The first free agent came off the board on Wednesday. Atlanta United wooed then signed 12-year veteran Jeff Larentowicz in a deal that immediately solidified the expansion team’s midfield (and backline in a pinch) and gave them a locker-room leader to help guide the squad through their first-ever MLS season.
Larentowicz may have been the first to put pen to paper in MLS’s second go-round following 2015’s inaugural free agent class, but he certainly won’t be the last as the offseason rolls on through all manner of drafts, lists, discovery signings and rampant rumor mongering. It’s truly the most wonderful time of the year for those of us who appreciate offseason hot stove almost as much as the games themselves.
You can play matchmaker with the full list of available free agents. If that sounds like a step too far – I get it, we’re all in different places on the MLS nerd spectrum – I’ve compiled my remaining free-agent Best XI (ok, make that XIII) below. Feel free to agree, disagree or add your own names to the list in the comments section below.
GK: Eric Kronberg
If you’re a team looking for a dead-to-rights MLS starter, free agency probably isn’t going to be the roster mechanism that fills that hole. Still, Kronberg, a career backup in Kansas City and Montreal, has enough experience to fill in if needed – he got a 20-game run with Sporting in 2014 – but appears likely to re-sign with the Impact. The 35-year-old was the No. 2 in Montreal this season, but with youngster Maxime Crepeau pushing for an expanded role, Kronberg told Canadian media he’s looking for a mixed role: third goalkeeper while also pursuing a coaching career. Unless another club is able to offer playing time, it seems likely he’ll be back in Montreal .
LB: DaMarcus Beasley
Run DMB turned 34 this year, but he’s still one of the best left backs in MLS. New Dynamo head coach Wilmer Cabrera told MLSsoccer.com’s Sam Stejskal that he’d like Beasley back in Houston next season and that contract negotiations were ongoing in late November. It’s been all quiet since, but if Beasley does decide to move on, there should be plenty of suitors, assuming he’s not carrying the Designated Player tag he did with the Dynamo. One potential destination that jumps out is Atlanta, where friend Carlos Bocanegra is the technical manager and the club could offer Beasley an enticing project to cap his long and decorated career.
CB: Marvell Wynne
One former MLSer I spoke to recently said Wynne was the fastest player he’d ever played against, and the 30-year-old shows no signs of slowing down after 11 MLS seasons and more than 300 appearances. Starting-caliber central defenders come at a premium, and Wynne helped anchor the third-stingiest defense in the league last season in San Jose. Someone could use his blue-collar approach and elite athleticism as well as the experience and durability he brings to a backline.
CB: David Horst
Just about every team could use a center back with MLS experience. I sound like a broken record, but that’s not hyperbole, especially when the player in question has more than 80 starts in the last three seasons and is coming off a salary cap friendly deal and could be an affordable option for clubs looking for an aerial presence on both sides of the ball (three goals in 2016).
RB: Sean Franklin/Corey Ashe/Chance Myers
Time to cheat and toss three names into the mix, all of whom have plenty of starting experience at right back and are hovering around the age of 30. Franklin is likely to be the priciest, and comes with 230 MLS starts in a long, durable career. Ashe isn’t far behind experience wise, and had four assists in 1,214 minutes as a spot starter in Columbus last season. Myers’ injury history is well known and he hasn’t been at his best since 2013. Still, losing your job to rising star Saad Abdul-Salaam in Kansas City isn’t something to be ashamed of, and former No. 1 SuperDraft pick can still threaten as an overlapping fullback.
CM: Will Johnson
Johnson is a winner. He’s got bite. He can play box-to-box or as a defensive midfielder. He said in late November that he’d dip his toes in the free-agent market to see if there was an opportunity for more playing time out there. Oh, and he doesn’t mind the cold. Minnesota are looking for hard-nosed players who’ll fit in with their understated, workmanlike culture. They’ve got plenty of allocation money to spend. They need MLS experience. Johnson checks those boxes. Then again, the expansion side aren’t the only team with those needs.
CM: Marco Pappa
It’s been a tough couple of years for Pappa, who has talent in spades but always seems to get tripped up by one thing or another. This year it was a combination of offseason drama and injury as well as the fact that he didn’t really fit with Pablo Mastroeni’s defense-first style in Colorado. The Guatemalan still has one of the best left feet in the league, though, and was productive for Seattle in 2014 and 2015 (9 goals, 11 assists in 49 games). He can play wide with an overlapping outside back providing width or fill in centrally with the right players behind him. Now, who thinks they can provide the environment Pappa needs to write his redemption story?
CM: Javi Morales
Paging Oscar Pareja. FC Dallas need a No. 10 to bridge the gap until Mauro Diaz returns from that ill-timed Achilles injury. Morales is the most productive chance creator of the modern MLS era, and he also has a massive chip on his shoulder to boot. It could be a match made in heaven. Dallas get the like-for-like replacement that’ll allow them to function sans Diaz, and Morales gets the playing time he needs to prove there’s still magic in the feet that scored 49 goals and dished out 81 assists in 240 games for Real Salt Lake.
RF: Dominic Oduro
Are you a counterattacking team in need an experienced MLS forward who can play wide right in a three-man front line or centrally in a time of need? Dominic Oduro, come on downnnnnnn. Oduro seems like a snug fit in the Impact setup – 16 goals and six assists in two years between the regular season and playoffs in Montreal – but he’s bounced around plenty in his MLS career and is coming off a standout postseason. Need speed? Need a better-than-advertised finisher who keeps outside backs honest (read: terrified of being burned for pace)? It’s time to place a call to Oduro’s agent and locate the nearest Papa John's.
CF: Alan Gordon
You’re not going to get a starting No. 9 in free agency. Not if you want to make the playoffs, that is. You can get an elite off-the-bench center forward, though. Gordon has perfected his role as bench bruiser in LA and San Jose, and it’s hard to see him leaving California at this point. Still, other teams have expressed an interest in the veteran target forward, who has a winning pedigree, soft feet and knack for scoring big goals.
LF: Jacob Peterson
Looking for The Answer to all your offseason needs? Peterson isn’t that – though the nickname is elite – but he is the sort of grind-it-out midfielder that successful teams have waiting in the wings should injury, fatigue or circumstance dictate a more direct approach is needed. Don’t read into Peterson’s six-goal season, a career high, too much. That’s not his game, and almost certainly an outlier. He’ll give you effort for days, a professional approach, defensive steel on the wing and a familiarity with the vagaries of MLS that’ve made him a favorite of Sporting KC head coach Peter Vermes. In fact, good luck prying him away from Kansas City.
