Crayton makes 179k. If we dropped him, we'd probably want to go out and get another backup, maybe from USL or something, who'd make 50 or 60, so that we've got a full complement. That would leave you maybe just a hair more than what one average starter makes in this league to work with. The Christian Castillo thread got me thinking about this topic. At first I was thinking that a "true wide mid" would be great to have and a shot in the arm. But I've waffled a bit on that over time. Not that it wouldn't be nice to have one, but that might be oversimplifying things a bit. This team is in a somewhat unusual position, I think, compared to most MLS clubs. In order to contend for a championship, what it most needs is major, productive minutes from the Moreno/Gomez/Olsen trio (maybe minutes and more productive than we really have a right to expect). Without those guys we seem to fall into the trap of being pretty decent just about everywhere, but special nowhere. Without any of them starting, we did not appear to suck at any position against the Red Bulls, but you get the feeling we'd have dropped points to any team not as hard up as they are. We've already got a lot of guys who can basically play. Adding Pontius, Wallace, and Jakovic to the core (other than those three just mentioned) of Namoff, Simms, Emilio, Fred, the resurgent Quaranta, and hopefully a finally solid Wicks (as well as useful role players like N'Silu, Janicki, Barklage, etc) gives us a team with heart and fights to come back from behind (though one that maybe also has a tendency to take its foot off the pedal when ahead). It might be tougher to improve that kind of team than it would be to improve one with league-elite players on one hand and guys who shouldn't be in a starting line-up on the other. And maybe, given all the risks implicit in adjustment issues to any new league, not one we should be looking outside to address. Maybe it makes more sense to make a stretch run trade, a la baseball, with a team that's out of the race come August. Currently, FCD, RSL, SJ and NYRB have fewer points than games played. It would be a bit early for any of them to bail on the season and start thinking about next year, but give it another month and a half and any of them (or perhaps someone else) might be in that position.
I would love to trade for Stuart Holden, who is a budding star with a ridiculously low salary (ca. 32k, IIRC). He must be pulling a Bobby Boswell and playing out his original contract in the hope of going on a free to make big bucks elsewhere. He has strong ties to the Houston area and would be difficult to pry loose. Don't what we would have to offer them but wouldn't it be great if they took Crayton! After all, Onstad is 41.
Yeah, there's no way. They let DeRosario go partially because they thought he could take the keys to the engine. And their rise in the standings is tribute to the fact they were right about that. I'd be worried if they did take offers, as it could only mean you had a blatant rent-a-player on your hands. We'd have to go for someone their current team can't make work, or that they don't know what they have. Not too long ago I would have suggested FCD's Dax McCarty, only he has worked himself back into the line-up with them and is contributing.
Use it for a Gomez and, or Emillio replacement. Gomez getting old and it is inevitable that Emillio is leaving during this summer or after this season. It wouldn't bother me a bit. Draft a top forward in next years draft.
I would go after Meija or Martinez again. With the money left over, I drop Peters and try to get a d-mid backup. I would love to get either Beckerman or Stammler to partner with Simms, but one's expensive while the other hasn't fully recovered from surgery. We're also #2 on the allocation list, so I might consider holding out to see which USMNT players are available. Feilhaber would be a fantastic replacement for Olsen, while a DeMerit or Pearce could further strengthen the backline. Even if we don't go after someone, we can always parlay the spot into a high draft pick or allocation money.
I disagree with the thread starter. In order to win a championship, we do not need "major, productive minutes from the Moreno/Gomez/Olsen trio." Hell, we had major minutes from them in 2005-2007, and didn't win a championship. What we need is for them to fit in well with the younger players on this team who this team ultimately rises and falls on. With the competitions we're in, our young players have more than enough time to get ready to perform well in the playoffs. Hell, if the Red Bulls can make the final game last year .... But yes, if we got rid of Crayton midway thru, we'd save his 90K. If we picked up a USL keeper and picked up the half season salary of a 40K keeper, we're talking 20K. That's leaves 70K to pick up a player for 3 months or so. There are a lot of good players who would be willing to do that, if we guys already scouted. It'd be best for our team. I somehow doubt that is going to happen though.
Any contracts after July are pro-rated, so a higher priced player isn't that unlikely. Add in the cleared international spot from Crayton, and I think we go after one our earlier targets again. The question then becomes how much additional cap space do we have if we go that route and is it enough to get a solid backup somewhere else.
Why would we get a third goalkeeper? I know there's a possbility of an injury, but that's why there are pool keepers in MLS. You would have to assume both Wicks and Kocic go down before the third one would ever be called upon.
I was proposing a necessary condition, not a sufficient one. Sure, if we got those minutes but got nothing else, we'd be toast. But barring a RBNY-esque fluke (and even they got exposed), we don't do it without those minutes. The young guys are not going to put the team on their collective backs, there are only three places to look to find someone who will. I'm saying that if we get only, say, 90 minutes a game cumulatively from that trio, and they're only 50% of their former selves, then I think we fall into that "solid everywhere, special nowhere" trap. What I'm saying makes us a little different from most teams is that we also don't have the kind of weaknesses where adding one decent player at a position of dire need (I'm assuming here that Wicks turns out to be at least acceptable as our keeper) necessarily helps our chances that much, which makes improving our odds trickier than for most teams. To be fair, there's also the take that we don't have a chance other than that fluke scenario, that getting to the playoffs and hoping to get lucky is all we've got. In that case, you don't want to make any move for any player, inside the league or outside it, that you aren't relatively confident you'll be using next season.
I wouldn't mind going for Dane Richards in NY. He is not playing that great right now, but the team around him sucks a$$. He might fit in quite well with our short passing scheme and he could probably be acquired relatively cheap.
We certainly don't have to, but I was just throwing that in there to be conservative on the amount of money we have to use.
Who on that team hasn't? That team is playing too poorly collectively to think the players are the major reason. It's hard to evaluate guys in that situation.
I agree, but he has shown a lot of promise over the last couple years and will probably turn it around sometime this season. The struggling Red Bulls might be willing to sell him cheap given his recent troubles and the overall direction of the team as a whole.
That's definitely thinking outside the box. I liked what Shep Messing said about him in the recent podcast interview with Dan Loney and Kenn Tommasch, which is that he was "a player who can't see past his own feet." Tactically and vision wise he doesn't play well with others, but if you get him running at defenders with the ball at his feet, he can be a very unpredictable element, as Houston found out to their dismay. (That's another reason I don't think we are candidates to repeat an RBNY run--we don't have any players of the type that has the tendency to totally suck under one set of circumstances and then dominate the field under a different set). Last year he would have been impossible to acquire. This year, after his limitations have been made more clear, not so much. Big down side, though, is it would be an agonizing (and possibly no-win) decision on when to use him and against whom.
There are two glaring needs if Crayton goes and there is some cap flexibility. First: speed, DCU needs a real burner who can unhinge defenses and run onto through balls from Gomez, Moreno or Quaranta. Boyzz isn't it and N'Silu isn't that fast. I'm not going to suggest a player, but I will vote to reject Dane Richards -- he's a poor man's Khano Smith. Second: a veteran hard man to back up Olsen. A Jesse Marsch/Chris Armas/ABMOD type player who will help terrorize the center of the field. This guy wouldn't have to be a full time player, just someone who backed up/traded off play with Olsen.
This all hinges on the fact that Wicks will continue his fine run of form. If not, a cheapish USL1 goalkeeper might not be enough and we might have to fork out substantial cash for a foreign/mls-caliber goaliee... Having said that Wicks HAS been pretty impressive...
I don't think the team needs a replacement for Gomez/Moreno/whoever else you want to throw in there. Between Fred, Quaranta, Pontius, and Wallace, the midfield and attack has a good bit of strength and health. I wouldn't really have any problem if DC went out and picked up Vide or Guerrero again. I have no idea where Vide landed and Guerrero is sitting on the bench in Colorado. I really liked both of these guys and thought they fit in very well and had a utility feel to their playing styles.
I liked Guerrero's work rate and skill. I was bummed that he was included in the Gomez deal. I'd love to see him come back.
Picking Vide back up sounds like a solid idea. Right now we have Olsen, Simms, Jacobson who are our true D-Mids (you could say McTavish, but he's more an all around utility player). In the last couple games we've started Pontius and Wallace back there for some reason, which is not such a good thing as Pontius strength is in offense and Wallace has shown he has tendencies to give up the ball in that area of the field. With the reality that Olsen will only be playing limited minutes I think it would be a good idea to get Vide in the mix. We wouldn't have to make other players play out of their position and he could challenge Jacobson (and maybe Simms) for starting spots.
Guerrero was able to make a quality left-footed cross while on a dead run. We haven't had anyone who could do that as well since the very brief tenure of that aged English chap whose name I can never remember (his brother is/was an exec for the Fire, IIRC).
I like Guerrero more then Vide, but Vide is younger and cheaper. Plus he does fill that Olsen position some (with less attack) and he worked very well with Simms last year. I remember both of these guys having a real edge and not being afraid of contact (another Olsen trait). I think getting either of them would fit right in again and provide a real boost midway through the season. Either way, it's hard to believe these guys aren't getting time on the field somewhere in the MLS.
how bout a trade to sj for huckerby? an excellent other rotator to put in the mix? that would help us during a crazy stretch in aug, sept, oct. doesnt help the youth squad, but helps for the rest of this year at least
Huckerby has had increasingly frequent injuries, hasn't he? I'd be nervous about that. Dude can cross, though.