[beer rambling]KC has carefully cultivated a reputation for making bad trades. GM's routinely call KC first when the mood for a move strikes. OK, maybe not. The jury is still out on some things. Still, the record is there* and the list of mistakes becomes continually longer in hindsight. {Preki and Hendu gone to Miami for nada is now the worst net deal in MLS history far and away eclipsing Mathis to MET} The latest move continued to look worse last night. Vasquez/Harris here for Brown/Fabbro to NE appeared at time zero to be a trade of little for almost nothing. Brown popped the hat trick before the injury and Fabbro has filled in with points before hitting the jackpot tonight with a goal and an assist v MET in the playoff game. If you didn't see the goals, Cancela was the real catalyst. Fabbro was the guy in the right spot and he didn't waste his chances. In the game, NE were brutally outshot (20-6) making Dario's performance all the more clutch. Not much can be said of KC's two imports from NE. Either may feature on Tuesday, but odds are long on the event. The continued trade-downs can't continue. Is it bad enough to warrant someone's head? I thik it's at least getting close to that. Who's head? Dunno. It should be something asked directly of CJ at the Q&A. Seriously, KC has been 1 FWD away from mauling people since Molnar left. They are .500 without a FWD of note. How good could KC have been/be with Hendu, Ralph, Ching, Dunivant, etc.? Look at the rook the last 3 years. KC had multiple shots at many of them. Bottom line: If this was any widely covered sport someone's head would have already rolled. *BAD: Wolff in, Preki and Henderson out, lack of production from youth drafted, overall SI record, Armstrong for Prideaux (dc definitely wins this one), missing opportunities to draft guys like Ralph, etc. SO-SO: Burciaga has been constantly hurt and could ceratinly be solid, but it's a loser pick right now. Guti for a #1 (CHI) is questionable - you can make an arguement for either side. The main point being the value of a 3rd overall pick. GOOD: Conrad, Garcia, Zags, Molnar/Vermes/Talley in '00 only, Arnaud for an R5 pick, and Talley for considerations[/beer rambling] -oot
First off, let me agree that after seeing the result of the Revs game last night and seeing the Fabbro had a goal and assist I really feel now more then ever that we kinda got the shaft on that trade, I mean Vasquez hasn't seen the pitch, (has he even been suited up for some of these games?) and Harris hasn't been able to put things away. Now maybe it's just that Brown and Fabbro work better under Nicol in NE, but I feel better complaining about the fact that we made the trade instead of waiting to see if it gets better. Now the part on Ralph, every team passed on him at least once in the draft last year, he was a second round pick. And who's to say that he would have played well in KC's system, or would he even be playing given Bob's track record of playing young guys? Finally, and this is probably just an oversite on your part, but I would think that the deal for Vermes was also good given the fact that it gave us Meola as well.
RING RING RING your are corrrect sure. That is one of the biggest problems with Bob as our manager. Maybe I am not following you but Vermes came from Colorado so what does Tony have to do with it.
Yeah that was my mistake, for some reason I thought that we got Meola and Vermes in the trade with the Metros for Ammann and Chung, it was early in the morning, and I wasn't thinking entirely straight.
I agree pretty much with all the trade assesments, with the exception of Brandon Prideaux for Armstrong. Brandon was a marginal defender then, and looking at our lineup and DC's, I still would rather have Stephen Armstrong over Brandon anyday. Even with Stephen's lack of production, he still brings more to the field and can fill more roles than Brandon could. In fact, based on the last three or four performances I've seen of him (and granted, I haven't seen even a majority of his games this year) I'd say that he's a year or two away from playing in the A League again. He's like McKeon; his skill level isn't keeping up with the league.
Fair enough. Predeaux has started ever since the trade on a defense that only gave up 1 more goal that the MLS leaders. Armstrong would have to be considered a minor player in KC's scheme. Regardless, I'm not sure it changes the larger equation much. Vermes was limited to one great year and one awful one. The Ralph example I used wasn't to single him out as much as point to the many alternatives missed by KC mgmt. Much of that is inevitable. That said youth is clearly missing on KC's roster.
From a New Englander's viewpoint. Vasquez/Harris here for Brown/Fabbro Fabbro - He really hasn't done too much and if Joe-Max Moore or Taylor were fit, he would be sitting. However, I doubt that he'll sit right now (JMM is available) because he has had a couple of good games and Nichols won't pull him until that changes. I doubt he'll be with the team if a better forieign player comes along. Brown - Will probally stick. He's a good late game sub for the starters and may develop into something. He's not too flashy but the NE system is good for him. Vasquez - I don't even remember seeing him play here Harris - I was not a fan. He had a couple of good years but that was some time ago. He seemed to get in the way of Twellman and did not want to accept a role of setup man. Taylor didn't mesh too well with him so he had to go. Summary - I think it was pretty much a wash. Nobody got a diamond in the rough and nobody got totally useless players
In all fairness CJ did put in to have both Twellmen and Spencer as discovery picks. Spencer was eventually deemed worthy of allocation status, and the MLS FO decided it would make the draft sexier if Twellmen were in it, (as opposed to bringing him in at the middle of the season). Both of those players were brought into the league by the efforts of the Wizards front office only to be overlooked when it was time to assign them to teams.
Fair enough, credit to effort. Most can make a solid effort only to come up short. CJ isn't paid for effort. Results are still decidedly mixed. To RevsRule's view on the trade: It's easy to discount things based on an injury. Nobody cares what might happen tomorrow in today's analysis. The reality is that as of today, KC has received virtually no value for trading 6 goals, a few assists, and a major player in a playoff win. In other words nothing for something. Today it's a bad trade for KC.
Basically on the Spencer and Twellman things. We got screwed by the league office. What else is CJ supposed to do? Lay down on the ground and throw a temper tantrum? He put in the requests, and the league asked us politely to bend over and grab our ankles. And it's even more ironic that those two guys have particularly had a habit of carving up our defense for points.
More politely than throwing a "tantrum" but that's EXACTLY what he should do. That's what EVERY GM in this league SHOULD have done when the league office changed the rules to suit whatever marketing whims struck them at the time. Now, I'm a realist, and I know that it wouldn't have made a bit of difference, and could have negatively affected things. But I'm also an idealist, and that's what should have happened. It also makes me worried about my career decisions...
This is also another reason I don't believe in dropping Bob or Curt, they pretty much have their hands tied in a lot of personnel decisions with the big brother league conspiracy theory and all. Sorry to bring up the "Fire Bob and Curt" discussion again but this is a relevant point.