Sam Vines Waved And Bought Out

The Rapids announced tonight at the roster compliance deadline that they have waived Sam Vines and bought out his contract.  This means he has no impact on the salary cap for the Rapids this season or next (his contract was trough the 2027 season and/or the end of 2027, however this sprint season is going to work).  His roster spot is also freed up, though that wasn't going to be a problem either way.

This decision isn't surprising, but the timing is.  With Miguel Navarro being brought in the writing was on the all but I thought they would take this season to see how things went.  In the end I wasn't expecting Vines to be on the roster for the sprint season unless he had a huge turnaround this year.

Matt Wells said there would be some tough changes, and certainly moving the two most successful homegrowns in club history in Bassett and Vines would qualify.  I think cutting Vines free is the right move though.  He needs to get a fresh start somewhere and hopefully find his game again.

Vines is now free to sign anywhere he wants, including within MLS.  The Rapids now have freed up a bit over $900K in salary, so essentially a max salary player and some GAM, assuming they didn't have to cut him to get under the cap.

This news interrupted my game preview, which will be up tonight!

Welcome Back Sam Vines!

Colorado made the very well known signing of Sam Vines official today, announcing that he's been signed to a 4 year contract.  The headline for the press release said that the Rapids acquired him from Royal Antwerp, but the text mentioned him signing, nothing about a transfer fee.   If there was one it was probably minimal, since Vines would have been out of contract this summer.  

Sam will also wear a new number, as the Rapids put together a nice "handoff" video of Drew Moor putting Vines' new jersey in his locker with Drew's old number 3 on it.  It makes me think if #3 is going in the same category as #17 for the Rapids.  Other than the year after Balboa retired, when backup goalkeeper Preston Burpo wore it for the season, the #17 has been held back and only given to long-time homegrown player Dillon Serna.  It feels like maybe 3 and 17 will only be given to players that have more of a connection to Colorado than just a contract.

There's also been multiple reports that Colorado is preparing to loan LB Miguel Navarro to Tallares in Argentina.  Navarro was acquired as part of the trade for Gutman and was expecting to come here and start as he fights for a spot on the Venezuelan National Team for this summer's Copa America.  Now that Vines is back and the clear starter Colorado is finding a place he can go and play.  The rumors are than the loan is for the full season with an option to buy.

Welcome Back Sammy Dimes?

The biggest surprise of the preseason hit today when the Denver Post reported that the Rapids are in final negotiations to bring Sam Vines back.  He's expected in town in the next day or two to take his medical and finalize the deal.  Vines is reportedly in the last year of his contract and this will be a new deal (talk says 4 years).  Given that he has less than 6 months left I'm assuming whatever fee we might have paid is fairly minimal.  The Rapids all but confirmed the move with a tweet about "cooking up a 13 course meal".  As you can see above, Sam wears #13.

Vines left for Royal Antwerp in the summer of 2021 and was a regular for them until injuries derailed his time there.  e broke his leg in training the day before the 2022 World Cup squad was announced, one he had a high chance of making (since Shaq Moore made it) and missed the rest of the season. Even after recovering he's had a hard time getting regular play.  He featured in the two Champions League qualifiers Antwerp played in August, but then a clerical error led to him being left off the roster for actual Champions League play.  A knock had him miss the early pat of the season, but he managed to get back on the field for Antwerp's two games around Christmas before their winter break.

Burgundy Wave reported the Rapids approached him about returning and he wasn't interested, further clarification today was that approach was in the summer.  Its somewhat understandable that somebody who thought he would be playing in the Champions League would pass.  Now that he's not on that roster and struggling to get playing time making the move back to MLS probably makes more sense.

He is, obviously, a first-game starter at LB for the Rapids.  While this move may not have been in the works when we traded Gutman for Navarro, having both Navarro and Vines at LB is good depth (the less said about Gersbach the better).  This is a very unexpected but great move by the FO.

Preseason officially started today so Vines will be a bit late arriving, but he needs the least amount of time to adapt out of all the new players.  I know he rehabbed his broken leg for at least part of the time here in Denver and of course his family is still here, as is his future in-laws.

While we're on the preseason subject, Colorado announced their preseason schedule and its the same as last year.  Physicals and other prep work this coming week here in Colorado, then off to Mexico for a while, a quick trip back home for a few days, then off to Florida up until the weekend before the season starts when they come home to Colorado.  During their times in Mexico and Florida they'll play 6 closed door friendlies.  In Mexico they'll face Liga MX side Querétaro FC along with Liga de Expansión MX sides Atlético Morelia and Atlante FC.  In Florida they'll play CF Montréal and Orlando City SC, along with USL Championship side Hartford Athletic 

Sam Vines Possible First appearance For Antwerp On ESPN+ Tomorrow

Quick heads up, tomorrow's Royal Antwerp game is on ESPN+ at 12:40pm MT tomorrow.  Earlier this week in his pre-match press conference the Antwerp manager said that Antwerp's new players, including Sam Vines, would be available for selection.  Its a good chance we can see his first appearance with his new team tomorrow.

Busy Final Transfer Window Day includes Goodbye To Vines

The Secondary Transfer Window closes in 2 hours, after which the only way a team can add players is if they're already out of contract.  The Rapids made two moves today and probably a third that won't be announced until tomorrow.  The big move was the one we had all been expecting, Sam Vines has been sold to Royal Antwerp in Belgium.  Technically he was still taking his medical and it could fall apart but a guy coming off playing in the Gold Cup final isn't going to fail his medical.  Royal Antwerp fans and media spent the day treating the signing as significant on social media, posting of Vines and his girlfriend Jess arriving at the airport, announcing the signing, and posting an image of him photoshopped into an Antwerp kit.  Its good to see a homegrown Rapid get this kind of publicity for going to Europe.

its unlikely Sam will play but this weeks Antwerp match will be live on ESPN+ at 5:30am Sunday morning.  Also if you're interested in a Sam Vines Antwerp kit they are available on the team website.  The kit is 80 Euros, with another 15 Euros to get a name and number on the back.  As of this afternoon Sam Vines was not available in the player selection when ordering one, but I assume he'll show up there eventually.

The Rapids, understandably, spent the day hyping the move.  Lots of social media posts showing his journey from a 13 year old Academy signing to today, an interview with him, and some shots of him saying goodbye to his teammates on Tuesday.

The team did not reveal any details of the transfer, but the rumor was $2 million dollars plus incentives and a sell-on clause.  There was a good article from Het Nieuwsblad in Belgium about the transfer.  In it they mention that his contract with the Rapids included a clause that let him move to Europe.  That sounds suspiciously to me like a release clause for European teams.  For those unfamiliar, its not unusual for a young player who's signing with a non-top club to have a release clause in the contract that will let him transfer if certain requirements are met regardless of what his current team wants.  Most often that's a "minimum fee" release clause, which means that as long as a team offers a transfer fee of at least the listed amount the player's current club has to accept the offer.  There can also be clauses like "if a team in a European continental competition makes a minimum offer" and such.  I'm thinking that when Sam signed a new contract a couple of years ago, knowing he wanted to go to Europe, he got a clause included and that explains why the rumored $2M fee is lower than what we're seeing from other MLS transfers this window.  If that's all that was needed to trigger the clause, that's all that would be offered.

Regardless, its huge for Sam and the Rapids.  Vines is going to a team that he'll be expected to win the starting job, and they'll be playing in the playoffs for the Europa League in two weeks.  The Rapids now have shown to their Academy kids how there's a path from the Academy to the first team to the National Team and then to Europe.  They also got a nice transfer fee and, should Vines play as well as we expect, some credibility with the next set of teams looking to buy our guys that we develop players well.

The other bit of official news today is that we traded Nicolas Benezet to the Sounders for $50K of GAM, with another $50K of GAM possible if he hits certain performance benchmarks.  Reports are that we kept part (probably most) of his salary on our books but that's fine.  We moved on from a player that wasn't working out and we freed up an international slot.  That's important because of the move that I expect will get done before the window closes but not announced until tomorrow.  There were multiple reports that Brazilian left back Lucas Esteves was in Colorado today to take his physical and finalize his loan deal from Palmeiras.  He will probably need some time to get his visa and acclimate to altitude, so I wouldn't expect to see him in the 18 for a couple of weeks, but he'll be a good option to try to fill the Vines-shaped hole at LB as we get into the second half of the season.

Sammy Frites? Sammy Waffles?

First reported by Sam Stejskal at the Atlantic, and then confirmed by Abbie Mood over at Burgundy Wave, by the end of the week its expected Sam Vines will be sold to Royal Antwerp FC of the Belgium Jupiter Pro League.  The reports are that the Rapids will get close to $2 million for Vines, plus a sell-on clause.  The reporting is a little less clear on if that number includes the reported unspecified incentives or if those are in addition to that.

Royal Antwerp is the oldest club in Belgium and finished last season 2nd in the regular season behind Club Brugge who ran away with the league (16 points ahead of Antwerp).  Belgium uses playoffs to determine its winner and European places, and Brugge easily won the overall title while Antwerp struggled in the playoffs and was passed by Genk, finishing 3rd.  That places Antwerp into the Europa League playoff as one of the top 6 seeds, where they'll face one of the bottom 6 teams that came through the qualifying rounds in a home and home series for a spot in the Europa League group stage.  The draw will be in early August with the games play in mid and late August.

According to reports Vines will have a chance to start immediately, as the current Antwerp roster only had two young LB's on it.  It won't be given to him but you have to like his chances.  The Belgium league has become known as a good seasoning league for young players in Europe who aren't yet ready to make the jump to the big 5 leagues.  Antwerp has a new manager this season who is known for favoring youth which is a good sign for Sammy.  Assuming this becomes official I'll be looking for the best way to buy a new Antwerp jersey and I'll pass on what I find here.

That's the Sam Vines side of this, now lets look at the Rapids side.  First of all $2M seems low for what we were hoping to see for our first big homegrown transfer.  Shane O'Neill was of course the first homegrown to make the jump to Europe, but that was a move made more out of "its not working here and we need to move on", not a move that showed clear success of our youth movement.  The numbers thrown around for Vines by fans and even some experts this offseason were closer to $5 million than $2.  That said, we don't really know, yet, what the final total will be.  If we get $1.5 million up front, $750k in incentives, and 25% of a future $10M sale, then that's almost $5M total.  Secondly a lower number that's easily agreed on can be a way to grease the skids of future transfers (Basset, Acosta, etc.) as the Rapids get a reputation of not over-valuing players which could pay off in the long run.  Also we have to be realistic about the global soccer economy due to COVID.  Most teams don't have the same money to throw around they did 18 months ago.

This also leaves the Rapids with a hole to fill at LB.  They can plug in a lot of stop-gaps to get through 2021 if they don't have a good replacement lined up yet.  Beitashour, Acosta, and Trusty have all shown ability to play there.  None of those are great options long-term though.  I'm really hoping that the Rapids have a plan to fill the hole this transfer window.  Vines leaving was predicted by many people (including myself) so it shouldn't surprise the Front Office.  Even if the move is for a young guy who maybe isn't ready to be a full time starter but shows potential for next season (think Galvan or Trusty) that makes squeezing through 2021 with stop-gaps palatable.  But I don't want to look at the roster when training camp opens next season wondering who our LB is going to be.

In the end, I am really happy for Vines and excited to see what he'll do in Belgium.  The league has a contract to show up to 3 games a week on ESPN+ and I'll be tuning in whenever Royal Antwerp is featured (which, as a top team, I assume they will be often).  While the Rapids are hurt by his move its a great example for the Front Office to point to when recruiting young players.  They can show how a local kid went through the academy, was signed by the first team and was loaned out to the USL, earned a starting spot for the first team, got a callup and got to play in the Gold Cup, and is now in Europe.  They'll likely repeat that model with Bassett as well.

You Get A Callup! And You Get A Callup! And You Get A Callup!

The U.S. announced its Gold Cup roster today and there was a surprise leader (tied) for the team with the most callups, the Colorado Rapids.  Along with Atlanta both teams had 3 people on the roster.  Jonathan Lewis, Kellyn Acosta, and Sam Vines will all be wearing the red, white, and blue in July.  They are expected to depart after the Independence Day game on Sunday.  Apparently because he was part of the Nations League squad the Galaxy arranged with the Nats to keep Sebastian Lletget through the midweek game on Wednesday, I'm crossing my fingers that the Rapids get the same consideration for Kellyn Acosta's time on the Nations League squad.

This is great news for the trio of players, and it reflects well on the Rapids.  But its going to make for a rough month for the club.  Acosta doesn't have a great backup in midfield, and he's the primary backup for Sam Vines.  So we're going to play 4-5 games without the trio, depending on how far the U.S. gets (I'm assuming they at least get out of the group stage).  In response to this the team has recalled Jeremy Kelly from his loan to Phoenix today, which will give us a bit more depth at outside back.

If I had to guess I bet we see some combination of Kelly, Beitashour (if he can get healthy) and maybe even a recalled Seb Anderson filling in for Vines.  We even saw Galvan play there for a few minutes against Cinci.  For Acosta (and remember, we're already missing Namli) its likely Bassett drops back more and we see Shinyashiki or Benezet playing above Bassett and Warner.  If we want to be more defensive we leave Bassett forward and see Warner or Larraz behind him.  We'll miss Lewis' energy off the bench but we do have some cover there, the biggest beneficiary will likely be Galvan.

If there's any good news, its that those 4-5 games aren't a murder's row of opponents.  Minnesota at home, where there's a chance we'll still have Acosta, SJ and Dallas at home, both teams look pretty bad, and then FSL and Austin on the road.  I hate going to Sandy without this trio, that makes that game even harder despite FSL looking awful.  Austin should be a game we can get a result in, but I said that when they came here for the home opener.  Then a week after the Gold Cup final, when everyone should be back and rested, we get SKC at home.

Rapids Win First Two Scrimmages, Send Players To National Teams

Yesterday the Rapids played two 45 minute scrimmages and won both 2-0.  The first was against Portland where they used the following lineup:

Rodriguez

Rosenberry - Abubakar - Wilson - Beitashour

Price - Acosta

Namli - Shinyashiki - Benezet

Barrios

For the first goal Danny Wilson found a streaking Michael Barrios.  The second was a great team goal involving Wilson, Namli, Benezet, and Shinyashiki before Acosta got the goal.

One note a number of players were out due to the Olympic camp or injury, including both Yarbrough and Irwin.  For the second match the Rapids played local USL side Phoenix rising with the following 11:

Rawls

Anderson - Ford - Moor - Kelly

Warner - Larraz

Hundley - Mezquida - Yapi

Toure

The goals in this one came from a steal and score by Larraz and a combo goal from Anderson, Yapi, and Hundley who got the score.  Midway through Edwards subbed in for Ford, Serna came in for Anderson, and Mayaka came in for Larraz.

Besides the positive results I think the real important thing from these games is that Kortne Ford was back playing in actual game (scrimmage) action.  That's been a long time coming.

Also over the last few days multiple Rapids have been named to National Teams.  Sam Vines and Jonathan Lewis are part of the Olympic Qualifying roster that kicks off the tournament against Costa Rica at 3:30 tomorrow.  Kellyn Acosta has been named to the upcoming full National Team squad for their pair of friendlies in the next couple of weeks.  Auston Trusty and Cole Bassett were cut from the Olympic squad and will be joining the team in Arizona once they pass through COVID protocols.

Final Player Notes Before Season Kickoff

Two pieces of roster news before the season gets rolling tomorrow.  First, the obvious news.  Calvert, Dykstra, Perez, and Vines were loaned to Charlotte yesterday.  The only surprise here was picking which 4 of our reserves would make the trip to the East Coast.  For a while everyone expected Wynne to be one of them, but the news that he has a green card and doesn't count as an international means we didn't need to move him to free up an international spot.

Also yesterday MLSSoccer.com reported that a new TAM striker signing is likely imminent.  This matches with some rumors that I've heard about a possible new player being around this weekend.  It sounds like this will be a significant striker signing but we won't be signing a 3rd DP this year.  We only have one international slot left so the only way to make two major signings is if one of them counts as a domestic and I haven't heard any rumors linking us to a domestic player.

Also one last note, Mason joined up with the team in Boston.  I don't expect him to be dressed tomorrow but with two weeks until our next game he could feature against KC.

Rapids Sign Youngest Homegrown Player In Team History

Big news out of Commerce City today as the Rapids signed 18 year old Sam Vines as their newest Homegrown Player.  Vines is an outside defender that has played at every level of the U.S. youth teams other than the U-23s and was named to the National Development Academy Best XI last year.  He is expected to play wingback in Hudson's system, adding some extra depth at that position.  At 18 he's also the youngest Homegrown Signing in team history.

Also today it was reported that Nana Boateng and Stefan Aigner have returned home (to Ghana and Germany respectively) to complete the process of gaining their green cards.  This is a big move for the club in two ways.  First of all for 2018 this immediately puts us into roster compliance once the process is complete as the team is two over on internationals.  That means the team has the option to not loan Wynne out if they want.  If Badji is also able to get his it would give us an open spot.  In the past MLS has shown some willingness to bend the rules around roster compliance and internationals as well if a chance in status is imminent.  That means that even if these cards aren't complete by mid-next week when the roster compliance date is hit the Rapids will likely not be forced to make any move to become compliant.  The one downside is that with them out of the country they won't be available for Leg 2 of the CCL in Toronto on Tuesday.

The other reason this is a big move for the club is that Aigner has been here barely 6 months and Boateng a little over a year.  We've seen other teams, notably Seattle, move quickly in getting green cards for players but these would be the fastest green cards in club history I believe.  The green card process does not require a minimum amount of time but it does take several months to process and, in the case of applying for one through employment and not family, support from the employer.  This quickness of these two applications is another indicator of the change in the Front Office.  I wonder if the addition of Ena Patel has helped with this as this seems to fall into her sphere as Director of Player Personnel (obviously to be at this point already the process had to have started before her hiring but I'm sure her presences has helped).  Regardless its a positive sign that the club is taking this step now, especially compared to the past when there were cases (such as Ballouchy) where we'd see paperwork issues never prioritized for fixing/completing.

The roster list below has been updated with both pieces of news today.  We now have 29 of 30 roster spots filled (not counting Da Fonte) and all 8 international slots filled.  We do have an open DP slot.

Signed Players:
* = international
HG = homegrown
DP = designated player

GK Andrew Dykstra
GK Tm Howard - DP
GK Zac MacMath
D Edgar Castillo
D Kip Colvey
D Kortne Ford - HG
D Marlon Hairston
D Eric Miller
D Axel Sjoberg
D Tommy Smith*
D Sam Vines - HG
D Jared Watts
D Danny Wilson*
D Deklan Wynne*
M Bismark Adjei-Boateng
M Stefan Aigner
M Michael Azira
M Johan Blomberg*
M Shkelzen Gashi* - DP
M Sam Hamilton
M Enzo Martinez
M Ricardo Perez - HG
M Jack Price*
M Dillon Serna - HG
F Dominique Badji*
F Caleb Calvert - HG
F Niki Jackson
F Joe Mason*
F Jack McBean