Rapids Make Back To Back Signings On Back To Back Days

As had been heavily rumored, Colorado signed both Younes Namli and Nicolas Benezet this week.  Benezet was reportedly signed to a two year deal while Namli is here on a two year loan with an option to buy.  Salaries and transfer fees have not been released or leaked yet, though I expect them to be in the rumored ballpark.

Both these moves should pay dividends.  Benezet has already shown he can play in MLS with his time in Toronto and should fit right in as a starting winger.  Namli will be the obvious starter in the attacking midfield, and while he hasn't experienced MLS yet coming out of Europa League play is a good baseline to start from.  The loan makes this a low risk, high reward move.  If things don't work out its an easy separation and since the option to buy is in the loan deal if Namli hits (the more likely scenario) we already have an agreed on price.

Padraig Smith talked about more deals in the works, specifically targeting a young player in Argentina.  This matches with the rumored acquisition of Brian Galvan, which seems to be hung up on negotiating his release in the winter window instead of bringing him in on a free in the summer window.  Regardless I don't expect him to make a major impact early in the season so while it would be great to have him as soon as possible, not having him shouldn't be a blow to our hopes.

Kudos go out to the Front Office for making all our major signings are done before camp opens next week.  Many FO's in the past seemed to scramble and just start their offseason work when camp opened, not finish it by then.  We're currently at 25 of 30 players, one extra international, and plenty of time to fill in around the edges.  Its nice to be this comfortable entering the preseason.

Rapids Add Gashi As DP, Williams As Well

BIG news from Commerce City today that nobody saw coming.  Colorado announced their newest Designated Player, Shkëlzen Gashi.  Who?  Yeah, pretty much everyone had that reaction (and because of that ë I'm just going to refer to him as Gashi from now on).

Gashi is a 27 year old winger/striker from Zurich.  The last two years he's been the Golden Boot winner in the Swiss league.  He's also has played 10 times in the last 2.5 years for the Albanian National Team, getting the winner in a 2-1 comeback over Armenia in Euro 2016 qualifying.

Two years ago he won the Golden Boot with Grasshopper, scoring 19 goals in 32 appearances.  He was then purchased by Basel, the biggest team in Switzerland and a regular Champions League participant (making the round of 16 last year),  Last season he scored 22 goals in 31 appearances to win the Golden Boot again.

Last summer (the Swiss offseason) Basel had a change  in manager and the new coach changed the way Gashi was used, restricting his style more.  Also there's apparently an undercurrent working against Albanian players in Switzerland this year as both National Teams are in the same Euro group next summer.  In the half season he scored 3 times in 10 appearances.

Gashi is generally lined up at the left attacking winger spot but the prior two years was give a more free role in the attack, allowed to drift to where he could be successful.  He's described as a poacher, not a setup man, so we'll need somebody to get him the ball in dangerous locations.  He can also play up top in a standard two striker setup.

This is a great signing by the Front Office and really one of the moves we needed to make.  An attacking player in the middle of his career with a top goal-scoring track record.  Reports in Switzerland say we've signed him until 2019 which is a serious long-term deal so that's a positive s well.  The  move from the Swiss league to MLS won't be that big of a change in quality, depending on who you talk to the leagues are seen as slightly better or worse than each other but not a big difference.  Obviously with Albania in the Euros we'll lose him for June and maybe late May but unless Albania makes an amazing run it should only be a couple of games.  Hats off to Bravo and Co. for this signing.

Along with the larger news of Gashi today there was also this news from Antigua GFC of the Guatemalan league.  Defender Mekeil Williams has been transferred to the Rapids.  No official word from Colorado yet but I assume they didn't want to distract focus from today's big signing and we'll hear something tomorrow.  Williams can play left back and center back though it sounds like he mainly plays outside.  He's 25 years old and has played 10 times for the Trinidad & Tobago National Team since 2012.

The final bit of news is that the Sarvas deal became official.  We got Targeted Allocation Money and a conditional 2018 Superdraft pick in exchange.  According to reports we also picked up about half Sarvas' 2016 salary.  I don't love eating the salary but if it frees up enough room to make another couple of quality moves it will be worth it.

Current roster:

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

Ramirez Transferred to UD Almeria

Looks like that rumor of Juan Ramirez to Almeria is official.

Juan Ramírez firma como nuevo jugador de la UD Almería #BienvenidoJuanRamírez

Ramirez was our second-ever Designated Player signing, coming in as a youth DP.  27 appearances, 15 starts, 1459 minutes, 3 assists, and 1 Rocky Mountain Cup winning goal.  We better have sold him for more than we paid because otherwise that's a waste.

Our first-ever DP signing was Gabriel Torres who was released on a free this offseason after 3 seasons, 55 appearances, 35 starts, 3192 minutes, 5 assists, and 10 goals.

Our only remaining DP is Kevin Doyle who in less than a season has 20 appearances,, 16 starts, 1489 minutes, 2 assists, and 5 goals.

I'm getting the impression we're not very good at this DP thing...

Current roster:

GK John Berner
GK Zac MacMath
D March Burch
D Bobby Burling
D Joseph Greenspan (when on leave from the U.S. Navy)
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:

M Yann Ekra - Charlotte
M Brian Ownby - Richmond

Torres No Longer A Designated Player

According to the Denver Post, who got confirmation from MLS, under the new roster rules that came out of the new MLS CBA Gabriel Torres is no longer a Designated Player.  Torres was not a DP due to his salary ($262K last season) but due to the combination of his salary and his transfer fee (which is split up evenly over the length of the contract).  Now with a higher cap and with a higher DP level that combination places him in non-DP territory.

What this means is that with Ramirez and Doyle the Rapids now have another DP slot open.  We'll have to see if they use it or not.  This also means that MLS is now covering all of Torres' costs, instead of the part the Rapids were picking up each season.  That might mean that the money designated to cover Torres costs is now open to be spent on a new DP, or it may have been used to help with Doyle or Ramirez.

Rapids Sign Kevin Doyle As 3rd DP

The Rapids just announced that they have signed Kevin Doyle as our 3rd DP.  I never thought we'd see 3 DPs at once this season and this is a quality third one to add to the mix.  It fills a huge hole we have at target striker and should be somebody Torres and Ramirez can play off of.

However there is a but.  He won't join until July 1st after he finishes the season with Wolves.  That will be 18 games into the season and may be too late for 2015, especially with Brown now gone.  We'll have to see if Badji, Eloundou, or Torres can step their game up and keep the Rapids in the race for the first half of the season.

Rapids Sign Juan Ramirez As Second Designated Player

Long rumored but finally announced tonight.  Juan Ramirez has joined the Rapids as their second Designated Player, taking up a young DP slot.  Reports are he's already in tucson with the team and will be available for tomorrow's scrimmage with the Revs (5:30pm MST, coloradorapids.com).  Ramirez is a 21 year old attacking left winger who joins from Argentinos Juniors.  As a 'young DP" he'll only count $200K against the cap and if the Rapids sign a third DP (like Doyle) they won't have to purchase a third slot as you don't need it if you have a young DP.

This is a big risk big reward move by Colorado.  If the rumored $2 million purchase price is accurate that's a lot of money for a team like the Rapids to spend on a young, unknown (to fans) quantity.  This isn't a signing that's going to drive ticket sales, this is a signing to (hopefully) drive wins and that will drive ticket sales.

With this signing the Rapids are now at 24 signed players with 6 of 8 international spots filled.  We still don't know, due to the continuing CBA negotiations, what the roster limit will be this season.  It was 30 last year but conventional wisdom is that will drop with provisions for players under contract but playing with USL teams to not count against the total.  I've changed the unsigned section of the camp roster to reflect players who don't appear on the Desert Diamond Cup roster lists.  That may mean the Rapids have passed on them or it may mean that they just didn't plan to feature them (more likely the former than the latter).

Updated camp roster:

(* = international):

Goalkeepers:
John Berner
Clint Irwin
Zac MacMath

Defenders:
Marc Burch
Bobby Burling
Michael Harrington
Drew Moor
John Neeskens
Shane O'Neill
Axel Sjoberg*

Midfielders:
Sam Cronin
Marlon Hairston
Nick LaBrocca
Lucas Pittinari*
Dillon Powers
Juan Ramirez*
Marcelo Sarvas
Dillon Serna
Jared Watts

Forwards:
Deshorn Brown*
Caleb Calvert
Charles Eloundou* (not yet in camp, visa issues)
Vicente Sanchez
Gabriel Torres*

Unsigned but in AZ or negotiating:
D Francisco Flores* (trialist)
D Joseph Greenspan (draftee, on Naval duty through 2017 probably, was in Vegas)
D Wes Knight (trialist)
D Ben Newnam (trialist)
D Grant Van de Casteele
M Carlos Alvarez
M Oscar Montoya (trialist)
F Dominique Badji* (draftee)
F Kevin Doyle* (negotiating)

Unsigned and not in AZ:

GK Quentin Westberg
D Matt Jeffrey (draftee, not in camp)
D Patrick Slogic (Charlotte player)
M Andrew Ribiero (Charlotte player)
F Billy Schuler