Re-vamping DC United?

By reading Hudson's tea leaves, Pope may be a relative untouchable. That is, Eddie may have more control over his contract than the usual player, especially about trades, so the following is probably science fiction.

Looking at Rev's list above, Pope is the obvious (to me) opportunity to gain cap space without gutting the team because it would be FAR easier to keep our defense intact with a defender of lower cost than it would be at midfield or forward. Cowlumbus may give us Clark and change for Eddie, for example. Clark did an outstanding job on Anchovy in the USOC final. He's a solid veteran who plays a lot of minutes. Clark for Pope would create at least $150k in cap space and our defense would still be strong, assuming a happy Nellie.

Now I'm not saying that Eddie is over-the-hill or even that I want to trade him -- he's still a great player. I'm just looking at the variables in an attempt to solve the equation for winning.

GM

 

The cap is the number one most important variable in MLS moves, IMO. I'm assuming no significant increase in the cap for 2003. [However, Uncle Phil's acumen at acquiring World Cup rights may mean added MLS revenue, which could mean a cap or roster size increase. I'm betting on a roster size increase and a smallish cap increase of less than $130,000.]

Honorable mention goes to the injury variable -- but one cannot control that to any great degree.

GM

 

Re: MLS Team or A-League Team?

As to being less competitive in '03, I don't think so. With Olsen around for the full season last year, we'd have been in the playoffs. There's no doubt in my mind about that... even with the Moreno and Tino injuries. And with the Eastern Conference as week as it was, Olsen alone could have made us the top seed. Further, guys like Convey and Nelsen made good strides this season and can be expected to continue to improve. Olsen (with more time at full fitness), Tino (if he can stay healthy) and Mapp should be improved next year over '02. That's the bonus of being as young as we are -- your players (are supposed to) get better.

That being said, I agree with you... in 2003, we need either Jaime and Marco healthy and motivated or, if we can't have that, we need to shed either or both so that we have two guys of similar talent/salary levels both healthy and motivated next season.

At some point, Hudson has to play the odds: does he think it more likely that he'll get that from Jaime and Marco or from their replacements. Given that the "motivated" part should have kicked in for Jaime long before now (and most don't think it has), Ray may think the odds are better elsewhere.

 

Actually, I think Hudson is going to try and sign only one max salary player (as a replacement for Moreno most likely) and then try to max out the other starting jobs available with players that are in the 100K-150K range.

I think the days of more than two max salary players on a team are pretty much done. Too risky due to injuries, etc. Much better to try and coax career performances out of mid-range guys like Dallas, SJ, NE, Colorado all did.

So Moreno could well get replaced by a big time player, but I think Marco's money will either be used for two players or he'll take a cut and the extra goes to someone else.

Bottom line since I'm getting a bit wordy here is that instead of three guys taking up 750K, I think five guys will share that money when all's said and done.

 

Lots of good points here guys. I agree with most of the analyses.

This league is run by a few very devout individuals. One of the reasons it was founded was to help grow the US National Team. There are some players that simply cannot be traded, even if the GM, coaching staff, and fans want it to happen. Among these are Brian McBride, Eddie Pope, and Landon Donovan. There really isn't any point in discussing a situation where we do not have Eddie Pope here in DC making at least his current salary, unless he wants to move to Europe.

I, like almost all of us, really like Etch. Talent extroidinaire, loyal, dependable, and a hell of a nice guy. But the reality is that he'll either be counting less against the cap next year, or he'll be gone. That's one source of revenue, either the salary cut Etch takes, or his entire max salary slot.

I think that in December/January, if Hudson' hasn't secured a replacement for Moreno and Moreno's exit strategy, Jaime will be made an offer similar to Etch's. If Hudson believes that Jaime is indeed coming back physically and rounding back into form psychologically, he may offer him a reduced salary to stay. Otherwise, he's gone and will be replaced by a high (not necessarily max) salaried player. Remember, no one on the Fusion made the max, and Serna wasn't the highest paid player ... Bishop was.

Santino will now count against the cap, so that's at least 70k right there. Richie Williams' entire salary now counts against the cap (no more Metros carrying a large chunk of it), so that probably means that Richie is now too expensive, so look for him to move on as well.

Rimando gets a raise because he deserves it. McKinley gets a raised because he was promised it. The general speculation is that many players (i.e. Convey, Reyes, Prideaux) have escalator clauses that will further strangle our cap room.

Mike Ammann will be off our books, that's like 100-120k that we can use for raises.

Justin Mapp is still P-40. This was a strategy of the team, and part of the reason he was finishing school rather than training with the team and using a tutor. Shrewd move IMHO.

Next season Mapp will be our only P-40 player, and if Diceson's scuttlebut is correct, then there will be 5 or 6 developmental spots. We'll need 4 or 5 players to fill it, and clearly P-40's provide the best bang for the buck.

On a side note, one of the players I was touting as a possible good P-40 addition to DC United, Jonathon Spector, is presently in Manchester England on trial with Manchester United. Dangit. He was considering college (UVa among his final choices) and MLS, but if ManU offers, I think we all know what his decision will be. Congrats to him ... now we need to cast our net wider looking for P-40's.

-Tron

 

I disagree with your assumption that Etcheverry will need to be replaced by a big ticket guy.

No other team in MLS is dependent on a high priced #10 anymore, other than perhaps Colorado - and how well did it serve them?

With Convey, Olsen, Mapp, Reyes, Williams and Alegria in the lineup, DC will want to add another winger and somebody who can play centrally, but will not need to add a centerpiece. Actually, I think United should go for a high quality withdrawn forward and a mid-level target forward.

And don't forget Little Ritchie as a source for cap room. So now I wonder, how much does John Wilmar Perez make?

 

I would rather have 3 high salary but not capped out players.. get them to play well together and torch everyone.. 3 good players together are better than 1 amazing player

 

First, I don't see us getting any cap room by waiving ABMOD. Most of his salary was supposedly paid by the SoS this year. We should realistically assume that even if ABMOD is cut, we will pay more for our D-mid this year than we did in 2002. So no savings that route.

As for the Amman money, assume that goes to pay Quaranta (now on the cap), salary raises for McKinley and Rimando and I bet Prideaux was dealt partially for salary reasons from KC.

I doubt Quintanilla counts much against the cap at all. He's probably dirt cheap.

As for cutting Moreno and Etcheverry's salaries, I'm sure they are going to be offered substantially less money (unless we cut Moreno outright or trade him). But in both cases, it is still not likely to create cap room. My understanding is that BOTH are now paid above the MLS max and if Etcheverry's salary was cut $100K he'd still be at the MLS max.

I think we're definitely dropping 1 max salary and probably two. That is how we're going to create cap room.

As for people who think we're doomed to be bad next year, remember--our inability to finish killed this team. With a 15 goal scorer, we'd have had 8-10 more wins. The players down the middle of the field (even Quaranta) were not able to play all out, dominate matches and win games for this team. There are a bunch of modestly salaried players who would result in a better team just b/c they could be on the field all the time, would have better allaround games, player tougher "D", win more 50-50 balls. We can talk about how losing Etcheverry and Moreno would mean we'd be terrible (even with good replacements) but remember, our forward play (even with Jaime) was absolutelyd dreadful. Our midfield play and scheming was mostly poor and never consistent until the very end. I doubt anyone would say Etcheverry was one of the 5 best creative mids this year in MLS or that Jaime was one of the 12 best forwards in MLS this year.

 

I disagree, we should see a lot less of the 'Jaime Moreno' injuries as I like to call them, muscle aches, joint pain, etc. due to a better offseason work out regimen with Petrosarian.

While by no means a cure to the problem, it should definitely help.

 

Re-vamp?



That ought to do it.

 

Hmm, I saw the top of the mullet and was sure it was going to be a picture of Etch -- and then I scrolled down further...

Well, let's hope that's not going to be next season's home uniform. And the cigarette better not be part of Petrosian's offseason conditioning program.

 

Matt McKeon's available. Other than "an improved Bishop", he would seem to fit that description, but maybe at cheaper than max salary.

 

I am afraid that the MLS salary cap and roster size will only produce variations of mediocrity unless one is extremely lucky (a la Twellman). Look at the current MLS champs, lalagals. They've got Ruiz (who they scouted and signed, so not lucky) and Jones as the only players with real talent. It's not that the other players are talentless (i.e., Hartman, Marshall, and the slumping Elliott have good skills), but rather that lalagals is a collection of worker bees with a "Queen or two" that makes the colony work. If "Queen" Ruiz were to lose a leg or two, just how well do you think lalagals would have fared? Probably equivalent to DCU forward production.

As DCU found out in 1998, you can't even expect to hold on to your own players if you give them deserved raises -- somebody will have to go.

As long as the rosters are so small and the cap so frugal, we are doomed to cheer for shades of mediocrity. Let's hope DCU's level is on the top level of that strata.

That MLS does so well Internationally (even the mutts beat AC Milan) with so little is a tribute to the players and owners. It is probably the most efficient League in the world.

GM

 

Re: Re: Re-vamping DC United?

And tickets are $100 a pop.

 

Again, I offer: