December Crew Budget Snapshot

Here's an updated high level look at the Crew 2014 budget.

Total $$ (in millions) : Description : Player Count
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$ 1.74 : 2013 Out : 11 cut

$ 0.32 : 2014 Off Season In : 4 signed

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$ 3.78 : 2013 YE Guaranteed Salary Total

$ 2.57 : 2014 Current est Salary (w/ est increases) : 23 on roster

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$ 1.81 : 2014 est Budget (Cap) Hit : 13 players to cap

$ 3.10 : 2014 MLS Budget (Cap) Number : 30 max roster size

$ 1.30 : 2014 Crew Budget (Cap) Space : 7 open slots

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PLAYERS OUT
2013 Guaranteed Salary : Name

361,250 : Chad Marshall
263,333 : Glauber Berti
230,000 : Matias Sanchez
225,375 : Jairo Arrieta
195,000 : Eddie Gaven
175,000 : Danny O'Rourke
93,887 : Andy Gruenebaum
80,500 : Aaron Horton
46,500 : Konrad Warzycha
35,125 : Kyle Hyland
35,125 : Drew Beckie

PLAYERS IN
EST 2014 Guaranteed Salary : Name

120,000 : Waylon Francis
96,600 : Daniel Paladini
52,000 : Matt Wiet
46,000 : Brad Stuver

2014 BUDGET, By Player
Estimated "cap" hit players, with est pay increase

$375,000 : Federico Higuaín (DP, I)
$274,534 : Dominic Oduro
$162,750 : Tony Tchani
$142,200 : Agustin Viana
$133,350 : Wil Trapp (HGP)
$120,000 : Waylon Francis (I)
$115,000 : Josh Williams
$96,600 : Daniel Paladini
$87,151 : Justin Meram
$84,700 : Tyson Wahl
$79,920 : Ryan Finley*
$67,284 : Ethan Finlay*
$66,960 : Ben Speas* (HGP)

*depends on new signings in coming months

Estimated off budget players

$52,080 : Aaron Schoenfeld
$52,080 : Bernardo Anor (I)
$52,080 : Chad Barson (HGP)
$52,080 : Eric Gehrig
$52,080 : Kevan George
$52,080 : Matt Lampson (HGP)
$52,000 : Matt Wiet (HGP)
$46,000 : Brad Stuver
$42,150 : Daniel Withrow
$42,150 : Shawn Sloan

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ROSTER NOTES

HGP: There is some gray area with Homegrown Players (HGP) in regards to their budget hit. It use to be all were treated as Generation Adidas type players (meaning no cap hit) but then, a couple years ago, it looked like it may be just a max of two that don't hit the cap.

I think the HGP cap hit gray area comes from the fact that no HGPs were making enough to hit the cap until, well, this year (and the Crew leading the way). I'm leaving them marked at 'on budget'.

Raises: I've given raises to returning players based on observations I've made since the last CBA. I am expecting Williams and Oduro to be getting significant pay increases(about 2x previous salary). For Williams, I am using Justin Morrow's 2012 pay jump (50k to 120k) as a road map.

OPEN SLOTS

The Columbus Crew have 7 open roster spots remaining. I would expect almost all of them to be starter quality (100-200k) with 3-4 of them being internationals (I).

Here is what I expect the priorities to be with the remaining 7 slots and $1.3 million in budget space:

1. Goal Scorer ($250-350k)
2. Center Back (200-250k)
3. Right Midfielder (200-250k)
4. Right Wing Back (150-200k)