Let's Play "Trader Mo"

[ExiledRed]

^^ and none of those players, (carragher too) cost LFC a penny in transfer fees, and they are all, or have been, worth over $10 million.

This is why Im stoked to see an academy in place, and why I want MLS to back off and allow us to bring in as many players as we like, instead of training them up and then putting them on the drafting block.

[sidney]

One

In Morgan Campbell’s blog Sunday, he printed this outline of TFC’s roster situation post the Phelan trade (direct from TFC):

http://thestar.blogs.com/torontofc/2...le-clarif.html

2007 - 4 Sr.Intl + 3 US + 5 Youth Intl + 1 Youth Intl (via trade with COL) – 13 Internationals/3 of which must be USA

The League then added 1 International per Team + 2 additional US Internationals for Toronto (to be reviewed at end of 09), therefore…

2008 – 16 Internationals/5 of which must be US

Now…with the trade with NE for their Intl Slot thru 2010…

2008 – 17 Internationals/5 of which must be US

2009 – 15 Internationals/5 of which must be US (lose 2 former Youth slots as per expansion agreement)

2010 – 15 Internationals/5 of which must be US (could be less depending on outcome of review regarding 2 additional US Slots)

2011 – 13 Internationals/5 of which must be US (pending review in 2010 + loss of youth international acquired in trade with COL & NE Intl Slot)

Two

Now here’s our current roster (with salaries in thousands – estimated for Ricketts and Tebily). Note that total is $2.791 million, which even with the last place and O’Brien/Casey allocations, must be very close to the cap

Canadians
Jim Brennan---$165
Greg Sutton----$157
Kevin Harmse--$72


Americans
Jeff Cunningham---$257
Marvell Wynne-----$150
Todd Dunivant-----$104
Maurice Edu-------$157
Brian Edwards-----$45

Internationals
Amado Guevara-------$260
Julius James--------$45
Tyrone Marshall-----$154
Rohan Ricketts------$150 (est)
Laurent Robert------$337
Carl Robinson-------$330
Jarrod Smith--------$33
Olivier Tebily------$150 (est)
Marco Velez---------$60
Danny Dichio-------$165

So therefore.....

Mo's got two unused international slots, the rights to McBride and a DP slot. He has very little left in terms of cap space or allocations (maybe nothing).

If he's trading players, or McBride, he'll almost certainly be looking to trade or drop Americans for internationals (he could also trade Canadians, but it's impossible to imagine him moving Brennan or Sutton, and Harmse is worth nada), and he desperately needs allocations (cap space) to sign a striker. So a "Rolfe for McBride" trade, for instance, on its own, won't happen - Mo would still have the two international slots in that instance.

If Mo drops Cunny, he'll pick up approx $130K in cap space, but with Dichio's injury situation, that may not be a good idea. But given the international slots, I would venture that at least one of Cunny, Marshall or Dunivant are gone (assuming, as I do, that Edu and Wynne are untouchable).

Mo must be working the blackberry hard for allocations. In this respect, watch Chivas, who are the one team that haven't come close to the cap yet - they are sitting at around only $1.8 million. They'd be a likely fit, in terms of selling cap dollars (allocations) for players or picks. Too bad Galindo, who hasn't started well, can't leave the USA (because he's a Cuban defector with unusual visa issues) - he'd be worth going after.

(Not sure I have all the facts right here.....but I think the overall situation is something like this.)

I take it back ensco (from earlier post on Hemming). You should not just be the GM of a new Canadian MLS franchise, you should be the MLS commissioner! Well-done-mate and much thanks!

[DigzTFC!]

First of all, no need to guess on the salaries.

http://www.mlsplayers.org/files/6_5_..._info_club.pdf

Amado : 162K
Ricketts: 200K
Tebily: 157K
Robert: 320K

so the great mystery is solved and you can have a better idea of our cap position. As for Amado, I'll predict some it was bought down by allocation. Like 100K or so.

Second of all, I'll throw in my trades I'd like to see done.

First team

Ugo Ihemelu (RB) ---> Todd Dunivant (LB) = less 30K for TFC
Tyronne Marshall (CB) and a third ---> Adrian Serioux (CB/DM) = save 25K
Harmse waived
Cunny waived (I'm not sure any team wants this guy)
Daryl Roberts signed 220K
DP striker signing

What does this do? We have a better strikers with Dichio likely to retire next year. More cover and youth in our defensive core. And more Canadians to creat flexibility with regards to international spots (so we don't have to keep guys like Harmse).

Developmental signings

Matt Britner
Thomas Kargbo http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=LA8XzfGm4u8
Justin Isidro http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61w3n...eature=related

These are the kids that TFC need to pick up when they fall through the cracks. So Man United and Vitoria Setubol didn't continue their interest in these kids...it shouldn't be the end all be all. TFC needs to convince these kids the can achieve their goals through them.

I think most of this is realistic or possible.

[UltraSuperMegaMo]

Nice ideas DigzTFC! I especially like the Darryl Roberts suggestion. I’ve been keeping tabs on him via Google news searches - he’s keen to find a club in Europe, but, apparently, no luck yet. Maybe that bodes well for TFC.

What are Isidro and Kargbo’s situations? Are they currently unattached? Ihemelu as a Canadian(?) and with his desire to play for the MNT would see to be a natural fit here.

[DigzTFC!]

Isidro was let go because something to do with the portuguese reserve league not playing anymore

http://canadian-soccer.com/forum/top...60&whichpage=4

I'm not sure what happened with Kargbo. I think he's still in Calgary or made it at Man U. Not entirely sure.

[ensco]

First of all, no need to guess on the salaries.

http://www.mlsplayers.org/files/6_5_..._info_club.pdf

Amado : 162K
Ricketts: 200K
Tebily: 157K
Robert: 320K

so the great mystery is solved and you can have a better idea of our cap position. As for Amado, I'll predict some it was bought down by allocation. Like 100K or so.

That is weird with respect to Guevara. I know Guevara was previously shown at $260K, and if they're "buying down" reported salaries with allocation money, that's doubly weird.

I use the guarantee not the base, so the numbers are:

Guevara 185
Ricketts 212
Robert 337 (unchanged)
Tebily 157

also Brennan's gone up to $183

and the corrected total is $2.803 million (essentially unchanged). If you're right about Guevara, our cap position is worse than we thought.

[Ossington Mental Youth]

Which is why Mo might be fighting to get Conde from Chicago to sell him off for another 2-300k to New York. Question is will we get anything else with COnde like moneys and or drafts and or another player...

[oxygenatedbrain]

For cap purposes, it's base salary...unless that's changed in my absence?

[SteeltownBhoy]

I love posts like this that break down the internals of TFC, great post, keep it up. Only thing I got is Dichio should go I know, I know, but like mentioned above, his injury situation isn't much better. And Cunny is great imo when we have quality midfielders behind him to feed him creative passes. Dichio's getting older as well. Take him off the roster, put him in the office (he really loves Toronto and Canada from what I can tell).

I really think the plan is to put him in the office after this year. He has his coaching papers, I really think he goes to work with Nick D and the academy next season.

I think thats what Danny wants also.

[ensco]

A close TFC observer ("Old Striker") has pointed out to me something I had missed, which is that we appear to be required to have 5 Americans.

So Mo has two options:

- if any of Guevara, Marshall, James or Velez can be reclassified as Americans, then he can replace one of Cunny or Dunivant with an international

- otherwise he will have to release or trade Canadians.

My guess is Mo will trade one slot for an allocation, and use the other to replace Harmse with a striker.

Could Mo or Carver be eyeing an international GK?

[Ossington Mental Youth]

Ensco, unless we replace Cunny with another American striker (from Chicago?)
By got this is going to be interesting to see this all unravel

[ensco]

Ensco, unless we replace Cunny with another American striker (from Chicago?)

Sure. That's totally straightforward.

If he does that though, I'm not sure how he'll realize value on slot acquired in the Phelan trade, unless he trades the slot for an allocation, and uses the remaining international slot to sign an additional player.

What is a 2008 and 2009 slot worth in terms of allocation dollars? I wouldn't have thought it was worth much, but it's one of the keys to understanding what Mo is up to.

[oxygenatedbrain]

Velez IS American, as a Puerto Rican...Guevara and Marshall hold Green Cards, and therefore count as Americans...

Edit: We're not required to have 5 Americans...We have 12 international slots, and we can supplement that number with 5 extra American players, if we choose...which we do.

[Ossington Mental Youth]

What is a 2008 and 2009 slot worth in terms of allocation dollars? I wouldn't have thought it was worth much, but it's one of the keys to understanding what Mo is up to.

Very good question

[rocker]

That is weird with respect to Guevara. I know Guevara was previously shown at $260K

i thought Guevara wasn't on the April 8 list? There wasn't a May list was there? I should have saved the last one.. but I could have sworn it was April 8. The March 31 list didn't have Robert but the next one had him. But neither had Guevara.
Where did you see 260K?

185K for Guevara is a damn steal.

[ensco]

Velez IS American, as a Puerto Rican...Guevara and Marshall hold Green Cards, and therefore count as Americans...

Edit: We're not required to have 5 Americans...We have 12 international slots, and we can supplement that number with 5 extra American players, if we choose...which we do.

OK. You sound like you understand this better than I do

btw, I miss BBtB's input in these kind of threads....has he retired?

[ExiledRed]

btw, I miss BBtB's input in these kind of threads....has he retired?

He's still on bigsoccer,

John's a very strong willed individual.

Unlike myself. When he says 'fuck it' he means it.

I'm told the software change pissed him off, but I think it must go deeper than that.

[Lenny Dikestra]

BBTB was cool