Bumped from the Welcome to Boston thread, since Mike's question isn't really about Ozzy. Given the level of offseason press coverage - i.e., there isn't a level - perhaps I can offer some fodder for speculation straight from the horse's mouth (or ass, depending on your worldview): 13 Breakers are either under contract for 2010 or the contracts are in transit, including three internationals (Latham, Scott, Smith). This leaves 5 open roster spots, two of which are international spots. We also have eight 2010 draft picks to work with at the moment: #2, #11, #16, #25, #34, #43, #52 and #61. In addition, we expect to have some non-roster invitees in camp who are not graduating college seniors. It's going to be a competitive training camp, as you would expect for a 5th place team. Fabiana may well be the 14th player. She is a free agent but still very much in our plans. During the past 48 hours, the Breakers have placed international discovery claims on two Japanese national team players - Kozue Ando and Shinobu Ohno. Some of you may know that the Breakers held Ohno's rights last year and relinquished them last month. She now seems more enthusiastic about playing in WPS and there's certainly a chance the Breakers will feature two Japanese scoring threats next year, although we're still very early in the process with each player. Some math major is going to point out that this could potentially make six international players, which is one more than the limit. We are currently working with an immigration attorney to secure a green card for Christine Latham, allowing her to play as a domestic by April of 2010. There are multiple balls in the air on the international front and much remains to play out. We're still talking to players in free agency, but our major FA moves have likely been made with the Osborne and Weimer signings. Pembroke's Niki Cross was a player we did discuss here, but were not ready to make a move at this time and Gold Pride was. One month ago, we had significant cap issues. The Independence granted us some cap independence and then Angela's retirement - which was a complete surprise- allowed us to join the Leslie Osborne conversation a bit later than we wanted, but still in time to make a move. As Mike pointed out, the feeling among many coaches is that this is a deep draft and we have eight picks. Like most teams (I presume) we're involved in a number of trade scenarios, but most are at a slow burn at the moment. And despite the best laid plans...at the end of the day, someone is going to surprise everyone, like Maggie Tomecka did out of camp last year. AC
Thank you very much for the info. You're reaching Peter Wilt like levels of direct communication w/ fans here on bs. I can imagine that you're only going to win even more fans that way (and I'm not even in Boston) Also, thank you for confirming what has been speculated (but I've never seen confirmed by a league source) that greencard holders do not count against the 5 internationals limit. Does it make me a total Tarheel homer when I say that I was not surprised by Tomecka's ability to step in and play well at this level? I watched her during her college years and knew she had the talent to be a pro
And who said Maggie was gonna make the 18 last year?? Great info Andy...I wish every team offered up that kind of info! Certainly some good fodder for speculation! It's greatly appreciated!! Now I just need to find a few minutes to do a little research on these two Japanese players....And it's great to hear that Laths is still in the plans and possibly in line for a green card. I know she was a bit frustrated with things last year. I'm glad she's gonna stick around and fight for a spot with the Breakers! I'm a little concerned with the GK situation. I think Alli progressed very well through the season last year but IDK if she's the best we can do. It's no secret I'm not a fan of Lucky...to say the least! But I wonder if Ashley can be a suitable backup in the league...Might we see a GK taken somewhere in the draft or will we resign Lucky to the 18 and Ashley to the DV??? I'm feeling a little bit better about the upcoming season....But I'm still not looking forward to playing Philly, I got a bad feeling #8 is gonna find her scoring touch...especially against us!
I wish all of the teams were as open as Boston has been regarding there roster. I would like to know which free agents have been invinted to the training camp. That would clear up alot of mystery for a few fans.
Thanks for the update, Andy. The Osborne signing was great - in 2009 it seemed the Breakers kept experimenting with defensive midfielders and never really found one. This fills a huge gap and I'm looking forward to watching her play. I'm concerned as well. Alli is serviceable, but she's not (yet, maybe) the kind of goalkeeper that is going to help us win games that we deserve to tie, or tie games that we deserve to lose. We also need to bring in some defenders to replace the many defenders we lost this offseason (Mitts, Weber, Chapman, Goffi...). I'm glad we were able to hang on to our two best defenders (LePeilbet and Scott), but playing a 2-5-3 doesn't sound like the best idea.
Andy, As a huge fan of not only Peter Wilt but even more so, the open communications philosophy I agree with kool-aide in that you are definitely winning new fans (and keeping the old ones, which is semi-important, just ask the Revs longterm core fans.) If there is any info you want to get out to the public without saying it as an official voice for the team, please feel free to send it out to us in press releases and we'll post it on BreakersNet.com. You might have noticed we didn't have all that much fresh content last year, but I'm working on recruiting more writers to complement the photography for the coming season. And speaking of a kool aide... is Kevin H. still with the team??
Good stuff. And I second all the comments above, we are very fortunate to have Andy with the Breakers. And he is even more upfront (if that is possible) in person. Keep up the good work.