Good Friday morning Caps fans. I hope it’s been a good week for everyone and that you’re wrapping things up at work before the weekend.

It’s been an eventful week in Caps world — and not in a fun way. News dropped on Wednesday afternoon that Miami was rumored to be interested in trading/cashfering for Tristan Blackmon. Then the Miami Herald reported that it was a done deal. THEN Tom Bogert and a host of other journalists squashed the first reports, with Axel Schuster denouncing the rumors in no uncertain terms. Whether a bid was seriously considered or not is unclear, even though Schuster claimed that Blackmon and the Caps’ other key pieces remain off the market.

A stumbling block, according to reports from Transfermarkt, is that Miami wanted to pay a $3 million cash fee in installments. That would render it largely useless for helping Vancouver rebuild this off-season. Blackmon has seemed happy in Vancouver and the Caps reportedly want to tie him down to a new long-term deal that presumably reflects his defender of the year crown.

There are, I think, reasonable arguments to be made in favor of selling Blackmon. Given his age, this is definitely his peak value. Ralph Priso does some of the things that Blackmon does very well, such as passing and ball carrying. Given the other holes on this team and their glut of centerbacks, I get the dollars and sense rationale for a sale. I would point out, however, that selling Blackmon would leave Vancouver with this as their CB depth chart: Ranko Veselinovic (recovering from a major injury), Ralph Priso (not a natural CB), Mathias Laborda (needed as cover at left back because Sam Adekugbe has struggled to stay healthy), and Joedrick Pupe, Sebastian Schonlau, and Mark O’Neill (combined for a total of two MLS appearances). Obviously, Vancouver did more with less last season, and that is a lot of centerbacks. But still, losing Blackmon would sting.

There are off-pitch considerations as well and I just can’t bring myself to get behind selling such a key piece to a team that just pipped the Caps to MLS Cup and will once again be a key rival next year, not just domestically but in CONCACAF Champions Cup as well. I get that sporting executives are paid to, well, not give these sorts of emotional considerations as much weight but it would send a rotten message to the fan base to make this sort of move, particularly on the heels of losing Ali Ahmed and Jayden Nelson. There are realities to life in a salary-capped league and the Caps are becoming fast acquainted with them. But this feels like a bridge too far in a way that it probably wouldn’t if Vancouver were considering selling Blackmon to, say, Nashville.

Miami’s conduct in this also makes me hesitant to deal with them. Presumably, they leaked the initial news of the deal to local reporters to put pressure on the Caps. I get that sort of move is par for the course in world football but it is slimy and hopefully Tristan won’t be swayed by the overtures.

I suspect this isn’t the last we’ve heard of this saga and things might even have changed by the time this is published. While the head knows there are reasons to consider a sale here, the heart wants what the heart wants. Hopefully the dust settles with Blackmon remaining as a Whitecaps player.

Shameless Self Promotion

Caleb runs down where things stand for the Caps in a post-Ali Ahmed/Jayden Nelson world. And the podcast takes stock of where things stand this offseason.

Best of the Rest

More on how Blackmon-gate has shaken out so far.

Former Whitecaps 2 manager Ricardo Clark has a new job elsewhere in Cascadia. Meanwhile, former Caps’ keeper Maxime Crepeau is headed to Orlando, while Daniel Rios is en route to CF Montreal.

In NSL news, Vancouver Rise captain Samantha Chang is headed to Toronto.

Minnesota United’s offseason has gone from bad to worse, with manager Eric Ramsay becoming the new gaffer at West Brom.