DC sends Boswell to Houston gets keeper in return. Poll - Who did better?

And the trading of the Wells is done.

Bobby Boswell, the 2006 MLS defender of the year, is heading out of the nation's capitol for the warmer weather in Houston. In return, United gets goalkeeper Zach Wells.

First off, this is an excellent trade for both teams. With Cochrane moving on to San Jose, the Dynamo need a good center back and although Boswell did not have a great 2007 campaign, he still has the talent and will probably recover in 2008, while United got a keeper to replace Troy Perkins when he jumps to Europe during the winter transfer window.

That said, it looks to me like the Dynamo are taking the bigger risk with this trade. Yes, they still have the wall that is Pat Onstad in goal, however between his back issues and his age (he will turn 40 next month), the likelihood of him going down is a bit higher then most MLS goal minders.

Wells has a great deal of potential, as he showed during Houston's Concacaf Champions Cup run, and could step in for Onstad at any moment. With Wells gone, the Dynamo now need to find a quality backup keeper (as does United as they did not Jay Nolly's contract) that will probably see at least a few meaningful games in '08.

For United, the loss of Boswell will disappoint a number of fans but it will probably not affect their play on the pitch very much as his poor 2007 caused the team to work around him, if you will. Also, DC lose $20,000 of salary space as Wells comes with a $50,400 price tag while Boswell is a modest $30,870 (that number is shocking to me), but they do get conditional pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft. That said, when Boswell is on, he can run a backline like few others in the league.

One last bit of note, it looks like Wells will be called into the US men's training camp in January.