Busy News And Rumors Day

Lots of news, lots of rumors.  We'll start with what has been reported.

• Wilmer Cabrera is hired as the new Chivas USA coach

No real surprise after the rumors of the last two days.  It does knock one name off the likely coaching list for the Rapids.

• Red Bull NY has not been asked about Fraser

A bit of a surprise since Fraser seemed to be the early leader for the Rapids job in rumors.  Take another one off the list.

• Colorado hires John Metgod as consultant

This one is more than a bit odd and came out of left field.  Rumors have him working with a future USL team that will be the Rapids affiliate, and possibly partly-owned by them.  Looking at his resume though, he'd make a good head coaching candidate.  Regardless, a good mind to have helping the Rapids.

Now on to the rumors, some of them stronger than the others:

• Jamie Smith hired as Academy coach 

This one seems the strongest of the rumors, with multiple people who know Smith confirming it.  A good move for a guy who was probably going to retire.

• Mullan to be re-signed as player/coach

Reportedly MLS has made a new player designation in recent years for veteran players transitioning to coaching where not all their salary counts against the cap.  Smith was supposed to be in that role last season but something happened, and Mullan will take it this season.  Great way to bring back and experienced vet.

• Pareja's buyout (which was in his contract) could be announced as soon as tomorrow.  The Rapids will get cash, allocation money, and a first round pick probably in next year's draft.

Solid, if not spectacular, package for all of this.  Reportedly the Rapids will turn some of that allocation money around to bring in some players on loan.  They may be using some of the cash for Metgod as well.

And a story I missed covering in the holiday last week, but Chris Klute and Shane O'Neill got callups to the January US National Team camp, and Dillon Powers was also called up but sadly had to pass due to ongoing concussion issues.  Scary to think that he's still dealing with the issue at this point, especially after Pablo's issues in 2012.  Hopefully he gets better soon.  Great to see 3 young Rapids getting the callup though, things are looking up on that front.

Pareja Leaving, Harris Traded, Cabrera Out?

First the coaching drama.  Newest updates from Chris Bianchi on Twitter:

Pareja is still officially #Rapids coach. But he’s not coming back. Zero chance. Zilch. Nada.

Not for sure, but I’d expect something by Friday. RT @jpatrickrosch: @Rapids_News any word on when this might officially be resolved?

Also today from Ives (who struck out on the last Rapids coach leaving rumor, so take with a grain of salt:

Sources tell me Chivas USA closing in on making Colorado #Rapids assistant Wilmer Cabrera new head coach. Final decision expected soon #MLS

So that pretty much tells us that Pareja is on his way to Dallas and Cabrera won't be his replacement.  At this point I figure that's going on is either Dallas and Colorado are still agreeing on the compensation for buying out Pareja or the Rapids are trying to get the deal done with the new head coach before letting Pareja go.

The only new "rumor" on a possible replacement beyond Robin Fraser (meh) or John Spencer (no!) is the idea that they might be looking at Julio and/or Jorge Dely Valdes.  There's been no leak of this information or anything but a number of different people are talking about how it would be a good move, so I think there's a little smoke here.  Most recently the Dely Valdes twins have been leading Panama (Julio as head coach, Jorge as assistant and youth coach) but Julio was fired and Jorge demoted just to youth coach after Panama failed to qualify for the World Cup.  Jorge played in Colorado for 2 years in 1999 and 2000 and was a fan favorite, scoring 17 goals in 52 games.  The twins were also reportedly influential in finally getting Gabriel Torres to Colorado.

This feel like a real long shot to me, but if the Rapids were to pull it off it would be the MLS equivalent of Washington losing Steve Sarkisian and signing Chris Petersen last month.  Either or both would be the first names I've seen to replace Pareja that I feel like might be an upgrade.

Also on the coaching front, Jamie Smith was spotted at the Rapids local combine the last two days on the sidelines with a clipboard helping to evaluate players.  Don't be surprised if he's added as an assistant coach or player/coach this year.

On to the actual news and not rumors of the day.  The Rapids traded Atiba Harris to San Jose for Martin Chavez.  The Rapids will reportedly also pick up some of Harris' 2014 salary.  Even with that this is a win for Colorado.  Its no secret that I thought picking up Harris last year was a bat move and that I think Harris is a hack, so getting a player like Chavez, who, when healthy, can be an all-star player is a steal.  Chavez had injury problems last year and apparently made it known that he wasn't happy with the coaches at the end of the season.

Both players make about the same amount of money and both have green cards, so the only real difference in cap and roster hits is the amount of Harris' salary we're eating.  Chavez is more of a true winger than Harris was so he'll slot right into Harris old spot on the wing and start whipping in crosses, taking on players on the dribble, and taking free kicks.

Bianchi also reports the following on the trade:

Bravo/FO. Not Oscar. RT @Kenton_Lee: @Rapids_News in charge? So did he make the Atiba-Chavez trade or was that Bravo or both?

So apparently the FO is already moving on.

Colorado Makes Coaching Staff Official

The addition of Wilmer Cabrera as Pareja's right-hand man has been the worst-kept secret in Commerce City for some time.  Today the Rapids made it official, along with the rest of the coaching staff (all of which had been leaked prior to today).  The new additions:

Wilmer Cabrera - Assistant Coach
Former Men's U-17 coach for the U.S. and former teammate of Oscar Pareja on the Colombian National Team.

Paul Caffrey - Assistant Coach
Cabrera's assistant coach with the U-17 team.

And the returning staff:
David Kramer - Goalkeeper Coach
John Ireland - Fitness Coach
Erik Carlson - Team Administrator
Jaime Rojas - Head Athletic Trainer
Carlos Garcia - Equipment Manager

The Rapids also announced that Paul Bravo has signed a new contract as Technical Director for the next 3 seasons.

Head Coach Oscar Pareja

Today Colorado made it official and hired Oscar Pareja as the team's 7th head coach. The Rapids say 6th but I like to count Roy Wegerle's 1 game as player/manager at the end of the 1996 season. ;) There's been no details as to the amount or length of his contract other than "long" according to Tim Hinchey at the press conference. I'm sure those details will leak in the future.

Pareja is Colombian and started his career there, playing for two of the better known clubs in Independiente Medellín and Deportivo Cali (Carlos Valderrama also played for both clubs). In 1998 he moved to the New England Revolution but was quickly traded to the Dallas Burn, where he's been ever since. After retiring from playing in 2005, his last game being Dallas' PK playoff loss to the Rapids, he took a position as an assistant coach and was eventually put in charge of Dallas' youth academy. Dallas has the most successful youth academy in the league so far and everyone seems to point to Pareja as the reason. He also spent some time as an assistant coach to the U.S. U-17 team.

I like this move. Its grown on me during this week as more information has come out and the Dallas fans have been falling over themselves to say good things about Papi (As Pareja is known). I'm glad we didn't go with a re-tread like Soehn or Osario. I think Williams still would have been my first choice but I'm cautiously optimistic about Pareja. Certainly his experience with the youth squad in Dallas and the U-17 team should make him more willing than Smith to play our younger players, which has been lacking. Bravo is still going to be in charge of Colorado's youth program, as the head coach doesn't have time for that responsibility, but hopefully Pareja will be able to give some recommendations and help the progress of the Academy.

There's also been a rumor over the last couple of days that Pareja's friend and countryman, Wilmer Cabrera, will be joining him in Colorado. A couple of sources have confirmed this, but I haven't seen any word from normally reliable sources. For the last 4 years Cabrera has been the coach of the U.S. U-17 National Team, so it would be a big get for the Rapids if they've hired him.

Between Pareja and possibly Cabrera Colorado should have a good pipeline to young players in Colombia and the rest of South America. This has been somewhere Paul Bravo has said he wants to be looking for players so it would seem that everyone is on the same page now. Before that though, bravo and Pareja are heading to Ft. Lauderdale tonight for the MLS Combine this weekend and next week's SuperDraft.