Ok, so what must Branko Boskovic accomplish until July to renew his fat DP contract?!

For me regardless of what he does between now and July his body of work can not warrant an extension at his current price. Be frank and say, we paid big money and you did not perform or were injured. Now, we'd be happy to keep you at 150-200K range and hope you come good for rest of 2012 and 2013. If you'd rather try the market, we wish you the best.

If he stays at reduced rate, means we have him as option and some room to hopefully hang onto players or make some moves come next year.

If he goes can lock down some players or make a signing or two.

Branko could be a great addition, but we've learned to live without him, making him expendable and in weak bargaining position. No hard feelings, but it is the reality of sport as shown when Ben cleaned house this past off season (Simms, Quaranta, etc.).

 

First, he must recognize that 'irregardless' fails to be a word regardless of how many people would like to make it. Even if it were a word, the ir- prefix would change the meaning of regardless so that it would not mean what people insist it means. And yes, I am one of those Internet nuts that hates made up words and talks grammar-smack.

Second, Boskovic has spent most of his time at DC United unfit and/or injured. We've never had the opportunity to actually see him play consistently so I withhold judgment on his actual playing ability. He seems at times to be useful but 45 minutes here and there doesn't strike me as enough evidence to determine his utility to the team.

Finally, his contract is large by MLS standards. Given the value of his time versus production on the field, he either needs a smaller salary or to be cut. Nothing personal, just simply it doesn't make sense to have a guy on $500,000 around the team unless he is clearly worth it. Boskovic is not at this point (see point two above). Let him wander back to Europe, where some teams are likely to be able to offer him that size of contract without blinking (I don't know exactly how the £/week figures are calculated but he is on less than £10,000 per week if you figure for 52 weeks a year). Guys like Cruz or Deleon don't necessarily have Boskovic's skills but they are better values for the team with low salaries and high work output. We have a few highly skilled guys in DeRo, Pontius, Najar, and Dudar - we need to make sure that they are surrounded by solid journeymen without having to worry about our salary cap and it is clear that we could use a couple journeymen defenders right now...

 

Personally, I think the decision has already been made to let him go. Olsen rarely uses Bosko when he can as either a stater or substitute. I see no reason why Bosko would want to stick around for the rest of the season at reduced salary other than he's personally unhappy about not contributing during his time here (as said in the most recent Capital Soccer Show podcast - it's great listen!). I doubt any player sticks around because their personal unhappy with what they've contributed, especially when that player can return to Europe get equal (maybe more) and the summer is the perfect time to do that, not in January.

But he did perform well enough to get another shot, so I say he has to perform no less than he did against TFC and NE than he did against the Rapids. In fact he has to put improve a bit by gaining some stats (assists and goals). Bosko assisted on or scored 0 goals in his entire league play with United, which is 25 games since midseason 2010.

 

I think a good negotiating stance would be to offer him about $250,000 for another 2 years.

If that doesn't jive with Branko then maybe offer him a 6 month extension of his current contract to see if he can prove he's worth more.

Of course it's all irrelevant if Branko himself prefers to go back to Europe because I don't think we should have to jump through hoops to keep him. Branko also needs to show good faith and accept a pay cut because he did take a lot of money from DC in his last contract without a huge return

 

This is the biggest reason we would take a big hit if we lose Bosko. For all the depth that we have there's nobody else that can really pull the strings as the AM in a 4 man midfield if De Ro goes down. King and Wolff have had some ineffective minutes in that role, but they're both way out of position there. Pontius shouldn't even be part of the conversation for that role.

So if Bosko leaves, it becomes imperative that we replace that role. The problem is that we won't have the $ to sign someone with a similar resume. There was a young Honduran CM who's name was thrown around earlier, but you better hope DC's scouting hits a home run because it'll be hard to replace De Ro's role as AM.

And keep in mind that it won't take an injury to De Ro for us to need an option at AM. It could be something as simple as De Ro being needed as a forward/striker which in the long run would be a better fit for De Ro anyway

 

I don't know what league you guys have been watching but MLS is not one where you can afford to have a quality attacking mid on the bench. If you are lucky, you have a guy that plays either out wide or at striker that can fill in if your central mid goes down to injury. If we lose DeRo, then it is hope and pray time.

 

The whole point is that Boskovic doesn't have to be a bench player. He can open up opportunities for De Ro to focus more on the withdrawn forward role. He can also help out as a left midfielder.

 

I expect them to decline to extend his current contract.

But I also expect them to offer him another contract at a lower, non-DP salary.

 

I expect what you expect.

 

Yeah, that sounds about right. If he has a better offer somewhere else, he'll go. If not, he stays. No hard feelings either way.

 

I think we should definitely get rid of one of the best players we've had the last three games as soon as possible.

While we're at it, let's dump Salihi too.

 

The guy is certainly helping his case.

I really think United should try to get him on a short term contract to finish the season. If he continues to improve -- well, we'll see what happens.

 

Agreed. I can live with him not coming back next year. I'd love to see him finish the season, though.

 

The first thing he needs to do is build a time machine and go back and take out the NE player who ruined his 2011 season. Barring that, he needs to get at least a few assists or goals to justify re-signing him in the first place. If he does, I think we ask him to take a paycut large enough to afford some defensive signings.

In an ideal world, he re-signs at $180-200K, we sign Nelsen as a player/coach for $150-175K (pro-rated), and go after a wingback. If all that happens, I think Jakovic becomes expendable as a trade asset (if he stays healthy) to pick up whatever else we might need. If we don't get Nelsen (which is at least 50/50, IMO), we need depth at outside back and a more dynamic CM sub than King. We were rumored to be after a Honduran, so he could be the fallback plan if Boskovic doesn't get re-signed in the summer.

In any case, I think what happens with Boskovic will be the first in a series of moves over the summer to further strenghten the squad down the final stretch.

 

I expect both of you will be correct in your expectations.

 

Bosko needs PT to get a contract somewhere else. I agree that he'll sign 'til the end of the season and then go from there. Probably leaves the team though.