Offseason Roster Status Update

Tuesday the Rapids released the full list of the team and their contract status.  Breaking it down:

Already under contract for 2014:
Deshorn Brown
Edson Buddle
Nick LaBrocca
Drew Moor
Shane O'Neill
Matt Pickens
Dillon Serna
Nathan Sturgis
Marvell Wynne

Contract options picked up for 2014:
Tony Cascio
Atiba Harris
Kamani Hill
Clint Irwin
Chris Klute
Dillon Powers
Vicente Sanchez
Gabriel Torres

In negotiations for 2014:
Brenton Griffiths
Kory Kindle
German Mera
Brian Mullan
Danny Mwanga
Martin Rivero
Jamie Smith
Hendry Thomas

Leaving the club:
Diego Calderon
Jaime Castrillon
Steward Ceus

Still to be determined:
Davy Armstrong
Charles Eloundou
Anthony Wallace

So right now we have 17 players under contract for 2014.  We have 8 others in some form of negotiations, though odds are those 8 won't all sign.  So that gives us between 5 and 13 roster spots to work with as we fill out the team.  The big question mark for me is the status of Eloundou, I'm waiting to hear back from the Rapids about him.  The other surprises are the fact that Buddle was under contact for 2014 already and we want to bring back Cascio, Hill, and Mwanga.  I figured that we'd want to dump Buddle and only bring back one of those trio.  I don't know why we're bringing back Harris, but he'll probably be my WTF player again in 2014.

On the unsigned list I think we need to get Rivero or Thomas done, ideally both.  Mera would be nice for depth but not a urgent need.  The rest are all decent depth players, but not players we can't live without.  Smith and/or Mullan might be better to sign as coaches than players.  I'd like their leadership and experience being around but I'm not sure they have much left to help on the field.

By position this gives us 2 keepers (but I'd expect 1 to be traded), 5 defenders, 5 midfielders, and 5 forwards under contract (with those last two being somewhat flexible depending on how you classify guys like Sanchez and Cascio).  Clearly our focus needs to be more defensive than offensive in the near-term.