I think the single best acquisition we could make is one truly qualified defender. I think JoGo is a good player, sometimes very good and sometimes error prone, but good. He needs someone of like caliber around him to ease pressure on his every move. Soares is a reasonable player, a solid back-up, but not a starter........ It would have been amazing to have Parkhurst on this team....
Full list of players out. All had team options on their contracts declined except for McCarthy, who is out of contract but it looks like the Revs aren't extending him an offer. Nasco Jackson Soffner McCarthy Sanchez Smith Joseph Sundly Akpan Taylor No surprises. Another year with all Rochester loanees flushed out of the team at year's end, btw.
People will give the FO credit for grabbing Nguyen off the scrap heap and getting Jones, but they still can't draft. Mullins and Neumann left unprotected tells us how they value those rookies. Apart from Farrell - who has yet to score a goal, no one in the past 2 draft classes has really done anything here.
NNNism lives! You criticize the drafting of a an MLS Cup finalist that was built through the draft (8 of the first 16 came through the draft; 9 if you count Bunbury as the 2015 first round choice; 10 if you count Davies, whose rights the Revs got in exchange for a draft pick). Mullins and Neumann being unprotected speaks to the roster depth. Both had promising rookie years, getting some key minutes for a talented team. Both are on track to have good MLS careers, as is Farrell. And Rowe. You can't judge draftees until a few years pass, but so far Burns/Heaps look to be four-for-four in first rounders over the last three years. What team has drafted four players that good in the last three years? Which of the 12 protected players would you unprotect in order protect Mullins or Neumann?
I agree with everything you said, though my answer to you last question would be Mullins for Tierney, easily.
Mullins is on $100k and Neumann is on $86k. They aren't expensive, but they aren't bargain-basement either. Maybe we'll get lucky and NYCFC and Orlando won't want them at that price point. Either way, we can at least protect one if/when the other is selected. Honestly, the FO deserves credit for its maneuvering. They found a way to protect an extra guy in Fagundez and carved out another spot for a domestic player on the protected list with the Castillion/Imbongo deal. It's just too bad that we had to protect Kobayashi. It doesn't sit right with me that a team like the Revs, who did a great job building a strong team with domestic talent, are being punished for being American-heavy.
LOL. 'except Andrew Farrell'. We suck at drafting. Except when we don't. And even when we're ok at it, he's a right back and doesn't score goals, what's up with that? I'd invite you to go and look at MLS' rookie watch before the ROTY award was given: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...eve-birnbaum-ride-stellar-play-late-roty-push The 5th best rookie in this class is a CB who started 14 games this year. Their '5 more to watch' include Pedro Rebeiro, who made 9 appearances with 3 starts. Dan Lovitz at TFC, who had 2 assists this year during 18 appearances (5 starts). Rookies out of the superdraft just don't make the impact that you think they do. You'd hope to get a little more out of Neumann, but he was trying to break into one of he best midfields in MLS. Mullins had a pretty solid rookie year. The fact is we have Farrell, Soares, Tierney, and Rowe starting, with Mullins looking like a promising guy for the future. I'd venture to guess that's one of the best records in the league with the draft. Anyways, out of curiosity, I went and looked up the first round of this draft class, and who was protected/unprotected Blake - auto - Philly Birnbaum - protected DC Dean - auto VC Neumann - unprotected NE Miller - auto MON Akindele - protected Dal Andre Lewis - unprotected VC Lowe - auto SEA Koval - protected SJ Hagglund - protected TFC Mullins - unprotected Hairston - auto COL Franco - unprotected Chi Sweat - unprotected CLB Ribeiro - unprotected PHI Cochran - auto HOU Tshuma - auto POR Neil - not listed (out of league?) Casteele - unprotected (COL) 4/19 on their teams protected list 7/19 auto protected through GA status 7/19 players unprotected (5/17 non-Revs) Ryan Neil isn't in the protection list So Neumann was the highest drafted unprotected player. Mullins was more or less in the midst of the players in the first round who went unprotected. The real story here is we unfortunately have 2 rookies who didn't have GA status, and we have a team full of good MLS players on inexpensive contracts. It sucks though, Mullins is definitely going to get picked up.
I have the minority view on Tierney, around here. Although elsewhere around the league he is considered one of the top left backs in MLS. Tierney is versatile and makes the team much better, being able to fill various roles and giving Heaps options. He is a great competitor and teammate. If Goncalves doesn't come back, I expect Tierney to become the captain. Although I do agree we're going lose Mullins (unless FO figures out another way around it), and I think he's gonna be really good. I might have protected him over Davies, although it would be cold to lead Davies exposed (not sure he'd be picked up though).
Well, when your right back is touted as someone who can get forward and score goals, yes - what's up with that? You left your #4 and #11 overall picks unprotected, while protecting Tierney and Alston. None of the defenders should be protected, it needs a complete overhaul. LOL Mullins isn't going to get picked up.
I just wanted to grab this part of this post for the sake of commenting on the topic of the draft. Given the youth of our team, the lack of a Revs run USLPRO or reserve league, and the yearly purging of draftees I am happy to see the Revs trade draft picks. At this point the Revs do not have much room to take a flier on a young player who just will not get minutes. Unless they can draft a relatively sure thing or a player with a defined position and chance to develop for that position, then I am OK with trading draft picks away for future draft picks, allocation, or a veteran depth player.
If Davies was unprotected he'd DEFINITELY be picked up. Remember he's only making like $70,000 a year. That is almost the minimum salary for a guy who scored 4 goals in 5 playoff games on only 9 shots. Only BWP scored as many as Davies, and BWP took 17 shots.
Yeah, this part was interesting for me. I believe that it says something about both our forwards and our midfield. Trading Castillion might have been the right thing to do. Time will tell. But, does this trade mean that they figured he would get picked up in the expansion draft or that he is not as good as advertised or something else? They could have exposed both him and Mullins and only lost one? Are they comfortable with Davies and Mullins for now? They could have exposed Kobayashi instead of Castillion? Were they afraid DK would get picked? At his age? They lowered our forward count and international player count at the same time and got nothing back. Not sure why we dealt two forwards (even though Imbongo was done here and Castillion never played here) and exposed another (who is certainly worth taking if you are an expansion team if not just to chip away at our depth or to trade to another team for an other player) while protecting a midfielder who will be 32 before the start of next season?
None? Like not even Farrell? But I somewhat agree, Id have protected Mullins over Alston and maybe Tierney. I'd leave Neumann open. The fact remains though that the Revs have hit with their draft picks as much or more than any team in the league. That we exposed Neumann and Mullins is more a function of them not being GA than being failed draft picks. I'd almost guarantee he does. Most available players are either scrubs, or on bloated contracts (Cooper, EJ, etc.). Mullins shows promise and doesn't break the bank.
For those that don't think the defense was the problem ... 2 clean sheets since August. That's not acceptable.
I guess the result is that they had less international players that they had to protect. Thanks for the clarity Socfandan in the other thread.
I agree that Tierney is versatile, but he's more of a jack of all trades master of none. I don't actually hate the guy, I just don't like how he is used. I don't think he's good enough to be a starter, he should be a useful bench player, while I think Mullins has a decent chance to develop into a starting caliber player. As for being a great competitor and teammate, that's one of those platitudes that doesn't mean as much to me, as I think that applies to majority of players in the league, and I'm sure is true for most of the unprotected guys. The captain question is interesting, though probably not really a discussion for this thread, but I wonder if the armband would go to Jones if JoGo left. I don't really like Tierney as captain, the importance of the designation can be exaggerated, but I think one of the captains roles should be knowing where everybody should be at all times, keeping everybody in proper team shape, and far too often Tierney doesn't even know where he himself should be.
There's a s-ton of credit to be given to the Revs FO for the moves they've made that got us to this position. But in sports, that doesn't mean you stop and sit back. There are spots on this roster that very much need an upgrade. With a team that has been reliant on the draft in the past, and now not having 1st or 2nd round picks ... this puts more pressure to go outside the league and get the missing pieces (especially striker). We shall just have to wait and see what they do.
My wish list for the offseason: - A DP striker. If we can get a top-level striker, I think that's the single biggest thing that could push us from elite team to favorite. Charlie has made a nice run, but he's still not more than a league-average starter. We'll see if the Krafts have really opened up their wallets or if Jones is a 1 time thing. - 2 starting caliber fullbacks. If AJ is really gone, move Farrell to his more natural CB position, and go find 2 fullbacks who have some speed and can bang in good crosses. This is the same backline that was an elite defense 2013, the talent is mostly there, but we need to shake things up.
I think Tierney's importance to the team has been consistently undervalued by fans, and perhaps overrated by the team. FO and coaching staff get the final decision and they see him in a key role, tough to question given this year's results. My memory may be clouded, but I think an overlooked factor of the 8 game mid-season disaster was Tierney being out injured for a good chunk of that time. His return was NOT the reason for the turnaround, lots of factors there, but maybe that was a piece of it. I see the captain appointment as ultimately more of a locker room decision. Everyone from the Revs is saying the right things about Jones and the locker room/training impact he had on the team, seems to be tons of respect there. Just don't know how much is real and how much is PR. I am leaning toward real.
I said after the 2-2 tie at Montreal that I would love to see a DiVaio level striker. Someone that can turn nothing into a goal.
I'd love to have Milton back. What little we saw I liked and thought he would have been a 15-20 goal scorer in this league