So What’s Wrong With the Galaxy? Here’s One Possibility

By: Laurie | August 24th, 2007

After watching our makeshift backline turned into swiss cheese in the second half last night, I got to thinking about the salary cap and its effect on the team.

With a cap of $2.4 million, and $400,000 of that going to Beckham and $325,000 going to Landon, where does that leave us?

Actually, the Galaxy have a fairly high number of players with salaries over $100,000.* According to the player’s union, we have ten, to be exact: Albright, Beckham, Buddle, Cannon, Donovan, Jazic, Klein, Pavon, Vagenas, and Xavier. And if you could get them all on the field at one time, you might have a pretty good team. (Although we’ll each have a few names on the list that we’ll argue aren’t worth the price. Am I right?)

But when have they been on the field at the same time? Let’s see. Who in this group has had longterm injuries this season? Albright, Beckham, Jazic. And what about short-term injuries? Buddle and Xavier. (And hasn’t Pavon missed a game or two?) Add in the occasionally injured Cobi Jones at $95,000 and the currently injured Kelly Gray at $85,000…

Let’s see. What does that leave us? Let’s take a look at tonight’s defense. Yes, we had Klein, who wasn’t horrible, (but who prefers midfield.) He makes $180,000. After that we have Troy Roberts: $30,000. Mike Randolph: $17,700. And Kyle Veris: $17,700.

What’s the cost of having two designated players and a first string of highly compensated players? I hate to say it, because I love all these guys, especially the minimum wage guys, but the cost is that you have backups who can’t hold up to real competition. And last night proves it. (I’m still liking Mike Randolph, but he doesn’t have the experience to play next to two other young and inexperienced players.)

Or maybe that’s not it, because every team has their Developmental Players at minimum wage. They just tend not to have them on the field at one time, especially playing in close proximity to each other. Plus I would guess that other teams are also more likely to have full, twenty-eight person rosters rather than the Galaxy’s current twenty-five. How much do you think it would be worth to have three more options, given our current injury situation? Wouldn’t we be better off giving up, say, a $150,000 player and bringing on three $50,000 players?

But I’m sure this particular roster seemed like a good idea at the time.

*Sigh*

*In comparison, Chivas have three players over $100,000, with a top salary of $245,000 for Ante Razov. The other two are Claudio Suarez at $146,991.60 (yes, that’s the number) and Jesse Marsch at $100,000.

Some Related Galaxy Posts:

Category: MLS Money Matters, Off the Field, Player News

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justjack

Intriguing formula, Laurie. I also agree with the apparent consensus that there are multiple layers to the Problem, and when so many are solvable through management, it's a safe bet to let the buck stop at the top. I've never understood Yallop and he's been losing here since he came to LA so I just don't get how letting him stay isn't like peeing petrol into a bonfire. Ultimately Lalas has to take the blows and deserves a serious pummeling. I can see how his pricey idea for a dream team sounded swell, but... well, just look at what we have in front of us.

Thanks to Doug especially for bringing up the Cannon-Hartman thing. I was a huge El Gato fan from the very beginning and I just don't see anything all that stellar about Joe since he arrived. Everyone keeps saying he was MLS best of something or other and I haven't seen that in his performance (I generally try to pretend KC doesn't exist, always have). Ah hell, time for the anti-depressants.
Diane

It makes me a little nervous that Beckham might be in traction if the MEDICAL STAFF (where HAVE they been btw?) made the decision for him not to even travel.
A smaller irritant is the string of headlines saying Beckham Exhausted instead of Beckham injured. I feel like the little kid in the Emperor's New Clothes...are there so few of us that noted a pretty big difference between tiredness and pain on Wednesday night?
Mirna

I am with you Doug. I wish that Beckham didn't have to do all that traveling. But he wasn't the only one who did...in that case, the MLS schedule is at fault here. Whoever makes up the schedule at MLS needs a serious career change. What I am afraid of is that McClaren will call Beckham for the Euro games in September. What will we do then?
Doug

Mirna,

The same could be said about Steve McClaren. He made Beckham fly all the way to England *for a friendly*, knowing full well that Beckham was injured and had an important league game the next night. England have many options at that position yet he opted for Beckham.
jenl

In talking about DB missing Sunday's game in Colorado, Lalas says it's "regrettable that he will not get the opportunity to play in Colorado this season." What that really means is that Lalas is sorry that ticket sales aren't going to go through the roof in Colorado this Sunday.

I am so sick of this. Sure he's marketable. Of course. Absolutely I want to see him play. But he, himself, is not the Galaxy OR the MLS. The poor guy. Let him rest and heal and stop seeing dollar signs in front of your eyes. The whole thing smacks of DB being used. Can't we just get back to good, solid, soccer? That's what I want to see anyway.
Clint

Beckham not playing Sunday at Colorado. THANKS A LOT YOU F'IN CHIVAS BASTIDS!!!! Why weren't you on the field as Beckham's personal bodyguard last night, Laurie??
Mirna

Hmmm...Lalas or Yallop? Who should go? I am sorry to say that somebody has to. Lalas has made a mess out of our team and Yallop is just working with the team that Lalas gave him. The only thing that I have against Yallop right now is not knowing how to manage Beckham. Even if he wanted to play the full 90...it was dumb of him to allow him to. Two full 90's in 48 hours...that's not smart. David's face at the end of that game makes me nervous and I can't see him in uniform on Sunday but hey, he has said himself that he is stubborn so maybe.

All in all, I want Lalas out. What a disappointment. I used to be one of his biggest supporters but this is too much. Bye Alexi!!
Laurie

Nathan, according to an old Ives column, the Galaxy got "an undisclosed package of draft picks" for Hartman. I'm wondering if there's more to this story?
Chris

ooh, when you start breaking down all those trades/cuts, yeah, it's really a gutted side. OK, then, if this is a "rebuilding year", then for who? DB? There was all this hype created for his arrival, yet the main component seemed to be left out: a quality side for him to play with.

Boy, think about it: Marshall the veteran on defense, Ngwenya and Gomez shredding the defense to receive DB's thru-balls, El Gato stil patrolling the back lines. I think Lalas's ego got the best of him this year. Someone at AEG has to pull the trigger on either he or Yallop, na dright now I'd say the money's on Lalas.
Mirna

Laurie,

Great post. It definitely helps to visualize why and how we are in this mess. I completely agree that this a mess that Lalas created. He came in and took this team apart and made for a pretty uninspired team after all the injuries.

I do understand that there is nothing about the injuries. They happen and that's that but the difference in salaries here is the problem.

I agree with Nathan with most of the assesment on the trades because the Galaxy has been doing this since the beginning of this league. Always trading players that go to other teams to become good, if not great, players. If we look at every roster in the MLS, you find players that used to wear the Galaxy uniform.

But back to our problem here, it is difficult to see how we are going to manage to make it into the playoffs. We have lost precious six points in the last week and if we can't beat Colorado on Sunday, we have a tough road ahead.

Nathan...don't know if you read my post but I taped the NY game last night. If you still want a copy, let me know.
Nathanhj

Doug, I agree that the Cannon trade makes little sense because Hartman is a top notch keeper. I think we're probalby talking about a difference of 1-2 goals per year between the two of them.

But what we gave up to get him was ridiculous and I can't even remember what we got from KC for Hartman. Having Gomez (who I think was overrated after the 2005 season) on the wings would great help this team as would having Ihemelu in the back. I don't know how they decided that Hartman had to go and I applaud going out after the best, because Cannon is a top 3 MLS keeper (Onstad and Reis being the other two, with Guzan right behind), but it smacks of making a trade to make a trade. Colorado came out better on that one.

Angel - I'm totally fine with giving Jaqua away. That dude never produced for us, has the first touch of a chainsaw and can't finish. He hasn't done much at Houston either, which has a much better midfield than we do and therefore has these things called "crosses".

Back to the Cannon trade. IMHO that was the deal that started the destruction of the team. The Lost Season began there.

Fire Lalas and cut his balls off to keep him from breeding.
Doug

So for $42k, we get a goalkeeper who falls into the goal (with the ball) and gives RBNY the win. Great.
Angel

I blame all this to Alexi Lalas because of all the move and changing players he did while we all were waiting for Beckham to join the Team. Two players that would done the different are now with Houston Dynamo, Jaqua and forgot the other guys name. Jaqua could of been a good target for Beckham on all free & corner kicks. The Year hope we get a good Director of personell and bring the right people to this team
Laurie

Doug,

Current salaries: Hartman (KC) $150,000. Cannon (LA) $192,000.

So nope. That wasn't it.
Doug

I've never seen how Cannon is/was any better than Hartman. Did he demand less money? That must have been it because Hartman is by far the better keeper.
Laurie

Oh, P.S. You forgot the Hartman-Cannon-Ugo-Herculez trades. Since these were before my time, I'm wondering your thoughts on those.
Laurie

Nathan, I'm agreeing with you on pretty much everything, although I'm still undecided on Gray. He hasn't been incredibly consistent up to this point.

I'm also wondering if the hell-tackle on FrankenCooper was the deciding factor for Marshall, or was the trade in the works before that? By dumping Marshall when we did, we got Toronto to take over the short term burden of the three-game suspension. In a team lurching from week to week in search of just that one win, I'm wondering if that factored in.

It would have been interesting to have seen how the season would have played out with two solid and experienced central defenders rather than one. (I haven't been following -- how has Marshall been doing at Toronto? Anybody?) I think we'd be looking at a different team altogether. Although I'm not sure Marshall was precisely the person to make it happen.

What I found most interesting about the salaries was that we have such a huge disparity. Much more than other teams. It's very much like "first team" and "everybody else." Other teams are much flatter in terms of wage disparity, even ignoring the DPs.
Nathanhj

This roster is the result of the Lalas Destruction Factor.

It's not that we're paying people too much or too little, it's that the collection of high-priced players we have aren't producing. If they were producing, this injury bug would be hitting a team in contention for the playoffs, so there would be time to get healthy and still make 8th place.

Since you bring up all these players here's my take on the trades.

Findley-Sturgis for Klein: Disastrous. I like Klein. Really I do. But he's done. I understand why they wanted him, but I think Sturgis could have played out of position on the right back and we could have survived with Kirk on the right. We lose youth and potential and gain age and less cap space.

Marshall for Buddle: Incomprehensible. Supposedly helps bring Xavier in, but how monstrous would the defense have been with Xavier and Marshall on the field at the same time? Plus more mentoring for Harden. If Buddle was a goal scorer, this wouldn't bother me, but since he had that hip pointer back in 2002 or 2003 at Columbus he's been wretched.

Cutting Russell: I'm agnostic. Russell just wasn't able to play at this level any more.

Trading Quaranta: Good move.

Getting Gray: Decent. Gray is a little spendy salary-wise, but Harmse was gone and then injured so it made sense.

Trading/Cutting Nagamura: Stupid. Look what he does at Chivas.

Getting Martino: Good, but Kyle hasn't been fulfilling the promise of the first two months of the season. Too many cards, plus injuries.

Getting Xavier: Best move he's made. My favorite Galaxy player.

Getting Pavon: I had high hopes, but Pavon needs a quality midfield in order to thrive and we don't have the service for him.

Plus lost more I forget.

Overall: Too many moves after the season started. Guys need time to gel with each other and they didn't get it. Injuries and the Beckham Circus didn't help.

I thoroughly blame Lalas for all this. He knew in January he was getting Becks. He should have figured it out by March.

He should be gutted with a dull hunting knife by a deer that has survived hunting season. Payback is a 10-pointer with a Swiss Army Knife and a sick gleam of glee in its eyes.
Doug

And, you've summed up the situation perfectly in this post. It the only reason why Ty Harden has to start so many games. The writing was on the wall with Albright. We needed to trade him and get some cap space but you can't trade someone when they're injured.
Doug

Maybe we'll be able to get back some of the players we lost next season when we lose Donovan?
scott

I guess you can only expect so much from a team decimated by injuries and the "concept" that is their GM's plan for the future. I for one would like to see Lalas championing and supporting what he has in terms of players (he brought them in, right) rather than what he has in terms of marketability or branding. Is it any wonder why the guy getting paid nothing, forced to fill space for an injured 100,000+ player, is going to approach the game a little mildly. Right now he's working in the interest of commerce, not competition.

Four or five of those guys--Beckham, Cannon, and Xavier most significantly--left everything on the field last night while the rest of the team was completely shocking. They were heartless and unconvincing. I think maybe this is beyond injuries at this point. How does a patchwork team--who have been shown by the media and their organization that they are second-rate--get its soul back?
Diane

Brilliant. How did you do that? You even drew the image so well that I can picture the pitch. Ta.