Senior roster (maximum 18) Agoos Ching Conway Corrales Dayak DeRosario (senior international) Donovan Dunivant Ekelund (SI) Lagos Mullan Mulrooney Onstad Robinson Roner Russell Waibel Developmental roster (maximum 6) Alvarez (P-40) Levesque (developmental player) Uncertain status Saunders Walker I am assuming Maliza and Sanfilippo are not in the picture this year, as there have been no reports of them training with the team. There is room for one more player on the senior roster. Saunders and Walker are still listed on the website as college protected, which means unsigned, and I believe their status needs to be finalized if they are to be eligible to play on Sunday. Could be they have been signed but the website is lagging. It's best for the team's depth if they would sign developmental contracts.
I know that Conway counts against the cap, but as an injured player does he count against the 18 man roster? I dont know MLS roster rules that well.
One thing about the Onstad signing is that it eliminates any chance that Saunders would get a senior roster spot. The Quakes now have two senior keepers (Onstad and Conway) and are certainly not going to add a third keeper to the senior side. [looking at batfam and beerking] And for all of you Conway haters out there, b/c the ankle injury happened in training while he was under contract to the Quakes, there's no possibility of dropping him - not that we'd want to. [/looking at batfam and beerking] Ja. Walker still has a shot at a senior spot, but my money is that he will get offered a developmental spot or will maybe end up playing int he A-League. That's just a guess tho. Regardless, there's room for: - 1 more senior roster player including 1 more senior international (limit 3: Ekelund, DeRo) and 1 more discovery (limit 4: Ekelund, DeRo & Onstad) - 4 more developmental roster players (limit 6: Levesque & Alvarez)
I think you can pretty much guarantee Saunders will sign under a Development Player contract. Hopefully they'll offer Walker a DP contract as well and he takes it. If he pays attention to how Roner has done and how he could make his way into the lineup this year, Walker could go far.
I averaged the ages of all the signed players (both senior & DP) and Saunders/Walker, 21 total players. The ages averaged to 25.5. If we don't sign Saunders and Walker, the average age is 26. That's a young team. There is plenty of veteran leadership and experience, but this is a young team with a bright season ahead and a bright long-term future as well. Yallop really established the 2001 team through trades. From the 2002 and 2003 draft, it seems that he is going to prefer developing projects for his long-term plans (Robinson, Roner, Walker perhaps) and pick up those good, consistent 2nd tier players through trades and drafts (Mullan, Ching, Waibel). I think Yallop has a pretty good game plan for player acquisition. Sure there are good arguments that his drafting sucks, but it can really be a crapshoot.
I will play the Devil's advocate. Waibel was cut by Yallop 2 years ago. Perhaps he's improved significantly since, but you have to wonder why Sigi would trade him so readily. Let's face it, Waibel is cheap and won't get pushed around by MLS forwards. We can say he's an upgrade from Ibsen, but I don't think he's better then Conrad. Mullen and Ching both got long looks by Sigi and neither was very impressive. LA had lots of problems scoring when Ching and Mullen got significant minutes. Even with little fish next to him, Mullen didn't find the net with regularity. That's not to say they suck, but they look like good A-League players instead of quality MLS strikers. Perhaps they will have a break out year and prove me wrong. I hope so.... While Yallop should be given credit for developing good defensive talent, he must also take responsibilty for NOT developing young offensive players. Carrieri, Bower, Lucci, Woolfolk, Martinez, Agogo, Barclay, the list goes on. Donovan has been successful, but I think he brought most of the skills that makes him special. Does anyone feel that DeRosario is a lot better now then when he arrived? I don't see much improvement. The team has performed wonderful under Kinnear/Yallop. They still have some weaknesses to fix though. Our ancient centerbacks had major health issues last year. How much longer will they play at a high enough level for us? While Robinson looks ready, who can partner with him? What is our goalkeeping situation? By the way Yallop has talked, it seems he doesn't have total confidence in Conway.
You bring up some great points Jeff. Woolfolk wasn't here under Yallop, and to tell you the truth, I have no idea which Martinez you're talking about! Carrieri had attitude and asked to leave. Bower had attitude and a horrible degenerative disease that really didn't give him a fair shake to show something to Yallop. Gonzalez (Lucci) talked to Yallop and got waived because together they felt that was best for Gonzalezs career. Agogo is a boozer, who really didn't produce (how old is he anyway? he's not as young as some of these guys). Barclay was tried at the right mid spot again, again and again. I didn't think he got a fair shake since he's a forward. Barclay also had attitude as well. Being away from home without sufficient support will do you in as well. Now Carrieri has bloomed in Colorado and Gonzalez looks to make an impact this coming year in Columbus. These guys improved under a change of scenery. Perhaps the same can happen for Ching, Mullan and the other acquisitions. Don't forget you made the point that the team has done well under Yallop. If they buy into the team concept, which it appears they do, then they will have greater success. The guys that have really succeeded here are team-oriented players that have bought into Yallop. Robinson has paid his dues, Roner appears to have paid his, and others will reap the benefits. Graziani is/was a productive player, but could you agree that he was even more productive when he appeared to have bought into Yallops system?
Exactly! The one sure way to win a championship with a strikeforce of Ching and Mullen, is to make sure you're playing in the A-Leage.
He's injured but didn't officially set to be in Injured Reserve (status that makes a player to not be counted against the cap). http://www.mlsnet.com/about/regulations/
There are 17 on the senior roster list above, of which 2 (Conway and DeRo) are hurt. So does this mean we could add 3 players?
Injured players count against the roster just like anyone else. MLS doesn't give roster relief for injured players unless there are three players placed on the injured reserve list, which makes them ineligible to play for a set amount of time. Roster relief in that case used to be the temporary loans from the A-League, but now there is no agreement witht the A-League so I don't know what it would be. DeRo won't be on the injured reserve list because he probably will be ready to play by week 2 or 3. Conway might go on the list, but it doesn't make a difference unless there are three players on the list.
As a somewhat impartial observer, certainly one who has a somewhat different perspective as I get to see Dwayne play rarely in the MLS but more with our national team, I would say he has indeed improved compared to two seasons ago. His appearances have been consistently better game to game, season to season. Some of the credit has to go to Frank Yallop. Your goalkeeping situation should be fine as Onstad's an experienced pro, played with Canada just last month in a friendly. Green card is a bonus as you'd hate to use one on a keeper.
Woolfook was drafted by Yallop his first season in charge, remember? As was local All-American Jorge Martinez from San Jose State. Granted, they were 5th and 6th round picks, but neither got a chance. My point is, Yallop has improved his defender's skills and abilities by quite a bit. On the other side, look who's playing up front. Except for Donovan, who do we have? DeRosario....he was drafted out of the A-League. Ching.....he was picked out of the A-League (after being dropped by LA). Mullen....played ok in LA, but didn't score much. Alvarez....hey, he looks like a good choice, but oh so young. Yallop has spent high draft choices on Carrieri (which turned into Agogo), Gonzalez, Barclay. Our P-40s have been a joke (see ya Scott). Alvarez is the only one we have now. Chicago has 4. NY/NJ has 4. DC has 4. Dallas has 4, heck even LA has 3. While the young kids might not be ready to start now, at least they give you options if you're hit with a rash of injuries. What kind of value did we get for our high draft picks under Yallop? Agogo released. Gonzalez waived. Barclay traded for the right to draft Ching (who was going to be available ANYWAY at our drafting position). That's embarrassing. And why are our offensive players having attitude problems? Could it be because they NEVER get in a game? Even DeRosario has complained about his PT.
How were they supposed to get a chance? There was no developmental status in 2001, so drafted college seniors had to fit into the 18-man roster. Which member of the 2001 team would you have cut to make room for Woolfolk or Martinez?
Todays the day the rosters need to comply (18 plus 6), so I guess we'll find out if Saunders and/or Walker are signed as DP's, full-time contracts or released. -Richard