Hanki's had four years to "get" the players. If you don't got em now, you never will, Stanki!!! As for the protections, I know that you can only let one SI go unprotected, which means we have to keep either Powell or Zizi. Kind of like chosing between stale or moldy bread. But I believe we should be in line for an allocation. Damn, MLS rules are so confusing. No wonder this team hasn't gotten it right!!
maybe not. the league might hold "options" on some player contracts. that means they can be dumped but the player can't go elsewhere unless MLS doesn't hold them to their contract. anyway most MLS contracts aren't guaranteed anyway. so players can be waived - but don't expect an allocation back from the league in that case. who thinks Beckerman is going overseas? (perfect set up)
I think Hanks is right, he doesn't have the players. Of course Hanks can (at least partially) be blamed for that. Combined with his poor tactical strategies that makes for dull and ineffective soccer. Hanks should go and be replaced by someone who can bring in the talent and put them on the field playing exciting style of soccer. The new coach has the best goalie in the MLS and some very solid defenders so he can concentrate on getting some talented midfielders and forwards.
I agree, you can't fault Hanki for saying he didn't have the players. His three SI's, who are supposed to be the top players on the team as they are paid the most and limited the most, were all injured for the majority of the season. Had Spencer been healthy, and Zizi, we would have had some goal scorers. As it was we didn't and only scored 29 goals through the regular season. Pedro did the best he could, but in reality the inconsistent lineup available to Hanki to put up top was a real crippler. This is not to say in any way that I support Hanki or want him back. If KSE brings him back I'll consider picketing their offices.
Here are the MLSnet.com posted rules of the draft: -The League will conduct an Expansion Draft prior to the regularly scheduled postseason Waiver Draft (likely in late November) -The 2005 Expansion draft will be 10 rounds -Each MLS team shall be allowed to protect 12 Senior Roster players -Each MLS team may leave unprotected only one Senior International -An MLS team may lose no more than three (3) players during the Expansion Draft -After a player has been selected from an existing team, such team shall have the right to protect an additional player
Can a team 'release' an SI player or does this occur at the MLS level ? IMO - it would be good for ALL of our International Players to move on ; Spenny, Powell, ZiZI, Rey/Rey, and DelGado.
As someone else said earlier in this post or a similar one, MLS contracts are rarely guarented for over one season. The league can always waive someone. However, with league politics the way they are, I don't know if the Rapids will be able to clean sweep on the SI front. For one, it will be hard for the league to replace/allocate three new ones as the Rapids are not the only team looking for this kind of change. I wouldn't be surprised if the Rapids are told by the league to keep Zizi and Powell to see if they can't get healthy in the off-season.
I said it in another post, but I'll say it again ... MLS is planning on expanding rosters ... couple that with the addition of two more MLS teams ... and you're not going to see a major roster change that you are all suggesting. The best we can hope for is to rid ourselves of all our SIs ... and replace them with quality players ... and add maybe two more good Americans through the draft. There is trade posibilities too. But our future of this team lays in our 2 or three new SIs ... and our 2nd and 3rd round draft pick.
I'm just trying to point out and caution people that the roster expansion is not a done deal yet and MLS is going to have a hard time supplying multiple SI's for next season. I hope you're right that we can get a few more roster spots and new SI's, but seeing how this league works and how things have gone for the Rapids in the past, I'm not holding my breath on the second. The Rapids get one SI handout a year.
Sorry, Bonji, but I call bullsh!t here. Both Zizi and Powell were signed with known fitness/health issues. In the case of Spencer, who I think is a great team leader, the health issues aren't new to this season. So there's no way Hankinson can claim he didn't have players because of sudden or unexpected injury absences. The guy's in over his head at this level and needs to go.
I think its safe to say within the next month we will truly see how seriously KSE is taking this club. If action is taken, it will show the fans that they actually care. If they don't, I think we know where that goes.
None of these guys were signed this season. It is totally reasonable to go into a new season thinking your team will be healthy. I call bullsh!t on you. There is no way Hanki expected Spencer to be out and unproductive this year. Zizi is another case but maybe Hanki was optomistic. Powell was going into the season with good health and got hit again. A coach assumes his players will heal.
I'll agree with you on Spenny, no one thought he would have the struggling season he had, but Hanki had to have an inkling regarding Powell and Zizi. Unless you believe in voodoo, Zizi's knee was a ticking time bomb. I'm not sure anyone expected him to make it through the season healthy. They should have cut his dead weight last year. Powell had a history of injuries before he came to the Rapids, so it wasn't too surprising that he came up injured again, but that's what you get when you sign injured players to begin with. On 2 out of 3, Hanki should have known better, or planned accordingly. The best thing the Rapids can do this off-season is cut some of the chronically injured dead weight on the roster, look to sign young talent, find an attacking midfielder (I'm not going to say a #10, but I'll take one) that can organize the offense (overseas, domestic, who cares??), and let Hanki go to experiment in the A-league or with a college program.
Hankincounce brought in AND SIGNED an injured Powell, and should have MANDATED that Zizi get his knee fixed a year and a half ago, or kiss his contract good bye - it's not like he had a history here, like Spenny. It's a complete crock that Zizi decided on the day of contract guarantee that he was going under the knife, so we're paying for him to sit on his overpaid, underachieving arse. A$$hole. He needs to be left unprotected. I can and do fault Hanki (and Counce) for him not having the players. Hanki has had almost 4 years to figure this out. There are few surprize players in this league. Maybe KSE can use Zizi's witch doctor to fix what ails the team. Although, if he can't fix one knee, I don't see how he can fix a whole team. But I'm sure Hankincounce will justify a way to try it. If Hanki is still here next year, I will not renew my tickets. Period.
"A coach assumes his players will heal"? Ok, Pollyanna, let's see how that strategy plays out. You say "a coach assumes his players will heal". I say a good coach doesn't make any assumptions and goes with what he knows to be true. To wit: Zizi -- A history of injuries before being signed and no signs of self-motivation to get better. Spencer -- Missed games last year due to injury and isn't getting any younger. At some point when you age, it becomes harder and harder to get back to form. But I'm sure you're right -- Hankinson was being "optimistic". Powell -- A history of injuries, well before he was signed. Hell, he was injured WHEN they signed him. You say it's "reasonable to go into a new season thinking your team will be healthy." Sure -- if they're healthy to begin with, but not one of these three were at 100% early on. It's one thing to say "sometimes life sucks, but you play the cards you're dealt"... but do you really believe you can't fault Hankinson for planning on these guys in 2004?
John Spencer was #5 in league scoring last year with 14 goals and 33 points and iirc he was a MVP candidate. Every coach in this league would have thought and expected Spencer to come back and lead the team. I do not fault Hanki for thinking Spencer would have been able to get some goals this year. He doesn't have a crystal ball and couldn't see this dramatic drop off. Powell was a strong player in England. Over 10 seasons in the Premier League and D1 he played well over 275 matches. I don't know what injury indicator you have jdonnici, but this is not the sign of a history of injuries. Everyone in professional sports gets injured, but if you can get over 275 professional matches in your career, you haven't been sitting on the bench injured the entire time. It is not outside the real of possibility that Powell could have gotten healthy and had a good season. When he played this year he played well. I agree on Zizi, it is totally crazy that he was allowed to use a witch doctor and hope for healing. I wouldn't stand for this. However, the Rapids chose to leave him on the roster and so be it. Jeff Stewart has been injured on the roster just as much time, if not more.
Nobody's implied that Powell spent his career sitting on "the bench injured the entire time". He was injured when Hankinson signed him and it wasn't a new injury. And, yes, Spencer had a great 2003 and, yes, it's reasonable to expect him to tally some points in 2004 -- but would you put all your eggs in that basket when he's going on 34 and just a year prior missed more than half the games because of injury? Hankinson screwed the pooch at the beginning of this season, just as he has for most. Excuse it away if you like, but I won't.
This season he has not been sidelined by the same injury as when he got here. He didn't, he signed Pedro, two Cuban attackers, drafted others. Hanki tried to bolster the attack, it didn't work out. I think you're using more hindsight then anything here. It's nice to be able to see what happened and say what Hanki did wrong. I'm not trying to make excuses for him, I'm just saying some things happened he couldn't have accounted for.
Wow, I hope we don't get 'stuck' with Powell and ZiZi for another season. If it's my railroad, I keep the following twelve, add 2 new SI's (attacking mid & a strong/physical forward), a GK from the A-League (backup for Cannon), along with the players we pick in the draft and head to training camp in February ! Nat Borchers Joe Cannon Mark Chung Jordan Cila Matt Crawford Michael Erush Chris Henderson Ritchie Kotschau Ricky Lewis Pablo Mastroeni Jean Philippe Peguero Gary Sullivan
I'd love to have Mutu here. lol While were on the topic of coke heads I 'm wondering if Maradona will come up and coach the team.
Zizi, Powell, Grimandi, Amokachi, Pedro, Rey-Rey, Delgado. NO COACH IN THEIR RIGHT MIND SIGNS A CURRENTLY INJURED PLAYER That really should say it all. But I've got time on my hands until the exit polls start spitting out false positives... Expecting and hoping for a 34-year-old forward in a physical league to lead the charge all season long is one thing. Banking the focus of the entire offense on such a player is incredibly stupid. Any coach worth their salt knows that when you have older players, you're taking a gamble and better make sure you've got something resembling cover for them. Spenny may have been an MVP candidate in 2003, but Preki won the award -- yet Gansler was smart enough to prepare his team for Preki's absence. Meanwhile, Hankinson dropped Carrieri, apparently because his attitude was not something he thought would heal. Bonji, Bonji, Bonji. Premiership seasons are 38 matches long -- D1 plays 46 matches. Over 10 years that leaves room for 380-460 matches, so by your own math that means Pow Pow played in at most 70% (likely fewer) of his club's matches. Not exactly inspiring numbers. Also, I'm assuming your figures are strictly League matches and not counting various cup matches... or else the math is even more against Pow Pow. Right, because it's not like Jeff Stewart makes one-fifth (or less) of what Zizi does, and I tell you I can't stand hearing all those stories about Stewart having arguments with his national team about the status of his injuries, arrests in prior countries, or running around on the practice field needing private coaching from Hankinson. Or the simple fact that Stewart wasn't hurt when he was signed.
So my question is if MLS rules state that a club can only leave one SI unprotected who should it be? Because our SIs, as we all know, are not good enough for us to want them all back. The interestign question is if it is between Powell and Zizi who do you want to see go? Myself, I say leave Powell unprotected. Powell has been injured. In the time he was healthy there were only a couple of games that he played well in. Playing left back was his best position but the master didn't play him there. Zizi also is made of glass. However, the problem is that there is a far greater chance then there has ever been that his knee is healed. When he has played he has shown some good things. He is big, strong, and can hold the ball up. The chances of him becoming a all time former Rapid are higher than for Powell.