What is the max salary nowadays? John Cunliffe was last year's #7 and he is making 48k, so I'll be optimistic and go along with 50k for Iro. He is definitely has starter potential now so that should be a big plus for him. Some of the other draftees might have to be signed as seniors but if they are then that would mean an existing 50k senior drops out so the net gain is roughly zero. A quick recalculation: take the 1.5m figure and add another 200k for Schelotto (assuming 350k is the max), 400k for a DP, and 50k for Iro. That puts the total Crew salary at 2.15m before incentives and excluding Gonzalez. The Crew still have some options with Hejduk (175k), Virtuoso (102k), Miglioranzi (86k), Hendrickson (78k), Oughton (72k), Garey (50k), and Evans (42k) still on the roster.
Iro certainly isn't going to make 100K as a rookie. Jason Garey got around 60K when he started. Most of the other rookies will be developmental too, which means their salaries don't count on the cap at all. The Crew can't possibly have cap problems if they are willing to spend to the cap and Guille only counts 350K (max salary). There is still room for a 400K DP slot and Marcos too. If we are cap strapped, we shouldn't have brought in Carroll at 120K to replace Kamara.
Sorry, I meant to edit my last post and bring it down here but I mistakenly replaced my original post.
Pretty brave of you to "call bull$shit on MM" on something he didn't say. You want to show me where he said we are close to the cap? I'll be waiting....
I wonder if we are clearing a little room to trade for Christian Gomez to squeeze him under the cap too...
Per Dispatch: Gonzalez had one goal and one assist in two seasons as a starter in the central defense, although his play lagged last season. could someone please share with me how Gonzalez play lagged last season?
You know, there was that one time, in that game, with the guy with the ball, yeah Gonzo really screwed up then. And then there was the time, with the other guy with a ball, oh no wait, that was the picture of Jar Jar in the "caption this thread". Well anyway, I'm sure Gonzo sucked so bad that we had to get rid of him.
The second half of the season was definitely not as strong as the first. He got abused by Aston Villa's strikers and it seemed like it might have affected him. He lost his mark on set pieces several times, though I don't recall any being especially costly. He also seemed to take the wrong guy a couple of times during scrambles in the Crew box and a couple of those hurt.
Shawn Mitchell needs to explain McCullers' "Marcos has been sold to Catolica?” comment. I mean, was that for real? Reportedly McCullers finds out second hand that Gonzalez has been sold. Then we get... "To be honest, it was not a difficult decision to make," Crew general manager Mark McCullers said. "Catolica was very aggressive with their offer, and it was an offer we thought we needed to take. You have to wonder if McCullers didn't think the decision was difficult to make because he didn't make it. McCullers doesn't player decisions anyway, does he? Then we find out Sigi Schmid was in Dallas the next day “to get the OK to really push ahead for a DP.” Well, that is what he is telling us. Perhaps he really went to complain about the Gonzalez deal. Even if Gonzalez was sold partially for salary cap reasons, why tell anybody? He was a popular player. He wasn't making an obscene amount of money. He wanted to leave. Now the Crew have belittled the player by saying he wasn't worth the salary he was making and wasn't as vocal as he should have been (along with Marshall), despite the fact that he doesn't even speak English. With or without a nod from the Crew organization, Mitchell also notes that his play lagged last season. They way Mitchell tells it, I wouldn't be surprised if Marshall was on the trading block.
Or maybe he didnt want to let the "cat of the bag" to Shawn... Jesus - we should rename our forum Roswell - with all the conspiracy theories that run amuck. The FC Dallas game and Clarence Goodson ring a bell.
Gonzalez is too quiet, Marshall is too quiet, Hendrickson is too quiet, Zayner may be too quiet. Fraser was praised for the way he directed the back line, but I don't actually remember him being very vocal. Perhaps he was more vocal than I realized. Busch wasn't quiet at all and Sigi dumped him and brought in Hesmer, who is very quiet. He played Gruenebaum who is very quiet. He doesn't play Gaudette and my recollection is that he is much more vocal. Are there any keepers in the league more vocal than Busch and Gaudette? But having keepers constantly yell "step up, step up", "clear it", or "no shots" is pretty inane if you ask me unless the keeper is in a position to see something that the defender might be missing. And sometimes a little extra push helps. But at other times it just causes panic. I've never really understood the importance of vocality among defenders, especially at the professional level. They should already know what to do, for the most part. Defenders typically yell when other defenders are out of position. If your defenders are constantly out of position in MLS, then something is wrong. I would rather have a quiet, efficient defense than a loud defense that was always having to reposition its players. Maybe fans that attend more MLS games than I do can tell me who the vocal defensive leaders are in MLS, and how their vocality improves the defense. I can't name any. Vocality among attackers would seem much more important. If players could communicate what they were going to do in a kind of code then they might be able to attack in a much more cohesive way. Again I'm not aware that this actually occurs in MLS. Of course every player should be vocal when two teammates have a roughly equal chance at a 50-50 ball or when there is indecision about about who should mark an attacking player or when to switch, etc. But that should be a call between the two players, not some defensive field general. Andy Iro is supposed to be very vocal so apparently Sigi has finally got his field general. Hopefully, he can actually defend. Is Sigi's desire for a vocal leader in the back pie-in-the-sky or something the Crew defense actually does desperately need?
That is my other theory, and I can see making a comment like that initially, but the cat was already out of the bag. Couldn't he have at least nodded acquiescence? Ostensibly the Crew are cutting Gonzalez partially for salary cap reasons. But only after the deal is done is Sigi flying to Dallas "to get the OK to really push ahead for a DP". Well, if the Crew could not assume they had approval to "really push ahead" for a DP already, and didn't already have a DP well lined up for the 2008 season, how would they know they were anywhere near the salary cap limit? Why not get the approval to pursue a DP from Dallas before the Gonzalez deal is announced, and then say that the sale of Gonzalez will give the Crew enough salary cap room to sign a DP, and the Crew would make a strong attempt to sign one before April 15? What does "approval to pursue a DP" mean, anyway? Does it mean Sigi will be given a figure on how much he can spend over the 400k limit? Even if a budget number is arrived at, I would think HSG would still want to have a say in who Sigi attempts to sign. We have yet to hear if Sigi got his approval or not. If Sigi doesn't get approval, does that mean the Crew now have $400k to blow on non DPs?
The Hunts have tons of money, the only difference between them and AEG is that AEG is willing to spend $$ to win titles with their teams, and HSG is not. (Yes, I understand HSG is NOT equal to Hunt Oil, but you should also understand the $$ comes from the same source, and the distinction is partially on paper). I find that Sigi running down to Dallas to get the "OK" for a DP highly troubling, after weeks of Murawksi/DP rumors, after he said he was pursuing a Euro Forward DP signing who could win the Golden Boot? Was he full of it the whole time? Look, I think this move is a step back, and the three back comment even more troubling? Iro in the middle? Chad is not vocal. O'Rourke? Frankie on the outside in a three back? Way to waste your best defender! Trying not to be too hysterical until we see how the whole thing shakes out, but it reeks of half-truths and poor planning to me. Typical.
"Vocal" could just as easily be referring to leadership, both on and off the field. McBride wasn't exactly vocal, either, but he sure as hell was a leader. I have no idea what kind of a player Gonzo was on the practice pitch. Did he garner the respect of the other defenders? Did he pull "his" guys together, get them working together as a defensive unit, make sure they were all on the same page, before they ever stepped foot on the field for a game? Did he pull individual players aside during practice and "coach" them one-on-one? Or was he more of a "follower," albeit a very talented one?
When will you get off this "HSG sucks" bullshit? You've been going strong for years and every time you raise a point it is shot down. But you keep repeating it. First, there is no, absolutely none, zero, nada, indication that spending a ton of money will bring success in this league. If anything, the evidence suggests the opposite. Second, have you looked at AEG's team, the Houston Dynamo, lately? No designated player, no stadium, no practice facility. I'm not sure what $$ AEG has spent on them in order to win titles in the manner you want. (Except for the moving vans, but we won't talk about that). On the other hand, I've heard that they're somewhat successful on the field.
And what's the deal with PVancouver? Every day that passes brings a more cynical, less competent, less informative PVancouver.
OK, the Crew has some problems in their time line - Gonzalez transfered - McCullers says offer too good to pass up, so good infact they can't tell us how much they let Gonzo go for. Which means "we got about $100K" -Sigi flies to Dallas to seek approval to move ahead on DP front. Well I sure hope they said yes, because if the answer is "no" we just cleared cap space and lost our #1 defender for nothing.