Hey Tommy. Have we got a deal for you!?
Remember all those great players you had when you were Head Coach of D.C. United? Remember when you converted Marc Burch from a forward to a defender? Genius!
Now that you're the Director of Soccer Operations for the Vancouver Whitecaps, you'll be tasked with assembling a new roster of MLS talent to compete in the 2011 season. You might even want to think about acquiring some of your old players.
Here's our proposal: Take all of them!
Just because you couldn't make it as a coach here with this roster doesn't mean you shouldn't take another shot with it.
We'd be willing to trade you the entire 2010 United roster for the rights to pick 10 new players via expansion draft, along with the No. 1 overall draft choice of course. This is a win-win. You get a pre-assembled team capable of at least a 66-minute performance each week, and we get the opportunity to start from scratch.
Is this really such a bad idea? If the Philadelphia Union can finish ahead of United in 2010 as an expansion club, then maybe being an expansion club ourselves would give us a better chance at winning.
No, I'm not serious. I've got too much of an emotional attachment to too many of these players to actually want something like this to happen.
But I am starting to come around to Chest's point of view from almost two months ago.
We talked Saturday night about how D.C. United really only had three players in that match that are an important part of our future. In the comments section, we expanded that list to seven (or maybe eight if Dejan Jakovic can quit making crucial mistakes every week). Other than those seven or eight guys, there's no one else on our roster that we can't live without. And keep in mind that two of the eight guys we named are Andy Najar and Bill Hamid - Homegrown players who don't need to be protected from the expansion draft.
So when we're debating between putting Stephen King or Jordan Graye on the final protection list, and the team decides to go in a different direction, don't fret. Neither of them are likely to be critical pieces in our rise back to the top. And take heart, because that will mean that our 2010 season is over.