2023-24 Roster Movement Thread

1. Do we re-sign any of the 3 out of contract? Duke? I actually would like to see this, but PV clearly has zero faith in the young man, so no. Kinda? It kinda feels as if this is a bit late for that. I do think he'd find a gig in MLS pretty quickly if we don't re-sign. McIntosh will remember this season for the rest of his life. He wasn't an MLS level keeper, but for several games he played like one, was kept in place when he wobbled. I hope he feels great about the season, because he should. I don't see the point in re-signing a 30 year old as the third choice keeper.

On options, while we're a really old side, we could get a tiny bit younger by accepting that Roger and Zusi are both 37 turning 38 in 2024 and offer them contracts in youth devo or front office.
We have to re-sign Davis, though I'd like to see that turned into a new contract. heck, offer him Zusi's $325,000, hell of a raise but well worth it. I'd say Walter, and Agada are important players still.

I think we can let Sweat go. It will be painful... Sadly, I am not sure Ford is ready to play well before his contract runs out, and he might be done, so maybe pass on his option, as well.

I'd suggest re-signing the last 4. They're all quite inexpensive.

 

To piggyback on the thread:
Where do we most need to upgrade?
Let's assume we have four/five open roster spots, where do we need new starting qualtiy players.
My picks, in order:
Keeper (biggest points difference maker we could sign).
Center Back ( I think Rosero is money, not sure anyone can think Fontas has another year of regular starting at 34).
Left back (which sucks, becuase this should be a big strength).
Right wing (JFR is great, when he's rested. But does he have even 17 full strength games in him for 2024?).

 

Flores, Afrifa and Rindov are all on $67k. I'm not surethey play next year, but if there is any potential, they are really cheap.

 

I'd like to keep Kinda, at a reasonable salary. He's streaky but he's got a pizzazz few if any others on the team do. Duke and McIntosh need to go somewhere they can get minutes. I like Duke on paper but I'm not sure languishing here is worth his career.

Options on Russell, Walter, Agada, Davis... Losing any of the four is an abject failure by the club. Picking up a few other options wouldn't bug me but keeping too many would. I'd love for Zusi and Espinoza to retire together.

Most agree on our needs, I think. Center back to replace Fontas. Rosero is wild on occasion but I still like his skill set a lot. If Ndenbe is going to miss most of the season, we need someone there with Liebold. Wouldn't mind another defensive or defense-minded midfielder as depth. And need wing depth, badly.

I don't mind a front three of Salloi - Pulido - Russell, but I very much mind ever seeing that trio both start and finish a game.

We honestly just don't feel flexible this off-season. I'm not sure what even to hope for. If we get the Designated Player tag off Kinda, I'm not even sure where we'd spend it. CB maybe? Seems unlikely.

 

I don't think I will get many seconds on the notion that we need a starter to replace Melia. But I think we do.
Look at his games played. In 2021 (all comps), played 30, missed 6. In 2022, played 21, missed 16 (most with injury, but 3 coaches choice, open cup). In 2023, played 20, missed 23 (with injury or getting back into shape).
Now, he was vintage Timm-ay in the playoffs. If he could bring that level of play for 30-36 games at 38 (league and League'sC), when he could not at 37, 36 or 35, we'd be good.
Or, if Vermes had complete belief in Pulskamp to split the starting role, depending on opponent or format, for instance) I'd be fine with us at keeper.
But in 2023, with Pulskamp available, Vermes handed 14 starts to McIntosh, Nothing against him, he is who he is. Who he was in 2023 was a 29 year old with three previous MLS starts to his career.
Vermes has demonstrated that he does not trust Pulskamp.
So heading into 2024, the SKC strategy is stick wiith Melia, 38 and now with back to back years halfed by injuries, as a starting GK. So we figure, as he ages, he will get healthier? If there was a way to control when he would be injured, it might work out. But there is not. GK is a timebomb for SKC.

 

Oh, I'd agree with the GK conundrum. Melia very much surprised me with how he rolled back the clock this fall, but I don't know how much longer we can lean on that.

I don't mind him staying on as backup, but I'm not sure "backup to Pulskamp" puts us in a contending space. It's tough... feels like we have two decent keepers, but you win titles with great keepers. Maybe I just adjust my expectations, and accept that we'll build as good of a team as possible, and that might mean not tying tons of our roster space down with this position?

 

With McIntosh at $130k. Timmy at $637,500 and Pulskamp at $170k, the MLS model is to drop the low one and replace the third keeper with a college draftee or academy kid at $67,000 or $87,000. Melia is under contract, and on a highish end MLS starting contract. We can hope it drops, perhaps, but it would have to drop to $250,000 or so to justify another starting level keeper.

 

I don't mind the idea of Pulskamp being the starting keeper for half a season and either growing into the position, or leaving. But I think this year we saw that Vermes has zero interest in letting him work through growing pains.
Damn.
I was feeling really up about the end of the season. i like being happy and upbeat about SKC.
We've got a massive problem, and it's fundamental to the manager, and the DoF.

 

We've got a similar issue with wing depth. Tzone eats up a young DP spot/salary and hasn't panned out and PV has not given him much leash to work with and Shelton eats up 600K+.

That is a lot of resources tied up in 0 production (well I guess Shelton did have one good layoff in the playoffs).

 

Tzionis wants out and will try to initiate a move. I don't think he will be back.

A primary reason he hasn't worked out is he backs up Salloi and Salloi is practically a blood relative of Peter's. When he has been given a chance, he looks good. He's a thousand times better than Shelton, but that isn't saying much.

 

Tzone is a typical Vermes youth devo success story. We brought him in for a mere $1.5million and today he's worth a whopping $1.5 million!

 

It's been disappointing watching him make the 18 but never play. There's no better way to develop youth than to have them never play a meaningful minute.

Regarding this teams needs for next year, who stays and who goes, that's a tough one. The 11 is good but even with a "full toolbox", the roster wasn't good enough. The biggest flaw is lack of depth and age. The roster is old. Old players get hurt. Hurt starters need backups. SKC don't have many good ones.

There's no quality youth in the system, so getting young will require buying a lot of players, not promoting from within. I don't see that happening.

My prediction for offseason 2023/24, another thick application of spackle to cover up the holes. Maybe some paint. But the structure will remain old.

 

But if we use up the paint in preseason, we won't have any left for the wall!

 

I agree with you on Tzone. Either he just never showed the ability in practice to outperform Shelton (which is really hard to believe) or PV was in bunker mode during the season because of all the criticism of how the team was failing during the first part of the season. So he puts in Shelton to patch a hole when JFR is out rather than letting Tzone do his thing. Shelton was probably better at defense than Tzone, but PV didn't trust the midfield and Davis to do their job so Tzone could get some chances to be the offensive weapon he was supposed to be. Or, maybe the coaching staff came to the conclusion after trying to develop him that Tzone just doesn't have the tools to be a MLS level winger. I think he will try to find another opportunity in one of the lower leagues of European football.

 

The right moves, I think.

 

The end of an era. Zusi was the last remaining member of the 2013 MLS Championship side. It’s also sad that Roger never got to be on that MLS Championship team, although he was making his own history in the English Premier League at that time.

 

The right moves but it sucks to see them go. Will retire my Zusi jersey. All good things must end. The last Wizards.