Colorado Rapids: Auston Trusty, Lalas Abubakar the necessary moves

This week, the Colorado Rapids completed two blockbuster trades to acquire Aaron Trusty and Lalas Abubakar. The moves are necessary for a playoff push in 2020.

The Colorado Rapids ended the 2019 season as one of the best teams in MLS. From the start of August, they won seven of their final 12 games, accrued 22 points across those games, and nearly made an unlikely run into the Western playoff places.

In the end, they fell just short. And if you wanted to look for a reason why, you need search no further than the very basic Major League Soccer standings.

The Colorado Rapids scored 58 goals last season. Only one team in the West scored more. Conversely, they conceded 63 goals. Only one team in the West conceded more. It is the same in the East: only New York City FC scored more and only FC Cincinnati conceded more.

Nevertheless, the Rapids’ second-half run is encouraging for the 2020 season. Under new manager Robin Fraser, they enjoyed an excellent series of performances that have supporters believing that a similar run can be made at the postseason next season, a place that the Rapids have not been in three years and only once in their past six attempts.

And for the Rapids, it is quite plain what they must do this offseason to address the shortcomings of the team to ready them for a more sustained playoff push: bolster the defence. So, without much hesitation, that is precisely what they did.

First, the Colorado Rapids acquired Lalas Abubakar on a permanent basis from the Columbus Crew. Abubakar played 22 times for the Rapids last season after a midseason loan transfer. He was mightily impressive and immediately established himself as one of the best young defenders in all of MLS. The Rapids improved substantially with Aubabakar’s introduction. With Aubabakar in the line-up, their points per game jumped from 0.67 to 1.55, while their conceded goals per game dropped from 2.42 to 1.55.

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Abubakar arrives in Colorado for $400,000 in General Allocation Money and an international roster spot. It is an extremely fair price for a star central defender who is still only 24 years of age and could anchor the defence for years to come. Given that Ike Opara, who is the wrong side of 30, was traded for $1 million in allocation money just last season and Kendall Watson cost $750,000 in allocation money and an international spot, this seems a very fair price indeed, even if Abubakar is not nearly as experienced and proven as the pair.

But the Rapids did not stop there. In fact, they doubled down on their centre-half recruitment, acquiring Philadelphia Union defender Auston Trusty for $300,000 in Targeted Allocation Money for 2020 and $300,000 in General Allocation Money for 2021. Another $150,000 in GAM is dependent on performance-based clauses, while there is a sell-on clause attached also.

Trusty is not coming off the same type of season as Abubakar, but he was superb for the Union in 2018 before being curiously dropped midway through the 2019 season for Mark McKenzie. At 21, he is still exceptionally young, with room to develop, and he could forge a formidable, athletic, strong partnership alongside Abubakar.

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Whether these moves are successful or not remains to be seen. There is certainly plenty of hope for both. But what they do represent is a Colorado Rapids front office recognising their faults and understanding that they have a chance to make a playoff push with the right recruitment. These are necessary moves, and that means they are also the right ones.

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