Mid-Season Review part 3: Trades

In the third installment of our MSR series, we discuss the trades that United has made since the end of last season. Besides the Gomez move, there were two other fairly significant trades for the team, and I think I actually come out opposed to the popular opinion on both of them. Maybe this can generate an argument or two in the comments?

1. When Christian Gomez first departed from DC, I suggested that his stats might actually improve with him in Colorado, just because he wouldn't have a predator like Emilio and an expert free kick taker like Moreno. But with 3 goals and 6 assists right now, it doesn't look like Gomez will get to his standard 10 and 10 that he averaged in DC, but then again, neither will Gallardo. We received Colorado's Designated Player slot in the trade for Gomez, and it's difficult to gauge how much that DP slot really has helped us. Because that slot just served to increase Emilio's salary. Maybe it was the increased salary that caused Emilio to step up his game from earlier in the year, or maybe he was just moving out of his slump anyway.

2. My sense is that most DC United fans would take back the trade of Bobby Boswell for Zach Wells if they could. I disagree. But you have to consider several things first. One is that Boswell wanted out of DC after he was benched by Soehn for the majority of the regular season. Secondly, Troy Perkins was already on his way out. Third, an attempted trade for Joe Cannon had already fallen through. And most importantly, if DC had not made this trade, our starting goalkeeper this year might have been *gasp* Jose Carvallo! As I said when it happened, this trade is not necessarily a loss for DC, but it sure was a win for Houston! They gave up a backup keeper and they got a former defender of the year, who this year has stepped up his level of play to be much more consistent. As for Wells, he's certainly improved since his first game in a United uniform. I think he can now be considered a legitimate starting keeper in MLS, but not exactly above average. My complaint is that the team didn't try harder to procure a veteran once Perkins was gone. With 2 new players starting in defense, it would have been nice to have a consistent keeper with the experience to lead a backline. Pat Onstad and Kevin Hartman were both left exposed by their teams in the expansion draft, and would have both been much more solid than Wells has been.

3. My sense is that most DC United fans are still in favor of the trade of Greg Vanney for Quavas Kirk. I disagree. Just like the Wells/Boswell trade, for me this all comes back to consistency, experience, and leadership in the defense. Vanney's play has certainly deteriorated, as we've seen in LA this year, but I for one would still enjoy having him as a backup to los Gonzalos and McTavish. He would have seen more playing time this year than Kirk has. If Perkins was still around, then I wouldn't mind this trade as much, but Vanney departing means just too much change to the defense for one season. Quavas Kirk is on the total opposite side of his career. Still young and "unrefined", but with a lot of potential that hasn't yet been realized in the DC United uniform. Here's my main question: How long does the Generation Adidas tag apply to Kirk? It's fine having him on the bench this year because as a GA player, he doesn't count against the salary cap, and only takes up a developmental roster spot. But if that tag expires next year, do you really think he'll stay on the team? I don't see him taking a $17,700 developmental roster spot, so the only options will be to put him on the senior roster, or cut him. He just doesn't play enough to deserve a senior spot. So now if you look at this trade as having Vanney for only the 2008 season or Kirk for only the 2008 season, which would you prefer?

4. Two more less significant trades saw United acquire Craig Thompson and Mike Zaher from Houston and Toronto respectively. Both players give us some depth in positions that we really need it right now. In a normal season without as many injuries as we've had lately, neither of these guys would be getting much time with the first team. But with Quaranta and Mediate injured, and McTavish permanently stuck in defense, Thompson has proven to be a useful utility man on the right flank. Already with one assist in Superliga action, the Miner has been fairly productive, but like some of our other midfielders, he needs to learn how to not lose the ball. Zaher plays mostly as a left back, and I guess there's a possibility he could start tonight in place of the suspended Martinez. Zaher's fast and hard-working with a lot of potential from what I've seen, and he could in the future be a regular option for DC, but unless he can earn some more playing time, it might be tough for him to keep his job next year.

I'm going to a party tonight, so I probably won't get to write a review of the KC match until tomorrow, and I'll also add part 4 of the MSR sometime in the next few days to summarize where the team now stands in position to make a playoff run.

Is Burchie the bomb?

Definitively yes! Or at least the potential is there for Marc Burch to really emerge as a weapon this year. For a few reasons…

I had a moment of realization during the Harbour View game last week. It was in the second half, and Burch had just gone on a long overlapping run behind Fred. Well somehow DC lost possession, and HVFC went on a counter attack, sending the ball up the right wing into the space that Burch had left unoccupied. But a streaking Gonzalo Peralta beat the HVFC player to the ball and shut down the attack.

But what would have happened last year? Probably the HVFC player would have beat Boswell or Vanney to the ball. Perkins would have had to come charging out and probably would have stopped the attacker, but it would have been pretty dangerous. Or more likely, Burch wouldn't have gone on his overlapping run at all.

I don't know if this very play is what the front office had in mind when acquiring los Gonzalos and dumping Boswell and Vanney, but it is certainly a bit of added equity. Because we've now got two capable center backs with a lot of speed, the flank backs now should have much more freedom to drift up into the attack. Burch and Namoff shouldn't have to worry as much about leaving their territory exposed, because Peralta and Martinez each have the speed to cover.

When Burch goes on these runs up the flank, United shifts temporarily into a 3-5-2. Burch can use his left foot to send in a cross, or one of his famous Burchie-bombs. But this also gives United another option, because with Burch on the left, guess where Fred goes… The middle of course! His favorite! And our formation will look something like this:
---Emilio----Moreno---
----Fred----Gallardo--
-Burch-Simms-Olsen-
Peralta-Martinez-Namoff

So not only will Burch develop more scoring opportunities as a result of the added speed in the back, but I think Fred could also see some residuals too. And that leads to our second reason why Burchie is the bomb. I alluded to it in my DCU/HVFC game review, but the communication between Fred and Burch is key. They seem to have developed some chemistry which will allow each of them to elevate their games.

And finally, the last reason that Burchie will be the bomb this year is just the fact that the team is playing a bit more variety of competition. When Burch first started getting starts at left back last year, no one knew who he was and he was able to create opportunities. But later in the year, the rest of the league got bit wiser, and began to mark his left foot more closely. But the rest of the world still has no idea who Marc Burch is. So his left foot will still be a major weapon in all of these international competitions.

Burch is one to watch this year. 1 goal and 3 assists last year is certainly a pretty good showing for a defender, but we could see his stats go even higher in 2008.

Quavas Kirk

Is Alexi Lalas even a fan of the Galaxy? A trade like this makes me wonder if he really has much interest in winning.

Ok let me back it up. I guess if you're looking at the Greg Vanney / Quavas Kirk trade purely in terms of on-the-field talent, it's actually pretty even. Vanney started most of the year for DC, and should start and provide a bit of veteran leadership in defense for the Galaxy, a group that gave up the second most goals in the league last year. Kirk is young, fast, and talented, but he's currently "unrefined". Sure, he started five games for LA last year, but let's be real... Jeff Carroll could have started five games for LA last year too.

But unfortunately for LA, there's a lot more to this trade than just on-the-field talent. And that's where DC wins, and has won this whole offseason. Two things that LA apparently didn't take into consideration:

1. Greg Vanney obviously wasn't going to play for United this year. In any other sport, that would drive his price down. It's a whole supply and demand type thing. Like last year when Randy Moss obviously wasn't going to play for the Raiders, his price went down and the Patriots only had to give up a fourth round draft pick to get him. I was only expecting to receive a second or third round draft pick at best for Vanney. This is a major bonus.

2. Quavas Kirk remains a Generation Adidas player, meaning that his $111,000 salary will not count against the salary cap, and more importantly, he is eligible for a spot on the Developmental roster. I'll never understand how the Galaxy can manage to fit Vanney's salary under their cap, along with all the Beckhams, Donovans, Xaviers, Ruizes, and Martinos of the world.

But enough about the ineptitude of the LA front office. What does this do for DCU?

Well obviously it's a bit more depth on the flank. Kirk could maybe compete with Dominic Mediate for playing time. And this could also potentially affect our ongoing 'Mil versus Moose debate, making Justin Moose just a bit more expendable.

But I'm going to make a prediction here. With Kirk's size and speed, he seems to be exactly the type of player that Soehn and Company like to try to convert into a wide defender. It worked for McTavish and Burch, it didn't quite work for Gros or North, but I think they will give Kirk a try in the back at some point.

This also means that we've got some real competition now for the final of 10 Developmental roster spots. Judging only from the scrimmage match reports that I've read, I would guess that Tony Schmitz, Grady Renfrow, and Ardalan Attar might be the ones in trouble.

I wonder if Quavas Kirk could turn into a leader for the team. Maybe someday he will even be able to wear the Captain's armband. Then we would have to call him.......... (That was just too easy)

International update

Looks like our acquisition of Gonzalo Martinez is just about official, and that Said Godinez is probably not heading to the nation's capitol. Nothing further yet on Carvallo. But this is developing quite nicely. Assuming we re-sign Vanney, we might see a rotation of three guys at center back again with Martinez, Vanney, and McTavish. It's nice to have depth again. If we can come away with both Martinez and Niell, I'll be happy. I'm mostly indifferent about Carvallo right now, just because I'm reasonably confident that we can find another decent American goalkeeper, judging from our country's world renowned reputation of producing decent goalkeepers.

Also in the news is our favorite Terp that doesn't currently wear black and red: Taylor Twellman. Twellman wants to take his 29 credits overseas to Preston North End, but the move has been blocked assumedly by the Revolution. New England is good at exactly two things: Losing MLS Cups, and screwing it's top players out of chasing their dreams in Europe. Nice to see Taylor being honest about the whole thing.

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.

So that's what we call a finale?

A 3-2 loss at home would have been crushing earlier in the year, but let's not get too down on ourselves. We were without our best central defenseman Greg Vanney for 90 minutes, our biggest inspiration Jaime Moreno for 80 minutes, our lucky charm Clyde Simms for 40 minutes, our hardest working player Ben Olsen for 45 minutes, and our leading goal scorer Luciano Emilio for 40 minutes.

How great would it have been for Olsen to score that goal inside the six yard box with his head while LITERALLY sitting on his ass.

I've never heard of him before, but that Robbie Rogers kid is a stud, and would be a great addition to the DCU/UMD connection. I could see him as the heir-apparent to Olsen's spot on the right wing. One can only dream.

Regardless of two disappointing results at home in the final two matches of the season, DC United still owns the Supporters Shield, and should still be considered the favorite to win the MLS Cup.