SWAP-MEET: Toronto's Trade Madness (bit o' Revs)

For today's trades all roads lead to Toronto FC (TFC) - it's only the other end, and what people think about it, that provides something to ponder. Looking at this by personnel...

Marvell Wynne
"Sources" let this one slip first thing this morning - at least for those of us on PST. But the reporter running down all the details was Ives Galarcep, who fleshed out that first link in an article for North Jersey...um...whatever it's called.

Naturally, reactions followed fairly quickly with the reaction in Mudville at losing Wynne ranging from grumpily disappointed to dubious yet trusting. It wasn't till some time later in the day that I came across the first reaction that matched mine: yeah, Wynne's got great speed and the oft-dreaded "potential," but can the man defend? I mean, what's killing Toronto right now? Defense, right? As such, this passage (which comes out of that last link) strikes me as the thing to watch:

"The No. 1 pick of the 2006 MLS Draft, Wynne is mad fast and extremely athletic. But as his dismal display in the season-opener at Columbus demonstrated, he has not progressed to the point where he can contribute to a team seriously considering a run at the MLS Cup. He simply couldn't keep attackers in front of him, and the Red Bull were lucky the Crew didn't score on any of the three times Wynne was totally undressed."


In his write-up for his blog, Galarcep touches on that same theme, though in a later offering, he also dubs Wynne "a solid right back." Sports Illustrated's new(-ish) MLS-guy mentions the same kind of qualms. We shall see, we shall see...

Richard Mulrooney
The "later offering" noted above touches on yet another TFC trade: the one that looks to have sent midfielder Richard Mulrooney to the Houston Dynamo in exchange for Kevin "Bobcat" Goldthwaite. Galarcep notes that Mulrooney wasn't happy in Canada, which one imagines kind of forced TFC coach Mo Johnston's hand. Still, as someone who thought Mulrooney was a hell of an acquisition for TFC, I have to wonder about how much they gave up - and that's even weighing the team's need for defenders. Tough spot, no doubt. And, incidentally, Houston just got that little bit harder to beat...dammit.

Daniele Dichio
I'm seriously, I've looked up the spelling of that name half a dozen times now and think that's accurate. But the important thing here is that an article in an outlet called Slam! Sports channels TFC midfielder Carl Robinson to say a bit about Dichio's upside:

"'Danny will be a massive asset to our club,' Robinson said. 'He has caused havoc on the pitch for years over in England. He's a big lad and there's not many aerials he's not going to win.'"


Footnote on Revs
Finally, the Boston Globe reports today that the New England Revolution are actively pursuing a foreign player or - god forbid - or two (gasp!). Frankly, I think the team's front office only just realized the publicity potential of talking about chasing foreign acquisitions and they're going through the motions. As a few have noted, the transfer window is closed till summer.

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