{"id":5531,"date":"2011-07-20T11:14:14","date_gmt":"2011-07-20T15:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=5531"},"modified":"2011-07-20T12:56:03","modified_gmt":"2011-07-20T16:56:03","slug":"trading-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=5531","title":{"rendered":"Trading Time?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s no escaping it: the Revs have been\u00a0bad this season. And not just\u00a0bad in the generic, it’s-not-their-year\u00a0sense. No, it’s much worse than that.\u00a0They’ve been\u00a0historically<\/em> bad.<\/p>\n

As of this morning, they’re last in the league in\u00a0goals scored (16), next-to-last in goal differential (-11), last in the Eastern Conference, and are on pace to finish with the fewest\u00a0wins in team history (6), fewest goals scored (29), and are one loss or tie\u00a0away from breaking the club record for longest winless streak (9).<\/p>\n

It’s not for lack of effort, either. Well, at least, not entirely. Some may question the players’\u00a0desire\u00a0during Sunday’s 3-0 loss to Philadelphia, as well as the efforts of a front office that allowed two of its most reliable goalscorers to walk out of the door.<\/p>\n

But, that’s neither here nor there.\u00a0The cold reality is this:\u00a0The season is more than halfway over, and the\u00a0Revs are\u00a0nearly as many points\u00a0below of a playoff spot (14)\u00a0as their regular season\u00a0point total (16).<\/p>\n

Since the likelihood of the Revs making the postseason is about as realistic as a Casey Anthony confession, it’s time to start thinking about the future. No, not September and October. But, rather, March and April – of next year.<\/em><\/p>\n

And in order to\u00a0give serious\u00a0contemplation\u00a0to\u00a0that future, Vice President of Player Personnel Michael Burns must focus on what\u00a0he can do in the present.<\/p>\n

Exploring transfer candidates is a start. A high-priced\u00a0international player\u00a0(or two)\u00a0may satiate the masses momentarily. But, let’s not forget that the international market, by and large,\u00a0has not been\u00a0the most\u00a0reliable source of talent for the team.<\/p>\n

Keeping\u00a0that in mind, Burns may want to consider the prospect of pulling off a trade. No, not your standard role-player-for-draft-picks deal. A bold trade. A trade with one of his best players as its centerpiece.<\/p>\n

There’s no question that Benny Feilhaber has not been\u00a0the happiest camper\u00a0here in New England. Sure, it started off promisingly enough for the World Cup star. That 3-2 win over Sporting K.C. \u00a0made a lot of people forget about this team’s shortcomings.<\/p>\n

But it wasn’t long before reality set in. Injuries – including a sprained ankle sustained by Feilhaber –\u00a0and curious tactical decisions\u00a0decimated the attack. The defense leaked through some pretty soft goals. And all the while, the Revs failed to do one very important\u00a0thing: win.<\/p>\n

Quite expectedly, Feilhaber\u00a0became visibly\u00a0frustrated. And not just with the incessant hacking. The losses and poor displays eventually got the best of Benny. As the season progressed, the gifted midfielder began to take out his frustrations on his own teammates.<\/p>\n

For stark evidence of Feilhaber’s unfiltered\u00a0criticism of\u00a0his own teammates, check out a replay of Sunday’s 3-0 loss to Philadelphia. There he is: yelling at Pat Phelan. Stephen McCarthy. Even Slyde.\u00a0Events\u00a0deteriorated so\u00a0badly that\u00a0he essentially took it upon himself to get ejected\u00a0by body checking\u00a0the\u00a0trained actor\u00a0himself, Carlos Ruiz. Exit, stage right, Mr. Feilhaber.<\/p>\n

In light of\u00a0his most recent\u00a0outburst\u00a0 – one that had simmered\u00a0for\u00a0over an hour prior to his expulsion –\u00a0it may not be the worst idea in the world to\u00a0give serious consideration to\u00a0trading number 22. Not for that reason alone, of course.<\/p>\n

His value, despite his volatile temper, is still reasonably high. He’s easily one of the best players on the team. And with so many teams in the playoff hunt – pretty much everyone but New England and Vancouver – it’s not inconceivable that the the Revs could get a package of prospects for their talented midfielder.<\/p>\n

Dallas, for example, is\u00a0stocked with young talent, and could certainly use a midfielder of Feilhaber’s caliber as they march toward the playoffs. Columbus and Houston are\u00a0two other\u00a0teams that may view Feilhaber as the missing piece to their respective\u00a0playoff puzzles as well.<\/p>\n

Of course, Burns doesn’t have to trade Feilhaber, or anybody at all,\u00a0for that matter. But, given the front office’s less than sparkling track record of keeping its players happy,\u00a0it’s entirely within the realm\u00a0that\u00a0a certain\u00a0central midfielder\u00a0may\u00a0ask out of his contract at season’s end.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Besides, let’s be realistic: Benny Feilhaber is not a part of the Revs long-term\u00a0future. Whether the Revs trade him or not,\u00a0it’s\u00a0difficult to envision a scenario in which\u00a0the\u00a0team’s second-best midfielder returns next season. Not with the way this team’s built, not with the unhappiness that’s pervading the locker room, and almost certainly not with amount of money ($346,000)\u00a0the Revs are paying him, especially if\u00a0\u00a0the Revs procure “one or more” designated players this summer.<\/p>\n

Feilhaber is, without question, one of the few bright spots on a bad team.\u00a0You could even say that he’s been their most reliable, save for the ankle injury and that foolish red card on Sunday. But, unlike Shalrie Joseph or Matt Reis, he is not a part of the Revs’\u00a0foundation – or its future.<\/p>\n

Let’s not kid ourselves: Feilhaber’s signing\u00a0was not an orchestrated addition, but rather, a gift given to a team\u00a0that was\u00a0coming off one of its worst seasons last year. He\u00a0serendipitously\u00a0arrived in New England\u00a0via the allocation process after Chivas USA and Philadelphia declined his services. His signing, comparatively speaking,\u00a0contained very few complexities.<\/p>\n

In the months that have passed since his arrival, it’s obvious\u00a0that, given the Revs current form,\u00a0Feilhaber’s\u00a0time here\u00a0has seen its course.\u00a0The\u00a0creative playmaker\u00a0didn’t magically cure the much-maligned midfield.\u00a0In hindsight,\u00a0it was foolish to think that he – or any single player – could.<\/p>\n

There is hope for Revs –\u00a0just not this season. And with that in mind,\u00a0Burns\u00a0may want to give some serious thought to\u00a0cashing in one of\u00a0his few bargaining chips before\u00a0it’s too late.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let’s face it: the Revs aren’t going to the playoffs. That said, Mike Burns would be wise to move Benny Feilhaber.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[24,8,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/feilhaberfeature2.jpg?fit=490%2C225&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5531"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5531"}],"version-history":[{"count":46,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5575,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5531\/revisions\/5575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}