What could the Christian Ramirez move mean for the Dynamo Rotation? Hopefully more Bajamich.

 

Reports coming out of Scotland are that an agreement is already in place to move Dynamo Striker Christian Ramirez to Aberdeen.  Apparently, Ramirez and Aberdeen have already come to financial terms and the only current snag is the obtaining of a work permit from the Scottish Government.  Stephen Glass made a bid to buy Christian away from the Dynamo during his stint as interim manager at Atlanta but was rejected as the Dynamo were not yet ready to move away from him that late in the season.  With Urruti dominating time at the #9, and Rameriz unlikely to pry much of it away, the move should be a good one for both sides.  Ramirez's base salary of $775,000.00 is the Dynamo's 4th highest player, and just like their highest-paid player, and he is not in any real plans for Tab Ramos going forward.  

While the move removes a highly paid, underutilized player from the books, what could it do to the roster?  Ramirez had played 91 minutes on 6 appearances, mostly off the bench.  To be honest, I never really understood why the Dynamo brought a player of his payscale here anyway.  When we brought him here, Mauro Manotas was fully entrenched as the starter in front of him, and we paid him more than Manotas and Elis were making combined.  I'll never disparage the Dynamo front office from spending money, but it seemed like there could have easily been a better utilization of those funds over the last few years.  While I doubt there's a payday of any significance, and probably not enough for them to make a move that would actually strengthen the roster, what could this move do other than dump salary?

Honestly, this move concerns me from the standpoint we are losing a player capable of putting the ball in the back of the net with no proven player or plan to replace him.  My first guess would be Ariel Lassiter would take over this role.  Lassiter has consistently been the first number called by Ramos off the bench, and while I don't really get it I don't see it changing either.  There is one player I'd love to see in that role instead, but really I'm hoping this move opens up more time for Mateo Bajamich.

Bajamich....MORE BAJAMICH.

Honestly, in Bajamich's 42 minutes on the pitch this season, he's showed me just enough for me to say I'd like to see more.  His 2.14 goal-creating actions per 90 is three times higher than anyone else on the team. His 4.29 shot-creating actions per 90 is second on the team (behind Darwin Quintero).  He's shown good ball skills, good first touch, and moves well without the ball.  The Dynamo need someone who can give Urruti a break from time to time, and a player capable of filling in if Urruti happens to go down to injury (I'm viciously knocking on wood at the moment).  The summer months are here, and Urruti is playing a very demanding style.  Not only is he the tip of the spear, constantly trying to hold off multiple defenders while he holds up play, Tab's system also has him defending all over the pitch.  Urruti leads the team in Pressures by a long spell (163 to Fafa's 143) He's getting them in the attacking third (86), the middle third (66), and the defending third (11). His 163 pressures in 601 minutes played means he's spending a lot of time defending.  That's a pressure every 3.6 minutes.....from your center forward.  Bajamich's rate is close (9 pressures in 42 minutes, one every 4.6 minutes) but his success rate is much lower (Urruti - 28%, Bajamich - 11%). It's not Bajamich's defense that I'm interested in, however.  He's young and athletic enough to improve there, but his flash with the ball has been intriguing and I'd like to see more.

If given the option of Bajamich or Lassiter, I'll take Darwin Quintero.....er......uhm..... I mean Bajamich.  Mateo is only 21 years old and has shown good IQ, work rate, and skill.  He moves well without the ball and while he's only gotten 1 shot off on the year there's been enough there for him to see more minutes.  I want to be clear, I don't know that he can do what Christian Ramirez did here, and I don't know he's better than Lassiter.  I just know I want to see more of what he can do and I think he's earned it. He's the only player on the team with a +/- Expected goal that's a positive number (0.75) and his XG +/- on vs off is just behind Joe Corona for third on the team (1.41).  I understand for him to concrete himself in Tab's rotation, he needs to really improve on his defense, but in limited minutes he's made the most of his opportunities.  We know what Ariel Lassiter is, we know what he can do.  He's a better defender than in attack (4 goals, 1 assist in 1,700 MLS minutes), and he's not a reliable finisher.  I'd actually like to see if Bajamich can take Ramirez's role before we look outside the club for another player.  If Bajamich can fill this role, maybe we can upgrade a fullback or CB position in the upcoming weeks.

Thanks again for reading,

#HoldItDown and stay #ForeverOrange

Brian

International Break:Teenage Hadebe, and roster drama; The Dynamo need this week off.

 

After an up and down first 8 games to the season in which the Dynamo have played a fairly difficult schedule, they finally get a much-needed break.  There were some really good performances, a couple of really bad performances, and a few that made us go......"meh".  Tim Parker, Fafa Picault, Maxi Urruti, Joe Corona, and Tyler Pasher have proven to be good additions to the squad, we've seen some experimentation that has helped (Boniek at Central Defense) and some that didn't (the 3-4-3 against Colorado, Memo playing large chunks at the wing), and some moves that have us scratching our heads (the constant appearances by Lassiter, the disappearance of Darwin Quintero, There are a few items of business that Tab and his crew need to take care of over the break, we'll take a look at those and Teenage Hadebe in this week's blog post.

Teenage Hadebe (Rumor) could give us a dynamic backline.

Depending on which report you read, Hadebe is between 5'11 and 6'1'.  He's long, he's rangy, he has good feet, and is a tuff & aggressive defender.  He plays balls in the air well, and he does a really good job playing angles.  He could help at both CB and LB, and has been battle-tested against some really good clubs.  He started in the 3-0 win over Fenerbahce, started at LB versus Galatasary in a 0-1 loss, started at CB vs. Besiktas in a 0-1 loss, and started again against Galatasary in a 1-3 loss.  Yeni Malatyspor isn't a Turkish League powerhouse, their a lower table team in a decent league.  But those three teams are quality teams and he went the full 90 against Champions League and Europa League qualifiers.  He's a left-footed left Center Back, which we could definitely use.  The only one we currently have is Maynor Figueroa, and he's 38.  We'll see what happens when the transfer window opens there, while I'm interested in how this develops, we've been down this road before.  The transfer is reported to be about 1.8 Million, which makes me highly doubt the move will actually happen.

The most intriguing part about this rumor (and I'm not giving it any serious consideration until I see it happen) is that it tells me they've already decided Ethan Bartlow can't play.  Why make this move is Ethan Bartlow was the guy they think he is?  Hadebe is only 25, it's not like he'd be a stopgap.  So if this move actually happens it would likely mean we missed on a high draft pick and have no plans to develop him here.  I think we all know that Alejandro Fuenmayor isn't in any future plans and we need to find a way to move him.  This could all be wrong and just a transfer rumor, but we aren't involved in these very often and so I have to speculate we at least made a call to see what it would take to get him. 

The Dynamo really need Tyler Pasher to get healthy:

Pasher adds depth and a dimension to the attack which just can't be replicated without him.  Memo doesn't have the speed or playmaking ability, and Ariel Lassiter doesn't have the skill.  Pasher helps get the ball forward, whether he's the one doing it or not.  Tyler can actually take defenders on and get past them, something that Memo really struggles with (only 20 attempts in 8 games, with a team-low 40% success rate) and something Lassiter seems incapable of (0/3 on 81 touches).  Fafa has really improved in this area over the last few games, but the guys playing on the other wing are adding nothing.  The only way Tab has been able to get production out of both wings in the last few games is to switch Fafa sides.  Bajamich has actually done really well in his limited minutes (and I believe needs more time), but to keep teams honest Pasher is our best option.  He's an important cog in this machine.  The Dynamo have the 5th most attempts at taking defenders on in the league (141) and the 5th lowest success rate (54.6%).  Derrick Jones is actually fairly solid at this (68.8%), and of the midfield, he's by far the best (Joe Corona - 47%, Matias Vera only has 8 attempts in 7 games, at 50% success) but we need a wing player that can stretch the defense and open gaps up the middle.  Tyler (opposite Fafa) is the best option we have.  He's not going to post enormous stats, but he makes plays and does his job. There's no secret to that.

Dear Parker, Maric, Fafa, and Urruti don't get off the couch.

They've played a ton of heavy minutes, Tab basically has no options off the bench at these positions, and we need them to be as healthy as possible.  Wrap yourself in bubble wrap, prop your feet up, and crank out some binge-watching on Netflix.  Hit the cryo chamber and take a few ice baths.  Freshen those legs up and get ready for the next stretch.  I actually think that Parker should have replaced Aaron Long for the Nation's League roster.  I'd take him over Tim Ream or Mark McKenzie at this point, but I'm also glad that he's able to keep those legs fresh and possibly hang out with Woody a little bit. I don't really like Maynor and Boniek playing in these games, but of the two I'm glad Boniek wasn't in the starting 11 (selfishly) against USMNT.  While we actually have some depth in the midfield, the front and back lines are currently paper thin and as we can see with Pasher going down one injury can throw large kinks in our lineup.  Parker has been extremely reliable on the backline, he's helped transform this defense and is constantly in the right place at the right time.  While Boniek has done an admirable job back there this year, Parker doesn't have a reliable partner much less a backup.  He's completely irreplaceable.  Fafa has been the biggest threat going forward almost all year, and with Pasher out the only threat we have at the counter-attack.  Not only that, the work rate of both he and Urruti has led to the positive showings in the early going.  Fafa and Urruti are covering the entire field.  It's fairly regularly you see Fafa knocking away crosses into Maric's area, or Urruti tracking back to chase down oposing attacks.  Not only is their ability to press high vital towards Tab's tactics, but their willingness to work in the defending third helped secure points in all three games they've won.  That work comes at a cost, especially with the brutal Houston summer coming up.  Every chance we get to rest, we need to take it.

We have a fairly brutal & compressed schedule after the break:

June 19th - @ LAFC

June 23rd - Home vs. Portland Timbers

June 26th - @ Real Salt Lake

July 3rd - Home vs. FC Cincinnati

July 7th - @ Seattle Sounders.

Picking up 8 or more points from this stretch is hugely important to hold our current position in the table, and we'll need every healthy body we have to do it.

Thanks again for reading,

#HoldItDown and stay #ForeverOrange

Brian