Final Trade Update - I Hope

The Rapids just sent an email to season ticket holders announcing the Gibbs/Burpo/Thompson/Larentowicz trade and confirming that they've re-signed Larentowicz to a neew contract. It also confirms that we sent New England our 3rd round pick next year and allocation money.

Trade Complete, I Think

After a report from George Tanner earlier today that the trade with the Revs was off it appears the trade has been completed. The details:

Rapids get Wells Thompson and the rights to Jeff Larentowicz

Revolution get Cory Gibbs, the rights to Preston Burpo (who Bravo told me was out of contract this offseason), a 3rd round pick in 2011, and allocation money

To me this deal hinges on two things. How much allocation money and do the Rapids get Larentowicz under contract. As long as we didn't give up significantly more allocation money than we got from Toronto for Peterson then I'm OK with it. If we gave up 200K+ I've got to wonder what we're thinking. Allocation amounts are rarely made public in trades so we'll never know for sure.

I can't believe we would trade this much if we didn't already know we could sign Larentowicz to a new contract. Assuming that's the case I think it is a good to maybe great deal for the Rapids. We move off an expensive, overpaid center back, of which we have 6-7 and a backup goalkeeper that was reportedly unhappy to be a backup. In return we get some depth in the wings with Thompson and a player on the edge of the National Team (Larentowicz was in camp this off-season until a knee injury forced him to leave). He can immediately move into midfield along side Pablo with no significant drop-off from either Ballouchy or LaBrocca.

While I don't think this is a significant step forward it certainly isn't a step back. God solid move by the FO, if Larentowicz signs.

Trade Updates

Multiple trade updates:

• Peterson traded for allocation money - No great loss IMO. With his injury he wouldn't be at 100% until late in the season anyway, and he was at best a backup. It increases our need to get more wing depth.
• Reports are that the trade with the REvs is a go, but nothing official yet. The newest report is Burpo, Gibbs, a draft pick, and allocation money for Wells Thompson and the rights to Jeff Larentowicz. Presumably if we're giving up that much we know that we'll be able to sign the latter to a new contract. Until we know all the details its too soon to really evaluate the trade, but I don't think we lose much in Burpo or Gibbs so I like how it looks so far.
  

Trade Update

Goff had an update on the rumored Gibbs/Burpo - Thompson/Larentowicz trade with the Revs:

New England Revolution was preparing to trade midfielders Jeff Larentowicz and Wells Thompson to the Colorado Rapids for goalkeeper Preston Burpo and defender Cory Gibbs. The latest buzz is that there were issues involving Gibbs' contract as well as a delay until Monday for his medical exam to be performed by the Revs.

At this point I'm fairly confident the trade will get done. The real question is the Rapids signing Larentowicz to a new contract. Reportedly the reason New England wants to move him is that he's asking for more salary in his new contract than New England is willing to pay. He considered moving to Europe but injuries have probably prevented that for now. Last year Larentowicz made $34,000 in the last year of his first contract. now that he's getting looks by Bob Bradley though, he can demand significantly higher than that.

Cory Gibbs Called Into Nats Camp

One last bit of Rapids news for 2008. The Rapids have just announced that Cory Gibbs has been called up for the U.S. National Team camp starting on Saturday at the HDC in Carson, CA. The camp is for preparation for the Nats first game of 2009, Jan 24th against Sweden on Fox Soccer Channel. The camp just includes players from MLS, European leagues on winter break, and out of contract players. I expect that we'll see a few European players who aren't on break added to the roster for the gamer, which means some of the players in camp won't make the game-day lineup.

Cory Gibbs Move Finalized and more Nats Time for Bouna?

The Denver Post is now reporting the Gibbs deal as done, so that's official enough for me. I think this is a solid move by the Rapids. Its not the reliable striker we really need up front unfortunately, but it does help solidify our defense. Currently we're 4th in offense and 10th in defense in the league, so going for a defender isn't a crazy idea. Our offensive starts are skewed by our two 4-0 wins, considering we haven't scored more than 2 in any other game, but it shows that we could use something to settle down our defense, mainly the Keystone Kops duo of Erpen and Ihemelu.

Gibbs is high-risk, high-reward. He's been injured pretty much all of the last 2 years, and even off and on before then. If he can stay healthy he has the skills to be one of the best central defenders in MLS. hopefully the Rapids were smart enough to structure his contract with a low base salary and lots of incentives. If he stays healthy he'll be worth a high salary number, but if he doesn't I don't want to be on the hook to pay somebody to sit in the training room.

In other player news, Fox Soccer Channel reported during last week's game that Bouna Time! has been called up for Senegal's friendly against Libya in Tripoli on Aug 20th. I haven't found confirmation of it anywhere, but I wouldn't be surprised as I expect him to be the backup GK for their World Cup Qualifier on Sept. 5th. I know some of my fellow Rapids fans feel like Bouna shouldn't be let go for a friendly unless we're officially out of the playoff running, but I disagree. Bouna is going to be more likely to stay with the Rapids if we're willing to work with Confederation of African Football's (CAF) unusual schedule. Plus as Americans we are used to having our players in Coundoul's spot, since CONCACAF isn't aligned with Europe., With all the complaining we've done in the past it would be hypocritical of us to start demanding that Bouna stay here.

Cory Gibbs to Colorado?

Soccer By Ives is reporting that the Rapids have signed Cory Gibbs with their allocation. Gibbs is a 28 year old central defender that has bounced around Europe and MLS. He's spent time with Dallas, Feyenoord in Holland, St. Pauli in the German Bundasliga, and most recently Charlton Athletic in England. He didn't play a single first team game with Charlton Athletic, despite signing with them over two years ago, due to injury. Gibbs has also been capped 19 times for the U.S. National Team, most recently in March when we played Poland.

I'll have a longer post about my thoughts on this move if and when it becomes official.