Whitecaps Make Another Move

After a very quiet month in the realm of player movement, the Vancouver Whitecaps have made two moves in as many days. Yesterday they introduced Canadian designated player striker Lucas Cavallini while today they announced the trading of Zac MacMath to Real Salt Lake in exchange for (the minimum) $50,000 in targeted allocation money.

The move comes as a bit of a surprise and not at the same time. Heading into last season MacMath was expected to challenge for the starting keeper position. In fact, many, including myself, felt he had the inside track on being number one. However, Maxime Crepeau came out of the gate fast and held the position all season. In the end, MacMath made eight starts for the Whitecaps, across all competitions.

The Caps have been producing serviceable keepers for several years now but none have had an opportunity with the big club. The last to have a semi-legitimate, and I use that term loosely, was Marco Carducci. Most recently, Sean Melvin was buried on the roster and never saw a moment/second of playing time in any professional setting.

Last season, Zac made $190,000 while Crepeau was on a salary of $94,083. The other keeper on the roster, homegrown Thomas Hasal, made $66,250. If the Whitecaps do not sign another keeper, and I hope they do not, this will be a nice salary upgrade for the club. The keeper position is typically one of the ‘safest’ in regards to injuries and playing time. Sure, Crepeau will be called away for international duty, but, at some point, they need to see what they have in these young keepers they keep producing. If they don’t trust them to play a handful of matches each season as a backup, then they probably should not be on the roster.

What is your take on this move? A good salary dump? Bad idea? Irrelevant?