It looks like the Denver Post might have spilled the beans on who our mysterious 'True 10' player is, and it's not someone from River Plate. It's looking like our new player is going to be one Martin Rivero, a - as promised - 22 year old midfielder from Argentina with only one club to his name so far in his young career, Argentinean side Rosario Central.

The post reports:

Last month, Rivero told reporters in Rosario that he was upset with Central management over his contract. Rivero did not train with the team in January and his name was removed from the team's website. He also surfaced in rumors linking him in a move to Deportivo Cali in the Colombian first division.

We'll see if the Post is correct with their guess tomorrow at 3 PM, but this looks to be the best guess of anybody so far on who our mysterious new player is going to be.

In other news, looks like Tim Hinchey really was in Dallas for the tex-mex.

Well, we all knew this would happen, now didn't we?

Since Tim Hinchey announced that he was in Dallas and the announcement of our new 'true 10' player would be delayed until tomorrow, a pretty hilarious crop of rumors have started swirling all over twitter, some of which are possibly fabricated. It started when we realized that River Plate had played in Dallas back on Saturday, a team which just happens to be chock full of Argentinian players. (Surprise surprise!)

Is Hinchey down there to pick up his man from River Plate? Perhaps he's down there to get a Jersey sponsor and come back with a whole boat load of new awesome things? Maybe he just really wanted some Tex Mex and was looking to get to the real source? Maybe he's secretly trying to buy Brek Shea? It truly is a mystery. (Nothing yet to the rumor that the Hunts are planning a secret plot to block all Rapids moves in the future, but Ben is hot on the trail, it's right in his pockets.)

The staff of Burgundy Wave have decided that the official rumor we're sticking with is the following:

23 year old Argentine Angel 'Hot Pockets' Luna is going to be our true #10 player signing tomorrow. This is based on purely scientific facts, like this post on a Spanish forum a year ago that said he was totally going to leave River Plate. Also, the fact that he's only 13 days removed from being 22 which is close enough in our books, and the fact that nobody guessed him in that contest that somebody won is just what he WANTS us to think.

Do not question our investigative journalism and tip line!

So yeah, today has been quite rich in rumors... Though some were better than others.

Pick your favorite rumor, quick! It's a war out there, kid. War!!

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(And then this is the part where we just list random Argentinian players and claim we got it right when the announcement gets made and we luck out.)

EDIT: New sources indicate things.

The offseason began for the Colorado Rapids with three target forward options on their bench. Conor Casey was of course still the unquestioned starter in the role, but with his injury problem it looked like Caleb Folan or Macoumba Kandji were going to be the guys to look at for the high striker role in the new 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 formation.

Those two are now both off the team. Folan was almost dealt to Greek side Panionios but the deal was called off last minute and he was instead let go on mutual terms. Kandji is now off the squad as well thanks to a trade with the Houston Dynamo that netted the Rapids a conditional draft pick.

When it comes to putting strikers up high on the flanks, there's plenty of finesse striking options for the Rapids. Omar Cummings has shown he can play that role before, Andre Akpan is a solid and growing talent while even Quincy Amarikwa has started to look decent under Oscar Pareja's new system. For the target forward in the central high role though, the options are now down to one, and that one won't even start the season healthy.

This might signal that we're going to see smaller, faster forwards manning the top spot -- Akpan in particular might be an intriguing candidate to start, and Cummings could try the role as well -- but having a big guy who can bang in the goals is always a good tactic for a team running a style featuring only a lone man up at the top.

Does this mean that the Rapids are now in the market for another target forward? Certainly Kandji and Folan are not irreplaceable and for a price far less than Folan was bringing in there is surely someone that the Rapids could bring in to fill the back-up role adequately.

The Colorado Rapids certainly haven't skimped on the excitement and transfer flair this offseason, something we haven't seen from Colorado in... well if we've ever seen it, it's been a while. In getting rid of Caleb Folan and Macoumba Kandji, a bit of the offensive depth has been taken away but it's probably because they've been telegraphing their getting a 'True #10' player for a little while now.

Our Denver Post friends over at The Terrace mentioned in their most recent article about the Macoumba Kandji trade that the move was likely in order to shave off some cash from the roster in order to pick up the mystery player, though he won't be a Designated Player. It also mentions at the end of the article that he could be revelaed to us sooner than we think:

Hinchey added that the player won’t need an official designated player tag.

But expect that name to surface before the team travels to Hawaii on Feb. 19. It’s likely we’ll learn of the addition as early as this weekend.

All we know for sure is that he's a young 22 year old from Argentina who already has lots of club appearances and will come in to make a superb impact on the Rapids offense right away. Vague sure, but at least it's leaving the doors open for guessing!

Caleb Folan's divisive time as a Colorado Rapids player might be over even sooner than we expected. MLSsoccer.com linked to this article in their early post on Thursday, indicating that the Rapids were in talks with Greek side Panionios Athens for the 29 year old striker's services. It also indicated, however, that the talks had broken down at some point and that a move wasn't likely.

It looked for a while last night like the move had actually happened, as the Pid Army on twitter found two different sources saying that Folan had indeed been signed by Panionios. Unfortunately, twitter account @GreekFooty had reported on Wednesday that the move, while close, had never happened. So as it stands right now it looks like Folan is still on the Colorado Rapids.

This would have been the first transfer by the Rapids removing a player rather than gaining one -- Sanna Nyassi was lost in the expansion draft while Danny Earls and Miguel Comminges were simply released.

Folan was second on the team in goals in 2011 with six tallies including two penalty kicks and a brace against DC United early in the year. His 29 appearances was one of the highest totals on the team during a year when almost everyone was in some way injured at some point.

If the Colorado Rapids ever make any actual news about this official, it will help obviously.

The Colorado Rapids supporters forum was Wednesday evening and it was a fun affair to go to. Head Coach Oscar Pareja, technical director Paul Bravo and team captain Pablo Mastroeni were all there to talk to a large group of Rapids fans, and we got some very interesting tidbits out of the conversation.

The Rapids did confirm that they will likely be playing a 4-3-3 and Pablo Mastroeni made it very clear that he wasn't going to be retiring any time soon, but it took until the end of the conversation for the real juicy bits to come out. The most intriguing note was Paul Bravo's admission that the Rapids were not only looking for another South American player to add to the mix, but that they were seeking a 'true #10' style player to fit into the new 4-3-3 formation.

According to Bravo he wouldn't tell any more details, but we could hopefully look forward to some more information in a couple of days. With Jamie Castrillon already thrown into the mix on offense - am I the only one who thought that he would be our playmaking CAM? - it looks like it will only get stronger from here.

That is of course if Bravo's not just pulling the rug out from under us!

According to a recent article by the Denver Post, the Colorado Rapids have inquired about signing Colombian midfielder Jamie Castrillón for the 2012 MLS season. Castrillón is 28-years-old and currently plies his trade with Independiente Medellín in the Colombian first division. Castrillón also has 29 appearances for the Colombia national team and has scored 5 international goals.

The article states that talks have been ongoing between the Rapids and Castrillón. There have been reports that the player was set to remain in Colombia with club side Millionaires. However, with interest coming from the Denver-based MLS side, the player reportedly changed his mind and wanted to enter talks with the Rapids.

Colorado head coach Oscar Pareja has his sights set on attacking midfielders from South America and Jamie Castrillón is high on his list of potential new signings for the club. It is also possible that Castrillón would be a DP, or designated player, for the Colorado Rapids. This would be the first DP for the Rocky Mountain club.

It was mere luck that I wound up putting out a 'scouting report' as it were on FC Dallas and USMNT coach Oscar Pareja today, considering the recent news. According to Steven Goff (Soccerinsider) on Twitter, the coaching search is over and Pareja will indeed be the Colorado Rapids newest gaffer come the 2012 season.

Pareja has done a splendid job in Dallas of creating the best youth set-up in Major League Soccer and I personally would be thrilled to see him take the Rapids job. Considering this is a team that has its biggest holes at depth and the youth system, hiring an expert in that field would be a great coup for Colorado.

This also came only a few hours after Rapids president Tim Hinchley announced on twitter that a head coach would be selected by the end of the week. Turns out this new regime'd Rapids might be working a little faster than we're used to!