On the heels of the worst season in club history (thanks Padraig!), it's time for the off-season thread again. I wrote the following to start off last year's thread Most of these questions are still valid, with only the one's about Padraig's (lack of) ability being definitively settled this past year. So, we can speculate over at the other questions at hand.
Concerning our roster, our need for changes is significantly greater than last year. In fact, most of the current group of players really shouldn't be given a chance to return next year. Many of them simply aren't good enough to play at this level and are often grossly overpaid for their "services". I'm circling back to a post in made in August to compare how things look now after a few months time and some coaching changes. I've changed my categories slightly. First 11 Quality Worth Keeping Keegan Rosenberry Andreas Maxsø Andrew Gutman Connor Ronan Cole Bassett (upgraded from a lower tier) Not First 11 Quality, But Could Still Contribute And Worth Keeping Marko Ilić Moïse Bombito (upgraded from a lower tier, could argue he belongs in the First 11 tier) Abraham Rodriguez (has upside to move up to another tier) Braian Galván (has upside to move up to another tier) Need More Time/Opportunities, But Probably Aren't Good Enough Now Darren Yapi Oliver Larraz Sebastian Anderson Daniel Chacón Yosuke Hanya Rémi Cabral (upgraded from a lower tier) Calvin Harris (upgraded from a lower tier) Players That Are Speculated/Implied to Be Leaving So It Doesn't Matter William Yarbrough Diego Rubio Jack Price Danny Wilson (good riddance, 3-4 years overdue) Steven Beitashour Not Good Enough to Play At This Level, Move On Jonathan Lewis (downgraded from a higher tier, I've seen enough) Lalas Abubakar (downgraded from a higher tier, I've seen enough) Rafael Navarro (downgraded, total bust of a mid-season acquisition and not worth the money) Sidnei Tavares (downgraded, total bust of a mid-season acquisition and not worth the money) Ralph Priso Sam Nicholson Aboubacar Keita Michael Edwards Marlon Vargas I Never Want to See This Person in a Rapids Kit Ever Again Kévin Cabral Max Danny Leyva Alex Gersbach Gustavo Vallecilla (Yes, I know he's on loan, but he's still technically ours) Overall, we really only have about 5 starters and 11 other guys that can potentially make positive contributions and arguably have earned a spot on the roster next year. Basically everyone else needs to go. This team needs to basically go out and buy at least 5-6 MLS quality starters for next year.
My list…… Keep Keegan Rosenberry Andreas Maxso Andrew Gutman Conor Ronan Cole Bassett Maybe Keep Jack Price (depends on health. If healthy, keep) Seb Anderson Daniel Chacon Moise Bombito Aboubacar Keita Michael Edwards Abe Rodriguez Trade Jonathan Lewis William Yarbrough Ralph Priso Braian Galvan Loan Returns Rafael Navarro Sidnei Tavares Danny Leyva Dump Marko Illic Sam Nicholson Marlon Vargas Diego Rubio (already said his goodbyes to the fans) Danny Wilson Darren Yapi (I hate this but I think it’s best) Oliver Larraz (I hate this but I think it’s best) Remi Cabral Yosoke Hanya Calvin Harris Alex Gersbach Luis Diaz Gustavo Vallecilla (or trade) Max
I know. It is harsh. I said I hated to but the two R2 games that I attended I was not impressed. Maybe he’s not fully 100% recovered from the leg… I don’t know. If he isn’t…. He can go in the “maybe” pile.
Thank you Colorado Rapids fans ❤️ me and my family have had the best 6 years. The support and love shown towards us from day 1 has been top class. Wish the lads all the success in the future ⚽️👊🏼 an honour and immense pride to captain this club for 4 years 🙏🏼❤️ cheers, Pricey 🤝— Jack Price (@jacko_8) October 22, 2023
That’s a gut punch I wasn’t quite expecting to get today. I know he’s been so injured these last two years, but man. When he was healthy he felt like the heart and soul of the team
Losing Jack hurts but we’ve not really had a full Price in two seasons. Love the guy. Forever a captain. The page is turning….
Instead of creating another list, I will just comment that Conor Ronan is a 18 player for me but not a starting XI unless he's filling in.
It occurred to me that we could promote the entire R-2 team up, and we'd likely have a better season than this year.....and it would be fun as a fan to be into the rebuild. Sure, we have people under contract, no coach, a completely dysfunctional front office that should be dumped, but is there anyone who wants to see more of the same two years from these guys? We won the West in 2021, how did our RFO manage to do this? Sigh. R
I'm actually higher on Ronan thank I think most people are. He's a good player, stuck on a bad team. Even with our absolutely abysmal offense, he still logged 1g/11a. We scored a total of 26 goals this year, which means he assisted on 11 out of 25 of the other goals. Thats 44% of our total goal output this year came off a Ronan assist. That is an absolutely insane number. By comparison, if you look at the top assisters in the league: Tiago Almada (ATL) - Assisted on 35% of the teams goals (not scored by him) on 19 assists Hector Herrera (HOU) - 36% on 17 assists. Carles Gil (NE) - 32% on 15 assists Luciano Acosta (CIN) - 35% on 14 assists Eduard Lowen (STL) - 25% on 14 assists Each of those five teams all scored 50+ goals too. Ronan outpaced each of them in terms of raw percentages. IF Ronan kept his 44% pace across a full season, and we scored say 46 goals (our 2022 tally), he would've been on pace for approximately 19 assists. If we matched our 2021 tally, he would've been at/around 21/22 assists. His set piece delivery is also really solid. What he is not......He is NOT a 6/DM as his FBREF report clearly shows: And Fraser popped him in that position a lot this year (out of necessity sometimes) which I think hurt his overall stats for the year, but in my book, he passes the eye test and his numbers look good too. In terms of what he brought to absolutely putrid offense, he was tops in the league for raw production per 90 numbers, and if you focus it down more on percentages, it's even more stark how important he was Unfortunately, our team play as a whole was abysmal - which drags him (and others) down below what they are truly capable of. Ronan is shaping up to be a fantastic piece to build around in the middle of the field.
My concern is just that, you really have to build your midfield around Ronan if you're going to use him correctly and I'm not yet fully convinced he's worth that effort. You're right, he was a good piece on a bad team, but can he be a player who's worth adjusting a midfield for on a good-to-great MLS team or are we going to end up having built a midfield to support a guy who's just OK at MLS level? Both are possible and it feels like 50/50 on which way it will go.
Another guy I'm really high on is Rafael Navarro. (yes, you can throw your tomatoes at me now....) I know he didn't produce jaw dropping goal scoring numbers. But its hard to produce numbers when you have guys like Lewis skying every ball they get instead of putting it in the mixer, or you have guys like Cabral who literally dribble the ball past the end line. If we look down at the raw per 90 numbers: He's actually really not that bad. His defensive work and off the ball work is fantastic. He's also - in a per 90 basis - one of the best at take-ons (dribbling past opponents). In terms of eye test, he's good at hold up play, and is not afraid of making unselfish runs all game long. The service into him was often bad (see above with Cabral/Lewis), which is why is final goal scoring is low, but I think he's also a piece to build around. I put him in a similar box as another 23 year old striker - Leo Campana for Miami. If you watched any Miami this year, their offense was immensely more dangerous with Campana on than Martinez. Campana made their team look more complete with him on the field. And his FBref is very similar to Navarro's: They both like the off the ball work. Campana obviously scored more goals (Miami picked up a few important pieces this summer, you may have heard), but the playstyles between Campana and Navarro are similar. Again, we're only 10 games into the guy, and he joined the wooden spoon contender - but I like what I see with him also. He's got the makeup of a player you can build around. And going into 2024? We need players we can build around. Plain and simple. Is Navarro worth 5mil? No. I don't think so. At least not on this team. Based on what I've seen I think you if put Navarro on Miami, then he puts up just as much production as Campana does, if not more. Campana cost Miami something like $3mil a year ago after being on loan for a year with the team
Well, we signed him on a four year + additional team option year.....so I think you build around him and Bassett. It's clear Padraig wants to run a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 or something along those lines. No sense trying to square peg / round hole when your GM is hell bent on having the team play a certain shape / way. We saw how well that worked with Fraser as of late. You gotta play the hand you've been dealt, and we've been dealt Padraig Smith (oooooooffffffff). So, you build around Bassett and Ronan in the middle. Which means you bring in an all around bossing 6 to complete the trio. Get yourself a young version of a guy like Ilie Sanchez or Dax McCarty or Diego Chara underneath Ronan and Bassett. These are the pieces we have, and these are the pieces we need to build around. Otherwise you're starting at ground zero - again. Our outfielder spine for the future is looking like: Maxso Ronan/Bassett Navarro (if we pull the trigger) That's not horrible if you bring the right pieces around them. We've gotten Gutman, which is great. And I believe we have a club option for 2024 for him. And we've got Mr. Consistency himself Keegan Rosenberry through 2024 with an option for 2025. Then Bombito looks poised to be the future of CB for us. Not an earth shattering back four, but again, we're a KSE owned team with Padraig Smith at the helm. It's what we've got - and that group can quite often punch above their weight class - especially with what Gutman brings. Our wingers? We went from maybe the deepest and best winger group in the league to now quite possibly the worst. Guys like Galvan (sadly) and Lewis are great trade bait. This offseason, if Padraig has any soccer IQ left in his brain - we have a very clear path for acquisitions. HIRE A COACH. Little is a great guy and all, but he's not the coach of the future. Re-sign important depth pieces who are on club option / out of contract Guys like Rodriguez, Harris, Anderson, Larraz, and Priso are all on club options, so you gotta pick who you want to keep around based on who you're shopping for Spend money on a true #6. Cut Cabral (or deal him if you can - even at a loss at this point, we need that contract off the books). Own the mistake in trading for him. His cap space, and international roster designation are way too costly for us to hold. Move some wingers out on trade and recoup some money, and sign some wingers. There's plenty of them available. That's it. That's all you've gotta do.
The #6 and the wingers are key this offseason. And deciding if Navarro is our #9 or not. There's a passably good enough starting defense on this team, especially if they get a good #6 in front of them, so focus on depth there not starters.
Agreed. I wish GK was included. Yarbrough is all but gone. Illic is the guy but I’m not convinced. I’m on the record saying a #6 is the biggest priory if Navarro is purchased. If he’s not purchased, a #9 moves to the top priority. It’s asking a lot and they don’t grow on trees but we need a 6 that not only covers a lot of ground / is the perfect blanket in front of the defense but also a guy comfortable in possession and it looking to progress the ball forward into the attacking third. He has to be that transition piece. He has to be more than a defensive shield.
Lewis to join the departing crew: Burgundy Wave has it on good authority that Jonathan Lewis will not be returning to Colorado Rapids. Likely to move to an Eastern Conference MLS team.— Burgundy Wave (@Burgundywave) October 23, 2023 Lewis is under contract for 2024, so we would need to trade him or buy him out. Assuming we could get Lewis' full salary off the books, along with Rubio and Price that's $1.8M in base salary cleared up. All but about $70K of it directly against the cap (Price was slightly over max base salary and had to be bought down/DPed).
Well, based on the fact that we’re 28th out of 29 in discretionary spending on DPs: Discretionary DP spend (transfer fee + salary):1. Inter Miami, $27.3m2. Atlanta United, $27.2m3. Chicago Fire, $23.7mT-4. LA Galaxy, $23.1mT-4. Toronto FC, $23.1m...26. Philadelphia, $7.9m27. St. Louis City, $6.7m28. Colorado Rapids, $4.4m29. CF Montreal, $1.8m https://t.co/tla2d2Xkbq— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) October 27, 2023 I guess we can be proud that our DPs met their ‘spending rank’ in some areas (G+ and Assists) and outhit their weight class in others (Minutes and Goals)? Yikes. Pitiful numbers to look at all around tho I say. Especially when you consider that even though we are 28th in DP spend, we are also 20th in terms of total salary spend. Which means, overall, we’re spending our money poorly. We were one of 2 teams in the bottom ten salary spends to not make playoffs. There were 8(!!!) teams spending less than us on salaries who made the playoffs. Source: Those 8 teams include FSL, Cincy (top of the east) and St Louis (top of the west). So for a club that touts fiscal responsibility and spending well, we’re getting completely out worked by other teams who are succeeding rather nicely and spending less than us on salaries. #PadraigOut