MLS released its 2011 player salaries yesterday. Before looking at them, I thought I would try to make my list of who should be the highest paid on the team (of course this comes with some knowledge of the 2010 salaries). I think any discussion regarding salaries starts with the value of the player. Kasey Keller is obviously the most valuable - not just on the field, but in the locker room and in the community. He is be the alpha-male of the team. Next come Ozzie Alonso, Steve Zakuani and Fredy Montero. We all know my love of Ozzie, but I think as a result of his position, Fredy will get paid more money - the fact is, forwards are sexier than defensive midfielders. To me, those are the four alpha males of the team - the three guys, who as Mike Lombardi would say, you would give the car keys to if you were all driving somewhere together.
After that, I think there are some tiers. Jeff Parke, Pat Ianni, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Brad Evans and, on potential alone, Alvaro Fernandez makes up the second tier. How they are paid doesn't really matter to me as long as their are comparable. In the next tier are the guys who are replaceable - James Riley, Leo Gonzalez, O'Brian White and Nate Jaqua. In the final tier are rookies and bench players...these salaries should obviously be dependent on length of service. For instance, Roger Levesque, Zach Scott and Taylor Graham should be getting paid more than Servando Carrasco, Michael Seamon and Mike Fucito.
There are obviously other reasons why some guys get bumped up and some get bumped down...some have to do with potential. Some have to do with length of service in MLS (notice I didn't mention Erik Friberg or Mauro Rosales as I really have know idea where they should be considering their resume in other leagues). Others get raises for reason that are simply unknown to me.
Whatever the reason behind the individual salaries, I know one thing: managing a team's salary ca is difficult because payer salaries are a big deal. Look no further than the Beckham Experience for insight into how MLS veterans felt when a highly paid player came stateside. Ultimately it was all about respect - most Galaxy players respected Beckham at first, but when they found out that he wasn't invested in the league (ie - was being lazy on the pitch) and that he couldn't connect with the average player, they started to resent him. In Seattle, Freddie Ljungberg brought us instant credibility, but it was obvious to most of the fan base that he was not the alpha-male and was being grossly overpaid. It wasn't until he left that you really got the sense that the team liked each other.
The simple rule is this: pay your best player the most money. If you bring in another star player, don't play himmore unless he is better than everyone you already have. This was a problem in Toronto when the Reds brought home Canadian National Team star Julian DeGuzman from Europe and paid him more than Dwayne DeRosario, 2-time MLS MVP and 4-time MLS champion. The thought of bringing someone of DeGuzman's pedigree back home was one Toronto could not pass up. The problem was that they didn't consider how it would effect DeRo - a decision they paid for.
So with that being said, let's get to looking at the salaries. I will link to Josh Meyers Times' blog which compares the 2010 to 2011 salaries. So let's get to it.
Tier 1 - Over $200k
1. Fredy Montero leads the way with an annual salary (I'm talking guaranteed annual compensation) of $636k, up from $180k last year. While he is not the most valuable player to the team, I think it is fair given that Keller won't be here next year and clearly gave up money to stay. Montero's potential is far too great to let him leave. Overall, I think it is fair.
2. Alvaro Fernandez is second on the team with an annual salary of $366k which I'm pretty sure is due solely to his transfer fee. He might live up to this billing in the future, but as of right now, he is certainly not worth the second highest team contract.
3. Kasey Keller took a pay cut of $50k in order to stay in Seattle for one last year. Ever since he joined Sounders FC in 2009 he was underpaid which really should make fans respect him even more. He has said that he wanted to get paid like a professional, but knew he wanted to be here and help the team win. He has done that not just in the goal, but off the field as well.
4. Nate Jaqua is clearly the most overpaid player on the team at $211k. Look, I love Jaqua as much as any other fan, but the fact is that he doesn't deserve to be paid over $200k a year. When he signed with Seattle, he had just come back from Europe and then contributed 9 goals in 2009. He was compensated well, but has never reached that level again.
Tier 2 - $125k to $200k
5. Steve Zakuani has a base salary of only $90 but is guaranteed $188k (which includes signing bonus and marketing bucks), not a bad salary for a third year pro.
6. O'Brian White is a guy who is benefiting from when he was born. Had he been born 5 years earlier he would not be getting $147k a year, but luckily for him, he came along during a time of league-wide salary growth. For the first few games he was showing that he deserved it, but now with his injury it makes us all reconsider.
7. Brad Evans and Ozzie Alonso are both getting paid $140k which I personally think is more than appropriate. When you get down to it, I think Ozzie deserves more than Evans, but considering he just got a $73k raise, I think you won't hear any complaints from the Cuban Bulldog.
8. Jeff Parke and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado are both getting paid $136 which again I personally think is more than appropriate. This time last year I would have disagreed, considering that El Presidente was getting looks from Europe and Parke was just coming off a season in the USL, but right now they are equals.
Tier 3 - $75k to $125k
9. Leo Gonzalez and Erik Friberg both earn $110k a year. In relation to others I have no problem as they are in the correct slot in the pecking order.
10. James Riley earned himself a nice little $27k raise, bringing his salary up to a manageable $97k a year. Even though my boy Irish Mike LOVES to kill his boy Riley, I think his durability earns him this salary. If anything I think he deserves more than Leo, but is hampered by the fact that he is American.
11. Pat Noonan, by way of his long MLS resume is getting $96k, a gross over payment for a man who can barely play in reserve games.
12. Pat Ianni is the last of the potential starters on the list, earning $85k a year, which I think is a little lower than he deserves.
13. Michael Tetteh is earning $77k a year due to his Generation Adidas signing. He has yet to play in a league game, but I am not ready call him a bust yet. In fact, I think Sigi might just be keeping him down to make sure he doesn't graduate from being a GA so that he remains off our salary cap for another year.
Tier 4- Rookies and Back-ups
Taylor Graham is the alpha-male of back-ups (according to salary alone) with $60k. Considering all he does is provide Spanish translation and show up at charity events, I don't think he can be complaining. All the remaining guys earn in the $30k-$40k range which is really low for a professional athlete. Still, you have to give the likes of Roger Levesque, Zach Scott, Lamar Neagle and Mike Fucito credit though - they could totally earn more money in a 9-5er, but they love playing the game and realize how lucky they are to do it for a living. The one surprise is Mauro Rosales though, who is also earning $42k. This is by far the steal of the year although I'm not sure whether he has any sort of incentive clauses.
Conclusion
Overall, I think this team is constructed well. The only glaring problem I see are Jaqua and White being 4th and 6th highest paid. El Flaco had just come off starting a game in the World Cup, a feet no other Sounders player (besides Nkufo) could point to on his resume...so I'm not sure you can argue it. We also know that pat Noonan is getting grossly overpaid, but he is luckily canceled out by Rosales who is getting underpaid. So overall, pretty good if you ask me.
***
Some other salaries from around the league:
-Former Sounders Tyrone Marshall took a HUGE paycut is now earning $83k, down from $169k last year. I'm sure he had to eat some humble pie seeing that he is a 10+ year veteran in the league, but at least he still has a job.
-Other former Sounders Seba LeToux, Nathan Sturgis and Sanna Nyassi are earning $179k, $89k and $42k respectively.
-The 7 members of the millionaires club are David Beckham ($6.5m), Thierry Henry ($5.6m), Rafa Marquez ($4.6m), Landon Donovan ($2.3m), Nery Castillo ($2.0m), Julian deGuzman ($1.9m) and Juan Pablo Angel ($1.3m).
-Finally, the highest paid players on each team are: Castillo (CHI), Heath Pearce (CHV), Andres Mendoza (CLB), Conor Casey (COL), David Ferreira (FCD), Branko Boskovic (DCU), Brian Ching (HOU), Davy Arnaud (SKC), Beckham (LA), Shalrie Joseph (NE), Henry (NY), Faryd Mondragon (PHI), Troy Perkins (PTL), Javier Morales (RSL), Bobby Convey (SJ), DeGuzman (TFC), Eric Hassli (VAN). You can figure out for yourself whether they deserve their statues.
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