What place do you feel the 2013 Rapids will finish in the Western Conference?

What place do you feel the 2013 Rapids will finish in the Western Conference? Why?

Obviously, a lot can happen between now and the start of the season. We can always do another poll later if the mood strikes us. I just thought that this could be an interesting way to check the board’s temperature.

Too soon to know, both with the Rapids lineup and the rest of the West (for example, is PrimaDonnavan coming back to LA?).

Why not put a time limit on this then. Say, right now with everything as it is, where do you think we will finish. Then we can start a new poll at certain milestones (after the desert friendlies, x weeks out, etc.) It could be interesting to see how our opinions change throughout the preseason.

as for my vote. I'm going with 6th. With all of the changes, I think it might take some time for this team to find its identity (again). Depending on how long that takes will determine whether we can make a push for a playoff spot. I'm guessing we come up just short at 6th.

So here's the order everyone finished in last year....

1. SJ by 9 points
2. RSL by 1 point
3. Seattle by 2 points
4. LAG by 11 points
5. Vancouver by 4 points
6. FC Dallas by 2 points
7. Rapids by 3 points
8. Timbers by 4 points
9. CUSA

Looking over the "score card" thread in the MLSN&A forum most teams are sporting pretty long cut lists and pretty short addition lists. The Rapids actually have a longer additions list than most teams except Portland.
It's a race for 5th place for the Rapids. Are they certainly better than Vancouver, Dallas, Portland and CUSA? It's hard to tell right now. I think the Rapids will do well to reach 6th. Schelles isn't a bad coach and Remy seems to have a clue. Caleb and the CUSA coach have a lot of work ahead of them, but both have had success elsewhere. It's not much to hang a hat on.

I went with 9th to 'disappointment-proof' myself. My cautious optimism got melted last year (I was in the minority that was okay with Smith going away and what they said they wanted to do sounded good) our player moves, out and in, don't give me a bunch of hope thus far. Just because your junk drawer is full/filling -- that doesn't always mean you can fix everything or even anything.

What this team needs is duct tape?

I went 5th (and missing the playoffs by just a little), some improvement with Pareja's system (if there is one), but the defense looks to be a liability. If they don't get production from Buddle, I doubt they would even be that high. A strong defensive signing and capable goal scorer at a minimum are still needed before any sort of playoff run can be discussed.

Ok, that's a good idea. For the next one we can put a time limit on it.

8th for me, always have Chivas to keep us out of bottom spot.

Just a mis-match of player acquistions (Skills and Style of play). Again FO is setting up OP for failure again by not getting players to play a possession 4-3-3.

As of today, optimitically (delusionally?) picking 5th. Assuming the Rapids gel as a team and bring in a DP-level player who can perform, I think this is achievable but there are a lot of moving parts to incorporate. With Montero seemingly leaving Seattle and it looking like FSL will be blown up, I think there is an opportunity if OP can deliver.

Here's my guess at this early stage:

• San Jose
• Los Angeles
• Seattle
• FSL
• Colorado
• Vancouver
• Dallas
• Portland
• Chivas

Bringing in way to much new signing's i fear chemistry will be the hugest issue. i would of rather gotten all the signings done before jan 17th when pre-season starts.

I went with fourth, while the Rapids are a team in transition so is the rest of the Western Conference. I feel like the FO's of Seattle and LA have proven that they can consistantly be at the top and San Jose will probably remain good (although they won a lot of games at the last minute last year). My guess is FSL will probably be better than the Rapids next year but they did just radically change their formula and it's FSL so I went ahead with 4th...

I feel like there is a lot of upside for this team. The backline is still thin, but I anticipate depth signings during the rest of the offseason. The midfield has depth to the point we can have actual discussions about who should be playing and up top there are a lot of question marks but I am going to predict a return to form for Buddle and some solid contributions from the wings. I'm also going to predict that Pareja will be a much better coach in 2013. He got his rookie season out of the way and hopefully he learned some things. Even if all those things don't fall into place you have to think the Rapids will be better than Chivas (complete disaster), Vancouver (complete disaster by the end of the year), and Dallas (old and injury prone). Add into that the fact that Portland is a year behind the Rapids in the move to "attractive" soccer and you have to think there are at least four teams worse off than us at this point.

I went with fourth, while the Rapids are a team in transition so is the rest of the Western Conference. I feel like the FO's of Seattle and LA have proven that they can consistantly be at the top and San Jose will probably remain good (although they won a lot of games at the last minute last year). My guess is FSL will probably be better than the Rapids next year but they did just radically change their formula and it's FSL so I went ahead with 4th...

I feel like there is a lot of upside for this team. The backline is still thin, but I anticipate depth signings during the rest of the offseason. The midfield has depth to the point we can have actual discussions about who should be playing and up top there are a lot of question marks but I am going to predict a return to form for Buddle and some solid contributions from the wings. I'm also going to predict that Pareja will be a much better coach in 2013. He got his rookie season out of the way and hopefully he learned some things. Even if all those things don't fall into place you have to think the Rapids will be better than Chivas (complete disaster), Vancouver (complete disaster by the end of the year), and Dallas (old and injury prone). Add into that the fact that Portland is a year behind the Rapids in the move to "attractive" soccer and you have to think there are at least four teams worse off than us at this point.

Sorry for the double post, server error or something to the effect...

They still have 9 days, I've got my fingers crossed that the bulk of the signings happen before the 17th.

8th. at least there are goats.

I won't hold my breath for a playoff team.

Clavijo is FC Dallas' TD, that should at least get you up to 7th...

Heh, the one thing Clavijo seemed to do well was identify players. He couldn't coach them worth a lick, but finding them was within his skill set. ... or maybe that was all Murphy?

Agreed. I think FC will actually do well as TD. Any one know what Murphy is up to. He had lots of potential IMO.