This is a great article... probably should have its own thread. Stewart almost done. Ivanov done--using our second allocation. Hristo to DC in a few weeks, as well as Harkes possibly. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56535-2003Jan14.html
I'll post what I said on the other thread. Why an allocation for Ivanov? Grimandi is a discovery for Colorado. Oh well, at least we get Stewart and Grimandi. Plus maybe a new assistant coach with a a wicked right foot.
It is going to be one exciting meet-the-team day this year! For those who have not obtained DC United season tickets, you may want to think about getting them now.
stewart was an allocation b/c DC sux real bad last year and the metros traded their u sux allocation to DC in that blockbuster trade... http://mlsnet.com/content/03/mls0107allocations.html
I think because Ivanov is (I'm not sure) under contract and requires a transfer fee, while Grimandi was available on a free.
Now that it appears to be a done deal... the hypothetical scenario of Nelson moving to D-Mid seems pretty likely, unless Ivanov is the answer there or we're planning on a 4-4-2. You also have to wonder if Prideaux is on his way out, or does this push Reyes up to the right wing, with Olsen on the left and Convey in the middle? So many questions... but I like the fact that our line-up is looking very versatile for next year. I'll take a crack at a starting line-up... but I'd think we'll see many different formulations depending on the match-up. Rimando Reyes--Ivanov--Petke/Prideaux Nelson Olsen--Kovalenko--Convey Etcheverry Stewart (withdrawn forward) Quaranta/Esky/[player we acquire on draft day--D. Washington?]
What will DC trade for Stoitchkov? I had better not be anything more than a 2nd round pick in next year draft.
Thanks, have asked that question over the last week at least 10 times, finaly an answer. Let's hope he is worth it.
Considering he's not under contract with the Fire (IIRC) and they apparently have no interest in keeping him, I'd assume this is essentially a "league-mandated" move (i.e., MLS wants to keep a high-profile player in the league) and DCU would be stupid to give up anything more than a very low draft pick. I don't think anyone else in the league wants him... we could probably get him on waivers but the league wants to save face by not having a big name like that technically pass-through the waiver wire... plus we probably wouldn't be willing to give up our #1 spot in the waiver order for him anyways. So essentially, he's worth the price of not losing our spot as the #1 team in the waiver order (if that)... which I'd imagine is a low draft pick.
-------- Rimando ---Reyes Ivanov Petke Olsen Kovalenko Nelsen Convey -------- Etcheverry ----- Quaranta Stewart Not too shabby, though I still prefer Nelsen in central defense. Great to hear Stewart is coming though...he is mighty.
No, really, he is excellent when it comes to bringing along young talent. And I can guarantee that he'll always be at every game, injury or not. While that might not be seen as much, ask LA about Hernandez or NY about Lothar. Hristo loves the game and I think he wants MLS to succeed more than almost any other player I've met. No matter what DC trades, if he can help pull the young talent up I'll thank him come 2006. As for whether he's under contract to the Fire, everyone is suspiciously mum on the subject, some rumors have DC picking up Magee with the #5 pick and then a trade, others suggest a simple pick for Hristo, it's all rumor until Friday at this point...
Hristo at a drastically reduced rate is an excellent pickup, especially since he will also be coaching.
I hope we don't use our #5 to trade for Hristo..:/ We could use that to pick up some less expensive and younger talent. If we want hristo to bring along the kids ont he team hire him as an assistant coach.
Wow! I like United getting all of these players. *Earnie has great pace and can play wide or up-top. Keep in mind that Pineda Chacon flourished under Ray as a goal scorer, Earnie is similar but faster. I love this guy, nice photo Jose! *Stoitchkov will groom our young forwards and as Goff points out, he's taking a big pay cut and will serve as coach/80th minute sub. *Harkes provides backup versatility in midfield or defense. He took a big pay cut last year and won't cost much. Locker room cancer to some, great leader to others, I think it's a good move if he costs nothing. *Ivanov, I don't know much about him but he sounds solid and will strengthen the backline. United has depth, experience and youth. I wonder if Curtis becomes expendable with the glut of forwards. I'd think United is gunning for all P40s in the draft, plus teams can now have more developmental players (paging Bryan Namoff). Gotta love the attacking depth of Stewart, Quaranta, Stoitchkov, Quintanilla, and Eskandarian. The midfield seems equally loaded with Kovalenko, Etcheverry, Olsen, Convey, possibly Stewart, possibly Nelsen, Harkes as a sub, and potential draft picks like Clark. I must stop, I think I'm drooling...
If United trades either the #11 or #14 picks for either Stoichkov or Harkes, they're delusional. While I laud the Stewart trade, it's worth noting that he's older and has had injuries. As well, Harkes has a rather significant recent history of injuries. Stoichkov ... well it's probably better to list the games that he's played, because you can set your watch by his injuries. While the Stewart move is unquestionably a good move, I have a very very bad feeling about the others. Stoichkov taking a pay cut and then dividing it between playing and coaching ... OK, that takes some of the edge off of his certain injuries, but he still takes up a roster/trainer's-table spot. Harkes coming back would be fine, but we have only 18 regular roster spots. With Stoichkov, Stewart, Etch, Olsen, Convey and Santino, that's 1/3 of the spots with significant injury histories. Why add another? The silver lining this season was the addition of 2 extra P-40 spots, so it's conceivable that we could actually have a contributing roster of 24 players. With the trade of Mapp, we lost a contributing P-40 roster spot. If we trade 2 of our 4 draft picks (be they first or second rounders) we'll lose 2 more contributors. In essence, Hudson is setting himself up for failure by injury. I said repeatedly that Bradley screwed himself by banking on so many injury riddle players. United's problems weren't relying on Moreno, but rather taking a chance on too many injury-prone players. Towards the end of last season I said (and repeated many times) that no matter what Hudson does, he needs to limit his injury-prone players to 2 or 3, with no more than 1 being a high salary guy. Bringing in Hristo as a player is a mistake. Bringing in Harkes to our current situation (even if it is to replace McKinley) is a mistake ... as much as I hate to admit it. Trading 2 roster spots (draft picks #11 and #14 would be P-40's, but now those spots will go unfilled) to get the injury prone players is just dumb. I'll hold off on assessing Ivanov for an allocation until I become familiar with him, his salary, etc. Welcome home Stewart, cross your fingers that our injuries are short in duration. Dang, Ray has such potential, but he just insists on shooting himself in the foot. -Tron
I'm willing to bet money we're not trading the #5 for him. The Fire have no leverage to be demanding a first-round pick for a player they will otherwise cut and nobody else in MLS wants. I'd even be surprised if it's a second-rounder. The only way he would have any real value is if an allocation were attached to him (i.e., we'd get one when/if he later retires)... which I don't believe is the case.
Another important note is the imminent departure of Ivan. Unfortunate for him, and I think he's a great guy off the field, but could be a real blessing in disguise for DCU - especially if he was going to be getting substantially more than the minimum salary. Man, I hope we don't end up eating his salary like we did with Amman! Anyone know if he is actually under contract?
If we trade the #11 and #14, then I agree with you... but let's wait and see what happens. Kasper said in the story we were likely keeping the #1 and #5, but that we have "offers" for the #11 and #14. It sounded to me from what Kasper said and Goff wrote that those offers referred to other players not mentioned in the article (such as a Dante Washington)--not Harkes and Hristo. Perhaps I'm wrong... and I sure hope I'm not... but I think Harkes and Hristo will be acquired for the MLS equivalent of baseball's "player to be named later"--which should not be a pick where P-40s are still around. I can't imagine Hudson and Kasper would be stupid enough to trade first- or second- rounders when the teams we're dealing with have no leverage and no interest in retaining the applicable players.
Read the damn article Look, here's a paragraph from Goff's report: "Ivanov would start in central defense and join countryman Hristo Stoitchkov, the 1994 World Cup star who is almost certain to be traded to United from the Chicago Fire in the next few weeks, sources said. Stoitchkov, who turns 37 next month, would accept a large pay cut to remain in the league and would serve as a player-assistant coach. Now carefully- if Stochkov joins United in the next few weeks that means---- yes! That is after the draft! we won't be trading no stinkin' #5 or #11 or #14 or any draft pick!
While I love Stewart, he's 34. And all the wishing in the world isn't going to change that. How much of an upgrade do you believe he is over Moreno? If Harkes or Stoichkov see significant minutes I think we're in real trouble. If Ivanov is the real deal and replaces Pope, our D should be ok, but who have we added that will make our D sigificantly better? Petke is marginally better than the guy he replaces (Prideaux?), but not more than a game or two better in the standings. Do you really believe THE answer (i.e. the answer to our 3-year problem) is Ivanov and Petke instead of Pope and Prideaux? And Etch is still past it. I think we've moved sideways so far in this off-season and that we need to pick up a couple of immediate impact players in the draft. A Twellman and a Mastroeni or the like. We also need Olsen and Convey to have monster years and for Kovalenko to perform at a high level. Those things can definitely happen given our draft position and the fact that Kovalenko, Convey and, especially, Olsen have an awful lot of talent. But if Stewart, Ivanov and Petke are a net wash overall compared to the guys they replace (or roughly a net wash), we're basically looking at Kovalenko, a healthy Ben Olsen and the draft picks as being the net additions. Is it enough?