Thanks to a series of moves this week, New England’s favorite soccer sons improved their squad three-fold. From shipping Kelyn Rowe to Colorado (and subsequently to Kansas City) in order to bolster the defending with Edgar Castillo at left back to taking Colombian striker Juan Fernando Caicedo on loan to strengthen a paltry attack, this semi-new look Revolution team will look to break a three-year playoff drought in 2019.
But there is still more work to do in acquiring quality players to see that goal realized.
As we enter the Christmas break — and with front offices in Major League Soccer shutting down for the next week or so starting Friday morning — let’s re-set and break things down at the conclusion of the postseason’s first stage.
Roster stands at 22 players
With the moves that general manager Michael Burns and gaffer Brad Friedel have made to this point — buying/re-signing Cristian Penilla/Luis Caicedo at once, declining certain options, signing Nicolas Firmino to a Homegrown contract, re-signing Juan Agudelo on Monday, swapping Rowe for Castillo Tuesday evening, and Thursday’s pick-up of Caicedo No. 2 — this squad is exponentially better today than it was on Oct. 28, the last day of the regular season.
And the moves that they’ve made — especially over the last 96 hours — have, to a degree, filled a couple of glaring problem spots that have plagued this club and have prevented it from making the postseason the last three seasons.
Here’s a look at the current squad, as I see the proverbial depth chart:
(Forgive the positioning of certain positions; adjustments were made to make everyone fit.)
When Agudelo re-signed on Monday, I posted a version of this depth chart which included Rowe; that was some 17 hours or so before sources made me aware that a Rowe deal was in the works. Thirteen hours after that, the deal went through, and the Revolution gained Castillo.
I said it the other day, and I remind fans to see the big picture: Castillo fills a need at left back. New England’s opponents attacked pretty much at-will on that side, given the Revs used a series of six players of varying degrees of skill this past season. Castillo has pace and should help in Friedel’s attacking scheme, and should also help stabilize the back line for the foreseeable future. His international experience is a boon to this club.
Notice I don’t say that he is a long-term solution at left back; and don’t get me wrong, because I don’t believe that he’s a band-aid, either. He’s 32, so the clock is naturally ticking on his solid career. Knowing that, the Revolution need to find his replacement either in the upcoming SuperDraft (UConn’s Dylan Greenberg is a left back and has an automatic invite to the Combine in two weeks) and make sure that player sees enough time either on loan in Hartford -- any USL side would do, not just Hartford -- or gets enough starts with the first team here, or need to develop one in the Academy sooner rather than later.
Caicedo’s loan from Independiente Medelin also fills a need up top. While Teal Bunbury got off to a hot start, his goal production tapered off to near-nothingness in the second half of the season: not only that, from Aug. 11 to Sept. 22, The Boys In Blue’s attacking-minded players only scored two goals (Brian Wright against NYCFC on Sept. 1, and Penilla scored the eventual deciding goal in the 70th minute against Chicago on Sept. 22). The rest of the way saw the attackers return with six goals, even with three losses in the last five.
The re-signing of Agudelo — while he has difficulty finishing — and the signing of Firmino helps fortify the attacking midfield, and the re-signing of Penilla establishes continuity out on the left. The Revs will also have a full season with Angking’s services, and it will be interesting to see where Friedel utilizes him: as competition for Diego Fagundez as the No. 10, or either as a backup to Penilla or Agudelo. The same query about Firmino. You’ll notice on the depth chart above that I have Penilla by his lonesome on the left; I presume both Angking and Firmino could slip into the left, too, as needed.
As of today, the Revolution have 22 players under contract for 2019. From how I’m currently seeing the roster — and I have kept tabs on where I think players will shake out before March gets here these last few weeks; please keep in mind that this is unofficial and may not be how Burns sees the roster — I have 17 players on the Senior Roster, 4 on the Supplemental, and 1 on the Reserve.
Senior roster (1-20)
1. Juan Agudelo
2. Jalil Anibaba
3. Teal Bunbury
4. Luis Caicedo (INTL)
5. Cody Cropper
6. Antonio Delamea
7. Diego Fagundez (HG)
8. Andrew Farrell
9. Brad Knighton
10. Michael Mancienne (INTL)
11. Cristian Penilla (INTL)
12. Edgar Castillo
13. Gabriel Somi (INTL)
14. Brian Wright
15. Matt Turner
16. Wilfried Zahibo (INTL)
17. Juan Fernando Caicedo (INTL)
18.
19.
20.
Supplemental roster (21-24)
21. Isaac Angking (HG)
22. Scott Caldwell (HG)
23. Zachary Herivaux (HG)
24. Brandon Bye
Reserve roster (25-30)
25.
26.
27.
28.
29. Nicolas Firmino (HG)
30.
Where does all this activity leave the Revolution?
Earlier this week, Revs president Brian Bilello answered a question from a supporter on Twitter:
Will add 3-4 above max salary players before the season. 1 or 2 of those will be DP. One announcement this week, not sure if we’ll be able to announce any others prior to 1/1.
— Brian Bilello (@RevsPrez) December 19, 2018