Baltimore?s Quaranta heads to L.A.

“I was really excited,” Quaranta said Wednesday before suiting up as a reserve for the Galaxy?s game with Houston. “It?s a good move for me, and my family is very happy.”

So is Quaranta?s new team, which adds an established player with championship experience and potential that many feel is still untapped.

“We are pleased to have Santino join us,” Galaxy coach Frank Yallop said in an MLS news release. “He is a young, electrifying player who has played internationally and has the potential to add a lot of quality to our team.”

Quaranta, who is in the final year of his contract, is in a win-win situation after playing only four games with no starts or points this year for United.

“It?s a good group of players here, and with the coaching staff and the world-class facility there, I don?t see a reason why it can?t be a good thing,” he said.

Quaranta has been to L.A. before, having worked out with the U.S. National Team earlier this year.

“I absolutely loved it,” Quaranta said. “We?re going to try and get a spot near Hermosa Beach somewhere.”

Despite his exit from his “hometown” team, Quaranta has no ill will towards D.C. United.

“D.C. was winning and I wasn?t really going to get a chance there,” he said of the team with an MLS-best 13-2-6 record. “It was nice of them to kind of let me go to be successful.”

He?s now concerned with getting his wife, Petrina, and three-year-old daughter, Olivia, out to L.A., and selling his home back on the East Coast. Life now is a far cry from when he was a 16-year-old phenom fresh out of Highlandtown.

“I grew up as a person,” Quaranta said. “I was just fearless back then. Now you realize more, and you?re a little wiser.”

THE QUARANTA FILE

» Age: 21

» Height: 6-foot-1

» Weight: 185

» Position: Forward

» High School: Archbishop Curley