Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but with Ownership's threats against Dave Kasper and Tom Soehn if the team fails to perform in 2009, it appears that they may have gone and sacrificed the future in favor of one last chance to shine. The truth is, I reckon there is greater than a 50% chance that Christian Gomez, Jaime Moreno, and Ben Olsen will all retire following this season. And without these three future DC United Hall of Fame members, there will be even more pressure on the front office next year.

At least it seems like management is already starting to learn to appreciate the draft a bit more. The recent selections of Chris Pontius, Andrew Jacobson, Rodney Wallace, and Milos Kocic all have tremendous potential. But then why throw away a second round pick in the Gomez trade? With all the raving Kasper has done about Kocic, you would think he'd finally realize that these picks can actually have value.

With the moves this offseason, the front office has completely erased every foreign acquisition and rookie that played last year. But there are also some other consequences to this failed foreign. With the loss of Guerrero and the inability to procure Roger, I'm afraid that we're in the process of stunting the growth of Devon McTavish and Marc Burch. Both appear destined to be stuck in defense for the entirety of the 2009 season, even though each is probably better suited for the midfield. Ever since his scoring streak in March 2008, I've been hoping to see McTavish return to right midfield, but that looks to be impossible without any cover at center back.

I actually believe that our roster right now is stronger than it was in 2008. And we only missed the playoffs by 2 points in 2008. So this year should see a return to the playoffs, and we know as well as anyone that everyone in the playoffs has a chance of reaching the Cup. It's just hard to picture what our roster will look like a year from now.