Galaxy Draft and Transfer Update

“The Vasectomy, where balls go to die, Chad Barrett!” — du Nord

“Chad Barrett can’t hit the side of a barn with a cruise missile.” — Our own Nathan HJ

It seems that everything is changing and everything remains the same. Last year the Galaxy had a fairly solid back line, an unsettled midfield, and a shaky strike force. After two handfuls of roster changes, they now have a fairly solid back line, an unsettled midfield, and a shaky strike force.

To sum up the outgoing: Klein and Lewis retired, Kovalenko’s option was declined, Bowen was traded to Chivas, and Buddle signed with Ingolstadt in Germany.

To sum up the incoming: they signed Hejduk in the re-entry draft, picked up Adam Cristman and Chad Barrett in trades, and drafted Paolo Cardozo and Hector Jimenez.

Hejduk is a solid defender and a passionate, experienced player, but he is old and can be little more than a backup.

I honestly don’t know that much about Cristman. He is a forward, has been in the league four years, is 26-years old, and has had moderate success and some injury problems. Sounds okay, but is he really an improvement over Bowen or even Magee?

Barrett, as you can see from the quotes above, is a much derided striker. He has been in MLS for 6 years and is 25, I think. He is at least well known and has had some success in the past. But the fact that Toronto let him go for “future consideration” does not speak highly of him. And a tweet by Ives suggested Toronto is still paying part of his salary. I suppose Barrett is a step up from Bowen or Kirovski, but not a convincing one.

Cardozo is a 21-year old midfielder from Argentina. Jimenez is a 20-year old midfielder from California. They were the 16th and 34th picks respectively. That’s about all I know of them. It’s good to have some younger players with potential to bolster the midfield. But neither seems likely to do anything to improve our midfield beyond adding depth.

The one big name missing from this list is Juan Pablo Angel. The Galaxy obtained rights to his contract in the re-entry draft, but have yet to negotiate a deal with him. A week ago I saw a report that JPA had rejected the Galaxy’s last offer. Today I saw a rumor that the Revs had approached him about a contract. The Revs would still need to acquire rights from the Galaxy, but I’d much rather have Angel than anything the Revs have to offer. With Buddle gone it seems to me that JPA is a critical signing for the team. But I am beginning to lose hope that it will happen.

The other significant question mark remaining for me is Juninho. I have heard nothing about his future with the Galaxy. I believe the loan has expired, but the website still shows him on the team and I’ve heard no reports on a deal either way. So, we’ll see.

There is still a supplemental draft to be held and there may still be trades and other shenanigans before the season starts in about 60 days. But as things presently stand, it seems to me that the back line is slightly improved, the midfield is about the same, and the front line is weakened. Not an inspiring way to start the season. If we could just make this the City of Angel….

On a more local note, you may have noticed that I am neither Nathan nor Jen. After spending the last three months incessantly monologuing in the comments section, I have finally broken through and been invited to be a poster for this site. Though you will recognize me from the comments section as DavidS, I took on the moniker DAS for my posts. I think it has a more mysterious and alluring sound to it that I’m certain will attract scads of new readers. It does also have the added benefit of avoiding me being confused with the millions of other soccer fans out there named David. As is typical of my comments, I plan to stick to more color commentary and leave the detailed reporting to Nathan. But hopefully I can provoke some conversation and add a little spice. In any event, I look forward to contributing what I can.

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Category: Player News