The Keepers: Bouna Coundoul (33,000) - An upward re-evaluation of his salary is in order. Bouna's a solid shot blocker who started the season with strong play. His walk abouts are over-stated resulting in more fear than actual punishment. I don't know what happened upon his return from Senegal, but it certainly had a negative influence on his play. The Rapids should retain him, keep him as the number one, and keep his confidence up. Preston Burpo (55,168) - At 55k, Preston's a journeyman backup with journeyman potential. Keep him. Justin Hughes (12,900) - No idea. Coming off a season of injury, I'd hold out for another year to see what he's got. The Defenders: Kosuke Kimura (17,700) - I'm a Kosuke fan. Kimura played solid defense, pushed into the offense as well as any of our long list of right backs ever have. He's a keeper and starter, who has good upside. Ugo Ihemelu (60,500) - Ugo's a solid squad player that can be a good back up for everything on the back line. Stephen Keel (33,000) - Keep him. He's a good back, and still has a very good upside. Jordan Harvey (17,700) - Jordan plays a good all around game for at left back. He got burned a few times, but not so often as to stand out from the rest of the defense. He provided good support and work with Clark on the left side. Facundo Erpen (125,000) - At $125,000 he's more expensive than younger players who are his equal. I question keeping him. Jose Burciaga (82,500) - Dump him. Not solid on defense, and not a midfielder. He excels at pushing in behind the mid in open space, but the rest of the game he's a hazard. Cory Gibbs (103,000) - I expect Cory will be back next year. I thought his first couple of games with the Rapids showed real class, and then he hit the wall in New York. I suspect a full pre-season will set us up with him as the key to the back line. Mike Petke (133,000) - Retiring. He had a lousy 2006. Came back and had a great 2007 and finished off 2008 in respectable fashion. I wish him luck in his future career. We under value our own, as in MLS lifers, he had a solid career. Tim Ward (54,620) - Dunno. Cesar Zambrano (12,900) - Wish I'd gone to a reserve game this year. The Midfielders: Pablo Mastroeni (318,000) - Gone to Europe. Christian Gomez (430,000) SI - Do we keep him? Do we have a choice. Does he have the ability to influence games the way he did in DC? Is it the coach or is he just past it? Nick LaBrocca (12,900) - My god what a bargain. People will comment that Nick isn't talented enough. He doesn't dazzle. He does have a great engine, supports his teammates well on both sides of the ball, and even pops up with a goal now and then. I'm not ready to anoint him as Mastro's replacement. To me it's a matter of pairings in the middle. The right partnership could be wonderful. The wrong kind and we'll get run over. John DiRaimondo (17,700) - In early 2007 I watched a finishing drill at a practice. Of all the the players participating DiRai was the most accurate by far. It then surprised me to see him playing midfield on the top squad. He sort of dropped off the map due to an injury. Can he and LaBrocca form a central midfield partnership that's aggressive on both sides of the ball? Terry Cooke (172,500) SI - Still a very good assist man. Not much of a goal threat. His defensive stops are noticeable as good hustle plays from a player who doesn't make them often. Cooke's worth the money and risk of another season owing to the fact that it will provide some stability. I don't know what the future beyond that will bring. Colin Clark (33,000) - Still gets silly comments about his youth. The team would have been much poorer without his pace, his five goals, and the defensive support he put in. Too often I find our opponents threads have more praise for him than Rapids fans are willing to give. He deserves a raise. Mehdi Ballouchy (93,000) SI - I gave him high praise for his game against NYRB, which was a terrific performance. Can he do it again? Can he do it game in and game out? I'm not sold on Mehdi, he's got good ball control, but he doesn't get stuck in, doesn't have much of an engine, and doesn't seem to have a quick enough read to pick apart defenses. He still strikes me as a tweener, the position I hate the most, who isn't quite a forward or quite a midfielder. Greg Dalby (33,000) - I have no impression of him. Ciaran O'Brien (78,750) - What'd we see of him? Ten minutes. As a GA guy he's worth keeping for backup next year. Nico Colaluca (103,000) - I'm surprised that Nico never even got a sniff the year. His fortunes appear to be elsewhere. From what I've seen he'll have a career in MLS, but this team doesn't seem to be his best opportunity. Kwame Sarkodie (Peanuts) - Dunno Brian Grazier (Peanuts) - Dunno The Forwards Conor Casey (190,008) - I didn't like Conor Casey all season until Smith took over. Big, slow, and couldn't hit the broad side of the barn was my estimation of him. He finished the season with 11 goals though, and we haven't seen that in a while. $190k seems like a lot of money, but if he can produce 15 - 20 goals it'll be worth it. Omar Cummings (33,000) - 6 goals and 4 assists on the season. Omar seems like a guy who's just begging to turn the corner. At his price he's worth it. But, as an SI? Jacob Peterson (93,750) - A lot of fans are down on Jacob. Usually it's based on his playing rather than Cooke. I started the year thinking he'd be the future at right mid, playing with more energy than Cooke and providing a back post target for Clark. Alas it didn't happen. He's not worth the price without the GA consideration. Tom McManus (140,462) SI - Tom was often injured. His injuries seemed to be a reflection of his no holds barred play. I don't know if he's worth the price or the SI slot. In a full season would he get us 10 plus goals? That's the roster right now I reckon we'll say goodbye to Pablo, Petke, and maybe Gomez. For their price I wouldn't mind adding Erpen and Burciaga to the bye-bye list. The next coach is going to have a lot of salary to work with, which is good because some big holes need to be filled. Two areas of question are the Generation Adidas guys and the SI guys. Right now I'd say the core of the team for next year has to be: Bouna, Koz, Gibbs, Harvey, Cooke, LaBrocca, Clark, and Casey. That means we either need to find players or players need to step up to fill the center back, center mid, and striker positions. Does that seem like a familiar state of affairs?
Props to Deron for the write up. FYI, MLS has done away with SI spots. There are just international slots now which can be traded.
Thanks, It's too much to keep track of. That's what we have JasonMa for, but you did a good fill in for this one.
Ruthless it shall be! Firstly, being repped by the FO is a shame. They have rarely being right about anything. Indeed, they are the problem. Moreover, your assessment caught me totally dumbfounded. I hadn't realized what great talent filled the Rapids roster. It is surprising that they only won the booby prize for the season. IMO, your effort was laudable but your assessment was either naive or lousy. Either my assessment or my standard differs from yours markedly. It is likely that Mastroeni will be departing. Petke is retiring. Gibbs was mediocre. C. Gomez could not get off the pine under Smith. Our defenders are shambolic. Erpen & Burciaga are pathetic. Burpo is not MLS quality. Condoul is a good shot stopper but not a good goalkeeper. IMO, we have 6 solid players: Mastroeni, C. Gomez, Clark, Cooke, LaBrocca & Casey, one of whom is departing and one is gathering splinters. Add another 3 unproven but promising players: DiRaimondo, Harvey & Kimura to the mix and the Rapids are left with 7 - 9 players for 11 1st choice spots. The Rapids solution will not be found on the current roster nor with the current FO!
Well the title was a conscious invitation to invite your opinion Marx. Once you got through your bloviating your views really didn't differ that much from my opinion but for three players: Gibbs, Gomez, and Bouna. Gibbs is a good center back. He came in out of season, and out of shape. Played two really good games. One average one, and then hit the wall in NY. He'll be good for the Rapids if he can stay healthy, which has been the challenge throughout his career. So we disagree on him. I might be naive there and projecting my hopes we'll see. Gomez is done. He showed a few flashes with the Rapids, and exactly one game where he was really on. Other than that he failed to put his stamp on the majority of games he was in. He was great with DC, but that matters little to the Rapids. We disagree on him, I think you're naive there. Bouna's a better keeper than you give him credit for. He was fourth in the league in GAA average, and fourth in blocked shots percentage. As for the ones you want to dump. I don't think I gave you any argument. Burciaga, Erpen definitely should be gone. Burpo's a suitable backup, but not starter. Peterson, Colaluca, Omar, Mehdi, and McManus are all decent squad players, but are hampered by their International or Generation Adidas status. 8 players that can start is where I come out at the moment: --------Bouna Kosuke - Gibbs - ?? - Harvey Cooke - LaBrocca - ? - Clark ------Casey -- ? That's three major positions that we need help in. Fortunately, Gomez, Petke, and Pablo appear willing to give us the cash to fill them.
Excellent post deron. Thouroughly thought out, logical and critical. Rep on the way. I think one of the major things we all tend to forget is the constricting effect of the salary cap in MLS. Bouna, for example, may not be a world class keeper but he is CERTAINLY MLS caliber and does bring a lot to the pitch. When you consider the cost-to-benefit ratio of a keeper like Bouna (even considering the inevitable and deserved raise he should get this offseason) it makes perfect sense to keep him in goal. The money saved on him can go a long way toward improving other parts of the starting XI. The only started I have concerns about is Harvey. I think he has a very low ceiling. He is certainly serviceable but I can't believe there are not better options out there for a moderate increase in salary. It will be very interesting to see what happens with Gomez. Isn't his contract guaranteed? If so, he's here to stay and I can only hope the next manager can get the most out of him - or the FO can get something decent in a trade (maybe a quality left back or center back???). With Petke retiring, Pablo moving on to Europe and the Rapids hopefully dumping Erpen and Burciaga we will have some moolah to spend on upgrades. As you've pointed out, Deron, it won't take many upgrades to make us a contender. Darnit, I guess I'm excited for the future all over again!
This seems like a good starting point for looking at next year's lineup. Looking at the money that could be freed up, we should be able to fill at least 2 of those spots with new signings. I'm really hoping that we can get an above average player with Gomez trade. He still has something to offer, but not to the Rapids. I can't imagine he will have any motivation next year after being benched the last month or so of the season.
bloviating - Are you a member of the Bill O'reilly school of vocabulary? Did you not consider your original post as bloviating? Isn't bloviating what Bigsoccer posters do? Nevertheless, I enjoy the reparte' particularly when it is backed up by reasoned opinion such as yours. From reading your initial post, I assumed that you assigned some quality to many more than 8 players, Burpo, Ihemelu, Keel, Ballouchy, indeed, almost the entire roster. Let's consider the disagreements. Gibbs as you state his injuries have damaged his career. In 2008, he was very ordinary or worse. Does he still have it? Will he prove himself as a Rapid? Only time will tell but as a Rapid he was stale! Gomez - I consider the possiblilty that he is done. The fact that DC was anxious to move hime on speaks to this conclusion. But, until he gets on the pitch we do not know. His practice performance and attitude is an immature reason for benching one who could have been ones best player. Prima donas can be identified thruout the soccer world usually coaches have the maturity to deal with them more effectively. Condoul - IMO, he is exactly the quality I think he is. I acknowledge his good shot stopping ability. It takes more to be a good goalkeeper. Having a positive tactical presence in the box, organizing a defense and understanding angles are all critical GK responsibilities. He falls short in these important areas. "Squad Players" - If you mean bench players I will agree on some. Cummings & McManus maybe, but do you want Internationals to be bench players? Ballouchy maybe, but seems timid. Never stood out with Rapids. Peterson No. All speed no technique nor tactical awareness. Colaluca and all others rerserve players are mysterious to me. But my question is why have none seen 1st team duty. It is not as if the Rapids are talent ladened. While I have reservation with Kosuke, Harvey & DiRaimondo, I acknowledge their possibilities. Finally, while not in unison on their names, we agree the Rapids have 8 (7-9) players we would comfortable putting on the pitch. However, that leaves 3 1st choice players short and 3/4 short on the bench! The next coach has lotsa work to do and without a fresh, enlightened FO he will be seriously hampered! BTW, thanks for the invitation. Hopefully, all posts are an invitation for discussion.
Four players I think could be important next year: Omar - despite his shortcomings he had a decent year. Let's remember this was his first MLS experience other than a few short minutes in 2007. He seemed to improve once Smith took over. No reason to think he won't keep improving next year. I'd be OK with him starting, certainly would be very excited about him as a come off the bench for a change of place player. Ugo- everyone seems to forget that two different national teams (U.S. and Canada) wanted him in their camps. Know any other defenders available with that on their resume? I'd have to believe Bob Bradley is a better judge of defenders than any of us. Dalby - the forgotten man. But he was highly touted coming out of college, wasted a year floating around Europe (and unfortunately for him turned down a high paying GA spot). Looked pretty promising the few times I saw him play (against Everton for example). He's the type of player a Coach Smith might like in the middle. Gibbs- had barely played in 1 1/2 years when he joined the Rapids. Great credentials. Looked both good and bad at times. If he's healthy he'll be a solid starter and with lots to play for as he tries to prove he's ready to go back to Europe and get another look from the Nats.
I'll have to rely on Bonji, and others who follow these guys more closely, but I have this vague idea that many people projected Dalby to ultimately be a central defender. Did he play there some with the U-20 team?
And a better keeper than Smith gives him credit for? It was Smith who benched Bouna and kept him there as long as he did...not anybody in here. . The higher you rate Bouna...then presumably the worse it makes Smith look as a coach and the more critical you should be of the decision. Deron, tell me something. You obviously rate Bouna as much the better keeper, right? So do you think it was a decision - i.e. having Burpo in goal for that stretch of games - that may have cost us the playoffs?
I consider the handling of Bouna and Gomez one of the two black marks on Smith's record in his 10 games as interim (The other was his habit of defending a 1 goal lead instead of going for the jugular). Since with the Guppy press release from the Rhinos all signs point to Smith as the head coach, we shouldn't consider Bouna as one of the 7-9 players we can count on. My money is that he uses his contacts in France to move over there and find someplace where he comes in as the #1, not having to fight off Preston #$@#@ Burpo for a starting spot.
Hahaha. Nice. But I think Bouna will stay, he is a solid keeper. Yes GS made a mistake on the fact that he didn't play him. But we all make mistakes and cannot judge a coach, especially intrim on how he handled players. We have to look at the big picture of next year. If Bouna does leave, we HAVE to find another keeper that isn't named Burpo, and Thornton. =/
I have a different read. You can decide if I'm off base, but this is how I saw the Bouna situation. Bouna played well in the beginning of the season, and got a call up for Senegal. Clavijo was not very happy about the call up, and criticized Bouna for not calling home before curfew. When he got back he had a run of bad form. My sense was that he ran into a buzz saw with Clavijo or had a very negative experience in Senegal. Bouna then had a second call up, which was another distraction. That's the Bouna, Smith inherited. Burpo filled in until he had two bad games, Smith then went back to Bouna. Maybe Bouna just wasn't up to dealing with the call ups, or the Rapids really messed with him about it. In any case Bouna's troubles all seemed to stem from his first trip to Africa.
Um Teddy? Why not? Isn't 50% of a coaching job handling players and making the right choices in lineups?
Yes, but lets face it. We had such a medicore team anyway. And as fans we love to see "fan favorites" playing. But maybe Gary saw something different, maybe Gomez was sick of this team, or Bouna didn't feel comfortable. Who knows! But Im not going to judge two roster choices that as fans we can criticize and complain about. Remember its the BIG picture, and not based off of those two...
Quote from post #59: [quote = ChrisSSBB]The Everton Strength and Conditiong Coach broke down the personalities and characteristics of different players he came across into: Genius, Speed, Power, Mental Toughness, Endurance, Agility, Strength, and Mongrel (player who does the dirty work). There are S&C plans for each player. [/quote] I thought this was an interesting break down of a team, and wondered where people think our players fall as a matter of primary traits. I also wonder if some players mis-categorize themselves or are mis-categorized by the staff. Are there faux-genius players, for instance? All the categories have positive connotations, but even a genius player may not be really up to snuff, it seems like that's just the trait they try to rely on. Genius: Christian Gomez, Mehdi Ballouchy, Terry Cooke, Gibbs Speed: Peterson, Ugo, Power: Pablo Mastroeni, Mental Toughness: Petke Endurance: Kimura Agility: Omar, Clark Strength: Conor Casey, Mongrel: Nick LaBrocca, Jordan Harvey, McManus, Erpen It strikes me that many players fall into more than one category, and it's tough to decide which the dominant one should be. It seems to me that every team needs a mix of these types, but I don't know what the proper mix is. I tend to think the team is missing players that excel in the mental toughness area. Our "genius" players consist of two aging players, a young guy who would be better if his dominant trait were mental toughness, and a defender that relies more on solid positioning than raw athleticism. If I were to upgrade the squad I'd want to find a genius to replace Mehdi, and a real mentally tough guy to lead the squad.
* bump * A lot has happened since we last looked at 09 roster possibilities including: Reserves being dismantled, Pablo coming back, Petke leaving, etc. My predicted starting lineup: ------------Bouna Kimura - Gibbs - Ugo - Harvey Cooke - LaBrocca - Mastro - Clark ------Casey – Cummings Backups Goal: Hughes, Burpo D: Erpen, Keel Mid: Dalby, C. Gomez, Peterson, DiRaimando, Ballouchy, C. O’Brian F: McManus I definitely see the Rapids needing a quality center back, then cutting either Ugo or Erpen. We could use a quality forward to compliment Casey as well. Then there is the $400k question of what to do with C. Gomez.
lol. Good point. I can see it being competitive week in & week out, but Smith will have to pull a miracle for any hardware. We'll see what type of talent he pulls in during the offseason. I am curious to find out exactly what his 'type' of player is.
Nope. Hesmer Hejduk - Marshall - O'Rourke - Padula Gaven - Carroll - Evans - Rogers Casey - Moreno I don't see that one winning either.
I don't see our lineup winning the cup, but I also don't see the Crew's lineup without Schelotto winning it either. I reckon the Crew's lineup without Schelotto is a headache to the ultimate winner, but that's about all. The Rapids lineup posted is the same boat, a headache to the ultimate winner... How do the players really stack up? Hesmer v. Bouna? Hejduk v. Kimura? Marshall v. Gibbs? O'Rourke v. Ugo ? Padula v. Harvey? Gaven v. Cooke? Carroll v. Mastro? Evans v. LaBrocca? Rogers v. Clark? Schelotto and Moreno v. Omar and Casey? In general I give the edge to the Crew, but no by much. The glaring difference is Schelotto. I've been reluctant to give Sigi to much credit. His fate seemed to turn with the arrival of Schelotto, which occurred after NE failed to sign him. What luck!? But, I do have to give him credit for getting the most out of several players. He won the cup with two rookies in key spots where the Rapids, and many of its fans, would have likely started an older player citing experience.