All Paid Crew Players since 2010

Here is a look at total wages paid to each player wearing a Crew uniform, 2010 (when the 2008 MLS Cup winning team was blown up) till now. It's not perfect, of course (being MLS - players leaving half year or use of allocation or just... MLS), but it gives us a good enough idea who has pulled in the most money.

Total Wages : Player : Years Paid
$4,748,000 : Federico Higuain : 5
$1,802,138 : Gaston Sauro : 3
$1,342,500 : Chad Marshall : 4
$1,211,333 : Tony Tchani : 6
$998,222 : Justin Meram : 7
$971,750 : Wil Trapp : 5
$940,000 : Ola Kamara : 2
$916,508 : Dilaver Duka : 5
$900,000 : Michael Parkhurst : 3
$869,648 : Ethan Finlay : 6
$844,000 : Jonathan Mensah : 1
$835,833 : Andres Mendoza : 2
$790,208 : Eddie Gaven : 4
$775,917 : Waylon Francis : 4
$738,333 : Harrison Afful : 3
$635,000 : Emanuel Pogatetz : 2
$576,600 : Danny O'Rourke : 4
$565,000 : Steve Clark : 3
$536,667 : Kei Kamara : 1
$483,529 : Cedrick Mabwati : 2
$480,500 : William Hesmer : 3
$450,004 : Nicolai Naess : 2
$420,000 : Hector Jimenez : 4
$399,500 : Emmanuel Ekpo : 2
$385,000 : Tyson Wahl : 4
$373,417 : Josh Williams : 5
$365,625 : Emilio Renteria : 3
$360,375 : Jairo Arrieta : 2
$334,167 : Jack McInerney : 1
$279,220 : Andy Gruenebaum : 4
$276,250 : Ben Swanson : 3
$273,333 : Agustin Viana : 2
$263,333 : Glauber Berti : 1
$255,000 : Sebastian Miranda : 2
$255,000 : Robbie Rogers : 2
$253,455 : Ben Speas : 4
$241,250 : Guillermo Barros Schelotto : 1
$230,000 : Mohammed Saeid : 2
$230,000 : Matias Sanchez : 1
$223,333 : Milovan Mirosevic : 1
$218,325 : Chad Barson : 4
$211,500 : Aaron Horton : 3
$205,008 : Zack Steffen : 2
$199,325 : Matt Lampson : 4
$190,000 : Gino Padula : 1
$189,075 : Aaron Schoenfeld : 4
$189,075 : Kevan George : 4
$181,425 : Bernardo Anor : 4
$175,000 : Emil Larsen : 1
$175,000 : Olman Vargas : 1
$172,169 : Julius James : 2
$171,925 : Eric Gehrig : 4
$171,500 : Brad Stuver : 3
$171,250 : Mohammed Abu : 1
$170,496 : Dejan Rusmir : 1
$168,375 : Kekuta Manneh : 1
$161,671 : Jukka Raitala : 1
$160,000 : Adam Jahn : 2
$152,500 : Jeffrey Cunningham : 1
$144,319 : Brian Carroll : 1
$137,141 : Cristian Martinez : 2
$128,125 : Rodrigo Saravia : 2
$127,500 : Frankie Hejduk : 1
$127,450 : Rich Balchan : 2
$126,100 : Shaun Francis : 3
$125,500 : Nemanja Vukovich : 1
$122,015 : Dominic Oduro : 1
$119,438 : Kristinn Steindorsson : 1
$115,306 : Romain Gall : 2
$109,000 : Chris Birchall : 1
$106,209 : Carlos Mendes : 1
$105,575 : Marshall Hollingsworth : 2
$105,500 : Corey Ashe : 1
$105,000 : Conor Casey : 1
$99,879 : Artur De Lima Junior : 1
$89,250 : Tommy Heinemann : 2
$87,802 : Chris Klute : 1
$86,100 : Cole Grossman : 2
$82,000 : Kevin Burns : 2
$80,350 : Korey Veeder : 2
$76,667 : Daniel Paladini : 1
$76,250 : Jason Garey : 1
$74,000 : Ryan Finley : 1
$72,500 : Alhassan "Lalas" Abubakar : 1
$72,500 : Nikolaj Hansen : 1
$71,110 : Andy Iro : 1
$65,004 : Abuchi Obinwa : 1
$60,000 : Sagi Lev-Ari : 1
$53,004 : Connor Maloney : 1
$53,004 : Logan Ketterer : 1
$52,500 : Sergio Campbell : 1
$51,500 : Matt Pacifici : 1
$50,400 : Adam Moffat : 1
$49,200 : Joshua Gardner : 1
$48,500 : Matt Wiet : 1
$48,500 : Ben Sweat : 1
$46,500 : Konrad Warzycha : 1
$42,333 : Steven Lenhart : 1
$40,008 : Leandre Griffit : 1
$40,000 : Duncan Oughton : 1
$40,000 : Eric Brunner : 1
$36,504 : Adam Bedell : 1
$36,504 : Kingsley Baiden : 1
$36,500 : Ross Friedman : 1
$36,500 : Matt Walker : 1
$35,125 : Kyle Hyland : 1
$35,125 : Daniel Withrow : 1
$35,125 : Shawn Sloan : 1
$35,125 : Drew Beckie : 1
$33,750 : Aubrey Perry : 1
$33,750 : Kirk Urso : 1
$32,600 : Ben Sippola : 1
$32,600 : Alex Riggs : 1
$32,600 : Santiago Prim : 1

Meram, Trapp Rewarded

Earlier this year both Justin Meram and Wil Trapp signed new contract deals that, under today's MLS roster rules, ensures they remain under the $480k max budget hit range. Details, of course, are not exactly known but it's understood that allocation money was used to buy down the player deals to prevent them from becoming "Designated Players." (Teams are only allowed three.)

In many ways, this is a reward for the two players for being above average performers since Gregg Berhalter's arrival. Both of them were important ingredients in his first offseason that late laid the foundation for what the team became in the successful 2015 season.

Both are contributors in different ways and both deliver in key areas for the team. Meram provides a wicked attacking ability in Berhalter's system while Trapp provides stable defending and distribution from the back. Beyond those things, both check off many soft skill boxes like being a team player, leadership, and work ethic.

Strong parallels can be drawn between this contract event and what happened in Kansas City a few years ago with Graham Zusi and Matt Besler. The two of them were important parts of a complete re-branding event and helped guide the team to a couple of the best years in franchise history while earning calls up to the US Men's National Team.

That was about two years ago. There was some concern at when the deals were struck that paying high wages to them would mean the movement of other, less sellable, players. Turns out that it did happen and the team did/has struggled since (I looked at that > here).

History should always be a guide in these situations. Especially when these types of events happen within a restrictive salary capped league. By increasing two player wages as much as they did, and moving out a key midfielder, Sporting KC chose style over substance. Marketability over results and it burned them.

Will that happen here in Columbus? Will the team now be strapped for money for a few years to come because of Meram and Trapp contracts? Large pay increases for individual players often lead to contentment (Ethan Finlay a possible example in Columbus). But it's going to be difficult to track. Rapid expansion of MLS and ever-changing roster rules will make it nearly impossible to tell.

What we do know is that two players got improved wages. Always a good thing, especially in a league that is tight with money in regards to player wages. Especially organically formed talent.

Crew SC Salaries, 2010-16

Columbus Crew SC, Salaries 2010-16
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You can hover over to get player and guaranteed wage.

So Goes Ohio So Goes MLS

The MLS Players Union published their updated player wages document today. Not a whole lot of surprises since they just released it a few month's ago. This one does include some of the secondary window players. Now that rosters are locked the list carries a little bit more meaning.

High-level bullet points:

• Median Team wages up two million in two years (+50%)
• Toronto, LA, NYCFC, Seattle, Orlando biggest spenders (10m-23m)
• Rest of league remains in the 5-6 million $ range

Not a whole lot of surprises on the Columbus Crew SC front other than Gaston Sauro is making close to $600k annually. A wage that puts him the top 5 in the league, defensively. It's likely prorated this year, but that's still a hefty bill. Under Gregg Berhalter, the Crew have spent big on center backs.

I've gone over these wage lists dozens of times over the past few years and there's not much that surprises me anymore. I did discover that Columbus almost always matches the league median, as far as median guaranteed salaries go.

Just as the age old political saying goes, I guess. So goes Ohio, so goes the country.

Here's the full list of Crew players:

1,175,000 - Federico Higuain
599,513 - Gaston Sauro
536,667 - Kei Kamara
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MLS TOP 10%
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334,167 - Jack McInerney
300,000 - Michael Parkhurst
262,500 - Emanuel Pogatetz
220,179 - Cedrick Mabwati
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MLS TOP QUARTILE
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195,000 - Tony Tchani
188,333 - Steve Clark
175,000 - Justin Meram
170,167 - Waylon Francis
150,000 - Harrison Afful
164,500 - Wil Trapp
142,500 - Ethan Finlay
119,438 - Kristinn Steindorsson
110,000 - Mohammed Saeid
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MLS MEDIAN
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99,667 - Tyson Wahl
90,000 - Hector Jimenez
87,802 - Chris Klute
80,417 - Ben Swanson
68,355 - Ben Speas
63,420 - Romain Gall
60,000 - Kevan George
60,000 - Matt Lampson
60,000 - Sagi Lev-Ari
60,000 - Aaron Schoenfeld
60,000 - Brad Stuver
60,000 - Chad Barson
52,500 - Sergio Campbell

MLS Wage Charts (2010-14)

Still messing around with team wages between the years 2010-14 that spin off the research I did for my post over at Massive Report. So, here is a few more charts and graphs to share. Top one is my favorite (box and whisker). I have it sorted by YE 2014 salaries.

• LA looks pretty
• New England' is interesting due to the Jermaine Jones signing
• Expansion teams are missing a year or two
• The filled in items show a trend down

You should be able to interact with the next couple a little. Not a whole lot here to sink your teeth into, but does well at painting a quick and informative picture of what's going on in regards to salaries.

MLS Wages by Team (2010-14) | Create infographics

MR Post: Wage Spend and Accomplishments

A post that started out as just trying to figure out what the Crew SC budget might be this year turned into a much bigger one about all spending in MLS. In it I try to tackle what an accomplishment in MLS actually is and (indirectly) how much it might cost to get there.

It was sort of built around a simple chart and didn't focus on the costs of winning trophies, which is where I wanted it to go. But it was turning into an essay and not a blog post. I touched on it though. Here it is again - average yearly salary it takes to win things in MLS - with some of the other values:

7,206,209 : Supporters' Shield Winner
6,000,435 : Supporters' Shield Runner up

3,619,256 : MLS Cup Winner
3,235,449 : MLS Cup Runner up

3,098,664 : Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Winner
4,216,233 : US Open Cup Runner up

That last one for USOC is driven by Seattle winning it three times in last five years and five different teams on the losing side.

Lastly, the most important one, really. How much it takes to win any of the above: $4,794,413. I've got the 2015 Crew SC budget around the $3.9mm level right now.

Anyhow, head on over to Massive Report to check it out.