Disagree. GBS's guarantee last year was $241,250. Does anyone know for certain what his guaranteed number would be this year? You could have easily manipulated his salary to be covered by Prim (0 minutes; $32,600), Sippola (0 minutes; $32,600), Rusmir (1,016 minutes; $170,496), and Cunningham (591 minutes; $152,500). All things being equal, Prim and Sippola contributed nada this year and have been cut. Rusmire and Cunningham very little and have been cut. Would you trade Cunningham's goal record for GBS? I probably would.
I'll agree that Mendoza had a number of lovely goals, but let's not make him out to be a goal-scoring genius. If I recall correctly, he missed his fair share of sitters and was ineffective with the ball on his right foot. And, when we compare Mendoza to GBS, I don't think it's a matter of PK percentages or strike rate, considering they were asked fill different roles. We'll overlook the fact that GBS wasn't perfect from the line or got a fair share of PKs because he provided more than goals and clapping.
I'm not making him out to be a genius, but some of the stuff he put in was better than what we'd seen in some time from anyone not named GBS. Both were considered to be strikers, however, so comparisons are not exactly unfair. Though it was tough to say exactly what position GBS played somedays other than "wherever he wanted" (on the attack, though, to be sure). When he played a more exclusive striker in 2009, his assists went *way* down--and I think the team suffered a bit for it. Now that may have been on Bob--but maybe not. I could easily see where GBS felt that as a DP he had to score more goals.
Excepting that you have to have the full number of players on the roster according to the CBA, so you cannot trade one for four. Truth was the team thought that Rusmir and Cunningham would be more effective than they were. I think a lot of us thought Cunningham would do more. But he was probably worth the salary this season for the PR he bought (though little else). There's also no evidence that the 2011 GBS would have been as good as the 2010 GBS--his results in the Argentine league would seem to bear that out. Rusmir was a miss. It happens.
First, for the record, I *did* use the exact same logic about PK's regarding Schelotto. Y'all feel free to look up the old thread. So I'm perfectly content to make that argument now. Second, @zipSix: I guess we just fundamentally disagree. Not all goals are equal. Scoring goals in soccer is an extremely difficult thing to do. That's why it's typically such a low-scoring sport. You have to make the right run at the right time, your teammates have to deliver the ball, you have to evade the defense, and you have to execute the shot. And even then you can have your day ruined by a goalkeeper. So to that extent, yeah, I'd agree -- goals are a big deal. But here's the weird part: In a sport where goals are incredibly hard to come by, they simultaneously manage to also have a play where a goal is an overwhelming likelihood -- the penalty kick. It seems to almost defy logic that a sure goal can be so easily given in a game where it's usually so hard. So to not be able to acknowledge a skill gap between PK's and the rest is just willfully, stubbornly ignorant. Am I glad that Mendoza has the skill set to convert penalties? Of course I am. But to me, it's not all that impressive a skill to be able to do something that has an 80 or 90% conversion rate. As far as I'm concerned, a DP-level player in MLS should contribute something that no one else on the field can. But every single pro soccer team in the world should have no fewer than four guys on the field at any given moment that can strike an accurate PK. Now -- dude did score 8 legit goals. That's still pretty good. But it's more realistic than the misleading 13. And when you factor in his salary, his attitude and the unavoidable chemistry issues, you have to go through and look at stuff like this more closely. If he had a better work ethic, or if he seemed to give a crap about something other than his numbers, or wasn't dissing the fans, or if we could get him for a cheaper price, I'd take a contract to his house myself. But for DP money, there's going to be more scrutiny, and he's going to be held to a higher standard. And getting fat off of spot kicks doesn't cut it for me.
We need to get over Mendoza guys! He was lazy plain and simple. He scored when the ball was either in the penalty area, or was set up so perfectly that even "Timmy" from south park could of scored those goals. The FO needs to invest in a quality striker, with a big name, who could fill some damn seets at the crew stadium! Big name players = more stupid bandwagon fans, in return we recieve more capital to buy more big named players! This makes everyone happy, the fans, the front office $$ , and most importantly it can significantly boost our economy in Ohio. ex. LA, NY Excuse any grammar or spelling errors! I know I'm not the best writer.
I completely agree. I would not characterize his performance as poor, but when everything is factored in, Mendoza's performance was only a very modest success at best. I think we can do better, and the FO seems to agree.
I'm not gonna try to defend Mendo, everyone in Peru agrees that he's a lazy fvk and a "pecho frio" who puts himself first over the team. A DP status comes with higher scrutiny, specially on a team that's not known for splashing $$ all around but from reading some of the past pages I get that some fans were expecting a higher caliber player but those players usually come a higher price right? Donovan, Henry, Beckham, JDG, JPA, Keane, Marquez were paid considerably better than Mendo and not all performed at that high of a level. His DP salary compares more to DC's Broskovic or Vancouver's Jarju.. and that's pretty much the worldwide market value for players of that standard as I read someone post earlier.
As usaul KCbus puts it way better than I ever could. Mendoza was not a "huge flop". The reason i am so vociferous about this particular subject is that people are led (it seems blindly) by stats, in this particular case goals. Goals ARE goals, as ZipSix pointed out you still get 1 whole goal whether it is a 40-yarder, a tap-in, or a penalty. But when evalutaing a player and their contribution not all goals count equally. Overall Mendoza did not do enough to earn another season, not at 500K or whatever the new option price was.
I disagree with that. If true, we would have scored a lot more or at least as many goals when he *wasn't* playing. We didn't.
I agree. If I seemed to be arguing against you, it was because I don't think 13 goals with 8 from open play is a bad haul. Mendoza's attitude was the ultimate problem for me, along with the fact that he was on big (for us) money. Most of us seem to be in agreement on that. By the way Peruco83, I like the term "pecho frio". Definitely going to remember that one.
Mendoza signs with Alante. Sounds like a thread close to me. If you've got reason for me to re-open the thread, shoot me a pm. /closed.