Roster Analysis 2019

As usual I'm going to break down the roster by player and what I think the team should do with each player/position.  Now the rules have changed from when I first started doing this, back then you could cut players in the offseason with no penalty.  Now any contracts extending into next season can't be cut without taking the cap hot (each team is allowed one buyout without penalty).  So I'll try to take that into account.

Keep:
Kellyn Acosta - Obviously.
Sebastian Anderson - U-17 World Cup member and an HG.
Cole Bassett - HG.
Kortne Ford - HG, have to see how he comes back.
Kei Kamara - Duh.
Jonathan Lewis - Again, obvious.
Sam Nicholson - Yet another obvious choice (I'm not used to this).
Jack Price - Player of the Year!
Keegan Rosenberry - One of 6 field players in the league to play every minute.
Diego Rubio - Second highest scorer and rumored interest makes him a strong asset.
Andre Shinyashiki - MLS Rookie of the Year!
Sam Vines - Looks like the LB of the future.

Sign, for the right price:
Lalas Abubakar - Up to $500K of xAM, no problem.  Up to $750K, questionable.  Above that?  Hard to justify.

Upgrade if possible, if not stand pat:
Clint Irwin - We can do better but we don't need to.  If we find somebody better then go for it (Clint was on an option year in 2019 so we should be able to release him if we want) if not then Clint being in goal in 2020 should be fine.
Niki Jackson - I'm not sure there's a future in Colorado with Hundley and Shinyashiki ahead of him as young strikers but there's nothing wrong with him being on the roster either.

Depends on contract:
Nicolas Mezquida - I'm not sure what his contract situation is.  I'm also not sure how he's going to fit in 2020.  A lot depends on where we make big signings.  If we bring in a #10 Mezquida is no more than a backup, but if we go for a striker and winger then he has a role to play.
Tommy Smith - He's on an option year, an option we should not pick up.  However if we could bring him back at like half the price or so, that would still be a solid move.

Young kids - Most of these guys are probably worth keeping but limited playing time makes judgement hard:
Matt Hundley
Sam Raben
Andre Rawls
Abdul Rwatubyaye

Cut:
Kofi Opare - Couldn't help a bad defense, won't have a role on a hopefully better one.
Dillon Serna - Yeah, this hurts, but he needs to go somewhere else and see if he can become a starter either at MLS or USL level.
Axel Sjoberg - Another fan favorite, but clearly has no remaining role here.
Deklan Wynne - See Opare.

Buyout:
Danny Wilson - He's on a large guaranteed contract, that he hasn't justified.  Time to bite the bullet and let him restart somewhere else.

Its a shocking number of players to keep given how the season started.  A real credit to the roster building over the last 12 months, and a real indictment of Hudson's coaching abilities.