2019-2020 MLS OffSeason News (Other Teams)

The Galaxy have agreed to a three-year contract with Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez that will make the Mexican striker the highest paid player in MLS, a person with knowledge of the negotiations confirmed Friday. Precise terms of the deal were not known, but the team is expected to officially announce the signing next week.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/socc...h-galaxy-to-become-highest-paid-player-in-mls

 

...and henceforth Javier Hernandez was known throughout the breadth and sweep of all these lands as "Chachingarito!"

 

ba-dump!

 

Michael Bradley with ankle surgery, expected to be out 4 months.

 

Rumor about DC getting Modric this summer.

 

Wow, Gressel is a quality player, the kind of guy I wouldn't mind having here!

 

Huge trade. With him and Flores DC is much better than last year. If they can manage to get Modric they could be a damn good team

 

Revs offseason roster-building work looks pretty good compared to prior Revs offseasons. Very good, even.

(Meanwhile DC United: Gressel, Modric possibly replacing Rooney.
LA Gals: reload Zlatan departure with Chicharito.)​

Seems that there's still a fair amount of room to step up the ladder for Revs. They're still not operating at the same level as some of these other clubs.

We can all still be happy that they are doing much better than they were. But at the same time, we can't mistake rightly giving them that "good effort!" attaboy as somehow meaning that they are at or near the top.

That's just a pragmatic observation. It's not negative, nor pessimistic.

 

The 'world superstar' path is only one possible avenue to a championship - one with pretty mixed results.

 

And there are some positive results in that mix.

(And, there are mixed results in every avenue that could be pursued.)

I don't care about the label "superstar", but there is a skill level of players like Modric or Zlatan or Rooney that quite often translates to success in MLS, often team-level success - which is independent of whether or not "world superstar" label is attached to the player.

It's not about how much the player can be or is "hyped" - irrelevant to me. It's about the difference making capability the player brings. Some of these players truly elevate the team around them.

(And some don't, to your point.)

 

If he played for Montreal, we'd say "Sur la Guillotine!"

 

Pretty much agree; I just want to make the point that not pursuing players in that 'world class' category doesn't prevent a team from seriously contending. Even in today's MLS.

 

"World class" is very different than "world superstar." At this point in MLS you need to have "world class" players on your team. For the Revs that's Gil and Bou, and possibly Buksa (fingers crossed). These guys aren't "world superstars" but they could cut it in top flight leagues around the world. The days of recognizable "world superstars" in MLS continues to dwindle, especially with the likes of Rooney, Schweinsteiger, and Zlatan all leaving over the past year. At this point it's maybe only Chicharito and Nani that would fall into that category, IMO?

 

Yes, agreed.

For some management teams, there can be good cost/benefit to saving on the time and effort of finding the lesser-polished or unpolished gems and refining them - and instead just stepping up and buying World Class talent.

>> I never want to see a team get to the point where they don't ever, or very infrequently, legitimately entertain the possibility of obtaining World Class talent to help succeed -- i.e., such that a team nearly exclusively pursues a moneyball approach, or similar, in essence interminably nibbling at the edges.

(Maybe such teams think they are so much smarter personnel-wise than the competition; or have placed internal constraints upon themselves to not do so; who knows...)​

After all, there is some correlation with World Class players and good outcomes. (Sometimes the compilation of good outcomes is what eventually leads a player to be considered World Class.)

 

RSL selling Savarino
https://theathletic.com/1565239/202...di-salary-mora-timbers/?source=shared-article
Real Salt Lake has agreed to sell winger Jefferson Savarino to Brazilian club Atlético Mineiro, sources told The Athletic on Monday.

White Caps bring in a Winger on loan from Hull
https://www.whitecapsfc.com/post/2020/01/27/wfc-acquire-milinkovic

@samstejskal
Sources: Columbus has claimed Fanendo Adi off waivers. No word on what his budget charge will be for Crew. Cincy will pay difference between his salary and that number. Adi reunited with Caleb Porter, who coached him in Portland.

Atlanta bring in a Midfielder
https://www.atlutd.com/post/2020/01/23/atlanta-united-signs-jake-mulraney-heart-midlothian-fc

Dallas sign a DP
https://www.fcdallas.com/post/2020/01/21/fc-dallas-signs-liga-mx-forward-franco-jara

 

I was reading some fan reactions to the Milinkovic signing. Guy was apparently flakey showing up to training on the daily. Reminds me of a signing the Revs would have made in the Burns era