Knowles: A Subscription Box for the Rowdies?

A recent trend that I’ve noticed taking over is the subscription box. Whether it be video game characters sold in miniature form – needing to be painted and glued together – personal hygiene products, cookie dough, sauce, whiskey, or even lingerie, there seems to be a subscription box for everything you need – and possibly everything you don’t. (Honestly, who wants new lingerie on a monthly basis? Why would anyone need that much?)

I have probably spent more time bemoaning the subscription box than anyone should in these last couple sentences alone; but, I’ll take it one further to say that I think these do not make the good gifts they are so often sold as. 

Now that I’ve deftly roped you in by stating something possibly controversial, I will backtrack only partially to say that there is one subscription box I have enjoyed immensely: Since the beginning of the 2022 USL Championship season, a new player has signed for the Rowdies every single month except June – in that thirty days we instead sent one player out on loan. I don’t know which company runs this particular subscription service. I don’t know what kinds of boxes the products are shipped in. I don’t even know where you hear about this stuff. Is German website Transfermarkt sending out old refrigerator containers with holes poked in them for air? Who can say – outside of the St. Petersburg-based Santa who came early for the Rowdies this year.

Early on this season, the Rowdies seemed like they were possibly a little shorthanded. While they were able to fill out their bench every week, we were always one injury away from a potential crisis in certain areas of the field. At center back, a player we brought in on loan had gone down injured within the first half of our first game. Robert Castellanos, if anyone forgot his name, has been unavailable since an ankle knack suffered on turf grass that day. Without him, the Rowdies started the next six league games with the same back three. That’s all fine and well until one of them is either fatigued or, god forbid, himself out with a knock. 

This example only covers one set of positions. Even with off-season reinforcements, it could have been the same in the middle of the field, on the wings, or up top. The month of April had been circled as everyone’s Scary Season for the year, as we had eight games over that time, including our two Open Cup matches. It turned out our fears were not misplaced, as we lost four, drew two, and only beat one team in the league during that stretch. A smallish roster, while not entirely to blame, certainly didn’t help our cause. 

Cut to the first day of August and the Rowdies are second in the Eastern Conference, just one point behind leaders Louisville City. Our change in form has coincided with a better schedule and the injection of many new faces. Let’s now go through those: 

• Signed April 4 were Santiago Castaneda and Tate Johnson, two youngsters from the academy who haven’t seen much playing time overall
• Signed May 26 was Thomas Vancaeyezeele, who has been very involved
• Signed May 27 was Devin Armstrong, another academy player who would provide cover in the event of an injury to one of our two main goalkeepers
• Signed July 12 was Phil Breno on loan from Forward Madison to help out in net, with Raiko Arozarena going the other way, also on loan
• Signed July 15 was Ian Antley, twin brother of regular standout Conner Antley
• Signed July 21 was Nicky Law, exchanged for local lad Juan Tejada

It shakes out to this: 570 minutes played by four of the team’s newbies. If you remove academy-contract players who are unlikely to get many minutes at this level, the Rowdies have signed four players who altogether ate up 569 of those 570 total minutes. Nicky Law has been present for only two games of our Rowdies season, and has already gone for 122 minutes. No goals or assists have been added by these players specifically; but, I can only assume it’s a matter of time before that changes as well. 

Injuries should no longer cause Rowdies fans such headaches. Conner Antley, for instance, has played 196 of a possible 450 minutes from the Rowdies’s last five games. This man has been a stalwart and vitally important in both attack and defense for us. However, we have now multiple players to step into the back line when he’s out. Aaron Guillen and Jordan Scarlett have lined up with Laurence Wyke, Thomas Vancaeyezeele, and even his own twin Ian Antley over periods of those games. Not only that, but the added players have allowed us to play with four at the back, as opposed to our usual three, during July and achieve similar results. The Rowdies won every game they played in July, and in fact haven’t lost since April. 

Oh, Dreaded April, how far away dost thou seem?

Rowdies management have been on a tear lately. If there’s a hole in the roster they think they can fill, it gets filled. Meanwhile, three players have been shipped out, two on loan.

One could call this ruthless; or one could look at it in another light. All of Timmy Mehl, Raiko Arozarena, and Juan Tejada have generated some fanfare in their careers as Rowdies, short or long as those have been. One was even a firm fan favorite. But, they deserve playing time, too. If they can get playing time while simultaneously benefitting the organization as a whole, as the swap moves with Raiko and Juan should, why not take them up on that? It can hardly be argued, even at this early stage, that these were not well calculated trades –  sent to us, surely, in an old KitchenAid box with some holes punched in it. 

While I don’t know if that is actually the manner of delivery, I do know the Rowdies have changed their fortunes for the better. A full roster of twenty-two players and three extra on academy contracts belies the shrewd business of Tampa Bay’s front office. On the RBLR podcast, we have discussed the limitations placed on USL-level rosters due to money constraints with the teams involved. Is a subscription box the way around that? Or perhaps a top coach also holding the Technical Director position at a time when that is becoming more and more rare? We’ll just have to see if there are any more large packages dropped off outside Al Lang during the rest of August.