Rapids Bringing in Cristian Canga?

There are multiple reports of the Rapids bringing in Colombian forward Cristian Canga from Athletico Huila.  I think this is pretty solid as the player himself (it appears) retweeted one of the stories.  Rumor right now is that it will be a loan.

Canga is a 22 year old forward who's spent most of his short career with Athletico Huila.  He's had limited first team minutes but he is a part of Colombia's U-23/Olympic team, which means we can expect him to miss time this summer for Rio.

If this report is accurate then I expect him to be a depth signing similar to what Badji should have been last year.  I doubt we'd bring him in on loan to loan him to Charlotte so he won't follow Badji's path directly but I'm not expecting this to be a major signing for the 2016 season.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock

We are 71 days into an approximately 90 day offseason.  Last year the veterans reported to camp on Thursday January 22nd and I assume camp will open around the same date this year.  With the first couple of days being physicals and testing we have essentially 3 weeks until the team takes the field for the first real training sessions.

So far this offseason we've cleaned out a lot of dead weight, lost two notable players (Moor and Sanchez), and acquired two midfielders (Pappa, Azira) and a backup keeper (MacMath).  That leaves us with a signed roster of 19 players (including Greenspan who may or may not be available) and no real improvement yet from a last-placed Western Conference team.

That means the Rapids have A LOT of work to do in the next 3 weeks.  We have 9 open roster spots and a a noticeable lack of quality that needs to be filled quickly.  The #2 pick should get us one sure roster player but should not be expected to increase our quality.

Technically MLS's transfer window doesn't open until mid-February but that only matters for getting players registered to play in competitive matches.  Players can train and playing in preseason games without being registered so that's not stopping players from being signed now.

This team can not afford to have another offseason where we wait until the last minute to make major signings and then spend the first half dozen competitive matches figuring out how to integrate them.  We need quality signings and we need them now.

The FO also needs to do something to show fans that things will be different this year and the easiest way to do that is to make preseason different.  We've heard talk about an "offensive coordinator".  Well that's somebody that should be in place in time to evaluate players at the combine which starts...Thursday.

If you look at the MLS transaction page you'll see that most teams haven't made major moves yet, so the Rapids aren't behind.  This isn't a surprise with the playoffs and the holidays.  As of today though the clock is ticking.  Time to make some moves.

Starting Up Again As The Year Ends

After a much needed break from Rapids blogging and a bunch of holiday travel I'm back.  Not surprisingly I haven't missed much.  ;)  Colorado has a long history of not doing much in the offseason until after New Year's and that seems to have continued this year.  The one bit of news that we got recently was the announcement of the home openers, with the further announcement that we'll get the whole schedule a week from today.  We already know the Rapids first three games.

Sunday March 6th, 1pm @ San Jose
Saturday March 12th LA
Saturday March 19th @ DC

Kickoff times for the home opener and game in DC have not been announced yet.

That's a tough opening trio.  LA has started slowly the last couple of seasons so that might help us but trips to SJ and DC are never easy.  At the same time this team can't afford a slow start next season.  They probably need 7 points out of those 3 games to prove things have changed, 5 points might be enough.

I expect thing to start ramping up next week.  Some upcoming dates:

Jan 7th-12th - Combine
Jan 14th - Superdraft
Jan 21st-25th - Based on last season the Rapids should open camp in this time frame
Feb 13th - Preseason match @ Sacremento
Feb 17th-27th - Desert Diamond Cup @ Tucson

Colorado has a lot of work to do in the next 3 weeks before camp opens.

Goodbye Drew And Thanks!

Today the rumors were made official.  Drew Moor is no longer a Rapid.  The last remaining player from the 2010 MLs Cup team has signed with Toronto FC.  Two weeks ago the Rapids declined his option and under the new CBA that made Moor a free agent (28 years old or older with 8 years in MLS).  He had offers from multiple clubs but last week signs started pointing heavily towards him heading north of the border to Toronto and the Reds finalized the deal today.

There's no doubt Moor will be missed.  IMO this is a big mistake by the Rapids to not only let him go but to do so in a way that ensured we'd get nothing for him.

At the same time I'm very happy for Drew.  He'll get a chance to earn more money and continue his career where he's expected to be a cornerstone of the defense and a leader, both roles he seemed to be moved out of in Colorado last year.

I expect Conor Casey to be the next name added to the Gallery of Honor, but only because I expect him to retire before Moor.  As soon as Drew does retire though his name should go up there the next season.  He is a Rapids legend.

Pappa Traded To Colorado

The Rapids made it official today, trading allocation money to Seattle for Marco Pappa.  From the press release its obvious Pappa is expected to play the same role, though hopefully more centrally, that Sanchez did.  He's going to be looked for to be the creator and setup man for Doyle and the other strikers.

This is a solid move by the club but it can't be the highlight of the offseason like Sarvas was last year.  This is piece of the puzzle that is the 2016 roster but its not the final piece.

Current roster:

GK John Berner
GK Clint Irwin
D March Burch
D Joseph Greenspan (when on leave from the U.S. Navy)
D Marlon Hairston
D Axel Sjoberg
D Sean St. Ledger
M Michael Azira
M Sam Cronin
M Marco Pappa
M Dillon Powers
M Dillon Serna
M Juan Ramirez
M Marcelo Sarvas
M Jared Watts
F Dominque Badji
F Caleb Calvert
F Kevin Doyle
F Luis Solignac

With Drew Moor still negotiating (though signs point to him signing with Toronto).