San Jose Dodges a Bullet--For Now!

Going into Jan. 3rd, we knew that KC and DC were substantially under the cap, SoS was a little under the cap (Balboa is being renegotiated I believe or could be cut outright), Chicago was in cap pergatory, SJ, Columbus, Dallas, Colorado were over the cap or right at it. We saw some of Chicago's response (kovalenko, nowak, and a trade to be announced). Columbus loaned out McBride (a deal that I think is dumb--he is with Everton throughout all of the preseason. Given the confed cup and lots of friendlies with Euro Cup national teams, it makes for a long season for a player who gets hurt and makes the max--not wise). NE will now be cutting APC and possibly Rooney b/c of the acquisition of Nowak. Dallas did not re-sign Rodriguez. Colorado is not re-signing Valderama.

But I was puzzled by the inaction of SJ. where they giving up on Cannon and Barrett? It turns out that they have loaned Graziani out to Emelec in Ecuador. Don't know how long he's gone for--I assume the pre-season (or perhaps until they can sell him?).

In any case, the Columbus and SJ moves don't help them for long--they will still need to cut/sell players if McBride and Graziani don't leave.

 

McBride is not on a "rent-to-buy" plan. He just signed a big deal with MLS after being out of contract and able to go to England if he wanted. My read is this is the best of both worlds. Access to the US National side, a good long-term contract, but an opportunity to go to Europe on a limited basis (and Moyes gets a quick, short-term help--I think McBride may play against Spurs this coming week). Ultimately though, I think he'll have an injury plagued year--McBride's track record shows that he plays hurt, won't stop for his own good (kind of like Olsen in that regard) and doesn't do well when he plays a full year (as opposed to an MLS year). Some of his injuries have been flukes--still, he doesn't stay healthy when he plays 9 months.

As for Graziani--who knows? I don't get the sense SJ has written him off. I think they're still trying to figure out what they can make out of a bad (though not Chicago bad) situation.

I think part of the situation is this: Columbus couldn't get the deal they wanted (gee--we wouldn't give up the #1 pick for Dante Washington), SJ was a hostage to the LD situation and is proably still trying to sort out what to do about cap reduction options (let Barret and Cannon go? Cut Agoos? Trade Mulrooney? Sell Graziani?). Some teams really expected they'd get good talent for what they gave up. A month from now, I think the deals won't be any better--they'd be worse. Everyone will still be cap-tied and the teams with cap room (us, KC) will have filled up or made plans.

 

No--when a player is on loan, they do not count against your cap. It's as if they player isn't on your squad--for the period they're on loan. The players tend to like the loans b/c (I believe) they can be loaned out for basically a pay increase. I thought, for example, Ben Olsen got more then his salary would have been (for the equivalent period) when he was in England. So McBride will probably make much more than a pro-rated $270K while he's with Everton. I think he gets to keep that.

Chicago used the same dodge last year with Kovalenko to help balance cap problems. Sunsing was on loan for most of ayear and didn't count on the NE roster. The reason Ray got Zambrano was that he was still owned by MLS (a guaranteed contract I suspect?) and his loan was up in Colombia--so he had a work permit and the league allowed us to bring him in for cheap (b/c the league was paying for him anyway). But the moment the player is off loan (McBride, Graziani, Olsen), he counts on the cap.