Colorado Waives Quincy Amarikwa, Eddie Ababio, Ross LaBauex

There have been a lot of casualties from the Gary Smith era under Oscar Pareja, and three more of the less utilized players from his administration have been removed from the squad as the Colorado Rapids announced the waiving of Quincy Amarikwa, Ross LaBauex and Eddie Ababio on Thursday.

LaBauex was always ineffective in his time on the team, though I felt he had time to grow as a utility man in the midfield, and Amarikwa had often been ineffective for the Rapids. His single goal this year, though it was a pretty one, tied his highest ever scoring numbers for a season. Clearly, that's unacceptable for a striker.

The one that surprises me the most here is Ababio, but if he wasn't working out as a center back in practices and the like, it makes sense that they would jettison him. I believe they were trying to make him into a Marvell Wynne type guy and he was playing somewhere between mediocre and good the entire time they kept him there. I am rather sad that he was removed instead of Palugta or Marshall, but whaddayagonnado?

By the way, this leaves Andre Akpan and Steward Ceus as the only Gary Smith era draftees still on the squad.

Combined, these moves removed $139,250 in salary from the squad. I think we can all sit back and expect a slew of moves to come now, or at least one or two big ones.