RSL players on the waiver bubble

As reported on Monday RSL is looking at their options for building an improved squad for next year. Each team in the league will be submitting their list of waived players by the end of the day on Tuesday.

James Edward mentions in the article a list of players who are definite and a list that is on the bubble. Those on the bubble include: Jordan Cila, Tiger Fitzpatrick, DJ Countess, and Adolfo Gregorio. First, I'm going to focus on the goalkeeper situation.

In his fifth year in the league Countess played in 27 games and the team earned a 4-19-4 record while he was on the field. This means that RSL accumulated only 19.75% of the total points possible while Countess was playing.

Salt Lake played slightly better during Jay Nolly's five matches this year acquiring a 1-3-1 record, or in other words when he was between the pipes RSL earned 26.67% of the possible points from those 5 games.

Countess' main drawback is his health. I don't remember a week this season where he was completely healthy. Nolly, on the other hand, has looked very good during the few opportunities he's been given. He's still a young keeper mentally, but his size, agility and presence in the box makes me feel comfortable with him in front of the net.

Nolly is currently in Germany training with Bundesliga side Hannover 96 along with fellow RSL first year players Kenny Cutler and Jamie Watson. Meanwhile Countess is in rehab from shoulder surgery.

As for the other bubble dwellers:

Jordan has lots of talent and can strike a mean ball when his confidence is up. But, I think RSL lacked team speed and Cila was part of that. If he were to go I would think it would be to make room for a speedier addition.

Tiger has mad skills. He's one of those players who is a delight to watch on the ball. But, his play never made a lasting impact in the win-loss column. I'd still like to seem him stay, personally.

Adolfo Gregorio. This one surprised me the most as Adolf was a late season addition from the lower divisions in England. His adjustment to the physical nature of MLS took a little time. Maybe the coaches were expecting him to make an immediate impact. Or, there could be something I'm not thinking of...team chemistry?