[Jasonma]

We started this in the other thread but it seemed like something that deserves its own thread. What should the off-season player movement look like? A couple of notes:

*Burpo is the only Rapids player completely out of contract
*Most MLS contracts are not guaranteed from year-to-year so most players can be cut with no penalty (Like Cooke was). My guess is that the only Rapid with a guaranteed contract is Pablo.
*There's an unwritten rule that players on IR aren't cut until they are healthy again. Since players that are put on IR don't count against the roster cap they are allowed to heal before any moves are made. If anyone remembers Matt Crawford a few years ago, we didn't cut him until he was healthy.

Given that, here's my opinion:

Keep as the core for next year:
Casey - Yeah, he's a poacher, but he's the best striker we have
Cummings - Team MVP
Clark - Most reports are that athletes don't return to their prior level from an ACL tear for a year, so we won't get the full Clark until the latter half of 2010. Still he's the best young player we have.
Pablo - Yeah, he had an idiotic head-hunting moment this year, still I think he's playing better for the Rapids than he was a few years ago. Plus I'm guessing he has a guaranteed contract and/or a no-trade clause
Baudet - Seemed to settle the defense down when he got here

Keep unless a too-good-to-pass-up trade is offered:
LaBrocca - He's a good box-to-box midfielder. I'm not sure where he fits though of the Rapids go get a good #10
Kimura - I know that I'm the lone member of the Kimura fan club it seems, but I think he brings more to the team than most people see

Players that fill in the pieces but could be upgraded:
Harvey - Good MLS role-player but needs to take the next step, or be replaced
Moor - Another defender with potential, and we need some of those
Palguta - See Moor
Pickens - Best GK we have, but never wowed me this season

Evaluate after recovery from injury:
Peterson - I think his time is up IMO, but he'll stay ont he roster on IR until he's ready to play
Smith - If he still has whatever GS saw in him after the injury he should be kept. We saw some glimpses of what he could do but he never had a chance to gel with the team

Cut:
Ballouchy - 2 good touches a game do not make up for 10 bad ones
Dalby - He's brought nothing to this team
Gibbs - Overpaid and underperforms. Baudet can do his job
Harden - Moor and Palguta have taken his slot
Noonan - Apparently left his game in Scandinavia

Do not re-sign:
Burpo - Either Ceus is ready to step up to the backup role or we can find a better younger backup

Incomplete/Not enough playing time to judge:
Ceus - I'm hopeful his time in USL-2 has gotten him ready to be the backup next year
Diz - I haven't been impressed, but he only got less than 100 minutes of playing time
Holody - Showed a litte spark, I'd lean towards keeping him
O'Brien - I'm guessing his time is up once his GA contract expires
Schunk - No idea
Valentino - Ditto

[fortcollins]

Originally Posted by Jasonma

Keep unless a too-good-to-pass-up trade is offered:
Kimura - I know that I'm the lone member of the Kimura fan club it seems, but I think he brings more to the team than most people see.

You aren't the lone member of his fan club. He showed tremendous improvement during this season. In the early games, he was timid and favored passes back to safety. By season's end he was an active part of the attack. Young speedy players with potential are valuable, especially on a real pitch at altitude.

Originally Posted by Jasonma

Evaluate after recovery from injury:
Peterson - I think his time is up IMO, but he'll stay on he roster on IR until he's ready to play.

Here's where I feel like the lone member of a fan club at times. Jacob has many of the same attributes as Kimura - speed, agility and potential. Depending on trades and the Super Draft and his ACL recovery, I see Jacob developing as a role player providing spark off the bench on the road or starting at home, to take advantage of his speed at altitude.

Originally Posted by Jasonma

Incomplete/Not enough playing time to judge:
Holody - Showed a little spark, I'd lean towards keeping him

Holody impressed me during his brief appearances. Could the Rapids at least offer him a salary that competes with part time work??? (The MLS Players Union lists his 2009 salary at $20,100.)

[FutbolCrazy]

Just clean house and start over. Honestly, the only Rapid worth keeping is Cummings.

Next year, another expansion team will just come in and, of course, kick the Crapids collective butts.

The top to bottom incompetence in the franchise has never changed. Kroenke needs to just go whole hog on the Arsenal thing and sell. The Denver sports fan doesn't need this team anyway. Folks around here just do not support a loser.

[RapidStorm]

Originally Posted by fortcollins

Holody impressed me during his brief appearances. Could the Rapids at least offer him a salary that competes with part time work??? (The MLS Players Union lists his 2009 salary at $20,100.)

You must not be feeling the pinch of the economy at the moment, but from where I come from, $20,100 is damned good for part-time work in this climate.

[GoRapids]

Originally Posted by FutbolCrazy

Folks around here just do not support a loser.

you're right I can't think of one person that likes you

[Jasonma]

Originally Posted by GoRapids

you're right I can't think of one person that likes you

Repped

[Quinn 33]

Originally Posted by gorapids

you're right i can't think of one person that likes you

Zing!

[spaceman333]

Gary Smith and the 442. The formation, not the Oldsmobile.

Credit to the man, he built a team that could do that very well but nothing else it seems. In retrospect it would have been nice to have a Terry Cooke on the bench as well for that 442 alongside the defenders stacked like firewood; or even dreamier and misty eyed, a Christian Gomez with Pablo and Nick either side him in a 433, or 351. Or anything other than whatever it was that just dragged itself off the field to the dustbin of history. When we lost our (quality) wide play, our season was over, we just didn't know it. We could not adapt for whatever reasons. We had seven games to hash it all out, rearrange the chairs and try anything to get the win, but nada. Here we are, no cups, no exciting international play, no nothing. Just holding our fuzzy nuts.

Like another poster stated, this club or at least this coach need to figure out exactly what our on field identity is and ruthlessly cull the weak and the useless. The GS442 has my vote, but add depth where it matters, not only along defensive and mascot lines alone. Everything to suit the purpose.
We look like retards with Noonan "barreling" up the right like a hotdog cart pushed along by a gentle breeze. He doesn't belong there. And Harvey is a decent left back, but he couldn't and shouldn't push up past midfield more than about three times a game because he cannot get by defenders, asking him to do that makes us a poorer team. Get players this off season that can perform the tasks you are potentially going to ask them to perform. Unload ones that can't. I think players such as KK and Jake have a place as all-rounders, every team needs those.

blah!

[RapidStorm]

Originally Posted by spaceman333

or even dreamier and misty eyed, a Christian Gomez with Pablo and Nick either side him in a 433, or 352.

That reminds me: Christian finished with 6 goals (2 PKs) and 4 assists on the season. He finished with 3 goals (2 PKs) and 6 assists last year. Mehdi finished with 2 goals (1 PK) and 7 assists on the season.

Completely different system to be sure, and considering the way Gomez's relations with the Rapids deteriorated by the end of last year it would have been impossible, but it would have been nice to have him out there last night. At least when you consider the ideas (or lack thereof) Mehdi brought to the table.

That's the fun of the early-starting offseason - irrational what-if speculation.

[Quinn 33]

Here is my revised list according to the expansion draft. The injured players are automatically protected and the team naturally has to take a "wait and see" approach to them. That said there are only three internationals to protect, leaving one additional spot vacant.

Keep in mind that just because a player is protected, doesn't mean that we can't get rid of them. It means they hold enough value where it would be a waste for us to give them away for free.

Protected Players via IR:
1. Smith
2. Peterson
3. Clark

Protected Internationals (limit 4):
1. Cummings
2. Baudet
3. Kimura
4. -spot vacant-

Protected Players (limit 7):
1. Casey
2. LaBrocca
3. Mastroeni
4. Palguta
5. Pickens
6. Moor
7. -anybody else thats not on the list below-

Players to get rid of at the first chance:
1. Ballouchy
2. Dalby
3. Gibbs
4. Noonan

Just think of how much cap space dumping those 4 would get us (its gotta be like at least $400k right?). That would raise enough cash to buy some good players that are actually worth the money. That alone is enough reason to do it.