We talk a lot about the Twellmans and Ruizs of the league. In another thread somebody said they thought Faria was the biggest value for the dollar. I would have to say it's Carrieri. What do you guys think? Maybe even somebody like Henderson? It would probably help if somebody had an idea what everybody made, but I couldn't really say where you'd go to look that up.
Carrieri would have to be, seeing as he's having as good a season as anyone. Paying Valderamma the max makes up for it, though.
best bargain for the dollar is twellman... he makes about league minimum.... faria and carrieri make more than that and have few goals (and probably assists)
If Donovan is payed the MLS max or less I'd pick him. He has promotional value and is worth a lot more than the league max on the open market. He also frees up a SI slot which SJ used to snag Graziani.
Carrieri: 11 goals and 5 assists makes him #6 in MLS in Points Per Game, and he's also #3 in Game Winning goals.
I was surprised at first when you said Twellman makes close to the league minimum, but I guess that makes sense. Anybody have any idea how we can find out anything about salaries?
Faria may bring value for the dollar but he doesn't bring any value to the team. I'm repeating myself but he needs 20 shots to score 1. It's depressing. He makes great off the ball runs, gets open, teammates find him the ball, and he can't put it in the net. He would make any good Brazilian striker ashamed. Not that I don't like the guy personally. In answer to the original question: I'd have to agree with Carrieri. This guy was a s(cr)ub before the season started and now he's (one of) the key(s) to the Rapids offense. Buddle also comes to mind and I don't know what DeRosario makes, but he's pretty dangerous too.
buddle. and the fact he is the 4th forward in columbus in the mix and the numbers he has put up in his limited time...
As the person who made the original statement (that I thought Faria was the best bargain forward in the league), I want to clarify the fact that I also said I wasn't considering Twellman due to the fact he's sure to get a big raise in the offseason. Only a total idiot would say that Faria is better than Twellman. As for the rest of the pack, it probably does come down to Faria/Carrieri/Buddle. When Buddle is starting and shows that he can play like that consistantly, I would definately rate him highly in this category, but the fact that he only really has one month in as a regular kind of makes it hard to make a claim like that. That brings us to Carrieri and Faria. Carrieri has played fewer minutes, and has one more goal and I think the same number of assists. That being said, Carrieri has a much better midfield serving him the ball. Faria has Diallo and Clint up front with him, clogging up all the space, and OZ rarely starts more than ONE offensive minded midfielder. Carrieri can get the ball from Chung, Henderson, Valderrama, Kingsley or Mastroeni. People often bring up Faria's finishing problem, and it is a valid concern, but it's an area where Faria has been consistantly improving on as the season goes on. Bottom line, I think the two are very close as far as how much bang their teams get for the buck. If I had to toss it in one direction, I'd probably say Carrieri, if for nothing else the fact that I think he's still P-40 and therefore "free." JMac
UNF POS PLAYER GP GS MIN G A PTS 12 FWD Edson Buddle 18 10 1029 7 5 19 15 FWD Chris Carrieri 23 16 1647 11 5 27 Buddle: 1.66 points per 90 minutes Carrieri: 1.48 points per 90 minutes
If you saw the Galaxy v. Metros game last Saturday, you would know that not only did Ruiz get a hattrick, but that Faria should have had one as well. And Rodrigo didn't even get one goal, much less three. His off the ball runs were lovely. His finishing was abysmal and totally deflated the rest of the team from putting up much of a fight. Maybe he'll do better tonight.
Sucker! I think Twellman and Buddle will outscore Faria tonight, and yeah I know NE & Clb aren't playing. For the 100th time, Faria makes great runs but can't finish. Midfield might be a better spot for him.
I think he's just due. Plus, he was cheap, and his price is bound to go up. I'm gonna come back to this thread tonight and rub it in when he scores 2 and has an assist.
All of those guys are true bargains, but I think the answer lies in just exactly what their salaries are. As JMac said, Twellman will get a raise, but right now he's the best value. Faria was making the league minimum and after his rookie of yea hear campaign he pressed for a raise, but I think he only moved up to like 30k, if he ever received the raise at all. So he's still a great value. Faria was a sleeper who was happy just to make the league, much less start. Carrieri was the top overall pick in the draft, and Twellman was the second overall pick the following year. Neither is making the league minimum. Also, both will likely get raises after this season. The only person with exactly zero leverage is Buddle, and as such, is my pick as best value. Yeah, he has an attacking coach and a talented group of midfielders to feed him the ball and is one of only two with a real strike-partner (Faria had Serna, Diallo or Mathis for most of the year). Buddle is behind Brian McBride and Dante Washington as the Crew's target forward, and he's not going to dislodge Cunningham or West from the lineup either. So, his playing time is very limited, and when he's in there he is surrounded with attacking support, but he sure makes the most of his opportunities. The former A-League player who wasn't drafted until the 3rd round in MLS is my pick for best value. -Tron
Will you pick my lotto numbers? Seriously though, this was very forseeable. In the LA game, he went from one of 3 strikers with no space to run to essentially the only striker, as Mathis moved to the midfield when Diallo was hurt. Faria is the kind of striker who needs room to move around, and while he does miss a ton of scoring opportunities, he also gets into a ton of scoring opportunities. He's an incredible runner off the ball, creating space for his teammates and he never stops running. If you combined Mathis' finishing and vision with Faria's durability and hustle you'd have a near perfect striker. JMac