Mid-Season Review part 2: Departures

Continuing on in our mid-season review of DC United's roster decisions in the offseason, we move on to the departures. For this entry, our definition of "departure" will be any player who was on the club roster last season, but who is no longer under contract with the team, for reasons other than a trade with another MLS club.

1. Before the start of this season, I figured that it would be the replacement of Gomez with Gallardo as the decision that shaped United's immediate future As it turns out, the decision to sell Troy Perkins to a Norwegian club might actually have been more significant. I guess it's just part of DC United tradition not to keep any goalkeepers for more than a year or two. We've never had a constant back there like Reis and Onstad have been for their clubs (note: the two most successful teams the past 3 years). Simpson, Presthus, and Garlick were all here for too short a time. And of course it made sense at the time to let go of Rimando when Perkins had beaten him out for the starting job, but wouldn't we all love to have Nicky back right now? It's hard to put a number on the amount of wins it has cost us to lose Perkins. Because I can't think of any game specifically that we have lost due only to a poor performance by Zach Wells. But Troy was occasionally a game-changer when it came to making point-blank saves, and the defense as a whole was more composed and more organized with him in net. Perkins was vocal: not afraid to yell at Boswell for making a mistake. That's a trait I've never seen out of Wells. With so much change (and now so many injuries) to the back line this year, it would have made a huge difference to have a constant at the keeper position to keep it all together.

2. It was really unfortunate both to United and to Josh Gros when we learned that he would not be able to play this year. Even if he was never the most technically talented individual, his work rate was known and appreciated across the league. Josh could play both left wing and left midfield, and even though I'm not exactly sure where or if he would fit into our regular starting XI this year in competition with Burch, Quaranta, and McTavish, his consistent play would certainly have come in handy during this stretch of injuries. United would instantly be better were Gros to return to action, if only as an example of hard work. Some of our players would be well served to learn from Gros's dedication.

3. I struggled with whether to put this guy ahead of Gros or not, but lost in the expansion draft to Columbus through way of San Jose was Brian Carroll. I wrote way back when that Carroll was a "true United player", in the Joe Gibbs sense of the term "true Redskin". Like Gros, he had a good work ethic, and although he lost his starting job to Simms last year, BC certainly would have been getting plenty of playing time over the past month if was still with DC.

4. I would guess that Jay Nolly and his parents were probably the only people who were disappointed to hear that he got cut from the team when it happened. Nolly was not a very popular guy among United supporters. But he has been performing quite well for Vancouver this season, and would probably have provided more competition with Wells for the starting keeper job than Carvallo and Thorpe have. Nolly was only taking up a Developmental roster spot, so it wouldn't have taken much to keep him around. I never imagined 6 months ago that I would be talking about Jay Nolly as a significant loss.

5. Some occasional contributors to the first team who are no longer with DCU: Justin Moose, Stephen DeRoux, Nick Addlery, and Guy-Roland Kpene. Despite my constant inclinations to poke fun at Moose, I won't try to pretend that he or DeRoux have really been missed this year. They were useful utility men, but have been replaced fairly well by rookies like Thompson and Cordeiro. There was a brief time early in the year when Emilio was struggling that I kind of wished we'd had the aggressive Addlery around as a back up striker, but that role has now been filled admirably by a much younger Francis Doe. And as for Kpene's role as a semi-creative forward who doesn't know how to score? That was filled by Niell.

6. I've never spoken too highly of Bryan Arguez, but after being a first round pick last year, you would hope that he would have seen a bit of action with the first team this year. United's decision to sell him abroad for some good hard cash probably allowed them the allocation money to bring in los Gonzalos and the other new hires. I'd seen Arguez play in Reserve matches, and although tall, he always seemed clumsy and uninvested. Maybe he stepped it up when trying out for Hertha Berlin, otherwise I don't know what they saw in him. Regardless, central defensive midfield is not necessarily a position of need for us, so Arguez's departure still isn't very high on my list.

7. And finally a group of players who were on the roster last year but saw no time with the first team (and rightfully so): Jamil Walker, Mira Mupier, Jerson Monteiro, Brad North, and Shawn Crowe. You've got to feel bad for Walker, whose main attribute was speed, but never recovered enough from a leg injury to regain that speed. His years spent in a United uniform are not unappreciated, and we wish him luck with his career in the USL. Mupier and Monteiro were both forwards who had spent time previously with other MLS clubs, but both are now out of the league. North and Crowe just couldn't cut it.

Senior roster appears set

At least it appears that way as far as I see. Goff told us this morning that David Blumer and Josh Gardner would not be offered contracts by the club. So if you look back at this post, you'd realize that there are only 18 players left who I've considered as being in competition for the 18 senior roster spots. And with Gardner and Blumer out of the picture, it looks like the final senior roster spot will probably go to Jamil Walker. This is again based on the assumption that Burch, McTavish, and Dyachenko will all remain on the senior roster like they were last year, and that Kpene will remain on the developmental roster like he was last year.

Thanks to some more excellent reporting by Goff, we also learned today the 18 man roster that will travel to Jamaica for the opening leg of United's debut in the Champions' Cup. Really not any surprises here, as I think we probably could have guessed this roster following the lineup used in the Renegade match. But one name does stick out to me, and that's Dan Stratford. This Suppie was named to the gameday roster ahead of the more experienced Justin Moose and Guy Kpene, and Stratford has maybe locked up the role of Clyde Simms' chief backup. Also kind of important to note here that Dyachenko remains ahead of Kpene and Walker on the depth chart.

Lastly, following a 1-1 tie with United earlier today, the Houston Dynamo added yet another trophy to their case: The Texas Pro-Soccer Championship! The team might have to move their two MLS Cup trophies into a closet to make room for this coveted award. Although DC finished with the same 2-0-1 record as Houston, the Dynamo were called champions just because they scored more goals than us on lowly TFC (although they gave up 3 goals to TFC also - so what does THAT say?).

A rule change that actually benefits DC

Gasp! And here we were thinking that MLS only made rule changes in order to benefit the Galaxy!

Maybe this was announced earlier and I missed it, but a change to the MLS roster rules has come up today only because of Goff's latest post announcing the signing of Justin Moose to a Developmental contract, and the news that Kpene and Dyachenko are still eligible for Developmental contracts. Wait a minute... Didn't we previously count all three of them as being in competition for Senior roster slots?

Let's go back two months to a Roster Analysis post I wrote back on December 27th. Here's an excerpt:

What has not changed is the basic breakdown of 18 senior roster players and 10 developmental roster players. Straight from the MLS Roster Composition page: "Developmental players can be either domestic or international and must be 24 years of age (goalkeepers may be 25) or younger during the calendar year of competition."

That was a direct quote from the 2007 Player Rules, but when you click on the link now, the 2008 Player Rules says: "Developmental players can be either domestic or international and must be 25 years of age or younger during the calendar year of competition."

This is huge news for DC United, and it completely alters all of our previous forecasts of who is in competition for what spots. What a difference a year makes! So who is definitively eligible for the Developmental roster? The easiest thing to do is just look at the team's website and everyone born in 1983 or later is technically eligible, which means Burch and McTavish could technically be relegated if they were ever to fall out of favor with the coaching staff. Jose Carvallo and Franco Niell are also technically eligible, but I doubt they would have left their home countries for Developmental contracts. So here's how we see it playing out...

18 Senior roster players:
1 Emilio, 2 Moreno, 3 Niell, 4 Gallardo, 5 Fred, 6 Olsen, 7 Simms, 8 Martinez, 9 Peralta, 10 Namoff, 11 Burch, 12 McTavish, 13 Wells, 14 Carvallo, 15 Mediate, 16 Dyachenko. With the competition for the final 2 slots now coming down to Santino Quaranta, Jamil Walker, David Blumer, and Josh Gardner (born in 1982 - I checked). I've got to think Quaranta is probably back, and Walker and Blumer will go at it for the last spot. Sounds like another potential Versus.

10 Developmental roster players:
1 J. Carroll, 2 P. Carroll, 3 Kirk, 4 Moose, 5 Owens, 6 Stratford, 7 Thorpe, 8 Cordeiro, 9 Kpene. With the competition for the final slot now coming down to Tony Schmitz, Dane Murphy and Cezar. Cezar is an unknown so we'll see what the coaches think of him, but right now I think the edge has to go to Murphy since Schmitz has apparently not been traveling with the team (still in school - what a poor excuse!)

So why do I list Dyachenko on the full roster and Kpene on the Dev roster? Others might argue with me, but I feel like Rod has done more to earn the full roster slot and the salary that comes with it. Also, he was on the full roster last year and Kpene was not, so I don't see why they would change it. And lastly, with Niell on the roster and a healthy Jamil Walker (or Blumer), we're a lot deeper at forward now than we were last year, so Kpene will likely be seeing much less playing time, and actually could be potential trade bait if they sign Cezar too.

8 International players:
Competition has definitely increased on the international front. Let's see, we've got 1 Emilio, 2 Niell, 3 Gallardo, 4 Fred, 5 Martinez, 6 Peralta, 7 Carvallo, 8 Stratford, 9... Uh oh... This is a bad sign for Cezar. All indications out of camp seem to be that Stratford has earned his way onto the roster, and may even compete with Dyachenko for playing time. The Brazilian will really have to impress to make the team. David Blumer? According to Goff he's got a US Passport so he won't count against the international quota.

Whew. The MLS Rules committee really knows how to keep us bloggers on our toes. It must be a cool job to be able to just change the rules as you go along without ever really telling anybody. But I'm sure we've all had bosses like that.

Opening up Training Camp

I stopped by RFK for about five minutes today on my way to Arlington. Not surprisingly, Goff scooped me on just about every remotely interesting item that I could have reported. Here's the only important fact I have to add:

• Kpene's hair is blond again.

Next time I'll be more prepared and try to remember to bring a camera.

Franco Niell

The front office has had a pretty busy week down in Argentina. Goff reports, and it appears to be confirmed by Pasion Paternal, that Argentine forward Franco Niell will be joining DC United on a one-year loan for $60,000, with an option to buy for $900,000, pending a medical exam on January 24th.

$60,000 to loan this guy sounds like a great deal. There are doubts about his size and his recent statistics. But this guy should be in front of Kpene and Addlery on the depth chart just based on his nationality alone!

Whether Moreno is back this year or not, I'm excited about this deal. If Jaime is playing for one more year, then Niell should provide quality relief, as Jaime will certainly not be playing many 90 minute games. If Moreno is outie, then Niell could potentially be a starter next to Emilio, although then I hope that we still pursue one additional forward. That or Kevin Payne needs to invent a way to somehow combine each of the positive attributes of Rod and Guy and Nick into a single player.

Roster analysis

First of all, here's a link to what the Fullback wants for Christmas. That's required reading for all DCU fans this offseason.

Secondly, with all the recent roster moves, and with the rule changes for 2008, I think it's time that we reset and take a look at where we currently stand.

The rule changes seem to be pretty minor in relation to DCU, and probably most other teams in the league. The biggest changes are that there is no longer any distinction between "Senior Internationals" and "Youth Internationals", and that teams can now trade international slots in player deals.

I don't see this change having any effect on DC United. At season's end, we've only got 3 international players (Emilio, Fred, Gomez), and they all fall under the "Senior" classification anyway. The only way it could affect us is that DC now has the opportunity to trade away a couple of their extra international slots if they want, and if there is a market for them (doubtful).

What has not changed is the basic breakdown of 18 senior roster players and 10 developmental roster players. Straight from the MLS Roster Composition page: "Developmental players can be either domestic or international and must be 24 years of age (goalkeepers may be 25) or younger during the calendar year of competition." But a team can also elect to promote a player 24 or younger to the Senior roster, as DC United did for Devon McTavish and Marc Burch this year.

Of course all of this could change at any moment, but acting under the assumption that Moreno will return, that Gomez and Vanney will work out a deal, and that Gros will retire, we currently have:

• (3) players with "Developmental" status (Arguez, J. Carroll, Monteiro)
  
• (19) players with "Senior" status

Uh oh.

And that's before United makes any other acquisitions.

So what does that mean for United? It means that we're already one player over the limit on the Senior roster, and it means that we will have to cut one player for every new player over age 24 that is signed in the offseason. This is because we've got 4 players (DeRoux, Dyachenko, Kpene, Moose) turning 25 in 2008, and Nolly is turning 26.

As promising as some of them may be, this could mean a world of trouble for guys like Moose, Addlery, Kpene, Walker, and DeRoux.

Now if only the MLS would change the rules again so we could maybe trade 2 international spots for another senior roster spot or something crazy like that.

The List

Officially available at noon tomorrow, leaked first on the Insider, here is the list of protected players for Wednesday's expansion draft:

Perkins, Boswell, Namoff, McTavish, Burch, Fred, Simms, Gomez, Olsen, Moreno, Emilio

Hard to say there's really any surprises there. That's essentially our starting lineup for game 1 next year, barring no huge changes. This is really a fantastic sign that Gomez and Moreno will each be back next year, or at least that the front office expect them both to be back right now.

But missing from the list are Greg Vanney, Brian Carroll, and Rod Dyachenko. Two guys with a lot of experience that would absolutely start for the Earthquakes right away, and either one of them could even potentially be your captain if you wanted. And one guy who has a lot of upside, and had maybe the best game of his career in the playoffs against Chicago.

I definitely hope not to lose Dyachenko. If San Jose was smart, then they would have been scouting all the Reserve division players this year, and if so, then they would know that Rod is the leader of our offense in Reserve games. Although he's probably not quite ready to start regularly for us next year, he will be a huge asset coming off the bench as Moreno, Gomez, and Olsen won't be able to play the full 90 much longer.

BC has been a true team player for a lot of years here in DC, and it would be a shame to lose him. Unfortunately, with the possible addition of Veron, he becomes a little bit more expendable. And Vanney played consistently well for us this year, but in the end I agree that it's probably smartest to protect him over Boswell.

But with all that said... San Jose Management, if you read this, I REALLY hope that you DON'T take Guy-Roland Kpene. PLEASE! He's a brilliant player, certainly not just all flashy with little finishing ability. He'll probably have 15 goals next year. LEAVE KPENE ALONE!

Using Protection

The San Jose expansion draft is going down on next Wednesday 11/21. Does this seem too soon to anyone else? Someone from the Revs or Dynamo won't even be done celebrating their championship yet when he's forced to move out to the west coast.

Anyway, I'm not going to go through the entire DC United team and who's going to be protected, because you can already get that here or here. As point out on the Insider, it seems like there are 8 players who are guarenteed to be protected: Emilio, Fred, Olsen, Simms, Namoff, Burch, McTavish, and Perkins. So that leaves 3 more slots and a lot of great players.

There's more than one way to look at this. Because not only do you have to consider which players you want back at DCU, but I think you also need to consider which players the Quakes are likely to find the most attractive.

So with that in mind, I think we need to protect Christian Gomez. There's a decent chance that he will be leaving the MLS next year, but if I was the Quakes, I would be willing to take that risk and select Gomez if he is available.

It's the exact opposite for Moreno though. Moreno is less worth the risk, because I think he would sooner retire than move his entire family to San Jose. Moreno knows that we want him back in DC, but I don't want to risk pissing off Gomez by not protecting him.

The next guy we protect is Rod Dyachenko. After his two assist performance in the second leg of the Chicago series, Rod has got to be in high demand. If we don't protect Dyachenko, then he is gone. No doubt about it.

And lastly, we need to protect one of our center backs, but I'm so torn as to which one. Greg Vanney is older, with a higher salary, but San Jose would be smart to take him if he's available because he'd be an instant starter and a leader, and you could maybe even give him the captain's armband. Bobby Boswell is younger with a lower salary, and still a lot of experience, but with the desire to go overseas. So its going to force Kevin Payne and Tom Soehn to make a big decision right now which player they want around next year. And I guess it really depends (just like everything else this offseason) on the future of Moreno and Gomez. If they are sticking around, then you keep Vanney to try to win now. If they are gone, then we sort of need to start rebuilding, and then we need to keep the younger Boswell.

Either way, I'm also leaving Brian Carroll exposed, so he could be taken. But I'm going to cross my fingers and hope that San Jose takes a gamble and selects Guy Kpene.