There might be a perfectly good explanation for this. Such as, Juan Pietravallo has compromising pictures of Dieter Mateschitz stashed away somewhere. Or, Pietravallo and Juan Carlos Osorio are going into the business of producing headbands. Or, perhaps, he decided to give half of his hefty salary to starving children and RBNY is keeping him on the squad as a measure of goodwill.

Whatever the case is, according to Osorio, Juan Pietravallo is coming back in 2009. So is Jorge Rojas; but we're going to let Rojas off the hook for now. His salary last year, a cap-friendly number of $84,000, even if doubled for 2009, is more or less palatable. And, if the idiotic decision to let Dave van den Bergh leave is made, Rojas might be necessary to fill the spot on the left. And he's shown enough in stretches to make it seem plausible that he can be a solid contributor in MLS... from time to time.

Pietravallo, not so much. And yes, he had his share of good games early on, shutting down opposing playmakers. But then, something happened. Pietravallo turned into a reckless machine; a headhunter who seemed to leave his brain on the sidelines. It started to become obvious why he's been on nine teams in eight years. Yellow cards were a question of not if, but when. With three games left in the season, he got an idiotic red card versus Salt Lake for kicking Clint Mathis in the head. It all culminated in the regular-season finale in Chicago; Pietravallo was unbelievably horrible even by the low standards he had set; totally over-committing on a play that led to the first Fire goal, hacking away left and right, and being taken off at halftime after somehow avoiding a deserved red card.

And this player is coming back. And, unlike Rojas, there are no cap-friendly numbers here. Last year, Pietravallo was on the books for a whopping $192,000. That's star money in MLS. Pietravallo is no star.

In fact, in the playoffs, he lost his starting spot to a developmental player making $17,700, Luke Sassano. And one would think that Seth Stammler ($105,000), who missed the playoffs with an injury but was previously tossed around the field by Osorio to help accommodate Pietravallo, would be higher on the pecking order at defensive midfield. One would think.

We will find out for sure. Because Juan Pietravallo is coming back in 2009.