Rapids Return Priso North Of The Border

Colorado made a trade today, sending Ralph Priso to Vancouver in exchange for Vancouver's later of their two first round picks next year and their natural third round pick.  They can also get up to $150K in GAM based on performance.  Tom Bogert reported there would also be a 33% sell on clause which wasn't officially announced.

This is a pretty good return for a player who clearly wasn't progressing and wasn't even making the gameday roster.  Bogert's report says Wayne Frederick had passed him on the depth chart.  So getting a first-round draft pick after being successful (apparently) with Frederick and with Bombito last season and then another pick on top of that is good business.

Priso was originally acquired as part of the trade that sent Kaye to Toronto.  Winding it back a step further we originally traded $1M in GAM and a international slot for a season to LAFC for Kaye and their first round pick.  We turned that pick into $125K in GAM and Markanich.  Markanich was traded for $75K in GAM and St. Louis's first round pick which we turned in another $75K in GAM.

So just from the Kaye trade we ended up with Kaye and $275K in GAM, plus a few games from Markanich.

We then traded Kaye for $1.025M in GAM, an international slot, TFC's 2023 first-round pick, and Priso.  The pick became Moise Bombito, and Priso has now become two more picks.

So in the end we gained $300K in GAM, Moise Bombito, and two picks, plus all the games Markanich, Priso, and Kaye played for the club.  No matter what you think about Markanich and Priso, that's some good work.  Arguably, given Smith's track record, that's better than what he would have done with the initial $1M of GAM we sent to LAFC for Kaye.

Speaking of Bombito, he was called up today for Canada for the Copa America qualifier playoff in two weeks.  He'll be available for this week's game in Seattle, but will then head to Dallas to join up with the Canadian National Team.  He'll miss our next home game against Houston as the playoff game is the same day.

Lastly today the roster rules for the MLS Next Pro teams playing in the Open Cup leaked.  Players will have to be loaned to the MLS Next Pro side from the MLS team for at least 90 days to be eligible and no DP or TAM players are eligible.  Also any players so loaned have to average less than 15 minutes a game through this weekend's MLS games.  Fernandez, Harris, Ronan Navarro, Vines, Larraz, DM, Steffen, Rosenberry, Maxso, Bombito, Bassett, Cabral, and Diack are all ineligible under those rules, and Löffelsend will be ineligible if he plays 19 minutes or more this weekend (Yapi, Lewis, and Travis could all lose eligibility if they play enough minutes in Seattle as well).

Really though, the three month loan requirement is the killer.  I can't see loaning anyone who's likely to get any real playing time this year to Rapids 2 for 3 months just so they can play in the USOC.  Its going to be Nate Jones, Wayne Frederick, or Michael Edwards that might be considered.

Colorado Trades Mark-Anthony Kaye To Toronto

Rumors were swirling earlier this week that Toronto was interested in reuniting Kaye and Bradley.  Many (including myself) dismissed it as a single report from the Toronto side that felt like the "big" team trying to bully the "little" team into making a move.  Well, the move is being made.  No official announcement yet but the deal is reportedly done:

    Toronto gets Kaye

    Colorado gets $1M in GAM, midfielder Ralph Priso, an international slot in 2023, and TFC's 1st round pick next year

Overall that's a sizeable haul.  Last summer we traded $1M of GAM and an international slot for 2022 to get Kaye, so a year later we've added a 1st round pick and a young player to his value.  Long term this looks like a solid move.

But for 2022?  This feels a lot like throwing in the towel on the season.  As Joseph Samelson pointed out, the 2021 team has lost Vines (who left midway through), Bassett, Badji, Acosta, Shinyashiki, Mezquida, Trusty*, and now Kaye.  Essentially in 8 months we've gone from the top of the West to a rebuilding project.  The thing is, if you look at any of those 8 moves on their own, all of them look like solid, smart moves.  The problem is, again as Joseph put it, the Front Office failed to bring in adequate replacements.  We traded Acosta because we ere going to pivot from him and build our midfield around Kaye, but that wasn't working.  We moved on from Bassett, but brought in Max, who's shown nothing in MLS play.  We sold Vines and Trusty and brought in Keita who got injured (admittedly, not something you can plan for) and then Vallecilla, who looks like he has potential but is he ready to start?  Looking back now, the offseason was a disaster and we're suffering for it now.

Ralph Priso-Mbongue is a 19 year old defensive minded Canadian midfielder.  He came up through the TFC academy (which means he doesn't need an international slot) and was on TFC III and II while Fraser was still an assistant coach for the first team.  He's played for the Canadian U-15 and U-17 teams and has some real potential.  He's made 12 starts and 25 appearances for the first team over the last 2+ seasons, with 2 goals and 3 assists in just over 1000 minutes.  He got his first full national team camp callup in January but has not yet appeared for the full Nats.

Again though, this is a solid deal than in a year or two we're going to be happy with.  But I don't see a way to the playoffs in 2022 now, unless the Rapids have a midseason window unlike one they've had in a long time.

* - Trusty is not available for tomorrow's match and has played his last game in burgundy