Saying Goodbye Tomorrow

The final home game of the season is tomorrow and while our slim playoff hopes left last week, tomorrow is going to be a home departure for a couple of notable Rapids.  The big one will be Drew Moor, who announced his retirement today.  After an 18 year career its ending (at least at home) almost where it started, with the Rapids hosting his original team FC Dallas.  Drew is an absolute club legend and he retires with the 2nd most starts, appearances, and minutes in team history, trailing only Pablo Mastroeni in all three categories.  He's also one of only 6 field players in league history to reach 400 appearances, more than half of them with the Rapids.  A member of the 2010 MLS Cup winning squad, he's going to go into the Gallery of Honor in the future, and the Rapids press release about his retirement mentions "celebrating him early next year", so expect an induction ceremony at halftime of one of our first home games.

On top of all that, Drew has been a fan favorite since his arrival in 2009 and his return in 2020.  I expect one of the subs tomorrow has already been reserved to get him into the game (if they don't start him, because why not?), which will be his 210th regular season appearance in burgundy.  There's been a lot of talk about what he might do next, everything from coaching to media, but whatever it is I hope the Rapids find room for him to do it here.

Speaking of media, that's the other farewell tomorrow.  Centennial 38 will be giving our favorite commentary duo a sendoff at the tailgate tomorrow, with Fleming and Balboa calling their last game together next week with the Austin away game.  The Apple TV deal means there won't be any "home" and "away" commentary teams next season and it seems unlikely that the duo will be hired to work for the new MLS/Apple streaming setup.  After 10 years they are wrapping it up and since tomorrow's game is on Univision and not Altitude, Richard Fleming has the day off, while Marcelo Balboa is working the game in Spanish.  Despite that, they are going to make time in the hour before scheduled kickoff to stop by the C38 tailgate and get the sending off and love they richly deserve.  Please try to stop by and thank them for everything.

With all of that going on, and with Colorado being out of playoff contention, the actual game seems secondary.  The game is scheduled for kickoff at 1:30, but since its a Univision game there will be about 20 minutes of pregame and actual kickoff will be around 1:50.  It will also likely be wet.  Seems appropriate that a home season that started with disappointment in the snow will end with resignation in the rain.

Re-Signings and Preseason

As expected there was a bit of news in the last 24 hours.  First we announced two returning players.  both Drew Moor and Steven Beitashour signed new 1 year deals with 1 year team options.  While I'm a little surprised by the latter, thinking retirement was likely, its good to have the veteran leadership of both of them back.  Personally they could have given Moor a 5 year contract and I would have been ok with it.  He's a club legend and will go into the Gallery of Honor when he retires.  If he wants to keep getting paid to be an extra coach in the locker room and our closer for 1 goal wins, I'm fine with that for however long he wants to do it.

Of the 6 players that the Rapids were negotiating with from last season, we have signed the two above.  Badji decided to sign for Cincinnati (for a rumored large number), and Mezquida is reportedly talking with San Jose.  That leaves Jeremy Kelly and Kort Ford.  There's been no work about Kelly at all, though I  don't think he'll play a major role one way or the other in 2022.

There's also been no word about Ford, but that's understandable given the passing of his mother.  I'm sure he's had other things to focus on.  The memorial for Mamma Ford is today at Greely Central High School, in fact it starts at the top of the hour (11am).  I'm currently in isolation due to COVID so I won't be attending but it is open to everyone.

The other news today is that the Rapids released their preseason schedule because, surprise, training camp starts Monday!  Players will have physicals the first day with the first training session on Tuesday.  The club will train in Commerce City for a week and then head to Arizona.  They'll play 3 matches down there, including two in the Desert Showcase, then leave for Orlando on Feb. 9th.  While there they'll play a closed-door friendly with Orlando City and train before going to Guatemala City for their Champion's League match.

So yeah, very quick offseason for Colorado this year.  Only 46 days from their playoff loss to the opening of training camp.  Once we have an idea of who's in camp I'll start my annual camp roster tracker.  And of course, we still have the Superdraft coming on Tuesday.

Full preseason schedule:

• Jan. 29 – Sporting Kansas City vs. Colorado Rapids (Desert Showcase match | Tickets)
• Feb. 1 – Colorado Rapids vs. Seattle Sounders FC (closed-door friendly)
• Feb. 5 – Colorado Rapids vs. Houston Dynamo FC (Desert Showcase match | Tickets)
• Feb. 11 – Orlando City SC vs. Colorado Rapids (closed-door 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.

TAM, Affiliation, and Expansion Draft

There's been a few stories of note since Friday, so we'll go through them all in one post.

First, the league announced $1.2 million in Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) each of the next two years.  They also announced that each team could self-fund an additional $2.8 million in TAM each of the next two years.  Essentially they said that teams could spend up to $4 million on TAM players each of the next two years, and the league will cover the first $1.2 million of it.  To remind everyone, TAM is used to sign players that would normally be Designated Players but the TAM brings their salary below the salary max for a standard player.  Players signed with TAM have to have a total cost (salary+transfer fee) of $1.5 million or less and you can convert a DP to a TAM player but you must sign a new DP player to replace him.

This is not great news for traditionally low-spending/small-market teams, like the Rapids.  This will quickly split teams into haves and have nots as those owners who are comfortable spending will spend all $4 million and those who aren't will just spend the league covered $1.2 million.  That $2.8 million difference could have a huge effect on rosters.  I guess now we'll know how interested KSE is in being competitive versus just existing.

The silver lining though is that now that we know the number we might start to see some movement in player signings.  A number of Front Offices have complained to reporters that the question about how much TAM would be available was causing them to delay signings.  Maybe we'll get a signing (or 2?) before Christmas?

Secondly the Rapids announced that the affiliation with the USL Charlotte Independence will be extended though the 2018 season.  The fact that this is just a one year deal leads me to believe that the Front Office has bigger long-term plans than affiliating with Charlotte but they have enough to deal with this offseason with all the new leadership so its easier to just extend it for another year and deal with the long-term plans next offseason.  The relationship with Charlotte came out of the time that Hinchey spent there working with the Bobcats along-side some of the Independence owners so I'm not surprised that with his departure that relationship may be reexamined.

Lastly the available players for Tuesday's expansion draft have been announced.  We can then extrapolate who's on the Rapids protection list, and there's really no surprises.  When I made my forecast a little over a month ago I picked 10 names and left the last spot open to be based on the best info the coaches had.  That was before we knew Saeid asked for his release, but the other 9 names on my list were protected, along with Miller and Watts.  (and of course, our four homegrown players were automatically protected).  In fact, the only exposed players the Rapids have under contract next season are Mike da Fonte (no way he gets chosen, and no loss if he does) and Sam Hamilton (he won't get chosen with the other options out there).  So the Rapids should come through this unscathed and with no surprises.

Also, shout-out to Rapids legend and all around fan favorite Drew Moor for picking up his second ring last night!  He's 2-1 now in MLS Cups, all played in Toronto.  Clint Irwin gets his first ring as well.

Get Better Soon Drew and Marvell!

Sending good thoughts out to Drew Moor today after the news of a cardiac arrhythmia being discovered.  Good thoughts also continue to go out to Marvell Wynne who dealt with something similar a couple of weeks ago. #ForeverRapid

GREAT NEWS-Successful 9 hour open heart surgery for @marvwynne22 yesterday. Looks fantastic today & plans @SJEarthquakes return next season!

Goodbye Drew And Thanks!

Today the rumors were made official.  Drew Moor is no longer a Rapid.  The last remaining player from the 2010 MLs Cup team has signed with Toronto FC.  Two weeks ago the Rapids declined his option and under the new CBA that made Moor a free agent (28 years old or older with 8 years in MLS).  He had offers from multiple clubs but last week signs started pointing heavily towards him heading north of the border to Toronto and the Reds finalized the deal today.

There's no doubt Moor will be missed.  IMO this is a big mistake by the Rapids to not only let him go but to do so in a way that ensured we'd get nothing for him.

At the same time I'm very happy for Drew.  He'll get a chance to earn more money and continue his career where he's expected to be a cornerstone of the defense and a leader, both roles he seemed to be moved out of in Colorado last year.

I expect Conor Casey to be the next name added to the Gallery of Honor, but only because I expect him to retire before Moor.  As soon as Drew does retire though his name should go up there the next season.  He is a Rapids legend.

Moor Done For Season, O'Neill Likely Done As Well

The worst possible news today about Moor's knee injury, a torn ACL that ended his season.  Moor has been the most consistent player on the team this year (and for the last couple of years) and there's no good replacement for him.  This is a huge loss that all but ends the season.

To add injury to injury, Chris Bianchi tweeted this today:

Looks like O’Neill’s done. Mastroeni on Shane O’Neill: “My expectations are [that] we won’t see Shane for the rest of the year.” #Rapids96

So that's not great news either.  We're out both our starting center backs for the final 10 games at a time where we're averaging almost 3 goals against over the last 4 games.  When asked about trades or new signings for cover Bravo said this to Bianchi:

Just spoke with Paul Bravo. Team will rely on what they've got- no plans to make a short-term move. #Rapids96

So that leaves our center back depth as:

• Wynne (converted outside back)
• Burch (converted outside back)
• Watts (converted dmid, rookie)
• Van De Casteele (rookie)
• Agbossoumonde

Despite that, the team is standing pat.  This after saying they wouldn't be active in the transfer window (when O'Neill was already out injured) but would looked for necessary "difference-makers" in the offseason.

If the fact that we're "relying on what we've got" after all that doesn't say "We're punting until 2015" I don't know what does.

Odds And Ends

A couple of "real" news items and a couple of fun items today.

The big one, the Rapids signed Austrian defender Thomas Piermayr today.  He'll be eligible to play right away.  Piermayr is a 24-year old outside back (both right and left) and can apparently play in the midfield as well.  This is probably an indicator that Burch's injury will make him unavailable in Vancouver on Saturday and Pablo may be considering the Austrian to fill in since Klute is also still injured.

The Rapids have added the Black Hills Soccer Club in Rapid City, South Dakota to their list of allied youth clubs.  They club will now be known as the Black Hills Rapids.  This gives the Colorado Rapids partner clubs in Charlotte, Rapid City, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque to go with the main youth club here in Denver.  That's a nice area to cover for the team and will hopefully allow them to find some more homegrown players.

Drew Moor will not be suspended for his elbow, but the Disciplinary Committee did fine him today.

Have we found the long-lost Rapidman?  The Ottowa fury's new mascot looks like Rapidman by a different name...

And last, but certainly not least, a standing ovation to the Rapids Media Relations Department for their entertaining April Fools prank yesterday.  I don't think anyone actually fell for it, but the idea and the work put in make it the best of the sports-based attempts yesterday, certainly better than Orlando City's supposed re-imaging to the Manatees.  Links here, here, here, and here.  Hard to pick a favorite picture but I think I've narrowed it down to these two.  Of course there's now a push from some fans (and the Vancouver Whitecaps) to actually wear these for real.  That would be scary enough that they'd have to save it for a Halloween prank!

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.

Akpan Traded, Calderon Injured, Moor Suspended

Three bits of new today from Commerce City.

• Andre Akpan was traded to NYRB for a conditional 2015 draft pick
• Not a bad trade, I think Akpan's role as the young forward had been supplanted by both Tony Cascio and DeShorn Brown.  We're a little thin on bodies at the moment though!  Also, if you're tracking, we're down to 8 players from the Smith regime now, plus Pablo.  All 9 of them have MLS Cup rings.
• Drew Moor was suspended an extra game for his elbow against LA last week.
• I can't complain, its fair given the off-the-balll and to-the-head nature of the foul.
• Diego Calderon had to have surgery on his knee and is out 4-5 months.
• Ouch.  An already thin back line gets even thinner.  So right now we're out Pickens, Calderon, and Castrillon for multiple months, plus Mastroeni, Rivero, and possibly Buddle for multiple weeks (though there are rumors Buddle could start this weekend).  With Moor being out two weeks our backline will look something like Wynne - O'Neill - Klute - Mullan.

Season Review - Defenders

Continuing our review with the guys in the back.

Kosuke Kimura - A contender for the most improved player in 2010 and the clear winner for the most passionate player on the team. Koz did not get off to a good start this season, almost immediately being replaced in the starting xI when Wynne was acquired and having a string of average-to-poor games that really kept him from reclaiming the starting spot. Kimura didn't let this get him down though, and he continued to work and improve. When Baudet started having serious injury issues and Danny Earls was proving not to be the answer at left back, the door was open for Kimura to return to the starting lineup and he stepped through it. He had the biggest goal of his career (and one of the biggest in the team's history) in the Eastern Conference Final when cross turned into a shot and the only goal in the 1-0 win.

At this point Koz has the right back spot locked down. He can get up the line and into the attack when called on, but doesn't let his defensive assignments lapse. He might be the most pesky defender we have, as he'll challenge again and again until he wins the ball or is completely beaten. His biggest weakness is his distribution, even on a good day his passing is only average and he's not one that's likely to jump start an attack. Koz is the visible soul of the team on the field, pumping the crowd up and giving 100% every minute of every game.

Drew Moor - My vote for defensive MVP this year, Moor played every minute of every regular season game, every minute of every playoff game, and all but one half of the 2 USOC qualifiers. That's right, in 3300 minutes of competitive soccer for the Rapids this season, Drew Moor played 3255 minutes of it. He deserves every minute of his vacation. He had one goal, but it was a big one, scoring late in the home game against Columbus while the Rapids were playing down a man to give Colorado a 1-0 win.

Moor is a solid, quiet, center back. He doesn't make big plays very often because he doesn't need to. He knows his position and where he needs to be, and he simply does it. One thing I'd like him to do next year is become the leader of the backline. Our backline's ages right now are 26-24-26-21, so we need a calm organizer back there. Moor seems like the logical choice.

Scott Palguta - Palguta spent much of 2009 as the fill in starter, and probably expected to have that role coming into 2010. up until the day before the season started it looked like that would be the case, but the trade for Wynne just before the opening game changed the hierarchy. Palguta was now the 6th defender instead of the 5th. Scott only started 5 games and only appeared in about half the games and didn't play in the playoffs. Still he was there when called on, and with our recent moves he's moved back to that 5th spot. As long as he's satisfied being the first defender off the bench instead of starting, the Rapids should be happy to have him.

Anthony Wallace - One of the numerous late-season additions to the squad, once Wallace was up to speed he immediately found his place at left back. As the youngest player on the squad other than homegrown player Davy Armstrong he had to learn on the fly, and while he was inconsistent at times you could tell he was getting good lessons. His biggest difficulty seemed to be regaining his position after his forward runs. There were multiple times where players were able to get in behind him or were left without pressure to serve a ball into a box. The most dramatic example of this was the Dallas goal in MLS Cup.

The Rapids showed their commitment to Wallace on the day of the expansion draft, having already arranged a deal with Portland to have Anthony selected and traded back to Colorado in exchange for allocation money. I think it safe to say that he's expected to be the starting left back come March. In order to keep that spot he's going to need to improve his positioning and awareness to force the opposition back inside into the waiting arms of Drew Moor. He'll also be expected to contribute more to the offense, but that goal should be secondary to locking down the defense.

Marvell Wynne - Certainly the biggest surprise of the season, both his acquisition and subsequent play. Nobody saw Nick LaBrocca being traded for Marvell on the day before the season started, and the reaction form the Toronto fans was that he was a fast guy without a real good soccer brain. Well apparently Gary smith saw something they didn't. expected to be our right back he moved to center defender early on and excelled. He easily took Julian Baudet's starting job from him when Baudet was nicked up, and suddenly the Rapids had a central player who could push forward to support the attack while also being able to cover his defensive assignments. combined with Drew Moor they became one of the better central duos in the league.

Wynne just signed a new multi-year contract with the Rapids, so we should expect to see him starting for a long time. At 24 he still has things to learn, and right now his speed makes up for his lack of experience. sooner or later Wynne will need to improve his positioning and stop relying on his speed to get him out of trouble. For now though, he might be the fastest player int he league in a flat-out sprint and attackers are still surprised to find out that they don't really have him beat. That should keep things interesting for the near future.

Julian Baudet & Danny Earls - Both players put in good efforts for the Rapids this year. Earls was clearly surplus though once Wallace was acquired. Baudet would be nice to have for depth. The drawback to both of them, being international players, was too great to carry into the expansion draft though and they needed to be moved. This hurt us though, now we only have 5 defenders on the roster. There will be work to be done in the off-season to rebuild or depth in the back.

Ihemelu traded to Dallas for Drew Moor

FC Dallas has just sent out a press release with the following news:

FC Dallas General Manager Michael Hitchcock announced today that team has acquired defender Ugo Ihemelu from the Colorado Rapids in exchange for defender Drew Moor, the team’s natural second round pick in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft and allocation money.

This is a significant surprise to me, I didn't think the Rapids were going to make any more moves this year. Its no secret that I've been unhappy with Ihemelu's play this year, so I see this as a very good move for the Rapids. Getting allocation money, a draft pick, and a new young defender for a player that I think shouldn't even be starting is a steal. I don't know much about Drew Moor but he's been an ironman on Dallas' back line, starting 111 out of a possible 141 games since he was drafted. He's had a couple of looks from the National Team, much like Ihemelu, including being on the 2007 Copa America team.