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After the house-cleaning the Timbers did on Bloody Monday, Kosuke Kimura is headed for New York Red Bulls.
His biggest contribution to the team, aside from the goal he poached off a Kris Boyd free kick in the 5-3 loss to the LA Galaxy, was as a band-aid style fill-in ahead the team's other right backs, Lovel Palmer and Steve Purdy.
That he was probably the team's best right back in 2012 is not saying a whole lot. His experience on the right side of the defensive line helped free right wing Sal Zizzo to make his typical bombs down the right flank, which was certainly helpful for the attack and good for a few goals.
But his diminutive size was a liability at times against the MLS' big strikers, and he got burned down his own flank a few too many times for my liking.
Still, for a short-term stop-gap at a perennially problematic position, the Timbers could have done a lot worse.