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

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