Goff 11/16/04: Looking ahead

And the reality of MLS rules and regs seeps through the championship banner, leaving a stain and dampening the celebration. Such is life.

GM

 

Cant even enjoy the championship for a full day without worrying about who wont be in the Black & Red next season..we all knew it was coming, but losing some of a special group of guys like this is always going to be hard.

We definatley, definatley definatley definatley definatley need to sign Gomez.

 

And here is who Goff thinks we'll protect:

 

********ing parity.

 

It's not parity. It's economic realities. There's no way the league can afford to pay the same kind of salaries that the major European leagues can afford.

 

********ing economic realities

 

--Would an Argentine kidnapping joke be in bad taste?

 

I know, it does suck. But what can ya do?

 

all we can do is keep doing our part financially by buying tickets and merchandise.

 

Make sad faces on a message board late at night.

 

Throw realities down the well ....

GM

 

And all that stuff can go to HELL..

 

If KP puts 4 stars on everything for next season, I'll be like a kid in a candy store. <Gets the Visa warmed up>

It's sad to see that we don't have at least a week to celebrate, I don't see what the huge rush is to get all the trades and whatnot done. But I guess Chivas and Real have to get their geese lined up for United to shoot down next season.

 

....did anyone notice this?!

United won't be able to rely on the regular draft, scheduled for mid-January in Baltimore, to fully bolster its roster because it appears the club will only have a second- and fifth-round pick -- the result of several trades the past two years.

Does this mean Lowe and I get to host a party?!

Maybe they will seat us behind the podium so we can "unfairly change the flow of the match"

 

There needs to be a group there to heckle the Mutts pick with "J-E-T-S! JETS! JETS! JETS!"

It's the only proper way to conduct a draft.

 

We'll have all off-season to celebrate our championship. But the work never stops. Not only is it about expansion and the draft (which means scouting college soccer) but the next couple of months are the best time to scout foreign talent b/c they're in-season. So United doesn't get a chance to take a break--their work never stops.

I hate to see anyone from this championship go--they're part of something special and everyone contributed (even people like Jason Thompson and Tim Lawson). But that said, I still hold to my initial claim that there are very few people we wouldn't have difficulty replacing.

The reality of MLS these days is that every offseason you have to move players. Not just MLS minimum salary guys. Not just someone who was a poor performer. Mike Petke ended his season playing some most excellent soccer. Paired with a top-notch organizer in the middle, Peke will mark an individual attacker out of the match (exhibit 1A: see Arnaud, David). I'd hate to see him leave. But I bet we could find someone as good or better for less money. Seperate from guys leaving for Europe or expansion, we can't keep the same roster for next year. Some guys will get hurt, others will have had career years or slump next season. So you seek to improve anyway you can. And in MLS, that means releasing some guys to create cap and roster room for new talent. Sad but true.

If Nellie does indeed leave (and makes it clear before the expansion draft), I don't think we're likely exposing anyone who is really critical to the team. Yes, we'd likely be protecting only 1 defender (Namoff). But it's not as if the other possibilities (Petke, Hendrickson, or maybe Lawson) are key players we'd build our scheme around. They're role players at best.

I value them all. But the way of MLS is that teams have to break up each off-season in order to add new pieces.

 

I saw it and wondered if there was going to be a "road trip" for that

I think that just might scare the crap out of the MLS brass

-dave

 

Actually, with Stewart (I liked his fit in Nowak's team and will miss him, but I still say he was over payed in MLS terms) and possibly Nellie not returning, that will put us in a really good position for cap space (aren't we already actually under the cap by a fair amount?). If Nellie does resign, we can assume that he'll take most/all of Stewart's cap space, but that still leaves us with some wiggle room. I would also assume that Moreno gets a raise next year.

I think Friday and Nellie's decision are the two big keys to our off season.

-dave

 

Four reasons why we should feel positive the Front Office will fiind creative ways to fill the cracks that will inevitably open during the off-season: Josh Gros, Christian Gomez, Ezra Henderson & Troy Perkins. Henderson & Perkins (and even Gomez) may well be journeymen, but all four were great "finds" and they certainly contributed to the making of a champion.

 

One cap note:

Jaime undoubtedly earned a great deal of incentive money this year, which, I believe, will count against next year's cap (unless we get a New Jersey exclusion clause)!

GM

 

An even better reason to be present. Do they let the general public into these things? If so, would anyone be interested in going? If so, I would love to hook up at a bar down ehre to start it off right...

 

I thought there were "fans" at the Freddy bonanza. I thought the setup was something like:

stage
team tables
draftees
FSW stage
crazy people hoping to catch a glance of Freddy


Could be wrong though.

-dave

 

A road trip to Baltimore for the draft in January would be AWESOME.

 

I would be more than happy to assist with the festivities any way I could.
Let me know!