Moreno Trade: A Personal 180 + Implications

Seeing as it's kinda my job, I've been following the Alejandro Moreno to Columbus trade pretty closely - at least in the "other" space. As one can see, I started out puzzled, but have since come around by clocking the wisdom of others - not least Columbus Crew coach Sigi Schmid.

Schmid is, of course, far from neutral - after all, the man has a decision to defend - so it was kind of nice to have someone not associated with the Crew review the upside:

"The task will fall to Schmid to build his Crew team around [Guillermo] Schelotto, who likely will line up as a right forward in a 4-3-3 or right winger in a 4-4-2. Schmid showed that he is ready to tailor his roster to maximize Schelotto's strengths by dealing for former Houston forward Alejandro Moreno. An underrated forward who is more adept than Joseph Ngwenya at a pass-heavy approach to offense, Moreno is the type of forward always looking for quick combinations and smart runs to make off his teammates."

The thing is, Moreno plugs nicely into the larger equation without Schelotto being part of the picture - on paper anyway. Call this a two-piece gamble on the Crew developing an offense; if they can pull it off the East gets a good bit tougher.

(########)