What The Heart Wants

Deal Or No Deal

An MRI confirmed the trainer's preliminary diagnosis of Bianca's injury. She had torn the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments and meniscus in her left knee, with surgery to be scheduled as soon as possible. Wendy immediately placed her on the Season-Ending Injury List. As there was no training scheduled for Thursday, the Hearts' brain trust gathered to discuss filling the two voids on the roster.

Wendy: Bianca's out for the season and Mana's on her way back to Portland as we speak. How do we replace them for the season?

Erica: As Mana will be returning to the Thorns by some means, we should start by scanning their roster to see if they have anyone that we might want and can get straight-up or with a pick added for her.

Kristin pulled up the Thorns' roster on her laptop and projected the page onto one of the walls of the conference room. The other three read through the names and pondered combinations of players to involve in a deal.

Wendy: The easiest path forward is trading Mana and a pick for Emily Menges and signing someone to replace Bianca, either from trial or on a free.

Erica: The moves made by Chicago this off-season and reports out of camp from the first few days of practice indicate that they have a surplus of center backs and now have two players on the roster capable of slotting inside if need be. My suggestion is that we send Mana to Portland and have them send on someone to the Red Stars, from whom we'd receive Katie Naughton.

Carm: Smart move there given that she played with Cari and Morgan at Notre Dame. That's still relatively clear-cut. You all know that I'm a bit of a gambler. Hear me out on this thought. We're sending Mana back to the Thorns and we'll be without Bianca for the season now. She is going to be in a race to get back from the injury in time for World Cup qualifying and I'm sure the Mexican National Team doctors would like to keep a closer eye on her than they can with her here. Also, there is really nothing tying her or Stephany to the Philadelphia community. Therefore, I can see Bianca wanting to do her rehab back in San Francisco and Stephany wanting to follow her. We package Mana, Bianca, and Stephany in order to secure one of the bigger names on that club plus a pick or two and then turn that player into the center back we need.

Wendy: Who are you thinking?

Carm: Heath, Horan, Long, Sonnett, Klingenberg, that level of player.

Wendy: If it's Sonnett, we just keep her, but it'd be quite disingenuous for us to ask for her and not Horan as well. As for the other three, where could you see us trading them to and for whom?

Carm: Orlando for Kennedy, Boston for Oyster or King and picks, North Carolina for Erceg, Washington for Zadorsky, KC for Averbuch and picks.

Kristin: Since you put the idea out there of going for Horan and Sonnett, do you have a ball park figure of how much we'd have to give up for that?

Wendy: I'm thinking in addition to the three we'd need to give up for Sonnett plus a pick in return, we'd have to be the one adding in a pick, perhaps next year's first-rounder, and another player. With Mayor going, we might also have to give them the international roster spot.

Erica: So Shim, Sierra, Mayor, a fourth player, 2019's first-rounder, and an international roster spot for the pair?

Kristin: Is that too much for two players, no matter how accomplished they are?

Wendy: I wouldn't say so. We'd have two roster spots that we could fill on the open market.

Carm: I heard that Kirsty Yallop, former New Zealand international, is in Jersey with Tameka Butt, who is on loan at Sky Blue, and out-of-contract. Might we be able to sign her to a short-term deal to get past the first half of the season at least?

Wendy: That's a possibility.

Erica: From what it sounds like, we have five options on the table: Shim for Menges; a three-way that gets us Naughton; Shim, Sierra, and Mayor for a big name and pick, then deal on the player for a center back of note; a large package that gets us Sonnett and Horan in return; and Shim for picks and we sign Yallop to fill her spot.

Wendy: On that big package, who should we plan to add in as the fourth player?

Erica: Given that we've got Morgan Reid coming in on trial, if we sign her, that gives us three left backs, including one that can play both right and left. Erin would be expendable, but I don't think she would necessarily want to go to Portland. Maybe deal her back to Sky Blue, then package who we get with the other three?

Wendy: Fairly good idea. Any suggestions?

Kristin: Kayla Mills or Dominique Richardson would be the best player-for-player swap for Erin. Both are from California, so going out west might be acceptable to them.

Carm: Erica, if we happen to pull off the BIG deal, where would you play Lindsey?

Erica: The 8. We'd move Diana out right. Lindsey could also play up top with McCaffrey if we want to take a more bullish approach in a match. I say we get through the Sky Blue match as we are currently, evaluate the back line's performance, and re-visit this on Monday after training.

Wendy: Everyone OK with that?

Carm: I suppose. Lots of options and we don't need to be in a hurry to pull the trigger on any one of them.

Wendy gave everyone the rest of the day and demanded they go enjoy themselves.

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Of the five options mentioned, which one should Wendy pursue?

1) Shim + pick for Menges

2) Shim to Portland, a Thorn to Chicago, and Naughton to Philly (choose a player if you pick this one)

3) Shim, Sierra, and Mayor to Portland for Heath, Klingenberg, or Long and a pick, then pass the player along for one of the center backs mentioned (tell me which player to get from the Thorns and who to get from where you'd send them if you choose this one)

4) Simon to SBFC for either Mills or Richardson, then send her plus Shim, Mayor, Sierra, 2019's first-round pick, and one of their two international roster spots to Portland for Sonnett and Horan

5) Shim for picks and sign Yallop to a one-year deal