Based on where we finished the season, outside observers may think we're a piece or two away from an even stronger team. Who do you keep, cut, and consider further (the maybe group)?
How much money will RSL have to play with? Do Pool Boy's and Yura's contracts expire? Who's not going to be on contract?
Cut Baird Mulholland Martinez Portillo Schmitt Allen (but I think he's already gone) Consider Cutting Plata Silva Johnson Needs left-back left-wing striker backup right-back Biggest Need New coach
I like this except Johnson. With the right coach and system...who am I kidding. RSL won’t have the right coach or system for him next season. They probably won’t have a GM either so they’ll make Kyle the player coach and Dear Leader will try and sign the oldest biggest name from Europe to bring in “fans”.
My thing with Johnson is I think he's too expensive for a backup striker. So if we go out and get another TAM level striker, keep johnson and they can share the role. If we get a DP striker, sell Johnson and keep Martinez as backup.
For sure but he definitely shouldn’t be starting behind Baird or anyone else on this team. what a waste.
Watching Herrera last night and over the last few games I'd be really shocked if there aren't offers on the table for him. His style of play is applicable in a lot of places and a quality outside back, as we know, isn't something in abundance across the soccer globe. This club has to learn from the Plata fiasco and know when to sell, though. Do we think Herrera can get significantly better? Will holding him for the 2020 season be worth the cost? Is his contract up at the end of 2020? We have to sell high or else we're leaving a LOT of money on the table. Same thing with Savarino.
Biggest need is a new GM, IMO. Everything else is secondary, because the biggest factor in success is finding talent and finding a way to fit that talent under the salary cap. As for players, our biggest hole is goalkeeper, no? I have very little sense for whether Putna is the man for the future or if we need to bring someone in, but that's a huge question mark for me. Followed closely by striker and a Toia replacement.
I think the search for a competent, effective new GM is going to be difficult if not impossible. Probably same for a head coach. Unless you get someone who can convince Dell Loy to keep his hands off the team, nobody wants that cloud hanging over his head. And as has been mentioned ad nauseam, the current Petke cluster only makes things that much more difficult. He's done a lot for the club, but sometimes DLH is his own worst enemy.
fair, but really good GM's know how to manage overly involved owners. They know how to make them feel involved while also steering the ship how it should be, in their view. I'm not saying Waibel was a weak person, by any means, but the constant complaint of DLH made it obvious he wasn't trying to fix the relationship but just kept bitching about it. We've all worked for terrible bosses. Complaining about them does nothing for you as their delegate - it actually makes things worse.
I would keep Baird. Give eveyone else who is cut the chance to get on with the Monarchs, if they so desire. Of the three to consider cutting, I'm kind of meh. There were times when I thought we should have dumped Plata, but now, I'm not completely sold on that. If we dump him, then OK. If we keep him, then OK. Keep Silva until we can find another defender to replace him and keep Johnson, but try to figure out a place with him. Maybe go to a 4-4-2 or something. Since we promoted Kreis to coach, let's promote Beckerman to coach. Or at least an assistant.
Also helpful to keep in mind contract situations. I wouldn't even consider cutting Baird, as his contract is at the league minimum. By all means sign someone to start ahead of him, but Baird has immense value either way. To be more concise, we can find a better player than Baird, but we definitely can't find a better player than Baird for that price.
A big factor IMO is if Herrera gets called in to the January camp. If he's on the radar of the USMNT that will boost his value. TBH same goes for Glad.
I'm really excited for RSL to free up Allen's roster spot after two years of being unable to use him or his spot. Same with Beltran for that matter. RSL has been burdened with those two spots the last two season and that has really hurt the team's ability to build and use squad depth. And throw in Mulholland's essential non-availability all season and that's a significant portion of the roster that has simply not be useful in any way, shape or form this year. Those three spots alone should help the team in the off-season and in 2020. Here are my Keep, Cut, Consider in alphabetical order. Keep Baird (I like what he brought the last 8 weeks of the season, fairly cheap too) Besler Glad Herrera Johnson (would love more games and starts from him) Kreilach (how do we convince him to get a few aging Croats to come join him? Mandzukic?) Luiz Ochoa Onuoha Rusnak Savarino Silva (I like the depth he helps provide) Toia (fairly cheap and decent enough to keep for me) Cut Allen Arriaga Beltran (retired) Horwath Mulholland Rimando (retired) Schmitt (I don't think he's MLS quality) Vazquez (I don't think he's MLS quality) Consider Beckerman Holt Putna Lennon (might be worth a trade) Martinez (needs to get MUCH stronger. Not sure he's worth an international spot) Plata (too bad his move to Mexico didn't go through) Portillo Rowe Saucedo (too selfish for my liking at times. Trade value?)
Great post, except, Beckerman had better not go anywhere else. Pay him one more year. Maybe he becomes player/assistant coach. His contract is through 2020.
Just some quick thoughts: Gone: Silva - too expensive for a backup in MLS - Holt made him superfluous. Bofo - wants to leave and made sure everyone knows it. Lost his playing time because one foot is out the door. Luke - broken and not likely to recover. Too bad. Besler - watch carefully as there is a good chance his injury is career threatening. Also unfortunate as he is a good plug in vet. Sam - too expensive for a back up forward who doesn't fit the system. Likely easy to move because he can score if given opportunity. Who knows?: Becks - let's see if the next GM is better able to negotiate a soft landing for Becks pre-retirement rather than the cluster that was the Jave situation. Plata - got his big contract and stopped working. Refocused and was better at the end of the year as Bofo took himself out of favor. Still look to sell if possible? Sava - sell high? Lennon - I still keep as an adjustable wrench for outside back or mid. I worry that the club will allow the big contract above to go away, allow the Yura and Pool-boy $$ to come off the books, and then go forward with a bottom 1/3 salary while claiming they are building from within.
I find it somewhat telling that we seem to be consistently looking at contract expirations as a positive thing for the club.
This off season is pretty important. Get the GM/Coach/FO hires right and we're on our way up. Don't and holy crap this thing could get ugly. Crapids ugly. Get it right and next season RSL is running above the playoff line all season. Get it wrong and you might be able to see the line with high powered binoculars. I wouldn't be surprised if the JK deal is already done and dusted. He did seem to show up in Salt Lake a bit this fall. Definitely need a striker of destiny to go along with whatever system the leadership team decides to play. There is talent on this team but still plenty of holes to fill. Fingers crossed. Keep Beckerman-I think he earned a final season. Just make him a super sub. Besler-Thought he was rounding into a solid player. Concerns about injury. Glad-Solid. If you're going to keep jerking him around at the end of the season each year and you are comfortable with Needum and Silva trade him for some value and bring on Holt as a back-up or commit to Glad completely. Herrera-This guy is getting good. Holt-Thought he has some bright moments. Could become solid reserve. Johnson-Give this guy a chance under a coach and system that works for him. If that's not possible then don't waste any more of his time. Kreilach-great guy and leader. Not a false 9. Luiz-Stud. Ochoa-GK spot will be interesting to watch this off season. Onuoha-Stud. Rowe-This guy needs a shot at fitting in somewhere. Solid vets make a difference. Rusnak-Needs to exert more influence in games. Savarino-This guy is the real deal and in a cohesive offensive system could carry RSL's attack. Cut Allen Arriaga Beltran (retired) Horwath Mulholland-time to move on Plata-He can just walk away right? out of contract? Sign and trade? Rimando (retired) Saucedo-greener pastures to Bofo. Vazquez Consider Baird-Yea he's cheap but he may have hit his ceiling. I would look to trade. Putna-GK decisions will be interesting. Lennon-When will they stop screwing with this guy? Figure out where you want him to play and let him play. Martinez Portillo Schmitt-Trade Baird, keep Schmitt? Silva-Odd man out on the back line? Toia-had a few good games but will he get better like Herrera or is this all there is?
Here's the question I have: I think we all agree we need a true striker (either Johnson or someone else). If we get said striker, what happens to Kreilach? What is the ideal lineup? Do we switch to a 4-4-2 with Kreilach/Striker up top? Do we keep the 4-3-3 and move Kreilach to CM and Rusnak to the wing (presumably putting Baird on the bench)? Curious what people think about this.
Is there really an argument to get rid of Arriaga and Vasquez? Am I missing something? Just seems odd as I wouldn't even consider cutting either.
yeah, this was really weird to me on the lists above. I'm going to do my list with salaries and ages so we can all make sure we're taking everything into account