The Disappearance of Sam Cronin

[powerof11]

One of the strangest developments in the early going of Toronto FC’s 2010 campaign has been the almost complete disappearance of sophomore midfielder Sam Cronin.

http://www.rednationonline.ca/O_Sam_Where_Art_Thou_may_5_10_column.shtml

[jpg75]

Has anyone seen this man?

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Thought he was a bit overrated last season personally so not hugely shocked by what has happened this season under Preki. Having said that I would have preferred to see him on instead of Joseph Nane in the first half of the last game. Haven't checked if there was an injury involved in that. Prime candidate for a trade if coaches elsewhere in the league still rate him as a very high first round draft pick level player based on their NCAA scouting and they might. I was amazed by the Dwayne DeRosario for Julius James trade after the way he played for TFC in MLS.

[Guest Ed]

You are making it sound like DeRosario for James was a straight up trade which is of course ludicrous.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Only because you chose to read it that way. About 150k in allocation money was also reported to be involved so Julius James was a major part of the deal.

http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/12/toronto-fc-deals-for-derosario.html?cid=6a00e54ef2975b88330105366014cf970c

Pulling off the biggest trade in its young history, Toronto FC has landed Canadian national team star and four-time MLS Cup champion Dwayne DeRosario in a trade from the Houston Dynamo. TFC acquired DeRosario from Houston for defender Julius James and an allocation sources are putting at between the $150K and $175K range (slightly more than I first reported). The teams finalized the deal on Friday.

[TheKottonmouthed1555362307]

You are making it sound like DeRosario for James was a straight up trade which is of course ludicrous.

No, but they were the big pieces of the deal, so saying it was a DeRo for James deal is pretty spot on.

of course in deals other things will go other ways, like picks, money and roster spots.

No deal is out of this world when it can be leveled out with incentives. Which is why I think Cronin can fetch TFC a quality player.

Trades don't always reflect immediate or recent success, sometimes as with Houston/TFC deal that it was merely a move of making room for the future. They had Holden and he was primed to take DeRo's full-time spot. They had a need at centre half and figured the move was doable as they had someone to cover for the loss of DeRo whilst saving money.

Ed you talk about trades like they have to be absolutely even on paper or its never gonna happen; when in reality no trades ever look even on paper and usually they are product of team needs and future composition of their squad.

[Guest Ed]

^ I did not and do not. I just replied to BBTB who, in his previous post, seemed to be astonished, given Jame's performance at TFC, that Houston took James for in a straight up trade. Houston didn't want to pay any more for DeRo, they had Holden as you stated and also DeRo wanted out to Toronto. They made the best they could out of the situation by getting James and allocation money.

[Guest Ed]

Anyway, back on topic. The reason Cronin is not playing so much is that he is not very good. He got his callup to the nats with Bradley (one of 200 (jk) or so active American players who now have senior caps), but surely you don't expect to see him in South Africa.

Preki has seen through the Mojo Mist and is trying difft options (although that Nane was surely not the solution). How he went #2 in the draft shows what a crapshoot rating the NCAA grads is. After a season or two, the real players coming up from NCAA emerge in MLS. Cronin is not one of them. At least to date.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Difficult to take you seriously if you are going to try to argue that getting a league all-star like Dwayne DeRosario for a player like Julius James and some allocation money was a well-balanced trade. I guess that would mean having to admit that Mo Johnston has actually made some good trades in addition to the bad ones though.

[BearcatSA]

He's definitely having trouble finding a role in Preki's scheme. I think he's been eclipsed by Labrocca as linking type mid and he doesn't fit the Saric/Sanyang mould of d-mid player. I guess he was tried at RB in training earlier in the season. As BBTB suggests, he might be a guy Preki/Mo/whoever values as having trade value to provide depth for another area in the team.

[El Hombre]

Difficult to take you seriously if you are going to try to argue that getting a league all-star like Dwayne DeRosario, who was openly looking for a move to Toronto, for a player like Julius James and some allocation money was a well-balanced trade. I guess that would mean having to admit that Mo Johnston has actually made some good trades in addition to the bad ones though.

FYP (by a guy who has had to live through the Heatley for Michalek and Cheechoo trade)

[AvroArrow]

I'll jump the gun and write BBTB's next post for him:

I'm tired of arguing with you simpletons. Just agree with me because I'm a certified soccer genius. I'm done with this thread.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

I think Heatley, Michalek and Cheechoo are hockey players, not 100% sure, so I'm not sure what relevance that has to this thread. Different sport with a different culture and not one that I follow closely. The reason Houston felt able to make the trade was because they thought Stuart Holden was ready to step into DeRosario's role as an attacking midfielder and do a similar job for significantly less money. If that hadn't been the case I strongly suspect DeRosario would still be in Houston. He was under contract and they were under no obligation to move him. The powers that be in Houston clearly still rated Julius James even after a less than stellar season with TFC so that provides a precedent for believing that something/someone good could still be obtained in a trade where Sam Cronin is concerned given his form last summer was significantly better than that of Julius James in his first MLS season.

[Guest Ed]

Thanks for the posts El Hombre and Avro Arrow. You get it.

I would like to know where I said that DeRo for JJ and some alloc money was a good deal. Houston were going to get hosed, knew they were going to get hosed, got hosed, but lessened the hosing. There was no f*ing way DeRo was staying in Houston. Feel free to babble on about Cronin's vast worth.

[VPjr]

James was a throw in when houston and tfc did the DeRo deal. Houston was looking for more for DeRo but TFC wasn't going to budge. MoJo knew that a) DeRo wanted out, MLS wanted to help DeRo get to TFC and c) with Holden emerging, Houston themselves really had little use for DeRo and his relatively large salary.

The only thing of value that Houston got was the allocation money. James provided a little bit of depth on D but they were under no illusions that he was going to be a starter. They wanted to move Dwayne. They really couldn't afford to keep him any longer. However, they were not in a great negotiating position when everyone in the league was fully aware of the a), and c) points that i mentioned above.

Clearly it was not a good deal for Houston and clearly, this is one of the better deals that Mo has made while at the helm of TFC, likely the best.

As for Sam Cronin, he's an ok player. He doesn't really hurt the team but he doesn't do anything so well that he is deemed indispensible. If we could fit in at right back, that would help him play more because Usanov (i think that's his name) is useless (only slightly less useless than the left back from Latvia).

Clearly, Preki likes a "hard" player at holding mid, which is why they found Saric. He's definitely not that talented but he's certainly a hard player.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Thanks for the posts El Hombre and Avro Arrow. You get it.

I would like to know where I said that DeRo for JJ and some alloc money was a good deal. Houston were going to get hosed, knew they were going to get hosed, got hosed, but lessened the hosing. There was no f*ing way DeRo was staying in Houston. Feel free to babble on about Cronin's vast worth.

Just as there was no f*ing way Beckham was going back to MLS when he publicly campaigned for a transfer to AC Milan?

[jpg75]

Acchhhh! Bear in mind this is me shakin' my fist at you in an MLS context. This is the last you'll hear from Groundskeeper Willie on this thread, over and out!

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Getting back to the actual subject matter of this thread it's worth bearing in mind that if Baptiste and Marques were to be added in the summer window at least one of the players currently on the senior roster will have to be voted off the island (not sure if Gomez's ongoing omission on the website roster is just an oversight).Cronin has to be a prime suspect for that right now.

[rocker]

Getting back to the actual subject matter of this thread it's worth bearing in mind that if Baptiste and Marques were to be added in the summer window at least one of the players currently on the senior roster will have to be voted off the island (not sure if Gomez's ongoing omission on the website roster is just an oversight).Cronin has to be a prime suspect for that right now.

Gomez has a major injury that may take months to rehab... And they could always dump the third keeper to make room.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

The missing snippet of info right now is if Gomez was left off the roster on the website as an oversight (quite possible given all the mistakes made with it in the past but seems less likely with each passing week) or because he has been quietly released based on a contract buyout or put on the season-ending injury list when one of the more recent signings was made.

http://staging.mlssoccer.com/regulations

(J) SEASON-ENDING INJURY REPLACEMENTS

A team with a player lost to a season-ending injury can replace that player on its roster, while remaining responsible for the full amount of the injured player's salary. A player can be placed on the season-ending injury list once another player has been signed as a replacement (provided the team has budget space). International player limits still apply at the time a season-ending replacement is made (with the player being replaced not counting against those limits).

Thought Gomez showed considerable promise last season so hope he's still around and the knee injury isn't career threatening. If a player like Cronin doesn't start regularly and is unlikely to in future under Preki, TFC are looking at a wasted use of what was a very valuable asset (#2 overall draft pick). Given jobs are very much on the line this season that probably means trading him for someone or something (allocation money to shoehorn in a second DP might be being too optimistic?) that will help strengthen the starting lineup in the here and now.

[RS]

TFC has repeatedly mentioned Gomez's progress in their updates on TFC TV and on GolTV. Luke Wileman mentioned him on camera as recently as last week, so I doubt he's been released.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Good to hear. No Gol TV on digital cable for me right now given I'm in Japan. This mention from Luke Wileman on the website confirms it with a url:-

http://www.torontofc.ca/news/2010/05/chicagos-mapp-out-saturday

The official MLS Injury report for the match shows Emmanuel Gomez and Ty Harden as the two absentees for Toronto. Martin Saric has bruised ribs following a clash in last week’s match at Real Salt Lake, but the midfielder has trained throughout the week and is expected to be available for selection.