Current Fire Roster Players under contract for next year Armas, Chris Beasley, DaMarcus Bocanegra, Carlos Capano, Craig - P40 Curtin, Jim Daniv, Sergi -SI Faria, Rodrigo - SI Gray, Kelly Jaqua, Nate - P40 Mapp, Justin - P40 Nugent, Mike - DP (?) Pause, Logan - P40 Perez, Orlando Razov, Ante Ring, Henry Selolwane, Dipsy Whitfield, Evan Players Fire own rights to, but are not currently under contract. Brown, C.J. Dombrowski, Chad 5th Round Friend, Rob 4th Round Fugataki, Ryan 6th Round Mack, Ryan 3rd Round Marsch, Jesse Ralph, Damani 2nd Round Stoichkov, Hristo - SI Thornton, Zach 17 Players under contract, 4 of whom are P-40's. I believe that Nugent is too old to be a developmental player this year, so he will probably be released. Thornton and Brown have been asked to rework their contracts, which is why I have them listed as out of contract. Marsch will most likely re-sign with the team, but Stoichkov appears to be traded to DC for a conditional pick in next year's draft. So that sounds like we *will* have 15 players from these lists as Senior members, 4 P-40's, two draft picks signed as developmentals (Dombrowski and Mack?), and two draft picks or two unknowns signed as Senior roster members. Either way, we appear to be safe for the first round of cuts, which is to have rosters under 29 (including 6 roster exempt slots). It should also be noted that Friend has signed a two year deal with Moss in Norway (he was a late sub for Canada last night). -jim
Full Roster Players Armas, Chris Beasley, DaMarcus Bocanegra, Carlos Brown, C.J. Curtin, Jim Daniv, Sergi -SI Faria, Rodrigo - SI Gray, Kelly Marsch, Jesse Perez, Orlando Razov, Ante Ring, Henry Selolwane, Dipsy- (S)I? Thornton, Zach Whitfield, Evan Pro-40/Developmental Players Capano, Craig - P40 Jaqua, Nate - P40 Mapp, Justin - P40 Nugent, Mike - Dev Pause, Logan - P40 Draft Picks Dombrowski, Chad Fugataki, Ryan Mack, Ryan Ralph, Damani- J/T I Friend, Rob- J/T I *Under Contract with Moss Swenda, Phil Traded Stoichkov, Hristo - SI
Roster Spots Thanks for posting this roster info. I was working on it myself. It appears as if we will have an open SI spot when Hristo goes. Also, does anyone think Daniv will be back and will stick? Sounds as if his toe is questionable. So, cap aside, we have room to add players. A Mexican national from Morelia would be nice, but I hear they're too expensive. A Polish player would be nice, but I don't know who. The cap confuses me. Seems like we should be under after dumping Piotr, Wolff, Hristo, but who knows. Despite the changes, I think we will be representative this year, with a strong defense if everyone gets healthy, especially DmB, Armas, and Whitfield.
alf seems to think that dipsy will count as an SI, which would be our 3 SI's... me? i don't know... he wasn't listed as an international of any kind on the mls website, although it could be an error
Hmm... You're right. He's not listed as one on MLS's site. I thought I remember something about him counting as an international. He is 25, and is Botswanan. As for Daniv, he is dirt cheap. You are not gonna get someone better for his pay. Between him and Whitfield our right mid is pretty set. If Whitfield has to play in the back, Daniv is a fine crosser of the ball and without an attacking mid our style could be more crossing.
Four p-40s? Wow, Chicago really is embracing a "rebuilding" process (unlike DC, I wouldn't call what they did this off-season "rebuilding.") If Sarachan can develop these guys, and pick up some more good picks next year...two years from now? Wow.
Most teams have at least 4 developmental players. The limit to Pro-40/developmental players has been raised to 5.
We have quite a few roster spots open. This means that the drafted players have a good chance of making the team. We still have two discovery picks. We could also pick somebody up off the waiver draft too. Doubt any trades are in the works to bring us players since we have nothing to give except for some draft picks next year and beyond.
Maybe it's just a surprise, since the Earthquakes has a whopping two, count 'em, two, Project 40 players on their team. I think the Fire could turn out to be a pretty good squad next year, depending on whether they can re-sign Thornton and Brown (which I wouldn't worry about.)
Missing PLayer and Question ??? None of the lists on this thread include "Swenga." Did we get rid of him already ? Please help me understand: We can have 3 Senior International players that count towards our roster. We can have 6 P-40 or Development players that don't count towards our roster. The league allows up to 20 Junior International players that don't count as a Senior International player, but do count towards our roster. The roster will be set as 18 players plus any P-40 and Development players.
Well, I think it's regarded as routine here for one to two P-40s to break into full roster status every year. Kelly did it last year (and with style, IMHO)
I thought that Dipsy was a green card holder. I can't find where I saw that, but I seem to remember reading that somewhere. Here's my speculation for how the roster shakes out... Roster Rodrigo Faria SI . 6-1 . 150 . 2/24/77 Mike Nugent DP . 5-9 . 155 . 2/10/80 Ante Razov ....... 6-1 . 175 . 3/2/74 Dipsy Selolwane . 5-9 . 150 . 1/27/78 Nate Jaqua P40 . 6-3 . 180 . 8/28/81 Damani Ralph TI . 6-0 . 170 . 11/6/80 Chris Armas ......... 5-7 . 150 . 8/27/72 DaMarcus Beasley . 5-7 . 126 . 5/24/82 Craig Capano P40 . 5-7 . 140 . 7/7/85 Sergi Daniv SI ...... 5-7 . 149 . 8/23/75 Kelly Gray ........... 6-2 . 170 . 4/7/81 Justin Mapp P40 .. 5-10 . 140 . 10/18/84 Jesse Marsch ...... 5-11 . 170 . 11/8/73 Ryan Futagaki DP . 5-7 . .150 . 1/17/80 Carlos Bocanegra . 6-1 . 170 . 5/25/79 C.J. Brown .......... 6-1 . 185 . 6/15/75 Jim Curtin ........... 6-4 . 205 . 6/23/79 Orlando Perez ..... 6-2 . 165 . 7/12/77 Evan Whitfield .... 5-11 . 155 . 6/23/77 Logan Pause P40 . 5-10 . 155 . 8/22/81 Zach Thornton . 6-3 . 210 . 10/10/73 Henry Ring ...... 6-3 . 185 . 3/16/77 This would be 22 total roster spots. I don't believe Nugent is too old for DP status, but I'm not positive. If he is too old, he probably gets cut and we keep Swenda. We have 4 P40 players and we keep 2 DP players, so that's our max there. We have two full roster spots open -- one of which can be an SI. If we have discovery slots available, then we can utilize those to find another SI. Left out Hristo Stoitchkov SI 5-9 . 165 . 2/8/66 Robert Friend TI .... 6-4 . 205 . 11/23/81 Phil Swenda .......... 5-8 . 165 . 4/22/81 Ryan Mack ........... 5-10 . 160 . 11/13/79 Chad Dombrowski ... 6-1 . 175 . 8/5/80 Stoichkov is still likely gone to DC. Friend has a Norwegian contract, so unless he winds up being unable to adapt to the language or culture, he's probably not going to be in a Fire uniform. I'm guessing 7 forwards are too much, so either Swenda or Ralph don't make it. I'm guessing Swenda. Mack and Dombrowski were also drafted in the A-League by Cincinatti & Charlotte respectively. Let them go play there without waiving them so we keep their rights.
Why ??? Traded Stoichkov, Hristo - SI Why would we trade Hristo with the young players on this team, unless we are going to get another Senior International player? With the departure of Nowak, Wolff, Kovalenko, Walsh Vauderill, etc., we can't be over the salary limit -- Can we?
What does that mean ? I understand he is good at training young players (True?) and that he may take a reduced salary to do just that in D.C. (True?). If both are true, why wouldn't he play that role for the Fire?
Some other guesses: Daniv has to be close to getting a green card. Faria should be somewhere on the same path. Dipsy is an SI. Nugent should be going gonzo hearing the call of the wild. He'll be tearin up the street like a dog in heat. If a house gets in his way he'll burn it down. Pencil him in for 20. Of what, I don't know? Don't sell Ryan Mack short. He suffered a nasty ACL injury 18 months ago, but was considered as good an attacking mid in the college game b4 that. Ralph will make the team and you won't be sorry.
Competition ??? Sounds like there will be great competition this preseason -- possibly as many as ten players working hard for a Fire roster spot. Are we better off letting that play its course before introducing another Senior International player?
One of Mack's coaches was sitting behind me when he was drafted. He called him immediately after the pick. Volume was up pretty loud on the phone: Coach: Congratulations, Ryan, you've been drafted! Ryan: By who? Coach: The Chicago Fire. Fifth pick in the third round. Ryan: *loud audible scream of happiness* Always nice to see someone happy to put on the red.
I wasn't selling him short -- note that I said let him go play with Cinci without waiving him so we keep his rights. I just think he might need some time -- by the time he goes through the entire pre-season and then plays a season in the A-League, then he may be ready to go. My question is what role he'll be best suited for as a professional -- if it's a d-mid, not much chance of him getting much playing time there this year. If it's an a-mid, much better chance of being kept. The big problem for guys like Mack, Dombrowski and some of the others, is that with 4 P40's that only leaves 2 spots available for Developmental Players. If we only had 2 P40's, then we'd be able to keep more of these guys that might need a year to adjust to the professional ranks.