After Nothing Yesterday A Busy Day Today

Ok, lots going on today.  I'll break down what we did then I'll give my opinion on the moves.

• Shane O'Neill was sold to Cypriot side Apollon Limassol
• Sean St. Ledger was signed after having been cut by Orlando City last week
• Maynor Figueroa was signed with Target Allocation Money (TAM), last with Hull City
• Ben Newnam was cut
• Dominique Badji's loan to Charlotte was made a full season loan with no option to recall
• Allocation money was traded to KC in exchange for an international spot for the rest of the season

This leaves the team with 29 signed players and 10 internationals against an allowed total of 28 and 9.  We get around this because both Badji's and Berner's loans don't have recall options so that gets us down to 27 of 28 roster spots filled and 9 of 9 internationals.

Some brief information about our two new players:

• Maynor Figueroa, 32 year old Honduran CB/LB.  Current member of the Honduran National Team playing in all of their Gold Cup games last month.  Played just 14 times for Wigan and Hull City in the 2014-15 season. 
• Sean St.Ledger, 30 year old Irish CB.  Regular started for Orlando City this season before he was dismissed for a "serious breach of club policy", rumored to be getting into a bar fight in NYC after missing the team plane.  Prior to Orlando he played 10 times in 2013-14 for Leicester City and Millwall.

St. Ledger was making about 150K with Orlando and I bet we took on a similar contract.  The bigger hit is with Figueroa.  As announced last month the league has made TAM available to sign certain players.  From the details:

Similar to general Allocation Money, these funds may be be used to sign new or re-sign existing players. Unlike general Allocation Money, however, Targeted Allocation Money can only be used for players earning more than the maximum salary budget charge, which in 2015 is $436,250.

So we know Figueroa is on at least about 450K.  Depending on what his salary is and how much TAM we used (each team gets $100K/year for the next 5 years and can borrow ahead) he may or may not be a Designated Player.  Safe bet though that he's hitting our cap for 300-450K.

Shane didn't count against the cap as a Homegrown Player, but we get his 75K back.  Newnam was on the supplemental roster and didn't count against the cap but we also get his 60K back.

So the final result of all of this:

• Going out: O'Neill, Newnam, Badji (for the rest of the season), allocation money, TAM
• Coming in: Figueroa, St Ledger, international spot, O'Neill's transfer fee (some of which converts into allocation money)

From a roster perspective that's a 21 and 24 year old CB going out and a 30 year old CB and a 32 year old CB/LB coming in.

Ok, so that's all the facts, now my opinion.

W.T.F.  The second best defense in the league just got 17 years older by taking on a very expensive player and a guy cut from the 3rd wort defense in the league for breaking team rules.  Oh, and we gave up allocation money and the new Targeted Allocation Money to do it.

The Rapids problem isn't defense.  Its scoring goals!  How does this help with that?  Using our last DP spot (probably) on a 32 year old CB doesn't really leave us many options going forward.  Figueroa is either the second or third highest paid player (Doyle, Sarvas) and St Ledger is the 9th so presumably these aren't depth signings.  So what is our back line going to look like?  Moor, St Ledger, Figueroa, and Sjoberg/Burling/Watts/Greenspan?  I know I've been complaining about our back line but we have the pieces to fix it without investing in more.  Now of the 27 players available for selection 10 of them are defenders while we only have 1 true forward (Doyle).  Last season the Front Office talked about the youth movement.  Well right now our starting lineup is looking like an old-timer's game

In a vacuum these players, particularly Figueroa, are probably good pickups but they aren't anything close to what this team needed.   We need to figure out how to win games 2-1, not how to draw games 0-0.

Oh, and as a follow on note to yesterday's post I don't think any of these moves other than maybe the allocation money for international spot trade required the MLS transfer window to be opened.  These moves could have been made up until the roster freeze deadline since everyone was out of contract except for O'Neill which had to be completed before the Cypriot league's window closed.

Roster Moves Finally

More detail later tonight:

Rapids transfer Shane O'Neill to Apollon Limassol in Cyprus, expected that his final landing spot will be in Belgium:

http://www.coloradorapids.com/post/2015/08/07/shane-oneill-transferred-cypriot-side-apollon-limassol

Rapids sign Sean St.Ledger

http://www.coloradorapids.com/post/2015/08/07/rapids-acquire-irish-international-sean-st-ledger

News Update 8/5/15

A couple of interesting news updates today.

First, Bravo discussed possible upcoming roster moves with MLSSoccer.com.  He says O'Neill is still on the roster and Roger Johnson isn't really on trail, more they're just taking a look.  nothing else on any possible newcomers.  The window for adding players closes tomorrow so if they're going to do anything (and they need to do something) they have about 24 hours to do it.  The windows in most European countries go until the end of the month so if the rumors of O'Neill going to Cyprus or Belgium are accurate they  have some more time to announce it.

Now lets talk about what Bravo said about O'Neill's lack of playing time:

“We’ve chosen to give Shane some down time to recharge his battery,” Bravo said. “Over the last 18 months, he’s had a lot of soccer.  Despite the fact that he’s not played with us on a regular basis, he’s still played as many games, if not more with international call-ups, with Open Cup, with league and he had an early start to preseason. With a young man like that, we have to continue to monitor his progress both mentally and physically.”

What?!?!  That makes no sense.  I added up O'Neill's playing time since the start of the season.  U-23s, league, USOC, and Homegrown Game play add up to 1168 minutes in 14 matches.  For comparison the 9 years older Bobby Burling (30) has played 1145 minutes in 13 league matches.  How does a guy only 21 years old need "recharging" but a 30 year old with the same amount of minutes in the last 5 months can start every game?  Yes, Bravo said "over the last 18 months" but over the last 5 minutes Shane is averaging 50 minutes of competitive play a week.  Somehow I think he's recharged enough even if the 12 months prior to that was tough for him.

If Pablo has decided that O'Neill isn't in his plans fine (well not fine, but that's a debate for another time).  If O'Neill is in the process of being sold and the team doesn't want to risk injury, fine.  If Pablo thinks O'Neill isn't the best starter, fine (again not really but another conversation).  But don't insult the fans by saying he needs "recharging".  Either O'Neill has developed a serious fatigue issue (unlikely) or Bravo is trying to cover for something else going on.  If you can't or won't talk about what's going on then just deny the transfer rumor and move on, don't make up something so obviously transparent.

Second, and along these lines, the Rapids have announced another fan forum.  Well "fan forum" is probably too generous.  This is a one hour teleconference held in the middle of the work day for anyone who can call in.  How questions will be submitted is unclear but I can't imagine they'll just have an open mic, I'm sure they'll have to be submitted ahead of time.

So what we've probably got is a phone call in the  middle of a work day with pre-selected questions where Tim Hinchey, Paul Bravo, and Pablo Mastroeni can respond in a completely controlled environment without having to worry about getting into discussions about awkward things like how bad the team has been in the last 12 months and the disappearance of Shane O'Neill.  This for the first real response from the FO in 2015 to the disaster of a season we've been having.  I'm sure the timing has nothing to do with the fact that season ticket renewal information is about to go out.

If it works out I'll try to call in and take notes for posting here next Tuesday night, though I'm not expecting anything of note.  Get back to me when they hold a real open fan forum, or at least repeat the dog and pony show at the Celtic last October.

Last, one bit of good news (for me at least) is that I found these at the Rapids game on Saturday:

They go into my collection of (now) 7 OyoSports figures:

• University of Washington end zone set including
• QB Keith Price
• RB Chris Polk
• WR Jermaine Kearse
• Super Bowl XLVIII Seattle Seahawks CB Byron Maxwell
• 2015 MLS All-Star Game Drew Moor
• Colorado Rapids Drew Moor
• Colorado Rapids Clint Irwin

They're $13 each (C38 season ticket holder discount did apply though) and the team store had all 7 players plus Edson and the Rapids fan figures.

Rumors: O'Neill Out, New Striker In

Game recap coming sometime in the next 48 hours but two rumors floating around the Dick last night.

First, its all but confirmed that Shane O'Neill was sold this week.  multiple tweets from friends of his and other connected sources have reported it.  It appears that Cyprus' Apollon Limassol is the most likely destination but Cyprus' APOEL and Denmark have also been part of the rumors.  APOEL is the big fish of football in Cyprus, regularly playing in the Champions League.  Apollon Limassol is one of the better teams, finishing high enough to be in the Europa League 4 of the last 6 seasons.

This is hardly a shock though it is disappointing.  O'Neill was being wasted on our bench and regardless of the reason we should have found a way to get the 3rd best player from the Toulon Tournament more playing time this season.  At least we'll make some money on the transaction and he won't leave for nothing.  We don't need to replace him as a CB right away, but it will be hard to replace the benefits we got from him as a Homegrown Player.

The other rumor is that the Rapids have signed an unnamed striker that hasn't been announced due to visa issues.  Yeah, like we haven't heard that one before.  This might be the rumored "big" move from a couple of weeks ago but you have to wonder how big of a move it can be at a position where Doyle, Solignac, Torres, Sanchez, and Eloundou are already fighting for playing time.  Also if the player has visa issues that means he's an international and we don't have an open international spot open.  We don't even have an open roster spot but O'Neill leaving would solve that.  We could open up an international (and roster) spot by removing the recall option on Badji's loan to Charlotte and leaving him there for the rest of the season.

Whatever occurs with either of these rumors it has to happen by Thursday as that's when the transfer window closes.

Earth Day Roster Notes

Two roster notes for today.

First, Serna and O'Neill got a callup for tonight's U-23 National Team match against Mexico and both got the start (the game just kicked off).  They will be unavailable for Friday night's game against Dallas.

Secondly, due to injury and missing players the Rapids have recalled Eloundou from Charlotte.  He's already back in Denver and will be available Friday night.  No word on if he'll return to Charlotte once we're back and full strength.

Quick News and Notes

A couple of quick pieces of news.

• Dillon Serna and Shane O'Neill made the roster cut for the U.S. National Team's upcoming friendlies against Chile (in  Chile) and Panama (at the Stub Hub Center).  So while that will delay their joining of the Rapids in preseason its great experience for them.
• Dillon Powers tweeted that Grant Van de Casteele was with him for their first practice yesterday, so as we expected.
• I missed this before but Axel Sjoberg, our first round pick, tweeted before the draft that he had signed a MLS contract.

Updated roster:

(* = international):

Goalkeepers:
John Berner
Clint Irwin
Zac MacMath

Defenders:
Marc Burch
Bobby Burling
Michael Harrington
Drew Moor
John Neeskens
Shane O'Neill
Axel Sjoberg*

Midfielders:
Sam Cronin
Marlon Hairston
Dillon Powers
Marcelo Sarvas*
Dillon Serna
Jared Watts

Forwards:
Deshorn Brown*
Caleb Calvert
Charles Eloundou*
Vicente Sanchez*
Gabriel Torres*

Unsigned:
D Brandon Fricke (draftee)
D Joseph Greenspan (draftee, on Naval duty through 2017 probably)
D Matt Jeffrey (draftee)
D Zat Knight*
D Grant Van de Casteele (confirmed to be in camp)
M Carlos Alvarez
M Nick LaBrocca
F Dominique Badji* (draftee)

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.

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

 

Busy News And Rumors Day

Lots of news, lots of rumors.  We'll start with what has been reported.

• Wilmer Cabrera is hired as the new Chivas USA coach

No real surprise after the rumors of the last two days.  It does knock one name off the likely coaching list for the Rapids.

• Red Bull NY has not been asked about Fraser

A bit of a surprise since Fraser seemed to be the early leader for the Rapids job in rumors.  Take another one off the list.

• Colorado hires John Metgod as consultant

This one is more than a bit odd and came out of left field.  Rumors have him working with a future USL team that will be the Rapids affiliate, and possibly partly-owned by them.  Looking at his resume though, he'd make a good head coaching candidate.  Regardless, a good mind to have helping the Rapids.

Now on to the rumors, some of them stronger than the others:

• Jamie Smith hired as Academy coach 

This one seems the strongest of the rumors, with multiple people who know Smith confirming it.  A good move for a guy who was probably going to retire.

• Mullan to be re-signed as player/coach

Reportedly MLS has made a new player designation in recent years for veteran players transitioning to coaching where not all their salary counts against the cap.  Smith was supposed to be in that role last season but something happened, and Mullan will take it this season.  Great way to bring back and experienced vet.

• Pareja's buyout (which was in his contract) could be announced as soon as tomorrow.  The Rapids will get cash, allocation money, and a first round pick probably in next year's draft.

Solid, if not spectacular, package for all of this.  Reportedly the Rapids will turn some of that allocation money around to bring in some players on loan.  They may be using some of the cash for Metgod as well.

And a story I missed covering in the holiday last week, but Chris Klute and Shane O'Neill got callups to the January US National Team camp, and Dillon Powers was also called up but sadly had to pass due to ongoing concussion issues.  Scary to think that he's still dealing with the issue at this point, especially after Pablo's issues in 2012.  Hopefully he gets better soon.  Great to see 3 young Rapids getting the callup though, things are looking up on that front.

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.

Rapids Make Shane O'Neill Second Homegrown Player

Today Colorado announced they've signed Boulder's Shane O'Neill to a homegrown contract, making him the second product of the Academy program after Davy Armstrong signed a contract in 2010.  Reportedly its a 3 year contract.  As a homegrown player O'Neill does not count against the salary cap.  O'Neill is a MF/FW and has been training with the reserves all season.  With Wallace and presumably Pablo on the DL no other roster moves were required to fit O'Neill onto the roster but some of the rumors around the team suggest that both Amarikwa's and Yamada's places ont he team are being reviewed so I expect more roster moves soon.