Sounders will likely open training camp with roster as is

This has always promised to be a relatively quiet offseason, especially after the Seattle Sounders announced that they were bringing back most of their impact players from last year’s roster.

Following the now concluded MLS SuperDraft, in which the Sounders selected three players and signed Homegrown Player Trey Muse, don’t expect much else to change before training camp opens a week from today on Jan. 22.

“I think you’re going to see us go into camp more-or-less how we are,” Sounders GM Garth Lagerwey said on Friday. “We’re still exploring some trades, but at this point I don’t think anything is going to move until early February.

“We’re still working on some things from abroad, but we really feel like we’re dealing from a position of strength.”

As it is now, the Sounders have 24 players under contract, which means they’ll likely be looking to sign at least two more players before the start of the season. Those could easily end up being other Homegrown Players — S2’s Sam Rogers and Washington’s Dylan Teves are the two most likely candidates — or draft picks (although Tucker Bone, Joel Rydstrand and Aleks Berkolds all face uphill battles to make the First Team roster). In other words, there’s no reason the Sounders have to sign another veteran, especially since they are two-deep with experienced players at every position.

There is plenty of room for maneuvering, though. Various reports have suggest Román Torres is very much on the trade block — and, frankly, it’s hard to envision a scenario where the Sounders open the season with him as the No. 3 center back — and Waylon Francis seems reasonably likely to move as well.

Until either of those moves happen, and with many foreign transfer windows open for a few more weeks and the window for incoming transfers not open until Feb. 13, the Sounders don’t seem to be in any rush to get anything done.