NASL Team List of Players with Multi-year Contracts and Exercised Options

IMS had obtained lists of players on multiple year contracts who have had their options renewed or declined by the 7 returning NASL teams.

In late November the Minnesota Stars made public the list of its players who the organization had contracted with for multi-year contracts. The Stars gave the names of each player they were retaining for 2012 by exercising their option with the multiple year contracts. It also listed which players they were releasing from those contacts.

In digging deeper, coach Manny Lagos explained that the NASL required this information from all teams within 30 days of the last game of the season. While the Stars were very candid with their list, other teams were not as forthcoming and the information filtered out in bits and pieces.

In early December, IMS made a request to the league and Commissioner David Downs specifically for this information. While Downs felt it was a good idea, he could not force teams to disclose this information since unlike MLS with its single entity system and where  contracts are league-owned, each individual team in the NASL owns its own player contracts.

It seems clear that it’s in the teams and leagues best interest to make this information public at the time it is reported to the league.  The team is not disclosing personal information about the contract but merely publishing simple facts that will allow more offseason chatter from the fans about the teams. Offseason player retention and movement is something MLS has seen the value in and done a great job of promoting in the offseason which in turn keeps fans connected to their teams.

IMS requested this simple bit of information from each of the returning 7 teams: A) Who were the players signed to multi-year contracts in 2011 – and – B) which players did you chose to exercise options on (retain) for 2012.

Because there is no one central place for this information to be posted, or gathered for that matter, the teams responded at different times and in different formats. One didn’t respond at all. Overall the response was very good and one of great cooperation. One team’s front office said it didn’t give that contract information out. After they found out all other clubs had cooperated, to their credit they also contributed that information.

The Fort Lauderdale Strikers were willing to release only information on players whom they exercised their options. They would not release information about players they did not exercise options on. (They have a team policy of not discussing players who are currently not on their roster.)

The Tampa Bay Rowdies were very forthcoming with their player contracts revealing not only the information requested but when players were signed, for how many years – options and other details.

Interestingly, every club seems to have different philosophies in signings. The Rowdies have retained numerous players for 2 years and renegotiated several player contracts who had good seasons in 2011, signing them to new multi-year deals for 2012 and beyond.

On the other hand the RailHawks had very few multi-year contracts from last season. It’s said that former head coach Martin Rennie, who did most of the player negotiations, often signed players to only one-year contracts. Carolina’s president Curt Johnson threw a team together in a very short amount of time last season. The latter could also be one of the reasons for so few multi-year deals for the team from Cary, NC.

Clearly, Edmonton and Minnesota return the most players this coming season. Each coach was fairly pleased with their squad but still felt the need to improve and do the tweaking necessary to give their respective teams some tools they didn’t have last season.

While reading the lists of players from each team, it’s important to understand that because a player option was exercised does not necessarily mean that player will be on the roster for the upcoming season. By exercising the option on a contract it usually means a team is interested in securing that player but numerous scenarios could play out where that player will not be on the roster come opening day. In turn, if a player’s option was not picked up a team still might have him back -if- they renegotiate their contract, usually to the team’s benefit.

Here is a list of the 7 teams who return to play in the NASL in 2012.

Atlanta Silverbacks

Players who were signed to multi-year contracts in 2011: Josh Casarona, Jon Cox, Raphael Cox, Fernando Gonzalez, Matt Horth, Willie Hunt, *Jimmy Maurer, **Kohei Matsushita, Shane Moroney, Ciaran O’Brien, Jose Parada, Lucas Paulini, Felipe Quintero, Patrick Robertson, *Tyler Ruthven, Moussa Toure.

Players whose options were retained for 2012: Raphael Cox, Fernando Gonzalez, Matt Horth, Willie Hunt, Shane Moroney, Ciaran O’Brien, Lucas Paulini, Patrick Robertson.

Players whose options were not retained for 2012: Josh Casarona, Jon Cox, Kohei Matsushita, Jose Parada, Felipe Quintero, Moussa Toure.

*Ruthven and Maurer had mutual options. Each player chose not to exercise them.
**Matsushita has signed a new contract.

xxx

Carolina RailHawks

Players who were signed to multi-year contracts in 2011: Kithson Bain, Brian Farber, Akira Fitzgerald, Tony McManus, Cory Miller, Nick Thompson.

Players whose options were retained for 2012: Akira Fitzgerald and Cory Miller.

Players whose options were not retained for 2012: Kithson Bain, Brian Farber, Tony McManus, Nick Thompson.

xxx

FC Edmonton

Players who were signed to multi-year contracts in 2011: Daniel Antoniuk, Shawn Chin, Michael Cox, Paul Craig, Andre Duberry, Jaswinder Gill, Paul Hamilton, John Jonke, Chris Kooy, Mutanda Kwesele, Sam Lam, Chris Lemire, Adrian LeRoy, David Monsalve, Dominic Oppong, Lance Parker, Kyle Porter, Jeffrey Quijano, Antonio Rago, Shaun Saiko, Niko Saler, Alex Semenets, Eddy Sidra, Alex Surprenant, Ilja Van Leerdam, Kyle Yamada.

Players whose options were retained for 2012: Shawn Chin, Michael Cox, Paul Craig, Andre Duberry, Paul Hamilton, Chris Kooy, David Monsalve, Dominic Oppong, Antonio Rago, Shaun Saiko, Niko Saler, Alex Semenets, Kyle Yamada.

Players whose options were not retained for 2012: Daniel Antoniuk, Jaswinder Gill, John Jonke, Mutanda Kwesele, Sam Lam, Chris Lemire, Adrian LeRoy, Lance Parker, Kyle Porter, Jeffrey Quijano, Eddy Sidra, Alex Surprenant, Ilja Van Leerdam.

xxx

Fort Lauderdale Strikers

Strikers management have a team policy of not discussing players who are currently not on their roster. Therefore, unlike the other teams listed here, there is no listing of players who may have been under contract in 2011 with multi-year contracts and whose options were not picked up for 2012.

Players who were signed to multi-year contracts in 2011 and whose options were retained for 2012: Scott Gordon, *Polo Morales, Patrick Otte, Walter Restrepo, Brian Shriver, Toni Stahl.

Players who are under contract for 2012: Matt Glaeser, Lance Laing, Martin Nunez, Pecka, Cristian Quinones, David Santamaria,

*Polo Morales is on loan to Tigres for 2012.

xxx

Minnesota Stars FC

Players who signed were signed to multi-year contracts in 2011: Ely Allen, Kyle Altman, Simone Bracalello, Chris Clements, Jeff Cosgriff, Brian Cvilikas, Justin Davis, Devin Del Do, Cristiano Dias, Sandy Gbandi, John Gilkerson, Andrei Gotsmanov, Neil Hlavaty, Brian Kallman, Andy Lorei, Gino Mauro, Geison Moura, Tino Nunez, Lucas Rodriguez, *Jack Stewart, Kentaro Takada, Matt VanOekel, Amani Walker.

Players whose options were retained for 2012: Ely Allen, Kyle Altman, Simone Bracalello, Jeff Cosgriff, Brian Cvilikas, Justin Davis, Devin Del Do, Cristiano Dias, Andrei Gotsmanov, Neil Hlavaty, Brian Kallman, Andy Lorei, Gino Mauro, Lucas Rodriguez, *Jack Stewart, Kentaro Takada, Matt VanOekel, Amani Walker.

Players whose options were not retained for 2012: Chris Clements, John Gilkerson, Sandy Gbandi, Geison Moura, Tino Nunez.

*Jack Stewart is on loan to FC Dallas until the end of preseason training at which time he will either be purchased by the MLS side or return to the Stars for the season.

xxx

Puerto Rico Islanders

Players who were signed to multi-year contracts in 2011 and whose options were retained for 2012:  Jaime Cunningham, Tyler Wilson.

Former multi-year contract which runs into 2012:  Nicolas Addlery.

Players who are under new contract for 2012:  Johnathan Fana, Jay Needham.

xxx

Tampa Bay Rowdies

Players who signed were signed to multi-year contracts in 2011: Mike Ambersley, Jeff Attinella, Chad Burt, Jeremy Christie, Matt Clare, Yendry Diaz, Mozzi Gyorio, Shane Hill, Frankie Sanfilippo, Takuya Yamada, Keith Savage.

Players whose options were retained for 2012: Mike Ambersley, Jeff Attinella, Matt Clare, *Mozzi Gyorio, Frankie Sanfilippo, Takuya Yamada, Keith Savage.

Players whose options were not retained for 2012: Shane Hill, Kerry Baptiste, Warren Ukah, Aaron King, Chad Burt, Jeremy Christie, Yendry Diaz

Players who are under contract for 2012: Andres Arango, JP Rodrigues, Daniel Scott, Tsuyoshi Yoshitake.

*Mozzi Gyorio: Club and player in talks for new multi-year contract.

~~~