http://www.soccer365.com/EUROPEAN_NEWS/Rest_of_Europe/page_109_48454.shtml Schalke 04 veteran Adreas Moller (how the hell do you do "o" umlauts in Windows anyway?) is looking to finish his playing career in MLS.
In addition to that, and the Balakov rumor, there is some talk the last few days we are looking to trade one of our defenders before the start of the season.
Didn't we try that last year. Wasn't it a failure? Then again, we probably do have too many at this point to really fit into the back line. Carlos Bocanegra C.J. Brown Jim Curtin Chad Dombrowski Logan Pause - P40 Orlando Perez Evan Whitfield Geez, you just know they aren't talking about cutting Perez or Pause either. Probably Pause is so impressive that they're considering freeing some cap space by shifting off someone senior...CJ or Boca? *breaks out antacids*
Dave seems to be thinking 442, Evan, CJ, Carlos and Jim, right? Have Perez around just in case and I hear Pause can play midfield as well. But why trade any of them for gossakes? I don't like where this is heading. Wait, maybe we're getting a Korean player for free...
For what it's worth, there was some speculation that the Metros were interested in trading for Perez not too long ago.
I thought I realized that, but I mean, look at the players on our roster. If we're going to ship a defender to make space for other moves, there ain't a lot of options. I sincerely doubt that Perez is going to count for much in terms of salary or as trade bait, unless there's someone that we can get who is both a tremendous talent and a tremendous pain in the ass for his present coach.
Korean players aren't cheap (at least national teamers). Hong (with LA) was affordable only b/c a consortium of Korean businessmen pooled money to help pay for the transfer fee (b/c they wanted a S.Korea star in the US to help pitch their products). The dilemma about trading players is that what would make the most sense for Chicago is to create cap room (so you could afford a Balakov). Unfortunately, from what I guess your defenders are making, none of them is at or near the max. Trading a Perez does you almost no good (since he's probably just above MLS minimum) unless it was a trade for cap space. And then, the SoS ain't the team to be trading for capspace (they need every penny they can scrounge in their own search for an A-mid talent plus adding other depth). For those same reasons, trading Pause would do no good (separate from his talent and potential) b/c he wouldn't open up any cap room (being P-40). My guess is that Bocanegra is your highest paid defender (and even then, he probably doesn't make huge bucks). I thought CJ Brown was around $70K. Whitfield is probably around that figure (a bit lower I'd guess). You're not going to create much cap room by dealing any of those guys (at least, enough for Andy Moller who would require the MLS max).
Long overdue IMHO. I'd see CJ Brown as the primary trade because he's veteran, skilled, has decent size and speed, and also clears cap space. But the word was that they'd peddled him around in the past and didn't like the offers they received. So, maybe Perez. As mentioned, he's liked by Bradley and plays two positions that Bradley lacks--left back or left winger. His salary makes him intriguing to other teams, so that's not really preventative of a trade at all. The real question is why are they looking to trade. Obviously they're stacked with defensive talent, so either they want to make room for another offensive player, or they want to make cap room for an attacking central midfielder. Boca, DaMarcus and Armas all have cover in Curtin, Mapp and Pause. So now that Sarachan has figured out his players' abilities and worth, he should be making moves to fix his central midfield creativity. -Digital
Correct. My understanding is that by cutting Daniv, you've actually got some room (not much) under the cap. But I thought the thread started by talking about Andy Moller (and gee, wouldn't he be a nice A-mid for a team needing an A-mid). And my point is: if Chicago were to sign Andy Moller, you could use the allocation to defray some of the cap hit (depends upon the allocation worth). You could apply the Daniv cap money you saved. But then you'd still need more cap room I think (b/c I'd think Andy Moller would sign for the MLS max--just guessing, I obviously don't know for sure).
Daniv made about 35k, MAYBE 45 tops, but I think we are looking at the lower number here. I doubt Perez makes much more. Getting rid of those two still doesn't open up enough space for a high salaried player.
Any Idea on Salaries ? Does anyone have any idea on the salaries of our Fire players ? How much if any do we really have left in cap space ? Is it a $1.7 million level that we must stay below ? That equates to less than $100,000 per player. For example, if we have two near a max of $250,000 + and nine other players average around $50,000, it still leaves around $100,000 on average for the remaining 7 players. To have more than two players at a max of $250,000, you really only have room for 2 players at the $100,000 level with the balance of the team at $50,000 on average. If these calculations are true, then we have a choice of: 2 max salary players, 7 middle range salary players and 9 others at a $50,000 average level OR 3 max salary players, 2 middle range salary players and 13 others ata $50,000 average level I think that I would want to stay with the first scenario and this is the one is closer to the Fire's current situation. Isn't it ???
Its all a great mystery, but remember the minimun salary is about 25-35,000. The majority of the younger/first-year players make that amount. Also, only the 18 Senior Roster players count towards the cap. Pro-40 players do not count.