Crew Drop Three, Grossman to RSL

Olman Vargas, Nemanja Vukovic and Cole Grossman have been dropped.

From TheCrew.com: "All three players are not eligible for the MLS Re-entry Process and will be placed on the MLS Waiver wire, with the MLS Waiver Draft taking place at 3:30 p.m. ET this afternoon."

A COUPLE THINGS on that STATEMENT

1. Grossman was the only player picked from the 43 dropped for today's "Waiver Draft". Real Salt Lake nabbed him, wisely.

2. The Re-entry Process" is a tricky animal as MLS over-engineers player draft rules everything. My understanding is that Vargas and Vukovic are dangling out there once their 2012 contract officially ends at the end of the calendar year. Both are quality players

NICHOLAS HOLLAND "Cole" GROSSMAN

I've written a lot about Cole here at Helltown over the course of the 2012 season, with emphasis since the end of the Crew season when doing player evaluations. The reason for this is because his metrics were notably good in the short time he played.

Real Salt Lake was smart to pick him up.

For me? He's a $44k a year player who was put into impossible positions when called upon this year. He started against Seattle, DC United, Sporting KC, LA, and Houston and never lost a match with 8 goals for and only 4 against. If you didn't notice; Those are the best teams in the league.

His counterpart, Milovan Mirosevic? He didn't win a single game against a team ranked 1-9 on the table when starting. NOT A SINGLE ONE. 0 Wins, 4 Draws, 5 Losses. 10 Goals For, 16 Against. A main contributer to the club missing the 2012 playoffs was Mirosevic's presence on the pitch when playing better competition.

Let's take a second to break down some of the incompetence that Grossman mentions in his Facebook post today.

Below is a record of the Crew's results when Mirosevic was a starter against better competition:

Round 4: NY. LOSS
Round 6: HOU. DRAW
Round 10: SJ DRAW
Round 20: DC. LOSS
Round 21: LA. DRAW

You would think that during this part of the season the club would have noticed a trend. Why? Because by week 22 Grossman had 3 wins in 5 starts vs top teams to Mirosevics 0 in 5.

The team didn't take notice and started Mirosevic in critical late year matches. He ended up starting in 4, losing 3.

Round 28: NY. LOSS
Round 30: CHI. LOSS
Round 32: SKC. DRAW
Round 33: DC. LOSS

At one of the most important positions on a Robert Warzycha coached team (Defensive Mid-Fielder)... Why would Mirosevic, a player who clearly struggled against better players early on, get time late in the year against quality clubs?

I'm sorry, but it doesn't take a Duke University graduate to figure this one out. A trend is a trend. It should have been sorted. The Crew reacted quickly with Olman Vargas by pulling him early in the season (didn't start after week 10, no wins against top half talent), why not Mirosevic?

GROSSMAN IN A BETTER SITUATION

RSL is ranked 3rd in over all record over the last 4 years. While it's true that Columbus is 4th in that time, RSL still clocks in at 4th over the last two years. Columbus has tumbled to 9th.

Grossman is going to a better run MLS franchise. The fact that they picked a player like him is a testament to how they measure performance and why they are consistently better than Columbus and the other 15 clubs in the league below them.

AFFINITY DIAGRAM TIME

I ventured in to the ever increasing dark forest that is Facebook and found that common fans are upset about Vukovic getting dropped. Longer written posts reason out in favor of keeping Cole and there is general indifference to Vargas.

PLAYER VALUE

I rate every player. I also keep track of every player's salary. If I take the 10 players above and below an individual on my rating scale I can summize general value (or "HB Market Value" if I may. If you will).

Nemanja Vukovic: $125,500
HB Market Value: $75,000
Difference: -($50,500)

Olman Vargas: $175,000
HB Market Value: $93,300
Difference: -($81,700)

Cole Grossman: $44,100
HB Market Value: $65,000
Difference: +$20,9000

Both Vukovic and Vargas are overpaid. Cole is underpaid by a significant percentage. By picking him up in the MLS Waiver Draft RSL is getting a value.

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The Columbus Crew let go of $344,600 today.

The total HB Market Value of these players: $233,300.

Aggregate salary dropped today, by club.

$756,255 : NYR : 9
$463,790 : PHI : 3
$413,256 : SKC : 4

$344,600 : CREW : 3

$292,514 : FCD : 5
$208,502 : COL : 2
$185,600 : TFC : 4
$155,000 : VAN : 3
$149,372 : NER : 4
$111,500 : POR : 3
$103,333 : SJE : 1
$35,750 : RSL : 1
$33,750 : MON : 1

RSL picked up Cole's $44,100 salary, so call it even for them.

Of the 43 dropped today I recommend the following players (other than Cole):

B. Brettschneider: $33,756
HB Market Value: 105,950
Difference: +$72,194

C. Rodriguez: $64,383
HB Market Value: $90,750
Difference: +$26,367

Crew Game 6, Draw (HOU)

Nemanja Vukovic, Danny O'Rourke and Josh Williams added a lot of fire and passion to the game yesterday. I watched with a friend of mine whose family is from Cleveland. Williams' hometown of Akron, Ohio immediately made him a favorite in my Brewery District abode.

A couple months ago his name was, "Is That the Cleveland Guy."

Not anymore.


When Williams misplaced a header and furiously kicked the end line ad boards out of frustration I got an, "Is that the Cleveland guy?!" yup. "YEAH!!".

When, (now) Josh was flinging himself at Houston wingers 35 yards away form goal?

"YEAH! HE'S LIKE JOE HADEN!!"

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The 10,500 spectators on hand witnessed a fast paced and entertaining game that saw all 4 goals in the 2nd half. For the Crew it was Eddie Gaven's quality that saved the day. Two goals is just reward for his hard work. For Houston, it was Brian Ching and Will Bruin finding the back of the net.

1ST HALF
Both teams were playing positive MLS football. Passes were sharp and crisp and the players looked fresh. No doubt due, in part, to the more normal kick off time of 730 PM and cooler temps (very cool 40 ish degrees).

Coach Warzycha continued line up tinkering saw both Nemanja Vukovic (LWB) and Josh Williams (CB) in the back four, replacing Eric Gehrig and Shaun Francis from the past two games. Danny O'Rourke was moved back to his more natural Defensive Mid / Stopper spot.

All three of them contributed to a more open / attractive 1st half. O'Rourke, contributing the bulk of it. He replaced Kirk Urso who is more of a grinder (with a pretty free kick) right now. O'Rourke is an effective passer and can find space well. His tackling skills are tops in the league. While these things didn't translate into dangerous attacking play in the 1st half, they did show the kind of game Columbus can play (as in; not just hockey on a pitch).

2ND HALF
The nice play in the 1st half bore fruit in the 2nd. Both teams found themselves down by one looking to even it back up. Columbus went down 0-1 off a back of the head, pirouetting Will Bruin. Gaven then took things into his own hands scoring two times in 10 minutes, putting the Crew up 2-1. Just a few minutes later Bruin found Ching to even it up. It was the most exciting half of Crew soccer in some time.

The best goal of the night was a team one. O'Rourke switched field with a pinpoint pass to Vukovic. He gathered and fired a bullseye pass to Schoenfeld who chested it down to Eddie for the left footed blast.

THE END, NOTES

• This draw ends the little two game losing skid the Crew were on. That said, 1 point out of the last three games is 3rd worst in MLS (only Toronto and Colorado worse).

• Tony Tchani and Olman Vargas played decently but looked a step or two slow. Sometimes this can be a case of perception though. Perhaps lesser players wouldn't be anywhere near the ball in the first place. We'll see as time goes by.

• Another quiet day from Mirosevic. I don't think it is a case of being an understated worker or contributor at this point. He needs to contribute to the Attack. Soonish. As in Now.

• I'm in the minority, but disappointed not to see Bernardo Anor in the 18. He has / is outplaying both Tchani and Finlay. Finlay, in particular, lost his mojo. I see that spot falling this way: Anor, Duka, Tchani, Finlay. But, I'm weird I guess. As it stands right now, Anor is the winningest player, per start on the team - and I like winning.

• Williams and Marshall as the CBs is the future (it also matches my FIFA 12 line up). I think Warzycha should stick to that. It pushes Danny up and allows Eric Gehrig in relief behind him.