Sporting KC
Sporting KC Sign Midfielder Memo Rodriguez
Sporting Kansas City reportedly added veteran midfielder Memo Rodriguez via free agency inside of MLS. More on the midfielder.
Update 2:04 PM CST — Sporting KC made it official.Â
After two preseason appearances as a trialist, it appears Sporting Kansas City wants to make it official. Daniel Sperry of the KC Star reports that Sporting KC have agreed to a deal with midfielder Memo Rodriguez. It’s a guaranteed one-year deal, with a club option for the 2025 season.
We previewed the initial story last week when it was announced Rodriguez was on trial with the club during preseason in Miami.
Rodriguez is a familiar face to Sporting KC fans as he’s spent the vast majority of his professional career with rivals the Houston Dynamo. Last year he signed with the LA Galaxy before being traded to Austin FC in the summer.
The signing makes a ton of sense for a Sporting KC team that lacks depth in the midfield. Gone are Roger Espinoza, Gadi Kinda, Cam Duke and Felipe Gutierrez and no players have been added until the Rodriguez news. At 28-years-old, he adds an immediate presence when all the other backups, outside of Felipe Hernandez, have almost no experience. Additionally, the season is long and Sporting KC are notorious for their injuries, so you’ll need players ready to step up and be at or near the same level.
Rodriguez has played in Erik Thommy’s spot in the second half in the last two MLS preseason games against Charlotte FC and Nashville SC. Looking at their underlying numbers, similarities exist with Memo likely being available on a budget friendly charge that shouldn’t hinder other Sporting KC roster moves. While he’s no Thommy, he knows what he’s doing out there and he’s still in his prime.
Memo Rodriguez is on trial with #SportingKC for preseason. I'm calling him the poor man's Erik Thommy.
Not bad underlying numbers for a sub $200k contract (2023 numbers). #MLS #FBref pic.twitter.com/Uc1jW9mXRf
— Chad Smith (@PlayFor90) January 25, 2024
Rodriguez will be another player in a long line of free agents to come to Kansas City. In prior years, it hasn’t gone well. Uri Rosell and Ben Sweat were both cut last year. And going back to the beginning of free agency, with the first ever free agent Justin Mapp, that didn’t work either. Rodriguez will be looking to buck that trend.
This signing lines up with Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes post-game interview on Tuesday indicating signings would be hopefully coming before the second leg of preseason. The team reports back to Miami this Sunday. Rodriguez is in the fold, who could join him? The Kellyn Acosta rumor still lingers with the USMNT midfield yet to sign. The team’s recent trade with Charlotte may make that signing a little more likely.
Whatever signings do happen, we’ll be sure to have them for you here at the KC Soccer Journal.
This story originally said Felipe Hernandez was gone, not Felipe Gutierrez in error.
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Might be a typo. Should be “gone are Felipe Gutierrez”
Thank you, fixed!
I wonder what impact, if at all this has on a potential Acosta deal? This current signing would put us at I believe 7 midfielders? That might not matter but would PV bring in Acosta to make it 8 knowing that money might be needed on the wing? I mean Acosta does raise the floor of the midfield, but the wing spots need a floor-raiser too.
I think they need a ceiling raiser on the wing still personally. Salloi is the only winger of any proven quality in his prime on the roster. Everyone else is either too old, too green, or too KhiryShelton for me.
I think this move has no bearing on Acosta.
To me, Memo is more of a 10-8, as PV described Thommy the other day, than an 8-10.
Versus Acosta is more of an 8-6 in my eyes. Primarily the box-to-box stuff, but depth for Radoja at the 6.
My Predictions:
I feel like all the signings we get will be “meh” just out of spite to fans for uniting against their (apparently) only option they actually vetted at Sporting Director
Nothing says “we hear our fans and realize we need to do better” than “here’s some Dynamo leftovers”.
Nothing screams game changer like free agent Memo Rodriguez.
Funny ‘cuz it’s true!
If you look at how much money they likely have left to spend, with four senior roster spots open and two required to be filled, you are going to need some fringe of the roster guys.
Think about who was lost in the offseason outside of Gadi. It’s all guys at or on the fringe. Zusi was the 2nd highest paid guy at around $300k. They just don’t have the money to make more than one big splash, probably. MAYBE they can do what I outlined about and get Acosta on a TAM deal now and a half-season DP in the summer.
There are just too many guys on long-term deals. It doesn’t matter who the Sporting Director is unless he sells someone for more GAM or sells someone overseas and converts some of that into GAM.
Because the margins are so tight that they can’t afford anybody good anyway, the club should honor Zusi and Roger by signing them to vet minimum deals and letting them get 5-10 minutes in a home game for a proper send off. I know there are a dozen reasons that’s a bad idea, but I feel like if PV ever left there’d be a years long mourning period whereas the two last bastions of Sporting’s glory days are just gone and no one says much about it.
I don’t hate that idea. I wonder if MLS would allow them to do that without it hurting their budget too?
I think all their supplemental spots are full, otherwise it would feasibly have no impact on the budget at all to give them minimal deals for a short period. And even if they had to pay out a full years minimum salary, obviously they more than deserve it and it’d be the right thing to do.
I know Espinoza is retiring, but I still sort of wondered if Zusi wants to play or not. It would be sad to see him play elsewhere, but I’m sure that’s not the way he wants to go out.
Looking at the graphic comparison of Walter and Rodriguez, my biggest concern is that Rodriguez is a very poor passer. That could be a problem in the system SKC play. It could also be an indicator of trying a lay the ball forward more aggressively but we don’t need someone to challenge Khiry for most missed passes in a season
It’s an overlay with Thommy, but you also have to look at the system and teams Memo was on. He played on two sub-playoff teams last year in the LA Galaxy and Austin. And I didn’t watch enough of them to know if they were possession teams, but that has a way of skewing the stats.