Photo: Daniel Studio

Beware of false dichotomies.

They are everywhere right now, dominating American political discourse, distorting conversations on sporting, cultural and public affairs topics, and dramatizing issues that should be treated rationally rather than with caustic rhetoric and shallow cliches.

Whenever you see an either/or situation where it doesn’t belong, reframe the issue.

The fact that you’re for accepting Syrian war refugees means you’re against homeless veterans? Throw the BS flag. One has nothing to do with the other.

Ronda Rousey is the best female fighter in the world one day, and then she is garbage the next? Nonsense. She lost one fight. Even Muhammad Ali and Dan Gable lost.

Maurice Edu is The Franchise, or he needs to be sold? None of the above.

When someone frames a discussion or argument with a false dichotomy, reframe the question.

In an age of polarized politics, unreliable television media, and disingenuous and sensationalist argument largely for the sake of drawing attention in an oversaturated information marketplace, watch out for these false dichotomies. They have come to dominate the online and television media, whether it’s politics, the culture wars, science, protest movements and yes, sports.

If you’re like me, you’re sick of that, so let’s leave that where it is and focus on soccer. Yes, I’ve been thinking about a lot of other things this past week, probably like many of you, and Philadelphia Union’s off-season plans have been really low on that list.

Fortunately, I wrote most of this column weeks ago, so hopefully this offers a little escape. That’s what sports can do, after all, at least when terrorists aren’t trying to detonate a bomb inside a stadium during a France-Germany match in Paris. (Don’t think we’ll be complaining for a while about those security checks at PPL Park and the Linc anymore, eh?)

Let’s talk about the Union and who they should be keeping this off-season. And with everything I write below, keep in mind: There are always other options than just the ones thought of and laid out below. Not everything is a dichotomy. There are all sorts of options, and these are only some of them, based on what information is available.

Evaluating the Union’s roster

The Union have a handful of quality creative players and a few young cornerstones around whom to build a roster, but they have a lot of gaps and lack overall depth. A list of team needs is as follows, based on retention of the team’s current 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 formation as the default system:

Starting left back Backup attacking midfielder Backup right back Backup forward Starting center back, depending upon which current players are retained (see below) Backup center back, depending on which current players are retained (see below)

MLS rules allow for a 28-man roster for the first team, with a $3.49 million salary budget for the top 20 players on the senior roster, although this figure will rise in 2016. However, a variety of other roster rules exist that allow for increased spending, ranging from designated players, homegrown players and the generation Adidas program to allocation money (targeted or otherwise) and the Re-Entry Draft. These rules play a large part in determining who a team can sign. Currently, the team has one designated player, Maurice Edu, but Tranquillo Barnetta will likely also have that status next season.

Here follows a player-by-player evaluation of the current roster that lays out which players should be retained, sold, traded, released or loaned to Philadelphia’s new reserve team starting play in the USL next year.

Players to Retain Andre Blake Former No. 1 overall draft pick should be the starter entering 2016. Jamaican international, holds U.S. green card. Demonstrated potential to be a star. Likely good enough to succeed in Europe and thereby draw future significant transfer fee on sale. 2015 salary: $85,000 (Generation adidas, off budget). Brian Sylvestre On loan with Union in 2015. Played well as starter. Only 22 years old. At 6-5, 200, has great size for goalkeeper. Should develop well. Projects as potential future long-term starter if Blake moves to Europe. Could get some minutes on loan in Bethlehem if another veteran backup is signed. Salary: $60,000. Richie Marquez Second year player broke through to first team after excellent rookie year on loan in USL (led league in minutes played in 2014). Very fast defender, excellent athlete, good in air, solid positionally. Future all-star with national team potential. Lock down long-term. Salary: $60,000. Ray Gaddis Excellent one-on-one defender, fantastic recovery speed, hard worker, good attitude. Weak in the air on set pieces, doesn’t offer enough going forward in attack but should improve there with more time on his natural right side. Projects as starter. Salary: $130,000. Mike Lahoud Smart, athletic player. Great locker room presence. A leader off the field. Sierra Leone international. Struggled with injuries in recent years. When healthy, he’s at worst a solid role player and at his best a good No. 6 CDM. The problem is he has seldom been fit enough to be at his best in recent years. Give him a chance to win the position in training camp next to Nogueira, but evaluate potential replacements in case he shows incapable of staying fit enough to hold the starting role. If he can’t stay healthy, look to spend money on top-line CDM. Salary: $108,900. Brian Carroll Smart, quiet veteran. A limited No. 6, serves as an old-style shield to the back line and little more. However, he is a good player to have on the squad, capable of spot-starting without significant drop-off and being a good late-game substitute. Rarely injured, good team player. Projects as backup to Lahoud if Lahoud is healthy, and if not, he can fill the role until an upgrade can be acquired. Possible player/coach. Salary: $150,000. Vincent Nogueira Starting No. 8 CM. Fantastic ball control, perhaps the league’s best player at switching fields. Effectively a deep-lying playmaker who requires a more advanced playmaker to compliment him. Injury prone, so good depth is required behind him. Salary: $330,000. Eric Ayuk Young, fast, athletic and talented. At 18 years old, he has already broken through to earn minutes. Can play on the left side but natural and more effective on the right. Currently on loan from Cameroonian club with an option to buy for $200k. Union should exercise the option. He’s a good investment. Salary: $60,000. Leo Fernandes Spent season on loan with New York Cosmos, had an excellent season with 7 goals and 3 assists, named NASL Young Player of the Year. Left-footed attacking midfielder, fits best centrally but can play wide. Bring back as depth option and spot starter with opportunity to compete for starting role. Currently on league minimum salary, very affordable. Has U.S. green card. Salary: $60,000. Tranquillo Barnetta Recent signing as a designated player. Intelligent player, excellent technique, good on-field leader, unselfish player. He makes the team better when on the field. As a wide player who can move centrally, he compliments Cristian Maidana, an attacking playmaker who starts centrally but tends to drift wide (particularly right) to create. Projects as a key starter and potential captain in 2016. Salary: $624,000. Cristian Maidana Left-footed playmaker, ranked second in MLS in assists in 2015. Lethal on counterattack, excellent technical ability and vision. Lacks speed, doesn’t always maintain patience in possession game. Starting attacking midfielder. Salary: $203,500. Sebastien Le Toux A natural right-sided forward who tends to come centrally to score. Remarkable stamina, can run for days. Weak ball-handler. Adeptly finds scoring positions. Very streaky player. When on, he scores goals by the boatload. When off, he goes months without scoring. Projects as starter, but formation can be tricky for him. Ideal role is a right forward. Not a good enough ball-handler to play as a true midfielder, but he’s a good crosser, particularly in counterattack. Salary: $275,000. C.J. Sapong Starting No. 9 center forward. Strong, fast, very agile. Excellent first touch, can trap and control hard passes very well. Able to post up players basketball-style and either play hold-up or turn and shoot. Likely due a pay raise in 2016. Should be locked down long-term. Salary: $125,000. Andrew Wenger Former No. 1 overall draft pick is a complicated player. Very smart, unselfish, athletic, technically talented and versatile. However, he’s such a good soccer player that nobody has found one position to stick him in. Played CB, CM and CF in high school and college. In pros, not a good enough finisher to play striker. Succeeded as target winger in 2014 but had a miserable year in 2015. Very confidence-oriented player, and right now he has lost it. Must determine where he belongs on the pitch. Consider for a move to center back. Salary: $180,000. Fabinho Drastically improved in late 2015, but remains a gambler prone to major game-changing mistakes. On starter’s salary, ideally should be replaced and upgraded. Evaluate potential replacements closely and patiently. Better to keep Fabinho for now and acquire young alternative to compete with him. Salary: $114,000.

Current players to loan to reserve team in Bethlehem John McCarthy Young player with potential and local ties. Should be starting GK to start season, possibly alternating games with Brian Sylvestre, to give him minutes and see how he develops. Salary: $60,000. Jimmy McLaughlin Talented youngster who has played fairly well on loan with USL’s Harrisburg but has yet to break through in MLS. Needs consistent minutes at a single position. Generally a wide midfielder but has played some right back. Salary: $60,000. Eric Bird Rookie center midfielder with injury problems in 2015. Send him to Bethlehem to fight for a starting job. Salary: $60,000. Zach Pfeffer The ideal scenario would be to send Pfeffer to Bethlehem to be a regular starter at CM because he needs a full year of consistent 90-minute games, but that is dependent upon adding center midfield depth to the senior roster. Otherwise, Pfeffer stays with the senior squad as a midfield depth option. Most likely scenario is occasional loans to Bethlehem that would leave him available for recall to the senior team as needed. Salary: $60,000. Antoine Hoppenot One-time super sub for Union isn’t rated well by Union manager Jim Curtin. Send him to Bethlehem to let him prove himself again and earn his way back to the first team in Philadelphia. Talented player who may have been overrated by the prior regime but is underrated by the current one. He’s a tweener position-wise and needs to settle into a position that fits him best, likely a second striker role that doesn’t exist in the Union’s current system. If he’s out of contract, he may be moving on, but he’s worth keeping. Salary: $60,000. Dzenan Catic Another rookie who found minutes hard to come by in 2015. Send him to Bethlehem to see if he can break through there as a striker. Big-time scorer at college level, has an interesting background in Europe that makes him worth giving time to come good. Salary: $60,000.

Players to consider moving via trade, sale, loan or release Maurice Edu Edu is one of the team’s most talented players, but he has not truly accepted his role as a center back. He seems to want to play center midfield. If he could accept the CB role, he would be an all-star, but he continues to over-dribble and push forward too much for a CB, leaving the team open to counters. This is not what you want from a highly paid team captain. He is a very good CM, but he is more a box-to-box player, rather than the true, disciplined No. 6 CDM this team needs to complement No. 8 CM Vincent Nogueira. Requires a long discussion during the off-season to evaluate if he is truly willing to accept CB role. If he is, keep him. If not, trade him. Your stars must be happy and buy in to the program, and Edu is a star. Salary: $700,000. Austin Berry The former MLS Rookie of the Year struggled with injuries in 2014, clashed with Curtin, and went on loan to a Korean second division team this year. He has proved capable of starting in MLS, but he needs a fresh start. He won’t get that with Curtin. The best option is to loan him out again in 2016 while evaluating Curtin for retention. Salary: $93,519. Ethan White Hard-nosed, quick, hard worker, and still young at 24. Projects as a third center back. Has played well in spurts. Prone to game-changing errors, however, and opposing teams have targeted him for pressure now that it’s known he is weak and nervy in possession. The Union prematurely raised his salary after the 2014 season from $80k to $125k. On the former, he’s worth keeping as a backup CB. On the latter, he is a bit overpaid. Consider moving him if he can bring decent value in return and can be replaced, but don’t rush. There are definitely things to like about White. Salary: $125,000. Danny Cruz Good presence in the locker room, strong motor, but his technical weaknesses make him a liability. At best a substitute and spot starter, which doesn’t warrant his current salary. Should be moved, as he plays the same position as Le Toux and Ayuk. (Although maybe some smart coach will realize his tough temperament is well-suited for defense and convert him to right back, where his technical weaknesses will no longer be weaknesses.) On loan in Norway in 2015. Salary: $125,000. Warren Creavalle Creavalle was a solid contributor for Houston, but he hasn’t impressed in Toronto and Philadelphia and has struggled for playing time. Give him a run in training camp to evaluate further, but his salary means he shouldn’t be kept on as a bench warmer. He has been deployed as a backup fullback but is not capable in that role. Salary: $108,500. Fred The veteran player/assistant coach rarely played in 2015. It may be time for him to hang up the cleats. Consider him for an assistant’s position if it’s deemed that he showed well in this part-time role in 2015. He has been a good presence in the locker room and may have something to add on the coaching field. It’s also justifiable to bring him back for the 28th roster spot at his current salary. Salary: $60,000. Zac MacMath The former starter went on loan with Colorado in 2015. Would he would want to return to Philadelphia after the way he was benched in 2014 despite solid play? Nick Sakiewicz is gone, so it’s possible. Discuss his future with him, as he was progressing very well in 2014 and could be worth keeping under the right circumstances. However, spreading four young goalkeepers between Philadelphia and Bethlehem is not ideal, as the Union should prefer to have an older veteran around to mentor the younger players and they may only keep four keepers total for both squads. Salary: $130,000.