2019 Offseason Thread

[Christopher Jee]

All things being equal, I assume if we take a DP from another team in MLS it means they are upgrading. Which means we are not looking to lead the pack, at least when it comes to DPs. Also, MLS in general is getting better so quickly that even getting the best DP in 2018 would not guarantee we lead the pack of 2019 DPs. And he wasn't quite that.

All things aren't equal, and there are all kinds of team-specific or contextual reasons this could be a win-win - system fit, better personality fit, location, etc. But are those team-specific factors enough to overcome the more general constraints listed above? If not, at best, we are improving the squad less than the other squads are being improved, and we're arguably starting at a disadvantage anyway.

I didn't see him play a lot in 2018 so it's hard to say. The terms of the deal are probably really important. He's also a young DP so this would give us a lot of room to improve the rest of the squad. I'm open to it but it doesn't look like a home run on the face of it.

Having thought about this a bit more while watching comps on YouTube, high on trance-induced adrenalin, Rossi does seem like a great system fit. I'm not 100% sure we couldn't do better, but I'd be moderately excited going into 2019 with Rossi, Taty and Medina as a front 3.

 

[Ulrich]

Having thought about this a bit more while watching comps on YouTube, high on trance-induced adrenalin, Rossi does seem like a great system fit. I'm not 100% sure we couldn't do better, but I'd be moderately excited going into 2019 with Rossi, Taty and Medina as a front 3.

You’re ok with two thirds of our DPs being filled by the Youth variety?

I’d take Rossi in a heartbeat as a direct replacement for Medina allowing another seasoned DP (not to be confused with Old) to be added, but I’m not keen on wasting our Cap x-factor spots on two youth DPs.

 

[Kjbert]

The problem with Youh DPs is that they play like Youths.

 

[Kjbert]

Saving cap money on Youth DPs is great in a vacuum. But you need to spend the savings wisely.

I’m a fan of Berget but he essentially ate up the benefits of Medina last year and that blows.

 

[adam]

The problem with Youh DPs is that they play like Youths.

 

[SoupInNYC]

You’re ok with two thirds of our DPs being filled by the Youth variety?

I’d take Rossi in a heartbeat as a direct replacement for Medina allowing another seasoned DP (not to be confused with Old) to be added, but I’m not keen on wasting our Cap x-factor spots on two youth DPs.

Piggy-backing off a previous post, would Rossi occupy a DP slot?

His base salary is $1m and can be bought down with TAM. He was a DP due to the transfer fee that LAFC had to pay for him. If we were to acquire him, I'm assuming we'd be sending TAM/GAM over to LAFC and not necessarily a transfer fee that would have to be amortized.

Now, MLS could decide that the transfer fee should still follow his current contract, so would still require him to be a DP, so that's a possibility.

 

[Gotham Gator]

...

But now with 20+ teams and only 5 players drafted, it's unfair to have a team get hit twice in 2 years while 15 or so teams give up nothing. Plus I think they are treating last year and this as a package. I would not be surprised if exemptions reset for the next expansion round.

...

I think this is right, and it makes me wonder if LAFC will be exempt too.

 

[mgarbowski]

I think this is right, and it makes me wonder if LAFC will be exempt too.

A fair guess, and one I had wondered about as well, until I found this:
https://www.lafc.com/post/2018/12/09/2018-mls-expansion-draft-rules

"Protected/unprotected player-related rules:

• The five teams who had players selected by the Los Angeles Football Club during the 2017 MLS Expansion Draft are exempt from the 2018 Expansion Draft: Seattle Sounders FC, Sporting Kansas City, the San Jose Earthquakes, Columbus Crew SC and Toronto FC.
• The other 18 returning MLS clubs that competed during the 2018 season can protect 11 players between their Senior, Supplemental and Reserve Roster. If the player’s contract expires at the end of 2018, he will still be considered part of the club’s Senior Roster. If a club protects a player, it is not obligated to exercise the player’s option. It may renegotiate a new budget number for the player as in previous years, subject to the CBA. Option Decline Free Agents and Out of Contracts Free Agents are part of the Expansion Draft and are not automatically protected."

 

[Kjbert]

So that’s why they announced Chanot so quickly.

McNamara and Wallace unprotected

 

[mgarbowski]

So that’s why they announced Chanot so quickly.

McNamara and Wallace unprotected

Public? or source. I can't find it anywhere.

 

[Fantazma]

Public? or source. I can't find it anywhere.

lists supposed to come out at 2PM ET

 

[Kjbert]

https://www.nycfc.com/post/2018/12/10/new-york-city-fc-submit-protected-list-mls-expansion-draft

 

[Kjbert]

1. Saad Abdul-Salaam
2. Eloi Amagat
3. Kwame Awuah
4. Daniel Bedoya
5. Jo Inge Berget
6. Jeff Caldwell
7. Yangel Herrera
8. Cedric Hountondji
9. Sebastien Ibeagha
10. Tommy McNamara
11. Ebenezer Ofori
12. Andre Rawls
13. Brad Stuver
14. David Villa
15. Rodney Wallace

 

[Kjbert]

Protected

1. Alexander Callens
2. Valentin Castellanos
3. Maxime Chanot
4. Sean Johnson
5. Ronald Matarrita
6. Jesus Medina
7. Maxi Moralez
8. Alex Ring
9. Ben Sweat
10. Ismael Tajouri-Shradi
11. Anton Tinnerholm

 

[mgarbowski]

Supplementing the above unprotected list. We protected:

Protected

1. Alexander Callens
2. Valentin Castellanos
3. Maxime Chanot
4. Sean Johnson
5. Ronald Matarrita
6. Jesus Medina
7. Maxi Moralez
8. Alex Ring
9. Ben Sweat
10. Ismael Tajouri-Shradi
11. Anton Tinnerholm

and auto protection for
Automatically Protected

1. Jonathan Lewis (GA)
2. James Sands (HG)
3. Joe Scally (HG)

 

[Kjbert]

Can’t say I’m really surprised. Leads me to believe that yes, Herrera is gone. Berget’s salary means he won’t get selected (to me at least).

Hountondji is a bit surprising. Ibeagha is the big one to me.

 

[mgarbowski]

Given that out-of-contract players like Amagat, Wallace and Villa are on the unprotected list, it probably means we lost nothing by signing Chanot before the draft. In fact it helped, because it gave us certainty that protecting him would be worthwhile. But we could not have safely stashed him in the netherworld by delaying his signing.

 

[Futbolkicks]

Can’t say I’m really surprised. Leads me to believe that yes, Herrera is gone. Berget’s salary means he won’t get selected (to me at least).

Hountondji is a bit surprising. Ibeagha is the big one to me.

Please Cincy take Berget . Help us erase a horrible $857,000 mistake.

 

[mgarbowski]

Can’t say I’m really surprised. Leads me to believe that yes, Herrera is gone. Berget’s salary means he won’t get selected (to me at least).

Hountondji is a bit surprising. Ibeagha is the big one to me.

The only thing protecting Ibeagha is that if Cincy selects him, he has to be offered a contract that would move him from the Supplemental to the Senior Roster and keep him there until the Roster Compliance Date . I'm not sure exactly what that means in specific numbers, except he probably offers more value to us than to Cincy. He made league minimum $67.5k last year.

 

[Shwafta]

Very interesting, but totally expected the list. Would have switched Medina for either Ibeagha or Hountondji, but I don't think Cinci will select either of them. They might choose Wallace.

What's actually interesting to me is how MLS released the full list of free agents, but I don't see TMac in there. Anyone care to explain?