While I really like Pontius, I expect that he'll be challenged to break into the lineup early. Then, he'll be effective mid-year (the first time the league sees him), then, the league will catch up to him and he'll be challenged the second and third time teams see him. He'll turn the corner either in the play-offs or next year. He's good, but he will have growing pains.
IMO his finishing will keep improving. He's only 23 and at the end of last season he bagged some goals, the 2 against New England and an early goal against Saprissa jump to my mind. Doe will be a threat this season. It's a little too early to write him off.
Goff posted that an updated salary list is out http://www.mlsplayers.org/files/september_15_2009_salary_information__by_club.pdf (base salary/guaranteed compensation) Allen (15,300/15,300) Shiplane (15,300/16,300) Kocic, DiRaimondo, and Barklage (20,100/20,100) Hamid (20,100/26,766.66) Janicki and Jacobson(34,000/34,000) Vaughn (34,000/34,650) Boyzzz (34,650/34,650) Wicks (42,000/42,000) James (42,350/51,000) McTavish (50,000/52,000) Bararugira (48,000/55,000) Burch (60,000/62,500) A. John (60,000/63,625) Pontius (36,000/66,000) Tino(70,000/72,500) N'Silu (65,004/76,254) Szetela (90,000/90,000) Wallace (55,000/104,000) Namoff (100,000/105,000) Jakovic (90,000/108,812.50) Simms (150,000/156,000) Olsen (225,000/225,000) Fred (225,000/257,000) Gomez (225,000/321,250) Moreno (350,000/355,000)** Emilio (720,000/758,857) **Per Goff, "Moreno was listed at $250,000 at the start of the year, but is now at $355,000. [UPDATE] The club says his contract has not changed this year."
^^Hmm... roughly, if we cut Di raimondo, Janicki, Burch, allen and Avery John we'd have about 189k. If let go of Fred and Emilio, we'd have close to 600k cap space. N'Silu 65k. Just listing some numbers out there of guys i think most likely would get cut. I left Barklage, and Haba' because i have a feeling they wont be let go.
It's too bad we can't see the little vagaries of cap value (like if Colorado is eating any of Gomez's cap value). But shelling out a mill and a quarter or more for Emilio/Moreno/Gomez/Fred (or about $1.5M if you throw Olsen in) is a major albatross around our necks. Given what a lot of teams get out of the ~200k bracket, we could have signed 6 guys, two or three of them could have flopped, and we'd still be ahead of that. Those guys are all kind of side-lights, roster fodder that's broadly equivalent to what everyone else in the league has. The main point is we can't keep anyone from Olsen on down (I count him even though by and large he's had a good year) at much more than half their current cap value.
When Namoff gets over his concussion the first thing he should do is fire his agent. He has been underpaid for his entire career. No way is Simms worth 50% more than him! And no way should Jacovic, as good as he is, make more than Bryan.
What's surprising to me is that's a new contract negotiated last offseason (so it certainly doesn't expire this one). You're right that of the guys that aren't playing out an old one (like Stuart Holden), Namoff is one fo the most underpaid players in the league. (Jacovic is being paid for potential. He's viewed as a guy who'll get better over time.)
This is why athletes, and perhaps some "civilians," are either overpaid or underpaid at different points in their careers. Stuart Holden, at 34k, is certainly not being paid for his potential, which is almost limitless. In fact, he's not even being paid for his current production, which is worth much more than his current pay. Assuming he doesn't bolt to Europe, he will be due a huge raise when his contract is up. Assuming he gets it, there will come a time when he will be viewed as overpaid relative to how he is performing at the time. Several of our veterans appear seroiusly overpaid relative to their present performance. They certainly aren't getting paid for their "potential," because their performance will certainly decline in the near future. So their salaries are, in effect, a reward for PAST performance, not FUTURE potential. In other words, some contracts look backward in time, some forward. Veterans with overly fat contracts relative to their current productivity are always in danger of being axed, even if they still have something to give to the team. For this reason, I don't like the assumption that a player's contract should always increase from year to year, because it just makes it a given that there will come a time when the gap between pay and performance is too high to ignore. DC United has reached that point with several players, IMO.
It would also be interesting to see the pro-rata for these contracts. Danny Doghouse is in for 90k - is that total for the year, or is that pro-rated for the portion of the season he's been with the team? Contract length would also be good information.
Yeah, it's not very likable, but it's a classic feature of contracts in a unionized setting. Have to imagine that in Danny Z's case it's per annum (and that we only paid about half that this season), and he's got several years on it.
All teams overpay vets (relative to newer players) partly as compensation for past service. Ralston, Mastroeni, Vagenas, Petke, even guys like Wolyniec and Justin Mapp (225k for a guy who has never really had a good year, and has been a sub most of his career). As a franchise, we're blessed that we've had guys like Marco, Ben, Jaime, Santino and Bryan rack up eight years here, and we're also cursed. The FO did, absolutely, screw up by offering the DP extension to Luci early last year when it knew it was on the books for Jaime and Ben (and Gallardo!) into this year. And for perspective, Emilio only made about 220k in his MVP season. New England is paying $240k to their greaseball Lithuanian, Edgaras Jankauskas. Given that Colorado is eating some of Gomez's salary, I don't think the FO has done anything too stupid, salary cap-wise, this year--certainly not since we saw these numbers in March. If Payne does go under (and I doubt he will), it's going to be for decisions he made in 2007. Namoff made the mistake of having a steady career with a slow upward arc, rather than coming in with loads of potential and never fulfilling it. A really stupid strategy. Pretty sure all these contracts are pro rated as yearly figures.
Time to revisit to see where we stand for 2010. Now that Emilio, Olsen, N'silu, Jacobson, and possibly (probably) Gomez are gone, DC has cleared almost $950K in cap space. Add in Moreno's newer (and hopefully lower) contract, and we could be seven figures under the cap. Even if Castillo was on a high contract ($150K+), that's a lot of cap space to work with. I have to imagine that some of that will be eaten by raises, but there have to be more than one or two other major additions being planned.
Hopefully now we can bring in a good central midfielder if gomez doesnt resign, and a good central forward.....I am sure kasper is doing some work right now...