Correct me if I'm wrong but haven't we just gotten back to my original point that there's probably not much of a cap problem if Etch retires? Not much of a problem, but still a problem, that is. Allocation aside, 300K is plenty of money to use to fill out those final four roster slots even with an allocation. I don't think we should commit max salary to anyone else on this team - dropping it on Earnie is bad enough. If you want a foreigner then pick up someone who'll play, at least initially, for 100-150K. I think that's possible but very unlikely with Hudson and Trask as their track record with foreign acquisitions is pretty miserable. So maybe the smartest thing we could do is trade that allocation. San Jose is stacked with forwards. Dallas would probably deal. Colorado would probably deal. Columbus would too. But, of course, that would just invite another problem. It would mean committing to a young American forward and Hudson and Trask have shown precious little willingness to do that. Or we could just go with Martins. I don't think it's reasonable to expect him to come into the league this year and light things up but next year he might complete the adjustment. Lastly, I'm not saying we should take sormun's advice and get ourselves a couple a-league forwards but there are some a-league players that we should seriously look at - David Testo in particular.
OK. This is getting a bit confusing, so let's be clear about what we're talking about. Forwards: Stewart 275K Cerritos 150K Q 100K Martins 70K Esky 60K Total 655K MF: Convey 150K Olsen 150K Dema 150K Q2 70K (I think it may be a little less than I originally thought) total 520K D: Petke 120K Ivanov 100K Prideaux 90K Namoff 60K total 370K G: Rimando 100K Total for above 14 players is 1.645 million of an estimated 1.75 million cap. And that's with no Etch, Nelsen, or Stoitchkov, and trading or releasing the entire bench (minus exempt players of which we'll have none). If Warren takes up 70K of the rest of the cap, well, that's it isn't it? Clearly, that cap strapped a team can't survive in MLS unless they're based in NY or LA. So, either my numbers are wrong (always a possibility in MLS's wacky world), or we'll have to make some serious trades to keep our team relatively intact. I would imagine DC could trade either a defender or a forward relatively easily. Quaranta, Esky, or Martins are all good prospects, as is Namoff or Stokes. If, DC trades a few of the above AND gets an allocation for Marco than we'll be fine. However, even in a worst case scenario, they still should do OK. Even with no trades. Then they would have a starting lineup of: Stewart, Cerritos, Convey, Kovalenko, Olsen, Quintanilla Petke, Prideaux, Ivanov, Namoff Rimando That leaves a respectable amount for bench salaries. With first subs of Martins, Quaranta, Stokes, Warren, and either the same bench we have now (who have excepted low contracts), or a bunch of new cap exempt prospects none of which would hurt my feelings at all. Bottom line is that DC is still in good shape with or without a good draft next year. That, to me is the sign of a good team in MLS. Don't think any team in MLS is in any better shape either. Only Dallas is going to have clear cap room in MLS entering next season (if they play their cards right). NY, Chicago, NE, and Columbus will easily have huge cap problems that equal if not rival our cap problems.
Yeah I'm suck of your FCUKing ass too. People like you don't seem to have higher expectations for this team, but I guess you're okay with mediocre performences day in and day.
1. If he wants to play the young guys, but they are crap, shouldn't the person or persons who picked them be held responsible? 2. There may be a lot going on behind the scenes, but aren't the people who brought together such divisive personalities responsible? I don't think Ray should be fired. They've done a good job rising above the problems of this season. But I think they triumvirate (Ray, John and Dave) have caused a lot of those problems by their choice of squad and assistant coach. If Ray would agree to cut the cord to John - who I think is a huge reason for our dreadfully ineffective back pass, lateral pass, lob a cross offensive scheme - I would have no problem with ray coming back next year. But if they are joined at the hip, we need new blood who will encourage players to run at defenders, spice up the offense and let a new generation lead this team.
The major problem I've had with Ray this season is that on the road, we seem to be playing not to lose, which of course will guarantee that you do lose. It's bitten us on the ass WAY too much this season.
I'm not calling for Hudson's head but I disagree with the sentiment that there are no viable replacements out there. There are. MLS assistants Brian Bliss (KC), Dominic Kinnear (SJ), Mo Johnston (NY/NJ), Denis Hamlet (CHI) and Ralph Perez (LA) are all highly-regarded and generally considered as guys who will someday be head coaches. All but Perez played in MLS, and he's been an assistant in the league since Day One, and most of them played at the international level. From the A-League, two-time coach of the year Bob Lilly just resigned as head coach in Montreal as is rumored to want to come to MLS. Charleston's Chris Ramsey just won the A-League title and he formerly coached England's U20 team in the World Youth Championship. Buzz Lagos is the dean of A-League coaches but he seems pretty content in Minnesota. There are some good college coaches but unless they get a guaranteed long-term deal, I don't see any of them leaving the security of their college deals. A dark horse would be former Freedom coach Jim Gabarra, who just won the WUSA title and who has coached men in the indoor leagues and who was a pretty good national teamers back in the 80s. You've also got national team staff coaches like John Ellinger, though the bloom is somewhat off that rose, right now. And, of course, you've got MLS retreads though I just can't see DCU hiring Mike Jeffries or Fernando Clavijo. Again, I'm not saying Ray should be fired but the decision to do it shouldn't be made because there aren't viable replacements.
I say we wait until after the year is over before evaluating the current staff. At this point DC United could finish out of the playoffs OR finish second and win MLS Cup.
I doubt your young guys are crap. Hudson or his staff either do not have the ability or desire to bring them along. Hudson may be a good coach with the vets who do not need to be taught but I would hate to be a kid on that team.
I guess I don't understand what you mean. I know that the coaches have guaranteed contracts, but I haven't been able to find anything saying that the players have guaranteed contracts. A player's salary is guaranteed in a specific year after a certain date (June 1 (?)), but not for any of the following years. If that is incorrect, please reference the applicable rules. If it is true, any player can be waived or cut at the end of the season without obligating the team for the following year. Strangely, the team cutting the player would be due compensation if another team signed him.
i just don't get the "young player" argument about ray. first off, though he isn't playing all that well right now, convey, particularly last year, became a much better defender, much better at reading defensive plays and understanding the defensive responsibilities of a mid. true some of this maybe due to national team time, but he clearly improved some aspects of his game at dcu--some that he was clearly lacking in. i think cheyo is becoming a better player, his game has defintely picked up. the couple of times i have seen stokes play he seems to be a bit better each time, and i think he'll be a monster some day. namoff is a better player today than last year. i'd say this is a decent record with younger players.
I don't like mediocre performances any more than anyone else, but it is a matter of balancing ones viewpoint. That was the basic point of my original post. OK, so I am one of those people who go into attack when I think people are being pointlessly negative without having any constructive comments to make. I think that's obvious, but I still stand by points no matter what Knave says. I do think that the team has improved. I do think that with a better start to the season they would be sitting pretty by now. As for the 'young guys can't cut it' comment, I didn't put it eloquently enough and others have said it better. Basically, some are making it, some may make it and some won't. My point was supposed to suggest that there is a big leap up to this level from the slow and, frankly, dull college level game. Warren is making the leap, justifying his pick, Esky has scored some goals but needs to learn more on his positional play and be less of a headless chicken. He may be justified, therefore, by next years performances. Has everyone forgotten how gradual Namoff's blossoming was?! As for the replacing the coach idea, are you willing to wait another 2 years to wait and see how the untried replacement pans out?! One more year and then Ray should be judged. There are just not enough good coaches out there who want to work here. Sad but true. One day they will. As for Knaves counter-troll against my statement about the overzealous and unrealistic beliefs of MLS fans, I have a reply: People HAVE said these things to me. I did not fabricate that. I am also not a Euro-snob. I'm form Northern Ireland for god's sake and our league really does make the MLS look like the EPL. I hate Italian games, they are crushingly dull. If you think Guevara or Ruiz are sickening actors, check La Liga. Germany? No Idea. As I implied in my post, I mostly watch SPL games and they are well down the quality list. I love Celtic FC, DC United and La Barra Brava, but I am always first to admit that Celtic are also-rans on the world stage. Having the guts to mention that we can love the league and our team while admitting that it's fairly poor (and in it's infancy in MLS case) does not make me a troll.
Not Basso!! OOps let the cat out of the bag there. Must not let girlfriend use her account on my computer...................... That last post from Basso was actually me.
look ma! I wrote a message and didn't even know it!! ha. that's okay, roachboy, I'm not mad at you for not checking your login account and potentially making me look bad...but only because I very much agree. (I just have a nicer way of putting things. ah, the benefit of being on the debate team.) and I also know your rantings are filled with fine irish poitín and you're always willing to share. as I said before - I like ray. he talks funny. really though, despite my relation to the angry irishman, I'm not biased. I think ray's done a lot of good for a team that was bottom of the barrel.
No, this is not true. Players- not all players but many of them- have guaranteed contracts. So next year Cerritros will get his 175K regardless of what team has him on his roster. If we cut him then his salary is still on our cap unless someone else picks him up. I'm too lazy to find the applicable rules but this comes up every year and not just with DCU.
Well if by "not much of a problem" you mean shedding practically a third of the roster with no compensation at all except for the Etch allocation. I call that poor cap management. (Actually I doubt cheap folks like Alegria or Namoff are really at risk in being cut simply because they are cheap.) On the bright side teams last year, notably the e-Quakes (also C-bus and NE; Chicago was in a worse predicament) were in the same situation and obviously did well. However the Quakes also had Frank Yallop leading them as opposed to Ray Hudson. The same Frank Yallop who got a lot of milage out of his draft choices (Dunivant, Roner) and A-leaguers (Ching). Basically, Yallop knew what he was doing; Hudson has not shown that ability. That's reflected in the standings today.Yallop could deal with losing his leading scorer and starting GK and starting right back with no compensation. Will Hudson be able to do the same next year? I am totally skeptical. I am in very close agreement to your posts for awhile, Sandon.
This strikes me as a pretty stupid contract for the league sign for just about anyone other than Pele in his prime. You always run the risk of the guy decided to dog it and just collect his $$$ before riding off into the sunset. In most sports, I believe, there is a "make the team" requirement even for a multi-year contract. Maybe if MLS stopped signing contracts like this, and being stuck with some players that no one wants but they have to pay, there'd be a few more bucks available for a salary cap increase.
Yeah I agree guiaranteed contracts are a risk. But it's a player's market and so that's what happens. But the vast majority of the NBA's contracts are multi-yeared and guaranteed. Same with the NFL, though it's more complicated there. (Just think of what the ravens went through two winters ago.) Loads of MLB contracts are the same.
The NFL contracts are not guaranteed. The only thing guaranteed is the pro-rated signing bonus. That is why teams get in trouble when they cut players and have the accelerated signing bonus count against the cap the next year (ie. creating dead money). You may be right about some MLS contracts being guaranteed, however I have never heard any discussion of this on these boards.
Exactly. I've been saying it all year -- THIS IS THE YEAR. We won't have enough quality to go at it again next year -- just look at the salary numbers up there. Even under the best-case we're losing a couple good players from an average side. Although Marco's retirement nets out some of the downside there.
If DC makes the playoffs, it will have achieved what would have seemed at the beginning of the season to be reasonable goals -- improve on last year's record and make the playoffs. It's only fair to give Ray and the DC front office some credit for achieving that much. Nevertheless, as an earlier post made more than clear, a host of alternative coaches is available. I am intrigued by Bob Lilly or Chris Ramsey from the A-league -- because they have winning records as head coaches in North America. But, some of the MLS assistants would probably make good coaches as well. Frankly, I thought hiring Ray was a mistake and nothing has happened since to change my mind. Despite the improvement over last year, I don't think the state of the team at this point warrants keeping Ray. The roster changes, the style of play, the preparation (or lack of) for the future are all less than they should be. Of particular importance, the roster will need serious overhauling during the offseason and too few of the personnel moves over the past year have panned out to leave the same folks in charge. And that gets to the last point, I doubt very much if Ray is solely responsible for all the less than brilliant moves that DC has made over the past two years. Cleaning out the front office seems just as warranted as letting Ray go back to TV.
I'm not sure I agree with this statement. If there has been one constant in DC United, it's been the front office. They are head and shoulders above the rest of the league. Steve Zack, Catherine Marquette, Fred Mathes et al do a tremendous job year in year out. If you consider scheduling the ES game a less than brilliant move, then take a look at the bottom line that game netted both teams. They do a great job regardless of the roadblocks the DCSEC and the CSC throw at them. As a Barra member from day one, I would personally like to thank each and everyone of them for all they've done for us in 135. Your efforts do not go unnoticed. Chico
DCU needs a thousand or so more supporters like Chico. Lay off Ray and the rest of the front office. He inherited a crap team that was in need of reengineering. He is doing that. On top of that, factor in the Reyes injury at the beginning of the season. The Eski bust (I'm certain every other team would have selected him #1 outiside of Bob Bradley) hurt. THEN,....just as it seemed that the team had turned the corner, Rimando goes down with an ACL injury and a resurgent Ben Olsen goes down. Prior to all that you have to factor in the Convey to Tottenham fiasco. Give it a rest. DCU was a semi-finalist in the USOC and will be in the playoffs. Not so bad. Ray is a good coach, he cares for his players and the fans. You should be buying the man a few pints and thanking him for a job well done.