Moves within MLS that make you scratch your head
The Josef Martinez move from Atlanta to Miami got me thinking a bit...
Soccer is a business. We hear that often when a player moves from one club to the next. But naturally, this move got me thinking this morning:
It wasn’t like Josef Martinez leaving Atlanta was any secret. There had been rumblings about it ever since the 2022 season ended.
Still, today’s move for Martinez to Miami is a real head-scratcher for me. Sure, Miami gets a player that will be motivated to do well twice this season when he faces his former side but outside of that, should Miami fans be excited by this move? After all, Martinez is a guy that has had some serious knee issues in the past. He’s not that far removed from ACL recoveries and poor form that plagued him. He may score double-digit goals for Miami this season but does anyone expect him to be a forward that will help out defensively?
In 2022, Miami gave up an Eastern Conference third-worst 56 goals. All they’ve really done to help that out in 2023 was signing Franco Negri.
Yeah, head-scratcher to spend more on an aging forward than your defense.
Seattle goes back to the former DP well
When it was announced that Seattle was trading for Heber from New York City FC earlier this winter, I thought it was a decent move at first. They did this a year ago with Alan Rusnak from Salt Lake and it helped get them the league’s first Concacaf Champions League.
But when you factor in the Sounders spent $200,000 in General Allocation Money this year, $200,000 in GAM next year, potentially $150,000 more (depending on various performance metrics) and probably somewhere in the neighborhood of $900,000 in salary cap space for another guy that isn’t far removed from a pretty big injury, it makes you wonder why this move and not another one for a team that has done so well at roster building over the years.
Last year in his first full season back from an ACL injury that cost him nearly a full year of play. Héber contributed 11 goals in 1,375 all-competition minutes. That should be a nice boost off the bench for the Sounders, a team that struggled in close games in 2022.
But this move feels more like it was done with the Club World Cup in mind than anything else. Okay, maybe the Leagues’ Cup in the summer.
If I am a Seattle fan, I’m not jumping for joy on this move or any of their additions this winter. Outside of Heber, they’ve re-signed another veteran forward in Fredy Montero and added two Homegrown players.
That all kind of feels ‘meh’ to me.
Others that made me go ‘hmm’
These will be a bit quick-fire, but here we go:
Gyasi Zardes (Austin) - This could work great due to his past with Jost Wolff but could be a total bust for both sides as Gyasi isn’t a 15+ goal scorer anymore.
Sebastien Ibeagha (Dallas) - I suppose this is their Matt Hedges replacement at this point. Ibeagha is a nice veteran addition to any club at this point, but to replace a guy like Hedges is going to be a tall order.
Fafa Picault (trade from Houston to Nashville) - I know this one is all about giving Hany Muktar more support on the wings, but I think there is something to be said about a guy that is moving from team to team every other year or so now in MLS.
Bobby Wood (New England via Re-Entry Draft) - This was a Bruce Arena move, if there ever was one.
Tim Parker (St. Louis via trade with Houston) - It is still the way they acquired him after the Expansion Draft, where they could have selected him, will forever be a weird one to me.
If you made it this far, thank you. I’m slowly building up my writing game in covering MLS as a whole instead of just one team like I do at Big D Soccer. Maybe I’ll turn this into a full newsletter, or maybe it will just be one-off posts like this for the time being. I hope you’ve enjoyed it.