A Bird in the Hand

Following our post over the weekend concerning RBNY's trade of the #1 allocation spot to Philadelphia, Ives Galarcep reports this morning that the Red Bulls received a $175,000 allocation from the Union in return for the rights to Michael Orozco.

So what does this tell us? First, it indicates that Erik Solér and Hans Backe are more interested in building their squad now with all available funds at their disposal than they are in waiting until the summer. In the larger scheme of things, this seems like an awfully small allocation, considering the recent precedents. But it appears that the Red Bulls' front office didn't want to wait until half the MLS season had passed before making its moves and was therefore more willing to cut a deal now, even one that brought a relatively meager return. We all remember how horribly wrong things went when Osorio and Agoos attempted mid-season overhauls, so perhaps this is the right approach, but I would like to see us drive a harder bargain.

Second, you'd have to assume that this makes the prospect of a second DP much more likely. Fitting two DPs in under the salary cap (whatever that turns out to be under the new CBA) could be a massive challenge, but it's made easier with allocation cash and RBNY appears to be flush with that right now.

It's hard to be too critical of the moves that Solér and company have made up to this point, so maybe it's best to adopt a "wait and see" attitude and not get too worked up about the size of the Philly allocation. The early pre-season games in Spain seem to have gone well, with the Bulls finishing 2-0-1 after a 2-1 victory today over Norwegian club Strømsgodset. The match saw the first (and last?) appearance of the pre-season of Juan Agudelo, who should be deciding between a future in Colombia with Millonarios or a future in Harrison with the Red Bulls in the next week or two. Agudelo played a part in setting up the winning goal, scored by Finnish trialist Toni Kolehmainen, who, if he latches on with Red Bull, would easily be the club's most effeminate looking player.

The Red Bulls return to the States later this week and it will be interesting to see what moves follow. With only 40 days until Red Bull Arena opens its doors, Solér and Backe should now have a much better sense of where they need to improve.

A Bird in the Hand