The Tally Hall Acquisition

In life, all we can ask for is a fair shot.  Sometimes we get that chance to fully prove ourselves and many times we do not.  There are moments however when we get that fair shot despite the fact our own prejudices and experience will not allow us to see it.   

I have a feeling based on the news today that Orlando City traded for Houston Dynamo goalkeeper Tally Hall a few months back while the USL season was still going on, former OCSC players will wonder if they really did get a fair shot to make the 2015 MLS roster because of the fact the club was still acquiring players during the USL season that they kept secret. 

Tally Hall

   

 The news today of the Tally Hall acquisition tells me two things which are very much interrelated with one another.  The first is that Orlando City front office was set on the fact that neither Miguel Gallardo nor Carl Woszczynski were of MLS ilk well before the seasons end.  You do not make a secret acquisition for Tally Hall in the middle of the season that is just today being made public without that having been a matter of fact.  The second is that the framework for the 2015 Orlando City MLS roster has been a work in progress for a long time now with deals and player acquisitions being made sometimes even unbeknownst to Orlando City fans. 

OCSC has a long history of secrecy.  The severity of player injuries is many times kept hush by the front office as we have seen on numerous occasions throughout the USL years.  We were given little to no update on the health status of Yordany Alvarez just this past season until late in the season as a prime example.  The status of players on the roster has also many times been kept confidential from the public as though it were a state secret.  The situation that stands out the most in my opinion was when John Rooney mysteriously disappeared from the 2012 Orlando City roster with no word from the front office despite his high profile acquisition going into that season’s campaign.  I have always found this cloud of player personnel mystery always surrounding Orlando City perplexing as I never fully understood what the thought process was behind the veil of mystery OCSC constantly kept up.  I did not understand the end game.   Were we really that worried about keeping the Rochester Rhinos and Wilmington Hammerheads on their toes about what was really going on with our squad?  

When it comes to the decision for Orlando City to trade for Tally Hall and the decision to keep that news secret however, I see the bigger picture.  I understand what the club did.  Miguel Gallardo was signed to play for Orlando City in 2014.  The club made no guarantees to him or to any other player not already signed by the Lions as to what their future would be with the club.  Based on what happened to Jamie Watson before the start of the season, any OCSC player would be insane to think the Phil Rawlins would bring any player to MLS based on some false sense of ‘loyalty’ or nostalgia for the USL years.  If Orlando City would have announced the trade for Hall back when it occurred, how would that have affected the play of Miguel and the continuity of the team?   The club needed to keep certain decisions like this under wraps for the greater good.  The front office made the conscious decision to try and affect the squad as little as possible with respects to 2015 personnel decisions.   That was only fair to those players on the roster and to us as fans.  Announcing the Tally Hall trade with Houston would have served no purpose other than causing unnecessary drama and player speculation.

Brad Rusin Reaction to today aquisition

Twitter comments made today by Brad Rusin echo I’m sure what some former OCSC players think today as he expressed his frustration of OCSC acquiring players in secrecy before the regular season was over.  I don’t blame Brad for thinking the way he does nor would I blame Miguel Gallardo if today’s news felt like a punch in the gut.  I get it. 

Those guys had their chances however.  They had their fair shot.  I thought Rusin was a heck of a defender and that Miguel Gallardo was good enough to at least be an MLS backup despite his scarce untimely lapses in judgement.  For the greater good of the club fortunately though I am not Paul McDonough and I am not Adrian Heath.  I am Carlos Alvarado and my opinion means nothing.  Both of these guys know much more about football than I ever will and they are the decision makers for the Lions.  As a supporter of Orlando City Soccer, I appreciate the strategic bigger picture the front office is committed to executing for our teams long term success.   Far too often in professional sports we see front offices without a clear vision and strategy.  Luckily we don’t have that problem in Orlando.