Because we are talking total salary paid over the entire year, the salaries of Lawson and Quintanilla that we already paid them (5 months?) count against the cap. Hence, we really have about $100K for the Argie for this year. HOWEVER, the Argie will only be on the books from August through the end of the year. Therefore, with the $100K, we can bring in a player that is actually a "$220K" annual salary player. This is the advantage of the late season acquisition. You use the early part of the season to sort out who you want to retain, fine tune your roster and salary cap, and then swoop up a very good player for a short (but critical) part of the year. Granted, it sucks for the Champions Cup (and I'm still hurting about that), but we will be stacked for the late season and playoffs. What they are doing, in essence, is playing with a team that is more valuable than the cap, in a snap shot sort of view right when it counts. The disadvantage is that the player will necessarily be forced to "gel" quickly with the team, but them's the brakes. The bigger issue would be retaining the player at a high salary for the next year. However, hopefully those issues work themselves out with the new "guidelines." Speaking of "guidelines," they kind of remind me of all the "voluntarily voluntary" regulatory schemes we have going these days. Cheers, Tim
I know generally speaking the MLS is really tight about releasing financial information about its players or its clubs? But would anyone happen to have a link or know anything about the financial situation of MLS clubs?
The first rule of Fight Club is - you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is - you DO NOT talk about Fight Club.