Rapids Trade Andre Shinyashiki To Charlotte

The rumor that broke last Friday became official today as Colorado traded former Rookie of the Year Andre Shinyashiki to Charlotte.  In return we get 225K in guaranteed GAM, $175K more of GAM depending on performance, and we retain 50% of any sale of Shinyashiki.

Andre started out hot when he joined the league in 2019, appearing 31 times, starting 18 games, and putting up 7 goals and 3 assists as a rookie.  His development seemed to plateau at that level though.  In the 33 starts and 55 appearances he made after that he put up 9 goals and 3 assists.  The league, and the roster of the Rapids, was moving past him and there were too many attackers on this roster and nut enough minutes after the Zardes trade.

The Zardes trade is a good comparison with this trade.  Two strikers, one a fringe National Team player and one a former Rookie of the Year.  We spent $300K in guaranteed GAM, and up to $350K more this season to acquire a possible National Team player (the rest of the potential GAM is in 2023), but we got back $225K and up to $175K more for a player who was struggling to get game time.  A net $75K-$250K of GAM for the difference between Zardes and Shinyashiki is good work for the Front Office.  There's a reason that the recent poll from the Athletic of team GM's found Padraig Smith one of the easiest to work with and hardest to negotiate with.

Recapping A Busy Day

Ok, lots of stuff happened today.  Lets break down the details, then we'll talk end result.

• Made the Beeny Feilhaber signing official
• Traded Marlon Hairston for $175K in GAM ($125K this year and $50K next year)
• Traded the #15 pick and $100K of GAM to Chicago for the #5 pick
• Used the #5 pick on DU forward Andre Shinyashiki
• Used their two second round picks on defenders Marcello Borges and Jacob Hauser-Ramsey

So at the end of the day we ended up with two signed players, two trialists, and $75K in GAM.  We did had to lose Hairston to do it.

All in all, a really good day.  We covered Feilhaber last night.  Shinyashiki comes to us from across town at DU where he played with Kort Ford and Sam Hamilton.  He had 28 goals and 4 assists in 21 games last year and 51 goals with 15 assists over his four years with the Pioneers.  He plays a bit in-between attacking mid and full striker.  As a Brazilian he does require an international slot (more on that later) but he already signed a deal with MLS so he's pretty much assured of making the roster.  It will be interesting to see how much time he spends in Commerce City compared to Colorado Springs, given that he has Kamara, Rubio, Feilhaber, Jackson, Gashi, Nicholson, and Mezquida battling for minutes in similar positions.

Borges is an outside back that, if he makes the roster, I expect to spend most of the season in the Springs and be an emergency backup behind Rosenberry, Vines, and Wynne.  Hauser-Ramsey is a tall centerback that's probably a long-shot to make the roster but given that we're a little thin there he'll have a shot.

One interesting point with the roster right now is that we've got a bit of an issue with international slots.  Right now we've traded for one and traded three away, leaving us with 6.  We currently have 8 internationals though.  Blomberg, Gashi, Mezquida, Nicholson, Price, Shinyashiki, Smith, and Wilson.  I'm not particularly worried about this, we've got plenty of time to figure it out.  There are a few options.  The most obvious one is Ena Patel's work getting green cards for some of these players.  Shinyashiki has been here for at least four years going to school, Blomberg and Nicholson are entering their third season in MLS, and of course Gashi has been here since 2016, though he may not be too interested given that he's probably leaving at the end of the season.  Other than that there's the always the unlikely possibility of trading one of them away, or the more likely scenario that we trade for an international slot or two.  They tend to go for around $100-$150K of GAM.  Lastly, we could always buy somebody like Blomberg or Boateng out of their contract before the season starts (that would only work for one of our two extra internationals).  Regardless we have 7 weeks to figure it out so no need to panic.