Trade Ruiz?

That's what you call "cut and paste" :)

Jen, I am incredibly impressed. And there's going to be no telling me you didn't compile that yourself in under ten seconds :-) .

Diane, here's the 33 player pool that he just announced:

U.S. Men’s National Team Player Pool
May 22-June 9, 2008
Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Birthdate Caps/G Hometown Club
Adu, Freddy M 5'8" 140 6/2/1989 4/0 Potomac, Md. SC Benfica (Portugal)
Altidore, Jozy F 6'1" 175 11/6/1989 3/1 Boca Raton, Fla. New York Red Bulls (MLS)
Beasley, DaMarcus M 5'8" 145 5/24/1982 68/15 Ft. Wayne, Ind. Glasgow Rangers (Scotland)
Bocanegra, Carlos D 6'0" 170 5/25/1979 55/9 Alto Loma, Calif. Fulham FC (England)
Bradley, Michael M 6'2" 175 7/31/1987 16/1 Cedar Grove, N.J. SC Heerenveen (Holland)
Califf, Dan D 6'1" 175 3/17/1980 16/1 Orange, Calif. FC Midtjylland (Denmark)
Cervi, Dominic GK 6'6" 205 7/9/1986 0/0 Norman, Okla. Out of Contract
Cherundolo, Steve D 5'6" 145 2/19/1979 44/2 San Diego, Calif. Hannover 96 (Germany)
Ching, Brian F 6'1" 195 5/24/1978 26/5 Haleiwa, Hawaii Houston Dynamo (MLS)
Clark, Ricardo M 5'10" 150 5/10/1983 13/1 Jonesboro, Ga. Houston Dynamo (MLS)
Cooper, Kenny F 6'3" 210 10/21/1984 2/1 Dallas, Texas FC Dallas (MLS)
DeMerit, Jay D 6'0" 185 12/4/1979 6/0 Green Bay, Wis. Watford FC (England)
Dempsey, Clint F 6'1" 170 3/9/1983 38/9 Nacogdoches, Texas Fulham FC (England)
Donovan, Landon F 5'8" 148 3/4/1982 99/35 Redlands, Calif. Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS)
Edu, Maurice M 6'0" 170 4/18/1986 4/0 Fontana, Calif. Toronto FC (MLS)
Feilhaber, Benny M 5'9" 150 1/19/1985 16/2 Irvine, Calif. Derby County (England)
Gaven, Eddie M 6'0" 165 10/25/1986 5/0 Hamilton, N.J. Columbus Crew (MLS)
Guzan, Brad GK 6'4" 210 9/9/1984 5/0 Homer Glen, Ill. Chivas USA (MLS)
Hejduk, Frankie D 5'8" 155 8/5/1974 75/6 Cardiff, Calif. Columbus Crew (MLS)
Howard, Tim GK 6'3" 210 3/6/1979 28/0 North Brunswick, N.J. Everton FC (England)
Jaqua, Nate F 6'3" 180 10/28/1981 2/0 Eugene, Ore. Out of Contract
Johnson, Eddie F 6'0" 180 3/31/1984 32/11 Palm Coast, Fla. Fulham FC (England)
Kljestan, Sacha M 6'1" 150 9/9/1985 5/0 Huntington Beach, Calif. Chivas USA (MLS)
Lewis, Eddie M 5'10" 155 5/17/1974 75/9 Cerritos, Calif. Derby County (England)
Mastroeni, Pablo M 5'10" 170 8/26/1976 56/0 Phoenix, Ariz. Colorado Rapids (MLS)
Onyewu, Oguchi D 6'4" 210 5/13/1982 30/4 Olney, Md. Standard de Liege (Belgium)
Orozco, Michael D 5'11" 160 2/7/1986 0/0 Orange, Calif. San Luis (Mexico)
Pearce, Heath D 5'10" 175 8/13/1984 11/0 Modesto, Calif. Hansa Rostock (Germany)
Perkins, Troy GK 6'2" 190 7/29/1981 0/0 Worthington, Ohio Valerenga IF (Norway)
Rogers, Robbie F 5'10" 165 5/12/1987 0/0 Huntington Beach, Calif. Columbus Crew (MLS)
Seitz, Chris GK 6'4" 205 3/12/1987 0/0 San Luis Obispo, Calif. Real Salt Lake (MLS)
Spector, Jonathan D 6'0" 180 3/1/1986 12/0 Arlington Heights, Ill. West Ham United (England)
Wolff, Josh F 5'8" 160 2/25/1977 50/9 Stone Mountain, Ga. 1860 Munich (Germany)

Galaxy web-site doesn't include Donovan in list of players going on international duty (including England v USA match), anyone know if that's just an oversight?

I agree, Ruiz needs to stay put 'cause he will be an asset when he gets back up to speed. The offense could be incredible with Beckham, Donovan and Ruiz. How do you possibly cover all of them. Hopefully whom ever is pulling the strings and we all know who that is, work on our problem area- defense. Waive X-man (I hate to say that cause I like his style of play at times), Vagenas and Buddle (trade?). With the new cap space we can pick up another defender. With Klien, Franklin, Vanney(Javic) and whom ever we pick up should shore up our defense enough to start improving.

Next area is GK. Play Wicks, you can see in his style of play how much more confident he is in his actions and leadership with the defense. Give him a chance and I think we may see some good out of him. He can do no worse than Cronin, right? We are not that far off from having a good solid team.

My thought is that, last we checked, Ruiz is still actually good at his job. So, while it makes some sense to do something to strengthen the defense, trading Ruiz should be relatively low on the list of options. I'd prefer trading at least two of the following: Vagenas, Xavier, and Vanney. Even if we couldn't trade them, we could simply waive them and recoup the cap space, right?

Oooooh, Bocanegra. What a dream that would be!

I've been thinking how nice it would be to get Brian McBride as well. Can you imagine him at the end of Becks' crosses? Of course there's no room for him right now. Maybe we'll get to see them connect in an All-Star game down the road.

dont trade ruiz. he's hurt and nobody likes damaged goods. also he will really help the offense when he returns. alan gordon has said that he prefers to come in around the 60th minute so that works in favor of the galaxy. as for defense, they should try and offload abel, jazic, and pires as a package for a good defender(i.e. marshall or albright seeing as they are bring back former players this season). plus that opens up so much needed cap room

What about Cory Gibbs, he's bound to come back to the MLS and may not be that costly, just a thought. I agree Bocanegra would be a great addition and since he's wasn't getting the playing time at Fulham I'm sure he'll be going elsewhere. It'll be interesting to see what happens when the transfer window opens up, what does Lalas have up his sleeve.

The Chicago trade for Conde and Barrett makes some sense to me, but generally my reaction to this idea is no, no, no. The author says Buddle will do in a pinch. I say Gordo will do in a pinch. Gordo does get goals, but he isn't consistent.

Did anyone see Ruiz play in person when he was with the Galaxy. It was truly something to see. Though it was years ago, I still remember a game where he was loitering around the top of the box with a couple of defenders near him. He looked like he had just lost interest and I was about to complain. Then the ball is centered into him and in a split second he kicked sideways and up and rocketed it between the two defenders and past the keeper. He is a lazy, good for nothing, flopping bum who is capable of scoring the most amazing goals you have ever seen time and time again. partner that with Donovan and Beckham and you have options. Without it, you have two players that need to be marked.

I have said before that I love Klein. I really do. But he has no place here anymore, except as a backup to Becks. And he is too expensive to keep for that role. Xavier was absolutely amazing his first three games and has never gotten back to that level. Vagenas has always been mediocre. Ship all of them out and bring in some new defenders or a good keeper.

One other wild card that will never happen. Bocanegra has said he is leaving Fulham. Wouldn't it be nice to replace Xavier with him. I know, a dream. It'll never happen.

Keep Chris, the team is still too green without him and he brings significantly more athleticism along with his experience than Xavier does.

The one thing we keep hearing from Gullit is how different the team is in practice and in games. There are young players with the composure to look, think and move all at the same time in real matches, but not a lot, especially in what are high pressure situations -- which in MLS will mean just about every Galaxy game. So Gullit needs players who can settle the team while they're still learning.

Gullit wants more vocal leadership, which isn't going to come from the keeper at this point. Vanney and Xavier will have their heads down trying to keep up with whoever they're marking and Beckham, who has the best eye for the game, is too responsible for distribution to consistently run the game. I see Donovan still taking on some of that role as well. But there's enough on the job training to be done during these matches that Chris stays valuable for that alone.

Plus, he's gotten better AND faster since last season. How does that happen?

I agree we shouldn't consider trading him. We can get just about the same bang for the buck by trading Xavier and the bench, and still have Ruiz as a lethal soring option.

Before even making any trades, the first option for the LA Galaxy as an operation is to get rid of the moron who has put this team in such a position - aka Alexi Lalas. It is time to get a GM who knows how to actually be a GM - evaluate talent, juggle a budget with a puzzling salary cap, run an organization such is the LA Galaxy. Someone in the mold of Doug Hamilton - the model GM of which Lalas is far from it. Someone who can communiate with a coach and let him be the coach that you hired and get those players he wants and not the players you want. Once that is complete then make the necessary trades.
Let's face it - this team is barely going to break even with or without Ruiz and come next year both Ruiz & possibly Donovan will be gone unless the Galaxy can get another DP allocation. I highly doubt MLS will allow another year to go on for the Galaxy to have 2 contracts with only one DP allocation.

You're right about one thing: adding a little defense to this LA Galaxy team would move them from strugglers to contenders.

Why would anyone in MLS trade _for_ Xavier? The only way to get rid of him would be to waive him. Gotta do it before July 15th when all contracts become guaranteed.

As much as I love what Chris Klein does for the team as currently constituted, the trade of him for Findley and Sturgis was a huge mistake that I will never understand.

Walsh's article doesn't really make any strong arguments for a trade, except for the Chicago option. So really, there seems to be no good trade for Ruiz. So why not keep him and start planning for some high scoring games. Though I am an Abel fan, in general, if we could trade him for a younger model that would be great. But whoever you put in Abel's position, they need to have his instinct for where and when to be during the game. So a relative rookie won't cut it. Because though Abel is often slow and good for one major error per game, I notice that when he is not in the game we lack a defensive player who has an instinct for anticipating the opponents offense. That's what we need at the center back in order to hold the line.

Help, I'm post-2005, was that a Donovan-Ruiz dilemma? Cliff notes por favor.

2005 called, they want their dilemma back

Brilliant!

Ok, I admit I'm not really following the discussions over here at the La Galaxy blog but when I saw that comment, I HAD to come over.

And honestly, I forgot Ruiz plays for the Gals again. Wow, Mtv generation indeed.

2005 called, they want their dilemma back

...that would be the league looking like a bunch of players being "moved" among teams...

My thoughts too Laurie. I like Walsh's columns whether I agree with him or not and his depiction of Lalas was a blast here, plus a good reminder that all hell could break lose any second now.

The league does start to look like a bunch of players being among the teams at a dizzying rate in hopes of the right combo ending up someplace -- kind of like when everyone within marrying distance is your cousin ;-) .

That might be the way with the salary structure, or Gullit might be right with the trying to teach who he's got approach OR maybe its a combo! Either way, I thought the European x-fer window was mind boggling, but this... MLS could have the best of something for those fans who enjoy that almost as much as the game, and who don't suffer from separation anxiety or have abandonment issues of course.

We all know I'm not the biggest Ruiz fan. But why would we trade him when he's almost healthy and we haven't seen what he can do yet? After the other night, I'm thinking just dump Abel and bring in somebody for the same salary who can still run.

No,
Keep him. Get rid af Abel, Pete, and Greg. Ante is expensive but can play(maybe). We get rid of those three salaries we can bring in talent from within or outside of the league. Even a lower division dutch player, will play better then Abel. I think talent wise the defense is not all that bad, losing Cannon is really bad for us; by about 6 points on the table, and costing us a goalie who commands his area. We need Marcus Hanheman from Reading or someone like him. We can no longer have a small time goalie in net. Ruud is talking about vocal leadership, it comes from between the pipes, and their is only a canary singing in that coal mine right now.