Jesse Marsch was completely within his rights to select Brian Ching in the expansion draft. However, selecting Ching was a short-sighted and potentially dumb move that could end up biting him in the ass.
And I’m not talking about the political reasons that it was misguided – although they are not insignificant. MLS is a single entity league and the clubs do scratch each other’s backs from time to time. By demonstrating straight out of the gate that he doesn’t play well with others, Marsch is already going to be viewed with scepticism. He can overcome that – teams still dealt with Mo Johnston after all – but it’s a risk. If the Impact are in need of some allocation later this year you can expect that they won’t be calling Houston to see if a deal can be worked out.
However, as stated, the reason this move doesn’t make sense is not political. Rather, it’s just a poor soccer decision.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Ching is a broken player that is paid max money. He had two fewer goals in 2011 than Chad Barrett. He has already indicated that he’s going to retire after the 2012 season and was candid in telling the world that he would hang them up early if the Impact selected him. The only reason Ching wanted to play in 2012 at all is because he wanted to be there to open Houston’s new stadium.
Ching is loyal to the Houston Dynamo. He will retire as a Dynamo because it’s important to him. If the Impact won’t deal him back at a fair price he’ll make peace with the fact that he’ll be in a suit at the stadium opening, rather than in his boots. There’s always the possibility of a testimonial after all.
If you believe the player to be bluffing, you’re probably not paying attention. Houston will work with Montreal to find a reasonable deal -- to a point. However, if the Impact expect the sun and the moon (or Andre Hainault) they’ll likely be disappointed.
Hainault is, of course, the carrot (forgive the pun) that most Montreal fans are hoping for. A home town boy returning to Montreal – it makes sense. Well, except for one nagging detail. In 2012 terms, Hainault is of much, much greater value than Ching to a MLS team. The Impact might be able to swing a deal for him, but it’s not going to be straight up for Ching and it’s likely going to involve the first overall pick in the SuperDraft. That would be a big price for a player that, it’s been suggested, is looking to go back to Europe after the 2012 season.
What could Montreal reasonably expect? Allocation, maybe. Perhaps Houston’s natural pick in the first round (18th overall). Could Montreal have found something of greater value in the expansion draft? Absolutely they could, which is why selecting Ching was a mistake.
And we haven’t touched on the worst case scenario for Montreal yet – that Ching actually shows up to play. Then they would be stuck with an old, disgruntled, broken down $400,000 cap hit.