2025 Roster and Transfer Discussion Thread

I know the terms “Dereliction of duty”, “malpractice”, and “negligence” get thrown around from time to time around here. And normally I find this to be a bit over the top reactions by hard core fans of a sports team. But at this point in the transfer window… what is Lee doing? Where are the signings? I get his job is to build a successful soccer team and sell players for boat loads of money. It seems like he’s figured out the second part but not the first part this season.
 
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CCMore said:
I know the terms “Dereliction of duty”, “malpractice”, and “negligence” get thrown around from time to time around here. And normally I find this to be a bit over the top reactions by hard core fans of a sports team. But at this point in the transfer window… what is Lee doing? Where are the signings? I get his job is to build and successfully soccer team and sell players for boat loads of money. It seems like he’s figured out the second part but not the first part this season.
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I know it’s not officially over, but I can’t imagine a transfer window being any worse than this one. Already flawed roster. Lose two best starters. Misuse loans. Have no depth. Sign no one.
 
moogoo said:
damn they rushed him out the door so quick they couldn't even take the time to let him film a proper farewell video.
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I'm guessing the club has already done it, but the deal is still pending a physical.
Once the physical is completed and the deal is 100% done, we'll see the official club videos.
 
We may open the season with 0 DPs in the 18 as Santi was sold, Talles is on loan, and Martins is injured.

Expectations for the season are very low.
 
JayH said:
I know it’s not officially over, but I can’t imagine a transfer window being any worse than this one. Already flawed roster. Lose two best starters. Misuse loans. Have no depth. Sign no one.
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Makes me wonder. What exactly would Lee have to do in the summer window for you to say, “Okay. That was a good long game.”

To be clear, before everyone eviscerates me for that, I’m not expecting any such result. Just asking the question.
 
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FootyLovin said:
Makes me wonder. What exactly would Lee have to do in the summer window for you to say, “Okay. That was a good long game.”

To be clear, before everyone eviscerates me for that, I’m not expecting any such result. Just asking the question.
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You could set the bar as low as act quickly. That would be a start. Assuming the 25 summer window mirrors Summer 2023. In 2023 the entire population of people that follow this team knew we were going to sign a striker. While other MLS teams lined up new signings to debut the day the window opened, we signed Bakrar 2.5 weeks into it.
 
FootyLovin said:
Makes me wonder. What exactly would Lee have to do in the summer window for you to say, “Okay. That was a good long game.”

To be clear, before everyone eviscerates me for that, I’m not expecting any such result. Just asking the question.
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It’s a tough year for him because of what he did last year.
Reviving my season start optimism metric — last year was up because we added Jovan and Ojeda and you could hope Fernandez would bloom and maybe Bakrar’s 2023 drought was a blip. Oddly I had little hope in Martinez who came cheap and barely played in 23 so I thought he was a depth piece; plus Jones was a dark horse prospect at best. Funny how they did the best in 24,
So come 2025 and we know Jovan Fernandez Ojeda and Bakrar all failed to show last year and right or wrong none of us have optimism for them now. Jovan is gone with no replacement coming. We have no budget or salary cap flexibility. We can’t just dump those guys at a loss. We’re losing our second highest G+A producer very late in preseason and at best we can hope to replace him with someone equal, but more likely there’s a drop off at least initially plus who knows when he shows up.
So Lee is in a tough spot. That he authored those conditions doesn’t change that.
At best I guess he should have gotten someone for the Sands budget slot even if Haak replaces him on the field.
But in truth if Lee failed this offseason it’s because he failed last offseason.
 
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mgarbowski said:
It’s a tough year for him because of what he did last year.
Reviving my season start optimism metric — last year was up because we added Jovan and Ojeda and you could hope Fernandez would bloom and maybe Bakrar’s 2023 drought was a blip. Oddly I had little hope in Martinez who came cheap and barely played in 23 so I thought he was a depth piece; plus Jones was a dark horse prospect at best. Funny how they did the best in 24,
So come 2024 and we know Jovan Fernandez Ojeda and Bakrar all failed to show last year and right or wrong none of us have optimism for them now. Jovan is gone with no replacement coming. We have no budget or salary cap flexibility. We can’t just dump those guys at a loss. We’re losing our second highest G+A producer very late in preseason and at best we can hope to replace him with someone equal, but more likely there’s a drop off at least initially plus who knows when he shows up.
So Lee is in a tough spot. That he authored those conditions doesn’t change that.
At best I guess he should have gotten someone for the Sands budget slot even if Haak replaces him on the field.
But in truth if Lee failed this offseason it’s because he failed last offseason.
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Beat me to it, but said it better than I would have. He created (with CFG’s help) these challenges. It’s a mess of their creation. Beyond that I agree that he should have been more stubborn with the Sands loan given the circumstances. And anticipated the Santi departure and be in a position to move quickly to address it for the sake of the product on the field and the trust of the supporters. It’s difficult not to accommodate Maxi, but also think through how that affects the club.
 
JayH said:
Beat me to it, but said it better than I would have. He created (with CFG’s help) these challenges. It’s a mess of their creation. Beyond that I agree that he should have been more stubborn with the Sands loan given the circumstances. And anticipated the Santi departure and be in a position to move quickly to address it for the sake of the product on the field and the trust of the supporters. It’s difficult not to accommodate Maxi, but also think through how that affects the club.
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The core issue, in my view, is speed. If Lee replaced players more quickly, we wouldn’t constantly be dealing with gaps in the roster. Santi’s departure wouldn’t be as big of a problem if we already had a designated player lined up to replace Magno and a U22 signing ready to step in for Jovan. While loans add complexity, that’s also on Lee—he repeatedly spends money on players who don’t pan out, then compounds the problem by sending them out on poorly structured loans that further restrict roster flexibility. This season, he’s in a tough spot because his transfer decisions have been disastrous. Nearly every major move comes with a massive delay, leaving the team with significant roster holes for extended stretches of the season.
 
I feel terrible for Sands but him being out for the season actually helps us -- we can replace him on the roster both salary cap wise and roster spot-wise.

From the MLS roster rules:


If a player suffers a season-ending injury, a club may place that injured player on the Season-Ending Injury List and receive roster relief (i.e., an open roster slot). Once placed on the Season-Ending Injury List, the injured player will not be eligible to play for the club in any remaining competition during that MLS season (including any exhibition games or tournaments, including but not limited to: Leagues Cup, Campeones Cup, CONCACAF Champions Cup, Canadian Championship and Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.


A club may replace an injured player that is on the Season-Ending Injury List with a replacement player in accordance with parameters below.

The club will remain responsible for the injured player's full Salary Budget Charge. Clubs are only able to receive Salary Budget relief (paid out of the club's own pocket) for a season-ending injury replacement under the following parameters:

  • The injured player must be formally placed on the Season-Ending Injury List prior to the opening of the Secondary Transfer Window. The replacement player must be declared as such when being added to the club’s roster and must be acquired by the Roster Freeze date (Sept. 12, 2025) and after the related injury occurred.
  • The Salary Budget Charge of the replacement player may not be more than the player who suffered the season-ending injury. If the injured player placed on the Season-Ending Injury List is a Designated Player, the club may replace such player with a Designated Player, provided that his Salary Budget Charge is not more than the player he is replacing. The replacement player’s charge will not be charged against the Club Salary Budget.
  • Clubs will only be allowed to sign one such replacement player per MLS league season.
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Sands made $1 million last season. Assuming his salary was around there again this year, we can sign a player with a salary budget charge of $1M or lower (I believe this includes the transfer fee though, which could complicate the replacement).

We have 2 DP openings and 1 U-22 opening (or 1 DP opening and 2 U-22 openings). Plus we can now replace Sands on the roster, and he was a TAM player for us. There are four major signings this Club should now be able to make. Waiting this long is making everyone uncomfortable, and the roster right now isn't nearly good enough after the departures. But I disagree that we have no cap space or maneuverability. We absolutely have the chance to sign four major pieces now.
 
gbservis said:
We have 2 DP spots....
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One of them is Jovan's, who is scheduled to return in June. I don't think he'll ever play for us again but maybe the team is holding his spot open just in case.

If we want to sign a DP from a European team, we're probably going to have to wait until summer. But if we're looking in South America, their transfer windows are open now and we should be able to make a deal happen now.
 
ZYanksRule said:
I feel terrible for Sands but him being out for the season actually helps us -- we can replace him on the roster both salary cap wise and roster spot-wise.



Sands made $1 million last season. Assuming his salary was around there again this year, we can sign a player with a salary budget charge of $1M or lower (I believe this includes the transfer fee though, which could complicate the replacement).

We have 2 DP openings and 1 U-22 opening (or 1 DP opening and 2 U-22 openings). Plus we can now replace Sands on the roster, and he was a TAM player for us. There are four major signings this Club should now be able to make. Waiting this long is making everyone uncomfortable, and the roster right now isn't nearly good enough after the departures. But I disagree that we have no cap space or maneuverability. We absolutely have the chance to sign four major pieces now.
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Are you considering both Talles and Jovan as sufficiently off our books we can replace them? If not I can’t make the math work. Very possible I’m missing something as I did with the Sands injury.
 
ZYanksRule said:
One of them is Jovan's, who is scheduled to return in June. I don't think he'll ever play for us again but maybe the team is holding his spot open just in case.

If we want to sign a DP from a European team, we're probably going to have to wait until summer. But if we're looking in South America, their transfer windows are open now and we should be able to make a deal happen now.
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I’ll believe Lee signs a new player to a limited roster spot held by someone on loan when it actually happens.
 
I'm leaning heavily toward not reupping my Apple season pass. I don't consider myself a glory hunter but you have to at least show me some kind of effort to be worth spending my money on.
 
ZYanksRule said:
One of them is Jovan's, who is scheduled to return in June. I don't think he'll ever play for us again but maybe the team is holding his spot open just in case.

If we want to sign a DP from a European team, we're probably going to have to wait until summer. But if we're looking in South America, their transfer windows are open now and we should be able to make a deal happen now.
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This is the guy who took over two years to replace Taty, because he needed to make sure he got the right player. I'm not holding my breath.
 
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