Taha was called up and released for the u20 WC. While the crew did not have to release him, this is one of the best tournaments for player development/experience and talent ID. Some of the best players for the Nats got their start their. Even if it doesnt lead to a direct offer, the scouts may pay more attention to him in the future.
IDC if it's ownership, Issa or Nancy who is making it this way, but I'll go to the grave saying not using all of our U22 spots and international spots this season was negligent
The amount of front office changeover probably disrupted the scouting necessary to pull the trigger on u22s. You can find a good U22 in South America or the lower tiers of Europe, but a better club might get their eyes on them too, which will ruin your chances at signing them. Your scouting department has to be well funded, and the owner has to have trust to spend that cash.
No, it "Indicates player can not be converted from a Designated Player to a non-Designated Player by using Targeted Allocation Money." TAM buy-downs are limited to $1M over the DP threshold. Or about $1.8M next season. I think it's still possible to guy-down players at higher levels using GAM.
IIRC they can be bought down with GAM when they are brought into the league, but not after they are already set as a DP. This was a topic of conversation in the soccerwise discord that I wasnt really apart of it. Atlanta reportedly does this. Its been a while since it came up, so I might have glossed over some facts. Of course the rule doesnt read that way: "Clubs may "buy down" the Salary Budget Charge of a Designated Player with General Allocation Money. The reduced budget charge may not be less than $150,000."
That makes no sense to me. Lots and lots of lots of players would be DPs each year if not bought down by GAM (or TAM). Moreira, and Schulte would be, for example. The example the league gives in it's roster rules shows such a buy-down example: That player would be a DP if his salary weren't bought down. The following rule says this: Now, personally, I find that rule to be poorly written. But I interpret it to mean that you can buy down any player salary by 50% or low as $150K, whichever number is lower. A DP making $2M bought down by 50% would be $1M. And $150K is lower than $1M, so technically that player could be bought down to $150K (if you had that much GAM). But a player making, say, $250K could only be bought down to $125K, because the 50% buy-down number in that case is lower than $150K. Anyway, what I think you're talking about is the use of GAM on a transfer fee, as is stated in the rule above. I can't see why that would affect GAM use on that player in later years.
What i mean is if a player brought in is 1) initially assigned to a DP slot AND 2) their salary + fee is over the Max TAM limit (~1.8 mil), they cannot be bought down. Teams can use GAM to pay off 100% of the fee charge per year, but they must choose to do that on the front end. Nevertheless, I got this clarification: The Salary Budget Charge for a DP is $740k by rule. That above buy down rule is saying you can then use GAM to buy down that $740k charge. You cannot use GAM to convert a DP's roster designation, but you can use GAM to buy down their defined Salary Budget Charge. A reminder to us all that the MLS roster rules are just a summary written by a marketing student who doesnt understand MLS roster rules or legalese. of course now rereading it again, they use Salary Budget Charge when talking about buy- downs. They should probably add a second defined term. One reflecting a player's official Budget Charge and one reflecting their Fee+Salary
Booo Abou Ali it’s worth a DP spot Rossi is worth a DP spot Gazdag is playing better and we can only hope he shines next year and he is a key contributor because if not we have to sell him or buy him out next summer or sometime after. I do believe he will adapt and be serviceable but it’s been hard on him and us to have such a disappointing season after a 4M dollar purchase. I’ll be rooting for him but it’s hard to see him bagging 10+ goals like every DP should.
Injury updates ? If we lose to Chicago it paves the way for us getting 9th seed we need a win , but a draw makes it hard for them to pass us for 8th
You have to think there are the roster rules that get posted on the league website, and there's the real roster rules, that are much more detailed. Simiarly, there's the text of the orignial CBA, and there's the document as it exists today, after the league has implemented the types of unilateral changes they're allowed to under the agreement. That edited CBA isn't public anywhere. In any event, who's in the camp that argues "we don't want to change any of the rules"? I've yet to encounter that MLS fan. I mean, there is an underlying logic to what the rules are designed to accomplish. And I think that fans who blurt out meaningless statements like "MLS needs to take off the trainn wheels" ignore what the owners really want. I can't see any scenario where MLS under a new CBA agrees to a hard roster budget cap tens of millions higher than the soft cap is today; lots of owners don't want that. On the other hand, it's clear the league needs to spend more on talent if it wants to continue to compete in the int'l player market. Maybe I'm wrong, but I just can't see MLS dropping rules that allow teams to spend a lot of extra cash, but on limited roster sports, and that require teams that don't want to splash cash around to at least spend an ever-rising minimum amount on player salaries, to have an academy, etc. And that will lead to complex roster rules, whether we like it or not. Hopefully, they'll be less complex than they are today.
I just want to take what teams already spend (in real dollars) make that the cap floor and ceiling, and remove all player designations. Should probably have one "franchise player" that has their salary capped like a DP, and maybe you make a rule for homegrown players having discounted cap hits to promote academy spending, but that's it. I honestly don't think rosters would look that different and we can stop will all of the ridiculous GAM and TAM nonsense.
I could live with that. But a league that sees itself attracting players like Messi (not that there are many of those) seems destined to break its own rules (or create new ones) whenever it feel it's necessary to sign that next huge marquee player. Thing is, technicaly, Messi could have been signed under existing rules. He's just a DP, after all. It just means Miami would have had to cough up 100% of what it took to sign him.
That's a very reductive description of what the NBA had used for its salary cap until the product became so awful that they had to redo it. It led to a system in which 20-25 of the 30 teams weren't seriously trying to win and those teams just grossly overpaid mid players to get to the cap. The current system is imperfect like all salary cap systems, but I prefer it over most major sports because it incentivizes player development and skill in roster construction. It gives a pathway for most teams to compete for trophies. Any simplification of the system is going to make it more difficult for the Crew to compete with teams like Miami and LAFC. We should not want a system with a high floor in which everyone spends essentially the same amount in payroll with limited exceptions because the net result for a small market team like Columbus will be more contracts like Derrick Jones and Kevin Molino. What we need is something like what we have, where there is room to spend more but safeguards against the 4-6 biggest markets all having runaway spending and talent accumulation that makes it impossible for the rest of the league to compete. The better option for MLS is actually making an effort to market the sport and make it interesting to average people. Look at how the NHL, NBA, and NFL promotes their free agency periods. There is constant media coverage with people going over teams' cap situations and needs and putting together mock trades or best fits for players. Then free agency opens and the first 24 hours are a feeding frenzy. As with everything else, MLS does a horrendous job of marketing their product so 90% of people have no idea about transactions beyond their favorite team signing a DP. The lack of transparency is also a frustrating own goal. Every other major sports league publishes and updates payroll to make it easy for fans and media to see and compare data. It's very easy to tell how your team stacks up and what is possible given the existing player contracts and cap situation. MLS refuses to do it because they're some combination of cheap, lazy, paranoid about their single-entity structure being invalidated, or unaccountable about enforcing the rules for certain teams and players.
Difference between the NBA and MLS is that there are far more MLS quality soccer players in the world than NBA quality basketball players.
Well, poop. Per Brianna, Abou Ali is likely out the rest of the regular season. Here's hoping he can come back for the playoffs.
You know, even if we'd had had a fuller roster, we'd still be scr*wed. Odd how both the Jackets and Crew were hit so hard by injuries.
By my read of these reports....Rossi is likely back for the wild card play-in playoff match or maybe the last game of the regular season. Almost certainly he'd be back for the 3-game round 1. Abou Ali is back maybe by the conference semifinals, if we're able to get through round 1. There's an international break between round 1 and the conference semifinal--so that game is 8+ weeks away. Farsi likely out for the season. And no sign of Camacho, who is pulling a Josh Williams on us. Dark times.
Except that we may have earned more points earlier in the season with a full roster. In any event, it doesn't matter any longer. What a bizarre and frustrating season.