Sam responded to my question on if that number includes Gashi's salary by confirming none of the 8 players who are listed under 'team MLS' are included on their original team's numbers, even if (like Gashi) they're still counting against the team's cap. If you add them back in the Rapids go up to 13th or 14th in total salary.
Hmm...you've given me an idea. Perhaps we should get a cardboard cutout of Stan Kroenke naked (any photoshop will work) and put it in the locker room. Then, after every win, we put a piece of clothing back on.
Frantzdy Pierrot just led Haiti over Bermuda in the Gold Cup. He also had 10 goals in the Belgium top division this past season. A year and a half ago he was a second-round pick of the Rapids in the Superdraft, only to tell the team he wasn't coming to camp, he was headed to Europe. Meanwhile we signed Yannick Boli and Joe Mason instead of offering a better deal to Pierrot. They combined for 5 goals last season
So with no announcement yet and no announcement scheduled I'm thinking Fraser is not going to e our new manager. This was the perfect window to bring somebody in if you had a final candidate.
Really nice to see some of our youngsters noted: https://www.coloradorapids.com/post...0-homegrown-players-enjoying-breakout-seasons Sort of like the "Rapkids" movement a few years ago. Let's hope we don't lose the momentum when a new coach comes (like we did last time).
The RFO's silence is particularly interesting given their moneyball approach to team management. I know it's a bit different for a coach vs a player because they don't anticipate selling the coach, but it seems obvious their intent with Hudson was to get someone whose stock they hoped would be on the rise. In that regard, Casey's done his best to make it a difficult decision for the organization. If Casey, in his limited showing, has done enough to give the RFO pause, they must not have enough confidence in any of their other available prospects to rule him out.
You're assuming the pause is due to Casey's results and not any number of other possibilities though. It could be that negotiations fell through with their primary target or, if its Fraser as rumored, figuring out compensation to TFC threw a monkey wrench into things.
No proof, but my gut tells me the Rapids FO saw the fans' enthusiasm from Casey's results. Plus, boy is he cheap compared to the alternative. It makes sense they would hold off to get a bigger sample size.
Will be interesting to see if he can continue winning. If he is good enough to modify tactics as the league figures him out, then we are good. If he is a "one trick pony" and the way we play now is it, we are in for a losing streak once enough film is around. Either way, it seems the RFO is ok letting him give it a go and see which one he is. Not a bad position to be in! rod.
To some extent. Although, I think slowed rather than paused. It's certainly reasonable to assume PS wants Casey, but can't look past those bright, Mastroeni headlights in the Rapids' rear-view mirror. It's also safe to assume the Rapids would leverage Casey's rising stock in their negotiations to get someone like Fraser.
Casey played the game. Well. He had to adapt constantly-at game speed-to counter what defenses presented him. Putting the right players on the field and playing to their strengths goes a long way. Film doesn’t mean squat. Opponents will still have to execute against a now confident, well oiled machine.
Although we are absolutely better than under Hudson, I do not believe we are so good that every opponent can be simply over-run when at full strength and game planning for us. We should be a mid-table team, which Hudson completely missed. But not good enough to just line up and crush everyone. Maybe the weaker teams, or those not at full strength.
Well, the Rapids rumor mill seems to have dried up for the time being, and with the Gold Cup break upon us, I leave you with the following season stats projections. We are almost exactly half way through the season, so I wanted to come up with an idea of where we could be at the end of this year Rapids Goal Scorers Rapids top three goal scorers are currently: Kamara - 8 goals in 15 games If Kamara maintains his current pace of 0.53 goals per game, he should finish with 17-18 goals on the season - which would be a Rapids record. The most goals we've had scored by a player in a season was Mr. Casey himself when he scored 16 in 2009 Last time we had a double digit goal scorer was Deshorn Brown with an even 10 goals in both 2013 and 2014. Before that was Omar Cummings with 14 goals in 2010. Shinyashiki - 3 goals in 14 games While Shinyashiki isn't scoring as many goals per game as Kei (.2 goals per game) he is scoring a super impressive .62 goals per 90min and is getting some love over at MLS Soccer for a potential Rookie of the Year - https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/06/14/who-are-top-early-candidates-mls-rookie-year . If he maintains his pace per game he should finish with 7 goals on the year. If he starts AND maintains his pace per 90 (not likely, but hey, it's fun to talk about) he could project to finish with 14 goals Mezquida - 3 goals in 15 games Our "super sub" has really come alive these last few weeks off the bench. Were he to maintain this role, he too would finish with 7 goals on the season *projections are based on the assumption that these players play in each of our remaining games* Things of Note Last year our leading goal scorer in Burgundy was Badji who scored 7 goals before going off to Dallas. Tommy Smith was second with 4 goals. We currently have 6 players who are trending to beat Smiths tally - Kamara, Shinyashiki, Mezquida, Rubio, Smith, Lewis Jonathan Lewis is currently averaging an insane .74 goals per 90. If he were to play an entire season at that pace, that would project to 25 goals on the season. If he maintains that pace across the rest of the season and plays a full 90 in 14 of the 18 remaining games (who knows how many more he'll actually miss for the Gold Cup) then he could finish with 12 goals. If he maintains his per game pace of .5 goals per game with us, he would finish with 9 goals on the season Point Projections Rapids are currently averaging 0.94 points per game on the season. Were we to maintain this pace, we would finish with a paltry 32 points this season. However, we've been averaging 1.86 points per game. If we maintain this pace, we should finish 48-49 points on the season. In 2018, this would have put us around 12th or 13th in the supporters shield, and right on the playoff bubble line in the West In 2019, if the other teams in the league continue their current PPG pace this year, we would project to finish 11th in the league and 5th in the Western Conference If we regress to an average of the total PPG on the season and the PPG under Casey, we would take in 1.4 PPG in the remainder of our games. This would have us finish with 40 points on the season. In 2018, this would have put us in 17th place in the league, and outside of the playoffs by two spots in 2019, if other teams continue their current PPG pace, this would also put us in 17th in the league and outside of the playoffs by two spots Team Goal Stats The Rapids are currently operating with a total -9 goal differential on the season. Under Casey alone, we are working with a +3 goal differential. If we maintain that pace per game, we could finish with a +11 goal differential under Casey, and a +2 goal differential on the year. However, that's not as simple of a projection as it would seem.... On the entire Hudson/Casey season, we are averaging 1.56 GPG (goals per game) for and 2.13 GPG against Under Casey, the Rapids are averaging 1.86 GPG for and 1.42 GPG against. It's hard to project a before Casey / After Casey on GPG for and against, due to the on field mentality shift, the play-style change, and additions of key players like Abubakar and Lewis. Because of this I'll do the Goal stats based on us continuing the Casey GPG stats. Following our current GPG stats under Casey, the Rapids would finish with 58-59 goals on the year. This is a huge improvement over the 36 goals scored last year. We would also project to finish with 59-60 goals against us. Not great, but still an improvement on the 63 scored against us last year - and given the HUGE hole we found ourselves in after Hudson (-12 goal differential), I'd take a 0 to -1 goal differential on the season Wrap up Now, of course, all of these are just projections so it's hard to say that any of this will happen for sure. But it is nice to know that the Rapids are on pace to really show some serious improvement this year over the last coupe years. 2017 was really bad. 2018 was also really bad. This year, while we started really bad, we actually can salvage this ship and get back to a little more respectable position in the league. Of course, this makes 2020 even that more desirable of a year. We have things to look forward to both this year and next friends. Let's keep cheering on the Boys in Burgundy and hope we can again rise to contention with the best of them!!!
Vancouver Whitecaps vs Colorado Rapids BC Place (10PM ET) REF: Fotis Bazakos AR1: Brian Poeschel AR2: Matthew Nelson 4TH: Ramy Touchan VAR: Ricardo Salazar AVAR: Rene Parra
According to some in the Yanks Abroad forum the big boys in Belgium - Anderlecht, Club Brugge, and Standard Liege are on his trail. Pierrot is taller and more athletic version of Altidore. I think Jozy is of Haitian decent, too. Definitely not a finished product and has some areas to improve but the dude is a beast. It's sounded like Pierrot had his heart set on Europe but man he would have been nice to have. He would have counted as a domestic player, too. Hudson would not have had a clue how to use him . I assume CC would probably love his style. Hell, they are both hulking #9's. Little known fact... Pierrot was also a decently recruited HS basketball player. His basketball highlights are almost impressive as his soccer highlights.
Nice to see Sandhausen wish Andrew Wooten well as he heads to the United States to play in MLS. Without him, the club would have been relegated out of the 2.Bundesliga the past season - and probably at least one other season in his career. He was great for them. #USMNT https://t.co/WOhWLYwD1H— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) June 20, 2019 Andrew Wooten is coming to MLS, never realized he is 30 yo. Will Rapids try for him?
Reportedly the Fire are hottest on his trail. Philly has been rumored too but that might just be because of their TD's, Ernst Tanner, German connection. There's been some chatter the Fire have been shopping Nikolic to other MLS teams. Wooten won't be a DP but you could arguably get DP-like production out of him. He had a fantastic season but he's also been the model of consistency in the 2nd Bundesliga. A solid career in the 2nd Bundsliga. I'd love to have him here but....he's kinda a pseudo winger / forward much in the same vane as Jonathan Lewis.