He did not acquire Gaga or Duran, he just sold them at the current market prices. I am not sure if sales were made due to pressure from players or because Fire needed to generate sales GAM in order to pay from for questionable roster additions. I see no indication these sales exceeded the norm. I am unwilling to give him much credit for the sales.
It seemed both Gaga and Duran were itching to leave. Since then it seems their sales were a good bit of business. Other guys like Guti & Brady chose long term extensions which likely contained release clauses.
Alec C was right as usual. There is a special stipulation in MLS rules saying DP slot is not open when a “buyout” ( mutual termination?) of player contract occurs. Reason? I am assuming this rule means the DP slot will open up at end of season. Also- Alec C has updated his roster graphic again and deleted the “second buyout allowed” statement. Thank you. Confession- I erroneously stated Heitz did not buy Duran. Duran purchase was early 2021 so it was during Heitz regime. Does not change my opinion of his abilities.
what was it about the Jairo and Shaq buyouts that made them count as a capital-b Buyout by MLS roster rules, but not the Kacper Buyout?
Buyouts… Mutual Termination…..Buydown….. Negotiated Departure….Etc. All this confusing terminology gives people headaches! Why not write the rules in plain English rather than in Linear A?
Having grown up in Pittsburgh (I've said this before) I've only known 3 Steeler coaches in my 55 years on this planet, Chuck Noll (1969-1991), Bill Cowher (19912-2007), and Mike Tomlin (2007-present). So I see the benefits of patience in an owner and it does seem like Joe Mansueto has that same thing the Rooney family has that I can tell thus far. It may not always work out in the short term as the Steelers had many mediocre and challenging seasons during that time but I consider that patience a virtue in the long run. Joe Mansueto seems to be playing a long game with the Chicago Fire and I respect that. I highly doubt he's ready to cut and run. Chicago Bears are exactly the type of opposite situation where as soon as a guy has a rough patch they are ready to cut ties and move on. That's not always the answer.
Salary total for the length of the contract is my guess. If it falls below the max salary threshold for the term of the contract (idk if GAM/TAM is/isn't involved) is the difference. I don't have the figures at my fingertips, but Jairo may have had 2 years at < max salary total so it opened up his U-22 spot. Kacper was a TAM player w/2 years left so they had to use the buyout on him. Shaqiri was always above the threshold so they bought him out which opened the international & roster spot, but not the DP spot. It's my best guess at MLS Calvinball capology.
Before Noll (and Bradshaw etc,) the Steelers were the armpit (pun fully intended) of the NFL. They played in only 1 playoff game (L) in 37 years. Since then they've made 33 playoff appearances in 51 years. In Chicago we think it's a big deal that the Bears drafted Sayers and Butkus the same year. In 1974 alone the Steelers drafted 5 future HOF players. It's not just that the Rooneys had patience with Noll, Cowher, and Tomlin, but those three were damn good coaches and talent evaluators. Whether it was through luck or skill, it's easy to be patient with results like that. Speaking of luck, how different would things have been if the Bears won the coin flip for the #1 pick and selected Terry Bradshaw?
They may be able to use $1 million 2024 GAM to buy out the 2025 salaries of players like Barlow, Gaspar, Mueller, Navarro, and Souquet. The current roster: Including expiring contracts if Barlow & Souquet are bought out you could start 2025 with a roster of 17 players: G- Brady LB - Gutman (if kept) CB - Pineda, Salquist, Teran RB - Arigoni (if kept), Reynolds CM - Acosta, Gaston, Herbers (if kept), Oregel, Wootton (if kept) AM/Wing - Guti, MHS, Mueller FW/S - Cuypers, Koutsias, Rodriguez
got it i guess i was naive and under the impression that Jairo left a lot of money on the table when he left, which is why it wasn't a buyout
I do not get it. I just cannot figure out how those crazy Buyout/Buydown/Termination rules work. how many, salary $ limit, roster spots, DP/U22 slots, transfer to related entities- Egad!
My interpretation, that may not be correct, is that ‘mutual termination’ specifically meant tearing up the contract and no longer impacting the club’s salary budget. Typically this happens when the player has another deal waiting and the club waives rights/involvement because it’s in both party’s interest. The Shaq situation is ‘odd’ but he has already received loads of cash, plus 2months PTO, and his champion is leading out…back to Basel?
Figured it out… The DP slot vacated by Shaq is not available because the club declared the 2DP+4U22+free GAM model. Had they declared the other model it would have been available….but they probably didn’t have anyone close to being signed and they want to give the new leaders (expecting Frank is replaced as well) as much flexibility as possible….take the GAM.
This all seems to be correct. I did not see this prior to my post in the Shaqiri thread. I doubt we will ever actually know the details of how this all happened, but what you posted seems quite likely. I am not sure about how a "mutual termination" does or does not impact the salary budget. With MLS' byzantine and idiotic contracting rules, it might.