A Look at the Failure that Was the First MLS Free Agent Signing

During the most recent collective bargaining between the MLS players union and the league, one of the big points that the players were fighting for was free agency within the league as when players contracts expire the team they were with could make them a "bona fide" offer and retain their MLS rights. In the end, the players got some of what they wanted, they got a little bit of free agency, players that were 28 years or older and had at least eight years of experience in the league now earned themselves free agency when they were out of contract or had their options declined. Last offseason was the first time players were free agents within MLS as 27 players met the requirements for free agency within MLS.

Along with re-signing their lone free agent, Paulo Nagamura, Sporting Kansas City also became the first team to actually utilize MLS free agency, signing Justin Mapp from the Montreal Impact as the league's first free agent. Mapp was signed to be a depth piece on the wing and start some while Krisztian Nemeth was on international duty. With the addition later of Brad Davis, Sporting looked set on the wings for the season. Then came the Nemeth transfer which turned the wing position into what looked like a platoon between Davis and Mapp. Then Mapp got hurt, got hurt again, played a game, got hurt again, played a couple more games, then got hurt and missed the rest of the season leaving Kansas City in the position of having to play an aging Brad Davis more early on or rely on Connor Hallisey to try to help with the offense. Eventually KC got a career year from Jacob Peterson to sort of help fill the gap, but the string of all those events made the Mapp signing look worse and worse with each passing day and each passing game. Mapp finished the 2016 season making just six appearances for Kansas City, playing 43 minutes. How bad was Mapp's free agent signing for Kansas City? Here's a look at the 27 players that were free agents ahead of the 2016 season and how they ended up (all stats are their stats in league play only).

GK Jon Busch (Chicago Fire) - Signed with NASL's Indy XI.
GK Troy Perkins (Seattle Sounders) - Did not sign with anyone.
GK Kyle Reynish (New York Red Bulls) - Re-signed with New York played 0 games. Salary: $62,500 base and guaranteed compensation.
GK Andrew Weber (Portland Timbers) - Did not sign with anyone.
DF Corey Ashe (Orlando City SC) Signed with Columbus played 18 games, starting 14 of them, playing 1,214 minutes and recording four assists. Salary $95,000 base, $105,500 guaranteed compensation.
DF Bobby Burling (Colorado Rapids) - Re-signed with Colorado, played 16 games, starting all of them, playing 1,415 minutes and scoring one goal. Salary, $110,000 base, $116,000 guaranteed compensation.
DF Ty Harden (Chicago Fire) - Did not sign with anyone.
DF Michael Harrington (Colorado Rapids) - Signed with Chicago, playing in 19 games, starting 16 of them, totally 1,291 minutes and recording 1 assist. Salary $125,000 base and guaranteed compensation.
DF Stephen Keel (FC Dallas) - Did not sign with anyone.
DF Drew Moor (Colorado Rapids) - Signed with Toronto and played 32 games starting all of them, playing 2,880 minutes and scoring 3 goals. Salary was $235,000 base, $250,000 guaranteed compensation.
DF James Riley (Colorado Rapids) - Did not sign with anyone.
MF Eric Avila (Orlando City SC) - Signed with the NASL's Tampa Bay Rowdies.
MF Brian Carroll (Philadelphia Union) - Re-signed with Philadelphia playing 26 games, starting 23 of them, while playing 2,094 minutes and scoring one goal. Salary $120,000 base and guaranteed compensation.
MF Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo) - Re-signed with Houston, playing 32 games, starting 29 of them, while playing 2,551 minutes, scoring four goals and adding four assists. Salary $319,200 base, $356,700 guaranteed compensation.
MF Ned Grabavoy (New York City FC) - Signed with Portland, playing 22 games while starting five, playing 632 minutes. Salary $150,000 base and guaranteed compensation.
MF Nick LaBrocca (Colorado Rapids) - Signed with Chicago, playing 12 games, starting five of them totaling 514 minutes and one assist. Salary $110,000 base and guaranteed compensation.
MF Jeff Larentowicz (Chicago Fire) - Signed with LA  and played 23 games, starting 17 of them playing 1,501 minutes, scoring one goal and one assist. Salary $175,000 base and guaranteed compensation.
MF Justin Mapp (Montreal Impact) - Signed with KC, playing in six games for 43 minutes. Salary $224,070 base, $239,070 guaranteed compensation.
MF Paulo Nagamura (Sporting Kansas City) - Re-signed with KC, playing in nine games, starting six of them totaling 526 minutes recording one assist. Salary $225,000 base and guaranteed compensation.
MF Khari Stephenson (San Jose Earthquakes) - Did not sign with anyone.
MF Nathan Sturgis (Houston Dynamo) - Signed with Seattle but played no games. Salary $62,508 base and guaranteed compensation.
FW Chad Barrett (Seattle Sounders) - Signed with San Jose playing in 20 games, starting three of them while totaling 531 minutes played, scoring two goals and adding an assist. Salary $90,000 base, $95,500 guaranteed compensation.
FW Edson Buddle (LA Galaxy) - Did not sign with anyone.
FW Conor Casey (Philadelphia Union) - Signed with Columbus making four appearances for 35 minutes. Salary $105,000 base and guaranteed compensation.
FW Kenny Cooper (Montreal Impact) - Did not sign with anyone.
FW Alan Gordon (LA Galaxy) - Re-signed with LA playing in 22 games, starting seven of them for 710 minutes, scoring three goals and adding an assist. Salary $170,000 base and guaranteed compensation.
FW Mike Magee (Chicago Fire) - Signed with LA, playing 30 games, starting 16 of them while playing 1,467 minutes, scoring six goals and adding four assists. Salary $250,000 base and guaranteed compensation.

Looking at the performance of all the other free agents last year, Mapp's performance stands out, especially in comparison with his salary. Mapp ended up with the fifth highest salary of free agents in terms of base salary (behind Clark, Magee, Moor, and Nagamura) and the fourth highest in guaranteed compensation (in front of Nagamura). The salary combined with the performance by Mapp is one of the lead causes to the frustration with his performance (along with the circumstances I mentioned about regarding player movement), if Mapp had been making close to the amount that Conor Casey was making for Columbus last season, I doubt the complaining would be at the level it is among fans. Casey made less than half of what Mapp made ($105,000), so even though he actually made fewer appearances and played fewer minutes he doesn't seem to be looked at by Crew fans in the same sense as Mapp does here. Mapp's inability to even make the bench because of his string of injuries combined with his $224,070 base salary puts a sour taste in a lot of peoples' mouths. He made over $37,000 per appearance for Kansas City on the field and over $5,200 per minute played. The only players to play fewer minutes than Mapp did are the aforementioned Casey and two players that made no league appearances, Kyle Reynish and Nathan Sturgis and both of those players were making the senior roster minimum of $62,500, they were end of the bench players not expected to contribute much at all. So while there are players that have played fewer minutes than Mapp, no one comes close in terms of that combined with salary.

In fact, the only player that comes even a little close is his teammate, Nagamura. While I appreciate everything he has done for the club, Nagamura has been one of those players the last couple years where you look at the salary he's making, look at his contribution on the field and ask yourself if he should be making that much. Nagamura though is a little easier to justify when he does actually get on the field. The other thing working in Nagamura's favor is while he only played in nine games, he was available for more on the bench but was not subbed into the game, unlike Mapp.

While Nagamura was a better contribution to the team than Mapp this season, KC still used almost $450,000 of cap space on a pair of players that made just 15 league appearances, started six games, played 569 minutes and contributed to a grand total of one goal for KC. The only team that spent more on free agents in 2016 in terms of cap space is the LA Galaxy who used just under $600,000 to sign two new players (Jeff Larentowicz and Mike Magee) and re-sign one (Alan Gordon), but even with that much money spent they at least got production from those three players as they made 75 appearances, 3,678 minutes played and contributed to 16 goals for the Galaxy. That's not good enough for Sporting KC, especially for a team that isn't going to draw in the big name players, or likely spend $7 million on a transfer fee for a player, KC has to get more out of those players in the upper-middle range of salaries on the team. The pair certainly aren't the only reason for KC's struggles in 2016, the club had a number of players in 2016 not play to their abilities or to their perceived value based on their salaries, but it certainly didn't help having that much cap space tied up in those two players. Mapp for his part is already the worst free agent signing in the young history of MLS having free agency amongst its clubs, and given his salary and performance on the field likely has to be considered one of the worst signings in KC Wizards/Sporting KC history.

S.A.S. Monday After Stats

Last night was Peter Vermes' 222nd league game in charge for KC, tying him with Bob Gansler for the most games coached in team history.

Justin Mapp became the 200th different player to play in a competitive game for Kansas City.

Mapp at 31 years, 196 days, he is the 19th oldest player to debut for Kansas City in both league play and in all competitions.

Matt Besler started his 184th game in league play for KC, breaking his tie with Chris Klein for 6th place on that list.

Seth Sinovic made his 126th league appearance for KC, breaking his tie with Tony Meola for 17th all time on that list.

Sinovic made his 156th appearance in all competitions for KC, tying him with Meola for 16th on that list.

Roger Espinoza started his 135th game in all competitions for KC, tying him with Diego Gutierrez for 18th all time on that list.

Sporting KC Season Preview - Forwards

Full disclosure, this was written earlier today before the Diego Rubio rumors, please keep that in mind.

To finish out the look at Sporting KC's roster we reach the front line. It's a very winger heavy front line with five of the seven being predominately wingers. The team still has the reported new #9 coming in "in the next few days" according to Peter Vermes, that should add some much needed depth to KC's center forward position. Should make it less likely that Kansas City would be forced to play with a false 9 again this season as they did a couple times last season with Jacob Peterson and Graham Zusi.

Brad Davis - MLS' active leader in assists and second in terms of appearances in MLS play. He's currently 11 appearances behind the active leader, Kyle Beckermann, who is the league's all-time leader in appearances. 10 appearances and he can pass second place, Steve Ralston. He's only 14 behind Landon Donovan for first all time in assists, although that may be a stretch to hit this season. Still KC's pick up of probably one of the more disliked opponents since the rebranding was an interesting pick up. But you can't deny that Davis still have the ability to play at this level last season. He has hit double digits in assists six of the last seven seasons and has scored at least four goals a season in that same span. He's not going to be a like for like replacement of Krisztian Nemeth on that left wing, but he'll certainly fill the gap in a different way.

Dom Dwyer - Most people have said that Dwyer had a "down year" in 2015, and considering his 2014 when he set a club record for goals scored, that's hard to argue, since he only scored 12 goals in league play in 2015. To be fair to Dwyer there though he also had more support in 2015 and didn't "need" to score 20+ goals for KC last year. With help from the likes of Nemeth and Benny Feilhaber both hitting double digits in goals KC got a more balanced attack that made them a better team in 2015. This year though, depending on the new forward brought in, more of the weight is going to fall on Dwyer's shoulders without Nemeth. Davis, Justin Mapp, and Graham Zusi are not going to be double digit goal scorers, and expecting Feilhaber to completely repeat his 2015 performance may be asking too much. With more true "wingers" on the wings though Dwyer should get better service in 2016 which he should be able to get on the end of.

Connor Hallisey - Probably the big winner of preseason this year for Sporting KC, Hallisey scored a couple goals, had a couple assists, and in the games I saw looked much more ready to contribute in 2016. Last year at times Hallisey looked frustrating with his pace and with taking players on. In preseason games this year I thought he looked much better, he'd beat players on the dribble, he was able to get to the end line and send in crosses, he just looked overall more dangerous in those minimal minutes than he did in his time last year. He's gone from a player I thought would spend the entire season with the Swope Park Rangers to one that I think could be a decent contributor to Sporting this year as a spark off the bench.

Justin Mapp - The first free agent signing in MLS history, Mapp missed most of preseason with a turf toe injury. Mapp like Davis will both spend time on the left wing this season. Mapp provides a bit more of the dynamic dribbling that Nemeth brought, but nowhere near the same level. Mapp though is a deceptive player that will provide some creativity in terms of the dribble. He's not a flashy signing, but if he can stay healthy he'll be a solid contributor for KC this year.

Jacob Peterson - If there was a prototypical type of Peter Vermes player, it would probably be pretty close to Jacob Peterson. Peterson isn't a flashy player, he'll play basically anywhere on the field he's asked, for KC he's basically played everywhere but in goal. He has a strong work rate that has seen him continue to get time on the field. The down side is that his hustle, work rate, and willingness only go so far, he's frustrating to many fans with his play and that leads to lots of frustration with Vermes for continuing to give him time. With more depth on the team this year, if they can stay healthy, Peterson should see a decrease in the number of minutes that he's on the field for Sporting.

Daniel Salloi - KC's "work around and within the system" signing, the 19 year old Hungarian homegrown player is KC's only other "true" forward on the roster along with Dwyer. Salloi last year scored seven goals and added four assists across 16 games in all competitions for Ujpest FC in Hungary. Salloi may be a prime candidate to make some back and forth movement between Sporting KC and the Rangers depending on the needs of Sporting at the time.

Graham Zusi - Zusi is coming off the worst year of his career since becoming a starter in 2011 he scored just two goals and added just five assists in league play. Questions of his healthy since the end of the 2014 World Cup have dogged him the entire time. He apparently spent a good portion of the offseason not even putting on soccer cleats. Vermes has talked highly of him being ready to return to form from before the 2014 World Cup and re-establish himself in the lineup. Zusi may be the big recipient of the addition of Davis and Mapp as he has a history of scoring goals by making those back post runs for crosses. With better crosses on the wing opposite him he may be able score a few more of those in 2016.

The big question for the forward line will be the goals, Dwyer will get his fair share of them, but where's the secondary scoring going to come from? None of the other forwards on the roster are big goal scorers, or at least not yet. If there's one need that really still needs to be addressed by Vermes and company, it's the goal scoring. Hopefully whoever the young forward is that Kansas City is close to signing is able to help pick up some of the slack. Compared to last year though I am much more comfortable with the ability of a substitution off the bench to make a difference offensively should KC need it, I feel like KC could at the very least have a spark.

Replacing Nemeth

It's been about a week since Krisztian Nemeth departed Kansas City for the Qatari league, and most of the venom that was being spewed at either Nemeth or the team seems to have died down just a little bit at this point. With the gut reactions out of the way I felt it was time to take a look at what Sporting KC is going to do at this point now that the club's second leading scorer last season has left.

The first part of the replacement is who is going to take his starting spot on KC's left wing. The favorite for that position, at least to start the season will likely be the newly acquired Brad Davis. While Davis played centrally a lot for the Houston Dynamo last season he is still able to play out wide and would be able to provide crosses to not only Dom Dwyer but to Graham Zusi to knock home at the far post similar to goals he's scored in the past. With Davis being 34 years old though he's unlikely going to be expected to start every game for Kansas City, especially with the way that Kansas City plays. That's where the addition of Justin Mapp comes in. Mapp and Davis will likely split duties for the most part out on the left wing for Kansas City throughout the season. Mapp will be able to spell Davis and KC won't see much of any drop off in talent, especially in April and May when the games come very fast for Sporting KC ahead of the summer break.

The next part of replacing him to look at is the goals that he scored. Nemeth scored 10 league goals and 16 in all competitions for KC last season, second on the team behind Dom Dwyer's 12 and 17 respectively. Those are some numbers that will be hard to hit for just one player on the team not named Dom Dwyer or Benny Feilhaber (with help from the penalty spot), so don't expect all those goals to be filled by just one player, expect the scoring slack to be picked up by committee among not just his on field replacements in Davis and Mapp, but also from a healthy Zusi. Davis has scored four goals in each of the last three seasons after a career high of eight in 2012. Mapp hasn't scored a goal in either of the last two seasons (2015 he only played five times due to injury) but over the course of his career has averaged a goal every 925 minutes. If you go off the mindset that he's going to be getting a number of games this season in relief of Davis, expecting at least two goals out of Mapp isn't wholly unexpected. Then you get to Zusi who scored just two goals last year for Kansas City, a career low since becoming a regular starter in 2011. He'd been averaging about five goals a season since 2011 up to last season, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that he could return to that level of form, especially with the likes of Davis and Mapp playing balls across the box that Zusi could get on the end of at the back post. So combined the three of them could make up for the loss of Nemeth in terms of goals. In terms of assists I don't think I even need to make a point on that when you consider that Davis and Mapp have a combined 187 assists in MLS play, they'll be able to replace Nemeth's assists without a problem.

To look at it from another angle, KC scored 48 goals in league play last season, the same number that the club scored in 2014 without Nemeth. In fact, in the five seasons since the club rebranded they've averaged 47 goals a season; four of those seasons have been without Nemeth. The counter to that is that KC scored 64 goals across all competitions last season, the second most in club history, only behind the 1996 season when the club scored 71 goals across all competitions.

While KC is able to replace those areas above with some work with the players currently on the roster there are some areas that KC will struggle with the loss of Nemeth. One area is his ability to take players on one-v-one and beat defenders on the dribble. The closest that KC has to that now is Mapp, who can replace it to an extent and has always shown flashes of being able to beat players not like Nemeth did against Portland, but can be players on the dribble. The problem is that while Mapp can do those things the problem for him has always been his ability to do it consistently. Early in the 2015 season Mapp showed that off in Montreal's run to the CONCACAF Champions League final. Many will argue that while Mapp does that, he also will disappear from games quite often, but that is something that Nemeth had issues with as well, especially on the wing for Kansas City. So while Mapp may not be able to score a goal like Nemeth did against Portland, or do it as consistently as Nemeth did, but Mapp does give KC a threat in one-v-one situations.

The one area that this may hurt KC is the most is probably in a position that Nemeth didn't even play much last year, center forward. While Dwyer started 28 games last season, when he didn't start it wasn't Nemeth that played the center forward position for the most part in his absence, it was the likes of Zusi and Jacob Peterson that played that spot. But if Dwyer had gone down for an extended period of time for some reason, you would have to think that Nemeth would have slid centrally to be the center forward on a more regular basis. With him now gone KC is extremely thin at the center forward position. The club has Peterson, who is a prototypical Peter Vermes player with his style of play and his work ethic on the field. But with only one goal last season (coming when he was a center forward) he's not going to strike an imposing presence as a center forward for Kansas City. After him you have the likes of Zusi, playing a false nine or Daniel Salloi, who while he has scored in the top division in Hungary is still just 19 years old. KC's striker depth is probably the largest worry in terms of Nemeth leaving the club.

So overall, while the loss of Nemeth is certainly a big loss for Kansas City the loss is something that KC should be able to survive. In the end I should have put "replacing" in quotes though, because Kansas City really isn't going to be straight replacing him, at least not immediately. The team will need to make adjustments to the playing style that they had at the end of the season to adjust to not having Nemeth on the wing.

Sporting KC Sign Justin Mapp as League's First Free Agency Signing

Sporting KC made MLS history today making the first MLS free agent signing under the new CBA's rules that grant free agency to MLS players out of contract who meet age (28) and experience (8) requirements.  The team announced today that they'd signed midfielder Justin Mapp, who last played with the Montreal Impact. The 31 year old Mapp had a down season missing much of the season with a broken elbow he picked up in Montreal's season opener against DC.

Throughout his career though Mapp has been able to provide service down the wing and will be able to come in and immediately fight for minutes for Kansas City. He becomes a much more appealing wing option than the incumbent winger substitutes like Bernardo Anor, Connor Hallisey, and Jacob Peterson. Entering his 15th MLS season, Mapp is now on his fifth team having played with the Philadelphia Union, Chicago Fire, and DC United along with the previously mentioned Impact. In that time Mapp has racked up 22 goals and 65 assists in just over 300 league games played for those four teams.

With the signing KC is only able to sign one more MLS free agent apparently. In today's release Peter Vermes said that the way he understands the rules teams can only sign two free agents in a year. What that means is that KC may be making some tough decisions on other free agent signings. Robb Heineman had mentioned both Mapp and Mike Magee as free agent targets in a previous tweet but at the same time KC has one of their own players who is a free agent in Paulo Nagamura. If the rule is true KC would have just one spot left to sign one of those two players if they are both still targets. Nagamura has been a fan favorite and his poise on penalty kicks has helped KC to three trophies, but turning 33 early next year is certainly a question at a salary over $200,000. Magee meanwhile would provided some more scoring punch for KC, but would likely need to come off the bench for the 31 year old and happen with a very large pay cut from the $400,000 he made last year with Chicago.
 
Overall the signing of Mapp is a good pick up for KC, one that addresses a big need in terms of improving KC's depth on the wing. It will be interesting to see how much Mapp pushes Graham Zusi on the wing after a season and a half of less than stellar play from one of Kansas City's designated players.