Trade Winds Are Swirling

The transfer window closes at 11pm MDT tonight (so in just over 3 hours) and until an hour ago I was getting ready to write an article about how we made essentially no moves outside the already planned and announced Tim Howard signing in this window.  Then the Twitter rumor mill started up:

First MLS blogger Sam Stejskal:

Fire apparently aren't done. Hearing Luis Solignac headed to Chicago, with Fire sending general allocation to Colorado in return.

Then Ives:

I'm told Philadelphia Union have traded Sebastien Le Toux to Colorado. That's 1 way to reduce the glut of midfielders 

So, those are two notable moves if accurate.   Obviously we'll need to get official word and figure out the exact details   Le Toux is a forward who tends to play on the wing.  In 7.5 years in MLS he has 56 goals in 191 starts (236 appearances).  He has a green card so would not require a international slot.

The big hit with Le Toux is his salary.  $300K this year.  Soliganc in comparison is at $85K.

More on these stories as we get official word.

Colorado Signs Luis Solignac

Today the Rapids announced the signing of Argentine striker Luis Solignac, something that had been rumored for a couple of weeks.  He'll be eligible to play once his ITC and visa paperwork is done, so not tomorrow but hopefully in the next couple of games.  Solignac will be looked at to fill the "#9" role that thee Rapids are so desperately needing but he's young enough that he shouldn't have much problem making way for Kevin Doyle when he arrives.

With this signing the Rapids are at 28 players, including 8 internationals (that includes Doyle).  That's the max of both categories they're allowed.  There's still an open question as to how/if Berner, Calvert, and Hairston down in Charlotte count against the roster limit but since they're all domestic we're still maxed out on international players no matter what.

Sarvas Out (Temporarily), Solignac In?

As expected the MLS Disciplinary Committee suspended Marcelo Sarvas today for two games for the stomp on Dempsey he committed last week.  Chad Marshall was suspended one game for his tackle on Sanchez.

Those seem reasonable, though i would have gone an extra game each.  Sanchez had a similar foul to Marshall's last season and got 2 games so I would have used that as the standard for Marshall and then given Sarvas a game more because what he did was worse than Marshall.

Where the DisCo completely dropped the ball was on this play.  Ramos will be suspended the standard one game for a red card and no more.  That's unbelievable.  The same league that gave Mullan 10 games lets that go with only 1?  I wish I could say I was surprised but, well, I predicted this 4 years ago.  I stand behind what I said then and this tackle is a good example of it.  Ramos is very lucky no not have seriously injured Francis, but a 1 game suspension for the red card isn't much disincentive not to do it again.  This is how players get hurt from tackles that don't belong in the game.

On to better news.  There's a report out of Argentina that forward Luis Solignac has bought himself out of his contract with Nueva Chicago to join the Rapids.  I know nothing about Solignac other than what's on his Wikipedia page but we need forward depth and a 24 year old who scored 20 times in 40 games in Finland is nothing to sneeze at.  Yeah, its Finland, but it show he has a nose for goal.  If this report is accurate it appears to be another case of the influence of Claudio Lopez helping the Rapids.

Colorado has one open roster spot and one open international spot once Doyle joins, so we do have room for him.