Callups and Roster Announcements

As expected the Rapids released their roster moves today, but before we get to those one other piece of news.  The roster for the Dec. 18th U.S. friendly against Bosnia-Herzegovina was announced to today and Colorado had 3 players on the roster, most of any team.  As expected Kellyn Acosta will be in camp, but so will Cole Bassett and Auston Trusty.  Both of them have been in camp in the past but have not yet been capped for the full national team.

Now, on to the roster news.  As expected Colorado picked up the options for Kellyn Acosta and Mark-Anthony Kaye, and they also picked up Andre Shinyashiki's option.  They declined the options on Kortne Ford, Jeremy Kelly, Nicolas Mezquida, Younes Namli, Andre Rawls and Will Vint.

I think the only real surprise in that group is not picking up Ford's option.  He might have a big escalation clause, or they might want to work out a longer-term deal with him now rather than wait until the end of his contract.

They included in the announcement that they are in negotiations to bring back Ford, Kelly, and Mezquida, as well as out of contract players Dominique Badji, Steven Beitashour, and Drew Moor.

This means they are saying goodbye to Namli, Rawls, and Vint.  As I predicted yesterday, none of those are surprising.  They didn't feel like they had a future here.

Out of the six players the club is still negotiating with all but Kelly are eligible for free agency and could decide to go elsewhere.  I'd be very surprised if Ford and Moor sign anywhere else (especially Moor).  I half-expect Beitashour to retire but if he doesn't I could see him deciding not to come back to Colorado if he has a chance to go back to San Jose, considering that's his hometown and he spent more time there than anywhere else in his career.  I really hope Badji is happy here and wants to come back.  I wouldn't be shocked to see Mezquida try to see if he could get a better deal elsewhere.  Kelly could decide to sstay, or try to find playing time by dropping into the USL.

The priorities for the Rapids should be to re-sign Badji, Ford, and Moor.  They're the most likely to contribute in 2022 out of that group.