New Players...Almost Official, A Callup, and a Negotiating Tactic?

Bunch of news today.  We'll begin with the big stuff.  At 4pm today fans were invited to RiNo for a chance to meet Jack Price and Edgar Castillo.  There has yet to be an official announcement of the details of their signings but clearly they've joined the team.  The Denver Post article confirms what most fans had inferred from Hudson's interviews, we'll be playing a 3-5-2/5-2-3 this season with 3 CBs and Hairston and Castillo as wingbacks.

It also talks about how Hudson sees Price anchoring the midfield in this formation.  I don't  know if this is just talking up the new signings or if the plan is really for Price to be a starter.  The midfield is a bit crowded at this point with Aigner, Azira, Blomberg, Boateng, Gashi, and Price for 3 spots so it will be interesting to see if anyone is heading out and who wins the starting spots.

With these moves we are at 23 of 30 roster spots filled and all 7 international spots filled.  In order to bring in any more international spots there will need to be some moves to free up an international slot.  The obvious choices are sending Wynne to Charlotte for the season and Badji getting a green card.  After that its either trading for a spot or moving somebody out.  Either way, the next couple of weeks could be interesting.

In other news today Marlon Hairston got a callup to the U.S. National Team camp in LA later this month.  Its his first ever invite to the Nats.  The roster for the Bosnia & Herzegovina friendly on the 28th will be taken from the camp.

Finally, following up on Saturday's rumor of Tommy Smith being linked to the Rapids, this appears to be a rumor started by Smith or his agent, if this BBC article is anything to go by.  His current manager says Ipswich Town has received no contact from the Rapids about Smith.  If nothing comes of this it won't be the first time that a European player has used the threat of moving to MLS as a negotiating tactic.