New York Red Bulls, Toronto FC Make Roster Moves
Nov 8, 2014; Washington, DC, USA; New York Red Bulls forward Bradley Wright-Phillips (99) advances the ball against the D.C. United during the second half at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
The offseason has begun for all teams except two and with that comes personnel decisions. Today both the New York Red Bulls and Toronto FC got one step closer to next season by making decisions on whose contract options to exercise. With this year there being an expansion draft, these decisions are being made earlier ahead of next week’s draft.
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Perhaps the biggest roster decision announced today was that New York has decided to resign Bradley Wright-Phillips to a new Designated Player deal. This deal is a result of the hard work Wright-Phillips put into his record tying year. His 27 goals in the regular season tied Chris Wondolowski and Roy Lassiter for most in MLS’s history.
Wright-Phillips’ name has been in transfer rumors throughout the season as you would expect when you are scoring at the clip he was. Whether or not New York receives a quality enough offer for him will remain to be seen, but many Red Bull fans will be hoping he stays right where he is. If he wants to surpass his goals mark for this season, though, he will need to rely on a different cast of teammates as his main supplier as Thierry Henry has announced he is leaving the team.
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Along with the announcement of Bradley Wright-Phillips’ new Designated Player deal, New York announced whose contracts they were not picking up options for heading into 2015. Those players include Saer Sene, Kosuke Kimura, Bobby Convey, Marius Obekop, Damien Perrinelle, Ibrahim Sekagaya and Richard Eckersley. Franco Panizo of SBI mentions that Bobby Convey may be leaning towards retirement after a health issue kept him unavailable the second half of the season.
New York weren’t the only ones making roster decisions today. Toronto did as well, and the biggest decision they seemed to make was not to pick up the option on Dwayne De Rosario who has enjoyed a very successful career in MLS. Other player’s contract options not picked up include Ryan Richter, Jeremy Hall and Andrew Wiedeman as well as Bright Dike whose contract is expiring.
There are still a handful of teams yet to make these decisions which will need to be made before early next week when their protected 11 are finalized.