Juan Ramirez Officially Off The Roster

As expected, the Rapids announced today that they and Juan Ramirez mutually agreed to a contract termination.  That's one more player off the roster as we rebuild this offseason and we now have an open DP slot.

Two Players Loaned Out

One official and one unofficial loan announcement in the last day or so:

• Joseph Greenspan was loaned out to Colorado Springs

The Rapids announcement doesn't mention a length of loan, just that the Rapids retain the right to recall him.  The Switchbacks' announcement says its for the season.  If I had to bet I'd say that every USL loan is probably written as a full season loan but based on the Rapids thin bench at CB and the comments they made when Greenspan returned he won't be there all season.  I expect him back in Commerce city by August, unless T. Ledger is closer to being the old St.. Ledger than we realize.

• Juan Ramirez reportedly loaned to Argentina's Talleres for a year

No surprise here, as discussed in my prior post we had no room for Ramirez to return and we had no need to bring him back.  Talleres was just promoted to the top flight for the 2016-17 season after winning the lower division.  As a full year loan we won't have to worry about finding a spot for Ramirez until this time next year, at which point we may have an option to sell him.

Update: Talleres has officially announced the loan

Weekly Recap

After a bout with whatever bug is going around I'm back.  Let's recap what's happened since Monday.

• We got allocation money for the rights to Maynor Figueroa

Nice job by the FO on this one.  I figured when we declined his option that he just waled away.  Getting allocation money for him means we made a real offer to bring him back and he declined it.  Unless we found out he took $125K from Dallas or something this was the right move by the FO.

• Ramirez loaned to UD Almeria for 6 months

Again another good move by the Front Office.  If Ramirez is having problems adjusting as reported then this is probably the best way to get value for him.  There's no way a team like Almeria is going to pay the reported $2 million that we paid for Ramirez right now.  This gives him 6 months to earn that kind of transfer fee from Spain and if it doesn't work then we get him back with another chance to make it work for us.

• Top Drawer Soccer hammers the Rapids offseason

Can't say this is at all unfair.  Its up to the FO to do something soon to turn it around.

• Cristian Canga not coming

That appeared to be a passing rumor.  Its since been replaced with...

• Rapids linked with T&T fullback Mikeil Williams

Well, at least we're targeting the right position, though I don't think we can rely on a guy struggling to get playing time in Central America to be a starter in 5 weeks.

• Pulido's good play in Greece making a deal less likely

There was even a tweet that Pulido himself had turned down the offer from the Rapids though that's not "in print" anywhere.  Regardless its starting to look like our third major attacking strikeout this offseason (Vela, Bedoya).

• Colorado Cup coming in July

Not strictly Rapids related but fairly interesting.  Good to see some non-EPL teams in the state.  I'd be more interested if they were playing each other or the Rapids though, I'm not real interested in seeing Liga MX teams.

• Tim Howard rumors heating up

This is of course the big news this week.  All sources (including some of my own) are pointing to Howard coming to Colorado.  As we saw in the guest post there are positives to this signing but they come with a number of "ifs" and "maybes".  I have no real faith in the Rapids pulling those contingencies off and Howard isn't going to fix anything on the field for us.  This is screaming marketing move with now game upside to me.

• Details on Marco Pappa's stabbing are released

The notable detail in this is that the stabbing occurred on Dec. 17th, two days after he was traded to the Rapids.  Its always tricky to judge some of this without the details but the reports of him being intoxicated and changing his story aren't what you want to hear from a guy who was only 4 months removed from the league's substance abuse program.  If accurate I can't imagine that will play well in the league Front Office.

• Finally (no link on this one), former Rapid Stephen Keel spotted at Rapids camp

Keel didn't have his option picked up by Dallas.  He's a local boy so it makes sense he'd come here first.  He's at best a depth signing this year.

So you'll notice the great big absence of something in all that news.  Not a single player signing.  That's a problem more than a week after the players reported, all 19 of them.

Current roster:

GK John Berner
GK Zac MacMath
D March Burch
D Bobby Burling
D Marlon Hairston
D Axel Sjoberg
D Sean St. Ledger
M Michael Azira
M Sam Cronin
M Marco Pappa
M Zach Pfeffer
M Dillon Powers
M Dillon Serna
M Marcelo Sarvas
M Jared Watts
F Dominque Badji
F Caleb Calvert
F Kevin Doyle
F Luis Solignac

Unsigned draftees:

GK Chris Froschauer
D Dennis Castillo
D Bradley Kamdem
D Javan Torre
M Emmanuel Appiah
F John Manga

Trialists:

D Stephen Keel
M Yann Ekra - Charlotte
M Brian Ownby - Richmond

Ramirez Transferred to UD Almeria

Looks like that rumor of Juan Ramirez to Almeria is official.

Juan Ramírez firma como nuevo jugador de la UD Almería #BienvenidoJuanRamírez

Ramirez was our second-ever Designated Player signing, coming in as a youth DP.  27 appearances, 15 starts, 1459 minutes, 3 assists, and 1 Rocky Mountain Cup winning goal.  We better have sold him for more than we paid because otherwise that's a waste.

Our first-ever DP signing was Gabriel Torres who was released on a free this offseason after 3 seasons, 55 appearances, 35 starts, 3192 minutes, 5 assists, and 10 goals.

Our only remaining DP is Kevin Doyle who in less than a season has 20 appearances,, 16 starts, 1489 minutes, 2 assists, and 5 goals.

I'm getting the impression we're not very good at this DP thing...

Current roster:

GK John Berner
GK Zac MacMath
D March Burch
D Bobby Burling
D Joseph Greenspan (when on leave from the U.S. Navy)
D Marlon Hairston
D Axel Sjoberg
D Sean St. Ledger
M Michael Azira
M Sam Cronin
M Marco Pappa
M Zach Pfeffer
M Dillon Powers
M Dillon Serna
M Marcelo Sarvas
M Jared Watts
F Dominque Badji
F Caleb Calvert
F Kevin Doyle
F Luis Solignac

Unsigned draftees:

GK Chris Froschauer
D Dennis Castillo
D Bradley Kamdem
D Javan Torre
M Emmanuel Appiah
F John Manga

Trialists:

M Yann Ekra - Charlotte
M Brian Ownby - Richmond

Odds And Ends To Start Draft Week

A couple of news stories/rumors from the weekend to get draft week started.

According to this tweet, Juan Ramirez is set to be transferred to Spanish Second Division (same league as CD Tenerife) side Almeria.

• So far nobody else has picked up this story but if its accurate I just shake my head.  The Rapids track records with DPs would be three forgetful seasons of Torres and then cutting him for nothing, one season for Ramirez and then selling him for hopefully as much as we paid, and a half season of Doyle with more to come.  Not exactly stunning work there.

John Spencer seen at the combine hotel in a Rapids shirt, says he's a temporary adivsor

• Of course Pablo was only leading the team in preseason temporarily as well.  Our new "offensive coordinator" perhaps?  Hard to get real excited about it given the lack of firepower his Timbers teams showed but to be fair, they were an expansion side.

After running through Google Translate, Pulido doesn't want to come to MLS?

• I'm thinking bad translation or a negotiating tactic.  If Paul Bravo (or Paul Pravo) actually flew to Greece to seal the deal I'm sure they've already talked with him and determined he's interested in MLS.  Of course given this team's track record of getting ahead of itself (Rivero, Torres) I can't rule out that Pulido doesn't want to come.

Look for a Superdraft preview Wednesday night and coverage of our picks on Thursday.

Rapids Sign Juan Ramirez As Second Designated Player

Long rumored but finally announced tonight.  Juan Ramirez has joined the Rapids as their second Designated Player, taking up a young DP slot.  Reports are he's already in tucson with the team and will be available for tomorrow's scrimmage with the Revs (5:30pm MST, coloradorapids.com).  Ramirez is a 21 year old attacking left winger who joins from Argentinos Juniors.  As a 'young DP" he'll only count $200K against the cap and if the Rapids sign a third DP (like Doyle) they won't have to purchase a third slot as you don't need it if you have a young DP.

This is a big risk big reward move by Colorado.  If the rumored $2 million purchase price is accurate that's a lot of money for a team like the Rapids to spend on a young, unknown (to fans) quantity.  This isn't a signing that's going to drive ticket sales, this is a signing to (hopefully) drive wins and that will drive ticket sales.

With this signing the Rapids are now at 24 signed players with 6 of 8 international spots filled.  We still don't know, due to the continuing CBA negotiations, what the roster limit will be this season.  It was 30 last year but conventional wisdom is that will drop with provisions for players under contract but playing with USL teams to not count against the total.  I've changed the unsigned section of the camp roster to reflect players who don't appear on the Desert Diamond Cup roster lists.  That may mean the Rapids have passed on them or it may mean that they just didn't plan to feature them (more likely the former than the latter).

Updated camp 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
Juan Ramirez*
Marcelo Sarvas
Dillon Serna
Jared Watts

Forwards:
Deshorn Brown*
Caleb Calvert
Charles Eloundou* (not yet in camp, visa issues)
Vicente Sanchez
Gabriel Torres*

Unsigned but in AZ or negotiating:
D Francisco Flores* (trialist)
D Joseph Greenspan (draftee, on Naval duty through 2017 probably, was in Vegas)
D Wes Knight (trialist)
D Ben Newnam (trialist)
D Grant Van de Casteele
M Carlos Alvarez
M Oscar Montoya (trialist)
F Dominique Badji* (draftee)
F Kevin Doyle* (negotiating)

Unsigned and not in AZ:

GK Quentin Westberg
D Matt Jeffrey (draftee, not in camp)
D Patrick Slogic (Charlotte player)
M Andrew Ribiero (Charlotte player)
F Billy Schuler

First Game Action And Ramirez In Town

Two main pieces of news today but first just a quick update on the Doyle rumors.  Most sources are reporting that talks are still on-going but there have been some mentions that he doesn't want to leave until his girlfriend gives birth.  We'll see what next week brings.

Now onto the bigger news.  Yesterday Juan Ramirez tweeted these two pictures:

That top picture is from the Rapids training room.  So clearly we're close to a signing of Ramirez if he's taking a physical.  My guess is that it gets done early next week and he meets up with the team in Arizona.

Meanwhile the rest of the team is on Las Vegas where they played UNLV yesterday.  A heavy reserves and trialists lineup was used.  Here's the starting XI with a guess on formation:

Berner

Flores - Greenspan - VDC - Slogic

Ribeiro - Raben - Montoya - Neeskens

Schuler - Calvert

Andrew Ribiero is a defensive midfielder who's bounced around the USL and MLS reserve sides the last few years.  Currently he's under contract with Charlotte.  Sam Raben is a high school senior in the Rapids academy who committed to Wake Forest in the fall.  Billy Schuler is a forward who started his post-college career in Sweden for 2 seasons before joining the E-Quakes last year.  Of note only 3 of these players are signed to the Rapids for 2015, Berner, Neeskens, and Calvert.

After half a more experienced lineup was put on the field. though still heavy on unsigned players.

Westberg

Flores - Greenspan - VDC - Slogic

Cronin - Pittinari - Montoya - Alvarez

Schuler - Badji

Flores was replaced with Raben being re-inserted in the 67th minute.  Quentin Westberg is a French-born American keeper who has played for the U.S. U-17, U-20, and U-23 teams while playing for 3 different French League teams since 2006.

The Rapids won 2-0 with goals from Montoya (62') and Badji (84').  Tomorrow night the Rapids will play the E-Quakes in Vegas before heading to Arizona for the Desert Diamond Cup.  No stream of the SJ game but all 4 games in AZ will be streamed at ColoradoRapids.com as well as MLSSoccer.com.

Updated camp roster:

(* = international):

Goalkeepers:
John Berner
Clint Irwin
Zac MacMath

Defenders:
Marc Burch
Bobby Burling
Brandon Fricke
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, visa issues)
Vicente Sanchez
Gabriel Torres*

Unsigned:
GK Quentin Westberg (trialist in camp)
D Francisco Flores (trialist in camp)

D Joseph Greenspan (draftee, on Naval duty through 2017 probably, with team in Vegas)
D Matt Jeffrey (draftee, not in camp)
D Wes Knight (trialist in camp)
D Ben Newnam (trialist in camp)
D Patrick Slogic (trialist in camp)
D Grant Van de Casteele (trialist in camp)
M Carlos Alvarez (trialist in camp)
M Oscar Montoya (trialist in camp)
M Juan Ramirez* (multiple reports of signing with the Rapids, in town for physical)
M Andrew Ribiero (trialist in camp)
F Dominique Badji* (draftee)
F Kevin Doyle* (negotiating)
F Billy Schuler (trialist in camp)

Hot Stove Season Hots Up

Before we get to the player rumors, one piece of coaching news.  Brian Mullan was named an assistant coach yesterday,  Its good to see the team rewarding core players after retirement like this.  Two-thirds of the MLS Cup winning starting midfield are now coaching at the club (Pablo, Mullan, and Smith with the Academy).

Now onto the player news.  Off an on over the last couple of days we've seen confirmation tweets from South America that the Rapids have actually signed Juan Ramirez for a $2 million transfer fee as has been rumored.  Nothing official from the club yet but some connected fans have also heard similar rumors.  So this sounds like a done deal just waiting for the i's to be dotted and t's to be crossed.  Its a big move for the club.  Dropping that kind of money on an essentially unknown attacking mid/winger will either pay of huge when we sell him on or blow up in their face.

Then this morning stories out of Ireland linked the Rapids to signing Wolves striker Kevin Doyle.  Later in the morning ESPN picked up the rumor, which made for some good discussion fodder for the fans but nobody knew if all the stories linked back to the same source in Ireland or if there was more to it.  Then about 10:30 the Denver Post confirmed the Rapids interest with the news that Doyle is actually in Denver and took in the Nuggets game with Rapids brass last night.

This appears to be the "goal scorer" Hinchey has talked about this offseason.  Doyle was with Reading when they were promoted to the EPL and then relegated from the Championship, scoring 55 times in 157 appearances with the club.  He joined Wolves before the 2009-10 season as they had just been promoted to the EPL.  He scored 9 goals as the loan striker in a 4-5-1 formation that season.  Wolves then went through back-to-back relegations and loaned him out, first to QPR and then Crystal Palace but he got little playing time at either club.  He also has returned to the Irish National Team for recent friendlies against Costa Rica and Oman, scoring in both games.

Doyle has been compared to Conor Casey in style of play, which is exactly what the Rapids need.  Somebody to hold up the ball, maintain possession in the attacking third, and play through balls for Brown and Torres (and maybe Ramirez) to run on to.  Of course at 31 years old and with a history of minor but annoying injuries the specter of Caleb Folan still looms large.

The interesting thing about both Ramirez and Doyle as DP signings is that neither one look like sure bets.  While Torres has been hit or miss in hindsight its hard to blame the Rapids for jumping on a young striker who just shared the Golden Boot in the Gold Cup.  Hinchey has talked about small teams like the Rapids having to get their DP signings right to compete.  These two might be right, but its not immediately obvious that they will be.  We're certainly going to find out if that money they talked about spending on scouting this offseason went to good use or not.

One final note, pictures from training last week show that defender Patrick Slogic is in camp.  Slogic was in the Rapids youth organization and then went to Cornell.  He was in camp with the Crew last season after graduating but failed to make the team.  He played with Rochester last year and was signed by Charlotte for 2015.  He grew up in the Springs so this may just be a chance for him to get some training in before Charlotte opens its preseason or the Rapids may be taking a look at him as something more.

Below is an updated roster.  I've added Doyle, Ramirez, and Slogic into the unsigned list for now since there are solid links between them and the Rapids.

(* = international):

Goalkeepers:
John Berner
Clint Irwin
Zac MacMath

Defenders:
Marc Burch
Bobby Burling
Brandon Fricke
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 Joseph Greenspan (draftee, on Naval duty through 2017 probably)
D Matt Jeffrey (draftee)
D Wes Knight (trialist in camp)
D Ben Newnam (trialist in camp)
D Patrick Slogic (confirmed to be in camp)
D Grant Van de Casteele (confirmed to be in camp)
M Carlos Alvarez (confirmed to be in camp)
M Juan Ramirez* (multiple reports of signing with the Rapids)
F Dominique Badji* (draftee)
F Kevin Doyle* (in town negotiating)

Juan Ramirez As Our Second DP?

Interesting news from the Denver Post today.  The report is that the Rapids have signed Juan Ramirez from Argentinos Juniors for a 2 million dollar transfer fee, making him our second Designated Player.  Here's what I wrote about him about a month ago when the rumor of our interest first surfaced:

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.

The one new detail since then is that Argentinos Juniors was only in the Primera B for one season and most of his appearances were made when the team was in the top flight.

If this report is accurate it puzzles me.  The Rapids have historically been a team  that doesn't spend money and to suddenly reverse that by signing a young player with no real "name" would be unexpected.  I wonder if Kiszla might have his wires crossed and this is a case (like with Pittinari last week) where we're taking Ramirez on loan and his option to buy is $2 million.  That would fit the Rapids MO much more than buying him outright.

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.