Are you kidding?
Why would I be kidding? Those are all sentiments expressed by other people, not by me. I'm just saying let's pick one story & stick to it, instead of jumping from lily pad to lily pad.
a) None of those things are mutually exclusive. They could all be true, and part of the story.
And, as always with MLS, it would be nice if we got the full story. In all seriousness, it would be cool to have Brian Lewis or someone just straight up ask Soler if he tried to shop Hot & Kassel before letting them go. I hope to god the answer is yes. I would feel foolish as a fan of this team if it was no, but, I accept both answers as being possible. What gives me the giggles is reading people who are convinced it was not possible, with no one apparently having asked Soler the question first, because that's the only answer that supports the orthodoxy. Any adult can surely see the comedy there.
For the record, no, I don't take "Peter Vermes as told to someone by Sacir Hot" as gospel. Sacir could be completely making this up.
Which kind of gets to my point; it's sad that people try to twist themselves into pretzels to explain how something that may or may not be true is somehow guaranteed to not be true, because they want to defend RB. I'm not an anti-RB hater, I just think it's fair to ask some questions of the team now & again. Their record has good moves, and bad ones. I'm not sure why being in the middle is a position viewed by some as having a negative, anti-RB bias. Just don't accept the logic. I should be able to treat this team the same way I treat the Yankees (a team that also makes good roster moves, and also makes bad ones), and we should be allowed to honestly discuss the off-field wins & losses.
Why do you think they were cut? Because our tyrannical Austrian soft-drink overlords took a break from killing puppies in the name of creating the dreaded lifestyle brand long enough to pass down order to the Hans that he had too many brilliant prospects on the team, and 'we wouldn't want this team winning would we?' Hans of course was more than willing to oblige, as he hates young players, and American players (on top of his already known hatred of Central American and African players), so he fired them.
That is a 100% bullshit strawman, and you know it. I don't give a shit about the soda can. It's about Hans & Soler, and our direction going forward. I never once brought up Austria, don't try to make everyone who asks a question into Harraby. First, it makes you look like a clown. Second, it wastes all of our time. Aspire to be better than that.
The kids weren't up to snuff,
Perfectly reasonable explanation....
we couldn't get a better deal than the allocation they free up
An assumption that you have convinced yourself is true and I am merely asking for some reporter to confirm. Don't really see the harm in that, and, say what you want, it doesn't make me a hater of Hans & Soler. Just someone who asks the question, without believing whatever
must be true to keep us feeling warm & fuzzy without getting confirmation one way or the other. Is it really blasphemy to ask a question? This is a soccer team, not North Korean state television.
so now they're fucking gone. End of story. Believe me, I'm sad too. I'd love to see more Agudelos, young local kids coming through our academy then kicking ass in the league, but to make an omelet you've gotta break some eggs. The kids weren't going to make it, and that's it.
Again, kind of a 50/50. Time will tell if the $ 70k in allocation turned out to be worth it, if Hot/Kassel turned into anything, etc. I certainly don't have the answer on whether this was good or bad yet. Like most things, it'll take years to tell, just as it did with others similarly let go years ago under non-Backe/Soler regimes (who- believe it or not- I do give equal blame to for doing this).
I do not, for the record, think we cut Tom Seaver, etc. It' not about Kassel & Hot, per se, though I think we gave up on them too soon. They are kids, some turn out, some don't, I get it. If they were both Tim Ream/Joel Lindpere they'd still be here, I can live with that (Bizarre Ballouchy roster love aside). There are some obvious paths that we could have chosen in exchange for the one we took (give them playing time in USL, or trade them) but we took $ 35k each in allocation & moved on. I understand that they are gone, I agree that we should all move forward. We can all agree to let Omelets be bygones or whatever.
But our team, going back to 1996 or something very like it, has made a history out of being poor managers of our young talent. We are repeating that again. It's the strategy that's the issue, not player X, not coach Y, not owner Z. I'm not attacking Soler/Backe for the sake of attacking them; I am amused, however, by those who seem determined to defending them at all costs.
That's how we end up with lily pads.