Trades And Homegrown News

So in the short trade window that was open this morning before Tuesday's expansion draft the Rapids made two trades.

• We sent an international spot to Atlanta United for the 2017 and 2018 seasons in exchange for their natural 2nd round pick (#24) in next month's Superdraft.

Every team has 8 spots by default.  We have a permanent one from FSL in the Gregorio trade and send one to Vancouver through 2031 in the Nyassi trade so those cancel out.  We also have one from LA when we got Sarvas from them and one at the beginning of the year from SJ for allocation money.  The end date on those two trades haven't been announced.  So worst case those two expire and we're down one with today's trade, best case we're still up one after today's trade.  So somewhere between 7 and 9.  Right now we have 7 internationals on the roster (8 if Ramirez ever returns) and I don't expect all 7 to return next year so we're fine.  Badji, Castillo, and Williams could all be at risk of not returning and no chance St. Ledger comes back.  Even Kevin Doyle could not return.  The only two internationals I'm sure will return are Gashi and Sjoberg, and that assumes we don't sell Sjoberg to Sweden (I don't think we will, especially with today's second trade).

• We sent Joseph Greenspan to Minnesota United in exchange for their natural 3rd round pick (#45) in next month's Superdraft.

This one surprised me a bit as with the work the Rapids did with the Navy to get him training time I figured we would have had a longer commitment with him.  This also makes me believe that Watts or Burling is an expected starter alongside Sjoberg next year.  This was the only trade in MLS today that didn't involve Atlanta United in some way.

With these moves we now have 3 picks in next month's draft.  Our natural 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks have been traded for Jones, MacMath, and Conor Doyle respectively but we have our natural 4th round pick (#86) to go with the two we acquired today.

EDIT: So I forgot, we do have a 1st round pick in next month's draft. We get a conditional pick 1st round pick from TFC from the Irwin trade. It wasn't listed on the Wiki entry until after TFC's draft spot was determined (last night). I'm guessing the "conditional" aspect dictates if we get their natural pick (#21) or another of their 1st round picks should they trade for one.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that the deals with both expansion teams today included the understanding that they wouldn't take any Rapids players in Tuesday's expansion draft.  most people would say the 3rd round pick was not enough for Greenspan and even a 2nd round pick is a little light for 2 years of an international spot.  But if both trades included protection from expansion picks that evens them back up.

One other piece of news today, a Denver Post article about Denver University's junior center back Kortne Ford who says he's in talks with the Rapids.  Ford came through the Rapids academy and would be a homegrown player if he signs with the Rapids before going into the draft in 2018.  The article makes it sound like he's deciding between returning for his senior year at DU or going pro now.  These talks may have also influenced the decision to trade Greenspan if the Rapids were confident they were going to get Ford in for depth at center back.