There are a lot of rumors going around on Ussocceruk.com's boards about offseason moves. Some of them are supposed to be announced as early as this week or next week. Does anyone think that there will be interleague trades involving the Fire? If so who is leaving and what are we getting for them?
I can't believe we'd be in salary cap trouble already. Even after keeping our core of veterans, half our squad are still rookies or bench players.
It will likely depend on how expensive it is to get contracts on those whose are up, Thornton, Armas, Marsch, correct?
I'm pretty sure on Thornton, Armas and Boca but Marsch too? We should still be ok if/when Boca leaves though. I think Armas was already at or near the max (don't really know), gotta beleive that Thornton was close to it as well.
i'd doubt thornton was close to the max... he's great and all... but keepers in this league don't make close to the max unless they are meola or howard
I'm not so sure, Jim. The word I keep hearing is that we probably couldn't keep Bocanegra and Thornton next year, in the event that both of them were still in MLS, so Zach may be up there. Boca's imminent transfer to Europe would moot that point, and probably eliminate any serious salary cap issues. I don't know what Chris has under his hat there, but he says it's good for us, so we'll see. I did just hear about one of the trades we didn't make last year, which was very, very interesting. Later, COZ
Hey if Boca goes to Euro-land, what kind of compensation can we expect to get? we´re losing one of the leagues best... if not the best defenders and I want something back. C U L8ter dudes, Flynn ps- #3 on CF Toledo is a pretty good defender... how extensive is our scouting ability? Either way I could try to bring back some video of the Toledo B-league games.... but I don´t think more than one or two of the guys I´ve seen thus far is even up to MLS practice squad standards..
If all the "ifs" come to pass, the line for allocations is gonna stretch from MLS HQ across from Grand Central halfway down 42nd Street to Bryant Park. And there are other damn good players who have left or are likely leaving, some for transfer cash. The pickings are pretty slim unless you're willing to free up a senior international slot. Take that for what it's worth.
I talked to him personally last week and there is no way this is happening within the next few years.
Heck, he even brought his agent to the post-game party in L.A. Maybe he told somebody he'd "re-sign," and someone thought he said he'd "resign." Later, COZ
Jesse also just played his best year ever in a Fire uniform and probably in his career. What's Boca's situation re: European work permits? Is he gonna get shafted a la Convey? As much as I like Zach, I think he has the least strong bargaining position of our core players. Yeah, he was a Keeper Of The Year finalist, but I suspect a lot of that was due to the defense in front of him. And the USA has nothing if not hordes of good keepers. Henry Ring probably aside, the Fire just haven't had much luck with backup keepers - probably because the backups rarely play.
Coz, if you´re going to start it, then please do tell the whole thing. I´m glad that you have been interested by the knowledge of a trade that never happened, but if you´re going to start to put it down in writing, please feel free to share the whole thing. (unless it´s really really going to hurt MY feelings)
He's also got more championship rings than anyone else on the Fire and nearly the most in all of MLS. My point was that he might be bored from winning all the time, that is all, I am not, have never been and, God willing, never will be a detractor of his performance on the field.
Boca might not pass muster from the get-go, but if he can get Bruce Arena to explain that he didn't make the WC2002 roster because of the foot injury during the Gold Cup that year, I would imagine he'd win the appeal. As for the aborted trade, I don't want to betray the confidence of a friend, so I'll just say it would have been a trade of much-maligned hairstyles, with some former bad hair thrown in on our side. Work it out from there. Later, COZ