The Late Tackle, 02 14 2017: Of Returning Prodigal Sons

Ah, Fredy! Ya beautiful prick! Come on in, son!

I want to start with a couple quick notes, then it’s on today’s topic (moving fast, people, go go go!).

First, I decided to skip rolling out preseasons results as they come in. Think I’ll just roll that into the final All-MLS preview post for 2017 that I’ve been fantasizing about since late January. Wholesomely fantasizing, ya sickos.

Second, articles like this one (e.g. “10 Observations about the New England Revolution Preseason” or something like that) are starting come out and these are just nice for getting a bead on where fan-bases are on their local team’s rebuild. I’m working this week to combine them into a big mega-post. I hope to post by the end of the week, but failing that, I’ll post it Monday.

Or I won’t finish it. You know how these things go. Just know I wanna (and that’s usually enough).

Coming Back And Why A Player Does It

A couple things come together for this one. First, MLSSoccer.com pulled together a list the author (Ben Couch) titled, “Which Former Players Should Return to MLS”? I resisted the initial temptation to come up with my own list – because, that’s a bigger universe than I want to wrap my head around for so little return – but it does include a nifty player or two – e.g., Andy Najar, Krizstian Nemeth and, for all you Portland Timbers fans, Jorge Villafana.

The thing I want to flag with this is how much more contingent this whole concept has become. Jorge, for instance, wouldn’t feel like the same homecoming as, say, Fredy Montero, who’s rumored (strongly enough to call it done, right?) to return to MLS with the Vancouver Whitecaps. Along with Seattle’s new kid, Gustav Svensson, Montero’s could follow from not so much success or failure during his one year in China as a change to the care and handling of foreign players in the Chinese Super League. A quick review of Montero’s CV shows a guy who’s continued to score for the teams he’s gone to (the main ones being Portugal’s Sporting CP and China’s Tianjin Tedo), even if he’s not lighting it up quite like he did with Seattle.

The Late Tackle 01 24 2017: (Slim) Info on Portland Timbers' Preseason Opener, Plus Players Keep on Shufflin' and Scrutinizing the Academies

MLS, aka American Soccer Hogwarts. Only without the magic.

With the Portland Timbers’ first preseason game of 2017 just days away, and seeing as all I know about it is the opposition (New York Red Bulls), feels like it’s time to flesh out the details.

OK, game is in Arizona (not making it), it starts at 5:30 p.m. (at least I’ll be off work), and, judging by the programming note, it’ll stream on Timbers.com (internet collection, don’t let me down…).

Well, that’s that. Not sure what’s left to talk about till after the ball starts rolling, at least barring injuries, scandals, and some new blood getting pumped into the team.

The next domestic action comes Sunday, with the U.S. Men’s friendly against Serbia. Ball’s starting to roll, people. Get frosty.

But, I started with MLS so may was well stay there.

Comings, Goings, What Issues from Academe?

It’s more or less the same ol’ new stuff: teams around MLS continue to round out their rosters, whether it’s small-ish stuff (contained in this roundup) like the Red Bulls continuing to get younger, Minnesota United FC staying loyal to the old peer group after transferring to that shiny rich-kid school (MLS), or the (momentary?) desolation of Mix Diskerud’s career (pullin’for ya, Mix, just not hard enough to want you to wear Timbers green…and, dammit! That woulda been a better poll for today! (but do see the other one)).

They’re not all tiny moves. For instance, the Vancouver Whitecaps picked up an “attacking player” thereby filling a gaping conceptual (really?) hole for that team. Yardy Reyna, aka, the “attacking player,” hails from Peru and has some time in on Peruvian national team (as a regular? dunno, and how much does it matter). There’s good news regarding a still more desperate locale – e.g. the New England Revolution’s defense; word is, they’ve got two TAM-level defenders coming, and that should be smelling salts to Revolution fans. Uh, what else? There’s talk of Real Salt Lake rearranging the chairs (ideally not on the Titanic) to give new signing, Albert Rusnak, pride of place, oh, and Orlando City SC signed a kid from their academy…and that’s what some of today’s best content covers.

Late Tackle 01 19 2017: Questions for the Timbers, Chicago's Rebuild, and 10 Other Things (or Players) Who Excite Me

Dream big, Fire fans...could be your bandwagon...

In keeping with this site’s practice of starting local…

The Oregonian posted one of their damn slideshows (sorry, hate the things, because they feel more about the ads; yes, I’m aware of the state of the news industry) that framed the issues facing the Portland Timbers in the form of 11 questions, some more pointed than others. To quibble with the premise a little, I’d argue that, if you can come up with 11 questions – if you get that granular – you probably have 20+ questions. To hit that from the other side, with the way personnel overlaps and cross-pollinates, I think the Timbers have between three and five questions to answer in 2017.

I’ll come up with those later (tomorrow, maybe; or Monday), but, for now, the best question of The Oregonian's 11 was the last (paraphrasing): are the Timbers good enough to make the 2017 playoffs?

And they flagged the one major detail that slips my mind every time I think about the Portland Timbers: how large-scale erratic they’ve been. Or that’s just another way of admitting that the flukiness of the 2015 Run to Glory still somehow doesn’t sit right with me. At any rate, that whole “erratic” theme is something head coach Caleb Porter has to answer for.

Moving on to other pastures…

The Late Tackle 01 18 2017: On Deploying Porter's Boys, Hot Teams and a Hot Prospect

You'll get there, tiger!

In case anyone hasn’t spotted it yet, I want to draw attention to a little something to the left of MLSSoccer.com’s home page. See it? Portland v. NY Red Bulls, January 27, 2017, Preseason. That’s just over a week away. Next Friday, in fact. Bastards better at least stream that one, because jonesin’.

Of which, with an eye to cutting down on bar costs (he told his wife), I picked up the cord-cutters version of cable, Sling TV. I’ll let interested parties know how I feel about it.

Back to that first preseason game, I’m just now thinking about the kind of team I want to see Caleb Porter field for that preseason opener, and I find myself torn. As much as I want new/younger players and the T2 call-ups (e.g., Rennico Clarke…and there’s no “e” at the end, right?) to get real tryouts during the preseason – especially in defense, and especially if Portland hasn’t added new personnel by then – but I think I’d rather see Porter at least start what he envisions as his starting eleven for this first game, to just sort establish an average for the season (as in bowling) and to figure out how to beat it later. I’ll be providing input all season long…even if it goes unheeded…pearls of wisdom, spurn’d and unclaim’d.

That’s the “first time” for the 2017 season, but the U.S. Men’s National Team’s friendlies against Serbia and Jamaica follow shortly thereafter, too, and I’m actually interested in the friendlies this year, feel like they’ll be building toward something less irritating than under Jurgen Klinsmann, etc. Then fer-reals real preseason starts with the month of February. We’re sliding into home, people, the regular season that, at times, seems like it’ll never end, even as it feels like it started years ago.

Eminently-mockable as MLS’s regular season is, it’s precisely the length of the thing that makes it feel like “normal.” By that I mean I feel a little antsy, even weird, during the off-season.

On to other things of note…

The Late Tackle 01 04 2017: On Rumors, Roy Miller, and Robot Referees

VAR, working prototype...

I’m gonna kick off this post with a standing rule for these posts: when it comes to rumored movement of players, I only care about those involving the Portland Timbers. With the rest, I’ll note only actual arrivals and departures and, unless I’ve actually watched the player in question, I’ll withhold judgment till I’ve got something to work with – e.g. Columbus Crew SC signed defender Jonathan Mensah (at the DP rate), Sporting Kansas City picked up a winger named Gerson Fernandes, and Real Salt Lake picked up Slovakian midfielder Albert Rusnack.

That is all. Elsewhere…

Some Speculation = OK

In the world of harmless (non-specific) speculation – which, here, I’ll just file under “the more you know” - MLSSoccer.com’s Greg Seltzer compiled a list of 11 potential targets for ambitious MLS clubs. For Timbers fans, some guy has a similar running series over on Stumptown Footy (The Mystic Forest Scouting Report, Part 1 and Part 2). Between the three posts, the only names I can pick out are those connected to either MLS or the U.S. Men’s National Team. Still, thought I’d provide the service, because some names might mean something to all y’all.

Portland’s New, Old Defender

While Portland’s signing of former New York Red Bull, former Deportivo Saprissa, former…other Costa Rican defender Roy Miller has hardly set #RCTID twitter on fire, the Timbers DO need depth in defense, and Miller should provide coverage – perhaps even at central defense (news to me, but keeping an open mind). As noted in an earlier tweet, I have some vague recollection of Miller as something other than a lock-down defender, so I did a little follow up (very little). Once a Metro offered a grade that reads (roughly) in the B/B- range, but it also closed on this comment:

The Late Tackle, 12 14 2016: (Letting Someone Else) Wrap Up the MLS Expansion Draft, Player Moves, and an Apology

It's that time of year....

Working on tightening up these posts…because I wanna. So, quickly as I like…

Puzzling Out the Expansion Draft…

…is something I’ll leave for someone else, specifically Matt “Armpit Analyst” Doyle. The confusing stuff mostly surrounds the Clint Irwin/Mark Bloom situation, but, when it comes to MLS’s roster rules and accounting mechanisms, my shorthand for the whole is, “shit’s fucked up.” Doubt I’ll never do more than dip my toe into that tiny pond of minutiae; eyes glazed over while reading Doyle’s analysis. I did read long enough to see that Doyle shared my confusion that neither team picked up Jared Watts.

Happy for that Bloom kid, though. Players packed up for locales other than Atlanta and Minnesota United FC’s, of course. Some interesting stuff out there.

From the Swampy South to the Great White North

The Houston Dynamo sent right back Sheanon Williams to the Vancouver Whitecaps, and that feels like a smart move for the ‘Caps. If memory serves, savvy ‘Caps fans griped that their team let go of too many crucial players going into 2016, Steven Beitashour among them (no fullback, big cry?). Williams reads to me like one of those players who bounces around a bit, but who also always seems able to find work, if not the field. Probably leaves Fraser Aird wondering what’s around the corner for his career (exciting new opportunities? a demotion, but also a really great seat for watching ‘Caps games? so many potentialities!).

An Aging Star Arrives

Raise your hand if you figured Jermaine Jones to the Los Angeles was more or less a done deal the second they let word of the conversation slip. Whatever you thought, it happened. Because I doubted Jones when he moved to the Colorado Rapids, I’ll hold my tongue on this one…except to acknowledge that, in real terms, the Rapids did what they did this season without Jones. Going the other way, he was also the best player on the field in the second leg of the Western Conference Final. Put those thoughts together and it feels like the smart money goes on Jones doing Jermaine Jones things in LA, but how often?

On Sprucing Up the Place

Stray reports note interest in returning/coming to MLS from a couple of U.S. Men’s National Team “bubble boys” – e.g. Tim Ream and Greg Garza (respectively; did Garza ever play in MLS? Eh, better question is whether it was long enough to matter). Their personal motives notwithstanding, and even as moves like this can be interpreted a couple ways, player returns like this feel less like coming home with tail tucked between legs these days than a credible career step.

If you disagree, well, I guess I’ll have to fight you.

He Who Does Not Have Permission to Move

In Portland Timbers news, one site (just bookmarked!) reported that the Timbers message to Glasgow Rangers, and any other team that comes inquiring, to keep their filthy grasping hands off star striker Fanendo Adi. I view this as a good thing. Unless Adi’s quietly pissy about the whole thing. Anyone out there know him well enough to receive his confidences? No? Any psychics? Masters of Tarot? Messy tea drinkers?

Finally, to the Hundreds ofThousands of New Fans, Who Turned into MLS Cup 2016:

Sorry about that. MLS Soccer totally isn’t always like that. Can I forward you video from the Toronto / Montreal series?

MLS, Its Middle Class, and the CBA

Immigration...it's still about where you're from.

As with most offseason weekdays, the noteworthy news followed players moving from one club to another. In one key case, the story follows a player to a club outside Major League Soccer (MLS). There’s a larger story in there (or I just stuffed it in there to service an argument).

One player who landed on the import side of the ledger was French midfielder Benoit Cheyrou, who joined Toronto FC…just like seemingly every other player coming to MLS this year (srsly, isn’t there a roster limit?). Oh, Juan Agudelo returned to the New England Revolution...even if in something short of triumphal circumstances. Both players headed across the Atlantic, but their stories return and arrival have little in common.

I don’t know much about Cheyrou as a player – i.e. a single tweet contains the sum of my knowledge (it liked him!) - but his is a fairly standard issue signing of an aging European star: Give us your aged, your weary, your players listing toward decline, wanting to play where they can still play well and get good money for doing so. And, of course, yearning to breath free, etc.

Yeah, cheap shot, but signings like Cheyrou and Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, and even some of Europe’s lesser-known lights express a pretty straightforward truth: these are good days for European imports. That's not to knock these players, because most of them will show up and do pretty well, if not pretty damn well. With those older guys, though, there's definitely a catch - namely, that these guys won't be around forever, or even for long. In no small way, they serve as a series of expensive band-aids that the relevant clubs have to replace season after season after season. To concoct another analogy, this approach sacrifices long-term investment by MLS clubs to repeatedly hitting the quarterly targets. Worse, they eat up more cap than others while they're here...and a salary cap, by definition, is zero-sum (e.g. you can’t get what someone else has).

Agudelo, on the other hand, comes back not just without allocation-process bonafides, but on the heels of a long, strange trip abroad, sort of an accidental Grand Tour that somehow detoured into the Cyprian real estate market. Hit that link for the full story, but the short version hints at how hard it can be for an American player to get over to the Euro big leagues. And that speaks to another pretty straightforward truth: "he really needs to play at the highest level" doesn't work like the goddamn State Farm jingle. It's not enough to say it, something the hallelujah chorus that loves that line needs to keep in mind. Just like the league.

Then again, there's always Scandinavia. And there's another truth, even if it's a less straightforward one. Way back, oh, I'm thinking the early aughts, the nagging fear existed that the Scandinavian leagues could bleed MLS of just about any player able to make it there. That notion returned to me today when word came out that long-time MLS defender Heath Pearce gave Orlando City a hearty "so long, and suck it!" and packed his bags for Sweden. Even if it wasn't hostile as all that, Pearce left MLS by way of free agency – i.e., the very same bottom-line right for which MLS players are about to strike. He has only a short-term deal in the end, albeit with an option to extend, but he opted to assume the risk instead of trip over the tangle of restrictions that a trip to another MLS club would require.

If it's not clear by now, yes, I think the players should get some form of free agency. I hate clutter, for starters. I'm for free agency even if it comes with the kind of time-in restriction suggested by Ives Galarcep in one of his recent podcasts (e.g. he threw out six years in MLS as a minimum threshold to earn free agency rights; and, fyi, that's solid, clear-eyed chat). Pearce’s situation does, however, speak to something that bears acknowledging: players do have a form of free agency, but only outside MLS. One could call that a spur to action for those players to take charge of their lives and get over to Europe, but I don’t think that should be the only true freedom of movement available to MLS players. I'm also not convinced it’s in the league's interest.

Pearce is a good player. In fact, he's precisely the kind of player that I would love to see my Portland Timbers sign as cover for that thin back-line. Were MLS clubs given the option, I'd imagine that, between Pearce's experience and reputation, he'd draw competing bids between two clubs, maybe even three. And it would be a simpler process for all involved – e.g. player and agent talking to prospective clubs, with the MLS HQ involved only indirectly by way of a salary cap.

From what I gather, the players find this streamlined process so appealing that they're willing to strike in favor. Visions of extra money dancing in their heads surely doesn't hurt either. The overall equation, however, when reduced to its basics speaks to a truth that covers everyone in MLS, with only the DP superstars excepted: the overwhelming majority of players who come to MLS do so, at least in part, courtesy of diminished bargaining power. I suspect this gets even hairier for American players, who lose still more leverage by way an entirely natural desire to live and play closer to friends and family - something else that gets lost when talking up Europe.

Pearce, and every experienced vet like him, represents MLS's middle class. They play regularly, and typically start, and one MLS club or another will generally pick them up year-after-year. The problem comes with the pretty clear ceiling placed on what they can earn. The players want the bidding war and who can blame them? I suspect that the solid, yet unspectacular player – guys like Pearce, basically - will benefit as much as anyone from free agency. Which seems fair, seeing they're getting screwed as hard as anyone by the current system.

The Red Bull Blockbuster...Now with Context!

So, which one's Oyongo and which one's Felipe?

At one point during ExtraTime Radio’s January 26 podcast (about the 26:20 mark), one of the guys (think it was Andrew Wiebe) asked his co-hosts to name the four Eastern Conference clubs who would fail to reach Major League Soccer's still-lower bar for punching a ticket to the post-season (now 6 clubs of the 10). Red Bull New York's name came up, which isn't great. Things hardly improved when all involved agreed New York was screwed. Well, the Red Bulls made their bid to prove those haters wrong with a trade that strolled into the room with the word "blockbuster" one step in front.

Everyone knows the details by now: L'Impact Montreal shipped attacking midfielder Felipe Martins and their high (top?) allocation spot to Red Bulls in exchange for less-attacking midfielder Eric Alexander and promising left back Ambroise Oyongo. That was that, until today at least. For it was then that Red Bull confirmed that "allocation spot" was some bland code for "Sacha Kljestan." The question then was how the respective fan bases would take it all. That was pretty interesting...

From what I gather from a couple places, the social media freakout erupted over Oyongo's departure. Now, that's interesting because Oyongo is mostly potential – which is to say, the book on him weighs solid speed and flashy technical skills against some reportedly (visibly) dodgy defending. Regardless of where the shouting came from, losing Alexander means more to the Red Bulls. The man put in two solid seasons, with the second half of 2014, in particular, proving his value to the club. I watched New York enough last year to see this first-hand, whether it was pairing seamlessly in midfield with Dax McCarty or playing some slick shit in the final third with Thierry Henry. To flog a horse that (dirty pervert) likes the beating, more than a few people found the heart of St. Michael’s success (that’d be Mike Petke; get working on the fan-art, people) in the mid-season switch to the McCarty/Alexander central midfield. And that will be missed. Or it should.

But here’s the thing: I like Sacha Kljestan. Perhaps immodestly. I liked him enough during his first run in MLS that I sort of adopted Chivas USA (I pick up two, "foster" clubs most seasons). In so many words, once Kljestan’s name entered the conversation, it truly did become a case of “Eric...yeah, yeah, yeah. And Oyon...when's Kljestan coming now?"

In my memory of Chivas USA’s once-ever glory years, Sacha produced solid numbers, maybe even led the club in all relevant categories. Turns out my memory isn't great (or, rather, that it functions with some handicaps), but he definitely made the SuperClasico worth a shit for neutrals. And he looked good enough to a lot of very smart people that he built a nice career in Europe (hey, Belgium counts), and even played some Champions League ball (even if on a team about as likely to win it as your local rec team). So, that's good experience, certainly, and his numbers, such as they are, do compare favorably to Alexander's, a player I've always liked when he wasn't wearing a Timbers jersey. So, yeah, all in all, New York upgraded if one confines the comparisons to Kljestans to Alexanders.

On the subject of comparisons, Felipes don't compare directly to Oyongos. Between Oyongo's relatively small career sample size and the simple fact that I have never adopted Montreal as a club, I don't know much about either player. I can't really add to my second-hand reporting above on Oyongo and I have only people telling me that Felipe’s best year in MLS (and it was pretty good) came under Jesse Marsch. All in all, then, New York got a midfielder I rate pretty damn highly (Kljestan), plus an attacking mid who has done the proverbial business (NOTE: not a proverb) in MLS at least one. Montreal, on the other hand, got a promising left back and a smart, reliable midfielder who, given the right role, is quietly pretty damn good.

To rate it directly, I'd say New York came out better in the near-term; I suspect they did in the long-term as well, but do keep an eye on Oyongo. Maybe the vocally-aggrieved New York fans caught something the alleged smart-set missed.

To bring this thing full circle, did Red Bull do enough with these moves to make the post-season likelier than not? Probably not. Not (as others have argued) without a clear starter in central defense, or absent producing a suddenly polished gem and yanking it out of their backsides. They're probably spotty at forward as well. And they could use some depth on the flanks. Unless, again, they can find some great wide players when they're rummaging around the backsides for that starting central defender.

That only becomes more true when you consider the upgrades and promising moves made by the Chicago Fire, Columbus Crew SC, Toronto FC, Orlando City FC; not to mention where DC United and the New England Revolution start the season...

Pa-Modou Kah: When a Former Player Goes to a Rival

I hear nothing, Tovarisch.

I had a complex relationship with former Portland Timbers defender Pa-Modou Kah. "Love/Hate" doesn't fit because I never hated Kah. Find him infuriating? Oh yeah, and on multiple occasions. But Kah also struck me as one of those locker room guys, an angle picked up in this article about Kah's move over the Canadian border. I remember a moment last season when he grabbed Darlington Nagbe in an embrace I can only call fatherly. It hinted at a large locker-room presence that Kah's bearing always suggested.

At any rate, yeah, Kah found himself a new home with the Vancouver Whitecaps. And I do wish him the best, absolutely I do...

...and, yet, at the same time, I look forward to seeing the Timbers exploit the holy shit out of his flaws as a defender. Topping that list: Kah is, hands-down, one of the worst ball-watchers I have seen in over 20 years of watching soccer. Time beyond counting last season, Kah stood transfixed in and around Portland's penalty area, eyes huge and locked on whichever opposition player carried the ball. Distance meant nothing. Meanwhile, behind him, half the opposing team ran and in out of Portland's area like they were putting on Swan Fucking Lake; they flapped their arms like goddamn birds as they called for the ball because they knew they were completely open and not a soul knew about it. Yeah, Kah lost track of his marks with sickening frequency.

Here's to old habits, my friend.

The above image comes to me as I think of Portland's central defense: the ol’ slow-mo walk-away with explosions blazing in the background...only Kah did not leave righteous havoc in his wake. Just the shocked disappointed sickness of....well, fucking up. I'm confident Kah felt that plenty last season.

The point is, Portland’s attacking players should know this failing and very, very well. And they should absolutely share it with the new guys. The Timbers have three games against the ‘Caps this season. Here’s to hoping we can pull nine points out of those games...with a little help from a former friend and mentor.

Hack the bone, people. Hack the bone…

(Look, some days I won’t talk about the biggest story (the USL Pro re-launch tops the shit out of the above), but it’s the thing about a dog-fight in Brooklyn mattering more than a war in Burma. Some news just hits closer to home.)

MLS Player Acquisitions: Moving to MLS 3.1 (at least)

Giovinco is the shit, yo.

This past weekend, I posted some loose speculation about which Major League Soccer (MLS) club is currently "winning" the 2014-15 off-season (to save folks the click, I named Columbus Crew SC). To explain how I pulled that out of my ass, I typed up the following paragraph on how I rank any given player acquisition. So, from best to worst:

"An MLS player of good reputation is greater than a(n apparently*) good foreign acquisition is greater than a known MLS squad hack is greater than a homegrown player is greater than most players acquired through the Superdraft. I think most of that holds up, but I order the last two the way I do because homegrown players come with the bonus of familiarity with the relevant club and its system."

(* The asterisk acknowledges what I call the Fernandez/Paparrato Clause, which means overcoming a reflexive belief that any given foreign player is automatically better.)

Give any thought at all to that ranking you’ll notice an absence – e.g. the clearly high-end DP foreign acquisition, e.g. your Thierry Henrys, your Steven Gerrards, and (presumably) your Sebastian Giovincos. Barring a hateful, mutant personality, players of that stature rank higher than an "MLS player of good reputation." To provide a personal definition, if a player has a pedigree/CV that works like Ye Olde Lettres of Introducfionne (uh, that's "introduction" spelled fancy), he'll more than likely come good – even if it takes a season to get there. That said, I came across a really cool visual tool (that all of you have no doubt already seen and picked to pieces) that speaks to the relative rarity of DPs of that level. They're more exception than the rule. So, let’s turn to the norms. Or, arguably, what could be a new norm.

One departure and a pair of arrivals capture the shift – specifically, Claudio Bieler's departure from Sporting Kansas City and the transfer of Marcelo Sarvas and Sam Cronin to the Colorado Rapids. While the latter adds to a fairly small sample size – see, DC United's 2013-14 off-season maneuvers – it's following a model that brought eye-catching success to what was an historically shitty team (e.g. DC United 2013). And that should be enough to make you wonder at the very least.

I get a little lost on these numbers, but, for argument's sake, let's define MLS 3.0 as the era that ushered in the lower-level DP – that is, players few American fans have heard of, but who hail from countries with strong soccer traditions. Bieler, an Argentine, certainly fit that mold. He produced well enough through 2013, but, 1) that proved to be a clear high-water mark for his MLS career, and 2) his mediocre 2014 rose questions as to whether his play justified his DP salary. I saw Bieler miss a considerable share of chances, but KC fans (a remarkably forgiving bunch, at least per this sample) didn’t seem to mind. Basically, the model in play rested on an assumption that didn’t hold up: e.g. mo' money brings mo' talent, so teams gambled and paid for it up front. A second assumption held that mo’ talent was found among those playing abroad.

DC's 2013-14 off-season challenged that model: they went out and got players blooded in MLS, guys used to the physicality, inconsistent refereeing, and running, running, running. And...hold it...this goes back even further. If you really think about it, Real Salt Lake built their golden years on the same formula. Reclamation projects, in so many words, players who knew the league and played well in it – just not well enough for their then-clubs to necessarily agree with their assessment of own worth.

Before digging into the Sarvas and Cronin, allow me to recant some of the silly things said in my earlier post on that: as it turns out, Sarvas was eager to join the Rapids. And, yes, his prior relationship with Pablo Mastroeni, during that fleeting season with the LA Galaxy, played a larger role than Mastroeni's sensational, sensual mustache. And Sarvas is younger than I thought, etc. So, yes, I suck. (And, yes, this is how I roll: I will never shy away from admitting a mistake, or even a blown interpretation. Just might take a while.)

When the Colorado brain-trust wrapped their heads around last year's (clearly serious) shortcomings, their first instinct was to look inside MLS for solutions, not outside. And it wasn't just guiding the youth they wanted - though that played a role (see: Burling, Bobby; Harrington, Michael) - but they also replaced the departed Spaniard, Jose Mari. Yes, the kind of foreign player that seemed very much in vogue in 2013-14.

For what it's worth, I believe teams will go internal often as they're able in the near-term, and probably beyond. Drafting from within the league simplifies scouting: coaches see those players more often, for one, and the video is easier to come by besides; moreover, the scouts get a fairly immediate and thorough sense of how these players will actually play in MLS. They already know the culture, they've managed the travel, the level of play, the schizoid refereeing, etc. etc.

Hasty as that original post might have been, I also confessed to a blind-spot when it came to Sarvas. With all the stars on LA's roster, he didn't shine as brightly as he might have. And isn't that the point of the reclamation project - i.e. showing what the average fan, and maybe even his coaches, failed to see. Cronin’s arrival was different, so I got that move right away. He's a classic MLS d-mid: a eager runner and hard tackler, a guy who keeps it simple and makes everyone else the hero. A helluva a fit for me, in that he'll make what stars the Rapids field with him better – including Sarvas.

And don't get me wrong. I don't begrudge Bieler his shot in MLS and I respect his 2013. It is worth noting, though, just who it was who replaced him and how he came into KC’s squad. That was Dom Dwyer...who came up through the USL. And that's the wave of MLS 4.0, people...

The Incredible Weight of Sebastian Giovinco

Giovinco! Oh, YEAH!!

Some days, there are stories you just can’t avoid...even when you want to, say, post on your own team's future (and barring the signing of another Italian International, and in his prime, that post on the Portland Timbers' future goes up tomorrow). It is damned hard to duck Toronto FC’s signing of Sebastian Giovinco, an Italian player in the prime of his career, and one a minimum of three months away from suiting up for the Azzurri (see the date on the video in this article...speaking of...).

The tall claim in the title of that article/video kicked off a reddit...do I call them threads? (Sorry, old.) Does Giovinco possess "a level of overall talent yet to be seen in MLS"? Smart and lively as the man looks in that video, and then there’s the pedigree to consider, the short answer is....I don't know. Part of me wonders why anyone would bother with the question. What point does it serve to determine precisely how tall Giovinco stands in the historical hierarchy of MLS DPs? (And who’s bringing the crates, because 5’ 4”?) The man will show up, he’ll do his thing and...well, we'll see won't we? Maybe he's a prick and his teammates will hate him. Maybe he’ll inspire Toronto to their best season ever (NOTE: low bar). Time will tell.

OK, yes, I get what animates the question: does Giovinco's arrival further legitimize MLS's global brand? Again, and sorry, but I don't know. The more immediate concern comes with what his salary(!) does to the Collective Bargaining Agreement presently under negotiation (and does that get capitalized, or does it just warrant capitalization). That’s a big, complex issue that 1) I can't really get my head around at the moment, and 2) the league will undoubtedly keep the final settlement secret, so, let's just hope it all works out and everyone gets richer. Right?

My favorite angle on all this came from (probably) the Toronto FC front office, notably the claim that Giovinco "completes [the TFC] puzzle." Maybe. Or it could be that TFC loves its shiny toys very, very much. Too much, possibly. Pull up TFC's roster and you'll see those eye-catching signings. What you'll also see are a bunch of defenders that are a year older and a midfield that didn't do an excellent job of covering them. I base this on the fact that TFC tied for fourth-worst defense in MLS (58 goals against) – and while playing in an Eastern Conference that is, generally, regarded as the weaker conference.

The take-away from all this is pretty straightforward. Toronto very likely did get one helluva player in Giovinco - and his signing does look pretty amazing in context. Even allowing for the usual adjustment period, consider his numbers and an entirely respectable level of play in one of the world's undisputed top leagues, as well as a solid number of caps for one of the world's undisputed top national teams: details like that speak volumes, at volume. The question, for TFC fans in particular, is one of balance. Do they have too many great parts in too few places to really compete?

To put the entire weight of the answer on one man's aging legs: can Steven Caldwell manage a defense of relatively unheralded parts competently enough for all the (undoubtedly) beautiful work at the other end to hold up? Come next November no signing, no matter how big, will paper over another missed post-season.

Who Is Winning the 2014-15 MLS Off-Season?

Yep, definitely going with Milwaukee...

The idea for this came, 1) on a slow news day (weekend; i.e. day when media is chillin’); and, 2) when I got it in my head that the Houston Dynamo had “won” the off-season by stopping up all the right holes on their roster.

Look, it was late, I was "tired," etc. The idea did stay with me long enough to want to confirm that thought about Houston. Trouble is, I’m not sure I can anymore.

Before declaring this week’s Kings of the 2014-15 Major League Soccer (MLS) Off-Season, I should lay down some ground rules, acknowledge some biases, and generally admit that, based on the preceding factors, I’m pretty damn close to guessing, darts at a board, etc. I’m very deliberately avoiding organizing all this into rankings. Once the sorting on those things goes to any team outside the clearly best and the clearly worst, the distinctions don’t mean all that much. Especially in a parity-driven league like MLS. OK, moving on:

Ground Rule
While this investigation takes into account the team with which each club ended 2014, it focuses on what each of those clubs have done since to improve. In other words, this is more about what any given team has added versus what it has already got (e.g. so "stacked" teams (see: Galaxy, Los Angeles; Sounders, Seattle)) will only show if they've done something big).

Conceptual Biases
When considering what a new player brings, especially an unknown player (e.g. a solid majority of them), I rate them as follows:

 An MLS player of good reputation is greater than a(n apparently*) good foreign acquisition is greater than a known MLS squad hack is greater than a homegrown player is greater than most players acquired through the Superdraft. I think most of that holds up, but I order the last two the way I do because homegrown players come with the bonus of familiarity with the relevant club and its system.

(* I call my skepticism of this kind of signing the Fernandez/Paparrato Clause.)

So, what did I see as I picked through transactions, rosters, and the surprisingly useful Superdraft previews (all clubs show at the bottom, btw)? First, I noticed that few clubs have so far made big, eye-catching moves. Just about half the league have so far come pretty damn close to standing pat. And two clubs – i.e, the expansion teams – don’t count due to fact they’re building from the ground up for 2015.

OK, next step: which teams do I have in the running? The short list:

Chicago Fire, for their bevy of new forwards, plus one sexy-sounding Romanian;
Columbus Crew, for some late additions from last season (e.g., Emanuel Pogatetz, affectionately dubbed "Pokertits" in this space (please adopt this, Crew fans) plus some Icelander and Chris freakin' Klute;
Houston Dynamo, for the aforementioned savvy way they filled holes at forward and in defense;
Portland Timbers...and not just because I’m a homer; Porter seems to have done some smart things with depth...and Nat Borchers can't hurt...right?
San Jose Earthquakes, well, barely...I like some of their intra-league moves;
Sporting Kansas City, for intra-league stuff, bringing back Roger Espinoza and my perhaps misguided belief that Hungary still produces top-drawer players; and
Toronto FC, again, barely, due mainly to some heavy-lifting at forward.

Rather than go through team-by-team to say why I looked past any of the clubs above, I'm just going to declare the winner and be done. (I don’t think I have the readership to invite people to challenge my opinion in the comments, but any visitors should feel absolutely free to do so.)

And, so, without Freddy Adu, your winner for the first week of the first Kings of the 2014-15 MLS Off-Season...drum-roll...a long one, like the one that plays out on Boston’s Fore Play/Long Time on the first Rock Band...

The Columbus Crew!

Look, this was close and the teams I have for honorable mention (the Chicago, Sporting KC, Houston, and, yeah, San Jose) can all jump ahead of the Crew with only a signing or two. Most of them with just one (especially Houston and KC). In other words, this ain’t over. It’s not even close (as in stay tuned for next week).

So, what sells me on Columbus' rebuild? Not standing pat on an-already-solid base for one. Two, the dreamy way Chris Klute should fit into Gregg Berhalter’s system. I also rate the acquisition of Kei Kamara because his "weird" should blend nicely with the Crew’s generally quirky approach to attack. Pokertits should settle in this season and the Crew’s defense did all right...at least until New England ran them over in the post-season, and they milked the Swedish pipeline for players who performed well in that country; Icelander Kristinn Steindorsson, in particular, seems like he was only getting better with each passing year in Sweden, so yeah.

That’s it for this week. I’ll check back into this next week to see if anyone MLS club has done anything to move the needle.

Jozy Returns: Good, Yet Not Triumphant

Welcome home, Jozy. Brewski?

The big news of the day – that is, Jozy Altidore’s return to Major League Soccer (MLS) – doesn’t feel so big as it once might have. That’s less a knock on Mr. Altidore* than a subtle acknowledgement that signings of “big” American players don’t ripple across the league as a whole the way they used to. And that’s a positive step, even as I’m certain that news likes this hits heavier closer to home (i.e. Toronto FC fans must be tickled; Red Bull New York fans less so).

It’s also worth noting that some number of MLS clubs passed on Altidore due to the high asking price. I heard a big number for Jozy’s salary (can’t recall where) – something like $6 million – but that’s unconfirmed thanks to league policies that bar the fourth estate from talking pesos. Whatever the dollar figure, I hardly begrudge Altidore for asking or taking it. Get paid, son. I do, however, feel a certain quiet respect for my Portland Timbers for passing on what seems to be a bloated salary. Goals are great and all, but who likes paying too much for anything?

Toronto, ever reliable when it comes to spending, bolted past such quibbles. They’ve mastered the trappings of ambition, at least; and yet they’ve taken strides to creating a roster-as-metaphor for U.S. wealth inequality. Fascinating...

* To pick up that asterisk above, Jozy’s probably a good bet to make the over proposed by Taylor Twellman: 12.5 goals in 2015 (thanks, Soccer by Ives’ podcas!). Altidore will be a good player in MLS, maybe even a little better than his service. So, welcome back and all that.

The other side of the transaction, i.e. the piece that sent the long-disgruntled Jermaine Defoe back to (the shittiest little-big club in) England, is no less interesting, in that it brings in a couple current themes. Defoe’s arrival last season, coming as it did in his earlier 30s, offered an encouraging counter to the typical “retirement league” trend/perception that still attaches to MLS. A little echo of the notorious Frank Lampard Situation can be heard in there, too: if one can still play in the top flight, why the flipping hell would one stop doing so? Lampard answered that question – or Manchester City did on his behalf – just as Defoe arguably did with this move. That says a couple things about MLS’s global rep, the implications of which...aren’t so good.

The mini-glut of returning Americans says something as well. It could be roughly the same thing that Mexicans players’ long-standing tradition has said for years and years and that’s...not terrible (e.g. our guys value comforts of home). There’s also the Cheers Effect (going where everyone knows your name).

Like just about anything between now and when the thing is signed, the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) comes into the picture. No, MLS can’t compete with Europe’s glamor leagues, neither in quality or the grandness of the stage. No matter, what MLS Commish Don Garber says, it won’t likely be able to for a decade. If we’re lucky. But what the league chooses to pay players – and this is total compensation (some details mentioned in this very good article) whether for designated players or the regular guys – will definitely influence the extent to which MLS start picking higher quality players from Europe, or even Mexico. I don’t see how more can’t be better for everyone except MLS owners, but even they could ultimately reap greater rewards. Investments, man...

It should be clear now that American players have some in-built motivation to return to the States to play. They’re people here, if nothing else, and able to command cash and respect. Drawing good, younger players from Europe (or Mexico) constitutes the next big step. And what happens with the CBA definitely matters there.

The Sarvas Trade: The Tale of a Goal-less Draw (that a shoot-out may yet resolve)

Follow the curls...now look into my eyes and see your future!
(Photo credit: Pablo Maurer)

Did Colorado Rapids head coach Pablo Mastroeni twirl the ends of that glorious mustache whilst discussing the trade that brought Marcelo Sarvas from the Los Angeles Galaxy to the Rocky Mountain side? I imagine he did because this deal is weird enough going both ways to feel a little sinister...

...now, let us never speak of that mustache again. Don’t wanna get the vapors.

OK, first, who thinks Sarvas likes this trade? It’s enough to put a Brazilian in Colorado, but after a couple years in sunny LA? Factor in the slumming element of going first to virtually-worst and one has to imagine the man is packing one article of clothing at a time, glumly, and over the course of several days.

The deeper question, though, is how all this work on the field for both clubs.

For Colorado, this move brings in “winning” and with savvy to a shell-shocked club. Apparently, Sarvas will also cover an anticipated departure: I read somewhere (can’t recall where) that Spaniard Jose Mari is on his way out. So, far so good. The man has his fans among pundits I trust (Mr. Analyst; no, I don’t read super-widely anymore), but he’s one of those players I can’t get my head around. This suggests talents that are both efficient and unspectacular. As such, expect Sarvas to do the yeoman thing – e.g. to work to make his alleged betters better – but that introduces the issue of age. Sarvas ain’t exactly young, which begs the question of how he’ll hold up; that looms larger with each piece of physical/cognitive/emotional stone he’ll be asked to carry for the Rocky Mountain’s most grabastic club.

All the above is a long way of saying that I get what Colorado gets out of the trade, but, were I a Rapids man, I’d have wanted Juninho’s legs and long-range cannon..maybe Mr. Mastroeni twirled the wrong side of the ‘stache? (Ach, vapors! Swoon!)

With LA, this boils down to replacing one old-timing player (Sarvas) with another, higher-profile old-timing player (Steven Gerrard; say, anyone interested in a really colorless story about how he was acquired?). Now, I’ve heard it argued (somewhere in this podcast (hope that link works)) that fans/concerned citizens shouldn’t worry about Gerrard’s legs because he’d have Juninho and Sarvas buzzing around behind and/or around him. Well, there goes half that working theory. Appointing some younger legs to run in support provides the obvious solution, but no obvious names appear on LA’s current roster. Maybe Kenney Walker’s ready for that role? (And welcome to the limits of my knowledge of LA’s roster!)

In this blog’s short history, I admitted to not being sold on the Gerrard signing: I suspect that he’ll have just one well-adjusted year in a Galaxy uniform, by which time he will definitely be old. I get that LA wanted and/or needed a big name and that Gerrard can still ball...for now. Those of us of a certain age know how quickly, cruelly, and absolutely your body turns on you; in that scheme, two years is a long time. LA shipped Sarvas too early if you ask me...

To go the other way, lord knows Colorado needs composure - any team that collapses thoroughly as they did in 2014 needs layers of security blankets – but it’s hard to see what on-field attributes Sarvas brings to the club beyond that. If the legs aren’t able, your club has arguably just drafted an something closer to an assistant coach...but one who's on the field, taking up a spot...

So...did anyone win this thing? LA, but only if they bring in Sacha Kljestan (though that leaves open the question of where they play him).