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Episode 373: The lost Q&A session
69 Plays2 years ago
It's a podcast miracle! Our tech provider was able to recover the lost QA audio! Here it is just in time for Saturday's game.
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This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsor
00:00:00
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 sounder supporters. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest.
Seattle Sounders MLS Cup Victory Recap
00:00:21
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to... There's no study at this. Come on! Hey, Ocean! Let's go! I want to say bye-bye! The Seattle Sounders have done it! MLS Cup winners! And Portland can't say he's cheating! Here comes Rudy Diaz through the middle to crowd it for Seattle! They have climbed the mountain!
00:00:51
Speaker
And now our masters of all that they survey. Michael Odero leaves absolutely no doubt. The Sounders rule the region. Seattle Sounders, this can feel it. Seattle Sounders, the greatest MLS team in history. How does this one feel? This feels fucking awesome.
00:01:39
Speaker
I didn't know what it was. Is that what you young people call twerking?
00:01:50
Speaker
I have no idea. I don't know.
Watson's Counter Promotion
00:02:15
Speaker
Follow them on Instagram at Watson's Counter to keep up with all the upcoming releases or check out their website at www.watsonscounter.com. Whether you want to stop by for your daily coffee to go or sit down for delicious Korean inspired brunch, Watson's Counter has got you covered.
Recovered Q&A Segment
00:02:33
Speaker
If you are a regular listener of No Sun Yetis, you probably noticed that we published an episode earlier this week where we had to cut out the Q&A part due to technical difficulties. Turns out we're able to recover that.
Sounders Trade with LA Galaxy
00:03:00
Speaker
Sounders made a big, or not a big trade, but they made a trade this week. They picked up 150,000 in general allocation money from the LA Galaxy. It's paid out in 75 this year, 75 next year through the accounting I've been keeping on Sounder at Heart. It looks like they have about
00:03:03
Speaker
Here it is.
00:03:21
Speaker
They've netted about $650,000 in allocation money for this season in trades, mostly of international roster spots. They've traded away four of those. They still have two open ones, amazingly enough, because they only have two players that are taking up international roster spots, that's Leochu and Yemar. So that does give some room, I think, for a move this summer, which a question
00:03:49
Speaker
Uh, gets to, uh, the other bit of news is they have six players who are going to be missing this weekend's game against sporting Kansas city.
Sounders Players on National Duty
00:03:59
Speaker
Uh, Alex rolled on new, who Reed Baker Whiting, Obed Vargas, uh,
00:04:07
Speaker
Raul Ruidias and Javier Ariaga all got called into their national teams for Vargas and Baker Whiting. Those were youth national teams, the US youth national teams. And the one bit of good news about that is it looks like Jackson Reagan's going to be available.
00:04:24
Speaker
He was training this week, or he was training on Tuesday, the first day back from training. He went out of the game on Saturday with a rib injury that we think was caused by his collision with Stephen Fry. So that's some good news, but it's gonna be an interesting lineup. So we'll talk more about that later this week, but should be interesting.
00:04:49
Speaker
Uh, but yeah, go ahead, Aaron, you want to start asking questions? Let's do it. Uh, first one from Bill Jones, CRPT. Uh, I'm assuming that we are the class of the league and just happened to play two teams that are also the class of the league in our last two games. Is that about right? Or did we drop the ball for the last two weeks? Just making sure my eyes don't lie. I mean, I think that's fair. Like I think like there's nothing that disabuses me as the belief that the Sounders are among the top five teams in the league right now. Yeah. Um,
00:05:19
Speaker
I think the Cincinnati game was not hugely concerning, but it wasn't great. So to see them play the way they did against LA was pretty encouraging to me. But yeah, I don't think there's any reason not to think that they're not capable of winning whatever trophy they're playing for this year. Yeah. And I think on that, to that notion, I think this weekend's game is going to be interesting. You know, supporting Kansas City,
00:05:46
Speaker
is O two and two. They've only scored one goal and that came in their last game, but they've been peppering the opposing goal with shots. Uh, and their defense is pretty, they've only given up three goals. So it's not like they're bad defensively.
00:06:01
Speaker
Uh, and like I said, they're going to be shorthand centers are going to be short handed. Kansas city is going to have, uh, most of their players that are healthy, uh, Gabby Kinda and Alan Palito apparently are still out, but, um, yeah, I'll be, I mean, I feel reasonably confident going into this one, even though the centers have not had a lot of success at Kansas city lately. Yeah.
00:06:26
Speaker
All right. Uh, this is from Garrett Amini. He says two wins with a bear, two winless without him. Is that a coincidence or any, do we have any updates on his availability? I'll start with his availability. I don't think he's going to be available. He's been training off to the side. Uh, he looks, he's doing a fair amount. I suspect he'll be back.
00:06:48
Speaker
if not available on the bench this week, I would think it'll be back next week. But that's, hopefully we'll get a better update than that. But what do you think? How big of a deal has absence been? Yeah, I mean, I don't think it's a coincidence in the sense that I think if you started against Cincinnati, that game, I don't know if the founders win that game, but I think they probably score. I think it's, they probably at least get a point out of that game. And so I don't think it's a coincidence in that sense.
00:07:16
Speaker
I think LAFC was going to be tough no matter who was playing. I don't think it was necessary. I mean, I think Raul's a better player than a bear as much as I like a bear. And so I feel pretty confident that his absence wasn't the difference in that game, but it'll be nice to have him back for sure. I mean, especially with Raul out, right? Like it would be great if you were available. I'm curious to see how they line up.
00:07:42
Speaker
I'm hopeful that Jordan is playing as a striker, assuming it's not available. That's my suspicion. Putting Freddie there against Cincinnati, I think we saw enough to know that maybe that's not the best solution, at least if you're going to keep the standard formation and approach. Sure. I'd rather have him, but I don't think he's necessarily been the X factor.
00:08:13
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Next one is from dudes. V is their strategy teams are using to play the sounders at the moment foul often and hope the rough doesn't call a tight game. I mean, that's sort of like the thing sounders fans tend to believe, uh, in general about how to shut the sounders down. And to some degree, I guess LAFC was successful in that way. Like one of the things that they definitely did a fair amount of.
00:08:40
Speaker
is fouling and they didn't really get punished with a ton of cards for the fouling. There were eight cards in the game, but the Sounders I think got five of them. And so I don't know, to some degree I think that's probably true.
00:09:01
Speaker
I think that's probably true in a lot of ways. Most of the good teams in the league end up, that's sort of how it goes. I don't know. I don't think this is some grand victim situation. The Sounders have committed three fewer fouls than they have suffered this year. There you go. They have won two games by a combined seven goals.
00:09:24
Speaker
I mean, yeah, I think you're right. Like that is the way you stop teams a lot of the time is by failing them and hoping you can get away with it. And that's, you know, nothing wrong with that. Well, there are some things wrong with it, but yeah, you can't blame anybody for doing it, I suppose. Yeah. All right.
Potential Summer Transfer Moves
00:09:43
Speaker
This is from Tunes DC. What types of moves can you see us making in the summer transfer window?
00:09:51
Speaker
uh it's interesting because i feel really good about the roster right now so i think a lot of it's going to be dictated by
00:10:00
Speaker
what kind of move they want to make. You're, I think, going to have much better insight into what their cap situation is than I would. But I think the gist of it, as I understand it, is they could probably add a Tam guy in the summer, maybe, depending on other things. If they move Ariaga, that changes things a lot. But I think if someone gets hurt and they need depth,
00:10:27
Speaker
to cover that position, that's probably going to be where it is. I don't think but I don't think that there's anywhere right now where I feel like they have to do something like I would think if there's one position that they need, they need some depth that it's probably left back. Yeah. Like right now, Kellen Rose, the back, the backup, that's who I think is going to start on the other side. It's it seems to be Ethan Dobler and Reed Baker Whiting.
00:10:57
Speaker
And like, we don't really know what they have in them. Like I'm, I'm actually kind of looking forward to seeing how I'm assuming double or is going to start against Kansas city. I'm, I'm intrigued to see how we, how he looks. Uh, because I think if one of him or Baker Whiting can emerge as a legitimate backup to Alex Rodin, that's a,
00:11:19
Speaker
You know, that's great. But yeah, I mean, I don't know. I know people want to see other, you know, like I know there's a lot of folks that would love to see the Senator signed like a young forward. I don't know that that's in the budget right now.
00:11:35
Speaker
And with the way Leo Chiu is playing, I know he's not a striker obviously, but I don't really, I mean, if it's summertime and he's regressed, then maybe I'm singing a different tune, but I don't really want his minutes to go somewhere else. He's looking great so far. Yeah. I kind of want to see what they have in it. And by that token, I wouldn't mind seeing Dylan Tevez either. Like I feel like there's players on this team who
00:12:00
Speaker
I want to know what the sounders have before I commit, you know, before I commit to saying like, this is the position we need. Yep. Yep. Totally fair. Uh, next one is from Colin Sores Rex. Do you think Nico signs for more years at lower cap or moves on? What position do you think they target with the open DP spot? I, my suspicion right now and from just sort of like.
00:12:25
Speaker
stray rumors I've heard is he is mostly interested in going back to Uruguay. And I don't think he's gonna, I don't know if he's inclined to come back on a lower cap hit. I think, and I don't know, maybe it's better for the two teams to have sort of a clean break. Like, I don't know how much longer he can be
00:12:48
Speaker
like a weight carrying number 10. I think right now he looks good. I think he actually does look really good. And so I'm, I'm excited to see how that plays out, but I,
00:13:02
Speaker
I'm not inclined to think he's gonna be back next year. And what do the Sounders do? That's a good question. I think what I would prefer they do is sign either a young DP or like move a TAM player into like maybe they make Jordan Morris the third DP or something.
00:13:25
Speaker
and go and sign two more U22 players. That's what I think is the more efficient way of using that third DP spot. I think too that if Niko is gone, and I think you're probably right,
00:13:41
Speaker
roll is probably next. And I think giving yourself as much flexibility as possible to fill those two spots and also hoping you can strike gold with a, with a younger player with a higher upside risk. And maybe that means you're not as competitive for a year or two, but
00:14:00
Speaker
We've had a pretty good, you know, I mean, I, I, we've never really had to rebuild the one year we've missed the playoffs. There were a lot of extenuating circumstances. Um, I kinda like the more long-term focused approach of, you know,
00:14:18
Speaker
Going with some higher risk, higher reward kind of signings, seeing what you have there. And then when it becomes time to replace Raul, deciding who it is you want to build your team around because Raul and the team was built around Nico and Raul was the perfect striker.
00:14:34
Speaker
right to put with Nico. And so I think if you want to build your team around a striker, then you've got to find the right kind of guy to put with him in a creative spot. Cause that's probably where you're going to use that DP spot on. And so that's, that's what I'd like to see. But I mean, who knows? Maybe they'll sign another 20, 28 year old number 10 and go in a much trophies. Hard to say. That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Uh, this is from Nick. Yes. Thank you. So go the next and last in line of our CBs after Yemar.
00:15:04
Speaker
Regan and Ariaga. Is Atencio the backup after that? Or Nuhu, if Ariaga is sold at some point, what's the replacement plan? Is there one that defines players or new acquisitions figure into these calculations? Yeah, I mean, I think Sisoko is the natural next guy. And I think for a 4CB, I feel pretty good about Sisoko. I know Atencio has played center back and can play there, I think, pretty effectively.
00:15:31
Speaker
I would imagine that you don't really want to shift new who had a left back if you can avoid it, uh, when you have like decent, because then that creates a problem at left back. So I would, I would guess that they would probably go to a 10 CO before new who, unless they wanted to change the shape to a three at the back. I think if Ariaga is sold, I would have to imagine that some of that capability goes to a center back. It's probably not going to be a world cup caliber player. Um, like you have an Ariaga, but it's.
00:16:00
Speaker
I would imagine that it's going to be a pretty high quality center back. I think that teams are, the Sounders are in that caliber of teams that are at the point now where their third center back is a lot better than it would have been five years ago. Um, and so I think they're going to want to, you know, make sure that they're covered. I think Soko was a great for center back, but I don't think anybody feel great about him getting 15, 20 starts in a season at this, at this point.
00:16:28
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree with all that. The one caveat I would add is I think Atencio and Nuhu are similar in that they're really only center backs right now in a three center back.
Tactical Discussion: Atencio and Nuhu
00:16:40
Speaker
Like I don't think either one of them work as a second center back. Yeah. Although I would love Atencio to develop into one and maybe he is, I just haven't seen it yet. Yeah.
00:16:55
Speaker
Next one is from our pal Nick in Seattle. A year ago, he yelled justifiably, wouldn't stop yammering about Obed. I recall a pod predicting seven figure transfers and a World Cup ambition. He's my favorite kid. I was gutted over his injury and surprised how little I heard about his recovery. What are his prospects slash ceiling now a year on? So I think we didn't hear a ton about his recovery in part because
00:17:21
Speaker
He was 16, 17 years old and sort of out of the public eye. And once it became obvious that he was out, it was easy to just sort of like not talk to him. And really, I think
00:17:40
Speaker
One thing I'll note is I think the same thing sort of happened to Zhao Paolo last year and the exception to that rule in the past has been Jordan Morris and that's because the Sounders were creating Jordan Morris content around his recovery and that's not necessarily the norm. So I don't think it's weird that we didn't really hear a whole lot about him. I would say like the ambition of him being a seven-figure transfer and potentially playing in the next World Cup or not
00:18:05
Speaker
gone. I think there's a world in which he makes this U20 World Cup a whole cycle early and offers end up coming in. And there's no reason to, I mean, like four years, three years or a long way away. It might be too early for him to make the World Cup, the Senior World Cup in 2026. And like, I don't know.
00:18:34
Speaker
that was getting ahead of our, if we were really talking about that, then I think that was probably getting, getting ahead of ourselves. Uh, but it's, it's not an out of the question, I suppose. Like he's got that sort of potential. And I don't think we've seen anything that changes his potential arc. It just might be delayed a little bit.
00:18:53
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's so hard with kids when they get injured because sometimes an injury that seems minor ruins a kid's career. And this did not seem at all like a minor injury. And sometimes they have injuries that you think are going to completely derail their progress and they don't miss a beat once they're back. So it's just really impossible to say. It is one of the risks of getting excited about young players though, is that there are just so many unknowns, so many things that can, you know,
00:19:23
Speaker
That can really come back to to bite you when you're making those predictions but i there's no reason for me to think that his ceiling is any different than it was or that he's any less to realize it i also have to feel like part of the reason the sounders.
00:19:39
Speaker
We're not in a rush to get him back or to rush his recovery or any of that, or put a lot of pressure on him. I think all of that stuff is factors. If you're a kid and you're trying to get back to fitness after a pretty scary injury like that, the last thing you need is any sort of pressure on you to come back sooner than you need to, or people just putting a lot of
00:20:05
Speaker
I don't know, emotional pressure on you to, to recover. Uh, you just need to, you know, keep your head clear and focus on school and, and get healthy. And, and I think the sounders probably recognize that in his case. Yep.
Memorial Stadium Renovation Impact
00:20:19
Speaker
Uh, this is from Twimberly 23 is how would a renovated Memorial impact the soccer scene in Seattle seems doubtful to affect the sounders first team. Yeah, I think that's fair to say. I don't think they're going to be playing at Memorial, but I mean, I, I don't.
00:20:35
Speaker
I don't know exactly what the plans for the renovated memorial look like, but I guess they're taking bids. That's what the big news story yesterday was that the SPS is essentially trying to get one of the big kind of developer types to make a bid on turning a memorial into sort of like a
00:20:59
Speaker
first class facility. And it's unclear if it would accommodate soccer at all. Like it's going to probably accommodate high school football. I would imagine other high school sports. I suppose there's a scenario where
00:21:16
Speaker
maybe the rain, it's suitable for the rain and maybe or and or the defiance or what is currently called the defiance. I don't know that like to me it's like one of those things like the sounders I'm sure are gonna keep an eye on how things are developing. I don't think they're gonna try to turn it into their project but I guess part of the bit of this what they've been looking at in the in the past is like sort of trying to tag it on as part of the
00:21:46
Speaker
the greater venue options for staging events of the, around the 2026 world cup. I don't think that means soccer. I think that means like concerts and viewing parties and things like that. I mean, I guess it potentially could be a training facility, although I think they, they tend to prefer to keep those a little further away from the, from the audience. But yeah, I mean, I think that it, it,
00:22:12
Speaker
definitely seems like just having another decent quality facility could be good for soccer in Seattle, especially with the emergence of things like Ballard and whatnot. And it seems like there's more space for neighborhood clubs. And so maybe there's a Queen Anne FC and that's some games there, although that's probably going to be a pretty big stadium for a USL
00:22:35
Speaker
whatever level they're in. League two. But yeah, I think potentially the currently named Defiance, if they're called the Defiance and they're playing in Seattle, I'm going to be a little annoyed about that. I really don't think that's good. My suspicion is, we were talking about this on Twitter today, but my suspicion
00:22:56
Speaker
is the Tacoma Defiance are going to go through like a full rebrand along with whatever brand refresh the sounders do next year. And my suspicion is that they're going to give them some sort of like vague, like more like
00:23:11
Speaker
they can play anywhere in the greater Puget Sound area name that would work. That would be smart. I know it's not ideal for a lot of reasons, but I kind of like the idea of a barnswarming, USL team or next pro team. Yeah, I don't think that's a bad idea. If they play a few games at Starfire and they play some games in Edmonds or Everett or... Yeah.
00:23:38
Speaker
Uh, Bellingham or wherever. Yeah. Yeah. I think that could be kind of fun, but, uh, yeah, or, or they can move into Spokane and that would work too. Like, I mean, yeah, you know, but, uh, it would be interesting. I would be, I would like, I know this idea, the sounders apparently pursued this idea is, is potentially moving them to Spokane. Uh, and Spokane is in the process of potentially building a, uh, a stadium there. And they ended up.
00:24:04
Speaker
contracting with U.S.L. to put a League One team there, which hasn't come to fruition yet, so who knows. But I wonder how that would work, because my suspicion, my understanding is the Sounders would still, or the S2, Defiance, whatever, would train in Seattle and then basically, I guess, fly to Spokane. Yeah, that would suck really bad. Also, the U.S.L., I mean, I feel like Spokane could
00:24:31
Speaker
Support a USL league one team and yeah, you know, probably not gonna go nuts for next pro. So, uh, next one from interpierce at all. And I'm, I'm interested to hear, uh, your answer to this question, despite being a much hyped prospect and almost 18, we've seen under 300 minutes of reaker whiting MLS. Do the sounders consider him a right back prospect now? What is the order of the depth chart at right back? So.
00:24:57
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. It doesn't feel like we've seen enough of Reed Baker Whiting to get a good sense of him at the MLS level. He didn't even play actually a ton at Defiance last year, or he didn't play as much as you might expect for someone who has received the accolades and the attention that he's gotten as a player in the offseason. He trained at Freiburg in Germany.
00:25:25
Speaker
He's supposedly been pursued by some of the top teams in Europe or at least scouted by some of the top teams in Europe. So it does sometimes seem weird that he hasn't gotten more playing time here. And I don't have a great explanation for that, but it does look like from what I can see in training, he's been mostly training as a right back.
00:25:45
Speaker
When he's with the youth national team, he's been mostly as a right back. I suspect that's somewhat related to the lack of playing time he's received because the Sounders did not necessarily see him as a right back and it's really only been recent that they've started giving him reps there.
00:26:06
Speaker
And I don't know, I was actually very curious to see how it was going to go this week, because if he and Double Air were both available, I don't know who was going to start. I would have guessed Baker Whiting, but that's like a hunch more than anything else, because there's not like a clear hierarchy between the two.
00:26:27
Speaker
Right. Yeah. I mean, I think that it's it's one of those things where it does seem weird that he is getting all this attention. But the sounders also have a pretty good write back who has been pretty reliable and.
00:26:40
Speaker
If he were playing at that level as an 18-year-old where he could displace Alex, he would already be gone. I think that is a big part of it. And a lot of players have a really good skill set that scouts can sort of project and determine, you know, this kid's a good prospect, this kid can be a good project, but maybe they're not physically at the level they need to be at for the league or whatever it is. And so that maybe could be it.
00:27:10
Speaker
But I'm with you. It would have been nice to have him available for the weekend. Obviously, you can't really tell a kid he can go play for the national team. So you can have him for a week five game against sport in Kansas City. And it's it's probably good for his development to do it in any case. But it would be it would be nice to get a closer look at him over, you know, actually 90 minutes.
00:27:36
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Uh, this is from Lander mighty are the sounders the most foul team in the league, or are they going to go down a little too easily to try and get a free kick from the backseat? It seems like our players go down frequently during breakaways, but our opponents play through and get dangerous shots in the box.
00:27:54
Speaker
So the Sounders are not the most felled team in the league. They are sixth. They've been felled 51 times. Portland is first, shockingly. 62. And the spread, I mean, the Sounders are sixth, but there's not a whole lot of difference between sixth and 10th or 15th or whatever. So I don't think they're felled that much more than often. And if they are, it's because they have more skillful players than a lot of teams. And those are the guys that get felled.
00:28:24
Speaker
I think that there are probably teams that do go down a little bit less, especially on breakaways in the sounders. But I think a lot of those teams have a lot more speed than the sounders do. And there's no advantage to you.
00:28:39
Speaker
not going down when you're fouled if the benefit that you get from going forward is not there. You should go down and take the foul. I don't know. I think this is just one of those things that people notice and how you feel about it is how you feel about it. It doesn't bother me. I don't feel like the Sounders are shooting themselves in the foot. I think it's fine to feel like they are and to want them to fight through challenges a little bit more, ride challenges a little bit more.
00:29:05
Speaker
Um, but I do, I don't think it's, it's been detrimental to them in any way. So I have two specific thoughts on this. Uh, the first is I do think there is a, I feel like Nico is getting fewer calls than he used to. And I think that might be because he does have a reputation for.
00:29:32
Speaker
sort of like using drawing fouls as a way of sort of controlling the tempo of a game. Right. And that's a skill like that's a legitimate skill that he shouldn't be penalized for. But maybe he sometimes goes down a little too easily. And I think that's something that
00:29:47
Speaker
refs have been more keen to be watching. So I think there might be some truth there to Nico specifically. But my suspicion is the play this person is thinking of about going down too easily is a play where Leo Chu looked like he was like coming down the wing and the right back sort of cut him off.
00:30:13
Speaker
And he went down and, and no foul was called. And on that one, I think it's exactly what you were saying, which is he didn't think he had an advantage by like, he didn't think he was going to win the ball. And so he went, he went down. Uh, cause I, I watched that, like, I remember live thinking like, Oh, you got to call that foul. And then when I rewatched the game.
00:30:38
Speaker
I was like, Oh, I don't think he was going to get there. And now I kind of see what, I kind of see what happened a little more easily. And so I think the, I think him going down was simply an attempt to like win a ball that he wouldn't as he wasn't going to win. Yeah. I think, and there's, I think there, there is a mindset that just really doesn't like players doing that. And, and I'm not saying.
00:31:02
Speaker
You know, this is you. But I've never really understood it because you've got to you got to do what you got to do to there's a difference between I got fouled and I don't really feel like I should have to ignore that out of like some sense of duty or honor. There's a difference between that and making up a foul to try to win a penalty or whatever. And I think the two get conflated a lot. And I think if you get fouled and you think it's beneficial to fall over, you should fall over.
00:31:33
Speaker
Yeah. No, I don't have much. I don't have much. Yeah. I think I basically agree with that. All right. This one's from Paul. Oh, I guess. Oh yeah. Uh, this was from Paul tastic 1977. Okay. I'm starting to think that this team needs to have Jordan Morris be our MVP caliber talisman. If we're going to have a championship season, am I wrong? Can he get 30 goals in assists? Uh, I mean,
00:32:02
Speaker
If Jordan Morris has an MVP caliber season, I think the Sounders are championship contenders. If Jordan Morris scores, has 30 goals in assist combined. I think he's an MVP caliber player. Yes. I don't think that he has to do that to have an MVP caliber season. And I don't think that he has to have an MVP caliber season for the Sounders to be championship contenders. I think he can be very good. I think he has to have a good year. I mean, I think he has to get to 10 goals or so.
00:32:32
Speaker
You know, what have you, but, uh, at thirties, that's a lot. That's a lot of goals and assists. It's more than I think anyone except for maybe Oba may have had a 1713 year if I remember correctly, but that would be, that would be a very, very good season.
00:32:53
Speaker
And yeah, I think if he does that, he's going to probably be an MVP contender and the Sounders are going to be a championship contender. But I agree with you. I don't think their hopes are entirely dependent on
00:33:09
Speaker
uh on him doing that yeah i do think though that he has to continue being a threat in the ways he's been a threat so far for them to fulfill their potential because he has a completely different dynamic than any of the other attacking players
00:33:25
Speaker
Yes, yes, absolutely. And I'll add if he plays the way he has for the first four games, he's going to be an MVP contender for sure. Yeah. Even if he doesn't have the 30 goal in a system, right? Right.
Jordan Morris as MVP Contender
00:33:38
Speaker
He's still going to put up numbers.
00:33:40
Speaker
All right, last question from third string star. Is the exit of Peter Tomazawa just bad timing or was Garth on the way out either way? Garth in interviews seemed to be happy here saying he had found his people. Perhaps it was just flattery on the way out. Perhaps it was a natural endpoint in Harriet years. Thoughts? I think like I'll answer the last part of this. I think he
00:34:03
Speaker
was genuinely happy to be here from a personal standpoint. I think professionally he felt pretty stuck. I think he wanted more. He wanted more than what the sounders were offering. I don't think Peter Tomizawa was the person standing in his way from having more. And I think that was more of a structural
00:34:28
Speaker
thing that Adrian Hanauer just believes the business and sporting sides need to be kept separate and that this new guy, Hugh Weber, that they brought in to replace Peter Tomizawa would have been brought in if Garth was here or not. So I think those are kind of unrelated elements.
00:34:54
Speaker
And I also think that on some level, it was a natural endpoint for Garth. He had done what he was going to do here, and he made it really clear he wanted a different challenge. What he wanted was the challenge of running, essentially overseeing both sides of things. And I don't know. I am curious to...
00:35:17
Speaker
find out how much he's involved in on the sporting side. I know he's setting some sort of broad directions, but I don't think he's out there signing players. I don't think he's making trades. I don't think he's setting budgets.
00:35:34
Speaker
I think he's charting a path, but I don't think he's making the decisions and I think that's kind of how he's looking for it to be. I think there's a very real possibility that this works out best for everyone involved. I'm really curious to see some of the things that Hugh Weber has cooked up.
00:35:58
Speaker
really, really qualified for the job, maybe overqualified for the job. And it's going to be interesting to see how he interprets it and if he's actually able to affect change that I know the sounders sort of want to see happen. And I hope it's good. I hope he's able to sort of just level up the sounders and do it in a way that feels
00:36:21
Speaker
true to who they've been for the last 15 years. And I think Craig Weibull's a really qualified supporting director, GM type. He's not necessarily the big vision guy that Garth is, but I think he's in some ways better suited for just being the GM.
00:36:41
Speaker
Garth, I mean, Garth implemented the vision, right? Right. Yeah. You don't need to keep your architect on as your building manager or whatever after he's built the building, right? Right. And I would have loved for Garth to stay, but we talked about this when he left. I think that the time, like if he was going to leave, this was the least damaging time for him to do it. Yeah. Craig Weible, you know, I think is extremely competent. I think he's going to do a great job.
00:37:11
Speaker
And, you know, I mean, I love my job. I think my employers are great. I love where I work. I love the people I work with. I'm not interested in looking for a new job. But if somebody came to me and said, Hey, what kind of job do you want? I'll give it to you. I'll pay you a lot more money. You just got to come work for me. I would probably do it. I mean, and that's basically what Atlanta did. They said, we want you here.
00:37:38
Speaker
And we will give you a lot of money to come and we will kind of, we'll give you the job that you've said you want, that will tempt you to leave. And, you know, I don't think anybody can blame him for it. And it would have been a lot more frustrating if he had left before the Sounders won a Champions League. Yeah, but no, it would have felt like if he left before it, like with sort of like.
00:38:02
Speaker
boxes unchecked. And aside from him sort of like retiring here, this was, this is when it makes sense for him to leave. Uh, and, you know, hopefully, you know, like who knows how it's going to work out, but
00:38:18
Speaker
I feel reasonably good about the people that are in place. And if nothing else, I think he was, in part because he was getting ready to leave, I think he was also able to be
Garth Lagerwey's Departure and Feedback
00:38:37
Speaker
Like give some raw feedback that hopefully suit serves the sounders walls too, because he was not someone who was keeping his feelings in check. Like he wasn't keeping it. Anything that he was frustrated by wasn't stuff that he was keeping to himself. And so hopefully that helps make the next guy's job better. So, you know, we'll see, but, um, it was fun having him while he was here.
00:39:04
Speaker
It was, it was. Garth is, uh, I have a lot of respect for Garth and, uh, you know, I, I don't want, I'm not going to say that I wish him well in Atlanta, but I, I, I guess I will. I do. Yeah. If he can succeed without it, uh, annoying me, that would be ideal. I think. Yeah, exactly. Well, um, on that note, uh, I think that's it. That's all our questions. So.
00:39:31
Speaker
Thanks for doing this again with us, everyone. Thanks to our sponsors, Fullpole Wines and Watson's Counter. I'll give a quick plug. I guess Watson's Counter is getting ready to make their big move. My understanding is they have canned cold brew that is still available at their location in Ballard.
00:39:53
Speaker
I've been meaning to get out there and try it, but I haven't made it out there myself, so I can't quite plug it. But if it's anything like what else they do, I suspect it's pretty good. So I'll end with that little plug. Otherwise, I'm Jeremiah Shan signing off for Aaron Campo and Lick It. This is No Study Yet This. Remember, you'll never get alone.
00:40:19
Speaker
Green Douglas, where were the waters cut through? Down to wild mountains and tangents you flew Canadian northwest to the ocean so blue It's Roll On, Columbia Roll On Roll On, Columbia Roll On Roll On, Columbia Roll On Your power is turning our darkness to dawn Roll On, Columbia Roll On
00:40:50
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!