Thanks. We hope people enjoy our conversations and thoughts on the team. We didn't get too far down that road other than I thought it was funny that your main guy is a vaper. lol. I'm pretty sure we would all be on board with a big DP signing. The caveat being that getting a DP signing wrong can but just as bad as not signing a DP. But definitely take the risk.
It is true to point out that RSL likes to point to DPs that don't work out as a sign that they're not a guarantee. But the other way of looking at it is, How many of the best players in MLS are NOT DPs? If you look at the 2022 MLS All Star lineup, virtually everyone there is a DP or at least TAM player. The teams at the bottom of the standings are teams that missed on big DP signings, but the teams at the top of the standings are almost all teams that nailed theirs. I've brought this up before, but even if RSL will never have owners that drop huge amounts on players, we can raise revenue ourselves by utilizing our academy more productively. That's how the Union have been able to bring in high-level players despite a famously penny-pinching owner. It's what we could be doing as well if we had a coach who was willing to play younger players. Elliot has had success finding cheap depth. Chang and Loffelsend are both players anyone in MLS could have signed, and they've both given us really good minutes for cheap (Eneli might be in this category as well). But realistically these aren't game-changing signings, and there's a limit to how good your roster will be purely based on finding good scrap-heap signings.
This leads to the question: how does our scouting investment/operation compare to the rest of the league?
Scouting is likely poor, due to damaged relations during the reign of DLH. Good scouting and recruiting requires strong relationships and consistent contact and follow-through. Players can be tracked and even wooed for a couple years before making the deal happen. Our academy is quite good, but we have developed a pretty bad rap sheet actually getting these kids great career opportunities with our 1st team, as @irondeepbicycle has repeatedly pointed out. I think it is going to take a few more years to recover from DLH, as he broke and stripped down the FO, and there is quite a bit of staff that are still there that have gone through that trauma. It could be quicker if Blitzer/Smith went the Cincinnati renaissance route, but that’s a huge gamble itself. I know I’m weird, but I’d much rather the team publicly state goals of getting Academy products 1st team minutes, and especially new academy signings rather than finishing above a certain line in our conference. State that success is both playoffs and developing talent. Philly Union were a bit of a joke for years, but they held the line with Jim Curtain and their academy, along with a handful of flashy players. It took almost 10years to get it right, but it did happen. Dallas has mostly managed to stay competitive while relying on the same philosophy. The roadmap is there, but we need to be willing to tolerate some rough years. Right now, it seems like we insist on results now, but we are suffering through mediocrity anyway.
The fans are going to want on the field results as long as the unstated goal of the organization is to do just that. However, if it gave a nod to or even publicly stated that the goal is to do what you have described, I believe there would be a lot of support.
Would it really be much worse than what we're seeing now? The stadium has plenty of wide open gaps in seating whether we're 'selling out' or not. The fans are already not showing up. I'd rather see players like Luna with some upside, vs seeing guys like Meram.
Should also point out - in the midst of this stretch with USOC games and midweek games, we've talked a ton about the need for depth. Jaziel Orozco's season ended a month ago. He hasn't played a competitive game since late April. There's been no talk about recalling him from the loan early. He didn't even make the bench a single game for Santos Laguna. We talk about Luna a lot - but I think what happened to Orozco is even more outrageous. While Luna has gotten at least token minutes this year, Orozco is a total afterthought. It couldn't be clearer that the club just doesn't see him as part of the plans. I have no idea why, but I'm not sure how else to interpret the club's moves (or lack thereof).
Trey: rsl got 7 of 9 points last week Did I miss a game? I know what he’s trying to say here but come the ******** on. Is it really bad to say 4 out of 6?
I've been trying to catch up on some of the podcasts. Trey is talking a lot about the summer window. It sure sounds like he's expecting some new players. Think we'll hear something around 7/5 or will it be around 8/1?
I hope his references to the summer window are more about cleaning house in the FO. Elliott and Pablo both need to go. The team is built with bench quality players and Pablo isn't going to get any more out of them than we've seen over the past year and a half.
I'm not convinced that ownership isn't the pinch point. I just read Andy Larsen's article from last week. Yes, there are stadium improvements, but they could just be using the money from the AFCU deal to pay for that. Roster value, roster spend and transfer spend are all near the bottom in the league. Until further info comes out, Elliot and Pablo are hard to blame. Nothing will change if they go and the replacements aren't given the resources from ownership. I'm not saying they need to be top 25% in the league, let's just get to league median and see how that team performs in the league.
He also was excited about “adding Luna to the mix”, as if Luna hasn’t been on the roster for most of this season.
Yeah, basically. Essentially, doing RSL coverage right now is suicidal from a numbers POV... like, IDK, I've written 89 articles in 2023 as we stand for the Tribune and that RSL column posted above (pretty lengthy, a good amount of work, actually relatively widely shared among RSL fans, etc) is ranked #84? I'll still do RSL stuff sometimes because I care about the club a lot, but the fanbase isn't very broad right now.
I feel like there's something the team could do on a more regular basis to attract interest, but I'm starting to forget what that looks like.
Oh man! Glad to see you post. It's been what? 5 years? The RSL thing is a bit of a chicken/egg dilemma. There's next-to-no coverage, so hardly anyone goes looking for it, even when it does pop up. I think most everyone just goes to Twitter and reddit, and there's only a dozen and change here anymore. It's a sport with a younger fanbase, and those young-uns don't subscribe to much traditional media outlets. I've no idea how to solve it, and I'm not certain what kind of outreach y'all do on those other social media platforms. I'm sure you've got access to some of those kinds of metrics (as you've alluded to above), but I'm not sure what has to move first in order to expand coverage. I will say, winning sure helps. Also, having a big name might as well.
Most of the leagues in the world just ended their season. There will be plenty of international coaches available and there is always an assistant coach looking to make the jump. Heck, Miami just fire Phil Neville. Making a coaching change mid-season isn't that odd of a thing in MLS.
I appreciate you man But yeah, it’s not worth the time from a media perspective. I see and realize that. also, the Tribs paywall is moronic
Nah man This ownership has spent. Elliot gets far too easy of a pass on spending money on another winger and a LB/CB. It’s really not that complicated
But the big name signing might fail and failure is scary so let’s keep on the path of mediocrity while gaslighting the (small) fanbase that the objective is something more