Rapids Add Kamara In Trade

As expected Colorado didn't lose anyone in today's expansion draft.  Not as expected, they ended up gaining a player.  With their second pick Cincinnati selected Kei Kamara from Vancouver and immediately traded him to the Rapids for an international spot in 2019.

Kamara is a 34 year old striker who is originally from Sierra Leone but came to the U.S. as a kid as a refugee and eventually became a citizen.  He has had a well-traveled career starting in 2006 with Columbus and eventually playing for 5 other MLS teams, a return to Columbus and time in Norwich City and Middlesbrough in-between.  That's 10 teams in 13 seasons.  In the last 3 seasons he's had 38 goals in 89 appearances over 3 teams (Columbus, New England, and Vancouver).  At that rate he's averaging 15-16 goals over the course of a season, a significant upgrade from anyone we've had since C=C Goal Factory in 2010 (and actually those numbers would be slightly better than either of them).

All sounds good, right?  Well, there are some downsides.  First, as mentioned, he's 34 years old.  So this is not a long-term foundation move.  Second, he's developed a rep for being a problem in the locker room.  The fact that he's changed teams so often has certainly played into it, and things ended poorly in Columbus.  The third is that he's not cheap.  Reportedly he signed a 2-year deal with TAM at $750K, with incentives that could drive that to a million (he was making a million in Vancouver last year).

The money can be dealt with, especially with a team that seems more interested in stop gaps until Howard and Gashi get off the roster next season.  If the locker room issues are accurate then this is a place where I expect Tim Howard to earn his money.  He's team captain and has a well-earned rep for not taking any crap, he'll need to keep Kamara in line and focused if necessary.

Overall I think this is a decent move for the team right now.  My biggest concern is that once again its not a long-term signing.  Since then end of 2016 you could argue the only successful long-term free agent signing we've made has been Jack Price.  I know the team is focused on 2020 and while I don't fully agree with it I can give them a chance, but I don't see how a move like this fits in.  This does meet my requirement of signing MLS-ready players, just not quite how I envisioned it.  Overll though a team as bad as the Rapids doesn't have many options, beggars can't be choosers, so overall its probably a good move.

One other wrinkle, the traded international slot means the team now has 7 slots for 2019 and 7 international players.   We should probably hope that Ena Patel and her team is working on some green cards this offseason if we want to get any more international help.