Yesterday's opener between FC Dallas and Chicago Fire on ABC was quite entertaining and got me hyped for TO joining the league next season. I was initially skeptcial when we got the club, but after letting it sink in i'm confident we can have a quality team and it will develop players as much as Europe will...anyways, i still think alot of the depth will come from fringe Canadians in and out of USL/Scandanavian leagues. However, i think we will get more top end talent than initally forecast and will be an instant contender. 28 total players. 18-man Senior roster with a 10-man development roster. Salary Cap is US$ 2.3ishM (development players don't count) with a marquee expection for 1 or 2 players making combined US$ 1M. Otherwise Max. salary is 300+K, sorry didn't bother researching exact figures. Plus the cap value in some instances is less than the actual compensation. Transfers accounted for are deemed reasonable... 4 forwards, 6 midfielders, 6 defenders, 2 goalies = 18 players Forwards --------- Tomasz Radzinski: Turns 33 yrs. old in Dec. '06 and maybe on the outs at Fulham with his form this season. Possibly a reasonable buyout and we offer him a multi-year US$ 1M/yr. contract as a marquee player exception and only 300+K or so counts toward the cap. Still has top class talent and can teach the next generation of up and comers, possible player-coach scenario later on. Cap Value: 350K Senior International(1): Quality striker to partner Radz. Perhaps a Central or South american? Shifty, creative and dangerous goal scorer. Cap Value: 100K Jason Jordan: Proven goal scorer at the USL level, may want to try his luck in MLS. Decent target man, potential to better himself at a higher level. Cap Value: 50-75K Charles Gbeke: Another decent target guy. Has scored somewhat consistently at USL level and had hot streaks in Denmark. Cap Value: 30-50K Midfielders ---------- Dwayne DeRosario: Trade with Houston sends them 1st or 2nd pick overall plus a 2nd rounder for the MLS Super Draft '07 and 1st rounder next year in '08, as well as some sort of Expansion Draft agreement for both Dwayne and Adrian Serioux. DeRo, cornerstone player and marketing dream. Cap Value: 350K Adrian Serioux: Clydesdale to DeRo's thoroughbred in Central Mid. Quality holding midfielder with CCC experience and an uncannily long throw-in. Cap Value: 120K Senior International(2): Strong ball skills, quickness, vision and shooting ability. Cap Value: 100-150K Rhian Dodds/Josh Simpson: One of these talented youngsters is bound to get out of their situation (Dodds - playing time, Simpson - Injury and relegation). Cap Value: 75-100K Maycoll Canizales: Crafty left-footed winger with attacking instincts. Has had some injury concerns with Werder and Hannover Reserves and been displaced in lineup by veteran players. Change of scenery and first-team football could do him some good. Cap Value: 50-75K Alfredo Valente: Good USL right winger/mid, cheap and serviceable. Cap Value: 30-50K Defenders --------- Marco Reda: Solid Central D who captained the Lynx, also has Norwegian and Danish league experience. Hails from nearby Woodbridge, ON and of Italian descent, could be fan favourite. Cap Value: 75+K Adam Braz: Solid USL right back. Excellent defensive ability and plays hard for 90. Not much offensive upside. Cap Value: 50K Ante Jazic: Trade with NY sends them Expansion Draft considerations. Good MLS left back. Cap Value: 75K Nevio Pizzolito: Quality USL central defender that will pair up nicely with Reda. Cap Value: 50K Andres Arango: Quality USL central/right defender that can pair up nicely with Reda. Cap Value: 30-50K Chris Pozniak: Local kid who can play at a higher level then he has been in Norway. Cap Value:50K Goalkeepers ----------- Greg Sutton: Top GK in the USL, and Canadian National teamer. More than capable of being a top notch MLS keeper. Cap Value: 150K Theo Zagar: Decent USL keeper. Veteran who will be a player-assistant with Lynx this season. Cap Value: 30-50K Total Cap Value: Forwards=550K approx. Midfielders=800K approx. Defenders=350K approx. GoalKeepers=200K approx. Total= $US 1.9M approx Development Roster* ------------------- GK Alim Karim/Simon Rayner (30K) D Nana Attakora-Gyan (10K) D Kevin Harmse (30K) MF Tyler Rosenlund (20K) MF Felix Brilliant (20K) MF Sita-Taty Matondo (30K) F Wyn Belotte (20K) YI #1 (20K) YI #2 (10K) YI #3 (10K) *Development slots pay between 10+K and 30+K do not count versus Cap This team would have the makings of a pretty good MLS side and contender for MLS Cup. Quality attacking talent with some grit in the middle of the field. Decent defense and goalkeeping. Depends who the coach is though. What about Colin Miller?
Thanks, but i've been mulling over these things from time to time over the winter so it was just putting it in writing...less than a year til MLSTO hits the field!!! i assume we'll be getting some front office news sooner than later. Anyone else care to add to the roster debate? The names and figures are subject to repeated change, but the framework should be somewhat sound.
What do you think about Jamie Dodds being either a senior player/Developmental player? I think he has a shot at making the team.
I can't recall seeing him play, or if i have i don't remember (Lynx games can sometimes make you forget you watched them). Anyways, he's younger than Rhian right? If he's got some skills then i don't see why he couldn't be on the development roster. Problem with the 18 man roster is there's very little wiggle room on the main roster and you want to make good use of those spots for players you would not otherwise be able to fit on the development roster (like his brother). Start him off on the d roster and if he pans out, cool. If not, no harm done. We could conceivably use all 10 development spots on Canadians...The players i listed on the d roster can be debated. I figure Brilliant has some experience and even though he's a '79 (i think) he might take the 30K and be thankful for it. Matondo, Harmse and Belotte are all 84's and we'll have to see how they progress this season. Rosenlund is an 86 and should still be available in the later rounds of the SuperDraft, or we trade for him. We'll need a young 3rd string goalie, and i would have pencilled in Wagenaar until a month ago. Karims' team in Hungary stink and will get relegated. Rayner is stagnating at Lincoln City and is on loan to a non-league team. I've heard nothing but good things about Nana (89) and he can be a rock on the backline with David Edgar for the U20's, and with Toronto for some time to come (til Big 4 teams come calling).
Valid arguements and constructive - well done - certainly exceeds what many have previously offered elsewhere. My only comments: Theo Zagar: You could probably hang a shirt and get the same effort/result. His current situation is perfect - with the Lynx. Colin Miller - An assistant coach! Not the head coach, just an assistant. He might be able to bring some insight on domestic players - but in the big scheme of MLS things, he lacks the MLS experience, also lacks forsight or hindsight to let players play vs overcoaching or micro-coaching. I think its a CSA thing where they all fear creative instinctive players; players who can take players on; players who play and think with flare; players who know when to hold a ball rather than just knocking it about aimlessly.
Man it must have been a very cold winter in Canada this year. In case you haven't noticed expansion teams in MLS are AWFUL!!! And Toronto will be no exception. And just so you know, Houston is not going to be sending you all the Canadians you ask for. They are at the top of the league, and teams at the top of the league don't send their best player and an improving DEFENDER to other teams for 3 draft picks. Come on.
Yeah, not much to defend those selections i must admit. Colin Miller just popped to mind because of his interim experience with the CMNT and in Scotlands lower leagues. Fact is, i couldn't think of any other Canadian remotely close to Frank Yallop and i certainly wasn't going to wish having Lenarduzzi as manager of this team. Might be a foreigner actually... Theo Zagar was a good USL keeper a few years back when he went to Rochester. I haven't seen him much lately so maybe it was off the mark. I'd have taken Mike Franks first, but I always wonder how he'd react to being the backup to Sutton. Franks has potential left, but you can't tell if he'll ever get it...he'd take the money for sure though, he makes crap in Vancouver...
Lots of great work in the line-up, dully repped. But I think you'll find that your roster will be made up many more current MLS players and definitely more Americans.
Hey, they might not have a choice, look at the whole Freddy Adu to DC draft rig...it might happen, it might not, this is all speculation anyways. Besides, you have guys like Eddie Johnson, Carlos Ruiz, Edson Buddle etc. who are very good players getting moved all over the league. And i'm not saying it'll only be 3 picks (2 1st and 1 2nd BTW), i'm sure they'll come to some sort of agreement where Toronto ignores someone on the Houston expansion unprotected list or they pick up someone Houston covets from another team in the draft and include them in the deal. Plus, i'm sure Houston would get some kind of allocation as compensation for losing a top-class foreigner like DeRo and it would free up cap space. And just cuz expansions teams have been shiite in the past doesn't mean they have to continue to be...
Thanks for the rep. dude. That is another thing i overlooked, i did not include any Americans. We can have 4 and not have them count as foreigners. If we could add a good #2 or #3 US striker, then that might move a guy like Gbeke out or onto the D roster (if he can't make more anywhere else). Maybe the backup keeper can be American, or one or two capable defenders may actually be the better idea. Ah, the possibilities!
Oh its a good problem to have. But I would think that a majority (75%) of that team would have to have MLS experience. However I don't know if there are 20 Canadians in MLS right now.
Yeah, there are only a few Canadians with MLS experience so we might be shy on experience...But must of the canucks i listed have some sort of MNT experience and have played in the top divisions in Scandanavia, so they have been exposed to a slightly more professional environment than the USL. But hopefully we'll have some good foreigners, maybe guys like Roberto Mina from Dallas or Thiago from Chicago for example, not that they're amazing or anything but would bring the level up a bit. Personally i'd lose it if we got Djorkaeff ,but that ain't happening. Maybe an older Portuguese international coming over? It'll be fun.... By the way Veruca, i just noticed you highlighted DEFENDER. i assume you're saying that i'm wrong to list Serioux as a mid. In fact, he started as a D with the Lynx and played holding Mid with Canada B before getting picked up by Millwall and playing in their midfield. I like his skill level and i think he could be our Ricardo Clark alongside DeRo.
Great work jpg75, but I disagree on a few fronts. I think Toronto will use all of their American SI slots. Likely at the expense of the mid-level Canadians you listed (like Canizalez and Pizzolitto). I think a good number of their starters will come out of the expansion draft and those available spots. I think we all hope and assume that USL guys or Scandanavian-based Canadians will fit right in on an MLS team, but none of them are proven at this level and it would be foolish to bank on those guys when you can pick a handful of guys where you have seasons of experience to see how they fit into the league. Unless a) some phenom enters the MLS draft (I don't even know who this would mythical player would be) b) MLS ligns up a big-time allocation that fits in well in Houston (I'm thinking hispanic) and Houston doesn't have an allocation to their name and/or c) Alexi Lalas or Isiah Thomas becomes GM in Houston . . . there is no way I can see DeRo coming to Toronto. It would take a decent allocation and the first pick overall at least. And not knowing Houston's allocation situation and having no way of knowing which underclassmen are opting into the draft it's a too early to even speculate. As it stands right now there's no seniors who I would even consider trading for and give up DeRo. Even as part of a package. For the Houston fan(s): would you trade DeRo for Marvell Wynne and John O'Brien? as a hypothetical stud high pick and a quality allocation. The stars would have to align to even make that trade a possibility and even then Dynamo may not do it. Serioux is also only likely available if Houston is unhappy with him and wants to unload his salary and free up an SI slot. Jazic isn't even with CFKA Metro AFAIK, so we'll see. I'm hopeful for him for sure. Or unless we get a Richard Mulrooney situation and Houston deals Serioux home out of the goodness of their hearts. I'm not sure on Sutton. He would be a great starter, but as a non-MLS import I can't shake the feeling that if he really had his eyes on an MLS career he'd be in the league already. He'd start for half the teams in the league IMO and doesn't count as an SI and yet hasn't made the move. Not sure if that's his choice or not. I definitely think Radzinski will be the major allocation and the big money signing. If they can get Simpson for the high five-figures I would do it in a second depending of course on the Jazic situaion. Reda, Braz and Pozniak seem like all very solid signings, they seem like they could be avilable and in the right price range. Gbeke was a good call and I think Zagar is a very solid option as a backup who will push for the starting job. Especially if they do opt for one keeper Phil Marfuggi, a strong US youth keeper who should be one of the top picks this year in the draft. I'm not sure I'd spend 50-75k on Jason Jordan and I definitely wouldn't spend 50k on Alfredo Valente. You could get a proven MLS starter for 50k and have the SI and YI slots to do so. Finally I think we need to go younger on the developmental roster. Columbus had three teenagers on the pitch in their season opener. Rather than get a washout like Wyn Belotte (I've given up on him) and older guys who aren't distinguishing themselves in the USL, I would rather try to get the next Jaime Peters, Steven Vitttoria or David Edgar locked up. I'm not sure in Brillant or Taty would come on board for a developmental contract, but there a lot of good U18/U20 who could even fight for starts in the first season. Harmse would be great and younger guys like Oliviera, Monsalve, Braletic, Attakora-Gyan, Owunsu-Ansah, Shane Lammie, Nunez, Contreras, etc. There's probably even younger guys (I'm thinking 16ish) who are at the point of being close to jumping the pond. Not meaning to knock the effort at all and I'm really excited about this deabte. It's too early still to really get too far into the conversation. That said I'm really hoping we go after Radz, Reda, Pozzy and Braz (and Jazic if CFKA Metro don't have him already) and am busy watching games this year to try to find four or five expansion draft guys to add to that group and build around. I don't think you can bank on big time allocations and SIs panning out. And we definitely can't count on any of the Canadian MLSers somehow winding up in Toronto. So I think we need to focus on getting a handful of good and available Canadians and good and ready to contribute MLS veterans and hoping the young domestics and the SIs pan out well enough for a successful first season. cheers, hobbes
Emphasis added. Are you expecting this to be the rule by next season? As I understand it, a "Beckham Rule" has been discussed, but not yet inacted.
Also, I think Developmental Players do count, but Generation adidas players (who may also be Dev Players) do not. PS Not that amounts to much, most Dev Squad players make about $11,000 US.
IIRC, the salary cap/budget excludes all 10 Generation Adidas or developmental players who comprise a team's developmental roster - so the 18 senior rosters players must fit into a salary cap/budget of $1.91M for 2006 teams.
I was under the impression that the rule already existed I think Landy and EJ are already making almost a mil each, yet they only count against the cap at a lower amount...or that's what i thought i read on these boards...
You made some good points Hobbes. Like i said, this is all speculation and just a starting point to a more incisive analysis of who is going to be on the opening roster when the smoke clears. More importantly we need a front-office before we can actually have informed speculation. I wanted to add as many Canadians on my initial list because i think one of the primary roles this team can have is as a development tool. I should have added more younger players on the D roster as well, but who knows if any of the kids i would have listed would still be on this side of the Atlantic by this time next year. i agree that a player like Shane Lammie would be a good pickup, he's shown a knack for goal with the youth teams. What about Teal Bunbury? with an old man like his, he's got to have some game...and there might be some decent prospects in Europe who run into a wall and come back for a short-term spell. eg. Jaime Peters leaving Kaiserslautern and being without a team for months. As for maximizing the American SI slots, i'm all for it. I just wasn't going to do it right off the bat cuz i don't know what i'm talking about. Obviously not knowing the players available in the expansion draft will have something to do with that. But more importantly i don't have the intimate knowledge of lesser known MLS players (that goes for Foreign SI's that i listed generically and not specifically) that some US MLS supporters on this board would have. As long as we get some constructive players, guys with skill and heart who may not have been retainable by their old clubs for legitimate reasons, that's cool. However, it would not be a good idea to load up on cast-offs just cuz they have MLS experience, especially expensive ones. As for DeRo and Serioux, it's part wishful thinking and hoping MLS pulls some strings. Serioux might talk them into it, especially if he needs to be close to his mom then maybe something can be sorted out. DeRo, if he has another MVP type season then perhaps there's no way he's going anywhere. But then again maybe the league steps in and wants him playing at home and giving everyone in Southern Ontario and even Canada someone to cheer for. Maybe the 1st or 2nd pick next year could be a US U20 player? then they get a top 2nd rounder and a 1st rounder the next season. Not to mention a couple of mid-tier guys from the expansion draft who fill the 120K Serioux leaves open and a 350K foreign allocation to fill DeRo's shoes. Anyways, good times ahead..
Johnson and Donovan are among players that are over the max but last year only counted the max against the "cap" or "budget." I believe that this year those players actually count a bit more than the max against the cap. I've read that info in a place or two, but the link I had to a 3rd Degree story on it no longer works. I believe the proposed "Beckham Rule" would be to have one (?) such player completely cap exempt, rather than counting the max or a bit more than the max, as Johnson and Donovan (and a few Chivas players?) do now. See this article for an opinion on the Beckham Rule: http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/exclusives/493609.html
http://www.socceramerica.com/article.asp?Art_ID=562136931 This article from Soccer America contains the details I was looking for. The official max salary this year is $310,000, but players like Johnson and Donovan who make much more than that will count $350,000 against the cap.
If Toronto gets a good youth system together they could be a very formitable club. What with an entire nation of talent to draw from opposed to 260 million / 13 teams for the US.
So then it's doable for us to sign Radzinski and keep under the cap...if Fulham and MLS come to terms on a reasonable transfer that is...thanks Atouk!
Not a bad point but your equivalence is not so attractive. Yours stats indicate that there 20 million per US team. There are only 30 million people in all of Canada. Not such a great advantage.