Superdraft Roundup

A busy day for the Colorado Rapids. 6 draft picks and a trade brings a whole new crop of faces to the team. Matt Pickens was the big move, Colorado sent their 2nd round pick and allocation money (rumored to be 125K) to Chicago for their 2nd round pick and the rights to Matt Pickens. Pickens has been out of MLS for the last year playing in Europe. He played for a while with the QPR reserves and was rumored to move to Falkirk in Scotland but has reportedly signed with MLS and will be joining the Rapids.

The reason for the move is that, reportedly, the Rapids and Bouna Coundoul are expecting to part ways. Rumor has it that the Rapids offered Bouna Time! a six-figure salary, but Coundoul's agent is advising him he can do better in Europe. I think the better move is the contract he's been offered (Bird in the hand and all that) but I'm sure Bouna is still a bit unsettled after having been kept on the bench by Gary Smith. Personally I'm disappointed to see him leave as Bouna was one of my favorite Rapids players the last couple of years and I was looking forward to seeing him grow more next season. I guess my new jersey will have to have Cookie's name and number on the back.

After the trade for Pickens Colorado still had 6 picks in the SuperDraft. In order:
#28 - M/F Kwame Adjeman-Pamboe
#37 - GK Steward Ceus
#47 - F Ross Schunk
#51 - F Jordan Seabrook
#53 - D Henry Kalungi
#59 - D Michael Holody

The Rapids now have 33 players on their roster according to MLSnet. This includes Jose Burciaga and Bouna Coundoul, both of which are expected to be leaving the team. It doesn't include Mike Graczyk who Gary Smith mentioned in his interview with wewantrapidman had signed with the team. That leaves 31 or 32 players trying for 24 roster spots. That group includes up to 5 goalkeepers (Pickens, Ceus, Burpo, Hughes, and Graczyk) of which at best 3 might stay with the team, maybe only 2. Current players like Kwame Sarkodie, Cesar Zambrano, and Brian Grazier have to be concerned about their spot on the team.