Joe Cannon on trial at Feyenoord Wade Barrett on trial at AGF (Denmark) Ariel Graziani in Ecuador through the end of his contract with MLS Dwayne DeRosario set to go on loan for half of 2003 according to SA Good for them, bad for SJ
SOunds like they need to get rid of some players anyway due to cap issues so this way they can get allocations from the league. Good for Joe and Wade if they get deals.
Do you still get an allocation if they're out of contract with MLS? (i.e. Wade and Joe) I kinda doubt it, since it's not a sale, but I could be wrong. Word is that we're not getting anything in return for loaning Graz.
One reason the Quakes may not get anything for Graziani is he may come back next year. It's only a loan deal to Barcelona. We could see him in the Quakes uni in 2004. But losing Graz, Wade, Joe and Dwaye in one fell 7-day swoop is even worse than the Fire, who at least had a few months to contemplate it all and prepare for it. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.
from the article by the Quake's beat-writer at the Mercury News: "Earthquakes striker Ariel Graziani has been loaned to Barcelona Sporting Club of Ecuador for the 2003 season, perhaps ending his career in Major League Soccer and almost certainly his days in San Jose. Although Graziani, 31, is still under contract with MLS, his deal expires at the end of this calendar year, meaning he would have to re-sign with the league to play in 2004. MLS will have an opportunity to sell his rights once he has fulfilled his obligations with Barcelona. The Quakes will gain nothing from the transaction other than salary-cap room. By releasing Graziani to MLS, which conducted the loan, the Quakes waived their rights to him. If Graziani, who led the team with 14 goals in 2002, returns to MLS, there is no assurance he would play in San Jose. The Quakes will not receive any player compensation for their loss." that last part is what I was referring to.
huh? you guys knew donovan's deal was up then, if you wanted him, it was going to take something special you got him back, cannon and wade's deals were up... they haven't left the league *yet*... they are merely on trial graziani was moved for salary cap reasons derosario hasn't moved *yet* either, and his sounded like a short term loan (iirc and if it happens) that's one move nowak was the fire and the captain dema was an all-star josh wolff was an all-star and a world cupper... we *are* going to move more, as we were $1 under the cap, and probably over now, as gray isn't a p-40 anymore... (all three were full time starters) that's a pretty much guarranteed 4 moves, with 3 already happening... right now, you have 3 guys testing the market and seeing if teams want to throw offers... and mls/quakes are working with them for new contracts come back when it happens.... remember that timmy already had a trial with feyenoord as well (of course, joe is a free and their keepers are old) personally, i think the chances of all 3 moving on are slim, but then again... who knows i just say what til it happens
I think the Quakes had time to think about at least a couple of these moves, and if we're counting people going on overseas trials as having been "lost," then the Fire have "lost" CJ Brown and Zach Thornton as well. The fact is that a fairly small percentage of these trials actually result in a player moving teams.
Bingo. I think the biggest shock to Quakes fans is that for most of the offseason they've been focusing more on who they might add to their roster and not really saying much about the fact that they were over the cap once Donovan stayed with the team.
Pretty much everyone on the Quakes board considered Graziani as good as gone as soon as we knew that Donovan was staying. His production will be hard to replace, but we're more concerned about Barrett and Cannon leaving, which would have more to do with the ambition of each player rather than with the cap. Losing the team's leading scorer, the best left back in the league, and the league's Goalkeeper of the Year would be devastating, especially since its not at all clear that there would be an allocation to replace even one of the three.
If that was the case then they would have been over the cap last year as Donovan made max salary last year also. A player might make more money from other sources, but only the max salary from MLS counts against the cap.
i have no links to provide, but i *think* that he actually didn't count max salary his first two years i'm sure he still counted a decent chunk towards the salary cap, but i just have the feeling that he didn't count the full amount... but of course, i can't prove it
Last year, part of Graziani's salary was picked up by the Burn and counted under their cap. This was part of the trade that sent Cerritos to Dallas. In the fine print of the press release it was mentioned, because I remember being pissed off that we were sending the guy to San Jose while still on the hook for part of his salary. Anyway, the full deal was "Graziani to San Jose, Cerritos and part of Graziani's salary to Dallas." But it worked out well for Dallas, because Cerritos' salary and part of Graziani's salary still saved them money that enabled them to pick up Steve Morrow. I'm guessing that that deal was for 2002 only, and that San Jose would've been on the hook for Graziani's full salary starting in 2003. If Baby Jesus had gone back to Germany, then Graziani's full salary wouldn't have been a problem for the Quakes, since they wouldn't have had Baby Jesus' salary to worry about. But when Baby Jesus returned, all of a sudden a full-price Ariel Graziani became a problem.