If Ray were to go after other players in MLS this offseason, who would the likely candidates be? I would think Pineda Chacon might be a potential target, being that he's rotting on New England's bench.
Not necessarily. It's fairly well known that NE is skating above the salary cap this season, and they will have to dump salary in a big way. Chacon never plays, and makes the maximum salary. When you look at the fact that DC's 2nd round pick is also the 1st overall, it almost seems like a late 1st rounder. I bet the brass in NE would be more than happy to dump that salary on DC for a 2nd or possibly even a 3rd round pick. Want proof? Look at some of last offseason's salary dump trades. Balboa (who contributed nothing but is still a quality player) for a 3rd round draft pick. Bonseu from Columbus to Dallas for a 3RD Rounder. That's the nature of the game, and it's going to be a buyer's market on some NE players, APC included. JMac
I think Jmac and Ryan are right. There are two reasons that Chacon lasted so long in the Allocation/Dispersal draft. 1) He can be shut down. He's not the guy who scores when the defense keys on him. In Miami defenses always keyed on Serna. In the beginning of the season they basically gave Chacon space and played the pass, because he was an attacking midfielder/creator not a scorer ... and he started nailing the open shots. When he was marked closely, he was shut down ... but taking the second man away from Serna (defenders always need help on Serna) allowed Serna to start lighting up the league. It was no accident that when defenses shifted more evenly that Ray Hudson called out Serna publicly. Hudson knew that this was the time Serna could and needed to punish the defense ... and Serna responded. Chacon was always option #2 ... and a distant #2. With Henderson, Marshall, McKinley, Bishop, Rooney and Heaps, they had guys who could score if you left them open. So Chacon often had room to crank a shot. 2) Chacon is well paid. His salary cap number was considered too high for the rest of the league to swallow, so everyone passed on him. In fact, Ray referred to him when he said "there were some beautiful fabrage eggs out there, but we couldn't touch 'em." For Chacon to end up at United here's what needs to happen. Chacon needs to agree to a sign-and-trade clause that renegotiates his salary DOWN quite a bit. Then, Ray needs to trade for him. As Jmac pointed out, it'll likely be a low draft pick, as New England would gladly give him away for free if they could find a taker for his salary. Or, United could wait until Chacon is waived, then claim him off waivers (assuming United has the cap space) and then renegotiate with Chacon on a lower salary. These are very real scenarios. -Tron
1. Don't trade for Chacon. To do so means we're cutting Pope, Moreno or Etcheverry (one of those three) and then not signing someone overseas. APC is a fine player. But for $265K we can do better. We can get someone who is in finer former, or a better finisher, or a more natural playmaker. APC is a withdrawn forward--that's his natural position. 2. We'll get him for free (if we could afford him--and we can't). NE (especially if they don't make the playoffs) will go through another remake. They will try to resign Twellman (who made the league minimum) and they won't clear cap room by cutting Pierce or someone of that ilk. They'll cut a max salary player. Plus, they'll want to bring in players Nicols wants. He will want to bring in impact players--that's more salary. APC will be one of the players (along with possibly Moreno or Etcheverry) that the league does not resign. 3. Jorge Rodriguez might be an option. He could be a good fit a D-mid. He's a good guy. Makes too much money but after a year on the bench, he might renegotiate. 4. Dante Washington is likely to get cut lose. Local guy, makes less than half the league maximum. Not a great player. But if we're going to spend our bucks to replace Moreno and Etcheverry and get a good D-mid, than you look for a target forward who's a bargain. Dante fits into that category. 5. Who will SJ cut loose? Another good season, lots of pay increases due (even if it's only $10K per player for only half the team--that over $100K). I wouldn't be surprised if they dumped Graziani or another higher priced player (so they could afford the pay increases and also have a chance to acquire a moderately priced veteran).
I see San Jose and New England definitely needing to dump players for being over salary cap. Pineda Chacon is probably going from New England because he's too expensive. Unfortunately, he's too expensive for us too.
D'accord on Chacon. Dante would be a valuable pick-up: hard to push off the ball, tricky around the box, great size and a heavy shot. His indoor experience really shows in the way he uses players as screens and in his snap shots. GM