As Expected, Busy Day For The Rapids

In the short 4 hour trade window this morning the Rapids made two trades, then released their protected list for the expansion draft.

The first move was acquiring Michael Harrington from Portland for allocation money.  Harrington is a 28 year old right back who can play on the left as well.  He spent 6 seasons in KC averaging about 25 appearances a season before moving to Portland for the last two years, making 58 appearances.  Harrington made 125K in Portland last season.

I think this was a solid move by the Rapids.  Getting a steady MLS right back fills in for the out of contract Wynne at a lower cost and frees Klute up to focus on the left side.  We have no idea how much allocation money it cost us but given our hit (Jose Mari, more on that later) and miss (Zat Knight, again more later) track record with internationals its probably good we stuck with a known quantity.

The second move today was sending Joe Nasco and our third round pick in next month's draft to New England for international strikers Dimitry Imbongo (Congo) and Geoffry Castillion (Netherlands) and New England's 2nd round pick next month.

This was clearly a salary dump for NE as Castillion was signed to a 329K contract in August and made 1 appearance for the club.  Imbongo has been in New England for two years, scoring 4 goals in 32 appearances and tying a MLS record with 3 red cards in one season (2013).  He made 123K last year.  This also gives the Revs flexibility in their international count for their protected list.

I don't know what to think about this trade.  I like the swap of draft picks for Nasco, considering he had no future here.  Imbongo might be a decent pick-up if he can cool his hot head.  Castillion looks like an anchor at that salary though.  The good news is that both Imbongo and Castillion (as well as Nasco) had their 2014 options declined so we're not tied to them at their current salaries.

After all of that the Rapids released their expansion draft list:

Protected Homegrown Players: Armstrong, Calvert, O'Neill, Serna
Protected Generation Adidas Player: Hairston
Protected Players: Brown, Harrington, Irwin, Klute, Knight, LaBrocca, Moor, Powers, Sanchez, Torres, Watts

That leaves the following players unprotected and available for NYCFC or Orlando to select on Wednesday:
Agbossomounde, Alvarez, Berner, Buddle, Burch, Cascio, Castillion, Eloundou, Hill, Imbongo, Jose Mari, Mullan, Mwanga, Neeskens, Piermayr, Van De Casteele, Wynne

The big surprise is seeing Jose Mari unprotected but today's announcement also included the information that he's looking to go back to Spain in this offseason.  Other than that there are no real surprises, but I don't fully agree.  IMO I'd swap out Knight, LaBrocca, and Watts for Cascio, Eloundou, and Neeskens.  Knight didn't show enough for his cost in his four appearances.  If LaBrocca is important enough for us to protect we're not a good MLS team and need to get better.  Watts was just bad last season and while young, I'd rather risk him being taken than one of the other three.

Labrocca is the only player not under contract we protected while Berner, Burch, Cascio, Eloundou, and Neeskens are under contract for next season but unprotected.

Tomorrow should be quiet as the trade window is closed until after Wednesday's expansion draft.  If the Rapids do have somebody selected they'll be able to protect 1 more player.  My list would be Eloundou, then Cascio.  At most they can lose two players on Wednesday.

Loans, Suspensions, and Bobbleheads!

The big news this week is the Rapids announcement that at the next home game on July 25th Pablo Mastroeni will added to the Gallery of Honor alongside Bravo, Balboa, Henderson, and Spencer.  Due to his obvious responsibilities at halftime the ceremony will occur before kickoff at 7:15.  Also the first 2000 fans will get a Pablo Mastroeni bobblehead.

Also in the news this week, GK Joe Nasco will be loaned to Atlanta, is former club for the rest of the season.  A good move by the Rapids to get their 3rd GK some playing time now that Berner has obviously become the #2 of choice.

The final piece of news, not unexpected, is that the Disciplinary Committee has suspended Shane O'Neill for Friday night's game due to his 11th minute tackle on Cruz in Philly last week.  Its a deserved suspension as that was a horrible tackle but it doesn't make our life on Friday night in Portland any easier.

Finally a tip of the hat to MLS marketing for this awesome Ferris Buller parody starring the Fire's Mike Magee.  There's nothing related to the Rapids in it but its worth watching.  I heard that their first idea was Moor & Minda set in Boulder but it didn't test well.  Nanu, nanu!  :D

 

Nasco & Watts Signed, Thomas Traded

Still no official word on Jose Mari but the Rapids did announce two signings today.  2nd round Superdraft pick midfielder Jared Watts and trialist goalkeeper Joe Nasco (formally with Atlanta) both penned deals today.  This gives us some depth at both keeper and d-mid.  The Terrace blog also reports today that drftee goalkeeper John Berner will probably be signed soon, giving us the standard 3 keepers after Pickens is moved or sold.  Chirs Bianchi says there's interest from outside MLS for his services (probably Scandinavia given the current open transfer windows) or he could be traded.

Depth will be necessary at d-mid as Hendry Thomas' rights were traded to Dallas today where he'll rejoin Oscar Pareja.  The Rapids got allocation money in return for his rights.  Bianchi reports it as the largest sum of allocation money the team has eve received in a transaction.  That should allow us to go shopping for some players.  With this move the future of the full 2013 roster has been determined.

There are still 3 trialist and 3 draftees in camp with 27 players signed.  Armstrong will start the season on IR and Pickens will presumably e moved before the March 1st roster compliance day, so that means there are still 5 spots open that those 6 are competing for.  We only have 7 international players in camp and 8 spots, so that won't be a roadblock.

Goalkeepers:

John Berner - Unsigned draftee

Clint Irwin

Joe Nasco

Matt Pickens - On "Excused Absence"

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:

Samuel Galindo - Unsigned trialist, International

Juan Guzman - Unsigned trialist

Marion Hariston - Generation Adidas

Nick LaBrocca

Jose Mari - Unsigned trialist, International

Dillon Powers

Dillon Serna - Homegrown Player

Nathan Sturgis

Jared Watts

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