Roster Cuts

The Rapids announced today that they cut 1st round draft pick Emmanuel Appiah and 3rd round pick Chris Froschauer.  The later is not a surprise, Froschauer was not on the bench for last night's game and with Howard coming in there really wasn't a reason for the team to carry 4 keepers (including Berner in Charlotte).  Appiah is a bigger surprise.  While some people felt he wasn't a 1st round pick I didn't expect the Rapids to move on so quickly (conversely, may thought Castillo was a steal in the second round and he seems to be living up to that).

With this news and the arrival of Greenspan the Rapids now have 2 open roster spots (1 if Ramirez unexpectedly returns).  If the plan is to sign Shelton we still need an international spot however.

Rapids Make A Couple Of Signings

Me right now

The Rapids started the day filling to their empty roster spots about how I thought they would.  They announced they signed draftee GK Chris Froschauer.  Then they announced they signed draftee M Emmanuel Appiah.

Then at 5:30 today they dropped the mic.  Colorado traded general allocation money and their  first round pick next year to new England for Jermaine Jones.  Yes, that Jermaine Jones.  Using that TAM they accumulated they've bought him down to non-DP status.

This idea was kicked around by the fan base and I was against it as a DP.  As a non-DP though?  All for it.  Jones is my favorite current Nat, though he dropped quite a bit with that playoff hissy-fit last year.  Because of that he'll miss the first 6 games as he serves his suspension for pushing the ref.  His first game will be April 16th against the Red Bulls at the Dick.

That suspension also explains/solves my concern about any big signing having to learn on the fly as the season goes.  He can't play for 6 weeks so he'll have the equivalent of almost a full preseason to work with the team in practice before he's eligible.

my assumption is that this "solves" the right wing issue by pushing Pappa out there so Jones can sit in the center with Powers and Cronin behind him.  Or maybe Powers will be in the center with Jones and Cronin behind him.  Either way it will be a midfield of Cronin, Gashi, Jones, Pappa, and Powers with Kevin Doyle in front of them when everyone is healthy and available.  That's a significant improvement over what we had last year.

The last notable game that Jones played in Colorado was the Snow Clasico which birthed the Sno Fro:

Current roster:

GK John Berner
GK Chris Froschauer
GK Zac MacMath
D March Burch
D Bobby Burling
D Marlon Hairston
D Eric Miller
D Axel Sjoberg - Inernational
D Sean St. Ledger - International
D Mekeil Williams - International
M Emmanuel Appiah
M Michael Azira
M Sam Cronin
M Jermaine Jones
M Marco Pappa
M Zach Pfeffer
M Dillon Powers
M Dillon Serna
M Jared Watts
F Dominque Badji - International
F Caleb Calvert
F Conor Doyle
F Kevin Doyle - International - DP
F Shkëlzen Gashi - International - DP
F Luis Solignac - International