Off To Training Camp With Three Draftees

The Rapids left for Mexico today, but not before a couple of transactions.  First, the final part of the Steffen move, sending Yarbrough's rights to San Jose, was finalized with us getting San Jose's 3rd round pick in return.  Then Colorado signed 3 (well technically 2) of their draftees to MLS contracts.  Midfielder Wayne Fredrick signed a three year deal with an option for 2027.  Defender Nate Jones (out of Washington!) signed a one year deal with three option years.  Forward Kimani Stewart-Baynes, who was already on a Generation Adidas deal with the league, was revealed to be on a three year deal with one additional option year.  The other three draftees, defender Anderson Ross and forwards Palmer Ault and Gunnar Studenhofft will be returning to school but the Rapids retain their rights for two years.

Colorado also released a list of the players with the team in Mexico.  Along with the 29 signed players (but not Sam Vines, yet) there are two Rapids 2 players and one trialist.  Vines is back in Colorado so I'm guessing its just a matter of time before the deal is signed and he flies down to join the team.

The two Rapids 2 trialists are two midfielders, Daouda Amadou and Yosuke Hanya.  Both played well in the successful Rapids 2 season last year, with Hanya in particular making a big impact.  I doubt either of them are going to be signing a first-team contract any time soon, but this will allow the staff to get a real good look at them.  The trialist is GK , most recently with SKC 2.  Presumably he's beling looked at as a backup for Beaudry on Rapids 2, I see no way he's being evaluated for the first-team roster.

There are two signed players not in Mexico.  First is Daniel Chacon, who was signed from Rapids 2 in June and loaned to Alajuelense in Costa Rican side.  He blew out his ACL while playing for them and is continuing his recovery in his home in Costa Rica.  Second is Aboubacar Keita, who was signed to a new multi-year contract in August.  He's currently training with TSV Hartburg of the Austrian Bundesliga.  You have to assume that's a precursor to a move to Austria, otherwise the Rapids wouldn't approve it.  Hopefully we can get back the equivalent of the $300K of GAM we traded to the Crew for him back in the 2022 preseason.  He's made 0 appearances for the Rapids over the two seasons he's been here due to a combination of injuries.

So here's the full camp roster.  The press release said we have 3 Designated players, 5 Homegrowns, and 7 International players.  We have 5 players on this roster that came through the Rapids Academy as homegrowns, but we have 3 others who we traded for and at least up to this point a traded homegrown could still be considered a homegrown.  I don't know if that's changed or if the press release was trying to focus on the local kids.  Until that's clarified I've put a (?) after the Homegrown label on the other 3.  I've also count 8 internationals based on last season, so my guess is Galvan, who's been here the longest, has gotten a green card but that's a pure guess.  I'm not counting Löffelsend who was reportedly back home working on his green card and who is presumably far enough along in the process to not count as an international.

(Underlined = Trialist, Italics = Rapids 2)

Goalkeepers:

Ethan Bandry

Adam Beaudry - Homegrown

Marko Ilic - International

Zack Steffen

Defenders:

Lalas Abubakar

Seb Anderson - Homegrown

Moise Bombito - Generation Adidas

Michael Edwards - Homegrown(?)

Alex Gersbach - International

Nate Jones

Andreas Maxsø - International

Miguel Navarro

Keegan Rosenberry

Midfielders:

Daouda Amadou

Cole Bassett - Homegrown

Omir Fernandez - Homegrown(?)

Wayne Fredrick

Braian Galvan - International(?)

Yosuke Hanya

Oli Larraz - Homegrown

Jasper Löffelsend

Djordje Mihailovic - Designated Player

Ralph Priso - Homegrown(?)

Connor Ronan - International

Sidnei Tavares - International

Forwards:

Kevin Cabral - Designated Player, International

Calvin Harris - Generation Adidas

Jonathan Lewis

Rafael Navarro - Designated Player, International

Kimani Stewart-Baynes - Generation Adidas

Darren Yapi - Homegrown