I think it's been in the works. They probably needed his U22 slot. I don't see a Nagbe buydown this year, so we will see 3 DP's and 3U22's. My guess is we see a U22 CM.
About Bush, he turns 39 next March. His contract with the Crew is only through this year with no option years. He may not retire, but I can’t see why we’d sign him to a new contract, either. And, yes, any new senior roster player would certainly count against the salary budget. Just at an amount that’s largely irrelevant in terms of staying within budget. We current have only 14-15 players on the senior roster (spots 1-20). Teams are expected to fill at least 18 of those spots, and are penalized for each open spot fewer than 18. That is, they’re incur a senior minimum salary budget charge for each of those open spots. That’s about $90,000 this year. So for each of our 3-4 open spots below 18 total, we’re being charged $90,000 toward the salary cap amount. Let’s say you sign a veteran goalkeeper to a $250k contract. The actual cap hit ends up being $250K-$90k = $160k. That’s not much. Regardless, I’m not really in disagreement with you on this. Hagen is the type of keeper who commonly serves as a team’s backup in MLS, with a development prospect as the 3rd keeper on the roster. I do think, in general, we need three keepers on the roster. With the big break in our schedule coming up after today, we’ll have Schulte back well before we play another MLS match. The longer term question is whether Nancy sees enough promise from a Crew 2 keeper to sign one of them to an MLS Supplemental contract next year. Incidentally, Lapkes is one of four NextPro keepers taking in the all star game Goalie Wars competition: https://www.columbuscrew.com/news/c...s-all-star-skills-challenge-presented-by-at-t But 22 year old Cole Johnson (Lapkes is 18) seems to be the first choice keeper for Crew 2 right now.
We now have 2 u22 spots if Hinestroza officially goes on loan. Which would also give us 2 international spots instead of 1.I do hope it means we have two guys we are bringing in but we could buy down Nagbe and get another DP or U22 ( what was that date that we have to announce if we are going 3/3 or 2/4 on DP/u22)
I think the debate next year will be should a young guy rot on the bench or play in MLS next pro vrs giving Bush or another veteran GK as your 3rd. I have been wanting Bush gone but the staff likes him and he loves the Crew. Now that we have Hagen I’m ok with keeping Bush but would prefer a sweeper keeper veteran from elsewhere. But getting a good locker room guy who helps younger GKs matters which may keep Bush around.
I think Cole has been starting just to get him some game time in case of an emergency while Schulte is out. It was a recent change
Well, there's no reason why a keeper on the first team roster can't play for Crew 2 each week. That's easy to do. It's much more restrictive to have a Crew 2 player appear for the first team.
Well, time for an update. We have new roster rules with the introduction of the 6 DP + U22 combo pack rule: 3 + 3 or 2 + 4 & extra GAM. And we have the Hinestroza loan out (with an option to buy). The roster rules state that loaning a U22 player outside of MLS is a way to remove his U22 designation. But IDK if a loan mandates the removal or not. We certainly have that ability. He would no longer occupy an INT slot, but we'd need an INT slot open to bring him back. "Reclassification of a Player from a U22 Initiative Slot: To remove a U22 Initiative Slot classification, a Club may: transfer the player out of MLS, remove the player from a U22 Initiative Slot using Targeted Allocation Money or General Allocation Money, loan the player outside of MLS, utilize its one Buyout, or transition the player to a Designated Player slot." https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/2024-mls-roster-rules-and-regulations Was hoping we'd be adding, not subtracting. IDK if Bush is on Season-ending IR or not, but he was listed as a Supplemental guy, so it would not free a Senior spot regardless. I. Senior Roster (1-20). 14 of 20. Counts vs the salary budget of $5,470,000. Max salary budget charge is $683,750. Teams not required to fill spots 19 & 20. A minimum salary budget charge is imputed vs the club for unfilled spots below 18. https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/2024-mls-roster-rules-and-regulations Rank, Player, Pos, Age, DOB, HT, WT, Nat, Desig(s), Base $$, Guar $$ 1. Diego Rossi, WF, 25, 3/5/98, 5'7", 143, DP, GC, Uruguay, $2,675,000, $3,376,827. Thru '26, '27 O. 2. Cucho Hernandez, CF, 24, 4/20/99, 5'9', 161. Colombia, DP,#2, INT#1, $2,600,000, $2,886,000. Thru '25. O in '26. 3. Darlington Nagbe, CM, 33, 7/19/90, 5'9", 165, USA/Liberia, DP#3, $1.4 mil, $1.54 mil. Thru '25. O '26. 4. Steven Moreira, D, 29, 8/13/94, 5'10", 159, France/Cape Verde Islands, INT#2, $800k, $882k. Thru '25, O '26. 5. Dylan Chambost, MF, 26, 8/19/97, 5'10", 154, France, INT#4, $???. Thru '26, '27 O. 6. Yaw Yeboah, M, 26, 3/28/97, 5'9", 154, Ghana, INT#3, $600k, $663,750. Th '24, O '25. 7. Yevhen Cheberko, CB, 25, 1/23/98, 6'0", 166, Ukraine, INT#5, $505k, $553,250. Thru '26 (June). O for remainder of '26. 8. Rudy Camacho, CB, 32, 3/5/91, 6'1", 174, France, INT#6, $475k, $551k. Thru '25. 9. Christian Ramirez, F, 32, 4/4/91, 6'2", 187, USA, $450k, $495,833. Thru '24, '25 O. 10. Alexandru Matan, M, 24, 8/29/99, 5'5", 135, Romania, U22, INT#7, $450k, $483,250. Thru '24. 11. Sean Zawadzki, M, 23, 4/21/00, 6'0", 160, USA, HG, $375k, $421,875. Thru '27. 12. Malte Amundsen, WB, 25, 2/11/98, 5'10", 179, Denmark, $360k, $398,700. Thru '24, O '25. Not INT. Green Card? 13. Mohamed Farsi, D/M, 23, 12/16/99, 5'10", Canada, INT#8, $350k, $380k, Thru '27, O '28. 14. Derrick Jones, DM/CB, HG, 26, 3/3/97, 6'4", 176, Ghana/USA, $325k, $347,969. Thru '25, '26 O. ------------------ 17. Open (Bush) 18. Open (Hagen) 19. Open 20. Open ----------------------- II. Supplemental Roster (21-30) (8 of 10) Does NOT count versus the salary budget of any team. All Generation Adidas players are Supplemental Players during the initial guaranteed term of their contract. A. Spots 21-24. (Supplemental). 4 of 4. All players in Slots 21-24 must make a base salary at least equal to the Senior Minimum Salary ($89,716 in 2024). These slots may be filled with: Senior Min players ($89,716) which may include: i) Gen Adidas, ii) designated Superdraft eligible players, or iii) Homegrown players who may or may not earn more than Sen Min due to the HG Subsidy. Players in slots 21-24 must make at least $89,716 Rank, Player, Pos, Age, DOB, HT, WT, Nat, Desig(s), Base $$/Guar $$ 21. Patrick Schulte, GK, 22, 3/13/01, 6'5", 200, USA, GA, $150k, $160,603. Thru '24 + O for '25. 22. Evan Bush, GK, 37, 3/6/86, 6'1", 187, USA, $89,716, $89,716. Thru '24. Sen El. 23. Nicholas Hagan, GK, 27, 8/2/96, 6'4", 176, Guatemala/USA. $89,716, $100,340. Thru '24, O thru '26. Senior Eligible. 24. Will Sands, D/M, 23, 7/6/00, 5'10",150, USA, HG, $125k, $131,250 Thru '24, O '25. Bush & Hagen are Senior Min guys who could be Senior or Supplemental. But we have them Supplemental at the moment. --------------------- B. Slots 25-30. (Reserve). 4 of 6. Must be paid a base salary of at least the Reserve Min salary ($71,401). Must be 24 years of age or younger during the league year (by year of birth). May be filled with Reserve Min players ($71,401) which may include GA's earning Reserve Min, HGs, or HG's earning more than Reserve Min via the HG subsidy. Cannot be filled with Sen Min Players (unless a HG earning more via HG subsidy). Rank, Player, Pos, Age,DOB, HT, WT, Nat, Desig(s), Base $$/Guar $$ 25. Jacen Russell-Rowe, CF, 21, 9/13/02, 6'0", 161, Canada, HG, $89,716, $97,105. Thru '24, O '25-'6. 26. Max Arfsten, F/W, 22, 4/19/01, 6'1", 172, USA, $71,401, $73,246. Thru '24. O '25/'26 27. Aziel Jackson, MF, 22, 10/25/01, 5'9", 154, USA, HG, $98,261/$102,243. Thru '24, O in '25. 28. Taha Habroune, M, 17, 2/5/06, 5'8", 168, USA, HG. $71,401, $83,401. Thru '27, O '28. ----------- 29. Mrowka, MF, 17, 4/6/06, ??, ??, USA, HG. $71,401, $93,409. Thru '26. TO '27 & '28. ----------- 30. Open (Hughes loan) HG subsidy is $125,000 per year in aggregate. Plus $200k of GAM/TAM can be used to sign HGs to their 1st contract. ------------- III. International Players (8 of 10) Each team gets 8, we traded with Seattle for +2. Hernandez, Moreira, Matan, Farsi, Yeboah, Cheberko, Camacho, Chambost. Again, the Amundsen mystery remains. But he firmly is NOT an INT. While on loan, Hinestroza does not count. New verbiage for 2024, do NOT need a Green Card. "For a player to be considered a Domestic Player in the applicable season, residency must be established, or the player has to have appeared for an immigrant visa interview by the opening of the Secondary Transfer Window." https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-...new-sporting-initiatives-ahead-of-2024-season And we traded for +2 INT spots with Seattle. https://www.columbuscrew.com/news/c...onal-roster-slots-via-trade-with-seattle-soun ------------ IV. Green Card Holders/Counts as Domestic (3). Rossi (Green Card). JRR (International HG Rule). Hagan (USA parent/ passport). Amundsen does not count as an INT for reasons I do not understand. But he does not have a GC either as far as I know. I could be wrong about that. ------------ V. DP + U22 Initiative Slots (5 of 6) Team can choose 2 paths. One, 3 DPs + 3 U22s. Two, 2 DPs plus 4 U22s + $2 mil in GAM. Teams must decide by the close of the transfer window this year and start of the year going forward. DPs = 3. 1. Rossi 2. Cucho 3. Nagbe U22s = 2 1. Matan 2. Hinestroza (loaned out) 3. Open U22 players count $200k vs the budget if the are aged 22-25. $150k is 21 or younger. U22 players must be on their initial MLS contract unless they are HGs (2nd), and must sign it before turning 22. Can continue to occupy the slot until the year they turn 25. Salary cannot exceed Max Budget unless it is a HG/Superdraft on 2nd contract, who can earn Max Budget +$200k. Clubs may pay acquisition costs without limit (out of pocket, no GAM/TAM). Unless we buy Nagbe down, we are locked into 3+3 for this year. IF we did, we could add 1 DP + 1 U22 or 2 U22s + $1 mil in GAM (midseason implementation). https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-announces-significant-roster-rule-changes ----------------- VI. Loaned Out (2) 1. Marino Hinestroza, AM/W, 21, 7/8/02, 5'7", 132, Colombia, U22, INT#4, $500k, $574,750. Thru '26, O '27. Loan to Atletico National in Colombia. Option to buy. 2. Keegan Hughes, D, 23, 7/22/00, 6'3", 190, USA, HG, $89,716, $89,716. Thr '24, O in '25/'26. https://mlsmultiplex.com/posts/colu...-hinestroza-to-atletico-nacional-01j3622ev5jx ------------- Again, fill me in on my screw-ups.
Yes if he warrants the pay raise. If you know he won’t be needed outside of emergency why give him his pro contract earlier than necessary?
I believe Hinestroza will be loaned out it’s just not official. Perhaps next week that will come and Nancy will be asked about it.
We need better players at CB, we need more defensive players. We can’t win low scoring games our offense makes our defense look better than it is. Stats do lie , sometimes
I’d say we need CM more than CB Get CM and Zwad can move back to CB. If Nagbe ever gets hurt we are totally F*cked
I think we are 3-2 on turf and everytime we won we scored at least 3 goals. we need both but defensive CM to be exact. Also we have Jones and didn’t use him. So why have him. Nancy got outcoached didn’t adjust his defense and well set piece defense was the difference.Jones is slow which is why he should be a CB. Bet he defends set pieces better than what we saw today.
Our system requires a lot from our CB, including pushing pretty far upfield. A “slow” CB isn’t going to cut it. I mean, we have that now; Camacho’s not going to win many sprints. Anyway, this thread is a great example of recency bias in action. When we’re on a roll, the conventional wisdom is that we don’t need shit, in terms of new players. When we hit a rough patch, opinions change. I’m certainly guilty of having an emotional connection to many of these players. I like them, and want them to do well. It’s also the case that with young players, there is the potential of development. I really don’t know how good players like Farsi, Zawadzki and Arfsten can be. Matan, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to me as though he’s going to get much better. Regardless, putting away the emotional connection to players, there are many positions at which we could improve: CB (Camacho), LCB (both Cheberko and Amundsen), CM (Zawadzki, but also admitting that Nagbe can’t play forever), LWB (Arfsten), RWB (Farsi), F (Ramirez). We have almost no offensive subs that’ll cause any problems for opponents, or allow us to switch tactics, if necessary. Virtually no depth at CB, assuming we need Zawadzki at CM. Based on his resume, I’ll believe Chambost is an improvement on players we already have when I see it. Jackson is just another young player we’ll try and develop. We obviously can’t upgrade everywhere. But it sure feels logical that we should expect major acquisitions thins window, especially since the Hinestroza experiment seems to have been a dud. We’re not playing in a vacuum; other clubs are making signings.
Camacho is our most reliable defender, yet I continue to see posts about how we need to upgrade his position. We lost yesterday because on both corners, Cheberko failed to do his job. He didn't attack the ball on the first one and got dunked on for the second one. It wasn't Camacho getting beat on counters yesterday, it was Cheberko. The LCB position is where we should be looking to add since Amundsen is our best option there and he's one of our slowest defenders. I'm still in the camp of using premium slots for CM and CF. Now that we've got an extra U22 spot I'd be fine if that slot is used on a defender who can play multiple positions. Even though I think Zawadzki ultimately takes over at CB, it's good to have options. But Rudy is there to stay and the offense needs to become more consistent to beat Miami.
What’s up with the signing free agents and not using them? Jimmy Medranda last year, Jones this year? Jones is making 350k and has a two year contract!
would you rather have a tall, strong, slow defender that is dominant in the air, or a shorter but faster defender who is calm and composed on the ball?
The basic problem is that the team has never found a replacement for Milton Valenzuela. I fully understand that he wanted a lot of money, but they would be a lot better off it they had given it to him.
No, but that's one of those positions where I think it's useful to have an automatic starter. Write the name in pen on day one. Particularly since an awful lot of teams play right handed that's often a bedrock spot for the defense. Now it's true that last night was an extreme example, particularly since I don't know if that's their style or if they just put Cheberko in the crosshairs. In any case, last season the team managed to keep opponents on the back foot so that the main threat was counters. But when they come out as flat as they did last night the opponent gets to run their offense.
Here's a potential hot take or, most likely, a question for people who really, truly, understand things: With MLS Next Pro being a thing and a very legitimate thing, at that... what's that mean long-term for Generation Adidas? Is not the purpose of Generation Adidas to develop players into MLS players? With Adidas being one of the most-major league sponsors, I can definitely understand if TBTP don't want to give up on that program, however.
College soccer will always have a place in the US. Even if it doesn’t produce MLS talent down the road, at least it will produce USL level guys. College sports are just a thing here, it’s part of the furniture. Perhaps the Generation Adidas thing dies eventually, but college is still producing dudes, like Patrick Schulte.