Everyone is missing the best part of this. What if SGR does come in and becomes the Moreno of '04? Just think if the endless bashing we can give Metroscum fans by turning the "King of Goals" from pretender to the throne. Now, on a more realistic note - no f'ing way would SGR make any sense on DCU.
I wouldn't put to much stock into what position he played while with the Scum, as they had Guevara and Lisi as defensive mids at varying points in the season. Not to mention the disfunction prevalent in their squad, revolving door at FW, etc ,etc. He is like RDA in that he is a good poacher (not as good i agree), but he also brings a bit more skill to the table and passes well altho doesn't create as much as Moreno. He wouldn't be a bad choice I think to come in and compete for a spot. He could be one of many players with a great resume abroad and couldn't succeed in MLS for whatever reason. Or he may just take a bit longer to acclimate himself to the league and with a better supporting cast may do well. The price has to be right tho...
THat's what it boils down to -- price. Someone mentioned a 100k salary with incentives - that doesn't sound that that bad - he did have 7 goals last year. But he also is an SI - we need guys who are really proven players as our SIs...i just don't believe he's gonna cut his salary in half like that to join us...
The key to the Moreno of '05 being "worse" in the eyes of some than the Moreno of '04 was that the Esky/Walker/etc. of '05 was so profoundly worse than the Esky of '04. Pretty tough to look creative when you beat one guy on the dribble and have two more covering him which is what Jaime had all season. With a competent true striker playing alongside Moreno (like Walker at times this year) it takes the defensive help away from Jamie and allows him to dominate.
As it was I who said 100K + incentives I must point out that SGR now has a green card. Maybe a broader perspective is this: The team needs a goal scoring striker. I myself don't care what he looks like or how he does it, the team needs a guy who will put in 10+ goals a year. If the team is looking for said striker they have to be thinking that they'll need to spend 150K. Either that or they're looking for dumb luck to strike Walker or some rookie or other untested newbie. Hey that's possible- Twellman was minimum wage his first year. Eddie Johnson was still cheap when he developed. But you can't count on that. SGR scored 7 goals in the run of play last year with a decent offense behind him. He should be able to score at least that much with United and I don't think that's going out on a limb to say that. If he gets hot, develops rapport with Moreno and Gomez, 10 goals looks low. Because of this, if he took an incentive contract starting at 100K, I can't see the problems unless United has a ringer they haven't brought out yet.
Guys, if you want some highlights of Galvan Rey click on highlights from 8/21 MetroStars-Chivas: http://metrostars.mlsnet.com/MLS/sights/index.jsp?club=met I think it'll get people who don't know Galvan Rey a sense of his kind of play. Skip to the 42nd minute and watch until Meola gets into a scuffle The guy's a poacher
indeed ...it makes more sense to have spelling-smack on a soccer website than it does to have an SGR thread on these boards...
I agree with most of what you say. But I think that Moreno did change in his own-right last season. He is looking less and less like a striker and more and more like an attacking midfielder. His mentality is increasingly less to score and more to pass or "pass the ball in the net". In 2004, Jaime took shots that he never even thought about taking in 2005. I think that Esky really had to earn his respect before he really began passing him the ball. And Jaime finished tons of balls that Kovalenko and others served in for him. In 2005, Jaime needed to to take more shots, because we did not have too many other goalscorers. He was much less direct and cut-throat about shooting the ball than Gomito. As far as SGR being the guy to provide Jaime with an outlet for his creativity - I don't doubt that they would work OKAY together. But if DC wants to be an elite team that dictates play across MLS - I think we really need a forward who uses more than guile and trickery and instinct to score goals. We need a complementary striker with power, speed and aerial ability who can stretch the defense. Jamil Walker is the closest thing that we have got to this in the Esky post-concussion syndrome era (and Esky was only an approximation of it anyway). I would make this position a major priority (money-wise, scouting/time-wise, etc). I think that the right guy in this position would make a bigger difference than upgrading a winger, which we also badly need to do. Why? Because I think that the level of improvement (and associated cost) we need from Jamil Walker to the ideal complementary (to Jaime) out-right striker is more critical than the level of improvement (and associated cost) that we need to move from Dema to an Earnie Stewart-type wing player. As I have said before, I think that Josh Gros is good enough as our athletic but technically) 'weaker' winger. We need to find him a good counterpart who can stretch things horizontally. But that need pales in comparison to a player who can stretch things vertically.
http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ap-atleticonacional-galvanrey&prov=ap&type=lgns The thread is now moot - "King" of Goals returns to Colombia to play for Atletico Nacional.
My point was that it is moot to talk about SGR coming to DC this season since he just signed elsewhere in a country where he had much more success than MLS. It is not moot to talk about acquiring a forward with the skills of SGR, whether a forward like SGR would be better use of a Senior International spot than someone like Filomeno, whether it is worthwhile taking a look at other teams' released players given our current roster and salary cap status, etc.
That plus any adjustments to the salary cap. Other Salary Cap Mechanations that might help: Goalkeepers Doubt we can do much to save ourselves money in this department. Nick is more valuable to us (given the style we play, which plays to his strengths of shot-stopping and 1v1s) then almost any other team. Even if we begin starting Perkins - I don't see how we can get rid of Nick's salary. Defenders It might not hurt to figure out whether we need to keep both Stokes AND Prideaux. I know they are not particularly expensive, but I don't think that Prideaux offers much more than cover (anymore) for positions where we have better alternatives and he makes more than a developmental player (as does Stokes IIRC). Boswell Namoff Erpen Wilson Stokes Prideaux I don't think that we need more than five of these defenders if we are sticking with the 3 man backline. Shed one of them and replace him with an inexpensive pick-up from another team or a draft pick/signing a la Boswell. It could save us $20,000 - $30,000. Midfielders We need to get rid of Dema so that we can sign a better fit at outside mid. It is that simple. I don't know if Chicago would spring for him, given their declining defmids and his history with that team or not. Maybe even Columbus would be interested given the loss of Paule, Elliott, etc. over the years and Schmid's apparent disdain for Szetela. RSL would have been a good fit but they signed Sequeira instead. Dema is way too expensive to be a bit-player, but he does not have a position at DC. I would also consider putting together a package that includes Kuykendall or deRoux, if it meant we were able to get the right kind of player in return. I like Shawn, but sometimes you have to give something up to get something back, and we have lots of depth at his position. And Kuykendall might be the type of player who has a bit of trade value - in terms of helping us get an outstanding young outside mid player who is along the same point in the developmental curve. I have heard rave reviews about deRoux, too, but I don't know if he is going to have a position. If Nana, who had obvious skills and assets that no one else on the roster really had, cannot merit a spot (not that I am questioning that) - I don't know if deRoux should either. Maybe Nickell should be in this category too. Of course, they may not have much value to other teams, but you never know. I would love, for example, to get Adolfo Gregario or David Testo as guys to slot in opposite/push Josh Gros. I believe that they have the technical ability and athletic ability to upgrade the position. Though Gregario may not be ready from day one. I think Testo would be a good player on the right team. If it takes sweetening a trade with young talents like deRoux or Kuykendall to get a player who can better approximate the impact of Earnie Stewart in 2004 - I say go for it. As I have mentioned on other threads - I think Chris Albright would be ideal in this position. But I don't know if we could afford to get him or if he would even want to come back. It will be interesting to see if Van Sicklen is on the roster come opening day. Forwards Unless we are 75% sure that Alecko can make an important contribution to the team in 2006, I think we need to speak to the league about finding a way to minimize his cap impact against us. Even if it requires us to make some hard decisions. I don't think it is reasonable for a "physically unable to perform" athlete like Esky to eat up $100,000+ of caproom in a league like MLS. It might mean forcing him to sit out a season - perhaps he is unwilling to do that. I don't know. But I don't think we can afford to be pollyanna-ish about what he is going to do for us next year. Taking up a seat on the bench and room under the cap is just not acceptable for another year. I agree that we need to mix things up here, and it is not laughable to mention SGR as a possible target. What would some other potential targets be? I know it seems outrageous after his miserable season last year, but what about Andy Herron? Is he as bad as he looked or could the right strike partner get him back in the form he showed in 2004? What would he cost? I really think that it needs to be a plus athlete who can complement Jaime, Christian and/or Santino. Granted Herron would not be an aerial target, but he would at least stretch the defense vertically. And I remain convinced he is a decent finisher even if he did not demonstrate it last season. He does make the kind of runs from deep positions that Alecko made so well in 2004. If we have to stick within MLS, some of the other guys who I could see pursuing are: Edson Buddle (even if it meant trading either of Freddy or Jaime), Jean Philippe Peguero, Abe Thompson or Brian Ching. Granted some of these guys would be hard to get ahold of, but given a roster with Freddy, Jaime, Gomito AND Quaranta - I would be willing to give up any of them (except for Santino) for a player like Buddle. Ching would be an awesome acquisition - but I don't know if Houston would trade him under any circumstances. Especially considering they are set at attacking midfield, which is the position at which we have the most strength. On the other hand, if we look outside MLS what about a guy like Panamanian wing-striker Roberto Brown? Or do I vaguely remember him having been transferred from the Panamanian league to a big club in South America? I guess we can fiddle around with Filemeno and figure out if he has anything to offer (if he even comes back to DC United), but I still think that we need a player more in the mold of the MLS strikers that I listed above.