The Worst MLS Trades of 2007

Newcomers to MLS will find plenty of odd things. One of the most unique is the MLS transfer market. Because there isn’t one. Well not exactly, but the league uses the American model of trading and drafting instead, where all the players contracts are technically with the league itself and then the clubs trade between each other, swapping players for other players, as well as draft picks, allocations and exotic candies. OK, no exotic candies, but everything else is true. So while in the rest of the world you can more or less judge the success of a transfer by how much a player cost and how well he performs (eg Andriy Shevchenko, £30 million, not many goals, bad deal) MLS trades have to be judged by what you got and what you gave up.

The always interesting MLS pundit Ives Galarcep has listed what he thinks are the five worst trades in MLS this season. Click that link for the longer version, but here’s a summary.

1. Chivas USA – Amado Guevara from New York Red Bull for a designated player slot and third-round pick
Bob Bradley made this trade before departing for the US national team. Guevara and new Chivas coach Preki didn’t get along, he played like he didn’t care and after four very unimpressive games and one red card he was loaned out to Honduran club CD Motagua. But I’d argue Preki has made the best of a bad situation by beng brave enough to dump Guevara altogether and turning Chivas into one of MLS’s best teams.

2. Real Salt Lake – Freddy Adu and Nick Rimando from DC United for Jay Nolly, a major allocation and future considerations
Adu did nothing at Real Salt Lake, presumably saving himself for the U-20 World Cup. Some great displays earned him a move to Benfica, but RSL saw just $250,000 of the $2 million transfer fee. Unlike Chivas, RSL haven’t recovered and have looked dreadful all season.

3. Los Angeles Galaxy – Chris Klein from Real Salt Lake for Nathan Sturgis and Robbie Findley
Why deal away two promising youngsters (particularly Sturgis) for one old guy? Especially when there was another old guy on the way in the shape of Beckham. This trade suggests Galaxy are failing to think long term.

4. Columbus Crew – Andy Herron from Chicago Fire for the 2007 second overall draft pick
The crux of Galacerp’s argument is that Herron has been unimpressive and a second overall draft pick is valuable. Hard to argue.

5. New York Red Bulls – Kevin Goldthwaite from Toronto FC for Todd Dunivant and cash considerations
The weird thing here is that Dunivant is the better player, yet NYRB are apparently paying about $75,000 to cover the difference in salaries.

I’d agree with all Galacerp’s choices, but maybe not the ranking. Ultimately, it’s what happens on the field that matters. So while the Guevara trade was bad business, it didn’t ruin Chivas’ season. In some ways it provided Preki the opportunity to prove he’s not messing about and so helped shape a successful year for Chivas. The Freddy Adu trade didn’t work out, but RSL didn’t give up too much to get him and should receive a future allocation to compensate for his departure. I’d argue that the Klein and Herron deals were both madness because they suggest a lack of long term planning or faith in youth (especially with Sturgis lookig so promising) and the fact that the Dunivant trade is literally inexplicable says more than I ever could.

So which is the worst MLS trade of 2007?

Some Related Stories:

Category: MLS