A Numbers Game

The Major League Soccer players union released its list of player salaries this week. Unfortunately, the figures were updated as of March 31, so the guys, like TFC's Laurent Robert, who signed after Monday aren't listed.

But there's still plenty of interesting info available.

Around here, a lot of the off-season talk was about depth, and how you acquire it. I know a lot of teams feel constrained by the salary cap, and a lot of critics of the league abhor MLS's sub-CFL minimum salaries ($33K for a senior team member).

It might (but shouldn't) surprise you to know that I've thought long and hard about these things, and eventually it occurred to me that the teams with the most depth are the ones that can get the most out of the guys making next to no money. When you've got just over two million bucks to spread amongst roughly 24 guys, only so many players can make six figures. And when those guys get hurt or leave for international matches, the guys replacing them often make significantly less than the guys in the press box.

Granted, it's almost a given that a dramatic dropoff in quality follows the dropoff in salary, but some teams have figured out how to squeeze more production from less money.

Think about it this way.

Last Saturday in Columbus Adam Moffat gave the crew the only goal they would need. He makes all of $17,700 per year, which is less than minimum wage in Ontario (based on a 40-hour week, 52 weeks a year).

In New England's 3-0 win over Houston, the final goal came from a Gambian teenager named Sainey Nyassi, who also makes $17,700. And this wasn't a scrub scoring in garbage time. Nyassi and his minuscule salary started that game.

Now, when is the last time a TFC player scored a goal for that little money?

Answer: never.

Lowest paid player to score last season was Kevin Goldthwaite, who made a little over $30,000.

I'm not saying TFC's mismanaging their salary cap. I'm just saying there's more than one way to find success in this league. And while I'm as curious as TFC fans are eager to see what Laurent Robert will produce for the money TFC will pay him (safe bet that it's a lot more than $33,000), other teams are showing that there's plenty of value at the bottom of the pay scale if you look hard enough for it.

Numbers Game II

Take another look at Laurent Robert's official TFC bio. Note this set of numbers.

Height: 5-foot-8
Weight: 132 pounds

I didn't bring my tape measure to practice yesterday, but I stood next to the man in the post-practice media scrum and I'm pretty sure he's at least two inches taller and 20 pounds heavier. In fact, when I first saw him at practice Tuesday I was tempted to describe him as "kinda tall." Then I get a press release telling me that at 5-foot-8 he's "kinda short."

I guess people understate their size to seem less intimidating on paper and maybe fool opponents into underestimating them. In the UFC, for example, you'll sometimes see middleweight champ Anderson Silva listed at 5-foot-10 in the tale-of-the-tape, only to tower over "taller" opponents when they meet at centre ring. And last summer at the Under-20 World Cup, a look at the advertised heights on team Zambia's roster made you wonder if they were a team of soccer players or jockeys.

And now we have TFC, telling us that their newest player is just a little taller than Spud Webb, and now I don't know who to believe -- the team or my lyin' eyes.

Numbers Game III

Looks like Andrea Lombardo's wearing number 19 these days. At least he was during Thursday's practice. If you're into rumours and conspiracy theories, you could hypothesize that he switched numbers to free up number 20 for an incoming player, and that another fairly big name player is on the way.

If you're into that kind of thing, that is.

I definitely am not.

But if you are, feel free to start speculating now....

-- Morgan Campbell

Comments

[brian]

I am not sure if Laurent Robert will be the big impact player that TFC coaching staff and some in the media are telling TFC fans. When he was with Newcastle I remember him being a role player amongst bigger stars (i.e. Dyer, Shearer) and I am not sure if he will be able to help TFC if the forwards on TFC are having problems finding the back of the net since last year. Maybe TFC should use some of their money to hire a coach or coaches that would concentrate on helping Cunningham, Samuels, Dichio and company fine tuning their game and getting more goals out them. I also understand that Robert had some problems with some players on the Newcastle side (i.e Kieron Dyer) which did not help the team chemistry at Newcastle.
Hopefully, Robert will prove me wrong but something tells me he is not the answer to TFC's problems and if Moe does not get one or two more players to compliment Robert I fear it might be a long season for TFC.

[Enzo]

Funny thing about both of the young Gambians signed by New England is that they were here in Canada and training in Toronto for the U-20's and slipped right under the radar of TFC. That cheap ____ Nicol is one shrewd coach, I'm positive any team owner would love given his success and ability to find inexpensive talent. Nicol is also by far the king of MLS drafting though some credit has to go to his sidekick Paul Mariner (former England International).

[Groove Mctwang]

This is the worst team in the history of the league. Can't wait for Montreal to make the jump. Then I won't have to be bored by TFC on TV.

[Mario]

The incoming player who Andrea Lombardo's leaving the number too is Amado Guevara, a Honduran player. He was MVP two times in the MLS back in 2004 and 2005 I think. He's a creative midfielder with good vision, also an awesome free kick tacker. 20 is the number he wears while playing with the Honduran National Team which he also captains.
Let's hope he can bring some fresh offensive ideas to Toronto, which I think are lacking.