A look into who Bruce Arena may keep, and who he may jettison as the offseason gets started

Following the Revolution’s 1-nil defeat to Atlanta United on Saturday, Bruce Arena told team reporter Elizabeth Pehota that, “The team’s gotten much better, and it’s our job in the offseason to strengthen the roster. We obviously only made one change to the team since I’ve been in charge, and we’re certainly going to make some changes in the offseason and hopefully build a stronger team next year.”

We have, of course, heard that before from his predecessor. That didn’t happen, and the 2019 season started out with The Boys In Blue in crisis, and having to make a series of changes in May.

However, with Arena’s personal history, we have to believe — want to believe — that the long-awaited cleaning house begins this offseason. After all, some of the players on this roster have been with the club since 2014, with one (Scott Caldwell) here since 2013, and another (Diego Fagundez) here since 2011.

So who stays? Who goes?

Since everyone else in the Boston soccer press corps have done this, let’s take our shots from the spot at predicting who Arena will keep, and who he will jettison.

A couple of notes before we do that:

First, by Nov. 16, we’ll have an idea of who the Revolution will protect and leave unprotected for the upcoming expansion draft. Inter Miami and Nashville enter the league in 2020, and the Revs will be able to protect up to 12 players. And I would caution you not to panic should the protect list have a player on it that you want to see gone, because I don’t think that would necessarily be the end of it.

Second, a lot of the following is guesswork. MLS clubs tend not to go into a lot of detail regarding contract length, and we’ve seen “multi-year” come across our email inbox a few times this season. Some of this is from what we’ve reported, some of this is from what we’ve been told, and some of this is from reading tea leaves.

UNDER CONTRACT

Carles Gil, Gustavo Bou, Matt Turner, Brad Knighton, Scott Caldwell, Juan Agudelo, Tajon Buchanan, DeJuan Jones

These are the definites from our reporting this year. Caldwell was extended in late March, Agudelo signed a new deal last December, and both Turner and Knighton were taken care of over the summer.

The two rookies, Buchanan and Jones, are expected to be back, as rookies generally receive two-year contracts with a club option. Buchanan didn’t get any minutes over the second half of the season, though, so it will be interesting to see what happens with him.

MIGHT BE BACK IN 2020

Cristian Penilla

Back in January, we had asked the Ecuadorian how long the contract he signed in November was for, and he wasn’t sure. He said possibly two years.

If that’s true, he’s back in 2020.

STAYING PUT, OR GOING BACK OUT ON LOAN?

Nicolas Firmino, Justin Rennicks, Isaac Angking, Zachary Herivaux

Three of these four Homegrown talents spent most of the second half of 2019 out on loan, with Herivaux spending a good amount of the season with Birmingham. Firmino only made a handful of benches, but received no first-team minutes save half an hour against Chelsea on May 15.

It will be interesting to see what Arena does with this quartet. And for the record, Homegrowns on the Supplemental Roster are automatically protected for the expansion draft.

BACK FOR NEXT YEAR?

Wilfried Zahibo, Luis Caicedo, Teal Bunbury, Brian Wright, Diego Fagundez, Brandon Bye, Cody Cropper, Andrew Farrell, Antonio Delamea, Jalil Anibaba

A few question marks in this category, especially when it comes to some of the long-time servants in club history.

Will Fagundez — whose goal production and time on the pitch decreased as 2019 elapsed — be back, or will he be sold? I would think the club wants to sign-and-sell so they get something for their investment in him, especially if he has no option years remaining. The question is, how much is DF14 worth on the open market, especially after the season he had?

The same questions for Wright and Bye, whose initial contracts are up and at the option, respectively. Wright scored little for the Revs, but scored for Birmingham in the USL. And Bye, for some of the faults at right back, has a head for the game and makes good decisions offensively.

Cropper played well in spurts for the Revs and for Hartford, and we’d like to think he’d want regular minutes; it doesn’t look like he’ll get that in Foxborough.

We warmed up to Zahibo in the second half of this season, and we’d like him to stay — maybe — one more season. Luis Caicedo, we love him, but we don’t like his affinity for drawing cards. We think there has to be an improvement in the defensive midfield next year, and Saturday’s playoff game is Exhibit A as to why. We had asked Caicedo, like with Penilla, how long his contract was for, and he had declined to answer.

Delamea and Farrell, of course, worked well at center back. If they are back, we will be pleased — but we wouldn’t say no to upgrades. We would like, however, to have defensive depth in 2020, as well, regardless if they stay or go.

For Bunbury, we’ve maintained this thought: his dad, Alex, is looking to get a Canadian Premier League side in the Montreal area, and obviously it would make sense for the 29-year-old to join dad in the fledgling league. But we’ve heard nothing new on Alex Bunbury’s plans; he hasn’t tweeted since Aug. 24. If Teal comes back, we’d like him to be in a super sub role. We love his hold-up play and his pace. He’s just so streaky with the goals, though; he gets into a groove, scoring-wise, and then tapers off. In happened in 2018, it happened in 2019.

For Anibaba, he’s looking for a long-term home. Is it here in Boston? We love his blue-collar, put on your hard hat and go to work style. As Tom Benedetto has pointed out on numerous occasions, his clearances need work. I think he would be missed should he leave.

DON’T CALL US, WE’LL CALL YOU (DON’T WAIT BY THE PHONE, THOUGH)

Edgar Castillo, Michael Mancienne, Juan Fernando Caicedo

Suffice it to say, these three were disappointments, and if they are not back in Foxborough when camp reconvenes in January, we would not lose an ounce of sleep. We don't know Castillo's contract status -- you will remember that Colorado executed a sign-and-trade -- and Mancienne, to be fair, was injured for most of this season. He's not the fleetest of foot, either, but he does read the game.

Caicedo was a loan, and we don't expect him to be back.