One year later, Sporting KC is still feeling the effects of trading Dom Dwyer
It was a year ago Wednesday that Sporting Kansas City swung the biggest trade in its history, a league-record deal that would shake up the future of the franchise.
It dealt Dom Dwyer, an all-star striker, the second-leading scorer in club history and its most marketable player, to Orlando City in exchange for $1.6 million in allocation money, the largest sum of money to trade hands in MLS history.
The explanation for the deal was multi-faceted. There was a preference for the long-term outlook, with allocation money that could place Sporting KC in a friendly position under the salary cap for next few seasons. The club was furthering a possession-based style of play, a system that made Dwyer a bit of an uncomfortable fit. And Sporting KC had been unable to reach a long-term contract extension with Dwyer, which he has since signed in Orlando.
The reverberations of the trade are still being felt in Kansas City. The club has yet to add an impact replacement striker over the ensuing two transfer windows. (Another window is currently open and will close on Aug. 8. Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes told The Star the team is still on the hunt for a striker.)
But Sporting KC has spread a large chunk of that allocation money over other portions of its roster, buying down the salaries of current players and squeezing in the figures of newcomers Johnny Russell, Felipe Gutierrez and Yohan Croizet.
Sporting KC has seven players — Gutierrez, Roger Espinoza, Matt Besler, Graham Zusi, Russell, Croizet and Gerso Fernandes — making above the designated-player threshold of $504,375. The league allows for only three designated players. The allocation funds secured in last summer’s deal oblige the maneuvering of salaries to fit all seven under the salary cap and keep Sporting KC compliant within the rules.
But what’s been the overall effect of the Dwyer trade? Has it worked for Sporting KC? Let’s take a numbers-based examination.
• Dom Dwyer has scored 12 goals in 25 matches with Orlando City SC. The rotation at striker in Kansas City has resembled a turnstile, with Khiry Shelton, Diego Rubio and Daniel Salloi all sliding into the position. Rubio leads all Sporting KC center forwards with eight goals since the deal.
In 2018, Dwyer has eight goals in 1,076 minutes. Shelton, who received the most starts at striker for Sporting KC before knee surgery, scored two goals in 1,157 minutes. Dwyer is out-pacing his expected goals total by more than two goals, according to American Soccer Analysis. Sporting KC’s center forwards have scored fewer than their expected goals totals suggest they should. In other words, Dwyer has been considerably more adept at finishing chances.
• On the other hand, the team totals suggest Sporting KC hasn’t much missed the player who was its go-to scoring option from 2014-2017.
In Dwyer starts, Sporting KC scored 1.39 goals per game in 2014; 1.36 goals per game in 2015; 1.19 goals per game in 2016; and 1.21 goals per game before he was traded in July 2017.
In 2018, after adding supplemental pieces to the offense — aided by the allocation money it gained in the Dwyer trade — Sporting KC is scoring 1.85 goals per game. That’s an extra goal for every two matches played than it scored when Dwyer was here.
Sporting KC is on pace for 63 goals this season. That would be a club record. The current mark is 61, set in the inaugural season in 1996.
• Finally, the effect of the move on Dwyer has been relatively minimal. He is scoring once per every 171 minutes he’s on the field with Orlando. During his time in Kansas City, he scored once per every 176 minutes he was on the field. Orlando is essentially getting the player it expected to get.
This story was originally published July 25, 2018 at 3:09 PM with the headline "One year later, Sporting KC is still feeling the effects of trading Dom Dwyer."