My perception is that he is well liked by the fans and gets hits to the site. If he can come back to full health he will contribute greatly.
Smith is in his final year of contract and I do not expect him to be brought back unless he takes pay cut and gets green card. When healthy I think he culd contribute to team maybe to give Castrillon a day off. But it really comes down to how many minutes do you give a guy you will probably not bring back? Or do you give those minutes to a younger guy to develop him. I do agree that given PR I would be surprised to see him just let go now. But some transfer window is coming and it seems OP not realizes we need more pieces and Smith does take a coveted international slot.
I like the idea of seeing Smith in Castrillon's role/ position. Gives us someone else with similar skills to see if they can contribute more. ps- Spell check is your friend
In order to bring Smith off of IR we're going to have to free up an international slot by trade or cutting someone or trade for an international spot. (Or hope one of our internationals gets injured enough to replace Smith on IR, but that seems to be a cold way of looking at it.)
I'm happy he's back. He might be a short timer, but I think that's giving too much praise to what the team's done so far, and too little respect to what Smith has done. When available I think Smith has been an asset, and the accusations of stylistic issue are based more upon a caricature than actual performance. It has seemed as if that Smith was a disappointment for not being Terry Cooke and now he's talked of as if he played like Terry Cooke. What's it mean for the starters? Castrillon has been, so far, promising, if inconsistent. Mullan has been consistent if unthreatening. Smith can, and should, push both. The Rapids start to the season has looked good by the numbers, but the play has been a work in progress. To this point I don't think anyone's been exceptional. As long as that's the case, I don't see why Smith doesn't have a place. Similar things have been said about Pablo.
I like Smith. I think he's been an asset to the team and can fit in with OP's style. My concern has been can the Rapids afford to consume a valuable international roster space on a what has effectively been a part time player. If so, let's see how he can fit in. He has the skills to play wide or central.
This. Smith has quality, for sure. The problem I see is, given the combination of these factors: - Relatively hight salary - Injury history/number of matches missed - Return from ACL - International roster spot How is his value to this team affected? For me, I think he is ultimately a bit more trouble than he is worth.
Possible target of May 2nd against NE for Smith's return. http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...ey-sidelined-strep-throat-galaxy-come-calling
We're talking May 2nd game. On the 11th, the release said he was expected to join the Rapids in the next two weeks. And I said "might be".
I heard last night that Smith is nearing his green card. I wouldn't be surprised if we see some roster manipulations to get the team through the period between Smith being healthy and getting his green card. Or MLS allowed FSL to play the first week of the season with more than the allowed number of internationals because they knew their green cards were coming through next week, so maybe MLS will cut us a break.
yeah, don't forget Hill costing us our allocation when we were only ones who wanted him. Not that I knock losing allocation.
