Rapids Dealing With Reduced Wattage

In a bit of a surprising move the Rapids traded Jared Watts to Houston today in exchange for $100K of Targeted Allocation Money (TAM).  While many fans expected a trade most thought it would be Axel Sjoberg who was moved.  Watts proved himself, after some false starts, to be a capable MLS backup CB so $100K of TAM is probably a reasonable trade for him.

This leaves the Rapids with Smith, Wilson, Ford, Sjoberg, Miller, and (apparently) Wynne as center backs which is still pretty good depth.  This move gives us $100K in TAM and frees up Watts' $75K in salary, which means we should have room for a decent signing.  Since we acquired TAM that may be an indicator that we have a larger target in mind, though it may just be stockpiling it for a future move.

In unrelated news the team announced yesterday that the road trip to play the Galaxy, originally scheduled for Aug. 25th, will now be played on Aug 14th at 8:30pm.  No reason was given for the change.  This will have the Rapids California Dreamin' in August as in two weeks they host the Galaxy and San Jose, then travel out to LA to play both the Galaxy and LAFC in back-to-back games the same week (they finish the month hosting FSL).

Nasco & Watts Signed, Thomas Traded

Still no official word on Jose Mari but the Rapids did announce two signings today.  2nd round Superdraft pick midfielder Jared Watts and trialist goalkeeper Joe Nasco (formally with Atlanta) both penned deals today.  This gives us some depth at both keeper and d-mid.  The Terrace blog also reports today that drftee goalkeeper John Berner will probably be signed soon, giving us the standard 3 keepers after Pickens is moved or sold.  Chirs Bianchi says there's interest from outside MLS for his services (probably Scandinavia given the current open transfer windows) or he could be traded.

Depth will be necessary at d-mid as Hendry Thomas' rights were traded to Dallas today where he'll rejoin Oscar Pareja.  The Rapids got allocation money in return for his rights.  Bianchi reports it as the largest sum of allocation money the team has eve received in a transaction.  That should allow us to go shopping for some players.  With this move the future of the full 2013 roster has been determined.

There are still 3 trialist and 3 draftees in camp with 27 players signed.  Armstrong will start the season on IR and Pickens will presumably e moved before the March 1st roster compliance day, so that means there are still 5 spots open that those 6 are competing for.  We only have 7 international players in camp and 8 spots, so that won't be a roadblock.

Goalkeepers:

John Berner - Unsigned draftee

Clint Irwin

Joe Nasco

Matt Pickens - On "Excused Absence"

Defenders:

Davy Armstrong - Homegrown Player - Will start season on IR(knee)

Mark Burch

Albert Edward - Unsigned draftee

Brenton Griffiths - International

Tolani Ibikunle  - Unsigned draftee

Kory Kindle

Chris Klute

Drew Moor

Brian Mullan

Shane O'Neill - Homegrown Player

Grant Van De Casteele

Marvell Wynne

Midfielders:

Samuel Galindo - Unsigned trialist, International

Juan Guzman - Unsigned trialist

Marion Hariston - Generation Adidas

Nick LaBrocca

Jose Mari - Unsigned trialist, International

Dillon Powers

Dillon Serna - Homegrown Player

Nathan Sturgis

Jared Watts

Forwards:

Deshorn Brown - Generation Adidas, International

Edson Buddle

Martin Chavez

Charles Eloundou - International

Kamani Hill

Danny Mwanga

Vicente Sanchez - International

Gabriel Torres - Designated Player, International

Live SuperDraft results

Rapids trade down from the 11 pick to the 12 pick with the Revs and get the #19 pick, last in the 1st round, as well (and rumored some allocation money).

With the 12th pick they take midfielder Marlon Hairston out of Lousiville.  He's a Generation Adidas player so he does not count against the cap and will automatically be protected in next off-season's expansion draft.

With the 19th (and final 1st round) pick the Rapids take defender Grant Van De Casteele out of Notre Dame.

With the 14th pick in the 2nd round (33rd overall) the Rapids take defensive midfielder Jared Watts out of Wake Forest.  Watts is a former U.S. U-17 and U-20 player, and captained the U-17 team at the U-17 World Cup in Nigeria

With the 16th pick in the 2nd round (35th overall) and their last pick of the day, the Rapids take goalkeeper John Berner out of Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville.

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