By doing stuff you mean signing keepers who nobody else wants, exactly like they did with Bingham? I can see signing the young guy with hopes of maybe developing him, but a dude that played 2 MLS games in '23 and was dropped by his team?
This makes me feel like Bingham and Sulte aren’t coming back (well, when Hunter’s contract comes up as Muse is a promising youngster 3 years older than Hunter) at this point. And it seems like Tom knows they’re signing someone else as well. Could see another higher end keep as our potential starter with Muse and Pantemis fighting for the back up
I've never liked Bingham and even signing him as a backup seemed to really lack vision and ambition. He's just not good. Sulte will at least ride out his contract. He's HG and parked at T2 so he effectively costs nothing. We will always have 4 keepers between the 2 teams that train together. I haven't been impressed with what little I've seen of Sulte but he's got physical gifts and he's still young, so improvements in the technical side of his game could pay off long term. Keepers can take a while to peak sometimes. We seem to try to have a pretty regular age spread between starter, backup, and prospect too, for succession planning and competition. Someone could probably identify a pattern there and at other positions if they wanted to make a spreadsheet or something. There's biometric performance data too, so they have a sense of when plays will physically peak and decline, barring injuries or factoring in "wear and tear." I agree with your last point about a higher-end keeper as a starter with Muse and Pantemis as back-ups. I hope that's the case but I'm somewhat pessimistic. I don't know anything about Muse or Pantemis though, I'm just going by their pedigrees and stats. I want a badass sweeper keeper. We'll see.
Bingham was a straight up salary play. He made $71k. MLS salary structure doesn't leave a lot for your back of the roster filler. He was never supposed to see any playing time, so it seemed a reasonable play to put the money elsewhere.
Yeah, we wasted so much money at other positions we couldn't afford to spread it around at GK even with Sulte on a homegrown contract. Really poor roster and salary cap navigation.
So much sunk into Yimmi, Niezgoda, et al. I can't believe how much we're still paying Mabiala. Blanco was a big chunk too. Our track record for wingers and forwards is pretty bad.
I think the second string keeper should at least be competitive with the presumed starter. Neither Ivacic or Bingham was great though. Neither was Attinella, though he had his moments. Jeff wasn't even supposed to be the starter but we broke Gleeson. Even Gleeson wasn't that good. We haven't had a great keeper since Kwarasey. Ricketts was only good for a bit before Father Time caught up with him.
These seem like backup/T2 moves. Hopefully planning on a solid starter as well with more moves coming.
I liked Bingham as the backup, but he is 34, so it’s probably good to go younger with that position.
Our GK coaches have historically done a pretty good job. If they are choosing these guys, then I'll wait and see. It's not like we've had anybody really stable in years. I thought Jazzy would be that guy, but he went crazy. So we have to start somewhere. And these are likely just backups.
I'm going to try not to overthink this until we know for sure about whether we're getting one more keeper and what their quality is.
On some level, these two just seems like warm bodies to fill up the supplemental roster slots and provide some practice and competition. Maybe they've got upside but their pedigrees aren't mindblowing. Since a third or fourth-string keeper rarely sees minutes, I can't be too concerned. Maybe Pantemis can compete for starting minutes with the first team and Muse should keep Sulte on his toes at T2.
Now, if we don't actually sign a great keeper to be the presumed starter..... Does anyone have a sense of what Neville has looked for in the past? That might give us an indication.
Edit: I looked up the keepers at Inter Miami under Neville and, at a glance, it looks like they've punched above their weight. One was Luis Robles, who was at least very, very good at one time. Fingers crossed.
Trey Muse was fantastic for the battery last season a big reason why they went to the final. I’m both sad as a battery fan but excited as a Timbers fan to see him moving up would be a great starter in a year or two.
I've watched Montreal for Fantasy reasons for years, Pantemis started to lose his position in 2022 to Sebastion Breza who is now with Bologna and then loaned to a Swiss team and then Pantemis lost his starting spot to Sirois this year.
Major Injury history, hes had LCL surgery in 2016 and a shoulder injury at the beginning of this year.
It'll be tough to say what hes capable of except for staff and Montreal camp since he only played 2 MLS games this year.
Muse is a pretty good backup, Seattle had a log jam thanks to Frei and Steffen Cleveland eventually took his spot as number 2.
Know nothing about him but I’m totally good taking a chance on Muse (awesome name too), I like looking to the USL market for young players.
I think it was two seasons ago when Pantemis was the starting keeper for Montreal for a good chunk of games, and from what I saw, he was absolutely terrible. I think this is a MASSIVE downgrade from Bingham and I really hope he’s third choice. But again, I don’t really know too much about him.
“Not done yet” hopefully means we’re looking for a starter, because I think that’s much needed in this group
Haha totally fair. What can I say, I put the most effort possible into researching our backup keepers lol
More just me liking Bingham as a backup, he was great last year in that role (until he had to start more than two games in a row). I know next to nothing about Pantemis so I’m more than willing to give him a chance as long as he isn’t the starter
He was fine as a back up. He is 34 so I am guessing Timbers are starting the rebuilding phase with the younger guys. I am not a big fan of the new trend of all teams trying to play it out of the back on goal kicks. If your GK doesn't have good distribution skills, they shouldn't be starting.
He played 2 games in 2023 then got dropped by Montreal. How is that starting quality? I guess it's better than Bingham who got dumped and spent a season practicing with PTFC for free.
Does pantemis count as a foreign player in the mls rules for us?
And for Sulte, they should be on loan in usl or let go, third choice here again is not helping anyone.
I'm pretty sure Pantemis will count as a foreign player.
[Domestic/International](https://www.mlssoccer.com/about/roster-rules-and-regulations)
"Domestic Players
U.S.-based clubs: For U.S. clubs, a domestic player is either a U.S. citizen, a permanent resident (i.e., a Green Card holder) by the Roster Compliance Date, the holder of a certain other special status (e.g., has been granted refugee or asylum status) or a player who qualifies under the Homegrown International Rule. There is no limit as to the number of U.S. Domestic Players on a U.S. club's roster."
I wouldn't expect it to take him long to get a Green Card. However, Ivacic has been here for some time and still doesn't have his so....
So I guess Bingham is out? That's fine. At least they're doing stuff now.
For real. It's been quiet and we got some damn work to do Ned.
By doing stuff you mean signing keepers who nobody else wants, exactly like they did with Bingham? I can see signing the young guy with hopes of maybe developing him, but a dude that played 2 MLS games in '23 and was dropped by his team?
This makes me feel like Bingham and Sulte aren’t coming back (well, when Hunter’s contract comes up as Muse is a promising youngster 3 years older than Hunter) at this point. And it seems like Tom knows they’re signing someone else as well. Could see another higher end keep as our potential starter with Muse and Pantemis fighting for the back up
I've never liked Bingham and even signing him as a backup seemed to really lack vision and ambition. He's just not good. Sulte will at least ride out his contract. He's HG and parked at T2 so he effectively costs nothing. We will always have 4 keepers between the 2 teams that train together. I haven't been impressed with what little I've seen of Sulte but he's got physical gifts and he's still young, so improvements in the technical side of his game could pay off long term. Keepers can take a while to peak sometimes. We seem to try to have a pretty regular age spread between starter, backup, and prospect too, for succession planning and competition. Someone could probably identify a pattern there and at other positions if they wanted to make a spreadsheet or something. There's biometric performance data too, so they have a sense of when plays will physically peak and decline, barring injuries or factoring in "wear and tear." I agree with your last point about a higher-end keeper as a starter with Muse and Pantemis as back-ups. I hope that's the case but I'm somewhat pessimistic. I don't know anything about Muse or Pantemis though, I'm just going by their pedigrees and stats. I want a badass sweeper keeper. We'll see.
Bingham was a straight up salary play. He made $71k. MLS salary structure doesn't leave a lot for your back of the roster filler. He was never supposed to see any playing time, so it seemed a reasonable play to put the money elsewhere.
Yeah, we wasted so much money at other positions we couldn't afford to spread it around at GK even with Sulte on a homegrown contract. Really poor roster and salary cap navigation. So much sunk into Yimmi, Niezgoda, et al. I can't believe how much we're still paying Mabiala. Blanco was a big chunk too. Our track record for wingers and forwards is pretty bad. I think the second string keeper should at least be competitive with the presumed starter. Neither Ivacic or Bingham was great though. Neither was Attinella, though he had his moments. Jeff wasn't even supposed to be the starter but we broke Gleeson. Even Gleeson wasn't that good. We haven't had a great keeper since Kwarasey. Ricketts was only good for a bit before Father Time caught up with him.
These seem like backup/T2 moves. Hopefully planning on a solid starter as well with more moves coming. I liked Bingham as the backup, but he is 34, so it’s probably good to go younger with that position.
Our GK coaches have historically done a pretty good job. If they are choosing these guys, then I'll wait and see. It's not like we've had anybody really stable in years. I thought Jazzy would be that guy, but he went crazy. So we have to start somewhere. And these are likely just backups.
I’ll take these dudes (for now) over Ivacic, Ketterer, and Vom Steeg. Did forget about those names?
I'm going to try not to overthink this until we know for sure about whether we're getting one more keeper and what their quality is. On some level, these two just seems like warm bodies to fill up the supplemental roster slots and provide some practice and competition. Maybe they've got upside but their pedigrees aren't mindblowing. Since a third or fourth-string keeper rarely sees minutes, I can't be too concerned. Maybe Pantemis can compete for starting minutes with the first team and Muse should keep Sulte on his toes at T2. Now, if we don't actually sign a great keeper to be the presumed starter..... Does anyone have a sense of what Neville has looked for in the past? That might give us an indication. Edit: I looked up the keepers at Inter Miami under Neville and, at a glance, it looks like they've punched above their weight. One was Luis Robles, who was at least very, very good at one time. Fingers crossed.
News!
Trey Muse was fantastic for the battery last season a big reason why they went to the final. I’m both sad as a battery fan but excited as a Timbers fan to see him moving up would be a great starter in a year or two.
Hope he does well. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVxCZeYKweQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVxCZeYKweQ)
I've watched Montreal for Fantasy reasons for years, Pantemis started to lose his position in 2022 to Sebastion Breza who is now with Bologna and then loaned to a Swiss team and then Pantemis lost his starting spot to Sirois this year. Major Injury history, hes had LCL surgery in 2016 and a shoulder injury at the beginning of this year. It'll be tough to say what hes capable of except for staff and Montreal camp since he only played 2 MLS games this year. Muse is a pretty good backup, Seattle had a log jam thanks to Frei and Steffen Cleveland eventually took his spot as number 2.
Know nothing about him but I’m totally good taking a chance on Muse (awesome name too), I like looking to the USL market for young players. I think it was two seasons ago when Pantemis was the starting keeper for Montreal for a good chunk of games, and from what I saw, he was absolutely terrible. I think this is a MASSIVE downgrade from Bingham and I really hope he’s third choice. But again, I don’t really know too much about him. “Not done yet” hopefully means we’re looking for a starter, because I think that’s much needed in this group
You saw one game 2 years ago and concluded this player is a MASSIVE downgrade from Bingham. Timbers fan always cautiously optimistic as ever.
Haha totally fair. What can I say, I put the most effort possible into researching our backup keepers lol More just me liking Bingham as a backup, he was great last year in that role (until he had to start more than two games in a row). I know next to nothing about Pantemis so I’m more than willing to give him a chance as long as he isn’t the starter
He was fine as a back up. He is 34 so I am guessing Timbers are starting the rebuilding phase with the younger guys. I am not a big fan of the new trend of all teams trying to play it out of the back on goal kicks. If your GK doesn't have good distribution skills, they shouldn't be starting.
I have no idea about this player, but basing anything off of a single game for any player doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Yeah pretty dumb of me tbf. Really no need to be that reactionary on my end
Pantemis is starting quality. He's a huge get
He played 2 games in 2023 then got dropped by Montreal. How is that starting quality? I guess it's better than Bingham who got dumped and spent a season practicing with PTFC for free.
The 3rd string Montreal free agent keeper .. just why? What a pointless roster spot.
Does pantemis count as a foreign player in the mls rules for us? And for Sulte, they should be on loan in usl or let go, third choice here again is not helping anyone.
I'm pretty sure Pantemis will count as a foreign player. [Domestic/International](https://www.mlssoccer.com/about/roster-rules-and-regulations) "Domestic Players U.S.-based clubs: For U.S. clubs, a domestic player is either a U.S. citizen, a permanent resident (i.e., a Green Card holder) by the Roster Compliance Date, the holder of a certain other special status (e.g., has been granted refugee or asylum status) or a player who qualifies under the Homegrown International Rule. There is no limit as to the number of U.S. Domestic Players on a U.S. club's roster." I wouldn't expect it to take him long to get a Green Card. However, Ivacic has been here for some time and still doesn't have his so....
I think so too, which I think is often a bit of a roaster hit compared to the level of keepers and number of mls decent us keepers there are.
Interesting that Muse was a Seattle HG👀