Roster Review and Expansion Draft Prediction

Ok, time to get to the nitty gritty of the roster.  Colorado has one player out of contract and 10 players in an option year.  Decisions will be made on the options players by tomorrow in advance of the expansion draft on December 11th.

The only player fully out of contract in Jonathan Lewis.  I expect that the Rapids won't be too upset about losing him.  They may give him a contract offer a a low number ($200K max) to make it clear he's coming back as a backup but they may just let him go without a new offer.

The 9 players who are on a option year:

GK - Ethan Bandre

D - Lalas Abubakar

D - Seb Anderson

D - Michael Edwards

D - Nate Jones

D - Miguel Navarro

D - Keegan Rosenberry

M - Remi Cabral

M - Calvin Harris

M - Oli Larraz

If you're wondering who Miguel Navarro is, we traded for him last offseason and then once we signed Vines we sent him on loan to Talleres in Argentina.  Apparently he's become a key component of the team down there and there's an option to purchase in the loan agreement so I expect a deal to get done transferring him there permanently.

I think its obvious that the team won't pick up Abubakar at his current number.  I think this might surprise some people but I don't think we pick up Rosenberry at his current number.  I know he's the team captain but I don't think the team signs Reggie Cannon, who's most natural spot is right back, if they planned to keep Rosenberry as a starter.

I do expect that both Lalas and Keegan will be offered contracts at a reduced number as they can be valuable stop starters and options off the bench but neither of them should be starting even half the games next season.  My guess is that Rosenberry can find a bigger role at another team in the league and moves on.

As to the rest of the group I can see all the options being exercised.  Larraz is a no-brainer.  Armas seems to like Harris so even though he hasn't nailed down a starting role I expect we bring him back for another season.  If for no other reason than to keep Kevin happy I think we pick up Remi's option, though has had a good year in Phoenix so I think he's earned it on his own.  For Bandre, Anderson Edwards, and Jones we have little or nothing to go on.  Edwards and Anderson have looked good in their limited minutes and at their numbers I think they come back.  I thought Jones might be the odd man out given that we only gave him a one year deal and we didn't see him at all this season but the reports since the end of the season are that the coaches are quite happy with his play with Rapids 2.  Bandre I have no idea but I assume we'll bring him back.

Once these decisions are made we move on to the expansion draft for San Diego.  The newcomers will get to choose 5 players from across the league, no more than one from any team.  Teams will get to protect 12 players and their under 26 year old Homegrowns and Generation Adidas players will be automatically protected.  For the Rapids that means the following are protected:

Calvin Harris - GA, Seb Anderson - HG, Cole Bassett - HG, Adam Beaudry - HG, Michael Edwards - HG, Omir Fernandez - HG, Oli Larraz - HG, Djordje Mihailovic - HG, Sam Vines - HG, Darren Yapi - HG

(Yes, Mihailovic still counts as an HG apparently)

So with the additional 12 protected slots this is who I predict the Rapids will protect.  I want to emphasize that this is who I predict they'll protect, not who I would protect if it were up to me.

The top 9 are obvious:

Zack Steffen

Keegan Rosenberry

Reggie Cannon

Andreas Maxso

Jackson Travis

Kevin Cabral

Conner Ronan

Rafael Navarro

After that it gets a little harder.  How much do they want Abubakar to come back on a lesser deal?  Same with Lewis.  Fernandez?  Remi Cabral?  Miguel Navarro (assuming they don't get a deal done before then)?.

My guess for the last 3 would be Fernandez, Remi Cabral, and Navarro if they need to do it to protect the transfer fee.  If they don't then he'd be replaced with Stewart-Baynes.

If it were me I'd consider leaving Kevin Cabral and Maxso unprotected.  The odds of San Diego taking on their contacts is pretty low and if they do take one of them that's a large contract off our books.  I doubt the Rapids are thinking that way, if for no other reason than the message it would send to those players.