No non-expansion team has been more active this offseason than DC United. They've signed a new coach, parted ways with nine players and acquired six others. Before the SuperDraft has even been held, this team is guaranteed to have almost half of its roster filled by players who weren't on the team last year.
DC United Continues Massive Rebuild, Trades GK Troy Perkins To Timbers For Steve Cronin
The latest of those moves was trading Troy Perkins to the Portland Timbers in exchange for Steve Cronin and an some allocation money. Cronin, who was a bit of a folk hero in Portland after starting for their USSF-D2 team, was expected to be the starter.
The move also closes the chapter on Perkins’ United career, which had become a symbol of the once-proud franchise’s decline. There appear to be few tears being shed by the DC faithful. Black and Red United’s Chest Rockwell summed up Perkins’ tenure like this:
Acquired in a trade that cost United a first round draft pick (that became potential future national team forward Jack McInerney) and well-liked midfielder Fred, anything less than a stellar season was going to make the deal a mistake. Perkins missed the high level of expectations by a wide margin, eventually losing his place to Bill Hamid, who at the time was a 19 year old rookie. While Perkins was stronger after winning his job back in the last third of the season, there were only a handful of games where he looked like a keeper worth anything close to his hefty contract.
The Timbers, for their part, feel as though they can resurrect Perkins’ once promising career. In Perkins, the Timbers now have a 26-year-old player who once fetched a $750,000 transfer fee and was the No. 4 player on the United States’ depth chart. He was the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year in 2006 and led the U.S. to a Gold Cup championship in 2009.
That seems to be the player the Timbers believe they’re acquiring, not the one who posted a disappointing 1.68 goals against average and saved just 66 percent of the shots he faced. Making the deal even better from the Timbers’ perspective is DC United picking up part of Perkins’ salary.
“Not everyone has year-in, year-out great seasons,” Timbers coach John Spencer told the Timbers website. “But do you have the mental strength to come back and be the player you were before? One average season doesn’t make you a bad player.”
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