Colorado Rapids Announce Roster Decisions Going Into Off-Season

Colorado picked up 2018 contract options on three players: defender Eric Miller, defender/midfielder Jared Watts, and midfielder Sam Hamilton. The club declined options on six players: goalkeeper John Berner, defenders Dennis Castillo and Mekeil Williams, midfielders Joshua Gatt and Mohammed Saeid, and forward Alan Gordon.

Defender Bobby Burling is out of contract and eligible for free agency. The club chose not to purchase midfielder Luis Gil’s contract. Forward Kevin Doyle has officially retired.

With that, here is the roster of the Colorado Rapids, per Major League Soccer:

GK (2): Tim Howard (DP), Zac MacMath
DEF (5): Mike da Fonte, Kortne Ford(HG), Eric Miller, Axel Sjoberg (INT’L), Jared Watts
MID (7): Micheal Azira, Johan Blomberg (INT’L), Nana Boateng (INT’L), Marlon Hairston, Sam Hamilton, Ricardo Perez (HG), Dillon Serna (HG)
FWD (4): Stefan Aigner (INT’L), Dominique Badji (INT’L), Caleb Calvert, Shkelzen Gashi (DP, INT’L)

What It Means:

I’m a bit surprised there wasn’t more turnover at this point. Sporting Director and Interim General Manager Padraig Smith said there would be 10-11 changes or so to the roster. There are only 12 roster spots open and the club could still bring back some of the players they did not retain (there would be renegotiation).

That said they didn’t lose much in the players they chose to cut bait with. Alan Gordon can still come back, but at a lower salary in free agency. He and Burling are on the wrong side of 30-years-old. Mohammed Saeid’s role will probably be replaced by a more productive player (possibly the recently acquired Johan Blomberg).

We’ll have to wait and see. There’s still a lot more to come this off-season.