Whitecaps send popular Parker packing
‘From top to bottom, we’re stronger,’ Robinson says after defender traded to Red Bulls for midfielder Felipe
On the surface, the decision to trade Tim Parker seemed relatively straightforward for the Vancouver Whitecaps.
The Caps made their 25-year-old central defender a handsome offer, $1.4 million over three years.
Parker rejected that offer, partly because he thought he was worth more, partly because he wanted to play closer to his home on the Eastern Seaboard.
Given the Whitecaps’ best player, Kendall Waston, had just signed a two-year extension at roughly $550,000 per, the team couldn’t pay Parker more than Waston. Ergo, they opted to move the young American. Simple, n’est-ce pas?
Then why are there so many layers to this one?
“This wasn’t about one move,” Whitecaps’ manager Carl Robinson said Friday. “It was about four moves we made that are all connected.
“For us, it’s not about players one through 11. It’s about one through 22. After these moves, we feel we’re a better team.”
And in this, as with all things, we shall see. In a deal that had been in the making most of the off-season, the Caps flipped Parker to the New York Red Bulls on Friday for midfielder Felipe, $500,000 in allocation money and an international roster spot in 2018.
We will get to the deeper meaning of the return shortly but, in the here and now, the decision to move Parker isn’t exactly a public relations coup for the Whitecaps, especially when it was announced two days before their Major League Soccer season opener.
In addition to being one of the team’s most popular players, the St. John’s grad represented one of the Whitecaps’ biggest wins in player development. A first-round pick in 2015 (13th overall), Parker graduated from Whitecaps 2 to the parent club in his rookie year, fought his way on to the roster and, by his second year, became a fixture as Waston’s partner in the middle of the backline.
The Waston-Parker tandem, in fact, was the strength of the team last year, the one element that Robinson could count on to deliver on a game-in, game-out basis. They were consistent. They were durable.
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They held up under pressure and were instrumental in delivering the Whitecaps to a playoff berth and the Western Conference semifinals.
So how does trading Parker make the Whitecaps a better team in 2018?
Well, according to Robinson, that move was the final piece in a mini-series that began a week ago when Vancouver acquired central defender Jose Aja from Salt Lake as Parker’s replacement for $125,000 in allocation money.
Remember that. It will become important. I think.
Midfielder Tony Tchani was then moved to Chicago for $150,000 in allocation money (idle question: Is that that MLS equivalent of a second-rounder?) as part of a larger effort to strengthen the midfield. Two days ago, the Caps announced they had landed midfielder Jordon Mutch on loan from Crystal Palace. And Friday they dropped the hammer with Parker.
“Everyone knows I love Timmy,” Waston said of his former teammate. “We had a great chemistry but we know this is a business.”
“We didn’t want to lose (Parker) but what we got in return makes up for it,” said team president Bob Lenarduzzi, who was asked if paying Parker any more than he’d been offered would upset the Caps’ internal salary cap.
“Yes,” he said, without elaborating. Then again, he didn’t have to.
Robinson, who played a lead role in the defender’s development, had a heart-to-heart with the young player at training camp and quickly realized Parker had made up his mind. Robinson also realized he had a marketable asset and, with a couple of teams vying for Parker he believes the Caps made out just fine.
Again, the moves have to be looked at in their totality. Felipe and Mutch join a midfield rotation that includes another newcomer in Mexican veteran Efrain Juarez, Yordy Reyna, Nicolas Mezquida and Aly Ghazal. The larger development is up top where Kei Kamara, a proven MLS goal scorer acquired this off-season, and Anthony Blondell, a 23-year-old signing from Venezuela, represent an upgrade over Fredy Montero.
As for the defence, Waston is the man on the backline and figures to make anyone who plays with him — Aja, Aaron Maund, Doneil Henry — better.
That, at least, is the theory and all theories look like winners before the season starts.
“We’ve got two centre forwards to replace Fredy,” said Robinson. “I feel we’ve upgraded our midfield substantially. We’re two deep at every position. From top to bottom, we’re stronger.”
Good, so if the Whitecaps don’t win we’ll know who to blame.
“Robbo is going to have difficult decisions to make,” said Waston. “That is good. The bad thing is when you don’t have any choices. Now, everything is more interesting.”
More interesting, yes. It would also help if it’s better.