Julius James does not have the most impressive of resumes, but the decision to acquire the former D.C. United defender was an easy one for the Crew.
James will play for his fourth team in his fourth season in Major League Soccer, but with 44 MLS games under his belt, the young and not-very-deep Crew had no qualms plucking the versatile Trinidadian from the waiver wire.
"That's a great addition," Crew goalkeeper William Hesmer said after playing behind James in a 2-1 exhibition loss to New England in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Finley Stadium yesterday.
"Having that type of experience is always a plus," Hesmer said.
Getting it for a relative bargain is nice, too. United will pay a portion of James's salary and sources said the Crew will only be responsible for paying James, 26, the league minimum of $42,000.
James, signed on Feb. 28, made a timely arrival.
Two-time defender of the year Chad Marshall (concussion symptoms) and starting left back Shaun Francis (hamstring strain) remain on the shelf.
Rookie Rich Balchan started in place of Marshall during a CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal series against Real Salt Lake but was relegated to running laps yesterday. Balchan, too, is suffering concussion-like symptoms after a collision during a 4-1 Salt Lake victory on Tuesday.
James played 60 minutes yesterday and made his Crew debut in the second half of Tuesday's loss.
"Coach looked down the bench and said 'Julius, left back?'" James said. "I said 'yeah, absolutely.' It was a blessing for a coach to look at me and know I could play."
James played college soccer at Connecticut was drafted by Toronto in the first round of the 2008 SuperDraft. He was traded to Houston in December 2008 and traded again to United in August 2009.
He was waived by United last month after leading its defenders in minutes last season.
"This is MLS and you get traded and you get waived and it stings," James said. "But one man's trash is another man's treasure."