Wednesday, March 24, 2010

State of the Red Bulls Roster on Compliance Day



Now that the new Collective Bargaining Agreement has been hammered out (see how happy they look?), MLS teams have been told that their rosters must be in compliance with the new roster regulations by 5pm tonight. Heading towards that deadline, I thought I'd take a look at where things currently stand.

First, here are the new roster rules, as best I can make out from what has been reported around the 'net:
  1. All teams must have a senior roster with 18 to 20 players.
  2. In addition to this, an additional four slots can be filled with a combination of Generation Adidas players and players signed to the league minimum, $40,000. This is basically what was formerly known as the "Developmental" roster, but MLS has eliminated that classification.
  3. On top of all of this, a team may sign two "Homegrown" players, who do not count against the other roster rules. These are players that have come up through a team's academy.
Update: A report from Austrian media confirms that midfielder Ernst Oebster has been released from his contract with RBNY and has returned to his home country to find another club. Numbers have been updated accordingly.
    So, if I've got all of that correct, it means that a team can now have as many as 26 players signed to their roster; 20 Senior, 4 "formerly developmental," and 2 Homegrown. Taking the Oebster departure into consideration, and taking into account that players on the Injured List do not count against the active roster, it appears that the Red Bulls currently have ONE EMPTY slot, and this includes the possible signing of Juan Agudelo.

    The roster as it currently stands is listed below. Please check in throughout the day for any news concerning player acquisitions and cuts, as we will provide updates as soon as we hear anything new. Meanwhile, how does this team look to you? Where do we need to improve? Who should be the first to get cut? What moves should Erik Solér and Coach Backe make, if any, one the eve of the new MLS season?

    Senior Roster (20 allowed, 19 on roster, 2 on IR) *DP = designated player, 2 allowed, 1 on roster
    • Chris Albright (IR)
    • Juan Pablo Angel *DP
    • Danleigh Borman
    • Andrew Boyens
    • Bouna Coundoul
    • Austin Da Luz
    • Kevin Goldthwaite (IR)
    • Jeremy Hall
    • Joel Lindpere
    • Macoumba Kandji
    • Carlos Mendes
    • Roy Miller
    • Ernst Oebster
    • Mike Petke
    • Dane Richards
    • Carl Robinson
    • Ibrahim Salou
    • Luke Sassano
    • Seth Stammler
    • Greg Sutton
    • Sinisa Ubiparapovic
    • John Wolyniec
    We're No Longer Calling It "Developmental" Roster (4 allowed, 4 on roster)
    • Conor Chinn*
    • Irving Garcia*
    • Tim Ream*
    • Tony Tchani (GA)
    *I just picked any three previously announced to be under Dev. or league-minimum deals

    Homegrown Roster (2 allowed, 2 on roster)
    • Juan Agudelo
    • Giorgi Chirgadze (IR)
    Internationals (8 allowed, 5 on roster)
    • Juan Pablo Angel
    • Joel Lindpere
    • Roy Miller
    • Ernst Oebster
    • Carl Robinson
    • Ibrahim Salou

    Share/Save/Bookmark
    blog comments powered by Disqus