Assuming this trade goes through.........(Marco News!)

Contemplate suicide...Then decide watching DC United live is enough to have me stick around...So settle on drinking heavily!


Oh, you wanted to know what I thought the team should do...on that I can only say - Get thee a good exorcist!

 

Re: Assuming this trade goes through.........

I for one hope that the trade does not go through.

But, if it did then I would have to take exception with this.

If we are going to do this right, we might as well gouge their eyes out and take Simon Elliott for the allocation.

Remember that it was not too long ago that under similar circumstances Scum East got Clint Mathis from Scum West.

 

Something tells me that Ray and Simon would get along very well.

 

Assuming this trade goes through.........

1. Get Kasper extra cellphone batteries for Christmas. Because he's going to be taking lots of calls from other teams inquiring about (a) our allocations; (b) our draft choices; and (c) some of our younger and less expensive players.

2. Eyeball very carefully the teams that we know are substantially over the gap. With the deal on Donovan, that means SJ (unless they renounce Barrett and Cannon) and Chicago are at the top of the list. Who do they have we might want? After those two, the SoS (unless they cut Balboa) and Columbus are probably next.

 

I thought that each team gets two discoverys, is this wrong?

On to what to do.

o With the first allocation get Ray's best guess at the striker position. Read today that Nunez just got cut by Pachuca for salary cap reasons, don't know if it is true but it would be worth an inquiry.

o Trade Petke to Columbus for Maisonneuve.

o Trade the second allocation to Dallas (if they are interested in Stewart) for a soon to be an out of contract Zarco and the #4 or #12 pick.

o Trade a second round pick to Chicago for Kovalenko.

o As far as draft picks go, I don't know who will be available or for that matter which ones are of any value.

I believe that with Maisonneuve and Zarco the D-Mid position would be covered and Zarco would give defensive cover (and also make our El Salvadoran fans happy).

Kovalenko could play the right-mid position with Olsen moving to the left side.

 

Re: Assuming this trade goes through.........

We also need a backup GK. Nobody really jumps out in my head right now as to who could fill the slot.

 

Good thread here, Cweed.

The big mystery here is the foreign player thingy. If Ray has a foreigner or two that he wants then all of our MLS/draft-related moves revolve around the foreigners- what position they play, how much of a salary they'll command, etc.

For instance, say Ray has two foreigners who together will take $500K of our remaining cap. What we do then is hold and use our draft picks to aquire depth since we would be basically capped out: No more trades for Washington or Razov or anyone.

Now if Ray has an interest in only one or no foreigners then we will be very busy come draft day. If just one foreigner, what do they play- forward or d-mid? Obviously where they play would shape what we would then do with other MLS teams, but we would be somewhat active on the trading market.

Obviously, any trade for Razov or Washington or Graziani even will wait till our foreigner situation becomes clearer.

A San Jose aside- My gut tells me that the e-Quakes will look to move Graziani, but since that will be very difficult (unless Ray wants him) I'd say they may dump Lagos first. Would anyone take this declining left winger, thus freeing Convey to move to the middle? I would if the price were right.

 

Rethinking the whole Stewart/JMM situation...

Could a team not just file a discovery claim on either player?

LA "discovered" Lalas after he retired.

Since both JMM and Stewart would be free transfers, they wouldn't require allocations right?

Help me out someone...
Joe?
Tron?

 

sorry, i'm a little flustered so i didn't look around but did i miss something? when did jolley turn into petke in the trade rumors? i can stomach jolley but petke plain sucks.

 

Provided they can understand what the other is saying...

 

Tuesday's Washington Post. See the thread started by Lowecifer.

Dave

 

Trade all that stuff except for one allocation to the Burn for Chris Gbandi, Eddie Johnson, and DJ Countess. Just find a way to do it--throw in Petke, please. With the remaining allocation get a bad ass midfielder. That's my dream, anyway.

 

Nice thread and good suggestions Cweedchop! I particularly like the love being shown for Eddie Johnson and Ricardo Clark. But Clark will not go #1 overall. Likely Eskandarian and Ricky Lewis will go 1 and 2, but the order still hasn't been determined for certain. IMHO, neither is the perfect fit for United, and neither is going to be a Bocanegra, Twellman, Gbandi type that will turn into a game-changing dominant player.

I wholeheartedly agree that either Simon Elliott (first choice) or Brian Maisoneuve (second choice) would be excellent additions at the Holding midfielder spot. Vagenas would be a nice addition, but he's not in Elliott's class IMHO. I think Elliott can do for a team what Daniel Hernandez does for the Revolution, but with a true fiery leader attitude both on and off the field. Elliott could fill the "Bishop role" exceedingly well. To a lesser degree, Mais could as well, but not as competently defensively.

I generally agree with Skip's assessment. With Donovan re-signed, Grazziani is going to have to be moved. With his past attitude problems, there cannot be too many teams interested. Among those I'd expect to be DC, KC and Colorado. But also being given away for a song are Wolff/Razov, Washington/Cunningham, and some lesser forwards. I'd guess Cunningham will not be traded. I'd guess DC wouldn't be interested in the injury-prone Wolff. Columbus just re-signed McBride (but it's not announced yet) and added Luchi Gonzalez, so they're moving someone, and it's not going to be McBride or Buddle.

IMHO, Hudson and Kasper have played their cards correctly thus far, but that is assuming they've done the ground work necessary to close their moves very shortly after the SuperDraft.

As the UEFA transfer window in January closes, we may see players accepting lesser offers. But likely the Tyson Nunez types will be long gone by then. With 4 high draft picks--and I highly doubt that Hudson keeps all 4--we have good ammunition once we identify our needs.

We probably will not trade the allocations or discoveries prior to the season unless we get a chance at a marquee player like Simon Elliott.

If this trade goes through, DC United holds these draft picks in the top fourteen: 1, 5, 11, 14. DC holds 2 allocations (there are probably only around 5 in the entire league, and we own 2 of them). DC holds 2 discovery picks (as does each team). And, we have cap room. Every major personnel decision hinges on what DC does, because we hold all of the major cards.

After Hudson shrewdly selected Kante last season but lost him because he overestimated his ability to sign him to a piddling developmental contract, I expect all developmental spots to be filled with P-40 players who are already signed by the league and who do not count against the cap. Mapp is our only P-40 player at the moment (assuming Santino graduates to full roster this season). So don't look for more than 1 senior on our draft list. I wouldn't be surprised if Ricardo Clark is available at #5, and that's where I'd expect Ray to take him.

-Tron

 

Re: Re: Assuming this trade goes through.........

There are plenty of league-minimum type backup goalkeepers floating around.

It wouldn't really surprise me at all if we re-sign McGinty.

Maybe we had to release him because he was a special injury place-holder for Ammann. So, he and Ammann together only counted for one roster spot. I think we'll probably just re-sign McGinty to league minimum again.

 

I would too. I feel about Ariel Graziani the way most people here seem to feel about Mike Petke, not because of what team he plays for, but because the guy is an amazing talent and could be one of the best strikers around, but prefers to hack like a cheap thug and dive like the USS Nautilis when with just a snidge more effort he could play clean and excel. That said, he is an amazing player with speed and skill to burn, and *if* Ray "Master of Dealing with Head Cases" Hudsom thought he could get a good performance out of him, I would be willing to take him on. Not for more than about $75-100K though. And not if there were anyone remotely as good available at the same price or cheaper from overseas.

 

Hudson had Serna, maybe he'll have Graziani. I kind of doubt it though. Still- will SJ waive Graziani or will they trade some of their other players?

Put me down in the not wanting Johnson pile. We already have one teenage forward who shows rather a loose control of his temper, I don't want two.

 

It seems that this is the prevaling opinion of Hudson.

It also appears, according to certain BS posters who shall remain nameless, that Moreno is a head case.

Interestingly enough Hudson has not gotten a good performance out of him.

Not criticizing your post, I just found that statement (which seems to be the prevaling opinion of Hudson) and earlier statements about Moreno to be going against common sense.

Perhaps all head cases are not created equal!

Or perhaps Hudson...

 

Over on the quakes board they're talking about possibly losing Mulroney if Agoos stays. I'd love to see him as our defensive/h-mid. We'd see some nice interplay between him and Reyes.

Also, if we move Bobby into the middle (IMHO a good move) we need to pick up a winger. Any chance on bringing Armstrong back from KC?

I wish to hell they's finalize this thing. I'm trying to write and am spending way too much time checking out the boards! [first rule of procrastinators united.... it's always someone else's fault]

Yabo

 

Assuming this trade goes through.........

Ursula, D-tron: good posts with a lot there I agree with. My 2 cents on some other issues.

1. SJ may look at releasing Graziani but there are a number of candidates they'll consider. Yallop has publicly admitted that--that Graziani will be "in the mix" of potential victims but not the only one. While DeRosario has a lot of love on these boards (mostly b/c of his MLS Cup game winning goal I suspect plus the ties to Richmond) the reality is that the guy just has not stepped up and done much otherwise in his 2 MLS seasons. It's not like Yallop is in the tank for Graziani or that Donovan has started all of his SJ matches (there was this WC thingee that had him missing for a bunch of games I seem to recall). So Mulrooney and Lagos are both possible candidates. The problem for SJ is that Cannon ain't a rookie so he's likely to get a pretty decent pay raise (2 straight years of excellence). And Barrett might be the best left back in MLS now--gain, not a cheap player.

2. As for discoveries and Stewart and JMM, let me offer a few caveats. First, I don't know for sure. Second, MLS rules change all the time. Third, MLS makes some exceptions for valuable players (for instance: MLS doesn't do loans but Leverkusen owns Donovan and MLS pays leverkusen money--but it isn't a loan!?!). That said, my understanding is that the deal with Lalas was that he had retired from MLS (and thus had been renounced by his team--KC was it?). Much like Watson was when we signed him (and I believe Aunger as well). However, the prior precedent (the Andy Williams case) is that the team with the worse record gets to be first in line. We put in a claim for Andy Williams (when he first came to MLS) but Columbus had a worse record so they got him. MLS has also used lotteries I think for some valuable signees. However, if Stewart signed under the condition that he go to LA or Dallas (which is possible), the lottery route wouldn't work. In those cases, the team would need to acquire an allocation (that is my understanding).

At minimum, we need to add a finisher and a strong holding midfield. Ideally, we'd also add a credible/role-player at left mid (so Convey could slide into the middle with Marco). My take is we're likely to use an allocation on the holding midfielder (b/c we're looking for someone who can defend, win balls, has a high work rate, very good technically, an organizer, good judgement, and a bit of a leader). Mulrooney, Elliott, Vagenas, Jorge Rodriguez(who is really a better defender than D-mid), Cullen and Maisonueve could all play this role but to be honest, only Elliott and Mulrooney are guys I think could do it well right now. BTW, I've omitted players like Armas and Mastroeni that are untouchable for their teams. Realistically, Elliott is untouchable as well (unless LA is forced to create cap room) b/c Cienfuegos is being phased out so they need an A-mid by committee: Cobi and Simon Elliott.

As for finishers, Graziani, Razov, Dante Washington are 3 players who are on the market (within MLS) who would do the job for us. Out of that bunch, I'd actually like Dante the best (local guy, better habits and locker-room behavior than the other 3) though he's also the least skilled.

What I think happens is we get one maximum salary foreign player (either at finisher or D-mid) and then our second big acquisition is less than the maximum (maybe a Razov--someone making under $270K). That means we still have decent cap room to acquire real depth. And believe me, unless a bunch of big salaries like Valderama, Balboa, Rodriguez, APC, McBride, Nowak, Stoichkov, Cienfuegos, Preki, are either sold overseas (not much chance of that) or retire from soccer, there will be some good players floating around for the taking.

Also, I believe with LA's acquisition of Hong, there are now only 3 allocations in MLS (2 by SoS and our YSA). If the SoS pull the trigger on the deal, I think they'll be pretty much capped out (unless they cut Andy Williams and Balboa--even then, they'll have something like $600K to fill 11 roster positions).

If we have multiple allocations, our discoveries, the most cap room in the league, 4 of the top 14 picks and lots of foreign options (at a time when there are plenty of free transfers), we're in the driver's seat.

 

I would love to see Mulrooney in the black shirt. He's the kind of player we've been missing for a long time now (sorry Richie). A tough defensive midfielder with enough touch to be dangerous going forward would do so much to free up the Etcheconvey midfield tandem.

With an allocation, I'm hoping Ray lands us a very good finisher on his tour of middling leagues around the world and the guy can produce at least 75% the level of Ruiz this year.

 

Assuming this trade goes through.........

I'm going to offer at least one other thought that typically would fall into the "who cares?" category. Except that come the next waiver period (when teams will need to start becoming in cap compliance and teams over the cap may be cutting guys like Dante Washington, APC, Graziani, Lagos, Jorge Rodriguez and others).

Because we passed on selecting Luchi Gonzales or Billy Walsh, we will have first pick in the next waiver draft. I bet there will be at least one frontline bonafide MLS starter available in the next waiver selection.

 

...and the deadline to become cap compliant is January 3, correct? if so it makes sense, that

- Hudson has been overseas now. Next he'll come home and start fielding various offers from some truly desperate teams.

-I'd imagine that Hudson will also have a good idea if we are getting a foreigner, and which one (or two) when he comes back. That way he will know exactly what we can afford from other teams.

- Plus he will know from talking to those desperate teams if he should just sit back and wait for the waivers or not. I see what Joe is saying above- the wisdom of waiting for a waiver of a favored player. I can also see that maybe a deal, in the long run, might better. Several other teams will be in desperation mode come Jan 1 so we might be able to get actually more from a trade than just signing a player outright.

For example, say you are the Fire. Yo have to unload someone or a couple of players might be waived. So DCU could wait for Razov to be waived and claim him- very nice. OR DCU could trade a player(s) Hudson likes but doesn't love (Prideaux? Q2? Namoff? Q1? others?) and get in return Razov AND, since there is more cap space cleared by trading more players, oh, Marsch and/or Whitfield or their first round pick in next year's draft. In this case, the trade would yield greater returns. One could envision a similar scenerio with San Jose. I'd love to get two of Robiinson/Barrett/Mulrooney/Lagos/Corrales plus their first rounder next year.

It just looks like Hudson and Kaspar have maneuvered DCU to be in a position fo power in the league this offseason. Well done.

 

Point of information from Chicago. Marsch and Stoitchkov will be out of contract and will not count against the cap. After that the FIRE must unload one top salary player, either Razov, or Wolff. Both will make near league max in 2003. Also, one other starter the caliber of Brown, Kovalenko, Whitfield or Thornton must go just to make the Jan. 3 deadline.

As a FIRE supporter, I would rather unload Wolff than Razov, but it's not a dealbreaker. How about Razov or Wolff and Brown or Whitfield for Prideaux, Namoff, and the pick you get from the MetroScum?

 

I totally agree. While what Hudson and Kaspar are planning is difficult to accept--no one truly wants to see Moreno and Pope don the Bizarro Black and Red of the Turds--they have done a great job of making sure the team that takes the field in '03 will be better than the one that did in '02.