It’s not quite a day of reckoning, but RSL management will be facing some tough decisions about revamping its roster heading into the 2012 season. Striker Fabian Espindola, whoearned just $75,000 during the 2011 season, will soon be out of contract, as well Ned Grabavoy, Robbie Russell, Andy Williams and ArturoAlvarez.
The RSL roster will also be one of the most attractive to expansion team Montreal, which will pick 10 players when the Expansion Draft is conducted a week from Wednesday.Though it can lose only one player, RSL is almost certain to lose a key contributor, since Coach Jason Kreis has rotated 15-16 players to good effect the past few seasons. Teams canprotect 11 players, and as a Generation adidas player Luis Gil is automatically protected.
“We have a lot of talking and thinking to do,” said Kreis last week, after RSL’sseason ended with a 3-1 loss to Los Angeles in the Western Conference finals. “Critical decisions about expansion and picking up players’ contracts are coming. They’re several weeks away,two or three away from making any announcements.”
On the salary scale, Espindola lags far behind his attacking partners in RSL’s tridente. Forward Alvaro Saborio‘s salaryis $250,000, and midfielder Javier Morales is RSL’s highest paid player at $400,000. By qualifying for the Concacaf Champions League, RSL will receive additional allocationmoney, but that amount has not yet been determined by the MLS Competition Committee.