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Mailbag: Let’s talk about the Jesus Ferreira and Paul Arriola rumors!
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Jeremiah and Aaron answer a lot of your questions, dealing with everything from Adrian Hanauer’s stewardship of the club to the impact of the Club World Cup on this season. Before they get to all that, though, they dig into the rumors surrounding the potential acquisition of Paul Arriola and Jesus Ferreira.
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“Diversions” audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:02
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Fullpool Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Fullpool was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounders supporters. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
Seattle Sounders Legends and Recognition
00:00:25
Speaker
Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend. now i get to do voice reads for the sounder at heart podcast network but
00:00:40
Speaker
about seven <unk> it
00:01:21
Speaker
we all got of sudden go
00:01:30
Speaker
We're seeing some of the hardwood commentary that we didn't take lo seriously.
00:01:41
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of NOS Adiates. Today is Thursday, December 12th. two thousand and twenty four I am Jeremiah O'Shan. Joining me today for this end of season mailbag episode is Aaron Campo and our engineer, Lickit. Also shout out to our sponsor, Full Pull Wines, and of course our readers. As you can see, I did not script my intro today because ah I don't know, I just didn't do it. What are you going to do? Are you going to get mad at me? Do people want my scripted intros? I don't know if they do. Aaron, how are you doing? I'm doing pretty well. I kind of like the ah
00:02:17
Speaker
more natural, just sort of, you know, just open the show conversation. Yeah, it's nice. Yeah, well, uh, so here we are. It's been a crazy week, wild week here. No, no moves. Well, there were a couple of smaller moves, but in the time between my interview with Craig Weibel on Tuesday and by the end of business on Wednesday, there were like two huge rumors that that came up and
00:02:53
Speaker
we're we're going to talk about we We are going to get to the mailbag aspect of the show, but because this is such late relatively late-breaking news, most of these questions are living in a world before these two rumors existed.
Trade Rumors and Contract Strategy
00:03:05
Speaker
I'm sure if you are a listener of the show, you know that the centers have been linked to ah trades for Jesus Ferreira and Paul Arriola from FC Dallas. They are, I guess, essentially separate moves.
00:03:18
Speaker
But they are linked, it would seem. In both cases, the sounders are trying to get sort of distressed assets, I think is a fair way of of calling it player, but they're trying to get them on reduced contract numbers. So the broad parameters of how I understand this are with Jesus Ferreira, they're hoping to bring him in. He is currently a a young designated player.
00:03:45
Speaker
The Sounders do not want to bring him in as a designated player, so they would have to rework his contract in a way that would result in about a roughly 25% pay cut in the short term. It would guarantee him more money in the long term. But I don't know that the Sounders are hoping that they ever have to pay that long-term money because it doesn't really make sense for Ferreira. The gamble they seem to be making with Ferreira is, or the the pitch they're making to him is take a pay cut, put yourself in the shop window, and if you play really well in Champions Cup, if you play really well in the Club World Cup, if you play really well in MLS play.
00:04:26
Speaker
We are going to do our part to move you along. He's apparently still has aspirations of playing in Europe. He is only 24 years old. He has 53 goals in MLS play. I just want to put that in perspective a little bit. So Jesus Freire is the youngest player in MLS history to get to 50 goals.
00:04:45
Speaker
He has 53 goals, like I said. ah Chris Wandaloski, who is the all-time leading MLS goal scorer at 27, at age 27, had seven goals. So he is really on a breakneck pace in terms of MLS scoring.
00:05:05
Speaker
But ah then the, ah but he is coming off a year where he was not very good. He was hurt a lot of the year. I think he only had like what, five goals and six assists or something like that last year. ah Five goals, three assists. There you go. Even worse than I said. However, however, I do think it's worth pointing out that his non penalty goal, expected goals plus expected assists was actually pretty close to Albert Rosenach's last year.
00:05:30
Speaker
Okay. Okay. So no now whether that's a reason to be excited about Ferreira or a reason to be a little worried about Rusnak is up to you. up to you after We'll talk about that. We'll talk about that too. So, uh, and then the other part of this was Paul areola is ah then all of a sudden, i almost seemingly out of nowhere, this Paul areola news comes where the Sounders are trying to trade for Paul areola. Uh, areola used to be a designated player.
00:05:57
Speaker
He at one point was involved in the most expensive allocation money trade in MLS history. I think when FC Dallas got him, they sent almost like $3 million in assets to DC United to get him. It was a blockbuster trade.
00:06:14
Speaker
And he has been OK for Dallas for the most part. ah in and In fact, his he had five goals and six assists last year. That's who had that. Playing mostly as a wingback, not much defense, but he was a pretty effective offensive minded wingback last year. He's an interesting player, but these two moves together seem to suggest that the Sounders are maybe thinking a lot more about playing a 3-5-2 formation.
00:06:42
Speaker
And, and then on top of that, we've found out or it's looking like Albert Rusnak is going to sign a designated player contract, which would probably be for just two years as my suspicion. But anyway, taking us all together and there's a lot to talk about. I think you can there. I've seen a fair amount of excitement about this. I've seen a fair amount of trepidation about this. um Oh, Aaron, where are you falling? Are you?
00:07:10
Speaker
Like talk me through your emotions. I yeah it's been it I've gone through a lot of them in relation to kind of all of this stuff over the last few days.
00:07:23
Speaker
um And I think that in in a vacuum in isolation, the Mufra Ferreira, assuming the return is is reasonable, which I don't think we've heard any specifics, but um and MLS trades are generally pretty fair. I think like it's pretty rare that there's ah a trade in MLS where I feel like a team got totally fleeced. And the Sounders, I think, tend to do pretty well in their evaluation.
00:07:47
Speaker
So assuming that the valuation is fair, um, I think it's a good move. I think it's a move with a ton of upside. Uh, if you get 2022, his was for era, you are.
00:08:00
Speaker
getting a guy who, if we had never heard of him and we signed him from Belgium for $10 million, dollars we would be thrilled with that kind of production. A 24-year-old who is setting his domestic league's ah scoring record and and two years removed from a massive season.
00:08:20
Speaker
Yeah. Um, and I think like the the profile of player that he is where he's just, he's, he's a kind of a similar player to Jordan. Um, but I think a little more well-suited kind of like Jordan is a pretty effective wide player, but I think he's more well-suited to playing centrally. Uh, I feel like Ferrera is similar, but you know, he can play behind the striker. He can play, uh, he can be a a little more effective wide, I think than Jordan can. Um, but I really liked the possibilities that having the two of them,
00:08:50
Speaker
And the same team could bring, um, I think that they could really compliment each other. Well, they've looked together when they look good together, when they played for the national team together. Um, so I, you know, I think if he hits that upside, everybody is going to be thrilled. And, and realistically, as you, I think said, uh, a few minutes ago, if he comes in and hits those heights, the Sounders are probably going to make a whole boatload of money, um, off of, off of the sales Europe. So.
Roster Strategy and Balancing Act
00:09:17
Speaker
I think I'm very happy with that move in isolation. Ariola, I think is the kind of wing back, full back. Most likely he's not going to be a full back if the Sounders are playing for at the back. um But you know, I think I'm starting to think that there's a really distinct possibility that they're going to move to three at the back next year.
00:09:39
Speaker
um And Ariola is exactly the kind of guy I'd want coming in to give um some competition at that spot or potentially just kind of be the presumed starter. He is not the defender that Alex Roldan is. That is for sure. um But he's, I think, a pretty significant upgrade in the attack.
00:09:59
Speaker
Um, and you know, if if Alex is still around, I think you've got options for both, both looks. You've got a more defensive option. You've got a more attacking option. Um, he provides some, some really solid depth on the wings. Um, I think he can even play sort of an attacking midfield type, type role. I mean, he spent a lot of his career as a, as a, yeah as an attacking winner, you know, like, uh,
00:10:23
Speaker
Yeah, but I think he can play centrally as well. um he Not as much of as ah as a creator, but you know as more of a just go at goal kind of attacking midfielder. So um he's obviously a less exciting player, but I think we've talked a lot about we want to see some roster turnover, we want to see some competition, and he's he's like that that perfect to sort of profile there.
00:10:47
Speaker
The Rusnak one, I like Albert Rusnak a lot. I think that he is underrated at a lot of things. I think his ability to control possession, his ability to maintain possession, um his passing vision. He's a very good creator, but I think he's elite at finding the past that leads to the past and and breaking lines.
00:11:10
Speaker
Uh, he's, he's good defensively for the role he plays. I really like him a lot. I am increasingly not convinced that he's a DP. I spent a lot of time looking at his underlying numbers, um, over the last couple of days. And so per 90, uh, he had 0.43 non-piddle DXG plus assists, uh, expected assists last year. Ferreira had 0.39. And this is an eight, this is a career year for Albert, Albert Rusnak. Um, his expected.
00:11:41
Speaker
Goal contributions were 12.2. He had 22. That's not including secondary assists. This is football reference, so they don't have secondary assist numbers. um He had a great year. I just i don't think anybody expects him to sustain those numbers. um He had six assists from ah set pieces. His entire MLS career previous to last year, he had seven.
00:12:04
Speaker
And for a lot of his time in Seattle, his first two years in Seattle, obviously he wasn't the primary set piece taker, but he was the primary set piece taker for rail salt lake. Uh, so yeah, I, I don't, Albert as a Tam player, I love, uh, I think, you know, he's, he's a really good value there.
00:12:22
Speaker
And as a DP, I just, I'm not as convinced. And if if he's back, I'm not going to be upset about it. But I think if you'd asked me this question last week when we recorded, and I think you you did, I was, I was on the fence, but more on the side of, I think you should bring him back. And I've kind of flipped, right. i've I've kind of flipped a little bit.
00:12:44
Speaker
Um, if he comes back, it's, it's certainly, I don't think the end of the world, especially at two years. I don't think given a 30 year old, ah a two year deal is is any cause at all for concern. Um, but it is just the opportunity cost of what you're doing with, with your DP spots. I think that's the concern. Yeah. I would say broadly speaking, like if you, look if you look at, in a vacuum, you look at each one of these three, let's.
00:13:07
Speaker
considered as three moves, right? I think you can like a lot, like maybe even really like all three moves by themselves. I think what the quote the trepidation comes from, what is this, how does this fit into a larger picture of the off season? And I think from a roster building perspective, I am okay with Jesus Ferreira and Paul Areola being two of the more notable additions in part because they are relatively proven players or veteran players. They have something to prove as well. Like they are young enough where they have some upside. i I really like this team build from a hit the ground running perspective. I feel like as the team is built right now, there is no reason to think they can't make a run at CONCACAF Champions Cup. There's no reason to think that they can't be really good in league play.
00:14:07
Speaker
I don't know that there's anything that they could do where you would actually feel good about their chances in the club World Cup. So I'm just going to put that part of it aside. But I like the way the team looks where I am concerned though, is what else we're going to see from an ambition
Offseason Rumors and Fan Engagement
00:14:24
Speaker
perspective? Because one of the things that we have been talking about a lot on this show is sort of this malaise that has come over the fan base.
00:14:35
Speaker
And part of it is the Sounders just aren't playing that exciting soccer. They're winning, but they aren't necessarily winning hearts and minds. And I and i don't know if if in this offseason on paper, you know going into this offseason, this seemed like a chance to sort of reset those expectations and get excited and bring in, you know make some splashy moves. And those might still be coming. I don't want to say that they're not coming because You know, they could, there's there's still flexibility to do some big-ish stuff.
00:15:08
Speaker
I just don't... you know and so that's where the that's where my That's the reason I'm not quite as excited as I just don't know. I don't know what else is coming. I thought Craig said a lot of the right things about having money to spend, wanting to go out and and buy some... you know he He essentially said this is what they're gonna do, is they're gonna go and get some proven attacking talent and then maybe supplement that with you know younger players. So we'll see if the supplementing comes or not.
00:15:37
Speaker
But I don't know. it's it's i' on I guess i'm i'm having it I'm trying to have it both ways. like i There are things about this I like. I'm with you on Albert Rusnak. I think I would have felt a lot better about giving him a long-term deal on TAM money than bringing him in as a locked-in DP, even if it's just for two years. So I don't know. We'll see. ah Nothing has been announced yet. Nothing's been signed yet, as far as I know.
00:16:09
Speaker
But it's ah it's been, you know, people wanted action this offseason. It's been an exciting offseason. I'll say that, you know. It has. Yeah, it didn't take it long. No, and it's funny. It it reminds me a lot of 2017 when the Sounders went and traded for Will Bruin and Harry Ship. And and sort of Ariola and Ferreira are like Harry Ship and Will Bruin on heavy, heavy doses of steroids.
00:16:37
Speaker
and i mean And notably they they also did not sign a DP that that that winter either, ah but they had a ah good year. They went to MLS Cup again. They didn't win MLS Cup, but ah you know it was hard to argue with the results as a whole. But yeah, I mean, it's it's been an interesting. It's been interesting. I will say I would love it if the offseason continues to go at this pace.
00:17:06
Speaker
from a totally selfish content producing perspective. It's given us plenty to talk about. It's true. It's true. I mean, this is. This sounds judgmental and and I'm not going to lie, it kind of is. ah This is the part about being a sports fan that a lot of people like more than the actual game games. And so, you know, it's it's exciting. um Everybody wants new shiny things. I'm certainly in that category. um But I'm going to be much more relieved when the rumors are done and the players are actually on the team because, I mean, as, as of recording time, we're talking about the Ferrero deal, like it's, uh, or I am at least like it's a done deal. And there's actually absolutely no indication that that's the case. I mean, it could very easily end up, uh, not being anything. So, um,
00:17:57
Speaker
i'll be I'll be much happier if and when there's an announcement so ah so we can start talking about the next room because I'm sure there will be a million more of them. Right. Exactly. Exactly.
Listeners' Q&A: Player Health and Impact
00:18:10
Speaker
ah But anyway, so we we did, this is a ah mailbag episode. We have some questions. We may as well jump in. I think we've we've exhausted this, right? To the degree we've. ah Yeah, we've got a same summer later too, because yeah if he actually, you know, they actually do get signed. Right. We're going to have to talk about it again. Yeah. So we want to, we want to keep something in the tank.
00:18:30
Speaker
right Well, let's let's kick it off with ah one from Relio, our good friend, a good friend of the podcast, the blog and and ourselves personally. ah If you could have had either Paul or Yeymar healthy for that last match, which would you have picked and why? I mean, it's got to be Paul, right? they as it was like i don't I don't think Yeymar, I mean, I suppose you could talk yourself into Yeymar preventing that goal. it It's not too far fetched, but I think their defense was good in that game. It was a nearly flawless defensive performance. And I don't know if Yeymar gets them any, you know, the marginally closer to flawless that they would have needed to be in that game. Whereas Paul, I think you can imagine him being having more of an impact
00:19:21
Speaker
you know, and potentially scoring a goal or getting an assist. So I'll say Paul, but it it certainly does leave you with a lot of what ifs. I think rather than being comforted, like I thought that the galaxy would run over the Red Bulls and they didn't really run over them, but nothing that I saw from the Red Bulls diminished my belief that the Sounders would have won if they had made a Demos Cup.
00:19:48
Speaker
Yeah, I think I honestly think there's a good chance the Sounders would have won more comfortably than a galaxy and the galaxy won pretty comfortably. um So yeah, I think it was ah it was it was a tough pill to swallow. But in terms of the question, I completely agree with you. I think Paul is the clear choice there. um I think that that's a game he was made for. There was just so much room for his annoying little Matt style of play that I think could have really um delivered some some pretty significant dividends for the Sounders. So I'll be thinking about that one for a while, for sure. Yeah.
Offensive Struggles: Tactics or Personnel?
00:20:22
Speaker
ah All right. From Twimberly23, how much of this year's offensive struggles are personnel versus tactics? I think this is a great question, and I've been thinking about it for the last week or so since it popped up in the Discord. um Because I think the answer is not either or, but both. I think that
00:20:44
Speaker
Obviously the the Sounders could have played more attacking tactics and they probably would have scored more, but I think the personnel that they had justified the tactics. yeah I think that the the way they played was the right way to play for the personnel that they had. I also think too that the offensive struggles were really bad when they were bad, but they really didn't struggle that much offensively.
00:21:12
Speaker
in the second half of the season. yeahron For the second half of the season, if you subcha if you're just going from the midway point of the season until until the beginning of the playoffs, the average like 1.8 goals per game. yeah And it wasn't like they were bagging a bunch of penalties. They were you know they were mostly scoring from the run of play. Now, a lot of set pieces, like going back to the Albert Rusnak thing, but yeah I mean, 1.8 goals a game. I'll take that. I mean, that's, that's still not like elite in MLS right now. I mean, MLS has gotten to be a pretty high scoring league, but yeah you are not worrying about your offense at 1.8 goals per game. That's for sure. No, no. I think, and and I think in the playoffs, like you want to,
00:22:04
Speaker
if you're a really sound defensive team, you want to double down on that and play to your strengths. I think that the Sounders could have played more aggressively in the playoffs and probably would have scored more. And they may have gotten just as far, but I completely understand the choice to play the way that they did. um So I think, I do think that the personnel will determine the tactics and the tactics that they used were the right way to go. um However, that being said,
00:22:30
Speaker
um they need to get better in the attack. And I think they can do that without getting significantly worse in the defensive phase of the game. They just have to add players, like you just can't. I think that there's this mindset that people have, this belief that they've settled into the Brian Schmetzer is just a defense first coach and that his teams are always going to be low scoring. And I think a Brian Schmetzer team is always going to be well-organized and he expects everyone to play defense, but he's coached some pretty high scoring teams.
00:23:01
Speaker
And it's it's easy to forget because it's been a few years, but I think he wants to play more. Positive soccer, but I think more than anything, he wants to win games and keep his job and win trophies. Yeah. And, and I just did the math real quick. ah So I'll just share it. But if the centers had scored all season at the same pace, they scored over a pretty large, like it's it half a season. It's not a small sample size. Uh, that's a 61 goal season.
00:23:29
Speaker
no one's worth you know like So it's not like they have to transform their, techt like if they can just use the tactics that they used during the half last half of the season, that's a that's a very good offensive season. So I don't think that they need to, and they didn't lose anything defensively in that second half of the
Financial Strategies and Club World Cup Impact
00:23:48
Speaker
season. They were really good defensively as well. So yeah, I mean, I guess to your point, they I do think it's more personnel. And if they have a few more, you know, ah clubs in their bag that that bodes well that that bodes really well yeah all right this one's from boomstick 315 any chance morris demands a move if he has pushed back to the wing he seems to think that playing deniam is his best slash only chance back into the usmn tv uh i don't i that's a good that's a good thought i
00:24:24
Speaker
I don't know that playing as a nine gets him any closer to the US national team than playing on. Like if he's begging goals as a winger, he's going to, I actually would think that's an easier path because the centers, the US doesn't have a bunch of goal scoring winners. And the way he made it onto the World Cup team wasn't so much because he was a number nine or a, or a winger. It was just that he had the ability to stretch the field.
00:24:50
Speaker
in a way that no one else really on the roster did. So I still think that probably that pathway still exists regardless. And I don't know. I don't I think we're going to see him on the wing this year. If they're if they get Jesus for the his best position is as a nine. And so you end up now with two players whose best position is the nine. i I think we're probably going to see them both playing multiple positions. They'll probably both play up top at times. ah So you'll probably, like as we alluded to, three that we'll probably see some 3-5-2. So, you know, I think it'll be interesting to see how they ah they manage it. Yeah, I think a 3-5-2 with both of them up top, Rusnak and Pedro, below them, two defensive midfields, wingbacks. That sounds like a lot of fun to me.
00:25:46
Speaker
um However, you know, fair to point out this question was asked before the Ferreira rumors were a real thing. right right right um But it's still still a totally fair question. Oh yeah, I guess ah I didn't even answer the main part of it, which was, is he going to demand a move? And I don't, I mean, I don't know. I don't think he's, I don't, I don't know. I mean, I think if, if foreign teams come in to the Sounders and say, Hey, we'll give you $5 million dollars for Jordan Morris.
00:26:16
Speaker
I think the Sounders would probably take that. ah Yeah, they they would be insane insane not to. And I say that as a very confirmed Jordan stand. but Yeah, but i don't and don't like I don't think Jordan's going to force his move to another. like I don't think he's going to pull Jesus Ferreira and try to force some a trade or something like that. but Yeah.
00:26:38
Speaker
All right, this is from VeryTotem7. And now I'll just remind everyone, all these questions come from our Discord. ah We've been adding a lot of people to our Discord lately. I would urge you, if you are a supporter or above, to send an email to support at sounderatheart.com and we will send you a link to get into the Discord. uh to get into the discord it's a little i realize that's a little cumbersome that would be cool if we could just automatically add everyone but that's not how the system is set up unfortunately so i apologize but yeah come join us on discord it's a lot of fun especially on days like the last two nights where it was just going crazy and
00:27:19
Speaker
ah You know, we have hundreds and hundreds of comments as we're trying to kind of track these things. But anyway, ah the Club World Cup will see each club getting $50 million dollars for participating. Since the Sounders won't see that money until the summer, is that something the team can immediately count on, borrow against this offseason for free agents? Or do you see this as money for the following summer and after? Or is it something else entirely?
00:27:46
Speaker
Well, I have good news for you. um We don't really have to worry about it because they're not gonna get $50 million for participating. It's not gonna happen. There's no chance in hell that it'll happen, unfortunately. I would love it if it if it did, but it's just not.
00:28:01
Speaker
feasible. I think Andre Villas Boas, the coach of Porto said that the UEFA clubs were getting something like 16 million euros and the UEFA clubs are almost certainly getting- He may have even said that Porto is getting that much. Right. so I think if they're getting 16 million, you got to assume the bigger clubs are getting even more than them.
00:28:27
Speaker
speak out of assume that the um South American clubs are getting a little less. The African clubs, the MLS clubs, the Mexican clubs are are going to get a little less. But there's a team from New new Zealand in this tournament whose I think entire payroll is like $9 million a season, if that is- No, it's way less than that. Auckland City is probably like $2 million. Maybe that's the combined transfer value of the team, something like that. Maybe. Auckland is almost a semi-pro team. Yeah. I don't even know. I would be surprised if Auckland's... Salaries are even public. It's like that's it's a it's it's not a big club And so I'll add a little bit more to this one of the things it's already 8.7 million euros is the total market value of the squad. Okay. All right. Well, that's where I got that number from but it's like 20 30 guys that are worth like $200,000 right? Yeah. Yeah The sounders for the comparison are worth like 49 or 50 million just to put that in perspective but
00:29:36
Speaker
the one One of the things I read was that FIFA is reluctant, like the $50 million dollars thing is was a number that was thrown out there a long time ago. And I feel like I have debunked that multiple times over. But I don't know if it was ever true. It may have been a number that FIFA floated to some of the big clubs saying like, hey, would this but this convince you to plan this thing?
00:30:04
Speaker
But that that's not the Sounders were never going to get 50 million, and they certainly aren't getting 50 million now. If they get 5 million, I think that would probably be the Sounders would probably be thrilled by getting 5 million. I think I got like 700,000 when they played in the Club World Cup last time.
00:30:22
Speaker
And the centers, I don't know the centers may even get docked money because they're hosting games. I don't know how this is all going to work, but it's, it's probably not going to be this enormous windfall that would dramatically change the transfer budget. You would like to think that it would impact it in some level because it's, it is going to be, there's money coming from this thing, whether it's from ticket sales or from.
00:30:48
Speaker
from you know some kind of automatic payout, but it's it is not gonna be the sort of franchise altering a sum of money that it looked like, you know brief for a brief period of time, it looked like it might be. Yeah, and I think too, the other thing to keep in mind is even ah in a world where it was $50 million, dollars the league is gonna take a huge chunk of that. um Because the league, I mean, the Sounders are a franchise of the league.
00:31:16
Speaker
Manchester City, Real Madrid, they get all the prize money because they are independent entities that are part of an association. The Sounders are a franchise of major league soccer. So there's, there's revenue sharing to an extent that there just isn't another leagues. Right. Right. Right. All
Ownership Style and Team Sustainability
00:31:35
Speaker
right. The next one is from Andrew. Uh, is Adrian Hanover's ownership still a strength for the Sounders or is it something they are now going to have to succeed in spite of?
00:31:43
Speaker
You know, I think it's a complicated question. I think that Hanauer is not clearly is not spending the way that other MLS owners are. And I think that he deserves criticism for that. But I also think he deserves some credit for continuing to run a ah ah a business that and I don't want to sound too like capitalistic here. I'm not praising him for running a ah a solid business, but I do think there's an element of it being a community asset that he's setting it up for long-term sustainability. right and I think that is that is useful.
00:32:26
Speaker
But in the short term, it is very frustrating to see the lack of obvious spending that that seems to be happening. But they are winning. you know they They still are making sound soccer decisions. And I think that Adrian's leadership plays a role in that, whether or not, like, how much credit does he deserve? I don't know, but he's also, you know, I think Adrian is also setting the, you know, he's doing his part to set the league up in a way that allows the Sounders to still thrive. So I don't know. It's, it's definitely a double-edged sword. Uh, I, I tend to think he's probably still more positive than negative, but like I get why people are frustrated with the spending habits and I,
00:33:12
Speaker
You know, i I can definitely sympathize for sure. I think he like that aspect of it, I i do wonder if he appreciates how important it is to inject excitement into the team through spending. Like I do wonder if he appreciates that as much as he should. Yeah, I don't. It's an interesting question.
00:33:41
Speaker
um i I think he has two to some extent, but it almost at times feels like he, and this is not this is only related just to me assuming, making assumptions about a lack of spending, that he's almost doubling down on things to be like, no, we've had a lot of success using this model and we're going to continue doing it.
00:34:03
Speaker
but I mean, I think that a sustainable business obviously has to be fiscally responsible, has to live within its means. And I appreciate that a great deal about Adrian stewardship of the club. But I think a sustainable business also has to have a model for sustainable growth. And That entails spending money and continuing to be relevant, continuing to win trophies, continuing to have high attendance. um If you're going to build a stadium, especially if you're going to build a stadium well outside of downtown Seattle, you need to keep people interested. You need to keep people excited. And I think a lot of people that are still going to games, frankly, are doing it because of inertia.
00:34:45
Speaker
like I don't think you can always count on those people. I don't think you can count on 30,000 people coming to a stadium in Tukwila just because that's something they have are always done. so no you yeah Thank you for listening to the Sound Rit Heart Podcast Network, which now includes No Sonietes, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild. We've been independent since August of 2023.
00:35:07
Speaker
but need your support to make sure it continues. Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible by your continued support. Memberships start as low as $25 a year, which not only helps make podcasts like this one happen, but also gets you access to everything we produce. If you're able to support us at higher levels, starting at $75 a year, you gain access to a host of other perks Most notably, entry into our members-only Discord where the smartest, funniest, and most engaged commenters share their thoughts and ideas. To find out more, just visit centeratheart.com and click the subscribe button in the top right corner. Thanks for listening!
00:35:47
Speaker
I mean, i I try to give but i I have season ticket, you and I have season tickets together. You and I don't use those season tickets very often. And yeah it's, you know, it's work to get to give them away every week. And it's not because people don't want to go necessarily. It's just that they have lives and you you sort of need to keep keep growing the fan base because people's lives get more complicated as they grow.
00:36:12
Speaker
as they grow up, as we've all found. And so if you're not growing your fan base, you're going to be shrinking your attendance. It's true. And I think some of that is is has been a failure on the part of the Sounders to um to to reach new fans. like I don't want to let them entirely off the hook, but I also think that it's just the nature of not being the the new hot novel thing in town anymore.
00:36:36
Speaker
You know, the Kraken are here and I think a lot of people who demographically would have been Sounders fans in 2009 have become Kraken fans. And I don't think that's something the Sounders can really do anything about. And the Sonics are going to be here soon enough and... Yeah, yeah. The Mariners are not good, but people are going to... The Mariners are a team where they can... Every time the Mariners get good,
00:37:03
Speaker
You see the excitement sort of like go through the roof. And if they ever get sustainably good, that's going to suck up even more um oxygen. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, you have to, you're going to have to spend money at some point. And I think.
00:37:21
Speaker
Adrian is not a guy that's going to spend money for the sake of spending money. And I think that maybe there're maybe the disconnect between the way he sees things and the way you, well, I don't want to speak for you, but the way I see this is that to him, he thinks they if he thinks they can put together a very competitive team that gives them a chance to win trophies without spending a transfer fee, without going out and spending money on players, he doesn't see any reason not to do that.
00:37:48
Speaker
And for me, I would like to see evidence that he is willing to spend money to go get good players. And that's important to me as a fan. It's important for my investment in the product and, and all that. So, um, you know, he knows a lot more about running a soccer team than I do, obviously. And I don't want to have a Dunning Kruger thing going on here. I just, it's pretty baffling. And I know that they did just sign Pedro de la Vega, but my whole thing has always been, you know, well, they,
00:38:17
Speaker
Yeah, they signed Pedro de la Vega. And a few years ago, they signed Nico Lodero and then went out and got Rorudias pretty shortly thereafter. like I get that you can't pay a big transfer fee every season, but it's been six years since you paid one transfer fee in the last four seasons. Right. And they they've paid one sizable transfer fee in the last six.
00:38:44
Speaker
Right. Well, it depends on how you count too, but yeah. yeah i mean since since right the The last real big transfer fee they paid before De La Vega was Ruidias, essentially, is what you're saying. It was Ruidias. I don't necessarily think that that's a model that's going to set you up for great success in MLS going forward.
00:39:08
Speaker
No, and it's, it's worth noting that the only team that is spending less on transfers right now than the Sounders is supporting Kansas city. And sporting Kansas city is not like they're not the worst team in the league, but they are much closer to the worst team in the league than the best team in league. For sure. Yeah, for sure. And I think too, the Sounders are fortunate in that they locked up a lot of key players to good deals.
00:39:36
Speaker
In maybe a less spendy era of MLS and those guys are going to age out at some point, right? Like you're not going to have Christian roll down and Jordan Morris forever. Um, you're you're not going to always be able to land a Jackson Reagan. You know, you're not always going to be able to produce an Obed Vargas, like.
00:39:54
Speaker
Right. Yeah. they've' going to have to replace these guy they've They've hit a sweet spot in sort of controllable, like they're they're in a sweet spot of having a bunch of really good players who have relatively controllable contracts. And I don't know how sustainable that is.
00:40:14
Speaker
for of the long Like you, you always would like to have some of those players, but they have a lot of players who are still a core of their team who they didn't have to pay transfer fees for. And that's yeah probably not a sustainable model that yeah nowhere one in the world is that how it works. Yeah. Yep.
00:40:36
Speaker
All right. Uh, this is from Danicus. There's been some small discussions about moving on from new who in the off season. Do you feel like this is the right move?
Nu Hu's Position and Tactical Considerations
00:40:45
Speaker
Uh, I would be open to either fullback moving if the sounders are planning to play primarily for at the back next year. I think that if there's. If they're going to play three at the back, even.
00:40:59
Speaker
a decent amount of time, even if it's not like they're all the time formation. I think knew who is maybe the perfect left center back for that formation, the stuff that he's really, really good at. That is the the one position on the field, a left center back and a three, three back formation um where that stuff matters the most and the stuff that he's maybe not as good at enters the least. so Um, I would love to have him as a left center back on the team. Um, if they're still planning to play for at the back, I don't think that the, he needs to be moved. I personally, just for sort of stylistic reasons wouldn't mind it. Um, and it also clears the way for Reed Baker waiting. Um, which, you know, is, is a positive thing as well, but I don't think it's something they have to do. Um, but I absolutely don't want to do it if they're, they're going three at the back.
00:41:54
Speaker
I would agree. with I would agree. I don't think I have much to add to that other than I think he is ah a potentially elite left center back and a passable center left back. And it's only worth moving on from him if you're getting a really good offer. Yeah. Yep. I should, ah you would think I would be good enough at podcasting at this point that I could have just segued right into this next question, ah which is about Reed Baker Whiting and it's from Ken W. That's the charm.
00:42:24
Speaker
It is, it's true. Being bad, at I think that that is the thing that people like about podcasts is when they're bad. So that explains our longevity. You can't be too too slick. ah What is Reed Baker Whiting's path and could he surpass either slash both Nu Who and or Alex next season? I would say that he definitely has the potential to pass both of them. I think the Sounders would love for that to be the case in fact. you know the The thing that's frustrating about Reed Baker Whiting is that almost This time last year, we were having this almost exact same conversation about how yeah next year is going to be a big one for him. and he might if he can If he can get that starting spot, that would be great. and Unfortunately, injuries cost him like half the year. and By the time he came back, he never really got into contention for being a regular starter. like he I think he only made five starts. He he played in a fair number of games.
00:43:21
Speaker
But it was mostly as a reserve and it was oftentimes even as a reserve who was, you know, he came in as a midfielder that was in it mainly to try to shut down a game. So he didn't get a lot of run in the positions where he seemingly projects to have the highest potential.
00:43:40
Speaker
So I think that there's a pathway to him winning the right back job. There's a pathway to him winning the left back job. there's a path to him If the Sounders are playing with wing backs, there's a path to him winning one of those jobs as well. I think there's multiple paths for him, but this is going to be a big year. and i think you know Especially if if you know there's a lot been a lot of expectation that he will eventually move to Europe on a sizable fee.
00:44:09
Speaker
And this is probably the year where he needs to show that type of potential if a move like that is in the offing. Yeah. 100%. Um, I think too, he's another player that could really benefit from the sounders moving to, to a three set up because i his defensive, uh, shortcomings, I think are going to be a lot less pronounced as a, as a wing back than as a, as a fullback. And, uh, I think that could just help him.
00:44:38
Speaker
feel more, because it it felt like a lot of his defensive shortcomings last season were a result of nerves. And so I think if he takes some of that defensive pressure off, maybe it's not a springboard problem. Yeah, ah this is from Jared. Are we likely to get a new contract for Obed before making any new moves? Any and he moves for him, I suppose. Or I don't know, maybe in moves in general. Seems like a big contract would fit him and provide some leverage for summer negotiations.
00:45:03
Speaker
I would guess no, because I would guess Obed doesn't really have any interest in signing a new contract. um Because I think this is a situation where if he knows that the odds are very good that he's going to be moving in the summer, the only thing that signing a new contract can do, two things it's going to do. It's going to give him a little bit more money for six months or however long.
00:45:27
Speaker
And it's going to give the sounders more negotiating leverage, which makes a move for him less likely. I still think he's moving no matter what, but I think that there's no reason for him to put himself in less likely of a position to move because I think this is the last, the summer is going to be, it's not the last window in which he could move obviously, but I think it's going to be the last window in which he can move for big money.
00:45:54
Speaker
as sort of an elite prospect, right? If he has another season exactly like this next year in MLS, instead of you know potentially going to a ah bigger qua club in Europe or or a smaller club in a top league, um you know he could be moving to Belgium or something like that um and just not setting himself up for the next move as as well as he would maybe like. so Um, I dunno, I, there's definitely a benefit to the Sounders, you know, to have them under contract for a little bit longer. But I do think that MLS clubs are already in such a poor negotiating position that it's a really just a matter of degrees. Um, and it's, it's really, you know, probably not worth potentially upsetting them.
00:46:38
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, he, I don't think he needs to sign a new contract to answer the question directly. I don't think he needs to sign a new contract before he makes a move. I am a little more inclined to think that they will sign him, but I don't, yeah I mean, you make some compelling reasons not to, but I would think having the extra money in his pocket would be worth it. And I don't know that it's going to change.
00:47:10
Speaker
like I don't get the sense that he's he's like pushing his way out. like I think he wants to move when it makes sense for everybody involved. yeah I don't know. We'll see. We'll see.
00:47:21
Speaker
ah yeah i mean that's a you know I think you probably have better insight into that than I do. um and i I do think that the nature of this kind of stuff in MLS or just in a league, the level of MLS is probably different than it is in a lot of other places. so ah This one's from The List. Any potential changes to the coaching staff? Not that I know of. In fact, we talked to that was someone asked about that at the press conference and Craig seemed to think that everyone was most likely coming back. It's kind of a straightforward answer.
00:47:57
Speaker
I will say, I thought the coaching staff did a pretty good job.
Coaching Staff Praise and Season Turnaround
00:48:00
Speaker
I think the coaching staff maybe did, I think you could even say the coaching staff did a really good job. but The way that they sort of turned the season around, I think goes a lot of that to coaching and yeah you if not literally tactics, I think just the soft skills of of coaching.
00:48:21
Speaker
Yeah, I think too, I mean, you don't accidentally go from being one of the worst set piece team set piece teams in the league to one of the best without there being some significant work on on the behalf of the coaching staff. There's just very concrete things you can point to to that wasn't just the players figuring shit out on the ground, you know?
00:48:44
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, this is from Nate B. Where do you see new DP signing coming from in the world? Would it be similar to Nico or roll or is the league moving ah more towards signings from non top five leagues in Europe? own I think the Sounders cast a pretty ni wide net. It does seem like Europe is more of a focal point. And I and i think that that, especially for like more in-prime DP signings. And I think that makes sense just in terms of MLS's rising stature globally. um South American prospects outside of the very, very top end who MLS teams still wouldn't really have a shot at unless they're Atlanta and are willing to throw an insane amount of money at a player.
00:49:31
Speaker
probably aren't going to be interested to come in coming here. But you know a 24-year-old from Belgium probably would if they're not going to be able to make that next big move in Europe. So um that seems the most likely. But I mean, I think there's still good young players coming from South America, decent M-prime players coming from South America or from Mexico. I think it just depends on what the team is looking for, what profile of player they're looking for, and who they feel like is on their radar.
00:50:01
Speaker
um And you know I think a lot of the time we think of the team's scouting efforts and in terms of the big splashy DP signings, which makes sense because those are the most exciting ones. But they have a history of signing players from everywhere. I mean, they've signed players from every continent, I think. um And they've signed good players from every continent. Don't say in antarct Antarctica. I was going to say Australia. like Oh yeah, that's, that's fair. Brad Smith was Australian. ah yeah That's a very fair point. That's a good point. I think that's a legit point. You know, that's a legit point. Uh, so you got me. yeah You got me. They, I'll say every Confederation, right? They've they've signed players from every Confederation. but yeah That is technically accurate. So, um, yeah, I think, I think they're looking everywhere.
MLS Growth and Sustainable Vision
00:50:51
Speaker
Um, and they should be, I mean, and MLS is not at a level.
00:50:56
Speaker
where they can just focus on the hotbeds of talent. They have to kind of scour the globe in a way that, um, maybe bigger clubs don't, but yeah, not, not to pick on Nate B either. I'll note that neither Nico, no, nor Raul came from top five leagues either. There aren't a lot of like the number of players that come to MLS from top five leagues who are like not sort of like who are achieving things at top five leagues is pretty small, actually. Well, the way the way I read that was Niko didn't come from Europe. Right. Because like it used to be most DPs were either big signings from old guys or South Americans. Right. And Niko came from Boca. That was how I read it. But maybe you're right. wrong Anyway, I'm not i don't we don't need to be pedantic about any of this. Yeah.
00:51:56
Speaker
um But yeah, I do think the league is moving away from signing old European guys, which is good. For sure. For sure. I, the number of older, like the number of DPs or any players, foreign players that are coming into the league older than 30, let alone, you know, really on the older side is, is getting pretty small. Like most, most players that are moving here almost exclusive, certainly players would that require a transfer fee are almost exclusively coming here. Uh, you know, in their twenties.
00:52:27
Speaker
People ah laughed at Don Garber a lot when he said all that stuff about becoming a league of choice and becoming a top 10 league in the world and blah, blah, blah. And I mean, he was maybe a couple years late, but.
00:52:40
Speaker
It's hard to argue with with the state of the league. well and it and i and I think it was interesting, not to get too far on tangent, but it was an interesting tonal change this year at the league the state of the league address where he wasn't really talking aspirationally anymore about getting bigger and and turning MLS into an even bigger league A lot of it was sort of, we've arrived at where we feel comfortable a little bit and it's about managing a man. You know, they're not, they're not plotting big changes to push them higher up the hierarchy. It's like.
00:53:16
Speaker
you know, they're in the top 10 to 15 leagues in the world now and they're kind of comfortable with that and they can, they can make a good business out of that. And who knows maybe farther down the the line, we'll get where we're, we're talking about like pushing into the top, you know, five leagues in the world or something. I don't know if that, how realistic that is, but I mean, top 10 was always sort of targeted because what you get around 10 and, and you're like, well, who are you, past like, who do you really think you're going to pass now? You know, like, right.
00:53:45
Speaker
Like, do you think you're going you can, do you think you're going to pass Ligon? Do you think you're going to pass Syria? You know, like you're getting into that territory. So anyway, it's, it's an interesting tonal change. That's all. Right. And I think refreshing too, because I think there is a point where you have to realize, okay, we've kind of hit our ceiling for the realities that we're in right now and we should consolidate success and, um,
00:54:11
Speaker
work on sustainability, so it's good to hear they recognize that. ah This one's from Mindy. What do you think Paul's role will become in 2025? I think he is going to be a rotational starter. like kind of He started you know he started like something like 16 straight games at one point this year, I think it was before he missed the last two games.
00:54:35
Speaker
And I think that is a much bigger that I don't think he's going to play that sort of role where he's starting virtually every game, sometimes twice a week. I i think just across the board, the way that the the roster is setting up, I think there's going to be a lot more rotation that seems to be part of the plan. In fact, is that they're trying to create a scenario where they can almost have two squads that can both be.
00:55:02
Speaker
you know, reasonably effective. And I think Paul will be, I think Paul is going to get plenty of minutes. You know, my suspicion is somewhere between 1500 and 2000 minutes across all competitions would be maybe a little more than that. But, you know, if he's healthy, he'll, you know, he'll probably get 10 to 15 starts, which would be great. Yeah. Yeah. There's going to be, what's the minimum number of games they can play next year? 42 it looks like.
00:55:32
Speaker
forty two And that's the minimum I think the expectation is that they'll play more than that I mean, it's not hard to get to 50 like if they know if they if they advance out of the First round of CONCACAF Champions Cup that's right there. That's two more you're at 44 if you win a couple Open Cup games, which we don't know if they're gonna be playing in but let's just assume they play the open come games so they they ah you You're at 46. They get out of the league's cup group stage. You know, you're talking 47, 48 in playoffs. Yeah. You're playing two right off the bat. I mean, that's 50. Yep. There's, there's, there's, there's going to be a ton of minutes to go around and it's why. And that's not without even went advancing very far in any of these things. so
00:56:23
Speaker
Yeah. It's why when like, uh, signings that are sort of veteran depth signings like Ariola or, you know, what what have you are suggested and people worry about. Minutes, you know, not being available to younger players. There's going to be plenty of minutes to go around. And, and I think if you have championship aspirations and you want to still be competitive and in a bunch of competitions, you have to be willing to say, we don't have a set 11 guys.
00:56:52
Speaker
that are going to start every game that they're healthy. You have to you have to rotate. And so yeah, I think and having Paul and Georgie is your primary attacking rotational guys is very good. Yeah, I think the Georgie's role will be more interesting to watch. And I, you know, I suppose that speaks to if the Sounders are being a little bit more conservative about bringing in another big name player right now, I suppose it's because they they do feel like they have younger guys in the squad who deserve to not be complete completely pushed out of the rotation. I don't know how much of the thinking that is, but yeah anyway.
00:57:36
Speaker
ah This is from Bill Jones' ah trumpet. I think that's what we're gonna start calling him. I think that's what it stands for. We're just gonna go with Bill Jones' trumpet. We're now eight years into you saying his name on the air. ah I think you've been saying that for a couple years now too. so Sticking with the idea that the defense wins champion that defense wins championships, should we expect to have the same defensive prowess next year? Are there any moves we need to make to secure what we have, maybe reinforce our depth or even improve it? Sure, I want a DP attacker, but the team taught me to love watching $10 million attackers ten million dollar attackers leave Lumen Field empty handed.
00:58:15
Speaker
So we got a similar question last year before the season, uh, or at the end of the season, some sometime during the odd season. And I gave pretty much the same answer I'm going to give now, which is that we should not expect them to be as good as they were this year. We should expect them to be good. I think they're going to be again, one of the best defensive teams in the league, but I just don't think you can count on being that good defensively year in and year out. Oh.
00:58:42
Speaker
they they don't they are This is like for the last five years, there have been one of the top two or three defenses. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's it's true. ah I think the odds of the Sounders being as good defensively as they were this year, next year are probably better than the odds of Albert Rusnak having as good of a year as he did. right so I don't know if that's good or bad, but but i just I don't think you can assume They sure yeah yeah you know will be as good. um and Technically, they weren't as good this year. They they gave up 35 goals versus 32. Fair enough. Fair enough. I think they're still going to be very, very good defensively. In terms of reinforcing the depth, it's it's interesting. um We talked about Nathan, I think, on the last show and how we sort of
00:59:37
Speaker
the The decision whether or not to to bring him back got a little more difficult. Ultimately, they decided not to. And so I think he's we really like Bell and he played a lot more than Nathan did this year. um But you can't assume that Regan and Yamar are going to be as healthy. And then you've also got more competitions that you're playing in. So Bell is going to get more minutes.
01:00:00
Speaker
And so do you feel comfortable with Stuart Hawkins picking up the minutes that that would have gone to Bell had Nathan come back or whoever, right? Or do you feel like you need to bring in another veteran center back? I think that's a big question. I think if you are planning to move to three at the back, you probably need to have at least two center backs. You feel really comfortable with getting a a decent chunk of minutes. So I wouldn't mind some some defensive depth. um Yeah. Cause I think it's.
01:00:30
Speaker
It's going to be tested just like the depth everywhere else. Yeah, it it will be interesting to see what ends up happening with this Leo Bernie guy who they they signed, who I will admit was completely off my radar. I guess I i knew the name vaguely.
01:00:46
Speaker
But the Sounders are really high on this this guy. He spent four years at University of Pennsylvania. He was a four-year all Ivy League first team. He won the Ivy League Defender of the Year twice. He was on Ballard FC for three seasons. Sounders watched him a lot. He played, ah I think, all four. He played like three or four years with the Sounders Academy. I don't know that he's you know MLS ready, but He's the kind of player who you'd be thrilled to get out of the draft. And it's not unheard of. I mean, he's 23 years old. So he's not, he's at an age where he could potentially play. I don't think the Sounders necessarily feel like they have to go out and get, I bring this up because I don't know that the centers feel like they have to go out and get a veteran.
01:01:34
Speaker
center back. I think Stuart Hawkins can also manage more minutes than he, I mean, he effectively didn't play last year. I think he could probably, you know, if he, if he balk continues to bulk up, I think he he can be a ah player who can take some minutes. New who can go back there. I suppose Josh attention even can move back into center back if you're going to play, be playing three at the back. So, I mean, I don't, I don't, I don't think they,
01:02:00
Speaker
feel like they shouldn't feel like they have to go out and make big or, you know, even like, uh, like they, I hope they would not go out and spend $500,000 on a third center back. I'll say that, which is what they do on Nathan. Yep. Yeah. I think, I think that's, that's reasonable. I think.
01:02:19
Speaker
In hindsight, not bringing back Nathan was a pretty obvious decision. He just played so well in the playoffs that it hurt a little more than I was expecting it to, I guess, to let him go, because he's a very good player. Yeah, it was funny, because up until that playoff performance, it was almost like he was the most obvious guy to not bring back. And then I was shocked at how many people were really like, no, I really wanted to bring him back, which I get. I mean, he played well, and I hope he lands somewhere, because I think he's a good player.
01:02:48
Speaker
Yeah, I think he think he's a very good defender. But ah yeah, mean its that money could probably be spent better elsewhere. ah Next one's from Tim Hamilton. It's a two-part question.
Designated Player Funding and Transfer Revenues
01:03:01
Speaker
Who's writing the check checks for DPs? And if the Sounders sell a player like Obed for $10 million, dollars what's the breakdown as far as where the money can be used?
01:03:10
Speaker
So as far as who writes the check for the DPs, that's ownership. You know, Adrian is the majority owner. I don't know if he actually owns 50 plus 1%, but he he writes the biggest part of that check. But I think my understanding is every owner basically pays an even share, they're not an even share, their percentage share of of any sort of like capital.
01:03:35
Speaker
expenses like that, although maybe it's not quite that, and i it might be a little, it might be a little different. Maybe there's some sort of operating budget that it comes out of. I don't, I don't know exactly, but I mean, Adrian is the person that essentially has to greenlight it. So I suppose you could put it on him. Uh, and that that they sell a player like Obed, they can convert 3 million of that into general allocation money.
01:04:01
Speaker
They get to keep the, because he's a homegrown player, they keep all of it. And then the other seven has to be reinvested into the team. But what counts as reinvestment into the team is ah sort of a grab bag of stuff. It could be things like future transfer fees, but I think it can also be things like funding the academy or or maybe even funding infrastructure like Longacre. It can go to a lot of places, but the I think the thing most people care about is the general allocation money and $3 million of that.
01:04:35
Speaker
But you can only do three million for all, if you, like one of the things that's interesting, if you were to trade, let's just say that they were to sell Reed for five million and and Obed for 10, theoretically, they could convert six million of that into general allocation money, but you can only do three million in a year. So they would have to stagger that in a way where the payments so were, you know, maybe not all coming in at once so that they could spread out the the general allocation money over multiple seasons. but Yeah, I mean, aren't transfer fees typically played in Stalman's anyway? They are, yeah. So that that wouldn't be super strange to do that, but yeah. Right, yeah. i do I can imagine that that sounds dumb to have that restriction, but when you think about what a team having $6 million in general allocation money at one time could do to the competitive balance, I i kind of get it. Because that's i mean that's basically another
01:05:33
Speaker
full payroll outside of DPs that you could just be spending money on. This is from Everett Zounder. Are there any free agents within the league this offseason that could legitimately add to this team?
Free Agent Targets and Roster Enhancements
01:05:49
Speaker
Yeah, I think we looked through the list pretty closely, and I think the name that really popped out that was interesting was Jeremy Abopasi, who was a really good player at one point. um But I just am not so upon being worth taking a punt on at this point, other than it would be nice to have him not playing against us wherever he ends up. um Because he has terrorized us for years, there are a lot of great players who would have really helped like three years ago. If you know if they had been available. um But right now, maybe not as much. But yeah, you know, we could have had Carlos Vela or
01:06:33
Speaker
Jackson Yule, Victor Wanyama, lots of the notable players, they just aren't really any good anymore. Yeah, I thought this year's crop had a lot of players who should fetch multiple offers. Jack Elliott to me was the, is sort of the cream of the free agent crop. I don't, I honestly don't understand why the union turned down his option. He's he's on like, unless he had some huge raise, but he was, he was on $900,000 last year. And he was by some metrics, like the best defender in the league at 29.
01:07:11
Speaker
So I don't quite understand why they turned down his option. So I would think he he's going to be a hot commodity. Edward at West does another one, uh, who I, yeah I'm not saying the center should go after these players necessarily, but there's a few few guys out there. I did a story today that highlighted Jeremy, a Boba C as potentially like a backup striker. Uh, I also highlighted.
01:07:36
Speaker
Yamil Assad, who is kind of a wingback. He was at FC Cincinnati most recently. That would be an interesting one. And then who was the other player I highlighted? Oh, man, I should I should have had that ready. But Uh, in any case, it was, uh, I don't necessarily think the centers are going to be super active in the, in the free agent market, but it would be interesting. Uh, the other one was the Lateef blessing. That's right. Lateef blessing, oh yeah very flexible player. Uh, you know, I wrote that he has his performances of rage from budding superstar to can't get on the field, which I feel like is
01:08:18
Speaker
a pretty fair way of of saying it. But um yeah, I don't know. It'll be interesting. I think the sounders are maybe less likely to do anything on free agency if they get both these trades done that they're trying to do. So. Yeah. Plan accordingly, and I suppose. The Jack Elliott thing, I guess I somehow missed that he was a. That's interesting, maybe. I mean, maybe if there's a trade market for her.
01:08:47
Speaker
any kind of market for Yeymar, maybe that's a... Yeah, I mean, he's he's ah younger he's younger than Yeymar, but I would think that anyone who's willing to trade for Yeymar would just sign Jack Elliot, we just signed jack elliot right? Yeah. Yeah.
01:09:03
Speaker
All right, last one is from Claxon5. And this is him saying this. This is not me saying this, just to be clear.
Reporting Soccer Transfer Rumors
01:09:11
Speaker
Nice work to Sounder at Heart and Nico specifically. Well, i'm I am saying the part about Nico specifically. On breaking the Jesus Ferreira story, without giving away too much, what is the life cycle of reporting a rumor like this? How long is it from the time you first hear the name to hitting publish? I would say it usually depends on a few things.
01:09:33
Speaker
Like sometimes it's it's like an hour or you know, it depends on where you get the the information from because there are are certain sources that you feel that you need to get multiple sources from because you can't just trust this person by themself, right? And then there's other stories where it's like, well, this is the story like they are the source, right?
01:10:00
Speaker
yeah So with, I mean, I can tell you with the Jesus Ferrera thing, Nico had that story and we published it probably within a couple hours of it, maybe three, three or four hours, probably because we we made a lot of phone calls to sort of make sure things were we were reporting.
01:10:23
Speaker
Accurately. And I think we ended up settling on language that felt good. And as stood up, like we didn't get out over our skis, as they say. So, uh, yeah, I mean, it's, it's usually hours, I would say is, is probably the most common, you know, I, I will say I go back to the, uh,
01:10:45
Speaker
Long Acres story, which I would and don't know if people care about this stuff, but I broke the Long Acres, sounders were gonna be building a training facility at Long Acres. And that was like weeks, if not months of of going back and forth and making sure I had all my information correct.
01:11:04
Speaker
yeah So it's like, it can it's I guess it depends is the answer. That Longacre story was one that you were working on for long enough that I kept forgetting that it wasn't public yet. I'm like almost saying something about it. I worked on it for a really long time because the original sourcing on it was not. ah I didn't I felt like I had to do a lot of double checking. So right. Yeah.
01:11:28
Speaker
That's yeah, that's that's a good example of of the those two stories are good examples of the extremes of of how how much time but I can I can tell you that for the most part, we very rarely will go with something unless we feel really good about it. If that, yeah, that helps. That's, that's one of the nice things about sounder and hurt being independent. And I'm saying this to somebody that doesn't really write for the site. So I i feel so sort of separate from that part of it a little bit. And this isn't back padding as much as it might sound, um, is that you don't have to write the, like, Oh, I saw a tweet about a rumor. Well, that'll do some page use. So I guess I got to put it out kind of stuff. Yeah. Which is the thing that made me hate writing about soccer. I was having to do that for a few years. So, um, I would imagine that that's quite a relief for, for
01:12:20
Speaker
you and and the rest of the folks on the editorial staff.
Closing Remarks and Community Growth
01:12:23
Speaker
Yeah, although it's it's funny because I so we just this week, I had to I just bend a story.
01:12:32
Speaker
that was about Gregory, the the guy who the sounders actually were pursuing at one point. There was a story in the Brazilian media, I think, about how the sounders were looking to sign him. And I had actually written the story, but I wanted to make sure it was accurate. And so I made some calls and was told like there is absolutely no truth to the story. Yeah, right. So yeah, we're yeah.
01:12:59
Speaker
ah That's what that happens. But we do real reporting, I guess is my point. That's the, that's the main, the main takeaway here, but all right. Well, that's it. Right. That's all the questions. That's all the questions. There were a few, um, that we had to cut for time, but I tried to cut ones where we mostly answered them in other places. So, well, yeah, thanks to everyone for submitting these. I, I don't know when we'll do, we'll probably do another off season one.
01:13:25
Speaker
I think so. But we are our cadence of recording will probably be less frequent, but depends on our own. We might have one next week if if things are going the way they're looking in terms of the signing. So if there's stuff to talk about, we'll we'll keep recording. I don't think we'll take like the whole winter break off like we have done previously, but we probably will slow down our cadence a little bit, I would imagine. Yeah.
01:13:53
Speaker
So this is sort of the the rap show, I guess, on 2024 season and and looking forward will be. Well, I guess we already did the rap on the season and now we're already in the offseason, but whatever you understand what I'm saying. Well, I wanted to it was a good another good year. And this has been spectacular. It was. Yeah, we did a good job here, man. I think we did. I think we high five. I think I'm I'm pretty sure that we put out an episode Every week? Every week of the main line show, which has got to be a first. Oh, we did way more shows this year than we've ever done. No question about that.
01:14:32
Speaker
And honestly, I might've had as much fun as I've had doing it. Good. Oh, I'm happy to hear that. I'm, I am. That's, that's good to hear. Uh, also thank you to full pool wines for making it through yet another year of sponsorship. That's amazing. Like they've, they've been sponsoring us since 2011. That is ah have have a long time. I gotta, I gotta go pay them a visit. I got some yeah and some nice Vino waiting for me up there. Yeah.
01:15:02
Speaker
ah And thank you to all of our listeners and subscribers and readers. We are shaping up for a very good 2025. You know, when we did our fifth or one year anniversary show. I made a comment about how we had just crossed over 2500 and we were sort of flirting. We're going back and forth over 2500 subscribers. We are solidly over 2600 now. So that's ah you know, and so we continue to grow and that is great. I'm
01:15:38
Speaker
thrilled about that. we I will remind everyone that if you have a Sounders fan in your life and you want to gift them a subscription to Sounder at Heart, you can do that. I would just go to Sounder at Heart. ah We have a merch table that is linked in the top nav bar and there are links to buying gifts gift subscriptions as well as all sorts of affiliate links if you are inclined to buy people All sorts of things that you might want during this holiday season, you can do that there. ah And with that said, I guess I should probably sign off. I'm Jeremiah O'Shan. Signing off for Aaron Campo and Lickit. This is No Study Yet This. Remember, you'll never leave Yawtober.
01:17:04
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!