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Some more Reyna questions answered

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With the Claudio Reyna retirement press conference still a few hours away, there are still plenty of questions being asked about his retirement and its ramifications. I’ve decided to answer some of the questions I’m seeing being raised. No, it’s not a Q&A (and yes, I’m aware I still have to do the last Q&A session), but it will hopefully answer some questions.

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Question: Will the Red Bulls use the Reyna designated player slot?

Answer: Sources are telling me they will not. A league official did confirm Steve Goff’s report from late last night that the Red Bulls won’t get cap relief from the retirement, but will be allowed to use the DP slot.

So why not use the slot? As I stated earlier this morning, the team wants to wait for next summer, when the new stadium is expected to be finished.

The team can certainly fit a DP on its salary cap because at this point in the year a DP would cost a pro-rated $200K against the cap, space the team does have. The problem is while you could fit one in for this year, the Red Bulls don’t want to sign a DP to a multi-year deal right now, and finding someone who is DP worthy to play for a deal that only has a half-season guaranteed would not be easy.

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Question: Might Reyna play elsewhere in 2009?

Answer: I seriously doubt it. Reyna has deep roots in the NJ/NY area and has three young sons that I’m pretty sure he wants to create a stable environment for.  It isn’t that he can’t still play. I still say he can play when healthy. It’s the "when healthy" part that’s the problem. For him to play his best, he has to play at an intense level that is going to lead to him getting hurt every time. Sure, he might get the itch to play, and I have a feeling he would have kept trying to come back from his injuries until the end of the season if the Red Bulls hadn’t asked him to retire, but I think he knows the time is right.

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Question: What’s next for Reyna?

Answer: Without question I think coaching is his next step. I know that is something he has always talked about wanting to do when he was finished playing. Where that will take him remains to be seen. I’ll say it now though, it wouldn’t shock me at all if Claudio Reyna isn’t a head coach in Europe or with the national team some day.

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Question: Will the Red Bulls sign a forward?

Answer: I believe they will and I believe they have someone in their sights. Red Bulls head coach stopped short of saying that the team had a forward in mind during an interview on Tuesday and the smile on his face tells me that it’s someone who he thinks can make an instant impact.

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Question: When did retirement become an option for Reyna?

Answer: I was told as far back as two weeks ago by a team official that something was in the works. It didn’t seem to match with Reyna’s statements following the Steve Nash charity game that he was working his way back. So either Reyna was doing his best to keep the process secret or Reyna was still holding out hope of coming back as recently as two weeks ago.

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Question: How long do the Red Bulls have the Chivas USA designated player slot for.

Answer: The popular answer is until the end of the 2009 season. I am working to get the definitive answer on that. I think it was until 2009 because after 2009 is when MLS was supposed to re-evaluate the designated player mechanism (which also means time to consider scrapping it (no way) or giving teams a second slot (possible).

That’s all for now. Feel free to share your thoughts on these below.

Comments

  1. @ Ceez. Please don’t post links to websites that have viruses (like the one you posted above). That’s really unnecessary.

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  2. Amit- The NFL franchise player rule isn’t anything like the DP rule. That rule is so teams can claim one free agent from their roster a year kind of from being a free agent the next year. After so long, I think it’s two months after free agency opens, if they don’t come to an agreement on a contract, other teams can sign those players, but they have to give one or two first or second round draft picks to the team that play had played for a year before. When the season rolls around, he still is on the cap, assuming they sign him.

    I think Kaiser’s ideas were all pretty much spot on.

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  3. It was announced when the trade was made for Guevara that CDCU had traded their DP slot to NY for 5 years. That info could be wrong of course, but that was what was reported at the time.

    Whenever a team trades for a slot, they almost never announce whether the slot is being traded permanently or just temporarily, and if temporary, for how long. It’s pretty irritating. SJ just traded an international slot to TFC for the rights to Huckaby (sp?) but there was no mention of the duration of the slot.

    *sigh* How MLS.

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  4. If Steve T. is correct about no DP coming till next summer, then RB should sell the spot now.

    By the time RB Park opens, there will be a second DP in the slot for each team.

    What can NY get for a DP with a year and a half left on the clock?

    -Mike

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  5. A.S. if it is Henry and its a big if…It is a near certainty that he will only come over in the summer transfer window next year. First, his expired contract means no transfer fee. And second he will be the cherry on top of Red bull Park that is not going to open until late summer next year anyway. Putting Henry in GS, is anti climatic, and would never happen. So an DP before next summer aint going to happen.

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  6. The Red Bulls need to use that DP spot to sign someone who can play with his back to the goal, fend off defenders and put the ball in the back of the net.

    I’ll be right over after I finish this bowl of Scungilli.

    Con Amore,

    Giorgio!

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  7. kpugs,

    I agree. I think that they have to be planning on using that DP spot though. Otherwise, it makes no sense.

    Probably, they are just keeping silent to wait for a new rule to be made.

    Or, (not that I think this a good idea) they are going to trade the DP slot to Chicago. Maybe they know that a second DP will be added, so they think they should trade the spot while it still has some value. (If Chicago has another DP slot, they don’t have to deal with Toronto for the allocation, correct?)

    Or, (I think this is a good idea) they are just going to hold the spot to piss off Chicago.

    -Mike

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  8. My question is: don’t you think it is easier to find a DP in July/August than in January? If RBNY are going to be looking at Europe for a DP, they are going to have to convince a good player to leave their European team midseason to play for the RB’s full 2009 season. Wouldn’t it be easier to convince a Europe-based player to leave now, while Europe is in its off-season, rather than in January? After all, what’s the likelihood of convincing a Henry-type player of leaving in January when he just qualified for Champions League knockout rounds?

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  9. “So unless the rule changed (or suddenly does so once again due to a big market team being involved). Isn’t NYRB 2nd DP slot supposed to revert back to the team that traded it to them (Civas USA) after 2 years? ”

    Another fool who makes up lies about things being done to benefit NY.

    If you learned how to read, you wouldn’t have to make up “facts” about how the second DP slot is only valid for two years.

    Reply
  10. What about making a DP a “franchise player” like in the NFL. I believe that these players’ salaries don’t count at all towards the salary cap. That way we can have star players in MLS while having an extra say $400k to help with depth issues.

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  11. I have to agree with kpugs. If your not going to use the dP, and the money means nothing to me, just let him play a couple games until the end of the year. they are not going to find anything remotely close to him anyway. the team is crap and not going anywhere anyway

    Reply
  12. So unless the rule changed (or suddenly does so once again due to a big market team being involved). Isn’t NYRB 2nd DP slot supposed to revert back to the team that traded it to them (Civas USA) after 2 years? If they sign anyone they are going to have the added complication of negotiating an addional deal to land someone else’s unused DP slot again.

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  13. Kaiser: I like the idea of a higher, hard cap. Allocation money is just silly, IMO. I don’t like player allocation at all but I think it’s MLS trying to be fair. That doesn’t mean the system can’t be changed to (1) be easier to understand and (2) retain (or improve) the fairness.

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  14. Here’s a plan of attack on how to fix a few MLS problems: (This Reyna situation go me thinking)

    1. set a hard cap of about $4 or $5 mill (no allocation $$$ BS). If teams don’t want to spend that much they don’t have to, but it would give teams that do some freedom.

    2. 2 DPs for each team, but still make them tradeable. A team like Columbus might trade a DP if they still had one to fall back on if the right player shows up later on. That way if a team wants star players it can get them. NYRB could have 4 DPs if they want, it just has to fit under the cap.

    3. get rid of player allocation!!! Why should Toronto get anything for Mcbride? I see why they are keeping a hard line with Chicago, but they shouldn’y even be in that situation.

    4. Raise the $$$$ for devlopment contracts. MLS is like a sweatshop!

    Just a few ideas!

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  15. Ives-

    “Reyna has deep roots in the NJ/NY area and has three young sons that I’m pretty sure he wants to give a stable environment too.”

    Besides ending the sentence in a preposition (!), it seems you meant “to,” not “too.”

    Reply
  16. Ben,

    I believe the $200k is pro-rated. The new players would play half a season (assuming he’s signed now), and so only half of the salary counts towards the cap.

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  17. I wonder if Agoos was the hatchet man. If he was, that must have been an awkward conversation as I’m assuming they must be at least friendly if not friends from their USMNT days.

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  18. Priceless update Ives !

    Cheers

    What I don’t understand is:

    according to MLS Roster Regulations 1 DP counts with 415k $ against the team cap, so why would it be only 200k $ now?

    How much do the preDPrule high paid players (Donovan, Ruiz) count against the salary cap, 415k $ ?

    B.) DESIGNATED PLAYER

    The Designated Player Rule allows the League to sign players (under the League’s single entity system) whose salary will fall outside of the team salary budget and whose cost above the salary budget charge will be the financial responsibility of the club for which they play. A Designated Player’s salary charge will be capped at $415,000 per annum in 2008, but his salary could be higher. Each team initially received one Designated Player slot, and clubs are allowed to trade Designated Player slots. However, no team can have more than two Designated Players. The Designated Player Rule is a three-year initiative that will conclude after the 2009 MLS season when its future will be reviewed.

    Pre-Existing High-Salaried Players

    The MLS Board of Governors ruled that Landon Donovan, Eddie Johnson and Carlos Ruiz, who had high-salaried contracts with the League prior to the adoption of the Designated Player rule, will not occupy a Designated Player roster position for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. These players will, however, become their individual team’s financial responsibility to the extent their actual salaries exceed their budget charge.

    DPs cost 325k against the cap

    Reply
  19. This is ridiculous. Make him retire and not use his DP. I’d rather have him on the field for a few more games this season than him retired if that’s the situation. He’s still going to get paid, and none of his potential replacements will be better than a healthy Reyna.

    If you have to pay him regardless and only benefit to the tune of $200k just let him keep rehabbing and use him for a few games here and there. What a joke.

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  20. If Henry comes, will JPA stay?

    JPA is, on and off, looking to get out.

    But he can’t say no to a dream partner at forward, right?

    And the prospects of a new stadium with actual grass and actual fans will help.

    Reply
  21. i would much rather see the salary cap increase the amount of a 2nd DP then actually incorporate a 2nd DP…. honestly, look at teams like the Revs and Houston… zero DP’s, Tons of Success….

    it doesnt come down to bringing in another aged but quality player…. it comes down to strengthening the depth of our teams… increase the salary cap, lets keep some of our players and see the youth continue to grow….

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  22. Having two DP’s just isn’t worth it under the current salary cap. $800,000 of your 2.3 million just doesn’t allow for depth. Hopefully Reyna will continue in some capacity with soccer.

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  23. Christ, when healthy. Can’t let it go.

    What did he do when healthy???

    Maintained possession and passed the ball from side to side and backwards. Yeah, I know. Unreal.

    If payed 150K perseason, if he actually plays 75% of the mathces, then maybe…maybe. Otherwise it’s a load of crap. Nothing more, nothing less.

    Reply

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