MLS Preseason Notes: Comings, Goings, Ratings

Disappointed as I am with the lack of detail in the New England Revolution's preseason schedule, MLSnet.com's interns filled in quite a few preseason dates and details for the rest of the league since I last checked. Perhaps there's a reason I get so very few hits through Soccer Blogs to any post headlined with the word "Revolution" or "Revs."

In other news....

Houston Dynamo
Continuing their reign as kings of local coverage, The Houston Chronicle looks in on the Dynamo's rookie class (gosh, they're positive!) and Brian Ching's new deal with MLS. Color me surprised on this last one: according to the piece, Ching's base salary comes in at only $200,000. Is he worth a Twellman, or what?

Chivas USA
The latest out of the Chivas camp contains some good news for Portland Timbers fans: it looks like Chivas USA will sign the Seattle Sounders' Cuban forward Maykel Galindo; after all, anything that makes the Sounders weaker helps the Timbers, right? There's nothing on the Sounders' site about this yet, but maybe that's down to the future tense used in the Daily Breeze's article....either that, or this is just a rumor. Anyway, from what I've read, Galindo's a decent player; could work OK for Chivas.

Red Bull New York/Toronto FC
Frank Giase's column looks into the possibility of Red Bull using now-superfluous 'keeper Jon Conway as bait for acquiring former-DC United forward Alecko Eskandarian. For what it's worth, Giase makes this sound sufficiently plausible as to make it probable. Then again, Steve Goff slips in a point or two on Soccer Insider that makes one think DC United might be the hunt as well - albeit only in a back-burner kind of way.

Real Salt Lake
Looks like Costa Rican defenders Daniel Torres will arrive quite soon, thereby solidifying RSL's proposed back three. It's an interesting trio: Torres, Eddie Pope, and Jack Stewart.

Colorado Rapids
This was a weird one, given how hard it was to find - I mean, I caught it as a name-only mention on Soccer New England's In & Out feature - but the Rapids acquired Panamanian forward Roberto Brown, immediately doubling the force of the Panamanian invasion. It's also possible I just missed the story: MLSnet.com ran a Rapids press release early last week. And, yes, Colorado coach Fernando Clavijo's eye for talent comes up again...

General - Picking the East
...as it did in the latest edition of Ives Galarcep's "Questions Answered" post on Soccer by Ives. But that's not what I'm passing on here (and you'll have to work to find it anyway). Way, WAY down in this sprawling post, Galarcep takes a stab at ranking the Eastern Conference powers. Here's the question and his take:

"CHRISTOPHER
- If the Delgado/ trade for Esky goes through, are we the best team in MLS, if not how good are we?

IVES
- You can throw pieces together and anoint a team the best in the league. Houston is still the best though DC is my pick to be the favorite in 2007. I think the Red Bulls are behind DC and maybe Chicago are ahead of them right now. If the RB can find a stud with its second DP slot then I put them ahead of Chicago."

That read a little convoluted to me, but this came deep, deep in the post; I was losing track reading it, so I can only imagine what it took to write it. Looks like he's going DC, Chicago, Red Bull.

I figure New England must slip in the top somewhere....probably an oversight.