Sporting KC 2019 Year in Review: Seth Sinovic

The 2019 MLS season is one Sporting Kansas City fans will be looking to forget. But with a very long offseason ahead that may not have soccer until March (assuming no MLSPA strike), we feel compelled to look back at the good and the bad from 2019. For the full list of players reviewed, head to our dedicated Year in Review page.

The Blue Testament continues our look back at 2019 with the man that many have tried to replace and so far, no one can — Seth Sinovic.

2019 Stats*

Games Played (Started): 22 (21)

Minutes Played: 1,911

Games Suspended: 0

Goals: 0

Assists: 1

xG (expected goals): 0.34

Positions Played: Left back

2019 Salary: $143,000.00

Contract Through (Option Years): 2019 (2020)

*All stats from 2019 MLS regular season unless otherwise noted.

Best Moment of 2019

May 5th, 2019. It was a 3-0 loss to Atlanta United so it probably seems like an odd pick. But it was the day that he reclaimed his starting left back spot from Yohan Croizet. Yeah, you read that right. Croizet started at left back (and kept players onside that led to goals) for several games where Seth was benched. For all we know Croizet would have still played at left back against Atlanta but he was needed in the midfield as he started next to Kelyn Rowe and Felipe Gutierrez.

Worst Moment of 2019

Because “moments” are tough for left backs, I’ll keep the theme of winning and losing jobs going. This ties to yesterday’s story on Luis Martins who took Seth’s starting job. That happened on August 17th, 2019 against the San Jose Earthquakes and Seth never saw the field again in 2019, despite the team’s lack of success down the stretch. Maybe this will be the final time he loses his job and his pro soccer career will have ended the week before in Orlando when he was subbed off for Martins.

Interesting Stat

Yesterday I picked on Luis Martins for his lack of shutouts (two in nine starts). Well Sinovic had just four in 21 starts. That’s at a slightly slower clip than Martins. Again, neither stat is fully on the left back but of course they are part of it as one of four defenders.

Fan Vote: Keep, Banish or Wait

Keep: 44.9%

Banish: 39.5%

Wait: 15.6%

After all these years and fans want him banished (at least a large minority do). Personally, if he wants to play, I’d bring him back as insurance. You don’t know what you have in Luis Martins yet, but Sinovic is a relatively inexpensive insurance option. Then he can transition into coaching or broadcasting or whatever he wants to do next. Then again, he’s having his first kid and maybe he doesn’t want to play anymore. I suspect we’ll know very soon.