Good Heavens,
Now we have Devin?
Hudson continued his theme of making every roster position count by trading for Devin Barclay from the SJ Earthquakes. Never one to feel that any position is set in stone, Ramblin Ray continues his reformation of DC by adding yet another youth international despite a bevy of young talent.
What an interesting trade. DC seemingly had answered their scoring problems of recent years with the addition of Earnie Stewart and the number one pick in the Superdraft, Alecko Eskandarian, but when all eyes were expecting a supplemental pick for the relatively weak D-Mid position, Ray threw quite a curve ball by acquiring Barclay.
Now clearly Barclay is a steal considering the deal made for him. Obviously, he is a roster exempt, young athletic speedster who can play forward and cover a wing position if necessary and essentially DC only had to exchange the first pick for the sixth pick in a relatively meaningless supplemental draft plus a nebulous future draft pick. However, considering recent roster moves, DC had already acquired quite a bit of scoring talent in Stewart, Esky, which along with the continued improvement of Teen-O, Q2 and Ali Curtis seemed to intimate that the scoring base was covered.
Barclay has the raw talent to learn a wing position and with Bennie not exactly inspiring confidence in his surgically repaired ankle, thats nothing to sneeze at despite his mercilessly embarrassing DC with his first MLS goal and assist in that horrible nightmare that was 2001. DCs wings are relatively thin and God forbid, should Bennie come up lame, or even at the very least, miss time with the Nats, Barclay would most definitely come in handy. Without a doubt his skills and roster exempt status are a boon, but what does that mean to the rest of the roster?
Clearly, DC now has 4 of their 6 developmental positions filled with Barclay being the fourth P-40 player added to the team. So, in effect DC now has 17 of 18 regular roster spots filled and only 2 roster exempt spots left to play with.
Smart money says Warren will take a developmental spot, and if Digimarino is luckily pried from the Metros grasp of supposedly weighted lotteries, then DC has very little wiggle room for their final roster positions. Could easily become the ice water thrown on Woody, or the Swann song of John from Indiana.
Still, no matter what this does to the roster, this is all part of Hudsons master plan of making every roster spot worth its weight in gold. Ramblin Ray is definitely sending a message. There will be no free rides in this edition of United. Not only is almost every starting spot up for grabs, but even the very last roster spot has now become a bone of contention.
