Sounders swing several moves early in the off-season

There were some moves easy to predict, some that make sense and some that came as a surprise — but the past week may have been the busiest week I’ve experienced as a Seattle Sounders FC fan as far as player transactions go.

What we know now is that the core of this team will remain unchanged — a core defined by coach Sigi Schmid and GM Adrian Hanauer as Clint Dempsey, Brad Evans and Ozzie Alonso. But everything and everyone around them (with the exception of DeAndre Yedlin) is fair game for change and replacement.

We as fans were told we’d get a different squad next season — a squad full of players that expect to play hard, play through pain and win — that squad is already taking shape.

Gspurning out, Frei in —

This was the last move I was able to document before a busy week at work, but it went down pretty simply. Gspurning’s third-year team-option was declined, allowing him to move elsewhere. The team promptly swung a trade with Toronto FC for their once-stud but injury ridden keeper Stefan Frei. The Swiss net minder is likely to fit into the starting keeper spot come March.

Here’s our story for more background, including the financial side.

Mauro Rosales traded to the goats, Bowen’s rights acquired —

This one fell into two camps — we knew Rosales was likely out of Seattle, but I don’t think many expected a trade. What the Sounders front office was able to do though is trade away Mauro to Chivas USA and in return get the rights to winger/forward Tristan Bowen — a solid role player — and arguably more importantly the No. 2 spot in the allocation order.

While losing the co-all-time assists leader will be tough, it was time to move on from Rosales, and you have to feel bad for the poor guy having to play for Chivas.

Bowen, who I believe is out of contract, has yet to be signed by the Sounders — but the Rave Green do own him MLS rights.

Sounders swing second trade of week, bring in Crew’s Marshall —

There’s no denying that the weak spot of the team this season were wing play and central defense. Although Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Djimi Traore looked good at times this season — Traore much more often than Hurtado — the one move that needed to be made this off-season was to replace one or maybe both of those players with younger, and more talented CB’s.

So Thursday morning the Sounders did just that, trading a 2015 third round MLS Super Draft pick and allocation money to the Columbus Crew for center back Chad Marshall. Once an MLS Defender of the Year, MLS Best XI player and Supporters Shield/MLS Cup winner with the Crew — Marshall knows how to win. His run though a wall and aerial ability have made the 29-year-old one of the league’s best defenders year after year.

Marshall also already has a good rapport with Schmid, who managed that championship team in Columbus, and with captain Brad Evans, who played on that team as well. Marshall has also seen time with the US Men’s National Team, giving him knowledge of players like Dempsey and Eddie Johnson (his saga is still TBD).

The one slight downside to the move though is the cost — Marshall makes a good chunk of change. He’ll come in right below DP cost, an expensive endeavor for a club fighting the salary cap — but a necessary move at that.

Re-entry Draft takes away Burch, Zakuani —

There were some good names in this year’s MLS Re-Entry Draft, and although only five players were taken — that’s a record high for the draft — two of them were Sounders. The team in return gets nothing for these players, who basically got away on a free transfer.

After trading with Chivas USA for the second pick in the draft — the Portscum Timbers did what hurts more than anything, but didn’t come as a shock — they selected Steve Zakuani. Ever since the leg break in 2011, Zak clearly hasn’t been the same player. Injuries last season kept him mostly off the pitch, and therefore made him a risk to resign under the aforementioned salary cap issue.

Zakuani now has a chance for a fresh start, and he’ll get to do so under his college head coach in Caleb Porter and his best friend and college teammate Darlington Nagbe. The move will likely also get Zak back into a starting lineup with Rodney Wallace out with a torn ACL. The left winger spot in Porter’s system is open — and I have no doubt that Zak will come back stronger than ever.

Just not against us, OK.

A few picks later, the Colorado Rapids selected Marc Burch, who now will likely have to fully transition into a left midfielder, being that the Rapids have one of the best left backs in the league with Chris Klute. He will once again show his skill as a depth player, and should contribute for a few more years.

As for the other three players on our RED list, Rosales was traded, Gavin was not drafted and is therefore eligible for the second round of the draft next Thursday and right before the draft, the Sounders re-signed Josh Ford — giving them their third keeper and shoring up that position.

What next?

It’s not too often in an off-season that most of the moves take place in a one week period, but that was kind of the case this season. There are still some big moves to watch though as we progress through the winter — all of them having to do with the three attackers.

We’ve known for a while that Dempsey wants to go on loan this winter to get his fitness up for not only the MLS campaign but the World Cup as well. Nearly every EPL team has been mentioned as a landing-place for Deuce — but so far they’re all just rumors. We should know within a week or two where Dempsey will play from January to March.

That may be the case for Obafemi Martins as well, as the Nigerian forward is looking to go on loan to try to get back into the World Cup picture for his country. That saga though is even more rumor driven — including some people saying when he goes on loan, he won’t be coming back. Another interesting storyline to watch.

Finally there’s the EJ of it all. The guy wants to be paid — plain and simple. Although there’s still plenty of Instagram photos and videos of him in Seattle and training with the Sounders, there’s no Designated Player slot for him here.

That likely spells a move to another club with money and space for his talents, but the price has to be right for the Sounders. MLS Cup champs Sporting KC, Columbus, DC United, New England and Toronto FC have all expressed interest — or have been rumored to — leaving there several places for Johnson. You’d think Seattle is looking for allocation money first out of this deal, followed by either a bench player or draft picks — something a lot of those teams have to offer.

If EJ is dealt though, look to see what comes in return, because if it’s more allocation money — coupled with the No. 2 spot in the allocation order — I wouldn’t be surprised to see the club go international for either another center back or another Brad Evans-like player to fit into the new diamond midfield.

Then again there’s a chance that by off-loading as much salary as the club has this week, EJ would be willing to take a 200k raise on his 100k-ish salary and player here not as a DP but still pulling in a lot of money — maybe.