2014 Salaries And A Trade

The union released the player salaries today, here are the Rapids.  The first number is the base salary, the second is the guaranteed 2014 salary.  The cap hit number is generally between the two.

Berner John               $36,500.00 $36,500.00
Brown Deshorn         $75,000.00 $123,000.00
Buddle Edson            $325,000.00 $325,000.00
Burch Marc               $85,000.00 $85,000.00
Chavez Marvin           $200,000.00 $200,000.00
Eloundou Charles       $48,825.00 $53,825.00
Griffiths Brenton         $36,500.00 $36,500.00
Hairston Marlon         $70,000.00 $93,000.00
Hill Kamani                $48,825.00 $48,825.00
Irwin Clint                   $75,000.00 $87,000.00
Klute Chris                  $75,000.00 $80,144.10
LaBrocca Nick           $135,000.00 $153,333.33
Mari Jose                    $230,000.00 $261,000.00
Moor Drew                 $235,000.00 $247,000.00
Mullan Brian                $48,500.00 $48,500.00
Mwanga Danny           $130,000.00 $171,250.00
Nasco Joe                   $50,000.00 $52,693.83
O'Neill Shane              $56,250.00 $67,750.00
Piermayr Thomas         $70,008.00 $74,429.56
Powers Dillon               $95,150.00 $127,650.00
Sanchez Vincente         $210,000.00 $286,666.67
Serna Dillon                  $52,500.00 $65,500.00
Sturgis Nathan              $114,000.00 $120,333.33
Torres Gabriel              $250,000.00 $262,500.00
Van de Casteele Grant $48,500.00 $60,000.00
Watts Jared                  $36,500.00 $36,500.00
Wynne Marvell             $200,000.00 $285,000.00

• Only 3 guys making the league-minimum $36.5K, Berner, Griffiths, and Watts.  No surprise given that they're 2 second round picks and a mid-season depth pickup.
• Mullan is only at 50K.  Apparently the Rapids have set aside a roster spot if needed each year for a player who's made a big contribution to the club and is transitioning to his post-playing career.  Last year it was Smith, this year its Mullan.  A loud round of applause for the FO for doing this.  #OneClub
• Buddle + Chavez + Mwanga = 700K who didn't play in last week's win in Vancouver.  I have hopes for Chavez and his 200K but Buddle and Mwanga continue to look like too much salary for not enough production.
• I'm surprised to see both Sturgis and LaBrocca making over $125K as they both tend to slot into the same spot next to Jose Mari and it will be odd to see them both on the field at the same time.
• Both Moor and Wynne we re-signed using the league's retention fund so their cap hits aren't as large as these numbers make it look.
• Last year's RapKids (Brown, Irwin, Klute, Powers) all got deserved raises.
• Our salary cap hit is somewhere between 2.5 and 3 million dollars, depending on how much of Moor and Wynne aren't counted against our cap.  That gives us some room to play with since the MLS cap is about 3.1 million this year.
• Because it was of interest, Hendry Thomas is making $180K in Dallas this year.  It appears that he wanted to leave Colorado to be with Pareja and it wasn't really about the money.

Along those lines we have another Pareja acquisition moving to join up with an ex-coach.  Wilmer Cabrera's Chivas USA has traded for the rights to Martin Rivero, giving us a 4th round pick next year in return.  With Powers' Rookie of the Year campaign and Sanchez's addition the pressure to sign him dropped so getting anything for his rights is a good move.  Maybe he'll turn into the DP we all hoped he'd be at Chivas, but it wasn't worth the Rapids investing the time in him when he was passed by Powers.

Rapids Get Bad Break In First Friendly

Yesterday the Rapids faced the Timbers in their first game in AZ.  Both teams ran out a close-to-starting XI to start the game.  Here's Colorado's lineup:

Wynne was held out with an ankle injury.  Portland had early control but Colorado asserted dominance most of the half.  The best Rapids chance was a Hill shot that slammed off the crossbar in the 22nd minute or so.  In the 28th minute Diego Valeri took a great free kick from outside the left side of the box, beating Pickens by placing it in the far upper corner.

The big news happened in the 40th minute.  As Martin Rivero received a simple pass and sent it on he crumpled to the ground grabbing his foot.  He was immediately subbed out, replaced by trialist Cesar Romero.  Further examination overnight has revealed that Rivero fractured his foot.  He'll need surgery and will be out for 2-3 months.  That's a huge loss for the team.

At halftime both teams made significant substitutions.  Portland went with a number of bench/role-players from last season while the Rapids used primarily new players and trialists.  Here's the Rapids XI:

* = Unsigned player

Not surprisingly both teams struggled to put together cohesive play.  Portland took advantage of multiple breakdowns by the Rapids defense to score twice, in the 63rd and 79th minute, before Colorado combined to get on the board.  A long pass down the left side from Powers found Kindle, who put in a perfect cross to Brown for the goal.  All 3 Superdraft picks combining for a score.

Maurer looked good in goal, he appears to be ahead in the race for the 3rd GK spot.  Kindle had a solid turn on offense but was caught up-field too often.  Serna showed the talent that got him his contract, but his size is still a concern, he's easily muscled off the ball.  The Rapids next preseason game is tomorrow (Thursday) night at 6pm Denver time.

Thomas Re-Signed, Smith Green Card, Rivero Back, Pablo Returning?

Some interesting tweets from team President Tim Hinchey today.

Jamie has a green card now.

Looks like our new deal for Hendry Thomas will go through shortly – happy to have signed him long-term. Official announcement soon!

Rivero is already back as part of his initial 2 yr loan.

got it. Fair. Not all three will be high cost.

So we know that Jamie Smith now has his green card and Rivero's loan is for 2 seasons as originally thought.  Its not official yet but Hendry Thomas has been re-signed.  The last tweet is the most interesting as the "three" Hinchey is referring to are Thomas, Larentowicz, and Mastroeni.  So it sounds like all 3 will be back but not at high cost.

Thomas was making almost $200K last season and you have to figure he didn't go down from that.  Larentowicz was given a new contract early last season that has him at $200K.  So if any of them are going to be at lower cost its almost certainly Pablo.  My guess is that he's been offered a new deal at under $150K with the understanding that he's now a veteran leader and depth player, not a starter.  It may even be as a player/coach where part of the salary (for coaching) won't count against the cap.

With Rivero, Larentowicz, and Thomas coming back, all expecting to start, that could be a pretty solid midfield for the 4-3-3.  Of course the question then becomes, where does Mullan play?

Rivero Finally Gets Clearance

As you can see above, FIFA has granted a provisional waiver to the USSF to register Martin Rivero as a Colorado Rapid.  This means he's now eligible to play in first team and reserve games.  FIFA had to do this because the Argentine FA has still not provided Rivero's International Transfer Certificate.  I think Rosario Central is still bitter that the Rapids swooped in and signed Rivero away from them while they couldn't pay him.

On a completely different note, its interesting that FIFA uses Colorado Rapids SC as the team name in official communication.  I didn't realize the SC was an official part of the name.

Rivero And Reserves Update

The Rapids have now gotten FIFA involved in their roadblock of Rivero's International Transfer Certificate.  FIFA has given the Argentinian FA (and Rivero's old team Rosario Central) a deadline to deliver the ITC to US Soccer.  If they don't comply FIFA will provisionally clear Rivero to play for Colorado without it.  The deadline hasn't been made public but the Rapids seem optimistic that Rivero will be cleared to play it time for Sunday's game.

Today the reserve team had their second game of the short 10-game reserve season, hosting Dallas at the Dick. They ended up once again losing 1-0 on a late goal.  Along with trialists Edu and Kamani Hill they were joined by trialist Franco Donado, a Colombian holding midfielder who didn't get a chance to get into today's game.  Edu and Hill started the game and Academy player Dillon Serna got 17 minutes as well.

Late Night Updates

Two pieces of info that have come up since my post earlier this evening.

• Tim Hinchey responded to a question on Facebook about the details of Rivero's loan to say that its a two year loan with an option to buy.  So my scenario wasn't 100% correct but I wasn't that far off.  Rivero will be owned by the Rapids should he work out.
• Steven Goff reported that Eddie Johnson's contract is for more than 100K with a team held option for 150K in 2013.  At that level I wouldn't want to see the Rapids give up much to move up and get him.

Rivero Finally Signed To A Loan Deal

Well it took a while and I think the deal changed (possibly more than once) but Martin Rivero, a 22 year old Argentine midfielder, has finally been signed by the Rapids.  As usual terms of the deal were not announced but it is a loan, not a signing.  He's expected to travel with the team to Hawai'i on Sunday.

Putting together what's been discovered this week along with some information I got from somebody int he Rapids FO I have some guesses as to what happened and what will happen.  None of this is verified, this is all conjecture by me.  Originally this deal seemed like an out-and-out signing but now its a loan.  Reportedly Rivero had 4 months left on his contract with Rosario Central but he was out of contract because Rosario Central wasn't current on his salary so he was considered to be a free transfer.  Almost all loans into MLS include a option to buy and the coaching staff expects Rivero to be around for multiple seasons.  Earlier this week there was a tweet about Penerol in Uruguay being involved in buying the player and Rosario Central had made good on Rivero's contract.  Also I found out today there was a third party in Uruguay that owned part of Rivero's rights.

(If you're unfamiliar with the procedure of third-party ownership its a process that's common in some areas of the world like South America.  Teams that don't have a lot of funds will find a separate investor to help them buy a player with the understanding that they get an appropriate part of any transfer fee that team gets for that player in the future.  Sometimes these third-party investors aren't quite the silent partner they're intended to be.)

What I think happened is that Rivero decided his team wasn't paying him so he was free to sign with the Rapids and did.  When Rosario Central realized they were going to lose a young player for nothing they quickly paid him and then used their weight and the weight of the third-party owner (which I'm guessing is Penerol in Uruguay) to tell the Rapids Rivero was no longer available.  Colorado had the FIFA regulations on their side but knew that a protracted fight and getting FIFA involved wasn't going to help the team or the player.  So the compromise is that the Rapids will take him "on loan" for the remaining 4 months of his contract and Rosario Central will get some face-saving amount of cash from the loan deal or the option to buy.  Then when his contract expires in May he can sign with the Rapids.  We won't know for sure, if ever, until there's an announcement about the change in his status but this scenario seems to fit all the rumors and such that were floating around this week.

*******************

On a completely unrelated subject, Eddie Johnson was signed by the league today and will go through the allocation process tomorrow.  I was told by somebody int he Front Office that the Rapids, 14th in allocation order, will probably contact Montreal, who's first, about trading for that top spot so they can claim him.  He was supposedly signed for a modest fee with a number of performance clauses and an option for a big raise next season.  We'll have to see what, if anything, the Rapids give up to move up and take him and how much the "modest salary" is but I'm really not liking the idea of Colorado signing Johnson for anything more than 100K and a draft pick.

Here's the updated camp roster.  Today I'm adding an * next to signed players that require one of our 7 international spots or trialists I think would require one.  As you can see we now have 5 international players under contract.

underline = unsigned trialist

Goalkeepers:

Steward Ceus

Joel Helmick (draftee)

Alanso 'Popeye' Jimenez*
Ian Joyce

Matt Pickens

Defenders:

Eddie Ababio
George Breslen-Hall*

Hunter Freeman

Kosuke Kimura

Tyrone Marshall

Drew Moor

Scott Palguta

Anthony Wallace

Marvell Wynne
Luis Eduardo Zapata*

Midfielders:

Davy Armstrong

Tony Cascio

Jaime Castrillon*
Issac Cowles
Steven Emory
Masaki Hemmi*

Josh Janniere*

Ross LaBauex

Jeff Larentowicz

Pablo Mastroeni

Brian Mullan

Joseph Nane
Aaron Pitchkolan
Martin Rivero*
Andres 'Michi' Sarmiento*

Jamie Smith*

Wells Thompson

Kohei Yamada*

Forwards:

Andre Akpan

Quincy Amarikwa

Jefferson Angulo*

Conor Casey
Sterling Copland

Omar Cummings
Daniel Frias*

Rumors And Trialists, Part 2

While there's still no news out of Commerce City, there's a couple of rumors going around Twitter:

• A journalist with unknown accuracy tweeted that he talked to Rosario Central's manager and confirmed that Martin Rivero is being transferred to Penarol in Uruguay.
• Steven Goff, a journalist with a track record of pretty good accuracy, tweeted that he's hearing the Rapids are in talks with former U.S. National Team striker Eddie Johnson.

Both of these tweets are BAD NEWS.  First the Rivero situation.  If its accurate then the Rapids have completely fumbled this signing and have massive egg on their face.  I'll save a full critique until we get official word one way or the other but the silence from the team at this point is doing more harm than good.

On Eddie Johnson run far, far away.  There's nothing but disaster in this idea.  Last summer he agreed to a contract with MLS, supposedly to join the Sounders for $200K a year, only to walk away at the last minute.  Then he signed a contract with Puebla in Mexico in December only to be cut after two weeks for being out of shape and lacking sharpness.  Unless Colorado can get Eddie Johnson to come in on trial like the rest of the trialists or he'll agree to a contract under Cummings $90K there's no way we should sign a guy who's likely to be worse than Caleb Folan.

What actual news we do have out of the Rapids is that there are a ton of trialists cycling in and out of camp.  Added since they returned from California are:

• Midfielder Aaron Pitchkolan (rejoining after missing CA trip)
• Midfielder Issac Cowles  (rejoining after missing CA trip)
• Forward Sterling Copland (played in a few reserve games with the team last year)
• Midfielder Masaki Hemmi (Japanese player currently at School Of Mines, also trained last year)
• Forward Daniel Frias (Indios de Cuidad Juarez - Mexico)
• Goalkeeper Alanso 'Popeye' Jimenez  (Indios de Cuidad Juarez - Mexico)
• Midfielder Andres 'Michi' Sarmiento (Atletico Bucaramanga - Colombia)
• Defender George Breslen-Hall (Arsenal Youth - England)

Also Academy players Dillon Serna and Shane O'Neill along with trialists Luis Zapato and Jefferson Angulo are still working with the team.  Forward trialist Sam Archer has been released.

The updated camp roster:

underline = unsigned trialist

Goalkeepers:

Steward Ceus

Joel Helmick (draftee)

Alanso 'Popeye' Jimenez
Ian Joyce

Matt Pickens

Defenders:

Eddie Ababio
George Breslen-Hall

Hunter Freeman

Kosuke Kimura

Tyrone Marshall

Drew Moor

Scott Palguta

Anthony Wallace

Marvell Wynne
Luis Eduardo Zapata

Midfielders:

Davy Armstrong

Tony Cascio

Jaime Castrillon
Issac Cowles
Steven Emory
Masaki Hemmi

Josh Janniere

Ross LaBauex

Jeff Larentowicz

Pablo Mastroeni

Brian Mullan

Joseph Nane
Aaron Pitchkolan
Andres 'Michi' Sarmiento

Jamie Smith

Wells Thompson

Kohei Yamada

Forwards:

Andre Akpan

Quincy Amarikwa

Jefferson Angulo

Conor Casey
Sterling Copland

Omar Cummings
Daniel Frias

Trouble Looming For Rivero Signing?

Well the Rapids, via a tweet from Tim Hinchey, essentially confirmed that our new #10 is Martin Rivero.  However there was no official announcement of the signing today.  The Denver Post suggests one reason:

So what’s the delay? Here’s why, maybe:

Rivero remains in a contract dispute with Rosario Central, according to Diario La Capital. In a he-said-they-said scenario, the team at first balked when Rivero asked for a raise. It was standard business until Central’s offseason passed and the preseason started and Rivero still had not reported to camp.

According to the article, the team is now demanding that Rivero report to camp to carry out his contract. It’s possible the Rapids are trying to negotiate a loan and release for him with Central management.

But Rosario3.com reported that Central is trying to block Rivero from leaving. The team, the report says, will make another attempt at convincing Rivero to stay. The team (one of Argentina’s oldest and most succesful) very much has it’s eye on re-joining the Argentine first division with a strong finish in the table this season.

Assuming the Post is essentially correct, W.T.F.  How did the Rapids go through the process of negotiating with the player, signing him, getting him a visa, and setting an announcement of his signing without getting a sign-off from his current team?  If he's still under contract how would that even work?  Either the Post has missed a major part of the story or this is the biggest blunder the Rapids have made in terms of a player signing in years, maybe since Giles Grimandi/Daniel Amokachi blunders.

The more I think about this the more I have to assume there's something missing.  I can't see MLS allowing the Rapids to negotiate with Rivero without being confident that he had no contracted ties to his old team.  This issue also comes on the heels of the Revolution's laon deal with Jose "Pepe" Moreno of Once Caldas in Colombia falling apart after the club decided to keep him despite, reportedly, a signed loan deal with MLS and the Revs.  I'm wondering if the large number of South American signings this offseason has caused some clubs to try to play hardball with the league after MLS thinks the deal is done.

Either way this has been a fumble by the Rapids.  They can still save it by getting the deal done but its a good lesson about not making any definitive plans until all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed.