What do you all think the fire should try to do in the off season? I think Wanchope could be released if they landed a semi-big name striker to replace him (perhaps a polock). Do Borghetti and Blanco get along? perhaps they could bring him in, otherwise I'm sure they could get another big time mexican player that will want to share in the success Blanco is having with the fans and team. We def need to get a replacement for Carr, Barrett is ok i think. What is Mapp's contract like? Having him and rolfe in the mids would be pretty dangerous.
Wanchope is not going anywhere. Our midfield is what needs work, yes, even more than forwards. Right mid Central holding mid Defensive mid (if current ones retire as planned) I would add a cheap young forward to add depth behind Wanchope Rolfe and Barrett. Pretty happy with a backline of Dasan, Conde, and Sega. Maybe get a replacement for CJ if he retires. I really don't think we're that far from being championship contenders. Some might say we have the talent already, just not the depth. Our current starting 11 (when all are healthy) is easily top 5 in the league. A holding midfielder to play behind Blanco I think would probably be the biggest boost performance wise for the team.
Get rid of: Barrett Pause Armas CJ Brown Wanchope (if he doesn't get his act together) Jim Curtin Untouchable: CONDE Blanco Rolfe Soumare Mapp Pickens Segares Robinson Give them some time to develop Carr Plotkin Banner Franks Telesford Russolillo Woodlard 50/50 Busch (good back up for Pickens) Gutierrez Jeff Curtin Guerrero Menezes We need to pickup a depenable forward and midfielder, I think are backline is in good shape with Conde, Robinson, Segares and Pickens. Are midfield is in good shape with Blanco, Mapp, Guerreo, Carr, ?, and are forward Rolfe and ?. So we need to get a midfielder and a forward in the offseason.
*sigh* I don't know what to do here. He's been pretty wretched for much of this season.... but people really thought he had potential in his rookie year. He was on everybody's list to protect in the expansion draft... On Sunday, I saw a couple of flubs from him... but a few times, he really did look quite dangerous and good on the ball... better than I have seen him for much of this season. I think he's got some confidence issues... some justified confidence issues... but I think the skill is there. In all honesty... I think he's another player that Dave broke. I sincerely believe that if we unloaded him to another team, he'd score a lot of goals against us.
I know he was everybody's whipping boy while being played out of position at right mid, but in the games where he's supposed to do what he does best, he's looked good.
It all really depends on what rules will the MLS change or tinker with again. Rumors of another DP per team will do wonders for the league, maybe letting teams have more SI's would be a great move also.
Unless I'm mistaken, he's automatically protected in the upcoming, as well as the previous expansion drafts by virtue of his GenAd (non salary cap) contract through the end of the 2008 season, so, he can only be traded or waived and if waived, we get nothing for him when another team takes his contract, which is a bargain if you can get 6 or more goals per season out of a player without a salary hit.
Keep: Conde Barrett Blanco Rolfe Pause Soumare Pickens Busch Segares Robinson Menezes Mapp Prove you belong versus the draftpicks/new acquisitions Carr Plotkin Banner Franks Telesford Russolillo Woodlard Keep but be open to trade: Gutierrez Guerrero Allow to retire or waive if they don't accept that role Armas CJ Brown Waive Wanchope Jim Curtin Jeff Curtin Look to acquire: D-Mid in the Toja mold 2 forwards Right mid.
Agree. It bothers me that Pause has no ability at all to play on the outside of the field, in midfield or in the back line as we saw in 2005 and 2006. But put him in a central D mid role and he's at least a serviceable player.
Wanchope isn't going anywhere, so any talk of that is pointless. I would think that either Carr or Barrett or both won't be back. Neither Curtin will be back, that one is the lock of the week. I'd say that 1 of these three won't be back: Armas, Brown, Diego Either Mapp or Ivan will be traded Conde will be here in 2008, and thank god for that Hopefully the Floyd Franks experiment ends after this season.
1. We first need to know for SURE what Wanchope's contract looks like, some people say 1 year, others say 4. I think its 4 but if its 1 year and Wanchope continues to suck its a no brainer that hes not going to be signed back for anything even close to what hes making right now. 2. Jim Curtin is going to be gone, I don't know if his contract is up but at 120,000 a year, it would help the Fire tons to shed that contract. Jeff Curtin is making 12,000 so If hes not moved It doesn't hurt the Fire much at all. 3. You almost hope that guys like CJ, Armas and Diego either leave or retire. Your talking about close to $458,000 in expiring contracts. Again since its very hard to find information on contract length in the MLS, we can only hope that all 3 contracts are up after the 07 season. 4. Mapp will be with the Fire, hes a good player and the Fire could really use him in 08. 5. I'm pretty sure that the MLS will give another DP to each team in the MLS next season, with the Fire being one of only 2 team to actually make a profit and hope that some of the older players are gone which will open up close to 300,000+ I can see the Fire bringing in another DP on the offensive side.side.
I've gone over this a lot in my head, and it seems really hard to wrap my head around. Expansion has a lot to do with what happens, but so does who we can get. It seems a given that Osorio will remake the team, but with whom? Arena did it this year with New York, but with the exception of Angel, I don't know if their overall skill level is any higher. Onalfo didn't do much with his lineup other than change how they play, which was successful at the beginning, but has faded a bit. Morrow brought in some new players, but also did a lot with some USL level defenders. Soehn did similarly. So that being said, it's pretty hard to say what will be done. I don't know if it'll be as radical as what Bruce did, but my guess is that we'll see 4-6 new players, not including the draft.
Pretty sure it was a multi-year deal for Wanchope Either Mapp or Guerrero will be shopped around this off-season.
If its between Mapp or Guerrero I think Guerrero will be the one traded away, he makes more money then Mapp and isnt as skilled. As for Wanchope I just hope he can atleast be a productive player for the majority of his 4 year deal.