Here's where PV & I see eye-to-eye -- if, despite all the revenue-enhancing measures the club has undertaken in the offseason, Sigi still has to go to Dallas and ask really nicely to please, please be allowed to sign a DP, then HSG needs to sell us and be done with us as quickly as possible. Coming from an organization that let FCD buy Denilson, I find it a slap in the face that our coach apparently has to go have a "face-to-face" with the bosses to take advantage of a roster exemption. Just utterly ridiculous. My last point on Gonzo leaving -- those of you swimming in a pool of Kool-Aid are right -- we did bring in Gonzo to replace Fraser, and we did get Hesmer to replace Busch/Walker. The flip side of that coin is we're still waiting on the left back and scorer we were supposed to go find about the same time we signed Gonzo. And, considering we were all discussing what we'd need to do to possibly replace Marshall fairly recently (and MM discussing his prognosis makes me wonder if we still use the same neurologist we did for Paule), I'd feel better with Marcos being there instead of not. If he was leaving and this was our chance to sell, then so be it. I'd have like to see us already have a replacement in place, plus Iro, just because history tells me we're more likely than not to replace Marcos with an inferior product. We'll see, I guess...
Is this because we are embracing change? Shouldn't your "joke" be Barack Obama? Damn! The humor is so full of snide and suck I can't decide at what level I should chortle... Unintentional comedy is always the best, mate.
I for one am relieved that Sigi started to build this team from the back from the beginning and got our D solidified so he could focus on making us MLS champs in his first season, right? If he hadn't spent so much time effort and cash recruiting World Beaters like EZ and Tim Ward imagine how far behind the rest of the league our D would be!! </dripping sarcasm> I we sign Greg Vanney or any player of similar calibre, I quit.
Today's Dispatch: http://www.dispatch.com/live/conten...0126.ART_ART_01-25-08_C3_SB95HO7.html?sid=101
This is true, we have found replacements for players who have left and we've done about as well as we did with the old players. That, as I see it, is precisely the problem.
solid point. Now that I've had time to vent, I see the practile side of this move. I don't like it, but it is the most practicle thing (given that he doesn't want a contract extention). So - I guess we should be looking at all players that are in the second to last year of thier contract and assume they will be moved for some amount of money. Where does one get a hold of contract information on this side ???
I find the following blurb from Mitchell troubling, http://blog.dispatch.com/crew/: '"Where does that leave the Crew’s back line? “Obviously we drafted (Andy Iro) first,” McCullers said. “The prognosis on Chad Marshall (concussions) is very, very good. There is some interest in moving Danny O’Rourke to the back and that is a very intriguing idea.” Coach Sigi Schmid said that he has not ruled out using three defenders instead of four. It has become clear that the Crew is looking for more vocal leadership and defensive tenacity than the Gonzalez/Marshall pairing provided.' Ah, yes, that intriguing (i.e., desperate) concept of using Danny O'Rourke in defense. What the above means to me is that the Crew have a lot of individual defensive pieces...problem is they don't necessarily fit together. Three in the back? Um, okay. But I guess that means Andy Iro won't see the pitch, since it's impossible to (1) imagine him running the middle of a three man line and (2) there's no way he can play out wide. Somehow Chad Marshall, who when healthy is one helluva central defender, just doesn't strike me as being all that vocal. Am I right in that assumption?
I'm also intrigued by McCullers use of the phrase "Clear some cap space." For what, Mark? By all accounts, we're no closer to signing a DP than we ever were and apparently Sigi has to go to Dallas to kowtow to Clark Hunt to even get consideration to be able to pursue one. It might be time to break out the pink slips here real soon.
How the hell are we even near the cap? We just let Pierce, Thomas and Herron go...how much did Brian Carroll and the rookies cost? Mike, who do we deliver the pink slips to? As much as I like to grumble about Sigi, he would appear to (fairly) blameless in this case. Perhaps FedEx-ing a case of pink slips to Dallas and a case to MM?
Sounds like a plan that can be put together pretty easily. Banner for opening day: "Dear Clark Hunt: Get Serious About Us or Sell Us. We Don't Care Which."
Maybe we can get drunk on Kool-Aid and assume we are signing not only 1 DP but a couple other max dollar guys!
Sigi might seem blameless to some extent but don't forget, he is supposed to be the man behind player aquisition, and, one would assume, selling. He made the decision that it was ok to sell Gonzo, he had to have been involved in that. And Seeing as how FC Dallas FO are right there in Dallas, we would not have heard news about how hard they had to lobby HSG because they would not have had to travel to do it. Perhaps they bugged the crap out of HSG last year? I think the unholy trinity of Hunt, McCullers, and Schmid are all to balme for this mess we are in, and they really have until about May or June to show they have sorted it out or else the forecast will call for pink slip showers... Being a Crew fan is so bi-polar... Kool-Aid to pink slips in less than 24 hours is how we operate!
Seriously, last season GM made $156K and was the "2nd highest paid player on the team." Gaven was our highest paid (in terms of the cap) player. Frankie and GBS both made $150K in base salary (after we bought down GBS' total salary; I assume it's base salarty that counts against the cap). Now, if GBS is back and not a DP (clearly the case), it may be the case that he's going to cost the Crew something near league max vis-a-vis the cap, simply because we want to use allocation cash to acquire a DP (And other players??? Oh, don't be silly) and can't use as much of it to buy down GBS's salary. So "maybe" we have one max salary player in GBS. Maybe we have a DP on the way who could clock in at $400K against the cap. Then there's Frankie making...whatever Frankie will make this year. BUt let's assuem that he and Gaven aremaking roughly the same as last year. FWIW, here are the 2007 reported salaries for the Crew (first $ base salary, 2nd guaranteed compensation): COLUMBUS CREW CLB Chandler Aaron F 12,900.00 $ 12,900.00 CLB Evans Brad F 30,000.00 $ 42,500.00 CLB Garey Jason F 41,250.00 $ 53,750.00 CLB Gaudette Bill GK 30,000.00 $ 30,000.00 CLB Gaven Eddie M 165,000.00 $ 188,000.00 CLB Gonzalez Marcos D 156,000.00 $ 162,250.00 CLB Grabavoy Ned M 45,050.25 $ 52,550.25 CLB Gruenebaum Andy GK 17,700.00 $ 17,700.00 CLB Hejduk Frankie D 150,000.00 $ 175,000.00 CLB Hendrickson Ezra D-M 76,650.00 $ 77,900.00 CLB Herron Andy F 140,000.00 $ 148,750.00 CLB Hesmer William GK 30,870.00 $ 30,870.00 CLB Kamara Kei F 33,000.00 $ 43,000.00 CLB Marshall Chad D 100,000.00 $ 123,000.00 CLB Miglioranzi Stefani M 70,008.00 $ 86,258.00 CLB Moss Brandon M 17,700.00 $ 17,700.00 CLB Ngwenya Joseph F 51,148.13 $ 62,023.13 CLB O'Rourke Danny M 46,331.25 $ 56,331.25 CLB Oughton Duncan D 72,000.00 $ 72,000.00 CLB Pierce Rusty D 63,000.00 $ 64,300.00 CLB Rogers Robbie F-M 50,000.00 $ 50,000.00 CLB Schelotto Guillermo Barros F 150,000.00 $ 150,000.00 CLB Szetela Danny M 43,135.31 $ 48,760.31 CLB Thomas Jacob M 84,000.00 $ 87,750.00 CLB Virtuoso Ricardo M 60,000.00 $ 102,000.00 CLB Ward Tim D 38,456.25 $ 48,456.25 CLB Zayner Jed D 33,000.00 $ 40,500.00 Moreno's numbers (under Houston) were $120K and $125K Which means: DP = $400K GBS = $275K (is that league max this year?) Gaven = $190K Hejduk = $150K Moreno = $120K Chad Marshall = $100K That's about $1.2+ million, right? You guys do the math. Could I be underestimating the Crew's cap situation? Is what's left enough to flesh out our roster?
"Marcos' salary-cap number was too high, so it was a combination of the money we would receive and the ability to clear some cap space." That is a troubling comment. Perhaps the Crew only did get $50k for him. The league salary cap is around $2.2m, the Crew are currently around $1.5m excluding the rookies. Perhaps McCullers will try to knock down Gaven's salary to meet the "salary cap" and then he'll trade him to NE for allocation money which only HSG will see. Carroll is at $120k (guaranteed). Leonard Griffin is at ??? The total for the guaranteed numbers is about $1.5m.
I wonder if Schelletto isn't costing us a *lot* more vs the cap this season as opposed to last season. I know we used allocation money to keep him from being a DP.... Odd that this comes up at the same time as Z with Celtic (I will not attempt to spell this). Looks like we were in the reverse situation, excepting that Gonzales was not out of favor (or was he? I wonder if he wasn't too quiet for Sigi). If he was going to leave, better that we got something now for him, assuming we will be perimitted to use the transfer money. The only thing that would *really* tick me off is if he shows up in Dallas a season or two from now (like what happened with Torres and RSL).
I would not be surprised if HSG's position is whether it counts against the cap or not, we are only going to spend up to the cap. They aren't AEG, obviously, but I would think that there should have been enough shirt sales in Argentina to convince them that investing in name players is worthwhile.
Just to comment on the defender situation, I've heard thru the grapevine - a very short grapevine, but a grapevine none-the-less - that Sigi tried to put Zaynor on the DL last year, and Jed was none to happy about it (since he was pretty healthy). The kid wants a chance to compete for first-team time, or to leave. I don't know that I can blame him.
I call bull$hit on MM, no way we are even close to the cap. We should have room for Schelotto at the max salary and a DP salary WITH Marcos on the roster. Just be honest with us, we are not the idiots you obviously think we are.
Not me. I've had no Kool-Aid for a year now. I'd love an excuse to partake, but I haven't seen it yet.