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Union Reportedly Trading Leading Goal Scorer Tai Baribo
Published:
Trade news:
There had been some chatter that Baribo might be done after this season. He was on fire to start, then cooled off a bit after picking up an injury and getting stuck in his native Israel during the middle of a war. He returned in July and kind of flipped back and forth between starting and bench appearances in a rotation with Bruno Damiani, Mikael Uhre, Milan Iloski, and Chris Donovan, and only scored four league goals after the All-Star Game. He wound up playing 1,876 minutes across 29 games.
Why do this? Well, Bradley Carnell really likes Damiani. They signed Ezekiel Alladoh as a record transfer. Iloski is coming back. Uhre is a free agent and may or may not return. As good as Baribo was at times, a clinical in-box finisher with sharp instincts, this is a typical Ernst Tanner sell-high move as they keep the gears grinding. Last year they traded Daniel Gazdag, their all-time leading goal scorer, and U.S. international Jack McGlynn, and they went on to win the Shield anyway. So this really is on brand, if you think about it. Get the millions of dollars while the getting is good. Then reinvest while getting younger and more athletic.
This system is built for interchangeable parts and they have zero issue replacing anybody at any spot. The Union will continue to cycle physical, two-way, blue collar grinders in and out of the group and continue to win games. They are a German Red Bull team.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com