the Fire received a third round SuperDraft pick in 2028 and up to $100,000 of General Allocation Money from SKC for Justin Reynolds. kinda surprised they didn’t trade for an INTL tag…maybe that was too rich of an ask.
I think the Fire ripped off whatever team has Reynolds now enough. They could not extract an International slot for him. Who is Justin Reynolds, again? Oh, yeah, a guy they foisted upon Lugano. Good luck to him. I hope he gets playing time and develops
Reflections on current Fire Roster. They have a full 20 player Senior Roster (over the limit if you include Acosta) and 9 Supplemental Roster players plus Turdean. Includes 2 DPs, 4U22s, 12 Internationals Breakdown- 1) 3 Goalkeepers -Brady, Cohen, Gal. 2) 5 Center Backs- Cupps, Elliott, Mbokazi, Rogers, Waterman. 3) 4 Fullbacks- Barroso, Dean, Gutman, Radojevic. 4) 9 Midfielders- D’Avilla, Franco, Lod, Oregel, Pineda, Poreba, Saletros, Turdean, Williams.5) 6 Forwards- Bamba, Borso,Glasgow,Mueller,Haile-Selassie,Zinckernagel. 6) 3 Strikers- Boltz, Cuypers, Shokalook. A well-balanced group with a good mix of youngsters and veterans, looks ready to start the season even if no further activity occurs. Would improve substantially if Lewandowski acquisition occurs. I do not know what GGG’s plan is but no glaring holes in the current roster IMO. If Acosta Buyout occurs (or a transfer without any Fire contribution), my estimate of remaining Budget Resources is about $1.4 million after Big DP acquisition, purchase of 4 international slots and the remaining Waterman fee of $300k GAM. A portion of this balance would presumably be used to untag a U22. Pretty good position rosterwise, both on-field and financially. Good way to start the year. Go Fire!!
Good stuff. For me, the addition of Lod and Shokalook eliminates second striker concern and the soft spot is CDM…if D’avilla continues to improve his connection with the back line (and speed up his decisions) we will be good. Otherwise we will need Pineda or Saletros (or Los?) to step in…and that may be fine, but not ideal. Second question is how quickly Mbokazi will adapt and be ‘reliable’. If he struggles, I’m just not confident Waterman will be ‘enough’ to stop the bleeding of goals that we had this year.
Just to clarify, I am not saying this roster is a final product. The big DP decision can/will have an impact on future activity. Also, by mid-season, the coaches will have more information. How much have the youngest players developed? Who provides leadership and who is a distraction? Who wants to leave? Although relatively few in number, recent acquisitions are important ones and will need to integrate into the team, adopt its style of play and contribute as expected. You know- fit! What needs fixing and what upgrades make sense may be more obvious then. Or maybe GGG and crew already know many of the answers.
Think I saw betting odds that Berhalter would have more playing time with Fire than Acosta- And that was Greg Berhalter not his son.
Thinking about budget resources, only a part of Guti’s sale can be converted to GAM (because Teran)…unless somehow they were able to make the payment occurr ‘in this season’. I’m going to assume they don’t achieve that and it’s ’cash In hand’. With the 2025 rule changes expanded for cash deals, it got me thinking about the DC/Union deal for Baribo…it’s stated as 4mil and reads like cash. SO…the magic wand deal is an Acosta trade + a bag of cash for a TAM player that would start. Not sure who/where GGG would want, but the reason for mentioning it is ‘sooner than later’ seems appealing…because integrate with the team sooner and a stater
Not thinking. we need another TAM player at this time. That would create a salary budget problem. ( Remember the spreadsheet assumes Acosta is fully and completely gone,) The “ leftover cash” from sale is not going to spoil or disappear- use it later to address a future specific need ( mid-season sale, injury, etc.) or to upgrade a position where improvement is desired at mid-season.
Per MIR97, the Acosta move will use 1 of the 2 2026 buyouts allowed. https://www.meninred97.com/chicago-fire-exercise-buyout-on-kellyn-acosta/ This plus untagging Radojevic and adding U22 Puso...brings us to MHS is highlighted as the suspected July departure to make room for a 3rd DP, and Barroso would need to be untagged (unless the Miami/Vancouver strategy is played...but not needed). Carry the 1mil remaining GAM forward to 2027...
Great! You updated your spreadsheet, was kinda hoping you would. You and I are quite close on the “Current Status” one. Your $2,159,774 compares to my $1,918,187 in Remaining Budget Resources. The only differences relate to estimated cap hit for 5 players. My figures are 1,097,083 for Franco, 1,803,125 for Saletros, 805,400 for Waterman, 1,000,000 for Lod and 807,000 for Radojevic. While I am very comfortable with my figures, the overall net difference is quite small. I am not really trying to project mid-season numbers now because so many changes can happen by then. Using $2.0 million as the “correct” answer, there is adequate Budget Resources to add a Big DP and untag the Barroso U22 at mid-season ( plus a little more?). Would need to find a Senior Rooster spot then. Comforting to see these results. For entertainment purposes only.
The Waterman number is split between the 'acquistion fees' and the 'annual fees'....you will see I have $300k in the later for Waterman and $500 for the Acq (as it was explicit in the announcement to be $250k/yr)....but maybe I should merge it....it's probably ends up in the 'rounding error' category. Not sure where I got $3mil for Saletros...let me know if you know where you got 1.8m. I also had not seen any numbers for Lod and guessed that the Guti Cash that could not be converted to GAM was used in the new rules regarding cash (which I don't think is then part of the ACQ). Things to figure out as we get more info.
Waterman is 500,000/2 +555,400 or 805,400. Lod at 1,000,000 is just a guess based upon what I read. Saletros was 30million kroner fee ($3,160,000+/-) for three year contract at est salary of $750,000 (prior salary was $600,000). 3,160,000/3 +750,000 yields 1,803,333 - so I used $1,803,125 MaxTAM
Old Coach- I have not been completely comfortable with my estimate for Lod salary. Lack of data concerns me. I think I just figured out why. When Fire announced the acquisition, there was no mention of a TAM deal. Fire often mention it when it is a TAM deal. Not to be a TAM deal would require an even bigger salary concession by him ($800,000 vs prior comp of $1,689,000) and would be lower than any reports I saw. But it is possible, I guess.
Considering we have a full set of 20 senior players on the roster and ~2mil GAM/TAM left over, Lod could be MaxTAM and we’d still have room for a ‘departure’ replaced by a DP. So I’m not going to fret over it…will adjust the next time the salary data is released.
$2 million enough to cover DP charge and untag Barroso U22. This is what matters. Senior Roster spot could be via a sale or loan or (Ugh!) season-ending injury. Once salary report comes out, May I think, we will be able to make adjustments
Hear me out, it's silly season!!! Based on idealistic projections, and MHS does departure to make room for signing Lewy in July, we would still have well over a million left... Not 100% clear on how the supplemental roster works, but.......could Dean or Oregel be GAM/TAM bought down and moved back to the supplemental roster to open a senior slot? Have to make room there too...loan or sell Glasgow....or Gal So...a delusional WIN NOW thought would be to open that senior slot for...pulling a Miami...MaxTAM 2026 w/2027-2030 DP option for Weston! Lewy + Weston = CAKE AND EAT IT TOO!!! Note: Reporting indicates Weston is looking for 3.5m....4.5 and a deal to make him 'the face' when we open the new stadium, plus playing with Lewy and Zinck could possibly persuade him! And the WIN NOW should sweeten it for Lewy as well. LFG!!! P.S. yes, this would require either Hugo or Bamba departing after the 2026 season.
Old Coach- As I mentioned previously, the odds of acquiring both Lewy and Weston are about the same as winning Powerball and Lotto in same week. You might like to daydream about something more likely to happen, like you being hired to coach Man City.
FWIW, both players are looking for their next gig and Papa Joe has the bag…so…unlikely, but way more likely than me coaching in the EPL
And, as I mentioned before, that is completely and totally wrong. The odds may not be great, but nothing like winning both Powerball and Lotto (you said Mega Millions before), much less in the same week. I think it is quite possible for the Fire to sign both of them. I also don't think it would require anything nearly as complex and delusional as the post suggested. It would require: 1) Selling either Bamba or Cuypers, thus opening up the DP slot (likely Bamba) 2) Buying down or selling a U22 player (and the Fire have several options there) 3) Switching from 2DP/4U22 (U22 Initiative Player Model) to 3DP/3U22 (Three Designated Player Model)* 4) Buying McKennie (now or attempting to sign him for free in Summer). 5) Signing Lewandowski in the summer when he has finished up with Barcelona. *If 2026 Rules mirror the 2025 Rules, this can be done in July https://www.mlssoccer.com/about/roster-rules-and-regulations This assumes he would be willing or even interested in joining the Chicago Fire. There are two Premier clubs and Atletico Madrid interested in him. Of course, his transfermarkt value 22 Million Euro (about what Juventes paid for him). Juventus values him at the more reasonable 10 million, since his contract is up in June.
It would take a lot of work, but I think the salary budget/ roster issues could be resolved. (It could require taking some losses) Joe has the. assets to manage the acquisition fee and pay 2 very large salaries, if he is convinced it makes sense. There will be tremendous competition for each of them. That’s the problem.
However far fetched OOC's observation may seem, as I posted a few days ago, the fact that something like this is actually plausible is a coupla light years ahead of where we were six years ago. Hell Joe/GGG, go for it. It's something done by those who make no small plans.