Every year I feel like I'm following a totally different Rapids team because of the number of new players. Is this just my perception or do we have more returning players this year? According to my count there are 16 returning players: Beckerman, Carrieri, Chung, Fraser, Garlick, Hart, Henderson, Herdsman, Jackson, Kingsley, Kotschau, Mastroeni, Shak, Spencer, Stewart and Trembly The only significant contributors that we seem to be missing are Kramer, Titus, & Valderamma. What do you guys think? Has there been less turnover this year than in the past?
definitely more returning. Hankinson is the only coach we've had who seems patient enough to let the team gel before turning over the roster. I think I'm more optimistic going into this season than any seasons past. anybody else?
Mooch only tore apart the roster once, in 1997 when he was first hired. Hankinson did the same thing when he first arrived. Of course, come October Mooch took the team to the MLS Cup and Hankinson took them to the golf course. The big difference between the two coaches that Hankinson has always been on a three-year plan for rebuilding the team from scratch, whereas Mooch was under the burden of recreating the miracle of 1997. Additionally, it is also worth noting that the league as a whole has done a much better job of locating players that will be around for multiple years (read: young, cheap players) as well as holding on to its stars. Under Hankinson, the Rapids haven't had any players whose preferences were to play elsewhere. The departures of Marquinho, Hahnemann, Bent, Dely Valdes, and Digiamarino had less to do with Mooch or Counce and more to do with the players (and/or their families) not wanting to be in MLS. Similarly, MLS would not pay for Patino's transfer (which was a reportedly exorbitant fee), Key retired due to multiple concussions, and Limpar hung it up because of multile groin/hammy strains. One area where Hankinson has massively improved over Mooch is with younger players, which happen to make up almost half of the 16 players listed by Worm Burner above. That said, there's also no question that Hankinson has benefitted from a much deeper talent pool than Mooch ever did. When you consider having a drastically different team every year, I think a lot of that is you're comparing the roster at the start of one year to the roster at the midseason point of another year. The team didn't really have massive changes between the end of 2001 and the start of 2002, but by midseason 2002 it looked very different. Likewise, I think that of the 16 returning players listed above, at least two will be gone by the time July 4th rolls around, and perhaps one or two more gone by the time the playoffs begin.
Maybe even sooner if it comes to pass that Hanki will have to get rid of someone to sign Rizo. Like Greenie said, it just seems that MLS is doing a much better job of getting players that actually want to be in MLS. All of the international players that came to the Rapids the first couple of years only lasted a season or maybe two before they were gone. It's still more of the same (Palacios, Dawes), but the Rapids have managed to keep Spencer for now year three and that is the longest tenure of senior internationals for the Rapids to date. I think.
Players Gone: Kotchau? Likely. Jackson? May stick if only because he can be thrown into a developmental slot for another year? Could Hart be on the bubble? I like his tenacity and work rate, but he could get caught up in a numbers game.
It depends on game to game situations what will happen with Hart, IMO. If Hanki thinks we need to be tighter on midfield defense he may get playing time and stay here. Personally I wouldn't mind a 5 member midfield with Hart and Kingsley trading off starts when we need to be more defense/offense oriented or split shifts between them as needed.
Funny? Kotchau gone, was that an attempt at humor? He's one of the best and most consistent markers in the league, no way he would be let go.
Re: Funny? I don't think he was trying to be funny. I think that right now, Ritchie would be the most logical guy to go if the Rapids had to release someone to make room for Rizo. All the other guys are younger and cheaper and Hanki is probably more likely to keep them. I'm not saying that Hanki should get rid of Ritchie. I like Ritchie and think he is pretty solid. But if someone has to go, I think it might be him.
Agreed, I think the only way Kotschau loses a place on this squad would be through a salary issue... and I don't think Hart is making anywhere near enough to be even considered for a cut. Some news reports have linked Jackson with a departure from the team, and to be honest I think he's looked a little sluggish in training compared to his peers. That said, I don't think any of us should be too comfortable just yet with certain players -- it wasn't too long ago that the Rapids were ready to trade away Stewart. Granted, that would have helped bring Wolff to the Rapids, but the point is that most of these guys could be heading elsewhere in a heartbeat if Hankinson feels a better deal is the result.
Hankinson did have some issues with Kotschau last year and benched him for several games. I don't know if Hankinson likes Kotschau or not (he coached him at Tampa and brought him over here so I assume he respects the guy) but he can unceremoniously dump players. Remember Titus? He played almost every game in the back. Of course he took up an international slot but Titus knew he was on the way out well before the last game. When they waived him, there was no thank you, no comment. If we have a bunch of cheaper players who can fill the slots, Kotschau could be cut or traded easily.
Hankinson also benched Stewart and Titus... hell, didn't he even bench Fraser once? I remember he at least up and blaned Robin for one of the losses. Of course, Hankinson was also the guy who brought Kotschau to the Rapids in the first place, and who had years of faith in him at Tampa. Hard to say, that's all.