LA Galaxy, you be the general manager?

I think pretty much everyone agrees the LA Galaxy season is "over" and that what they need to be doing is sending out the players they are certain to use next year so they can develop more chemistry with each other. They should also audition players they think may play a role in next year's squad.

Went over to Corner of the Galaxy to look up the 2017 salaries for the team. From this, you can piece together what was probably the key players at the start of the campaign. If you rank the salaries, you will find 15 players picking up 6 to 7 digits in base salary. There were 12 with 5 digit salaries.

So let's play the game of the typical pajama wearing blogger, "You be the general manager."

Looking at the list, the "depth chart" probably looked something like this at the beginning of the 2017 season.

Goalkeeper:
Rowe as the #1 with Diop and Kempin as backups

Defense:
Van Damme, Cole, Rodgers, Steres as the main stay of the back 4
Plugging in Romney most frequently and Diallo, Arellano, and Smith as needed

Defensive midfield:
Jones, Pedro (it was interesting to see that Pedro's base salary was lower than Husidic)
Husidic would have probably been rotated in most often to deal with fixture congestion.
Additionally, there would be some plugging in of Garcia, Mendiola, and JaimeVillarreal to deal with suspensions, minor injuries, and fixture congestion.

Midfield wingers:
Lleget, Alessandrini
Boateng as prime substitute and Jamieson and Lassiter getting minutes when possible.

Forwards:
G dos Santos, Zardes
McInerny, Jose Vilarreal, and McBean called upon in some situations.

I highlighted in bold (14 players) those who would have gotten the most minutes.

Of course, the reality of the season: Van Damme struggled and is now back in Belgium, Rodgers had what might be a career ending injury, Jones has been injured on and off through out the season, Husidic fractured his fibula, Lleget had a season ending injury while on USMNT duty, and Zardes by all accounts just isn't the same player he was before injury. Thus, 6 out of 14 players whom much was expected have for various reasons haven't been able to make the anticipated contribution! I would suspect even some top tier clubs in Europe would struggle if nearly half of their first team options were not available to various degrees.

What about 2018?

What are the open questions? What are the key holes that need filling?

Goalkeeper:
Is Rowe still the #1?

Rowe might be in the coach's dog house as Kempin has gotten the last two starts and Rowe wasn't even on the bench. Might Rowe be released to free up salary to find a new #1? Kempin and Diop might be auditioning to be the #2 for 2018?

Defense:
Of Van Damme, Cole, Rodgers, Steres, and Romney, only Steres and Romney will be around for 2018. As mentioned before Van Damme is back in Belgium. Cole is likely to look for one last good contract elsewhere. He has often been mentioned as wanting to go back to England and perhaps play in the English League Championship (2nd level in England). Rodgers might not ever play at this level again after his injury. Van Anholt who was brought in from the Netherlands to fill in for Rodgers was doing well but sadly suffered a season ending injury and isn't likely to be ready to play in 2018. Just don't see Diallo, Arellano, or Smith as ready yet for prime time. I wonder which of these guys has enough upside that they will hang onto them. Given their low salary, they all might stay. In any case, the LA Galaxy will need to find two wide defensive backs and probably at least one other defender  as a reliable backup and/or an experienced center back to help Steres and Romney continue to develop

Defensive midfield:
As for the midfield trio of Jones, Pedro and Husidic, the Jones signing was a bust. Pedro and Husidic will probably stick around and share time with the new DP J dos Santos with Husidic as the #3 on the depth chart for this position.  Garcia, Mendiola, and JaimeVillarreal are backups not yet ready for prime time but with potential. Will they keep all three?

Midfield wingers:
Lleget, Alessandrini and Boateng will be around. Jamieson and Lassiter have shown potential and should remain for further development. The scenario where it is possible Lleget or Boateng get released is to get more cash to get a high level but non-DP level striker forward.

Forwards:
G dos Santos, and Zardes will remain. However, Zardes might be better suited as a midfield winger. But how would one divide up the minutes among Lleget, Alessandrini, Boateng, and Zardes if Zardes gets moved to his more plausible role? In this case, one of them might be let go? Am not certain what will happen to McInerny, Jose Vilarreal, and McBean as they all to varying degree auditioned for that striker forward spot and none made much of an impression. The LA Galaxy need a striker forward. They really missed the in his prime Robbie Keane and his ability to create havoc and put the ball into the net. Even the aging declining Robbie Keane may have been more effective than anyone who tried to fill that role this season.