http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/06/06/union-deal-first-ever-pick-mwanga-timbers-perlaza And I thought TFC were a screwjob. Nowak is taking the cake..
I think the Union have done some strange stuff, but Mwanga has been useless since about this time last year. He's pulling in almost $360k and I think has a total of 8 MLS goals.
this is the problem with some of the very early GA picks ... the salaries are large and escalate to even more absurd levels (like Mwanga's 300K+) and while they are GA and off the books so to speak it really isn't a big deal .... but eventually the GA status goes away and the first contract that has now escalated to ridiculous proportions is still in effect and you find yourself having to fit a 300K guy into your regular salary cap and often times it is a guy who after 2-3 years really hasn't progressed to being a top level MLS starter deserving of 300K.
Great deal for the Timbers, I am very happy. I had figured that everybody by now knew Perlaza was basically a poor man's Chad Barrett and that all his trade value was gone. I think taking a shot at Mwanga, even at twice or three times the salary, is well worth it. I think Mwanga has one more year after this one on his contract, and if he ends up leaving MLS rather than negotiating a smaller or number or becoming worth his contract, they can easily find someone else on the International market who did what Perlaza does. Additionally, Perlaza's only real talent - making dangerous early runs - is limited by Jeld-Wen Field's shortness and his weaknesses of being constantly offside and having no finishing ability. The Timbers desperately need a forward who can shoot the ball from 15-30 yards, and Mwanga has proven he can do that.
Never been particularly impressed with either striker, and neither seem to provide the skill set that the other team needs. Strange trade...
Why did they get rid of Carlos Ruiz last year? he was pretty effective at finding the back of the net... Did he want out? or was it someone else's call?
A case of two teams hoping a new setting and some new surroundings can help a guy regain some form. Maybe a fresh start can help them out. But I don't know about taking on Mwanga with that salary.
Union were trying to get Perlaza before the 2011 season. Same with Portland trying to acquire Mwanga in January [per Ives]. A trade between the two was just delayed.
From Merritt Paulson's Twitter: "we will take zero salary/cap hit on the perlaza/mwanga deal..in fact we gain space. example of how misleading public player salary info is.."
The trade is still debated by fans. I did not rate him. Anyway, only about 25% of all promising youngsters pan out. I'm not dismayed. Isn't Portland Danny's home town?
This is true, but there are overpaid players in every league. It's worth it to keep our talent here overall.. it won't always work out 100% of the time. We're not the only league that has overpaid young players...
Nowak made too many crazy changes this past winter, the team chemistry went south quickly and it's catch time not to miss the play-offs. I think it's too little too late for both teams.
Not to open up a can of worms but MLS underpays compared to leagues of similar size. But is Mwanga overpaid within the salary cap structure? Yes, you could make that argument.
considering that Nagbe was widely considered the best player available in the 2011 draft and probably would have been the #1 pick if not for the Canada thing, this basically gives Portland the #1 picks from 2010 and 2011. That's something, I guess.
I thought that when a player graduates GA the team/MLS negotiate a new contract with the player, and often it's for less money. In this case, it looks like Philly gave Mwanga a huge increase in salary, for whatever reason. He was making $226k guaranteed/$120k base in 2011, after making $206k/$100k in 2010. Then in 2012 he's making $356k guaranteed/$250k base. I don't understand why Philly gave him such a large salary increase - he was good in his first two years, but not that good. I can't think of any other GA player that got that kind of an increase on his first post-GA contract, can anyone?
Throw in "El Tencito" Valencia and Sebastian Rincon [age 18] and the Timbers have a veritable posse young of forwards.
He's probably still on the original deal, which from what I understand has automatic 'escalators' negotiated in that raise your salary substantially if you hit certain targets.
Isn't he still on a GA contract? I guess that answers my question. In the immediate term, Portland wins on this trade.