MLS Fan Central

Once again, the annual Carlos Ruiz rumors have heated up in the MLS off season, and MLS Fan Central is here to weigh in on what is being said and how the drama is lining up this year. Let's first take a look at a recent blog from the Washington Post:

According to the great Steven Goff, Dallas is growing just as restless with Ruiz's huge contract as Ruiz is growing restless with the club. Ruiz is eating up $435,000 in 2007 alone, and the club has already indicated a desire to share the wealth with some other players - not to mention a very vocal desire to sign another marquee player. Needless to say, the whole financial situation is getting sticky. And if you couldn't figure it out already, Ruiz is unhappy.

Alright, so Ruiz's off season displeasure is becoming about as reliable as the cold is in November in Chicago. How are we supposed to figure out if this time is for real? Another rumor appearing on a Guatemalan website only clouds the picture even more. The article is in Spanish, but here is a snippet translated thanks to Babelfish Translator:

"With the exit of Landon Donovan and Carlos Pavón of the Galaxy of the Angels, the return of Carlos "the fish" Ruiz to the Home Depot Center is practically a fact."

Most everything about the statement is inaccurate, with the exception of Pavon leaving, so I'm going to have to bust this rumor pretty quick here. I have not come across any evidence on behalf of the Galaxy that this is even a possibility, so more than anything I think someone is spreading rumors with the hope of adding fuel to the fire. Sounds pretty good if you're a Galaxy fan, but since this is as false as it gets, I'm not even going to go there.

Final thoughts: So where do we go from here? Carlos Ruiz is obviously unhappy. Again. However, this time it looks like Dallas has made it clear that they are rebuilding, and they don't plan to have Carlos in their future. While they will try and rework his contract, their patience - and their checkbooks - seem to be thin and working against Ruiz. A move is not guaranteed, but Ruiz is an attractive option for other teams on many different levels. If he can't come to terms with the club and restructure his contract, expect talks to heat up and legitimate trade rumors to surface.