Um, where are they? I was actually looking forward to reading one story every hour for trades that are happening...but alas, there's nothing.
It's Nowak. CHICAGO FIRE NEWS RELEASE Contact: Diana Lopez, 312/705-7272, DLopez@MLSnet.com; Nicolino Di Benedetto, 312/705-7271, NDiBenedetto@MLSnet.com FIRE SENDS MIDFIELDER PETER NOWAK TO NEW ENGLAND FOR CONDITIONAL DRAFT PICK Trade Makes Chicago Compliant with MLS Salary Cap at Today's Deadline CHICAGO (Friday, January 3, 2003) - The Chicago Fire executed a trade with the New England Revolution today, sending Polish midfielder Peter Nowak in exchange for a conditional draft pick in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft. The trade was made at the 4:00 p.m. CT deadline of the MLS Salary Budget Compliancy Date in order to get the Fire under the MLS salary budget. Nowak will continue to be an active member of the FireWorks For Kids Foundation Board of Directors. The Fire also has another trade, which will be announced shortly. "This is the most difficult thing I've had to do in my professional life," said Fire GM Peter Wilt. "I feel strongly that Peter Nowak should have retired in a Fire uniform and we considered every option that would have allowed that to happen. Unfortunately, all of the alternatives would have crippled the team and ultimately, we could not do that. I want to thank Peter for all he has done for the team, the organization and the community. Peter reflects everything that the Fire is proud to be. His unbelievable work ethic, leadership and skill are qualities that have made the Fire so respected on the field. His humanitarianism, love of life and affection for the fans made him the team's most popular player." The 38-year-old Nowak captained the team to an MLS Cup title in 1998, two Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup titles (1998 and 2000), two divisional crowns (2000 and 2001), and a final appearance at MLS Cup 2000. Nowak has been a central figure for the Fire, since joining the team as its first international player on December 16, 1997. The dynamic central midfielder totaled 114 games played (all starts) scoring 26 goals and 48 assists for 100 points, which is second in team history behind forward Ante Razov (146). The former Polish international's 48 assists and 13 game-winning assists stand as the most in team history. "I would just like to thank all the fans in Chicago, especially the Polish fans that supported me," said Nowak. "They support me and the Fire and I really appreciate that. This stuff happens and I wish the team continued success. It has been a memorable five years. Chicago is my home and it will continue to be so." Nowak earned MLS Cup '98 MVP honors for his two-assist performance over two-time defending champ D.C. United. The 5'7" Pabianice, Poland native was named to the Pepsi MLS Best XI for three seasons (1998, 2000, & 2001), and Fire/Honda Team MVP honors for his contributions in 1998, 2000, and 2001. "It's been most difficult having to talk about moving Peter Nowak from Chicago," said Fire Head Coach Dave Sarachan. "He has been a hallmark and pillar of this organization. Given the circumstances, we tried to keep Peter, but it is unfortunate due to the circumstances that we could not accomplish that. Personally, I was looking forward to the opportunity to coach Peter. I wish him the best of luck as he continues his professional career." The trade is the second in consecutive weeks by the Fire in order to get the team's salary under the league's budget guidelines. Last week, the Fire acquired U.S. Under-20 midfielder Justin Mapp from D.C. United in exchange for midfielder/forward Dema Kovalenko. "Next season represents a new era in Fire history and it will be challenging to face it without our captain," added Wilt. "Changing of the guard is a reality of sports and the Fire must face the new challenges with new leaders. I am glad Peter will stay on with our foundation and maintain Chicago as his home and wish him success with his new team." TRANSACTION: THE CHICAGO FIRE TRADES MIDFIELDER PETER NOWAK TO THE NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION FOR A CONDITIONAL DRAFT PICK IN THE 2004 MLS SUPERDRAFT www.chicago-fire.com
i appreciate the polite correction, though many Fire fans would probably want to be fishing right about now...
btw, NE got Nowak for basically nothing. presumably the conditional 2004 pick (next year, not this) is based on number of games Nowak plays or how deep they go in the playoffs, so even if they have to give up a #1 next year, they will probably have had a fine season this year, a trade most teams in MLS (or anywhere in the world) would make. Nowak, at 38, may only have 1 or 2 good seasons left, but he's still quality, and NE made off like bandits in this transaction, getting exactly the type of player they need (the missing piece to the puzzle as it were). [knowing my luck in prognosticating, Nowak will tear a hammy on the first day of practice, in which case the trade will more or less turn out a wash] P.S. There's something rotten in Denmark when both Eddie Pope and Peter Nowak are traded from their teams in the same off season due to the cap. Not because of how they played, but because of how much they earn. If you want to build your fan base by establishing tradition, then you need key players to help build that tradition around. Both Pope and Nowak are perfect examples of that. And then poof, they're gone.
Very well summed up, FlashMan. Just echoes the greater need of more investment and more new capital needed in the league, overall, in order to raise the per-team salary cap, but that's something for which there are no instant cures or panaceas, much to the great dismay of Fire supporters at this point in time. However, on the Nowak trade itself, the Revs are looking really good, based on the mock starting eleven I saw on another thread on the Revolution boards earlier. Might even make them a good threat to return to the MLS Cup final. However, it is also a sign of mortgaging the future for instant gratification-- it may be a draft pick in '04, but it is a draft pick nonetheless. If Nowak stays healthy and plays, and if the Revs are a legitimate title threat, then the trade pays its dividends. If not, then all the trade will be remembered for was as a clear-out for the Fire, and the loss of a true leader as well. Cheers, William
Stunning. I agree with you. But it is not limited to MLS. Jerry Rice was forced off the 49ers. Emmitt Smith is about to get canned by the Cowboys. Patrick Ewing got moved out of New York. Hakeem Olajuwon was sent to Canada. Its sad - but it happens.
Watch the NFL this season, they won't be forced to trade any players... I should have been clearer, i meant MLS teams and forced to TRADE players to get under the cap more than other sports...NFL about 1 or 2 trades happen each season, hah...if that...Its more about drafting, releasing, signing, practice squad, etc... So i was correct in saying MLS teams are forced to TRADE their players to get under the cap more than teams in other sports are... thanks...
I love Nowak. Not a Fire fan (United through and through obviously) but was a season ticket holder 1998-1999 since they are the closest MLS team to me. However, he is getting up there in age, he is oft-injured (and Fire do much better without him now then they did in 1998), and the squad is obviously building for the future now. It's a tough call and I know nobody will be happy about it, but it's not the end of the world, people. If you are going to go with youth, you might as well go whole assed and let the youngin's bond quicker. I enjoyed watching him live and he was great for Chicago, but losing him now is much better then losing him 1998-2001. It's good for the Revs and it should give the Fire another young gun come 2004. Finally, as a United fan, I've been through this before. You guys are lucky. You've got Sarachan (arguably the best new-to-MLS head coaching prospect since Bradley), we had Rongen.
So are you really trying to say it's better that a team like the Baltimore Ravens had to release more than a dozen players, some of them borderline All-Pros, and get nothing for it than DC and the Fire actually being able to negotiate a trade where they might feel they get value? Neither system is good, but I think being able to get something for the valuable players you have to cut loose is much, much, much better than the NFL model.
NFL contracts are a totally different animals, plus, there is no such thing as pro-rating a signing bonus across the length of a contract in MLS, or an amount of money accelerating into the current year's cap depending on when a guy is released. The 2002 NFL Record and Fact Book lists 70 trades between 3/5/01 and 4/23/02. Most of them (39), however, were made on Draft Days, and involved swapping draft picks (trading up and down). The biggest trades were probably the Bledsoe, Ricky Williams, and Aenas Williams trades, and you could say the Bledsoe deal was a cap-related deal only insomuch as you can't invest that much of your cap in two quarterbacks if only one guy can play. In the NFL, they aren't forced to trade guys. They are forced to just plain release 'em, though. Which, as monster so correctly pointed out, results in Jerry Rice going on to catch an extra 200 or so balls for the team across the Bay and potentially winning another Super Bowl while the 49ers get bupkus for him. The NBA's Salary Cap makes it damn deadly difficult to trade guys. You'll quite often see four-for-one trades where a superstar gets dealt for four guys, all but one of whom gets released immediately. That's because the salaries in an NBA trade have to be within a certain percentage of each other (20% I want to say? Is that right?). You also see a lot of sign-and-trade deals, which you don't see in other sports.
EXACTLY!!!!!!!!! I hope single entity is not permanent as well. But what I think MLS should do eventually for the salary cap, is make it some % of player wage turnover sort of the way they're thinking of doing in Europe. This rewards the teams with good attendance. This may be a bad idea and I'm not suggesting a change real soon, but eventually this crap has got to stop. I'm sick of teams being torn apart. FED UP!!
I'm confused. Nowak, some salary busting player, is going to NE where last year they had to get "extra cap space" (which was shady enough) for Adin Brown? Man, I'd love to see the books of all teams.
Thoughts Two things -- 1. There are two ways to be cap-compliant as of 4 PM yesterday: trade or release players. We saw a bit of trading activity, but no list of waived players with non-guaranteed contracts. For example, for all we know, Revs may have waived APC and his $200,000+ contract, which would allow for Nowak to slide in easily (and I'd take Nowak over APC for the next year or two in a heartbeat). Let's not make any conclusions without knowing all the information with respect to player movement (not just trading activity)... 2. As for the Chicago trade, I think Nowak's trade was necessitated by KC's holding the Wolff - 3rd overall 2003 pick proposed trade hostage. KC absolutely KNEW that Chicago needed to get under the cap by hook or crook, so they probably said, "we'll send you a second round pick, nothing more." Chicago needs high first-round draft picks under Sarachan's new regime desperately, so they did the only logical thing: clear salary cap space by trading the highest priced veteran with the least gas left in the tank (hint: it's NOT Hristo). Now that Chicago is cap-compliant, KC's leverage goes "poof." If they want Wolff, and there's no doubt they do, they will have to pony up that 3rd overall pick in this year's draft. In essence, the Revs benefited from KC's loss in the overall game of chicken, but the Fire are still under a barrell, because they can't make a number of other planned moves until Wolff's max salary comes off the books, as well (although the timing is not as stringent, since the Fire have until next year's cap deadline to become cap-compliant once again). Why not trade Wolff for the lower pick before the deadline and keep Nowak as trade bait? Because no-one will pony up a first round draft pick for a 38 year old, injury prone attacking mid, and Nowak is only around for two more seasons, max, which makes drafting a big-time talent in this year's draft such an imperative. Why not keep Wolff now? Because a 3rd overall pick is MORE valuable in the long term -- keep Wolff, and you have the same problems next year without the talent in the pipeline. My $0.02 ...
The Fire haven't announced their "other" trade yet. They just said "shortly". I wonder if it will be today. As for player salaries, I've said for a while that we should all get together and put together a thread piecing together scraps of information on player salaries (things from SA, other news outlets, rumors, best guesses). Maybe something sticky in this forum or the Business forum? Or I'll put it on my website if you want. But I don't know where to begin, and I've no interest in or time to do it myself.
I thought the deal was they had the most space available for Brown, which is why they got him. Not much of that was explained, IIRC. Maverick's points are very good. They also could be dumping Serna, and if getting hold of people is an issue before releasing info, we all know how easy it is to get a hold of Diego. They dumped Sommer, who wasn't cheap. So right there, that could be a $400,000 in space alone. Add in Asad and Fuller and they could have anywhere between $400,000 and $500,000 avaialble. Nice to slide Nowak in. Bad if you're Twellman's agent trying to get a huge raise.