Dallas has declined to exercise the contract extension on Jorge Rodriguez. Dallas has evidently cited cap issues--he is paid a starter's salary but was a reserve.
1. Umm....I can't say my source on the Zarco contract but it's definite. I don't know if Dallas has formally made an announcement. But his contract expired on Dec. 31, 2002 and had an extension. Dallas declined the extension. This is a formal decision that has been made by the Dallas organization, it's not a negotiating ploy. My understanding (and I'm reading into what into the situation here but I can't say this is for sure--just my interpretation) is that Dallas was trying to get him to give ground right up until the end, considered several options and that's why the decision was made so late. But I could be wrong on that part. What is clear is that Dallas didn't pick up his extension and the rationale was that they couldn't afford to keep him. 2. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see any announcements until monday. Remember, you've got until COB with the league offices. In my experience, the league doesn't do a great job putting out announcements AFTER hours. In otherwords, the decision-makers may be there but the folks who write press releases and generate HTML may have gone home for the weekend. PLUS, the rumor out of Bergin is that all press releases on stuff have to be cleared by the league first. That may make a certain amount of sense if there is going to be some major cap purging in Chicago--some real public unhappiness I'd think. In which case the league doesn't want KC boasting "we got Wolff for a song and a dance--really skinned the Fire" or Nowak saying "I retired b/c the Fire forced me to--that damn cap!" In short, they may want a little damage control here--just speculating on my part. Besides, the league would rather (I think) announce players coming IN to the league rather than those going out. So the Valderama announcement (which we know is happening--yet Colorado has yet to say anything formally on this) may be delayed until Rimandi signs (or gets close to signing). Then, instead of the story being "Valderama is cut" it becomes "Grimandi signs, Valderama replaced".
Zarco was reported in the FWST this morning. http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/4865935.htm I might expect some news out of the league tonight. But I wouldn't count on it.
- Just to be clear I was not questioning if it was valid just seeing if I missed something in the places where I looked already. - It would be a worse PR job to let the information sit through the weekend. As long as the players involved in any transaction are aware then the PR people need to earn a little OT.
Nah--not a problem. There have been so many rumors running around that it's a no-brainer to ask "where did you get that?" in response to player movement. What's interesting is after Monster mentioned the newspaper article, I clicked on that. What I was told is that Dallas is assuming he's gone while the article makes it sound as if they'd like to have him back--if he agrees to a much lower figure. That doesn't quite jibe with what I'd been told (or at least my take on what I'd been told). As for the PR thing, if a player was moved, he and his agent would be told. And it would leak out that way. Still, the league ain't exactly quick on dealing with PR stuff.
I would assume that the DC website would email you with any update. FWIW, they changed the question on their online poll from who to draft to what the most important cup we own is. Hmmm......
Re: Re: Player Movement News: Rodriguez Out in Dallas The absolute worst PR would be players finding out through the media. Sachin
Just to be clear, this is not a definite end to Zarco's career in Dallas. Assuming that he clears waivers and resigns at a lower wage, I sure wouldn't be surprised if he re-signs with Dallas. Sure, he's held out for more money before, but he's not going to get anything close to starting money in MLS right now, particularly with the current cast of coaches. And, I'm just not sure he's going to get that kind of money elsewhere, or that he really wants to move. -Tron
D-tron, not sure what to make of this. I was told that Dallas and Zarco had parted ways, they'd tried to bargain with him to renegotiate, they tried other packages (ie: cutting other players, trades) and kept coming back to Zarco--which is why this was so last minute. I know the press releases say they want him back. And maybe that will happen. My understanding is that they were asking him to take an extremely steep pay cut--that this was not only about they had bargaining power and he's a reserve, but it was cap driven. So now, we know Nowak is gone (I'm not comfortable yet saying he's with NE--he talked about retirement before this deal, he's said Chicago will be his home, he'll stay on the BoD for FireWorks--I don't think he's got his mind made up about playing for NE yet). That could be interesting. B/c NE will have to clear cap room to keep Nowak. If they clear cap room (assume it means cutting APC) and then Nowak retires. Hmmm..... And Valderama is out. BTW, the announcement wasn't that he's retiring but that Colorado wasn't going to renew his contract. I thought I'd read an early announcement months ago that he wanted to end his career with a particular club team in Colombia anyway. Chicago press release says one more deal. Who will it be?
No, but one of the Chicago papers is now suggesting that the move is Hristo to DC. Check out the 1/4/03 news thread in MLS N&A - too lazy to call up a new window. They say a "couple of days" for the announcement which scuttles my theory that Wolff was just screening calls last night to try and delay being notified of the trade.