Pre-Holiday News Dump

I take a day off and in the 48 hours since I last posted the Rapids sign 3 players, draft 6 others, drop the 2024 schedule, and Burgundy Wave announces info about Armas' contract.  Oh, and the USSF says no to MLS's idea to skip the Open Cup.  So buckle in, this is going to be a large post going over all of it that will likely wrap up 2023 for Rapids news (I hope!).

Lets start with the singings.  First Colorado re-signed homegrown players Seb Anderson and Oli Larraz to one year deals with team options for a second season.  Anderson's deal also has a team option for a third season.  Pretty clear that this is a make it or break it season for both of them, I'm really hoping to see Larraz get some time with the first team after a strong season in MLS Next Pro in 2023.

Then last night the Rapids signed free agent winger Omir Fernandez,  He came up through the RBNY Academy and has made over 110 appearances for the Red Bulls in the last 5 seasons.  Fernandez is 24, making him one of the youngest free agents in MLS history.  He is likely to become the starter ont he right wing but he can also play more centrally or up top.

Yesterday Colorado drafted 5 players and traded for a 6th draftee.  They started the day with the #2 and #4 picks which the club used to select sophomore midfielder Wayne Fredrick out of Duke and Generation Adidas forward freshman Kimani Stewart-Baynes out of Maryland.  Fredrick has the option to return to school while the Rapids keep his rights while Stewart-Baynes, as a GA player, has already signed a contract with the league and will be turning pro.  Both of these picks are long-term picks, though you would hope that Stewart-Baynes could contribute a little in 2024.

Then the wheeling and dealing started.  By the end of the first round the Rapids had acquired $300K in GAM, an additional second round pick and the rights to the #5 pick in exchange for their other two first round picks and moving down in the second round.  The #5 pick was defender Nate Jones out of my alma mater, the University of Washington.  Jones is a junior and is the most likely of our six picks to get notable playing time in 2024.

With their two second round picks and their third round pick we selected sophomore forward Palmer Ault out of Butler, senior defender Anderson Ross out of Central Florida. and junior forward Gunnar Studenhofft out of Manhattan College.  Studenhofft has also debuted for the Cayman Islands National Team, playing in a World Cup qualifier already.

Since none of these players are seniors they can all return to school if they want, other than Stewart-Baynes.  I expect Jones at least to come out of school and the others may depend on what kind of feedback they get from the Rapids on their chances of making the team vs. making Rapids 2.  I assume there's already a plan of what they want to do with Fredrick as you wouldn't use the #2 pick on him otherwise.

If you combine the trades last season with the trades made yesterday, the Rapids traded Michael Barrios, Anthony Markanich, a first round pick in last year's draft, and the #31 pick this year.  In exchange they got the #4 pick, the rights to the #5 pick, the #34 pick, the #42 pick, and $300K in GAM.  No matter how you look at it, that's good business.

Today started with the U.S. Soccer Federation telling MLS that their plans to play MLS Next Pro teams in the Open Cup instead of the first teams was not allowed.  MLS responded that they could continue to work with the USSF on their Open Cup plans.  In the end what will likely happen is that teams will play in the Open Cup but they'll be given more liberal rules for calling up '2' players for those games.  Still its a positive step by the USSF to protect the Open Cup.

Then this year's schedule dropped.  For the first time the Rapids will face Inter Miami, but in Miami.  Messi is not coming to Commerce City.  That will be April 6th in Florida.  Colorado will start the season on February 24th in Portland and then have their home opener a week later on March 2nd against Gary Smith's Nashville side.  They then jump across the Divide for the first of three Rocky Mountain Cup matches the next week.  The second RMC match is in Sandy on May 18th, and the competition will finish on July 20th in Commerce City.

That's also the last match before the Leagues Cup break, and Colorado won't have another league home match for almost two months, when Portland comes to town on September 14th.  We have our home finale on October 5th against Seattle before finishing the regular season the next week in Austin.

Along with Miami we travel to NYCFC and Cincinnati, while welcoming Nashville, Montreal, RBY, and Toronto at the Dick, along with home and aways against all the Western opponents, plus the extra 3rd match with FSL.    We never have more than two road matches in a row, but 3 of our first 4 are on the road.  We have one run of three home games in early July, starting with the 4th of July home match against SKC and then St. Luis and RBNY over a total of 9 days.  We do have multiple 3-game weeks, but only one of them involves two road matches.  Memorial Day week we play at home on Memorial Day Saturday and then go to Houston midweek and Vancouver the following weekend.

Last, but not least, tonight Burgundy Wave is reporting that Chris Armas' contract is a two year deal.  Unless we have an Anthony Hudson situation I expect him to essentially see out that deal even if we don't see great improvement in 2024.  Coincidentally, or not, Robin Fraser's contract was also through the end of the 2025 season so one way or the other by 2026 there will be no legacy contracts on the books.

And with that, I'm calling a wrap on this post and hopefully 2023.  If anything happens over the holidays, unlikely as that is, I'll be back but I'm expecting everything to be pretty quiet for the next week and a half.  Happy holidays to all of my readers and I'll be back after New Years with hopefully enough time to do a piece on Soccernomics and the Rapids I've been hoping to do before the start of camp.