Julius James Cut By D.C. United

We need the money.

Maybe it is as spidergoose suggests, that James asked to leave once it appeared that he’d be behind the three apparent frontrunners. Last season, James made comments alluding to being disappointed that Onalfo didn’t regard him as a starter; perhaps having the same lack of trust from his coach this time around was enough to make him want to leave.

I’ve had a few hours to think about the move, and the best thing I can think of to say is that Ethan White is somewhat similar in style to James. Both are fast, strong, determined defenders that are best in 1v1 situations and rely more on their physical talents. If Olsen regards White as a younger James, then keeping both is kind of redundant.

What this signals to me is a shift in defensive style. James was much better at reactionary defending – diving in to block shots at the last moment, snuffing out dangerous opportunities with a last-ditch tackle, etc. He wasn’t as skilled at seeing far enough ahead of the play to never allow the danger in the first place. Those traits must be what Olsen is looking for, and a player like Kitchen should fit that mold (Brasesco, I have no idea on). James was also less of a ball-playing defender, and that can disrupt your possession game. Teams figure out very quickly which defender(s) are uncomfortable with the ball and will funnel play to whoever that is in an effort to create cheap chances.

I’m kind of arguing against myself here, because I liked James and wanted him to stay on. He had his flaws, obviously, but he was also pretty reliable. When you have someone disaster-prone like Jakovic, you need someone with the kind of speed, athleticism, and bravery that James had alongside him to put the fires out.

At his cap number, even the weaknesses and arguments I made against James don’t explain this decision. I’m inclined to think that spidergoose is on to something, and that James wanted to leave to find a starting job elsewhere. If that’s not the case, then I have to regard this move as a mistake. It’s not like we’ve got a full 30 man roster and we had to cut someone to make room for another player.

Sigh. The only sad move of the offseason.
Oh well. I’m getting much more excited for the new season than I thought I would. It will be especially fun trying to watch MLS from Europe since I’m still in Copenhagen until late May.

I think it makes sense that James would ask to leave, if it looked like he wasn’t going to get the starting job. You would like to see guys fight to get that starting job back rather than jump ship, but this is all speculation. We really don’t know what happened. Of course (speculating still), if he did want to jump ship instead of fighting to get his job back, it makes all the sense in the world that Ben Olson would let him go. “Everyone’s fighting for their job” seems to be the theme of this United off season.