Official - Dero on trial with CELTIC

[Oldtimer]

I suspect that DeRo's stock is pretty low right now in the league.

It's likely that Houston traded him for James because his constant salary demands were proving a distraction for the team. If the situation hadn't been so, they would have extracted their pound of flesh from Toronto for Toronto to obtain a "star" from home.

Other clubs aren't going to have that "home star" factor, and they know that unless they pay him an amount way beyond his worth, there is potential for more disruption.

That's nothing to say about DeRo as a player, who has great ability, but plays in a salary-capped league with limited budgets.

[Roogsy]

I suspect that DeRo's stock is pretty low right now in the league.

So you honestly think teams think this way:

Contract whiner > 15 goals and proven winner?

I doubt it.

This has been the most annoying part of this whole discussion. Like I have said, I have no problems with people not liking DeRo for his attitude or his demands, but please let us not make things up that seemingly prove our point. What indication is there that DeRo's stock is pretty low in the league? His MLS Best XI nomination yet again? His All-Star appearance?

[Oldtimer]

So you honestly think teams think this way:

Contract whiner > 15 goals and proven winner?

I doubt it.

Then why was he traded for Julias James? it's not like they owe Toronto any favours. Certainly MoJo had few friends around the league.

If DeRo=Julias James then something has sunk his stock. No way are the two players equivalent.

If you tell me it was just a favour to DeRo, I find that hard to believe. A club will sell (or in MLS trade) a player if they want to go, but they will maximize what they can get while they are at it.

[Beach_Red]

Then why was he traded for Julias James? it's not like they owe Toronto any favours. Certainly MoJo had few friends around the league.

If DeRo=Julias James then something has sunk his stock. No way are the two players equivalent.

If you tell me it was just a favour to DeRo, I find that hard to believe. A club will sell (or in MLS trade) a player if they want to go, but they will maximize what they can get while they are at it.

It's true, at this point he has almost no trade value - but as Pookie points out that's more becaue he's getting older and not worth the cap hit. It's not unlikely there was some league involvement in the trade - they own all the contracts and approve all the trades and have been known to make decisions based more on marketing than anything else and DeRo in Toronto was good for marketing - just like McBride in Chicago was good for marketing.

One thing this really shows, though, is the importance of management in a salary cap league. The teams with better managers, who can get the most out of "whiners" and players who feel they should be getting paid more or be in better situations and who can manage personalities will win a lot more games.

And that's why things are looking up for TFC - as long as the decision to keep or cut DeRo is completely that of the soccer guys and marketing isn't taken into account at all.

[Roogsy]

Then why was he traded for Julias James? it's not like they owe Toronto any favours. Certainly MoJo had few friends around the league.

If DeRo=Julias James then something has sunk his stock. No way are the two players equivalent.

If you tell me it was just a favour to DeRo, I find that hard to believe. A club will sell (or in MLS trade) a player if they want to go, but they will maximize what they can get while they are at it.

The Houston organization holds DeRo in great regard. In fact, there are pockets in Houston that would tell you they still want DeRo back. In Houston and in it's predecessor city San Jose he was part of 4 cups. Very often, in all sports and leagues, teams will do their star player who has put in his time, a "solid" by facilitating a trade to a home club that would not have the same monetary value than a trade elsewhere. They do this because they felt they had a suitable substitute in Holden and because DeRo would not have accepted a trade elsewhere, reducing the ability of the team to negotiate for a better deal.

James at the time WAS a highly rated prospect, he was young and cheap and DeRo did max out the cap at the time in the salary cap with Houston. It's not like this deal did not make financial sense for them. But be assured that it was a deal only available to Toronto as Houston would not have made this deal with anyone else.

Do not take the terms of this trade as some sort of indication of DeRo's reduced value. That is a narrow view of the trade that does not take into consideration the context. It's a similar mistake to those who point to no European experience as somehow being equivalent to reduced value. Obviously that is not the case since if he had reduced value, TFC would not have picked up his option at all.

[Whoop]

The Houston organization holds DeRo in great regard. In fact, there are pockets in Houston that would tell you they still want DeRo back. In Houston and in it's predecessor city San Jose he was part of 4 cups. Very often, in all sports and leagues, teams will do their star player who has put in his time, a "solid" by facilitating a trade to a home club that would not have the same monetary value than a trade elsewhere. They do this because they felt they had a suitable substitute in Holden and because DeRo would not have accepted a trade elsewhere, reducing the ability of the team to negotiate for a better deal.

James at the time WAS a highly rated prospect, he was young and cheap and DeRo did max out the cap at the time in the salary cap with Houston. It's not like this deal did not make financial sense for them. But be assured that it was a deal only available to Toronto as Houston would not have made this deal with anyone else.

Do not take the terms of this trade as some sort of indication of DeRo's reduced value. That is a narrow view of the trade that does not take into consideration the context. It's a similar mistake to those who point to no European experience as somehow being equivalent to reduced value. Obviously that is not the case since if he had reduced value, TFC would not have picked up his option at all.

I dispute the bolded part.

Teams will do a favour and trade a star player to his hometown if possible but by the same token they're not going to give away said player for free.

I mean they could have done a 3 team deal to get more.

[Roogsy]

I dispute the bolded part.

Teams will do a favour and trade a star player to his hometown if possible but by the same token they're not going to give away said player for free.

I mean they could have done a 3 team deal to get more.

They didn't give him away for free. They received allocation money, freed up a ton of capspace and thought they were getting a highly rated prospect. That is actually a fairly high price for a player in MLS. That the prospect turned out to be a bust should not reflect on their view of the deal at that time. There are many people in Houston who would go back on this deal in a heartbeat even though Houston got a nice chunk of change. What you are doing is attempting to rewrite history.

And how many "3 team deals" have you seen in MLS? This isn't the NBA Vic.