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What We Learned This Week: summarizing the offseason so far
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Niko Moreno joins Jeremiah to discuss early offseason new updates. The pair discuss Stefan Frei’s contract extension as well as Paul Rothrock’s return after flirting with free agency. They also cover Danny Leyva’s transfer to Club Necaxa, the Hassani Dotson signing, the continuing Obed Vargas saga and the departure of assistant coach Andy Rose. Last but not least the guys talk about the impending launch of a Sounder at Heart print magazine.
Follow Niko Moreno on BlueSky and YouTube.
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Transcript
Introduction of Will Bruin and Sounders Celebration
00:00:01
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. Here we go.
00:00:11
Speaker
Come on. Hey, O'Shaan. Let's go. The Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winners. Here comes Ruiz Diaz through the middle to crown it for Seattle.
00:00:25
Speaker
The Sounders rule the region.
00:00:58
Speaker
what was the thought process in terms of who you decided to use and who you didn't? Ever since I wrote a commentary that we didn't take the outcome seriously.
Sponsorship and Offseason Learnings
00:01:18
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounder supporters.
00:01:32
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
00:01:41
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Nos Adientes on the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network. I am Jeremiah Oshan. It is Tuesday, which is not the normally normal day that I record with Nico, but I'm here with Nico Moreno.
00:01:56
Speaker
We're going to do a what we've learned lately, I guess we can call it. Nico, how have you been in this quiet period of the offseason? Clever, Jeremiah. Clever. a Very ah witty there for you in our preseason. You know, that's the way I've been phrasing it. ah Maybe there is a little rust. I told ah Ari, we did a show earlier this week, and between trying to find things that my wife had put away in my desk that I had no idea she had put away. and oh yeah. I love that.
00:02:29
Speaker
the rhythm of things. We're in preseason form. So I'm going to go ahead and put that out there, but excited to be on. We've been able to start the year with some news, maybe not those national news or anything that's going to move the needle for everybody in MLS. But, you know, we've been able to get some things out.
00:02:49
Speaker
and MLS in general has been pretty active and it's been fun to to follow and watch and and talk about. But ah in terms of the sound,
00:03:00
Speaker
Get the wheels rolling. i can tell you one thing, Jeremiah, people have been waiting for content. And that's why I'm happy that you decided to do this today.
Preseason Preparations and Player Contracts
00:03:10
Speaker
Because look, it I hear from people, people reach out and it's like, when are you guys going to do the next show? So I'm happy that we're on here providing that today.
00:03:20
Speaker
Yeah, and it is, you know, the the reality is that we are getting close to the start of preseason. This week, a handful or about 10 sounders have already shown up to Long Acres and are doing training sessions. I think they're more informal training sessions I don't think they're technically allowed to be training yet, but I would, ah it's most of the local guys. I know Paul Rothrock was one of the guys who's been out there, ah but you know, you can kind of imagine who the 10 guys are. I'm sure if you just look at a roster and says, where are these guys from? But ah anyway, they and then on Saturday, though, they are expected to report for fitness testing.
00:03:58
Speaker
don't necessarily think everyone will be there on Saturday, but most of the players will be there on Saturday. And then I guess early next week, we will start having actual training sessions that you and I can watch.
00:04:12
Speaker
And then around the middle of January, the team is going to leave for Europe. They're going to spend close to three weeks in Portugal and Spain. They're going back to Marbella, which is where they've done their past three preseasons, I believe.
00:04:28
Speaker
and then And then they'll be back in early February and get ready for the start of the season on, what, February 22nd, I believe, is the start of the season. So we are only about six weeks away from the start of the MLS season. And I suppose it is as good of a time as any to start going through sort of, i mean, we could do a little bit of a, why don't we do this, Nico? Why don't we start?
00:04:52
Speaker
with a little bit of a recap of what has happened since the end of the season. ah You know, the, there had been not any, i wouldn't say big departures, but the big storylines that we were watching coming into this off season were what's going to happen to Stefan Fry.
00:05:12
Speaker
What's going to, the ah bigger one maybe is what's going happen to Paul Rothrock. ah What's going to happen to Obed Vargas. And then are there going to be any new names? What are the new names that are going to be added?
00:05:24
Speaker
And we have, I think we have, ah yeah, we have closure on a few of those things. Big one, Stephen Fry is back. He signed a one-year contract or a two-year contract, right? Is that right?
00:05:38
Speaker
Two-year contract. And then the big news of this off season probably was Paul Rothrock announcing that he was going to come back. We've done some shows about this, but if you missed it, it looked like it for a while, Paul was going to be taking off to somewhere else.
00:05:53
Speaker
I actually got to talk to him and he said there was a pretty good chance. He was like, he said, that if he hadn't come back to the Sounders, that he was seriously considering some offers from England at a ah ah ah team or two in the English championship. I thought that was kind of interesting, but ultimately he decided that he just felt like one of the quotes he used with me was it might not be the...
00:06:18
Speaker
What did he, oh gosh, I get, he said something. I'm going to bought butchered the quote. So I'm going to go and head and find it. But his whole thing was, he just kind of feels like he can be a star here. He can have a real impact on the Sounders. He's happy.
00:06:32
Speaker
You know, he loves playing here. um During the interview i did with them, he was in Mazama, Washington, which is this little 150 person community out in the Eastern cast, like the foothills of the Eastern Cascades.
00:06:46
Speaker
And, um, He said how, or while we were doing this interview, he got interrupted by some Sounders fans. And it just sort of struck me as this is the sort of thing you're getting into. This is one of the more remote parts of the state.
00:07:01
Speaker
And, or it's, I shouldn't say that. It's about as far away from a big city as you can get in the state. It's not necessarily remote. There's tourists that go there and whatnot. But ah he got interrupted and he got recognized and people were just happy to see him there.
00:07:16
Speaker
And that's out in the... Sort of almost in the middle of nowhere. I thought that was kind of a cool little... A little anecdote. Look, Pauly Primetime is going to be Pauly Primetime. No matter where you put him. I mean, if you follow MLS, if you like the Sounders, it's very likely that you've seen his face. I mean, he was put in the same stratosphere as Lionel Messi. So you got to be able to just say... That in one way or another, going to get you recognized. You know, hey, maybe you don't know my name. You might know my face. Or maybe you know my name and not my face. But the fact is, we were both in the same news, the same paragraph, the same content. And and that's big for Pauly Primetime. But excited for him. I think that this has always been the best scenario for both club and player. Both you and I had, ah we're very
00:08:04
Speaker
I thought, you know, straightforward when it came to that, they feed of each other. And I feel like Paul Rotherg is going to be an important piece going into 2026. I think that he gives this team a high floor and that is what the team is betting on. You know, every quote that I see and and think going back to the end year of presser, both Craig Weibel and Bryant's met to see a bright 2026. And I think it comes from the fact that the floor is very high and Paul provides that. So I'm excited to see him play. And just to clarify real quick,
00:08:44
Speaker
The contract for Stephen Fry is one and a half. and And the reason it's that half is because we're once again starting to go to that June. So he's actually a contract. His contract runs through June of 2027, which would be the end of that transition year.
00:09:04
Speaker
Yeah, the spring season is what I've been calling it. The sprint season. air Exactly. So that's, it runs through 2027. My guess is that he would retire at that point. um I don't want to speak for him, but, but perhaps that is the case, but his contract is through 2027. So ah those were two of the biggest storylines. I have no doubt in my mind, whether you had been a you know, fan from the very beginning and you are a season ticket holder to if you were just a casual fan, but you are in the Seattle area, you knew of both of the stories. So it was kind of nice to, as you mentioned, see them come to a conclusion and one that kept both players here.
00:09:49
Speaker
Right. And then Paul is going to be signed signed guaranteed through the 2829 season with an option for 2930. So he's here for a long time. I mean, this is this takes him through, i believe, his age 31 season, something like that. So he's you know, that that they've can they basically gave him a lot. They may not give him the most money.
00:10:12
Speaker
but I'd be willing to bet they guaranteed him the most years. And I'm sure that was very important to him. The quote that I was trying to remember was, he said, there were bigger pools that I could choose elsewhere, but this one is a deeper pool, meaning that it just has, there's just so much,
00:10:29
Speaker
So much here for him. And I thought it was interesting. You know, he I didn't realize this, but his parents actually moved out of Seattle right after he graduated high school. They moved to the Bay Area in California.
00:10:42
Speaker
He has four sisters, three of whom I guess live in New York. And then the other one, I believe, is local. But his the idea that it's just his immediate family that's sort of keeping him here is not entirely true. It's that he personally just feels connected to the larger community of Seattle. Like this is where he considers home.
00:11:02
Speaker
You know, his girlfriend is is from here and lives here. He's got a lot of friends here. This is what, and and I think that was, and the Sounders are a big part of that. You know, if it wasn't for the Sounders, I don't know that he would necessarily, you know, that that's a part a big part of what makes him feel part of this community.
00:11:19
Speaker
He talked a lot about how how cool it is to be playing for your hometown team and to feel like a real kinship sort of with the people that are watching you you play every week. So that was that was a really big move. I think I was, you know, you and I both said we would love to have him back.
00:11:38
Speaker
and the set But the Sounders can't really afford to overpay for him. And by all indications, they basically stuck by them in terms of the financial considerations in their offer. That didn't really change. It was basically Paul weighing the financial the financials of what he was being offered elsewhere and weighted against what was here and just ultimately decided that the the non-monetary stuff was enough to sort of outweigh the monetary stuff.
00:12:04
Speaker
Yeah, and not to you know recycle too much of our conversation about Paul Rothrock, but I'll just reiterate two things. One, i think that he did it his way. He got to test the market.
00:12:20
Speaker
you know, bet on himself, figure out what was out there. And he came back with a raise. And and I don't think that the team overpaid, ah you know, you both you and I think that he's going to get paid anywhere between 600 to 650. And to me, that is perfectly fine for what he provided. ah Maybe some, I think that it should have been less. I tend to think that,
00:12:47
Speaker
with a proven commodity and a player that fits this system like a glove and has all of the intangibles that Bryant's Metzer is looking for. To me, it's a no brainer that, you know, it seems to be the line right where it was as high as they could pay him. it And it is a,
00:13:10
Speaker
It is credit to him that he's getting that sort of race it's a big race. It is a huge race, right? Compared to what he was getting before. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't, that he's not valued that 600 650.
00:13:24
Speaker
Right. And we there was ah actually a pretty interesting piece in the, that we ran on Sounder at Heart that broke down what his on-field contributions are worth in MLS. And it sort of compared what players who produce at a similar level and play a similar role as him are being paid. And the analysis of that of that came out that he was probably worth about $515,000. If you tack on just a relatively small number,
00:13:53
Speaker
for just the the intangible parts of what he brings to a ah team, you end up right around where I think the Sounders did, which is very close to $600,000 a year.
00:14:03
Speaker
And you know so I don't think the Sounders overpaid really at all. I think they got they got maybe not a great deal. Like he's no longer the best bargain in MLS, that's that's for sure.
00:14:14
Speaker
But I don't think they're in a situation where they broke the bank or they they broke their economic plan. model just to bring back a fan favorite, which I think we should all be happy about.
00:14:25
Speaker
And look, it's it's going to create some interesting competition because the Sounders and Bryant Smutters specifically, regardless of how high he ranks Paul Rothrock, I'm sure that going into the season, he's going to want to look at that Marbella trip to figure out where Paul Arriola is at.
Player Transfers and Contract Speculations
00:14:48
Speaker
If you haven't been following his IG and everything, all the videos about him getting ready to be back this season, he looks ready to go. He looks thrilled to be back.
00:14:59
Speaker
My guess is that he's going to come in with ah a huge chip on his shoulder. He's a very technical type of of of winger or wingback or, you know, whatever they decide to play him on the wider positions.
00:15:13
Speaker
I love to see him play when he was here in the short term that we had him in in training. He just was a standout player, extremely intelligent. So if you have forgotten about Paul Arriola, The competition of the Tupals is going to be one to watch in the preseason. So I love all of it. I think that all those elements are important to create a high level of competition. You could add Georgie to that mix as well if we're thinking wingers. So, man, it's going to be fun to watch where all those things lay out now that we have those guys back.
00:15:49
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. I think there's, and I think that's one of the things that I think people should be really excited about is that there's going to be a lot of competition this year, not just for starters. Like, I think we can probably make a pretty good guess on who who's going to be start spots.
00:16:05
Speaker
I think the more interesting thing is just even going to be, you know, the, the game day roster and who the backups are. And, you know, that, I guess that brings us to the the next item in what's been going on for the last year,
00:16:19
Speaker
month or so is the big departure was Danny Leyva going to club Nacoxa. You've had a chance to talk to him a little bit. He, my understanding is he moved for about $700,000 transfer and there's add-ons that could push that up to closer to like 1.25 million.
00:16:35
Speaker
ah The Sounders will, you know, be able to convert money into allocation ah and it's you know, it's not the most lucrative deal, but it's, it's not nothing. And it certainly gives the sound to the degree the center still have roster flexibility.
00:16:50
Speaker
That move is really the main reason why. Yeah, ah absolutely. And it he for everything that I've been able to gather, talking Columbia writers near Nekaxa, talking to guys close to the organization, it sounds like Danny is making some waves. So if you wanted a little bit of an update, he scored some goals in preseason. He seems to be a guy that at this particular time is um Showing that he can have some real minutes, maybe even a starter. I mean, it's still, I would think early on with the new head coach, this is going to be an interesting, very interesting team to watch. Julian Carranza, former Philadelphia Union player, now is part of the squad. That was one of the big signings for Nick Cox.
00:17:41
Speaker
So, man, it's going to be very interesting the way that that goes about for Danny. And we will be keeping a very close tab, very close eye on his development and growth there with Nekaxa. But in terms of the Sounders, yeah, that's one big departure that I think both you and I were sad to see him go, but happy for him to go and explore a whole other league.
00:18:05
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Like I was, i was really bullish on, on Danny Leva's potential for this year. In fact, if you look at one of the stories I, I wrote early in the off season, identify Danny Leva as a potential breakout player on the assumption that he was going to be probably the number three defensive midfielder. And then also maybe get some minutes as a number 10. And I thought, you know, a 10 assists across all competitions was a totally realistic target for, for Danny, especially if he gets into the 1500 minute range, obviously the Sounders aren't going to,
00:18:40
Speaker
I don't, I, I, I think one of the things that this says is that maybe I was overestimating how high he was going to be on their depth chart. You know, both you and I thought that he was certainly ahead of Snyder Brunel, but i don't know, maybe the Sounders didn't quite see it that clearly.
00:18:58
Speaker
Of course they went in, then made the one big signing they've made this off season was Hassani Dotson, if you want to listen to a whole podcast about Hassani Dotson, we did one of those as well.
00:19:08
Speaker
But Dotson definitely gives the Sounders a level of depth that I don't like I, for me, I think this is a clear upgrade at central midfielder. If you basically take Hassani Dotson and you take the minutes that you were going to get, you gave to Joe Paolo and Danny Leyva last year.
00:19:26
Speaker
Now Hassani Dotson missed a lot of last year, missed most of last year with an injury. He came back in time to play some minutes, but he didn't start towards the end the season. but if he, if we're getting the 2023, 2024 version of Hassani Dotson, mean, he was a ah easy, you know, he's, he was a borderline best 11 or not best 11, but he was a borderline all-star ah during those seasons.
00:19:48
Speaker
And I think if he comes back in that kind of form, I think he's going to push Obed Vargas for minutes. Like he he's potentially a very good player. Now we don't know exactly how close to fully recovered he is, but the Sounders, I, it for my money, I think really upgraded their depth by signing Dodson.
00:20:12
Speaker
Yes, I think that they upgraded their depth, and I'm starting to get behind the idea of watching him a lot closer to see what form of a Sonny Dotson gets to training camp for the Sounders. He's going to definitely be one of those guys that we're going highlight if we get to see any streaming from Marbella or if Sounder Hard is down there or anything that comes up with that. with following the preseason. But what I will say is that I still, at this particular time, don't necessarily feel like he's going to raise the the ceiling or if he's the guy that ends up taking over for Obed, how does that play out? I think that's still to be determined. But without a doubt,
00:21:01
Speaker
the more that I've been able to marinate in the information and the idea of him being part of this team, the more I i feel and I understand why he was acquired. And I really do think that he's going to be a a high contributor. And as you mentioned, if he is at his best form, maybe he does push Obed, Vargas certain minutes. But I do feel like,
00:21:26
Speaker
The amount of minutes and the amount of influence you have on this team will go hand in hand with what happens with Ovid Vargas in this transfer window. And we can talk about that a little bit later.
00:21:43
Speaker
Or, I mean, God help him, you know, any sort of injury in the midfield. Right. Yeah, i mean, I think that's actually a pretty good transition. You know, one like I said, one of the big questions heading into the offseason, one of the big things we taught tried to get Craig to talk about at that end of season press conference was Obed Vargas, who is going into the final year of his contract. i And when last we talked about it,
00:22:09
Speaker
It didn't look like the Sounders and Obed were going to be able to come to terms on an extension. And the chatter that I think you and I are both hearing is that the Sounders feel like there's at least a chance that they can still transfer him somewhere in Europe.
00:22:25
Speaker
but that's not a foregone conclusion by any stretch. Have you heard any updates as far as Obed Vargas's situation goes? Because as as far as we know, it looks like he's going to be going into training camp with the Sounders with the idea that he will be playing the season out.
00:22:43
Speaker
Correct. I'm not hearing anything different, but that doesn't mean that I didn't just hear about it. So if there's an update, is that...
00:22:54
Speaker
There is no update on how much closer they're getting to a deal. So as of just recently, just a couple of, you know, let's say days ago, I have gone and looked at where things might be going towards. there seems to be no agreement in the horizon, let's call it that way. ah In terms of an extension, clearly Obed has a demand to finish his contract all the way to December of this year. But in as in terms of an extension, they're still very far away from coming to even ground. And I'm talking about what the Sounders are willing to offer.
00:23:41
Speaker
As part of the an extension for over the bargain contract and what his camp wants in order to sign an extension with the Sounders. So that leaves us exactly where we have been at, which is.
00:23:56
Speaker
Now what? Do the Sounders move them in the winter season? I think that there will be suitors. And I do believe that there will be clubs that are not going to want to wait until the summer window and have to battle and and have a bidding war with other clubs rather than maybe making a deal now And the that's what I think will happen. I have said it on Monday on Lobby Scorches and I'll repeat it now.
00:24:26
Speaker
If you're asking me what the percentage is that I think that Obed Vargas will be here to start the MLS season, I'd say there is a...
00:24:39
Speaker
A 40% chance that that that happens. And I'm only saying 60 because I do feel like the club is in every need to try to explore what's out there and figure out if there is a good deal.
00:24:55
Speaker
And it's no longer 50-50. There's a 60% chance that I think that that he'll be gone. and that lies in between what has happened, right? that the The tells ah that that we've seen of bringing a guy like Hassani Dotson that you spend a lot of money on, that you had to go battle other MLS teams in the free agency market because that's what happened because you knew that there's a possibility that he's going to be gone. And the fact that you cannot wait until the summer and you cannot wait for the transfer window in the winter to close before that extension gets done. So I still think that there's a higher chance that Obel Vargas will be gone before the start of the MLS season.
00:25:37
Speaker
Interesting. Yeah. And I think that sort of underscores the importance of signing Hassani Dotson. Uh, I don't want to get too far out of, over my skis, but just like literally while we were recording, I've, uh, another signing rumor or a, I should say a trade rumor of a player who I wouldn't say is super exciting, but like an interesting prospect, uh, like a U22 type of player from within the league. If we can, if we can get some more information on this during the show, i will ah shed light on that, but it looks like the Sounders are at least making some, ah some moves potentially before preseason begins.
00:26:18
Speaker
So that's, ah you know, that's kind of interesting. That's something that wet your appetite, so to speak. But yeah, I mean, I think the, I don't know. I think this is an interesting off season. The Sounders are bringing back essentially almost the entire meaningful roster that they had last year. I think something like 95% of their goals and assists are currently coming back from last year. Something like over well over 90% of their minutes from last year are coming back as well.
00:26:47
Speaker
And that's sort of been the Sounders m MO during the certainly during the the Craig Weibel era where they just sort of set this high floor and then look, you know, hope that things break their way a little bit to to push him over the top, but there's no reason where we sit right now that then the Sounders won't be contenders in the West again, especially with this recent news that Ricky Pooge is apparently going to be out for the year. Again, he re injured his, his ACL, which is sort of a, you know, a,
00:27:24
Speaker
ah but har I mean, it's harsh. It's, it's brutal. ah It's, I don't know how else to put that, but Ricky, po like the galaxy rebounding this year was extremely predicated on Ricky Pooj being able to come back.
00:27:38
Speaker
And it feels like that undermines almost everything they've been doing this off season in terms of trying to, you know, come bounce back from last year's disaster.
00:27:50
Speaker
Yeah. What I will say um,
00:27:56
Speaker
If I am hearing what Craig Weibel and Brian Smetzer were laying down at the end of the season presser and you hear not complacency, but they are happy with the group that they have because as I mentioned, the floor is very high. I would say, and correct me if I'm wrong,
00:28:24
Speaker
The ceiling is not that much higher, though. Right. I mean, I feel like yeah i would what you have right now, the floor is yeah high, but the ceiling is maybe a little bit higher simply because you're betting on players being healthy and players having a a a better season than last year in terms of like Ferreira now adapted, now preseason, now ready to go. He showed us things that he he could do. and And I'm very excited to see him kind of follow up on his performances from last season. Jordan Morris being full fully fit. mean, all of these things that
00:29:02
Speaker
make you believe that the potential for this team could be higher, but it's just not that much higher. And in terms of the rumor or the report that you kind of mentioned, I would be surprised if anything is done correctly.
00:29:18
Speaker
in this transfer window, anything more other than signing you, Sokonome, maybe some things like that, I would be surprised. Everything that I've been following up as of today specifically says that,
00:29:33
Speaker
Anything that might get done is depending on two things. The domino effect, if any other players go, players like Ovid Vargas, obviously the biggest one, Nuhu, with ah him playing in AFCON, being you know a captain for Cameroon. And if there's you know a possibility for him to be moved because he's being displayed in this bigger showcase, you know maybe that that that could happen. But unless one of those players moves, I just don't see this team doing anything differently prior to the start of the season. um
00:30:08
Speaker
And the other is just, you could tell that consistency and um cohesiveness is what this team is kind of building for. And it's going to be the collective play that gets them where they want to get to. And for that, I think they're going to want to keep this group as together as they can.
00:30:28
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And it's, I think you're right. I think the degree to which the Sounders have elevated their ceiling is minimal at best. ah You know, I suppose you can argue that the degree to which their ceiling is raised is going to be very dependent on a few key factors, right? One of them is going to be Jordan Morris being here. Potentially, if he stays healthy all year,
00:30:53
Speaker
There's maybe some ceiling raising impact there. i think there's a handful of players who might be able to take significant steps forward. Georgie Minungu being one of the the top candidates for being a breakout player.
00:31:06
Speaker
i suppose Pedro de la Vega, if he can stay healthy for, course you know, for more of the season, you know, he'll he'll likely be the Sounders are hoping he'll be back sometime in April.
00:31:18
Speaker
i And that's meaning meaning he could be playing games potentially by april But if he can stay healthy during the whole second half of the season and go in and he can go into the playoffs with the version of Pedro, who was looking like one of the, you know, frankly, one of the better players in the league during leaks, the leaks cup run.
00:31:37
Speaker
that's going to be a huge boost, but those are a lot of internal you're, you're, you're relying on a lot of internal improvement. There's not one exterior. There's not, they're not bringing in one player who's elevating their ceiling really at all. Like, I think that's fair to say it's like Hassani Dawson is not going to,
00:31:56
Speaker
is not going to elevate their ceiling. He's going to continue to raise their floor. Uh, even if, you know, and it and it, and I think then it even, there's even more of an argument of if he's ends up replacing Obed Vargas, uh, that's, I think you can argue that their ceiling is maybe a little lower in that way.
00:32:18
Speaker
So I totally agree with you as far as that goes. Yeah. And so for me, as I mentioned, if it's not a a domino effect of a potential move or some sort of injury, I just don't expect them to be extremely or any more active. Maybe they're going to be reactive towards anything beyond that. They might take some, yeah you know,
00:32:41
Speaker
or they will definitely take some of the Tacoma Defiance players. And if any show up to the level that a Kalani did or a Snyder Burnell did last season, maybe they'll add some of those players. But I do think that they're going leave this team important It is. And then in the summer, that's when we'll see what what really happens and what happens to the U22, if there's flexibility there and everything that kind of comes with the rest of that salary cap moving forward. But ah yeah, I'm definitely not expecting any news ah prior to Marbella.
00:33:19
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network, which now includes Nos Adietes, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild. Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible through our paid subscribers. Plans start as low as $30 a year and allow us to remain independent and mostly ad-free. subscribers get access to all our written and podcast content, including a full text RSS feed and a mostly ad free podcast feed that includes every show in one spot. If you really like what we're doing though, I'd encourage you to sign up at our higher tiers, which include all sorts of various perks. The most popular of those is our members only discord or the real Sounders sickos hang out. I know I've called this group, the smartest, funniest and best informed Sounders fans in the world, but it's more than the rough equivalent of a Sounders Mensa meeting. Discord is where we make things happen. Like, for real. You know the promotion the Sounders ran that offered fans the opportunity to trade in their messy jersey for a Paul Rothrock one? That originated in our community. You'll not only be the first to know about stuff, but you also have a semi-direct line to the movers and shakers at the Sounders organization. If you want to be one of the totally normal people who occupy the Sounder at Heart Discord, just become a supporter of Sounder Heart. Anyway, thanks for listening, and go Ders.
00:34:34
Speaker
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00:34:53
Speaker
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Sponsorships and Coaching Changes
00:35:05
Speaker
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00:35:21
Speaker
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00:35:36
Speaker
You broke the news that Andy Rose was leaving the Sounders for a position with LAFC. ah Andy Rose, of course, has been an assistant coach with the Sounders since 2022. effectively replaced...
00:35:48
Speaker
he effectively replaced Did he replace? Did he replace Gonzo? I guess he replaced Gonzo essentially. Right. Or Jimmy Traore. I guess maybe more accurate to say replace Jimmy Traore. Yeah. Um,
00:36:02
Speaker
But he's been sort of the, i think it's fair to say he's probably the third assistant on the team behind both Freddy Juarez and Precky. And he had, but that doesn't mean that he didn't have a big role. You know, he was one of the guys primarily in charge of assembling video on the opposition. coached the,
00:36:23
Speaker
coached the this the set pieces. He worked a lot with the defenders. I really liked Andy Rose. I liked him both personally. I think he is a really bright soccer mind. I will not be at all surprised if he ends up being a head coach in this league and maybe elsewhere.
00:36:40
Speaker
I'm bummed to see him leaving, but I guess he's also, you know, you can't really blame him. He's taking what my understanding is he's essentially taking the top assistant job with LAFC, which may have a knock on effect. I, you know, anti-Roz off actually left the Sounders to go to LAFC. And my understanding is he wasn't super excited about the prospect of being sort of over overlooked for that, for that job. Mark Santos, of course got the job there. And Andy Rose, it should be said,
00:37:10
Speaker
He played for Mark Dos Santos at Vancouver for, I think, three years. Also first got his coaching start under Mark Dos Santos when he was, you know, getting when he was transitioning out of being a player.
00:37:22
Speaker
So it it made sense for Andy to go to LAFC. Are we hearing anything about what who might replace him, though? Not as of right now. I'm hearing that it's very early in the interview and and search, interview process and search for his substitute.
00:37:43
Speaker
i have heard from fans, it's not going to be JP as much as, you know, we all love JP. I just don't think he has the qualifications to to do it. ah There's actually been kind of radio silence between JP and the club, even for the Tacoma Defiance job. So I don't foresee that. The Gonzalo Pineda, also out of the question, Gonzalo Pineda is waiting for the right opportunity to get another head coaching job. He's not going to be taking a a just a staff member, just ah an assistant head coach type of position. He wants to be a head coach. So that was out of the question as well. But I do hope...
00:38:23
Speaker
That the choice by the Sounders is someone that brings the same qualities and attributes that I think are going to be a void to be filled. That's the way I've been expressing Andy Rose's departure, because look, I'm happy for Andy, as you mentioned. I think that he is God, the power.
00:38:47
Speaker
The coaching intangibles that go beyond certifications and licensing and all of those things that you need to be a coach. But the way that he delivers a message, the way that he enters a room, the way that he can impact a group, I saw that from him from day one.
00:39:06
Speaker
And that's huge. So him being a number two for Mark Dos Santos, who I also rate, I rate very highly. And I think that he's going to be very successful with LAFC. And I know people are going to hate that, but I just consider him a a very good, complete sort of coach, right? He's a strategist. He's a motivator. he He's just a guy that i think is going to do well in LAFC. So good for Andy Rose. I'm excited for him. But what's going to be missing here is that...
00:39:41
Speaker
coach that finds a very even ground between the coaching staff and the players. Every single player who I talked to last season had nothing but great things to say about but Andy Rose. And it felt like they can connect with him a lot better than with Freddie or Precky or Brian, right? And you need that sort of dynamic. You need that guy that's going to fit in and be a liaison uh, in between the players. And he's going to make things very interesting. Uh,
00:40:13
Speaker
So between the amount of effort that he put on the defensive end, the amount of presence that he had on set pieces, both offensively and defensively, everything that came with the Andy Rose package, I really do think that is going to be a big void. And even if you do find the right guy for it, there's going to be, in my opinion, simulation process, a learning curve, and we'll see where that goes. Maybe I'm pushing too hard on it, but from the reaction of players and those around the organization about Andy's departure to what I remember, players highly regard him last season.
00:40:57
Speaker
I really do think that there's going to be a big void there for this coaching staff. I don't think that's crazy at all for what it's worth. I mean, I think to the you know every time we heard about a young player frustrated with their playing time or or whatever, it was almost always Andy Rose there to sort of not just comfort them, but to give them some sense of it was Andy Rose who they approached.
00:41:25
Speaker
as a way of sort of like opening that conversation to find out what they had to do, to do all the little things. Like, what what am I doing? You know, I'll use Josh Atencio as an example. You know, Josh Atencio went through multiple phases of looking like he was about to break through having a little hurt injury and then struggling to get back into the rotation. And it was almost always Andy Rose who was there sort of like trying to help him out and being a voice within the coaching staff of saying like, look, we can't forget about, you know, Josh Atencio.
00:41:59
Speaker
And I think he's just, he was that kind of coach. He was much closer. Obviously it helps that he's a lot closer to the player's age. His playing days are much closer.
00:42:11
Speaker
i think the players felt like they could relate to him. know, he's the only coach who could really step into short sighted games and sort of like hang with everybody else. And I think there's, there's value in all that. And I would think that the Sounders almost have to find a younger type of coach who's going to be able to do that type of stuff.
00:42:33
Speaker
Like, I don't think, I think it would probably be a mistake to find, to go and get another veteran coach in part because they have, they have the knowledge they need. You know, they don't need more X's and O's guys. They don't need someone who understands defense and they don't need someone who understands how to, you know, set up the team tactically.
00:42:55
Speaker
What they need is of a sort of a fresh young guy to bring new ideas and to also serve as that bridge to the players, because let's be real. I mean, b Brian Spencer,
00:43:08
Speaker
is an older guy, uh, relative, certainly relative to the players. Freddie Juarez, I believe is now the youngest coach on the coaching staff and he's my age.
00:43:19
Speaker
Uh, and you know, I think I like to think of myself as, uh, you know, still sort of in my mental prime, but I also understand that I don't necessarily relate to 20 year olds, uh, perfectly.
00:43:32
Speaker
So, you know, these are, these are things I think the centers probably have to be considering. Especially when that was your superpower. that that That was what elevated you last season, right? It was that sense of a cemented group, of a team that played for each other. And a lot of it goes with this perfect element of just cohesiveness. And without one of those guys, I'm...
00:44:00
Speaker
you know there could be a change, right? So it'll be interesting how they they replace Andrew Rose. I would agree with you that maybe a younger coach would be a good way to go. Someone that, you know, is a former player that can have some of those conversations with the younger guys. So, um, Brian's Metzer, I'm sure is going to be on the lookout for a lot of his, uh, old mates. I mean, and, and, you know, guys that he's played with and had some sort of relationship with. So, uh, it's definitely one to watch there.
00:44:31
Speaker
Yeah, ah just to throw out a few, you know, and I think that's one of the things that's tough about this is, you know, the Sounders in their job, I will say this, the the Sounders have removed their job posting. ah If you didn't know, the Sounders actually, or I think all MLS teams actually have to post their job posting on ah on a publicly accessible site. That's mainly a requirement, but it also does help to widen the net, ah you know, in case there's some candidate that would have otherwise been overlooked.
00:44:59
Speaker
I believe that's how they ended up hiring coach H as a Tacoma defiance. ah Regardless of how that ended, I thought that was a really good hire. I think he was a a really sharp soccer mind and and it's good to bring in players that are not necessarily bringing coaches who aren't in your immediate sphere of influence.
00:45:18
Speaker
But if the Sounders do go with someone who they know a little bit better, you know, one of the names that I have heard come up a few times is a guy named Ian Russell, who used to, who's from Seattle.
00:45:29
Speaker
He played with Craig Weibel on the Sounders in, I believe, 1999. He's been a coach in the, San Jose earthquake system for a long, long time. He remains one of ah Bruce Arena's top assistants. I think he's probably a little overqualified for this position, but it's someone who I would think the Sounders would at least have a conversation with.
00:45:49
Speaker
Another guy who I would be really interested in if they could bring back is a former coach named John Hutchinson, who you might remember was the Tacoma Defiance coach for a spell. I believe he was the the coach who replaced.
00:46:03
Speaker
Oh man. oh man Ezra Hendrickson. So maybe he may have technically been the S2 coach, but I really liked him. He's currently in the second, the second division in Japan. He's a head coach there again, maybe a little overqualified, not exactly sure.
00:46:21
Speaker
ah One name I was able to sort of cross off the list is Chris little. He was another former Tacoma defiance coach. He had gone to the Colorado rapids where he had actually served as the interim coach on at least one, if not two occasions. But he is leaving Tacoma or he's leaving the Colorado Rapids, but not coming back to the Sounders. ah You know, I guess one name that would have been an interesting one is Mike Morris, who we talked about.
00:46:47
Speaker
He left the Tacoma Defiance and he joined ah the staff and at the New England Revolution. I would have thought that that would have been a potentially good consideration to bring him on board. He's a relatively young coach. Yeah.
00:47:03
Speaker
You know, he was looking for a break into the into MLS, but he's already left. So I suppose he's probably off the table. What about Ezra Hendrickson? I mean, that's an interesting one. I think he falls into the overqualified slash side of things. I think that would be an interesting consideration. I would think the centers would at least talk to Ezra. I don't know what he's doing right now. Do you?
00:47:25
Speaker
That's what I was saying. I don't think he has been doing anything. Last I heard he had come to watch a game last season just with his family. And i don't believe he had a job. So, hey, you know, if there really isn't anything out there for him. then, you know, I think he'd be a guy that first shirt could be a possibility there.
00:47:45
Speaker
Yeah. That's, that is a good shout. I hadn't really even thought of that one, but I would think the only thing that would be hurting him is just like, I don't know if he's looking to be in a third a third assistant right now, but maybe he is. I mean, this is a guy who at one point was a head coach in MLS. He was he got burned with Chicago. He did get burned with Chicago. He definitely got done dirty a little bit with Chicago. So it'll be interesting to see what happens there.
00:48:08
Speaker
um And then there was two more bits of information I think we wanted to get into before we get out of here. ah One is an update on... During this break, there have been two sounders who have been very
Team Strengthening Efforts and Media Expansion
00:48:20
Speaker
active. Uh, knew who and Georgie Minungu have both been playing in the Africa cup of nations knew who has been the captain actually of Cameroon, I believe in all four of their matches up to now they are, they are getting ready to play South Africa in the quarterfinals.
00:48:36
Speaker
And then just today, Georgie Minungu, uh, and Burkina Faso were eliminated by d'Avoire in the round of 16, uh, ah but ah sorry, Manungu was playing quite a bit of minutes, but he only, i think he only started one game, but he was coming off the bench a lot. I know he came in at halftime today and he was very close to getting an assist, but you know, ultimately Cote d'Avoire was, was the much better team. They won that game three zero. But he's, he's done just in time for the start of Sanders training camp. Yeah.
00:49:13
Speaker
Right. And no, actually Cameroon was playing Morocco. on Oh, you're right. They already beat, they beat South Africa. They beat South Africa. Morocco is a tough team. and So that's, that's a good, put put that in your calendar. If you can watch this game, that that's going to be a fun one going into it. I think that the, you know, the two teams that I have looked in at,
00:49:34
Speaker
when When he came to this, you know, African Cup Nation matches, it was Morocco and Algeria. Those are the two teams that I thought were going to end up getting into the the World Cup. So Morocco, if Cameroon beats Morocco, that that goes a long way. They they could definitely be getting an into a World Cup if they if they do that. But you're right. I think Nuhu is, ah once again, getting a lot of...
00:50:00
Speaker
um of that spotlight. I'm starting to hear his name a lot when he comes to, uh, not just in the MLS, but you know, when I'm, I'm telling you that there is teams in Mexico uh,
00:50:15
Speaker
are interested and and that they hear his name and some specifically that that that would have the the means to to get out there and and and maybe make an offer to the Sounders. So he's one to really look at because he has been very good with Cameron. Anytime that you're the captain of a national team, he gives you a different in pedigree. And that's what a lot of times...
00:50:40
Speaker
sporting directors or GMs are looking for in terms of having that experience. And then Georgie, I think you're right. he He's been for ah his national team, what he's been for the Sounders, which is a sparkle coming off the bench, right? Today, he almost gets an assist. He always came into a game that was already...
00:51:00
Speaker
almost out of hand, right? 2-0. They were down against Ivory Coast. But the game before that as well, it was, they were down, he comes in, he helps with the equalizer. So it's typical George Minungu and all of these minutes are just going to add on to him starting next season with just rubber hitting the ground. I mean, I see him being a guy that we're going to be excited to follow all of preseason.
00:51:29
Speaker
Because he wants to be a starter. He's a guy that is on the rise and he's going to give you everything he has. So praise to what he's been able to do with his national team, even though now they're eliminated from the African-Cubber Nations.
00:51:47
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So the the final bit of news that we want to share is in case you missed it, Sounder at Heart has formally unveiled our plans to launch a print magazine. The intention is for this to become ah ultimately to be a quarterly. So we would theoretically do four of these a year. But before we totally commit to it being a quarterly, we're going commit to doing the first two issues. The first one will be a season preview for both the rain and the sounders. That's going to come out in mid February or so.
00:52:22
Speaker
ah We are taking pre-orders right now. If you go on to sounder at heart, you can find it. But the pre-orders are $10.00. for the issue. It's going to be we're committing to at least 36 pages of editorial content. So it may get bigger if we are able to sell some ads, things like that. And then we're also going to do a World Cup preview issue that's going to look at sort of like the whole Pacific Northwest ah World Cup and take a broader view of that.
00:52:49
Speaker
And the hope here is to essentially create sort of a, I'll be honest, this is a little bit of a vanity project for me. I'm someone who comes from the newspaper world. I love print.
00:53:00
Speaker
I feel like analog is sort of making a kind of making a comeback right now. And I think that the idea here is to create something that has a little bit more shelf life than the website, which, you know, we publish something and people consume it and then it's gone essentially within a day, if not less. And the hope here is that we're going be able to create content that you're going to want to live with, that you're going want to read over time, that you're going to go want to go back to and refer to, you know, we're going to include stuff like the schedule and the, ro and and like a roster and, and information that you can go back to and feel like it's still useful, you know weeks and months after it publishes, maybe even more than that. And it creates a little bit of ah a, you know, uh,
00:53:48
Speaker
an indelible mark on the way that we perceive the Sounders and it will allow us to do some different kinds of journalism, to do some visual types of journalism that we haven't been able to really do. And to, you know, ideally ah find some new voices and give people opportunities to do more expansive writing, and Nico. So ah yeah, ah hopefully we we get, and you're also going to see a lot of the familiar faces from Sounder at Heart in there as well. Don't want to, don't want to make it sound like it's a whole new thing, but anyway.
00:54:17
Speaker
No, I love it. I think that, don't know, I'm i'm someone that still, to my daughter, ah read the little Sounder or Horror, I mean, the the Sounders notebooks that they used to give out. Yeah. I have a whole stack.
00:54:31
Speaker
I have some a lot of repeats, but one day i'll I'll do a little video of the the the little... office I've made here, but i read to my daughter, some of those, like they have cool little stories, like features of like Victor Rodriguez. And there's like, uh, things of Christian Roldan, why he likes to eat or not eat. Just, they're just some funny stuff in there. so I'm all with it. I like the print. I like the magazines. I think you're right. The shelf space, something that you could put in and just kind of get back to. Uh, so I love it. I'm totally with it. Uh, additionally to that, um,
00:55:05
Speaker
I'm happy to you know announce that we'll be continuing to do our show this season. yes We are going to amplify that as well. I have some really interesting interviews here you know on deck waiting for them to come to fruition and provide that content ah through the Sounder Heart YouTube channel and Sounder Heart Podcast Network. So just excited to once again be on and make that commitment to the audience that we're going to be full on providing as much as we can when it comes to our Sounders coverage.
00:55:41
Speaker
Yeah. ah This year, like the last two years, I feel like is, is potential to be even bigger and better than it and it has been. That's been really a joy to be part of the joy of making Sounder Heart independent is that we have this,
00:55:56
Speaker
unlimited growth potential. Like we are not capped by anything. We are able to explore different, you know, sometimes things won't work out and we'll, you know, put those aside, but we want to keep trying new things and looking for better ways to tell stories and,
00:56:12
Speaker
And you know I do genuinely believe that the quality of coverage that we're able to provide now is better than it's ever been. and a big part of that is people like you continuing to subscribe, continuing to listen, continuing to read, continuing to consume all the content that we're putting out. And of course, Nico, I i i love that we're able to bring someone like you into the fold as well.
00:56:37
Speaker
you know, I guess we had some working relationship when we were still at SB Nation, but it was just a lot harder to bring in new people. And this has allowed us, I think, I think to find voices like you, and to promote them and to give them an even bigger platform than they already had. And I've said this before, but I just want to say it again. It's been so awesome being able to do this show with you on a regular basis. I really do feel like you provide an important and interesting perspective. And you make, I think, Sounder Heart better. you i think you make our readers and listeners better for the information that you you bring to them. And you certainly make me a better podcast host as well. So I want to say thank you, Nico.
00:57:18
Speaker
Oh, man, thank you. That means the world to me. And i really do hope that, you know, we're going to be testing some things out. You know, I always I'll be sitting down just, I don't know, watching an NBA game on a Wednesday and something comes up to my head and I'll write it down. I'm like, I'm going to just run it by Jeremiah and then see what he thinks about this. And then. You know, ah hopefully we get to do some of those things this year and see what the audience thinks. But I really do appreciate you being this open to just ah new ideas and new things. And I've always said that you and i workflow is of the chain and I love it. Right. And so I'm glad that we're going to continue to do this and and and get bigger and bigger.
00:57:59
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Well, with all that said, we should probably get out of here. i just want to say thank you again to everyone for listening. i want to say thank you to our sponsors, especially Full Pool Wine. and And thank you to everyone that's been making Sounder at Heart and Nos Audietes possible.
00:58:17
Speaker
without set That said, I am Jeremiah O'Shann, signing off for Nico Moreno. This was Nos Audietes, part of the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network, and we will catch you next time.
00:58:56
Speaker
Let's go and sounders.