Weekly Recap

After a bout with whatever bug is going around I'm back.  Let's recap what's happened since Monday.

• We got allocation money for the rights to Maynor Figueroa

Nice job by the FO on this one.  I figured when we declined his option that he just waled away.  Getting allocation money for him means we made a real offer to bring him back and he declined it.  Unless we found out he took $125K from Dallas or something this was the right move by the FO.

• Ramirez loaned to UD Almeria for 6 months

Again another good move by the Front Office.  If Ramirez is having problems adjusting as reported then this is probably the best way to get value for him.  There's no way a team like Almeria is going to pay the reported $2 million that we paid for Ramirez right now.  This gives him 6 months to earn that kind of transfer fee from Spain and if it doesn't work then we get him back with another chance to make it work for us.

• Top Drawer Soccer hammers the Rapids offseason

Can't say this is at all unfair.  Its up to the FO to do something soon to turn it around.

• Cristian Canga not coming

That appeared to be a passing rumor.  Its since been replaced with...

• Rapids linked with T&T fullback Mikeil Williams

Well, at least we're targeting the right position, though I don't think we can rely on a guy struggling to get playing time in Central America to be a starter in 5 weeks.

• Pulido's good play in Greece making a deal less likely

There was even a tweet that Pulido himself had turned down the offer from the Rapids though that's not "in print" anywhere.  Regardless its starting to look like our third major attacking strikeout this offseason (Vela, Bedoya).

• Colorado Cup coming in July

Not strictly Rapids related but fairly interesting.  Good to see some non-EPL teams in the state.  I'd be more interested if they were playing each other or the Rapids though, I'm not real interested in seeing Liga MX teams.

• Tim Howard rumors heating up

This is of course the big news this week.  All sources (including some of my own) are pointing to Howard coming to Colorado.  As we saw in the guest post there are positives to this signing but they come with a number of "ifs" and "maybes".  I have no real faith in the Rapids pulling those contingencies off and Howard isn't going to fix anything on the field for us.  This is screaming marketing move with now game upside to me.

• Details on Marco Pappa's stabbing are released

The notable detail in this is that the stabbing occurred on Dec. 17th, two days after he was traded to the Rapids.  Its always tricky to judge some of this without the details but the reports of him being intoxicated and changing his story aren't what you want to hear from a guy who was only 4 months removed from the league's substance abuse program.  If accurate I can't imagine that will play well in the league Front Office.

• Finally (no link on this one), former Rapid Stephen Keel spotted at Rapids camp

Keel didn't have his option picked up by Dallas.  He's a local boy so it makes sense he'd come here first.  He's at best a depth signing this year.

So you'll notice the great big absence of something in all that news.  Not a single player signing.  That's a problem more than a week after the players reported, all 19 of them.

Current roster:

GK John Berner
GK Zac MacMath
D March Burch
D Bobby Burling
D Marlon Hairston
D Axel Sjoberg
D Sean St. Ledger
M Michael Azira
M Sam Cronin
M Marco Pappa
M Zach Pfeffer
M Dillon Powers
M Dillon Serna
M Marcelo Sarvas
M Jared Watts
F Dominque Badji
F Caleb Calvert
F Kevin Doyle
F Luis Solignac

Unsigned draftees:

GK Chris Froschauer
D Dennis Castillo
D Bradley Kamdem
D Javan Torre
M Emmanuel Appiah
F John Manga

Trialists:

D Stephen Keel
M Yann Ekra - Charlotte
M Brian Ownby - Richmond