Several Galaxy Moves Announced

The Los Angeles Galaxy continue to spend their first off-season under Bruce Arena retooling last year’s squad, with the club announcing a number of personnel moves on Wednesday afternoon.

As first reported here, the Galaxy have officially released Argentine defender Eduardo Dominguez, opening the door for him to return to his previous team, Club Atlético Huracán. With Dominguez pocketing almost $200K for just three mediocre appearances last year, Los Angeles apparently feels they can get a better bang for their buck elsewhere.

The aforementioned ‘elsewhere’ could be Venezuela, as Nick Green reports that the G’s will be bringing in Henry Leo Bautista on a trial when their preseason camp opens on January 19th. Bautista, 25, is a left-footed central defender who stands 6’2” and most recently played for Caracas FC in his home country. He is the latest in a line of international defenders that has been linked with the Galaxy (Ivan Helguera, Christian Panucci, etc…), but is the first to be brought in for an official trial with the club.

In other moves, Los Angeles finalized the signing of forward Jovan Kirovski, who was acquired from the San Jose Earthquakes shortly after MLS Cup. The former Manchester United youth player joined up with the team for their trip to New Zealand last month and scored a stunning opening goal in their 3-0 exhibition victory over the Oceania All-Stars. Kirovski, 32, has made 118 league appearances since 2004, 48 of which came during his first stint as a member of the Galaxy in 2004-2005.

Goalkeeper Steve Cronin has inked a new deal with Los Angeles, despite his 2.05 GAA being ranked dead-last among starting goalkeepers in 2008. The 25-year-old spent his first four years in the league serving as a back-up before breaking into the starting XI this past year. In 22 starts, Cronin conceded 44 goals with a record of 6-9-6 before breaking his hand in a collision with New England Revolution striker Taylor Twellman on August 30th, sidelining him for the remainder of the year. He will face stiff competition for the starting job in the upcoming campaign with recently-acquired Jamaican international Donovan Ricketts.

Finally, Los Angeles has also signed defender Leonard Griffin, the 11th-overall draft pick in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft. Griffin, 25, was another club invitee for the New Zealand exhibition and apparently impressed enough in his short time in front of the coaching staff to warrant a contract offer, despite not playing in MLS since 2006. He has 18 league appearances under his belt, and has featured 56 times with the Portland Timbers (USL-1) over the past two years.