The Columbus Crew moved $1.64 million off their books last year by declining, waiving, dropping, offering minimums, having stolen or just, well... misplacing. None of these players were sold, so nothing in return. Dollars-wise anyway. The team did get a lot of space to replace average talent... with average talent. Save for a few, you be the judge.Below are the guys moved in 2011 and what they are up to now.
Dejan Rusmir
What Happened: Declined Option
Last Crew Salary: $170,496
*Helltown 2011 Season Value: $110,900
Status: Started playing for OLYMPIAKOS NICOSIA FC in Cyprus last week. What I think: Good to have the experience and he is a good player, but too much.
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Kevin Burns
What Happened: Declined Option
Last Crew Salary: $42,000
*Helltown 2011 Season Value: $129,000
Status: Sent email to the Danish club he tried out for (Hjorring), surprisingly got a nice response. They liked him but small club, not enough money. His agency says he may be headed to Germany to trial there. What I think: Maybe I'll send another email... but this time to the Crew. Bring him back. $42k breaking the bank fellas?
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Josh Gardner
What Happened: Stolen
Last Crew Salary: $49,200
*Helltown 2011 Season Value: $184,300
Status: With Montreal Impact, likely starter for them. What I think: Impact got a great pro and better player.
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Andres Mendoza
What Happened: Dropped
Last Crew Salary: $595,000
*Helltown 2011 Season Value: $227,700
With Atlante FC, Mexico. 2 goals in less then 300 mins so far this season for them (3 games in). What I think: Only caught fire for a month (2/3rds through season, 13 goals is misleading. 5 were penalty kicks. Never fit in and didn't / never would've worked well with Renteria.
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Andy Iro
What Happened: Traded
Last Crew Salary: $87,346
*Helltown 2011 Season Value: $39,000
No team at the moment. Nottingham Forest put the PR feelers out, they deemed him "lovable but clumsy". Crew could use him now. Haven't heard anything else. What I think: Sign him back at $50k. Crew needs depth in back.
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Santiago Prim
What Happened: Dropped (I think)
Last Crew Salary: $32,600
*Helltown 2011 Season Value: $0
Playing for RAMPLA JUNIORS FC in the Uruguayan Primera División. What I think: Seemed like an odd signing at the time. Did he get homesick?
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Leandre Griffit
What Happened: Traded
Last Crew Salary: $55,000
*Helltown 2011 Season Value: $32,500 (min)
Traded to Toronto mid 2011, they dropped him same time as Iro... Nowhere now. What I think: Crew reached to get Tchani and it involved Griffit. Lots of red flags around Tchani right now but jury is still out. As it stands, Iro and Griffit should still be in the black and yella.
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Robbie Rogers
What Happened: Minimum Offer, Declined
Last Crew Salary: $140,000
*Helltown 2011 Season Value: $229,100
With Leeds. May be playing on January 31st against Birmingham at home. What I think: His buddies got shipped out of town. He left. Good talent leaving. End of story.
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Emmanuel Ekpo
What Happened: Minimum Offer, Declined (lost?)
Last Crew Salary: $222,250
*Helltown 2011 Season Value: $239,600
Status: Was lost there for a bit. Some say he has turned up in Eastern Europe. His Nigerian National Team was banned from this years African Cup so I know he isn't there. We'll see. What I think: Expensive, but he held it down all of 2011. I think the Tchani signing really bothered him (on different levels).
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Jeff Cunningham
What Happened: Option Declined
Last Crew Salary: $152,500
*Helltown 2011 Season Value: $80,200
Status: Signed with Guatemalan side, Comunicaciones. What I think: Way too much spin out of Obetz (and ONN) on this guy. The team needed a goal scorer and it was turned in to a feel good story about returning "home". I also didn't believe the stories about his changed character. I'm sure he was nicer than the first go around, but too much noise about dissent on decisions last year.
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Alex Riggs, Ben Sippola and Andy Adlard have not popped up yet. I thought Sippola had some talent. Sure he's out there somewhere.
*Helltown 2011 Season Value: Is based of player performance during league play last year using my own rating system, then assigning a dollar amount to each point earned in that system based off the MLS salary aggregate (players that saw minutes in league play only).
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