ok... hristo, walsh, and vaud are gone (not a bad thing ) but let's also assume that beasely, wolff, and bocanegra are sold or traded before the start of next season in addition, marsch goes to the metros to stay with bradley this frees a foreign player spot and major cap room if you are the coach or director of player personnel... what do you do? who do you go after... in the league or not also take into account that if we sell anyone, that should increase what the league will allow us to offer a special player (league rules, never seen anything on how much more... and the extra doesn't affect the team cap) in essence gone: walsh, vaud, hristo, wolff, dmb, boca, and marsch retained: dipsy, armas, thornton, curtin, razov, faria, brown, whitfield, daniv, nowak, kovalenko, gray, capano, saveedra (horribly butchered that one ), and perez sleeth, ring, nugent and moore can be dropped or kept as you wish (then again, same with the others)
Free falling from the Sky Deck would be an option. Seriously though, look at the pool of names we got left. There is some major talent in there. With more cap room I would hope a strong back, a central midfielder with distribution capabilities, and possibly a stiker could be brought in (it has been mentioned, but De Rosario could fit in nicely as a sub for us). A SI would most likely join as well (any spot would work, but there are plenty of quality stikers in this league, why not put a SI in the middle to distibute). There are a million options, but some serious shopping would have to be done.
aye... i think there is a lot to be hopeful about... some solid players and talent and room to bring in people to help the efforts
If Boca or Beaz leave for overseas, the Fire should gain some allocations. Over the past couple of years have been used by other teams to grab major young prospects or foreign players ahead of the draft. Both are MLS All Star caliber players and appropriate compensation should be due the Fire if they are sold to a European team.
The sky definitely isn't falling. Your "worst case scenario" was this summer. You had guys gone for months at a time, no-one stayed healthy and the injuries to Wolff and Armas destroyed you cap-wise. What the Miami Fusion showed is that (a) if you have a coach who can evaluate talent well and knows the league talent well; and (b) you're willing to create the cap room necessary; then teams can rebuild in a hurry. In this league (where everyone is cap crunched) and where free transfers are now the norm for most Euro teams and S.american leagues are instituting mandatory paycuts across the board (or just not paying people--for months at a time even!), there is talent to be had (even for a cheap MLS). Every team in MLS is likely to renounce some talent--unless they create cap room b/c a Donovan or Howard or McBride goes to Europe! Consequently, there will be bargains floating around for people who can judge talent well. The talent in the Superdraft continues to get better. So, it's about who you get as coach. And the offseason decisions they make. If you don't let people go, you'll be cap crunched again and not leave much room to improve. If you let some big names and big salaries leave (either cut, renounce, don't resign or sell), you'll have the room to acquire talent. And it's definitely out there.
I'm curious as to why so many on these boards assume it will be Wolff gone instead of Razov. What exactly does an injured player get in a swap? And how would the organization be assured that the compensation would be adequate for a player of Wolff's ability? And what clubs overseas are pining for a player of potential but one that is injury-prone? Where are the rumors of millions splashed out to acquire Wolff? Conversely, what is the value of "The Leading Scorer For The Fire" around MLS? Wouldn't Razov snag more in a trade? And haven't we heard countless times from Jeff Bradley that his brother is a big admirer of Razov's abilities? With Bradley gone to the metros, Diallo sold to Saudi Arabia, and Faria now in Chicago, I'd believe that Coach Bradley might want to acquire a forward that he knows/likes to replace the departed Diallo. Additionally, the "rumors" of a falling out between Wolff and Bob Bradley would make it appear that Wolff would be disinclined to go to NY; Bradley would also be disinclined to seek him. This is a "rumor" that Jeff Bradley has never squashed. Setting aside all fandom, it simply seems the better move to acquire more value in a swap if indeed a trade is requisite to make cap space. Wolff also looks to be the player that will have more US national team duty in his future than Razov. For front offices around the league, this also has to diminish Wolff's value, and enhance Razov's value to a club. Given the need to alleviate salary cap issues, the value in trade of the two players, and how the two players are percieved around the league, it would seem to be the better move to trade Razov, IMHO. Cheers!
personally i'd love a wolff for convey trade i wonder if hudson would be cool with that... we would get rid of a max salary, we have scorers to spare, and convey would be a replacement for dmb or nowak...
Here's a question, Bob was allowed to go where he wanted, right? Does that mean that Chicago will be able to pick out a local area hot scoring prospect? Someone who didn't go into the draft last year?
doubtful, i don't believe we even have a first round draft pick this year... sure we could trade for him, but what would it take? he is talented, but unproven (in this league)
we have the 8th pick of the second round... that's our first pick we do have 3 third picks in a row though, and one in each of the following rounds there were some decent players grabbed late this past season... so don't think they must be found early... good scouting and talking with players that might not sign with the league are good things to do
George Weah? Any room on this team for someone like that? or luring Klinsman? would we even want to entertain that? or go the route of Ivory Coast or Jamaica, T & T for a quick young striker or creative midfielder? Or do we assume that we look within...Milwaukee, Minnesota?
Honestly, I think we're set to win the Supporter's Sheild next season. Maybe even the MLS Cup. Although we should try to draft Damani Ralph out of UConn and maybe try to trade for Donovan. He looks good.