Off-Season Roster Moves: Trades, Free Agents, MLS Draft and Academy

I don't understand people's love for Barklage. Yeah he was a good guy and an okay player, but he was NOT an impact player and his resume has more injuries on it than actual games played. Of course now that I've said that I'm sure Kimura will have a season ending injury...

^I think this is correct. Their MIGHT be a 5% player raise every year, but it would coincide with the 5% cap raise.

The actual rule:

"Any player making $35,125 must be under the age 25 (does not turn 25 or older in 2013)."

So we're fine there. The 4 guys currently on our roster who make $35k are well under the age of 25.

 

I don't really give a dump. You can win in MLS without a "playmaker".

I'm most concerned with the overall talent and depth of the team. I also want to see some of these young kids take a step up or 2.

 

In true MLS fashion its nearly impossible to find any official language, but you'd think simply raising every player's salary would defeat the purpose of raising the cap, no? I assumed the logic was that the extra money was to be used on higher quality players, thereby increasing the quality of the league.

 

Here's a interesting read:
http://www.rslsoapbox.com/2012/5/16...league-soccers-collective-bargining-agreement

As I suspected there is indeed a cap raise, followed by automatic player salary raises IF, IF, IF, IF they meet certain criteria.

• The cap next season is $3.1 million.
• For players that make under $125,000 a year that if they play in 66% of their teams matches they will get at a 10% raise.
• For players that make under $125,000 a year that if they play in 75% of a their teams matches they will get a 12.5% increase.

 

A 20/21 year old CA or SA player have at least 2/3 season experience on they back.... But I think that RBNY will make a deal with MLS teams that have not GK, giving as a change Meara for a good RB, beside that we have nothing to offer, the only player that they can unload is Sam 130K or Kimura 100K and that isn't much to say the true...

 

I know this club is new to the whole "roster continuity" thing, but god damn do they make it difficult... To compete over the course of the season you need cheap guys on the roster who play above their pay grade, but then you're forced to give them a raise that either forces them or a teammate out the door.

 

It ain't easy. In a perfect world you have a steady influx of incredibly talented academy products and once they hit DP talent level you either keep them on as DP's or sell them off to someone and bank some serious allocation money that allows you to plug holes season after season.

However, the world isn't perfect. There is incredible pressure to win at all costs and if the youth talent isn't there it simply isn't there.

Thankfully we finally won something so some of that pressure to win now is gone. Now we're going to have to start the painful process of bringing talented youngsters into the fold. Some of them will succeed, but many more will not. We have a good core of leadership on this team and I trust that Petke won't vet these kids any more than they are ready for and what they deserve.

 

Agreed. And that time is going to be very VERY soon. Unless the club is willing to spend big on another superstar level player like him, I don't think you're going to find such an all around player. He is one of the best players ever to have lived and he has played incredibly for us. Replacing him is damn near impossible.

However, I'm sure Red Bull will try to bring in the absolute best in the future. I don't think we'll ever see 3 DP's as it doesn't serve the depth of the team very well. 2 DP's and a YOUNG DP maybe...but not 3 full blown DP's. In fact I could envision a future Red Bull team where they simply sign 1 superstar DP every 5 years and spread the rest of the wealth evenly. That's what I would do. It takes care of the branding issues Red Bull so desperately desires, but also helps to preserve our cap. When guys like Ronaldo, Messi, etc. hit their decline Red Bull will chase after them for sure.

Possibly. And I don't think this scenario should be all doom and gloom. Dax is moving into his prime, Steele and Alexander might have had bad days at the office, but they were solid all year long and I think Alexander in particular will get better with more experience. We've seen what he's CAPABLE of. Now he just needs to find more consistency. I also expect BWP and Sam to have stellar years this year (it ALWAYS takes the european guys 1 year to adjust to MLS). On top of that you have Convey...at least I hope we can count on him...wasn't a big fan of that move. Lade and/or Obekop might have great seasons. Peggy might find his home as an attacking mid.

Point being that we shouldn't be panicking. We have a lot of guys where you say "we know what we're getting" and then we also have a lot of guys who could have a breakout year. When I look at this roster I don't see too many duds where we shouldn't expect ANYTHING.

Well we don't know the absolutes in terms of the cap so lets just let it play out. I think it's possible we see one really good addition followed by some moves for depth. By February I think we'll have some major questions answered. However, this is MLS and it's damn near impossible for ANY team to go into the season without a few question marks.

 

He is more box to box, who makes runs forward and can at times play the killer ball. He is better with the ball at his feet, more passing range, and better bringing the ball forward than Cahill, who is usually Dax's partner

 

Would anyone else be surprised if its awhile until we see another player of Henry's quality play for us? In my head I always just kind of assumed that they'd replace him with a similar talent, but if that caliber player was actually available they'd go for him now.

 

Eduardo da Silva and Tomas Rosicky would be the perfect combo to replace Thierry Henry.

 

Send Miara to the Revs and get in change Fagundez.....

 

I doubt NER would get rid of their leading goal scorer like that easily and not to mention Fagundez is only 18..

I might have overreacted before with getting rid of Hulk but it's time to bring in a trialist and a draftee to get in depth.

 

I'm curious when that happens since some academy players count as GA guys (I think) what the league would do about that cap hit. But I think within the next 5 years we will have another Agudelo level kid come through the academy. The question is who

 

It would have to be Ronaldo or Messi. That kind of level player. And they aren't going to start their decline for another 4-6 years.

In the meanwhile we might see targets like Xavi, Van Persie, Kaka, Toure...

...Ribery, Ibrahimovic, Alonso, etc.

You can make the argument for or against any of those guys. They're probably the type of players in the more immediate Red Bull future. However, IMO all things considered they aren't going to perform better than Henry. You would have to sign 2 of them just to make up for his overall production.

I think 2 DP's (1 a global superstar and 1 a reward to a American player) is the magic formula. Why? If you have 3 full blown DP's it kills your cap beyond repair. Leaving the 3rd DP for a young DP contract gives you the chance to showcase him at a low cost and possibly see a huge return via transfer.

Also, having ONLY 1 DP doesn't make you financially dependent on your young academy kids. Having 2 absolutely does because the cap gets that much tighter. You are basically forced to rely on the kids, which (to a degree) I think is important to long term success. If you had 3DP's you'd basically have 3 superstars playing with a bunch of fetuses. They'd get killed every game and the kids would never develop. So 2DP's is the magic number for me.

I think it's also important for the overall development of the league that more American's start earning DP contracts here like Zusi and Omar. That carrot on the stick will help to retain more American talent in MLS.

What you would eventually want in an ideal world is for players like Dax to win the merit of a DP contract and then the academy guys (once they've gotten older and have proven themselves) take on a salary like Dax has now. And then the cycle would simply continue.

However, the world isn't perfect and management needs to find a good balance of rewarding players that deserve to be rewarded, selling off players who either don't want to be here or command a massive transfer fee, and filling the holes with either DP's or cheap finds in either Europe or south America.

I think they're very serious about Obekop and Miazga and lukewarm on everyone else. However, they will all have to earn their minutes. If a guy like Lade can't come back this year and make a mark for himself that's on him. Not management. What you hope is that something like 1 out of 3 of the academy guys you sign become "real" contributors to the team. Or rather 1 player from each academy class.

Each year you dump a little dead weight of academy kids that didn't make the jump and you sign more academy guys to take their place. It isn't pretty, but that's the business.

We have one of if not the best academies in the league. We now have the facilities and MLS has provided a mechanism for teams to bring in those players at no initial cost to the team. Additionally our academy guys in college and the class just behind them are supposed to be great. I think we'll start to see the real fruit of that in about 2-4 years...if management keeps to their word...which I susupect they will.

No f#cking way they make that deal. He is vital to their team, still extremely young, and will command a big transfer fee when he's ready to leave for Europe. And since we know that Kraft has a tight purse you can bet your bacon they aren't taking anything but briefcases full of cash for him.

Full disclosure I'm actually originally from Boston and was living there during the early years of MLS. The way Kraft ran/runs that franchise is infuriating. I moved to the metro area well over a decade ago and although the Revs always have a special place in my heart my hatred for Kraft simply doesn't allow me to follow them much anymore. He's done everything humanly possible to keep fans from supporting that team.

 

I'm reading he was due to be making $250k next year so we should take that into consideration as well.

I'm upset about losing him and signing Convey, but no fan is ever 100% happy. Most of the squad we have right now I approve of. And if management brings in 1-2 more guys that I think will make a difference then I can't ask for much more.

 

Dax and Alexander called into national team camp.
http://www.ussoccer.com/teams/us-men/latest-roster/140103-jan-training-camp.aspx

I especially enjoyed this post from another thread:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-West-Ham-struggling-land-Rickie-Lambert.html

 

The Revs. desperately need a GK and need a experienced one and Meara is that boy....It make sense and for Fagundez the offer to play at the side of Henry and Cahill for a couple of years, mmmmmh he will grab the opportunity like a happy camper....

 

I would take Rowe over Fagundez honestly