Sporting Kansas City offseason checklist update: defense gets a boost

Sporting Kansas City announced three moves Wednesday in which they retained Seth Sinovic, Jon Kempin and signed former friend Lawrence Olum. With these three moves, they knocked a priority off the offseason checklist.

Here's a look at where Sporting KC stands now in the checklist.

1) Re-sign Tim Melia Achieved 11/25. Sporting KC picks up Tim Melia's 2016 option.

2) Sign a Centerback Achieved 12/09. Sporting KC signs Lawrence Olum.

3) Add forward depth

4) Restructure Graham Zusi's contract...

5) ...and give that money to Benny Feilhaber and Krisztian Nemeth

6) Make a defensive midfield decision

7) Release Marcel de Jong, Mikey Lopez and Jacob Peterson

8) Sign a backup keeper

9) Make a decision at left back

10) Depth at attacking midfielder

There was the possibility of trading Sinovic or Marcel de Jong but now that Sporting KC re-signed him it appears they're going to go with one of them or Amadou Dia as the starting left back. I considering taking #9 off the checklist but since they still have three left backs on the roster, there's still the possibility de Jong gets moved and there's still the question of who will start. They could go through the season with three left backs like they did in 2015, as well. We'll see as we get closer to the season.

The biggest thing these moves do is they move the total roster from 20 players to 23. The back line gets a big boost with an established backup centerback who can also play defensive midfield if needed. Here's the current roster of players under contract for 2016.

There's still five spots open with the need for a second-string keeper, center forward depth, and the midfield as pressing matters at the moment. With the re-entry draft on Friday, we'll see if Sporting KC looks to address the holes from within the league.