Goalkeeping, How Did We Get Here?

I've mentioned a couple of times about how the goalkeeping is a problem right now and how just getting Steffen was necessary because of the goalkeeping hole we dug ourselves last season.  The more I thought about it though the more I realized last season wasn't the first time I had questions about our goalkeeper recruiting strategy under Padraig Smith.

Now I want to start by acknowledging the Rapids have always had a bit of a revolving door at keeper, at least in comparison to some of the long-term keeping situations in the league.  To enter the top 10 in appearances in net all-time in league history you need over 250 appearances.  The Rapids all-time leader is Matt Pickens with 116 spread over his 6 years with the team.  Only Clint Irwin (105), William Yarbrough (101), and Tim Howard (100) have also hit triple-digits for the Rapids.  Zac MacMath is 10th all-time at 31 games, less than a full season.

That said, looking at the Rapids history of keepers, especially after Howard retired in 2019, shows some "grass is greener" mentality.  First, let's setup where we started.

In 2017, when Padraig Smith took over the Rapids, we had 3 goalkeepers on the roster.  While Smith was involved in player acquisition for two+ years prior to taking over, the goalkeeping at this point was a pretty standard investment.  You had a clear number 1 that the team was highly invested in (Tim Howard, a move Smith has said he wouldn't have made if it were up to him), a solid backup (MacMath), and a young player as a third option (John Berner).  Combined the Rapids spent a two draft picks plus MacMath's original loan fee to acquire the three keepers (and of course spent a lot of TransAmerica's money to pay Howard).

Going into 2018 we released Berner and spent a 2nd round pick to acquire Andrew Dykstra from Sporting KC.  I remember at the time questioning that deal because it seemed like a waste of resources for somebody who almost certainly wouldn't play.  I was right that he wouldn't play, but losing a second round pick and an extra $25-$50K of salary was probably not much of a loss in hindsight.  

After the 2018 season we traded MacMath to Vancouver for $100K of xAM and Mezquida and got Irwin back from Toronto for a 2nd round pick.  We also picked up Andre Rawls in the Re-Entry draft while letting Dykstra go.  We were all happy to see Irwin back but he was still the clear #2 going into 2019 with Howard still here.  In the end Irwin played about a third of the season in 2019 and was set to be the starter in 2020.

This is where we first see the idea of having two #1s, with the idea that they would push each other to be better.  This is something Smith has talked about as a goal in the past.  Right after the season started, and then stopped due to COVID, we brought Yarbrough in on loan.  This was a move that confused a lot of fans because we all expected Irwin to get his chance again.  When the league restarted with the MLS Is Back tournament Irwin picked up a knock and Yarbrough stepped in, and then never really gave the starting role back.  Also in 2020 we added Abe Rodriguez as a homegrown signing from the Academy.

That was the goalkeeping force for the next couple of seasons.  Yarbrough starting, Irwin as the backup, and Rawls and Rodriguez as the 3rd option (Rawls was released after the 2021 season).  We were paying Will $375K and Clint $200K.  We also spent around $400K to acquire Yarbrough permanently after the loan ended, plus whatever we paid for a loan fee.

Before last year we let Irwin leave on a free, where he signed for Minnesota, and went searching for a European national keeper.  We of course ended up with Marko Ilic.  That move cost us a loan fee at first, then a reported $800K purchase fee.  It also upset Yarbrough to the point that he was happy to walk away at the end of the season, and we sent his rights to San Jose for a 3rd round pick.  We spent a combined $915K on their salaries too ($475K for Yarbrough, $40K for Ilic).  Ilic got the starts in and after the Leagues Cup and put up some of the worst advanced keeping stats in the league last season.

So this past offseason we had an upset keeper, a bad keeper, and an Academy player apparently going nowhere.  So we replaced them all.  Yarbrough to San Jose as mentioned.,  Ilic loaned out to Sarpsborg.  Rodriguez release.  In their place we had to go keeper shopping again and settled on Zach Steffen backed up by Adam Beaudry (and eventually Ethan Bandre) from the Academy.  The good news is that they were all available for free.  The bad news is that we're paying Steffen almost as much as we paid Ilic and Yarbrough combined last season ($900K) to put up some of the worst stats in the last decade of MLS keeping.

What I see here is an almost constant thought that the next keeper we get is going to be the big hit.  From MacMath to Irwin to Yarbrough to Ilic to Steffen its been about who can we bring in to improve, even if we didn't really need improvement (at least, not as much as in other positions *ahem* striker).  Of course Smith isn't alone one this.  Those of us in our third decade of fandom remember the infamous Joe Cannon/Jeff Bazooka/Jim Tommygun when we already had Scott Garlick/Scott Salt/Scott Pepper (one of the all-time great bits of MLS media banter).  That worked out as we ended up trading Garlick to Dallas while Cannon had a MVP finalist season (and should have won) in 2004.  None of our keepers in the last 5 seasons have been that good though.