http://www.1460thefan.com/tf.php?story=dispatch/2004/06/16/20040616-C6-00.html - Buddle will not play Saturday - Jordan out a few more weeks, Baumstark now on the roster - United States at Grenada live in the Huntington Club for FREE on Sunday.
Following Buddle's career is like a daily Anatomy lesson. Hip flexors, Achilles strains, quadricep injury, on and on and on. Where are all those "McFragile" wankers? Unlike Bake, Buddle is a guy who really IS pretty fragile and who IS constantly getting injured, and we haven't seen or heard a word from that crowd.
Does this mean the team has to put up with an underachieving Ritch again this week? I hope not. What is it gonna take for Testo to get a start?
Sure 'nuff. How would you like to be that guy...hang out at home in Colorado waiting for the phone to ring. However it looks like Matt Jordan has helped keep him pretty busy.
Baumstark has been listed on our extended roster every week. I'm not sure what "signing" him entails - perhaps picking up the tab for his salary (which is paltry - I seem to recall $25,000). I'm pretty sure he's been here all along. Whether his status has been changed from "guy hanging around" to "guy the Crew is responsible for" it's hard to say.
This is the make or break for Testo, if he gets another 89th minute appearance I'd hand in a transfer request.
Buddle is easily the most frustrating player in Crew history. More than latter day Mais or Lapper, more than Mark Williams or Rzepa. It's just ridiculous how much this guy could bring to the team, but how much injuries we need to sit through before he can do it.
I'm pretty close to suggesting we consider trading him and moving on to new pastures. The same strategy worked out pretty well for Chicago with Wolff.
Before some smartass know-all like myshap or YITBOS or 10 fan or one of those guys who actually LOOKS THINGS UP (damn you) gets on me here, I broke my own rule and looked Baumstark up: I was wrong - he doesn't make 25k, he makes 24k. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/soccer/01/06/mls.salaries.sa/ And whatever you do, don't look down and notice that Jeff makes $175,000 a year. THAT could start a riot around here.
I suggsted it earlier this year. If he's as great as everyone says he'll only be here a few more years and then to Europe. Thing is we have Testo and Scott on loan, with Buddle automatically given a starting spot when he reached 70% fitness we can never figure out what these guys are worth. I'm more than willing to cut the cord.
There's also a pattern of this kid going out getting hurt, being out a couple weeks, then being played less then 100% and reinjuring himself. Why did Buddle play minutes in DC and SJ last year when they knew he wasn't ready to go? The reinjury took another month for him to get back. Then this year, why play him with Achillies Tendinitis? Although I'm not a doctor, I think the quad pull can be associated to that injury because if your ankle is hurting you change the way you run; right? Then with the quad pull Andrulis puts him in the NE game for 30 minutes and low and behold he can't go the next two games. The trainer and the coach have not done a good job with Buddle's injuries. Andrulis calls it "manning up," I call it shear stupidity.
Last year, I was convinced we had the worst training staff in professional sports. It will be interesting to see how Simon recovers from his knock in New Zealand. Buddle and Mais both seem snakebitten, I'm interested to see how the new guys get through their knocks.
I too am bothered that Buddle keeps coming back early. We always see a quote in the Dispatch when he's "ready" to come back like "everyone out here has knicks, you just have to play." No, not when you have a history of getting injured, and not when you are considered a national team player of the future. I said it in the offseason that with Buddle and Martino playing non-stop, I thought they would be injured for stretches this year. Thank God Martino is still healthy, but Buddle, on the other hand, has play in what, 5 games? I don't think we need to trade the kid. I am a very patient person. When all my friends said the Reds should trade Griffey, I told them to wait and he would produce soon enough. Now, with the Buddle situation, I see the same thing. He's too good of a player to let go. I believe he will get over this injury thing soon enough and be a consistent performer for this club.
And so was Wolff - and they replaced him with Ralph. Not too shabby. Clearly, we'd have to get some value for the trade, but I'm not sure a) who we could trade him too, and b) what we could get in return. Colorado for draft picks in the off-season doesn't sound too unreasonable, provided one of those picks is a first-rounder.
I don't have the confidence in the organization that we would pick up a Ralph-quality striker. We already have one in Buddle that we should keep even if he sits all of 2004 out. It's not like he'll be off to Europe from the bench at this pace, and I think he's proven enough in two seasons to merit leniency. Plus you've always under-rated him Hang.
Trust me, I think he should be our best player. I'm just sick of waiting for it. Maybe he's a late bloomer, like Tyree's boy Vinny Testeverde.
Here's Marc Connolly's article on this very subject: http://www.mlsnet.com/MLS/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20040617&content_id=5716&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp
When are we going to be hearing of Mais's retirement? You can't tell me he's going to be effective even if the team trainers state he's healthy--his legs won't let him go more than 20 minutes--and I don't think Mais will submit to being a player entering in the 75th minute, especially when that should be St. Duncan's job anyway.