Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Five Players Waived; Number Changes

The Galaxy waived five players today, with Ely Allen, Steve Cronin, Brandon McDonald, Mike Randolph and Troy Roberts being let go. You can read the full press release at lagalaxy.com and we thank all five players for their service to the club.

Additionally, with the roster shrinking, a number of new squad numbers have been made available, with five guys already taking advantage of the vacancies.

Donovan Ricketts will now wear #1
Todd Dunivant will now wear #2
Omar Gonzalez will now wear #4
Josh Saunders will now wear #12
and Mike Magee will now wear #18 (which he debuted at the PPC)

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

talk about bitter sweet. Bmac is a total shocker and i was a big Mike Randolph fan, but finally cronin and roberts are gone. Glad to see Ely gone too.

Gabe said...

I cannot beleive Bruce let go of Brandon McDonald. UNBELIEVABLE. Can we please hear some sort of justification? Did he punch Bruce in the face during trainig? Because I can't imagine any other reason why he would be cut. Pathetic. Shocking. Ridiculous. And I don't think I'm overreacting.

Anonymous said...

All of our young depth. Something needs to be done about the roster size. This is ridiculous.

Justin said...

Yeah the BMac cut is going to make a lot of us unhappy!

Anonymous said...

I didn't think our off season priority was to get older and slower but that seems to be what Bruce wanted to do above all else.

Older and slower.

Can't wait!

Anonymous said...

Bunch of un-talented not-ready-for-for-prime-time players let go and replaced with a much more talented rookie corps.

Well done Bruce. Now get rid of Lewis/Klien/Gordon/Tudela and maybe we can put a decent team together. Just get me a couple of calm-on-the-ball guys and we'll run the table.

Anonymous said...

Sad to see BMac gone as for the rest.....it's about time!! Cronin, stick to the USL, Ely can take his weak passing to the indoor leagues, Troy...time to retire, and Mike....well good luck playing with the earthquakes.

Anonymous said...

wow. bmac gone? leo bautista gone? and i hear might end up at chivas usa..

where do these players go from here?

thanks bruce for another year of torture.

Anonymous said...

I don't understand the cut of McDonald at all, as do many, however with the others it was always a likely outcome.

Thanks for the Numbers update too guys!
Is 13 officially retired ?
What number does Benitez have, will he be outside the roster, just training with the team?

Anonymous said...

Older and slower, maybe?

Better defensively--definitely!

Anonymous said...

i dont know why every one is upset bout Mc D what did he do these last to 2 years besides 1 goal and being hurt Bruce jus repalced a dud get over it, its for the best of the team

Anonymous said...

Guys, I'm with most of you on not being thrilled about Brandon and Mike being waived. But, I'm not surprised. Brandon has had much less playing time than Mike. I thought Mike would have been fine and great given more actual playing time. But, I believe - Bruce definitely has a vision and a structure for how his team needs to be. I believe he needs players who can listen, understand, accept, and perform the way he needs them to from the get-go. Brandon & Mike are young and fast - but, they are not sharp and accurate and battle-tested. Bruce wants experienced, rugged, abuse-taking players for the coming season. Because, my feeling is that to stay in the "fight" over the long-haul (namely, the next two years) - Bruce needs players he's seen, dealt with, and know of as far as how much they can give.

Anonymous said...

Cutting Brandon MacDonald was a huge mistake and one that will come back to bite us in the behinds in short order, I suspect. We are now even older, even slower, even more prone to injury and even less of a threat in the midfield with even less development potential.

Anonymous said...

bunch of management plants commenting here...interesting

(#6, #10, #11)

#11 I love how you expected BMac to have a contribution 2 years ago despite not being in MLS at the time. Shows what you know about this team and its players.

Anonymous said...

Yeah,# 13 was retired in honor of Cobi

Anonymous said...

It's one thing to get together a group of "battle tested" players, it's quite another when all of those players are over the age of 30 and will likely spend a lot of time being injured. While Randolph didn't seem to have the skills for the team, MacDonald showed a great deal of promise. No rookie is a finished product, but a good coach can create the finished product. Perhaps Arena doesn't have the skill (and himself knows he doesn't have the skill) to bring a rookie along and create a professional. I don't think Arena has a vision, I think he is just bringing guys he is already familiar with to try to save his own butt. No overaged player is going to be characterized as "rugged" or "abuse-taking"--slow and injury-prone is more accurate. Arena doesn't need players that he's seen and dealt with, he needs players with skill, drive, talent and potential.

Anonymous said...

I don't think it is unfair of us fans to DEMAND an explanation from Bruce on this. After-all it is our money that we spend on Season Seats and Galaxy gear that keep the organization running. So....

I charge the blog team with the following task, get a video or audio interview with Bruce and have him explain the cuts, with particular emphasis on McDonald, which, as you can see here, has been met with exasperation on the part of the fans.

Anonymous said...

All you crying about McDonald make me laugh o big whup he scored one goal from 25 yrds and he is the future of the team lets see how you feel when we double our wins from last season with a solid defense and midfield
GROW UP CRY BABYS

MattJack said...

Bruce is a complete moron. The only reason they cut BMac is they wanted to put him as Center Back when he should be playing d-mid all along.

What happens when Dema Kovalenko gets his red cards, which hes known to do, who will replace him?

Anonymous said...

OK I think Brandon McDonald could have stay one more year, but in all fairness maybe he was showing Bruce and his staff a reason why he should stay. I wish him the best of luck he seems like a good descent player that maybe another team might pick up. Little Mike Randolph I think was a good idea of waiving him. his too small and he didn't really show any improvement from his first year. Cronin I think could be a good goalie if he communicates more with the defense he would be a good player for USL team to pick up. Ely well I still say he has some skills but I feel he doesn't have the heart and the determination to be consist on the pitch. Now troy Roberts I have no idea why he plays soccer his not a defender and he has lot to work on if he was to continue playing soccer at a professional level I think he should retire. So Overall I give Bruce a rating of 9 out of 10 on this five players he waived. Next they should trade either Gordon or Buddle or even both and get some better or good players. I saw them play on PPC and Buddle got lucky on his goal, and Gordon didn't do that much. These two players can't play together they just don't understand one another. Thanks for reading.

Andrew said...

I'm especially mystified by the fact that McDonald was waived. If he doesn't fit into Bruce's plans, that's fine. But he was also one of the few players we had with real trade value, and it would have been better to try and get some of that value back rather than let someone pick him up in the waiver draft for free. Even a future draft pick or two is better than nothing; and even if BMac refused to leave Los Angeles, a certain other club in the area looks like it might have considered giving us something in exchange, seeing as it's already lost a key midfielder and may lose another one fairly soon.

Anonymous said...

Oh please he cut the players that werent performing! Brandon McDonald played in just a small number of games. Why would he want people on the team that are always hurt and are obviously not performing up to his expectations! And older doesnt necessairly mean slower, but rather wiser! Bruce knows what he is doing, just look at what he did with the New York Red Bulls!

Aljarov a.k.a Al Clark said...

McDonald would likely have gotten more games, even with Dema (injured or suspended) around you guys lost Pires and Vagenas as regualrs from last season. You've now cut 3 center mids....doesn't leave much.

The other four were poor last year, but Randolph is still worth a look somewhere else. It was clear LA weren't happy at DL, but you've also cut 2-3 players who cover that position now too. Griffin really bringing something Randolph wasn't? Jazic was older, injury prone and relatively expensive...I guess now that's Dunivants job. Randolph was tried in DM and on the left, and it wasn['t pretty.

Cronin needs to go away and hone his skills, if he has any, and try to bounce back....a bit like Saunders.

Anonymous said...

This post has me laughing hysterically, based in large part on its concluding sentence! Good one!
"Oh please he cut the players that werent performing! Brandon McDonald played in just a small number of games. Why would he want people on the team that are always hurt and are obviously not performing up to his expectations! And older doesnt necessairly mean slower, but rather wiser! Bruce knows what he is doing, just look at what he did with the New York Red Bulls!"

In case you were being serious, which for your sake I hope not to be the case, MacDonald performed VERY well when he got to play. He did suffer *an* injury, and then Arena thereafter refused to play him. While MacDonald played, the Galaxy sat in first place. What exactly were the expectations to which MacDonald would not have been performing, I wonder. Interesting to bring in a lot of players who truly have not performed up to expectations during their MLS careers--Miglioranzi, Kirovski, Sanneh (also "always hurt"). And, yes, older does mean slower. Have you watched the team play in the PPC??

Anyhow, I assume you must be kidding! ;)

Anonymous said...

i'm guessin B-mac performed worst than migz in the preseason trainings and dema is obviously the starter..also i noticed bruce playing tudela lot more and think that he favors tudela more..n bruce tried b-mac on the center defense, which isn't the natural position for him and other cb are better in that position... ppl who haven't seen b-mac play.. well the first half of last season b-mac was healthy and playing starting quiet alot and he was real solid and showed great future and gulit was impressed with him..unfortunately he got injured and hasn't had much playing time..he also scored against the oceania all-stars... he can be a back up for dema but b-mac and beckham compliments each other in the centermidfield...

Anonymous said...

I want to laugh because people are judging these players like the have the skill an talent to coach an MLS team just because they have seen them play in a few games doesnt mean anything. Get over it Brandon McDonald is gone! And for those who dont know who he is, he hasnt been around in that long of time so dont feel like your missing anything! Because your not!! People need to quit their complaining like they know more than the actual coaches!!!

Anonymous said...

HAHAhAHA I LOVE THE PERSON THAT SAID GROW UP CRY BABIES BECAUSE ITS SOOOOOO TRUE!! I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING IN HIS POST!!

Anonymous said...

let's count the carnage to this point, Beckham, Donovan, Cronin, McDonald, Allen, Vagenas, Roberts, Vanney, Randolph... anyone else I am missing?
Additions: Dunivant, Sanneh (ancient), Ricketts (not the answer), Kovalenko (good for at least 1 injury and 2 suspensions)... anyone else I missed?

I have to be really honest, the galaxy were bad last year, but unless superman is coming to the team soon, I think this year may be much worse than the last. I bet " The Bruce" doesn't last half of the season... where will he go next, maybe some of those internation teams that had so much interest years ago will come calling, doubtful. Enjoy another season with out Hardware...

Anonymous said...

to the person who wrote this:
"I want to laugh because people are judging these players like the have the skill an talent to coach an MLS team just because they have seen them play in a few games doesnt mean anything. Get over it Brandon McDonald is gone! And for those who dont know who he is, he hasnt been around in that long of time so dont feel like your missing anything! Because your not!! People need to quit their complaining like they know more than the actual coaches!!!"

Anyone who has watched Brandon play has had at least nice things to say, or at least been politely conciliatory about this cut, but this goes way beyond.

Do you dislike African-American players as much as Bruce Arena appears to? Is that why you are so happy, apparently, to see MacDonald leave? Because you appear to be going way over the top about it.

Or is this yet another post written by or at the behest of the coaching staff?

Anonymous said...

Beckham aint going any where this season AC Milan is to cheap and donovan will be back also

Anonymous said...

Let's start a few years ago; Ihemelu and Herculez for Joe Cannon? WTF? Then we let Cannon go. Albright? Yeah we had Klein to compliment Beckham on the right, but we could have used Albright on the left, defensive or mid. Ty Harden? He was a bigger MUPPET than Wolnyiek when he was here. Let's start the blame with Lalas, throw in Tim lieweike, or however he spells it, for hiring Arena. The club has NO leadership in true form and will continue to suffer until someone steps up. I don't see Sanneh lasting the season. Omar the rookie has been really good so far, we'll see. Kirovsky? Really?? Again, WTF? He's never proved himself anywhere. Too frustrated now. Must quit typing.

Mark

Joseph D'Hippolito said...

Anyone who thinks that Bruce Arena doesn't like black players forgets that he drafted Kyle Patterson and Josh Boateng (both black), had Tony Sanneh come into camp (Sanneh's father is Gambian), signed Donovan Ricketts, has yet to cut Israel Sesay (who's from Sierra Leone) ... and coached, among others, Eddie Pope and DaMarcus Beasley on the club and national-team levels.

The Galaxy has to overcome a lot of problems, largest among them being incompetence and arrogance from AEG. Racism, however, is not one of those problems.

Anonymous said...

whats with all these "fans" thinking there is some conspiracy that coachs and staff have time to post on this blog and the one that thinks Bruce is racist is a moron these people aren't fans they are loonatics

I cant wait for the 22nd
GO GALAXY

Anonymous said...

How could anybody keep Miglioranzi and cut McDonald. Miglioranzi should be finished in this league.