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FC Dallas deals Carlos Ruiz to LA Galaxy for Allocation and draft pick

The Los Angeles Galaxy has found an accomplished forward to latch on to David Beckham’s dangerous crosses.

The Galaxy has acquired Carlos Ruiz from FC Dallas in exchange for an allocation and 2009 second-round draft pick, Major League Soccer announced on Tuesday.

Ruiz returns to the team he led to the 2002 MLS Cup title. Ruiz scored 24 goals that season, and also netted the game-winning goal in Los Angeles’ MLS Cup final victory against New England.

Comments

  1. Everyone needs to relax; LA got Ruiz for a pick and an allocation. Ruiz is a big cap hit and has really underperformed in the last couple of years… and I think most MLS teams agree if that’s all Dallas could get for him…

    Still, Ruiz did play his best soccer in LA…

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  2. Trade him now!! I’m a Galaxy fan but I think this is a terrible move. They were better off keeping Mathis. All Ruiz does is dives, take cheap shots on other players, and whines when calls don’t go his way. And he’s not as good a goal scorer and his record indicates. He’a a poacher and not a true goal scorer. And he’s never done anything with his national team to prove he’s a great goal scorer. If they Galaxy is going to trade him than fire Lalas for making another bone head move.

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  3. I ‘get’ extending the grandfathered DP rule, but allowing another team to acquire a second one is pretty shady at best.

    Guys, the cap is actually about $2.6 million this year (up from $2.4 last year) not that it leaves a ton of cash, but there is more than enough when you consider allocations (which don’t count against the cap and I’m sure they’ll stockpile if need be) and that at least 5 of those spots are going to be taken by Dev players which means $80K total, which leaves about $1.3 million+ allocations. I bet that’s about what the Revs spend on their entire team. They will have enough to field a decent team if they their tactics are on straight and something tells me Gullitt will be able to handle that.

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  4. You know, this trade was killed once earlier this year, when they tried to give Cannon to DC and get someone from DC to FCD. It doesn’t smack of favoritism to have your first try denied.

    Having said that I really do not know anything about how the league operates on a day-to-day basis. I don’t know anyone in NYC and I don’t talk to anyone in NYC, so what do I know really?

    Also, looks, the Gals have missed the playoffs twice with the best US field player and once with one of the best midfielders in the game. This new trio eats up at least $1 million of a $2.7 million cap. That cap is going to make it very difficult to get other quality players on the field and lord knows the Gals really need help at the back and on the wings.

    So I don’t think this spells MLS Cup on the face of it and is a serious gamble on the part of the front office.

    Finally, like other people said, this is only January and we’ve got 2 months before lots of things need to be finalized, so more stuff is going to happen with this team.

    You can hate on the Gals, but the fact is they suck and they have sucked and this isn’t necessarily going to make them suck any less. So I wouldn’t be worried about their won-loss record yet.

    In the, doesn’t this now make any Galaxy game a rivalry for every other team as their aggrieved, conspiracy-theory-loving fans go to the park just to hate on LA? Isn’t that part of what makes it fun?

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  5. On a side note.. if the remaining galaxy players choose to stay fight over the remaining 1 mill and play for peanuts (perhpas less if another DP is signed).. then its there choice.

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  6. First off what is the actual number of this years salary cap is?? and what is the total roster per team..18?

    With 1.2 going to 3 players its leaves maybe a million for the others It’s no surprise that this deal was made and there is nothing fishy about it. When these guys were grandfathered it was made mention that any team could do it. LA made a point of doing it!

    I don’t think it point of favortism as much as its LA’s savviness to play with loop holes and grey areas. I can’t imagine the legal rammifications of saying a team couldn’t do something if they found a loophole. which is why its seems as though everything is written in pencil. They have to allow it proceed and then write the new rule. MLS doesn’t have all angles covered, this is obvious.. LA is exploiting this fact… doesn’t stop other teams..

    I’m wondering what the MLS rules are for added bonuses for players against the cap?? do they count it?

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  7. First of all I’m not an Galaxy fan. But how are they bending or breaking the rules by signing Ruiz? NYRD or any other team could have signed him under the current rules, and chose not to, so I see it as sour grapes from NYRB fans. NY has 2 DPs, which is two more than most other teams have. The Galaxy want to aspire to be the marquee team of the league. You don’t have to like them, but I don’t see how having a marquee team, whether you root against them or for them (think of the Yankees or Manchester United or the Dallas Cowboys) hurts a league. As the Yankees know just because you spend by far the most money does not guarantee championships. It does increase interest in the league generally.

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  8. Hey Ives,

    I have some allocation inquires.

    Does allocation money come out of a team’s salary cap or is it separate? I know allocation money can be used to increase cap, can it only be used one year? Is there an experation date on money?

    Could say NY bring in a constant stream of say Colombian players and sell them for allocation money to other teams, there by effectively increasing their cap space permanently? If so, is this MLS’s plan to promote scouting (“if you can find good players that you don’t need, sell them for more cap space.”)?

    If you could do a piece explaining exactly what allocation money is and how teams use it, it would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks,
    -Mike

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  9. “Why can’t winning championships be considered brand building?”

    It most definitely can. But I don’t see where the difference between a championship and a failure is the difference between Cooper and Ruíz. How many Championships does Cooper have so far? (not saying he’s not good, just don’t agree with your assertion).

    Chance are more likely that Cooper was off-limits to LAG, whereas Ruíz was not. There aren’t a lot of goal-scorers in the MLS that are available right now.

    In MLS is not bending the rules for the Galaxy. The Galaxy is taking advantage of the MLS rules. Extending the grandfathered players helped 3 teams, FC Dallas being one of them. They’ve made the choice, however, to trade that player to the Galaxy.

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  10. I don’t think Ruiz is a bad fit for the Galaxy. Reports of his demise are greatly exaggerated. He’s 28, two years removed from a 15 goal season, and actually had more SOG in fewer games last season than the year before. He’ll be far better for LA than any forward they had last year.

    According to my calculations, the Galaxy are just about at the cap now (I don’t know what Xavier is making so I estimated 100k). Unless they have some huge allocations, there’s no way they can sign another DP without finding a way to get rid of guys like Klein, Buddle, Vagenas, etc. Ultimately this roster is still pretty weak, but if some of the young guys step up and they avoid injuries, LA could make some noise.

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  11. Lets get this out of the way: MLS favors LA.

    Other than that, I don’t see how this helps LA that much. Yes, Ruiz is an upgrade over the mess between Buddle/Gordon/Glinton, but why didn’t they go after Cooper instead.

    I understand the brand building aspect, but Cooper could be good for 20+ goals easy with Landycakes and Beckham combining with him. And they would have money for a defender not named Chris Albright or Mike Randolph. Why can’t winning championships be considered brand building?

    Lalas has two of the top five players in the league and he is running it into the ground.

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  12. calm down haters….if you’re pissed off your home team exists in a small market then MOVE. I’m not a LAG fan but I do recognize what a flagship franchise can do for a sports league. …..ruiz and donovan won a cup together I’m sure their chemstry up top will be fine.

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  13. whether or not any rules were bended, LA still is paying too much for three guys. Ruiz ain’t gonna take a pay cut. His contract isn’t going down.
    The rest of the team will be chumps.
    Once Beckham gets injured again, and Ruiz dives again and injures his brain, this team will fall apart. I can’t wait to watch the implosion!

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  14. Wow, let’s all blame LA for wanting to improve their team.

    MLS voted to grandfather 3 players who were making more money than the max, Ruiz and Donovan being 2 of them. They are not DPs. THAT’S A LEAGUE RULE! Does anyone know how much Ruiz is going to make at LA? No! So don’t jump the gun on doing math until you know. And stop saying MLS rules were broken — doesn’t look like they were!

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  15. Everyone wants to hate ruiz so much. Glad Ives had this up, otherwise I would have missed it. I really just want to read his take though.

    Kyle and I put together two different sets of thought on the topic for http://www.brownpocket.com/

    I’m kind of on the fence, but he’s more “the Galaxy are becoming the NY Cosmos, oy!” kind of thing.

    Can’t say if this is good for the MLS till we see where the Galaxy end up roster-wise when the season starts. Who know other madness is left to come. (Figo?)

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  16. Don’t forget whatever Mathis was making comes off their books.

    Seriously, people need to chill. Even with the bending of the salary cap rules by LA, MLS is far more fair than every other league on the planet.

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  17. I don’t understand the comment that Ruiz won’t sync up well with Landon.

    No offense, but how (in even the most pessimistic views of Ruíz) does that not signify a huge upgrade in talent for LAG? Let’s be honest — the Pavon/Buddle/Gordon show was a mess up front. Ruíz is an increase in potential, experience, and proven goal-scoring ability.

    Outside of what this means for LAG in terms of cap and roster, I don’t believe there is any chance that this is a downgrade in their attack. Beckham made Pavon look like a hero in Jersey last year… PAVON! Things can only get better for LAG, last year was the lowest of low.

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  18. LA is screwed. Ruiz isn’t the right player for the team, and this move guarantees that they won’t be able to pay for any other quality players. Hello to the third year in a row without playoffs.

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  19. “If you think about it, Ruiz was costing FC Dallas $435,000. The Galaxy let go of Cannon ($192,000), Cobi retired ($95,000), and from what I hear they are releasing Pavon (??$141,000??). That’s a total of $428,000 that the Galaxy just got rid of. Only a difference of $7,000.”

    Yes, but they need to replace Cobi, Pavon and Canon too.

    Posted by: Joe | January 15, 2008 at 12:14 PM

    You’re right, we will need to be replaced as far as Cobi and Cannon. LA needed an “upgrade” and by dumping Pavon and acquiring Ruiz, they did that.

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  20. “If you think about it, Ruiz was costing FC Dallas $435,000. The Galaxy let go of Cannon ($192,000), Cobi retired ($95,000), and from what I hear they are releasing Pavon (??$141,000??). That’s a total of $428,000 that the Galaxy just got rid of. Only a difference of $7,000.”

    Yes, but they need to replace Cobi, Pavon and Canon too.

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