It was moving day for the Vancouver Whitecaps as they announced a number of roster moves. In total the club picked up options on eleven players while declining ones on eight.
In addition to Golden Boot winner Camilo, the Caps will be bringing back regular contributors Nigel Reo-Coker, Russell Teibert, Gershon Koffie, Jordan Harvey, Carlyle Mitchell and Matt Watson. Also included in the returning players are Bryce Alderson, Erik Hurtado, Omar Salgado and Aminu Abdallah.
In a statement club president Bob Lenarduzzi stated, <i>"We’re very excited about the core we have in place and the opportunity to build around these players."
"With the combination of young and veteran players in the fold, our 2014 roster is heading in the right direction and we will attempt to strengthen it even further this off-season."</i>
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There were eight players whose options were declined. Four will be available for the MLS re-entry draft (Joe Cannon, Tommy Heinemann, Corey Hertzog and Brad Knighton), with Jun Marques Davidson, Daigo Kobayashi, Brad Rusin and Simon Thomas available now to talk to other teams and join Greg Klazura who was released a few days ago for the waiver draft.
There is a chance that some of the players released could be brought back at a lower salary as Lenarduzzi confirmed.
<i>"Some degree of roster turnover is expected at this time of year and although we have declined options on certain players, we will continue to have conversations with a couple players about opportunities moving forward."</i>
Of the players that were retained the one that is looking at a significant raise is Nigel Reo-Coker, who was initially rumoured to be a potential future DP player after playing his first season at a reduced salary. His option guarantees him an increase and even if it is not to that level his charge against the cap will most likely be the biggest.
Because of the cap number there are only three players that the Caps could likely to bring back at lower numbers.
Keeper Joe Cannon could be brought back as a backup, coupled with a front office role, while Brad Rusin and Daigo Kobayashi are other options at lower salaries. Both are also likely to have suitors elsewhere, but likely not on their current salary levels.
The other players have little wiggle room to be brought back with pay cuts.
Matt Watson is now the only one of Martin Rennie’s former Carolina RailHawks to be retained by the club, with the four others being part of the release list.
Jun Marques Davidson has been a polarizing figure and that may have played a part in his release. He was certainly good value at a guaranteed $78,019 and could find himself heading to Chicago where Frank Yallop is a fan of his. His release should see opportunities for Johnny Leveron, Gershon Koffie or Bryce Alderson to add something in that holding midfield role.
The biggest surprise of the players released was goalkeeper Simon Thomas who was being touted by some as the potential backup to David Ousted.
The Canadian international was on a low salary ($35,125), had domestic status and came through the Whitecaps Residency system. Both Joe Cannon and Marius Røvde had spoken highly of the young Canadian and indicated that they saw him as the future of the club.
When we <a href="http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?5033-Simon-Thomas-always-looking-to-be-the-number-one" target="_blank"><u>spoke with him</u></a> a few weeks back, a release wasn't really something we expected to happen.
With no coach officially confirmed, there are questions as to who made these decisions for the club. How much input did the assistants, who are still under contract, and interviewees have or was this decided by Lenarduzzi and Greg Anderson to clear space under the cap to entice a potential candidate?
With Y.P. Lee’s retirement and the players released today the Whitecaps have just under one million in cap space. This obviously doesn’t include any raises for players like Reo-Coker and allocation money which can buy down a cap number.
Kenny Miller's large contract and whether he returns to Vancouver is another significant figure to potentially factor in for availability of funds.
That number could also increase when the status of captain Jay DeMerit is decided. He could be brought back at a lower number or not brought back at all. He has made it clear that he feels he knows what he is worth and is looking for that value.
At $375,000 guaranteed right now, and with a lot of centreback cover and the likes of Jackson Farmer coming through the Residency, it could still be that both parties remain far apart in their valuations.
The next step for the Whitecaps will be signing the new coach so he can make that decision as well as having enough time to fill the holes currently on the roster.
It's going to continue to be a busy and interesting offseason.
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