I probably sound like a curmedgeon. Because I hate change. But I've come to love Troy Perkins over the past two years, just as I've come to love Christian Gomez.

The words I keep hearing are that Joe Cannon is the most consistent keeper in the MLS. He's just had bad defenses in front of him. Of course the Goals Against Average stat isn't really a totally fair way to judge a keeper, but it's just about the only stat for a keeper that you've got. So based on my own calculations, here are the goals against averages for the top keepers in the MLS over the 2006 and 2007 seasons:

Jeff Conway - 1.05
Pat Onstad - 1.05
Brad Guzan - 1.10
Troy Perkins - 1.11
Matt Reis - 1.25
Kevin Hartman - 1.32
Joe Cannon - 1.57

Hmm.

Ok, so Cannon probably brings a bit of veteran leadership to the defense that Perkins probably lacks. I get that. But my favorite things about Perkins are his speed and his aggresion. He charges at defenders and intercepts long through balls better than any keeper in the league. Maybe that makes this a minor upgrade, but not worth it if we have to pay Cannon double.

This raises a couple questions… Is United making this trade because Troy wants to go to Europe? Or is United sending Troy to Europe because they want Cannon? We have quite a few problems that we need to address this offseason, but I'd disagree with anyone who said that the goalkeeper was one of our major problems. So I'm hoping it's the former.

But most importantly… Who will United be giving up? Boswell? Vanney? Draft picks?