After FC Dallas’ disappointing draw with Chivas USA on the final day of the regular season, Schellas Hyndman said his decision on picking up the option years for a couple players was made a little bit clearer.
It’s now obvious who at least one of those players was. On Monday, FC Dallas announced that they declined to pick up the option for Panamanian defender Carlos Rodríguez, likely ending his time with the club.
“We had the game at Chivas … and that was kind of a make-it-or-break-it game for him and I didn’t think he had a very good performance there,” Hyndman told MLSsoccer.com by phone. “Saying that, we were very interested in bringing him back, but in the contract negotiations it just got a little bit difficult.”
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Rodríguez was given his first start in three months at left back in the Chivas USA game, fading badly in the second half while partially at fault in the 94th-minute Juan Agudelo equalizer.
Hyndman has noted in the past that he judges players by the whole season and not just one game, which is likely why FCD was still interested in bringing Rodríguez back. In his year in Dallas, the 22-year-old provided versatility and depth off the bench, making 24 appearances at both left back and right back as well as left midfield and right midfield.
In the end, however, club and player couldn’t come to terms on a new contract and decided to part ways, sending Rodríguez to the waiver draft, where he was not picked up by another MLS club.
“There were three things,” Hyndman said. “The first thing was the salary was a little bit more than we thought we could afford. The second thing was he’s an international spot and the third thing was he’s on the Panamanian roster and he could miss 10 games next year [through Gold Cup and World Cup qualifying].
“Adding those things together, it became a little bit more and more difficult to hang onto him.”
