hawkfan68":gdhbujap said:
Smurf":gdhbujap said:
Sgt. Largent":gdhbujap said:
Smith was an absolute beast yesterday..........biggest pickup since Lodeiro, and it's not even close.
He's not only stabilized the back line, but added some incredible width and danger to our attack. Fantastic signing.
Absolutely agree. I think he's had a huge impact. I'd say that Kim Kee Hee is turning out to be a monster signing as well. Dude is keeping Roman Torres on the bench.
One thing to keep in mind with Smith is that he is here on a Loan. He is with us through the remainder of the season and the playoffs, but Bournmouth have the ability to recall him in the January window. If they don't, he is here until the Summer window next year. After that we would have to renegotiate for him, and potentially a permanent transfer...the issue is...he is expensive. Unless there are some big Salary Cap changes coming, he is probably out of our price range.
That being said, he appears to love being here, the area, and the fact he's actually getting minutes. So maybe that will help in negotiations.
This is a very rare signing for Garth, who is normally a very long term thinker when it comes to the roster...but Brad Smith is 100% a "Lets win right now" signing.
Don't they have some money now that Dempsey has retired? I wouldn't mind the Sounders giving him the DP spot vacated by Dempsey. That may help keep him permanently in Seattle.
Interesting you bring this up. If Dempsey had retired a few weeks earlier (when the window was open) we likely would have been able to sign Paulo Hurtado, a Peruvian Winger. We got outbid by a Turkish club, but we offered everything we had available.
I honestly don't think we would have had Dempsey on the roster next season regardless. He signed a 1 year, $1.6 Million dollar deal before the start of this season. Almost a $3 Million dollar pay cut. Garth has been holding that DP slot in his pocket for over a year waiting for the right player for the long term. They bought down Ozzie's contract to bring in Ruidiaz. We will also have Eikram off the books, if we don't already.
I have a hard time thinking they would spend DP money on a Defensive player. Almost no one in MLS uses their DP's that way. Vancouver have Brek Shea, who they play at LB at times, and Colorado have Tim Howard....outside of that I cant recall another team with a player in the back 4 or GK.
I think with that space available they will look to bring in an Outside midfield player, similar to Hurtado. As much as I like Smith, and I think the club likes Smith, I don't think they will use that spot on him.
It will be an interesting off season though.
Another Expansion Draft (FC Cincinnati)
There are a rash of players on expiring deals:
Chad Marshall - Retire or resign or move on?
Cristian Roldan - How much will it cost to keep him?
Stefan Frei - Club offered him a TAM Contract in 2017, but MLS refused it.
Gustav Svensson - Currently on a TAM
Will Bruin - Is he worth the cost (making 350k)
I suppose there may be money for Smith next year...but I'm not sure I would be comfortable losing the players we might lose to make it possible.