So Long, Nate

At the end of the day, I'm not surprised that the Fire decided to punt on negotiating a new contract for striker Nate Jaqua, instead letting him become FC Toronto's problem.

Look at it this way. Contract negotiations revolve pretty heavily around expectations on one's role and how important it is to the team. But on the Fire's notoriously no-star roster, it's damn near impossible to quantify anyone's value, ever. Is Jaqua a guaranteed starter? With a forward corps that still, as of this writing, includes leading scorer Andy Herron and promising youngsters Chris Rolfe and Chad Barrett, there's no way to definitely make that call. If you give Jaqua the contract of a prohibitive starter, you stunt the development and drive of other guys on the roster.

The other way for the Fire and Jaqua to reach a common understanding about playing time would be to commit to Jaqua as a right-sided midfielder, but even then, it's not his natural position, so can you justify what would likely be a significant raise for a spot where Nate only has about a dozen and a half starts?

What the Fire are saying here are that the starting forward positions are still up for grabs, and that they're going to try to find a quality right-sided midfielder, even if they've already missed out on landing one of the best already in the league in Ronnie O'Brien. Neither of these positions could co-exist with giving Nate the contract he likely deserves at this point in his career. That said, if Jaqua stays in MLS, he will at some point make Chicago pay for not finding space for him.