Roster Compliance Day Means Saying Goodbye

Today was roster compliance day for the league (other than Miami and FSL, who had to be compliant before their game Wednesday night) which means a number of trades and cuts, and the Rapids did both today.  First of all we say goodbye to Alex Gersbach, who was bought out, and Sidnei Tavares, who was waived and will return from his loan.

Gersbach was bought from Ligue 2 side Gernoble for a reported $325K last offseason and never showed he was a MLS-caliber player, getting ripped to shreds in the 4-0 loss in Seattle to start the season.  After tha he only had two more appearances, starting against SJ 2 weeks later (a 1-0 loss), and against Atlanta in May (a 4-0 loss).  3 starts, a total of 9-0 scorelines against us.  He had surgery for a cronic injury in July and never suited up again.  Unless that injury occurred in preseason (it was after he arrived at some point) its hard to imagine what he could have showed in France that made Smith believe he was a MLS-level starter as he never appeared anywhere close to it.

Tavares was brought in during the summer window on loan.  By the time his paperwork was complete the season was for all intents and purposes over, but despite that he only made 5 appearances.  Most of his time here last season was spent on the injury report with an undisclosed illness.  Per Matt Pollard ad Burgundy Wave it couldn't have been COVID as that would have been reported differently, his best guess is that he struggled with altitude sickness.  Regardless he didn't show much in his 5 appearances and with the addition of Diack, Mihailovic, Löffelsend, and Fernandez he was going to be low in the pecking order this year.

Looking back at 2023 the club added Ronan, Maxso, Ilic, Cabral, Gersbach, Tavares, and Navarro.  Ronan looks like a good signing and I have hoped for Maxso.  The rest over are somewhere between a question mark (Navarro) and a diaster (Gersbach).  I can almost forgive Navarro and Tavares.  Those were moves made after losing Price and Max for the year and Rubio for big chunks of the season so you need to make quick additions and bringing them in on loan to see if they help gives you an out.  Ilic, Cabral, and Gersbach are unforgiveable though, I really don't know what our scouts saw in them.

After making those two moves the Rapids traded a now open international spot to the Red Bulls for $175K in GAM.

Full credit to the Rapids for doing something I've been wanting for years.  After making those moves they put out a detailed roster explanation, listing every player and every category they fill.  This is extremely helpful for looking at where we can make some moves come the end of the window in May or the summer window.  Atlanta set the standard today, putting out not only this info but also detailed contract info with length and option years listed.

We officially have 30 players under contract right now, with 6 internationals (Cabral, Diack, Ilić, Maxsø, Navarro, and Ronan).  Our 3 DP slots are filled by Cabral, Mihailovic, and Navarro.  Diack, Maxsø, Steffen and Vines are on TAM deals while Bassett is ouir only current U22 player.  Chacón is on the injury list which means he doesn't currently take up a roster/international spot as he rehabs from his ACL tear in October.

There will be a preview of the Portland game either later tonight or first thing in the morning.

A Little Bit Of This & A Little Bit Of That

A hodgepodge of news and previews today so I decided to put it all in one post.  Starting out there was an announcement this morning of an official ownership group, calling themselves Denver FC for now, to bring a NWSL or USL W team to Denver.  The group includes Lakewood native and Rapids analyst and host Jordan Angeli, who played for the NSWL's Washington Spirit and WNY Flash (as well as the earlier WPS Boston Breakers).  They filed for a D1 bid last fall and are actively working on gaining an expansion slot.  At this time there's no affiliation with the Rapids.   Adding a woman's team would be a great move for Denver, which doesn't have a WNBA or women's soccer team.  Consider me in full support of this move.  They'll have their kickoff event at Number 38 on July 21st during the USA-Vietnam Women's World Cup group stage match.

Back on the men's side a bit of unfortunate news as the Rapids announced today that Alex Gersbach has undergone surgery to address a tendon injury and will miss 6-8 weeks.  Optimistically this means he'll be back about the time the Leagues Cup wraps up and league play restarts.  I don't know which came first, the need to do this which led to trading for LB Andrew Gutman, or knowing that we acquired Gutman meant that they felt comfortable getting this addressed now since there was cover at LB.

Last but not least we have a game tomorrow.  Well, half a game.  At 7pm tomorrow night the second half of the 4th of July game against Portland will be played at the Dick.  Tickets from the 4th are valid for entry tomorrow night and if you need a ticket because you gave away your fourth of July ticket (like me) it seems like plenty of people out there are offering theirs.

The game will pickup just as if they were coming out of halftime on the 4th.  The same XI for each team will start on the field (though I think the teams will be allowed to make subs just as if they had made them at halftime of a regular game).  There are some special rules however if players are no longer available:

• If a player who was in the game when it was postponed is no longer available (due to injury or no longer being on the team) they can be replaced with somebody who was on the bench on Tuesday night without using one of the 5 subs/3 sub windows the team gets.
• If a player who was on the bench when the game was postponed is no longer available they can be replaced by any player who was on the roster and available when the game started.  In the case of the Rapids that means players like Gutman (was not a Rapid yet) and Bombito (was with team Canada) can not be added to the bench.  I think players who were listed as out injured on Tuesday, like Rubio, are also ineligible to be added for this restart.  This rule will allow us to add Abe Rodriguez to the bench to replace Ilic, who's loan expired since the 4th of July.
• The only exception to the above is for goalkeepers, if a team loses the active goalkeeper in the game and the goalkeeper on the bench they can then take any goalkeeper they have and add them to the active lineup.  That's the only way a player can go from "not in the gameday roster" to "on the field for the restart".

Its impossible to predict what's going to happen tomorrow night, so I'm not even going to try.  Its a weird situation we've never experienced before.

Rapids Finish(?) Their International Signings

Today Colorado made the last of their rumored signings official, announcing the signing of Australian left-back Alex Gersbach from French Ligue 2 side Grenoble.  The 25 year old signed a 3-year deal with a club option for a 4th year.  He immediately becomes the expected starter at left back.  The team is hopeful that they can get his paperwork processed in time for Gersbach to join them in Orlando for the second half of preseason.

With this signing every significant signing rumor has been wrapped up.  That doesn't rule out a new rumor of close, but with the transfer window for most major European leagues closing in less than 24 hours it certainly makes it harder.  Teams generally don't want to sell vital parts if they can't replace them.  Of course, trades within MLS are still available until the MLS window closes in May.  For now though our big signings from outside the U.S. soccer sphere are likely to be Gersbach, Ronan, and Maxsø.

Also on Sunday the Rapids played their last preseason friendly in Mexico, against Liga MX side Queretaro.  After 90 minutes the Rapids were up 1-0 on Yapi's third goal of the preseason.  After the "end" of the game the teams agreed to scrimmage for 30 more minutes.  Colorado sent out a XI made up of reserves, Rapids 2 players, and Academy players, and promptly gave up 3 goals "losing" 3-1.  The Rapids won the main part of the game though which has to be considered a success.  The lineup for the match was:

Yarbrough

Anderson - Abubakar - Wilson - Beitashour

Price

Max - Bassett

Nicholson - Rubio - Barrios

and then after half they subbed to:

Rodriguez

Garcia - Edwards - Bombito - Markanich

Priso

Galvan - Acosta

Vargas - Yapi - Harris

The Rapids now come back to Commerce City for a few days before heading out to Orlando for the rest of preseason.  They'll fly from central Florida to Seattle for the opener in just under 4 weeks.