Having spent the morning thinking about & writing on the "How to improve the Rapids in the offseason thread," I'm now thinking that in the draft we should add a CB. If a top flight attacking midfielder with good technical skills or a top flight RW is available at #6, we should pick them up. This is only if it seems like a "can't miss" prospect. Otherwise, look at the CB's that were available at #6 last year. There're several that have earned their way to starting spots, including Austin Berry, ROY candidate. Get a quality rookie CB, and one MLS-starter caliber veteran, and suddenly CB doesn't look so bad now.
Same way I was thinking way back when I created thread. To me (recent drafts) the CenterBacks have shown ability to step in rookie year and perform. Attackers usually take time to develop so I would much rather see us go CB with our first pick. Targets for me is still: D Walker Zimmerman (Needs to sign a GA deal to be available) Or Senior D Eric Schoenle, West Virginia: One of the best central defenders in this class, Schoenle’s Mountaineers have lofty ambitions this year, and he’ll need to step up in order to help his team on the field. Along the way, he can reinforce the notion that he’s one of the best central defenders in this class.
Forgot about Generation Addidas. They don't count against the senior cap, so they actually increase cap room available for the remaining squad. Last year's Generation Addidas class and where they were selected: (1) MON Andrew Wenger F/M (2) VAN Darren Mattocks F (3) NER Kelyn Rowe M (6) SJE Sam Garza F (8) POR Andrew Jean-Baptiste D (13) PHI Chandler Hoffman F (16) SKC Dom Dwyer F (17) RSL Enzo Martinez M (22) NER Tyler Polack D *NOTE Andrew Jean-Baptiste was just named SBI's Rookie of the Week, and is probably one of the top 3 rookie defenders along with ROY candidate Austin Berry (selected 9th) and Matt Hedges (selected 11th), but with the upside of being Generation Addidas. Some pretty good quality defenders were available at #6 last year.
Is Generation Adidas necessarily that big an advantage? The contracts are bigger, too, so when they come off GA, it could be a bigger cap hit.
Just depends on the quality of the player. You get a low-risk, high reward prospect without a cap hit. Andrew Jean-Baptiste, the highest defender taken last year, had a guaranteed compensation of only $75,000. Not much of a hit if he pans out and "graduates" from GA. You're getting a starting CB for that. The top 2 GA forwards got more, $200k, so bigger hit, but slower development--probably 2 years.
The Rapids actually have 3 picks in the Superdraft. #6, #25 (2nd round 6th pick), and the Chicago Fire's 2nd round pick (30-38) for Wells Thompson. I looked over the 2nd round from the last 3 years, and significant names that stand out: Andre Akpan Justin Morrow Stephen Beitashour Michael Farfan Ryan Meara Definitely a chance to get players that will be major contributors 2-3 years from now. The last 3 #6 picks: 2010 Amobi Okugo 2011 A.J. Soares 2012 Sam Garza Okugo & Soares are quality starters now, and Garza got to spend his rookie year on SJE.
FWIW, winning a meaningless game against Houston moved us from the 4th pick to the 6th pick. The win the week before at Chivas only would've moved us to the 3rd pick, as even if we tied Chivas on points, first tiebreaker was goals scored. I'll defer to others here about the depth of this year's draft class, because if the field is particularly deep, this shift probably won't matter. If not, we're firmly in a grey zone where maybe throwing the game was a possibility.
Really not much out there regarding draft class, will get a better picture when GA's are figured out.
With 3 picks, we could add some serious depth that would be starters in 2-3 years. Several rookie CB's have blossomed into starters this year. A number of second rounders from past years are now significant starters 2-3 years later. It depends on the quality available at each spot, but I suggest drafting a RW/F, CB, RB orCB, RB, CB. Zapata--------Moor------Wynne------Freeman Klute---------rookie------rookie-------Armstrong Wallace---------------------------------rookie Depth would be a lot better, and the back line would have a nucleus of about the same age (22) that could be starters in 2-3 years. Then we can focus on adding one more F & RW or M.
We also have 5 picks in the Supplemental Draft, though I don't see much value there over the last several years. Looking over the last 3 editions, I only saw a handful of names that I recognize as making their squads. In 2012, we picked Kohei Yamada. In 2011, Phil Bannister and Javed Mohammed. In 2010, (Rounds 3 & 4 of the Superdraft) we picked Chad Borak and Chris Cutshaw. Right, we're all thinking, who? None of these guys made the squad. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try and bundle some of these into a trade or just pick 3 CB's and throw 'em at the wall and see if any of 'em stick.
Guy who sticks out for me from Supplemental in 2012 was Seattle's Andy Rose who started a few and was also Defensive sub in games. They also picked Alex Caskey in 2011, he didn't make team then (went to USL) but did in 2012 getting several starts as well.
A few teams have shown ability to occasionally find starters in supplemental draft, I do not think Rapids have the ability to mine for gold like that.
My suspicion is the teams that have scored decent picks from the supplemental draft are more lucky than good. The guys found that late are projects at best. So, on the brightside, the Rapids have just as good a chance scoring a starter from the supplemental draft as anyone else!
Agree with this. Though I would give OP more credit for an ability to find good picks than Bravo or other FO figures.
Why? Does OP have any track record to go on? Bravo hasn't drafted any major contributors but then again the draft position hasn't been great, either. (I'm not sure whom to credit for Cascio.)
Well, I can't actually say that I have demonstrable proof of this, but I'm guessing OP was responsible for identifying our two successful Colombians, Castrillon and Zapata (yeah, Henao was probably his deal too), and I recall a video of OP talking about why he wanted Cascio as a draft pick ( that does not mean it was his decision alone). On the other hand, I think I read elsewhere that Bravo had an eye on and a hand with Edu's aquisition... which is probably the worst $129K mistake of the year. Further, Gary Smith's candid comment about Bravo not bringing much to the (Rapids) table makes me believe his decision making regarding player evaluation is part of that....also affirmed (but not necessarily confirmed) by more than one comment here at BS re: Bravo's player eval. skills....blah blah blah. Well, I did say "I" would give OP more credit in this dept. So that's just me. I really have no idea about "other FO figures" so that was sheer blither.
That's the sense I've gotten, too. Whether it's all OP, or the OP/Bravo combo just works better, at least, I think, the personnel they've brought in have been an improvement: Hits: Castrillon, Rivero, Hill, Cascio, Thomas Middle: Zapata -- Solid contributor, we'll have good depth at LB if we keep him, Wallace, Klute, and of course, there's Moor. Freeman (I did have Freeman as expendable, earlier, but I'm on board with those who think we should keep him. He was shaky at times, earned his way into Pareja's doghouse for a bit, but I agree, he finished the season strong, and could be solid next year). Right now at RB depth we have Armstrong, who hopefully can come along, and Moor, Wynne, if we pick up more CB's, and potentially Mullan. Some Contribution: Wahl. Probably not strong enough for us to prefer keeping him. We should be able to upgrade, but he did play some minutes when needed. Misses: Edu, Henao, Yamada -- Henao & Yamada weren't terrible mistakes, they just didn't contribute. Henao only cost us a little bit of money until we cut him, and Yamada cost us a supplemental pick.
I've heard from a couple of different sources that Bravo was largely responsible for the trades for Wynne, Mullen, Pickens, etc. I wonder if he does better with league talent where he can see them up close than international talent.
Goes both ways - Wahl was an MLS player and is absolutely terrible in my opinion. Rivero, Thomas, Castrillon, and Zapata have all been good international signings by Rapids standards. That is a big qualification but I think Rivero could be very good and Thomas clearly is quality. Castrillon can be good up top and we've had a lot worse than Zapata. I don't know who is responsible for those signings but I'll credit Bravo more than Pareja. If that is wrong and Bravo can't identify foreign talent then he is a waste of money as a TD and the Rapids could utilize his salary better for other things.
I think Bravo also made it clear last preseason that they were going to focus on Central & South America for foreign signings. That said, I'm guessing the Colombian signings were largely facilitated by OP's connections as opposed to Bravo's.
I would think that is valid point but Bravo would have final say on all signings, So I do not believe we could ever seperate out who was responsibile for signing X player.
Stay Tuned, Ives says he will have the first mock of Superdraft this week. Since no one does this well, I am interested to see who he projects to Rapids. Still going with this until more analysis of players is put out there: D Walker Zimmerman (Needs to sign a GA deal to be available) Or Senior D Eric Schoenle, West Virginia: One of the best central defenders in this class, Schoenle’s Mountaineers have lofty ambitions this year, and he’ll need to step up in order to help his team on the field. Along the way, he can reinforce the notion that he’s one of the best central defenders in this class. FYI- Eric was rated higher last year then Austin Berry
More Pre-Tourney rankings/ comparisons. Notice some of these guys are Home Grown and thus not Draft Eligible http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/11/15/mls-campus-stakes-rise-ncaa-tourney-kicks
FWIW, I Googled "2013 MLS mock draft" and read over a few. It's a crapshoot of poorly informed guesses by people that certainly don't know the Rapids, but topdrawersoccer at least had a rationale for their pick: 6. Colorado Rapids - MF Jose Gomez, Creighton The classy midfielder would fit well into what Oscar Pareja is trying to do with the Rapids. Note here that if Dillon Serna signs a homegrown deal, it could alter what Colorado does with this pick. Regardless, Gomez needs a coach like Pareja in order to find his feet in MLS. There were only 2 defenders rated in the top 20 on the MLS big board. Do we take Zimmerman (rated #6, would have to be GA) at #6, or a midfield prospect like Gomez (#13), and see if Schoenle (#19) is still available at #25? There will be other CB prospects, of course.