Colorado Trades For Mwanga

The Rapids made what will probably be their final move of the preseason today, sending their first round pick in 2015 to Portland for forward Danny Mwanga.  The Congolese forward was the #1 pick of the 2010 draft by the expansion Philadelphia Union and had 12 goals in 61 appearances for the club before he was traded to Portland in the middle of last season.  He appeared 18 times with 3 goals for the Timbers and signed a re-worked contract with the team in December.  He has his green card and is working towards his citizenship (he hopes to play for the U.S. at some point) so will not take an international slot.

The cost of a first-round pick in two years is a decent price for the Rapids to pay.  Next year's pick will probably be fairly high (unfortunately), but the hope is that 2014 is the year the youth movement pays off and we make a deep run, making that first round pick less valuable.  Last season Mwanga's baseline salary was 250K, and his guaranteed number was 356K.  The expectation is that his re-worked contract brought those numbers down somewhat, but they're still going to be significant.  That's the real cost to this move, reducing the flexibility in the salary cap.

News over the last 24 hours explains this move though.  Buddle will miss this week's game to fly to NY for a 3rd opinion on his injured knee, with the possibility of having further investigative surgery.  Also today, some news from a good source that Castrillon's knee injury is actually the result of some sort of degenerative disease in the knee that puts his career in jeopardy (but thankfully, not his life) and the outlook is about 50/50 if he comes back at all.  Obviously that's a lot of firepower with question marks on it, so the Rapids felt like they needed to find some MLS experience up front.

Mwanga's addition gives the team 30 signed players, right at the roster limit.  Only 6 international spots, so they have two open.  With Castrillon starting the season on the DL Colorado could sign another player in his spot, so another move could be coming, but I'm going to assume for now that the opening day roster is set.

Final(?) Roster:

Goalkeepers:
Steward Ceus
Clint Irwin
Matt Pickens

Defenders:
Davy Armstrong - Homegrown Player
Diego Calderon - International
Kory Kindle
Chris Klute (Atlanta loan through late-Sept)
Drew Moor
Brian Mullan
Shane O'Neill - Homegrown Player
Anthony Wallace
Marvell Wynne

Midfielders:
Tony Cascio
Jaime Castrillon - International - On Disabled List
Nick LaBrocca
Pablo Mastroeni
Dillon Powers
Martin Rivero (Rosario Central loan through 2013) - International
Dillon Serna - Homegrown Player
Jamie Smith
Nathan Sturgis
Hendry Thomas - International

Forwards:
Andre Akpan
Deshorn Brown - Generation Adidas, International
Edson Buddle
Charles Eloundou - International
Kevin Harbottle - International
Atiba Harris
Kamani Hill
Danny Mwanga

Player Update, Preview, and Predictions

Today the Denver Post revealed that trialist Cesar Romero and Supplemental Draft picks Stefano Pinho and Machael David have been released from camp.  That leaves defenders Marcello Castro and Brenton Griffiths and forwards David Cortes, Matthew Dunn, and Marcos Pirchio still in camp trying for the final 2 spots.

That leads me into my planned Season Preview.  normally I go through the roster by position but this year its fairly difficult to do that.  The team has signed so many players who can play multiple positions that I couldn't tell you with any certainty where anyone will line up come Saturday.  The players I am fairly confident of, like Pickens and Buddle, are likely to miss the game due to injury.  I will attempt to break it down in basic terms though.

Goalkeeper: There's Pickens and then there's the other two.  We're probably going to live and die in the early season on Matt's (and Travis'!) health.  Ceus had a poor preseason and Irwin is untested at this level.

Defense: Strong but thin.  I think we'll see our best 4 on the field in some format early.  That being Mullan, Moor, Wynne, and Calderon.  Yes, Mullan has officially moved to outside back at this point apparently.  Any injuries are quickly going to reveal our weakness though.  Kindle, Klute, O'Neill, Armstrong, and anyone else we may throw in all have minimal MLS experience and Wallace is coming back from missing almost all of the last two seasons.

Midfield: This is where is gets really foggy.  Thomas will probably be the defensive backbone, but after that?  Pablo is going to reclaim his spot early, but I don't expect he'll keep it if the midfield isn't working.  Rivero's injured with Hill or Powers likely to take his spot.  LaBrocca is just waiting to grab a starting spot from somebody.  Lots of possibilities on the bench in Serna, Smith, and Sturgis, plus whatever attacking midfielders aren't being used as forwards.

Forward: The key to the whole season.  If this group can't figure out how to find the back of the net its going to be a very long year.  The big offseason move, Buddle, is likely to miss opening day with rookie DeShorn Brown looking like the replacement.  Attiba Harris is likely to be the Edu/Folan of 2013, unfortunately.  Castrillon would be the other starter but he's out until at least mid-year, so Cascio, Harbottle, and Akpan will all be challenging for his spot.  Eloundou is a wild card, nobody's seen him yet due to visa issues.

If the back 5 can stay healthy early they can provide a stable base to build on.  The midfield is probably the strongest position as there seems to be  a good amount of quality, but a lot of question marks about everybody's role.  IMO the season is going to hinge on the forwards finding their finishing boots.  I don't think we're going to be able to win many 1-0 games, this squad is built to attack more than defend.

So, its prediction time.  I went 2 for 6 last year, not great.

• The team will struggle early as players figure out their roles.  With 3 tough road games in the first 4 we'll be lucky to have more than 4 points.  Even after that we've got tough games against Seattle, Houston, and FSL in April.
• Due to this tough start we'll be near the playoff positions most of the season but fall out of the running before the final push, much like last year.
• We will, however, win the Rocky Mountain Cup back, finally
• More than one new-to-MLS player will claim a starting position this year and will be expected to be a starter going into 2014.
• The USOC will be a moderate success, with the team doing well enough to finally host a game before being eliminated by another MLS side.
• Buddle doesn't live up to his bidding, but does well enough to continue to start.
• As mentioned above, Harris will be the WTF signing of 2013.
• Pablo retires at season's end, possibly announcing it before the final home game.
• Despite missing the playoffs Bravo & Pareja will keep their jobs.

New Jersey Revealed

The Rapids new road/alternate kit

The Rapids new jersey was unveiled on 9News tonight.  It was...underwhelming.  I love the idea of doing something different and basing it on the Colorado state flag, but this didn't live up to my hopes.  WAY too much yellow and the watermark of the logo in the middle really should have been a full color logo.  The red/blue badge isn't great but had they made the other changes it would probably work.  Right now all you would have to do is take the watermark and state flag off and swap the badges and FaKe SaLt LaKe could wear this jersey with nobody noticing.

On the flip side, the new home/primary jersey is great.  I got mine at the C38 party on Saturday and love it.  My name is almost dead center in the 4th group of names on the front.  The only down side is that they're a very athletic fit, I'm working on exchanging mine for the next size up.

Rapids Sign Three

Time to get caught up with this week's roster moves as Colorado added two and re-signed a third.

Yesterday they signed 2nd round Superdraft pick LB Kory Kindle and free agent GK Clint Irwin.  Kindle will compete for the starting LB spot while Irwin will be expected to fill the 3rd goalkeeper spot.

Then today they announced the re-signing of Jaime Castrillon.  A bit surprising as nobody realized Castrillon was out of contract.  Apparently, due to the injury found in post-season fitness tests, the Rapids declined Castrillon's option and has finally came to terms on a new contract.  This will allow Castrillon to get the necessary surgery on his knee.  Castrillon will start the season on the DL for a couple of months, so that will free up his roster spot.

Updated camp roster:

Goalkeepers:
Steward Ceus
Clint Irwin
Matt Pickens

Defenders:
Diego Calderon - International
Marcello Castro - Unsigned draftee, International
Brenton Griffiths - Unsigned draftee, International
Kory Kindle
Chris Klute (Atlanta loan through late-Sept)
Drew Moor
Anthony Wallace
Marvell Wynne

Midfielders:
Davy Armstrong - Homegrown Player
Tony Cascio
Jaime Castrillon - International - On Disabled List
Machael David - Unsigned draftee
Kevin Harbottle - International
Nick LaBrocca
Pablo Mastroeni
Brian Mullan
Shane O'Neill - Homegrown Player
Dillon Powers
Martin Rivero (Rosario Central loan through 2013) - International
Dillon Serna - Homegrown Player
Jamie Smith
Nathan Sturgis
Hendry Thomas - International

Forwards:
Andre Akpan
Deshorn Brown - Generation Adidas, International
Edson Buddle
Charles Eloundou - International
Atiba Harris
Kamani Hill
Stefano Souza Pinho - Unsigned draftee, International
David Cortes Armero -  Unsigned trialist, International
Matthew Dunn-  Unsigned trialist
Marcos Pirchio -  Unsigned trialist, International
Cesar Romero - Unsigned trialist

This puts the Rapids at 29 signed players and 2 open slots with Castrillon's injury.  They have two open international spots, so there's no limits on who can fill those roles.

Two New Trialists Head To California

The team left for Santa Barbara today with two new trialists, forwards David Cortes Armero and Matthew Dunn.  Both are former members of their national U-20 teams, Colombian and American respectively.

As expected, Rivero and Castrillon didn't travel, and Serna and O'Neill are with the U.S. U-20s.  Otherwise the only player not to travel is Charles Eloundou.  That's a bit disconcerting given that he didn't travel to Vegas either.

Updated camp roster:

Goalkeepers:
Steward Ceus
Matt Pickens
Clint Irwin - Unsigned trialist

Defenders:
Diego Calderon - International
Marcello Castro - Unsigned draftee, International
Brenton Griffiths - Unsigned draftee, International
Kory Kindle - Unsigned draftee
Chris Klute (Atlanta loan through late-Sept)
Drew Moor
Anthony Wallace
Marvell Wynne

Midfielders:
Davy Armstrong - Homegrown Player
Tony Cascio
Jaime Castrillon - International
Machael David - Unsigned draftee
Kevin Harbottle - International
Nick LaBrocca
Pablo Mastroeni
Brian Mullan
Shane O'Neill - Homegrown Player
Dillon Powers
Martin Rivero (Rosario Central loan through 2013) - International
Dillon Serna - Homegrown Player
Jamie Smith
Nathan Sturgis
Hendry Thomas - International

Forwards:
Andre Akpan
Deshorn Brown - Generation Adidas, International
Edson Buddle
Charles Eloundou - International
Atiba Harris
Kamani Hill
Stefano Souza Pinho - Unsigned draftee, International
David Cortes Armero -  Unsigned trialist, International
Matthew Dunn-  Unsigned trialist
Marcos Pirchio -  Unsigned trialist, International
Cesar Romero - Unsigned trialist