WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
WHO WON THE OFFSEASON?
You might have noticed we're just 11 days away from the start of the MLS season. At this point, you've either taken care of your business or you're set to start the season falling behind your peers. Yeah, you can eventually recover and be fine, but if you're a team (N) that is perhaps (Y) missing a few pieces (C) you'd feel better if all (F) your new players were in place (C).
So let's take a moment to celebrate the teams that seem to have gotten everything in order from the time LAFC lifted MLS Cup to now. Here are the winners of the 2022-23 offseason.*
*As always, the caveat here is that we don't know if any of these new players actually any good. Sometimes even good players aren't actually good in MLS. I'm going to default towards belief in the human spirit though. Don't be mad at me for trying to bring a dash of optimism into this broken world by being encouraged with Martin Ojeda's preseason scoring record.
Philadelphia Union
Just gonna go ahead and get the Philadelphia appreciation section done early this week. I have to meet my quotas, ya know? Also… well… [whispers] you have to feel a little bad for the city's sports fans at this point, right? Because of the whole three lost championships in 99 days thing that just happened? Because somehow it got worse than losing MLS Cup and the World Series on the same day? Remember?
Anyway, the Union picked up some excellent depth pieces as they prepare for a CCL run, adding attacking-mid-winger-forward Joaquin Torres from CF Montréal, midfielder Andres Perea from Orlando City, and center back Damion Lowe from Inter Miami. All three are perfect not-quite starting caliber but not typical bench guy kind of players and should do well in Philly.
However, the Union would have gotten a winning assessment even without bringing in three high-quality depth guys. Mainly because of all the nothing that happened. Everyone we thought the Union might lose stayed around. Kai Wagner is still here. So are Olivier Mbaizo and Jose Martinez. The entire starting XI from last year's 1B team is back. That's more than enough reason to be optimistic. And almost makes up for the losing three championships in 99 days thing? Maybe? No? Ok, we'll move on…
Orlando City
I'm going to be saying this a lot and just need to prepare everyone to hear it a few times before the start of the season…
All these things can be true: 1) Orlando did more things than any other team this offseason 2) doing more things doesn't always mean the things you did were good 3) On paper, the many things Orlando did seem to be very good.
I don't think I'm quite as full send positive on the Lions this year as some of my colleagues are. But we're talking about the difference between seeing them as a playoff team and a home playoff team here. I'm not trying to be a hater or anything, it's just that I've been burned by busy offseasons before.
That being said, I think they've at least guaranteed themselves a playoff spot this offseason. The team needed a refresh. They somehow did that while maintaining critical pieces of their core and offloading not-so-critical pieces. For a team that made the playoffs last season despite playing some of the clunkiest soccer in the league at times, that should be more than enough to get them back to the postseason. If players like new DP winger Martin Ojeda and new left back Rafael Santos elevate the starting lineup, they have more than enough depth to make it through the year with a load of points in tow.
I will just make one more slightly more negative point though before I get out of here. For all the talk of Orlando's great offseason, you can look at their depth chart and see just two spots where new starters have come in. This is largely the same team, just add Ojeda and subtract Ruan. That could be more than enough to be a contender. It could also just be a slightly more interesting version of the same team from last year.
New York Red Bulls
Like Orlando, there are reasons I'm hesitant to jump all the way in on the Red Bulls bandwagon before the start of the year. Mainly that I've been burned before by a new Red Bulls striker. But if new DP forward Dante Vanzeir can make us believers at the start of the year, we're talking about what might be the best Red Bulls team since 2018. Seriously, it feels like all it will take is one of their new strikers to thrive and a system led by a group of typically talented young players can do the rest. Whether that's Vanzeir, Elias Manoel or even Cory Burke, it doesn't matter. If the Red Bulls have a consistent goal-scoring threat among that new group, they'll pick up points with ease.
Columbus Crew
Wilfried Nancy is good at coaching soccer teams.
Real Salt Lake
Oh good, I finally found a West team to talk about. And I probably wouldn't have talked about them if it weren't for the fact they picked up TAM defender Brayan Vera yesterday. Couple his signing with U22 winger Carlos Andrés Gómez's club-record deal and the fact that Damir Kreilach should be back from injury and things are looking relatively decent for RSL heading into 2023. I'm a little unsure why Aaron Herrera isn't a part of that, but hey, at least a team in the West did something interesting?
Toronto FC
The Reds kept Jonathan Osorio around, added Víctor Vázquez and Adama Diomande for depth and then made what might be the two biggest free agent signings of the offseason in center back Matt Hedges and goalkeeper Sean Johnson. They also just so happened to sign TAM-level left back Raoul Petretta. They're still very thin at spots, but c'mon, those are outstanding moves.
LAFC
I didn't want to do it. It felt kind of boring. But you go look at what the rest of the West has done this offseason and then tell me what any of them have done to keep pace with LAFC, let alone catch up to them. They even lost Chicho Arango and it still feels like LAFC have done more to improve than most teams in the West.
The reigning MLS Cup champions re-signed full back Ryan Hollingshead, picked up maybe the most hyped U22 signing in history in winger Stipe Biuk, won the race for free agent center back Aaron Long, and they're probably about to do something wild to replace Arango. That just seems to be how things work these days.
Atlanta United
I mean, maybe, right? Stay with me here.
They were able to shed a whole lot of bad contracts even if they're openly admitting they're still locked into some bad deals. They found about as amicable a split from Josef Martínez as possible. They made a no-brainer, perfect fit move by signing winger Derrick Etienne Jr. in the free agent market. They added depth at goalkeeper that should keep last year's doomsday scenario from happening again. They replaced center back Alan Franco with a possibly steadying force in Luis Abram. And they seem to have found a winner in new DP striker Giorgos Giakoumakis.
There's no real reason to give Atlanta the benefit of the doubt over the last three years, but this kind of seems like things are setting up pretty well for the Five Stripes. A return to the playoffs is on the table and the ceiling feels as high as it has in a long time.
Anyway, see y'all again next year when I say the same exact thing.
Colorado Rapids
You know what? Fine, I'm brave enough to do it. I think the Rapids had a solid offseason. Yes, their most notable move happens to be a trade for a DP winger the Galaxy were desperate to get rid of. But you know what? Perfect Rapids signing. Adding Kévin Cabral is the completed infinity gauntlet of Rapids players. I bet he contributes like 25 goals out of spite.
Maybe even more important, they helped fill out their midfield with Conor Ronan from Wolves, possibly found their new starting left back in Alex Gersbach from Grenoble, and swiped TAM center back Andreas Maxsø before a lot of other MLS teams could get to him. Honestly, Maxsø could be far more critical than the Cabral deal when all is said and done.
They did good work this offseason. That doesn't make up for last offseason. But it at least feels like they've given Robin Fraser enough to work with to put something potentially special together again.
AND OTHER THINGS
THE READING RAINBOW
FULL TIME
Good luck out there. Start turning heads early.
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