How about a proposal of any one of Petke, Ivanov, or Nelson for one of Cunningham or Buddle? DC could even throw in Curtis, Quintanilla or Barclay to sweeten the pot. What other options are available? Colorado has some decent forwards.
it doesn't seem to me that anyone needs a ton of defensive help (though that may be somewhat skewed since i watch united more than the rest of the leauge) and it isn't like there is some sort of plethora of good forwards out there in MLS. i can't imagine for the guys you list we could get much of a forward. i don't think i'd trade cunningham or buddle for anything but some other younger attacker type. even with a throw in player, nobody is giving away a national team pool player like that for any of our defenders.
I was under the impression that the Crew defense was doing pretty well. I'd trade Etch for Buddle though.
The Rapids have Spencer, Schmidt, ZiZi and Carrieri that we might trade for. Only Spencer is worth it IMO. Schmidt is young and very raw although he had a great pre-season. ZiZi is ATC all over again and Carrieri, well his ego would make him a great fit too bad his talent doesn't really live up to it. I don't think the interview he gave a couple weeks ago endeared him to any coach in the league, especially his own. I think he's more of a punk than Quaranta ever showed. I wouldn't mind EJ from Dallas but that'll never happen. Hell, Ching from San Jose would be passable.
First, a lot of talented forwards left MLS this off-season (Diallo, Serna, Graziani). Not to say that teams don't have frontline talent, only that they've gained some of it through youth (McGee, EJ) and A-league (Ching). So I don't think a lot of teams have surplus talent on the frontline. I would think that the teams most likely to deal are those who feel they must shake things up or have a poor hand (and thus must give up something to get something they need). I'd think those teams would be: --Colorado (Carrieri); --Dallas (Rhine or EJ); --NE (Harris); and maybe --KC or Chicago (who both need some depth at key positions now). I don't know for a fact any of those teams would be eager to deal. I can say that I don't see any saviors on those teams I'd like. I'd go for Kreis--but Dallas needs a striker too and we'd have to move someone big to clear cap room. The other thing is that no-one has a ton of cap room and a bunch of teams are capped out or near it. So what they'd want wouldn't be Etcheverry or even Stewart. They'd want Convey, Quaranta, Rimando, Eskandarian--guys who are very cheap for their level of performance, Americans (SI-friendly) or maybe even cap-exempt. I think the best options are to either (a) bring in Dante Washington; or (b) have Hudson and Trask structure the attack more (which would help the younger players); and (c) push a quick response/decision when we gain the ball so we're not always attacking against numbers; and (d) have faith in Eskandarian and Quaranta. Those 2 players have talent but they're still very raw. Quaranta has so far in his career, started fewer games than one MLS season--he's not even beyond a rookie in that regard. Buddle has 4 years in MLS. Eskandarian has played less than 90 minutes (a function of his injury plus road rosters). In short, until Stoichkov gets his green card, I think we're more or less dancing with the ones that brought us this far.
If we're considering A-League forwards, what about McKinley Tennyson? He's been a stud in the A-League, had some MLS experience with LA, and was in camp with San Jose this pre-season (they signed Ching instead of him). He's got the upside of being several years younger than Dante.
I've decided. I don't want to make any trades. Look at our damned roster! It should be stacked as it is.
We're barely into the season and already you're talking trades? I say let the team play rather than hamstringing them. Plus, it seems the only things players we trade away do is score! I will say this, it seems to me that if we're going to have flank players like Convey, Olsen and even Q1, we need to develop a target forward type of player. The team took a major loss on Reyes, let's let them settle in and tough the first part of the season out! --Catch
For a very long time I've maintained that this team needs two more players, a target forward, and another Dmid. I've been saying that despite our roster, we lack pure finishers up top. Santino is very talented, but he's not a pure finisher. Hristo may be, but he's not a full time player anymore. Stewart could be, but only if he's the withdrawn forward, not the target forward. Ali Curtis isn't a pure finisher, but he's closer than Devin Barclay in that regard. What we need is someone like Eddie Johnson. While he hasn't broken out yet, he has everything you look for in a forward--finishing ability, size and aerial skill, speed, ability to hold the ball, and he's already comfortable with Santino (his best friend) and Convey. I think he could really blossom here, and his presence would allow Stewart to play his more natural role behind a target forward. It would give us someone to cross to, and someone to get on the end of Hristo's long passes. I was hoping that we could trade the top pick in the draft for him, but that didn't happen. Hudson once colorfully said how he wished he had a forward like Grazziani. Well, we don't have one, and we cannot score. Similarly, Serna left the league. While it's very difficult to find talented attacking central midfielders, I firmly believe that it's even harder to find a true forward. -Digital
Pretty much everyone in the league is playing solid defense. Pretty much noone in the league is scoring goals at an optimal rate. Therefore, very few teams will look for trades involving one of our defenders for their forwards, and to add on to that, a lot of their forwards aren't even doing that much better than ours.
Seriously, why not, why we cannot borrow the Richmond Kikers' strikers for a couple of games ??? There is nothing wrong in trying a different formula !! IMHO, there are some psychological advantages with the move too. First, it will really motivate our strikers to "die on the field" or face the A-league prospect. I think they really do need a reality check !! Something like : score or go, assist or go !! Secondly, how about if I am right and the Kickers' strikers do make a difference and they bring us in the position to win some games ?? Would't be nice to pair our midfield with those two strong, fast, experienced forwards ( they have good ball skills too). They are allready motivated, I bet they will "die on the field", not to lose the oportunity to play in MLS after a lifetime in the A-league. What do we have to lose ?? Nothing. I bet ya, right now with our attack we are not gonna be able to beat, let's say Chicago at home. Why not trying those guys ??I bet you Chicago defense will have hard time to keep them out of the penality area, they have size, strenth and speed. It will be difficult for Chicago to run allover the place after those Kickers' strikers and will create a good oportunity for our midfielders to step in. That's the job of good strikers. I am not the Kickers agent, it just happens that my "soccer" instincts tells me those strikers are more valuable than what we have right now !! If we cannot borrow those players, why do we have a mutual relationship with the Kickers and why Namoff did play for them and they cannot play for us ???......... Here is the deal for Ray : Bring new strikers and survive or keep playing with our inept strikers and get extinct !!! What would ya do in his situation ?? It's as simple as that and I believe he knows it !! Because, if he is not aware of that after 5 games, it will be nobody to save his job !!! To correct a wrong situation first, one has to accept the reality of it !!! Sormun dixit !!!
I have nothing to add to this discussion except that I think Sormun should end all of his posts with these words.
Not that I think thery are likely or that I would cry out to make these trades but here are couple of viable options, until the Dallas or Colorado fans start asking for Convey, Tino and Esky to all be thrown into the deal: Prideaux for Rhine (Dallas) Prideaux and a draft pick for Carrieri (Colorado)
etch for nothing? let him go. now. no more excuses. understand? no more. enough is enough. three plus years of misery and counting...
Bobby Rhine or EJ would be great pick ups, but we're not going to get him for Brandon. My suggestion: consider sending Stewart to Dallas where he wanted to go. We need a target forward. Santino may be it one day but he needs to go to Ajax boot camp and learn how to finish. He's got a big upside so don't trade him. Stewart on the otherhand still has perceived value but that will quickly diminish if he continues to underperform. Get something for him while his value is there.
Throw a draft pick or an exchange of picks (1st for a 2nd) DC Uniteds way and I'll take the Earnie for EJ deal. Rhine is still a bit of a flash in the pan to me. 144 minutes in 4 games including no playing time against United at RFK, 1 point, 1 start. While DC United has no one much better Stewart for Rhine is a bad deal IMHO.
And who do we give up for Abby Wambach too? A hat trick Saturday, plus she drew the foul that gave Hamm the PK. She's got size (5'10") strength & reasonable speed. She's better than what we've got. So, how about we trade Etch and Q2 for Mia and Abby?
Sormun's Solution Sormun, I haven't seen the Richmond Kickers forwards, other than the scrimmage this spring. So, I don't really know what they they look like in play. But I have a serious question How do you know how well the Kickers' forwards will play against MLS defenses? There is clearly a difference between the level of play between the two leagues, and just because someone can play well in the A League, doesn't necessarily mean that they will succeed in MLS. It's kind of like the difference between Landon Donovan playing in Germany and the US. His opponents in the Bundesliga were much more capable of containing him and preventing him from playing. But, in the MLS, he succeeded because our players are not as physically fit and capable of playing that level of soccer.