Rapids Officially Sign Pittinari On Loan

Official word was just released that the Rapids have completed the signing of Lucas Pittinari on a year long loan from Belgrano.  He's already with the team at their training camp in San Diego.  Pittinari is a 23 year old defensive-minded midfielder.  With his signing 7 of the 8 international slots the Rapids have are filled.  Here's the 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
Nick LaBrocca
Lucas Pittinari*
Dillon Powers
Marcelo Sarvas*
Dillon Serna
Jared Watts

Forwards:
Deshorn Brown*
Caleb Calvert
Charles Eloundou* (not yet in camp)
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* (not yet in camp)
D Grant Van de Casteele (confirmed to be in camp)
M Carlos Alvarez (confirmed to be in camp)
M Wes Knight (trialist in camp)
M Ben Newnam (trialist in camp)

F Dominique Badji* (draftee)

Busy Day Of News

Lots of news so let's get to it.  At the bottom is an updated list of the roster and camp invitees as we know it.

• First, the Denver Post's Daniel Boniface tweeted confirmation that LaBrocca signed a new contract:

I ran into Nick Labrocca...he's re-signed with the #Rapids96 and will be back for 2015.

I'm not loving this move.  Sam Cronin and Nick LaBrocca are too similar to really need both on the roster.  If LaBrocca signed for sub $100K as a depth player then fine, but otherwise its redundant.

• The Rapids have two right backs on trial in camp, Wes Knight and Ben Newnam.  Newnam is actually signed with our USL affiliate in Charlotte so that may already be paying off.  This is the downside of the Klute trade though as we have a lack of depth at outside back.  Harrington and Burch cover the left side but right back is a big question mark at the moment.
• Argentine defensive midfielder Lucas Pittinari is in town in preparation for finalizing the loan deal.  If they had him come to Denver it should be just a formality at this point, assuming he passes the physical.  This is likely a loan for a season so we can decide if he rates the $1.5 million price-tag he's rumored to have, making him a DP in 2016 if we buy him.
• Finally, two tweets from the Post's Mark Kiszla about that "big name" signing this week that fist came up on Friday. 

#Rapids pursuit of big-name designated player not dead, but has hit snags. Might have new star by start of reg season, but not by Feb 1.

 Pursuit of marquee designated player can be roller-coaster ride for any MLS club, and #Rapids have hit dip in the ride.

That second tweet was actually favorited by Tim Hinchey, so I'm guessing this report is fairly accurate.  I wish I could say I was surprised or disappointed by this news but I'm not.  As I wrote on Friday:

I'm hoping the Rapids have an actual target they're in final negotiations with and they've managed to keep it tightly under wraps, because the only real rumors we've heard so far this offseason are the two Argentinian players and they don't meet the standards of "big-time scorer".  By self-imposing a deadline and announcing it they've set themselves up to disappoint the fan base (again).  I would think they wouldn't let this information out unless they were very sure they've got a deal done, but we've seen stranger things.  Remember all the hassle when we thought we had both Martin Rivero and Gabriel Torres signed, only to not have the deals done?

This is just another incident in a long history of incidents where the Rapids failed to deliver on an earlier statement.  We'll see if we get that big signing before March. 7th or if we have to wait until the mid-season transfer window, but if I had to bet my money is on mid-season at best.

UPDATE: I reached out to the Rapids and got a couple of camp updates:
Carlos Alvarez (waived) - In camp
Zat Knight (out of contract) - Not in camp yet
Charles Eloundou (under contract) - Not in camp yet

Though on the last two they weren't sure if that was just "They haven't arrived in Denver for the season yet" or if there was something else going on.  They were going to check.

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
Nick LaBrocca
Dillon Powers
Marcelo Sarvas*
Dillon Serna
Jared Watts

Forwards:
Deshorn Brown*
Caleb Calvert
Charles Eloundou* (not yet in camp)
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* (not yet in camp)
D Grant Van de Casteele (confirmed to be in camp)
M Carlos Alvarez (confirmed to be in camp)
M Wes Knight (trialist in camp)
M Ben Newnam (trialist in camp)
M Lucas Pittinari* (in town negotiating)

F Dominique Badji* (draftee)

Argentinian Rumors and Superdraft Preview

As I sit here watching the Dakar Rally in (partially) Argentina I figured now as a good time to mention the rumors of two Argentinian players being linked to the Rapids.

• Lucas Pittinari, a 23 year old deep-lying/defensive midfielder.  The rumor is that Pittinari would come on loan (actually the rumor is that the deal is done) for 2015 with a $1.5 million option to buy after the season.  He is currently with Belgrano in the Argentine Primera Division where he's appeared 67 times since 2009.  He also played with Belgrano's youth team since he was 15.
• Juan Edgardo Ramirez, a 21 year old attacking midfielder.  He currently plays for Argentinos Juniors in the Primera B Nacional (the second division) where he's made 50 appearances over the last 3 seasons.  Last year he played alongside Riquelme, so hopefully he picked up some things from the creative playmaker.

Neither of these guys jump off the page as the missing piece but neither of them scream mistake either.  If accurate I don't love that price to buy Pittinari, that's a lot to spend on a pretty unknown defensive midfielder.

Another source for new players hits on Thursday with the annual Superdraft.  You figure without lousy finish we'd have a pretty good draft position.  That would be wrong.  In a stunningly poor move we traded our first round pick to Portland.  for Danny Mwanga.  He of the 19 appearances, 1 assist, and 0 goals in two seasons before he was cut and now signed by Orlando City.  We do have Dallas' worst first round pick from their "Don't accuse us of the tampering we committed when signing Pareja" payoff which means we're back in the first round...at pick 19.  Its a big fall from 5 to 19, especially in a draft that's looking weaker than some past seasons.  We also have our natural 5th pick in the 2nd round.

So barring trades we can expect to add two players on Thursday and possibly two Argentinian players in the near future.  We still need to make some big impact signings and with camp opening in the enar future, they need to be sooner rather than later.