Philadelphia Union 2012 player salaries as of August 1

Now that Major League Soccer's summer transfer window has closed, the MLS Players Union has published its latest list of player salaries across the league.

You can read the entire list of salaries leaguewide by clicking here.

These are the Union's numbers. The first figure is base salary and the second is guaranteed compensation.

Freddy Adu: $400,000.00 / $519,000.00 ¹
Chris Albright: $55,000.00 / $55,000.00
Brian Carroll: $168,000.00 / $168,000.00
Keon Daniel: $55,000.00 / $59,410.00

Amobi Okugo: $90,000.00 / $173,000.00 ³
Lionard Pajoy: $180,000.00 / $195,000.00
Jorge Perlaza: $100,000.00 / $115,000.00
Zach Pfeffer: $60,000.00 / $70,000.00 ²

Bakary Soumaré: $240,000.00 / $280,000.00
Roger Torres: $116,160.00 / $119,285.00
Carlos Valdés: $268,000.00 / $268,000.00
Sheanon Williams: $85,000.00 / $90,500.00
Kristian Witkowski: $44,000.04 / $ 44,000.04

1 - Designated Player
2 - Homegrown Player, does not count against salary cap
3 - Generation Adidas member, does not count against the salary cap

If you're wondering whether any salary figures have changed since the last numbers were published in May, don't bother. No Union player who was under contract with the team when the season started has seen a change in salary since then. That isn't especially surprising.

There have been some new names added to the payroll, though. We now know that Jorge Perlaza - who was acquired in the trade that sent Danny Mwanga to Portland - is making $100,000 in base alary and $115,000 in guaranteed compensation.

We also now know how much money it took for the Union to bring central defender Bakary Soumaré back from Europe. The Malian international is on a base salary of $240,000, with a guaranteed compensation figure of $280,000.

In total, the Union are paying out $3,041,006.08 in base salary and $3,559,810.25 in guaranteed compensation.

Here's how the Union's overall payroll compares to the rest of MLS. Teams are ranked by guaranteed compensation:

1. New York Red Bulls: $12,242,557.54 / $13,008,545.88
2. Los Angeles Galaxy: $10,657,821.00 / $12,527,881.45
3. Toronto FC: $5,715,463.00 / $7,275,456.39
4. FC Dallas: $4,805,549.04 / $5,226,674.04

5. Vancouver Whitecaps: $4,355,665.96 / $4,964,652.45
6. Montréal Impact: $3,753,853.00 / $5,089,536.25
7. Portland Timbers: $3,747,116.00 / $4,471,377.29
8. Chicago Fire: $3,474,026.00 / $4,016,563.33

9. D.C. United: $3,298,675.20 / $3,879,556.33
10. Real Salt Lake: $3,206,785.00 / $3,577,995.25
11. Philadelphia Union: $3,041,006.08 / $3,559,810.25
12. Seattle Sounders: $3,081,781.00 / $3,491,310.65

13. Columbus Crew: $2,984,884.00 / $3,427,259.00
14. Colorado Rapids: $3,050,761.96 / $3,324,837.64
15. Sporting Kansas City: $2,884,657.00 / $3,210,874.37
16. Chivas USA: $2,579,728.00 / $3,193,841.64

17. New England Revolution: $2,772,009.96 / $3,144,578.75
18. San Jose Earthquakes: $2,638,078.25 / $2,925,244.99
19. Houston Dynamo: $2,554,916.00 / $2,901,341.87

Here are the top 25 salaries in MLS as a whole.

1. Thierry Henry, New York Red Bulls: $5,000,000.00 / $5,600,000.00
2. Rafael Márquez, New York Red Bulls: $4,600,000.00 / $4,600,000.00
3. David Beckham, Los Angeles Galaxy: $3,000,000.00 / $3,999,999.96
4. Robbie Keane, Los Angeles Galaxy: $2,917,241.00 / $3,417,242.75

5. Torsten Frings, Toronto FC: $2,000,000.00 / $2,413,666.67
6. Landon Donovan, Los Angeles Galaxy: $2,400,000.00 / $2,400,000.00
7. Marco Di Vaio, Montréal Impact: $1,000,008.00 / $1,937,508.00
8. Julian de Guzman, FC Dallas: $1,863,996.00 / $1,910,746.00

9. Danny Koevermans, Toronto FC: $1,150,000.00 / $1,563,323.33
10. Kris Boyd, Portland Timbers: $1,250,000.00 / $1,515,000.00
11. Kenny Miller, Vancouver Whitecaps: $1,221,816.00 / $1,239,316.00 ¹
12. Eric Hassli, Toronto FC: $550,000.00 / $790,000.00

17. Barry Robson, Vancouver Whitecaps: $439,999.92 / $596,499.92 ¹
18. Shalrie Joseph, Chivas USA: M $495,000.00 / $554,333.33
19. Freddy Adu, Philadelphia Union: $400,000.00 / $519,000.00
20. Hamdi Salihi, D.C. United: $305,460 / $487,460.00

21. Sherjill MacDonald, Chicago Fire: $360,000.00 / $487,125.00 ¹
22. Javier Morales, Real Salt Lake: $425,000.00 / $477,500.00
23. Benny Feilhaber, New England Revolution: $400,000.00 $446,000.00 ²
24. Álvaro Saborío, Real Salt Lake: $350,000.00 / $405,625.00 
25. Conor Casey, Colorado Rapids: $400,000.00 / $400,000.00 ²

1 - Miller, Robson and MacDonald are new signings from the summer transfer window. It's worth noting that the salaries of MLS' two newest Designated Players - New York Red Bulls midfielder Tim Cahill and Seattle Sounders midfielder Christian Tiffert - were not included in the players union's release.

2- De Rosario, Ángel, Feilhaber and Casey are the only players in the list above who are not officially classified as Designated Players. Although De Rosario clearly makes DP money, D.C. United is using allocation money to pay down his salary cap hit.

Excluding Cahill and Tiffert, we know that the salaries of eight Designated Players fall outside the top 25 leaguewide. They are:

27. Alvaro Fernández, Chicago Fire: $300,000.00 / $366,666.67 
70. Mauro Rosales, Seattle Sounders: $200,000.00 / $225,000.00
100. Diego Chará, Portland Timbers: $150,000.00 / $193,750.00
152. Óscar Boniek Garcia, Houston Dynamo: $120,000.00 / $151,250.00

193. Jerry Bengston, New England Revolution: $120,000.00 $120,000.00
320. Osvaldo Minda, Chivas USA: $50,000.00 / $68,750.00
367. Fábian Castillo, FC Dallas: $50,000 / $56,250.00

In total, 12 Designated Players have lower salaries than the highest-paid non-Designated Player.

Not on the list of DPs is one of the most famous new arrivals to MLS this year: Montréal Impact defender Alessandro Nesta. The AC Milan and Italian national team legend is not making a DP level salary this year (though he might next year, when he's under contract for a full season). Nesta's base salary for 2012 is $180,000.00, with a guaranteed compensation figure of $225,000.00.

Leaguewide, MLS is paying out $80,923,183.99 in base salary and $93,295,187.84 in guaranteed compensation to a total of 514 players. That includes two pool goalkeepers: Chris Sharpe ($44,100.00 / $44,100.00) and Steve Spangler ($33,750.00 / $33,750.00).

Here are some other noteworthy stats.

Mean (average) salary: $149,580.75 / $172,449.52
Median (statistical middle) salary: $72,050.00 / $84,000.00
Mode (most common) salary: $44,000.00 / $33,750.00

Highest salary: $5,000,000.00 / $5,600,000.00 (Thierry Henry, New York Red Bulls)
Lowest salary: $33,750.00 / $33,750.00 (40 players).

Among the players making the league minimum are:

- Philadelphia Union defender Raymon Gaddis, a second-round draft pick in 2012 who saw quite a bit of playing time before Peter Nowak's dismissal.

- Seattle Sounders goalkeeper Bryan Meredith, who played a lot recently with starter Michael Gspurning injured.

- New York Red Bulls starting goalkeeper Ryan Meara, who is among the leading candidates for Rookie of the Year.

- Red Bulls rising star midfielder Connor Lade, who has started 12 of the 15 games he has played this season (including a two-assist performance against the Union last month).

- Montréal Impact defender Jeb Brovsky, who has started 17 of the 18 games he has played this season. Brovsky was an expansion draft pick from Vancouver, and played in 24 games for the Whitecaps last year. He's still making the league minimum in his second season.

Looking at the full list, off the top of my head I'd say that at least a quarter of the players making the league minimum salary have played significant minutes this year.

It's also worth noting that four of the 40 players making the league minimum salary are homegrown: Lade, Montréal's Karl Ouimette, Toronto's Quillan Roberts and Vancouver's Bryan Sylvestre.

I'll leave it to you to judge whether it's a good thing that the mode guaranteed compensation figure at the moment is the league minimum.

You can certainly argue that it's a statistical quirk, since some players make more money than others even by just a few cents. You can also say that 7.78 percent of players in the league are making the mininum salary possible, and maybe that's higher than it should be.

Here's my take. It's not easy to live on such a salary in just about any major North American city - much less wealthy ones like New York, Toronto and Vancouver. There are plenty of Designated Players in MLS at this point, and plenty of players who get paid a solid six-figure sum.

But there are also a lot of guys whose salaries are closer to that of the average fan than that of the average professional athlete. For as much attention as we pay to MLS' big stars, it's worth keeping the league's lesser-known players in mind sometimes too.