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October 28, 2007
LA Times: Yallop likely to stay, but what about trading the DP slot for Cannon?
Grahame Jones of the L.A. Times thinks that the Galaxy need massive changes, and suggests several that may be of interest to us Earthquakes folk.
Here's a taste:
As for the front office, 18 months ago Galaxy owner AEG recruited Alexi Lalas as the team's president and general manager and it's likely he will continue in those jobs. It's also likely that Frank Yallop will remain as the Galaxy's coach, unless his former club, the San Jose Earthquakes, makes him an offer too good to turn down.
We think it's pretty obvious that Earthquakes fans would prefer either Yallop or Dominic Kinnear as coach, so this could be bad news. Jones has another idea that might appeal to fans, though:
...San Jose has a DP spot and probably would be interested in reacquiring the Galaxy's goalkeeper, Joe Cannon, whose four seasons and more than 100 games for the Earthquakes included winning an MLS title in 2001. Cannon also once played alongside defender John Doyle, now the Earthquakes' president and general manager. They aren't strangers and Doyle has twice been spotted at the Home Depot Center in recent weeks.
After seeing Cannon's performances against Pachuca in the Superliga final and last week against Chicago, it's clear that he remains one of the top keepers in MLS, if not the best. He's also a Los Altos native and was a huge favorite among fans when he played for the Clash and Earthquakes. Trading away the DP slot for a couple years wouldn't bother a coach like Kinnear at all, looking at his record in San Jose and now Houston. Besides, it's possible that the DP slot will go unused until the Quakes move into their new stadium, anyway, since it's hard to justify a big salary when you can only sell 12,000 tickets to each home game. In any case, Jones has an interesting idea here.
Posted by Jay at October 28, 2007 12:21 PM
Comments
"Trading away the DP slot for a couple years wouldn't bother a coach like Kinnear at all, looking at his record in San Jose and now Houston."
Is this a hint that Kinnear is coming back for next season after all? ;)
"Besides, it's possible that the DP slot will go unused until the Quakes move into their new stadium, anyway, since it's hard to justify a big salary when you can only sell 12,000 tickets to each home game."
I strongly disagree on two counts.
Firstly, while I'd love to see Joe Cannon return next season as the San Jose Earthquakes' starting goalkeeper, I would not use a DP slot on him.
Secondly, it would be foolish for Earthquakes Soccer, LLC to purposely hold off from getting a DP specifically until The [Corporate name] Epicenter at San José is ready, only to then plop said DP into the middle of the starting lineup after it already had 2-3 years to gel (*coughDenilsoncough*).
Either ESLLC will get a DP for the team for 2008 and build the team around him so that the roster can already have gelled with some adjustments along the way by the time The Epicenter is ready (the most likely scenario), or they'll add a DP a bit later if the team's played a while with no sign of improvement, or they'll add a DP sometime down the road for whatever other reason.
In any case, when they add a DP won't be dependent solely on when The Ep opens. After all, considering that Lewis Wolff and John Fisher are multi-billionaires, I doubt that they don't have the means and the willingness to pay for a DP today regardless of Buck Shaw Stadium's MLS capacity, particularly if that DP will help assure that Buck Shaw Stadium's MLS capacity is filled to the max practically every home game there. ;)
Posted by: Goodsport at October 28, 2007 07:59 PM
I agree with the idea of trading the DP for proven MLS talent. We will need players ready to fight hard for every point. We can't afford any rock stars in our locker room. The first year back is going to be hard, and the team needs to be unified.
I like Cannon as a pick up, but I think we can get more. LA can't trade Donovan for a DP because the team he went to would need a DP slot to keep him. If we trade with them, then we have them over a barrel. Why not get them to throw in Kelley Gray, Yallop, or hell why not both.
Posted by: seismothusiast at October 29, 2007 12:22 AM
Thanks for the continuous updates, Jay.
Don't think we should use a DP on Cannon. While he's probably the best shot stopper in the league, his distribution has not always been the best. Watching some of those Galaxy games, he still hasn't improved it. Love to see him back here but I think we saw with Kasey Keller its not worth it to sign a goalkeeper as a DP. There's a lot of talent out there.
Posted by: Colin at October 29, 2007 09:11 AM