TUKWILA, Wash. – It hasn’t been the splashiest of winters for the Seattle Sounders.
Seattle’s highest-profile move ahead of their upcoming 2018 MLS campaign to date was a December trade for former Columbus Crew SC defender Waylon Francis. The Costa Rican is a proven commodity at the MLS level, but not exactly a blockbuster acquisition.
Other than that, despite the usual array of silly season transfer rumors and a trio of young additions through the MLS SuperDraft, the Sounders have largely stood pat, with 10 of the 11 faces from their starting XI in the 2017 MLS Cup against Toronto FC under contract for 2018. The lone exception is defender Joevin Jones, who signed with SV Darmstadt 98 of the 2.Bundesliga.
That’s by design, according to general manager Garth Lagerwey, who told reporters 1814538374" tabindex="0">on Monday that he’s confident that the pieces he has in place will continue to build cohesion and help the Sounders avoid the type of sluggish start that has plagued them the last couple of seasons.
“We won the title in 2016, we changed 13 players, including five starters,” Lagerwey said. “Then we go back to the final, second year in a row, and we only change one starter. If you look at Victor Rodriguez and Kelvin Leerdam, two guys that came in the middle of the season for us last year, the historical trend for those types of players is that with a preseason with the whole group and a better understanding of the league, those guys should take a jump forward as well.
“So, we feel really good about our team, if I’m being honest,” he added. “Nothing’s promised, nothing’s given, we have to go out and earn it. But if you look at our whole 18 and say that we could have 15 or 16 guys back of our 18 that dressed for the final, certainly we want to add players and continue to get better but we feel pretty good about our group.”
While that might mean the Sounders will look pretty similar to last year’s squad at the outset of 2018, it doesn’t mean more additions shouldn’t be expected at some point this season.
Sounders sporting director Chris Henderson also spoke with reporters 1814538375" tabindex="0">on Monday and said there are couple of roster needs the team is considering, the first one being shoring up the club’s depth in their central defense. While the Sounders boast one of the league’s more formidable center back duos in Chad Marshall and Roman Torres, both players are over 30 and the depth pieces behind them are largely unproven.
Henderson said he’d also like to add some depth and competition to Seattle’s attack, even with that part of the roster being more crowded than others.
“Center back’s a position we’re looking at to add some depth and competition,” Henderson said. “We feel we have two of the best center backs in the league, so that’s a plus and we have some young players coming through. Tony Alfaro has another year of maturity, there’s some other academy players coming through, so we feel good about it. But we’d also like to bolster that position.
“We’re looking at some attacking positions as well. The competition there is really high right now but I think with the new influx of [Targeted Allocation Money], it’s going to change rosters throughout the league, it’s going to change our roster. It’s going to make the competition greater for every position.”
