Breakdown: RSL, MLS salary numbers released by Players Union

As is tradition at this point, the MLS Players Union released 2018 salary numbers, and we’re breaking down some of the more interesting bits from Real Salt Lake’s numbers.

But first, let’s talk about what these numbers mean.

• These numbers don’t necessarily correlate to total compensation — so it’s not the gospel truth. There have been plenty of instances over the years where the numbers don’t reflect reality.
• These numbers absolutely don’t reflect salary budget impact. As a start, the salary cap includes percentages increased over salary, non-monetary compensation, potential bonuses, and the like.
• These numbers are really just a rough guide to who’s paid about how much.

Takeaways

• Alfredo Ortuno is sitting at a guaranteed compensation of $1,162,500 — a significant impact that answers some questions about how the club saw his potential impact. He’s RSL’s highest-paid player, and he’s played only three games, and even when fit, he hasn’t always made the bench. If he ends up being a bust, that’s significant.
• Damir Kreilach takes second place, making $1,013,333 in guaranteed compensation. He, however, has started every match, scored a goal, and netted two assists. It’s easy to see that his impact, while maybe not quite living up to his salary yet, is much closer to what we’d hope for from a million-dollar player.
• Albert Rusnak is scarily close to TAM territory, which makes me wonder if we’ll end up giving him a big pay raise. He’s been one of our most impactful players since his arrival, and I’d wonder if his salary will reflect that.
• Yura Movsisyan is still on the MLS books, of course. He’s registered to “Major League Soccer, L.L.C.” with $2,073,750 in guaranteed compensation. There’s no chance that Djurgardens is paying MLS that much for him, but it just makes us wonder about his salary.
• Danilo Acosta got a big raise, going from $65,000 to $100,000 — after his 2017, it’s clear he deserved a bump, so getting it shows well.
• Kyle Beckerman (35%), Demar Phillips (22%) and Nick Rimando (10%) all saw their salaries decrease, which makes sense given their age — it’s one way that MLS is necessarily different than non-salary-capped leagues and clubs.
• The club must have some faith in Jordan Allen, because he’s gone up 26 percent — he’s making $225,000. That’s almost certainly something that was set up in his contract previously, of course.
• Brooks Lennon’s non-loan numbers finally came through: $237,583, which is probably the most fun number of the lot.