Buy high and sell low because it’s the Dallas.

With this trade is FCD still on the hook for any of Ruiz’s salary? I thought his contract was up.

who is the third nonGP grandfather in salary? Surely the Galaxy is persuing that player as well.

Also, who will be the first FCD player that gets headbutted, elbowed, or punched the first time Ruiz plays us? we should start placing our bets now. I’m going with Moor, although I can see him picking on the undersized McCarty

Hey, Buzz, a question . . .

After reading the concerns of people over on BS about who will take Ruiz’ place / provide the goals, now that FCD just has Cooper, Oduro, Thompson, and whoever is brought in (that we don’t know about) as forwards, do you think the team will have trouble (or is it doomed as a few seem to think)? Or can the current players plus new one(s), in your view, combine to get more points on the score sheet than they did last season?

Just wondering/curious . . .

Believe that the 3rd is Eddie Johnson. And it appears that Fulham have beaten LA to him.

Buzz,

Do you see this as a move to free up money to keep Cooper happy? Does FCD have a replacement for Ruiz in their ranks? Or will they go shopping for one?

Thanks.

What is Steven doing??? This was his leader who was going to take this team to the promised land when he named him TEAM CAPTAIN!!!

Adam, it doesn’t appear FCD is on the hook for any of Ruiz’s salary.

Hutch, no it’s not the end of the world, I’ll get into why I think so later.

Seaotter, FCD has already been searching for Ruiz’s replacement. Morrow told me today he has 2 or 3 players they are looking at as possible replacements. I think we should maybe hear something this week perhaps.

Let the knee-jerks begin.

Any chance that like the Goodson-Davino thing, Morrow has something lined up for when Ruiz moved on? It isn’t as if the Ruiz trade information hasn’t been known to the team for quite some time - surely enough time to be looking for a replacement.

We’ll just have to wait and see whether Steve can get the player he wants and whether he and Davino can adapt to the league.

Cool, thanks, Buzz!

I mean . . . I dont have a long history with the team, just this past season, but I became addicted enough that i started taping and saving games, and then I’ve been re-watching games on the weekends — partly to feed the FCD-starved addiction and partly to understand the team’s tactics, skills, or lack thereof. I can name two games, at least (from those that I’ve watched lately) — 6/23 against COL and 9/20 against CHI — where Ruiz DID have chances but missed at least several times. He could also be brilliant — I love his goal in the 9/20 game. But I just got sick of the antics . . . especially since he was the team’s captain.

Good luck, Carlos (although, I refuse to root for LA). I think you can be a great guy, but I really won’t miss you.

What a glorious day, I do not have to watch a lazy, no running and hardly any goal scoring player that is clearly on declined. First time hear he will run five yards, fall, grab an ankle and ask why there is no penalty. Great trade.

Dynamo Joseph says…
Losing Ruiz will give your team some dignity. They guy flops, cries, and makes the sport look foolish more than any other player in the league. Hopefully your team can follow by hiring a coaching staff that plays the game the way it should be rather than making a mockery of the game.

How much allocation money did we get, Buzz?

I don’t know. I’m trying to find out.

i dont know if SM had the Davino deal locked up when they left Goodson unprotected. They just knew Goodson was wanting to go to Europe (even if it meant a 2nd division Norwegian side) pretty badly. I was under the impression that Davino kinda fell into their laps after contacting them about the league….

I’m really curious to see who SM has in mind to replace Carlos. Anyone have any thoughts on the type of striker that would gel best with what we have? I’m thinking a striker that links well with the midfield for short passes (i.e. not a poacher) since we don’t seem to have the players or tactical form to create much service from the wings.

Dynamo Joseph…yeah, a mockery of the game. Like maybe trying to kick their opponent in the head while on the ground and get nine-game suspensions?!? That’s nice.
Very classy dignity there…

Does anyone know who’s slated to be the captain next year? Davino, Pablo, Serioux maybe

I have mixed feelings seeing Ruiz go. As a fellow chapin, i root for him everytime he plays for the Guatemalan Nat’l Team, but having seen him for his entire FCD career, he just too inconsistent and relies on posting up/flooping. FCD has some quality players to hand the FW position to (oduro, cooper, ricardinho, thompson) that it makes sense to dump a guy who hasn’t lived up to his production for the past two seasons.
I think this is a good move for the future. FCD does need to plan for Coop and Alvarez being out for Nat’l team duties so we need another striker.
Good luck in LA, Carlos.

Good riddance to bad rubbish! Ever since I became an FCD two years, I’ve been hoping that they’d trade or sell this guy (his flopping will help LA set a few Beckham free kicks, though). There are plenty of guys on the roster that are better suited to be captains. Can’t wait to see who the next signings are.

Buzz, once you figure out the allocation, could you break down FCD’s cap space and allocation options?

Pablo for captain. He plays hurt and gives it his all unlike some other players who were on the team last year. *cough*Goodson Ruiz*cough*

SM has said for the last few weeks that Ruiz was gone. So now he is.

SM also said that he was expecting to bring on 2-3 new players and that was before Davino. You would have to believe that one of those players is a mobile striker and the other a playmaking mid.

If you all remember that trade involving Ruiz that didn’t go down it was to bring in a CB. I think Davino was not part of the original equation. Somethimes you just have to be lucky.

Not upset about seeing Ruiz go, but don’t think FCD got enough in return. With the allocation money and salary cap space, it looks like FCD switched out Ruiz for Davino and a 2d round pick

It’s not like Ruiz’ stock was real high after last season. Sounds like FCD wanted his salary gone.

Does anyone see any other moves of current vets? I don’t see Gbandi on this team next year. And if they keep Saragosa, where does Serioux play? I’m thinking Juan and Pablo as holding mids.

I’ll be the first to predict 20 goals for Ruiz in ‘08 if Becks plays 20 games or more.

Ruiz languished here from lack of service. I think he’ll get it out in LA.

Is it time to start the STEVE MORROW CAREER DEATH WATCH BLOG yet? Probably, he probably doesn’t survive into 2009 and maybe not 2008. We lost Ruiz, Goodson, Oscar, Gbandi, Cooper, oh wait the last haven’t been announced yet. SM has added one old overpaid defender and that sound like his mentor CC.

FCD needed to get rid of a International spot for Davino and they did with Ruiz. They needed to get rid of a Int spot and Marcelo is getting a green card. they needed to get rid of a Int spot and Denilson is gone. salary was big for Ruiz so they got rid of it and even got $$$ back in exchange. not bad, but not great.

Methinks that FCD will go after a forward (duh) and another outside back. Iro in the draft, the rb from our CAP partners and maybe a forward from SMs trip to Europe. remember, Kenny is not a target forward just cuz he’s 6′3″.

just because you dont like the guy it doesn’t mean you have to accept whatever they throw at you.

if you are excited about a new season with the likes of Cooper, Oduro and Thompson…then you are simply mediocre.

last year, it wasn’t about Carlos’ failures. it was about a system of play that is not productive. you do not implement a system of play and force the players to adjust. instead you design a system of play that is the right fit for the players you got.
the problem is that i dont even think that’s the direction you are going even now after dumping Ruiz. There is no Vision! so that falls on management and coaching staff. Regardless of who they bring as forward and even if he scores 15 instead of Ruiz’s 7..FC wont win a thing! hire me FC Dallas

I am glad to see Ruiz go, but I think this trade sucks. Trading the marquee name and captain of your team for a 2nd round pick sounds like rebuilding to me. I thought we were tweaking for a run at some hardware.

Can someone explain to me how “allocation money” works? Maybe I’m missing something here. I hope so.

TT, Davino’s agent first contacted FCD quite a while ago.

Steve, yeah sure. I need some more info first.

Frisco, Gbandi is out. It’s likely a three headed monster of Serioux, Ricchetti and Saragosa playing two spots.

Skeeter, Allocation money is a chuck of money that can be used to sign a player. It can go toward his transfer fee or toward knocking some off his salary cap number. In essence it’s a check for cap money. So it will help FCD sign a player cheaper.

Remember- we also have a 23 year old striker in Roberto Mina.

I was high on his game before the injuries. If he gets back where he needs to be, that’ll do great things for this club.

Yes, but he needs to sign up for Weight Watchers first.

Seems like we have no shortage of players who have or could play holding mid roles, but lack of attacking mids.

I agree that Serioux and Ricchetti are first picks (and I hope Pablo gets the armband too).

Marcello and Dax have both played that role, as has Pitch. Bobby has played there too. Didn’t Toja start out as a D-Mid too?

Seems like our options are much more limited in attacking mids. Alvarez is a lock in that role and he’s definitely an attacking mid. Toja is probably designated as an attacking mid but often appears to play a dual role rather than dedicated to attack, same for Dax, but maybe this was because they were forced into doing that. Nobody else really comes to mind here (I have purged Denilson from my mind).

“Losing Ruiz will give your team some dignity. They guy flops, cries, and makes the sport look foolish more than any other player in the league.”

I’ll take flopping if it comes with goals anyday.

That said, I think this is an ok trade. I like Ruiz and I’m sad to see him go, but it seems like FCD just needs to move in a new direction, with new players. Of course, that’s what the team has done in this incarnation and the past each time they’ve suffered a setback, and it hasn’t worked so far. So, maybe I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about.

Buzz,

I was reading over the MLS Rules and there seemed to be some correlation between allocation money and having first dibs on US players returning from overseas.

Does the Ruiz Trade give FC Dallas a better shot at getting a player like Benny Feilhaber or Lee Nguyen.