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The Good and Bad of Orlando City’s Roster Cuts
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Orlando City jumped into its wild off-season with a bang on Wednesday, announcing nine roster cuts following the 2015 Major League Soccer season. The cuts included the shocking decision to part ways with goalkeeper Tally Hall, who started 24 games for the Lions this season after returning in May from ACL surgery.
In addition to Hall, Orlando City opted not to exercise options with midfielders Lewis Neal and Eric Avila, forwards Danny Mwanga, Sidney Rivera and Adam Bedell, defender Corey Ashe and goalkeeper Josh Ford. Midfielder Tony Cascio is also out of contract.
These moves signal significant changes to the roster this winter, and also show new Chief Soccer Officer Armando Carneiro putting his stamp on this team less than a month into the job. With about $903,029 cleared off their books from these moves, the Lions will have plenty to work with this off-season.
What do these moves mean? How does the loss of each player effect Orlando City moving forward? Where does the club go from here? Let's try to answer some of the questions, shall we?
Tally Hall
As we stated, the decision to part ways with Hall blindsided just about everybody. It's not a move that makes sense on the surface, but when you dig a little deeper you can start to see why Carneiro and company came to this decision.
Hall will turn 31 next season and is coming off of his second major knee surgery in just over a year, after tearing his meniscus in Orlando City’s final home game against New York City FC on Oct. 16. With a base cap hit of $215,000 (2015 salary), the Lions might have decided that clearing Hall’s budget was much easier than putting their hopes into an injury-prone goalkeeper that gave up nearly two goals a game in 2015 (1.76 goals against average).
Eligible for the Re-Entry Draft on Dec. 10, Hall is sure to draw interest from teams around the league. However, Orlando deciding to straight up part ways with him instead of trading him to get something in return suggests there could also be a weak market.
Hall's departure can mean two things for Orlando next season: first, they're banking on Earl Edwards Jr. beating out likely another veteran MLS goalkeeper for the starting job next year. The 23-year-old showed a lot of promise in 2015 after being drafted out of UCLA in January, and the Lions' staff thinks the world of him as a potential top-tier goalkeeper in MLS. Going with Edwards Jr. now, however, after just a handful of starts this season, would be surprising to say the least. Second, they could be planning to hit the international market for a better starter more worth the money than Hall.
The good: Orlando City cleared a significant chunk of money off of their books by moving Hall.
The bad: they just lost a big fan favorite and one of the main leaders in the locker room, while potentially throwing a young and inexperienced goalkeeper into the fire in 2016.
Lewis Neal
The decision to cut ties with Neal was also pretty surprising to hear, and shows how much higher this move goes over Adrian Heath and his coaching staff. Heath loves players that can fit into different areas of the field and contribute, and Neal was just that for the Lions this season. His knowledge of the system made him an easy choice for Heath in the Expansion Draft.
The 31-year-old started in 18 of the 21 games he appeared in for the Lions this season, and it would not be shocking if he hung up the boots for good and moved on to another level of the game, likely as a coach. His connection with Heath and the coaching staff could make an Orlando City B position seem not all that crazy, either.
The good: no more Lewis Wondolowski.
The bad: the Lions lost an MLS vet that could fill a bunch of different positions and knew just how Heath wanted his system to run — a player-type they'll probably look to add this winter.
Corey Ashe
Orlando City acquired Ashe during the summer as a quick-fix full back to fill the depth chart, and for the most part it was a move that paid off. Ashe played well with the Lions during his brief stint, showing he could play at both left and right back.
Ashe's cap hit in 2015 was roughly $180,000 — a steep price to pay for a fullback only playing a part-time role, so declining his option doesn't come as a shock. The team could always go back and negotiate with him to bring him back on a cheaper contract, but a former MLS All-Star like Ashe probably won't be looking to take less and sit on the bench in Orlando.
The good: cleared cap space, which is always good.
The bad: the Lions will need to search for another veteran fullback to fill his place and possibly compete with Rafael Ramos for a starting gig in 2016.
Eric Avila
The Lions picked up Avila through the U.S. allocation process before the season, signing him on a one-year loan from Liga MX club Santos Laguna with the option to buy him at the end of the season. Obviously, Orlando City decided they didn't want to continue making the Brek and Avi Show and let Avila go.
Avila appeared in 21 games while with Orlando City, making 15 starts. He only scored one goal, which also happened to be nominated for MLS Goal of the Year, while recording two assists. His main log of minutes came on the right wing, replacing Kevin Molino, who went down in May.
The good: there's not much benefit from this for Orlando other than clearing off a roster spot that most expected to be freed up anyway.
The bad: no more Brek and Avi Show. 🙁
Tony Cascio
Cascio is one of those moves that just ended up being a real disappointment. At the end of the day, taking Cascio with the second pick in the Expansion Draft probably seems like a real head-scratcher, but, like Neal, Heath saw Cascio as a guy who could fill multiple roles and probably should have played a lot in Molino's spot instead of Avila had he not spent the year working through injuries.
Ultimately, Cascio was just a body taking up cap space and a roster spot. A like-for-like replacement on the roster is possible for 2016, granted that guy can stay healthy, too, of course.
The good: Lions can gain a healthy player to take up that spot.
The bad: when healthy, he's a valuable MLS vet that knows the league and can plug into a few different positions.
Josh Ford
The Lions picked up Ford in the Re-Entry Draft last December, and the former Seattle Sounders backup didn’t make his first appearance for the Lions until the final home game against NYCFC, when he came on for the final six minutes to replace the injured Hall.
Ford was nothing more than a short-term backup for the Lions, and actually spent part of the season on loan with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, of the NASL. His loss is nothing more than clearing an unneeded body.
The good: the Lions will probably just bring in another goalkeeper that can backup Edwards Jr. or whoever the starter is.
The bad: there is no bad, really.
Danny Mwanga
The former No. 1 overall SuperDraft pick came to Orlando hoping to revitalize his career under Adrian Heath, and at the end of the day, it was nothing but a failure for all parties involved. The 24-year-old only appeared in four games and didn't score a single goal in purple in a competitive match (although he did score in a friendly at Louisville City).
There was really no chance of seeing Mwanga play another game for Orlando City, and now we'll see if another team out there thinks enough to give him one more shot.
The good: dumping a wasted roster spot.
The bad: with Mwanga, Neal, and Cascio gone, Pedro Ribeiro is Orlando City’s last Expansion Draft pick remaining on the roster. MLS will be just fine getting rid of the draft for future expansion teams.
Sidney Rivera
Another SuperDraft pick that didn't quite work out, Orlando hoped for more out of Rivera, sending him to spend most of the season with Louisville City FC, in USL. For some reason, which we won't speculate, Rivera didn't get much playing time with Louisville under James O'Connor and was sent back to Orlando City for the rest of the season. He never appeared in a game for the Lions, making him a prime candidate to not have his contract option picked up for 2016.
The good: no real benefit.
The bad: Late round draft picks find it tough to stick around, and Rivera is just another example. With that being said, there's not much harm here. They tried, they failed. Life goes on.
Adam Bedell
And finally, Bedell, who Orlando City acquired from the Columbus Crew near the end of the summer transfer window for a second-round SuperDraft pick. Before even playing a game for Orlando, Bedell was loaned out to Denmark, where he scored a handful of goals in his first few games before cooling off of late.
The Lions hoped to keep Bedell on loan in Denmark for some time, hoping he'd develop into a better player that could help Orlando in 2016 or beyond. Obviously, the plan didn't last very long, and Orlando basically gave up a second-round draft pick for squat.
The good: it's an open roster spot.
The bad: they lost a draft pick, which may or may not have actually helped the club next season anyway.
There you have it, folks. Let's hope these roster moves pay off for the Lions in 2016. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and the Mane Land wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving!
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Reflecting on Eight Years with The Mane Land
A look back over my time with The Mane Land (so far).
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As of last week, I have been a contributor at The Mane Land for eight years. That’s longer than I’ve ever been at any of my actual jobs in my life. There are literally only a couple of people who have been with the site longer, but I’m still amazed at how long it’s been. This is not to say I’m going anywhere, but rather I wanted to take the opportunity to look back at the past eight years, and look ahead to the future.
Unlike some, I didn’t come to be a supporter of Orlando City until it was announced that the club was joining MLS. At the time, I was contemplating picking a club to follow in MLS, but being in Tallahassee, there were no nearby options at that time. I considered FC Dallas and D.C. United, given the two were geographically closer in proximity to me than any others. Fortunately, it was literally while I was considering my options that the announcement was made regarding Orlando City’s jump to MLS. It was an easy decision.
As I do in many aspects of my life, I immediately started researching my new club, which led me to the content being produced by The Mane Land. There was also an article on the site titled “Join The Mane Land Staff.” I had often over the years internally bemoaned that I rarely used my Bachelor’s degree in English, and the desire to write welled up in me so much that I emailed the staff.
In response, one of our former editors, Andrew Marcinko, contacted me and said “I think your voice would be a great fit on TML.” He asked me to submit a Fan Post (those went away with our presence on SBN), and then another piece for review. Following that, our founder and managing editor, Michael Citro, emailed me to welcome me to the staff. I had no idea at the time how big a part of my life this blog would become.
I started out writing Monday’s Lions Links — often one of the more difficult days to write — and a feature piece. It’s been many years gone by now, but there was a time when the feature piece was “Pride Pub,” an ongoing series that paired craft beer and good food based on Orlando City’s opponent. I can tell you that the research for that was very enjoyable, and I still use some of the recipes I found to this day.
Eventually, I started contributing more match coverage and analytical pieces. Staff came and went, but I never thought to leave since I was enjoying myself. Sometime after that, I was promoted to senior columnist, for which I’m grateful. I can without reservation say that I’m a better writer thanks to my time with the site, and from working with such excellent staff.
In November of 2016, Michael asked if I wanted to give co-hosting The Mane Land PawedCast a try. My first recording was for Episode 71. We just recorded Episode 354, and with the exception of maybe two or three episodes, I have been on every single one of 283 episodes over the last six plus years. Michael and I have spent a lot of time talking on and off the podcast over the years, and I’m proud of what we have produced and to call him my friend.
We recently added an Orlando Pride-specific podcast called Skopurp: An Orlando Pride PawedCast. For years we wanted to give the Pride the time and attention the club deserves. Now, it is a reality, but one that I ask you to listen to and share. I’ll even put out that although Michael and I are the current hosts, we merely consider ourselves stewards and are hoping to get others to come onboard and eventually take it to the next level.
When I started with The Mane Land, the site had just made the move from a free WordPress site to the SBNation network. It was a big deal, and for many years it was a good partnership. Of course that all came to an end not too long ago, and our blog went the independent route thanks to the incredibly generous support of our readers and listeners. In fact, if you want to be one of those supporting our efforts, please go to our Buy Me A Coffee site to become a member. The move has allowed a flexibility we didn’t have before, but I really want others to have the same sense of joy and accomplishment that I have as a member of our staff.
At one point we had nearly twice the staff that we do now, and as you know, many hands make light work. The opposite of that is also true. I genuinely believe that there must be others out there with the same passion for Orlando City as I have — with the same desire to have their voice heard, whether through the written word or on a podcast. I promise you there is an opportunity to contribute here with us. Our internal discussions are informative, engaging, and often funny. Please consider joining us, as I did eight years ago. I haven’t regretted it and I know you won’t either.
I want to thank all of those who contributed to The Mane Land over the years. There are many that I am still in touch with, though they are no longer a part of the staff. Of course, the current staff are a pleasure to work with, and I appreciate their dedication to what we are trying to do.
Finally, I want to thank the readers and listeners over the years. From those who regularly comment on our articles, to those that I’ve personally met at matches or even randomly on the street, you are a big reason that we do all of this. You are a big reason why I’ve been doing this for the better part of a decade. it is always a genuine pleasure hearing your thoughts or simply sharing a moment of joy together — U.S. Open Cup final, anyone?
So, thank you. I look forward to many more years of this journey together.
Orlando City
The Mane Land Announces Membership Program
Maximize your Mane Land experience with our new TML membership program while supporting our independent efforts.
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Hello, readers of The Mane Land and listeners of our podcasts. Before you start reading this, please note that the most important part of this post is at the end. So, don’t stop until you get to the bottom.
You may recall that when we left SBNation to become independent, we really weren’t sure the best way to go about that. Many of our readers and listeners generously offered to help us make that transition, but we still weren’t sure the best path forward, so we took a poll.
The poll was pretty much split down the middle between those who preferred a one-time, Kickstarter-style campaign (which we did, and those of you who stepped up to help completely blew us away!) and those who favored a Patreon-style, subscription-based membership with extra perks. In fact, the member subscriptions option got a few more votes in our poll.
The folks who took part in our GoFundMe fundraiser were fantastic and are now immortalized on this very site on the “Our Founders” page. But we had always planned to give folks the option to choose whichever method of support they preferred and we tried to communicate that throughout the process. It took a little longer than expected to get up and running, but our membership subscription program is now in place! (You may notice the fancy new banner ad about it on the home page, echoed below.)
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Part of that delay was thinking up something that didn’t encroach on the benefits we gave our Founders. Those folks helped us get started and deserve the exclusivity of the perks they got. The other part of the delay is that there just aren’t enough hours in the day. (However, for you guys, I’m willing to be cloned.)
We have utilized the popular Buy Me a Coffee platform to run this program. You can find the basics here. The Mane Land premium membership program includes three tiers of membership, as well as the option to click on the “Support” tab for those who just want to help us out whenever, without joining the program or adding any recurring “appointment-based” payments to their budgets. We love that feature of Buy Me a Coffee (or “Buy Us a Beer” in our case…you drink what you like).
For those who do choose to become members, we hope we have provided value and we are planning to add benefits along the way, in addition to providing special giveaways, events, etc. (more on that below). We have also provided subscription options — with monthly or annual memberships. The annual cost essentially gives you 12 months for the price of 10.
Current Benefits
The current membership benefits depend on which level of support you choose — Homegrown Player, TAM Player, or Designated Player level. Each level includes all benefits from the lower tiers, with additional benefits for each higher level.
Homegrown Player: This is a basic set-it-and-forget-it level of support for The Mane Land, providing a way for our readers and podcast listeners to contribute to the success of TML‘s independence goals. We want to compensate our current volunteers, replace lost income of those who previously received small stipends from being part of the SBNation network, add photographers, attract new writers, and expand our coverage. Additionally, each Homegrown Player Level member will be recognized in a Lion Links column, which is still typically our most widely read post of each day and one of the top daily links columns among soccer sites. Homegrown Player Level members will also be included in any future prize drawings we have or events we host and may be subject to future benefits as they are added.
TAM Player: In addition to Homegrown Player benefits, TAM Players will receive a new weekly e-newsletter in their inbox (unless you opt out…some people hate email). These will be informal missives from myself, other TML writers, or a combination, discussing what’s on our mind regarding Orlando City, the Pride, OCB, or soccer in general. Think of it as an extra post from our site that may cover multiple topics. Additionally, you’ll get a 10% discount from our web shop items that we control (presently, that means everything except our listed MLS Shop items). We will definitely have more benefits coming for this level soon and will look for opportunities to include additional benefits as they become available.
Designated Player: This limited availability level of support includes all perks from the Homegrown and TAM levels, but it goes beyond. Your discount at our webshop (for items we control) will be 15% off. Additionally, we’ll send you Zoom links to watch us “make the doughnuts” whenever we record the podcast. This includes when we interview guests. You’ll see how the sausage is made behind the scenes and everything that we say, some of which will end up on the cutting room floor before the final podcast is sent out. This includes both The Mane Land PawedCast and SkoPurp Soccer: An Orlando Pride PawedCast. And after two months of membership you can commission a bonus episode of either podcast simply by letting us know what topic you want us to cover. Think of this as an extended Ask Us Anything. We’ll do a whole show about your topic and you can even join us to discuss it if you wish.
The DP Level will certainly have additional benefits tacked on as we move forward. It is currently limited to 40 members but could be expanded slightly depending on demand and our Zoom attendance.
Future Benefits / Benefits Under Consideration
While we won’t be able to schedule these due to the random nature of items falling into our hands, there will be periodic prize giveaways in drawings that include all of our members, regardless of level. The catch is that you get one entry per level of support, meaning Homegrown Player Level members will get one entry per prize drawing, TAM Player Level members will get two entries per drawing, and Designated Player Level members get three entries for prize drawings. Some of the kinds of items we have come across in the past include match tickets, trinkets, posters, scarves, and so on.
We are planning to add a message board to our website, well…soon-ish is the word that comes to mind. The plan for the message board is to build our community and further the discussion about the club. As part of this, we’re planning an exclusive, members-only area of that message board that TAM and DP members can access. This will be a place our staff can share informational nuggets we can’t necessarily write stories about for various reasons and interact with our members on a daily basis.
Other things in the works include meet-and-greets/watch parties where you can chat with TML staff members and catch a road match with a bunch of like-minded Orlando City/Pride fans while we all cheer on the team together. There may also be other informal outings with one or more members of the staff, organized fantasy leagues, random Zoom calls for Q&A sessions, and perhaps even some organized group outings for Orlando City / Pride matches, national team games, etc.
The Most Important Part of This Post
Remember at the top of this post, when I said the most important part is at the bottom? Well, that seems like a long time ago, now, so it’s OK if you’ve already forgotten.
The most important part of our membership program is you. We want your feedback so we can make this program something that interests and excites you. We want to know what you like and dislike about this program. We want to know if there are some things we didn’t think of that interest you. If you like what we’re offering, tell us! If you hate what we’re offering, we want to know what you’d prefer instead or in addition. If you want to go drinking with Dave, we can probably arrange that, but it’ll be a unique tier and we’ll have to figure out the cost of that.
No idea is too crazy to suggest, even if it’s too insane for us to actually offer. Let us know what you want from your subscription and we’ll see if that’s something we can do. We’ll make it easy for you by putting the form right here below this post, which is now concluded.
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Welcome Home!
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Where do I even start? When we were told in January that SBNation was pulling its support of The Mane Land and other MLS and NHL blogs — and many podcasts — I was devastated. The site had become my new baby in September of 2014 and after eight and a half years, I wasn’t ready to let it go.
I was in a pickle. I couldn’t afford to lose the monthly stipend I had been getting from SBNation to manage the site and provide a steady stream of content. It wasn’t that it was a huge monthly sum, but it mostly covered my car payment. That car was purchased when my salary was higher. The pandemic hit my day job like it did to many, and after a four-month layoff, I got my old job back but not at the same rate. So, imagine taking a pay decrease at work and then, on top of that, losing the amount you spend per month on your car payment. There was simply no way to launch The Mane Land independently, I thought, because I simply couldn’t cover the startup costs. Even with some generous offers from the staff to pitch in, there simply wasn’t a way.
Once we took the news public, there was an outpouring of support on social media. We appreciated both the pledges to help out that we got from the community and the signal boosting that the national media gave blogs like ours. Those national folks rely on local reporting for background.
Encouraged by this outpouring of public support, I met with the TML staff and we threw some ideas around. We polled our Twitter followers to see how our community would prefer to show their support. We got pretty close to a 50/50 split between those who wanted to provide a one-time donation via a Kickstarter or GoFundMe crowdsourcing effort, and those who would prefer some sort of premium subscription add-on service like Patreon or Buy Me a Coffee.
We didn’t get a lot of responses to that poll, but we decided as a group that since the results were so similar, we would offer both and let the public choose one path, the other, or even both. (Stay tuned for news soon-ish on the premium subscription level, but rest assured, everything you’ve been getting for free at TML will remain free!)
I was, admittedly, skeptical that we could raise enough startup money to create a private business, pay for hosting a new site and two podcasts (having long wanted to give the Orlando Pride their own unique show), registering a domain, paying for some design work and consulting, and any unexpected expenses that might come up. However, I thought we’d at least give it a try.
Then the amazing Orlando City, Orlando Pride, and TML community got involved. You guys pushed us past our bare minimum goal in just four and a half hours when our fundraiser went live on March 1. We reset our goal and you met that by midnight. We reset our goal again, to the dream total we discussed on our initial staff Zoom chat and you met that by that first weekend.
Stunned. Humbled. Amazed. Touched. All of these words apply to how that made us feel, but they don’t quite cover it. I think we all felt an enormous responsibility, as well. We felt a mandate to provide you the best site and the best coverage we can.
We got everything we needed to run the site for two years, even if we don’t earn a penny after our launch — and we plan to try, via advertising, a Patreon (or similar) program, an online shop, affiliate links, and anything else we can think of. But we decided to leave the GoFundMe open through the end of March, just in case there were folks who wanted to contribute but needed to wait for payday, or if more people wanted to become founding members of this new site.
Now, here we are. You guys did this. We’re here because of you. And this site isn’t quite what it will become. I’m still learning my way around WordPress, after being away from it for years. There’s more to build, and some of the things you’re seeing on this site now will be improved in the future. We’ll continue to tweak it, add things, and upgrade as we go.
For now, I just want to welcome you to your new online home. On behalf of our entire staff, I thank our founding members, who are now immortalized on this site in our founders section. If you weren’t able to contribute to our transition from SBNation’s network to an autonomous and independent, new version of The Mane Land, you can thank the folks on our founders page, because without them, we wouldn’t be here. And if you still want to help out, we’ve got more things on the way.
Vamos.
Michael Citro
Managing Editor
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