Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Larentowicz and Thompson trade

Last Thursday the Revolution made another trade, this one with the Rapids. The Revs gave up Jeff Larentowicz and Wells Thompson in return for goalie Preston Burpo, defender Cory Gibbs, allocation money, and a third round pick in 2011. Jeff Larentowicz's contract had expired, but due to MLS rules, the Revolution retained the right to either negotiate a new contract with him or trade him within the league.

There are two specific pieces of information that would make this trade easier to judge: how much allocation money did they get, and how much money would they have had to pay Larentowicz if he had stayed? The allocation money is a straightforward gain, obviously. The money they would have had to pay Larentowicz, on the other hand, is an opportunity cost of making the deal. Both are relevant, and both are unknown, at least to us.

That said, I'm not feeling great about this. In a Q&A with VP of Player Personnel Mike Burns after the draft, the former Marlborough High full back said the reason they didn't draft a goalkeeper was that they wanted someone experienced who could fill the position from day one until Reis gets back. If I were looking for a stop-gap solution at that position, my mind would not immediately jump to the idea of trading Jeff Larentowicz. I know he would have demanded a much higher salary than the $34,650 he made in 2009, like I said, but surely if the Revolution wanted to get such a goalkeeper they could have managed it some other way.

The Gibbs acquisition I can understand. He's played left back (which they need because Heaps retired) as well as center back (which they need because Osei isn't that good). Here, the Revs have not only filled a position, but they've filled it with a player that has a lengthy and fairly impressive resume. It's reasonable to me that the Revolution would trade a player due for a big raise like Larentowicz for Cory Gibbs, even though it's not altogether thrilling.

Wells Thompson. Well, I won't miss him.

So overall, I'm not in love with this trade, but it's hard to judge confidently without knowing the amount of allocation money the Revolution received as well as Larentowicz's salary demands.

Here's to Pat Phelan in 2010.

John

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Albright Trade

Chris Albright was traded to New York Red Bulls for draft picks. It's a pretty good trade, since the Revolution are basically dumping salary. Albright made $176,000 last season. He's been injury prone the last couple of years and hasn't really contributed much to the team. While he was hurt last year, Alston really stepped up. So the Revs have a replacement for Albright in Alston, and also shed quite a bit of salary at the same time, giving the Revs flexibility to fill other needs. All in all, a good trade.

Andrew

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Introduction

If you're looking for one of those Cinderella positive blogs then you've come to the wrong place. Alright. This blog is just gonna say how it is. We're not gonna try to sugar coat anything. If someone does something stupid we're gonna call them out on it. We're not just going to sit here and pretend that so-and-so didn't do anything wrong just because he plays on our favorite team. We're going to observe what's happening and just be honest about how we feel. If you don't like it you can go f*** yourself-- no don't write that.

The focus of this blog will be the New England Revolution. However, we will also be covering MLS in general, European soccer, and anything else we feel like talking about in the world of soccer. We'll probably make a lot of obscure references to punk bands that you've never heard of as well.

We're starting a supporters group called the Boston Ultras. We're looking for the right people to join. If you think you're a right person, email us, and we'll determine if you're right or not. Chances are you're not. No no no don't write that either.

We don't plan on being a news site. We just plan on writing our opinions on various news events that transpire. Eventually we'd like to ditch this blog and start a legitimate site. However, we are both broke, and as such, do not have the funds to do that at the moment.

So look for some articles in the coming days/weeks ahead. We hope you enjoy reading the site, which will serve as an alternative to the mainstream media that we often feel is dead wrong about the various stories within the game.

Ixnay on the hombre!

Andrew and John