Rapids trade Christian Gomez, regain their DP slot.

The news is starting to break that the long-rumored trade of Christian Gomez back to DC United has been finalized. Right now it appears the Rapids are sending Christian Gomez, goalkeeper Mike Graczyk, and an international spot to DC. They are also picking up an unannounced amount of Gomez's salary for 2009. In return the Rapids are getting their DP slot back, Ivan Guerrero (pictured), DC's 2nd Round pick next year, and salary cap considerations.

I'm guessing that the Rapids are picking up a large chunk of Gomez' salary, but that the "salary cap considerations" are DC picking up the actual hit of much of that on the salary cap, giving the Rapids the flexibility to use the DP slot. We had too many keepers, so losing Graczyk won't hurt us. According to MLSnet Omar Cummings and Guerrero appear to be our only international players on the roster right now (though the statuses of Ballouchy, Cooke, and Kimura seem to be unclear) so losing the international slot shouldn't hurt much.

Getting our DP slot back is a big step with a new coach. It gives Smith the flexibility to go out and find a player he needs. Guerrero will push Harvey and Clark on the left, and give us some cover in case of injury. A draft pick never hurts, but the draft is becoming less and less important every year.

Overall I think this is a decent to good recovery from the disastrous trade that brought Gomez here last spring. I'm not sure who gets the credit for this in the trio of Plush, Bravo, or Smith but given the job descriptions I think its Paul Bravo. Another good step for our new Technical Director.

UPDATE: The news of the Rapids getting salary cap considerations was mis-reported. Its DC who's getting the salary cap considerations, int he form of the rapids picking up some of Gomez' salary.