Portland Timbers Player Rankings #8: Kris Boyd

I think it is fair to say that signing Kris Boyd did not turn out to be the signing everyone wanted. Kris started strong by scoring in his MLS debut and then scoring 3 goals in the first six games of the season. After that Boyd went 5 games without scoring and only scored 4 goals over the next 12 games. Of course 2 of those goals came in Rivalry Games, which were the games he usually disappeared for during his Scottish Premier League days.

Towards the end of the season Boyd usually ended up as an unused sub and August 19th until the end of the season he only saw 43 minutes of playing time. Of course for a time during that run he had a muscle strain which kept him out of action. Boyd's season ending stats were as follows:

Stay or Go?

Without giving it much thought the answer should be to part ways with Kris Boyd, however doing so is not as easy as it sounds. The reality is Kris Boyd will most likely be staying because of the amount of salary they will be paying Boyd and Merritt will not want to eat that much money. If Boyd were to agree to amicably part ways with Portland then the situation would be resolved and each could go their separate ways without having to pay any more of his salary. If not, look for Portland to use Boyd until his contract is over or Portland finds someone to take him off their hands. Boyd will be playing for his next contract, and since Portland will not be giving him that next contract, hopefully that is incentive enough for him to score goals.

Verdict: Boyd will stay for the next season.