Grade Hudspar's Off Season Moves

A for excellence in chemistry. This team reeks of lust for competition and never say die 'tudes. The only question mark for me is what Ray thinks Etch will contribute this year. These are guys to go to battle with (even the draft pick field players, although Stokes might be a little reserved/shy).

Looking at the Moreno, ABMOD, Pope deal now, we got two defenders (Petke and Stokes), a very competent and versatile Stewart (Ray was looking at Ivanov before Earnie), and we got a healthy attitude on the team. The cost was very affordable. Moreno was never going to do it for us after two years of slacking off. Pope was the fulcrum of the whole deal, and we know that defenders need not make the max, and we needed cap room, and ABMOD's days are about done.

Thanks for the transfusion Ray and Dave (with props to the Traskmaster)!

GM

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

i got two words for you baby: EARNIE STEWART

 

Good Moves, IMO.

I think you failed to factor in Warren in the assessment of the draft. Everyone is knocking the 14th pick. From what I have read, he was the highest GK in the pool of youngsters out there. We're only one injury away from disaster (remember Rimando's predecessor?) Sure, we'll get a A-league player per Hudson, but Warren may be something special. Getting the next great GK in youth development/U.S. is a smart move.

Second, you guys gloss over the fact that if we had not made the trade, all talent assessments aside--including real on-the-field playtime, e.g. Moreno & Pope, even Richie--we could not have brought in Stewart, because of cap room. The trade permitted that. And we could not have brought in Ivanov, a second allocation--regardless of how long Hudson had been looking at him.

Finally, Chico13 hits a really good point. You bring in Stewart, Stoichkov and Harkes (and a Petke and Dema, on a fire-eating level of competitiveness) those are intangibles you can't gloss over. Do you think Etcheverry will sit on his hands this year? Look at how he jumped his game up in the all star game last year, with the talent and the added peer pressure of great players around him. (he can be shown to the bench if he does not produce, with Stewart or Eski at the withdrawn forward, and Convey, as options at the play-making role.)

We measure the trade as Eski/Stewart for Moreno; Ivanov/Petke/Stokes for Pope (we wouldn't have gotten the allocation or the #5 pick); Richie Williams for Petke/Dema?? and might have come out negative on the Justin Mapp trade, though we strengthened the central midfield position (and lost a fleet footed--but unproven--winger). But we cleared cap space to bring Stoichkov as a mentor/coach--I will never forget his 40-foot penalty shot against DCU--and Harkes.

And, they draft a top shelve GK for the future. Though unproven and they may not make the team, I like what I have read about Swann, Woodward and Caroll. They are not part of the trade--but they count in the evaluation of Hudson's moves. We filled so many holes on paper. But is the report card you fill out for next year's results or two-three years down the road?

 

I gave Hudspar a B (would have given B+, but it wasn't a choice... although that looks to be the overall opinion), but maybe I'm a tough grader, because I think we drafted players to give us depth at positions we needed. We didn't necessarily always draft the best players who were available at that the time of our picks, but we did draft wisely. No major errors. This draft was so deep in talent that we couldn't really have screwed up too much.

We have yet to see what the future holds for us to see how we did, but I think the future looks strong. We have got an incredible mix of talented youth with outstanding leaders. We are putting a lot of responsibility on the leaders of this team to teach the youth. We have an experience "senior" at just about every field position on our team. Plus with our draft, we have an inexperience "freshman" at those same positions. I think that is great for the future.

I also respect the option of passing on our last picks. If Ray has his team, drafting someone who will most likely get cut, doesn't do us much good. Plus, it gives the player a chance with another team.

I'm excited about having talented youth who will get some playing time this year. It's unfortunate that we lost Mapp, but he didn't play much at all last year and I didn't see him getting much time this year either. Alecko is a very good pick up for us. He's got a one track mind and a fresh attitude (whether or not he has an attitude). I look forward to his contributions. I glad we picked up Hayden Woodworth. I grew up in central PA and didn't live too far from Messiah. I know that they have an excellent soccer program there and are always a well coached team. Hayden excelled at the DIII level and showed he could play with the best DI players at the Combine.

And so, our future looks bright. I hope the team can mold together quickly and we get good competition at every level. Marco should have a better season this year with more experience around him, and if he doesn't, well, our coach has shown he's not afraid of making unpopular decisions. If Marco doesn't play well, there are a lot of players that are capable of filling in.

Now for the season to begin. Let it come quickly.

We Are United

 

I said a "B" too, but only because A- wasn't a choice. I like every move and decision, except I'm wary of Stewart. I'm not so sure he's the spearhead we probably need to be a really good team. I think Cup contenders have to have consistent reliable scorers and I'm not sure DC has that. A lot is riding on Stewart and Quaranta.

If either Stewart or Quaranta scores more than 15 goals, or we get 3 guys scoring more than 9 goals, I'll gladly eat my words, because I think that kind of goal production and our excellent defense will make for a strong Cup contender. Anything less than that might make for a very good team, but not IMO a Cup team.

 

Re: Re: Grade Hudspar's Off Season Moves

From your keyboard to God's ear! I predicted "new ones torn across the league" even before Earnie and the draft, and that outlook looks even brighter now. Etch wants to go out a champion, I think he's going to have a good year.

 

uh hello, do you know his stats at NAC? very consistent scoring. scoring in double figures in the eredivision for multiple years bodes pretty well for stewart.

 

The Pope trade was very good. We call it the Moreno trade, but really Moreno didn't have much trade value at that salary and neither did Williams. Hudson offloaded legacy player who still can play but not for their value at United. In return he got two good defenders in Petke (in prime of career) and Stokes (zero cap hit) who are big and fairly athletic. He also got the cap space and allocation to obtain Ernie Stewart. Great trade for United, and probably a good one for the Metros as well.

I dislike the Mapp trade, but Ray must produce this season, and Dema is a better projection to help the team more this season. I understand the trade, but do think it was a bad one. Also, as Trask's required Indiana player, Dema is a huge upgrade over Lazo.

I would have taken different players with the draft picks, but the ones he took were all good players. I give Hudson high marks for the draft simply because he kept all 4 high picks in a very good draft year. Hudspar's draft picks after round 2 were impeccable. Of all of the possible Trask-required Indiana players we could add, I actually like adding Swann where we did. He could make this roster and cover anywhere along the back line servicably. Woodworth was the find of camp, and appears to be a skilled, polished two-way midfielder. You just cannot get too many of those. I didn't mind picking Behonick where we did either. Basically, Hudspar did a great job in rounds 3-6, and a decent job with the top two round picks also.

I cannot really evaluate Ivanov. But, assuming he is what Hudson has been talking about as a "hairy chested Bulgarian" who might have a Jaap Stam effect on DC United, I really like it. If, as it seems, he is not expensive, speaks good English, and wants to come here, it sounds like a nice pick up. I am concerned that we used an Allocation rather than a Discovery pick. But, I'm willing to assume that the league kind of mandated to Hudspar that they couldn't sign two top tier allocations for us in one year. If so, then I might have preferred to hold onto the Allocation unused, but again, Hudspar is on a time clock, and missing the playoffs this season isn't something they can gamble against.

Grade, B, but I'm quite happy with it.

I'd say that Hudspar has done a remarkable job during the offseason. But the real question remains, is it enough?

-Tron

 

What Hudspar will really be graded against isn't DC United's improvement in talent, but it's improvement in the standings.

Several MLS teams significantly improved, so how much will our changes benefit us?

New England:
Last season they played great defense under Nicol, and Hernandez played to his potential as a central midfielder. Ralston played his typical creative offensive game. Twellman was the Revolution revelation. But, they played a ultra-conservative and ultra-defensive style. This season they add Nowak--who is almost as good as Cullen defensively--and that alone makes them twice as dangerous offensively. Additionally, they added Shalrie Joseph, a big fast, technical player who can man left back, left wing, central defense, and gives them size and offensive contributions from a wealth of positions. It looks like they'll add Joe-Max Moore, who would be a wonderful addition for them as he defends, possesses, sets up players, and scores. Even if they do not get him, they'll have a healthy Serna, which is certainly an improvement as the 2nd forward.

Metros:
Say what you like about Bradley, but I think he's a great coach and will get the most out of the mega-talents Clint Mathis and Jaime Moreno. That alone makes them an extremely potent offense. Adding quality talents like Magee and Clark helps. They'll score goals. Clark as the Dmid is a great pick up, as he'll really take the pressure off that back line. Bradley is a very good defensive organizer, and I'm sure they'll have a tremendously improved defense in front of Howard. Scary really.

Crew:
I'm a little puzzled what Andrulis is doing. He desperately needs defenders but he traded Bonseu away and he became the Burn linchpin. Now he lets Shavar Thomas slip past him in the SuperDraft. The offense is already top notch, why does he shoot himself in the foot by passing on exactly the players he needs? Having Buddle and Martino develop does more for this team than anything else.

Fire:
Put in salary cap purgatory, they must resort to rebuilding mode. But that's also a perfect excuse for a new coach to bring in a host of "his" players, and gives Sarachan a year to get his system in place without worrying too much about results. This team neccessarily got worse, but he kept the strong defense together and added some exciting attacking players like Jaqua.

United:
Arguably the best defense in MLS last season--when healthy--all that needed fixing was the offense. But to do so Hudspar ripped the heart out of the defense. Nelsen pushed into midfield in favor of Ivanov, Prideaux pushed to the bench in favor of Petke, Pope replaced by Kovalenko (352 replaces a 2nd central defender with an Hmid). They bring in a good young Pope-like player in Stokes and we become much deeper, but not necessarily as good. The offense was helped by the additions of Stewart, Esky, Dema who can all play Hudson's role of hybrid midfielder/forward in his morphous attacking system. Again, we're obviously deeper now, but how much better are we?

IMHO, the Eastern Conference really improved this offseason. Hopefully we improved enough to be at the top. Our home form was good last season, but is our offense good enough to score away from RFK? That answer will determine our season.

-Tron

 

Um, hello yourself.
No, I do not know Earnie's stats per se. But a quick Google search said he's only scored double didgits 3 times in 14 years and the last time was in 1992. At Breda he never scored more than 9 goals in the league. He averaged about 7 goals in about 28 league games as near as I can tell.
If only scores 7 next season and no one else picks up the slack, then we could be in trouble.

However, he may well turn out to dead eye dick in MLS and be a more consistent scorer. It's just that I'm a bit sceptical of that. That's all. However, as I said before, I'll gladly eat my words if he does turn out to be that kind of scorer. At no time am I trying to disparage him or anyone else. I'm just pointing out that regardless of him being an excellent player and leader, etc. He MIGHT not be the answer as a number one striker for DC.

 

Great evals, DT. I'll play off your remarks here:

I'm a little more negative than you are here. To me what I want to see is if they are actually that good or did they just catch a hot streak at the right time, much like their co-tenants the Patriots. They played that ultra-conservative style perfectly last year but their additions this year don't necessarily fit into that style. One can see them coming out of their shell more this year and I don't know if their defenders can deal with that so well. Well I know that Heaps, Franchino and Llamosa can't deal that well. A lot will depend on how this team meshes.

Magee's not gonna help this team this year in any real way, neither is Gaven. Geez, the team will be lucky if either contributes meaningfully next year. Giving up on Brad Davis more than subtracts the adding of those two kids.
I for one, don't believe that just since Bradley is coaching the team they will play great defense- just look at the Fire last year. Pope will be gone a fair amount and he'll battle his normal injuries. Ziadie is no answer,

On offense, we have Moreno and Mathis who together will make or break this team: they have to stay healthy and have to stay hot. Big ifs as far as I'm concerned. Then there's Andy Williams- what's Bradley gonna do with him? At any rate there's a fair amount more revisions of the roster to go here before we know what product will come out of the swamp. They have talent- oodles. But confidence and consistent play are not the trademarks of their stars.

I think Walsh has the chance to really take them to the next level, which is the MLS Cup. Yeah I'm sure that they were looking at defensive help in the draft but when Walsh became available it was like to problem Clavijo had last year for the Revs draft: NE needed defense too- that's what he was looking for- but when Twellman became available, he couldn't turn him down. Same with Walsh, especially since I don't see Perez as staying with the team and for a young a-mid to have those strikers- what a perfect situation.

Defensively they need help still and they have plenty of time to get it and there are teams that will want to trade a defender or two.

They should have taken Walsh instead of Jaqua- big mistake. Jaqua will help only marginally this year; he will need the normal year that most rookies need to get up to speed. As I've said with JoeW, Jaqua had a bad habit of getting marked out of games at Portland and last I heard the defenders in MLS are a tad batter. As for the defense, they will be under more pressure this year since their offense won't be able to maintain possession nearly so well as in the past. Armas, will have to have his best season yet for the team to stay competitive and he will be gone a fair amount of the season. They will battle the metros for last place and lose, but it will be interesting to watch.

I think you are way over-dramatizing the effect of the defensive changes will have since the biggest constant, that of Hudson coaching the defense, remains.

The offense, however is another story. A lot is riding on how good Dema, Q1 and Eski can contribute. Dema in the middle should provide a big upgrade to what was last year and I think he'll team up with Convey and Olsen quite well. Etcheverry, as is probably increasingly well known around here, does not fit in well with this offense IMO. However he can still contribute with his long passing and he'll probably stay back like he did at the end of the last season to provide a link to the offense and that will be good. Still a lot is riding on Eski and Q1 to convert those passes. Who will play for Convey and Olsen when they are gone is a big question.

Agreed. The offense will determine our chances.

 

Thanks for putting so much thought into your post so that we can just pick off elements to further discuss.

Concur that the East got significantly better, but injuries were the principal reason for the West's 'dominance' last year (if Ruiz had gone down, where would the girls be?). Injuries still have way too much of an effect because each team is necessarily so thin. The Crew have a way of working, working, working their way into contention. They desperately need one dominant defender and, IMO midfield help (can Martino go 90?).

I'll try to contribute a discussion of the West after one point.

The reason Ray made this team tougher is precisely because of their dismal road record. He was ashamed of the lack of will and courage displayed by United on the road last year. Finally, we've got a team that will fight for every ball and for every minute. Our TEAM is collectively so much better, it's got me giddy. lalagals were FAR from being the most talented team in the league last year. However, their teamwork collectively dominated the league. Chemistry and whether the players compliment each other is that important. Which is a nice segue--

The WEST:
lalagals had a magnificent draft adding speed and skill at every position and choosing a keeper.

I'm not sure that Dallas will be able to score enough to win it all, but their defense will be awesome.

San Jose I predict will sorely miss Graziani and wonder why they kept Goose's salary.

Rapids improved because they retired Valderrama and got a charity allocation to boot.

Kansas City - you tell me, they seemed to have disappeared from radar.

GM

 

Speaking of MLS defenders, Junior Agogo (MLS bust), now leading a lower English Division with fifteen goals, commented on Sky Sports last night on how difficult and underrated the American league is. Always fun to see that on English TV and now Mr. McBride...

 

I give Hudson an "A". He and Kasper did what they had to. They gave our vets (ABMOD, Jaime) another chance to prove they could bring it--then cleared cap room and remade the team. I have only one criticism--I'd have preferred adding a strong goal scorer-pure forward. I think Earnie Stewart will do well here. But I like have a big, burly target man who will score 4 goals a year with his head, who plays well with his back to goal. That kind of player creates so many opportunities for teammates. And that we didn't get (Ojeda might have been close).

I agree that the East probably got better. A few quick thoughts.

1. The book is out on Columbus. I think that team is going to go through a re-make in the next couple of weeks. I'm predicting McBride will be bought by Everton, JW Perez will leave Columbus and they'll acquire Hejduk. The Walsh pick won't look so strange. Hard to predict how that team will come together.

2. Chicago--actually not bad on paper. And Ursula, I agree that Walsh fits an immediate need for them (A-mid). But Jaqua is cap exempt (P-40) and that truly does matter for that team as they still need to deal someone in order to be able to add enough minimum salary bodies to get to 18. They basically have no depth which means they'll crash and burn during the year b/c of it.

3. SoS--Bradley's a good coach. But they gave up more talent (not potential, talent) this year than they acquired. And Magee and Gaven won't be big contributers until 2005 I think. Remember, Quaranta has been a very big success and he has 10 goals in 2 years. Magee and Gaven will see less time than Santino has. I also think that defense now has holes (since I think Balboa will leave) and they still want to replace Andy Williams.

4. NE got much, much better. But remember that they were in last place a month before the end of the season. Nowak is at the part of his career where he can't stay healthy and Adin Brown has always been impressive and injury prone (but they got Reis). We tend to evaluate this team as a finalist (#2) rather than a team who was a bottom dweller most of the season then got hot when it counted. I think the book is still out on them. I also am not sure if Twellman has the same season but think they'll likely add JMM.

5. Colorado. Until I see who their A-mid is, I can't say they've gotten better.

6. LA. The best team in the league got better with the addition of Hong. Only an injury to Ruiz derails their show.

7. SJ. This year they're mortal. Too many holes to fill (Conrad, Eklund, Cannon, Barret, Graziani with...Stanford seniors?).

8. Dallas. People keep hyping the talent on their roster. They do have lots of young guys. But they haven't shown they can compete with LA in my book and an injury to Kreis and they'll have big trouble getting any goals.

9. KC. Wolff is a nice edition if he stays healthy for the first time in his career. I think this is a team that can play well together, will work hard, but doesn't have the talent to overcome any of the good teams in MLS when they're on a roll.

 

Kudos to Hudspar. Stewart should be able to bring it for another two years, at least (that is, after Etch retires and hands over his 270k); Ivanov sounds like a winner, and the draft was, I think, handled well. DCU tried hard to get Clark, the favorite of many posters to these boards, but not at the expense of losing Eskandarian. By not agreeing to the Mutts demands, we lost Clark but saved Esky and three other good prospects, including a tall, fast Pope-like UNC product and the best college keeper out there. What's not to like? Also, it seems that if we get Stoichkov and, perhaps, Harkes, it will be with 2004 picks. I don't like to lose future picks, but you have to think that some of our 2003 picks will just be at the point of being able to contribute in 2004, so we may lose very little. All in all, I think that when all moves are finalized we will field a tough squad that will not back down and will fight to the end.

 

Somewhere between A and B, as others have stated. I really like the potential here. Stong D. I think also a strong commitment (heart) to play the full 90. Top drawer speed on the wings. Etch could be a wizard or he could disappear. My opinion is he rises to the level of expectation and sprays killer long diagonal balls all over the field. Speaking of Etch and speed, when was he ever fast? His speed comes from his vision and his passing capability. Many similar comments all over this board. East is definitely stronger and across the board MLS is a league of parity. I'm already pumped to return to RFK. Won't it be great to Harkes back in his "home" uniform!!

 

i think this team and etch will be better this season. if you remember back in august at the all-star game he (etch) was playing with good players and so he got a goal and an assist(?) along with MVP honors.

the team has more depth but the forward position still is a little thin and not enough speed from the bench. but if this proposed trade with c-bus goes through and we get dante washington but lose a defender that problem will be answered.

 

Remember how "fast" he looked compared to everyone else running in the swamp that existed in the middle of the field. (if we could just slow everyone else down to make him faster)

It was hearing the D C United chant after his goal.

 

I thought DCU had the second best draft, next to the Metros.

Two scenarios I rather have seen...
1) Trade all picks after the #1 pick for #2 or #3. The metros beat us to the puch for getting both Magee AND Clark.

2) Trade to get Shavar Thomas a future defender along w/ Stokes, rather than picking Carroll and Warren. I doubt Carroll plays with the team and DCU can get a better keeper from the A-League. No way Thomas falls past 8th pick. He and Stokes were best two defenders in the draft.

Hudson gets "B", mostly on merit of having #1 pick.

 

I think much more depends on Earnie Stewart than any of these three...undoubtedly Kovalenko has to deliver, and Quaranta has to prove he can play well for 90 minutes on a regular basis, but even the biggest Eskandarian fans in here would have to admit that Stewart is more important.

***

I don't see how everyone is saying the metros had such a good draft. They lost their only wide midfielder in Brad Davis, for players that won't do anything any time soon. Everyone is high on Magee but in a league without reserves or youth set ups, he's not really important for at least 2 years. Trading away Davis, on a team with no good or even serviceable wide players, was a terrible move on Bradley's part. Their success will ride largely on whether 90's Moreno shows up, or if they got the guy that we've been dealing with for the past 2 years. I also think the Revs became more talented, but at what cost? They succeeded last year because they were perhaps the most defensive team in MLS history...an attacking style of play will expose weak links like Heaps and Franchino. They'll be more entertaining, but probably a wash in terms of actually being better or not.

I think we've done very well this offseason. We've gotten much tougher and brought in much more heart. Losing Pope was bad, but we were kind of stuck there. We needed to move salary, and short of cutting Etcheverry we had no choice. No one would have traded anything for him, while Pope and Moreno still had value. Getting the allocation was the best part of that deal, as I have a feeling Prideaux will battle for and eventually win his spot ahead of Petke (provided we don't trade him). Moving Moreno was also important.

The best thing we've done, though, is get Earnie Stewart. Now we have a leader, a veteran, and above all a scorer. Did anyone else here watch the US qualify for the WC? Who was scoring all those goals for us? Not only that, but he's also a pretty good set piece taker...maybe not shooting on goal, but serving in balls. Younger players like Quaranta and Eskandarian will be much better off playing with Stewart than not.

The draft...well, we took good players. We would have been better off trading the #1 for a proven scorer rather than take a guy with one move and a temper, but what can you do? I like the thinking on the offered move to pick up Clark, but we did get Stokes and Carroll (a steal at 11, IMO) so I'm glad it didn't go through.

Overall, I'd say A-. The team is much better than it was at the end of the season, and now it fits a system Hudson has shown he can succeed with.