming successful CBA negotiations, is on the order of another 100k. So, $680k under the cap. That's a lot. You can quibble with my guesses for Allsopp and Castillo's salaries, but I don't think you can quibble that $680k down to a small number. We're *way* under the cap. Or am I missing something? EDIT: As Jason points out below, Hamid is GA, so his salary doesn't count towards the cap. So now we're at an estimated $730k below the cap. (Jason also points out the cap hit we lost with Emilio was $415k, not $400; but since I don't even know for sure what the Gomez hit was, I'll suck that into the $1.4M cap hit lost.) EDIT #2: itwasi below reminds us that Wallace graduated from GA. That's a $55k base salary that didn't hit the cap last year, and does now. So ~$675k. There's also the issue of salary renegotiations, incremental raises, etc. But those aren't going to make that number a small number.
Hamid is GA, so that's $50K you need to add. DPs are actually $415K against the cap, so there's another $15K there. No way on God's green earth that Castillo is making that much, but it's probably just a flop of his and Allsopp's salary. In any case, I agree that we have at least $600K+ under the old cap. I just wish I knew why the team was sitting on it.
Oooh, yeah, that's that one about Roy Hobbs...the best there ever was, where Kevin Costner says "If you build it, he will feel his pain" and then someone replies "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." And then someone throws a baseball at a cardboard cutout. Right?
The math seems right. The question is this: are they committed to spending up to the limit? If so, they'd better get going. That's a number of players-worth of cap to use... Right now I'm not sure exactly who's going to play. More journeymen and young players won't give the team stability in the middle. Q and Simms have had injuries and neither one is strong enough to build an achieving team around. Right now we look 1-2 injuries away from PDL. Sure hoping they're planning a big move soon. Otherwise it could be a long summer.
If Will wanted to move -- with no long term stadium commitment and limited prospects -- what would keep him from doing so? Running down the value of the team by putting a crap product on the field would only hurt his sale price (if he wanted to unload) or the reception he'd get in a place like St. Louis (if he were serious about moving). Don't see how a bad team helps him either way.
The math seems right to me. Even with ~150 for Pena (I know it's ridiculous), Pontius' new contract money, and didn't Wallace leave GA status, it seems pretty clear the team is leaving space for a DP to come in. I'm saying they're bringing in Seedorf.
We're throwing darts right now in guessing at the cap figures, but has anyone figured out if DCU was even at or near the cap total last year? There might be some additional cap space to be added in that's not accounted for by dumped salaries. Also, one pretty big chunk of DCU's salary total last year went to Louis Crayton. He was making about $170k, no? The team had him for almost half the season, no? So, don't forget to add that in when figuring cap space. Personally, I'm thinking the team has enough for one DP at full-season, and another added for a half-season after the World Cupn (Seedorf!!), and maybe one decent player besides.
Why would you have to wait until after the World Cup for Seedorf? It is not like he'll be suiting up for the Oranje. Talk about a midfield with ludicrous depth! Is there some reason you think Bert van Marwijk would be willing to bring him along for the ride? He is unlikely to pull a Capello and have an over-the-hill star join in as a stowaway to try and salvage a WC bid As soon as Milan is done one presumes he would become available - but has there been any indication from Clarence himself of a burning desire to play by the banks of the Anacostia? Or have we just taken on one of the many pathetic attributes of Metrostars/RBNY fans?
No, no, no - Ron Paul is a Libertarian. Weah is one of those guys who knows all about the Dewey Decimal system and where to find reference materials.
I should be able to rep an entire thread. Except this one appears to be just a clone of Freakonomics.
Fischy makes a good point about whether we were even at the cap as of end of last year (viz. Crayton), so between that and then accounting for contract renewals/incremental raises, let's say somewhere between 600 and 700. Pena seems like the first order of business then. What would he command -- $100K? $150K? We're still comforably able to absorb a DP contract and would still have another approx. $50 to $150 besides. I hope there's another move or two in the works. I can't see any reason to go into the season so far under the cap.
Are we (by "we," I mean, "y'alls" because MLS finances are beyond screwy and I can't be bothered) sure that Will Chang/DC United doesn't save himself/itself any money by being under the cap? Having cap space for a DP is nice, but paying most of a DP's salary will still require Will Chang to be more of a charity than RFK already makes him. Is it possible that the MLS is putting pressure on unprofitable teams to spend less? I can't see this being true, but a DP seems so unlikely to me right.
According to statements on the League's financial structure included in stadium proposals, salaries are paid 100% by the League -- that's part of the League owning those contracts. Is it possible? Sure. But it wouldn't make much sense, since it's not a recipe for turning unprofitable teams into profitable ones.
Yeah that's the puzzle that we're all trying to figure out. The first explanation that leaps to mind is that Chang is bunkering down and cutting his expenses given the recession and not having a stadium deal on the horizon. The reason why that explanation doesn't make sense is because -- so far as we know -- there's no incentive to not spend money under the cap. The assumption is that because salaries up to the cap amount are paid by the league, there's no benefit to an individual investor/operator to be under the cap. Assuming that assumption is true, then there must be some other motivation for United to be so far under the cap (hence speculation of a pending DP) If the assumption is false, then the League owners have a much bigger hole in their Single Entity front than what any amount of free agency is going to cause.
I am really hoping the team is making room for a couple big signings. Maybe a dp + 1 other, or 2 very good players worth 250k a piece. Does the cap figure people have figured on include players that were on the team last year fighting for a roster spot like Brandon Barklage, John DiRaimondo and Lawson Vaughn?
I thought Barklage had been re-signed. Anyway, when I did the calculation in the first post in this thread, I assumed they were in. If we don't resign them, then that'll add still more cap space. But in all likelihood, a comparable amount of cap space will be eaten up by whoever we *do* sign in those last roster spots.