Rapids Acquire Kévin Cabral from the Galaxy

Today Colorado made its first big move off the season, acquiring French winger and Designated Player Kévin Cabral from the LA Galaxy in exchange for $600K of GAM in 2023 and $400K of GAM in 2024.  LA will pay half of Cabral's salary and retain a percentage of any transfer fee should the Rapids sell him.

Cabral was acquired by the Galaxy in April of 2021 for over $6M and in 61 appearances had 6 goals and 5 assists for LA.  Prior to that he was with French Ligue 2 side Valenciennes FC where he came up through their youth academy, having originally started in PSG's academy.  In 63 appearances with Valenciennes he had 11 goals.

At 23 years old (24 in July) Cabral is still early in his career but his start in MLS was not good.  Widely considered one of the worst DP signings in recent years by the Galaxy he was an albatross on their roster and with their upcoming transfer ban for overpaying Pavon and not reporting him as a DP and the $1M GAM fine for it the Galaxy were really on the ropes.  This move helps bail them out of the hole they dug.

On the plus side however, getting them to eat half his $1.65M salary and having already paid his transfer fee means the Rapids are only on the hook for the GAM and for about $150K in cash for each of the next 3 years to pay off the amount between the max salary and 50% of his salary.  So the cost here for a 6 million dollar player 20 months ago is minimal.  He does take a DP slot, but lets be realistic, the Rapids weren't going to use all those slots anyway.

There are still a couple of big negatives for me in this deal, and I think I come down on the side of "this had better work, because this looks like a bad deal right now".  First of all paying the same amount as we got for Kellyn Acosta seems out of whack on this move.  Either we sold Acosta cheaply or we overspent on Cabral, because as a MLS player Acosta is a lot more valuable than Cabral  Secondly, letting a fellow Western Conference team off the hook like this is not a great move.  LA was going to bein a world of hurt, and still will be, but since the transfer ban doesn't take effect until summer this gives them a chance to fill a DP slot before the winter window closes, and replaces the GAM they lost in the fine.  Third, this deal reeks of another case of Plan A and B for a new signing fell apart, so now we need to find a Plan C we can actually get over the line.  Similar to Zardes and Gutierrez last year.

Regardless of how you feel, the Rapids FO (Padraig Smith and co.) have put all their chips on Max and Cabral this season.  That's $2M+ investment in two players that so far haven't shown to be up to making a difference in MLS.  I can't see us making another major attacking move after those, so we will live or die on how that midfield works out.

In related news, earlier this week Minnesota United announced the signing of Clint Irwin, so as expected Yarbrough will have a new backup this year.

Catching Up On Rapids Moves

Ok, lots of moves to catch up on.  I was waiting to post about the goalkeeper moves on Friday for an official announcement about a contract deal but I think it may have gotten buried by today's news so I'll catch up now.  We sent a 2nd round pick in next month;s draft to Toronto for Clint Irwin.  On the surface swapping $175K MacMath for Irwin with a $220K option in his last contract year doesn't look great.  There are heavy rumors though that Clint is signing a new deal with the Rapids that will bring him in under MacMath's number for at least two seasons.  That makes this move a no-brainer.  Arguably Irwin is a better keeper than, certainly he's as good as, MacMath and he's familiar with the club.  He gives us a quality backup for Howard this year and will compete for the starting job in 2020.

We then used the 2nd pick in the Re-Entry Draft to select Andre Rawls from NYCFC.  I don't know a ton about Rawls but he's 26, was drafted by NYCFC in 2015 and spent that first year in the USL while being their back up the last 3 seasons, but never played a league game.  I'm sure he'll spend 2019 in Colorado Springs unless we need him on the bench as a backup of Howard or Irwin are unavailable.

That sets our keeper roster for 2019 at Howard, Irwin, and Rawls, which is a solid 1-2-3.

Today we made a big move, sending Edgar Castillo to New England for Rowe and then sending Rowe, $200K of GAM, and $100K of TAM to KC for Diego Rubio.  The $100K TAM matches what we got in the MacMath trade so you can kind of look at this like MacMath+Castillo+$200K of GAM = Mezquida+Rubio which is a nice piece of work.  Rubio is a 25 year old striker from Chile that has played in Chile, Portugal, and Spain before signing with KC in 2016.  He's been a spot starter/sub for KC, scoring 8 goals in 9 starts/20 appearances last year (averaged 39 minutes an appearance).  He also got his green card in KC so he does not count as an international.

I can see Rubio being a starter in 2019 or competing with another signing to start along-side Kamara.  Either way he's better than anything we had starting up top last year and paired with Kei we could see a combined 20 goals from them, which is better than anything we've had since C+C Goal Factory.

The Rapids still need to shore up the defense, I expect at least one outside back signing, and a couple more solid signings in attack would be helpful, but this is more moves before Christmas than we've ever seen from this organization so these are positive signs.  The question is, can Hudson make it all work on the field?

So Long Clint!

That really says it all.  Today the Rapids traded away one of the great players of the last few years.  He was the Player of the Year last year in my opinion and the last place we needed to spend time, effort, or money improving.  In exchange we got Targeted Allocation Money, Toronto's highest 3rd round pick tomorrow, and a conditional 1st round pick next year.  Unless that's a big allocation number (and I heard a rumor its not) we undersold badly.  Not surprising given that with MacMath and the rumor of Howard the league knew we'd be looking to move a keeper.

I don't think this move says anything one way or the other about Howard.  I've heard rumors that Irwin was going to be traded from the day MacMath was traded for.  I think Howard or no this was always the plan.

Really though, that's just more work on an area that was the least necessary spot for improvement.  We  had the 5th best defense last year led by Irwin and Moor while having the worst offense.  Since then we've lost both guys to Toronto and our only notable offseason sighting is a midfielder who's recovering from a stab wound.  So of course we should be spending time on the keeper position.

We now have 8 players to sign before camp opens Friday in order to meet Bravo's stated goal:

"Our goal is to have our team together for the start of training camp, to have all the pieces together for Pablo to start the season,"

The Rapids have  just 2 players left from Pareja's 2013 team, Dillon Powers and Dillon Serna.  From Pablo's first year you can add John Berner, Marc Burch, Marlon Hairston, and Jared Watts.  That's some significant turnover in a short amount of time.  Make no mistake, this is Pablo's roster now.

In other news Brian Ownby is apparently going to be in camp on trial to start preseason.  Ownby is an outside midfielder who has also played forward.  He played 10 time for the U-20s and was drafted by Houston, making 29 appearances in 3 seasons before spending last year with his hometown Richmond Kickers.

Current roster:

GK John Berner
GK Zac MacMath
D March Burch
D Joseph Greenspan (when on leave from the U.S. Navy)
D Marlon Hairston
D Axel Sjoberg
D Sean St. Ledger
M Michael Azira
M Sam Cronin
M Marco Pappa
M Zach Pfeffer
M Dillon Powers
M Dillon Serna
M Juan Ramirez
M Marcelo Sarvas
M Jared Watts
F Dominque Badji
F Caleb Calvert
F Kevin Doyle
F Luis Solignac

Unsigned draftees:

D Dennis Castillo
M Emmanuel Appiah

Trialists:

M Brian Ownby

Irwin Traded

More details tonight but Irwin was just traded to Toronto for draft pics and allocation money.

2015 Player Of The Year

Lets start by looking back at my Man of the Match awards:

1 award - Badji, Burling, Eloundou, Harrington, LaBrocca, Pittinari, Sarvas, Sjoberg, Solignac, Torres

2 awards - Sanchez, Serna

3 awards - Ramirez

4 awards - Doyle, Powers

9 awards - Irwin

Well, that makes this easy.  My player of the year is Clint Irwin

This is really a no-brainer.  Irwin was the most consistent and best player on the team this season.  He single-handedly kept us in several games.  He was also a leader off the field (mainly through Twitter) acknowledging to the fans that things weren't good and tanking them for their support.

I'd have to say the runner-up is a tie between Sanchez and Doyle.  Both were the only thing close to a consistent offense this team had but both also had their weaknesses.  Doyle isn't the type of player that can create on his own, while Sanchez tried to do too much at times this year.  Doyle led the team in goals with 5 while only playing less than 50% of the season,  4 of his goals were game-winners.  Sanchez had 9 total goals and assists, tied with Powers for the team lead.

Iwrin, Klute Signed To New Contracts

I'm feeling pretty bad tonight so my game preview will be delayed until morning (hopefully by then).  I did want to get this good news posted.  Colorado has put that free cap space after Pickens' departure to good use, signing goalkeeper Clint Irwin and defender Chris Klute to new contracts today.  Assuming they're teh standard MLS contract that will keep them with the Rapids through 2017.  Great to see our young stars getting rewarded and the FO taking care of this early.

Re-Entry Draft Phase 2 And Off-Season Training

The Rapids passed in today's Phase 2 of the Re-Entry Draft.  Also none of the Rapids trio of Ceus, Mullan, and Smith were picked in the Re-Entry Draft, so they are are all essentially free agents.  I would expect Mullan to come back to the Rapids in some capacity (player, coach, or player/coach) and possibly Smith the same way as well.  Ceus' time in Colorado, and probably MLS for now, is done.

Meanwhile a quartet of young Rapids are in England for some off-season training.  Chris Klute,, Clint Irwin, and Dillon Serna are training with Everton through Sunday, while Shane O'Neill is training with Fulham for a couple of weeks.  None of these are trials or loans, but any player training with another team is always being watched.  I wouldn't expect anything to come out of these trips but it does lay some possible groundwork for future years, especially in O'Neill's case.

The next big date on the off-season calendar is January 16th for the Superdraft in Philly.  Around that time the veterans will also be reporting to Commerce City for preseason physicals and fitness.

2013 Player of the Year: Clint Irwin

There were a lot of options for Player of the Year this year, which was a change from 2012 when the choices were Pickens, Pickens, or Pickens.  Looking back at my Player of the Match choices I gave it to 14 different players, 7 players more than once, and 4 players more than twice.  Those final 4 were Irwin, Brown, Sanchez, and Powers.  Out of the group Irwin got my award 9 times which made him the choice but I couldn't argue with any of the 4.

Irwin was a nobody who was a backup in the USL last year and who got a tryout chance with the Rapids in the pre-season and signed as the 3rd keeper replacing Ian Joyce.  After Ceus had a disastrous outing in the season opener in Dallas, allowing a ball to bounce over him for the only goal Pickens returned to the lineup for the next game against Philly before breaking his arm in the 5th minute of the RMC match in Salt Lake.  Enter Clint Irwin, who had taken the backup role from Ceus after the Dallas game.  Once Ceus stepped between the pipes though he never left, starting every league game from that moment on.  He set a MLS record facing a PK in each of his first 4 starts, saving one (against FSL no less) and having a second go off the post.  He tied a team record for shutouts in a season on a team that has had keepers like Marcus Hahnemann, Adin Brown, Joe Cannon, Bouna Coundoul, and Matt Pickens.

A guy who had no MLS experience and no expectations on him put up one of the best goalkeeping seasons in team history.  His career GAA of 1.10 is 5th best in league history and would be the 4th best season GAA a Rapids keeper had, just slightly behind the 1.06 of Hahnemann, 1.07 of Cannon, and 1.08 of Coundoul.  Clearly much more than was ever expected of him.

All-Star Voting Started Today

The Rapids have 6 players on the All-Star ballots that were released today.  Clint Irwin, Drew Moor, Atiba Harris, Dillon Powers, Edson Buddle, and Deshorn Brown.  Normally I don't really care about the All-Star Game, its great for those players who deserve it but the game is usually not interesting to me,  This year though the ASG is on July 31st in Kansas City.  3 days later the Rapids host FSL in the final Rocky Mountain Cup match, a game FSL has to win to retain the Cup.

That is the single biggest game on our schedule right now, because of the rivalry.  Given that, as much as they may deserve it (especially Irwin), I'd be happiest of none of these 6 guys got names to the ASG game-day squad.  There's a "2nd team" of All-Stars who get recognized and get whatever All-Star bonuses they have but are not a part of the game day festivities.  I'd prefer that all 6 of the Rapids are named to the 2nd team, get the kudos, but stay in Denver and rest for the RMC game.

I'd be thrilled if none of the Rapids made the game day squad and all 6 of FSL's nominees did.  Flying from New York back to Salt Lake after their Saturday game, then flying from Salt Lake to KC, playing mid-week, then flying from KC to Denver is much better than the Rapids who are hosting LA the weekend before and then staying in Denver until the RMC game a week later.

If you want to vote (for players from whatever team ;) ) the ballot is here.

Rapids Sign Three

Time to get caught up with this week's roster moves as Colorado added two and re-signed a third.

Yesterday they signed 2nd round Superdraft pick LB Kory Kindle and free agent GK Clint Irwin.  Kindle will compete for the starting LB spot while Irwin will be expected to fill the 3rd goalkeeper spot.

Then today they announced the re-signing of Jaime Castrillon.  A bit surprising as nobody realized Castrillon was out of contract.  Apparently, due to the injury found in post-season fitness tests, the Rapids declined Castrillon's option and has finally came to terms on a new contract.  This will allow Castrillon to get the necessary surgery on his knee.  Castrillon will start the season on the DL for a couple of months, so that will free up his roster spot.

Updated camp roster:

Goalkeepers:
Steward Ceus
Clint Irwin
Matt Pickens

Defenders:
Diego Calderon - International
Marcello Castro - Unsigned draftee, International
Brenton Griffiths - Unsigned draftee, International
Kory Kindle
Chris Klute (Atlanta loan through late-Sept)
Drew Moor
Anthony Wallace
Marvell Wynne

Midfielders:
Davy Armstrong - Homegrown Player
Tony Cascio
Jaime Castrillon - International - On Disabled List
Machael David - Unsigned draftee
Kevin Harbottle - International
Nick LaBrocca
Pablo Mastroeni
Brian Mullan
Shane O'Neill - Homegrown Player
Dillon Powers
Martin Rivero (Rosario Central loan through 2013) - International
Dillon Serna - Homegrown Player
Jamie Smith
Nathan Sturgis
Hendry Thomas - International

Forwards:
Andre Akpan
Deshorn Brown - Generation Adidas, International
Edson Buddle
Charles Eloundou - International
Atiba Harris
Kamani Hill
Stefano Souza Pinho - Unsigned draftee, International
David Cortes Armero -  Unsigned trialist, International
Matthew Dunn-  Unsigned trialist
Marcos Pirchio -  Unsigned trialist, International
Cesar Romero - Unsigned trialist

This puts the Rapids at 29 signed players and 2 open slots with Castrillon's injury.  They have two open international spots, so there's no limits on who can fill those roles.

Rapids Close To Signing Two

One of my sources at the Rapids has told me that the team is close to signing their 2nd round draft pick LB Kory Kindle and trialist Clint Irwin as the 3rd GK.  I would expect official word sometime this week.

That would put the team at 29 signed players against a roster limit of 30, with two international spots still available.  If Rivero and/or Castrillon start the season on the DL both their roster spot and international spot would open up until they come off of injury, which gives the team a bit of flexibility.

All of this is to distract you from the ugly game Friday night where the Rapids got kicked up and down the field in Vegas by Chivas USA.  A 3-0 loss where the team looked disorganized and without a plan.  Its only preseason but not a good omen.  The only trialist to play was Cesar Romero.

The night before the Rapids beat UNLV 4-0.  Irwin got the start in goal and saved a PK (given up by Kindle), and the 4 goals were scored by trialists Pinho, Castro, Pirchio, and Romero.  Only 3 players from the 2010  Rapids, Klute, Smith, and Akpan, played in the game.  8 of the 15 players were trialists.