Re-Signings and Preseason

As expected there was a bit of news in the last 24 hours.  First we announced two returning players.  both Drew Moor and Steven Beitashour signed new 1 year deals with 1 year team options.  While I'm a little surprised by the latter, thinking retirement was likely, its good to have the veteran leadership of both of them back.  Personally they could have given Moor a 5 year contract and I would have been ok with it.  He's a club legend and will go into the Gallery of Honor when he retires.  If he wants to keep getting paid to be an extra coach in the locker room and our closer for 1 goal wins, I'm fine with that for however long he wants to do it.

Of the 6 players that the Rapids were negotiating with from last season, we have signed the two above.  Badji decided to sign for Cincinnati (for a rumored large number), and Mezquida is reportedly talking with San Jose.  That leaves Jeremy Kelly and Kort Ford.  There's been no work about Kelly at all, though I  don't think he'll play a major role one way or the other in 2022.

There's also been no word about Ford, but that's understandable given the passing of his mother.  I'm sure he's had other things to focus on.  The memorial for Mamma Ford is today at Greely Central High School, in fact it starts at the top of the hour (11am).  I'm currently in isolation due to COVID so I won't be attending but it is open to everyone.

The other news today is that the Rapids released their preseason schedule because, surprise, training camp starts Monday!  Players will have physicals the first day with the first training session on Tuesday.  The club will train in Commerce City for a week and then head to Arizona.  They'll play 3 matches down there, including two in the Desert Showcase, then leave for Orlando on Feb. 9th.  While there they'll play a closed-door friendly with Orlando City and train before going to Guatemala City for their Champion's League match.

So yeah, very quick offseason for Colorado this year.  Only 46 days from their playoff loss to the opening of training camp.  Once we have an idea of who's in camp I'll start my annual camp roster tracker.  And of course, we still have the Superdraft coming on Tuesday.

Full preseason schedule:

• Jan. 29 – Sporting Kansas City vs. Colorado Rapids (Desert Showcase match | Tickets)
• Feb. 1 – Colorado Rapids vs. Seattle Sounders FC (closed-door friendly)
• Feb. 5 – Colorado Rapids vs. Houston Dynamo FC (Desert Showcase match | Tickets)
• Feb. 11 – Orlando City SC vs. Colorado Rapids (closed-door friendly)