Key items this offseason:
Managerial changes since the end of the season:
Montreal: Rémi Garde replaced Mauro Biello (fired)
NE: Brad Friedel replaced Tom Soehn (interim)/Jay Heaps (fired)
Portland: Caleb Porter resigned, no replacement yet
SJ: Mikael Stahre replaced Chris Leitch, who went back to his TD job
Colorado: Anthony Hudson replaced Steve Cooke (interim)/Pablo Mastroeni (fired)
Vulnerable incumbents who need to avoid a bad start in 2018, IMHO, are Jim Curtin (Philly), Sigi Schmid (LAG), and Jason Kreis (Orlando). Ben Olsen (DC) and maybe Carl Robinson (Vancouver) should be vulnerable, but aren't.
Some offseason dates:
12/10 - some sort of half-day trade window is open for reasons that I forget.
12/12 - Expansion draft, which is pared down this time. LAFC will make five selections.
12/13, 12/15, 12/21 - Waiver Draft and Re-Entry Draft Rds 1 & 2. Don't ask.
1/19 - the college draft
2/20-22 - CONCACAF Champions League R16 begins.
Early March - 2018 MLS season begins
A few signings have trickled in so far, but things will really start to pick up over the next few weeks once we move past the Expansion Draft and once the college season is over.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/transactions/2018
- LAFC will begin play in 2018. They'll be playing in a brand-new stadium right next door to the LA Coliseum. It's transit-accessible and more centrally located than the Galaxy. They've hired Bob Bradley and their big signing so far is Carlos Vela who should have a big impact on and off the field since he plays for the most popular soccer team in America: El Tri.
- MLS is on the verge of announcing two more expansion teams, which will be drawn from the quartet of Sacramento, Detroit, Cincinnati, and Nashville. In theory these are supposed to be teams #25 and #26, but Miami - which was supposed to be #24 - seems to be going nowhere fast. The league is obsessed with getting a team in Miami, so Beckham's group has an endless leash, but it is increasingly likely that they will be lapped by the next two announced markets.
- The Columbus Crew to Austin saga drags on. The league's line is that the Crew have underperformed off the field for too long and now need to be moved. What's more likely the real story is that Precourt bought the team with an eye on Austin all along. MLS leadership is not exactly endearing itself to longtime fans over this. Austin city leadership isn't tripping over itself to figure out a potential stadium, so we'll see what happens. The Crew will be playing 2018 in Columbus, which will be ugly since Precourt has lit his relationship with Crew fans on fire and doused it with gasoline already.
- Lots of new GarberBux, a.k.a. Targeted Allocation Money, a.k.a. TAM. This is basically extra salary cap space that can only be used on players in the $500k-$1.5m range. Every team now has the ability to spend $2.8m more per season on these upper-middle-class MLS players, which is a significant amount of money relative to current MLS payroll. Expect an influx of young South Americans of a somewhat higher caliber than normal.
- D.C. will at LONG last be opening its own stadium. Audi Field is opening in 2018, but possibly not until midseason and AFAIK DCU may have to play at another undetermined location in the early months of the season.
Managerial changes since the end of the season:
Montreal: Rémi Garde replaced Mauro Biello (fired)
NE: Brad Friedel replaced Tom Soehn (interim)/Jay Heaps (fired)
Portland: Caleb Porter resigned, no replacement yet
SJ: Mikael Stahre replaced Chris Leitch, who went back to his TD job
Colorado: Anthony Hudson replaced Steve Cooke (interim)/Pablo Mastroeni (fired)
Vulnerable incumbents who need to avoid a bad start in 2018, IMHO, are Jim Curtin (Philly), Sigi Schmid (LAG), and Jason Kreis (Orlando). Ben Olsen (DC) and maybe Carl Robinson (Vancouver) should be vulnerable, but aren't.
Some offseason dates:
12/10 - some sort of half-day trade window is open for reasons that I forget.
12/12 - Expansion draft, which is pared down this time. LAFC will make five selections.
12/13, 12/15, 12/21 - Waiver Draft and Re-Entry Draft Rds 1 & 2. Don't ask.
1/19 - the college draft
2/20-22 - CONCACAF Champions League R16 begins.
Early March - 2018 MLS season begins
A few signings have trickled in so far, but things will really start to pick up over the next few weeks once we move past the Expansion Draft and once the college season is over.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/transactions/2018