What Does the Ruiz Deal Mean for the Galaxy?

By: Laurie | January 15th, 2008

What are the stages of grief? Anger, denial, bargaining, depression, acceptance, right?

I’m not at “acceptance” yet. (And to make my life even worse, my newly beloved team, the scrappy, bankrupt little Luton Town, are currently getting slaughtered by Liverpool. And I have a ferocious headache. It’s one of those days.)

But this isn’t about me and my gag reflex, so let’s take an unbiased look at what the Carlos Ruiz acquisition means for the Galaxy. (I think I can manage unbiased for one post. Look, see? I picked a neutral photo and not a diving one. Just recognize that it’s hard for me, okay?)

Here’s the driving force behind the acquisition: David Beckham delivers great crosses. The Galaxy last year had nobody who could get on the end of them consistently. Ruiz has the potential. He was a goal-scoring machine when he was in LA before. It could happen again.

Stats taken from Wikipedia (which is never wrong):

LA Galaxy, 2002-2005. 72 games, 50 goals. Extremely impressive. If he could do that again… Well, I’d still complain about his diving, but I’d also happily accept his presence on the team.

FC Dallas 2005-2007. 65 games, 31 goals. Not quite as high, but still impressive. Better than anyone we had last year.

Here’s one of the things that concerns me, though. Most of those goals seem to have come in the first year. His stats for last year? From the FC Dallas website: 22 games, 7 goals, one of them a PK. And two assists. At a DP salary. This would be why Dallas was ready to deal.

Ruiz is only 28. He should have at least a couple of good years still in him. With luck they will happen when he gets to LA. But that still leaves my biggest concern: Money.

Let’s not talk about total compensation, which doesn’t really matter for the team, because anything Ruiz is paid over $325,000 is paid by AEG and doesn’t affect the salary cap. (Although for the record, Ruiz was paid total compensation of $435,000 last year.) So let’s talk about the effect on the salary cap.

The cap for 2008 is reported to be $2.3 million. David Beckham, the first DP, counts $400,000 toward that. Landon Donovan and Carlos Ruiz will count $325,000 apiece. That’s $1,050,000 of salary cap taken up by three players.

My understanding (correct any factual errors if you see them) is that the team can have 10 developmental players who don’t count against the salary cap, right? And we’re also helped by the fact that Generation Adidas players don’t count, which means Israel Sesay, and possibly Quavas Kirk? (Does he still count under this rule?)

So with a roster of 28, minus the three DPs, the 10 developmentals, and the two Gen. Adidas players, we’ll need to stretch the remaining $1,250,000 across 13 players. Which is just under $100,000 apiece. The big question: Can we field a competitive team for this, particularly given the inexperience of our entire defense now that Joe Cannon is gone? (If you want to try to run some numbers for yourself, the current salary list is here.)

It’s possible. The thing is, based on what happened last year I don’t have great faith in the front office’s ability to bring in bang for the buck. They tended to throw money at players who didn’t deliver and skimp on the players that did. (Chris Klein being the big exception.)

But back to the Ruiz deal. My other big concern is the grandfathered players rule. We now own two, plus a real DP. The “grandfather” rule was extended, but just for one season, right? So what happens if the Beckham-Donovan-Ruiz partnership delivers the magic, but MLS decides to play hardball with the Galaxy next year? (Hey, it could happen. No really. Stop laughing.) There’s no way we could afford three DP slots on the open market.

But that’s a problem for next year. For now our issues are:

1) Can Carlos Ruiz deliver the goods, and
2) Can we afford to build a good enough team around the Big Three to actually win games?

Leave comments and tell us what you think.