I'll gladly give you 2002, and 2003 with the exception that we don't know what Eski could have been had he not got injured, and that's not something you can plan for in drafting. I still think its too early to evaluate the final result of the 2006 draft, though Altidore does look like he's about to lap the field. I honestly don't think Wynne is that much worse than Bornstein.
At the C. Gomez to Colorado thread someone suggested that a) Chase probably cost an allocation. And b) Chase probably would be making 6-figures. Please someone confirm or much better disprove both of those specualtions?
I don't see why any of these would be the case. Chase came back after leaving the US with no MLS interest. He's not the typical American "boomerang" player who spurned MLS thereby increasing his value. He went to South America because he didn't want to play USL soccer. Therefore, I don't buy that the Rapids had to give much up to sign him. I put his salary around $75,000. I don't think the Rapids had to use an allocation on him because he wasn't purchased from his former club team so far as I can tell. He appears to be a free transfer.
I would guess that 75k is on the high side. More likely he'll battle to make the squad. He's out of contract from a team that just got promoted to the top division in Chile. He's not a player who just came off a contract with Colo Colo.
Thanks, that's what I thought too, partly because I had never even heard of the guy before he was signed. I probably could have added who suggested it and then it would have been pretty well pre-de-bunked. ;>) I hope his next move earns an allocation and that he turns out to be worth 6-figures even if he isn't getting same. ;>)
I really hope he does as well. I don't want to come across as bashing the guy. He'll get his chance, and I look forward to seeing him play. But... not getting drafted by MLS, playing second division in Chile and not being persuaded to stay when the team is promoted, aren't two things that make me want to pencil him in to the starting lineup.
Cute. Honestly, can you name an American playing abroad who came back (either the boomerang type that Bonji mentions or otherwise) who hasn't asked MLS for $100,000+ a year? If you can, I'll gladly take back my statement. Hell, even fringe guys like Wade Barrett were making $125k starting off. As far as the allocation thing goes, I simply asked "And did we not use up an allocation to get Hilgenbrinck?" I had no idea either way. My impression was allocations were created either to pay down a player's salary or to bring back home foreign talent. If we didn't have to, that's fine with me. But it's nice to see that asking a question becomes "probably cost an allocation" in your mind.
The newness of the Chase signing has ran it's course. Please continue the roster discussion here in thread 2 : https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=13767199#post13767199