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Against Galaxy, Sounders had to be perfect. They fell just short
2.8k Plays8 days ago
Jeremiah and Aaron discuss the Western Conference final in the first segment and then do a deep dive into the roster. They go through each player and discuss whether they should be a building block for the future, a short-term keep or someone it’s time to move.
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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
Sponsorship and Sounders Legend Recognition
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.
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 sell <unk> it
00:01:21
Speaker
we all got of sudden go
00:01:30
Speaker
since sounder hard commentary that you didn't take lo seriously
00:01:45
Speaker
We're recording on Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024.
Season Reflection: Success or Disappointment?
00:01:50
Speaker
I am your host, Jeremiah Shan. Joining me today is my co-host, Aaron Campo and our engineer, Lickett. Well, this topsy-turvy season has come to a close. The Sounders put up about as good of a fight as anyone has against the Galaxy, especially at dig Dignity Health Sports Park this year. And we're playing them even for about 85 minutes, but a misplaced Alex Rodon pass, started a counter, and the Galaxy do what they do. Finishing off what, at that point, was really their only good chance of the game.
00:02:19
Speaker
given that the Sounders advanced to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2020, put up 57 points and spent about six months playing genuinely interesting soccer. I am inclined to call this a decent season, even if Brian Gmester himself did not call it a successful one. Aaron, what do you think? What do we, what do we make of this game? What do we make of this season? Let's just kind of open it up.
00:02:45
Speaker
Yeah, the game, you know, it was what it was. I think the Sounders had to be perfect to win that game, and they came very close. And that wasn't close enough, unfortunately. um I thought they they played extremely well. I thought that they were arguably the better team for most of the game, but the Galaxy just have that edge um where they can punish mistakes in a way that the Sounders aren't capable of. And the Sounders made one, and it was a pretty bad one, and and that was enough.
00:03:12
Speaker
Uh, and so, you know, it was, it was disappointing, but it really did feel like playing with house money in that game. Um, it didn't feel like the sounders, it's not that it didn't feel like they belonged to there, but it it, it was so improbable that they got to that point, I think. And and it's, uh, beating LAFC was obviously mentally, I think so important.
00:03:32
Speaker
Yeah, I think that that changes to me the calculus really a lot and we didn't we didn't record last week. I feel bad that we didn't get to do a a celebratory pod over the win over LAFC, but maybe we can talk about that now. I thought that that changes for me the whole perspective on this playoff run because they did find like, if they had fallen to LAFC again, if they'd lost for a fifth time this year, if they'd gone out in a second year in a row to LAFC, I think it would have felt like, I don't know what was the point of all this, but they won. They, they want to, it was a fun, and it was an interesting game. I thought it was an entertaining game. It, you know, I don't know that they they certainly didn't play LAFC off the park, but I thought they did enough to,
00:04:19
Speaker
deserve Like I don't think they were undeserved winners. No. I mean, they, they won the game. There wasn't penalties. It was straight up. They won the game. Yeah, exactly. And and I know, you know, they got an own goal.
00:04:31
Speaker
Oh, that was huge. Don't get me wrong. But you know it wasn't like it came from nothing. you know they they They made a decent move to to create it. We don't need to re-litigate the whole LAFC game. But I do think it's important to recognize that that was a huge hurdle. The Saunders needed it clear. They did it. It'll be interesting to see if that has any long-term impacts. like If they come out and are getting smoked by LAFC again next year, I don't know. Maybe we won't care as much. but um I did think it, like you said, it sort of allowed them to go into the galaxy game feeling a little bit more like it was house money. Yeah. It's, and that's, you know, I think if you can go out and a conference final, if you can go out without winning a trophy and, and feel okay about the season, I think that's, that's good. And I think it, I suppose if your barrier for what constitutes a good season is you have to win silverware.
00:05:29
Speaker
That's fair enough. If that's how you define it. Uh, I don't, I think this was a successful season in a lot of ways. I think it was unsuccessful in other ways though. I mean, I think overall i'm I'm happy with the way it turned out, but it's, I wanted to say it's easy to forget, but I actually don't think it's that easy to forget how, uh, how unpleasant the first few months of the season were. three months ish Um, and you know, I think that that has to factor into the equation, but.
00:05:56
Speaker
the The rest of the season was actually pretty enjoyable. I think the playoff run was was a lot of fun. And, you know, it was much better than than last season for me um because they they had a similarly long run of incompetence last season ah and not quite as long of a run of dominance. and And in the playoffs, they were just never convincing. I really believed until L.A. scored or the Galaxy scored.
00:06:21
Speaker
that the Sounders were gonna win this game. I fully believed it. And if you can fully believe you know up until there's 10 minutes left in your season, thats that's pretty good, I think.
Game Analysis: Sounders vs Galaxy
00:06:34
Speaker
Yeah, I'd say that that is that is that's a good way of of putting it. I think that they were they weren't creating they weren't creating huge chances or great chances, but they weren't creating chances.
00:06:47
Speaker
and I suppose the game really started to turn after Albert Rusnak went out with a re-aggravating, it sounds like he re-aggravated his hip injury, that the one that kept him out of the second leg of the Dynamo game. And the Sounders did sort of struggle to create chances after that. I think, I guess, Pedro de la Vega moved into the middle for a few minutes and then, and then maybe Obed took over. I don't really remember much of what they were trying to do offensively after that.
00:07:17
Speaker
Which kind of says it all, I think. Yeah, but up until that point, they, you know, they had some good looks. They, they they were keeping galaxy honest. It wasn't like they were just absorbing pressure. I remember at one point, maybe around the 70th minute or so, the sounders like, uh,
00:07:35
Speaker
I'm a sicko, so i I look at this stuff, but foot mob had them at like a slight advantage on XG. And I thought, Hey, that's kind of notable. Like they know both teams were below half a goal, I believe at that point, but.
00:07:50
Speaker
Still, you know, it was, it spoke to as much as the sounders weren't necessarily creating a ton of chances. They were not giving up chances to LA either. Like it was really close to a perfect defensive performance from the sounders. I dug up some of these stats. I put them in my column. I'll, I'll repeat them here for for those of you, but this was the, the, the longest the galaxy had gone without scoring a goal at home this year in, I believe it was there are 20 previous home games.
00:08:19
Speaker
was 75 minutes. they They'd done that once. The centers took them to the 85th minute. It was only four times, I believe, that they even went scoreless in the first half. And and and here they were, you know, 85 minutes into this thing without giving up a goal.
00:08:35
Speaker
yeah The Galaxy scored at least two goals in all but three or four games at home this year. And one of those was was actually against the Sounders. Another one was Miami in the season opener. may have And then I think there was one other game, maybe maybe they lost two to one or something like that. But I guess that was end but that game was at ah the ah Rose Bowl, I believe. In any case, the Galaxy offense has been really, really good, especially at home. They had not lost any games at Dignity Health Sports Park this year.
00:09:04
Speaker
And I was, and I gotta say that stadium was electric. It was, it was so loud. It was, and it was like from minute one until minute 90, that place was, was going crazy. I had never been to digging the health sports park before and.
00:09:26
Speaker
It was, I'm, but I'm told this was a, a typical sort of atmosphere, but it was, I was really, I came away really impressed by the whole thing. It came through, it came through on the, on the broadcast too. It was as an intense of an atmosphere as I can remember in an MLS game. And that includes like the early.
00:09:44
Speaker
Seattle Portland games. Yeah, it was it was pretty it was pretty wild. Yeah, I mean it was it was I was sort of taken aback and this is after being at LAFC the week before which was also a really good atmosphere, but I will say one of the things that differentiates ah the galaxy stadium is that the press box is like most older stadiums is like right at midfield and it's open air and so you're just getting sort of blasted with with everything. And the stadium itself is not anything super special. it It has, you know, it's, it's, there's not a lot of bells and whistles, but they do like the same way that LAFC does. They do a really good job of sort of activating the concourse and having a lot of stuff going on. Like there were DJs, there were live bands, there were, you know, concession stands everywhere. You know, everything was open.
00:10:35
Speaker
Which is something that and and this is similar to both la fc and galaxy and we're getting a little off off topic i realize but. since we're talking since we're talking about it, I'll bring it up. yeah ah This is the thing I think that is most apparent at Sounders games that is lacking is that there's just not that energy on the concourse that there used to be. And and I think a big part of it is that people are just not going to Loom and Field sort of ready to Consume everything that's there it's like they're there to watch the game which is hey I guess that's maybe against modern made it maybe we're like old-school fans in that way but it but it does sort of bring down the The energy level a little bit. Yeah, absolutely. I think that it's it's good to have
00:11:24
Speaker
things that get people who are maybe not as into the game excited and amped up and and make it feel like a ah more festive atmosphere. um And just having that energy, like walking through the concourse, you like you said, like having that energy is going to get you more energized.
00:11:40
Speaker
I think that especially for people who have been going to games who have had season tickets since the beginning and go into games, it has to become routine feeling at a certain point. And when the energy level in the stadium comes down, it's like if you're, you know, almost 15 years in to get go into games at this point.
00:12:01
Speaker
It's got to be hard to continuously find that next level without that external simulation. And I think that there's something to be said. And it should you know they I can't ignore the fact that this was a Western Conference final a week before that. It was office all playoff game.
00:12:16
Speaker
<unk> I've heard from many people that there's been, there were years where the galaxy stadium was not that excited that this was an atypical thing, but it was sort of like a reminder that this is still possible. Even at ah at a place where, you know, 18 months ago, fans were literally walking out in protest and it was like a morgue. And here we are 18 months later and people were.
00:12:39
Speaker
through the moon, you know, like thrilled to be there. Which has to be part of it, right? Like that has to that whiplash from like the fans got the jam fired.
00:12:50
Speaker
And now they're, you know, the, the class of the league, right?
Tactical Dynamics and Key Performances
00:12:54
Speaker
They're, they're going to the MLS cup final. They're doing it in style. They're blowing teams away. That's gotta be part of it, right? That the Valley to the pretty quick high, the pretty quick ascension. Um, I mean, the galaxy have gone from being a club that I think was not well run. I think it's fair to say for quite some time to being,
00:13:14
Speaker
10 years probably. And now even even when they were super successful, they never felt like a club that was especially well run. They had a good coach who they could attract good players. right And now they feel very well run. They feel and very intentionally put together. um They're willing to spend money. you know They're willing to take some risks and it's paid off. and so yeah i mean There's something to get excited about. And maybe this is one of those things where the sounders are almost victims of their own success, where they don't have the lows to contrast this with. right It's just yeah making a deep playoff run as business as usual.
00:13:53
Speaker
um So maybe, I don't know, maybe there's something to that as well. but I think there's there is probably truth in all that. And I guess to to steer it back towards the field, I think it is sometimes tempting to take ah a run like The Sounders just went on a little bit for granted because at one point it was sort of routine for them to do this. And I guess we aren't so far away from that where this feels novel.
00:14:19
Speaker
But it was, it was a fun ride. Like this was a fun playoff run, even though they didn't score a ton of, you know, they only scored two goals. Really. ah One of them was a, was a own goal, obviously, but these were, especially the last two games I thought were really exciting. They were fun games, even though they were sort of chess matchy and there wasn't necessarily a lot of high flying offense. It was.
00:14:43
Speaker
Good soccer. I thought it was good. It was a good advertisement for the for the league. It was a good, you know, like I enjoyed watching those games. and Now, granted, I was there. So I was in I was in it. But man, those were tense, exciting games. I mean, that's what you want out of playoff soccer. The Galaxy game especially felt.
00:15:02
Speaker
The L.A.F.C. game, I think, was a little more your standard sort of like a team deciding they're just not going to let the other team score and then having to find some urgency and find integral themselves. And it just I don't know, it felt a little more playoff like normal, intense, but still fairly standard playoff soccer. And I thought the Galaxy, the Sounders Galaxy game was much more Um, like you said, chess matchy, right? There was much more of a like tit for tat teams making small adjustments to counter each other. Both teams, I think came out and set up in a way that took into account what they thought the opposition was going to do. And it was, it was very interesting to watch. It wasn't boring. I think this is the game where.
00:15:48
Speaker
Hopefully this doesn't offend anyone, but this is a game where if you see this and you say one nil scoreless, most of the game, boring game, I don't think you actually like soccer because I yeah do not think this game was boring at all. ah There was a lot going on in this game yeah and you know, both teams created some chances. um I think the galaxy accepted at a certain point that they probably weren't going to be able to blow the doors off the sounders and If anything, I think that that might have saved them because the sounders were actually starting to create quite a bit ah and and really were pretty pretty well on top until Rusnak came out. And I think the galaxy recognizing they weren't going to have the space to counter that they're used to.
00:16:31
Speaker
And they needed to be a little more pragmatic if they you know wanted to to stay in the game, probably save them to to some degree and ultimately let them win the game. And that's, I think, you know credit to so the players and to Greg Vanney as well.
00:16:44
Speaker
And it should also be said that the goal comes from a pretty impressive piece of class. I watched that yeah whole sequence several times. It's not a horrible turn. I mean, it's it's not a it's not a good turnover, it's a it's but it's not some sort of disastrous turnover. The Sounders have defenders back. It's not like he gave the ball away and it was a you know it was it was all downhill.
00:17:10
Speaker
They had to make some moves to get there, and the move that really makes it is a very clever, just perfectly weighted, perfectly placed pass from Ricky Pooges that sets up Dejan Djovolic for you know a pretty good strike from the top of the box. But the way he just lays it off there,
00:17:32
Speaker
And and and Jovilich is coming from his back, you know, coming from behind him. He knows exactly where he he wants it. And it was, you know, he he waits it just perfectly. So it's out of Jackson and Reagan's reach, but also hits. Jovilich doesn't have to break stride and he's able to hit it sort of just perfectly. I thought that was a really impressive play, especially after finding out that he was playing that Puj was playing on a torn ACL.
00:18:00
Speaker
Yeah, that that's completely insane, man. That is um I hesitate to say it's admirable because I don't i you know, I don't know if it's good. it's It's amazing, but it is impressive. I mean, it's some it's some real warrior type stuff. And yeah, i you know, it's it's frustrating because it's a bad giveaway in a bad place. It's unnecessary. And it is. the It was really it wasn't unnecessary. It was an unnecessary giveaway for sure.
00:18:28
Speaker
Um, and that's, it's really the one. they they They had two mistakes in the game that I remember. One was three. One was Reagan, I think early on making a pretty bad clearance. One was new who make any bad headed clearance. Neither were as dangerous as this one, but it did require a really good play, a really good finish from, from Yovilik. Uh, great, you know, great for from, from Pugh as well. And, uh,
00:18:56
Speaker
It sucks, man, it's painful. I think that it's it's human nature, and I know I was guilty of this, to dwell on the mistake, and you know see that as like the moment, because it was the moment, to some degree, um that the game turned. But there were other little moments where it could have turned in the sounder's favor as well. There were other little moments where it could have turned in the galaxy's favor earlier, and who knows what happens then. So it's one moment among many that just proved to be consequential through random chance to some degree, I guess. But it's it's painful, but I think it does underscore the razor thin margins that. The style of play introduces into the game. I mean, it's the sounders are and incredibly good at doing what they did to LFC, LFC and doing what they did to the galaxy for 80 minutes and doing what they did to Houston. And what they've done to other teams and playoffs in the past, and I don't blame them for doing it.
00:19:56
Speaker
But it is necessarily, it means you don't have a lot of room for error. and Yeah, they don't have a lot of room for error. And you also sort of need someone on the offensive end to have like a moment of brilliance almost. Right.
00:20:13
Speaker
And the centers were close on a few occasions. I think it was interesting, you know, I thought it was a ah bold decision to start Georgi Minungu who, you know, did his best to, you know, he, he he had like five successful dribbles. He was, he was.
00:20:27
Speaker
I would have liked to have seen him isolated a little bit more even than he was, but they they just needed somebody to sort of, like how many times they sort of got the start of a counter attack and then slowed up when it when they didn't clearly have the numbers advantage. And they sort of needed someone to just say, you know what? Fuck it. I'm going for it. ah You know, Peugeot had one moment like that.
00:20:51
Speaker
where he dribbled up the the right sideline, got past a couple guys, and then he he put a ball into Obed, who made this amazing touch, really, to to collect it. And he ends up shooting it, or maybe he's crossing it, and he gets blocked. But that was that was sort of one of those moments where maybe it could have it could have happened.
00:21:11
Speaker
And, you know, there was a couple of the the best play the Sounders had was Jackson Reagan sending a ball up the the left sideline to knew who his cross goes in, but gets deflected out to Morris. And Morris lays it off a really nice layoff to Roosnack. And Roosnack just doesn't it get anything on it. And yeah I almost wonder if he was already maybe feeling some discomfort because he just does not hit that ball right at all.
00:21:40
Speaker
And other than that, you know, and then they the the other real chance they had, I suppose, was Rusnak's free kick where he ends up ends up getting saved. I'm not sure if that was going to go in, but those were probably their three good looks. And, you know, it didn't happen. I think yeah what they need to do though, is they probably need to be set up in a way where they have more than three good looks.
00:22:07
Speaker
three and they're all sort of half chances to none of those were like great, great chances. Yeah, it's on the one hand, you know, you say, well, the galaxy didn't have a lot of good chances either. They just took advantage of theirs. But I think the difference is that the the galaxy were playing the Sounders defense.
00:22:26
Speaker
And the sounders are playing the galaxy C offense, right? And I think that that's yeah ultimately what it is. and And I don't think anyone is asked, well, um that's not true. Plenty of people are asking for the sounders to compete in the attack with the galaxy, but I don't think that's what I'm asking. I don't think that's what you're asking. Yeah. i don't They don't need to build the galaxy attack, but they need to have, you know, if, if.
00:22:50
Speaker
they They need, they like they're at a disadvantage at maybe all four offensive positions. Yeah. Is that too, yeah I don't think that's too harsh. I mean, Puj is probably better than Rusnak. Jovalich, maybe you could say Morris is better than Jovalich, but that's a pretty even matchup. Certainly Peck and Painsill are better than anyone the Sounders have on the wing. Yeah.
00:23:10
Speaker
I think Rusnak and Puj are not super far apart in terms of their overall abilities, but in terms of what they do in the attack. Because Rusnak, a lot of Rusnak's value is his defense and his ability to clog up passing lanes and contribute in other ways. Puj famously does not defend at all. Do any of those things.
00:23:32
Speaker
um which You know, Hey, fair enough, man. Like if you can, if you can do the other stuff as well as you can do, then, you know, take, take the half the game off. That's fine with me. But, uh, yeah, but I think in the attacking phase, clearly Puget is the better player. You know, I will say one of the other things that for as impressive as their attackers were, I actually did think they're.
00:23:57
Speaker
They are, you know, when you attack the way that they attack, you are asking a lot of your defense. Yeah. And the Galaxy defense, like, Edward Serillo, who's the the defensive midfielder, he was, I was pretty impressed by him. You know, Delgado came in in the second half. I thought he did a good job in place of Marco Royce. Royce didn't really do much in the first half.
00:24:21
Speaker
but both their full backs were solid, both their center backs were solid. ah you know they were On some level, you do have to give that defense credit for yeah um doing enough. Yeah, they they played really well. I think you you make a great point that the Galaxy's defensive numbers are not necessarily a reflection of their defensive quality entirely. I mean, it's it's also a reflection of just the the way they approach the game.
00:24:50
Speaker
um And yeah, i thought I thought that the galaxy understood what they had to just as the sounders set up to prevent the galaxy from doing what they're good at. I thought that the the galaxy were were quite good at that negating the things that sound sounders are good at. One of those jobs a little easier than the other, um for sure. But They did everything they had to do. I mean, they they didn't allow any great chances. um I thought the set piece game was obviously where the sounders were going to need to. That's where the centers had a lot of corner kicks that came to absolutely nothing. And that's really that's where I think they needed to be. And what's first, I guess what's frustrating is that the centers have been pretty good on set pieces this year ah offensively. They have. And the galaxy have been terrible. And the galaxy have been terrible. And that's really the where the galaxy have the most
00:25:40
Speaker
are have struggled the most is on set pieces. Their open play defense is actually pretty good. like it's in the I wouldn't say it's in the top five, something like that. But their set piece defense is atrocious and and they the centers really did not give them much trouble outside of that one free kick where you know that's a that's you know that's that's a free kick ah that you're shooting on. but Yeah, it was, it was, I don't know, it was fresh. I'm not, I'm not frustrated with the way this season ended. I'm frustrated how close the Sounders came to sort of like really making something special happen this year. It would have been fun to have MLS Cup here. I'm at the same time, I'm not that upset about nearly as busy this week as I would have been otherwise. Yeah. I mean, you got to take the good with the bad, I suppose. Yeah.
00:26:35
Speaker
I mean, I would have much rather been covering covering the ah MLS Cup, but... Yeah. I do think that there is something about the vibes of the season because they started out so bad and because people are still, I think, disappointed with the way the Sounders have have gone about or went about going as far as they did. that And maybe this is just me coping, right?
Fan Sentiment and Player Potential
00:27:00
Speaker
But that even if they had won MLS Cup at home,
00:27:03
Speaker
There would have been just like this soundness about it in the fan base that hasn't been there. Like it would have felt kind of like 2016, I think, where there were still people who were like, well, we didn't really win the MLS Cup, you know? um And yeah, so maybe that's the bright side. I don't know. but would like to find I would have liked to find out, you know. It would have been worth finding out for sure.
00:27:25
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I think that's a good place to call us a segment. We're going to come back and we're going to do kind of a ah different exercise than we're doing. We're going to actually go through the whole roster and sort of say what we would what we think should happen with each player and and.
00:27:42
Speaker
We'll call it, I don't know. ah It's based on the the Mary F. Kill ah concept, but we'll we'll come up with a better name for it in the next segment. But ah yeah, you're listening to Nozodietis, we'll be right back.
00:28:01
Speaker
Welcome back to no idea this so Aaron and I are going to do a little offseat like I don't know how long this is going to go. This might go for a long time. We'll see. But we're going to go through the roster and we're going to do what we've I think decided on is build which is sort of like this is a cornerstone player keep which is.
00:28:21
Speaker
just someone that is, we we don't, we're not dying to get rid of, but not necessarily part of the long, we don't necessarily think as part of the long-term future of this roster and then move, which is players who I think ah it's sort of an explanatory, which is players that we think need to be moved on or we're okay with moving on from either way. They, we don't expect them or we, we don't really mind if they're not here next year, I suppose is the eloquent way of putting that.
00:28:48
Speaker
But anyway, we're just going to go through. We're going to go in reverse order of salary, I guess maybe we should maybe we should start. Actually, maybe we should go in. And we should start at the bottom of guys making the least amount of money so that we can end in the and then more interesting stuff. Maybe I don't know.
00:29:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That works for me. Okay. So, uh, coming in at the bottom of the salary scale, so to key to Hara, here is a, his is a midfielder played some defense for the sounders did not get on the field very much and played mostly with and MLS next pro. He's now going into his, I think age 21 season.
00:29:29
Speaker
And he's on an option for this year, got another option next year. What do you think you want? What do you, what do we want to do here? Yeah, I think keep is is the obvious move here. Um, it's not costing you anything. Yeah. You know, he's he's got some, um, value. He's got some flexibility. 21 is no kind of age, you know, it's, uh, there's, there's plenty of room for growth and development.
00:29:55
Speaker
And if he doesn't grow and develop, then when his contract is up, you know you can decide if he's worth bringing it back on an option or or just moving along. um But yeah, no harm in keeping them around. Yeah, I'll agree with you there. I don't have any strong feelings one way or the other. I know the Sounders like parts of his game. yeah it's this is his second This is his second year on the MLS roster. Again, he hasn't it's not like he hasn't played at all, but he's really only playing in a emergency situations.
00:30:25
Speaker
almost always with surrounded by players who are not also starters. So we haven't gotten a ah lot of good looks at him, but you know, he is someone who they they do like, I think as a sort of a a solid player. I don't know what his upside is at this point, but you're not necessarily no one's got a gun to your head. and Next one, Stuart Hawkins, who is a i think he's going into his age eighteen nineteen season maybe he's a centerback he's getting youth national team callups he didn't actually he only played two games with the sounders first team both were in the open cup what do you want to do here i I think that is, I'm as close to go and build as you can for a player that only has two first team appearances. I think there's no, unless you get a big offer from from outside of MLS, which seems unlikely at this stage, ah he's ah he's a very clear key for me. Yeah, I like Stu a lot. you know I've watched him a fair amount in MLS Next Pro. He is a big kid, he's tall, he's and he's he's put on some weight.
00:31:35
Speaker
But if he's he's got nice feet, he's a good passer, he honestly reminds me a lot of Jackson Reagan, although he's getting a lot more professional than Jackson Reagan did at this. I mean, hes he's Jackson Reagan, but, you know, four years ahead of schedule. ah Really, if you if you think about it that way, I think this is going to be ah I think he's going to be a really good player for the centers. I don't know how much first team minutes he's going to get next year. I would like to see him allowed to compete for first team minutes.
00:32:05
Speaker
I would suppose there's a chance that maybe he goes on loan or something like that next year, but this is someone who long-term the Sounders should be, should be building around, I think. Yeah. All right. Next, we're going to get to, uh, Georgie Menungu, who was a late signing this year. He ended up being a starter on the, in the season finale, Western Conference final starter. He also started, I think he started one other playoff game.
00:32:33
Speaker
But he he ended up getting like 250 minutes in the playoffs alone, which he only got 375 during the regular season sort of came. I don't want to say he came out of nowhere, but he definitely burst onto the scene in a big way. What do you think you want to do with him? Uh, I think keep, I'm not quite to build stage yet. Um, but I, clearly I keep, I, it it would be pretty hard, I think for the sounders to, to part with him with any plausible kind of offers.
00:33:01
Speaker
Yeah, I suppose there's a world where an offer comes in for him and you you move you you you end up being able to move on from him, but it would have to be pretty compelling. i I think I'm ready to sort of, I don't know, bill he's he's already signed through 2028, I suppose, so it's yeah it's easier to just say build, but I i really like him. his you know I just ran a a little graph today that showed how he compares to the rest of the league on a per 90 minute basis in terms of successful dribbles and carries into the penalty yeah carries into the penalty box, no one in the league
00:33:44
Speaker
gets more carries in the penalty box at a higher rate than he does. And there's only one player, a player named Steven of a free for, uh, who has more successful dribbles per 90 than he does. Now, granted the end product is not there. He's got a lot of, there's a lot of room for improvement, yeah but those are,
00:34:05
Speaker
those are skills that are gonna be tough to teach. Like beating guys on the dribble and doing it deep in the opposition end is not something you can really teach a player, I don't know. Like that's one of those things where you either can do it or you you can't. and And that's a pretty big weapon if you can unlock it. And frankly, if if he had end product, the sounders would be fielding you know ah many million dollar offers for him already.
00:34:33
Speaker
Yeah, I think the thing that excites me about Georgie is that his delivery doesn't necessarily have to even get that much better for him to become significantly more dangerous if his decision making gets better. And that is a much easier thing to teach and is going to come with experience. And I think, you know, I'm going to revise to build as well, because I think if we're thinking of build as these are guys that we want on the team for the next few years, rather than this is a franchise cornerstone. Right? I think the key falls into that category, and I think it's more reasonable definition. So I'm going to go I'm going to I'm going to move them to build as well. Okay. All right. All right. ah So Brad deal your Rodriguez.
00:35:11
Speaker
If you are a listener of to this show, you you there's a decent chance you know who this is, but the casual Sounders fan probably has never heard of Rodiglio Rodriguez. He did not make any first team appearances. He ah led that he set the Tacoma Defiance scoring record in 2023, but then spent, and he got he got a first team contract over his result. I think he's 25.
00:35:34
Speaker
But he missed almost the entire year because of injury. He he only even got into a handful of Tacoma Defiance games. He had a couple of really nice appearances, but he was not consistently impactful. And by the time he got even close to fitness, it was way too late to get into the first team rotation. That said, Aaron, what do you what do you want to do with Brodillo Rodriguez?
00:35:57
Speaker
This is another where I don't see any point in moving him on. um He's not blocking anyone necessarily. um he's He's clearly got some upside. He could be a useful piece. And if it doesn't happen for him this year, that's unfortunate. But it's no need to commit for longer than than this year, but also no reason not to bring him into camp at the very least.
00:36:22
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's an easy option to pick up. I don't think the sounders need to, like if, let's just say the sounders, I don't, I don't think you would use a expansion protected spot on him. And hey, if San Diego wants to pick this guy up.
00:36:39
Speaker
you know, go for it, right? Like, yeah, it would be like, I don't know. And he might, I mean, he he might turn into something, but I don't think the sounders are going to be losing sleep over, over losing him if he, if he leaves. Uh, but if he's, if he's there, you have his option. I think you pick it up. There's no reason to get crazy, but, uh, he'll be an interesting, he'll be an interesting piece to watch. Uh, if you've watched him play, he, he has a real silky smoothness to his game.
00:37:09
Speaker
But again, this is a 25 year old player who has almost no first division experience at this point. It's not impossible that he will bloom into something, but the window is getting pretty tight, I think you can say. Yeah. Yeah. All right. ah Next player on the list is Paul Rothrock.
00:37:33
Speaker
Easy, easy ah build here, I think. yeah I'm not in the camp that thinks that he is a guy who should be starting on it on a team that has championship aspirations, but as a guy that's going to get a ton of minutes, who has a very clear role on the team, who brings a lot that not a lot of other guys on the team do, who just makes shit happen.
00:37:55
Speaker
um He's, yeah, he's, I think he is the ideal first guy off the bench type sub who's, who's also going to get, you know, a fair number of starts across all competitions. And, uh, just when people talk about the sounders, yeah like their complaints about the front office or whatever stuff, right? Like about how front office doesn't do anything and they just sit on their hands. You look at guys like Paul Rothrock.
00:38:23
Speaker
And you say like, this is a guy they went out and identified and they, they gave a chance and you know, he's, he's coming back next year on like a pretty decent cap number. He's probably going to get an extension, I would guess. Yeah, I would think so. But this is the stuff they're so, so good at that they just never get credit for. It's like, nobody wants to give them credit for Paul Rothrock or Georgie Menungo. Well, I think that it's, that's an interesting, that's a a good distinction because that,
00:38:50
Speaker
The Sounders are maybe the only team in the league who are building relationships with players that can even lead to this outcome. like There's just not a lot of teams, like and and Jackson Reagan is ah is a very similar player, where these were players who effectively ran out of, they didn't know what they were going to do, but because they had existing relationships with the Sounders, they reached out, the Sounders figured they'd give them a shot. I don't know what they thought the upside potential of that was, but they were giving they gave them minutes. They gave them a chance to prove themselves. When they proved themselves, they got a first team contract. These aren't flashy moves, but they are the kind of things that build the foundation of a successful organization.
00:39:39
Speaker
and I would think that Rothrock will get an extension this year. I don't know for how much, but ah I mean, he's on $89,000, $90,000 right now. I would imagine he'll at least get into the couple hundred thousand dollar range you would think, ah but you don't need to go crazy. I mean, he's like no reason to fall over yourself there, but ah he was a great story this year.
00:40:03
Speaker
And he's a great kid and he's obviously, he's a Seattle guy, but anyway, we've said enough about it. ah Jacob Castro, this is the goalkeeper. He was mostly the starter at Defiance this year, but he is very, he's at this point, I would say a distant third on the depth chart.
00:40:25
Speaker
which is interesting because last year it looked like he and Andrew Thomas were closer to neck and neck, but you know he's ah he's ah he's a little bit of a late bloomer. He started off, he was playing football, ah like the like I think he was a tight end up until all through his high school career and then sort of ah picked up soccer his senior year and and sort of learned that while he was at college. but He's, he's considered a good athlete, but I don't know, not necessarily putting up great numbers at at Defiance, but what do you want to do with him? Um, homegrown, you need a third keeper. Um, I think if there's somebody else in the pipeline who I'm, I'm going to go border between keep and move, um,
00:41:16
Speaker
If there's somebody else in the pipeline that you think has higher upside and you want to get them into the system and get them some more playing time, I'm fine with doing that, but also not itching to move them along at this point. I don't think- Yeah, I think I feel the same. There's a guy named Lars Helleren who is sort of in a similar age bracket as maybe even a year or two younger, but similar who played for defiance and has shown some promise, but Castro still feels like, again, you're, we're talking about your third goalkeeper Castro feels. That's fine with me. I don't think you need to bring in, you don't need to, you don't need his roster spot, I guess is what I'm saying. So I'm fine with keeping him, but
00:42:05
Speaker
I think next year ends up being a big one for him in terms of his long-term future. For sure, yeah. All right, next one is Dylan Tevez. He got a goal this year. It came very early. He has an option for next year. He is, let's see, Tevez is... Man, I should have this. Oh, he's 24. He's a homegrown player.
00:42:35
Speaker
What do you want to do with them?
00:42:39
Speaker
i Man, this is what this is it's they're starting to get tougher. yeah I think we probably kind of know what Dylan Tevez is going to be. And I think what Dylan Tevez is going to be most likely is a decent rotational MLS guy that has you know a career.
00:42:58
Speaker
um Whether or not, I don't think the odds of him having that career with the Sounders are great. And I think he's at an age where it might be best for him if he is allowed to go play somewhere else. Whether that be, you know, a year in USL or if another team wants to pick him up. um From a roster construction standpoint, I don't know that there's a ton of harm in having him there. Although, I mean, if you're going out and making signings, most likely in those positions. Yeah.
00:43:27
Speaker
ah somebody's gotta be the odd man out, right? So um i think I think this is gonna be my first move. Yeah, I'm gonna agree with you here. I really like Dylan. I think he is a... I actually think he's a good player.
00:43:45
Speaker
And you watch him at next pro, he has, he's he, I think there's something there. I think, especially at the USL, like if you put them on a USL team, I think he is a very good player. But the reality is this is a guy who's 24, he's going to turn 25 relatively early next season. And if he wants to make a career, it might have to be.
00:44:08
Speaker
You know, you you can look at a Paul Rothrock and say, hey, if Paul can do it, why can't I? And I think you could make an argument that he's maybe a more skilled version of like at at the similar age. I don't know if that's, that's probably not fair to Paul. I think Paul has probably shown more, especially this year, but I think it's going to be an interesting conversation that he has with the team. I'm going to go with move as well.
00:44:37
Speaker
And i I hope it's because, like, if he wants to come back next year and try to make the team, I would, i would like, if I'm the Sounders, I'd say, sure. But i if I'm the Sounders, I'm also telling him, you should go look for other opportunities. Yeah. Because you have more opportunities, like, you're going to have more opportunity to break out somewhere else other than here. Right. And I think it would be very easy for the Sounders to extend, to to exercise his option.
00:45:07
Speaker
And then go through preseason and then get a new signing in and say, you're the odd man out and either cut them or just stash them in the defiance. And I just can't imagine that's what he wants at this stage in his career. Right. Yeah. All right. Next one is Cody Baker. Uh, he just finished his age 20 season. He signed through 2026. So centers don't really have a, there's nothing pushing the sounders to do anything with him. Uh, he, you know, it's funny. I was just looking at him. He.
00:45:36
Speaker
played almost he was playing in almost every game during the first half of the season like mostly a sub but he was getting into a lot of games he had something like 16 appearances in the Sounders first I think 20 games across all comps and then he didn't play again but he he didn't play again for the rest of the season ah he sort of he he was there when the injury bug was hitting so that was helping his cause a lot And, and then as the Sounders got healthy, he dropped down the the depth chart, but then he got hurt and he struggled to come. you know he I think he he had to get wrist surgery and I think he may even had a concussion along the the way, but yeah, he didn't make another, he didn't make a a first team appearance during the whole second half of the season. Yeah. Um, he's, he's a keep I think, uh, just cause he, he does have some flexibility and
00:46:27
Speaker
Uh, maybe when we get to some other full backs, uh, maybe, you know, we' you we'll, we will understand why I feel like we definitely need some more depth. Um, so yeah, you know, the perfect back of the roster kind of guy who yeah you can trust pretty well to play a couple of the different positions. And, uh, yeah, it plays both on the left and the right. You could even play as a center back in a pinch. I suppose you, if you really needed to, you ain't be able to play in the defensive midfield, but he's 20.
00:46:54
Speaker
You know, it's it's he did have one really good moment this year. He like laid out a Louisville player in the open cup, which was fun. I like I like Cody. I don't know that he's ever going to be a star, but he doesn't need to be a star. This is like, I think in a lot of ways, the Cody Bakers are the exact kind of player you need your academy to producing yeah to be producing. Yeah. A good academy produces a ton of guys like Cody Baker. Right.
00:47:22
Speaker
a decent amount of guys like Josh Atencio and occasionally a guy like Obed Vargas. And if you can do that, you're doing great. Yeah. So Jackson Reagan ends up being the next one on the list. But that's because this is an old contract number. He he did already get in a contract extension that guarantees him through 2027. He was a defender of the year finalist. Yeah.
00:47:46
Speaker
He's 26 years old right now. I think I know where you're going to go with this, but I'll let you say it. Pretty easy build. ah Doesn't seem like a guy who is likely to get you know any kind of transfer interest from overseas, which is great for us. yeah although i don't i mean i do think he can like i think you'll I suspect he will be in the January camp for the U.S. national team. That's obviously a long ways to go before you're actually in the the full national team. But at 26 years old, center back who can pass like he can and and like seems to be getting better defensively.
Player Market Value and Future Moves
00:48:26
Speaker
I mean, I don't think it's out of the question that he ever goes and plays in Europe, but I think in the immediate future, it's on. No, you're right. I agree with you there. I will also say the Sounders and ended up being very
00:48:39
Speaker
ah yeah I should say he's a he's a build for me as well. but he the when the The timing of his contract extension was very good for the Sounders because it came about a month before he was named a defender of the year finalist. I'm pretty sure the Sounders were part of the reason the Sounders were hemming it. like The Sounders were in a long negotiation over his contract. Basically, they were trying to get him re-signed last offseason. and His agent was like insistent that he wanted Yeymar money. and The Sounders were just like, look, we're not going to give you Yeymar money. Yeymar has been doing this for years. and and That's why he's getting paid what he is.
00:49:19
Speaker
of that he ends up being the defender, your finalist over at Yemar, may have yeah ah caused his agent to ah stick his heels in a little bit more. But the deal got done. He signed through 27. He'll be... yeah he I thought he was... You know, he had some rough moments in the first half of the season, but man, he he was really, really good, I thought, defensively.
00:49:48
Speaker
I think there's a pretty good argument that Jackson is the most valuable asset that the team has right now outside of Obed. Obed obviously is in a different class there, but his he's young. He's under contract for a few years. He's at a pretty reasonable cap number and he's one of the best at his position in the league. I mean, that's tough to argue with, I think.
00:50:11
Speaker
All right. Well, speaking of which Obed Vargas is next on the list, he is signed through next season, an option for 26. He is 19 years old and just finished a playoff where I think you could argue he was the sounder's best player. Thank you for listening to the sounder at heart podcast network, which now includes no sunny at this lobbing scorchers and the cooler guild. We've been independent since August of 2023.
00:50:38
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.
00:50:54
Speaker
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 soundrathart.com and click the subscribe button in the top right corner. Thanks for listening. Yeah, I think he may have added...
00:51:20
Speaker
another million or two to his price tag in these playoffs. Let me ask you this. So I'm going to guess he's a, I'm just going to, he's a, he's a build I'm assuming for, I mean, I guess an interesting one. Actually I'll let you talk it through. I think he is a, I think he's an obvious move because he is going to move.
00:51:42
Speaker
ah Like he, I have never been more certain the sounders player was going to be gone within a year and yeah probably sooner than that. Um, this may be where you were going. The question I would have is, do they just strike while the iron is hot and move them now?
00:52:03
Speaker
Or do they wait until after the club World Cup and hope they can put them in the shop window and maybe add some more money onto his, uh, under his fee while also keeping a very good player for, you know, a good chunk of the season. Um, and that's, that's a calculus that's above my pay grade, obviously. Yeah. I, I, well, I guess the question I have is what would it take for you to move him now in the off season as opposed to be like, let's just assume the club world cup is happening. Right. Right. I guess we got to talk about that in the first segment, but whatever ah the club world cup is happening. And even if you don't think teams are going to take it seriously, the reality is that he's going to be playing against some really good players and he's going to
00:52:55
Speaker
like showcase himself against some of the world's best players. Even like it it doesn't necessarily mean that they take it as seriously as playing in in Champions League, but it's. But it's pretty close, right? Like it's is compared to what they're the players are playing every week. If you are a scout for. I don't know.
00:53:23
Speaker
ah What's a shitty Premier League team? If you're a scout for. I don't know. for Yeah. i That's not shitty, but like a mid tier, like a team that is. Yeah. um And you know, Liverpool's depth players pretty well, right? Like, you know, you know what their level is. You're going to have like a point of comparison for.
00:53:49
Speaker
Man, Bournemouth is one place behind Villa. I wish you hadn't said that. I was just thinking of like a random. No, I mean, you're not wrong. They're 13th, but ah but you know what I mean, right? Like these are players that they're going to be playing against the scouts that would be interested in a player like Obed are going to have some familiarity with. um At the same time, he's going to play for Mexico, you know, yeah um either either for the youth team or or for the the full the full deal and.
00:54:19
Speaker
You know, I think probably look pretty good. um I think that he is clearly upleveled this season, right? He's a much better player than he was at the start of the season. This has been a breakout year for him. Yeah. you was And I mean, when if you he started the first game, but he was not like a starter, it was still like, I think the only reason he was starting was because Jau Paulo was out. If Jau Paulo were healthy for the season opener, I suspect Uh, attention would have been starting next to, to Joe Paulo. he He really didn't cement himself as a starter until, you know, two months into the season. But then once he did, he, it was like a rocket ship.
00:55:05
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And I think especially down the stretch as his role got more a little more well-defined and also as the Sounders got better, who he but he got more comfortable. And, you know, I think you could just see him maturing. That said, I guess the question is, what would it take yeah to pull the trigger now rather than potentially waiting for the club World Cup?
00:55:28
Speaker
um
00:55:31
Speaker
ah man Transfer market says his value is three and a half million euros, which is like four, call it $3.75 million. dollars Yeah. Um, and that's not enough no for me, um, or anything close to it. I think, uh, but transfer market is weird with, with MLS players, I think, um, aid Morris sold for.
00:55:58
Speaker
4 million plus salon, um, to, to middle spray in June. But that was, he's 22 years old and not as, I don't think as good as not as i dont think as dynamic as, yeah as vgaes I think that a fair market value for Obed right now is probably six ish million yeah dollars. i'd agree and I think that,
00:56:27
Speaker
if Obed was playing in Argentina or Obed was playing in France or Spain or Belgium, he would be worth 12 million. So that's, I mean, that that is just one of the, that's the unfortunate reality of MLS, right? Is that these play, like people just aren't willing to pay as much for the players. um So would you be willing, let me ask you this, would you be willing to, let's just say, um,
00:56:57
Speaker
Porto, okay? ah yeah Porto comes in and says, we'll give you 6 million plus 20% sell on right now. Do you take that? I wouldn't take that, but I would i would say let's talk, right? um With the idea that i don't eventually he might sell for 12 or 15 million right from a Porto. the I think the question is how much money do you think can get tacked onto his price tag at the Club World Cup, right? If he plays, let's let's say he plays four games at the Club World Cup, and he is pretty good in two or three of them. And then if we, you know, the Sounders end up playing Bayern Munich or one or something, and he just looks out of his depth, which I think is realistic, right? Like he's not at that level. oh Do you think you're going to tack on
00:57:56
Speaker
$4 million to his price tag? $5 million? I don't think so. And, you know, a bird in the hand and all that, right? Like, he could get injured before the Club World Cup. He could regress. Like, he can just, you know, lots of stuff can happen. so Yeah. yeah I think if you can get seven plus million and a hefty sell on fee, you probably should do it, especially if he wants the move now. Like if he wants to go to Europe now, the other side of it though, is if you sell them during the club world cup, that is when the European seasons are ending. Right. And they might say, yeah, hang on to them until, until the end of your season, you know, and we'll, we'll get them in there and, and, uh, in the winter. Right.
00:58:48
Speaker
Maybe, may and so maybe that's worth it as well. I think that's the same thing as possible. I do think the Senders are going to, are inclined to keep them until the summer, but that doesn't mean there's not a price that they would sell it now. i'm I think i'm I'm aligned with you in terms of...
00:59:06
Speaker
his value right now is probably six and what you're hoping, realistically, to get to is 10. And I suppose 10 with, like you can get to 10, theoretically, if you sell them for six and you have add-ons and whatever, right? But i'm i hope this and I hope he's back next year, at least for part of the year, because I'm really excited just to see him continue to progress. like he had He had some moments this year that were You know, like I'm that pass that he makes to Jordan Morris against Dallas that ends up being the winner against Dallas is so such a good pass. Even yeah like I we talked about it earlier in the show, the touch that he has off of ah Pedro de la Vega's pass where he just controls it in the box and and sort of glides in. He's so smooth. And I think there's parts of his game that we still that he's still sort of like figuring out and unlocking. But the way he breaks pressure, the way that he
01:00:05
Speaker
you know, he, he doesn't let mistakes haunt him for the rest of the game. He, he's, you know, he, he plays brave for, you know, lack of a better term. I, I really like him. I think he's a great, I like his personality. I yeah i am not worried about him regressing. I think there's always a concern with injury, but you know, um, you know, we'll see. We'll see. Yeah.
01:00:32
Speaker
All right. Uh, next one, Jonathan Bell, uh, he's a player, the sounders picked up in the reentry draft. I at the time thought, what are we, why, are why are we doing this? But you know, he only, he played a you know a handful of games, every game he played, I thought he was pretty good. And he, he ended up being, um, starting the, the LAFC match looked solid. What do you, what do you think you want to do here?
01:00:59
Speaker
Yeah, I think Bell's a keep. He's got some positional flexibility that's nice. And he's cheap. And you know he he played well. He played well. I'll expand on this when we get to Nathan, I think. But for for now, I'm going to go keep.
01:01:19
Speaker
Yeah, i think because a keep I think what's going to be interesting is if he he gets protected in the expansion draft, I would be yeah inclined to at least consider it because he's the type of player who in fact was already selected in an expansion draft. And I wouldn't be shocked if he if he's exposed. He's the type of player that teams want to pick because he's got, you know, not necessarily a huge upside, but he's you know what you're getting from him.
01:01:47
Speaker
It's the it's that's what expansion drafts are for now is that kind of kind of guy. Right. Exactly. ah All right. So I'll say a keep as well. ah Reed Baker Whiting. He was he's a homegrown player. He's now 20 years old. This was supposed to sort of be his breakout year, but he really struggled to get healthy until almost mid season. He did eventually get healthy. he He played a fair amount, never really.
01:02:18
Speaker
totally put it together the way that he was starting to do last year, but he's positionally flexible. He's signed through yeah the sounders have an option on them next year, but I suspect they're going to have to make a decision about sending him to a big extension because if they have any hopes of getting a fee for him, they can't really let him go into this season next season. Like yeah in the last year of his contract. Yeah. And there's not really.
01:02:48
Speaker
There's not really a way that you're going to get any kind of a fee for him now. um So I think he's a keep. I think that he still has a ton of potential. I'm still optimistic. And I think he's given us reasons to believe that he can be quite quite good and and could eventually be a guy that they're going to be able to sell for a decent fee.
01:03:08
Speaker
Um, but this is a huge, huge season and for him. He's going to have to make, make his case to be a starter. I think he's going to have to come in camp strong. He's going to have to have a good start to the season. He needs to sort some of those defensive issues out. The potential is huge. And I think he looked pretty good in some big games this year, especially later in the year when I think he he was healthier and, you know, maybe maybe feeling in a little more comfortable, but he's not where he, I think.
01:03:37
Speaker
This isn't to say he can't live up to his potential, but he's not where he needs to be if he wants people to feel confident about him living up to his potential. I think it's fair to say, but I still have, I still have a decent amount of faith that he, that he will. Yeah. I, I, I'm going to put him, push him into the build category just cause I think the centers need to probably sign them to a U 22 deal now, uh, sort of similar to what they did with Josh attention last year. Yeah. And.
01:04:04
Speaker
I agree, but I will agree with you that I think if you had asked him where he would want to be at this point, like at the end of last year, if you said, well, where do you want to be career? Like, where do you want to be career wise at the end of next year? It would be beyond where he is now. And I think the Sounders would have said they would have hoped that he was starting. He was pushing for more starters minutes. Like he was never really a serious contender to be a starter at either fullback position. He started some games.
01:04:34
Speaker
but he was never sort of like your bang on but starter. And I, and I think the end product is still a little lacking. Like he's pretty good on the dribble. He's a pretty good one V one defender, but he's just not, you know, he's not putting up goals or assists. And that's sort of like what you want from him. I think you want him to be a two way, a real two way player. And he hasn't,
01:04:58
Speaker
You can see the starting of it, but it's it's not quite there. And I think what you want from him next year is to sort of either at right back or left back, or maybe even farther up the field. You you want him to be and like ah making it almost impossible to not start him next year. yeah ye All right. ah Andrew Thomas.
01:05:23
Speaker
He is a, uh, he signed through 20. He signed an extension already. He's, he's signed through 20, 27 he's 26. He, he ended up starting 13 games, 14, 15 games this year across all comps. He got all of league's cup, all of open cup. What do you, uh, what are you thinking in here?
01:05:43
Speaker
easy Easy build for me. Yeah. i I think we saw enough of him this year. There have been a lot of sounders, goalkeepers, backup goalkeepers who were the guy for the future that have come and gone. But we've seen a decent amount of Andrew Thomas and I love his game. um He did not do enough to displace Steph Fry this season, but I don't think that's a knock against him. I think Steph is maybe not the player. He he was, you know, I mean, he's definitely not the player he was in 2016, 2018, but he's still a very good keeper who kept the Sounders in in playoff games this year and won them some games this year. And so there's no shame in not being able to to displace a legend who who is still quite good. But I feel great about Andrew Thomas for the future. I think he's he's probably going to get some more starts. I think he should get some more league starts next year, even if this stuff is just the healthy scratch.
01:06:34
Speaker
Yeah, I think next, I think that was, and I wonder actually how much of that of Steph Fry's longevity, this like he was, he seemed to be as fresh as he had ever been at the end of this year. And I can't help but think that a big part of that was that he got most of the summer are off, like he just didn't have to yeah play. And, and the reason he didn't have to play was because the Sounders trusted Andrew Thomas to get results for him in league's cup in open cup and.
01:07:03
Speaker
Thomas was, you know, I, he's not, I think the areas that he needs to improve or his passing is still a little suspect. And he, I don't think he commands the defense. Like one of the things I can't help but notice is that even though he's a good, he might be a, he might even be a better shot stopper than Steph, right? At this point, he,
01:07:25
Speaker
the opposition tends to get better quality shots. And I don't know how much of that you can assign to the goalkeeper specifically, but it does feel like organization is one of the areas that Steph still excels at, that yes that Thomas is not quite as good at, but he's a build i think that's for me. yeah I think that's true, but I also think that's just one of those things that experience is necessary to to get to that elite level. Yeah.
01:07:51
Speaker
All right, next on the list is Danny Leyva, who I think this is an interesting one. He's he's still just 21, which is. wild because he's been here. He, you know, he, he made his debut in 2018 and you know, he's, he's still here. He's in some way. I don't know. He, he, he didn't play a ton. I think he played 650 minutes or so, or I guess maybe that was just an MLS play. I think he maybe a coast or a thousand minutes across all competitions, but he's, he's not pushing for starters minutes, but like I said, just 21. What do you think you want to do with him?
01:08:29
Speaker
um I'm going to keep Danny. Um, there's no reason to, to not, he's under contract for a while. Um, I like his game. I think that he provides something off the bench that the sounders just do not have straight up, do not have right now. Hopefully that will change, you know, in, in this transfer window, but he's just not a bad guy to have around. no I agree think could still become a really good player.
01:08:51
Speaker
Yeah, there was a discussion in the Discord this week about sort of like what the sounders owe Danny. And like they were basically someone was basically saying like, hey, if someone and almost if if someone in a first division somewhere wants them, we should just let them go. And Look, he he's making $260,000 this year. That's not crazy good money, but it's not bad money either. And you know and you know he's a useful player for the Sounders. I don't think the Sounders should feel like they need to let him go anywhere. Now, if someone comes in with a decent offer, I think they should consider it. And yeah you know if if they can get a million dollars for him or something like that, I think you probably let him go. But it's gotta to be like he he apparently turned down
01:09:38
Speaker
the opportunity to go on loan this year because he wanted to sort of fight it out with the first team. I think that's admirable. I think he proved to be useful this year. I really like him as a backup 10. I think that might be his best position at this point is sort of like yeah a, um um, you know, just spelling guys like that. So I'm, I'm hopeful that he'll grow into that role, but I'm not ready to build around him, but I do think he's a keeper.
01:10:08
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. All right. Next one, Josh attention. Oh, he, he signed a U 22 deal over the last off season. The expectation was that he was going to be the starting number eight, that he would lock it down. And he was the starter at the beginning of the year injuries derailed him again.
Injuries and Team Dynamics
01:10:28
Speaker
And then Obed Vargas basically took his lunch. Yeah.
01:10:33
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it's it's tough to hold a lot of that against Atencio. And I think a lot of people, myself included, were perplexed why nobody was perplexed at that Obed Vargas was getting starters minutes. I think people were kind of perplexed that Josh Atencio wasn't getting more minutes outside of that, wasn't coming into games earlier. Joao Paulo was getting minutes he wasn't But I think he's a clear build. I think he's clearly a big part of the Sounders future. yeah Really good player. And I expect next year to be better for him, I think. Yeah, I mean, the only thing that's funny about Josh is that you know you go back to 2021, and he that was his sort of his breakout year. It was 2021. And every year, it feels like, oh, this is the year that he's going to cement himself. And then he has moments where it seems like he's about to. And then one thing or another keeps him from doing it.
01:11:26
Speaker
I still, like if you look at his per 90 stats, he's the kind of player that you say, let me have him all turn him into something because he's, his rate stats are so good. Uh, he just doesn't get a ton of minutes and I, I will continue to believe that he will produce. If you give him minutes, he just needs to sort of.
01:11:50
Speaker
He needs to get them. All right. Next is Danny Mesofsky. He was a late edition last off season. He was brought in to be a third forward. He is signed through 2025, so there's not really a huge option. There's no real big decision point here. He's on, you know, about a little less than $400,000. I know a lot of fans are kind of frustrated with but Danny, but what do you think we should be doing here?
01:12:21
Speaker
I think Danny has done about as much as you should expect out of a guy who was brought in to do what he did what he's done. right um he's He is the kind of player that you hope your academy will produce so that your third forward and winger depth does not make $400,000 a year, but that's not his fault that the Sounders haven't produced that guy. um I think he's, he's fine to have a around. I think the problem is that he was the Sounders second choice at forward for a lot of the season. And that's kind of the, the criteria he was a graded on. and And I don't think he was brought in to be that. And I don't think it's a reasonable expectation. So, um, I wouldn't be looking to move him. I think the odds of him coming back past this year are probably pretty low.
01:13:05
Speaker
Yeah, he he finished with two goals and two assists in 30 appearances, but only 763 minutes. A lot of garbage time minutes. A lot of garbage time minutes. You know, and you know, it's it's like one of those things where it's like you get one more goal and it changes your rate stats a lot. Right. And he had good.
01:13:30
Speaker
I was just going to say he had the misfortune to have having a couple of really bad misses early in big moments. And yeah. You know, it's one of those things. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I'm not. mad If he's your third forward, that's fine. I would be a little worried if he's their backup forward next year. But if he's that's a problem. Right. That's a problem. But if he's your third forward next year, like I'll I'll put him as keep because I'm not really expecting an upgrade.
01:13:58
Speaker
There ah again, we're talking about a third forward. That's fine, but he he's he's not the guy I want as my top backup either. Yeah. All right. ah Now we're going to get into some more interesting players, I think. Next up, Alex Roldon, who he signed an extension last offseason, even though his deal was not set to expire until next year, I believe. But the or no, no, it would have expired that he had would have had an option due this year. The option was for a bigger number than what he ended up resigning for. He's now on 465. I think the option was probably 550 or something like that. But it was, you know, Alex played a lot, a lot. Yeah.
01:14:46
Speaker
Almost you, he, he was the starter at right back, uh, basically all season. What do you, what do you think you want to do here? He's now signed through 2026. I'll add that. I am. I'm i'm going to keep Alex with the caveat that I want one, at least one new starting pullback next year. yeah Um, but I think.
01:15:09
Speaker
If, even if Alex is the one that's relegated to the bench, I think he has a ton of value as a rotational guy. He can play both fullback slots. He can play defensive midfield. He can play on the wing. Um, I like Alex as a player a lot. Um, I don't think he's an elite right back or anything close to it. I think that's the kind of area they should be looking to upgrade that.
01:15:32
Speaker
ah One of the major frustrations I think people have had with the team is that these guys just get locked into these spots. And it's not that they're bad players, but they're not pushing the team forward. They're not making the team better necessarily. And Alex, I think, you know, just kind of falls into that category. But he's a good player. And even if he's not starting at that salary number, I'm i'm thrilled to have him on the team.
01:15:54
Speaker
Yeah, there was a time even as recently as last year where he was reasonably productive as a right back, the Sounders ran a lot of their offense through him. they They didn't, they got away from that a little bit more this year. He had three goals and an assist in all comps, but only one goal and one assist in MLS play.
01:16:13
Speaker
Yeah, one assist from a right back in this system is rough. Yeah, that's rough. Like he, the Sounders got no offensive production really from their two full backs this year. And, you know, about 6,500 minutes across all competitions, I think they had three goals and two assists from their full backs. They're two starting full backs.
01:16:31
Speaker
That's that's not great. Now, I do think Alex's defense is sometimes underrated. He shut down. He basically shut down Joseph Paintsill in the in the conference final. He really did a did good against Denny Bawonga in the conference semifinal. You know, you take he had that turnover in the ah in the in the Galaxy game, but i don't I don't know. I'm like tough to beat him up too much on that. That's that's something that's going to happen.
01:17:02
Speaker
But he's just not, he's, he has a really good defensive player, but he's just not adding anything on going forward at this point. And I do think that, you know, if the Sounders are going to get more dynamic, they need at least one fullback to be providing some kind of offense. They can't just have two defense first full backs.
01:17:21
Speaker
Right. If you're, if, if they go into next year and Reed Baker Whiting finds the next level and he's the left back, I am totally fine with Alex becoming the new new who on the right hand side. Right. Yeah. Um, but they, they're asking him to do something going forward and he's, he's just not doing it.
01:17:37
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Next on the list is Nathan. He was a effectively, if he wasn't literally a free agent, but he essentially was a free agent that they picked up last off season. He has an option due this year. He's on $550,000. I imagine probably do a small raise. He played, he started two games this year, the first game of the year and the last game of the year.
01:18:01
Speaker
I thought he was fine when he played. He did not play very much in between those two games, though, because he was hurt and he sort of got juggled around in the in the in the rotation. ah But I thought he looked pretty good against the galaxy. And he also played in the in the second in the LFC game and he looked pretty good to him and for a more. But what do you want to do here? This would have been a super easy question two weeks ago. and I mean, he's making a lot of money. Bell has been really good. I think you need to start trying to make some space for Stuart Hawkins. But Yamer getting hurt as a reminder that you can't depend on these guys to play 50 games a year. Right. And Nathan, I thought was really, really good. I thought the, I think the expectation was Nathan would play more than he did. And I, I don't think that was an unreasonable expectation at the time. No. um
01:19:00
Speaker
It's tough though. That's a big cap number, right? Like it it is. It's, it's tough. I'm going to go move. Yeah. But I wouldn't be upset if, if they kept him. Yeah. I mean, I think you definitely expose them in the expansion draft for sure. For sure. And then, I mean, I guess they technically ah either already ops picked up his option or not, but I don't think I would pick up his option.
01:19:30
Speaker
I think I'm on the move side, but I'm with you. I wouldn't be upset if you came back. I just think that that's you have too many in a world where you don't have a John Bell or a Stuart Hawkins already on the roster. I think it's easier to pick him up. But when you do have those guys.
01:19:49
Speaker
yeah It feels like that's a lot of money to devote to a player who might not play. um Speaking of which, Leo Chu is next on the list. He's a U22. The Sounders do have an option for him next year. He's already sort of said his goodbyes. So what do you what do you want to do here? Yeah, I mean, they've picked up his option, right? So much my understanding is they've picked up his option.
01:20:13
Speaker
So he is signed, ah but he's gone. I mean, let's yeah let's be real. I i don't see it would be any way he comes back. Hard to imagine. I think they do have to protect him because you would assume they would be getting a transfer fee. yeah It's not going to set the world on fire, but it's I would imagine it's going to be... I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility to think that someone might be willing to pay a million dollars to get him. He's got some physical attributes. It sounds like there's some suitors in Brazil But if you get a million dollar offer, you take it. You don't, there's no messing around here. I think that you take the best offer that's on the table in January. Yeah. Right. Like, cause you want, you want to do, I think you do want to do right by him yeah because
01:21:03
Speaker
You know, he he played very hard for the Sounders. um He just wasn't a good fit, ultimately, for the system. And then some other guys, he just kind of got Wally piped, right? He was starting to kind of figure it out. And then he got hurt and Arathbrox set the world on fire and stuff. Bob's your uncle. tough living yeah That's right. But yeah, he's it's time for him to go. And I hope he he can find a good situation for himself because he is a fun player. Yeah, i'm I'm with you. I'm moved there, too. All right. New who?
01:21:34
Speaker
All right, is ah signed through next season. He got an option for 26. He. You know, he is a shut down for you like he did it again. He he absolutely took Gabrielle Peck out of the L.A. Galaxy game. He did totally neutralized him. But. He also had one assist. Yeah, ah it was happened to be what we thought was the winner against the Dynamo, but um what do you want to do there?
01:22:10
Speaker
ah I'm going to say move with some caveats. Okay. And I think the biggest one is I think there is a world in which the Sounders go to a three center back setup. And if they do that, I think it makes sense to keep them. Sure. I think as a left center back, he's He's a good player as a left center back. I think as a left back, the juice is not worth the squeeze. um you You have to, despite their numbers being similar in the attack, Alex is a competent, yeah reasonably competent player going forward. No, he's not. um He gives the ball away in some bad situations. Makes some questionable decisions. Makes some very questionable decisions.
01:22:52
Speaker
um a fun player to watch, but. And i would I would also say, too, that. In games where he is not being tasked with shutting a guy down in games where he is just being asked to sort of play a more typical defensive role. He's not the defender he used to be like when he is being asked. And so it's like you're yes in the in the situations where it's like you can say, don't let that guy get past you. He's going to do the job, right?
01:23:24
Speaker
You know, who else could do that? Zach Scott. Like how much is that worth truly on a team championship aspirations in twenty twenty four or twenty twenty five? um I love his defense, the defensive side of his game a lot. And I think if the Sounders did have a super dynamic attacking right back. You know, maybe it would make sense. But I just I can't watch this fullback play for another year. I think it is such an underrated part.
01:23:53
Speaker
of of why the sounder struggled so much in the attack. And I think that he is the easiest guy to upgrade at left back. so I'm going to say move. Assuming there's a market for him, I have to guess. Yeah. I mean, that's the thing. It's like you you you sort of assume like we, after he he had his World Cup performance, day everyone sort of assumed that there was going to be a market for him and there wasn't. I i don't, I tend to think that their his market might be more of an intra MLS market. yeah Like if you can get 500, 750 K in allocation money for him, I think you you probably do that.
01:24:27
Speaker
I would think there are teams out there that could use a ah new who player. I mean, if he's back, like you're not going to give them away for nothing. But no, I think if you can if you can move them on now, it feels like a ah good time to do it. All right. ah Next up, Stephen Fry. Not much to say here, ah but he's signed through 2025. What do you want to do? I'm probably not going to protect him in the draft, I would say, in the expansion draft.
01:24:54
Speaker
um I, there are a lot of of examples of guys in exactly stuff and for a situation, not being protected because everybody knows they would just retire. Um, that's just not, not a good use of a pick. So, and, and frankly, like if I'm starting a new team from scratch, I don't know if I go like stuff fries, the kind of guy, a 600 K goalkeeper that elite teams want.
01:25:19
Speaker
you know, I don't know if San Diego is going to be, if that's where they're going to want to spend their, their cap space. So, yeah, mean I mean, I suppose, and this was sort of the concern with St. Louis was that it wasn't so much that St. the centers were worried that St. Louis would take him. I think there was some concern that St. Louis would take him and then trade him. ah Right. which is fair
Position Changes and Contract Decisions
01:25:40
Speaker
that's Which I suppose could happen here as well. I don't,
01:25:46
Speaker
I'm with you, though. I don't I think he's a like, I want him back next year. But am I willing to lose? Let's just say john like, are you willing to lose John Bell over over that gamble? Yeah, I mean, it's obviously if you say pick one of these guys, it's going to be stuff. But it's, you know, there's there's that's not the question. It's pick one of these guys, pick this guy or a 10 percent chance of stuff and fry being picked. Right.
01:26:16
Speaker
And I think the fact that they have Andrew Thomas laying in wait makes it a much easier decision for me, but yeah it's also, if it pisses stuff off, it's probably not worth it. If he would take that personally, then it's it's probably not worth it.
01:26:32
Speaker
taking that risk, so. Yeah. Well, I'm, I'm definitely a, I'll say I'm, I'm a keep with him. I don't, I mean, but he's, he's 38, he'll be 39 next year. I'm totally fine with him being the starter next year. I wouldn't want to commit beyond that though. Yeah. All right. This is an interesting one too. I think Yeymar is up next. He's 32. He signed through 25 with an option for 26. You know, he's on ah a pretty cap friendly number for a guy who was named best 11. You know, he,
01:27:01
Speaker
You know, you look at some of the other top center backs in the league and you've got center backs getting DP money now and yeah he's making half that. ah But he is 32. He has had some injuries. What do you think you want to do here? This is definitely a keep, but keep your ears open situation for me, like, because I do think this is a great example of the it's better to to let a guy walk for something too early than too late.
01:27:31
Speaker
And if if you can get a good return for him, especially if they do decide to bring Nathan back, if the starters next year are Reagan and Nathan, that's a downgrade for sure. But I don't, that's still a pretty good center back pairing, especially I think with, you know, in this system and you're saving close to a million bucks in cap space. So you're, you know. Yeah. I mean, if someone comes in, let's just say San Diego, who I think might be interested and says, look, we'll give you a million and a half in Gamm. Yeah. For you. You take it. I think you you take it. Absolutely. Like.
01:28:11
Speaker
I don't like, I would say he's a keep not built. I don't think he, like I would be a little worried about him beyond his current contract, which yeah they have an option for 26. So I'm not running out here trying to give him big extensions or anything like that. But I'm, I think he's, if he's your starter next year, I think him and Reagan are probably the top center back duo, but that doesn't make him untouchable either.
01:28:35
Speaker
ah Yeah, so yeah, I think I'm I'm I see where you're I think I'm where I die on that. All right. Next up Pedro de la Vega ah Not much of a choice here, I guess um Yeah, I mean I I think he's still gonna be a great player. ah Yeah, I I'm still bullish on him. I I'm with you I'm gonna say build okay just because it doesn't really matter that he's not going anywhere. Right. So let's be optimistic. um I was really encouraged by his playoff performances. I thought he looked really, really good. He didn't get on the score sheet. He didn't yeah have any goal contributions, but.
01:29:20
Speaker
I really liked what I saw. It was very encouraging. So it is. I do think it's funny. The sounders went from, you know, last year, the big complaint about them was they didn't really have any dribblers. And now they have Minungu, they have Rothrock, they have De La Vega, the all three of whom are like borderline elite dribblers in terms of like, they can definitely beat guys off the dribble. ah i I like De La Vega. i I think I was hoping to see a lot more, a lot more end product than we saw, but you can see, of course you know, he's, he's a good, like he's he's active defender.
01:29:59
Speaker
He's a good dribbler. He moves into space. Well, I think once he gets to know his teammates, he's going to be like this off season is going to be huge for him. I think he comes into next year probably with this. I've said this elsewhere, but I think he's got got about as much to prove as any sounder ever. But I i am confident that he will do it. um Yeah, I am too.
01:30:22
Speaker
I think that people who have labeled him a bust are out of their minds. i mean it's yeah We haven't seen enough of him to say. All right. Another interesting one. This is Jiao Paulo. He is 33, which isn't that old really, but he really started to show his aides this year. He's on $1.5 million. dollars He's a free agent. What do you want to do here?
01:30:47
Speaker
He's a move for me. Um, there's probably a cap number at which I would be okay with him being on the team. for though It's probably not plausible. I love Joe Apollo. He just can't depend on him, right? like If it were an issue of this guy has lost a step, but we can still rotate him in and expect we're going to get good games out of him, but he just, he has chronic injuries, right? I've talked a lot about, I don't believe in players being injury prone, but I think a guy having a chronic injury like that's like he has is a much different thing. yeah
01:31:22
Speaker
And there's no reason to think it's going to get better. And so it's always going to be kind of a crapshoot. And I think there is some risk that he's going to take minutes from younger players if he's on the um the roster. That's I would say that's my big concern is that I'm not convinced he's a better player right now than Josh Atencio, but I can definitely see him taking Josh Atencio's minutes. And that to me is is a problem. I like like Joe Paulo at his best.
01:31:51
Speaker
One of my favorite sounders. Yeah, absolutely. In 2021, he was one of the my favorite players to watch. And, you know, one of my favorite memories of him was in 2022, he had a get in the Champions League against Leon on the road. He draws a penalty like he he made this run that was just so good. And I think he converted the penalty to.
01:32:19
Speaker
He did. Yeah. And that's what I'm thinking of. for Yeah. On the road. And he he could just be such a good player when he was at his best. And there were a handful of games maybe where we saw that from him this year. But really, it was just a hand. Like you he he never came close to really being. but that is Like he's a player you bring off the bench to see out a game. And I just don't know what number makes sense.
01:32:48
Speaker
Yeah. So kind of like he's going to be happy with that either. Right. You know, yeah. if i If I'm him, I'd like to go play the last few years of my career somewhere where that just doesn't have the physical requirements and all that stuff is where he can still be super effective. Yeah. And I i like, I like gelbala too. I would, I'll be bummed if, if we don't get to kind of see him off. But anyway, yeah ah Christian Roldan.
01:33:12
Speaker
He in some way, you know, it's funny. he This year started out where he was supposed to be the starting right midfielder and that was going to be a spot. That was where they were going to. He was going to get a whole season to just be the right midfielder and. It started out, I guess, that way. But he was really an effect like he was really ineffective. ah Yeah, he he never came close to putting up the numbers that he put up last year. But then he got moved to defensive midfielder.
01:33:40
Speaker
And I was like, wait a minute. Yeah. He's like an elite. It's number six. It's it's crazy, man. Like three or four months ago, I was really worried about Christian.
01:33:51
Speaker
and And what his future was like and and you know how that was going to affect the team for the next couple of years. And yeah now I feel he's he's clearly and like back to the build category. um We talked a lot about him moving to write back because i you know he did look good there. and yeah like This is a way for him to stay play at a very high level for for much longer.
01:34:12
Speaker
It never occurred to me that he could play at that level at the six, but I think if anything, he was better there. He's just, he was fantastic there. um It's going to be interesting if and when Obed leaves to see if, you know, that, that partnership works as well with the tensio. In some ways I can almost see it working better.
01:34:30
Speaker
I think that, yeah, I think they compliment each other really well. I'm curious about that. So, but yeah, he's, he is so valuable to the team. I'm so relieved that he's seemingly kind of put the concussion stuff behind him and that he's, he's back to health. And I think he can own that spot for, you know, several more years. All right. ah Next up, Jordan Morris. I don't know, you know, whatever. I don't need to go into, what do you want to do here?
01:34:56
Speaker
Um, I mean, there's a, there's a, there's, I'd say an outside chance that he wants to move, try to move to Europe and, you know, the sounders try to make that happen. Um, I don't think it's likely. Uh, and I think he's.
01:35:14
Speaker
a great player and I, and I want him on the team as long as he wants to be here. So what do you want it? So we've talked about this before, but we made this amazing place. Is he a nine or a winger for you? Like, what do you, if you're building around him, what is what position is it?
01:35:29
Speaker
So with the caveat that there is a caliber of striker that the sounders can get where it makes the move for Morris to the wing slightly more palatable for me, where I think it makes sense right from a holistic standpoint. But I just don't think that guy is likely to come in. And so I think if you can get the right kind of winger,
01:35:55
Speaker
Um, to compliment him, or if you decide you want to play three at the back and you're going to run two striker set up. That works too, right? Like you can go get a striker then. Um, but Jordan is also going to be playing centrally. He's just so much more effective there. He's, he's clearly more confident. Um, he is, I think his speed is, is a greater weapon playing centrally than it is on the wing. Um, he's got really good speed for a winger. He has a lead speed for a forward.
01:36:25
Speaker
And, um, I think he just, he's more confident. He can use his physicality a little more at that position. His whole, the play, I think was really, really good this year. He did. He does the dirty work really, really well. And he defends from the front. He does. Yeah. He's, I think he is the perfect forward for the way the sounders want to play. Um, so he's he's a nine for me.
01:36:47
Speaker
I still think they're probably going to sign a DP nine, even though it seems like maybe they've softened on that a little bit. Yeah. um um yeah I'm with you, I think, across the board. i i would like him i If i was it was me, I would ru rather spend a little bit more money and and try to find a really dynamic wiener. I think the sounders are probably looking at it and saying, like look, we can get a really good nine for 50 cents on the dollar ah compared to what you have to pay for a wiener.
01:37:18
Speaker
Yeah. And I think they're probably just going to do that. I hope I'm wrong. I would love that if they go and find a ah real dynamic winger instead, but, um, ah he he's definitely a build. I would like it to be at a nine. We'll see if he, if that's what yeah happens. All right. Uh, Albert Rusnak, he's going to be a free agent. I know the, the popular thing I've heard of this many people, very smart people.
01:37:46
Speaker
Matt Doyle wrote about it. Taylor Twelman came on the show and said it, that, well, what I want to do is bring him back as a tammable ah a DP, but one you can buy down. I i am skeptical that's... Me too. Yeah, I would love it too. I don't think that's in the cards. but what do you yeah And I'll just say he'd have to take like basically a $500,000 pay cut right off the top after a 30 goal contribution season.
01:38:16
Speaker
right Now, here's the thing about that, right? I think you can make a case that he's not going to put up another season like that because a lot of that was from set pieces and that run a play offense is really what the Sounders need to improve at. And then there's a lot of reason to believe he's he's not going to be able to to contribute at the level they would like from a DP. And I i think that that is true. Right.
01:38:43
Speaker
um I think that there are downsides to bringing Albert back as a DP. If they can get him at two years, I think that's a lot of my concerns alleviated. um Because I know people are just gun shy about committing to yeah longer term deals for these guys. and He is 30. But for two years with an option I think is pretty pretty safe. Even two option years.
01:39:07
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. Option years. I don't give him 10 option years. I don't care. But I think that I think that the concerns are valid, right? Like he is not what your sort of quintessential DP 10 or DP attacking midfielder is. That's all true.
01:39:28
Speaker
But he's still keep for me and build to some degree because he has to be if he's a DP, right? Because there is a ton of risk in going outside of the league to find his replacement to pay that transfer fee, take that money out of the budget you have for the other attacking the other the other attacking guy.
01:39:49
Speaker
Hope that he gels with the team right away, which doesn't happen all that much. Rusnak is integrated into the team. He also has a skill set that fits what Brian Schmetzer wants from his players really well. He's a really effective defender.
01:40:02
Speaker
He does a lot of dirty work in midfield. He, you know, he's really, really solid at keeping possession. He, he was really critical, I think against both LAFC and the galaxy until he went out at preventing them from getting out on the break, just because of his presence in midfield, both with and without the ball. He's, he's great at things that aren't the things people are dying for, right? Which is helping create run-and-play goals where he's,
01:40:28
Speaker
Pretty good, right? um But I think the all up, I think it's a pretty obvious, it's gonna be hard to let him walk. The only caveat is I would say if the sounders are willing to say we are gonna play Pedro as a withdrawn forward and so we don't need a 10 anymore and we'll go get a winger and then we'll see what else we, we'll hold the DP spot and see what else we wanna do in the summer.
01:40:57
Speaker
I could actually get behind that. I think that if you're going to let Albert walk, that's the best scenario. But I think you also have to accept that if you let him walk, you're probably going to have a slower start than you would like. And it's going to be another situation where they are waiting for the right player a window longer than they would like. And so there are downsides associated with it. but Yeah, ah again, you and I are maybe too closely aligned, but I mean, that's the thing for me is that yeah unless you're telling me there's money in the budget to go out and spend five to $10 million dollars on his replacement. Yeah, I just don't think you can let him walk. You just
Team Legacy and Final Reflections
01:41:40
Speaker
can't of like he's he's all your yeah there's no acquisition cost.
01:41:46
Speaker
i I think you as long as you don't get stuck in a deal where you're guaranteeing that he's going to be a DP for more than two years, it's pretty limited downside. and and I mean, I suppose it limits you on the upside part, but the guy's coming off a 30 goal contribution season. like Yeah. Whether or not you think Albert Rusnak is worth a DP deal,
01:42:15
Speaker
I guarantee you Albert Roosnack thinks he's worth a DPG. I guarantee you his agent does. And I guarantee you multiple and MLS teams do. And I'm sure there are teams in Europe that would give him... Yeah, I mean, you know yeah someone's going to make him a deal that is... made that Yeah, I agree. like he The idea that you can...
01:42:34
Speaker
Like, I don't know. I suppose there's a world where the centers are able to talk them into a sub DP deal on the promise that it's like, this is, you know, we're putting together the Lakers here and we're going to make a run. right But i like nothing about the way things.
01:42:50
Speaker
the world works tells me that's how it's going to be. That is so much more compelling of an offer when you have made $250 million in your career and you just want to win. Right. As opposed to like, I mean, and the reality is like, don't get me wrong, Russnak's a well-paid person, but he's made for sure. But two point, you know, he's got, he's, he can't afford to walk away from $500,000 a year. And that's really what we're talking about needing to do. Maybe even a million dollars a year. Um, yeah.
01:43:17
Speaker
All right. ye ah We're going to close out with Raul Rui Diaz. I guess it's kind of a womp womp anticlimactic anticlimactic end here. He's a free agent. He's a DP. oh I'll let you what do you want to say? Yeah, I mean, obviously, he's got to move. The the time has come. Time has come. It's it's it's very sad that the way this year played out, I think has sort of poisoned, not poisoned, but it's just. It's the w risk of holding on to someone too long, I think. It is. It absolutely is. It's a perfect illustration. He was obviously like a little hard, like felt hard done by. I don't think that's reasonable, but I also understand so like he's a professional athlete. Like, of course, he thinks he can still go.
01:44:10
Speaker
It sucks. It's not a great way for it to end, but I predict within a couple of years, he'll be, you know, fully back in the fold and i I'm going to miss him a lot. I mean, he, he was a ridiculous player for many years and he helped us win champions league. He helped us win an MLS cup, scored a ton of ridiculous goals.
01:44:32
Speaker
Uh, and it's, you know, it's bittersweet. His legacy is secure is the, I think the best thing you can say. He helped the Sounders win MLS Cup in 2019. He helped them win. I mean, I think you could say without him, they don't win MLS Cup in 2019 and they don't win champions. Like, I think you can say that. He was huge, yeah huge, huge in both of those. Those championship games, both the run ups to those games.
01:45:02
Speaker
But you know the time comes for everybody. he you know i I was really encouraged. you know He had that goal against Dallas, I want to say, in the regular season. He came off the bench, and then he went and got himself suspended right after. And that was unfortunately the last goal he scored for the Sounders. He did not score any other goals off the bench. I i don't know that there was really a path to him coming back regardless.
01:45:31
Speaker
But if there was one, it was him showing that he could be a productive player off the bench. And he I wouldn't say he was bad. I mean, like he still gave us two incredible moments in the playoffs this year when he converted his penalties in the shootout against Steve Clark, which were both great. But he just wasn't a use. He just wasn't a useful player, frankly, like yeah know he he was ah He just wasn't, you know, I wish he was, I would have loved that redemption story to have come good, but it was not meant to be. And I wish him the best. And I don't, I mean, there's a world where there's might be some other MLS team that's willing to pay him even DP money, I suppose. Like, I don't know. it's Maybe like a Montreal is willing to pay him and good for him. But yeah like the Sounders cannot bring it. There's no number that it makes sense to bring it back.
01:46:31
Speaker
um All right. Well, that's, uh, I should have been taking notes here, but I think you and I were mostly aligned. There was probably six or seven guys that we we're ready to to move on from a lot of keeps a hand, you know, a few builds. I think the overall state of the roster is good.
01:46:51
Speaker
i'm I think it's very good. i'm not I'm not freaking out about the roster right now. I feel like they are if they can if they can get this next big signing right, I think they are in great position to be back at least where they were this year and maybe even improve on it. I do think there's something to be said about the cohesion in the group, you know, that's, it's, it's maybe Pollyanna ish to stay, but they, they do seem to get more than, especially during the half of the last half of the season, they got more than the sum of the parts and, yeah you know, maybe there's, maybe there's a formula there. I don't know. Yeah, I hope so. Yeah. Anyway, I hope people enjoyed, uh, enjoyed this little endeavor.
01:47:41
Speaker
spent some time on it. Wow. This is an hour and 45 minute episode. It was going to be a long one. Yeah. Hope people dig in, but, uh, well, it's good cause you're not going to hear from me in quite a, quite a while. Yeah. I should, I guess we should, uh, that's a good place to call it. I won't, I won't draw this out. Thank you to full pull wines. Thank you to Lickett for producing it. Uh, for Aaron Campo, I'm Jeremiah Shan. This is no study at this. And remember, you'll never go alone.
01:48:46
Speaker
on