by Rapids Rabbi

We’re wrapping the ‘Encyclopedia of Pádraig Smith transfers’ with his latest moves; moves generally thought of as ‘bad’. My hope is to try and suss out the specifics of that claim. I anticipate that indeed, some of these moves that produced the currently 11th place, 4 win Rapids are bad. Other moves will, under the light of greater scrutiny, be deemed ‘unlucky’, and still more moves will be categorized as ‘To Be Determined’ in quality. Also, maybe there were some good moves. At the end I’ll give Pádraig a GPA for 2017 and 2018 - we’ll consider his move in 2016 part of his ‘Junior High’ record, as he was yet to be named General Manager.

Winter 2018

Johan Blomberg
Jack McBean
Mike Grella
Deklan Wynne
Edgar Castillo
Jack Price
Tommy Smith
Danny Wilson
Andrew Dykstra
Enzo Martinez
Joe Mason
Niki Jackson
Sam Vines
Yannick Boli
Sam Nicholson

Draft: Alan Winn (signed with Nashville SC), Frantzdy Pierrot (signed with Royal Mouscron), Thomas Olsen (waived), Brian Iloski (signed with Legia Warsaw), Niki Jackson (3 games played, 1 goal, 64 minutes)

This was a weird draft situation - losing three players to other teams without really ever having them on the club. Should Pádraig and the Front Office shoulder some blame that they picked players who didn’t show an interest in the Rapids? I think a little, yes. Perhaps during the 2019 MLS Combine the staff will need to spend more time on the phone with agents and in face-to-face conversations with players about their genuine interest in the playing for the Rapids. That said, these were all second, third and fourth round picks, and at this phase in MLS history, those guys rarely become first-team contributors. They’re useful to MLS teams with a “B” team down in USL as guys to fill out the roster. The fact that Niki Jackson has come out of that group as a contributor from way down at the 73rd pick is success enough.

...

When Johan Blomberg, a medium-paced, technical, Northern European, veteran midfield  of moderate regard, was signed, all I could think was ‘why do we need a second version of Stefan Aigner?’ When the Aigner situation blew up, though, he ended up being a useful cog. Blomberg has quietly done a solid job for Colorado this year as a Swiss Army knife kinda guy. He’s started 13 matches while putting in 3 assists. He’s third on the team in Tackles with an average of 2.3 per game and fourth in Key Passes with 1.1 per game all while playing three different jobs: as a central midfielder in the 5-3-2, a defensive mid in the 5-2-2-1, and getting a few runs out at right wing back. Blomberg is making $239,808 this year, and at that price he’s a relatively good deal for a starter. There are two big caveats to that. First, Blomberg is only marginally better than starting a cheap domestic player that might have been found in the SuperDraft or from another MLS team, and he occupies an international slot, which essentially increases what we ‘pay’ for him, since international slots can regularly be sold for $150,000. Second, Blomberg would be a wonderful option to bring off of the bench, but we have to start him, and that’s not ideal. He can swing in a ball and he’s a heads-up player, but he’s not a goal-scorer, nor is he a threat to dribble at you, although his defense is surprisingly good and he can cover a lot of ground. Ultimately, this signing would be a lot better if we had to use Blomberg on field a lot less, but Johan himself is fine, I guess.
Grade: B-/C+

Jack McBean is the prototypical ‘guy who can do a job’ for you; in fact, I’m fairly sure I’ve heard Anthony Hudson use those exact words. The job he does is to charge around with a lot of desire but not a lot of precision, and get physical in the air winning first and second balls. What he lacks is great technical ability or pace. I think he’s an ideal 10-goal scorer for a USL team, but I’d rather have Caleb Calvert or Niki Jackson getting Jack’s minutes, and thus I don’t like this signing at all.
Grade: D-

The Columbus Crew apparently really wanted Mike Grella. The Rapids had the third pick in the 2017 Re-entry draft, so they instructed the Rapids to take Grella, who was then traded to Columbus for a 2019 second round pick. Something from nothing.
Grade: Dumb Luck
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Deklan Wynne is a New Zealand international that was brought in when Anthony Hudson, former New Zealand manager, came aboard. Every coach wants ‘their guys’, and so to a degree, this is understandable. Some of Hudson’s ‘guys’ though, haven’t been great. Wynne’s been ok. Actually, he’s been more than OK. For just $67,500 in salary, he’s provided 1620 minutes, 4.2 Clearances per game, 0.3 Blocks per game, 1.8 Interceptions per game, and 1.4 Tackles per game, for a total CBIT of 7.7 per game. To compare this defensive performance against other Rapids defenders, I made a chart:

Now, a defender is not just the sum of their defensive actions. They also are to be evaluated on their mistakes, and Wynne’s had at least three lapses to date that have yielded goals, by my count. On the one hand, he’s very involved and he wins balls, and on the other, he had some devastating early season mistakes. But from an FO perspective, he’s young (23 years old) cheap (league minimum salary) and he has performed above expectation. We will see going forward if he can be a lock-down defender for a playoff-level team, or if he’s reached his best level as low-cost roster filler.
Grade: B

Another way to evaluate Rapids roster signings other than grades is to think back to when a move was first rumored and ask yourself what your first thought was. Was it:

A) The Rapids are after who?
B) Well that guy’s kinda mediocre, so this move sounds about right, or 
C) That guy wants to come to Colorado? Sweet!

Edgar Castillo is squarely in that final category. Not only was getting an international-caliber left back a surprise, he has been everything the team hoped for and more. His defense is tremendous, his motor is non-stop, and he has offensive tricks for days. His 2 goals, 2 assists and 25 Key Passes in 18 appearances make him perhaps the team’s most important piece in attack. His 2.7 dribbles per game are nearly double that of the next-closest Rapid, and makes him a problem for opponents to deal with and a joy for fans to watch. All that for $130,000. I wish all the deals we’d made were this glorious.
Grade: A

Edgar Castillo is the team’s most important attacking player. Jack Price is probably the second-most important. The self-proclaimed 'Shropshire Pirlo' has contributed 1.8 Key Passes per game, which leads the team. He also hits 7.8 Long Balls per game and an average pass distance of 52.8 yards per pass. That’s quite long. When you want the big-switch diagonal pass or the over-the-top bomb, Jack Price is your man. Jack also leads all MLS players in yellow cards with 8. His defense is solid, but clearly leans too much on ‘last minute tactical fouls’, ‘poorly timed challenges’ and ‘persistent infringement’. I think we would have liked more than 1 goal and 1 assist to date, too. His $400,000 TAM-level salary also means we come to expect more than has been delivered. Jack was probably the most important acquisition of the offseason: his role as a regista/holding midfielder was meant to be the upgrade to the departed Sam Cronin. Sam also liked to draw a yellow now and again, but defensively he was probably better than Price. So far Jack’s offensive advantages over Sam haven’t made up for the defensive downgrade, and I think a good bit of the team’s struggles have been related to that. To put it succinctly, for the Rapids to be successful, we need less Shropshire and more Pirlo from Jack Price.
Grade: C

Tommy Smith is plus defender who also plays long passes quite well. Apparently he’s a key locker room guy too- vocal, energetic, and well-liked. His quality and experience after 11 years at English Championship club Ipswitch has translated well to MLS. He ventures forward in attack a lot; a tactic I’m still not sold on, but that’s less Pádraig Smith’s fault than Anthony Hudson’s. He, too, has been responsible for a number of lapses, including just this past week against RSL. That’s a reality of being a defender: you aren’t gonna get ‘em all right, and Tommy gets it right more often than not. To that point, he’s also been twice named to the MLS team of the week. He’s about what you’d expect for a guy making $600,000 this year. Good pick, Pádraig.
Grade: B+

Danny Wilson is meant to be an upgrade over Jared Watts or Eric Miller, and it’s possible that he is. But he’s also been beaten one-on-one a few too many times, and was completely murdered on May 29 by Samuel Armenteros. He’s now playing in the midfield in the new 5-2-2-1 as a d-mid, which I don’t understand, as he seems inferior to Micheal Azira at that spot. Wilson hasn’t nailed down a starting spot anywhere or proven to be a difference maker, which could be excused if he were making a league-minimum salary. Danny Wilson, however, is making $540,000 this year. This is a poor use of club resources for what they’re getting in return.
Grade: D

Why the Rapids are paying Andrew Dykstra $107,000 to be a third-string keeper who has spent almost every game in Charlotte is entirely beyond me. Draftee Thomas Olsen would have cost $57,000. So would Rapids Academy goalkeeper Kai Likewise. So would half the keepers in USL. Somebody must really like Dykstra or think he’s going to be special someday. Enough to essentially take $50,000 and set it on fire.
Grade: F

Enzo Martinez has not won over the fans in Colorado yet. The awesome offense he demonstrated with Charlotte in 2017 with 17 goals and 5 assists for the USL club didn’t port over to the Rapids. However, some of his other attributes, like his ability to cover ground and dispossess ball carriers, has been in evidence. Enzo leads the team in tackles with 2.8 per game while turning in 0.9 Key Passes per game alongside 2 assists. But while he’s proven he’s good enough to play in MLS, he’s not providing the difference in the midfield in creating goals. Partially, I think that’s a coaching issue: he’s got responsibilities in defense and wide and in shuttling, but he hasn’t been given the keys to get forward in attack as a pure 10. Against RSL and Boca Juniors in the last two games, Enzo came on in a 4-4-2 diamond at the point and was effective and dangerous, connecting the midfield and shifting the tone of those matches. It is my opinion that Martinez is better than the results to date have demonstrated - he hasn’t exactly found his right place yet. Perhaps a formation change or a modification of role will improve matters. His ideal role is probably as a late-game spark in a team with more talent in the midfield and not as an everyday midfield maestro. Still, on the veteran minimum of $67,500, he’s been a good buy. 
Grade: B

Joe Mason started 9 games, scored 3 goals, 0 assists, and went back to Wolverhampton. That’s pretty mediocre production from a striker. All for the exorbitant price of $682,000. The Rapids probably only paid half of that though, seeing as Joe went back to England at the midpoint of the MLS season. That barely makes me feel better about this deal. Comparably-paid strikers have had far more goals this year than Mason. Gyasi Zardes has 10 goals this season; he is making $630,000. Danny Hoesen has 10 goals, too. His salary for 2018 is $518,000. Teal Bunbury has 10 goals while earning $260,000. Ismael Tajouri-Shradi has 8 goals for $350,000. With Mason, we got Jack McBean-levels of production for Dom Dwyer prices. Big. Whiff.
Grade: F

Niki Jackson has a long way to go to establish himself as a legitimate MLS striker.  But the fourth round draft pick had already beaten the odds by making the roster before he went on to play in an MLS match, and then audaciously score just 60 seconds after subbing on. I’d like to see him get more chances, but if he never does anything in burgundy again, he still exceeded expectations tenfold.
Grade: A

It takes a lot of confidence for a team to sign a player to a Homegrown contract when the player is just 17 years old. But that’s just what the Rapids did when they signed Sam Vines. He’s a left back with a supple left foot. You can read more about Sam here. The goal for the team is to bring him along at just the right pace to keep his confidence up while developing his skills. Again, credit for Sam goes primarily to Marcelo Balboa, Chris Martinez, Eric Bushey, and Brian Crookham with the Rapids Academy. And Sam hasn’t broken into the first team yet - he’s still down in Charlotte honing his craft. But this is a player you should keep your eye on and be excited about.
Grade: B . Great signing, but the kid hasn't actually done anything yet.

Yannick Boli. $907,499. One goal. And it was a penalty kick goal at that. Oy vey iz mir. In 14 appearances, he has seven starts, and in those seven starts, he was subbed off before 65 minutes four times, mostly because he was utterly ineffective. For the price, he should be a game-changing striker. Instead, he hasn’t been able to beat Jack McBean out for a starting spot; he didn’t offer much even alongside Dominique Badji for support; and the club went out and took a flier on little-used MLS veteran and Liga MX bench-fodder Giles Barnes. Is this the worst deal in Rapids history? It’s close. Don’t believe me? Gabriel Torres is also remembered as a bad signing. He earned $274,000, played 55 games, had 10 goals and 5 assists. Remember the disappointing Juan Ramirez? He had 27 games, 1 goal, 3 assists. He was only paid $75,000, but the team paid a $2 million transfer fee for him. I think that’s the worst deal in Rapids history , although the trade of  Kyle Beckerman for Mehdi Ballouchy in 2007 might be considered equally bad or worse. The deal to sign Boli is looking like a close second or third to those two. I WILL give this deal a F+ though for one reason: at least it’s only a one-year contract. Looking at you, Stefan Aigner deal.
Grade: F+

Sam Nicholson has been a pretty solid addition to the team: he’s versatile in his ability to play on the left wing, at striker, or inside as a midfielder. He’s really dangerous with the ball at his feet. And the deal to get him was a good one, as the Rapids acquired him and a necessary international slot in the late Spring in exchange for Eric Miller and $50,000 in TAM. Miller wasn’t really the right guy for a back-three system with wingbacks, and besides, the Rapids were in desperate need of attacking help. His 1.1 Key Passes per game and 1.4 Dribbles per game are both third on the club, and both of those stats are indicative of a player who gets forward, causes problems, and is dangerous. However, he still needs to be a little more dangerous in shooting or a little more precise in his final pass. Lots of former Rapids could similarly be described as ‘gets forward and is dangerous’ - 1 goal and 1 assist in 13 games isn’t enough.
Grade: C+

Summer 2018
Giles Barnes
Kellyn Acosta

I’m not going to say much about either of these deals, because it's still too early to tell if they were good, bad, or indifferent. Barnes has played in one league game for Colorado (he looked good!) Acosta has yet to play for Colorado, but the deal seems like a good one, as long as the front office can eventually find the team a striker to replace Dominique Badji.
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2017 PÁDRAIG SMITH GPA: 1.79 ; a C- average

2018 PÁDRAIG SMITH GPA: 2.09 ; a C average

OVERALL PÁDRAIG SMITH GPA: 1.94 ; a C/C- average

All front offices make decisions that don’t pan out. All front offices make decisions that can be called lucky breaks. It is best to eliminate the outliers and focus on the trends. So far, we can say that the Colorado Rapids under Pádraig Smith have been bad. There have been some poor and costly miscalculations. Padraig has also made some clever deals. The results so far indicate that talent identification and evaluation isn’t quite right - older players on the backsides of their careers are getting large contracts; the cost-to-benefit ratio is off with the roster, and most importantly, the players brought in haven’t gelled into a winning football team. Pádraig is about to conclude his fourth transfer window as the big boss. He has often said it will take ‘several more windows’ to assemble the team the way it should be. It remains to be seen, though, whether the clubs supporters and board of directors can wait much longer for a return to successful results.

By Rapids Rabbi

Before we continue from part 1, an important note. A source with knowledge of the Rapids reached out to inform me of the degree to which Padraig Smith made decisions of player acquisition. Essentially, he shared that Padraig was part of decision-making process in 2015 and 2016, but all of those decisions were ultimately made by former GM Paul Bravo. The first time Padraig was the man-in-charge was for the transfer of Jermaine Jones to the LA Galaxy, in January of 2017. That coincides with Bravo’s departure from the Rapids that same month, but precedes Smith’s appointment as Interim General Manager by six months.
Which is kinda perfect, because that’s where I left off with part one.

That all said, Padraig was there for all of the signings from part 1 - he just wasn’t the deciding voice. Part 2, then, is the first half of the ‘these are Padraig signings’ segment in this three-part series. 

I also went to Rapids training today and have some notes to report. You can find those pearls if you skip down to the bottom, kids. Otherwise, let’s dig in to some roster construction.

Winter Signings/Trades 2017
Kortne Ford
Ricardo Perez
Alan Gordon
Nana Boateng
Mohammed Saeid
Joshua Gatt
Mike da Fonte

Draft: Sam Hamilton* (Signed, 4 games, 124 min to date), Liam Callahan* (Waived), Jaime Siaj (Loaned to Charlotte, later waived), Peguy Ngatcha (Waived)

[* The 15th overall pick in the draft was received from LA Galaxy in exchange for Jermaine Jones, and was used to select Sam Hamilton. The 24th overall pick in the draft was received from Atlanta in exchange for an International spot that is in use for 2017 and 2018. It was used to select Liam Callahan.]

Kortne Ford is a homegrown signing, and due to MLS’ salary and roster construction rules, any homegrown that can contribute at all to the senior team is a great (and cheap) addition. Ford has been a promising centerback since day one with this team. This one was a pretty smart move and very low risk. And it has worked out quite well. Ford’s ceiling is super high, and the fact that he’s already emerged as a legitimate everyday starter makes this a successful move. No doubt credit should truly go here to Brian Crookham, Chris Martinez, Marcelo Balboa, and the entire academy coaching staff, not to mention Jamie Franks at the University of Denver for helping Kort get to this level of ability. But credit too to Padraig for bringing him on. 
Grade: A+

Ricardo Perez is another homegrown, and he emerges as fascinating player. He’s a very technical player who plays the most difficult position on the field - central attacking midfielder. That’s also a position the Rapids sorely need. However, in his two years with the club, Riki hasn’t made much impact. In 2017 he was out on loan to the USL’s Colorado Switchbacks, where he logged 6 starts, 485 minutes, 1 goal, 0 assists, and 10 key passes. This year he’s been with the Charlotte Independence, where he’s played 10 games but earned just 1 start and 117 minutes. He was a solid homegrown but while playing in the NCAA with Creighton, he didn’t emerge as a top level talent, and had he not been signed as an HGP, it is unlikely he’d have been picked in the MLS SuperDraft. It looks unlikely he’ll end up a first-team contributor. But the club gave him a shot, and I think that’s generally a smart move when it comes to homegrowns. 
Grade: B

Alan Gordon just does one thing: he comes in after the 70th minute and bangs in headed goals. He’s still doing it for Chicago this year. He may still be doing it in 10 more years. Who knows. In 2017, he played in 26 matches for the Rapids, starting 6. He scored 3 goals, all game winners, all after the 80th minute, making him worth 6 points for a team that only accrued 33 points all year. Add to that his 4 assists and his bargain-basement price of $180,000, and Alan Gordon is a smash success. The only place to criticize is in the decision not to resign him. We could speculate that it would have cost more to re-sign him, but ultimately, Chicago now has him and is paying $150,000, and his production to date in 2018 is 4 goals through 18 games. 
Grade: A for signing him, but a D for not re-signing, if that makes sense.

Bismark-Adjei ‘Nana’ Boateng looks and feels just like Yaya Toure - a big, fast midfielder that has the tools to be a defensive mid, an attacker, or a true old-school box-to-box mid. From 2013 to 2016, he played in 92 matches for Stromgodset and recorded 18 goals, and when the Rapids signed him, he was still just 22 years old. He looked promising. Then he broke his back, and his return to the team later that season was understandably unfruitful. In 2018, he was looking un-productive in the midfield, and so gaffer Anthony Hudson swung him out to right wing back for a few games, where he really looked confused, and now he’s lost his starting role. Over his 19 games for Colorado, he has 0 goals, and 1 assist - but that assist is truly spectacular.

He has flashes of brilliance; slick backheels, Cruyff-turns with 40 yard bursts, massive runs, and glorious emergency tackles. He also regularly makes terrible decisions or delivers really poor passes into bad spots. He was signed, according to Norwegian sources, to a four-year deal that runs through 2020, and is on a TAM contract valued at $360,000. That’s a lot for a guy that hasn’t consistently held a starting spot. To be felicitous, he’s still young, and could still step in and prove himself to have been a good choice. But right now, he’s not looking like a good use of TAM dollars. If you want more thoughts on Nana, click here. 
Grade: D

Oh my God here we go. It’s time for me to talk about the biggest decision to date in the Padraig Smith era: the trade of Sam Cronin and Marc Burch to Minnesota in exchange for Mohammed Saeid and Joshua Gatt plus salary relief that gave the Rapids some roster flexibility going forward. This decision blew up the foundations of the 2016 Rapids as they moved into 2017 and ultimately doomed the team to ignominious irrelevance. One cannot evaluate Saeid or Gatt purely as an acquisition without looking at what the team gave up for them, and in this case, it was the most consistent left back the team has had for half a decade and the best defensive midfielder in MLS in 2016 - that’s according to me, who is clearly biased, and Matt Doyle, who is not. That aforementioned roster flexibility the Rapids got was spent, apparently, on Stefan Aigner, which we’ll get to soon.

Mo was a lovely little player. He had quite a motor and he could play in a clever pass. His possession dribbling was always effective, and he was great at controlling the tempo of the game. He lead the team in 2017 with Key Passes at 1.5 per game, and had one of the highest passing percentages on the team of 82.3%. But his strikers weren’t great at finishing for him, and he himself wasn’t a devastating goal scorer or a dribbling threat. So ultimately, in comparison to what the team lost in order to get him, the deal for Mo wasn’t a good one. 
Grade: C+

In addition to Saeid, the Rapids got Joshua Gatt, a blisteringly fast winger who hadn’t panned out due to ACL trouble. His knees were in fine health in Colorado, as was his speed. It’s just that… that’s about it for Josh. At full pace, his passing was not good, when he chose to pass it. Usually, he elected to shoot, and he wasn’t a killer goal scorer either. He ended the season with 2 goals, 2 assists in 1067 minutes with 17 shots. Expected goals only pinned him at 1.52 xG, meaning his shooting really wasn’t terrible, but he also didn’t ultimately become a game-changing, must-start player. Which, when you are traded for a starting left back, and the loss of that left back opens a gaping hole in the team that takes a year to get filled, is a problem, at least from the GM’s perspective.
Grade: F

...

It’s important to add a coda to the Burch/Cronin for Gatt/Saeid deal of what happened afterwards. Burch has played 1455 minutes for Minnesota in 2017 and 2018, missing some time due to injury. Cronin played 1551 minutes, all in 2017. Both helped steady a TERRIBLE Minnesota defence. They conceded 18 goals in 4 games before the trade (!) against 52 goals in the 30 games after the trade. That’s a decline from 4.5 GAA without Cronin and Burch to 1.73 GAA with Cronin and Burch. At least for 2017 this trade was great for MNUFC, not-so-great for Colorado. Burch is now in 2018 a bench piece, and Cronin is out for the season with a neck-injury. Saeid went to Denmark to play for Lyngby, but hardly played all year after encountering problems with the coach.** Gatt signed just today for SCR Altach in the Austrian Bundesliga. So one year on from the big trade, neither the Colorado Rapids nor Minnesota United had any of the four players left on the field to show for their efforts. That’s sports.

...

Mike da Fonte came out of USL and was a cheap signing that looked like a legitimate option at left back. He was terrible. His games ranged from ‘below average, but no catastrophic errors to lose us a game’ to ‘made multiple catastrophic errors that cost the team the game.’ He was loaned to Phoenix FC for this year. 
Grade: F

Summer 2017
Stefan Aigner
Luis Gil

Stefan Aigner was the big player that Padraig Smith brought in to be a game changing attacker. He needed
to clear out room under the salary cap  to get him by pulling off the Cronin/Burch trade to Minnesota, while MNUFC ate some of the salary for Gatt and Saeid. The 2017 year was supposed to be his time to settle in before really becoming an integral part of the team in 2018. You pretty much know the rest . He got into a training ground spat with new head coach Anthony Hudson. He was supposedly on a 'special fitness plan' to get back into the starting team. He never did. He only played 11 minutes for the whole of 2018. He was terminated and went back to Germany, where he is now playing with a 3.Bundesliga team, KFC Unterhaching. We got all that that for $800,000 in TAM. 

A lot of fans assume this story is all about Anthony Hudson being an intransigent ogre. It’s possible. However, both Tim Howard and Tommy Smith expressed in interviews that the problem was Aigner being unwilling to adapt. In an interview, Howard said this:

“Ultimately, when you’re trying to build a culture around a club, you want people who want to be here. You want people who are pushing in the same direction as the rest of the team. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case.” 

Nonetheless, the buck stops somewhere and thus most of this is on Padraig. I dunno that a 30-year-old winger ever made sense. The move then becomes more nonsensical when the Rapids switched to a 5-3-2, a formation requiring athleticism and strong defending from your wing players, two things Aigner did not have. The entire Aigner experience, from beginning to end -  a beginning of needing to move current players in order to get the space to sign him and an end of him sulking off dyspeptically to his home country with all of the team’s money - cannot be seen as anything other than an unmitigated, unprecedented disaster. The only possible saving grace is that he was not a Designated Player, and thus will never appear on one of these lists. 
Grade: F, although if there were worse grades, this deal would earn one of those.

Dillon Powers was flipped to Colorado for Luis Gil and $100,000 in TAM. Powers wasn’t playing much and needed a fresh start in a new place. Gil basically had the same story. Powers is still with Orlando and in two seasons with that struggling club he’s played in 8 matches without having much impact. The same can be said for Luis Gil, who got into 4 matches for Colorado in 2017 and was waived at season’s end. There’s not much in this move, other than giving Dillon Powers a chance to move on for the unlikely prospect of getting a player that might be helpful to the Rapids. Gil wasn’t helpful, but this wasn’t a bad idea. And the money was nice.
Grade: B+

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Quick Hits

Giles Barnes was added to the Rapids in something of a shock move: what does a bottom-of-the-table team with little prospect of making the playoffs need with a veteran striker? Barnes is the kind of addition that makes sense for a team in the playoff hunt, in need of an 80th minute goal scorer; or perhaps a club just starting their season, but it didn't make sense to me for the Rapids.

But after talking to him at training on Tuesday, I maybe understand the move a little more. I asked Barnes about his time in with Club León in Mexico, where he played in only 3 cup matches and had zero regular season Clausura games. He said this:

“My experience (in Liga MX) wasn’t the best. But it’s a learning process. You go down there and things don’t go right, you pick up a little knock, or you’re not in the team, you find out a lot about yourself as an individual and how to overcome those things. You work hard for whatever is to come next. I always had it in my head ‘If it doesn’t work out here, I’m going to be as fit and ready when I go somewhere and step on the pitch and do what I do best.'”

My sense is that Barnes has a chip on his shoulder. He wants to prove to the world that he can still be a difference-making scorer at a top-level club. His short run-out in his first game put that on display: in the first half, Barnes had a 70 yard burst up the gut to nearly strike for a goal, and had a few nifty dribbles including a top-of-the-box roulette. He's an exciting spark, and he brings some flair, and he has the right attitude coming in. The Rapids might only be a shop window for Barnes’ talents, but he’s got a fire, and if it helps give the club a few goals before he maybe moves on at season's end, then it’ll probably be worth whatever they’re paying him. And hey, it'll make our games a little more exciting, too, so why the hell not...
A few other notes from the training ground today. Several players worked out to the side instead of taking part in the full workout, although I did not have the opportunity to get any specific updates. Shkëlzen Gashi, Giles Barnes, and Jack Price were all working out on the side but not involved in full team training… 

Dominique Badji was not seen at practice at all... 

The Rapids did have Niki Jackson, who has spent some time on loan in Colorado Springs, participating fully in training… 

The Rapids senior team practiced together with the U23 team. The USL PDL side will be headed to Southern California this Friday for the Western Conference Finals, where they will play Calgary Foothills FC. They earned the trip by winning the Mountain Conference Championship on the back of a strong 8-2-4 season… 
In the practice, the Rapids had Johan Blomberg at right back once again along with the back three of Tommy Smith, Axel Sjoberg, and Kortne Ford. Edgar Castillo was at left wing back , and Danny Wilson was in the central midfield again...

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​** Google’s translation of the headline of this article is pretty amazing: ‘Saeid agent about Lyngby coach: I never heard so much shit.’