2018 RSL salary release: Baird outplaying salary; has Rusnak deal been finished?

The regularly scheduled MLS Players Association news drop has found its way into our collective hands today, so let’s take a look.

READ: MLS Players Association Salary Guide

There are two more broadly interesting points that come out of the regularly scheduled salary dump. We signed one player, Nedum Onuoha, and there were rumors of a new contract for Albert Rusnak.

• Nedum Onuoha is listed as making $219,000 in 2018 — that’s just about right as a TAM signing, as it would be the portion from September forward. That should put him somewhere around $800,000 guaranteed salary.
• Albert Rusnak’s base salary number hasn’t increased — at least not yet. Remember when Stu Holden broke news that Rusnak and RSL had agreed a new deal? It doesn’t appear that’s done yet, which would explain why we’ve heard basically nothing from the club on the deal. However, his total compensation jumped about $18,000, so I’m not really sure what that means.

A couple other things I think are interesting:

• Corey Baird is our lowest paid player — tied with Connor Sparrow. He’s also a good shout for MLS Rookie of the Year. He better get a new contract soon, because he’s making just $54,504 right now.
• Aaron Herrera and Nick Besler, who have played significant minutes in our defense, are making just $67,500.

As usual, some caveats:

• Don’t use these numbers — at least not precisely — as measures for the MLS salary cap. The CBA has all sorts of specifications about what goes into that, and it’s not just what’s in the player association number dump.
• Don’t even entirely trust these numbers. There have often been complaints about the salary dump not really being an accurate portrayal of the world, and that’s probably still the case.