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.

Mwanga Loaned To Cosmos, Hinchey Speaks

• Today the Rapids announced that Danny Mwanga has been loaned to the Cosmos until the end of the 2014 season, but the Rapids can recall him up to the roster freeze date on Sept. 15th.

Probably a good move for all involved.  Mwanga clearly isn't working out in Colorado and I'm not sure he has MLS talent anymore.  There's no reason to give him playing time here, so maybe he can get some in NY.

• Also this week Tim Hinchey sat down with Benjamin Kowalsky of Burgundy Wave for a discussion.

There's some interesting comments there but its the same level of talk we've heard from the Rapids FO for a while now.  At this point talk is cheap, actions is what important.  Hinchey doesn't make me believe any less that the team decided a few weeks ago to punt until 2015.  He talks about finding "difference-makers" this offseason and seems to suggest we don't have the right mix of players now (though that may just be some lack of clarity in the author's transcription) but we had an open transfer window a month ago when we were still in the hunt and made no moves to fix those problems.  Why not?  Its another public indicator of being satisfied with whatever the current roster could do in the rest of 2014 and it appears this roster can't do much.

I do find the comments about a USL-Pro partnership being announced hopefully next month interesting.  Given the multiple flat rejections to the idea of partnering with the Switchbacks in the Springs I'm assuming they won't be the partner.  Who will be?  Plus the long term plan of having a PDL, USL-Pro, Women's (in whatever league), and MLS team playing out of the Dick would be great if they can make it happen.

Finally his comments about a second DP confirm something I heard from a secondhand source last week, the Rapids have a specific player in mind and authorization to sign another DP.  No more information than that but it will be interesting to see who this might be.  Though the fact that Hinchey calls Torres a core member of the squad and Chris Bianchi reports he's not real happy at the moment makes me wonder if this DP will end up replacing our current one.

What's Going On With Torres?

A lot of news and rumors have been swirling around Torres over the last few days.  Let's review the timeline and see what, if anything, we really "know":

On Friday night Bianchi tweets the following:

Torres away with Panamanian team on special fitness program, I'm told. Turn off the alarm, put away the tinfoil hats. Myself included.

On Saturday the Rapids released a press release with the following info:

• Torres to be shut down until June 7th for strengthening and conditioning
• He has significant muscle damage already

On Sunday a fan who has proven to be well-connected posted this on Facebook:

 Torres is going to Panama and when he gets back, he's going on a six week fitness program required by Pablo. It's not for strength to prevent injury or the other stuff you read ... It's to get his fat ass in shape and he's benched until he completes it and isn't going to play until he's in shape.

On Monday the Rapids announced that Torres will be leaving on May 28th to join the Panamanian National Team for their matches on May 31st and June 3rd, before returning to the team in time for the June 7th game.

Yesterday the Denver Post reported:

Rapids coach Pablo Mastroeni said Tuesday recent tests showed damage in Torres' quadriceps, hamstrings and lower back. However, the man he described as "Panama's biggest star" has made drastic improvement over the past 10 days.

"I've known for a while that Panama wanted me for these games, but I had to get the last word from the club, and when the club said it was OK, then I started to get everything rolling," Torres said through an interpreter Tuesday. "The team wanted me to play because these games are important and also because of the new coach of the Panama national team."
Mastroeni said being called up for international play is a great honor, and he supports it.
"It's a balance, right? It's not about us, it's about Gaby. So, there's a balance to be had. So if Gaby feels like (joining Panama) is something he wants to do for his career, then we as an organization support that."

So what does all this mean?  There's some complimentary and some conflicting information.  Let's go step by step:

• The trip to Panama is for the National Team games, not for any of the strengthening work.
• Torres is clearly going through some sort of fitness/strengthening/conditioning training that's making him unavailable for at least 4 games (@FSL, Montreal, Houston, Chicago).
• Whatever possible muscle damage that's leading the team to shut him down, its not enough to prevent him from playing with Panama.

The real question mark is why he's undergoing this training.  Is it due to fears of muscle damage, or is he just out of shape?  From my observations of Torres it does appear he's carrying more weight this season than last year and he does seem to have some fitness issues as he appears to drag near the end of his time in games.

My guess?  The Rapids have seen some muscle concerns in the scans and they're using that for a cover to deal with the fact that Torres is out of shape.  I can't believe that if Torres was already injured or was at real threat for injury (to the level that he's not being allowed to play in games) the Rapids would agree to let him play for Panama.  Instead I think the Rapids are unhappy with his fitness level and have told him that they won't stop him playing for Panama, but he won't get game action in Colorado until he shows he's fit enough to play and the concerns over his possible muscle strains are alleviated.

This is conjecture based on the various reports I've seen, but it seems to fit all the facts as we know them while explaining the differences in stories.

Torres To Be Shut Down For Conditioning

The Rapids are now announcing that Gabriel Torres is being shut down for strength and conditioning work, with the goal of working him back into the first team fro the June 7th match in Dallas and the U.S. Open Cup match the week after before the World Cup break.  The report is that he has significant muscle damage in his legs due to his play over the last few month, and reportedly that's why he's had the slow start.  Nothing in the announcement about a trip to Panama.

Call me skeptical, but I'm having a hard time believing that it was just his play over the first few months that caused the problem.  Certainly its not usual for a player to suffer like this, and Torres has appeared to be out of shape since the season started.  It makes me wonder if his off-season training didn't go as planned or if something else happened.  Either way, lets hop this kick starts him for the season post-WC break.  Right now our big time forwards aren't earning their money:

Buddle + Torres + Mwanga = $850K of salary cap hit, scored a total of 1 goal in 2014
Brown + Sanchez (who's as much a midfielder as a forward) = $410K of salary cap hit, scored 7 goals in 2014

Torres Not Available Tonight

Last night MLSSoccer.com's Chris Bianchi tweeted the following:

Torres away with Panamanian team on special fitness program, I'm told. Turn off the alarm, put away the tinfoil hats. Myself included.

(The tinfoil hats are a reference to an earlier tweet about Torres not travelling and not practicing on Wednesday)

This explanation seems to have calmed down Bianchi but it certainly raised my eyebrows!  I have never heard of a player leaving his club team during the season to join his national team on a "special fitness program", particularly when that national team isn't in camp in preparation for a tournament or friendly (Panama did not qualify for the World Cup).

More than one fan has commented that Torres' fitness appears to be lacking this year, he seems to have put on weight and certainly his play hasn't lived up to his billing.  Maybe this is the key to getting him back to where he was.  Of course other fans have suggested that the "special fitness program" is a nicer way to explain some sort of rehab that the Rapids don't want to discuss or that Torres is trying to find a way out of Colorado.

On the latter note, Bianchi followed up his tweet with this:

For record, been reiterated to me recently that Torres big part of club moving forward. He ain't going anywhere as we stand.

So it doesn't sound like the Rapids want him to go anywhere.

I Find Our Lack Of Firepower Disturbing

6 games in:
Deshorn Brown: 448 minutes, 18 shots, 6 shots on goal, 1 goal
Edson Buddle: 341 minutes, 9 shots, 3 shots on goal, 1 goal
Gabriel Torres: 241 minutes, 4 shots, 0 shots on goal, 0 goals
Combined: 1030 minutes, 31 shots, 9 shots on goal, 2 goals

If the Rapids had 2 strikers on the field at all times it would be 1080 minutes, so essentially our top 3 strikers have combined for all that time.  In it they're averaging about 5 shots and a shot and a half on goal per game.

This is, clearly, not good enough.  If it weren't for Sanchez's PKs (to be fair, one of which was earned by Brown) and Jose Mari's pair of bombs we would be in horrible shape right now.  Soccer is a team game, and the Rapids shouldn't be discounted because of those goals, but they aren't the type of goals we can depend on going forward this season.  Last weekend we saw what happens when one of those unusual goals doesn't turn up, a dominant performance by the Rapids with only 1 shot on goal (from Watts) to show for it and 1 point.

Each of the big 3 seem to have their own problems.  Buddle is holding the ball decently but his distribution has been poor most of the season, leading to a lack of quality chances being created.  Brown can't seem to keep possession of the ball to draw the defense and open up Buddle for a shot.  Torres, of course, can't seem to get on the field until late and then he never seems to impact the game.  Then, when any of the three of them do get a look at goal, they seem to hit it everywhere but between the pipes.

Some combination of Buddle, Brown, and Torres need to get on the same page and they need to do it yesterday.  Any combination of those 3 can work but it seems like the Buddle - Brown combo is the one that Pablo is favoring.  That means that Buddle needs to find Brown in space and Brown has to be able to hold possession so that Buddle can find the areas left when the defense collapses on Brown.  Oh, and they both need to figure out that the ball is supposed to go inside the white rectangle, not outside of it.

Gabriel Torres Becomes Rapids First Designated Player

Its done.  The Rapids just officially announced Panamanian striker Gabriel Torres as the club's first Designated Player in its history.  It took an extra 2.5 weeks then originally rumored, but they got it done.  Torres scored 5 goals (including two against Mexico) at this year's Gold Cup an should be able to hit the ground running as soon as he receives his P-1 visa.  My guess is that we see his debut next weekend at home against Vancouver but if they've been working this for a while maybe they can get the visa by Sunday night's game.  He's a Designated Player through a combination of the transfer fee and his salary.  Huge signing for Colorado and while they stumbled a couple of times from lessons they didn't learn form the Rivero saga, the important thing is that they got the job done.  A big day in the history of the club.

Brief Torres Update

He landed at DIA a little over an hour ago and is currently at the Dick meeting with the Rapids.  The deal has to be signed and the ITC delivered by midnight at the USSF offices in Chicago, so 11pm Denver time.  I'll have a longer post when the deal is done, or barring that, tomorrow when its fallen apart.

(Though if the deal gets done at 10:59pm, expect my post tomorrow)

Rumored Signing Updates

Remember last Wednesday when the news broke that the Rapids were signing Panamanian striker Gabriel Torres?  That he would likely be the team's first Designated Player?  Well he was reportedly coming to Denver yesterday for a workout.  He's not here yet and tonight he tweeted this an hour ago:

Buenas noches señores hasta este momento nada es oficial se esta en negociaciones con diferentes clubes pronto se sabra el club oficial !

Which translated is:

 Good evening gentlemen so far nothing is official is in negotiations with several clubs soon will know the official club!

 To me, these aren't positive signs.  Maybe this is just a last minute negotiating ploy from his agent, but the Rapids have been fairly open about their plans to sign Torres.  There have been articles on MLSSoccer.com and the Denver Post confirming that he's being signed and talking about how excited the Front Office is about it.  If it were to now fall apart, there would be a lot of egg on the face of the Rapids with only a week to do something about it before the close of the transfer window.

Coincidentally or not there were rumors today, apparently confirmed by the player's Twitter, that the Rapids will be signing 33-year old Uruguayan striker Vicente Sanchez.  Sanchez has played for Toluca and Club America in Liga MX, with a stint at German side Schalke 04 in-between them.  He was with Nacional in Uruguay last season but is apparently fe up with them and ready to move North.

We'll see if the Rapids sign Torres, Sanchez, both, or neither.

UPDATE: Despite Torres' tweet, Chris Bianchi (Rapids beat writer for MLSSoccer.com) has tweeted tonight that he's been assured the Torres signing is still on, expected to be wrapped up this week.  Good news.

Rapids To Sign Gabriel Torres?

Both Chris Bianchi who writes for MLSSoccer.com and a poster on BigSoccer who has had good information in the past are reporting that the Rapids are set to announce the signing of Panamanian striker Gabriel Torres in the near future.  Tim Hinchey seems to back that up with this tweet before tonight's Mexico-Panama Gold Cup semifinal:

Tim Hinchey III ‏@tkhinchey32h

Will be watching the Panama squad carefully! Wink wink #OneClub

10 minutes ago Torres set up the go ahead goal for Panama, putting them up 2-1 in now the 70th minute.

Torres is 24 years old, and is one of Panama's top prospects.  He has been with Zamora FC in Venezuela the last couple of seasons, scoring 32 times in 68 appearances with them.  He's also been invited to train with Manchester United twice and Valencia C.F. once.  Torres has appeared 39 times for Panama (including tonight), scoring 7 times.

I wonder if former Rapids and current Panama assistant coach Jorge Dely Valdes had any help in this (Jorge's twin brother Julio is Panama's head coach).

UPDATE: Reportedly he'll be the Rapids first Designated Player.