In-Season Player Rumors & Movement 2011 [PT 1]

Re: In-Season Player Rumors & Movement 2011 [MERGED]

....uhhhh, where were you last year? Arrieta came in and solved zilch, hence Williams coming out of nowhere and taking over RB. if he did such a "perfect job," he wouldn't be stuck in Ft. Lauderdale right now and would be on some other MLS side...

 

Re: In-Season Player Rumors & Movement 2011 [MERGED]

Here are some Tait numbers:


Height - Weight: 6'1" - 172 lbs.


DOB: 2/4/90


Position: Center Back


Career (Games - Goals - Assists [if available]):


2005 - 2006: Hartlepool United - Reserves [England - Central League]: 1-0 Hartlepool United - Youth Team: 20-0


2006 - 2007: Hartlepool United - Reserves [England - Central League]: 4-0 Hartlepool United - Youth Team: 25-2



2007 - 2008: Hartlepool United - Reserves [England - Central League - East Divison Champions]: 23-0 Hartlepool United - Youth Team: 26-1


2008 - 2009: Hartlepool United - Reserves [England - Central League]: 20-0


2009: Lindsey Wilson College [Kentucky] - NAIA National Champions: 0-0 [red shirt freshman]


2010: Baton Rouge Capitals - PDL - 3rd Place: 12-6-1 [PDL Defender of the Year, PDL All_League Team]


2010: Lindsey Wilson College [Kentucky]: 18-4-2


2011: Dayton Dutch Lions [USL PRO]: 18-1-1

 

Re: In-Season Player Rumors & Movement 2011 [MERGED]

Agree with this Tait and one of our forwards (George Davis IV) were Dayton's best players. I hope Tait can sign with the Union but either way getting a trial with an MLS team is a good start. He did well with Dayton and IMO the team missed him when he was suspended. He deserves a lot better than Dayton and he originally signed a 3 year deal so that tells you something about how quickly things went downhill for Dayton. Dayton conceded a lot of goals but I don't think some of them were all the defenders fault. I questioned the GK's decisions a lot of times always wanted to run out and head the ball away after long ball over the top or run out and try to take the ball off an attackers foot. One in done for Tait and probably the same for a couple other players. I wish Tait all the best!

Tait came up through Hartlepool's youth system in England and played with their reserves for a year or two before coming to the USA to play in college. Played in the PDL then signed with Dayton.

 

Re: In-Season Player Rumors & Movement 2011 [MERGED]

I assume that the team will announce Tait's signing this week and that he would play in tomorrow's reserve game - since he has 2 more seasons on his Dayton contract, his deal with Philly may just be a loan with a purchase option for a small $ amount. While he does add some young depth to the CB position, he is another end-of-the-bench reserve taking an international roster spot (i.e. with Holder, Gonzalez and the spot that Tait will seemingly take from Houapeu, assuming that he goes on IR). With the team's scoring woes, it would have been good to see a veteran striker possibly added to the mix even if he had to take an international roster spot (i.e. TnT national teamer Darryl Roberts who was previously mentioned in this thread - 27 year old who played in Dutch 1st Division as well as Turkey's 1st and 2nd Divisions - like Keon Daniel, he scored in TnT's 2-0 win over Barbados yesterday - currently unattached - had a trial last month with Portland. From a Philly perspective, they may be handcuffed by a lack of salary budget discovery claims and/or salary budget $ capacity depending on salary demands but an unattached player does not have a ton of leverage - there are also usually salary cap trade workarounds, if needed).

Speaking of tomorrow's reserve game, I imagine that a few of the Harrisburg City Islanders will make the Union roster as guest players for bench depth given that the Union academy players will likely be in their high school or college class rooms tomorrow morning for the game and the Islanders' season ended Saturday night in the USL PRO final against Orlando City - an Islander or two may eventually make the Union roster as an Off Budget player before the September 15 roster freeze just to get a little more depth on the official roster. Right now, the team roster is not pressed to find 18 healthy bodies for a 1st team gameday roster, but it does not have a lot of excess (current roster is 24 players - 2 players [Mondragon, Houapeu] are out for a while due to injury, Daniel is likely returning today after World Cup qualifiers - still leaves 3 extras who will be watching from the press box tonight).

 

Re: In-Season Player Rumors & Movement 2011 [MERGED]

Tait is wearing the #2 jersey with his name on it in today's reserve game so his signing must be soon - he just scored on a header off a corner although jm19 deflected it in for the goal. Islanders Morgan Langley #29 at RM and Andrew Welker #32 at LCB are starters. JDG is playing LB.

 

Re: In-Season Player Rumors & Movement 2011 [MERGED]

3 days and counting...does Peter and the FO make any moves to strengthen the team for the playoff stretch?

 

Re: In-Season Player Rumors & Movement 2011 [MERGED]

Other than officially signing Dayton defender, Joe Tait (he was practicing with the other non-gameday roster players before warm-ups for Saturday's game), it does not seem as there will be much movement. I imagine the delay in the Tait signing may have been to see how the team fared this past weekend from an injury perspective in the event that Tait's international roster spot (which he will take assuming Houpeau goes on IR) may have been needed to fill a more dire need than reserve CB. A few folks mentioned Tait as a LB option - he played RCB in the reserve game and Gonzalez started at LB, so I doubt that they view Tait as a LB option in the short-run or they would have played him there in that game.


If there is a Harrisburg City Islander call-up, it would seem as if Andrew Welker would be the most likely candidate although Nowak may feel that the team is deep enough for te games remaining on the schedule. Welker played well at several positions (LCB, RM, CAM) in last week's New England reserve game.

 

Re: In-Season Player Rumors & Movement 2011 [MERGED]

Salary list came out, and Taits name is on it.


also worth noting:

Adu: 475,884 Base 594884 Guaranteed
Paunovic: 90K

 

Re: In-Season Player Rumors & Movement 2011 [MERGED]

so we now have two steal of players from Sheanon Williams being the biggest. then Paunovic

 

Re: In-Season Player Rumors & Movement 2011 [MERGED]

Williams is indeed a bargain - Daniel at $46K is a similar steal. Despite being out of soccer for a few seasons, Paunovic's salary is lower than expected given the salaries paid by MLS for experienced Euro players. Tait makes the senior roster despite being just 21 years old with one season at USL PRO. Although not a DP this season, Adu seems likely to fall into the Youth DP category next season given his $$.

 

Re: In-Season Player Rumors & Movement 2011 [MERGED]

I would argue that Carroll is a good deal @ $160 as well, although maybe not a steal.

Where we are really making out from a salary budget perspective is the generation adidas guys. When they start graduating (especially Mwanga) that's going to hurt.

 

Re: In-Season Player Rumors & Movement 2011 [MERGED]

Williams is a deal but the U need to lock him up and pay him some $