So that makes more sense. that roster has 29 listed, this means Ford is going on the season ending list to make room for Rosero
No, you can have up to 30 on the roster, 1-20 are senior roster, 21-30 are supplemental roster. https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/2023-mls-roster-rules-and-regulations
So is there a reason not to put Ford on the season ending list? Looking at the rules on that: A club may replace an injured player that is on the Season-Ending Injury List with a replacement player in accordance with parameters below. The club will remain responsible for the injured player's full Salary Budget Charge. Clubs are only able to receive Salary Budget relief (paid out of the club's own pocket) for a season-ending injury replacement under the following parameters: The injured player must be formally placed on the Season-Ending Injury List prior to the opening of the Secondary Transfer Window. The replacement player must be declared as such when being added to the club’s roster and must be acquired by the Roster Freeze date (Sept. 13, 2023) and after the related injury occurred. The Salary Budget Charge of the replacement player may not be more than the player who suffered the season-ending injury... The replacement player’s charge will not be charged against the Club Salary Budget. Clubs will only be allowed to sign one such replacement player per MLS League Season. If the injured player occupies an international roster slot on the Senior Roster, the replacement player may also be an International Player. I don't see much advantage in not listing him as a season ending injury, but there is no reason to list him before July? the replacement player's salary has to be equal to our below his wages, so that's quite limiting.
So that means the team has one final roster slot, which can be an international? That might be really slick to save for the summer window at this point. I think we're pretty thin at wing depth. Behind Salloi and Russell we don't currently have anyone I trust with any particular run of games.
So this means we do have roster space to sign our draft pick, but only to a senior roster spot? Or, I guess, SKC2
There's no reason to not put him on the SEI list, but they don't have to do it immediately either with the new changes to the rule this year. This is the same team that didn't put Pulido or Kinda on the SEI last year though, so who knows. KC can sign one more senior roster player, and it could be an international. Short of waiving a supplemental roster player though, Afrifa isn't signing a first team contract this year.
Not sure I buy this. To me, SKC is still a low floor, high ceiling team. Hard to predict as there are too many variables. Could they finish near the top, sure they can. If Thommy and Agada play like they did last year, if Pulido and/or Kinda come back and produce like a DP, if the new CB really is a Opara/Collin hybrid and not another in the endless string of CB turds brought in by PV, if 38 year old Zusi holds up, if Radoja gets fit enough to play the 6 so Espinoza can sit the bench, if Pulskamp can stop making 1 critical mistake a game. Could they finish near the bottom, sure they can. If Agada plays like he did against Portland, if the new CB is more like Isi/Borath/Smith/Puncec than an Opara/Collin hybrid PV claims he is, if Pulskamp continues his 1 brain fart per game trend, if Melia becomes the starter, if Radoja remains "unfit" , if Espinoza starts a lot of games, if Zusi breaks down, if Russell is out injured for a prolonged period of time, if Pulido/Kinda come back like most players do in year 1 of post knee injury, etc. How the team does this year says nothing new to me about PV. He is a known commodity. He works hard, achieves something most seasons, and his approach does not change. He's not getting demoted, fired, or anything else until he decides to retire. He is both coach and technical director responsible for all successes and failures. He is inevitable.
As depressing as 'He is inevitable' is I don't see it as true. Could missing the playoffs again this year be the final straw. He could do something real stupid like the DUI. There could be a change in ownership. And heaven forbid but PV is human and therefore mortal though I do wish him a long and happy life. Your right that PV is a 'known commodity' which is the real problem with his coaching. That said Patrick Vieria is available.
If missing the playoffs again this year was to be the final straw they wouldn't have given him an extension as quickly as they did, they would have given time into the season first.
We have no idea what was said during contract negotiations, the fun is speculating here. Is there a public copy of his contract? Is there a clause in it about the playoffs in '23? What about other clauses list terms for termination as coach, technical director or both? And then there is the potential for a gentlepersons arrangement where PV and the club part ways by mutual agreement.
No there's not a public copy of his contract, but there's no reason to believe that they'd sign him to an extension only to fire him after a year if they don't make the playoffs.
I find it reasonable for any contract to have both positive and negative clauses in it. For example I would not be surprised to find a clause that might lead to termination if he gets another DUI. I guess a more important question is what are the owners goals? They seem to be satisfied with the status quo which is something I disagree with. PV apparently meets their goals and thus we are likely stuck for 5 more years. SIGH!
I'm sure there are morality clauses in the contract, but I don't think they would have given him a 5 year contract extension and then fire him, pay the payout before the new deal even officially starts if they miss the playoffs. And I can't see PV agreeing to that sort of clause that would see the team able to just part ways at the end of the year for that.
If Rosero is good and ever takes the field in an SKC uni, I think I'd rather have him partner with voldemort than Fontas. Unless Radoja comes on as a 6 and provides much better cover for our back line, we need all the speed we can get and Fontas ain't it.
I just had this conversation with my son (he still lives in KC and remains a STH). Even if Radoja is a miracle 6, Fontas's lack of speed is such a huge problem in so many ways.
Slowest man in MLS is a better fit for this type of soccer https://www.gsisports.com/l-kc-walking-soccer-league.asp
Sweat being removed from the roster - in terms of wins and losses - should be considered neither good nor bad. He's the third choice left back (at best b/c maybe Duke now). If it helps PV convince ownership that he's on top of things, well, shame on them. Anyhoo - after seeing Voloder perform well enough at LB last week it had me thinking some positive thoughts about tactical flexibility. With Voloder at LB, there is potential for some shift to a Back 3 and move the RB into a more offensive role. I say this fully understanding that in-game tactical flexibility is completely lost on our technical staff. But still, it's possible, even if through a substitution. Like in two months when PV has to sub Zusi in the 23rd minute b/c his leg literally falls off and we are chasing two goals, the potential to really make a change is right there.
Okay, so Sweat is waved. As noted, it is not a difficult move to justify. He was having a terrible season and was never considered a first or even second choice at LB, without injuries, and Voloder made it clear he wasn't a third choice either, and as noted, with Duke, he might not have been 4th. But does that mean anything to our roster in the near term? His salary was pretty close to the minimum for senior players, $200,000. But it does free up a senior roster spot. at least I think he was still a senior roster spot guy. We could use depth at right wing and right back, that seems obvious, but I think we're out of int spots, and i can't think of anyone at that price point we could bring in. Maybe SAS?
There's a lot of blind faith and posturing going around to justify the move by saying Sweat was "just" the third choice LB (some now saying 4th). Sweat won the LB job from Ndenbe last year because Ndenbe wasn't good. Duke is a utility knife player. And you know what they say, if you don't have ONE position you don't have any. Leibold, all we know abut him is he's injured. Based on how the season ended, Sweat was first choice LB going into this season. He didn't start out of pitty. Would Ndenbe have beaten Sweat if he were healthy? Maybe but we don't know. He didn't stand out last year. How about Leibold? Probably, but again he's not healthy (see a theme)? Look, I'm not defending Sweat. He sucked this year, but he's not the only issue on the defense. He's on the Fontas side of the defense. Any OB getting "cover" from Fontas is going to look terrible if he plays like PV wants him to play, meaning he pushes forward and support the attack. Voloder looked good defensively in ONE performance BECAUSE he did absolutely nothing going forward. He played defense like a CB does, meaning defend first. He is not a viable LB if this team wants to continue playing the way it has for over a decade. I have zero problem cutting Sweat, but please understand that the timing is 100 percent a grand gesture from the puppet master to show ownership he's not to the one to blame for the huge gap between SKC and the best teams in the league. Anyone who watched the 4-1 home loss to Seattle knows that was a full on embarrassment. PV is signaling that was all Ben's fault and he has no culpability in anything.
If Duke is good enough to be ahead of Sweat on the left, I assume he can be RB3 as well. I'm not sure why bringing in a SAS level RB is useful. If Zusi/Pierre can't go, I'd rather see Duke and use it as a "find out if he's good enough for this level" type of evaluation on him (we obviously don't know yet). He's been played in the MF and at RW but I think his best spot may be RB ... but with Pierre there, he's not going to be given any "young guy minutes" over Pierre, so we just don't know. I'm in completely agreement on RW depth though, anything to push Shelton back further from playing time is a good thing.
I get that we like to think it isn't all about the money, but this is professional sport here, so it's all about the money, at least in terms of determining overall value to SKC, and therefore Vermes. Leibold came in at a number we do not yet know, but is reported to be in the MLS max and above category, so $650,000 (TBT put the number at $700,000) is a reasonable guess. Logan N was paid $396,000 in 2022. there is no evidence that his pay increased or decreased. Sweat was paid $200,000 in 2022. There is no evidence that it increased or decreased. Now, I put voloder ahead of him after this weekend because lack of impact on the attack or not, he was a better LB this weekend than we've seen out of Sweat this year. FTR, Voloder in 2022 was paid $427,000. So, Logan and Voloder have twice the value of Sweat to Vermes, and Leibold has more than 3X the value. my point, and i think the point of others, is that unlike Mauri, this is not a grand gesture, because there is nothing grand in it. If this is the intention, if Vermes is trying to say that his schemes fell apart because of a guy making just over the league senior minimum not performing at a high level, then his roster build was top to bottom, a disaster and this is an admission of total failure. Beyond that, no one can give a single solid reason why Sweat should have remained in the squad, can they?
Sweat being given a $200K contract (down from $250K in 2021 per the MLSPA) has less to do with his position on the roster and more to do with the fact that he was coming off an ACL tear. Also, just over the league senior minimum? What is your definition of "just over"? Sweat made over $100K more than the senior roster minimum of $85K. https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/2023-mls-roster-rules-and-regulations