I know people already started posting their offseason roster moves, please quote yours over to this thread. My quick thoughts Loans, do we bring back: Rivero ($1M "Rights" buyout- Rapids are trying to lower) Mera Expiring contracts (from top of head): Buddle? Mwanga? Castrillon? Wallace? Armstrong? Anyone think since we used slush fund on re-signing Moor and Wynne mean that must stay on our roster? CB- do me need to move one with Moor, Calderon, O'Neil, Mera (if brought back), Wynne. What is your ranking of CB candidates? For me Calderon, O'Neil, Moor... Ceus- gone Trade: Pickens Wallace (if contract not expiring) Retire: Mullan Jamie Smith Castrillon (if contract is not expiring) Signings: Charles Eloundou finally become a rapid (either loan or straight rights transfer) International slot status? Jason's expertise Didn't Thomas just get green card?
As requested: * Colorado Rapids – Molding the Roster for 2014 & beyond The Core (12): GK Matt Pickens 31 USA IMO, #1 but likely to be traded! GK Clint Irwin 24 USA An outstanding 1st season, with experience he may become a superstar! D Chris Klute 23 USA To my delight may be an emerging star! Wynalda may have been right! However, the accolades already received were over the top. Klute is still verifying his value! D Drew Moor 29 USA A savvy, versatile veteran! D Diego Calderon 26 Ecuador IMO, a 1st choice CB. Will challenge Moor &/or O’Neill D Shane O'Neill 20 Ireland/USA To my delight & surprise an emerging star! M Hendry Thomas 28 Honduras Perhaps, the best D-mid in MLS! M Dillon Powers 22 USA As predicted. An emerging star! M Martin Rivero 23 Argentina Unfortunately injury delayed stardom. Huge potential! M/F Vicente Sánchez 33 Uruguay A terrific signing. A high quality veteran with a lot to offer on the pitch, in the locker room and on the coaches bench! F Gabriel Torres 24 Panama Rapids’ 1st DP signing with lotsa potential! However, is he a center forward? Can he play with his back to goal, hold the ball and distribute it? I suspect that he is really a wide player! F Deshorn Brown 22 Jamaica As predicted. An emerging star! Other Importants COGS (3): F Edson Buddle 32 USA A very disappointing season for this savvy but seemingly lazy veteran! If he stays he must take training & fitness seriously! He can play center forward. He can hold the ball and absorb punishment. If Buddle is dispatched then a true, tough back to the goal hold up & distributor is needed. M Nick LaBrocca 28 USA Always giving 100% but is somewhat short on talent! M Nathan Sturgis 26 USA A sensational season. Has he truly emerged? Can he repeat? Does he return to yeoman status? The “Espoirs” (5): F Danny Mwanga 22 Democratic Republic of Congo Although still young, he is at do or die time in his career! F Charles Eloundou 18 Cameroon A truly exciting prospect. Very fast, very technical player with huge upside! May emerge as an MLS superstar! What is his real position? Is he here for the long-term? D Kory Kindle 22 USA Very intelligent, very fast, very quick youngster looking for a position, more technical skill & added savvy is needed! D German Mera 23 Colombia After a slow start Mera began to show why he was added to the side. IMO, he will become a solid CB following maturity & experience! M Dillon Serna 19 USA IMO, a very hasty decision to sign as HG! The to be Gone but Appreciated (3): D Brian Mullan 35 USA A very solid, savvy veteran always gives 100%. I expect him to retire. If not, I would resign him! M Jaime Castrillon 30 Colombia Injury derailed his career. A talented player but nowhere to play! M Jamie Smith 32 Scotland Never my guy but very well liked & appreciated by most. I expect him to retire & probably coach somewhere! The to be Gone but not to be missed (7): D Davy Armstrong 21 USA IMO, a very hasty decision to sign as HG! Not MLS quality. M Tony Cascio 23 USA Lack of speed & quickness kills! His hard shot & willingness to shoot allows him to catch on elsewhere! GK Steward Ceus 26 USA His real talent was growing to 6’6”. His quality is very meager! D Brenton Griffiths 22 Jamaica Practice team fodder no longer necessary! M Atiba Harris 28 Saint Kitts and Nevis Probably will be retained. But I do not like his quality or style of play. To his credit fewer red cards than earlier in his career! F Kamani Hill 27 USA No better in MLS than he was elsewhere! D/M Anthony Wallace 24 USA Unfortunately, injury may have diminished a budding talent.
Off-season decision time: Wynne - I don't think the Rapids will keep him. I've heard a few rumors related to his contract that suggest that there will either be a renegotiation or some other solution. Pickens - He's trade bait now. A solid keeper that was one of the few bright spots from 2012. I don't think he'll get the number one spot back, and I don't think being the number two suits him. Rivero - I see the potential, but I don't see the worth - right now. His play gets complicated by the type of analysis that I associate with Freddy Adu. He has moments that many of our Rapids journeymen have that are taken as signs of quality in him, but the others will never receive credit for. If the Rapids can re-negotiate, I'd be happy to see him back, but his price tag's too high right now. Castrillon - the ghost is a good nickname. The Rapids did him a favor by sticking with him during the knee issues. It's time to cut him though. Buddle - needs to be starter quality and starer fit or re-negotiated or cut. Mullan - Time to retire, perhaps to coach. The rest are either necessary or not very notable cuts/trades. Really, the list is shorter this season than in past ones. That's a big improvement.
I think this is way harsh. If all we saw of him was 2013, this take would make sense. This was a lost year for him, and when he finally got playing time, he was so-so. 2012 definitely showed a lot of promise. 2013 showed improvement in his shooting, which was infamously scattershot in 2012. If he had played 2012 with his 2013 shot we'd be going nuts over him. I think it all depends on whether the loan/purchase can be renegotiated to a substantially lower fee. If not, I think the Rapids are happy with Powers and Sanchez and will continue to look elsewhere for a young a-mid.
Assuming Wynne, Pickens, and Castrillon are gone, and ignoring some of the fringier low salary players (like Hill, Armstrong), what do you suppose the depth chart looks like? Maybe something like this? -----------torres ----------(buddle) brown-------powers-------sanchez (mwanga)---(rivero?)-------(harris) (eloundou)---(labrocca)-----(cascio) (serna) --------thomas--sturgis---- --------(labrocca, wallace) klute------o'neill---moor----??? (wallace)-calderon---mera (kindle) ---------------irwin --------------(????) --------------(????) I think they'll hang on to Cascio. He has usually played on the left but I stuck him on the right just to keep the diagram from being even more unwieldy. He and a bunch of those guys would be general backups for forward/wing positions. If Calderon and Mera are coming back, I wonder if they will move O'Neill to right back and put Calderon back at left centerback. O'Neill isn't as fast as Wynne or Klute but seems fast enough, and seems to have the ability and aptitude to take the ball forward. Whatever they decide for O'Neill, I hope they leave him there so he can develop consistency. If they do trade/release Pickens and Wynne (and maybe Buddle), that frees up a lot of money for a striker or skilled mid to spell Sanchez and a right back.
Just tossing out some Salaries (using guarantee amount) to show what we might have available: Buddle $275K Mullan $170K Mawanga $171K Pickens $212K Wynne $285K Moor $247K Sanchez $186K Torres $276K Thomas $200K I do not expect Brown to come off his GA eligibility (no cap hit) this year. We will have the #11 pick in this Superdraft, we got Powers at #12 last year. Biggest needs: RB, midfielder distributor and like most of MLS- scorers. I would think there would be a few teams that could use Martin Rivero, I would only sign him to Trade immediately. I agree with Totoro thats might be harsh, but i recall him as a dribbler that never had the knack for the final third ball, Sanchez has this ability and looks much better in tight spaces too. I would bring back Sanchez and search all of Central and South America for an young (under 23) player in his mold to learn under Sanchez and play the turf games.
Another point, we get less allocation this year than last due to better finish but not good enough for CCL "bonus" allocation.
Interesting note, I was looking at the stats for my Player of the Year blog entry. Irwin's 1.10 career Goals Against Average (all from this season) is 5th best in league history. As a season average for anyone who played a majority of the games its 4th best in team history, behind Hahnmann's 1.06, Cannon's 1.07, and Coundoul's 1.08. Essentially a shutout or 1 goal performance in Vancouver would have set a new team record, but the 3 goal performance put him 4th.
Given Rivero's age, I am wondering if he couldn't be this person. He had a lost year this year, looking back at last year makes me think he has enough promise that some help from Sanchez might make him the guy. Not sure that is worth $1m in signing fee, but I also don't know how hard it would be to get someone like your description would be anyway. rod.
As we've seen with Rivero, Eloundou, and Torres (and Doyle!), finding the guy is just the first part of the battle.
Yep but hopefully we are learning, although it doesn't appear to be happening. I just can't give up on this route, there is only so much talent here, unfortunately seems the girls here are better than the boys, given the girl last year who signed with PSG. Am i mis-remembering Rivero, I thought he was more of a dribbler and held the ball more than I would like to see. Sanchez is more dynamic and looking to attack defenders to get those odd man rushes. Guess it can be summed up as Rivero looks for openings and Sanchez creates them. Your also right if we found a guy like I'm looking for he would cost way more than $1M, so really just a dream. Another worry given how much time Rivero missed is we pay this for what could be damaged goods, basically he missed that entire year.
Good question--international slot status. Jason--do we have 9 slots for 2014? Here's what Jason had just over a week ago:
That's a good point. The slot we got in the Larentowicz trade reverts to Chicago at the end of the season. So we have 8 slots for next year and 8 internationals under contract, but safe to say Griffiths will be gone if we want to sign another international. Base of 8 +1 from the Gregorio trade - permanent +1 from the Pablo trade - through 2014 -1 from the Nyassi trade - almost permanent (through 2031) -1 from the Harris trade - through 2016
Another twist... I wouldn't get too comfortable with O'Neil. He's young, has talent, has some national team exposure, just came off a successful season for rookie his age, and he's got the magic EU passport. He's a good risk for Europe.
O'Neill has developed much more than I had anticipated. He is a good player and will become a better one with maturity & savvy, but he is nowhere near a European signing yet. (i.e. England, Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland, etc. Lesser leagues aren't worth signing)
Possibly more detail later, but here is how I would like to see the roster evolve. Keep - no questions asked Brown Calderon Irwin Klute Moor O'Neill Powers Sanchez Thomas Torres Keep - Depending on: Rivero - No increase in salary Wynne - Cut salary in half Sturgis - Modest increase
A lesson for us to Keep in the West Conference. This is a tough conference and if you are not bringing in better players you will not make play-offs. The top 2 teams are in drivers seat to represent West in Finals. Portland overhauls roster and finishes first RSL Trade away three all-stars and finishes 2nd LAG mostly stand pat for 3rd SEA have a few in n outs till Summer Window and Dempsey get $th COL overhaul roster for 5th This is a tough conference and if you are not bringing in better players you will not make play-offs.
Retire: Smith, Mullan (both reluctantly and hopefully with follow on jobs in the organization) Trade: Pickens (too good to be a back up), Buddle (not enough return for his cost), Ceus (assuming someone would take him), Griffiths Loan (assuming the Rapids partner with a USL Pro team): Cascio, Kindle, Hill, Serna Draft/Acquire: Defenders, Backup GKs
Sanchez wants to return, expects to talk with Pareja in the next week or two: http://www.coloradorapids.com/news/2013/11/vicente-sanchez-wanting-return-rapids-next-season-course
Here are my roster choices. I'm not going to post all the reasoning here as I just did it for my blog, so look there if you want more detail. http://view-from-the-couch.blogspot.com/2013/11/2013-roster-review.html Keep: Brown, Eloundou, Irwin, Klute, Moor, O'Neill, Powers, Sanchez, Serna, Thomas, Torres Retire: Mullan, Smith Keep If Healthy: Calderon Keep Under Better Contract: Rivero Keep Until Better Option Comes Along: LaBrocca, Mera, Sturgis, Wallace, 1 of Cascio/Hill/Mwanga (my choice would be Cascio) Trade/Sale Bait: Castrillon, Pickens, Wynne, whichever 2 of Cascio/Hill/Mwanga not kept Trade If Lucky But Probably Cut: Armstrong, Buddle, Ceus, Griffiths, Harris Too Little Info: Kindle
Since we are talking about roster moves, I am wondering if the Rapids are getting pressure to add a second DP from the league. It seems like a lot of teams are moving toward multiple DP's, I wouldn't be completely surprised to see Rivero kept at whatever amount squeaks him into DP territory. The marketing of having two DP's might be worth something to the Rapids, particularly if the league is pushing for more DP's on each team and/or is willing to cover some of the cost. rod.
I'll keep my list simple: Keep: Brown, Calderon, Eloundou, Irwin, Klute, Labrocca, Moor, O'Neill, Powers, Sanchez, Serna, Sturgis, Thomas, Torres, Wynne Keep through training camp, ditch if they don't step it up over offseason: Armstrong, Cascio, Castrillon, Griffiths, Kindle, Mwanga, Rivero, Wallace Lose Immediately (respectfully in some cases, hastily in others): Buddle, Ceus, Harris, Hill, Mera, Mullan, Smith Find: A better #10; a better target forward, since Pareja seems to think we need one; 2 upgrades at forward depth; a rookie goalkeeper; shock treatment for Pareja's tinkering and overthinking ways.
That seems doubtful, especially after the Rapids just signed their first ever DP. Hard to see anyone in favor of adding as a DP a guy who couldn't break into the starting lineup.