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SANDY—In an offseason filled with uncertainty, Real Salt Lake's roster has some clarity ahead of the 2015 season this week.
RSL announced the team has made bona fide contract offers to defenders Nat Borchers and Chris Wingert, and midfielder Cole Grossman, while releasing or failing to pick up an option on forwards Robbie Findley and Benji Lopez, and defenders Rich Balchan and Aaron Maund.
Borchers was a fixture in the RSL back line in 2014, starting all 32 of his games played and playing a team-high 2,856 minutes with the club. He had one goal on three shots on frame while locking down the defense.
The 32-year-old Wingert would begin his ninth year with RSL after coming over from the Colorado Rapids in 2007. The native of Babylon, New York, started 30 games in 2014, when he registered three assists in 2,537 minutes.
Grossman played the bulk of his minutes while filling in for Kyle Beckerman's holding midfield role during the 2014 World Cup. The 25 year old started in five of his 17 games played, quadrupling his minutes from 160 last year when he came over from the Columbus Crew.
Findley, Balchan and Maund will be eligible for the MLS Re-entry Draft, which begins Dec. 12, while Lopez—an RSL homegrown talent who spent much of 2014 on loan to Arizona United SC—will be available in the Waiver Draft on Dec. 10.
Findley had one goal in 16 appearances for RSL in 2014, a year after returning to the club following a modicum of success in England with Nottingham Forest. The 29-year-old striker had six goals in 2013 after returning to the club where he won an MLS Cup in 2009. Off-season knee surgery limited his availability in 2014, and the speedy striker was scarcely the same after the procedure.
Balchan made four appearances for RSL in 2014, including two starts with the senior team, while spending time on loan with the Carolina RailHawks. Maund started in five of his six appearances with the RSL first team, but depth at his preferred center back position hurt his chances of staying on for 2015.
Perhaps the biggest surprise to exit the club is Lopez, who was RSL's fifth-ever homegrown player signing when he inked a deal with the club in 2013. Though the 19-year-old talent didn't make a first-team appearance with RSL, he showed spurts of success with Arizona and remained a fixture with the U.S. U-20 national team through the year.
RSL also announced that every other player on its roster remains under contract or had an option exercised for the 2015 season. That includes defender Carlos Salcedo, who has publicly said he does not wish to remain with the club and would prefer a move to another organization.
RSL could still have up to two players taken by new clubs New York City FC and Orlando City SC during the MLS Expansion Draft on Dec. 10. The club could also add players from the college ranks during the 2015 MLS SuperDraft on Jan. 15.
