Not Roster Compliance Day

Today was scheduled to be the roster compliance day for MLS teams, but due to the ongoing CBA negotiations the league has delayed the date to sometime in the upcoming few weeks. Besides that being a rather disappointing take on the status of the talks it happens to correspond to some comments by Gary Smith where he said he'd like to take about 24 players to London next week. I figured that with these two events it would be a good idea to evaluate our camp and who's likely to make the cut for the London trip.

Now Smith could decide to take a couple of fringe guys, especially if there are guys who are locks for a roster spot that won't make the trip due to injury (Colin Clark and Jeff Larentowicz being obvious examples). I'm going to work form the premise of picking a final 24 though and see where that leaves us.

Locks:
Conor Casey
Colin Clark
Omar Cummings
Jeff Larentowicz
Pablo Mastroeni
Matt Pickens

I can't conceive of a situation that results in any of these guys getting cut, or even traded.

Feeling Comfortable:
Andre Akpan
Julian Baudet
Steward Ceus
Danny Earls
Koskuke Kimura
Nick LaBrocca
Drew Moor
Oscar Murillo
Jamie Smith

If one of these guys is having a really bad training camp or the right offer landed in the Rapids lap they might be moved, but barring that they should feel pretty confident.

Filling The Gaps:
Mehdi Ballouchy
Devon Hodges - Unsigned
Michael Holody
Ross LaBeaux - Unsigned
Andy Lorei - Unsigned
Scott Palguta
Wells Thompson
Rob Valentino

These guys will probably make the team, but could be beat out by somebody having a really good showing, or could easily be traded. Of the unsigned guys i think Hodges is close to moving up to the next category, while Lorei might be a stretch to be in this category.

Fighting For The Remaining Spot:
Chad Borak - Unsigned
Greg Dalby
Rolan de la Cruz - Unsigned
Facundo Diz
Pat Noonan
Ciaran O'Brien
Ross Schunk

These guys are really on the outside looking in. The signed guys have shown very little in their time in Colorado, and the unsigned guys really have an uphill battle. The prior groups only have 23 players in them, so there's one spot open. Right now, based on his experience. I would bet Pat Noonan has the lead for that spot but I think its up for grabs. The other possibility, especially for a player like O'Brien who has a GA contract, is to be signed and then loaned out for the whole season so he doesn't count against the roster limit.

So 30 players, 24 spots. 6 of these players are either going to be cut or not get offered a contract.