Provided we lose the series to New England next week immediately afterwards we should trade or get rid of the following players to at least give us Fans some sort of hope for next season that we will improve our scoring chances and thus an ability to win other than 1-0 each week: Clintless: get an allocation or multiple draft picks. He has used up his time with us. Jusk-Slow: back to Poland as too slow for US soccer Richie Williams: only keep as a backup sub at this point. If he wants to start trade him elsewhere for whatever we can get. Or make him an assistant coach Digi; we could do better and if so replace him Edgar: If he is an SI then not worth it right now. If he gets a green card then keep him. Grafer: Enough with guy with the 4 or so GAA in the MLS the last 4 or 5 years. Has to be worst backup GK in MLS. Develop young P-40 instead here Moreno: Too old, too slow, too injured, say goodbye Argentinians: No hope as too slow Arena: OK , we did Bruce a favor for one year, now let Chicago or DC do him the favor next year Ziadie: OK at best, not crazy about him, should be able to do better. Let's start next season fresh and find players before the season starts rather than after it.
Where oh great evaluator of talent are we going to find that many new players and fit them under a salary cap?
Yes, great financial wizzard Eric Trump I guess Clintless, and the Jaime/Jusk-Slow combo don't make maximum salaries do they. Guess Edgar being an Si and Digi from Europe are minimal guys as well financially. Should be 1/4 to 1/2 of the team's salary cap dumped with the players mentioned and with good moves on young players and SIs that can actually finish or create effectively we will be improved. Guess you would rather keep Clint, Jusko, and Jaime at max salaries as they seem to you to be worth it rather than re-tooling this team of non-scorers and creators? That would give us a lot of hope for next season wouldn't it? Nick, it's time to cut your losses and dumpt your mistakes.
Nice dodge. Clint makes the Max. Jusko, Edgar and Digi certainly do not. Clint's contract is up this year- who is willing to trade for an out of contract player that wants to play in Europe? I don' think anyone thinks Jamie will be back. Argies- failure? Probably- they are Developmental players and cost nothing against the cap. Bradley took a chance and failed. Do you really expect developmental players who sit at the end of the bench to contribute? Grafer? Who cares he makes nothing and is a backup. According to you Metro "Nick Jr" Success we will need 9-11 new players. Where are these players? Do they exist? You can't dump half your team in MLS and expect to get better the next year. Or are you planning on drafting 7 impact rookies next year. Don't give up your day job.
While a post-season post-mortem is still premature at this point, I don't forsee massive changes in the offseason, certainly nothing comparable to last year. I still think there's a 50-50 chance Mathis will be back, although Bob's recent comments make me think the percentage might be lower now. Mathis will either be back with Metro, or in Europe, or he'll retire. No way he goes to another MLS team. We've got a core of vets and youngsters who are not going anywhere: Walker, Pope, Jolley, Guevara, Gaven, Magee, Clark. We've got a cast of middle-men who could be used as trade bait in the draft or could stay and help: Lisi, Digiamarino, Bartolomeu, Leitch, Ziadie, Regan, Wolyniec. We've got some guys who may retire or move on somewhere else: Jusko, Clint, Williams, Addo, Moreno. And then you've got the rest, who are just as likely to be with Metro as they are out of the league. Bob is quite opportunistic and I'd be very surprised if we don't make a few moves. The big question mark is Mathis. Whether he stays or goes will go a long way towards determining the look of the team next year. If he and Moreno (and Jusko) all go, we'll have a big chunk of salary to use on a bona fide goalscorer. And it's painfully obvious that's the one thing we still need.
Actually 9 – 11 new faces out of 25 or so spots from one year to another is not uncommon. Not that I agree with all his assessment, but remember many of those mentioned by Metrosuccess are far from certain starters here. I couldn’t find the opening day rosters of Metros from past years, but I’ll be surprised if the turnovers from year to year were less than 9 – 11.
Even with some of the bad teams we have had here, I challenge you to find a year when we replaced 11 players in the offseason (do not include this year). This is MLS. It is almost impossible to have turnover this great with the potential pool of players avaialbe so small.
Players on the 1999 roster not on the 2000 roster: Curcic, Dunaney, Fernandes, Hurtado, Johnson, Kalonji, Knight, Kvello, Lozzano, Sorber, Wolyniec, Zambrano Khakpour, Kelly and Joseph were on the 1999 team and were gone from the roster in the early stages of the 2000 season. That's 15 Players added to the 2000 roster: Comas, DaSilva, Dooley, Gomez, Hernandez, Jolley, Mathis, Matthaus, Dahir, Meyers, Payne, Perez, Shak, Valencia That's 14. Not all of these were off season acquisitions but almost all were on the roster by the early part of the season and played a role on the team. DaSilva, Gomez, Dahir and Payne came and went. I'd say the 2000 worst to first team was a marked improvement from the 9 and whatever team from the year before despite a large roster turnover.
That was my point in this post and glad to see that almost everyone can see it and Bob can turn it around. Didn't Chicago at one time have Novak, Kovalenko, Stoichkov, Wolff, and a few other guys recently along with many others and is now fairly competetive to say the least with guys like Ralph and others.
Things to do after our next game......... how bout pass out on the bus. or get tickets for the conference finals...
I don't see why Bradley needs to gut this roster. The season, and goals scored total, would have been much different if the Moreno gamble had worked out. A couple of consistent offensive players is all he needs to find. But who knows he may go ahead and do it anyway.
Nope. They traded three guys that were hurt all the time (Nowak, Stoitchkov, Wolff) and one guy who really isn't all that great (Kovalenko). The rest of the team stayed.
This is an honest question: What value should be placed on familiarity and teamwork? Can the team improve if by staying together they learn each other's moves, tendencies, etc? If sticking together can improve the team, then how much do y'all think it improves a team? Could it ever be more than the hopeful improvements of dropping some, and picking up other, maybe better players? It seems to me that All-Star teams are often not at good as a regular club team for this very reason. I'm really not sure how much it is a factor but I do think it needs to be considered.
This team does not need to be gutted. The priorities are one more solid central defender (I'm assuming a 3-5-2 here) and one superstar forward (to replace the not so super Mathis, who looks to be very much on his way out.). Everything else comes second. To be perfectly honest, this team is better than last year's version - also don't we all remember how many games we managed to eke out at the end...they are not a great team, just an average team that works hard. This is better than last year's crap and giving up squad. Walker Pope-Jolley-???????? Gaven-Rico-Lisi-Guevara-Edgar ???????-Magee/Woly/Jusko I hope Rongen calls up Eddie for Tunisia. Also is Jusko's contract for this year, because if it isn't, we're stuck with him unless someone is willing to pay a transfer fee. More importantly we have some depth as Leitch, and two of the other forwards, and Edgar, are better than our bench players of the past. And if we acquire more than two players (probable), our bench is even stronger. There is hope fro optimism, it's just that the Metros overacheived in the early part of the season, pushing up expectations, and when they returned to form, there was (is) much bitterness. Of course, off the field is and always will be a mess as long as Nick is around
I have three categories for this team. Drop 'em Grafer - fan favorite, but there are better backup keepers out there.., somewhere Arena - Do I really need to explain? Mathis - He simply doesn't connect with the rest of the team. The team has played better without him. If he takes a paycut, learns to connect and plays as a super sub then maybe... Moreno - He is the most dangerous striker against Metro.., and he killed us this season too! Juskowiak - He was supposed to be an end-of-season-ringer for this team. Only one goal scored and he's too slow. Really Need to Step Up Addo - Is it his age or just his lack of playing time? Bartolomeu - When he's good, he's really good. But the same goes for when he's bad. Work on those crosses Edgar Forchetti - More playing time and I think he'll be alright Ziadie - I've seen him make some crazy plays that work, but a few don't work Regan - If Williams were to leave the team, I wouldn't feel bad with Regan on the field DiGiamarino - Did he play in Germany? I can't tell Galván - Same as Forchetti. Could be a backup for Guevara Williams - I just can't put the little guy in the dump list Keep 'em Walker Jolley Pope - Best Defender in MLS right now, lets hope he stays healthy! Clark Gaven - Much better than anyone expected from a 16 year old Guevara - Great in tight spaces, great passes. Too bad Mathis could never connect with him. Lisi Leitch - Underated LeBlanc - Underated, Underplayed Magee Nugent - Underplayed Wolyniec - Metro wouldn't be in the playoffs this year if not for his goals
We have real potential next year. Teams are going to be capped out and looking to trade high salary players for low-salalry, middle impact players (i.e. Lisi, Ziadie, etc.). And certainly, according to the standard established with New England before the dispersal draft, if we lose Mathis, we should get an allocation, hence, we can look at a Yank abroad, maybe Conor Casey or Cory Gibbs. We really need one wing player on the left side (remember, Bradley's Fire only played with one true wing player in Beasley) and we do have Gaven on the right, and a forward to compliment Magee. We could also stand well to add another defender to the core so we can switch to a 4-4-2. Believe it or not, a player like Lalas might be interesting on this team. I wouldn't be suprised to see Jolley traded, good defender, nice guy, salary is still awfully high. If we lose Mathis and Moreno, and taking into account the difference in salaries between Howard and Walker, then subtract some money to offset Gueverra's contractual pay increase; we could be looking at about $600,000 in salary money. This could be three Gueverra type players we're talking about here. We could conceivably add Gibbs for $200,000 and allow Bartholomeu/Digimarino to play left wing. Lets say then that we go after Honduran Nunez, and he signs for max, then we still have $75,000-$100,000 we can play with and add a little depth. Just remember, players like Lisi, Digimarino, Wolyniec, Grafer etc. may not be great players, but they are cheap and get the job done.
Depth will be very important next year what with call-ups, Olympics and all dat stuf. Having a guy like Woly or Leitch, or Regan, or even Forchetti if he sticks around, that is not expensive and you know that you can stick him in and not pay too heavy of a price quality wise - those players would be invaluable. Ooooooooooohhhhhh - Gibbs, Jolley, Pope on a backline...me likey. I think Gibbs could be had cheaper than 200k. especially after the treatment he's received from St. Pauli.
How bout this: Drop Moreno, trade Mathis for Buddle. You open up cap space for defense and a SI spot. Mathis' karma has ran out in NY, and Buddle is competing with Mr. Franchise Brian McBride for a forward spot (he'll lose it). I also agree with alot of your analysis on who to get rid of.
Even second and third tier Bundesliga pays almost as well as MLS, but I think getting Gibbs to play first division ball, for Bradley, at $200k might entice him to come over. It all depends of course, if he wants to be seen by Arena or not. And up top, I wouldn't mind trading any allocation we might get to DC for Eskadarian and maybe a second round pick. Eski could be a real nice player up top, and we could use a draft pick or two for next year. Alecko is wasting away under Hudson, and could be a real nice compliment to Magee's poacher style. Plus, that would leave us with a max player slot, so we could look for a compliment to Gueverra in the midfield. Maybe someone like Vaca would be ideal-not quite a true number ten, but a refined player to help share the burden with our #20. In my mind, a 3-5-2 would be really sweet if things were to unfold like I envision: A backline of Jolley (if we can't deal him for a lower salary, say Evan Whitfield), Pope and Gibbs in front of Walker. Clark in the defensive midfield, with Gaven and Bartholomeu out wide. Vaca and Gueverra in the middle. Magee and Eskadarian up top. We would then have Lisi, Ziadie, Regan, Galavan, Forcetti, Addo, Digimarino, Wolyniec, Nugent on the bench. Would be a real interesting mix of depth and vetrans.