Rapids trade Christian Gomez, regain their DP slot.

The news is starting to break that the long-rumored trade of Christian Gomez back to DC United has been finalized. Right now it appears the Rapids are sending Christian Gomez, goalkeeper Mike Graczyk, and an international spot to DC. They are also picking up an unannounced amount of Gomez's salary for 2009. In return the Rapids are getting their DP slot back, Ivan Guerrero (pictured), DC's 2nd Round pick next year, and salary cap considerations.

I'm guessing that the Rapids are picking up a large chunk of Gomez' salary, but that the "salary cap considerations" are DC picking up the actual hit of much of that on the salary cap, giving the Rapids the flexibility to use the DP slot. We had too many keepers, so losing Graczyk won't hurt us. According to MLSnet Omar Cummings and Guerrero appear to be our only international players on the roster right now (though the statuses of Ballouchy, Cooke, and Kimura seem to be unclear) so losing the international slot shouldn't hurt much.

Getting our DP slot back is a big step with a new coach. It gives Smith the flexibility to go out and find a player he needs. Guerrero will push Harvey and Clark on the left, and give us some cover in case of injury. A draft pick never hurts, but the draft is becoming less and less important every year.

Overall I think this is a decent to good recovery from the disastrous trade that brought Gomez here last spring. I'm not sure who gets the credit for this in the trio of Plush, Bravo, or Smith but given the job descriptions I think its Paul Bravo. Another good step for our new Technical Director.

UPDATE: The news of the Rapids getting salary cap considerations was mis-reported. Its DC who's getting the salary cap considerations, int he form of the rapids picking up some of Gomez' salary.

Rapids Shopping Gomez

Completely unsurprising news out of Steven Goff.

No surprise: Colorado is trying to move Christian Gomez and dump his 2009 guaranteed contract of around $400,000. Gomez barely played the final few months of the season under then-interim coach Gary Smith, who clearly doesn't think much of the 2006 MVP. My hunch is that, if they find a suitor, the Rapids will have to continue paying a portion of his salary next year. Colorado already re-signed Pablo Mastroeni to a new deal that approaches designated player range.

So the Rapids are trying to unload a player they traded their DP slot and a first round pick for less than a year after the trade. From the looks of it even if they pull off a trade they'll still have to eat part of the salary. I hate to say I told you so but, I told you so.

The second part of the news, that Pablo is making close to DP money, is more surprising. Pablo made a base salary of 300K last year, and DP money is above 400K. This means that we probably gave a 32 year old defensive midfielder a raise and a 4 year contract. I think Pablo re-signing was a great move, but at that money for that length I wonder if its going to become an albatross around our neck by 2011 and 2012. One possible silver lining is that MLS contracts are usually 2 years guaranteed with a team-held 2-year option. If that's the case then the contract looks much better.

Christian Gomez a Rapid

The announcement is now official. From the Rapids website:

In order to sign the playmaker, Colorado had to complete a trade with DC United for his rights. In that deal the Rapids sent their first round pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft and future considerations to the nation’s capital.

Usually future considerations are more or higher draft picks, based on statistics the player puts up for his new teams (Games played, goals scored, etc.). If that's the case the Rapids got a steal on this one. Gomex is instantly the best player on the Rapids roster and gives the Rapids a true goal-scoring threat out of the midfield, something the team hasn't had in years, if ever. In trade we give up a few draft picks, and if you look at the Rapids draft history, and the odds of finding a quality MLS player in the draft, that's not a significant loss.


Even if the future considerations turn out to be an allocation I still think it was a good deal, though at that point its a more even trade for DC. gomez is still an allocation-level player, even at his age, and the increase in offensive firepower is something the team desperately needs.


With Gomez on the roster an no major rumored moves coming before the end of the season, I expect a lineup along the following lines.

Bouna

Ugo - Erpen - Petke - Burciaga

Pablo

Cooke - Gomez - Clark

Herc - Kirovski

My choice would be Peterson or Cummings up front in place of Kirovski, at least until Casey has recovered from his knee injury, but Clavijo seems to be obsessed with Jovan in the starting 11 so I expect him there. I could also see Nico in place of Clark and/or Hilgenbrink in place of Burciaga based on preseason training.

UPDATE: Well it looks like the trade is turning sour. Steven Goff is reporting that the "future considerations" is the right for D.C. to use our DP slot for the next 3 years. Its unclear if that means we've traded the slot or if they just have the right of first refusal to the use of our slot, but either way involving our DP slot in the Gomez trades takes this trade from a steal for the Rapids all the way to a steal for DC. Consider the following:

• Chivas traded their DP slot for 5 years for the under contract Guevara
• We've (apparently) traded our DP slot for 3 years AND a first round draft pick for the rights to Gomez. We then had to sign him to a contract or give him up.

Not only that, but we've also made DC much better in the process. They can now go out and sign Veron or Schevcheko, both of which have been rumored. Either one of those two would probably be an upgarde for Gomez for the Rapids. Now admittedly, I don't think that the Rapids FO would spend the cash to sign one of the, and I'm not sure they would come here if they did, but that doesn't make the trade to give up our DP into a good move.