WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- The 2023 Season Preview Guide is here: All 29 teams previewed and projected to get you prepared for the 2023 season. We're just a few days away, y'all.
- FC Barcelona sign LA Galaxy defender Araujo after transfer delay: LA Galaxy and Mexico national team right back Julián Araujo has secured his long-desired move to Europe after all, earning a club-record transfer to LaLiga giants FC Barcelona on Friday – over two weeks past the January window closing. Paperwork was initially filed 18 seconds late on Jan. 31 due to a supposed computer error, then FC Barcelona's appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) was denied. But the club and player stuck at it, resulting in the 21-year-old completing his reported $4 million transfer to Spain's top division. The Galaxy will retain a sell-on percentage of the transfer fee if Araujo is sold to another club.
- Vancouver Whitecaps sign goalkeeper Takaoka from J1 League champs: Vancouver Whitecaps FC have acquired Japanese goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka from reigning J1 League champions Yokohama F. Marinos . The 26-year-old signed through the 2024 MLS season with a club option for 2025. The deal utilized Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) and Takaoka will occupy an international roster spot. Takaoka, who arrives from the same City Football Group-owned Japanese club as NYCFC center back Thiago Martins did last winter, will battle Thomas Hasal for the Whitecaps' No. 1 spot. Hasal, a homegrown player, took over Vancouver's starting job in 2022 after Canadian international Maxime Crepeau was traded to LAFC.
- Sporting Kansas City sign defender Castellanos: Sporting Kansas City have signed defender Robert Castellanos through the 2023 MLS season with options for 2024-25. The 24-year-old center back, who most recently played for Finnish Premier League club Kuopion Palloseura, returns for his second stint in MLS, having appeared in one match with Nashville SC during the 2021 season. He made the most of that lone appearance, scoring the game-tying goal in a 1-1 draw at Toronto FC.
- Seattle Sounders name Weber president of business operations: Seattle Sounders FC have named Hugh Weber their president of business operations as part of a six-year growth strategy . The front-office move comes after co-owner Peter Tomozawa departed his president of business operations position to become CEO of SEA 2026, which is charged with readying Seattle for the FIFA 2026 World Cup. Weber, a Washington native and a 25-year sports industry veteran, comes to the Sounders from Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, where he most recently served as president for the parent company of the Philadelphia 76ers, the New Jersey Devils and Prudential Center, and other holdings including Premier League club Crystal Palace.
WHAT ARE 2023'S HIGH-VARIANCE TEAMS?
The preseason predictions are here and they're fun and beautiful and infallible and a sign that MLS is here and a totally inefficient way to communicate anything all that meaningful about most teams!
Seriously, it's totally fair game to dunk on them. I get it. Just keep in mind that sometimes you don't have any real idea which way a team will go and how they'll be affected by totally unforeseeable circumstances in a salary-cap league. Still, you think they might be really good and they also have a chance to go off the rails so drastically if you put them any higher. And then the doomsday scenario happens and you'll be mocked for years to come so you just put them in eighth. And then you realize you have 28 more teams to do.
Some teams are harder to place than others though and I wanted to point out a few of those on this most revered of days on the MLS calendar. Starting with...
Toronto FC
I have them fourth. Did I immediately regret that? Of course I did. Especially when I looked up and realized I had them higher than every single person voting except for one. But sometimes you just have to lean with your gut.
My gut tells me that this is one of the highest-upside teams in the league. Wingers Federico Bernardeschi and Lorenzo Insigne could have massive years, manager Bob Bradley has the team set to follow the Year Two Bump principle, and center backs Matt Hedges and Sigurd Rosted plus goalkeeper Sean Johnson are potentially spine-solidifying signings. There will be a third DP signing on the way at some point too. This is a good and potentially very dynamic team!... If they're healthy.
They're still lacking a lot of depth and the starters they do have make up one of the oldest first XIs in the league. Little depth and a lot of dudes who remember what it was like to walk into Blockbuster is a potentially volatile combination. Basically, this could go south very quickly and they're more prone than other teams to have it trend that way.
This could be a team that finishes anywhere from a never-in-doubt home playoff spot to a team that misses out on the playoffs for the third straight season.
NYCFC
They lost as much talent as any team in the league. I mean, probably the most if we tried to quantify it. Point is, you don't lose as many key players as NYCFC just did and don't feel the effects.
That being said, if you were to wake up in July and realize that NYCFC made four quietly outstanding signings at points you don't remember and suddenly they look totally capable of winning MLS Cup, would you really be all that surprised?
The attacking front of Talles Magno, Gabriel Pereira, Thiago Andrade and (probably) Santiago Rodriguez is hilariously talented. Keaton Parks is still here to round out midfield, James Sands could be back this summer and they still seem to have plenty of room to correct any issues as they see fit. Given their scouting record as of late, it feels like NYCFC are more likely than most to hit on whatever players they bring in.
Then again, no club is perfect on these things. Even Philadelphia has missed once in a while. If the Magno as a no. 9 continues to fail, NYCFC's losses become too much and the reinforcements don't reinforce much of anything positive, then the Pigeons could be in trouble. Both timelines feel realistic. The pessimistic one is almost more so.
Once again, we're looking at a team that could be a contender by the end of the season or a team that might be in a version of a rebuild. I put them ninth. The other folks at MLS soccer dot com had them anywhere from second to 10th.
Atlanta United
I have totally bought into this attack looking outstanding with new DP striker Giorgos Giakoumakis and new winger Derrick Etienne Jr. plugged in. I have also totally bought into their midfield being below average. And I have totally bought into the fact that I have no idea which way this Atlanta team as a whole will skew.
There are just so many questions. Are Brad Guzan and Miles Robinson healthy? Does this team have enough depth? Can Luis Abram be what Alan Franco wasn't at center back? Seriously, what's going on with that midfield? All of these feel something close to critical.
At the same time, it's not hard to envision a timeline where the answers are: 1) Healthy enough! 2) The kids got the job done and the injury luck regressed to the mean! 3) He sure can! 4) Nothing totally debilitating especially after they made a competent midsummer signing! OR a timeline where the answer is: 1) None of that mattered because they scored 60 goals.
This could be a team that profiles very similar to the 2017 Five Stripes that showed plenty of firepower accompanied by a lot of inconsistency. Or, the depth could kill them, their new attacking pieces could struggle to click, and we could be looking at a team looking for new leadership in key areas. It's all on the table. Atlanta aren't too big to fail. They've proven that in the last three years.
Seattle Sounders
I mean do you even have to look further than last year's CCL-winning, non-playoff-making team?
We know what the ceiling looks like. But for a team that's seemed perma-injured over the three seasons, it's fair to question whether they can consistently pick up points over the course of the season.
To be honest, if Joao Paulo is healthy the whole time and resembles his pre-ACL tear self, the answer is "Of course they can, you dummy." If not, then I may have a few more questions. Either way, the safe bet is on the Sounders excelling. (I picked them to finish second.) But that was the safe bet last regular season too.
Portland Timbers
They could be a force again. They could also be the same team that missed the playoffs last year plus a $10 million DP.
Honestly, without much change, it feels like all of this relies on whether or not Evander lives up to his billing. When your whole plan seems to hinge on one new player in MLS, that's about as high variance as it gets, isn't it?
Now, they're probably going to add a center back and a center forward sometime very soon. But at this point, it's hard to give the Timbers the benefit of the doubt when it comes to a no. 9. The formula is something like Good Evander + Good new no. 9 = Home playoff game at least OR Bad Evander + Bad new no. 9 = Totally mid-fringe playoff team at best. There's your range for this group.
Sporting KC
If Willy Agada is legit, if they sort things out at center back and if they work in a healthy Alan Pulido and Gadi Kinda they could be great. If none of those things happen, then they could be nearly as bad as they were last year. And there were stretches where they were really, really bad. The MLS predictions have them anywhere from second to 11th and it's not hard to envision either.
How can you not be romantic about this league?
AND OTHER THINGS
- Colorado Rapids acquire Serbian international goalkeeper Ilić: The Colorado Rapids have acquired goalkeeper Marko Ilić on loan from Belgian Pro League side KV Kortrijk through July 2023 with a purchase option. Ilić, 25, offers immediate competition for the Rapids' No. 1 spot alongside William Yarbrough, the former US international who's been the Western Conference club's starter since the 2020 campaign.
- Charlotte FC exercise offseason buyout on Reyna: Charlotte FC have exercised their offseason buyout on Peruvian international winger Yordy Reyna . Reyna, who was among Charlotte's highest-paid players (per MLS Players Association figures), will no longer occupy an international roster slot or count against the Crown's 2023 salary budget. A veteran of seven MLS seasons, Reyna contributed three goals and three assists in 19 appearances (10 starts) during Charlotte's 2022 expansion campaign. He also featured for Vancouver Whitecaps FC from 2017-20, then spent the next two seasons with D.C. United before moving to Charlotte as a free agent. All told, Reyna has 27g/22a in 119 MLS games.
- Houston Dynamo FC sign defender Schmitt: Houston Dynamo FC have signed defender Tate Schmitt through the 2023 MLS season with options for 2024-25 . Though Schmitt's option was declined by Real Salt Lake following the 2022 campaign, the Dynamo still had to trade for his player rights, sending a third-round pick in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft to RSL to complete the deal. The 25-year-old spent the last four years with RSL after signing as a homegrown player before the 2019 season. He scored two goals in 24 appearances with the club, playing primarily with second-team affiliate Real Monarchs and also spending the 2021 season on loan at USL Championship side Phoenix Rising FC.
- CF Montréal midfielder Miljevic out 2-3 months after knee injury: CF Montréal's 2023 attack suffered a preseason blow, as the club announced Friday that midfielder Matko Miljevic is out 2-3 months after suffering a left meniscus tear. The knee injury occurred in last weekend's preseason match against Houston Dynamo FC. The 21-year-old attacker is expected to shoulder more final-third responsibilities after CF Montréal lost Djordje Mihailovic (transfer to Eredivisie club AZ Alkmaar) and Joaquín Torres (trade to Philadelphia Union) this winter.
- Austin FC loan Romaña to Paraguay's Club Olimpia: Austin FC have loaned defender Jhohan Romaña to Paraguayan powerhouse Club Olimpia through the end of the 2023 MLS season. The deal for the 24-year-old Colombian center back also includes a transfer option. Originally signed from another Paraguayan Primera División side – Club Guaraní – before the Verde & Black's inaugural 2021 campaign, Romaña made 35 appearances (22 starts) for ATX over two seasons.
THE READING RAINBOW
FULL TIME
Good luck out there. Get game ready.
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