A Delayed 25th Year Celebration for #25

Sunday night is the annual 4th of July game, but it is also a delayed celebration of the greatest player in club history, Pablo Mastroeni.  After the match, but before the annual firework show, the Rapids will retire Pablo's #25, the only number retired in club history.

Trivia question, one other player has worn #25 for the Rapids, can you name him?

While Pablo's time as coach was not as successful as anyone wanted, therets no questioning his success as a player for this club.  This is an honor well-deserved and I hope the team pulls out all the stops to honor him.

Of course before all that we have a match, and not an easy one at that.  Seattle is in town for the 3rd time in the last 4 Independence Day matches (of course, we didn't have one last season).  We lost the last two 3-1 and 2-1, and we're going to have to play our best to avoid a repeat result.  Seattle has been, hands down, the best team in the league so far.  Kickoff is at 7pm and TV is what it is.

As always this is one home match where I won't be in attendance as I'll be celebrating my 23rd anniversary.  I'm not sure how she's put up with me this long but I'm grateful she has.

Injury Report:

OUT: M Younes Namli

QUESTIONABLE: D Steven Beitashour

Seattle is likely missing a number of notable players, so we're getting them at the right time.  I really hope Fraser returns to the 4-5-1 above.  As I detailed last week the 5-3-2 is a disaster and Seattle will eat us alive if we start that way.  I put Lewis on the wing figuring he'd get one shot before leaving and we could rest the other options before the midweek match against Minnesota.  Likewise Abubakar can be rested as well as we start Wilson and Trusty.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Bassett.  These are the best two defenses in the West, playing in heat and altitude.  I don't expect a wide-open game.  Honestly a draw feels a little optimistic given how we looked against SKC, but I'm hoping a change back to our more successful formation combined with our 4th of July home advantage is enough to overcome Seattle's quality.  If we start with a 5-3-2 and concede possession to Seattle a 2-0/3-1 loss is not out of the question.

Pablo Removed

Interim head coach Steve Cooke

Well I can't say I saw this coming.  About 7 hours ago the Rapids announced Pablo Mastroeni has been removed as head coach.  Assistant coach Steve Cooke will be the interim head coach with Chris Sharpe and Conor Casey staying in their current assistant coach roles.

This move has been a long time coming.  Only his status as the greatest player to wear the badge and his unwavering loyalty to this club kept him in the role after the 2014 and 2015 seasons, and it seemed his wonderful season last year had bought him at least 2017 and probably into 2018.  Everyone was wrong on that assumption.  With a career average of 1.2 pts/game, barely better than Fernando Clavijo, this couldn't last.  Despite that he was just 4 games from Mooch's all-time team record for games managed.

After all that, I still feel bad for how this happened.  Pablo is and will always be a club legend and he was tossed into teh deep end of a sink or swim operation.  We can talk about what support he did or did not get but this isn't how you want to see the Rapids GOAT leave the club for (likely) the final time.  He didn't deserve to remain coach, but he didn't deserve to get into the situation he was in.

The timing of this move is quite odd.  Right after the transfer window closed and without a major incident precipitating it.  There have been a number of theories floated already and I think they all have a piece of the truth.  The first one is that the season ticket opt-out window is closing and they're seeing a higher than expected number of opt outs, so they felt they had to do something.  While this is probably true, I'm not sure this move changes anything since it comes so late in the opt-out window.  Second (and my contribution), is the changes in the front office over the last 6 weeks.  Hinchey left, the window opened, Smith became interim GM, the window closed last week, and Smith has now been able to turn his attention from deal-making int he window to other parts of the GM job, such as Pablo's tenure.  The third is that they have more moves coming and they waited until those were in place.  We'll see what happens in the next couple of weeks but there's some rumors something might happen.

Looking forward from here, Steve Cooke takes over for some amount  if interim time.  Reports are that Cooke has been the one putting in the work for years, running practices, etc. so it sounds like he's certainly earned this opportunity.  I know nothing about his style or what to expect so its going to be interesting to see what changes are made..  Sometime between now and next March the team will sign a new head coach.  The question is, will they have a real budget and do a real coaching search for the first time in KSE history or will we continue getting the MLS retreads and rookie coaches that the last 4 hires under KSE have been?  If its the latter, I suggest Robin Fraser.

As part of this news the Rapids have also announced that there will be a town hall on YouTube after practice on Thursday at 12:30.  More details to come but I've heard that this will be a true open forum and questions will not be pre-screened or otherwise eliminated.  I will have a recap of the forum Thursday night.

For more discussion on today's news check out the Voice of C38 podcast when it gets posted tomorrow.  The reason this blog entry is so late is that I was already scheduled as a guest on the podcast and had a good time recording it with the Voice gang.

Rapids Pass In Both Drafts This Week

Colorado took nobody in yesterday's Waiver Draft (no team selected anyone) or in today's Re-Entry Draft Phase 1 (3 players were taken total, none of which were Conor Doyle).  This is not a big surprise, rarely are players taken in Phase 1 and the waiver draft this year was slim pickings.

The last major activity of 2016 is next Tuesday with the Re-Entry Draft Phase 2.  Between now and then the Rapids can negotiate a new contract with Conor Doyle if they want, then on Tuesday we can expect more players to be taken as there is more flexibility with contracts in Phase 2.  After that things will largely go quiet through the holidays until the combine starts on Jan. 7th and the Superdraft on Jan 13th

Also for the record here's the official confirmation of Pablo's new 3 year deal.

Players Staying, Going, and Coaching News

A lot of news today.  First, as expected, no Rapids were taken in today's expansion draft.  Given how much interest was shown in projected drafts for Jared Watts I'm going to go with my theory that the deals on Sunday with the expansion teams included an agreement that they wouldn't take any players from Colorado.  One ex-Rapid moved, briefly.  Atlanta took Clint Irwin and then immediately traded him back to Toronto for Mark Bloom (who was born in Georgia) and general allocation money.

EDIT: In a tweet tonight the Post's Daniel Boniface has confirmed there were deals in place with Minnesota and Atlanta to bypass Raids on the expansion draft.

After the expansion draft the Rapids announced that they traded Jermaine Jones' rights to LA for their natural first round pick in next month's Superdraft and a conditional second round pick in the 2018 draft.  If you remember in March we sent our natural first round pick to New England along with general allocation money to get Jones' rights.  So essentially getting him for a season cost us nothing except his salary.  Not a bad bit of business.

News also broke today that Pablo has re-signed for 3 years.  This is technically a rumor until its confirmed (probably tomorrow) but we're going to call it confirmed unless there's something drastically different in the official announcement.  As I wrote two weeks ago I'm ok with re-signing him, I'm just concerned about getting into a long term deal without knowing which Pablo is the real Pablo, 2014-15 or 2016.  There's no news on if this contract has any option years so I'm going to assume for now that its a standard 3 year contract like his last one.  Lets hope we don't have a repeat of the 2007-08 Clavijo years.  Though I suppose KSE extended Jeff Fisher for two years to start this season and fired him yesterday, so maybe they've learned their lesson about keeping a bad coach (Go Hawks!).

The First Big Offseason Decision - Pablo

As of now Pablo Mastroeni is essentially out of contract as Rapids Head Coach (I'm sure his contract probably runs to the end of the month or something but the games are over).  The first decision the Rapids Front Office has to make this offseason is obvious' Will Pablo return?

To review his head coaching tenure so far:

2014: 8W-8T-18L - 0.94 pts/game - 2nd worst in team history - Eliminated in USOC Round of 16 at home by Atlanta

2015: 9W-10T-15L - 1.09 pts/game - 4th worst in team history - Eliminated in USOC Round of 16 in Houston

2016: 15W-13T-6L - 1.71 pts/game - Best in team history - Eliminated in USOC Round of 16 in Dallas - Eliminated in Western Conference Final by Seattle

Overall: 32W-31T-39L - 1.24 pts/game - 5th best career record in team history

So it really breaks down into the Tale of Two Pablos.  2014-15 Pablo was arguably the worst coach in team history as that was the worst two year run in the 20 seasons of Rapids soccer.  2016 was arguably the 2nd best coach in team history (Smith got a MLS Cup which beats Pablo's best regular season).  So which one is the real Pablo?  Did he learn from the last two years and improve as a coach or was this year due to the added investment in players more than better coaching?

I don't know.  I see some improvement.  He's stabilized his starting XI as much as injuries and absences allow.  He's clearly got the locker room as these guys are playing for him and don't quit.  We're seeing some young players like Hairston and even Watts improve under his coaching.  Those are all positive signs.  On the flip side though I feel like his in-game coaching hasn't changed.  He's still late with subs and rarely uses all of them.  He's regularly out maneuvered by the opposing coach, especially in halftime adjustments.  I know his sideline antics bother some people (not me personally).

So, what should the Rapids do?  Here's my suggestion. Pablo should get a new contract either for 1 year or with a team option after the first year.

His expectation for 2017 should be to easily make the playoffs (not clinch one of the final 2 spots in the final 2 weeks). He doesn't have to repeat this year and be in the Shield fight but he can't regress to "typical" Rapids levels. A deep USOC or CCL run would also be helpful.  If he does that then he should go into 2018 knowing that, barring a catastrophic run like the end of 2014, he's not on the hot seat and 2019 is basically assured.

If he fails to make the playoffs in 2017 then the team should use their option and/or not renew his contract and find a new coach. If he makes the playoffs but in typical Rapids fashion "one of the last two spots on the final day or two of the regular season" then we'll have to analyze the season, look at the USOC and CCL play, and have another discussion.

The Wheels Are About To Come Off

(Those of you who think I'm too pessimistic may just want to skip this one)

Full game recap coming tomorrow as normal but after last night I think this team is in a world of hurt and its largely due to Pablo's coaching and front office mismanagement (and to be fair, some bad luck with injuries).

Five games  into the season means we've had a chance to use 15 subs.  Pablo has used 9.  Its not hard to watch the Rapids and see some gassed players at the end of the game (like Pappa and Gashi last night).  Yet players like Serna and Conor Doyle stay on the bench.

That's bad enough in a normal week.  Its a long season and there's no reason so average less than 2 subs a game just to get players rest if for no other reason.  Its a horrendous decision though going into a week like this one.  We play in Kansas City on Wednesday and host RBNY Saturday night.

Looking at our roster we have one player (Jones) suspended for KC and 2-3 out for both games (St. Ledger, Doyle, probably Berner).  We have two others injured enough to not even make the bench for FSL (Hairston, Watts) so the best we can expect is their availability off the bench at some point this week.  Finally we have Williams who's stuck in visa limbo but hopefully will be in KC after not training with the team in over 3 weeks.  We also have two players (Appiah, Calvert) on loan in Charlotte.

So that's best case 7 players and worst case 9 unavailable for this whole week.  On a 28 man roster that's a big hit.  On a 25 man roster, which is what the Rapids have right now, its disastrous.  That's why the last two games Colorado has only had 5 of a possible 7 players on their bench.

There's really no excuse for this as the league allows a 28 man roster.  We're saving one spot for Howard in mid-season, but that still leaves 2 unfilled spots on our roster.  Why are we 5 weeks into the season going into a busy week with unfilled spots?  What happened to "having our team together at start of camp" as Bravo set as the goal?  Maybe we'll have our team together at the roster deadline in September?

So that's the front office mismanagement that has put us in this situation.  Now lets look at Pablo's handling of it.  He knows what the schedule is and what he'll likely have available the rest of the week.  With that he used....1 sub last night.  1.  10 of the 11 starters went 90 including both Pappa and Gashi, who played their first full games this season.

So going into KC what do we have?
GK: MacMath, who has to be questioning himself at this point, Froschauer who's never played
D: Miller, Burling, Sjoberg, and Burch, all who played 90 last night (to be fair, Pablo had no subs for them) and maybe Williams coming back after 3 weeks away.  Serna could be moved here.
DM: Azira and Cronin, both after 90 minutes last night
AM: Pappa and Gashi, both off their first 90 minute outings last night, Pwoers, who got 11 extra minutes of rest, and Pfeffer and Serna who are rested.
F; Solignac, after 90 minutes of play, Badji, almost fully rested after playing almost 11 minutes, and Conor Doyle fully rested

That's it.  Most likely we're going to line up the same 11 in KC as we did last week, maybe with Williams or Serna instead of Burch or Miller.  We will hopefully use all 3 subs.

Then on Saturday we'll get Jones back, maybe Berner, Watts, or Hairston.  But again the majority of the lineup from FSL and KC will have to start again.  How much do you think Gashi or Pappa or Burling is going to have in heir legs by the 60th minute Saturday night?

Its not like Pablo's teams have a real good track record in 3-game weeks.  7 times under Pablo we've played 3 games in 7-9 days.  In the first game we've had 5 wins and 2 draws before last night.  That's a great record.  Then it all goes downhill.  In the second game we've had 1 win, 3 draws, and 3 losses.  In the third and final game of the week we've had 1 win, 1 draw, and 5 losses.

In every case we've never had a better result later in the week than we had earlier in the week.  Last August, the lat time we had a 3 game week, we won all 3 games but other than that its been W-D-L or W-L-L, or D-L-L.

So we've got a tired team going into a series of games that historically we get worse in as we go on.  Instead of signing a full roster and using all our subs to stay fresh for these games we played most of our available players 90 minutes.

I fully expect the wheels to come off this week and for us to end it with at best 8 points after 7 games.  A far cry from the 7 points after 4 games we were at a week ago.

More Quotes About Pablo

Apparently there were more quotes from Tim and Paul about Pablo.  Looking at a few of Tim's comments:

On when the club decided to bring Mastroeni back

“We saw improvement over the second half of the season. It doesn’t mask how upset we are with the entire results of the year, but at the same time, for me, I don’t think it ever got to a point where it was a real consideration.”

Improvement being going from 15 points (.88 pts/game) to 22 points (1.29 pts/game).  Neither of those is playoff level soccer.

On whether the Rapids made a mistake hiring Mastroenibefore he was ready, considering his 17-32-18 record

“The evidence doesn’t lie. That’s just not good enough. That’s terrible. We’re not going to make any excuses or anything like that. We owe the fanbase a lot more than 17 wins over that many matches. We’re keenly aware of that. He’s aware of that. We’re all aware of that. We just have to do better. And I’m completely angry with our home form in particular. But I think we knew that it was going to be tough. Paul and I were put in a difficult situation with that coaching change at the timing when it happened. We certainly tried to do our due diligence with some coaches.”

Do I really need to go over this discussion again?  Or should I just point back to my prior posts on the subject?

On how long the Rapids are willing to stick with Mastroeni if the club finishes last next season

“It’d be unfair for me to speculate that far in advance. That’s an impossible thing for me to answer.”

“But I can tell you I don’t want to endure anymore pain, period. So we’re going to look at this very seriously as we start the season. It’s not just Pablo we’re talking myself, Paul, all of us are going to be held accountable going forward. All I can tell you is we’re completely focused on not having anymore pain.”

12-13 points in the first 5 games is the anesthetic I need to make the pain I'm feeling about the news that there will be no leadership changes go away.

And Now The Bad News

I know I said earlier this week that I was done with the commentary for a while but then we had news today.  The other half of the news today was this:

Colorado Rapids president: Pablo Mastroeni will be back as coach

 Yeah, really not the news any of us wanted to hear.  We all know why Pablo shouldn't be back at this point, I won't go into that again.  Let's take a look at some of the quotes from the article though.

"I guarantee he's going to be a successful coach in this league," Rapids president Tim Hinchey told reporters at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. "What I hope is that it's here."

Tim, the fact that you're not making a coaching change pretty much means your guaranteeing it by putting your job on the line.

"He's got 60 percent of the field sorted out," Bravo said. "If you take from our goalline to the first ten yards of the opponent's half, we're as good as any team in the league."

You know why strikers get paid the big bucks in soccer?  Because attacking is the hardest piece to figure out.  We do have a solid defense but that's largely due to putting 7, 8, sometimes 9 defensive-minded players on the field.  Hardly the "entertaining, attacking soccer" we've been promised in the past.

"That's terrible," Hinchey said. "We're not going to make any excuses. We owe the fan base a lot more than 17 wins over that many matches. We're keenly aware of that.

"Were all going to be held accountable at the end of the day. But for this group right now, stability is the right course for action."

End of what day Tim?  We've completely failed in all our on-field goals the last two seasons.  How is keeping that stable going to help?

Hinchey added that he was "completely angry" with the way the Rapids played at home. Last year, he said making Dick's Sporting Goods Park a "fortress" was his top priority, but Colorado was 5-7-5 at home — worst in MLS.

Apparently we're not holding anyone accountable for that yet...

"It's disrespectful to call (Kreis) an 'obvious upgrade over Pablo,'" Hinchey said. "I have a head coach so I'm not interested in commenting on other people that are available."

Ok now, that's just insulting.  Kreis only has a MLS Cup, another MLS Cup appearance, a U.S. Open Cup final appearance, and a CONCACAF Champions League final appearance, not to mention an all time 112-67-95 record, good for a 1.47 pts/game average.  In comparison the Rapids best-ever career coaching record was Gary Smith's 1.43 pts.game.  Pablo's current record is 1.02 pts/game.  To suggest that calling Kreis an obvious upgrade is disrespectful is ridiculous.  Sigi Schmid may be out in Seattle if they don't win it all, would calling him an obvious upgrade also be disrespectful?

This article was nothing but spin from Hinchey and Bravo to try to sell the fact that Pablo is coming back.  I was really hoping they were going to come to their senses and make a change but this article makes it pretty clear that's not going to happen yet.  For this to work they need to come out of the starting blocks earning 12-13 points in the first 5 games.  Otherwise the figurative pitchforks and torches will be out and the fans will be storming the gates.

Um, Shots Fired?

So if you remember from yesterday there were tweets about our style of play:

Hinchey says the gripe about not playing attacking soccer is very legit and a big problem. the style is in effect throughout academy...

...but with Pablo it has been a struggle to establish it in the senior team.

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Pablo still a work in progress, biggest issue according to Hinchey is that the team isn't playing the style of soccer they're striving to. 

this seemed like a big deal to Hinchey, he was really frustrated about it. not sure Pablo can get it done.

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Pablo responds by playing all defenders.

i brought this up. Hinchey said the SJ game was especially frustrating. sounds like disconnect between Bravo/Pablo

Well today's MLSsoccer.com article about the Rapids, where injuries are partially blamed for our lack of scoring (HA!), included this quote from Pablo at the end:

Said Mastroeni: “At this point, we’re not in a beauty contest anymore. Only the hungry man will critique a meal. The guy that’s starving will eat anything you give him.”

Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but that sure seems like a shot fired across Hinchey's bow.  Essentially Pablo is saying style doesn't matter, its just a matter of winning.  Generally I agree with him but after 2+ years of his bosses beating the style drum its interesting that Pablo would say that.

I said yesterday that there appears to be a lot of disfunction between Hinchey, Bravo, and Mastroeni.  This only reinforces the feeling.

A Mustache, A Draft, and a Trade

A big day for the Rapids with their first "difference-maker" move of the offseason.  But first, the look that most say won the draft.

In Mustache We Trust!

Pablo going all musketeer on us this offseason.  Well one for all and all for one!

As you saw in my earlier post the Rapids drafted two big defenders today in Sjoberg and Greenspan.  Some think Sjoberg is MLS-ready now so at worst he should be able to contribute at some point this season.  6' 7" in the back means we shouldn't get beat on crosses and free kicks.  Greenspan is a more unusual case.  As a Midshipman he's first responsibility is to the U.S. Navy.  He's not the first athlete out of a service academy good enough to be drafted though.  In the past the services have sometimes agreed to take the player's 5 year service commitment and reduce it to 2 years of active duty combined with an extended time in the reserves after that.  So a best case scenario is that Greenspan will be available to us mid-2017.  I think what he's doing is a great service and I hope he can also pursue a professional career.  I do wonder though if we could have made a different pick that could contribute right way.

The big news of the day was a trade for one of the "difference makers" we needed to find this offseason.  We sent our #3 spot in the allocation order and allocation money to LA for Marcelo Sarvas and an international roster spot along with moving into LA's 18th spot in the allocation order.  Sarvas is a 33 year old midfielder who was responsible for 3 goals and 11 assists for the Galaxy last year.  Most LA fans considered him the heart and soul of the team and are sad to see him go.  LA traded him to make room for the summer arrival of Steven Gerrard.

The Rapids are now up to 7 international players (if you include Sjoberg) and 8 international spots.  Sarvas will be a natural partner with Powers in midfield and gives us the MLS-quality starting mid we needed.  There's still work to do but this is a good start.

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

 

Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni

Image by Cindy Schutz

About 12:30 today the Rapids made it official.  At the Centennial 38 season kickoff party they asked Pablo Mastroeni to sign his contract (above) as the next head coach of the Colorado Rapids.  Our long Colorado nightmare is over, the Rapids have a head coach.

Clearly the best decision the team could have made at this point.  A week out you couldn't select anyone else and I'm glad they got the job done.  Hat tip to the Front Office for having him sign the contract at the supporters party, that's a nice touch (and the title of the press release even mentions it).  If you're in a position where you're naming a head coach a week before the season starts, that's the way to do it.

Now everyone should be giving their full support to Pablo.  He's a club legend, the best to ever wear the jersey, and he deserves our full support.  We may not be happy with how we got here (I'm not) but that's now in the past.  If things go bad we'll deal with how we got there when we cross that bridge.  The future is Pablo Mastroeni, hopefully that's all the team needs.

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

Pablo To Be Next Coach?

The Rapids posted this image of Pablo at the draft today

All signs seem to be pointing to Pablo Mastroeni as the lead candidate to be the next Rapids coach.  He will meet Monday with the club about the position after expressing his interest in it today.  The club has been putting on a PR press for him recently, with a series of videos about his path back to the Rapids on the website.  Multiple national reporters have said he's the leading candidate.  Today at the SuperDraft Pablo was apparently handling most of the public roles the head coach usually fills.  All of these seem to be strong indicators that he's at least the leader for the job at the moment, if not already on trial.

I wouldn't be shocked to see Mastroeni announced as the "interim" coach next week, only to have the interim tag removed early in the season once he proves he doesn't fall flat on his face in the role.  Given that we've heard no other rumors of any other candidates being interviewed but a very public article about Pablo's interview it appears to be his job to lose.  Recent leaks have also suggested that it was a conflict with Pareja that led Pablo to leave the team in mid-year to try to find playing time in LA, so its probably not a surprise he came right back as soon as Pareja was off to Dallas.

Given the parameters that have floated about for what the Rapids are looking for in their next coach, Pablo fits.  They have Bravo to handle the roster, and Metgod to handle tactics and training.  They want a emotional leader to be the face of the team and inspire the troops.  They also want somebody with Colorado ties that's ready to be here for a decade.  The last piece, always unspoken with KSE, is that they want somebody cheap.  Mastroeni checks all of these boxes.

That said, this would be a big roll of the dice by Hinchey and Bravo.  Pareja left a team with some solid talent that should be expected to make the playoffs this year.  The coaching chaos this month has thrown a wrench into that plan, chaos that could have largely been avoided trough better planning by the Rapids FO, and can largely be overcome by hiring an experienced coach that could re-focus the team.  Pablo's inexperience could make things worse, not better, if he's hired.  He's always been known for his fiery temper, but the team probably needs the exact opposite now, some stability through all of this.

If Pablo gets the job and is successful, his legendary status at the club will grow even larger and Bravo and Hinchey will deserve a tip of the cap for getting through the rough offseason.  If he fails to succeed immediately though, the blow back should be more on who put him in the position than on Mastroeni.

Jamie Smith Retires, Both He and Pablo Join Staff

Some good news on the staffing front today.  Jamie Smith announced his retirement from playing and immediately joined the Rapids Academy as a coach.  He'll be working with the next group of Dillon Sernas and Shane O'Neills.  Also today Pablo Mastroeni was hired as Special Assistant to the Technical Director (that being Paul Bravo).  He'll jump in immediately helping Bravo and Metgod scout the combine and handle the SuperDraft next week.  He is not considered a candidate for the head coaching position (good IMO).

Great to see two former players helping the club after retirement.  Prior to these only two former players (other than Bravo) had ever joined the Rapids staff in a technical capacity, Steve Trittschuh as an assistant from '02-'06, and David Kramer as an assistant in '08.  It would be a good development if former players wanted to stay involved with the Rapids.  I'm very pleased to see both of these guys, particularly the greatest Rapid of all time, working with the team.

A Legend Retires

This morning Pablo Mastroeni announced his retirement.  Starting with the Miami Fusion in 1998 he played 16 MLS seasons, almost 12 of them with the Rapids before finishing his career in LA for the last half of 2013.  He holds the Rapids record for starts, appearances, and minutes, as well as being a 3-time team MVP and captain for almost 9 full seasons.

In his time with the Rapids he also earned 63 of his 65 National Team caps (his first 2 were while he was with the Fusion), including playing in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, the only player to make multiple World Cup appearances for the U.S. while a member of the Rapids (Balboa played in 1 game in 1998).

Alone that would make Pablo a Rapids legend, but the pinnacle of his career in Colorado came in 2010 when he captained the squad to their only MLS Cup victory, being named team MVP for that season.  There has never been a greater player in a Rapids uniform.  The Rapids will honor him at a to-be-named game in the 2014 season.  At minimum he'll be added to the Gallery of Honor alongside Balboa, Bravo, Henderson, and Spencer but he has earned more if he wants it.  A testimonial match would be appropriate/

The Rapids have said in the past that the door is open for however Pablo would want to join the organization after hanging up the boots.  I expect he may take some time off before considering his options so we won't see him much in 2014, but hopefully he'll be part of the club in 2015.

The Rapids also released player updates on the whole roster today ahead of Thursday's Re-Entry Draft.  I'll cover that tomorrow, today's article was saved for Pablo.

The Return of Pablo Mastroeni

The greatest to ever wear the shirt

Tomorrow the Rapids former captain and record holder in a number of categories, Pablo Mastroeni, makes his first ever appearance at the Dick playing for the opposition.  He and his LA Galaxy teammates are in town for an nationally televised match on ESPN2.  Because of the TV coverage kickoff is an unusual 5pm kickoff so the tailgate starts at 2pm tomorrow.

Injury Report:

OUT:  DF Diego Calderon (R knee Surgery)

Disciplinary Report:
SUSPENDED AFTER NEXT YELLOWS: DF Shane O'Neill (1 game left for good behavior reduction); MF Hendry Thomas
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOWS: MF Dillon Powers; MF Nathan Sturgis

Ineligible:

FW Charles Eloundou - Still waiting on International Transfer Certificate

The smallest unavailable report of the season, though reports are that Rivero will not make the 18 tomorrow.  LA has 3 out injured and a couple of big names with the U.S, Nats for the Gold Cup final on Sunday.  The biggest missing names are Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan.  My guess on the Rapids XI tomorrow:

We could see LaBrocca instead of one of the forwards in more of a 4-4-2 alignment but my guess is that we stick with more of the 4-3-3.  Mera is always a possibility in the back but I got the feeling that this back 4 is the primary line Pareja is going to use.

Key To Look For: Defense.  LA is missing most of their high-powered attack, so keeping them off the board is the way to 3 points.

Prediction: 1-0 win, goal by Brown.  This feels a bit optimistic, but the Rapids are on a good roll right now and with LA weakened there's not a better chance to pick up 3 points from one of the league's premier teams.  The home field advantage will be just the edge we need.

Mastroeni To LA

First the trade details.  The Rapids sent Pablo and the rights to Baggio Husidic (who we picked up in the 2011 Re-Entry Draft) to the Galaxy in exchange for a 2nd round pick in next year's draft and an international spot through 2014.

There are two ways I can look at this, with my head or your heart.  Looking at it with my head this is a solid trade by Colorado.  Mastroeni had clearly been passed on the depth chart by Thomas and Sturgis, and we still have LaBrocca and O'Neill who could play that role in a pinch.  Pablo, based on his letter to the fans, obviously thinks he can still play and contribute.  So we have a player that won't be playing but wants to and a team who doesn't need what that player brings.  This is an obvious trade situation.  So Colorado moved a player that was unlikely to be more than a late-game defensive sub and got some roster flexibility back in the form of an international spot and salary cap room (Pablo was a $150-$200K hit this year) as well as a draft pick next year.

Looking at this with my heart, this trade hurts.  Mastroeni is, quite simply, the best player to ever wear a Rapids jersey.  Yes we have players who may have had better careers (El Pibe is the first that comes to  mind) but for what they did in a Rapids jersey, nobody tops Pablo.  He's also once of the few Americans to play in a World Cup Quarterfinal and captain his club side to a championship.  The only move that comes close to this ironically happened on the day Pablo was picked by the Rapids in the post-contract Dispersal Draft, trading Marcelo Balboa to New York where he would make one 10 minute appearance in the final game of the 2002 season.  I expect Pablo will do a bit better in LA, but I have a feeling he'll be retiring at the end of the year as well.

In the end, I understand why the Rapids made this trade and why Pablo wanted to leave.  It doesn't make it that much easier though.  I know that soccer teams don't retire numbers but #25 should be taken out of the rotation for a very long time.  Mastroeni will probably return with the Galaxy on July 27th.  Lets make sure we give him the send off he didn't get yet.

Tomorrow will be the first day in the history of the team that that roster doesn't contain either Marcelo Balboa or Pablo Mastroeni.  Its a new era for the Rapids.

Pablo Traded!

More this evening, but Mastroeni was traded to the Galaxy for a 2nd round pick next season and an international spot through 2014.  LA also gets the rights to Baggio Husidic (which I didn't even know the Rapids owned!).

Oh Captain My Captain

Today the Rapids and Pablo made it official, Mastroeni will be back for 2013!  He signed a new contract with only 2013 guaranteed, and the assumption is that its for a reduced number.

This is good news.  The team will most likely expect Larentowicz and Thomas to start with Pablo coming off the bench and serving as a spot-starter with those two aren't available.  He'll also be able to mentor O'Neill, provide veteran leadership, and eventually (my guess is at the end of the year) retire on his own terms.

There's a rumor going around that Smith is also close to a new contract, but he and Freeman have left their names on the list for tomorrow's Re-Entry Draft, and we are now in a period where teams can no longer negotiate with those players until after the draft.  Marvell Wynne removed his name form the draft however, which is a good indicator that he and the team are close to a new contract and they can keep negotiating with him through tomorrow.

I would be very surprised if we lose Smith or Freeman tomorrow, or if we pick anyone up.