With 18 players officially signed and announced, and preseason games kicking off this week, now seems like a good opportunity to go over where the Rowdies stand in their offseason rebuild. We’ll take a look at each area of the roster individually. There’s been so much turnover at the club that it feels almost as if the Rowdies are an expansion team. Familiar players are gone, replaced by some completely unknown ones. But also replaced by a few somewhat familiar ones from Tampa Bay’s NASL neighbors to the south. Preseason competition may be starting this week but there are still 54 days until the start of the 2014 NASL season. So there’s no need to panic yet about apparent holes in the roster. The team has had an active offseason already, nabbing some formidable talent.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty here are some interesting notes about the current roster.

A little investigation shows that the Rowdies are currently using 5 of their 7 allotted international roster spots (Tamika Mkandawire, Georgi Hristov, Juan Guerra, Robert Hernandez, and Darwin Espinal).

Of the 11 new players, only 2 are 30 years old or more. Marcelo Saragosa is 33 and Maicon Santos is 30.

The average age of the current 18 man roster is 27.

All the center backs on the roster are over 6ft tall. This should help out on set piece defending.

5 players are originally from South American. Juan Guerra (Venezuela), Robert Hernandez (Venezuela), Marcelo Saragosa (Brazil), Maicon Santos (Brazil), and Martin Nunez (Uruguay). Previously Luciano Olguin (Argentina) and Diego Restrepo (Venezuela) were the only players from South America to play for the modern Rowdies. This would exclude Carl Cort and JP Rodrigues who represented Guyana internationally but were not born there.

Darwin Espinal is the first of Central American birth (Honduras) to represent the modern Rowdies.

Keith Savage now has the most appearances in a Rowdies uniform of anyone on the current roster. He has 96 appearances, 87 of which are starts.

GOALKEEPER

2014 will not be included in the highlight reel of Matt Pickens’ career. The longtime MLS veteran keeper struggled adjusting to life in the NASL. The Rowdies finished in a tie with Atlanta for last place in Goals Against, conceding 50 goals in 27 games. Constant changes in defensive personnel and a nagging upper leg injury throughout part of the season didn’t help matters. Pickens has the resume of a number one keeper, but until Rowdies fans see consistent shutdown performances from him for the green and gold doubts will continue to linger. Pickens’ rumored relatively high NASL salary and the apparent lack of priority in signing new keepers thus far indicates that he has a lock on the starting job on opening day. Given Pickens’ age (32) and injury issue last year it would be comforting if the club brought in some younger keepers to back him up and challenge for the starting position. The good news is that quality goalkeepers are something American soccer does a decent job in producing. There are solid keepers all over North America, at all levels. And with Thomas Rongen’s connections, securing a couple shouldn’t be a problem.

DEFENDERS

Center back is perhaps the position where the Rowdies are sitting prettiest. Along with being athletically gifted defenders, Tamika Mkandawire, Stefan Antonijevic, and Brad Rusin combined bring valuable NASL, MLS, and overseas experience to the table. Gale Agbossoumonde is the biggest question mark after not featuring once for the Colorado Rapids in 2014. However, at only 23 he is reuniting with Rongen, the coach he arguably had the most success with for the US U-20s. So it’s entirely possible that Agbossoumonde can turn things around in Tampa Bay and become a reliable NASL defender. The outside backs are where the club could use some depth. Left back Blake Wagner spent most of last year as a left winger. Rongen will likely find Wagner’s strength, emergency defending capabilities, and smooth distribution to be valuable assets on the back line. And offseason addition Darnell King is a great pickup for Rongen’s system. King’s quick pace, intelligence, and fearlessness in getting involved in the attack should secure his spot at right back. But the club currently has no one on the roster to back Wagner and King up. Signing some depth at outside back should be a priority for the club.

MIDFIELDERS

Ask fans what the biggest problem area for the team was in 2014 was and most will waste no time emphatically answering, “Midfield.” It appears that the new Rowdies regime would agree with that as the midfield has received the most overhaul this offseason. Keith Savage is the only out-and-out midfielder from last year to return this year. He was released in the mass player exodus in November, before Farrukh Quraishi was announced as the new GM and President. Savage has always been a solid two-way NASL defender, who can also provide accurate set piece delivery. Time will tell how much time he gets under Rongen. At the moment the Rowdies seem to almost set with defensive minded midfielders. When Juan Guerra, Marcelo Saragosa, and Justin Chavez were all announced the team highlighted their defensive capabilities. Guerra was noted for his vision, leadership, and ability to facilitate play between the defense and midfield. It should be noted that on Saragosa and Savage are over 6ft. Guerra (5ft7) and Chavez (5ft8) are both listed at around 160lbs. The NASL can get overly physical, especially in the midfield, so a hefty frame can be beneficial to have. Adding another big bodied defensive midfielder to the mix might prove fruitful in the long run.

When it comes to that creative midfield flair that was sorely missing last year the Rowdies look to be relying heavily on Martin Nunez. The Uruguayan born midfielder has significant NASL experience, but is still in the his prime at only 28. Hopefully he can provide the necessary spark and creativity to put the forwards in dangerous positions. Venezuelan Robert Hernandez was originally heralded as just such a creative midfielder when he was first announced. Since then he has been designated as a forward while the Rowdies leading goal scorer the past two years, Georgi Hristov, has been shifted to midfield. It’s hard to make a judgment on the switch until we see the players in action. The uncertainty of the move leaves you with a feeling that a move for one or two more attacking midfielder may be necessary. It can’t be overstated how badly the team needed a player to ignite the attack and shift game momentum from the midfield last year. Fans would take comfort in having as many options for that role as possible,

FORWARDS

The group of forwards this year is a bit of a mixed bag. You have two returning players in Brian Shriver and Corey Hertzog. Shriver has had tremendous success in the NASL, but had one of the worst years of his career in 2014. The new system should open up a lot more space for him while also providing plenty of partners to combine with up top. Shriver could be in store for a resurgence in 2015. Hertzog showed great pace, energy, and intelligence after joining the team during the Fall Season. The only thing lacking was the finishing. Hopefully with a full offseason to gel with his teammates he’ll find himself with more meaningful scoring chances that he can hopefully capitalize on. Then you have two very young forwards in Robert Hernandez (21) and Darwin Espinal (19). Hernandez, despite his age, is a 3 year veteran of the Venezuelan first division, where he played as an attacking midfielder. Espinal has no professional experience, but with 52 goals in two season of junior college under his belt has shown at least some kind of nose for goal.

The most recent signing, Maicon Santos, is a 30-year-old Brazilian veteran with both MLS and overseas experience. Santos is the target man option that the Rowdies needed for set pieces and hold up play. His last productive goal scoring year, however, was with Toronto FC in 2011. In fact, none of the current designated forwards on the roster scored more than 4 goals for their respective teams in 2014. The obvious caveat to that being that currently designated midfielder, Georgi Hristov scored 11. Not all of your goals need to come from forwards, but it would be reassuring if the team had one forward (or more than one if you count Hristov) who had posted double digits goals recently. Another big man up top, preferably a little younger than Santos would be a nice security blanket for the team to have as well.