WVHooligan - Soccer Blog

The headline may give you all you need to think about what may be said here. I’ve thought long and hard about what FC Dallas should and will ultimately do with striker Carlos Ruiz. At times I think it seems like he is as good as gone and at times I think there is no way Dallas would get rid of him now after sticking it out with him this long.

Staying or going? Trade or renegotiate his contract? Or a mix of renegotiate and trade or whatever it may be.

Reasons to keep Ruiz:

• Simple, when he is on his game he is one of the best in the MLS at scoring and causing problems in defense.
• He is a decent name that draws.
• He is the most hated player in the MLS going these days, and for some that is a reason to keep him because of that hatred.

Reasons to trade him:

• High contract that won’t be a DP this year. Dallas could easily use the money from Ruiz’s contract and the money they were going to pay Denilson to bump up some current contracts and land a better DP.
• The constant headache that is Carlos Ruiz
• He didn’t play what he is worth in terms of his contract in the past couple of seasons. I thought this would be a banner year for the Fish but I was totally off, and word has it Ruiz isn’t happy any more in the Big D.

First thing is first with Ruiz is getting his contract renegotiated to a better looking number in terms of his production on the field. His numbers have slipped in the past couple of seasons in part to teams knowing how to cover him and in part to both Steve Morrow and Colin Clark’s misuse of him. Yes, Morrow wasn’t the best at figuring out how to use Ruiz as effective as he could. It didn’t help him though that there were plenty of injuries during the season to key players with the Hoops that caused this for Morrow. As for Clark he was just a moron to begin with in guiding the Hoops.

I look at it this way, in the years he spent with the Galaxy he played in 72 games and scored 50 goals. Since moving to Dallas he has played 65 games and only netted 31 goals. His production doesn’t meet his contract value in my opinion.

Possibly moving Ruiz off the books to another club would really do Dallas some good anyways. Trading him would be tough but there are some clubs that would go for him. I’ve heard random clubs like Kansas City and Columbus (both have relationships with Dallas in terms of trading and such). Other rumors like a Ruiz to LA and Donovan to San Jose deal seems like a stretch but could be a possibility to move his contact to another club.

If Dallas were to trade him I’d love to see him go to Columbus really. The Crew need offense and I think Ruiz would be a solid fit in Ohio, not to mention he always played well in yellow and under Sigi.

Maybe KC if Eddie Johnson does in-fact leave for Europe (like I think he will). Though I’d hate to see another former Dallas striker go to KC and become even more stagnant than he already his.

One other club that could make a move in my mind would be Chivas. They recently did a dumping of players on their roster to free up some space, which leads me to believe they will be going after a DP-level or almost a DP since they don’t have a spot for a DP this winter. I think they will be stocking up what they can in the draft in terms of younger players and then signing one or two decent names.

Ruiz could be that name to help their club draw in LA. Chivas lacks a big Latin name and Ruiz could be the man to help that out.

I really see Dallas moving him this winter in some form. Word has it that he isn’t happy and maybe it is time for Dallas to move on. As a Hoops fan I am okay with that because of the amount of money that frees up for Dallas to get a real good DP this time around.

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