Numbers released today. Gazdag is a real surprise, wonder if his contract is back loaded? Elliot is a steal. Ilsinho got paid for past work. See Tannenwald's article in The Inquirer for details. Union total payroll only higher than Red Bulls and Colorado this year. About half of what Galaxy and Atlanta putting out. Player Base Guaranteed M Paxten Aaronson (HGP) $87,500 $91,500 M Alejandro Bedoya (Bought down) $810,000 $1,023,333 GK Joe Bendik $200,000 $200,000 GK Andre Blake (Bought down) $600,000 $650,000 M Jesús Bueno $81,375 $96,753 F Cory Burke $350,000 $400,770 D Aurélien Collin $81,375 $81,375 M Brandan Craig (HGP) $65,000 $77,825 F Matheus Davó $240,000 $253,000 M Jack de Vries (HGP, Loaned out) $120,000 $135,556 D Jack Elliott $325,000 $340,000 D Stuart Findlay $425,000 $425,000 M Leon Flach $210,000 $223,750 M Anthony Fontana (HGP) $100,008 $108,426 GK Matt Freese (HGP) $96,750 $115,500 M Dániel Gazdag $300,000 $336,250 D Jakob Glesnes $425,000 $448,125 D Nathan Harriel (HGP) $70,000 $87,500 M Ilsinho $450,000 $501,250 M José Andrés Martínez $225,000 $251,250 D Olivier Mbaizo $89,513 $89,513 M Jack McGlynn (HGP) $64,992 $78,892 M Selmir Miscic (HGP, U2, Loaned out) $63,547 $70,026 M Jamiro Monteiro (DP) $1,300,000 $1,476,250 M Matej Oravec (Loaned out) $270,000 $284,500 D Gino Portella (U2) $63,547 $71,615 D Alvas Powell $81,375 $88,875 F Kacper Przybylko (Bought down) $825,000 $916,250 D Matthew Real (HGP) $90,000 $90,000 F Sergio Santos (Bought down) $660,000 $728,500 M Anthony Sorenson (HGP, U2) $63,547 $66,547 M Quinn Sullivan (HGP) $63,547 $67,047 M Cole Turner (HGP, Loaned out) $85,444 $88,444 D Kai Wagner $450,000 $521,000
Stuart Findlay seems like a very nice guy, but $425K?! — while Elliott is at $340K & Mbaizo at only $90K? Ernst & Albright have generally done well with a tight budget, but this one seems like an unforced error.
Relative importance to the team's on-field production and success does not necessarily correlate to a roster's salary hierarchy.
Total player salary Current position for Shield 1 Los Angeles Galaxy $20M 9 2 Atlanta United $20M 11 3 Toronto FC $19M 26 4 Inter Miami $18M 21 5 Los Angeles FC $16M 18 6 New York City FC $15M 16 7 Columbus Crew $14M 19 8 Sporting Kansas City $14M 3 9 Seattle Sounders $14M 2 10 FC Cincinnati $13M 27 11 Chicago Fire $13M 22 12 Nashville SC $13M 5 13 C de Foot Montréal $13M 14 14 Real Salt Lake $13M 13 15 Austin FC $13M 25 16 FC Dallas $12M 24 17 Portland Timbers $12M 6 18 Minnesota United $12M 10 19 Orlando City $12M 8 20 NE Revolution $12M 1 21 D.C. United $12M 15 22 Houston Dyamo $11M 23 23 San Jose Earthquakes $11M 20 24 Vancouver Whitecaps $11M 12 25 Philadelphia Union $10M 7 26 New York Red Bulls $10M 17 27 Colorado Rapids $10M 4
I imagine Jay Sugarman would point to that list a evidence that his “moneyball” budgetary approach is a solid, viable strategy. Last season’s shield and this year’s so-far-so-good performance have somewhat swayed me, but I still believe just one quality, expensive player (like Reynoso last night) could result in a title.
If they could get a player like Ruidiaz.....they would be serious title contenders. The Defense, aside from last night has been solid for two years running. They need that one player that can have moments of brilliance when nothing else is working.