How Much Money Can We Spend?
by Gregg Mixdorf on Nov 30, 2010 9:19 PM CST
in Fire Roster News & Analysis
Email
Print
With the rumored departure of Freddie and the recent move of Wilman to Puebla, many of you are trying to come up with who is going to start for the Fire next year. Instead of trying to convince yourself that Corben Bone and Victor Pineda are ready to contribute next season you should be fantasizing about what the Fire can do with the glorious amount of cap space they have.
Since MLS guards the actual cap numbers for players so well that even Wiki Leaks can't get their hands on it, everything below is an estimate based off of last seasons contract figures released by the players union. Couple of caveats regarding the below estimates. I did not include Freddie Ljungberg I'm assuming he is gone from the news that broke earlier this week. Ristic's salary is a complete guess. Marco Pappa is probably getting a significant raise in the second year of his new deal. I feel pretty confident everyone else is at least in the same salary area as they were last season. The estimates in the chart after the break also do not include allocation money.
| Mike Banner | D,M | 42000 |
| Corben Bone | M | 0 |
| Calen Carr | F | 71250 |
| Nerry Castillo | M,F | 335000 |
| Andrew Dykstra | G | 42000 |
| Baggio Husidic | M | 75000 |
| Sean Johnson | G | 0 |
| Steven Kinney | D | 42000 |
| Patrick Nyarko | M,F | 80000 |
| Marco Pappa | M | 108000 |
| Logan Pause | M | 168000 |
| Dasan Robinson | D | 49200 |
| Gonzalo Segares | D | 60000 |
| Deris Umanzor | D,M | 72000 |
| Kwame Watson Siriboe | D | 42000 |
| Bratislav Ristic | M | 100000 |
| Victor Pineda | M | 0 |
| Total | 1286450 |
Pineda doesn't count against the cap because he is a home grown signing. Bone and Johnson don't count due to their Generation Adidas status.
With the Salary Cap rising to $2.675 Million for the 2011 season that currently puts the Fire $1.44 Million under the cap. If the rumors about Nery Castillo moving back to Greece prove to be true that would push it up to $1.77 Million. That is a whole lot of money to completely reshape your team.
Another important facet to keep in mind: international roster spots. With the recent departures of Kroll, John, and Conde to go along with the apparent departure of Ljungberg the Fire have at the minimum 4 available international roster slots. With the expansion of Senior roster spots to 24 the international roster spots are now even more valuable. Witness the most recent expansion draft as evidence of this. International spots were more valuable than actual players.
The Fire have an incredible amount of flexibility heading into this off season. They have the money, open international roster spots, a free designated player slot, and several domestic senior roster spots with which to reshape the squad. I fully expect the team to target a few players in next week's first ever Re-Entry Draft and to potentially be very active in acquiring talent.
Quick note regarding the international roster spots. The Fire may have more than the normal 8 spots. These spots are able to be traded. The old MLS website used to list players as senior international or senior domestic. The new one doesn't appear to do so. When I find a solid list of this information I will update this article.
I'll be back later this week with Re-Entry draft talk.
Roster Spot Breakdown:
Domestic Senior:
Total: 16
Used: 10
International Senior:
Total: 8
Used: 4
Developmental slots:
Total: 6
Used: 3
14 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Glorious cap space?
Robbie Keane please
Hot Time In Old Town SB Nation's blog for Chicago Fire, Soccer, & Chicago History
Keane would be great...
not sure we could afford what he will be asking, even with all our cap space. Not sure how Vancouver, the rumored interested MLS team, can afford him either and have money to build a roster around him. I know they want to make a splash being a new club, but come on. I believe Keane’s salary is 65,000 pounds/week, which equates to 101,551.81 US dollars/week. Which is roughly $406,000 per month, for a total of 4.8 million per year. Maybe we could get Tottenham to pay some of that, but again, as much as I would like to see Keane here, I am not sure we can afford it without putting all our money in one basket.
If we only had 1 or 2 holes to fill, maybe we could look at it, but with so many holes to fill, I think it would be unwise to go get a player that expensive unless we can get a really good deal. It woul dbe phenomenal to get him in a red Fire jersey though!
Okay so probably a pipe dream
But a really good one nevertheless.
Hot Time In Old Town SB Nation's blog for Chicago Fire, Soccer, & Chicago History
by Tweed Thornton on Dec 1, 2010 8:49 PM CST up reply actions
Oh, I completely agree with you....
when you said that, I just got curious and decided to research what it would take to bring him here. It would be fantastic though…
If we could unload Umanzor and Nery Castillo, that would be truly glorious:)
Why can we not just got Deris Umanzor? I think he very clearly can’t hack it in MLS, why keep him around?
I am pretty sure...
Umanzor was solely on the team because of CDLC. I am hoping Frank told CDLC if he wanted to keep his job, Umanzor needed to go. I agree, he’s not MLS worthy in my opinion.
Umanzor could be part of the re-entry draft. The Fire have an option on him for year two. They could have declined that option and either A. offered him a lower deal or B. released him. Since he occupies a coveted international spot I expect him to be off the roster at some point before the season begins depending on how signings go.
by Gregg Mixdorf on Dec 2, 2010 10:44 PM CST up reply actions
Couple of thoughts
Right now that move might be illegal. I mean, you have to have a certain amount of players on the roster. The ranks are pretty thin these days.
If he stays on the roster after the Fire get some talent, I can only think that every team needs a scapegoat? Instant lightning rod for fans to draw upon? A 2006 Neifi Perez for the Cubs if you will.
Hot Time In Old Town SB Nation's blog for Chicago Fire, Soccer, & Chicago History
by Tweed Thornton on Dec 1, 2010 8:51 AM CST via mobile up reply actions
Bench needs warming
Hey, someone has to fill those bench spots right? I’d prefer it’d be someone making the league minimum instead of Umanzor though.
We still have half the salary cap to spend then... right?
I’m a writer not an adder.
Hot Time In Old Town SB Nation's blog for Chicago Fire, Soccer, & Chicago History
by Tweed Thornton on Dec 1, 2010 8:50 PM CST up reply actions
I would have except I distinctly recall MLS salaries not always working that way. Some players just get that flat rate for the entire term of their deal. Some don’t. It depends. MLS contracts are usually 1+1+1 for the term of the deal. Meaning each year MLS has an option to exercise on the player. MLS rarely gives out player options and frankly I think only DP’s and maybe some highly sought after Generation Adidas guys have received them.
by Gregg Mixdorf on Dec 2, 2010 10:43 PM CST up reply actions
Very solid info
A nervous excitement should fill the fans with all this money on the table. I guess I share Mark’s sentiment in the previous post that the only big time rumors involved players leaving the Fire. I’ve heard some people talk about pulling back and using this as a rebuilding year. I don’t think rebuilding years exist, not yet anyway. When 10 teams make the playoffs next year, there are two expansion teams, and lower seeds have won the MLS Cup the last couple of years, I don’t see the wisdom in giving up. We can’t even guarantee that Nyarko and Pappa will be here forever given the league structure. The time to go for the trophies is now.
Hot Time In Old Town SB Nation's blog for Chicago Fire, Soccer, & Chicago History
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
