By Ben Knight

 

Okay.  After a holiday season drenched in ominous silence, clues are now pouring forth from the good ship Toronto FC.

Two main plot lines:

1) With three first-round draft picks and a roster that needs experience more than youth, TFC is working behind the scenes to deal a draft pick to FC Dallas for Canadian international midfielder Adrian Serioux.

2) Don’t be the least bit surprised to see another draft pick get dealt to any team that can serve up allocation money in return.

As to part one – Serioux is big, tough, relentless, the possessor of the lowest, fastest, most dangerous throw-ins anywhere in MLS.  He could superbly anchor TFC’s chronically undermanned back four, as long as his temper doesn’t get him thrown out of games – a danger that could easily be doubled should he be paired in the middle with fellow international hard man and hothead Kevin Harmse.

For part two – allocation cash magically allows MLS teams to temporarily exceed the league’s ridiculously low salary cap.  Toronto GM Mo Johnston has amassed a metric whackload of the stuff, between $800,000 and a million, depending on who’s talking on which day.

As suspected, the club’s contract talks with incoming midfield saviour and local hero Dwayne DeRosario have not been all sweetness and light.  DeRo wants designated-player megabucks, and the allocation stash could be the only way to get him there.  But there’s also the rest of the roster to pay, and if $400,000 of the cap is about to go to our still-anonymous DP, allocation bucks will be the only way of competently filling out the 2009 Redcoat roster.

Remember that having three first-round picks doesn’t mean you’ll get three useful players.  Statistically, you’re far more likely to get one and only one guy who’ll be able to start for you for at least three years.  Given last year’s Julius James defensive woes, the picks seem far more valuable as trading chits.

Okay, maybe not all three.  By all means, draft a hot prospect, Mo.  Maybe even two, if you get a lower pick back from Dallas in the Serioux deal.

As for the DP, the January 6 announcement rumour is now obviously toast.  The best word I can dig up at the moment suggests the deal will go down a couple of weeks from now.  I suppose that still means there’s time for the team to come to their senses, and realize the current DP deal is a pretty raw deal.  Allocations can help – hugely – but they’re not necessarily renewable from year to year, so what happens if you give DeRo what he wants, bring in a DP, land Serioux, keep the best of the rest of the roster together – and suddenly it’s 2010?

We’ll know a lot more when we see how the draft picks land.  If they start flying out in all directions, in deal after deal after deal, we’ll know for sure a DP is coming, and Mo is putting all his eggs in the Right Now basket.

I’m excited – and worried.  How’s by you guys?

Onward!

P>S>>> Where are all the comments?  This site isn’t a monologue, people.  I want high-quality conversations going on, with everyone contributing.  This is your place to sound off.  Go for it!

Oh, and …!  Congratulations to TFC youngster Nana Attakora-Gyan, who has just been named Canada’s U-20 male soccer player of the year.