RSL player news (re: draft news)

[Aero]

Originally Posted by clarette

If Harris had been on the list, however, would Mo have taken him?

I guess we'll never know. At that point he may very well have taken Williams. But I think that leaving Harris unprotected was an even bigger gamble than leaving Kreis unprotected and not something I would have done. At this point, I would have rather lost Kreis than Harris. Kreis is quickly coming to represent the past while Harris represents the future.

[utah_heretic]

What's done is done at this point...

I would have left Kreis unprotected, and I'd have let him go to Toronto...for $125K plus Kreis' salary, it seems like we could have found a striker who better suits our offense. By spending that 125K, they were effectively saying they didn't think they could replace Kreis for that kind of money and I'm frankly skeptical.

Kreis' career has been largely as a junk goal guy...a very fast junk goal guy. Don't get me wrong, I love junk goal guys, they come up with cheap goals and open up the defense. The problem I have with Kreis is that he is no longer very fast, and I don't think his game has altered far enough to contribute as much as we need him to. RSL is trying to play him as a dropped striker but playing there he needs to posess the ball...something he hasn't been able to force himself to do. Kreis is a gem for the same reason he's an anathema on this squad. He's a one touch wonder. Watch him play...he doesn't want the ball until he can do something fantastic with it on the first touch. This wouldn't be all bad if RSL was a midfield juggernaut. Unfortunately, we are not and won't be for some time if their hope is that they are going to build around Medhi, a player with great potential, but not savvy enough to carry the midfield yet, nor in all likelyhood for another 2-3 years.

I like Kreis as a human being, I like the effort he brings to the pitch, but I don't think he has come to grips with the changing MLS game, or his role in it. I think there are teams where Kreis could still score 10-12 goals, but RSL is not one of them. Further, I doubt Kreis has more than another year, two at best in his career as a player. If they feel his long term value to the organization is in helping to develop their youth program, I'd say they may have made a decent move...only time will tell.

[Aero]

Originally Posted by utah_heretic

If they feel his long term value to the organization is in helping to develop their youth program, I'd say they may have made a decent move...only time will tell.

That's another excellent point I hadn't considered. They may be looking at his value past his days as a player. I think he will have some value to a team once he stops playing.

[taytay33]

Agreed. Also, that's part of what I meant with glue. Coaches, assistants, whomever interacts with the players can cause a team to stick together too. He can help our team LONG after he retires should he choose to and he can teach the younger players a lot from experience.