Houston, we have a problem: The Darwin Debacle Continues

 

He was the face of our franchise.  El Científico del Gol is a chance creator, a wizard with the ball, and a dynamic offensive player.  He has a skill set no one else on the team possesses and yet......he can't see the field.  It's left me with so many questions, many of which I don't know if they'll be answered.  Last year, Quintero was the lone bright spot in the Houston attack after the departure of Alberth Elis. He lead the team in goals and assists.  His 7 assists placed second in the league in 2019/2020, and he was passing to a bunch of guys who couldn't finish.  He was 5th on the team in minutes, made 20/22 starts, and played the full 90 eighteen times.  This year, he's managed 52 minutes in 6 games (3 appearances). How did he go from shining star to.....well....playing 52 more minutes than me?  How has he played fewer minutes than Nico Lemoine and Ariel Lassiter?  I've read reports about how his age is holding him back, but that can't be the case.  Boniek is 35, and Maynor is 38.  Both have played 5x the minutes he's played.  Think about this again.....Nico Lemoine made 1 appearance........and has played more minutes than our only designated player.  What's more concerning to me is you don't hear anyone in the organization talking about it.  Even more so, I don't hear anyone asking Tab about it.

A quick Google search netted zero results, dating all the way back to the beginning of the season.  There are some speculative reports from the preseason, but I don't see anyone directly asking Tab Ramos why the team's most influential offensive talent isn't playing.  While a lot of attention was paid to the midfield this offseason (Joe Corona and Derek Jones have been quality additions soo far) it was hard to think either of them would supplant Quintero as a starter, much less as a focal point.  Matias Vera is a nice player.  He plays hard, is a decent defender, and a smart passer but he offers little going forward.  Memo is Memo.  Memo has guts and grit and plays well.  But when he makes a play it's more from determination than skill (see his week 1 goal as example).  Rodriguez is a willing defender, but is his defending up top more valuable than what Quintero can create offensively?  I think we are at the point in the season where this question has to be asked.  I'm not going to deep dive into Memo on this one, but I do want to deep dive into Quintero's usefulness and how I think Tab is missing an opportunity.

Is Darwin as bad defensively as we think?

When the season first started, I had two trains of thought. (1) Darwin is just being held out of preseason games to keep his legs fresh.  (2) Darwin has to have some nagging injury we don't know about.  Now, things have switched to (Positive thought) We are just keeping his legs fresh for the summer and for the second half of the season. (Negative thought) He's done here and we are looking to get rid of him.  It's no secret, Tab wants to press high and defend from the front.  He wants teams to earn every inch of the pitch against his team. I've read where Quintero doesn't fit into this, but last year he had more attempted tackles (31) than Memo (26), and a higher pressure success rate (28.6% - 26.3%)  In 52 minutes this year, he has more tackles (4)  than Tyler Pasher (2) Maxi Urruti (1) and Ariel Lassiter (1). He's outperforming Pasher (28), Lassiter (30) and Christian Ramirez in the number of pressures (30) and his success rate is only slightly behind Derek Jones (30.2%) even with Lassiter (30%) and higher than Fafa Picault (28%).  I'm fully aware that Darwin isn't a defensive stalworth, but he's outperforming guys in this area who can't come close to what he brings offensively.  Darwin isn't great at getting his foot on the ball, he's not great at chasing down balls and getting recoveries, but he's also (historically) on par with others that are playing in front of him.  So truthfully, the answer is we lose some defensively if we switch him out with Memo. We lose a lot if he takes minutes from Corona, Vera, or Jones.  

How effective is Quintero offensively?

Do we really need stats to back this up?  The answer is, at creating goal-scoring chances: extremely. If you look at the top five players creating goal-scoring chances from last year, he was #1 by a pretty decent margin. His goal-scoring actions off of Live Passes was #2 in the league (80) and only 8 behind leader Alejandro Pozuelo and 20 more than third-place Christian Espinoza. His number this year is actually higher than last year despite his limited playing time.  End of the day, he's the best shot creator in MLS.  Not only do our eyes back it up, the data does too.

Last Year's Team - Comparable Statistics. 

2021 Possession and Goal/Shot Creation Stats.

Even though Memo has really improved in that area this year, and the addition of Tyler Pasher has added another layer, neither can produce these actions at the level of Darwin Quintero.  The Dynamo are actually down 4 shot-creating (23 in 2020 vs 19 in 2021) actions per game with Darwin out of the lineup, and with an offense as anemic as they have had this year they could use those extra chances. The Dynamo have gone from ranking 5th in Shots/90 in 2020 to 20th this year.  Without Quintero's creative playmaking ability, the Dynamo offense is at times stagnant.  Tabs system is a timing-based, ball movement and people movement attack.  It requires crisp passing and well-timed/executed runs.  As some guys (Vera, Corona, Memo) are logging heavy minutes, that movement and crispness have fallen off at times.  It's hard to run to open space AND defend the length of the pitch for 90 minutes every game.  Quintero can help take the pressure off of this by simply utilizing space, finding his way through the defense, and allowing tired legs to get through.  

Many times this year we've seen Fafa or Pasher streaking the flank with the ball, only to  yell "Somebody get with him!" It's my buddy Wade's rallying cry during games.  While Quintero doesn't help with this, he gives a second layer to that attack.  He helps open up the pull-back pass.  He helps to create up the middle through the teeth of the defense where your only option isn't hoping that Fafa can just outrun everybody.  He helps balance out the "lob it into 5'8 Memo or 5'6" Vera" attack we see at times. He gives the attack another dimension.

How bad has it gotten?

There was one interview where this was topic was brought up recently.  It was an interview that Darwin did with Jorge Clará from Deporte Total USA.  Not sure how many of you saw it, and if you're a Spanish speaker click the link and tell me if I got this wrong. Now, admittedly, I speak zero Spanish and I'm relying on translations, but things seem unlikely to turn around in terms of playing time.  Darwin said that he understands he doesn't fit what Tab is trying to do from the wing.  His size and two-way ability are lacking compared to the others on the team.  He said the locker room is good, and he has a good relationship with Tab, but that if he isn't playing as a starter or as a sub that he would have to sit down with the team at the next transfer window.  There were also reports that he had told Tab that if he wasn't in the plans for Saturday against Colorado, he'd rather not make the trip.  These aren't good circumstances, and while I understand that Tab is trying to win through building up the defense, leaving your most efficient creator on the bench is creating a bad situation.  I know that Darwin is 33, but using him as a situational starter, or flipping roles with Memo needs to be considered.

Why is this important?

Don't let the "He's the only DP" language distract you.  Yes, that's important.  But Urruti and Parker make DP money, they just don't have the tag.  Christian Ramirez almost makes DP money too, and Fafa makes more than Elis did (who was labeled a young DP).  Personally, I think the DP tag is stupid and needs to be gotten rid of, but that's a whole other topic.  However, if you're treating your only Designated player this way, why would anyone else want to come here under that label?  You're running the risk of running guys away before they even sign, and then you have to look for "Potential DP's" (i.e. Alberth Elis and Mauro Monatas).  We are pretty much down that road already.  But......this is professional sports.  Word gets around, and while we have made a habit of signing guys who are from small leagues in South America on frees, is that really how we want to continue in perpetuity?

I'm a coach myself, and by no means am I suggesting that you play a guy simply because of a label.  I believe in playing guys that give you the best chance to win regardless of reputation or label.  We know that some players don't fit certain systems, and being that Darwin is on the wrong side of 30, and is severely undersized, this could be a bad fit for him.  However, he's still the best option you've got at creating something out of nothing.  He's still one of the best the league has, and you have to find a role for him somewhere on this team.  

It matters organizationally long term.  If we ever want another player of his caliber, we have to treat him with the respect that he's due.

Summary:

I find it shockingly absurd that the Dynamo played 3 games in 8 days against solid opponents and Darwin managed to not make the rotation.  I don't understand how, in a desperate need to rotate the squad, (with Tyler Pasher out of action for the entire swing) Darwin DNP'd in two games and managed only 7 minutes as a sub in the first game.  I don't understand how Pasher goes down to injury, and Darwin gets less playing time.  I completely don't understand why Ariel Lassiter is the first man off the bench in many games. And even though they play different positions, how do Jose Bizama, Darwin Ceren, Alejandro Fuenmayor, Christian Ramirez, and Nico Limoine all have more minutes than Quintero?  This team could use an offensive spark.  They don't have to look for the summer transfer window to get it.  They don't have to look for Free Agents hanging around after this season is over in Europe (even though they need to dig through that junk drawer).  They have that spark on the bench and just need to figure out how to utilize it.

Thanks again for reading,

#HoldItDown and stay #ForeverOrange.

Brian