Season Schedule and Announcement

The BSL Front Office has officially released the league schedule for the upcoming 2014 BSL season. It features the now standard twenty-two games before two months worth of playoff action including the BSL Cup and Majors Cup.

The Rose City Flyers begin and end the season with last season's upstarts, the Orange County Zodiac. Also of interest is a home and away separated by a week with Spartans 1612 in weeks ten and twelve. The Flyers front office is already eying that one as a way to climb the standings rapidly (or solidify their place at the top). In addition, the Boys in Red will face Alliance replacements the Ohio Toffees in weeks seven and fifteen. That's unfortunate because it's likely the first time front office will have a handle on things by then.

Finally, Rose City would like to announce this season's new kit updates! The sponsor will remain, as ever, Powell's City of Books but a new look will be appearing on the pitch this season. Check it out below and tell the ownership what you think in the comments.

Haves and Have-nots

This post will be a bit more topical. I don't know how many other league owners truly read all the other team blogs, but I at least pop in from time to time to see what's up with the other teams. Hopefully this will get seen.

I'll be up front. I think most of the changes to the league since the previous year have been good. I spent a lot of last year wondering about how to create value for defensive players within the BSL and our illustrious commissioner answered the call of duty before I even asked. I think those rules are going well. I have little to complain about except for the current condition of my team, for which I really only have myself to blame. There's one niggling issue that's bugging my about the current league setup though. I'm not sure I have a perfect fix available, or even an imperfect one, but I'd like to begin a discussion.

The new roster setup (15 players, 11 starters, 3 subs, 1 reserve) is pretty excellent all around and the expanded roster makes sense to include defenders (who are still under-represented in the BSL) however, the way the reserve rule has been implemented has resulted in what looks, to me, to be an issue. There are currently 12 BSL teams and 19 MLS teams. If you consider that not every MLS team has a top-notch starting keeper we're suddenly looking at a pretty tight supply of decent keepers who will get steady minutes. This problem is amplified by the way some teams have setup their rosters. Several teams are using the "reserve" slot to essentially horde a solid MLS level keeper. They never see play unless the first choice has a bye week. Essentially this reserve keeper serves two purposes. 1) Make sure you still have a top level keeper in case your first choice guy gets hurt. Go ask Colorado's Matt Pickens what that's all about. It happens and it make sense to prepare. And 2) make sure that a good percentage of other BSL teams you play against don't have the same solid keeper you do. This strikes me as an issue that needs solving.

Let me be clear. Nowhere in the current rules does it say this is forbidden. I'm not calling anyone a cheater. I'm simply suggesting that this feels a bit more like gaming the system than I'm comfortable with (perhaps similar to the totally legal but discouraged use of last minute bids on bidding wars). I have no clear suggestion on how to solve this problem and asking teams who are participating in this practice to voluntarily drop their second keeper gets tricky too. I just think we should have a civil discussion. Am I the only one seeing this or am I making some sense? Anyone have any ideas? Or am I just being whiny? Let me know in the comments.

Week Four: Rough One

There's no doubt about it. The early schedule hasn't been kind to Rose City with regards to their injured players or which MLS teams get early season breaks. This week, it seems that half the team won't take the field anywhere. Portland and Philly have bye weeks leaving the team without Harrington, Piquionne, the newly acquired Wallace, or keeper McMath in addition to the already injured guys. At least it looks like no one else has received a National Team call-up.

"We've just got to go out and set up the guys who will be on the field to make the plays," the Flyers Coach offered when asked about the situation. "It seemed to work out for us okay last week. Bernier came in, played off Di Vaio and helped us put some points on the board. Rosales ought to see more minutes this week too. We've got some heavy hitters available."

In addition, the Flyers are announcing now, pending league approval, the waiver of Kwame Watson-Siriboe (RSL) for David Estrada (SEA).

Starters
Patrice Bernier (MTL)
Marvin Chavez (SJ)
Aurelien Collin (SKC)
Marco Di Vaio (MTL)
David Estrada (SEA)
Alan Gordon (SJ)
YP Lee (VAN)
Zach McMath (PHI)
Sanna Nyassi (MTL)
Mauro Rosales (SEA)
Chris Tierney (NE)

Subs
Michael Harrington (POR)
Frederic Piquionne (POR)
Rodney Wallace (POR)

Reserve
Martin Rivero (COL)

New Players Trickle In

After a mild draft day goof-up (last season started with an LF, remember) Rose City got off to a solid start along with the rest of the league yesterday. The Flyers picked up San Jose's seasoned Alan Gordon, the fiery upstart in Philly, Jack McInerney, and a potential bomb in Raphael de Sousa, DC United's new DP Striker from Brazil.

Jack McInerney

Gordon has been a standout in the no-one-left-behind race for strongest forward on last year's Supporter's Shield winning 'Quakes. Pair him with a recovering Marvin Chavez, and sometimes when the Earthquakes score once, Rose City will score twice.

McInerney was a breakout in what was an otherwise down year for Philadelphia last season. With Sebastian Le Toux back in the mix for the Union, the young striker may see fewer minutes, however, he should make up for it in stronger technical play and things he can pick up from the aging Frenchman.

Finally, de Sousa is a bit of an enigma to much of the league still, but he's worth a DP salary and coming out of Brazil. You can bet he won't be sitting out many games and will be using some fancy footwork to try and find the back of the net for DC.

For the moment, these are your new Flyers. Welcome to the team boys, there's plenty more on the way!

Di Vaio announced as final DP Selection

In a short note today, Rose City has followed through on their initial offseason plans and labeled Marco Di Vaio as their third and final Designated Player. The club was in some negotiations, but it seems that Di Vaio's short season here last year hasn't convinced the other BSL managers of his value yet.

Di Vaio, giving the people what they want!

"We're very glad to have our three biggest names from our first successful season back with us," the Flyers' manager said when asked about this latest advancement. "These are quality guys who show up every week and give it their all. Having three guys like this that you know you can count on, and who haven't jumped ship from MLS or had their circumstances change in any substantial way since the previous season, that's what gives a team stability. It's important."

Di Vaio will take Rose City's final Designated Player slot. Mauro Rosales and Marvin Chavez were previously named the teams first two DPs.

Rose City Announces Two DPs

The Rose City Flyers are proud to announce that they're tentatively marking Marvin Chavez and Mauro Rosales as two of this upcoming season's Designated Players. Both players were key in the club's success last season and they don't appear to be going anywhere either for Rose City or their respective MLS teams.

Chavez

Rosales

Obviously, should something happen to either of these players (injury or transfer) before the BSL DP deadline, the club could choose someone else. However, it looks good to see both of these outstanding players suiting up for the Boys in Red again this season.

"Having a significant part of our offense back wearing our colors again this season is a truly great place to start," the Flyers coach said when asked about the announcement. "Both Mauro and Marvin put up numbers last season and were always a threat to score at any moment. Nothing about how they're being played in MLS seems to indicate that we should expect anything different from them this year."

Working on Next Season

It's still early in the offseason but if you ask the Flyers Front Office, it's never too early to get to work. The biggest problem the team suffered last season was inconsistency. Sometimes the team would go off  like in their 7-0 BSL Cup Semi-final stomping of Gateway United. Other times, the whole team would fizzle like in the numerous games in which they scored only one or two points. This is the reason that the Flyers finished what was an otherwise impressive first season with only a 2.5 APG. So what can be done to improve the squad overall while solving this problem as well? Let's break it down.

Step One - Improve the overall quality of the squad.
The big names on the Flyers' roster definitely delivered this season. First and foremost, Mauro Rosales put up 13 points through the regular season and BSL Cup play. Marvin Chavez put up 9 points of his own.  Finally, Marco DiVaio managed six points from his first start during week fifteen onward.

On the other hand, the squad had several regular contributors who either failed to score, or only found the back of the net once. Guys like Steven Beitashour, Adam Moffat, Justin Braun, Alejandro Moreno, and Kosuke Kimura regularly took up starting spots but never seemed to put up points.

This is the big rub. Having stars who put up major points can send you far in this league. But it doesn't get you far enough. Stars get hurt, they don't make their MLS team's lineup because of CCL play, or their MLS team simply has a bye week and you have to make do without them. That's where overall squad quality comes in. Having a whole roster of guys who can score on any given week, even if they don't score every week, makes the difference. They win you games your stars aren't playing in. And they win you games against teams who can match you star for star, but don't have the squad depth you do. Darlington Nagbe scored five times during the regular season and added two more during the post season. Mike Magee put five on the board as well. These types of journeymen players do the hard work behind the scenes.

Step Two - Stay Spread Out
One of the ways a team's stars don't play is if their MLS team has a bye week. Nobody from that team's playing. Sometimes this plays to a team's advantage if they get to dodge the opposition's big star. Sometimes it goes the other way. In any case, when combined with an all around quality squad, making sure the team doesn't take a major hit from any given bye week a team can put up more points than its opponents. Generally, having more than a couple players from a single MLS team on the roster is a poor idea. As a result, not only is putting together a BSL winning squad about finding quality for your full squad of players, it's about finding it among many different MLS teams so that you have access to that quality all the time.

What it boils down to is learning how to evaluate players at all levels of the game. How much playing time can they expect with their club? How often do they score? Are they assist machines and so, score in BSL play as often as many of the top level strikers in MLS? These are all questions that budding managers for BSL clubs would do well to pay attention to. Sometimes it's hard, but spending time to become a great talent evaluator is one of the best ways to end up at the top of the table.

Looking Forward

By all accounts, the Flyers have had a dream season, especially as an expansion franchise. However, the team's failure to qualify for the Majors Cup means that football season is over in the Rose City. Is it too early to start thinking about next season? Never. Let's take a few moments and look at what next year's team might look like.

Positives

First lets look at a few things that Rose City did right this year. Primarily, the strength of this team was in having a large number of strong, young players who could put up points during any game. The team wasn't one dimensional, relying on one or two players to provide all of the offense. The Flyers had eight different players add at least five points over the season and Mauro Rosales added thirteen all by himself. Marco Di Vaio's six looks like it could have been a similar total had he played MLS all season. This is the type of offense this team wants to continue building next year, looking for strong contributions across the lineup so that missing any one player doesn't prove to be a problem.

The keys to achieving this will be twofold. One, retaining the top performers from last year including Rosales, Chavez, and Di Vaio will be of prime importance to the continued success of the team. Two, retaining or acquiring dangerous young players who can, at any time, have a breakout game will also be important. This year that included Darlington Nagbe and Mike Magee. Adding more players like this to the lineup while avoiding players who show promise but fail to deliver will be important.

The Flyers also capitalized on being a team that drew very few cards this year. While their opponents racked up a total of 27 cards (red cards count as two), the Flyers were only responsible for 18. Though stats for the whole league haven't been compiled, it's fair to say that this was a big contributor to the Flyers winning as many games as they did while scoring relatively few points in the early going part of the season.

Not So Much

We've discussed what went right for Rose City but just as important, if not more for a team is looking at what went wrong. Far and away, there are two things that the Boys in Red need to get better at if they want another successful season next year. The first is an issue that only the Front Office can work on, and that is Lineup Failures. The Flyers started out the season with one in Week One and, though it didn't cost them the win, it did set a poor precedent. Lineup Failures are like spotting your opponent points before the game even kicks off and sooner or later, you'll get burned by one. The Flyers expect to see ZERO LFs listed in the box score during the 2013 BSL season.

The second issue that needs work was much more widely discussed this season and that is Rose City's low PPG. The average number of points the team scored was a point of league discussion as early as halfway through the season. The early middle part of the season was dominated by wins with scores like 2-0, 2-1, and 1-0. That's luck and while it's good to have, it's no replacement for skill. The Front Office addressed the issue and it did get somewhat better by the end of the season with Rosales returning from early season injury, the addition of former La Liga player Marco Di Vaio, and the heating up of Darlington Nagbe. However, it's almost impossible not to improve on 2.2 PPG for the first half of the season. The team finished at 2.5 PPG for the regular season and 2.7 for all games played. The one bright spot here is that the team was only shut out once all year (and that was the result of a Lineup Failure).

Improving the PPG issue is part luck and part science. Finding and acquiring players who regularly put points on the board is easier as a second year team. The expansion system leaves a front office with limited options before the draft and poor draft positions. Having a roster to choose DPs from could potentially have a big impact on this statistic. It is worth noting that the team's regular season average is well within the norm for expansion franchises. It's also considerably better the the 1.0 displayed by fellow 2012 expansion franchise KC Quest. The other teams that made the playoff cut had strong DP choices like Theirry Henry, Landon Donovan, Kenny Cooper, David Beckham, and Robbie Keane. Above and beyond that potential, increased planning immediately before the draft (especially with a low draft position once again) will be required to solve this issue.

With all this said, it goes without saying that Rose City is fully expecting another strong season next year. Major club goals include defending the BSL Cup and qualifying for the Majors Cup. As of this moment, the club intends to acquire the maximum number of allowable DP slots and trade aggressively to build a club with just as much luck, but much more consistency for its second season. The Front Office is happy to entertain any and all trade offers in the off season.

Rose City Clinches Playoff Spot!

Rose City 2 - 2 Gold Coast

Rose City clinched the third BSL playoff spot with a tie this week versus Gold Coast. It came down to the wire, but with many of the Flyers major players sitting out for one reason or another, Mauro Rosales delivered with two points in the final MLS game of the week.

The Flyers move into fifth in Majors Cup Qualifying, but are five points off of the CD Gunners and the Stoners. Someone is going to have to have a very bad two weeks for Reds to slip into contention there.

"I thought we played pretty well for having most of our big name guys sitting out this week," the Flyers coach pointed out. San Jose had a bye week so no Marvin Chavez or Steven Leinhart and Marco Di Vaio had returned to Italy to answer questions in the ongoing match fixing scandal there. It came down to Rosales.

"Obviously we'd like to have a stronger all around team next year," the coach said when asked about next season. "Being able to get points from anyone on the field isn't something we've excelled at and several players who were supposed to be big have been a bit of a let down. But we got the job done. It's our first season in the BSL and we'll be in the Playoffs."

Next week the Gunners come to town for another Match of the Week and provide the best opportunity this team will have to squeak into the Majors Cup as well. Either the Gunners or Pennsylvania need to lose the last two of the season and Rose City needs to win both to make it happen. Beating the Gunners in Week Twenty-one would be the way to start.

Lineup, Week Fourteen

So Rose City has managed it again. Say what you will about this year's hottest new team, they seem to get just the right amount of points. Most of the time. The Flyers finished off the Blues in week thirteen in a tight 2-1 win. Adam Moffat found the back of the net and C.J. Sapong put up a point for the first time in several weeks. But are they going to put up enough points down the stretch to stay where they are? Or is there an inevitable crash coming? Will Marco Di Vaio prove to be as strong a pickup as the team hopes when he arrives after the transfer window opens next week? Only time will tell.

Week fourteen is an exciting rematch with Gateway in another game of the week. The Saints gave Rose City a startling jolt into the BSL with a 3-1 win in the Flyers first ever league game at the beginning of the season. Let's see if Rose City can turn the tables this time.

Starters
Steven Beitashour
Marvin Chavez
Dan Kennedy (Keeper)
Kosuke Kimura
Mike Magee
Adam Moffat
Darlington Nagbe
Mauro Rosales (Captain)
C.J. Sapong

Subs
Justin Braun
Bjorn Runstrom
Marco Di Vaio

First Kick 2012

The Rose City Flyers are proud to announce their opponents for the 2012 First Kick. The Flyers' first opponents will be Gateway United.
"Gateway United might expect our expansion club to be an easy pushover," said the Flyers GM "However, we expect to be fighting right along side the founding members of the BSL. The Flyers intend to contend for the title in their first year."

The manager also let slip that the Flyers are already in talks with several clubs about pre-draft trade options and that they have their eyes on several strong players for the expansion draft. Return here for all the news about the new club's picks and for a breakdown of the win over Gateway Untied.

2012 Season Expansion Team

The Rose City Flyers FC is pleased to announce that they will be joining BSL for the 2012 season. They're ready and willing to entertain offers from other clubs and are aiming to shake up the league with a quality expansion showing.