BREAKING NEWS: COLORADO TRADES LABROCCA TO TORONTO FOR MARVELL WYNNE [UPDATED]
The word on the street is that Rapids just traded midfielder Nick LaBrocca and a draft pick to Toronto FC for defender Marvell Wynne.
I’ll post more details as they become available.
[UPDATE] Both the Rapids and Toronto are saying the trade is official. The Colorado Rapids traded midfielder Nick LaBrocca and a 3rd round draft pick to Toronto FC for defender Marvell Wynne.
Here are Wynne’s vitasl:
Marvell Wynne
DOB: May 8, 1986 (age 23)
Position: Defender
Height: 5-9
Weights: 171
Last Club: Toronto FC
College: UCLA
He has 2 goals and 13 career assists in four seasons. Colorado will be his 3rd team. He was drafted out of UCLA by New York before being traded to Toronto in 2007. He’s fallen out of favor in Toronto and is looking to get back on track with the Rapids.
Rapids Official Press Release:
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (Thursday, March 25, 2010) – The Colorado Rapids have acquired defender Marvell Wynne in a trade with Toronto FC, the club announced today.
In exchange, Colorado send midfielder Nick LaBrocca and their third round 2011 Major League Soccer SuperDraft pick to Toronto.
Wynne joins the Rapids adding his lightning pace to the club’s backline. Over the last two seasons, he has developed into more of an offensive threat scoring his first professional goals in 2008 and registering a career high five assists with TFC last season. Wynne has three caps with the U.S. Men’s National Team and was a member of the Men’s Olympic Team that competed in Beijing in 2008. The former first overall selection in the 2006 MLS SuperDraft by New York has played in 96 career MLS games, 90 as a starter, and recorded two goals and 13 assists.
Wynne will join the team in Los Angeles ahead of their 2010 season opener against Chivas USA tomorrow, Friday, March 26 at 8:30 pm MT.
LaBrocca leaves Colorado having played in more games and in more minutes than any other Rapids player since 2008. He appeared in 61 games with 57 starts and scored four goals for Colorado after originally being drafted by the Rapids with the 35th overall pick in the 2007 MLS SuperDraft.
This is the third trade Colorado and Toronto have completed in the last three months. On January 21, the Rapids acquired allocation money from Toronto in exchange for midfielder Jacob Peterson and on February 10 the Rapids acquired TFC’s third round 2011 MLS SuperDraft pick in exchange for defender Ty Harden.
Transaction
MLS
Colorado Rapids – Acquired defender Marvell Wynne from Toronto FC in exchange for midfielder Nick LaBrocca and Colorado’s third round 2011 Major League Soccer SuperDraft pick.
Coach Smith discussed the trade with the Green Army:
I headed out to training this morning and got a few comments from Gary Smith about the trade. LaBrocca was highly regarded by Smith and he is “extremely disappointed to lose Nick.”
The move comes as a surprise to most fans. He was a key member of the team for the last few seasons. There might be more to the story than just strengthening the backline.
“There were some personal reasons for Nick, so the move took place, and I wish him all the very best. He’s played nearly every minute for me. It’s disappointing to see him go but we are excited to have Marvel in return.”
Wynne is an incredibly fast and athletic defender. Coach Smith is excited about the qualities he brings in right away as well as his potential.
“I think he’s a fabulous addition for us. We were very stretched in that defensive lineup. He not only adds good physical qualities, but in his present potential state we add someone for the future.”
Wynne will be with team at Chivas USA but Coach Smith is uncertain about Wynne’s participation.
“Marvel will be there for us in the weekend, obviously it’s a long journey, a bit of a time difference. I’m hoping he’ll be in the right mental or physical shape to play a part in the game, but at this point I’m not sure how much.”
Most people see Wynne as the new starting right back. He has national team experience and brings athletic qualities that few players in the league possess. Coach Smith thinks it’s a mistake to count out Kimura and is considering playing Wynne in different positions.
“Kosuke, I think, is one of those guys when the chips are down he’s always been there for us, I don’t expect that to be any different. He’s improved every year that I’ve been here.”
“I don’t necessarily think that Marvel is a given in that position. I’d like to explore the possibility of him sliding inside every now and then to offer us that extra bit of pace centrally, but only time will tell how that evolves.”
The Rapids are stock piling defenders and Coach Smith is happy with the players they’ve brought.
“We’ve put together a very exciting group of defenders. There is some huge potential in some of those guys, some of them are yet to reach their peak, Marvel is included in them.”
Coach Smith isn’t done building his team and isn’t ruling out additional moves. Coach Smith thinks the team needs to bring in “a body or two creatively, and a body in the back four.”
Coach Smith wouldn’t give me any hints on who they are looking at, but it’s good to know that the team is moving their attention to the offensive side of the ball.
March 25th, 2010 at 8:59 am
For real? Its not april fools day. Wynne’s speed going up and down the right flank overlapping with Smith? Maybe KK moves to the left flank to make Earls earn the job? Interesting.
March 25th, 2010 at 9:12 am
I think this will prove to be a very bad trade if it happens. Wynne’s over-rated and LaBrocca’s under-rated. The Rapids lose too much for a player that doesn’t solve a problem.
March 25th, 2010 at 9:17 am
Makes it interesting, at very least. I guess Smith felt like we have enough CM cover, but I always liked Labrocca as a hardworking journeyman-type player. Think Wynne could be a solid starter for us though.
March 25th, 2010 at 10:53 am
If MLS were a track and field league, Colorado would be the clear winner in this trade. His runs are fun to watch, but he is simply unable to put in a decent cross. Get ready to follow your “oohs” and “ahhs” with groans.
Good luck with Wynne.
Thanks for Labrocca.
March 25th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
This is certainly a big trade. I agree that Wynne is overrated and LaBrocca was underrated. However, bringing in Larenowitz was definitely confusing for the central midfield if you were going to keep LaBrocca. Before the trade the Rapids had holes at forward (depth) and wing back. I at least admire the Rapids for addressing one of these so quickly. Wynne is certainly a talent (raw) and can be fun to watch. Let’s hope it pans out. We’ll miss Nick though.
March 25th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
For what it’s worth Ives Galarcep thinks it’s a good trade for both sides.
March 25th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
“For what it’s worth Ives Galarcep thinks it’s a good trade for both sides.”
Proof that it’s a bad deal.
March 25th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
“There were some personal reasons for Nick, so the move took place, and I wish him all the very best. He’s played nearly every minute for me. It’s disappointing to see him go but we are excited to have Marvel in return.”
Sounds like Nick wanted out, so it is good we got something for him.
March 25th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
Deron. I’ll side with you if you updated your blog more than once a month.
March 25th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
Interesting stuff here. Although Coach Smith’s comments towards the end of last season about (my paraphrasing here), “the players not being good enough” has been blown off as in-the-heat-of-the-moment-type talk, looks to be making more sense now as Smith slowly and methodically recreates his roster. While it’s easy to say “Of course he is, that his job,” the truth is that he is looking to replace functional players one at a time with players that he thinks are better (even marginally). Whether you agree with that philosophy or not, I believe it’s miles ahead of the trades that were being produced when Clavijo was at the helm. While Right back is not our most needed position (by far), we still got a USMNT pool player (a stretch, I know) for a player that may have wanted out of town.
March 26th, 2010 at 10:56 am
This is the most interesting comment I’ve seen yet on the move
“I don’t necessarily think that Marvel is a given in that position. I’d like to explore the possibility of him sliding inside every now and then to offer us that extra bit of pace centrally, but only time will tell how that evolves.”
Could Smith be thinking about playing 3 in the back?
March 26th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
It didn’t sound to me like he was talking about playing 3 in the back. Althougth he didn’t say it expressely, the discussion about Wynne moving centrally was in reference to Kimura still being an option at right back. I think he was trying to say that they can have Wynne and Kimura on the field at the same time. In addition, moving Wynne centrally is something very expiramental and not yet a real possiblity.
March 26th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Have you guys watched the Rapids the last two seasons? Nick LaBrocca is not good. He’s average at best. He showed that last year when we had all of our injury problems. We needed someone to step up. Where was Nick? He’s just content to be conservative and average. He’s not creative, he’s not fast, he’s not good at defense, he can’t shoot.
I also disagree that we don’t need defenders. Our defence lacks depth. We are relying on Baudet, a guy who hardly played last year, because of an arm injury, which occurred on a play where he saw red! Drew Moor admiteddly doesn’t like to play center back and we are relying on him for that. Then we have a guy named Danny Earls. Maybe he’ll be good, but he an unknown, same as Murillo. Really Kosuke is the most consistent player and that doesn’t bode well for the D.
The place we really need help is at forward. If Conor or Omar gets hurt, god forbid, the season is basically over.
April 18th, 2010 at 4:23 am
hot