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The Colorado Rapids continued their active week on Friday, selecting midfielder Mike Grella in the first phase of the Re-Entry Draft. Grella was previously with the New York Red Bulls, where he had in the past been an active contributor, but a knee injury basically kept him out of the rotation in 2017.
But the Rapids didn’t keep Grella, instead trading him to Columbus Crew SC later in the day for a second-round MLS SuperDraft pick in 2019.
You may be wondering why exactly the Rapids immediately flipped a player who could potentially be a starter. Fortunately, Rapids Director of Communications Ryan Madden provided some explanation on Twitter.
Respectfully, we had no intention of selecting anyone in today’s draft. CLB approached us, but because of the blackout period we couldn’t technically trade our spot. Instead we drafted the player for them in exchange for a draft pick. Something out of nothing.
— Ryan Madden (@Ry_Madden) December 15, 2017
Cheers. https://t.co/kIm9X4oozP
So there you have it. While time will tell if the draft pick will turn out to be anything significant, it gives the Rapids something, and seems like a no-brainer that cost nothing at all.
The second phase of the Re-Entry Draft will be on Thursday.