Have the best TFC players for 2007 season already arrived?--------by Section 112 Blizzard
Nov 24th 2006
It has certainly been a busy week on the roster front for TFC with almost two
thirds of the 18 senior roster spots now accounted. To recap the current
situation:-
Canadian players (minimum of 6):-
1. Jim
Brennan (Southampton) $US 300,000? (M) 1977 (43 Caps)
2. Adam
Braz (Montreal Impact) $US 100,000? (D) 1981 (9 Caps)
3. Chris
Pozniak (Haugesund) $US 100,000? (D) 1981 (16 Caps)
4. Marco
Reda (Sogndal) $US 100,000? (D) 1977 (6 Caps)
Additional Canadian signing believed to be imminent
5. Greg
Sutton (Montreal Impact) (GK) 1977 (8 Caps)
non-Canadian players (maximum of 12) :-
Eligible as Senior Internationals (up to 4 allowed) or as additional USA
domestic players (up to 3 allowed)
6. Ronnie O'Brien
(FC Dallas) $US 168,750 REPUBLIC OF IRELAND 1979 (M) (0 caps)
7. Jose Cancela (New
England Revolution) $US 126,000 URUGUAY (M) 1976 (0 caps)
8. Edson Buddle (NYRB)
$US 110,625 USA (F) 1981 (1 cap USA)
9. Ritchie Kotschau
(Columbus Crew) USA $US 70,050 (M) 1975 (1 cap USA)
Eligible as Senior Youth Internationals (up to 5 allowed) or as additional USA
players (up to 3 allowed)
10. Nate Jaqua (Chicago
Fire) $US 53,373 USA (F) 1983 (1 cap USA)
11. Rod Dyachenko (D.C.
United) $US 16,500 USA/RUSSIA (M) 1983 (0 caps)
Senior Youth International (up to 5 allowed):-
12. Paulo Nagamura
(Los Angeles Galaxy) $US 85,000 BRAZIL (M) 1983 (0 caps)
Toronto FC has clearly got off to a solid enough start but the question many
people are no doubt asking themselves is whether we have now already seen the
best signings for the 2007 season or whether there are still better players to
arrive? My money is on the latter and it is worth noting that Mo Johnston has
asked people to trust him that a better player will be signed at Adrian
Serioux's position after the trade with FC Dallas for Ronnie O'Brien.
If we assume that Jim Brennan is being paid an above average MLS salary of
around $US 300,000 at around the 2006 league maximum and that the other 4
Canadians listed are closer to the MLS average at around $US 100,000 then the
total wage bill is currently $US 1.3 million with Nate Jaqua being the only
major question mark in terms of being around when the season starts. It should
be noted at this point in passing that 10 additional development roster players
do not count towards the salary cap so there are only 6 cap eligible position to
be filled.
Last season the league salary cap was believed to be around $US 1.9 million but
that is believed to have risen to at least $2.1 million for 2007 to accommodate
the new designated player rule (a salary over $450,000 not counted towards the
cap for the first designated player and over $325,000 in the case of a second
with the team rather than the league paying the remainder) that the LA Galaxy
and New York Red Bulls hope to use to attract David Beckham and Ronaldo.
Although at first inspection that seems to imply that around $US 800,000
(average $US 133,333 per player) is left in cap space considerably more money
should actually still be available.
The MLS salary cap is a fairly soft one. Three allocations of additional money
will be available due to Toronto FC being an expansion franchise, while one is
typically provided to teams that miss the playoffs and who lose a star player to
try to secure a competitive balance in the following season. In the past a
so-called "major allocation" was believed to be worth $US 200,000 while a "minor
allocation" was believed to be worth $US 100,000 but those numbers may be
slightly higher for the 2007 season.
Mo Johnston was able to secure two partial allocations by trading three players
selected in the expansion draft so it does not seem unreasonable (particularly
given that a figure of $US 125,000 appeared in the Salt Lake City media in the
case of Jason Kreis) to assume that an additional $800,000 is available and that
even more may still be obtained by trading away the designated player roster
spot that both Mo Johnston and Paul Beirne have said will not be used. That
means that the potential budget on the six remaining players could be anywhere
up to $US 1.6 million (average $266,666 per player) which suggests strongly that
most of the better-paid players on the roster have yet to arrive.
Since only one more Canadian is required to meet the minimum domestic
requirement on the senior roster for the 2007 season and since care appears to
have been taken to sign only one player who is not eligible for one of three
additional domestic roster spots for American citizens and green card holders,
signing players for the three vacant Senior International roster spots would
appear to be the most obvious place to spend the bulk of the remainding
available cap money. Mo Johnston is known to be making a scouting trip to Europe
next month. A blockbuster deal for Dwayne de Rosario from the Houston Dynamo or
the signing of another higher profile out of contract Canadian internationalist
from Europe like Patrice Bernier also should not be discounted.
The three remaining superdraft selections for graduating NCAA players (after the
second round pick was traded away in the Ronnie O'Brien deal) and the four
Supplemental draft selections for others such as USL players as well as the open
tryouts at the OSA's Soccer Centre may help, at least in part, to fill the
developmental roster.
The bottom line is that this is just one man's opinion based on a still somewhat
limited knowledge of MLS and a back of an envelope style of calculation. If you
can see a flaw in my line of reasoning I hope you will join the discussion on
this topic on the Red
Patch Boys' messageboard.
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