With Paul Mariner having confirmed that TFC has the ability to add a DP to replace Danny Koevermans (and will even get some cap relief – likely half a season) we can turn our attention to the more important question.
Should they?
As I demonstrated a couple days ago in breaking down the anatomy of the San Jose Earthquakes roster, the most effective way to build a championship contending team in MLS is to put together a core of players that will stay with the club through several years. The very nature of the long-term injury rule is temporary.
Sure you can add a DP calibre forward to replace Koevermans, but that player can not be a DP when the big Dutchman returns. That isn’t all that beneficial if your goal is to build that core.
If Toronto were legitimately in a playoff hunt then maybe a rental makes sense. However, there is also a very real possibility that Toronto could spin into an absolute funk without reinforcement. Some will claim such considerations as being cynical, but the front office does have to worry about losing too many fans moving forward.
The easiest thing to do is nothing – no matter how much you hate MLSE you can’t blame them for Koevermans injury. They can easily claim that they were turning things around under Mariner before the bad luck of this injury took them down again.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]So, if the club does try and go after a short-term DP it will be hard to criticise them too much. They will be putting themselves under further pressure than they are right now.
It would be easier said than done, of course. There aren’t a lot of DP quality guys that would be willing to come in for half a year. You would essentially be looking at players already in the league that were likely to retire or move back to Europe at the end of the season. Eric Hassli, maybe Juan Pablo Angel. TFC would take these guys on to help stop the bleeding, their current clubs would be helped by either getting the salary off the books (Angel) or opening up another DP slot (Hassli).
Toronto could make a non-DP offer to both for 2013, but it seems highly unlikely that either would be all that thrilled at a move to Ontario.
It’s a bit too much to say it’s a non-starter, but it is unlikely.
The need to get rid of the rental DP at the end of the year speaks to an assumption. That is that Toronto needs help at the back-end more and that a full, long-term DP pick-up would have to be there. There is, of course, the option to forget a DP defender and instead opt for another long-term forward DP.
Other than Alessandro Del Piero – a player currently rumoured to be in talks with pretty much every team in the league – Toronto has not been linked with anyone that would meet that description.
However, if the Reds surprise us and come up with a player like Koevermans that would be willing to commit to TFC for a few years then the Reds would be stupid to pass it up, even if it meant bypassing a defender DP signing.
You can get help at the back-end without spending DP money. There are also worse things than letting the young kids currently playing to continue to learn in 2012, a season that is pretty much dead.
And, it’s that idea that is the essence of the third option Toronto has to address Koevermans loss. Instead of going for a big name, the Reds could try and pry a younger forward prospect off of another MLS team.
The club would likely be attacked by some if they go that route, but it might be the most solid long-term plan. Bring in a kid (and there is little use speculating as to who that may be because the nature of this strategy is that the player is flying under the radar now in an underused role) and let him run for half a year. You might be surprised.
They need to bring in a forward. Full stop. There simply is no depth if they don’t. How Mariner handles this unexpected crisis will tell TFC fans a great deal about his ability to finally build this club into something worth celebrating.
The window closes in 13 days.