East Offseason Grades: I can finally give out some Fs

Full disclosure: I intended to have this ready last week, but simply ran out of time. There were too many other things to cover in the run-up to the season, so it just made sense to put it off to this week.

That gives us 90 minutes of data to lean on and also, it turns out, gave Toronto time to get the deal we’ve all been waiting for – Josh Sargent is on the way, folks – over the line. So I feel like the writing/publishing delay here was some kind of cosmic plan. We’re all aligned in the celestial game.

Ok, you’ve read the title, so you know what’s coming: Offseason grades. I’ll give you a bit on each team’s biggest move, as well as a remaining question I’ve got for each.

Eastern Conference today, West tomorrow. In we go:

Atlanta United: C

Biggest Move: So far it’s selling Bartosz Slisz to Brøndby IF for a reported $3 million (which is a number I can’t quite get myself to believe). Slisz was ok at times in MLS, but Charmin soft and ultimately a net negative because of that. The Five Stripes were very right to move on and, for what it’s worth, I thought 17-year-old homegrown Cooper Sanchez showed more xDAWG this past weekend than Slisz’s baseline.

Good move, but not enough.

Biggest question: How many of the three DPs will survive the inevitable cull? In recent weeks Atlanta have been linked to midfielder Matias Galarza Fonda, who probably wouldn’t be a DP, and No. 10 Franco Cristaldo, who definitely would. I’m guessing the end is nigh for Aleksey Miranchuk – it would take a massive buyout (Miranchuk is on a guaranteed $4.9m this year and next) to get there, but sunk cost and all that – and that’d obviously be a good start.

But time sure feels like it’s running out on Emmanuel Latte Lath as well. That’d be an even larger buyout (a shade over $4m guaranteed the next three years), and I’m guessing it won’t happen any time soon. At the very least they’d give him some time with their new DP playmaker to try to rehab his value and maybe sell him this summer to a Championship club.

That’s probably the ideal outcome, but nothing in Atlanta’s been ideal for a long, long time. Bottom line is they clearly need new DPs (at least two; probably three) and the work of 2026 has to be addressing that.