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Nos Audietis, Episode 258: Winning, but Der-losing
62 Plays8 years ago
It's been a pretty good couple months for the Seattle Sounders. They're riding a seven-game unbeaten run and have won 4 of 5. They're within spitting distance of the top spot in the West and they're as healthy as they've been all year.
Yet, there's a bit of a dark cloud over them in the form of a un-maximized (not sure if that's a word) roster spot. After what was apparently a several-month process of back and forth, the Sounders ultimately failed to sign Derlis Gonzalez. Sure, they were able to get TAM players Kelvin Leerdam and Victor Rodriguez, as well as bring back Lamar Neagle, but those players just lacked that fresh DP smell.
Jeremiah and Aaron discuss all of these things, plus take your questions.
This week's music: "Star Blazers Theme", Perry Como - "Seattle", RVIVR - “The Tide”, Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia"
Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you're looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Nos Adietes is sponsored by Designers Marble. Designers Marble is the premier custom cultured marble manufacturer in the Pacific Northwest. Their synthetic marble products, made with patented true stone technology, offer the beautiful look of natural stone at a fraction of the cost, while maintaining exceptional durability and ease of maintenance.
00:00:23
Speaker
Their products have been used in beautiful furniture, custom countertops, and stunning shower enclosures.
Guest Introduction: Seattle Sounders Players
00:00:29
Speaker
Designers' Marble is also a licensed general contractor that has over 30 years of experience in bathroom design and remodels. Give them a call, visit their website at designersmarble.com, or stop by their showroom in Woodinville. They would love to give you a free estimate for your project, large or small.
00:00:48
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.
00:01:13
Speaker
The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle And the hills the greenest green in Seattle
00:01:29
Speaker
Welcome back to another edition of NOS Adietes, sponsored by Fullpool Wines, Queen Anne Acupuncture, Verdi Credit Union, Designers Marble, and our broadcast partner Bootstrapper Studios.
Episode Overview and Hosts
00:01:38
Speaker
This is episode 258, and we're recording on Wednesday, August 9, 2017. I am your host, Jeremiah Shannon, and I'm joined by my co-host, Aaron Campo, and our producer, Likit.
Sounders' Transfer Window Results
00:01:47
Speaker
By the time you're hearing this, the summer transfer window will be closed. Barring some sort of miracle, the Sounders will not have signed three players during the window, but none of them named Derlys Gonzalez. Instead, they'll have signed Kelvin Lierdom, Victor Rodriguez, and most surprisingly, Lamar Nagel.
00:02:05
Speaker
We'll talk about all of that a bit later though.
Sounders' Unbeaten Streak
00:02:08
Speaker
For now, we'll focus on the results on the field, which have been pretty darn good. The Sounders are now writing a 7 game unbeaten streak, most recently beating Minnesota-United 4-0 on the road. This has allowed the Sounders to move into a 4-way tie for 2nd place and just 3 points out of the top spot in the West. So Aaron, this feels like not such a bad place to be, especially given the way the season started, but even...
00:02:30
Speaker
taking that out of context I mean out of the out of it this is right where I think we would have liked the centers to be at this point yeah I mean I think that you know if you if somebody had said hey you know with 12 games to go you're gonna be three points out of first place and you're gonna be playing all the teams that are ahead of you on some you know in some occasions on multiple occasions you would definitely take that it was a weird
00:02:55
Speaker
seven of 11 yeah and that's huge and you know it was a weird way to get here but i mean i think really that because the start was so underwhelming that
00:03:11
Speaker
the immediate start that the actual start to the season over the first, let's just say the first half, was really kind of blown out of proportion in terms of how bad it was. And then there was probably a little lingering reminders of last season that played and did that as well.
00:03:29
Speaker
And I think that those two results on the road, or the three results on the road, where they got smoked by Chicago, by Kansas City, and by Columbus, also probably colored the way that people perceived season, even though they weren't all in succession.
00:03:45
Speaker
For sure, and I think also that to be fair, part of the reason that those losses were so upsetting to a lot of folks is that you can blame them in large part on some things that people were concerned about coming into the season in terms of depth at specific positions. I don't think it was unrealistic for people to be pretty pissed off about the way the season started.
00:04:06
Speaker
Really, I mean, it's not like as good as this run has been it's been really good The Sounders have been a pretty good team for I would say two-thirds of the season so far And you know, they're just really kicking it in into another gear They've definitely played teams that aren't great But you you know you beat who you're you played in front of you and the strength the strength the schedule that they faced over the the first You know chunk of the season was actually really difficult and and it's something I've kind of wanted to look at and just haven't really
00:04:37
Speaker
wanted to put in the effort, I guess, to be to be transparent. But I mean, I think that realistically, the points per game that the Sounders put up against the teams they faced, you know, over the course of the early season is probably not that far off from, you know, what you would expect against those teams. I think that the fact that they just had such a front loaded schedule made things seem a lot worse than they were
00:05:04
Speaker
Um, and you know, if you can hang tight, I guess, with those teams and kind of grind things out and then beat the crap out of, out of bad teams, which they've done, you know, pretty regularly over the past month or two, um, you got to feel pretty good about that. And, and there are definitely still some concerns and, and I think everybody would have loved to, you know, have brought on another designated player, but right now looking at the way the rest of the conference is going, looking at the schedule that they have ahead of them. Um, I think that.
00:05:33
Speaker
you can really make a pretty compelling case if the Sounders are the favorite to finish first in the
Team Performance Analysis
00:05:38
Speaker
Western Conference. And I don't think that there's any way that you can downplay that and say that that's not a good enough season, a good enough regular season. I would love to be competing for this Porter Shield, but Toronto FC right now is, they're having what could end up being a historic season and it's going to be difficult to keep pace with a team like that.
00:05:59
Speaker
Yeah, I'm pretty happy. I mean it could all fall apart down the stretch But I think that there's a lot more reason to think that they're gonna be able to sustain something close to this level of play Rather than they're gonna you know come crashing back to earth
00:06:14
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, to kind of piggyback on what you said, if you break the season into three parts, we're getting ready to enter into what is effectively the final third of the season. And you look at first 11 games, Sounders only won two of their first 11. That's obviously pretty bad. It colors, I think, a lot of the perceptions of maybe the season as a whole to now. But then in their last 12, they've gone seven, two, and three. And there's not really any way around it. Seven, two, and three is a really nice run
00:06:42
Speaker
Um, it might be, I don't, you know, I don't have the, all the numbers right in front of me, but it's, it's, it's right up there with the best in the league. If it's not literally the best in the league. And, and yeah, like you said, this is a team that's, that's peaking at the right time.
00:06:57
Speaker
You know, it wouldn't be totally unprecedented, I suppose, if it were to kind of fall out from under him. But I don't see that happening. This team seems to be getting better. It seems to be getting healthier. All the pieces seem to be kind of falling into place. I was a little surprised. I went back and looked at all the times the Sounders have had a seven game unbeaten streak.
00:07:16
Speaker
And I think this is the fifth time that the Senators have had an unbeaten streak of at least seven games. They've had two that were longer. One was eight games, one was nine games. And one of their best runs actually was in 2013, curiously enough, right before the season collapsed. They actually were like 8-1-3 or something like that.
00:07:37
Speaker
which almost all came right after Dempsey was added pretty early in that stretch. And then a lot of things happened that year that I don't think are remotely likely to happen again.
00:07:52
Speaker
So I don't want to bring up old ghosts, and I think that we've exercised most of those ghosts now. But this is a really good run.
Player Impact on Defense
00:08:00
Speaker
And like you said, you can only beat the teams that are in front of you. And I think the centers have gotten, you look at this current seven-game run, and I would say they've come pretty darn close to maximizing their opportunities. The only result in those seven, where I think you could reasonably say they should have done better, was the tie to Orlando, where they were the better team, and then they gave up the equalizing goal in the final play.
00:08:22
Speaker
You can certainly complain about how they played against DC United where they fell behind 3-0, but that ends up being, you know, in some ways it seems like it was the catalyst to what really drove them on this current little 5-game run where they're 4-0 and 1.
00:08:37
Speaker
And, you know, they thumped San Jose, they thumped Minnesota, who actually had been a pretty good home team. I think they were only minus one in goal difference before the Sounders played them. They beat Colorado, a team that was actually like plus five at home in goal difference. And I thought something else that was kind of interesting between Colorado and Minnesota.
00:08:58
Speaker
You know two games that you're inclined to maybe say oh, well, that's not that great. Those aren't great results Those two teams were twelve eight and four I believe in there at home before the Sounders played them or discounting the Sounders game So it's it's not like and then that tie gets the port against the timbers Which was obviously on the road and with ten men for a half I mean there's there's some results in this in this mix that I think people are being a little too quick to discount and
00:09:25
Speaker
I'm really happy with where they are right now, especially when you look at this roster.
00:09:31
Speaker
Again, we'll probably get into the roster a little bit in more depth later on in the show, but if you just take a wide-angle view of it, in two weeks, there'll probably be a barring any more injuries, but it looks like Osvato Alonzo is getting close to returning. Victor Rodriguez probably won't be able to start this weekend, but he'll likely be in a position to potentially start the following week against Minnesota.
00:09:56
Speaker
You look at that and all of a sudden you've got guys potentially like Gustav Svensson, Will Bruin, Brad Evans, Aaron Kovar. All these guys are going to be guys that are coming off the bench. Lamar Nagel, another one who like is almost certainly going to be coming off the bench. I mean these are some some of those guys might be struggling to make the 18. That's a great that's a that's an amazing amount of depth especially where you consider where the team was.
00:10:21
Speaker
A few months ago. Yeah, and this is something I want to kind of circle back on when we when we do talk and more in depth about the transfer window But you know, I think you're right I think that a lot of the struggles that we dealt with early in the season or you know It was really about seeing what we had with some of the younger players some of the the quantities that maybe weren't as much known and understood what they could bring to the table
00:10:42
Speaker
And now we're in a situation where we know what we have with those guys. We have people in positions that are going to be getting regular minutes that I think the team is really comfortable with, that the fans are really comfortable with, that they know they're going to perform well. And yeah, I mean, you have difficult positions where you could have your leading scorer from last year on the bench or your leading scorer from, well, I guess he's not the leading scorer anymore, but a guy who has been the leading scorer for most of the season in Will Bruin on the bench.
00:11:11
Speaker
It's crazy a guy like Gustav Svensson who I think you could make played every game Yeah, and you started all but one and you could make a pretty come and played
00:11:19
Speaker
80% of the minutes in that one because Torres got hurt early on. And I think you could make, you know, a case for him being like the most like the utilitarian MVP or whatever for the season. I mean, he's he's performed really, really well at multiple positions. It's it's a good place to be in. And, you know, it's like you said, earlier, everything could come crashing down, but it's gonna have to be something
00:11:45
Speaker
There's gonna be an external factor if that happens. I don't think this team is just gonna fall apart the way they did in 2013, although there were external factors.
00:11:55
Speaker
those external factors are not playing soccer professionally anymore. So I don't think we have to worry too much about that happening. But I even think if there are injuries, they're pretty well positioned to weather those unless they come like they did earlier at multiple position groups at the same time. So yeah, I mean, I think it's really exciting. And I think that to get back to the quality of opposition you face, like you said, the teams that they beat on the road that people kind of want to poo-poo,
00:12:23
Speaker
have played really well on the road, and getting six points in two road games in MLS is successful. And doing it by just crushing both of those teams is successful. And I think the fact that people were, I think, reasonably disappointed with a draw in LA, kind of puts into perspective how well this team has been playing. And I think if Curtin off of us still coaching that Galaxy team,
00:12:48
Speaker
That's not a draw in LA. I think that was a new coach bump and a competent coach bump, which is... And not just any coach. I mean, if anyone knew how to break down the Sounders, if anyone knew Brian Schmetzer's kind of mentality, it was Sigi Schmidt. And I don't think Sigi was playing all out for a win there. I think he felt like they just needed to get a result to get their feet under him.
00:13:18
Speaker
LA kind of played that way and it wasn't I don't think it was a bad result certainly on paper you could argue that the sounders were you know maybe a little wasteful and could have had some some better could have had a better result with some better finishing but yeah I don't think it's it's it's you know if you're complaining about a 0-0 tie at LA I think you're in really good shape and speaking of which the sounders are now on a 310 minute
00:13:43
Speaker
shutout streak which is I think again top five in franchise history the record is 379 minutes so it's conceivable that they could break that record this week and it's impossible to ignore the biggest
00:13:58
Speaker
part of that is Kelvin Lierdom, who has been just everything I think that you could have possibly hoped for. And what I thought was kind of interesting this week, I looked back at when Brad Evans or Kelvin Lierdom are playing right back, the sounders are somewhere in the neighborhood of 620 minutes played.
00:14:17
Speaker
And they're outscoring their opponents 15 to 3 in that time, which really, I think, underscores the importance of having ostensibly a first choice right back. And I don't think that if you look at it that seems like, oh, a right back shouldn't make that much difference. But I think in the sounder system, it's particularly important because you have a right mid in Nico Ledero who, for all his effort and for all the energy and for all the running he does, is not really a great defender.
00:14:46
Speaker
And he also kind of abandons his post with a fair amount of regularity he's cutting in. And so it's maybe not so surprising that having a competent right back makes a huge difference for the Sounders. And all of a sudden this defense is looking like a real source of strength for the Sounders.
00:15:06
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, results-based analysis and all that, but if you're going that long without allowing a goal, you're probably doing something right. The Minnesota game is interesting because the defense looked like shit for a pretty good chunk of it. Yes, they did.
00:15:22
Speaker
Which, you know, it's gonna happen occasionally. There's been a lot of criticism of Roman Torres. I think some of it's fair. I also think some of it's been pretty overblown. I don't think he's a bad cinderback by any stretch of the imagination. I think that he's...
00:15:38
Speaker
different. He plays the position differently. He's unorthodox, I guess is the word I'm looking for, and does some things that are a little scary sometimes. And you know, he does have some, some physical limitations. He's not the fastest person in the world.
00:15:53
Speaker
Look, don't tell him that. I will not, trust me. But I think that he's still performing at a level that is better than the credit he's getting for it, I think. But, you know, he had some mistakes in almost-costs against Minnesota. We probably get punished by a better team, but again, we weren't playing a better team. We weren't playing Minnesota. And I think that
00:16:18
Speaker
Things like that happen and people see that as something that's gonna be repeated and I think that realistically, that's probably something that's gonna get covered in film sessions and whatnot. I don't know, I feel pretty comfortable with him back there. I don't think it makes a whole lot of sense to switch to playing Svensson regularly or playing Evans regularly. I'm fine with some rotation, obviously. I think you almost have to do that.
00:16:46
Speaker
Um, I think the defense is still a major strength of this team. Um, and I, and I think, you know, Roman is part of that. Whether or not it always seems that way. Um, but he's had some stankers, don't get me wrong. Um, but yeah, I think that, uh, I feel pretty comfortable with him back there, you know, getting the bulk of the minutes. Um, because he has a, he has physical abilities that, that few people do, um, in this league or in any league that, you know, allow him to win a lot of physical battles that a lot of other players aren't going to win. So.
00:17:16
Speaker
You know, he brings a lot to the table still And if he can maybe just not go for it as much that would be that would be pretty good. But yeah, but yeah and and and also I think that Ozzy Alonzo covers up a lot of those things and It's been a lot more noticeable since he's been out Yeah, that's that's probably fair and it's been but speaking of Spenson he has been really impressive as Alonzo's
00:17:46
Speaker
replacement essentially. Well, I guess he's not really Alonzo's replacement. In some ways he's more Christian Roldan's replacement and Christian Roldan has been Oswaldo Alonzo's replacement. So it's been... God, I wish I had it in front of me because I looked at it last week. But the sounders are now, I guess, 3-1-1 in games that Alonzo's missed.
Svensson's Role in Unbeaten Games
00:18:09
Speaker
They had never before this year gone two games unbeaten
00:18:15
Speaker
when Alonzo's missed two consecutive. They've now gone four unbeaten without Alonzo. And essentially that's, you could kind of go to five if you don't count the, depending on how you want to count that Colorado Rapids game. But it's been, it's been very impressive having Svensson on this team. I've been, you know, like you said, he might be the MVP just for his versatility and that he's been competent at so many positions. I don't know, I still don't know where I fall. I really like Svensson as a center back. I think I've, I've,
00:18:46
Speaker
It sounds, he's been good at center back for me. I think I might prefer him to Torres, but yet there's part of me that knows it's unrealistic that he's gonna really start over Torres on a regular basis.
00:18:59
Speaker
I don't know. Yeah, I can't disagree with that. I mean, I think that I like him too. I might even like him more than Torres. I think that there are reasons that Torres is probably going to start. I think it's one of those cases, you know, it's the Brad Evans disease where Stenson's versatility kind of plays against them a little bit. And having that option to play, you know, multiple positions coming in off the bench is really attractive.
00:19:24
Speaker
If you were asking me which one, like if you had to get rid of one from the team, I'd probably keep Svensson and Pencil on the center back, but I don't think that's what's gonna end up happening. No, I, yeah, I'm kind of with you there. Well, this game on Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, right? Saturday. Yes, Saturday. Yes. Sporting Kansas City, who is, do you know what the update is on them? I know they went to Extra Time with Sam's name.
00:19:53
Speaker
112 minutes, still 1-1. Hopefully they'll be nice and tired. They used basically a first choice lineup in that game. That game was at home, so it's not a bunch of extra travel for them. But this is a huge opportunity for the Sounders to not just move into a tie for first place on points at least in the Western Conference, but to hand KC a loss and show that they can play with a top
00:20:22
Speaker
playoff caliber team. So I think this is an exciting opportunity. I don't know, do you have any kind of sense? I guess Vermee is hard to predict. He doesn't tend to lay down in games. But I suppose this might be a game where he's willing to take a hit given their overall playoff position. And I guess maybe it makes sense that they would go for the open cup rather than a 24th game of the season in the MLS.
00:20:55
Speaker
Yeah, I mean they started pretty much their regular full strength lineup in the game tonight and I think they've used
00:21:02
Speaker
I think they used one sub in regular time and two subs, you know, even through, uh, through 113 minutes. So, um, so he definitely, you know, uh, went for it in the open cup. It's going to be a tough game no matter what. I mean, they could play, uh, you know, Swope Park Rangers. And as long as Ramese is coaching them, it's going to be a tough game. Um, just because they're going to, you know, they're going to kick mumps out of you and, um, it's going to be unpleasant, but.
Upcoming Game Preview
00:21:30
Speaker
You know, I think that it's really fortunate timing for the Sounders, and considering how much shit they've had to put up with in terms of unfortunate timing of key games over the course of the season, and even going back to last season, I feel totally fine with that. Yeah, I'm not really feeling too sorry for... Yeah, yeah, and I mean, it's, you know, the Western Conference is insanely tight right now, and if, you know,
00:21:56
Speaker
Vancouver is six points behind first place and they're out of the playoffs right now. So every point matters and especially against the teams that you would think are gonna be there till the end. I think Sporting KC is probably gonna fade quite a bit, but FC Dallas is the only other team really that I see making a big run aside from the Sounders. So if you can get three points in that game and get level with them, that's huge.
00:22:22
Speaker
Um, put you in a really good position. Uh, and you know, the flip side of that is that if you only get a point out of that game or if you, you know, haven't forbid lose that game, then maybe some of those concerns about the, the quality of the talent, the sounders were putting up gaudy numbers against, um, becomes a little more real. Uh, or, you know, if Vancouver wins a game, then.
00:22:43
Speaker
you're right there on the edge of the playoffs once again. It's a huge game and we're getting into the time of the season where games are huge for more than just their symbolic reasons. It's getting down to the wire. The points are actually that important. Yeah, it's definitely getting down to the wire.
00:23:03
Speaker
Given the fact that Casey has run themselves to death tonight, the Sounders are going to be relatively close to full strength. This is a game you've got to go for and go for early. We saw that against Minnesota and it was a little scary at times, but in the end I think it paid off and probably gave our attacking players some confidence.
00:23:22
Speaker
I think a fast start is going to be really important because the longer you have to deal with, you know, KCV and KC, the tougher that game is going to get. Absolutely. Well, that's a good place to call this a segment. We're going to come back and we're going to do a whole look at the transfer window and kind of the personnel that situation that the sounders are facing now. We'll end up with questions from you guys. You're listening to NOS Adietes.
00:23:52
Speaker
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00:24:19
Speaker
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00:24:41
Speaker
Welcome back to NOS Adiatus. So barring some kind of huge shocking end to the transfer window, the sounders are not going to make another big move after a recording. As of recording this, they have signed three players during this window, Kelvin Lierdom, Victor Rodriguez, and
00:25:03
Speaker
is Victor Rodriguez, right? I always get that messed up. Victor Rodriguez and Lamar Nagel who was a total surprise edition. I don't think he is a big edition from a playing field perspective. I went on and on and on and on on Twitter and other places about how I don't think
00:25:20
Speaker
Lamar Nagel's edition was a factor in one way or another to the Dirl East Gonzales pursuit. But he's here and he's a veteran and he's got a pretty good goal scoring record. He's actually got a really impressive
00:25:35
Speaker
goals and assist record. I was a little shocked when I looked at this. He averages basically a goal or assist every other game, every 90 minutes I should say, which is kind of an astounding figure when you think about it.
00:25:51
Speaker
because he is a weird player he is i mean because i don't think like if you look at the list of players i don't have the list in front of me but i would imagine that if you look at the list of players who have averaged a goal or assist over 10 000 he's got like almost 12 000 minutes in mls i can't imagine that i would imagine lamar naigle's name is gonna kind of
00:26:09
Speaker
One of these players doesn't seem like the others. He's got a great goal scoring record. He hasn't had a good year this year, but he had a great year last year. He didn't have a great year in 2015, but he had a really great year in 2014. Maybe we're downplaying this move too much. Maybe we'll start there.
00:26:31
Speaker
He was the most recent addition. What do you think of this Lemar Nagel acquisition? We gave up functionally nothing and I think that everybody's going into it with a pretty clear head. I don't think Lemar is necessarily coming in here with the expectation that he's guaranteed anything, but I think that he, you know... Definitely, I must... I gotta tell you, it sounded like a player who was very well aware of the possibility that he wasn't gonna play a lot.
00:26:59
Speaker
Right. But I also think he's going to get a reasonable shot. I think he's exactly what you want out of a player that's going to be competing for the last spot on the bench on the game day roster. He has things in his skill set that other players don't. He's a good defensive sub as a forward. He can press really well. He can disrupt flow.
00:27:24
Speaker
He's versatile, you know, he can play on either wing, he can play as a forward. I think that if you want the biggest plus now, you know, especially if Jordan Morris and Will Bruin are both going to be starting, you have a fourth forward that you can play, which is, I think, a pretty important thing.
00:27:43
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I don't think we should expect it to be a signing that makes much of an impact. And I don't think that, you know, I think the odds of him having a huge impact on the way things turn out for the season are
00:27:59
Speaker
are pretty low, but I think there's some upside potential. I think he's coming into it, you know, understanding what his role is likely to be. And again, we gave up nothing for him. You just have to keep reminding yourself that he's literally it would have been
00:28:16
Speaker
this spot on the roster goes unused, or you can have Lamar or Navel. That was essentially the cost. And he doesn't count against the salary cap, as I understand it. Yeah, that's how I understand it, too, that DC is picking up most, if not all, of his salary cap hit. Right. So there's literally no downside to it. And I think that if someone could make a compelling argument that he's almost certainly going to be taking away minutes from Aaron Kovar or Henry Wingo,
00:28:46
Speaker
And not performing at that level then, you know, maybe maybe I could see some downside to it But I just I don't think that's the case I think that you know if if Lamar Nagel is taking away minutes from Aaron Kovar it's gonna be because Lamar Nagel gives the Sounders a much better chance to win games than Kovar and they're comfortable making that trade-off and if Aaron Kovar can't
00:29:09
Speaker
you know, make the case for himself at this point in his career. That maybe doesn't say the greatest things about Aaron Kovar. So, you know, it's important sometimes to push on your players in that way too and say, we're not going to give you minutes just because you, you know, we want you to want you to develop. So I don't know. It just, it seems like a weird one to get upset about. I'll just, I guess I'll leave it at that.
00:29:35
Speaker
Yeah, so there was a couple funny little anecdotes. First of all, from a personal standpoint, I'm really excited. I like Lamar. I think everyone who's probably ever played with him likes Lamar. He is very much a local. He was born in Tacoma, raised in Federal Way.
00:29:51
Speaker
went to, you know, he was a star at Thomas Jefferson High School. He, you know, was a ball boy for the U.S.L. Sounders. He trained with the U.S.L. Sounders when he was at UNLV. He worked at Wild Waves. I mean, this is a guy who is Seattle. Like, he's from here. He's one of us, more than me, frankly.
00:30:12
Speaker
And it's great to have players like that. It's great that he seemed very happy to be back as kind of an anecdote of what this meant. His wife and child were basically on vacation in Seattle already when he got that call that he was getting traded. I can only imagine how surreal that must have been for her to be like, oh, you can just stay there, honey, because that's where we live for now.
00:30:37
Speaker
But yeah, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if somewhere down the road he scores a big goal for the Sounders and we start getting really excited that we made that move.
Victor Rodriguez Signing
00:30:46
Speaker
But I think it's not going, it's not speaking out of turn at all to say that it's probably going to be the least impactful of the three moves that the Sounders made. You know, we've already talked a little bit about Kelvin Lierdom.
00:30:58
Speaker
He's been great. He's kind of locked down the right side for the Sounders. But Victor Rodriguez is a player who I didn't know a lot about. I'd never heard of before we got linked to him. You look at his resume and it doesn't really jump off the page. He's been relegated each of the last three seasons from La Liga. But one of those teams was LJ, which actually finished 13th in the table and they were relegated for financial reasons. But the last two years, he's been on pretty bad teams.
00:31:27
Speaker
So that doesn't really jump out at you, but then when you hear a player, you hear Chris Henderson talk about him, you hear, you know, Garth Loggerway talk about him, you see him on the ball, you see highlights of him, he's a, he's a tidy little player. And I think he's probably going to prove to be an upgrade at the left mid situation for the Sounders. And at the very least, he provides a quality, you know, another bit of quality off the bench late in games.
00:31:52
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like, uh, I don't know that he was necessarily a Doris Gonzalez contingency plan. I think he was somebody that was brought in on his own merits, but it does soften the blow a little bit that, you know, okay, a guy who may be in a perfect world that was going to be attacking depth can offer you a pretty solid upgrade at the left midfield position. Um, you know, I think that he's going to be better than Harry ship. I think he's going to be better than Flacco Fernandez. I think he's going to be better than, um,
00:32:21
Speaker
Playing Jordan Morris there. I don't you know, maybe he's not gonna Be a huge upgrade over what Jordan Morris can bring but I mean as we've talked about before I'm I think Jordan Morris should ideally be playing up top so You know for a fallback plan, it's it's not too bad Especially considering that you still got that DP slot open in the future. It's a tam contract. So
00:32:45
Speaker
You're not limiting yourself there. I think there's a lot to like about it. The upside is definitely not going to be as exciting, but he can have a huge impact.
00:32:59
Speaker
look at how important Ramon Torres was down the stretch last year as a tan player. Ozzie Alonzo was a tan player, and I would imagine that Rodriguez is in a similar sort of zone contract-wise, probably like a midpoint between those two. Those are important players. They can have major impacts on a team's fortunes. And this winter, or maybe even next summer when they do sign,
00:33:26
Speaker
I would assume a winger with that open DP spot that they have, then you've got, you know, a really, really good attacking bench player. So I think it's the perfect sort of safe signing for a transfer window like this. And that's why I like to move so much at the time and why I think it does kind of soften the blow of missing out on Gonzalez. Yeah.
00:33:50
Speaker
I think that one of the things that I like, I think that made me feel a lot better about this move, was finding out that Chris Henderson had basically been watching him for two seasons. And that was very familiar. This is not a player that, you know, the Sounders were basically presented with and said, hey, if you guys don't have, you guys want this La Liga guy? This was a player the Sounders knew a lot about, that they had watched, that they were familiar with.
00:34:12
Speaker
And, you know, I think it has a lot of potential. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I was disappointed that they weren't able to close the deal on Dearly's Gonzalez.
Transfer Deal Challenges
00:34:25
Speaker
Honestly, I was pretty confident up until a few days ago that they were going to get a deal done. Even talking to some people in the organization recently, I thought that there was a pretty good chance that a deal was going to get done, but it didn't
00:34:37
Speaker
And from the sound of it, DynamoKiv kind of just stopped taking the sounders calls. The way I kind of understand this whole situation was the sounders thought they had a deal in place. They had kind of talked personal terms with Gonzales. And they thought they had agreed to a transfer fee. I don't know the amount. I think the number I heard thrown around was $6 million.
00:35:01
Speaker
and then at some point along the line Dynamo Kiev just decided that they weren't gonna sell and That I I don't know all went into it But my suspicion is that somebody decided that they needed to recoup the money they they paid NFC Basel for which I think was like 9.4 million euro, which Apparently it was quite the overpay, but you're playing for a 21 year old that had a pretty good resume He's now 23 and he hasn't really improved his resume a ton so
00:35:29
Speaker
it stands to reason that his price has fallen a little bit. And I don't know, maybe Kiev is thinking that someone's going to swoop in from Europe before the window closes there. That doesn't seem likely, especially since the Sounders, by all accounts, had the best offer on the table.
00:35:46
Speaker
But who knows, and who knows, maybe Gonzales ends up back with the sounders in January. I thought that was probably the biggest takeaway from the conversation that we had with Legway at practice today, was that the sounders basically didn't feel like
00:36:03
Speaker
going to their second option or their third option which they said they had plans a b c uh kind of lined up that they felt like the drop off was significant enough that they they didn't want to kind of close the books on trying to get option a uh but beyond that i think that they just didn't feel like there was a lot of reason to force it partly because
00:36:24
Speaker
they've improved their roster but also because of where they are in the table there's no reason for them to be panicking there's no reason for them to to make a signing that could potentially upset the the kind of flow in the locker room you know you add a little more Nagel and he fits in effortlessly you add a you know some random European and I don't mean to kind of
00:36:45
Speaker
suggest that the sounders were just going to sign someone for signing someone, but if they didn't feel like that the plans B and C were clear and obvious upgrades over what they had and weren't necessarily going to fit into the locker room seamlessly, it probably makes sense to hold your powder, so to speak.
00:37:06
Speaker
I guess what I'm saying is I'm disappointed that they weren't able to get this deal done, but I don't think I'm disappointed that they just weren't able to get a deal done for a designated player.
00:37:19
Speaker
Yeah, I think that that's, I think that that's a good way to put it. I mean, and I think, look, I think it's reasonable to be disappointed that they didn't get a deal done. I don't necessarily feel that way. And really, the more I think about it, the more, you know, I kind of reside in your camp. But I think, I mean, for me, Durlis comes always as a player that I have kind of dreamed about being a sounder for a little over a year now, you know, way before there were rumors.
00:37:50
Speaker
And so this one hurt a lot when it fell apart because he's exactly the kind of player that I think signifies, you know, a big step for MLS. He's in that Al Maroun category, that the Alba category of like these are young pre-prime players with interest, you know, from big European leagues that are coming to MLS and that's a big deal.
Comparing Transfer Windows
00:38:14
Speaker
So it hurts and it sucks that they weren't able to get it done. And apparently, Dynamo Kiev is kind of notorious for dicking people around in transfer negotiations. I read a story today about a winger that Everton has been trying to sign for like two years.
00:38:34
Speaker
And they've had the same kind of thing, I guess, on multiple occasions where they thought they had a deal in place and then, you know, they called the follow-up on it and the offer was like $5 million higher or whatever than it was before. So apparently this is not really new to them. And they ended up selling that guy to Stoke, which, you know, hey, maybe that's why they decided they wanted to keep deerless Gonzales, so who knows.
00:38:55
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's just it sucks to miss out on them. And I think that, you know, if you want to feel like, OK, this is to transfer windows without a designated player spot that we knew we were going to have for, you know, about a year now, I think it's fair to say. And that's a failing.
00:39:14
Speaker
I don't necessarily agree with that, but I think it's a reasonable and defensible position to have. When it kind of goes beyond that of like, I think they failed in this aspect to, you know, this is a black mark against the front office and we're not going to fill this designated player spot until next year and that until next summer. And that means we're going to start slowly again. And this team, you know, is pissing on its supporters and wasting half the season.
00:39:40
Speaker
That's where it moves from, okay, a reasonable opinion that I disagree with to our fans are pretty spoiled and to just kind of relax a little bit. And, you know, I think that this transfer window has been a huge success. I think assigning a player like Gonzalez would have put it over the top and it would have been one of the best transfer windows in the team's history. And it sucks that we didn't get them, but
00:40:06
Speaker
You know, we're still a really good team that I think is much better than we were at this time last year. And, you know, that I think is maybe not a favorite to win the MLS Cup, but is definitely in the conversation. And that's not a terrible place to be, especially, again, considering that this is really the second year of a pretty thorough retooling of the roster and the organizational philosophy.
00:40:30
Speaker
Yeah, and I think if you look at the best transfer windows in Sounders history, at least the best summer windows, I think you probably look at 2015, that was the busiest transfer window they've had. And that was the year they signed Eric Freberg, they signed Nelson Valdez, they signed Andres Evangets, and they signed Roman Torres. And at the time, I think we were pretty thrilled with that collection of players. And I think that it played out probably about as well as it could have, you know, those
00:40:57
Speaker
All four of those players actually featured in the MLS Cup winning game. They were important players on the MLS Cup winning team. That's clearly positive, but if you look at them all individually, they were all over 30, or except for Roman Torres, who I think was 29. But they were all kind of getting... You look back at 2015, or yeah, 2015, which is probably considered the best summer window in Sanders history.
00:41:28
Speaker
Yeah, that was when the Center signed Roman Tor- well, going from the beginning, Eric Freiburg, Nelson Valdez, Andrei Savancic, and Roman Torres, and I think we could all agree that that's probably the best summer window that the centers have ever had.
00:41:40
Speaker
And to the degree that it played out about as well, I think you could play it out. You know, those four players all featured in the MLS Cup winning team in 2016. They were all playing in the final. But they also had limitations. And two years later, three of those four players were off the team because they were mostly older players. Eric Freiburg was over 30.
00:42:03
Speaker
Andres Savonchitz was over 30, Nelson Valdez was over 30, I believe, Roman Torres was 29 at the time the sounders first signed him, maybe he was 28, but there was clearly a short-term fix that they were going for, and I think it worked as a short-term fix, but in some ways I think this window, even though
00:42:23
Speaker
they signed I don't think any of those three players were as high profile or expected to kind of bring the added kind of bump that the Sounders are gonna that they needed to get from that 2015 team I think in some ways this might be a better window I think you know in terms of them getting specific needs that they needed filled and
00:42:44
Speaker
You know, I think dirlies would have put that way over the top. It would have made that clearly the best window. But this was, I'm having a hard time feeling too disappointed. Like I said, it always is disappointing to leave assets unused and they clearly could have brought in a designated player.
00:43:03
Speaker
And it's frustrating that they didn't get that designated player. But I also am glad that the kind of designated player they're going after is the kind of designated player that's kind of tough to get. You know, it's not that hard to figure to convince the Nelson Valdez's of the world to sign a contract and to convince their teams to let them go, especially since they didn't require a transfer fee. But when you're talking about six million, eight million dollar transfer fees, things can get complicated. And and I want I want to keep I want to see the centers continuing to go after guys like this. I want them to go after
00:43:33
Speaker
you know, what was his name, Hiroshi Kaitodake. I want to see them go after guys that are going to, you know, that have options essentially. So in that way, I guess I'm not totally disappointed and hopefully in January they'll actually get one of these guys signed.
00:43:55
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think that that's fair. And I also think, too, that it's a lot easier to narrow the focus on this designated player spot at this period in time than it is at others. They've got a year of Clint Dempsey left. They've got Nico Ledero, who is a tremendous player.
00:44:16
Speaker
They have all three DP spots filled, they can save a little bit of TAM this way. This isn't a situation they were in last year where they needed a transformative player to even have a chance of making the playoffs. And they're really lucky to get one who filled that nation as also a player that they can build around and count on being around for a while.
00:44:38
Speaker
you know maybe if there's a lesson they could have learned if there's a mistake that they made is that when you're dealing with transfers that are in this sort of strata of transfers on the global market that you do need to maybe move negotiations on plan B or C down the road a little farther or you know target more players, expand your scouting network, maybe they need to hire more than you know than what they have now in the department things like that but again I think it's mostly just kind of unfortunate luck and I think that
00:45:09
Speaker
I think that there's this tendency, especially with stuff like this, to put it into a binary category of, you know, they didn't get a player so it's bad. If they had gotten a player but it was a wrong player, that would have been bad. And to me, it's just like,
00:45:26
Speaker
It wasn't the best possible outcome, but there are a ton of outcomes that were a lot worse, and maybe they didn't make every single decision correctly along the way throughout the process, but when it came down to it, they made the right decision with, you know, based on the information that they had, based on the circumstances, and I feel like listening to Garth explain his thought process, explain his reasoning, it makes me pretty confident that, you know,
00:45:53
Speaker
that they took the right approach, given the way the situation unfolded, and that a lot of this was at their control. So again, I get being disappointed, but I'm with you. I mean, I want them to be aggressive. I want them to go after players of this caliber and go after big transfers and make reasonable contingency plans, but also make the right decisions going forward.
Long-term Transfer Strategy
00:46:16
Speaker
And that's the most important thing is just the process that they have
00:46:19
Speaker
you know, with these negotiations and with the players they're targeting, rather than splashing the cash or whatever it is people want them to do. Right. Well, that's a good place to probably call this a segment. We're gonna come back, we're gonna take your questions, you're listening to most of this.
00:46:40
Speaker
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00:48:08
Speaker
All right, here we go. A Coen 206S with the roster pretty much locked in. Our goose and Bruin, the odd men out with everyone available. I think that they're probably the odd men out as far as the starting lineup goes. At least in the short term. I was actually talking to someone about this today. My suspicion is that in two weeks, those will be the two guys that are on the bench. But...
00:48:33
Speaker
I think that could change and I think that they're probably both going to get their share of starts. And I don't think that, you know, Jordan Morris has the starting forward spot locked down either. Like I think right now I think he's going to get the benefit of the doubt. But if he goes, you know, if he has a few weeks where he's not playing well, I don't think it would be at all surprising to see Will Bruin step in. And similarly, you know, I think Raul Montares is going to get the benefit of doubt at center back. But if he starts struggling, I don't think it would be at all surprising to see Svensson get in.
00:49:02
Speaker
Yeah, and I think too that with kind of the way that MLS has changed over, you know, since the introduction of TAM and really, I think it's kind of kicked into overdrive over the last 12 months, I think we're getting to a point where it used to be that you're starting 11 when you're starting 11 because the other seven guys that were on your bench weren't very good.
00:49:23
Speaker
I think we're getting to a point where, okay, maybe you have your ideal starting 11, but the guys that are on the bench are good enough that, you know, you make tactical decisions. You put lineups out there depending on the opponent to an extent that maybe you didn't do that before. And I think that's a really positive thing. I mean, I think that's a great thing for the evolution of the league. But, you know, the Sounders are gonna have
00:49:48
Speaker
three starting quality players on their bench, I think, for most of the rest of the season when everybody's healthy. That gives them flexibility, and that's a good thing. I'm with you. I think that those two are probably the first choice right now, but they might not stay that way.
00:50:12
Speaker
There might be times where it just makes more sense to play Svensson than Torres, or Bruin than Morris or Rodriguez.
00:50:31
Speaker
I don't wish a lot of... I love Sigi. I have great memories of Sigi. I don't want LA to win games. I just don't. And I think that...
00:50:46
Speaker
I don't feel bad about that, really. I mean, I didn't wish Steve Zakawany and Tonix success in Portland for similar reasons. But it's tougher because, like, Steve Zakawany can go out and have a great season in Portland and be shitty. Ziggy can't do well in LA, you know, if he's losing games. So, sorry, man. Thanks for the memories, but I hope your team is shitty for the rest of the year. I hope that
00:51:12
Speaker
LA does better than they did under a null foe but not well enough to make the playoffs because they're gonna be in a position probably to help the Sounders more than hurt the Sounders I think I haven't looked closely at their schedule but I suspect you know like if they win if they play you know like I don't want I don't want to see LA in the playoffs but if they you know they they finish it like a point a half per game over their last 12 or whatever I'd be okay with that
00:52:01
Speaker
I'm reluctant to buy into the idea that Evans is just gonna follow Ziggy around wherever he goes. And I think we kind of, we've probably dealt with this, oh no, I guess we didn't deal with it last week or last time since we didn't know that Ziggy was there. But I don't know, I think it's gonna be a little bit more complicated than that. I think he could end up at LAFC, I think he'd be a great fit potentially for an expansion team like that.
00:52:06
Speaker
Yeah, that's fair. That's fair.
00:52:26
Speaker
Yeah, I think, too. I mean, it's not like when Siggy got the coaching job here, he called up Brad Evans and said, hey, Brad, I want you to follow me. And Brad said, you bet, Skip. I mean, the Sounders physically, not physically, but I mean, they didn't really give him much of a choice. So he wanted Brad and Brad had to come to Seattle and thank God for that. But, you know, I don't know. I mean, he did kind of talk about how he was actually kind of excited because he'd never had another coach in his pro career. And this was something new and different.
00:52:56
Speaker
I think maybe the relationship there was the extent to which they were joined at the hip was probably a massively blown out of proportion. You know, I've had a few people suggest that there's like this huge
00:53:17
Speaker
kind of reaping coming up this offseason and I don't know I haven't taken a close enough look at the roster but I feel like they got a lot got rid of most of their aging out players this last offseason like it's possible that Evans could leave there's a scenario where Dempsey could leave I suppose there's a scenario where Marshall could leave where Torres could leave
00:53:38
Speaker
Osvaldo's getting a little older. If all those things came to fruition, obviously those are big, big changes. But I just don't think that's gonna all happen in one off season. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if Evans ends up being the most consequential player that they lose this off season. So there's potential. So I don't know. Right now, today, I don't see this big, epic change coming off season.
00:54:07
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I would say that it's more likely that next offseason is less than full than last offseason. I think the Sounders are going to sign a DP in the winter. I would be pretty surprised if they didn't. I said I would be really surprised if they didn't in the summer. So, I mean, you know, my opinion's not worth a shit, but... Yeah, I know. I feel like I was with you there, too. But, you know, whatever.
00:54:33
Speaker
But yeah, so I, I don't know. I think that it could probably be pretty quiet. I think a couple of players and move on, but I think like you said, like a lot of what happened in the winter last year was about making this off season a little bit quieter. Andreas underscore Marcos asks, does ship even make the 18 anymore? If anyone, everyone else is healthy, healthy.
00:54:56
Speaker
I mean, I'm trying to think in my head. So like right now, like the bench is potentially guys like Evans, Nagel, Svensson, ship would be Kovar.
00:55:13
Speaker
I mean, yeah, I mean, I would think he's still in the mix for bench minutes, right? Although now I'm thinking, I may not even mention Keri Shipp as one of the veterans that would be competing for minutes. He's kind of messed up. I think he makes the bench because he's an attacking option in the center.
00:55:34
Speaker
And you can also slide into defensive mid. Right, yeah. I mean, he's got versatility that's attractive in a bench player. And so I think he probably, but again, I think it's one of those things where there's probably gonna be some games that he does and some games that he doesn't. Maybe some games it's better to have Kovar on the benches and more direct threat. I think it's gonna depend, but I don't think he's just gonna become a forgotten man that's playing for us too all the time.
00:56:03
Speaker
And I should say that Symmetra seems to really like ship. He seems like what he brings. So I would be a little surprised to see ship fall completely like that far off the radar. I think he meant Rodriguez. I'm guessing that's Rodriguez. I think you're going to see more minutes. Jordan Morris is a forward than anything else.
00:56:34
Speaker
Yeah, I would I would tend to agree. I mean, I think that there are probably going to be games where you want more of a direct threat than a kind of possession player out wide. So maybe you play brewing up top and play Morris on the wing. But I think that.
00:56:50
Speaker
I think that if you look at those three players and you look beyond the goals Wilburin has scored this season, he seems like the odd duck to me. Not to be harsh, but I feel more comfortable with Rodriguez and Morris than I do Wilburin on the pitch.
00:57:13
Speaker
Okay. Uh, that's kind of related to this question. Maybe the same question, but I'll ask it anyways. 66JZMSTR asks, after Saturday's match versus sporting Kansas city, which duo earns more minutes Spruen at forward and JMo at left wing or JMo at forward and VROD at left wing? Which would you rather see?
00:57:36
Speaker
I think I'd probably rather see Morris up top and Rodriguez as the left mid. I think that probably offers the centers a little bit more versatility and a little bit more attacking nuance. I think Will Bruin has been great, but I am definitely unconvinced that as many more goals as he has than Jordan Morris this year, I think long-term
00:58:02
Speaker
And even going forward this year, I just am totally convinced that Jordan Morris is the better option, but I could be wrong. I think that Will Bruin is what you probably thought Jordan Morris' floor was coming into last season.
00:58:22
Speaker
It that feels kind of harsh, but I think it's true And I think he's a better player now than then Bruin Has ever really been and and it just feels bad because it feels like we're slagging on little Bruin But again, I think that's just another sign of him less improving You know that that a player is good as well Bruin is a bench player on a good team like the Sounders but You know, he's gonna get his chances I think that
00:58:47
Speaker
Brian Schmetzer has made it clear that he's going to give people the time to convince them that he's wrong about them. So yeah, I think he's going to get plenty of minutes, but I think Jordan Morris is a better player and deserves an extended run out with a functional ankle before he loses his job.
00:59:11
Speaker
JJ Kostowski asks, what's worse, getting traded or your team signing someone that plays your position?
00:59:18
Speaker
It kind of depends on the situation. I mean, like if you play for DCU when you get traded to Seattle, that seems like a pretty huge step up. But if you play for Seattle and you get traded to Columbus or some shit, yeah, or DCU, like, so it's context dependent. So, I mean, I guess I would say then that
00:59:43
Speaker
Overall, it's probably worse to have somebody that have a player sign that plays your position That seems like it would be kind of shitty SSU underscore Richard MS with Jovan leaving Better than thinks or that Aaron Kovar might have a future as a fullback thoughts I think that could be a project for the offseason. I don't think that's crazy. I think that
01:00:12
Speaker
He's not particularly close to being a MLS quality left back, but if he's back next year, I think there's a high probability that the sounders at least give him a look at left back.
01:00:27
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that, you know, again, it's that thing where the more flexibility you have, the more likely you are to have a job. And if he can, you know, if he can add that to his repertoire, he's a pretty attractive bench option. Kind of like how, you know, O'Neill Fisher is not a great fullback on either side, but he can play on both sides and that's pretty valuable. And, you know, it's going to give, if Kovar can add that to his abilities, then that's going to give him more opportunities to get minutes.
01:00:55
Speaker
I would like to see it. I mean, I feel like we talked about this like two years ago of, you know, the possibility of him maybe given that a look. So I would be pretty interested to see how that went. NMP underscore 360 asks, why would the sounders want to bring in Kalem Malice? Yeah, no fucking clue, man. I have no idea.
01:01:19
Speaker
It seems like a very weird remember to me and I suppose, you know, I this is pretty reliable and I'm sure he's not making it up, but that seems like a really, really weird. I mean, I get whatever. I mean, it's, it's a, it's a roster spot. They're probably not going to be using my assumption would be, they wouldn't be giving up much, but I don't, I don't see the angle. We've got one, as we speak, like seven minutes till the window closes. Right. But they don't have to, well, that's, it could be announced tomorrow. Who knows?
01:01:48
Speaker
Okay, trivialex asks, with Lamar keeping alive the streak of past players coming back, who will be the returning sounder for 2018? It was funny, I actually looked this up, and every year since 2011, the sounders have brought back a former player, which is kind of crazy. That's a long, seven straight years, I believe, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. Yeah.
01:02:17
Speaker
Seven straight years that they've brought back a former player. I was wrong though. I had forgotten. Brian Meredith had already been the return to player this year. Um, but yeah, it's, I don't know who's out there. Serbana Carrasco, maybe that's the one. Yeah, that wouldn't be ready, especially if I haven't been ready. Yeah, I think that should, you know,
01:02:42
Speaker
Maybe Oba, not really. I don't want Oba back. I think that chips definitely say it. That's yeah. Blaze Kufo could come back as a coach. Yeah, um, yeah, we've kind of ran through everybody. I mean, maybe somebody like Daniel Steras. Yeah, that'd be nice. It was the
01:03:09
Speaker
The Brazilian guy? Tomás? Yeah. That'd be okay. Tomás. What's he been up to? We're kind of, we're kind of scraping the barrel now, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Lund. Christian Sivabek. Christian Sivabek. Miguel Montagno. Okay. So Thrice Wise asks, what are some mashup nicknames we're missed out on not by signing Derlys?
01:03:39
Speaker
What was it? What are some of the what? Mash-up nicknames kind of like Jordan, Jordan, Morden. Yeah, I don't know. I'm trying to think of who, because all I know about his personality is his Instagram. And what do you know from his Instagram account, Aaron? Sure. He just, he seems like kind of your standard soccer douche. I don't know.
01:04:06
Speaker
So, I don't know. I mean, who would he be friends with? I mean, that's because that's the key question, right? Yeah, who's gonna have a bromance? Maybe. Yeah, maybe. Maybe Rodriguez or Dempsey, maybe. I don't know. Does he like fishing? Shit, I don't know. Maybe he does. Where's the big fish? Yeah. OG Louie Bear asks, I heard that Plan B is really good at cleaning up huge mistakes. Are you sure that we shouldn't have signed him?
01:04:37
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I will say it's a very convenient argument for Garth to put forward that we had plan B, we had plan C, but ultimately we decided they weren't up to the caliber of player we wanted to bring in essentially is what he said. And it's very convenient to hear that and go, yeah, I love that idea. I love that they weren't willing to settle for their second favorite player.
01:05:05
Speaker
But A, we don't know who plan B was, we don't know who plan C was. We don't know for sure. I mean, I trust that there was a plan B and a plan C, but why weren't those higher caliber players? Why weren't those players that were more likely to get a deal done? I, you know, if they, I mean, I guess they were, why aren't they better players essentially? So I don't know. It's really an impossible thing to judge. I'll choose to judge the transfer window on what we know, which is,
01:05:34
Speaker
that the Sounders got better. They're in a good position. And ultimately, this transfer window should be judged like all transfer windows, which is what are the results? And like, how does the team end up finishing the season? And how did this transfer window affect them down the road? And, you know, if in 2000, at the end of the transfer window next year, we're still talking about not having a DP spot filled. This is going to feel like an even and we didn't win MLS Cup this year. This is going to feel like an even bigger missed opportunity than it does right now. But, you know, it could play out very differently. Who knows?
01:06:04
Speaker
I have nothing. There's my results-based analysis. Classic results-based analysis. Well, I mean, what else are you gonna do, really? What if Plan B was someone that was talked about earlier in the window or the last window? Like a Sigani, maybe? Wasn't that type of... maybe Honda? Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I will say this. I didn't understand the pursuit of Honda at the time.
01:06:30
Speaker
You know, I think he's a good player, he's a talented player. I think he could have probably helped, you know, having a talented player is useful. But he wasn't, you know, he wasn't really a left mid. I think the center's probably like, my understanding is that they made him an offer and that he decided he want more money at the end. And they weren't willing to give him that much more money. And I think they probably dodged a bullet, frankly. I don't think...
01:06:51
Speaker
a great fit
01:07:06
Speaker
It's reasonable to think that plan B was Rodriguez in the sense that we're going to sign him anyway, but he kind of covers our asses in case this falls through. And you know, like we talked about earlier, I'm much more comfortable with a plan B that doesn't take up a DP spot that still offers a dump grade. I think that's a better way to go about it. Uh, that's it.
01:07:30
Speaker
Okay, well, that was fun. Yeah. That was fun. I always have fun. Yeah, I always have fun. I always have fun hanging out with you guys. So I'm going to give a little plug. I don't always do these things, but Likit and I are going to be, I think I've recorded Likit enough. I think I've talked him into doing this project with me, but we're kind of doing a pilot through Sounder at Heart that we're, I don't know if we have a, I think we're calling it Yawperty.
01:07:57
Speaker
It's a pub quiz-style show that will be live to tape, essentially. I think it's going to be aired live on YouTube, but then we're going to show the video on Facebook. And we're going to have live participants. They'll probably be sounder or hard contributors. We'll probably change that up.
01:08:17
Speaker
bring in different kinds of people. But it's going to be Friday during lunch. It's going to be a liquid lunch situation. And we're going to do it's like a quiz show. And we're encouraging people from outside of the guests to participate and have fun with it. And hopefully you enjoy it. But I wanted to give that a plug. And if it's successful, then we'll probably make it a regular thing. And Lickit is loving the idea, I think.
01:08:45
Speaker
It's the greatest idea I've ever heard today. So anyway, thanks, Aaron. Thanks, Lickit, for being so supportive of my idea. I really appreciate it. But all seriousness, thanks to our sponsors, Verity Credit Union, Queen Anne Acupuncture, Designer's Marble, Full Pull Wines, and our broadcast partner,
01:09:10
Speaker
Bootstrapper Studios. I am Jeremiah O'Shan, signing off on behalf of Aaron Campo and Likit. This is No Sadietis, and remember, you will never yodelone.
01:09:36
Speaker
Roll on, Columbia Roll on. Roll on, Columbia Roll on. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll on, Columbia Roll on.
01:10:08
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!