Caps looking to fill hole at right-back
With Beitashour off to Toronto, several replacement candidates are being considered
Jordan Harvey needs a new roommate; the Whitecaps need a new starting right-back. The December trade of veteran Steven Beitashour to Toronto — after the Caps had declined his contract option — is the biggest hole to fill coming into training camp, which kicks off Monday at UBC.
The Caps have returned every starter except Beitashour, who will earn more in Toronto than the Caps were willing to pay.
Harvey’s search for a bunkmate should be simple enough. Just let the new dad catch up on sleep and you’ll get along fine.
As for replacing Beitashour on the field, the candidates include August signing Jordan Smith of Costa Rica, 24, and a player to be named later.
Caps coach Carl Robinson said 10 days ago the club was close to getting a deal for a right-back “over the line,” and he said something similar on Friday, specifying it was a player from outside MLS.
The Scottish Sun claims the Caps are in loan talks with Glasgow Rangers over 20-year-old right-back/ right-winger Fraser Aird, a Torontoborn player who grew up in Scotland but recently made his senior debut for Canada.
Whitecaps FC2 fullback Chris Serban, a former UBC player, will be among those who get a look in camp.
“Beita was a huge part of this team, great guy in the locker-room, positives across the board, so those are tough shoes to fill,” said Harvey, 31 and among the longest-serving Caps.
“But I think Jordan Smith, being with Costa Rica (for a training camp and a friendly against Venezuela), he’s going to be fit, going to come in flying, so I’m eager to see him. And there’s a lot of young guys who can fill that role.
“Right now, it (seems) tough to fill, but hopefully guys will exceed expectations.”
Having almost the entire starting lineup back shows the Caps’ commitment to continuity and chemistry under Robinson.
That should be as big an asset as any player additions for 2016.
But losing Beitashour also shows that, in a salary cap world — sorry, salary “budget” world — you have to give up something to gain something.
Robinson wanted to add attacking players, so the calculation was that Beitashour didn’t make sense at $220,000-plus.
The Caps have added Costa Rican World Cup winger Christian Bolaños and Japanese striker Masato Kudo, and locked up other core players.
Robinson also wants his fullbacks bombing forward more often and he sees that in Smith.
If trading Beitashour represents the Caps’ biggest risk this off-season, then staying put at other positions wasn’t too far behind.
“That’s a sacrifice sometimes you have to make,” said Robinson, whose team tied with Seattle for the fewest goals conceded in 2015 with 36 but couldn’t score at critical times.
Whether Beitashour’s exit will mark the only change on the back line is another intriguing question for training camp.
Second-year centre-back Tim Parker — last year’s most pleasant surprise — will battle it out with PaModou Kah and Christian Dean for a starting role alongside Kendall Waston.
And left-back Harvey will be embroiled in a battle with Sam Adekugbe, the 21-year-old Canadian with all the tools coaches dream of having in a modern fullback.
Adekugbe won the job early last season, started seven of eight games, but never got a sniff after an injury setback. Harvey shut the door.
“Every position is a battle,” said Harvey. “Out of every MLS team, I think we have the best depth. We have the most competition for starting spots.”
We’ll have to wait and see exactly what the competition looks like at Beitashour’s old spot.
But, the fact there’s so little turnover has to be a huge plus for this young, improving team.