Ali Curtis, Brian Namoff, Chino Alegria, Elisio Quintinilla and minimum salary slots

Ali a target forward?!!!??? IMO, a target forward is someone who gets into the box well and is very good in the air. They're usually pretty large guys. Ali definitely doesn't fit into this category, though your definition of a target forward may be different.

And I also don't think Ali is similar to Dante. Dante is very powerfully built and very good in the air. You rarely see him get knocked off the ball. Ali is a speed player. He's a breakaway type player who looks for the through pass. This is one of the few places Etch could come in useful next season.

I think we should keep Ali. He's minimum salary and has done nothing but work hard and put in effort since he's been here. He brings a different element to the team at the forward position. Just my two cents.

 

Quintanilla is secure...I would be utterly shocked if they moved him.

After that, I'd say you have Chino and Curtis. To me personally, I'd rather have Curtis than Eskandarian. Both are successful college strikers, but Eskandarian will have higher salary demands and Curtis has 2 years in MLS to draw on. Curtis did get 5 goals in limited play...he didn't excel in any game, but was he ever bad? He's not starting quality, but a 4th striker on minimum salary that can contribute a few goals is pretty good.

Chino's best asset is Hudson's appreciation for him. I never saw Ray play, but I get the feeling he sees a lot of himself in Chino. His biggest problem is that he hasn't shown particularly well in any position, and that he's easy to push off the ball. Next season, I doubt he'll be around because of the SI tag, but I think Hudson's going to keep him this year. He can fill in for any of the midfield positions in the 352 Ray has in mind (provided he's playing alongside one starter if he's the holding midfielder), and you can't fault his effort.

That leaves us with Namoff. I don't know why, but Hudson doesn't like him. That's the kiss of death (just ask Brian Kamler). I guess for some reason certain players just don't appeal to Hudson and he washes his hands of them ASAP. I doubt anyone here would have made the Kamler-McKinley trade, but Hudson did it and I guess it is better than leaving Kamler out in the cold. I'd agree that his odds of staying are low, though I don't think that's the right call. Of course, if we bring in another defensive midfielder, that would change things.

 

We should keep Curtis around because he's the "instant offense" we can bring in at the 60th minute when the defense gets fatigued. He also provides a vertical element that no one else does.

Sachin

 

In the last few minutes, when we need just one lousy goal, when all hope is seemingly gone, that's when you bring Curtis in. He's done it in the past. I'd keep him on the team just for that.

 

Curtis should be our 3rd forward next year. He's 10 times better than Quintanilla. Ali should be the first sub off the bench when either Q1 or the allocation get tired.

 

Based on their PT I rank them:

1. Q2 - 1450 annualized (726 actual) min,
2. Chino - 900 min,
3. Ali - 806, and
4. Namoff - 442 actual min. (not annualized because he was here at season start.)

However, each of these players has a roster spot on the 2003 team. All contributed in 2002 and showed the commitment to the game (especially Chino and Namoff) that Ray insists upon. They will have to be successfully challenged by incoming players.

I expect Q2 to have a full season to show his development this coming year.

I project Kovalenko will start over Chino. Chino will be off the bench for Etch around minute 70 in games that we are leading and in which we have momentum. Chino's love for the team and passion for the game will keep him competitive until someone CLEARLY beats him out.

Based on his August talk, I think Ray will sign a foreign midfielder to play behind Etcheverry (replacing Williams on the roster and starting XI).

Curtis seized his limited opportunities and scored 5 goals and 1 assist (11 points) for the team in 2002. I would emphasize that Ali improved his game during the 2002 season (after starting like gangbusters and then dipping). His body type and intelligence, along with our strength coach, will make him increasingly more stable on his feet. Eventually, he will be a very good forward. Due to his lack of air game, however, his PT likely will continue to be limited. But he is a fox in the chicken house on the counter -- and I'll bet Ray admires that.

Having said that, if our incoming forward(s) clearly beat Ali on the depth chart, he might be a victim of the numbers game. In which case I see him succeeding in the A-League (Richmond needs another striker).

Ray would agonize over cutting either Chino or Ali.

Brian Namoff still needs PT to develop a sense for the flow of the game at pace. He has earned respect, but he will have to successfully compete with incoming players in order to be on the roster in April.

I'm not sure how the loan agreement device affects the roster or the cap. Perhaps there is a way for DC to retain Namoff's (and possibly Ali's) rights while they log PT in the A-League. If it is the only route to the MLS for Brian, I believe he will accept a loan agreement over his outright release.

GM

 

I'd hate to have to witness a footrace between Alegria and Quintanilla. It would be like watching a slow-motion replay.

I think a race between those two would be timed with a sun dial.

 

I would hate to see Ali go. He is raw but has some wheels, and will do whatever is necessary to bang the ball in the net. He did nothing but improve over the course of the year with limited playing time. Hopefully he will have the chance to compete for a spot.

 

And for a change, with Ali, we have somebody else's #1 draft pick that they gave up on.

Everybody else seems to be fielding squads made of our #1 draft picks that we gave up on, so it's nice to have somebody's draft pick on our team.

 

i think hudson hates brians!

WE WILL REWEASE BWIAN!!

 

I'm so jealous of the Fire. Jason Moore is the heart and soul of that team.

No wait, he sucks.

Who are the #1 picks that have been cast off and are now successful? There's what's his name in NE, but I can't think of anyone that United has given up early on.

 

There is Chris Albrigh..................nevermind.

 

Even if we draft Eskandarian and sign a foreign striker, I would keep Ali over Q2 as a late game sub who can give a tired defense fits. Chino soon (season after this?) will be an SI, and I don'[t think he is good enough to encumber an SI slot. I would give Namoff a long look - he is versatile, hustles, and come cheap. I remember how he stepped into left defense and played very credibly at a new position. He's also played D-mid.

 

Of the players mentioned, Ali is the only real game-breaker. He does bring a spark to the team and is an excellent late game sub, and part-time starter. I think that with the confidence that he regained during the past year, we'll see an improved Ali.

I like the way Namoff plays, he's got a good strong work ethic. I'd like to see him earn a spot in the top 14 or so players. If not, he's right that a change of scenery, be it A-League or some other MLS roster, would be better for him. I don't like to see players rot when there's a spot for them out there somewhere that will allow them to play.

Hudson likes Chino, but some day he will be an SI...unless he heads home to get his green card, and gets stuck there for 4 or 5 years.

'Nilla will have another year to show the team what he can do. United put too much time and effort into getting him just to cast him aside quickly.

 

Whom should DC keep? Or whom will Hudson keep?

See the discussion earlier of Kamler and McKinley. I would guess that Hudson is virtually alone among MLS general managers and coaches in prefering McKinley to Kamler. I would argue that, indeed, Kamler is infinitely better than McKinley right now. But Ray thought otherwise.

If you apply the same sort of thinking to the four players in question, you get a similar answer. Hudson is likely to keept Quintinilla and Alegria. Almost anyone else who keep Curtis and Namoff. Curtis and Namoff have better athletic ability and, it appears, considerable chance for improving. Alegria and Quintinilla have limited athletic ability -- both are remarkably slow and Quintinilla is remarkably small for a forward. It is much harder to project them as full-time MLS players within a year or two.

Frankly, I have found Ray's use of these players and his discussions of their merits confused and confusing, but it appears that he prefers Quintinilla and Alegria.

 

I made no allegation that they were successful.

I just said that other teams have a lot of our first round draft picks (maybe I said #1 picks) playing for them.

It's good to see us doing well on somebody else's castoff for a change.

 

I still can't see why Namoff sat so much in 2002. He played a great season in 2001 with several assists that I can remember. I thought he could become a good holding midfielder. But, he barely even got a look last year because Hudson was playing Chino.

That gives you an idea of which Hudson prefers. But, Chino is a failed experiment. We'll keep him around as long as he's not a senior international. Then, he's history. Namoff, we can keep longer and use more effectively if you plan long-term.

 

Exactly. He was second in assists I believe and he played better Dmid than Talley and the other experiments there. It was his first year and he did pretty good considering. I recall watching MLS Extra Time where Dave Dir broke down the play where talley scored an own goal vs. the scum and they won the game 2-1. Etcheverry had come back to receive a pass. He sent a ball to Moreno and it was intercepted. Then the Metroscum broke. He showed how our D was positioned poorly. And he also showed Namoff making a run that prohibited the winger from making a run, this being right before the ball was intercepted. Namoff should have hung back instead of attacking in that situation. This shows -

1. Rongen was doing a very shitty job as coach and
2. That Namoff was young and inexperienced but if we give him a chance then perhaps he could blossom.

I think we need to definitely keep Namoff and Curtis. As for Q2, I'm positive we won't get rid of him because of the reasons people have listed above, but he hasn't done anything really to make me really want to keep him, and as for Chino, I like him but I have no idea how much longer he'll be playing for DC.

 

At one point in 2001 he had something like 7 games in a row with at least 1 assist. Which in turn means that we scored at least a goal over that stretch as well...

 

How sad is it that I'm thinking of even that as "glory days."

At least we weren't last that year.

 

Not to be everything apart, but we finished 11th that year in a league that had an inferior level of play compared to a stronger 2002 league. The only team that finished worse than us was the horrific Mutiny. The Mutiny were so awful that they rival that horrible team the scum had a few years back for worst team ever.

 

So last year was actually an IMPROVEMENT. 10th rather than 11th.
Just the kind of reframing I needed to make me feel better about the season.

 

is it just me or is it that ray has grudges on some people even if they are really good or show good potential adn are already showing a lot of improvment (namoff) but likes others even if they are slow and have not shown a whole lot of goal-scoring at forward (quintanilla) or just can't seem to fit into any position (alegeria) (don't misunderstand me i dont really dislike any of them but if i had to pick which one of the last to drop i would drop alegeria he jsut is not fast enough to fit into mls)

 

Like all coaches, Ray like a certain type of player, skilled on the ball and just a bit chippy.

That's why Chino still is around. As for Q2, he's not had enough time to prove himself. How quickly we forget though, he was the one who broke our scoreless streak.

Sachin