The latest version of 'The RSL Show' had a pretty good segment (yes, that's a compliment IBIK) in which they played the role of Garson in the coming off-season. They looked at the core and had to pick three players from the "RSL Core" to get rid of (in varying fashions) to make room for improvements in this club. They had pretty consistent answers, but I wanted to get the feel of posters here on who you think RSL should/could get rid of (again, in varying fashions). Pick 3 players from the above "core" and then post (if you feel so inclined) who you picked and why. You can't create a poll that has more than 10 possible options, so Espy and Gil were left out as I think they would be safe in pretty much everyone's pick... if you disagree, make a note of it. (I was going to add this to another thread but to make a poll you have to create a new thread)
The 3 I would pick: 1) Jamison Olave As they said on the show, his trade value is only going to decline the rest of his career. His knees are a time bomb that seems to be in the single digits of time left When he makes gaffes, they are awful. I will miss "Olave says no" but we've shown an uncanny ability to find rather decent backup CB's from nowhere so maybe all won't be lost. 2) Ned Grabavoy I had a hard time picking between him and Will. Both, in my opinon, are getting paid more than what they bring to the table. The reason I ended up going with Ned is age and potential. Will, for all the hate he gets, actually does have a higher ceiling than Ned. He disappears for long LOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG stretches in games. This is coming from a guy who loves to watch midfielders do the little things that typically go unnoticed. What he brings to the table isn't as hard to replace as what Will brings. Yeah, all Will does is "hustle a lot". Well, how many players are there like that on our team or even in the league? 3) Kyle Beckerman Yeah, this one is controversial but I think it offers us the best trade value I wouldn't let KB go for just anything, but I think you would get some pretty attractive offers from clubs if you said you were willing to move him To the response of "he is the face of this organization" - that's part of my reasoning to get rid of him. We need a bit of a change, I feel, in the look of this club. If you move the captain and "face of the club", you don't have much of an option but to change He is 30 and seems to be losing his mental edge. KB is supposed to be the leader on the pitch, and he does a rather good job of it, but over the past year+ we've noticed that RSL has had a lack of mental strength and that comes back to the leaders of the club. next on my list were: 4) Will Johnson 5) Javier Morales
1) Olave Same reasons as stated above. Borlave is an amazing tandem, but Olave can't seem to stay healthy. Although the pic that Trey tweeted yesterday makes you wonder how someone so muscly can't stay healthy... 2) Ned Same as above. He seems to have lost a step, and he doesn't hustle as much as he used to. I prefer having Gil in Ned's position. 3) Will This one was a tough pick. I like watching Will, and I like how much he hustles, but he makes some of the worst decisions on the field. Many of his passes lead to turnovers, he takes shots from no man's land (although I am glad someone is shooting), etc. I think a diamond of KB-Javi-Gil-Seba would be fun to watch, but it might not be defensive enough. Maybe go KB-Alvarez-Javi-Gil.
A big number one for me: Javier Morales. Or restructure his contract in more than half, to no more than $200k. He's making a staggering $477,500 this season (you can refresh your memory about 2012 salaries here), has slowed way down, cannot play out of danger often enough, and his free kicks aren't anything close to what they were. Again, happy to keep him but at waaaay less salary - we need so much more from our number ten. Set him up like Andy Williams his last two seasons and I will be happy to have him. Second: Olave, depending on his health assessment in the offseason.
I agree with Ismitje. As much as I like Javi, he's eating up too much of the cap to justify keeping him at the current salary at his current performance level. The other two on my list were Olave and Johnson. Olave for all of the reasons already stated. Johnson I think still has trade value and makes about double what Ned makes, so it makes more sense to trade him as well. It would be really hard to replace Johnson's hustle, but maybe we could find a speedy player to replace him instead.
Olave: Obvious reasons. Unfortunate. Grabs: Gets knocked off the ball way too easily, doesn't have the much needed finesse. Injury prone (perhaps because he's such a small dude). Very soccer smart but without the physical attributes to mesh the two. Wingert: Crosses into the box are rarely playable, cannot overlap on the wing with any speed whatsoever, and completes more passes to the opposition than to his own team. A fourth pick would be JaviMo. And I agree with Ismitje--would love to keep him around but for much, much less. A lot of fans have married themselves to this "core" and probably have issues even thinking about trading the likes of a Kyle Beckerman. Loyalty will only bring you so far. Measured, yet tough decisions are necessary for success.
Tony Beltran: I think that Tony has peaked. He is still young and a solid defender but RSL needs more offense. I would like to see Mansally get more time. It's easier to teach defense than to learn to be more offensively minded. I think Tony has some serious trade value. Jamison Olave: I don't think he has any trade value whatsoever. Good GM's wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole. That doesn't mean that there are GM's out there that would take the bait. Will Johnson: Absolutely love the guy but if you are looking for players with trade value this guy has tons. You have 3 teams in Canada that are constantly making changes and may have players attractive to RSL. I also concur with the thoughts on Javi but I think the jury is still out on his recovery. If he is not the same player he was or near to it by the start of next season then I think it's time to start looking to the future. I don't think he has as much trade value either from the injury and his lack of speed. Kyle is anther interesting call. I don't see them trading him. I don't think I would either. It would have to be one heck of a deal. It would be interesting to see what three players people would never trade as well. Borchers, Rimando, Sabo for me. Maybe that needs a thread as well.
Looks like I'm right on par with the rest of y'all. Playing defense myself, Olave is my favorite player by far. So it pains me to suggest we trade him. But he is getting up in age and injury prone. We need to get a some worth out of a trade while it's available. I admit being somewhat of a RSL homer, but I've just never rated Grabs or Tony. It's as simple as that. Neither has done anything to impress. Johnson makes a lot of mistakes, but I'd rather have a few errors than players that disapears.
Aren't the guys with the newest contracts - renegotiated - Espy and Grabs? Seems like the last to go. And Grabs as the #6 midfielder is pretty good - if we had Alvarez, Seba, Grabs, and Morales off the bench, I'm quite good with that.
I picked: Johnson because he likely has value, and offers little outside of incredible hustle. Grabavoy because he simply does not bring enough to the table. Olave for the same reasons as Bulldog SLC? Can anyone beleive I kept Saborio?
I'm right there with y'all on the Ned thing... but how much trade value does he have? also, didnt he just sign a new contract this past off-season? I really wish we had a place to look up how long player contracts were in the league. It's irritating as hell when trying to discuss stuff like this
A few notes on this segment of the RSL show (which, BTW, I'm glad has spurred some meaningful discussion instead of just the usual emotional overreactions and sniping): - We agreed beforehand that we would each pick 3 players. Obviously this is not a requirement...some of you may want to get rid of 10 players this offseason. Some may want to get rid of 0. We picked 3 because it's a good number given the format of the show - it forces us to tip our hands on a difficult subject, but we don't have the "air" time to pick 10 each. - I didn't pick Grabavoy because I don't consider him part of the core. - When we discussed players that are "untouchable", we were talking about untouchable during this coming offseason only. For me Sabo is untouchable this year, but that will someday change. - In reality no player is untouchable. If somebody offered me Messi for both of my untouchable players, I'd do it in a heartbeat.
As Ismitje pointed out, depends on contract value, length, ability to move the player, and quality of assets obtained in return. I'm surprised people are down on Johnson. Yes, he can make some bad turnovers, but he switches the ball well, is strong defensively, and appears to be an out-and-out pro. My guess is that after Rimando, Beckerman, and Borchers, that Johnson has the strongest voice in the locker room. Dudes like that are crucial to team culture.
The reason many are down on Will is that he takes a large chunk of change to keep around and that he is very sparatic in his play. This can be beneficial at times as he is seemingly everywhere on the pitch, but it also backfires. Also, the dude doesn't put the ball in the back of the net nearly as often as he should (you could say that for about everyone on this squad save Sabo... maybe) I personally like Will and think he has a lot to offer to this team and is required to make our midfield work. I also think his ability to play multiple positions rather well (though not amazing) is something we can't undervalue. When in a pinch, he can slide to outside back and do a rather good job. With that said, if one of the Canadian teams wanted him to "come home" I'd be all for it so long as the trade was one that was decent.
I'd go forward with the same two goalkeepers. I'd go forward with Beltran or Wngert plus Mansally, Borchers or Olave plus Schuler (W-S as #4 is fine). I'd go forward with Beckerman plus Alvarez, Johnson plus Seba, plus Grabs and Morales and maybe Steele. I'd go forward with Saborio and Espindola plus Braun and maybe Bonfigli. This would mean adding a #2.5 center back, two staring midfielders, and a starting outside back. I think that's more than enough changes (three and a half new starters). This organization won't trade Kyle - he's the Kreis of this team, the one untouchable - and I presume not Johnson because upgrades at the other two positions are more important IMO. You'd get rid of salary (slashing Javi's salary, jettisoning Borchers or Olave, same with Wingert or Beltran) and need to increase Schuler's contract to $100k or so. I would drop PJ (there's a guy who may have some trade value into a different system still). Tanaka too - Steele actually isn't bad for $44k. Figure you net $700k from the cuts/salary increase (Olave or Borchers $215-250k, Morales $250k, Wingert or Beltran $145, PJ $75, Tanaka $44k). There's the trick: new #10, new outside back, new #2.5 center back (or maybe W-S becomes this and we just need a new #4), new wing midfielder for $700k. Also: we left Gil out of the mix above, but he makes $191k and will be off GA status almost for sure. That's a major discussion to have as well. I guess I am mostly of the opinion that we should inaugurate a changing of the guard rather than jettisoning people. Well, many people, even from the core.
You keep Gil at least another year purely for the payout that could/should come when he moves to another league. That is an issue, though, since I seriously doubt he'll be willing to take a cut in the paycheck. You almost have to get rid of a guy like Grabs just to keep Gil around next season. Which does nothing for this team's ability to bring in new players.
Doesn't Gil's contract of $191k dramatically drop once he loses the GA status? I remember reading about other players who lost quite a bit with the removal of the GA tag, but I could be wrong.
Through renegotiation, sure. But he'd be out of contract and able to entertain offers from abroad as well as RSL/MLS.
Went with Olave, Wingert and Grabavoy for pretty much the same reasons listed. At the end of the day though, I'd go with whoever had the best trade value. Trade one of Wingert/Beltran, Ned/Will, or Borchers/Olave. Upgrade with some younger speed and I think we'd be fine. I'm fine with the Sabo/Espy tandem up top, but we need a solid guy off the bench for subbing or rotation. Hopefully that winds up being Braun or Bonfigli, but I really don't see that being Paulo.
1. Will Johnson - he has no touch and tries to kill the ball on every shot. 2. Ned Grabavoy - a solid player but nothing special. 3. Javier Morales - Still has the moves but not the speed. Plus the forwards we have don't play to his strengths. We would need forwards that make runs into the box. get rid of the diamond formation and go with a 4-3-3 I'm not ready to turn on Olave yet, he still has a few years left in him. Shuler should be the CB playing the most minutes with Borchers and Olave subbing in for each other. I would seriously consider getting rid of either Espy or Sabo. Espy plays better without Sabo on the field. I think Espy helps Sabo be a better forward but I don't feel Sabo helps Espy be a better forward. Sabo get the goals so I'd lean toward keeping him.