You Be The GM: Should Brian Carroll Stay or Go?

How the Union’s Front Office makes personnel decisions is a murky mess, so we thought the fans could fill what appears to be a major void. Over the course of the MLS playoffs we’ll look at all of the Union’s key players and decide who should stay and who should go. Who do fans most want to see stay? Who do fans most want to see go? We’ll tally it all up before the MLS Expansion Draft.

By unionoscopy@JaredEYoung Nov 7, 2014, 12:00pm EST

This examination of Brian Carroll will bring us to the end of players who were either on loan or at the end of their current deals. From here on out the You Be The GM series will focus on players likely to be traded or left exposed in the expansion draft.

Brian Carroll's season had two distinct halves. Under Hackworth, Carroll was a consistent starter, captain and serviceable cog in the defensive midfield. Carroll is a thoughtful and safe passer and that style is perfect for the more possession oriented approach Hackworth was developing. However, interim coach Jim Curtin wanted to play a counterattack style that would require Carroll to take more risks up the field. He preferred the talents of Maurice Edu or Amobi Okugo in that role, and subsequently, Carroll was moved to the bench.

Here are some facts and stats about Carroll's season:

Carroll played 1,480 minutes, good for 11th on the team.....all of his minutes were logged in the defensive midfield...he was 2nd on the team in pass completion percentage with 84.3% indicating, more than likely, how conservative he was with the ball...That said, Carroll was 2nd amongst defensive midfielders with 0.8 key passes per 90 minutes. Only Maurice Edu had a better measure averaging 0.9 key passes per 90 when playing in the defensive midfield....despite those positive statistics whoscored.com gave him just a 6.62 rating for the year ranking him 213 of 268 players who played more than 17 games.

Brian Carroll Whoscored.com Stats
	Games	Minutes	Goals	Assists	Key Passes/Gm	Pass %	Tackles/Gm	Int/Gm	Clear/Gm	Rating
2014	21	1480	-	-	0.6	84.3	1.8	2.1	1.2	6.62

Brian Carroll has had an excellent MLS career and brings a great amount of knowledge to any locker room. He earned $185,220 in 2014 and at 33 years of age could still serve a team as an experience option off the bench. But as with the decision on Conor Casey, does the combination of age and salary make it worthwhile for the Union to keep him?

Should Brian Carroll stay or go?

Previous You Be The GM votes: