Get Better Soon Drew and Marvell!

Sending good thoughts out to Drew Moor today after the news of a cardiac arrhythmia being discovered.  Good thoughts also continue to go out to Marvell Wynne who dealt with something similar a couple of weeks ago. #ForeverRapid

GREAT NEWS-Successful 9 hour open heart surgery for @marvwynne22 yesterday. Looks fantastic today & plans @SJEarthquakes return next season!

One Last Batch Of Pre-Holiday News

A few pieces of news to wrap up the pre-holiday part of the preseason.

• The Rapids didn't take anyone in the Re-Entry Draft Stage 2, but Marvell Wynne was selected by San Jose.  So that leaves the Rapids with one player from the 2010 team left on the roster, Drew Moor (Armstrong is also around but was waived at the end of the season).
• Two former Rapids were also taken,  Atiba Harris rejoins Pareja in Dallas and Nathan Sturgis returns to Houston.
• Season openers were announced today.  We know two Rapids games
• They'll open the season in Philly on March 7th.
• We'll get our first look at expansion side NYCFC in our home opener on March 21st.
• Today Colorado announced that Claudio Lopez has re-joined the club in a Director of Soccer role.  I'm not sure how this fits in with our existing Head Coach, Sporting Director, and Technical Director but I'm happy to see Lopez added to the brain trust.

And with that, I'm out (barring unexpected news next week) for Christmas.  Happy holidays to everyone and I'll try to have a couple of interesting posts during New Year's week.

Wynne Re-Signed, Possibly Harbottle As Well?

Marvell at the Cat Care Society in Lakewood, where we adopted our cat

Today the Rapids made the official announcement of Marvell Wynne being re-signed that Tim Hinchey tweeted before the holidays.  The other news is that they have, according to MLSSoccer.com's Chris Bianchi, also signed attacking midfielder Kevin Harbottle from Chile but there's been no official announcement or comment from the team.

Harbottle is 22 years old and has been playing professionally in Chile since 2008.  His contract with Chilean powerhouse Universidad Catolica was up at the end of December so he'd be a free transfer.  He has 93 total professional appearances with 22 goals.  He's also played for Chile's U-20 team and was capped once for the Chile National Team in a friendly against Trinidad & Tobago in a World Cup 2010 warm-up.

3 quick player moves

Rapids re-sign Marvell Wynne.  Yay!

Rapids select Eric Avila in the Re-Entry Draft.  Rivero backup?

Rapids trade allocation money and supplemental draft pick to LA for Edson Buddle.  Um, interesting.

More later tonight or tomorrow (depending on how I feel after seeing The Hobbit.)

Oh, Casey was selected by Philly and Freeman by New England in the Re-Entry Draft.

Oh Captain My Captain

Today the Rapids and Pablo made it official, Mastroeni will be back for 2013!  He signed a new contract with only 2013 guaranteed, and the assumption is that its for a reduced number.

This is good news.  The team will most likely expect Larentowicz and Thomas to start with Pablo coming off the bench and serving as a spot-starter with those two aren't available.  He'll also be able to mentor O'Neill, provide veteran leadership, and eventually (my guess is at the end of the year) retire on his own terms.

There's a rumor going around that Smith is also close to a new contract, but he and Freeman have left their names on the list for tomorrow's Re-Entry Draft, and we are now in a period where teams can no longer negotiate with those players until after the draft.  Marvell Wynne removed his name form the draft however, which is a good indicator that he and the team are close to a new contract and they can keep negotiating with him through tomorrow.

I would be very surprised if we lose Smith or Freeman tomorrow, or if we pick anyone up.

MLS Silly Season Starts

Well the MLS trading season opened today, and it opened with a bang.  Kimura ends up in NY, FSL guts their team, and apparently everyone wants Portland players.  Colorado got in on some action as well.

• The Rapids extended the international spot they traded Vancouver last offseason from 2014 through 2016 in return for Atiba Harris.

Ugh.  Harris is a 27 year old St. Kitts and Nevis striker who's bounced around the league for 7 seasons and 4 teams.  He has a green card so he doesn't take up an international spot.  In 138 appearances (107 starts) he has 17 goals, 19 assists, 40 yellow cards, and 2 red cards.  You read that right, he has more cards than he has goals and assists.  To compare, Casey had 121 appearances, 101 starts, 50 goals, 16 assists, 29 yellow cards, and 2 red.

He made $160K last year and you have to assume he'll get a similar number in 2013.  To me, this was a bad move.  Harris is nothing more than a backup you bring in when you need to get physical.  He's overpaid at $160K, and burning an international slot, even one in 3 years, is a waste.

• Colorado declines options on defenders Hunter Freeman and Marvell Wynne and midfielder Jamie Smith, they are re-negotiating with all 3.

Big roll of the dice here.  Players have until Thursday night to remove their names from Friday's Re-Entry Draft.  If they don't any team can pick them up for the amount of their current option.  I can't imagine somebody wouldn't jump all over Wynne is he's available so the Rapids must be pretty confident that they'll be close enough to a deal in the next 72 hours that Wynne won't be exposed.  I don't see Smith or Freeman being picked at their current number, so they have an extra week to get deals done with them before the 2nd half of the Re-Entry Draft, where teams can claim players and offer them new lower deals.

At the moment the Rapids only have 3 defenders under contract for next season.  Drew Moor, Anthony Wallace (who's played a total of 10 games in the last two seasons), and Chris Klute (who's on loan from Atlanta until late September).  That's not good.

Roster Moves and Player Updates

A couple of roster notes from the last couple of days.

• Yesterday Colorado released Josh Janniere in order to make room for Edu on the roster.
• They also placed Ross LaBauex on IR
• Today they announced that Wynne and Cummings will be out about 4 weeks.

So that leaves us with 31 rostered players.  With Wallace on season-ending IR even with everyone else healthy we're still within the 30-man roster limit.

We currently have 7 internationals, Castrillon, Edu, Henao, Rivero, Smith, Yamada, and Zapata.  Smith is currently on IR so we still meet the limit of 6 international spots we currently have.  I've herd multiple reports that he's expecting his green card any day, so once that happens he won't count as an international and we'll be at our limit of 6.

When Edu was signed the Rapids mentioned that they would need to make moves to free up salary cap space. Janniere didn't count against the cap so releasing him didn't help, and players on the IR still count against the cap.  If the Rapids are salary cap compliant then they did some behind the scenes manipulation to get to that point without having to release players.

Player Of The Year: Marvell Wynne

Two small pieces of news before we get on with the Player Of The Year discussion:

*Steve Nicol turned down the Rapids interview request. There was some talk about him being uncomfortable with the environment here, but all along I thought getting Nicol out of Boston, where he's been for 13 years, would be a long shot. The concerns about the FO environment are a convenient excuse, but if he was really interested in the job otherwise he would have at least interviewed with Plush and Bravo to find out how many of the rumors had a basis in fact.

*MLS announced he season will start on March 10th and the Rapids will open at home that day. The opponent is still to be announced but given the other teams having their home opener that week we know that it will be FSL or an Eastern Conference team other than DC.

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The Rapids player of the year is Marvell Wynne. No offense to my Class VI and Pid Army brethren who picked Moor as Player of the Year and Kimura as Defender of the Year, but Wynne was better than both of them. His speed allowed him to team up with either Moor or the slower Marshall at center back which allowed him to push forward in the attack while his partner covered behind him. When needed he was also able to move back to his "natural" position on the right to cover when Koz was injured or pushed forward to midfield.

While playing Wynne made numerous plays that made me sure that he has committed a penalty, only to see on replay that he had made a perfect tackle or interception of the ball to deny a scoring opportunity. Wynne regularly made opposing strikers look stupid as they thought they had a clear run at goal only for Marvell to come flying by them and take the ball off of their foot. His speed in the attack didn't get him credited on many goals (2 assists total) but he regularly pulled defenders out of position and chased down loose balls that allowed Colorado's attack to succeed.

Reviewing my game recaps there were other strong candidates, Drew Moor, Jeff Larentowicz, and surprisingly Matt Pickens. Moor gets points for playing out of position most of the season, but loses those points since he wasn't as good in his new position at left back. Pickens started out the season on fire, but his late season gaffes (highlighted by the goal in Vancouver) really prevented him from getting the award. Ginger Ninja had a solid season but when push came to shove the fact that I think Wynne would start for almost every MLS team based on his play this year was enough to give him the edge.

Rapids News 12/21/2010

I was going to do the final part of the season review tonight, but a few pieces of Rapids news have pushed that to tomorrow (hopefully).

• Larentowicz, Pickens, Wallace, and Wynne have all received invites to the annual January National Team camp in LA.

This will be the 4th of the last 5 January camps that Pickens has attended, but he has not yet been capped. Let's hope he gets at least that honor as with the depth at goalkeeper he's not looking at getting any serious playing time. Wallace will get a shot at the left back spot as there's nobody who's really claimed it yet. Wynne will probably be a sub somewhere on the back line at best but I don't see him as a starter yet. Larentowicz has the best chance of really making an impact as the team has been looking for somebody to partner Michael Bradley in the empty bucket formation, and Ginger Ninja partners Pablo in a similar formation in Colorado.

• Jeff Plush talks about a likely jersey sponsor and a possible friendly against a German club.

I'm glad to hear that a sponsor sounds close. I'm hoping its the long-rumored Chipotle deal. I would love to see a German club in the Dick for a friendly. I much prefer watching the Bundesliga to La Liga or Serie A but I'm limited to what I can find on ESPN3.com. My sister and brother-in-law spent some time in Heidelberg this summer and brought me a TSG 1899 Hoffenheim scarf back so I've been following them this season. I'm crossing my fingers that we get a German friendly and I'm hoping it might be Hoffenheim. ;)

• Rapids in talks with Ulrik Lindkvist

This report is from Tribal Football, so take it for what it's worth. If true I'm guessing he'll fill the need for depth at center back that Gary Smith has talked about. Think of him as this year's Julian Baudet.

And on a final note, Happy Birthday to my wife Hope. :)

Season Review - Defenders

Continuing our review with the guys in the back.

Kosuke Kimura - A contender for the most improved player in 2010 and the clear winner for the most passionate player on the team. Koz did not get off to a good start this season, almost immediately being replaced in the starting xI when Wynne was acquired and having a string of average-to-poor games that really kept him from reclaiming the starting spot. Kimura didn't let this get him down though, and he continued to work and improve. When Baudet started having serious injury issues and Danny Earls was proving not to be the answer at left back, the door was open for Kimura to return to the starting lineup and he stepped through it. He had the biggest goal of his career (and one of the biggest in the team's history) in the Eastern Conference Final when cross turned into a shot and the only goal in the 1-0 win.

At this point Koz has the right back spot locked down. He can get up the line and into the attack when called on, but doesn't let his defensive assignments lapse. He might be the most pesky defender we have, as he'll challenge again and again until he wins the ball or is completely beaten. His biggest weakness is his distribution, even on a good day his passing is only average and he's not one that's likely to jump start an attack. Koz is the visible soul of the team on the field, pumping the crowd up and giving 100% every minute of every game.

Drew Moor - My vote for defensive MVP this year, Moor played every minute of every regular season game, every minute of every playoff game, and all but one half of the 2 USOC qualifiers. That's right, in 3300 minutes of competitive soccer for the Rapids this season, Drew Moor played 3255 minutes of it. He deserves every minute of his vacation. He had one goal, but it was a big one, scoring late in the home game against Columbus while the Rapids were playing down a man to give Colorado a 1-0 win.

Moor is a solid, quiet, center back. He doesn't make big plays very often because he doesn't need to. He knows his position and where he needs to be, and he simply does it. One thing I'd like him to do next year is become the leader of the backline. Our backline's ages right now are 26-24-26-21, so we need a calm organizer back there. Moor seems like the logical choice.

Scott Palguta - Palguta spent much of 2009 as the fill in starter, and probably expected to have that role coming into 2010. up until the day before the season started it looked like that would be the case, but the trade for Wynne just before the opening game changed the hierarchy. Palguta was now the 6th defender instead of the 5th. Scott only started 5 games and only appeared in about half the games and didn't play in the playoffs. Still he was there when called on, and with our recent moves he's moved back to that 5th spot. As long as he's satisfied being the first defender off the bench instead of starting, the Rapids should be happy to have him.

Anthony Wallace - One of the numerous late-season additions to the squad, once Wallace was up to speed he immediately found his place at left back. As the youngest player on the squad other than homegrown player Davy Armstrong he had to learn on the fly, and while he was inconsistent at times you could tell he was getting good lessons. His biggest difficulty seemed to be regaining his position after his forward runs. There were multiple times where players were able to get in behind him or were left without pressure to serve a ball into a box. The most dramatic example of this was the Dallas goal in MLS Cup.

The Rapids showed their commitment to Wallace on the day of the expansion draft, having already arranged a deal with Portland to have Anthony selected and traded back to Colorado in exchange for allocation money. I think it safe to say that he's expected to be the starting left back come March. In order to keep that spot he's going to need to improve his positioning and awareness to force the opposition back inside into the waiting arms of Drew Moor. He'll also be expected to contribute more to the offense, but that goal should be secondary to locking down the defense.

Marvell Wynne - Certainly the biggest surprise of the season, both his acquisition and subsequent play. Nobody saw Nick LaBrocca being traded for Marvell on the day before the season started, and the reaction form the Toronto fans was that he was a fast guy without a real good soccer brain. Well apparently Gary smith saw something they didn't. expected to be our right back he moved to center defender early on and excelled. He easily took Julian Baudet's starting job from him when Baudet was nicked up, and suddenly the Rapids had a central player who could push forward to support the attack while also being able to cover his defensive assignments. combined with Drew Moor they became one of the better central duos in the league.

Wynne just signed a new multi-year contract with the Rapids, so we should expect to see him starting for a long time. At 24 he still has things to learn, and right now his speed makes up for his lack of experience. sooner or later Wynne will need to improve his positioning and stop relying on his speed to get him out of trouble. For now though, he might be the fastest player int he league in a flat-out sprint and attackers are still surprised to find out that they don't really have him beat. That should keep things interesting for the near future.

Julian Baudet & Danny Earls - Both players put in good efforts for the Rapids this year. Earls was clearly surplus though once Wallace was acquired. Baudet would be nice to have for depth. The drawback to both of them, being international players, was too great to carry into the expansion draft though and they needed to be moved. This hurt us though, now we only have 5 defenders on the roster. There will be work to be done in the off-season to rebuild or depth in the back.

Rapids Re-Sign Wynne

The Rapids announced yesterday that Wynne had signed a new multi-year contract with the team. He knew there was interest overseas but decided that he wanted to stay in Colorado. Wynne was reportedly the only major player on the team out of contract this year, so its good to have him re-signed early in the offseason so the Rapids know what they're working with.

Per MLS policy the terms of the deal were not announced. We'll get the salary number at the beginning of the season when the player union releases its salary list. Most MLS contracts are 4 year deals with the first 2 guaranteed and the last 2 being team-held options.

LaBrrocca for Wynne

As soon as I posted that the Final Roster was set, the Rapids made a trade. Out goes Nick LaBrocca, in comes Marvell Wynne from Toronto. TFC also gets an unspecified draft pick in the trade. No official confirmation yet, but multiple reports are leaking about it.

I am cautiously optimistic about this trade. LaBrocca was somewhat redundant as a defensive/holding mid with both Pablo and Larentowicz. Wynne is a strong speedy guy that needs work on his technical skills. The one down side is that Wynne can pretty much only play right back, which makes me wonder what the plans aare for personal favorite Kosuke Kimura. Is Wynne being brought in for depth or will he be expected to start at RB? If so, I think Kimura turns into a super sub that can come in at RB, RM, DM, and even LB in a pinch.

UPDATE: Trade confirmed by Rapids press release. We sent a 3rd round pick along with LaBrocca.