Boswell Is First Domino to Fall from DC United

Mike Martin

December 12, 2007

Bobby Boswell

Bobby Boswell
Photo: Martin Fernadez

It’s shaping up to be another December to remember now that DC United has begun to make some moves. With DC’s starting keeper, Troy Perkins, on the verge of being sold to Valerenga in Norway, United traded out of favor defender Bobby Boswell to Houston in return for goalkeeper Zach Wells.

Washington, D.C.

DC United is no stranger to pulling off shocking moves in December as last year, United shipped out Nick Rimando, Freddy Adu, Alecko Eskandarian and Brandon Prideaux right before Peter Nowak stunningly jumped ship, but this December is shaping up to be no less exciting with former defender of the year Boswell and former goalkeeper of the year Perkins both on their way out, and that’s before the Veron and Gomez sagas play out.

With a European club pursuing Troy Perkins, United was apparently forced to scramble for a replacement and when a complicated deal for LA’s Joe Cannon apparently fell thru, United seemed to go with the next best thing by trading Boswell for a highly experienced young keeper full of potential in Zach Wells.

Boswell had fallen out of favor in 2007 after being MLS Defender of the Year in 2006, and was languishing on the bench by the end of last season. Apparently, his critical mistakes in the playoffs against Chicago when he did get a chance to play were the final straw as despite his extremely cap friendly salary he was deemed expendable in order to gain Wells as a solution for Perkins imminent departure.

Zach Wells is only 27 and a four year MLS veteran backup who played previously for the Metrostars, and most recently was the backup to Pat Onstad on the MLS Cup Champion Dynamo. He played quite a few very good matches for the Dynamo last season while Onstad was away on Gold Cup duty and is considered to have a very bright future in MLS.

It's possible Wells is merely a contingincy plan and the DC braintrust will continue looking for a goalkeeper to compete with him come next season. Once Perkins leaves, UNited would have been without a starting quality keeper, and the longer that situation continued, DC would have been held for ransom that much more by teams smelling desperation. So, this move might just be to bring a guy that can start if necessary. United also receives a future draft pick in the deal. Likely the round of that pick will be determined by Boswell’s play for the Dynamo in 2008.

Also, while Waiting for Veron is settling into its fourth week on the best seller list, it seems the Gomez Saga is also entering new realms of possibilities.

Previously, it was assumed United’s former league MVP playmaker Christian Gomez would either accept a new contract from DC United or would be opt for a lucrative contract overseas. However, it seems some MLS teams might be willing to meet Gomez’ demands and a trade inside the league could well be in his future.

It seems the sticking point between United and Gomez is not so much money as it is guaranteed years of the deal. Gomez wants at least two as he is nearing the end of his earning years, while United is apparently offering only one guaranteed year.

Considering his stellar play since coming to MLS, Gomez could easily be considered a boon to almost any team in MLS and certainly a number of teams might have no problem giving him two years guaranteed.

This leaves United in a tricky spot however. If they hold the line in contract negotiations with Gomez, they lose him overseas with nothing in return. The same thing could happen if they hold out for too much in return from a trade with an MLS team. Yet at the same time, they can’t risk under-valuing him, with the added horror of having him come back to haunt DC United in league play over the next few years.

It seems likely that Gomez should be worth a Designated Player slot from a notoriously cheap team that has no plans to use it like a New England Revolution or a Columbus Crew. Or he would certainly be worth a solid starter and bucket of cash from almost, or simply a single wheelbarrow of allocation money from anyone else.

Best case scenario is keeping Gomez, but if they can get a starting winger or first class central defender as well as some cash to find a backup forward and some speed, then that’s obviously better than losing him to some team in Abu Dhabi.

So, the dominos are starting to fall. Boswell and Perkins appear to be moving on, while Veron and Wells are moving in. Gomez is still in limbo, but United has about 400K in allocation and salary money yet to play with and maybe even more once Gomez' situation is settled. With obvious holes to fill despite a Supporter's Shield last season, it seems pretty clear United is not standing pat, but is going to look for some dramatic changes this off-season. 

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out as this December is beginning to look like it will not only rival the December defibrillations of 2006, but maybe even surpass the radical changes of December 2002 when Moreno, Richie, and Pope were traded for Petke, prayer, and hope. But, considering the exciting moves made last December that paid off handsomely, there's no reason to think this the moves this december will be any less successful.

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