One thing that may have been overlooked with last nights news from James Edward of Espindola's return is that of roster spots. Each team is allowed a maximum of 20 senior roster spots and 4 developmental spots. As you can see with Escalada included RSL already has the maximum allotment of 20 roster spots. It does have two vacant developmental spots with Nimo’s loan, but that would be irrelevant for a player like Espy who would require a senior spot.
So what are the options?
- Escalada’s contract could be a developmental contract. With Edward’s wording, “but that deal was restructured to allow us to bring in another player” this is a possibility, but instead I assume that this was talking about the salary cap amount.
- Another player could be "moved" into a developmental deal. Most likely Cox.
- RSL could trade a player, but I think that is probably the lowest likely possibility.
- RSL could release a player. My guess would be Nunez would be the most likely option.
- RSL could place another player, like Nunez, on loan with a USL team. Gut instinct tells me that this is a good possibility.
Here is the roster as it currently stands:
| 77 | Andy Williams | M | 9/23/1977 | Canada | S | 11 | Sr |
| 17 | Chris Wingert | D | 6/16/1982 | USA | S | 5 | Sr |
| 84 | Clint Mathis | F-M | 11/25/1976 | USA | S | 10 | Sr |
| 33 | David Horst | D | 10/25/1985 | USA | S | 1 | Sr |
| 13 | Ian Joy | D | 7/14/1981 | USA | S | 1 | Sr |
| 4 | Jamison Olave | D | 4/21/1981 | Colombia | SI | 1 | Sr |
| 11 | Javier Morales | M | 1/10/1980 | Argentina | SI | 2 | Sr |
| 12 | Jean Alexandre | M | 8/24/1986 | Haiti | S | 0 | Sr |
| 5 | Kyle Beckerman | M | 4/23/1982 | USA | S | 9 | Sr |
| 24 | Kyle Reynish | GK | 11/3/1983 | USA | S | 0 | Sr |
| 22 | Luis Miguel Escalada | F | 2/27/1986 | Argentina | SI | 0 | Sr |
| 6 | Nat Borchers | D | 4/13/1981 | USA | S | 4 | Sr |
| 20 | Ned Grabavoy | M | 7/1/1983 | USA | S | 5 | Sr |
| 18 | Nick Rimando | GK | 6/17/1979 | USA | S | 9 | Sr |
| 23 | Raphael Cox | M | 7/7/1986 | USA | S | 0 | Sr |
| 10 | Robbie Findley | F | 8/4/1985 | USA | S | 2 | Sr |
| 3 | Robbie Russell | D-M | 7/16/1979 | Ghana | S | 1 | Sr |
| 25 | Tino Nunez | F | 8/22/1984 | USA | S | 1 | Sr |
| 8 | Will Johnson | M | 1/21/1987 | Canada | S | 2 | Sr |
| 14 | Yura Movsisyan | F | 8/2/1987 | USSR | S | 3 | Sr |
| 20 | |||||||
| 7 | Alex Nimo | F-M | 3/21/1990 | Liberia | D/GA | 0 | Dev |
| 1 | Chris Seitz | GK | 3/12/1987 | USA | D/GA | 1 | Dev |
| 2 | Tony Beltran | D | 10/11/1987 | USA | D/GA | 1 | Dev |
| 3 |
I will try to find answers to these questions on Monday. With the transfer window closing on Wednesday I am sure that we will know soon enough.
