Chicago Fire: Dax McCarty trade quintessential mistake

The Chicago Fire front office have made an inordinate number of personnel mistakes in recent years. Trading away Dax McCarty is yet another quintessential Fire mistake, the perfect illustration of their incompetence.

Everyone knew the Chicago Fire were set for a busy offseason, but few could have expected it to be this hectic, this early.

More bombshell news dropped earlier this week as reports all but confirmed that club captain Dax McCarty was set to be traded to incoming expansion side Nashville SC for $100k worth of allocation money and a second-round pick in the upcoming MLS Superdraft.

On the surface, this could be seen as a clever bit of business. McCarty is already 32 years old nearing the end of his illustrious career. He also only had one year left on his contract, with a pay raise reportedly coming in 2020 if he stayed.

Meanwhile, the Men In Red have been linked with a number of players ahead of next season. Not everyone will sign, of course, but there is certainly going to be large roster turnover, especially since they have already brought in Alvaro Medran. Letting McCarty go opens up a spot on the field, some cap space, and even brings some added cash with it.

And it would have been a smart decision if it was made by an organization that knew what it was doing and had a clear plan for the future. But that is not who the Chicago Fire are.

In fact, it is quite evident that the Fire are run by an incompetent front office that has proven their ineptness over and over again. Given their track record with similar moves in the past, it will only be a matter of time until this trade proves to be a mistake as well. And there are plenty of reasons why.

First off, they are getting almost nothing in return. The MLS SuperDraft has become increasingly meaningless in recent years. Even an early pick is worth very little in the modern era. A second-round pick is essentially a throwaway.

The Chicago Fire did get $100,000 in allocation money, but that is also a somewhat measly sum when compared to other deals in the league. For example, Chicago paid $400,000 to bring in Raheem Edwards from the Montreal Impact and he didn’t play a single minute in the second half of the 2019 season. $100,000 in allocation money is not much.

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But more concerning than what they got in return, McCarty’s exit opens up yet another need entering a crucial offseason. There were already holes all over the pitch for Chicago. Now central midfield, which was a strength last year, will need bolstering, too.

Goalkeeper Kenneth Kronholm was atrocious at times last year. A replacement is needed there. The Fire were already poor at the back, and with the retirement of Bastian Schweinsteiger, things have only gotten worse. They will need to find at least one more starting-caliber defender and they probably should bring in some depth at the position as well.

In attack, the Fire lost Designated Player and former MLS Golden Boot winner Nemanja Nikolic. Even though CJ Sapong was excellent this past season, it seems the club is still pursuing a big-name striker on a DP contract to score goals and put butts on seats at Soldier Field.

All those areas of need already existed and would require great resource to address. And Chicago now have to find a replacement for McCarty as well, and there isn’t an internal one already in the squad. Brandt Bronico is a quality player who will likely stay with Chicago for a long time but he tends to drive forward more than he drops back. It’s a similar story with the newly acquired Medran, who is much more of a creative midfielder, not a defensive one. Meanwhile, Djordje Mihailovic could be special in MLS but has been horribly mismanaged. He, too, is a more attacking midfielder than an anchoring, holding player. The Chicago Fire used to have Mo Adams, who would have been an ideal McCarty successor, but he was stupidly traded away during the middle of last season for next to nothing.

There is no long-term plan being put into place. It seems the Fire are just dealing with issues on a day-to-day basis and not thinking about future ramifications. And that, like always, will eventually cost them.

McCarty was not at his best last season, but he still has a lot left to offer at this level. He might not be an elite midfielder anymore, but he is far from a problem for the team to solve. Solid professionals are hard to come by in this league, and that’s exactly what McCarty is. He won’t ever hurt the team during a game with a careless mistake, which cannot be said for a few Fire players that have come and gone in the past, and he is a reliable, dependable, consistent individual.

He also brings a lot to the table off the field. McCarty was the club captain for a reason. He is a natural leader, and has been for several years now. He has lots of experience, with next season set to be his 15th in MLS. Losing him and Schweinsteiger rids Chicago of their two most experienced presences in the dressing room.

With their shambolic record of making similar deals in the past, Chicago Fire fans have earned the right to doubt the front office. They have made a few good moves in the past. More often than not, things go poorly. And those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and the McCarty trade suggests that Fire are setting themselves up to fail, again.