Jan. 22, 2010 – Revolution acquire Burpo and Gibbs, lose Larentowicz

Jan. 22, 2010 – Revolution acquire Preston Burpo and Cory Gibbs from Colorado in exchange for Jeff Larentowicz and Wells Thompson

This deal was set up after Larentowicz decided to play out his contract. And it did not work out well for the Revolution. Larentowicz had proven to be a fundamental piece of the Revolution midfield, and one of the last remaining connections to the successful teams of the recent past. But the Revolution were unwilling to meet his price. At the time, we calculated that Larentowicz would have needed to stay nine years with the Revolution to earn what he was going to make in four years by leaving.

The Revolution had long hoped to acquire Gibbs, who, like Larentowicz, had played at Brown University. But the timing turned out to be poor, the circumstances unfavorable to Gibbs. Burpo, who had played at Southern New Hampshire University and for local teams before the establishment of MLS, would sustain a career-ending injury in May. The Revolution had needed a proven goalkeeper after Matt Reis underwent surgery, then losing Brad Knighton to the expansion draft. The Revolution might have protected Knighton and placed Reis on the expansion list – he likely would not have been taken, because of the injury.

In any case, this trade worked out well for Larentowicz, though his preference would have been to remain with the Revolution. Below are excerpts from my story in the 11/26/2010 editions of The Boston Globe:

This move paid off

Jeff Larentowicz seemed destined to be part of an MLS Cup champion, but he wasn’t thinking he would have to move halfway across the country to find that team. Larentowicz performed in three MLS Cup finals with the Revolution, then was traded to Colorado in the offseason following a contract dispute. And on Sunday night in Toronto, Larentowicz won the MLS Cup as the Rapids took a 2-1 victory over FC Dallas.

“I don’t have any regrets,” Larentowicz said. “It just seems a fact of life that at some point you move on from certain situations. I miss my friends and everyone I know, and the life I built in five seasons with the Revolution and in college. But I’ll always have a base there and I thought it could be a good time to create new opportunities.

“Teams have decisions to make on players and players have decisions to make for themselves they have to feel comfortable with. Over time, (the Revolution) weren’t doing right by their players. I watched a lot of talented players and friends go and a lot seemed unhappy who were still there. I was talking with Taylor Twellman the other day and we were wondering what would have happened if we had won one of those, would they have had the incentive to keep those teams together?”

Larentowicz was on the verge of signing a standard four-year contract with the Revolution before the 2009 season.

“I was as close to signing as you can be but I just had a moment of clarity and decided not to at the last minute,” Larentowicz said. “I angered a few people by doing that. But it’s my right. The offer seemed good at first, in comparison to what I was making, but I knew I could be worth more. Then, the last months I was there it was clear they weren’t interested in finding my true value, they wanted a bargain or a price they were comfortable with.

“That’s the thing, they didn’t feel the need to re-sign players. In the end, contracts are controlled by the league and circumstances are controlled by the team. You have no freedom to move or negotiate. There was a lot of unhappiness on the team, but we had a core group and we could put that behind us.”

TODAY IN NEW ENGLAND SOCCER HISTORY