Oakland Roots announced they have signed veteran midfielder Rafael Baca to a contract on Thursday, helping them prepare for the playoff push ahead of the roster freeze on September 9.
Baca, who turns 35 next week, adds a potential marquee link into Roots’ midfield. He was recently let go by Monterey Bay FC by mutual consent and instantly fills the international roster spot vacated by Bryan Tamacas’ release yesterday. It’s a move that represents a final piece to the puzzle for Oakland; adding a veteran starter after parting ways with one of the most expensive contracts on the team.
At the time of Baca’s departure from Monterey, he was the club’s leader in appearances and minutes. He spent a decade with Cruz Azul in Liga MX prior to his arrival in the USL Championship.
One source within the organization views this move as playoff-minded with first-place still within sight.
“We went into the season with a roster we felt was playoff quality. I think all of ours moves have tried to show our intention. We want to host [a playoff game], and right now, first pllace is in our sights. If there’s moves to be made that give us support now and going forward, that’s something we want to pursue,” the club source said.
One non-personnel club source thinks this gives Roots one of the league’s best midfielders, in-turn creating one of the best midfield pivots in the USL Championship. Another source described how Baca will allow interim head coach Gavin Glinton to have several combinations at his disposal, be it alongside Danny Gomez, Camden Riley, Koze Donasiyano, or Napo Matsoso.
“How we’re organized is all affected by the profiles of players. We thought he matches up well with people like Cam, Koze, and Gomez, who can all cover tons of ground. Gavin has a selection issue on his hand,” said the executive.
Baca’s stats show someone who offers improvements in distribution, hold-up play in transition, and defending. In comparison to usual starters like Gomez and Riley, Baca controlled a higher average of touches per game (63.32), dribble success rate (66.7 percent), tackles won per match (2.08), duels won rate (63.4 percent), interceptions per match (1.76), and recoveries per match (7.46).
“He’s a holding midfielder of a very high level. His control is something we’ve noticed from this season. It’s tough to get the ball off of the guy; you could see every team had a problem getting through him and getting the ball off of him in Monterey,” a source said.
Sources also indicated Baca’s deal will run through the 2024 season and have a club option for 2025.
Baca’s departure from Monterey undoubtedly had to do the organization parting ways with head coach Frank Yallop on July 31. Just two weeks after Yallop’s departure, MBFC announced they had also released Baca at his request. Baca still residing in California with his family led to dialogue between him and Oakland Roots
“As things changed in Monterey, we were aware of him and different factors led to us getting it over the line. We’ve always had a lot of admiration of him,” the club source said.
Baca started his career with the San Jose Earthquakes under Yallop in 2011, staying for another two years until Yallop’s release from San Jose in 2013. From there, Baca went on to become a mainstay at Cruz Azul from 2014-2023, helping them lift several trophies.
He is a two-time Mexican Campeón de Campeones champion (2021, 2022), Mexican Clausura champion (2021), Mexican Super Cup Winner (2019), Mexican Cup winner Apertura (2019), and a Leagues Cup champion (2019). Baca closed his time at Cruz Azul with 245 appearances, 205 starts, and a total of 18,097 minutes.
This year, Baca showed he still brings quality after being the USL Championship Player of the Week following the league’s second match day on March 19 with Monterey Bay.
For his 14-year career, Baca has appeared in a total of 355 matches, started 306 times, scored 11 goals and 16 assists in 26,737 total minutes.
It’s an addition that puts a potential cap on the most productive mid-season roster work to date for the club. USL Championship title winners would be quite the swan song to Baca’s playing career.