Roster Review

Now that the Rapids have waived 8, let's review who's left and what I think they should do with them.  My ratings reflect the fact that its very hard to turn over a large number of roster spots with MLS budget and acquisition rules.  There are a number of players that are worth keeping because replacing them would be difficult, not because they've particularly stood out.

Keep:
Davy Armstrong - As a homegrown player he doesn't count against the cap.  An easy keep.
Tony Cascio - A good rookie season and with Casey gone an opening for him to get more time.
Jaime Castrillon - But only as a forward, his work at midfield doesn't deserve repeating.
Drew Moor - Duh
Brian Mullan - Our best field player in 2012.
Shane O'Neill - Homegrown player and showed well in his brief playing stints.
Matt Pickens - Duh
Martin Rivero - Was the engine of the midfield and at only 22 years old and $50K, great value.
Hendry Thomas - Great ball-handling and passing once he got here, and being given the nickname of El Patron suggests he's filling the leadership void left by Pablo.
Marvell Wynne - Duh

Retire:
Pablo Mastroeni - I love Pablo, but I think his time is at an end.  Unless the doctors are really confident he can play without a recurrence of his concussion symptoms its hard to take a risk on him at this point.

Keep Unless Better Option Appears:
Andre Akpan - Decent backup, but nothing more at this point.
Steward Ceus - Ditto
Hunter Freeman - Serviceable on the right, but at over $100K you hope for a little more.
Kamani Hill - Hard to know if he can sustain his play on a regular basis, but worth giving a shot.

Keep Under Better Contract:
Jamie Smith - He's hurt a lot for making $150K.  If the Rapids could bring that number down a bit and/or give him incentives to achieve then he'd be worth keeping.  At $150K though, not so much.

Trade Bait:
Omar Cummings - Unfortunately I think his best days are behind him.  I'm guessing some MLs team will want to take a chance on him though.
Jeff Larentowicz - If Hendry Thomas is re-signed I don't see a long-term future in Colorado for the Ginger Ninja.  He's a good player though and could bring a missing piece in a trade.

Too Little Play to Evaluate:
Chris Klute
Anthony Wallace