It's probably a cheaper method to get players. If they have European potential the South American club's that hold their contracts will want to be paid their for their potential. If the players don't standout their value drops as their new clubs look to clear space for the next round of players with potential.
Another piece of the puzzle. At least Sigi is addressing our obvious needs - in stark contrast to last year. Who we sign as a forward will determine a lot about next season. Whatever happened to the Gignac rumors, is he still available?
Interesting question... I say we sign a DM, there's always that chance that Zardes regains form. The team has so many needs right now I don't think the FO should tie their hands and pick one, we need a DM and a number 9 period.
Number 9 without question. You can generally find a serviceable DM from the minimum salary crowd more easily and then use formation or scheme to help them. A true number 9 who can score is a rarer talent. There are non-DPs who might be available and could score (or help facilitate other players scoring), but they wouldn't be minimum salary types and they aren't exactly plentiful. Plus, if we signed a DM, we're not pushing someone else into a role in which they might contribute more. If we sign a true number 9, though, we may actually get more production out of some of our other players as well.
We need both but our biggest need now is a dangerous and (hopefully) speedy forward. We simply can't win regularly if we have to rely on midfielders to do 90% of our scoring. With our current personnel we could field a 4 or 5 man midfield using Alessandrini, JDS, GDS, Boateng and Lletget/Pedro/Husidic and get by, especially if Sigi gets them all working in sync (team defense and team offense as opposed to individual defending and individual attacking). But we will never be good without an effective, goal scoring forward.
If I could get a top number 9 and the price we had to pay was having Rafa Garcia as our DM I would do that 10 times out of 10, Rafa's best performances have always come when asked to just destroy ahead of the backline. He's still on the team right? I'd like him to be the back up again obviously but I like him in that role.
Garcia is no longer on the roster. https://www.lagconfidential.com/2017/11/27/16706398/la-galaxy-2018-roster-moves-announced
damn. I thought he survived. oh well. Like someone above me said, we can find a reasonable destroyer for the short term.
However, there is nothing in the rules to prohibit the Galaxy from resigning Garcia at any time. He was on $85,200 per the MLSPU. Assuming his contract had a 5% kicker, the Galaxy might have wanted to see how the Salary Cap numbers came up before resigning him. My guess is that Plan A for the DMid position, is to use JDS there with a healed Lletget as the AMid. I think Plan B is the (unrealistic IMO) hope that Joao Pedro might be coached up into hustling on defense and being the DMid Klein and Kirovski thought they had signed (Pedro would also be the backup to JDS while he was at the WC).
Garcia is largely fungible at the DM role (his major value was his versatility and, presumably, his good attitude in the locker room etc). Shouldn't be too hard to find a DM replacement for him who is as cheap or cheaper as long as we're not expecting him to play RB too.
Or a good keeper. I would have preferred either Rimando or Ousted to Bingham, but it looks like management has made a serious commitment to Bingham.
We played Ashley Cole as a DM at one point this season. Wrap your heads around that. I think it's possible we see a few journeyman versatility players from Sigi's past show up who might fill in there. Get ready for your new DM Brad Evans.
isn't today the second phase of the waiver draft? The one where you can renegotiate contracts? Anyone have a complete list of availables? I wonder if we'll go after some depth pieces today.
https://www.lagalaxy.com/post/2017/12/21/eligible-players-announced-stage-2-re-entry-draft Plenty of familiar vets who are probably too old, but perhaps could still be useful at the right price. There are young kids too like Marc Pelosi, but it doesn't seem like he has been able to get back to where he was pre-injury.
Thanks! Just curious, why are players like Jose Villareal not on this list? I admit I've stopped trying to be up to speed on all MLS roster mechanisms. Of all our cast offs that is a player I would have expected another team to consider grabbing but he's not on this list?