Rocky Rodriguez, plus bonus Hannah Stambaugh

Angel City deals are coming at such a furious pace right now, I’m not sure that I can keep up, but I’ll do my best. The big one is the trade for Rocky Rodriguez, and I’m not a fan for one reason only: the $275,000 in allocation money that Angel City gave up in the deal.

Just as a player, I think that Rocky is a good addition to the team. She was the second overall draft pick and the NWSL Rookie of the Year in 2016. She’s also an incredibly versatile midfielder, usually playing a deeper role with Portland, but in a more attacking role with Costa Rica, where she is their all-time leading goalscorer. I think that she will add good depth to the team, and bring a lot of experience to the locker room. She’s won NCAAs, a Challenge Cup, a Supporters Shield, and an NWSL Championship. I predict that Hammond and Henry are still starting above her, but Rodriguez is a great option to fill in when needed, or come off the bench.

Like I said at the beginning, though, the reason I don’t like the deal is the price tag. Last year in Portland, Rodriguez only played 598 minutes with 7 starts in 13 games. She never once played a full 90 minutes in any league game. Her playing time also went down every year she was at Portland. She had a clear role, but she was also definitely losing favor. Coupled with the rumors that Portland are bringing in Jessie Fleming from Chelsea for a record transfer fee, and desperately needed extra allocation money to get that deal over the line, it seems like Angel City should have had all the leverage. Offering to take an out of favor player from a team that desperately needs cash? That seems like the perfect scenario to get a bargain. Instead, it cost us $275,000 in allocation money.

For comparison’s sake, Taylor Flint (formerly Kornieck) was traded from San Diego to Louisville for $150,000 in allocation money. Flint also has the versatility to play deeper or more attacking. She had some injuries last year, but still played more minutes than Rodriguez, and prior to that, Flint was a nailed on starter. Flint is also five years younger (24) than Rodriguez, and I think the general feeling is that we still haven’t seen the best of her yet. And finally, Flint has the unique attribute of being one of the tallest players in the league (she’s the tallest in USWNT history). She’s a constant threat on set pieces, and I think that height is something that Angel City is definitely lacking. Her passing is not as good as Rodriguez, though if the role is “win the ball in the middle of the pitch and then give it to Henry,” then that shouldn’t be a problem. My understanding is also that Flint put in a trade request, so Angel City should have been aware that she was available. In my opinion, she’s a better current option, and she has more potential, than Rodriguez, and cost almost half as much.

There’s also the matter of the free options. I didn’t hear much about Angel City chasing free agents , but Emily Sonnett was available. She played most of last season for the Reign as a defensive midfielder, and I thought did quite well in the role. She had a better pass completion percentage and a better tackling percentage than Rodriguez, and she brings the box office value of being a USWNT star. I don’t know how possible it was to sign her, i.e. was she always wanting to go to Gotham? Her salary is also probably more than Rodriguez, but again, was it $275,000 more? Maybe she wasn’t an option, but I never heard any rumors that Angel City even looked into trying to sign her.

Sticking with Gotham, if Angel City were looking for a veteran midfielder with versatility who can provide depth and bring a championship mentality to the locker room, both Allie Long and McCall Zerboni are still available as free agents. They’re both at least five years older than Rodriguez, and overall, not quite as versatile. I think that Rodriguez is also stronger defensively than these two, but it’s not a huge edge. Long and Zerboni are both experienced professionals. There’s also the option of Dani Weatherholt. Again, I think that Rodriguez is a slightly better player than Weatherholt, but we could have re-signed Dani for free, she already knows the coach, knows the system, knows the facilities, etc. She wore the captain’s armband on a number of occasions, so it’s clear there was respect for her in the locker room.

So it keeps coming back to that $275,000 in allocation money for me. I think that Rodriguez will do well, she’ll definitely be a contributor, and hopefully score a golazo or two for us. But I think that there were other options that were almost as good, or even better in the case of Flint, that were cheaper. I also think that Hammond and Henry remain at the top of the CM depth chart. I’ve been a fan of most of the moves that we’ve seen from Angel City this offseason, but this is the first big money deal they’ve made, and it’s the most baffling to me. I would much rather see that $275,000 spent on a clear cut, game changing star player, kind of like the way Portland are spending that exact same money on Fleming. The salary cap has gone up to $2.75M from $1.975M last year (when including maximum allocation money), but we’re not really seeing any signs that Angel City are increasing their payroll. I would much rather have seen us sign a free agent for midfield depth, and then go shatter the transfer record bringing in Erin Cuthbert, or Khadija Shaw, or Linda Caicedo. And maybe that’s just not possible. There’s a lot of financial details that aren’t available to the public, and maybe we have too much money in Press and Leroux to make that kind of deal. Or maybe the plan is to sign Ada Hegerberg or Alexia Putellas in the summer when they become free agents (I can’t see Alexia leaving Barça, but I really like the idea of Hegerberg at ACFC, and I’ll continue trying to will that into existence). So for now, I’ll be left wondering over this move, and hoping it all makes sense at the end of the season. Of course, hope dies last.

BONUS: Hannah Stambaugh

There’s not too much available statswise on Stambaugh, but I do have a few thoughts. $10,000 for a transfer fee is not steep at all, but is it even necessary? Angel City has always put more of an emphasis on the third string keeper than I do, but right now we have two keepers that could conceivably be the starter in Haracic and Anderson. barring a really catastrophic run of injuries, we’re not going to see Stambaugh play (or unless she’s really lights out in training). But Stambaugh was the back up at Omija Ardija Ventus, so it seems unlikely that she would become the #1 here. She is a dual national, so she won’t occupy an international spot. She also played with Endo for the Japanese U-20 team, winning the 2018 U-20 World Cup together. I’ve not seen any indication that Endo was unsettled, but if having a friend from back home helps her to elevate her game, then great! That’s a worthwhile signing. Otherwise, there were only 6 goalkeepers drafted this year, meaning that there are definitely unsigned four year college players available. We could have taken a few on trial and signed the one we liked the most. So I guess I’m surprised that we went to the trouble to negotiate a transfer for an international player. Again, not a lot of money, and I don’t think that Stambaugh is a bad player to bring in, but it doesn’t feel like the best use of resources to me.