That's the gamble my friend. If we lose him when we could have very easily left the steaming pile that is Sasha unprotected(seriously would anyone bother to pick Mr. Utility?) I'll be calling Jimbo's Rent-a-Mule.
Don't forget, though, that the league negotiates player's contracts, not the "investor/operators", and the league won't break the bank to sign Saragosa (now a washed-up dirtbag Mexican forward is another thing entirely...) I ran into Saragosa at the MLS Cup last week and asked him if he was coming back. He said he wanted to come back, but then shrugged and said his agent was working on it. Sounds like it's all going to come down to whether the bean-counters can make it work out...
I don't think Saragosa is in the long term plans. Sure, Sao Paulo wants a lot of money for him (not sure how much, haven't found that figure) but the Galaxy knows that Vergara is rich and wants to win next year and they must have a feeling that Chivas might jump at him. He's the kind of guy you could build a midfield around. Steve and Doug must have faith in Vagenas because without Saragosa, the DM spot goes to Vagenas and only Vagenas. Who else on the roster could fill that role? And I doubt they bring in international players to fill that role considering the problems the team has scoring goals.
The Broome situation is a little puzzling. The only things I can think of are (1) like someone said earlier, G's go to a 3-man backline with Marshall, Califf and Suarez or (2) with everyone healthy in a 4-man backline, Marshall plays LB with Califf and Suarez in the center. That being said, though, apparently Victorine is valued more than Broome. Hopefully, something is in the works to bring a new LM in or Grabby is given a shot out there. Dawg, thanks for your report on the radio this morning. It was breaking news to me as I was without internet from mid-day yesterday through this morning.
I was at the HDC saw Vegenas persuading Doug and Steve to put him on the protected list. you suck nosferatu!
There have been rumblings that Verga, er, Vergara wants to bury the Galaxy franchise. If this is true, then stealing Saragosa from us would be the way to start going about that.... They are counting on the fee to stand in the way. Now that is truly a dumb gamble.
Hamilton discusses Saragosa Sounds like a calculated risk....or discussions to bring him back aren't going as well as hoped.
Memo's not eligible for the draft. Most of the young guys, Grabavoy, Memo, Gardner, Gordon, did not have to be protected. As for Broome, I think it was just a matter of having a lot of defenders and he just got caught in the numbers game. Califf, Suarez, Marshall, Albright, there's four defenders there and keeping Broome would probably have meant not keeping Moreno or Ngwenya. I haven't seen the full list yet but my guess is Broome starts for RSL next year and Marcelo plays for Chivas USA.
Heres what I think. Chivas will draft Torres, we protect Broome, no one get Saragosa because of the whole loan situation, and Popik will not get picked because of all the other GKs on the list. So I only think we'll lose Torres.
I just looked at the full list, and I guess we're lucky because other teams had to leave a bunch of players unprotected. Not sure how that worked out, but still. I wonder if the Galaxy will be looking to make trades with RSL or Chivas for players that were left unprotected. For instance, have RSL take _______ and then ship him to the Galaxy for a SuperDraft pick. I was scouring the list and seeing if I could see any players that might have an impact here but nobody really jumped out at me. Or how about we trade Vagenas to RSL and have them pick up, um, well, how about a bag of soccer balls? Fair trade!
I'm more concerned with Doug doing damage to the team. In regards to Saragosa, is this Doug, or is this Steve? Who knows? Steve may be an adequate coach in what his goals are, how he wants to organize us on the field, and who fits where, but let's face it - his strength is most certainly NOT choosing the actual players. His World Cup disaster was a lesson in not screwing over the players that got you there. Andreas sat on the pine far too much (yes, he somehow managed to stay out of shape nearly the entire season, he didn't like to run, etc.) after Steve came on board. Not seeing the complete value of Saragosa, and taking a HUGE gamble in leaving him unprotected because of money, smells like Steve to me....
LOL...If only Steve Sampson had humor like that, saw the job he's done so far, resigned himself of duties, and only ask to have a couple of locks from Cobi's head as compensation .
Seems like the logic to leave him open like DC is leaving Earnie Stewert open because he's going to Holland and not coming back. We should have left Bo and Herzog open. Victorine was my first choice. Saragosa even though he's on loan had a great year, but he will be back on Sao Paulo playing so the other teams won't waste their time getting him. Once he's not picked, he will probably be on loan to LA again next year. Why couldn't we put Sampson on the list?
To me Saragosa should be in the long terms plans. He is one of the better young players in the league and could have a long and prosperous future. Rumor has it that Sao Paolo wants roughly 1.5 million for an out and out transfer. It is a high price but I think I would be more than worth it for Marcelo. Bottom line is this......leaving him unprotected is a huge gamble if Steve wants him for next year. There will be nothing stopping another team from picking him up and then trying to force a trade down the Galaxy's throat if we want to get him back which is something I think that Chivas may do. On the other hand if a team drafts him and the his loan status doesnt work out then they wasted a pick which is also a gamble on their part. This game is high stakes though. If Steve manages to loose him I say the first one who manages to pay some Central American revolutionaries to take him hostage during his scouting trip should be cannonized a Saint.
i sure as hell hope it works out better than some of doug's other calculated risks... alex pineda chacoan diego serna steve sampson ezra hendrickson (he did pick up his second ring sunday)
Oh my @#$%ing @#$%. I couldn't pull up the Pasadena paper's article to read who the four were. Boy am I glad I didn't ruin my whole day. Saragosa (until he lost it a bit towards the end of the season) was the straw that stirred the drink -- the second coming of a hundred fires. What in the name of all that is holy could those idiots be thinking? Unless they signed Viera in some kind of hush-hush deal with Arsenal, they're out of their ****ing minds. Maybe it's because Saragosa was a defensive midfielder, and Steve 'n' Doogie want attacking soccer, because simply winning isn't attractive enough? Edit: just read the "don't have a cow" thread shortly after giving birth to the above bovine post. Possibly losing Broome still sucks, though, and if something stupid happens (Vergara -- Sao Paolo deal), the above overreaction most certainly is applicable.
Assuming... Of course assumptions being dangerous and I do love living dangerously... Assuming that the loan deal would only allow Saragosa to play for the Galaxy, without a permanent transfer which would require a fairly large transfer fee... I do not believe this to be all that risky of a move... especially for a D-Mid. I believe there is enough talent in the expansion pool that throwing away one of the 10 picks just isn't likely... especially when, I do believe that transfer fees are still paid by the league and would require league approval. Of course, there is always the possiblity that the Galaxy may have worked a pre-draft deal with Chivas... to have Chivas select Saragosa and than trade him to the Galaxy for Gonzalez reminicient to the Galaxe/Fire deal.
I still dunno. I have an extremely bad feeling about this one. Seems like somebody at mlsnet shares my feeling too, though as it states in this link, it is just a mock draft based on opinions. http://www.mlsnet.com/MLS/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20041118&content_id=19398&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp