Rapids Lose Two, Gain One In Today's Drafts

MLS had two drafts today, the expansion draft for NYCFC and Orlando and the Waiver Draft for all the waived players in the league.

In the expansion draft the Rapids, surprisingly, lost two players including the 3rd overall pick in Tony Cascio to Orlando.  Colorado pulled Marc Burch off the table after Cascio was selected.  Later in the draft Orlando also selected Danny Mwanga.  Overall probably a decent result for the Rapids.  Losing Cascio hurts but removing any chance of Mwanga returning is a huge plus.  We also kept Eloundou and Neeksens which I was concerned about losing.

After the expansion draft the Rapids had the 3rd pick in the waiver draft and selected center-back Bobby Burling, formally with Chivas USA.  Burling entered the league out of college in 2007 and played with Chivas through mid-2009 when he was traded to San Jose.  He was selected by Montreal in the 2011 expansion draft but was immediately traded to Chivas USA where he played through last season.  He averaged 16 appearances a season in his second stint with Chivas.  While in college he played with the PDL Colorado springs Blizzrd, so he's familiar with the area.

That gives us Burling, Moor, and O'Neill at CB, with a Knight signing presumably coming.  I wouldn't be shocked to see us pick up one more CB due to Moor's recovery from his ACL injury and the likelihood that he won't be 100% ready to start the season.  This would also give O'Neill some freedom to move up to his preferred defensive midfield position, especially if Jose Mari leaves.

Mwanga Loaned To Cosmos, Hinchey Speaks

• Today the Rapids announced that Danny Mwanga has been loaned to the Cosmos until the end of the 2014 season, but the Rapids can recall him up to the roster freeze date on Sept. 15th.

Probably a good move for all involved.  Mwanga clearly isn't working out in Colorado and I'm not sure he has MLS talent anymore.  There's no reason to give him playing time here, so maybe he can get some in NY.

• Also this week Tim Hinchey sat down with Benjamin Kowalsky of Burgundy Wave for a discussion.

There's some interesting comments there but its the same level of talk we've heard from the Rapids FO for a while now.  At this point talk is cheap, actions is what important.  Hinchey doesn't make me believe any less that the team decided a few weeks ago to punt until 2015.  He talks about finding "difference-makers" this offseason and seems to suggest we don't have the right mix of players now (though that may just be some lack of clarity in the author's transcription) but we had an open transfer window a month ago when we were still in the hunt and made no moves to fix those problems.  Why not?  Its another public indicator of being satisfied with whatever the current roster could do in the rest of 2014 and it appears this roster can't do much.

I do find the comments about a USL-Pro partnership being announced hopefully next month interesting.  Given the multiple flat rejections to the idea of partnering with the Switchbacks in the Springs I'm assuming they won't be the partner.  Who will be?  Plus the long term plan of having a PDL, USL-Pro, Women's (in whatever league), and MLS team playing out of the Dick would be great if they can make it happen.

Finally his comments about a second DP confirm something I heard from a secondhand source last week, the Rapids have a specific player in mind and authorization to sign another DP.  No more information than that but it will be interesting to see who this might be.  Though the fact that Hinchey calls Torres a core member of the squad and Chris Bianchi reports he's not real happy at the moment makes me wonder if this DP will end up replacing our current one.

Pablo Not Quite Head Coach and Player Updates

The Rapids announced on Saturday that Pablo "will be at the head of our group of coaches" as preseason opens,  but they went out of their way to avoid calling him Head Coach, using terms like "leading" and "in charge".  I still believe its just a matter of time before he''s given the title.  Maybe after this weekend's scrimmage against Houston so he can have at least one game under his belt.

A few player updates since Thursday, with an updated list.

• I missed this in the draft announcement, but Aussie Albert Edward has a green card so if he makes the team he won't take an international spot.
• The Rapids confirmed that Grant Van De Casteele is already under contract.
• Today the Rapids re-signed Danny Mwanga.  He's just had hernia surgery so he he won't be at full strength until about when the season starts.  According to the Denver Post he took a pay cut.
• German Mera has been signed by Atletico Bucaramanga, a 2nd division side in Colombia, so he won't be returning.
• No update on Martin Rivero, but they Gabriel Torres the #10 Rivero wore the last two years, so that's probably not a good sign.
• Hendry Thomas is still in negotiations with the team.

Goalkeepers:

John Berner - Unsigned draftee

Clint Irwin

Matt Pickens

Defenders:

Davy Armstrong - Homegrown Player - Will start season on IR(knee)

Mark Burch

Albert Edward - Unsigned draftee

Brenton Griffiths - International

Tolani Ibikunle  - Unsigned draftee

Kory Kindle

Chris Klute

Drew Moor

Brian Mullan

Shane O'Neill - Homegrown Player

Grant Van De Casteele

Marvell Wynne

Midfielders:

Marion Hariston - Generation Adidas

Nick LaBrocca

Dillon Powers

Dillon Serna - Homegrown Player

Nathan Sturgis

Jared Watts - Unsigned draftee

Forwards:

Deshorn Brown - Generation Adidas, International

Edson Buddle

Martin Chavez

Charles Eloundou - International

Kamani Hill

Danny Mwanga

Vicente Sanchez - International

Gabriel Torres - Designated Player, International

Unknown Status: Martin Rivero, Hendry Thomas, Anthony Wallace

Roster Churn Prior To Re-Entry Draft

A ton of roster news in the last couple of days.  Knocking it down 1 by 1.

• The Rapids have declined the option on Steward Ceus

Not to be harsh, but that's a good move.  Ceus obviously lost something this year.  He was one of the last eight players on the roster from the Cup winning team.  Ceus will be in the Re-Entry Draft on Thursday.

• Mullan's, Smith's options declined making them eligible for the Re-Entry Draft

No surprise here, both these guys (another 2 from the Cup winning team) are approaching retirement.  In the Ceus article Bravo said he expects everyone but Ceus to opt out of the Re-Entry Draft, so he mush have some feeling that Mullan and Smith will sign new contracts, leave the league, or retire.  I wouldn't mind keeping them around as coaches but their time to help on the field is basically over.

• Wallace and Armstrong are out of contract.

Sounds like Armstrong is being kept on until he's healthy, then probably let go.  Wallace is wanted back but will probably go somewhere where he can get more playing time, which I can't blame him for.  These are another two of the Cup winning players.  The only 3 with no news this week are Moor, Pickens, and Wynne.

• Griffiths and Kindle are extended new deals.

This one surprises me I figured the team might move on from both players.  Particularly Griffiths since he takes an international spot.  The coaches must see enough in practice to keep them on.  The article does say they're being offered their same minimum contracts they had this year.

• The Rapids want German Mera back next season.

Makes sense, especially after Calderon was let go.  I can understand not wanting to go through an expensive buyout for Mera and bringing him back on loan.  Smart way to go about it.

• Colorado wants to bring back Danny Mwanga.

Meh, from an age perspective he makes the most sense out of the Cascio/Hill/Mwanga trio, but from a play and cost perspective I like Cascio better.  Still it was a safe bet that at least 1 of those 3 would be back.  Maybe they can get him cheaper.

Next major even is the Re-Entry Draft on Thursday afternoon, though we may hear news about some of these players signing new contracts before that.

Colorado Trades For Mwanga

The Rapids made what will probably be their final move of the preseason today, sending their first round pick in 2015 to Portland for forward Danny Mwanga.  The Congolese forward was the #1 pick of the 2010 draft by the expansion Philadelphia Union and had 12 goals in 61 appearances for the club before he was traded to Portland in the middle of last season.  He appeared 18 times with 3 goals for the Timbers and signed a re-worked contract with the team in December.  He has his green card and is working towards his citizenship (he hopes to play for the U.S. at some point) so will not take an international slot.

The cost of a first-round pick in two years is a decent price for the Rapids to pay.  Next year's pick will probably be fairly high (unfortunately), but the hope is that 2014 is the year the youth movement pays off and we make a deep run, making that first round pick less valuable.  Last season Mwanga's baseline salary was 250K, and his guaranteed number was 356K.  The expectation is that his re-worked contract brought those numbers down somewhat, but they're still going to be significant.  That's the real cost to this move, reducing the flexibility in the salary cap.

News over the last 24 hours explains this move though.  Buddle will miss this week's game to fly to NY for a 3rd opinion on his injured knee, with the possibility of having further investigative surgery.  Also today, some news from a good source that Castrillon's knee injury is actually the result of some sort of degenerative disease in the knee that puts his career in jeopardy (but thankfully, not his life) and the outlook is about 50/50 if he comes back at all.  Obviously that's a lot of firepower with question marks on it, so the Rapids felt like they needed to find some MLS experience up front.

Mwanga's addition gives the team 30 signed players, right at the roster limit.  Only 6 international spots, so they have two open.  With Castrillon starting the season on the DL Colorado could sign another player in his spot, so another move could be coming, but I'm going to assume for now that the opening day roster is set.

Final(?) Roster:

Goalkeepers:
Steward Ceus
Clint Irwin
Matt Pickens

Defenders:
Davy Armstrong - Homegrown Player
Diego Calderon - International
Kory Kindle
Chris Klute (Atlanta loan through late-Sept)
Drew Moor
Brian Mullan
Shane O'Neill - Homegrown Player
Anthony Wallace
Marvell Wynne

Midfielders:
Tony Cascio
Jaime Castrillon - International - On Disabled List
Nick LaBrocca
Pablo Mastroeni
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
Kevin Harbottle - International
Atiba Harris
Kamani Hill
Danny Mwanga