Thursday, January 07, 2016

Sporting KC Acquire Brad Davis From Houston

Sporting KC made the long rumored Brad Davis trade official today as the club sent two draft picks, a second round in 2017 and a third round in 2018, and future considerations to the Houston Dynamo in exchange for the 14 year veteran. The long time Dynamo midfielder recently turned 34, but still showed very well for the Dynamo last season scoring four goals and adding 10 assists. It was the sixth time in seven seasons that Davis has hit double digits in league assists, and the one season he didn't he got nine. All those assists have left him third all-time in terms of assists with 122, just 14 behind the all-time leader, Landon Donovan. His presence for KC will also give the club another threat when it comes to delivering set pieces into the box.

The move, which allows Davis to move closer to his hometown of St. Charles, MO, has been one that has been a rumored trade for years as Davis has continued to play in Houston. It is also one that Davis apparently approached the Dynamo about this offseason.

For Kansas City they add more depth and talent to their attack for very little in return as any draft picks after the first round are becoming less and less useful to MLS teams with academies. There are some questions about the move though, including where Davis would play in KC's system. Last year in Houston Davis played much more centrally than the wing position that he had played for much of his career. That would put him in a fight with the likes of Benny Feilhaber, who himself had a very good season in the attacking midfield position. He could also take on the attacking midfield role with Feilhaber sliding into the deep lying playmaker role that he played in early last season. Davis could also provide competition on the wing on the left where KC currently has Justin Mapp and Krisztian Nemeth available (although Nemeth is likely to miss time in 2016 with the Euros). If he is on the wing one issue that still isn't addressed is KC's lack of pace out wide, at 34 Davis isn't going to provide a whole lot of speed on the wing.

That leads to the question of his salary though. With KC seemingly having set starters at Davis' two best positions, is he worth the $400,000 salary he made last season according to the players' union numbers? Probably not, but if Davis is the one that really pushed for this trade then I'd assume that he was likely willing to take some sort of a pay cut. If not either KC is likely using general allocation money, or hopefully Houston is covering some of his salary.

One thing that Davis is going to have to overcome in KC, at least among a few fans there is still a lot of dislike for Houston, and Davis in particular. Davis didn't earn a lot of friends in KC during the height of the KC-Houston rivalry between 2011 and 2013. It will be interesting to see the type of reception he earns.

For me I don't dislike this trade as much as some do. I want to know what Davis is getting paid to play for Kansas City that will be a big sticking point. If he's still on $400,000 and KC is covering all of that I'm going to look at the trade a lot differently. But at the very least this helps to address some of the depth issues that people were unhappy about last year.

1 comment:

Nikoli Maximus said...

Davis is a top tier MLS veteran and his signing will pay HUGE dividends come the summer months. Depth is something MLS teams, Sporting in particular (i.e. center backs, wide players last year just to name a few), have struggled with. At this point in MLS's evolution to have a player like Brad Davis coming off the bench! Are you kidding me?! This is exactly the type of player EVERY MLS team has lacked since league inception and every championship caliber team from-here-on-out won't be able to succeed without. High priced DP are rarely worth it and as last years 'Final 4' will show you building your team with high quality players a rung below DP status is more successful both fiscally and competitively. Great signing. PV is playing chess while other teams are playing checkers.