Aftershock Transfer Review: Quakes Hit Inside Straight

Caught between a rock and a hard place with major roster issues but little salary space and no DP slots available, the San Jose Earthquakes somehow managed to pull off a series of transactions that made the team better.

If only, of course, it hadn't come to that. Part of the problem emanates from a series of injuries to major contributors with big salaries (like Clarence Goodson) and part of it emanates from players underperforming their salary or expectations (Quincy Amarikwa and Innocent, amongst others). Part of it also comes from a few systemic barriers to building a deeper roster, which include the lack of a proper USL affiliation and the years that it has taken (and will continue to take) to restock the incredibly bare cupboard of the 2014 edition.

Going into this window, the areas I identified as major needs were center-back and target striker. Head Coach Dominic Kinnear felt differently than me about the first, feeling comfortable with the Bernardez-Wynne partnership he's relied on most of the year as well as the backup options, assuming another freakish injury crisis doesn't befall the position. Instead, he opted to bring in a defensive midfielder and get a want-away Matías Pérez-García off the books. You can read more detail about how I felt about that move in this article. Striker, however, is a place that Dom and I saw eye-to-eye and they did well to get their man.

I give my impressions in this episode of the Adam Jahn trade to Columbus, the MPG trade to Orlando in exchange for Cerén, and the free agent signing of Henok Goitom:

"The Aftershock," the only independent media podcast dedicated to the San Jose Earthquakes, is hosted by Colin Etnire and is in its second season. You can find it on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play.