Barnes Signed

The Revs have officially signed defender Darrius Barnes to a Senior Roster spot.

Revolution adds Defender Darrius Barnes

Projecting the Final Roster

With the season opener now a week away, (…can you believe it?) let’s take a brief look at all of the players on the Revolution roster and see where they stand.

Chris Albright, D – A lock to start on Opening Night… if he weren’t suspended for a red card tackle of Cuahtemoc Blanco last year.  Totally worth it.

Kevin Alston, D – Generation Adidas status makes him a lock to make the team.  However, we’re hearing that Alston has had a tremendous camp, impressed the staff, and could very well find himself in the starting lineup against San Jose.

Hamzagic, Salvaggione Released?

The Official Revs Blog tells us that Dado Hamzagic and Chris Salvaggione have been “released from training camp”, which I don’t believe should be confused with simply being released.  At least not yet.

For now, we’ll still classify both players as Unsigned Draft Picks on our roster page.

Revs Poised to Sign Reinforcements

The Boston Herald provides good news on the transfer front in today’s edition.

The Revolution are in the advanced stages of negotiations with a defender and a striker of African descent and are hopeful of sealing their signatures, according to vice president of player personnel Michael Burns.

Nicol said he spotted both players during the course of scouting trips to Ghana. The defender could be expected to step right in and play if signed, while the striker is a younger player who may need some time to adjust, the coach reported.

Revs in Transfer Bid Shock

Credit the Globe’s Monique Walker for this tasty little nugget of information:

Nicol returned from a trip to Ghana earlier this week and said he saw a couple of defenders and a striker he liked, and the team planned to make offers this week.

Here’s hoping reinforcements are on their way.

Revs Offer Contracts to Two Ghanian Players

Both the Globe and the Herald quote Steve Nicol as having offered contracts to a young forward and young defender from Ghana.  Obviously, Nicol doesn’t give too much away beyond that…

“They’re young guys,” Nicol said. “They’re only offers. They might take them, they might not.”

Taking public speaking lessons from Captain Obvious, eh Steve?

Not much to work with, but that won’t stop us from making an educated guess about the identity of one of the players in question…

Revs sign Simmons, promote Knighton, Tierney

In what appears to be a stroke of good fortune, the Revs have signed former UMass All-American goalkeeper Zack Simmons as an undrafted free agent.  Simmons will be a part of the Revolution’s developmental roster.  To make room on the Developmental Roster for Simmons and Generation Adidas defender Kevin Alston, the team has also promoted goalkeeper Brad Knighton and defender Chris Tierney to the senior roster.

Captain Obvious Strikes Again

You know, I really wanna like Mike Burns.  I think he was a pretty decent player in his day, and he takes WAY too much crap about not being on the post in the ‘98 World Cup.

But every time I start thinking positively about him, he opens his mouth.  For example, take his most recent entry on the Official Revolution Blog.

Sure, it’s a good thing that Burnsie’s taking questions from fans.  But if you had given me the questions a day ahead of time, I could have practically predicted his responses.

Let me sum up:

Revs “Announce” Roster Changes

The Revolution yesterday took the unusual step of announcing changes to their roster… via a blog entry.  Only, they didn’t really announce it, only that there had been changes and then let their blog readers figure it out.

Are you bleepin’ kidding me?  And people wonder why there’s no offseason media coverage.

Why the Revs May Not be Active this Winter

After failing to reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2001, and stumbling badly during the second half of the season, many had believed this winter could possibly bring sweeping changes to New England.  The Revs have been the model of consistency, and haven’t experienced a major roster turnover in several years.  But the window of opportunity seems to be closing on the current group of core players, and one could look at the departure of Michael Parkhurst as a sign that a significant shakeup was in order.

While the club seems to have the means and the will to go shopping, there are some roadblocks in their way.  Most notably, the league’s reduction in overall roster spots from 27 to 24 means the cuts will have to come before the team can go shopping.