We still don't know where Benny Feilhaber will end up playing, but we now know that it won't be with Chivas USA. The team has released a statement from coach Robin Fraser explaining the decision:
Chivas USA Passes On Benny Feilhaber, Citing Future Flexibility
“This was a really difficult decision because we had to look at a number of factors, first and foremost being if we take him and accommodate his salary within our salary cap, how much is that going to limit us going forward. Certainly we’re looking to address some needs on the team, and having Benny would’ve been great in our midfield, because he’s a very, very good player, but the fact of the matter is his salary would’ve been so high that we wouldn’t have been able to make any adjustments going forward. The summer window coming up is an important time for us and we’d like to position ourselves to make some moves that we think are going to further improve our team.”
“It was a difficult decision to pass on Benny, but we just feel that we have more needs than the one person could’ve addressed, and his salary would have inhibited our ability to make improvements that we think we need. Benny’s salary, given where we are, was not something that we were going to be able to take on, and so we then felt like it was important that we retain this number one allocation because as players come back through this mechanism, we will have first choice at getting them.”
Various reports have suggested that Feilhaber signed for about $400,000 a year, meaning his salary cap hit is essentially equivalent to a Designated Player's. Considering Chivas USA added significant salary during the offseason in the form of defenders Jimmy Conrad and Heath Pearce, as well as several other players signed from foreign leagues, it should not be surprising that they did not have a ton of cap space.
Rumors were flying around for most of the day that Chivas USA was trying to trade out of the top allocation spot. The one upside to skipping the pick is that they retain the top spot the next time a United States National Team player signs with the league.
Feilhaber’s agent, Lyle Yorks, was apparently taken off guard by the decision. A tweet he made implied that Feilhaber may have been expecting to play there.
Chivas passed right at deadline--huge curve ball??? Feel sorry for the Chivas fans...will keep everyone posted as this plays out...less than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® 
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