RSL: Reality, Retooling, and Reloading

There will be new faces at the RioT, and that's not a bad thing.

The Story so far: Real Salt Lake has let a number, a large number, of key players go on their way in the wake of the 2012 campaign where they came up short.  These names are familiar to all RSL fans: Olave and Espindola were sent to New York,  Will Johnson was sent to the Portland Timbers.  Other less legendary but equally important cogs in the team were sent packing as well.  The club declined options on Emiliano Bonfigli, Paulo Jr, Kyle Reynish, and Jonny Steele.  Salt Lake native Justin Braun was also sent to TFC after failing to impress Jason Kreis enough to crack the 18 on most days.

RSL made a couple of additions as well.  They signed GK Jeff Antinella from the NASL Tampa Bay Rowdies.  Antinella was in the NASL best XI this last year as they beat the Minnesota Stars to claim the NASL Title.  In the final, he did something that RSL could not do:  beat the Stars.  They also acquired former Notre Dame standout defender Aaron Maund from TFC in exchange for Braun, plugging the roster hole in defense left by Olave.  The trades for Olave, Espindola, and Johnson brought major allocation money, which the team will have several uses for.

RSL also announced the re-signing of two key players: fullbacks Tony Beltran and Chris Wingert.  This keeps the defense line in superior shape while preventing RSL from taking a hit at FB, one position where they were short on depth.

Why did RSL make these moves?  Contrary to widely held beliefs on the RSL FB comment section, it wasn't to tank the team in favor of getting a bunch of cash or to screw the fans who have faithfully supported the club through good times and bad.  The Claret and Cobalt were up against several harsh realities of life in MLS and professional sports in the United States.

First off, MLS players are entitled to minimum pay raises as per league policy.  RSL was already hard up against the cap in 2012, and these minimum pay increases would have put them well over it in 2013.  It's a fact of life, the math didn't work.  The salary dump from Olave, Espindola, and Johnson will bring much needed cap relief.  The salary cap colors most of the other realities as well.

The second reality is that RSL needed some more cash to try to re-sign Javier Morales.  The allocation money as well as cap space will give them wiggle room in this respect.  GM Garth Lagerway said yesterday that some Mexican clubs are in for Morales as well, so keeping him won't be cheap.  Sources seem to indicate that he wants to stay here, so maybe he'll give us a little hometown discount.  While Javi hasn't been quite the same since his injury, I do not believe his talents are replaceable at cheaper price.

Next, MF Luis Gil loses his Generation Addidas tag this year, so if RSL want to hold onto him, they'll need some cash and cap room.  Trust me, we want to hold onto him as long as we can.  Gil is well on the path to being a significant talent both in MLS and for the US International System, in fact he is likely to see major action in the U-20 World Cup for the USA next year.  By all accounts, he's the real deal and has a great chance of making a move to Europe someday.  Next year we'll be able to keep him and give him the minutes he needs to develop.  I believe he's ready for that chance.

The final reality is very stark, and it cost RSL both in the CCL run this year and in the MLS Cup playoffs.  We need guys who can score goals, who can be creative and not just possess the ball.  Really the only proven, consistent goal scorer RSL had was Alvaro Saborio, our one remaining forward.  Fabian was inconsistent at best, and in my opinion, drifted wide too much.  Paulo Jr, while talented and speedy, was basically Fabian Lite.  Bonfigli did not seize his chances at all, and it was obvious by the end of the season that the Justin Braun experiment was a failure.  We needed to reload at forward, desperately.

In that same vein, we also need goals from more positions on the pitch.  Will Johnson, while the hardest working guy on the team and a spot goal scorer, doesn't bring a consistent scoring threat from that midfield position.  He's always willing to have a go, but more often than not the ball finds the supporters section instead of the back of the net.  I'm certainly not trying to bash Will.  I don't think RSL would have gotten where they did without him.  He's a great player and truly has the heart of a lion, but the team needs a little different kind of a player there, which they can now go out and pursue.

We can also perhaps get a more creative midfielder as well.  Sabo is a target man who most often thrives off of quality service into the penalty area.  Javi can provide that.  I think Luis can provide that.  Grabavoy can as well.  Will was not the best crosser, as we saw painfully demonstrated in the last playoff game against the Sounders.  We can be, and I think need to be, much more dynamic in the midfield.  Cue guys like David Vianna, Sebastian Velasquez, and Enzo Martinez.   Don't sleep on Cole Grossman either, he has some potential.  We need to give more of a purpose to our possession.

I also feel the need to point out that we still have the spine of our great team intact, pending Javi's situation.  Go up the Middle of the formation and what names do you see?

Rimando

Borchers/Schuler

Beckerman

Morales

Saborio

Now of course Sabo is a forward, not playing in the middle generally, but he's a target man in the box, which is why I characterized him that way.  If you fill in Beltran and Wingert at FB and Grabavoy and Gil on the sides of the diamond, what have we really lost?  Three goals and three assists from Will Johnson, which Gil is more than capable of replacing if not surpassing.  Also don't forget that Kwame Watson-Siriboe also has the potential to be huge alongside Borchers and Schuler while Maund matures.  Antinella should be more than capable behind Rimando, and I expect that he's actually an upgrade from Reynish, again no offense to Kyle.

So what do we still need?  Obviously I think priority one is to lock up Javi, which I'm sure is the focus of the front office at the moment.  We need forwards, especially a good up top partner for Sabo.  Garth said yesterday that the team would be looking overseas for that man, so don't expect  that to happen before the international transfer window opens in January.  I do however, expect RSL will add depth to the forward corps with some tried and true MLS guys, and maybe another minor international type.

I also think we need another decent midfielder and perhaps some veteran depth there as well.  Justin Mapp is a MLS vet and is available in the reentry draft.  While not a major dynamic attacker, he is capable of providing service and a Ned Grabavoy like work rate.  Probably won't happen, but he is an interesting option, though I don't expect RSL to be overly active in that draft.

Suffice it to say that I think Jason and Garth have done an outstanding job handling something that was going to happen one way or another.  The club could have just sold all our vets, guys like Beckerman, Borchers, Rimando, Wingert, etc and started over with a baby-face club, but they didn't.  I think we're well positioned to remain competitive for the future, and these moves will also give us wiggle room next summer if things don't go as planned.

So there it is, a logical look at what is happening with the team and some nice reasons why fans shouldn't panic.  If one looks at things from the eyes of a manager or a neutral, and not just the cloudy eyes of a home fan who is sad to see favorite players depart, then it can be seen that RSL has PLENTY of hope for the future.