Wasatch Soccer Sentinel

A few weeks ago I put out this year's Let's Play GM survey and got a great response with 250 of you filling out the survey! Thank you as always for your participation! I'm only going to review the data in this article, so if you want to see the full results for yourself, you can see those here.

As I started writing this, I realized I never did an analysis of last year's survey. Since that's long gone, the recap is that the fans and front office basically acted in unison, with nothing too interesting to note. This year I'm writing this before the club announces their roster decisions, so I will likely do a follow up article with any notable differences between the Fan GM team and the Real Salt Lake GM team's decisions.

I'm going to write this as if I'm writing the press release after you, the GM, have handed me the decisions from on high. Obviously this won't be super professional, but it'll give a nice summary of what you have voted to do before we dive into some analysis. So, without further ado...

Press Release

Ending the 2024 season, the RSL Fanbase General Management Board has made the following contract decisions. Included are the % of the Board who voted for the decision taken. Players not returning for 2025 are:

Tomas Gomez - GK - Out of Contract - 80.4%

Delentz Pierre - DF - Club Option Declined - 57.6%

Erik Holt - DF - Club Option Declined - 86.4%

Marcelo Silva - DF - Out of Contract - 82%

Maikel Chang - MF - Out of Contract - 88%

Benji Michel - FW - Club Option Declined - 58.8%

Rubio Rubin - FW - Club Option Declined - 74.4%

Additionally, Kevon Lambert's loan with San Antonio FC (USL Championship) has been extended through the 2025 season (65.2%).

The following players have had their contract options exercised for 2025:

Gavin Beavers - GK - 90.4%

Andrew Brody - DF - 40%*

Javain Brown - DF - 71.6%

Jaziel Orozco - DF - 79.2%

Kevin Bonilla - DF - 50.4%

Philip Quinton - DF- 86%

Tommy Silva - DF - 61.2%

Zack Farnsworth - DF - 40.4%*

Noel Caliskan - MF - 67.6%

Anderson Julio - FW - 82%

Bertin Jaquesson - FW - 48%*

Ilijah Paul - FW - 49.2%*

*While these players did not get a majority of the Board's votes to have their options exercised, the majority of the Board expressed desires for the player to stay via the option or negotiating a new contract, with most of those votes going to the option to be picked up. This resulted in the author moving to exercise their contract options.

The Board has also decided to extend Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni's contract for 2025 with 79.1% voting in favor.

In addition, team awards have been determined for the 2024 season:

• MVP - Diego Luna - MF - 35.2%

• Honorable Mention - Andrés Gómez - MF - 60.4% would have voted him had he not been sold mid-season

• Defensive Player of the Year - Justen Glad - DF - 29.6%

• Honorable Mentions - Alex Katranis and Emeka Eneli

• Newcomer of the Year - Alex Katranis - DF - 69.6%

• Player to Watch for 2025 - Dominik Marczuk - MF - 31.6%

• Honorable Mention - Diego Luna - MF - 31.2%

The following 12 players are also protected for the 2024 Expansion Draft:

• Alex Katranis - DF - 97.2%

• Chicho Arango - FW - 96.8%

• Emeka Eneli - MF - 94.8%

• Dominik Marczuk - MF - 93.2%

• Braian Ojeda - MF - 92.4%

• Justen Glad - DF - 92.4%

• Diogo Gonçalves - MF - 85.2%

• Matt Crooks - MF - 81.6%

• Anderson Julio - FW - 80%

• Brayan Vera - DF - 78%

• Nelson Palacio - MF - 70%

• Lachlan Brook - MF - 60.4%

All complaints may be filed in the comment section below.

Analysis

I generally tended to agree with the fans on who stays and who goes. Here are my reasonings for why each of the outgoing players was probably selected as such by the fans:

• Tomas Gomez is a 3rd string goalie and we have plenty of coverage for that spot in the Academy

• Delentz Pierre hasn't been remarkable with the Monarchs, and wasn't able to get a consistent starting spot out on loan in the USL

• Fans have wanted Holt gone for years. We now have Quinton as a backup CB who I think is a major upgrade

• Silva only played in 3 first team games this year before going down with an injury, and didn't touch the field after he returned

• Chang is one I'm split about. He's definitely on the decline physically but has come in handy off the bench to close out games. But, I think he is in the way of Lachlan Brook and other young wingers getting more minutes

• Michel played a few games in a pinch, but couldn't sniff the field after Leagues Cup

• Rubin has been out of favor with the fans for a few years now, and the writing was on the wall for him once he got loaned out to Liga MX side Queretaro for the season

The only one of these that is surprising to me is Pierre, as younger players generally get the benefit of the doubt in these surveys. My only hope here if RSL decides to not offer new contracts to Silva or Chang, is that they get a proper send off into retirement. RSL has an unfortunate history of simply parting ways with aging players like Andy from Toy Story 2's classic "I don't wanna play with you anymore" line from Woody's nightmare scene. While Chang and Silva don't leave the legacy of the Javier Morales-type legends, they've served diligently though some of the toughest times of this club's history, with Silva captaining most of the 2023 season when Krielach was injured. Chang was also an important part of the 2019 USL Championship winning Monarchs team, the only trophy won by a professional soccer team in Utah since RSL's MLS Cup win in 2009. While it may be time for them to move on from RSL, these two need to be recognized for the important work they've done for this team over the years.

Oh, and Rubin gets a shout out for winning the 2021 MLS Goal of the Year, in part thanks to the entire Guatemalan soccer fan base showing up at the polls. It was a sick bike though.

With the players whose contract options were exercised, I think it's worth looking at Andrew Brody specifically. The fans were pretty split on what they wanted for him with 40% wanting his option exercised, 33.6% wanting his option declined with no new contract offer, and 26.4% wanting the option declined but a new contract offered. Brody definitely didn't have the best season overall. He's shown vulnerabilities in his speed and recovery, and for most of the year was in a battle with 22 year old Kaysville native Bode Hidalgo, who is just breaking into substantial first team minutes. I think Brody's salary was a big decider for people, with a $300k guaranteed compensation, and the up and coming Hidalgo generally performing better on the right flank (6.81 vs 6.94 FotMob ratings respectively), I think it makes sense for a decent chunk of fans to want a reduced contract for Brody. Take that and factor in Javain Brown's emergence at the end of the season as a viable option at right-back, I'd tend to agree that a lower contract would not be a bad idea here. If we let him go though, we'll have to find a new backup left-back unless it's time for one of the academy kids to jump into that spot (Tommy Silva, Luis Rivera, Zack Farnsworth, I'm looking at you!).

I don't think that I need to comment on Mastroeni's vote beyond saying that you don't just fire a coach after a record setting season, even if we did fizzle out of the Playoffs, Leagues Cup, and Open Cup. Let the man cook unless there are massive problems with the locker room we don't know about.

There were 4 major contenders for MVP, with Luna coming out on top with 35.2% of the vote. Chicho came in 2nd place with 28.4%, Eneli in 3rd with 18%, and Ojeda in 4th with 12.8%. A major shoutout to the two defensive midfielders here, as DM's are hardly ever in MVP conversations, and I think it shows just how important they were to RSL's impressive season. I really think the award going to Luna has quite a bit of recency bias since Chicho's record tying 17 goals came before the Leagues Cup break, and he wasn't able to find good form after his suspension and injuries. Luna was the stalwart for the year, consistently having good performances and really trying to carry the team on his back when things weren't clicking after Leagues Cup. The team award ended up going to Eneli, but Luna was a solid shout by the fans.

Which leads to the next question about Andrés Gómez. The fact that 60.4% of the respondents said that if he was still on the team, he would have been their MVP is impressive. The young Colombian was excellent and we never really found our footing after he left. Let's hope that the offseason can help Dominik Marczuk fill the void Gómez left and build a good connection to Chicho so we can find a little more of that magic in 2025. And major props to both Marczuk and Gómez for getting their first senior level international goals this week!

Glad as Defensive Player of the Year doesn't surprise me. He was one of the few consistent pieces of a broken backline that limped across the finish line at the end of the season. I wouldn't say it was his best year, but I think he's a solid choice by the fanbase. Second place fell to Katranis, who had a solid debut season and was justly awarded with Newcomer of the Year in my opinion. Eneli came in with a solid 3rd place showing with 23.6% of the vote. Again, he and Ojeda had an incredible season and Eneli really impressed. Brayan Vera was off in a distant 4th place on this one. I don't think his 3 game suspension at the end of the year for spitting did him any favors. The team’s vote and the fans’ vote was the same on this one!

As I mentioned before, Katranis won the Newcomer of the Year award by a LANDSLIDE with 69.6% of the vote. The next closest was Matt Crooks with 18.4%. Considering how important Katranis was to how we played, and how he won us some games with a few bangers along the way, I'm not surprised in the slightest that he won. I think his on-field attitude also endeared him to fans. He had a Kyle Beckerman-esque edge of determination and physicality on the field, never backed down from a fight, but was mature enough to keep his cool and not get ejected. Not only was he a great fit for the team's tactics, but he embodies what Utah sports fans want in a player. Hats off to him for a great debut season.

There was only one vote separating Marczuk and Luna from being the "players to watch" for 2025. Marczuk edged this one out for the win, but I think this vote is very telling for how the fans see the arrival of the new signings this summer, as well as the continuation of the old guard. Marczuk was the only summer signing who really felt like he gelled with the team. I'd say that Brown was a close second, but he did have the advantage of already having MLS experience. Marczuk brought energy and maturity beyond his years as he filled in the gap Gómez left, but it was obvious that he had room to grow. I think that's why he was a top pick here. Luna is the same young dynamic player profile as Marczuk, but we know what he's capable of, and we know he's capable of growing more. While it's highly likely that he'll be sold abroad before we see him come to his full potential at RSL, the idea of having a young superstar in our ranks that grew into his stardom at RSL is exciting, and clearly RSL fans have plenty of hopes that he'll stay at least one more season to delight us with his creativity and Bluey sweaters.

My most anticipated part of this survey was the Expansion Draft Protection List. I was so curious to see who people would protect, and it honestly differed from my list a bit! Just so you don't have to scroll back up, here's "the Board's" list of 12 players that they want protected from the draft:

• Alex Katranis - DF - 97.2%

• Chicho Arango - FW - 96.8%

• Emeka Eneli - MF - 94.8%

• Dominik Marczuk - MF - 93.2%

• Braian Ojeda - MF - 92.4%

• Justen Glad - DF - 92.4%

• Diogo Gonçalves - MF - 85.2%

• Matt Crooks - MF - 81.6%

• Anderson Julio - FW - 80%

• Brayan Vera - DF - 78%

• Nelson Palacio - MF - 70%

• Lachlan Brook - MF - 60.4%

Now here's my list (I was the first one to fill out the survey, so it's really easy to find). I've emphasized the names that differ from "the Board's" selections:

• Alexandros Katranis

• Brayan Vera

• Justen Glad

• Philip Quinton (in place of Anderson Julio, received 32.9% of the vote, 14th ranked)

• Chicho Arango

• Emeka Eneli

• Braian Ojeda

• Pablo Ruiz (in place of Nelson Palacio, received 54.4% of the vote, 13th ranked)

• Diogo Gonçalves

• Dominik Marczuk

• Lachlan Brook

• Matt Crooks

The fact that so many people voted in favor of generally the same group I think speaks to the general fanbase accepting that those are the best/better players on the roster. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the list we see on December 11th to be honest! But I will make my arguments on why my differing picks should be the ones there. Feel free to tear me apart in the comments.

This might be my biggest hot take of the article, but for me Philip Quinton is one of the most important roster pieces to keep for 2025. With Silva and Holt likely gone, he's the default 3rd center back, and can hold his own at right back if we need him to. Behind him we'd have Brown and then academy kids that haven't been proven yet, so I'd like to keep him around for security. He's also on a dirt cheap salary ($89,716). I think he's a guy that if not protected will get snatched up in a heartbeat after the types of performances he's put in this year combined with that salary. I'd take him over Julio specifically because while we don't have a ton of backup options at forward, we have some prospects to give a chance (Kei and Gozo come to mind) and with Julio's higher salary, it wouldn't be bad to free up some cap space if he got taken.

For Ruiz, before he was injured in 2023, he was in early season league MVP conversations, and he was slated to be a key player in 2024 based on comments from Pablo Mastroeni and Kurt Schmit's post-season press conference. I also think he is better than Palacio in every way and we don't want to just give up that level of player like this. Now, he does have a very high salary at $900k which wouldn't be bad to free up in the cap, but I think he's much more of a pivotal player to what we can be in 2025 and beyond than Julio is so taking the salary hit is more reasonable in my book. I'd protect him over Palacio simply because he's a better player. Palacio has had good moments, but overall has been rather underwhelming since joining from Ateltico Nacional in 2023, at times not even able to find the field as the 3rd defensive midfielder in the depth chart. For me, Palacio's had time to prove himself and hasn't done enough for me to be above Ruiz in the list of players we should protect. The unknown here is how Ruiz comes back from two massive knee injuries in two years. If he can channel anything close to what we saw in the first half of 2023, I'd take him in a heartbeat over Palacio.

What do you think? Are the fans right in their decisions? Were you one of the 4 people who think we should let Gavin Beavers walk instead of picking him up for another year, or buy out Diogo Gonçalves from his DP contract after 4 months? Let's keep the conversation going in the comments! I'll probably make a follow up once the actual roster decisions drop if there are any differences worth discussing, so keep an eye out for that in the coming weeks.