The Fire announced on Tuesday that they will not exercise their club options on midfielder Baggio Husidic or backup goalkeepers Jon Conway and Alec Dufty. The process of finding new clubs for these three players is different than that in baseball where they would simply become free agents and sign wherever they want to. In the MLS, players whose options are declined are sent to a Re-Entry Draft (this year it will be held on December 5th and 12th).
Husidic is the most surprising of the three to be let go, as the 24-year-old performed decently in three seasons in Chicago (five goals and six assists in fifty games) after signing a Generation Adidas contract with the club out of University of Illinois-Chicago in 2009. Husidic’s salary has been cited as a main reason for the move, as he was guaranteed a six-figure contract according to MLSPU documents.
Conway played in six league games with the Fire, including a stint as the starting goalkeeper as Johnson struggled early in the season, and gave up all three goals in the Manchester United game off the bench. Dufty never saw any MLS action in 2011.