First Scrimmage Tomorrow and Welcome Back Mezquida

Tomorrow (Saturday) we get our first chance to look at the Rapids, though not a real chance to look at any new Rapids.  Their first game in the Desert Showcase against SKC is tomorrow at 4pm and will be available on the Rapids website.  It will be geolocked to Altitudes broadcast region however, so if you live outside the mountain states, good luck.  This is a stupid policy that most MLS teams instutied a few years ago and needs to go away.  Three of the four preseasons matches will be streamed this way, next Saturday's in Tucson match will be streamed and geolocked to Altitude, and then the closed-door match with Orlando on the 11th will be streamed by Orlando and geolocked to Central Florida.  The Rapids also have a closed-door match on the 1st but that will not be streamed.

Of course we don't know who we're going to see tomorrow, because the Rapids have gone radio silent since they entered preseason.  The amount of information the team gives out has always been somewhat random, some years being more open than others, but this is the quietest I've ever seen it.  We don't even have a preseason roster of who's in camp.  Fans and media, particularly Joseph Samuelson, have done a good job piecing things together from the few photos that are out there.  What we know is that two of our big "new" signings will not be part of the team tomorrow.  Bryan Acosta is with the Honduran National Team and for some reason Max has yet to leave Brazil, based on his social media posts.  Presumably Keita is in camp though nobody has confirmed that.  Both our draft picks will be available as they've been seen in training photos.

Of course there's still a large hole at #9, since we still haven't made the signing we're all waiting for.  I'll have more about this next week, but we're approaching too little too late time on that signing when it comes to the CCL, which knocks a hole into the way the team has been talking about taking it more seriously this year.

On a brighter note, Colorado announced they re-signed Nicholas Mezquida today.  Its a one year deal with a second team option year and the deal is structured so that Mezquida will be added to the supplemental roster and thus won't count against the cap.  There's also an unofficial report that Mezquida has received his green card and won't count as an international, something I was told last year would be likely by now.  Assuming that's true being able to re-sign him as a supplemental domestic player makes this a no brainer.  He's reportedly great in the locker room and has the right skills to be a solid sub off the bench.  Last year's $300K+ against the cap was a bit much for an international sub, but two big changes makes him a valuable retention going into a year where we'll need depth.

I'll be back later this weekend with a recap of tomorrow's friendly.

We Want Moor! Moor! Moor!

So we have two actual confirmed moves today and one all but confirmed one.  The two actual moves were the expected re-signings of Mezquida and Rawls, announced today.  Today was the first day teams could sign players who were out of contract and we got these two done right off the bat.  It was also the waiver draft today, which the Rapids passed on.  Tommy Smith was made available for the waiver draft however and that, combined with him not being immediately re-signed liked the other two, is probably a good indicator of Smith either not returning or the Rapids being comfortable letting him play the field to see what he could get before signing our offer.  Either way, we seem to be comfortable with him walking away at this point.

That might be because of the all but confirmed move that broke today.  Rapids legend and future Gallery of honor member Drew Moor is, by all reports, returning to Colorado.  Moor left the Front Range after the 2015 season, becoming the first "free agent" signing in MLS history a he signed with Toronto.  While there he appeared 78 times for TFC and won a MLS Cup and a Supporters Shield.  Since 2016 he was working with Robin Fraser as well.  Of those 78 appearances 55 of them were in his first two seasons north of the border as he's transitioned to a backup role as he nears the end of his career.

On top of the various reports that he's signed from the Denver Post and other sources, the Rapids social media accounts, after announcing the Mezquida and Rawls signings, posted to stay tuned for MORE news this week.  Yes, with MORE capitalized.  Seems a pretty obvious nod to our former captain.

He is expected to fill the same role here, the primary backup CB who can provide veteran leadership to our young back line.  He is also capable of playing outside back in a pinch so he can fill in anywhere along the back 4.  Along with the other moves made in the last week our defense looks pretty set for 2020.  Plus the team gets back a fan favorite and overall good person in Drew.

Our First Move Of The Offseason

There was a half-day trade window in advance of this week's expansion draft today (forget explaining why, its MLS) and the Rapids made a move.  They, surprisingly, sent Zac MacMath to Vancouver for attacking midfielder Nicolas Mezquida and $100K in TAM.

This is a surprise because by all accounts MacMath was the heir apparent to Tim Howard.  I even heard a rumor late in the season that they were talking about a platoon system in goal next year where Howard would play home games and MacMath would play road games.  Its odd and makes me question prior decision making (largely under Hinchey/Bravo/Pablo) that we would hold on to MacMath when he was hot after his half season as a starter in 2016 only to trade him when his value might be the lowest here in 2018.

As for the trade itself its largely meh, with a catch.  Two bad teams traded backup players.  Mezquida is a 26 year old Uruguayan #10 who has started occasionally in his time in Vancouver.  He's also able to play the wing or as a #9.   He's essentially going to take Enzo Martinez' role.  The catch is that he's an international and I don't love using up an international spot on a backup midfielder.  The $100K of TAM could be used to get us another international spot but I think the trade would have been better, even a notable positive, if instead of getting the TAM we had gotten back the international slot we traded to Vancouver through 2031 (not a typo) for Sanna Nyassi.