Ins and Outs in Commerce City

A trio of trades by the Rapids before the window closed last night has certainly generated some discussion today among burgundy fans.  We're going to break each one down in order of complexity and then talk about the bigger picture.

Rapids loan CB Lalas Abubakar from Columbus until the end of the season for $125K in TAM

This is pretty straight forward.  The Rapids needed CB help immediately and Abubakar wasn't getting a ton of time in Columbus.  I expect Lalas to start ASAP, maybe even on Saturday.  I also get the impression that the teams will work out a long-term deal to keep him here before the season ends.  Abubakar is a 24 year old Ghanaian who was the 5th overall pick in the 2017 SuperDraft.  He made 20 starts for the Crew last season but has only made 1 start this year.  He played for the Ghana U-20 team but got his green card last year.  He's not a top MLS starter but he can do the job.

Rapids acquire F Jonathan Lewis from NYCFC for $650K of TAM and a 2020 international slot

Lewis is the big pickup of the day.  A 21 year old winger/forward from Florida, he got his start by signing for Bradford City (his mother is English) before realizing he'd rather be home in the States.  He came back and played for a year at Akron before being drafted by NYCFC with the 3rd overall pick in the 2017 draft.  He's made 31 appearances for the Pigeons over 3 years with 3 goals and 5 assists.  He's also been capped by the U.S. Nats 4 times in 2019.  He's best as a winger, which we're not currently playing with, but can also tuck under a striker more centrally.  Probably not a true #10 but might be able to serve in a pinch.  He came at a high cost though, with a lot of TAM going to NYCFC.  According to reports there were multiple teams pursuing him, which pushed his price up.  Depending on unannounced performance targets the TAM price could go up by up to another $100K.

Rapids acquire CB Abdul Rwatubyaye, $50K TAM, 2019 international slot, a 2nd round pick in 2020, and $250K season ending injury replacement allowance for Benny Feilhaber.  Teams also swap waiver wire priority order (KC to #1, Colorado to #5)

Yeah, that's as confusing as it looks.  Let's start with the players, then we'll move to the rest of the stuff.  Rwatubyaye is a 22 year old Rwandan defender who signed with KC this past offseason.  Before that he had played for 6 years in Rwanda, winning the Rwandan Premier League 3 times.  He's also a regular for the Rwandan National Team after playing at each national team youth level, playing for them in World Cup qualifying and African Cup of Nations qualifying.  He's played in all 4 of their most recent African Cup of Qualifying matches.  All that said, he's still very raw and is expected to be a long-term project, not a 2019 contributor.

In exchange Benny Feilhaber is going back to KC.  Feilhaber was somewhat of a surprise signing this offseason but was expected to bring senior leadership to fill the gap until we could get new DPs in 2020.  Obviously as this season has gone south the need for that senior leadership has evaporated.  At the same time it appears Benny wasn't aware, or wasn't up, for what he signed up for.  In quotes from a KC reporter:

My response to these quotes is "Benny, if you don't want to be here, we don't need you".  I understand the desire to finish on a high note, but its not like this is year 3 of a 4 year deal that hasn't gone well.  This is 10 games into a 2 year commitment for a team that could be expected to be, well, not this bad, but not competing for championships.

Outside of the player swap we also traded some assets.  The $50K of TAM, the draft pick, and the international slot explain themselves (we needed an slot to add Rwatubyaye to the roster).  Swapping of the waiver wire order seems fairly meaningless. I'm guessing KC knows, or believes, that a player they're interested in will be waived soon and want first dibs on him.  The season ending injury replacement allowance is a big name for teams being allowed to spend up to $250K of their own money to replace a significant player that got a season-ending injury in the early part of the season (before the window closes).  Essentially KC is paying us $250K out of their own pocket that we can use as GAM.

So, in the end, here's the combine total of today's activities:

OUT: Feilhaber, 2020 international slot, #1 waiver wire pick, $775K-$875K of TAM (most not payable until 2020)

IN: Lewis, Rwatubyaye, Abubakar (on loan through 2019), 2019 international slot, #5 waiver wire pick, KC's 2nd round pick in 2020, $50K in TAM, $250K in GAM

Essentially we gave up Feilhaber and about $500-$600K in TAM, plus swapped waiver wire and international spots, for a National team player, a raw CB prospect, and a starting CB on loan, plus a draft pick.  That's not a bad days work.  It, however, doesn't help us much for 2019.  Adding two or three young players to the list of Acosta, Anderson, Bassett, Ford, Hundley, Nicholson, Raben, Rosenberry, Shinyashiki, and Vines is a lot of youth at low cost for the next coach to work with.  We've got a full youth movement going, but its going to take time to pay off.  I'm not sure the fans, or Smith, has that time.