TORONTO – Major League Soccer’s trade and transfer deadline has passed, which means Toronto FC’s roster is pretty much set for the remainder of 2017. But general manager Tim Bezbatchenko is already planning ahead for next year, including trying to lock up veteran defender Drew Moor.
Moor’s contract is up at the end of this season, but he told Sportsnet last month that negotiations over a new deal had already been taking place, and that he was hopeful that something will get hammered out and that he’ll remain in Toronto beyond 2017.
On Wednesday, Moor revealed that contract talks between his representation and the club have moved forward since last month as the two sides inch closer towards agreeing to a new deal.
“We’re moving in a very good direction. I’m positive that if something is going to get done, it’ll get done soon. Again, this is the place I want to be – it’s such a great club, such a great time. I feel like such a big part of it, and talks have advanced in a positive direction since the last time we spoke,” Moor told Sportsnet.
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According to the MLS players’ union website, Moor will earn a base salary of $246,750 US this season. If Moor, a 33-year-old native of Dallas, doesn’t re-sign with Toronto, he would become a free agent at the end of the year and be free to negotiate with any MLS club ahead of the 2018 regular season. With that in mind, you’d have to think that any new contract with TFC would include a pay raise.
The veteran defender, who’s been one of the Reds’ most influential players since signing with the club prior to last season, could use the extra money. Moor now has one more mouth to feed after his wife Shelby gave birth to the couple’s second child, Ryan Andrew Moor, last weekend.
Mrs. Moor faced some minor challenges in the final weeks of her pregnancy, and the couple found out a week in advance they were scheduled to induce labour on the same day as TFC’s home game against the Portland Timbers. Moor immediately approached coach Greg Vanney about missing Saturday’s match so he could be with his wife at Toronto’s Mount Sinai hospital. Of course, Vanney gave Moor his permission, and the Reds went on to win 4-1.
Mother and the baby are doing just fine – “Shelby was walking around an hour later as though she hadn’t done anything,” Moor said – and Joey, the couple’s 14-month-old son, is getting to know his younger brother.
“I don’t think he has much of a clue about what’s going on. He’s starting to pick it up that this baby is staying in our house and not going anywhere. He’s been very cute, very sweet, and very gentle with Ryan so far,” Moor offered.
It was Joey, in fact, who picked his new brother’s name.
“My wife and I were torn between [Ryan and Jonathan]. What we did was when we went in Saturday morning to the hospital, we put two names on pieces of paper and folded them up. We held them up in front of Joey, and the first one that he grabbed we took it and put it in an envelope and after Ryan was born we checked to see which name he picked. Joey actually decided the name, but we didn’t know what the name of our new son was until two minutes after Ryan was born,” Moor explained.
Ryan wasn’t born until just before 10:00 p.m., and as a result Moor was able to watch the game, which kicked off at 6:00 p.m., at the hospital – with his wife’s blessing, of course.
“We had our room and we had a TV in there. My wife appreciated I was there with her, but she knew the boys had a big game. She allowed me to watch it. She’s such a big fan, too,” Moor said with a laugh. “The hospital staff knew the situation, and they enjoyed the fact that we had the game on the whole time before they induced labour.”
While watching the match, Moor took to Twitter where he jokingly posted a message that he’d name his new son after whichever TFC player scored the winning goal. As it turned out, Victor Vazquez’s goal in the 72nd minute stood up as the decisive strike, complementing a two-goal performance by Justin Morrow. Afterwards, Moor posted another Twitter message, introducing Ryan Andrew Moor to the world.
“We were sitting in the hospital room and I wanted to be at the game. But I also wanted to be there for my wife, so we had some fun with it, and get some of the fans involved. I think Victor understood as he has a son himself, but maybe it provided some extra motivation for the guys,” Moor quipped.
One Moor Canadian joined the party last night. Ryan Andrew (or Victor Justin) arrived at 9:57pm, 7lbs 0oz. Mama & baby are great pic.twitter.com/FQYCmqHf6X
— Drew Moor (@drewmoor) August 13, 2017
Three days have passed, but Moor still marvels at the experience of being in the room when his new son was born.
“It’s hard to put into words, but it’s like time stands still. Time doesn’t exist – you suddenly see your new kid and you don’t see anything else around you; you have this tunnel vision. It’s amazing. It knocks you to your knees,” Moor said.
“When I saw Ryan for the first time, I thought it was Joey again. It brought me straight back to that day when Joey was born; we thought Ryan looked exactly how Joey looked when he first came out.”
Duty calls, unfortunately, as TFC travels to Illinois to take on the Chicago Fire on Saturday. It pains Moor to have to leave his growing family, even for a few days.
“Especially at this stage, because they develop so fast so you miss things. Now you have FaceTime and such, and the world is a smaller place, but it’s still hard to go away,” Moor admitted.
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