MLS offseason notebook: The new playoff format, FC Cincinnati’s first moves

In our weekly look at the MLS offseason, we examine the new playoff format, FC Cincinnati’s roster building, and all the trades.

Welcome to the offseason notebook, in which we go over everything that happens in MLS until the regular season returns in March. This is supposed to be published every Tuesday, except when it’s not, which is sometimes.

So, without further ado, here’s what happened:

The new playoff format

Flaws had begun to show themselves in the current structure. The November international break ran right through the two-leg conference matchups, disrupting the flow and making everyone forget everything that already happened. The two-leg format itself was problematic, given the inherent boredom of a first leg. MLS wants more teams in the playoffs and an earlier end to the season.

With the new format, they added a team to each conference’s quotient (now seven each) and exterminated the two-leg format, sticking to knockout games all the way through. Only the top-seed now earns a bye into the conference semis, facing the winner of a game between the fourth and fifth seeds. MLS Cup is set for Nov. 10, prior to the international break.

Ending the season earlier means they will have to try harder to fit games in throughout the season, which means more undesirable midweek games. Until MLS decides to start the season earlier than March 2, that’s a price they were apparently willing to pay.

More teams in the playoffs could devalue the regular season, even as MLS adds more and more expansion teams. The competition for homefield advantage will be as fierce as ever, though, now that lower seeds have no guaranteed opportunity for a home playoff game.

It’s an upgrade — the international break is no longer a factor, and knockout games throughout add intensity and decrease the likelihood of first leg dead time. MLS probably didn’t have to add more playoff teams, but we’ll at least get more knockout games out of that.

FC Cincinnati’s progress

FC Cincy had their expansion draft last week and started compiling a roster for the first time. It looks like it will be a cheap-ish, domestic-heavy makeup — forward Fanendo Adi, acquired in the summer from Portland, will be their only Designated Player.

The expansion draft certainly could have gone better. They picked overpaid, under-producing forward Darren Mattocks from D.C.United. They drafted Kei Kamara and then flipped him to Colorado for an international slot, somehow fetching zero value from a proven MLS scorer. They used up more of their cap space on FC Dallas winger Roland Lamah, hoping to renegotiate with a player that was mostly unproductive in Dallas.

Their last two picks, depth midfielder Eric Alexander and project center-back Hassan Ndam, were less egregious, though Alexander is a dime-a-dozen type of player. Their first three picks, however, will add little starting talent, and their failure to wield their leverage as a weapon could hurt.

They made two other big moves in trying to build a competent roster: They traded a couple buckets of allocation money to Vancouver and Atlanta for left-back Greg Garza and center-back Kendall Waston, solidifying a backline that also projects to include 2018 USL Defender of the Year Forest Lasso. (Lasso immediately vaults to the top of the MLS name leaderboard.)

Garza is injury-prone but also reasonably-aged (27) and a top tier MLS left-back. Waston is a former Defender of the Year finalist, and while he took a step back with the dysfunctional Whitecaps last year, he should prove worth the $750,000 of allocation money.

Cincy’s attack, or lack thereof, is their concern. Adi is a perfectly acceptable starting striker, but an expensive one, and without service his value declines. The Mattocks acquisition could indicate their intent to play a two-striker formation, which would restrict them elsewhere on the field.

USL holdover Emmanuel Ledesma is an intriguing piece, and could have an important role alongside Lamah and Adi. Having declared their intent to withhold their other two DP slots, Cincy will have to use their allocation money wisely.

Their signing of a 31-year-old Polish goalkeeper is not a promising start.

Trade digest

A whole bunch of minor trades already occurred. We’ve already gone over the two biggest, the Garza and Waston deals. Let’s sprint through some trades:

Orlando City acquire Tesho Akindele from FC Dallas: Akindele is a versatile attacker who mostly played sub minutes for FCD. Getting $150,000 back for him isn’t terrible for a Dallas team that clearly wants a youth movement.

Orlando need competent soccer players and some depth. If trading for Akindele means Will Johnson doesn’t play winger ever again, they did well.

Fire acquire Fabian Herbers from Philadelphia: Philly got a second-rounder for him, which is not very much, but the SuperDraft is often a crapshoot so who knows. Herbers is a nice and promising player. He flashed the occasional potential with the Union, so it’s a nice move for Chicago.

The Fire don’t make nice moves very much. Their exasperated fans will take it.

Vancouver acquire two goalkeepers: The Whitecaps will let the error-prone Stefan Marinovic move on this offseason and let two former MLS backups battle it out in training camp: Zac MacMath (whom they acquired from the Rapids for flashy attacker Nicolas Mezquida and $100,000 of allocation cash) and Maxime Crepeau, the 24-year-old former Impact keeper.

The good money is on MacMath, who has shown to be a perfectly capable MLS starter in Colorado. (He should have been starting over Tim Howard, and it doesn’t make a ton of sense for Colorado to trade him at this point.) But Crepeau, for whom Vancouver traded $50,000 and a third-rounder, is a 24-year-old in the Canadian national team pool.

Mezquida, meanwhile, is a bouncy 26-year-old who will end up playing way more minutes than he should on a Rapids team that will have no other attackers.

Montreal trade for FCD forward Maxi Urruti: FCD’s youth movement, with new manager Luchi Gonzalez, was again confirmed with this move. Urruti had been their starting striker, a streaky type who ripped a lot of shots from distance in his time.

Urruti has constantly been the subject of transfer rumors, and the possibility remains of the Impact selling him on. (FCD will keep 50 percent of the fee as part of this deal.)

Dallas received $75,000 of TAM and the 10th-pick in the SuperDraft. Montreal, if they keep him, will get one of the better defensive forwards in the league.

FC Dallas trade Victor Ulloa to Cincinnati: This move looks like it will be followed by the signing of Honduran national team midfielder Bryan Acosta, long a Concacaf fixture. Ulloa is a solid number eight type who should fit in a Cincinnati midfield alongside Fatai Alashe.

Dallas are clearing space and getting rid of basically anyone they can. That team, with Homegrowns rising through the ranks, looks like it will be fun next year.

Sporting KC sign free agent Rodney Wallace: Wallace is a veteran MLS winger. SKC will apparently try to convert him to left-back, an interesting experiment. They successfully converted Graham Zusi to right-back last year, so they have the track record.

Dynamo acquire Chris Duvall from Montreal: Montreal dealt Duvall for a third-round SuperDraft pick, which means they didn’t have a ton of interest in keeping him. Considering Duvall is competent and capable, that doesn’t make a ton of sense. Houston will gladly take it.

Mass exoduses in Vancouver and Orlando: Both the Whitecaps and Orlando City had some locker room strife last year and missed the playoffs. They are in the process of cleaning house.

Vancouver, as mentioned already, revamped their goalkeeper situation. They’ve also traded Mezquida, Waston (a major move — they’ll have to look hard to replace the disgruntled Costa Rican) and backup keeper Spencer Richey. They declined the options of such contributors as Brek Shea, Aaron Maund, Jose Aja and Aly Ghazal. More moves should be coming.

Orlando did a bunch of stuff: They traded left-back PC (who was, uh, not good in 854 total minutes) to the Caps; they saddled the Red Bulls with defender Amro Tarek’s contract in exchange for a fourth-round pick; they flipped Mohamed El-Munir for last year’s first-overall pick Joao Moutinho from LAFC; they dealt seldom-used midfielder Tony Rocha to NYCFC for another fourth-rounder; and they declined contract options on eight players.

Got all that? Among those whose contracts were declined were a handful of important players, too. Starting keeper Joe Bendik is gone. Crucial center-back Jonathan Spector, who was often necessary for their defensive survival, was let go in addition to starting right-back Scott Sutter. They also declined the options of depth pieces Chris Schuler, Donny Toia, Richie Laryea and Jose Villarreal. Those are not insignificant moves.

Without very many players left on their rosters, Orlando and Vancouver have some work to do. Following their rebuilds will give some insight on how an MLS rebuild actually works, because those don’t happen all that often.