They signed Jordan Smith, a 24 year old Costa Rican RB to be their new starter. They tried to negotiate a new deal with Beitashour but he understandably didn't want to take a pay cut when he knew his value was high enough to earn his current salary or more through the re-entry draft. So they traded him before the draft to at least get something out of him instead of him leaving for nothing.
I will restate my question: why did Vancouver 100% give the job to an unknown player from Saprissa (that can't get a sniff from his national team), rather than resign Beitashour for a pretty reasonable $200K?
Just seems weird. I guess this Smith guy impressed in his stint, and I get that there are lots of quality players in Central and South America, but Smith is an international, decent MLS domestics are valuable as hell in this league.
Last edited by ensco; 12-10-2015 at 10:59 PM.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
Honestly, I don't totally get it either. Unless they have big plans elsewhere in the team and really needed the cap room...
It looks like San Jose gifting us Morrow all over again. I'm certainly not gonna complain.
Regardless of how good Beitashour is now, the fact he played with Morrow hopefully means they'll have an understanding of each other on the pitch right away. I kind of like the thought of Schuler as a solid pickup for depth, if not a starter depending on whether or not he has finally overcome his injury bug. Better than Drew Moor when healthy - I imagine they'll pick up Moor if they can't get Schuler. I'm looking forward to tomorrow and seeing where everyone ends up.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/Wakingthered/status/675153027368689666
@24thminute: Beitashour for 2nd rd pick acquired in Creavalle trade (No23). That's what I just heard. But, without @KristianJack breaking it I never ask.
if true, this trade is soooo good.
I watched a fair number of Whitecaps game - no question that Beitashour is a decent pick-up for Toronto. Robinson was on record that he wanted to re-sign him...I'm not going to lose to many brain cells why it ended up happening...I still haven't worked out how we gave Vancouver their best player for nothing in return. I thought Morgan developed well before he got injured - I hope he gets a chance next season. We just need a keeper and a big centre back.
We still need a d-mid more than we need a CB. Everyone of our cb's except kantari has shown at some point in their stint with us that they can have a run of reasonable performances under the right circumstances. But they've all been shit when left exposed by our midfield. A goalie, a #6 and a true wide forward/winger are our most pressing needs rn.
Whitecaps fans on Reddit are basically unanimously disappointed to lose Beitashour. Literally the only semi-negative thing any of them could muster about him was that he "didn't exactly impress down the stretch."
This is so bad. Honestly. Whoever we end up getting, they are not going to be as good as Beitashour.That's a shame, I thought he worked hard this season...Yeah I definitely noticed his absence on games he missed. Too bad.This would be so shitty.Lead our team in assists... solid defensively and at attacking. You'd have a hard time finding a better RB currently playing in MLS.This is very discouraging. While I can't speak about in training, Smith was not very impressive in games. Hopefully some one new is in the pipesBut if it turns out last season's form is Smith's ceiling (which I highly doubt) then Beita will definitely prove to be a big loss.
Damnit. He was really a big piece that formed the best defense in the league. He'll do very well in helping you shore things up, Toronto. Very good player. Hopefully Robbo has another sneaky South/Central American signing at RB that can replace him (and is not Jordan Smith).
I thank Beita for his service. I'm glad he's gonna likely get a hefty pay raise.
Given the team is determined to use Cheyrou as the DM type, Beitashour, Johnson, a decent CD and a keeper and I'm happy enough.
Anyone have any thoughts on Steven Vitoria? I know he is seen as a traitor because he chose not to play for Canada, but he was released from Philly and would be a domestic for us. Not sure if he has the leadership or playing qualities to lead the backline.
Also, Zac MacMath was released as well. I've been pretty impressed by what I've seen from a keeper who is still fairly young. Seems like he would be a solid pickup to cover for a couple years until Roberts matures enough to take over.
Not sure why either of them are bring released, especially MacMath.
I have thoughts on Vitoria... they involve a cannon and him being fired into the sun.
Vitoria was shite for Philly last season. Also on 400k. Wouldn't touch him with a barge pole.
MacMath on the other hand, yes should defo make a play for him.
With this added $1,100,000 or so in salary cap from last year (5% increase, 800,000 TAM and 125,000 for youth / academy) we need to be aiming much higher than Vittoria and MacMath. I am assuming Orlando and New York City will be MUCH better in their second seasons and the 5 Eastern Playoff teams as well will easily improve with this money, so we need to be THAT much better than last year just to improve on 49 points.
Beitashour is a solid pickup and on decent money, but that is just a start. We need to Scrap Khantari and / or Williams and buy a World Class Center back and Goalkeeper ($800,000 each basically). Also we need one more midfielder to replace Delgado / Findlay in the lineup and that midfielder is Will Johnson. I don't get some people saying we need a DM when you have Cheyrou and Warner who can play there and Bradley can play anywhere in central midfield. Also the need for a 'true' winger isn't a must given our narrow style of play and intricate passing system that we like using. Will Johnson can slot in on the right side of a narrow midfield perfectly with Cheyrou Bradley and Osorio.
MacMath is laughably bad. Anyone asking for him would realize once he's here that he's easily below Konopka's level of play.
After the Laba debacle, we shouldn't have to give up any compensation, LOL.
Great move if the report is accurate.
Bradley can't play DM. More specifically, he actually has the tools to be an incredible DM, but that's not the way he's wired. He's aggressive in everything he does and that leads him to push forward, apply pressure, and take chances. Not what you want in a DM and it showed in the numerous times he'd be playing alongside Cheyrou in midfield, would make an aggressive move and leave us short-manned as the other team countered against our exposed back line.
Cheyrou is probably the most technical player we've ever had next to Giovinco, but he's not the stay-at-home guy that we need protecting the back line. He averaged 1.9 tackles and 2.2 interceptions per game last year (Warner averaged less, by the way). We need a DM in the mold of Laba, who gets stuck in and breaks things up through sheer tenacity (he averaged 5.1 tackles and 2.7 interceptions), or someone like Soni Mustivar, who just reads the defensive game exceptionally well (2.8 tackles and 4.9 interceptions).
I agree with your assessment of Johnson though. It really depends what Vanney & Bez want to do. If they want more width in the squad Mapp is the better option, but if they want to continue with the focus on short passing, low crossing, and playing through the middle like we did last year (and it's hard to argue against the results of that), Johnson fits the bill. This is a lineup I posted here about 3 weeks ago. I still think that can work well, especially now that we've gotten Beitashour as an upgrade on Jackson.
If you look at it from 10,000 feet sure. But watching this guy play, seeing what was in the press - question is out there whether he is durable enough still to be an everyday starter.
This isn't just a matter of tar-and-feathering everyone on the list.
Looking at it positively you could say Vancouver didn't have room. The other take is they did an assessment and said he's not their starting RB going forward.
We pretty much have the same assessment then, except you want a Laba type DM instead of Cheyrou. I guess I just really like Cheyrou, but if you go for another DM, we would need to trade Cheyrou as he would be a waste on the bench on that kind of money and given how good he is. You can't have Bradley Cheyrou and 'DM man' all playing in central midfield in my opinion
Sorry, where are people getting that Beitashour isn't durable from? He played 2596 minutes last year. That would have him at 3rd-most minutes on TFC. He's 28.
Am I missing something here?