Rapids Try Again In LA

As expected last Sunday's game against LAFC was shifted to tomorrow night due to the hurricane.  Before we get to that though, there was some unfortunate news out of Commerce City today.  Yet another injury has felled a top player, with William Yarbrough undergoing knee surgery that will him out for 6-8 weeks.  The optimistic side of that would have him coming back for the last 2-3 games of the season, the pessimistic means he's pretty much done for the year (even at 8 weeks he could theoretically play the season finale, but I don't know that you put him back in for one game at that point).  The Rapids have ha team option on Yarbrough for 2024, but with the recent signing of Ilic the general belief is that they were already planning on moving on in the offseason.  There's a decent chance we've seen Yarbrough play his final game in burgundy.

Also, we're going to have to have a significant talk about the Rapids training methods in the offseason, because all we're getting out of them is a bad team with too many injuries.

On to tomorrow night then, and a well rested LAFC team.  They've only had 10 days off, while Colorado hasn't kicked a ball in anger in 23 days.  Kickoff in LA tomorrow is at 8:30pm.  Good news is that Marcelo Balboa will be on the call in Spanish.

Availability Report:

OUT: GK William Yarbrough (knee surgery), D Alex Gersbach (tendon surgery), MAx (removed from team activities)

QUESTIONABLE: D Michael Edwards (lower body injury), M Cole Bassett (lower body injury), M Jonathan Lewis (lower body injury)

Bassett was listed as out yesterday, so that's an improvement, but I don't know how e keep getting people injured in training.  Its ridiculous at this point.

I really don't know what to expect.  Between the injuries and the changes at the close of the window we could see any number of lineups.  I'll be very disappointed if Navarro and Tavares don't start though.  With 3 weeks since the window closed there's really no excuse for them not to be ready.

Prediction: 2-1 loss, goal by Navarro.  The date may have changed, but not my expectation.  LAFC is going to be at home and hungry to put their meltdown in the Leagues Cup behind them.  We just want to put this whole season behind us.

Rapids Sign Yarbrough From Leon

In what might be the least surprising news of the offseason Colorado and Leon completed their deal transferring GK William Yarbrough to the Rapids.  As part of the deal Yarbrough has signed a contract covering the next three seasons, with a team-held option for the 2024 season as well.  The transfer fee, if any, paid was not announced.

With this move the Rapids likely have the goalkeeper of the present (Yarbrough) and the future (Rodriguez) on the roster, with Irwin pushing Yarbrough to keep his spot as the number one.  Rawls is also on the roster but realistically has no real present or future between the pipes here.  We will not need to invest in the position for a while hopefully.

Yarbrough took over as the number one during the MLS Is Back tournament last season and never relinquished the position.  Not only were his stats generally better than Irwin his command of the back line, something Fraser values, was also more evident.  He will be the natural number one going into preseason but Irwin waits to take over if Yarbrough falters.

With this move I feel like the Rapids have made most of their offseason changes.  I wouldn't be surprised if we bring in one more player that could compete for a starting position, but we could wait for the summer window, especially with the uncertainty around the CBA and the start of the season.  The transfer market is a bit strange right now, the window just closed in Europe with the least amount of money being spent in a while on average and I think the soccer world is kind of holding its breath to see what shape the professional game will be in once we get to the other side of the pandemic.  Combined with the league's labor issues I can't blame the Rapids for moving slowly right now.