What Would It Take?

Ives asked his adoring public what they thought the Fire should give up in order to land hometown hero Brian McBride. I posted something to the comments, so I figured I should reiterate here in greater detail.

Chad Barrett
This one's a no-brainer. He should have considerable value given his statistical output so far this season, and he's the one most likely to lose his spot in the lineup. There may be some lingering skepticism over his ability to make nothing out of something, but he may finally be turning a corner. Or he may look like he's turning a corner and is just the beneficiary of everything that's going on around him, which makes unloading him even better.

Wilman Conde
Yeah, everyone thinks the Columbian defender is a huge asset, but when Diego Gutierrez can pretty effectively replace you in the lineup, I think it may minimize your actual impact on the squad. Plus, he's going to be a distraction forever unless he wins a consistent starting lineup slot, and he still makes bad decisions with his tackles and passes. If there was a fear before that trading him anywhere would lead to his ending up in New York, the prospect of signing McBride trumps that. Sorry, Andrew, you're going to have to let it go.

Justin Mapp
Consistently touted as an attacking threat with a ton of potential, Mapp has not really stepped up and contributed this year. The only downside of giving him up is that we inexplicably have limited options on the left side of the midfield right now. You could maybe move Segares up, or promote one of the younger guys like Brian Plotkin or Stephen King, but I don't see either of those being an ideal solution. Still, he's viewed as a star-in-waiting, so his trade value should be up there.

Calen Carr
More of a "balance sheet" guy, in that he's not going to drive a deal, but including him could sweeten it with some speed, while clearing some of the logjam at forward.

Dasan Robinson
It pains me to include him here, but the former Dayton Flyer is the odd-man out of the current backline.

Logan Pause
I don't actually want to lose Logan Pause, but if push came to shove, and if the staff really thinks Lider Marmol can take over this role, he could add considerable value to a deal.

Lider Marmol
On the other hand, I'm pretty sure we put in that discovery claim just to cock-block Osorio in New York, so we could just let him go.

I don't think Andy Herron has much trade value, and given the choice between giving up Frankowski or Barrett, I'd keep the Polish striker every time. And while I know that salary-exempt players get included in trades a lot, I don't want to part ways with either Bakary Soumare or Patrick Nyarko. If we're gunning for just a Designated Player slot, then we could probably include whatever allocation money we've got lying around. I've also seen others mention the rights to Dominic Cervi and -- particularly as it relates to dealing with Toronto -- Will Johnson, and to the extent that those help the deal get done, they're also no-brainers.