*Beware. MLS roster rules lie beyond this point.*
The MLS Players Association released its biannual player salary report today. And, like most things MLS, we have to give a few (a lot of) caveats before we actually dive into any of it.
First and foremost, all we really know here is that we know nothing. There aren’t any definite shapes here, only vague blobs that resemble shapes. You, dear reader, might be inclined to look solely at a player’s guaranteed compensation and have strong reactions to it. However, you have to remember, those numbers are often not even close to actual representations of how much a player “costs” to a team.
Remember, we’re talking about Arthur M. Blank money here. If you’re worried that a DP like Luiz Araujo is making too much money despite his underperformance since arriving, don’t be. Regardless of what he’s making, his actual budget charge counts the same as any other DP. Arthur will be fine financially.
You’ll see a lot of content around a team’s total salary spend and how teams like the Galaxy, Toronto and Atlanta are underperforming relative to their spend. Just remember, most of that spend is the salaries of three DPs. That doesn’t mean it’s good that those teams are riding the struggle bus right now. It just means it’s not as big an indicator of success as it would be in other, non-salary-capped leagues. And, to be fair to Atlanta right now, two of their three DPs are absolutely living up to their price tag. Considering Giorgos Giakoumakis has a DP budget charge of $651,250 (12.5% of the $5,210,000 salary cap) and Thiago Almada has a Young DP budget charge of $200,000 (3.8%), both are tremendously valuable.
Fortunately for us, it’s easy to quantify the success of a Designated Player. It’s also easy to quantify the success of U22s (Franco Ibarra, Santiago Sosa, Erik Lopez), who also have a budget charge of $200,000 regardless of salary. And, of course, it’s easy to assess the players in supplemental spots on the roster who don’t count against that $5,210,000 salary cap number.
For reference, here are all the roster designations and contract lengths (including option years) that Atlanta United released before the season.
Essentially, all you’re really worried about from the numbers released today is the middle of the roster. How much value you’re getting from the folks there can make or break a team.
Unfortunately, like I said earlier, we’ve only got vague approximations on most of this. But I’ve gone through the salary (and transfer fee if applicable) for each player in the middle of the roster to give my best guess at how much they’re counting against the salary cap and how much TAM the team might be using on each player.*
*Although, I should note that we have no real idea how much TAM a team actually has to use. Trades, totally undefined rules, and general MLSness make it impossible. Atlanta could be spending a huge chunk of their TAM on player salaries and have no space to add more TAM-level players in the summer window. Or, ya know, they could have plenty of space. Isn’t this fun?
Middle-of-the-roster budget charges (guesses)
I’ve got one more caveat here. Just remember that we can only use the guaranteed compensation given to us. In reality, the budget charge is based on the per-year average of the total salary over the length of the contract. Since we don’t know what that actually is, we’ll just use this year’s numbers.
Miles Robinson: $1,473,500 guaranteed compensation = Approximately $822,250 in TAM used to buy down to max budget charge of $651,250
Luis Abram: $695,977 guaranteed compensation, $81,500 additional charge based on reported transfer fee amortized over contract length = approximately $777,477 total budget charge, $126,227 in TAM used to buy down to max budget charge of $651,250
Mattheus Rossetto: $764,375 = Approximately $113,125 in TAM used to buy down to max budget charge of $651,250.
Brooks Lennon: $700,000 guaranteed compensation = Approximately $48,750 in TAM used to buy down to max budget charge of $651,250.
Derrick Etienne Jr.: $676,250 guaranteed compensation = Approximately $25,000 in TAM used to buy down to max budget charge of $651,250.
Juanjo Purata: Approximately $483,500 guaranteed compensation/budget charge (loan details unknown)
Ronald Hernandez: $375,000 guaranteed compensation, $266,666 additional charge based on reported transfer fee amortized over contract length (unclear how loan to Atlanta prior to transfer affects this) = approximately $641,666 budget charge
Brad Guzan: $612,500 guaranteed compensation/budget charge
Andrew Gutman: $381,250 guaranteed compensation/budget charge
Quentin Westberg: $200,000 guaranteed compensation/budget charge
Miguel Berry: $135,000 guaranteed compensation/budget charge
Ozzie Alonso: $88,200 guaranteed compensation/budget charge
Takeaways
—The first thing I’m going to guess everyone noticed is that Matheus Rossetto got a raise in his option year. It’s not ideal considering that, when healthy, Amar Sejdic has generally been the better choice to start as Atlanta’s No. 8. Remember, the club could have allowed Rossetto to move on at the end of 2022 but picked up his option.
—Atlanta is using around $812,500 worth of budget charge (and unknown TAM amounts) for two goalkeepers. That doesn’t count the supplemental roster spot they’re using on Clement Diop. On a spreadsheet, it’s just bad business in MLS. Especially when you look at previous shot-stopping numbers from the group and their numbers so far this season.
For comparison, Austin’s Brad Stuver is on $430k a year and New England’s Djordje Petrovic is on $450k. Those are the two most productive keepers in the league this year. There are obviously intangibles to consider with Atlanta’s keeper unit that make that a little more palatable, but it’s still tough to find many silver linings.
—Luis Abram and Ronald Hernandez aren’t producing relative to their price tag. Abram hasn’t really gotten his shot yet in Atlanta, but the little we’ve seen hasn’t been outstanding. Hernandez has been in Atlanta since 2021 and has made just 19 starts.
—Andrew Gutman is a steal.
—I’m just not sure Lennon is a TAM-level fullback but it’s not egregious for a player entering his prime age and that could potentially produce outstanding numbers if the pieces around him improve. Then again … I’m really not sure that’s worth TAM.
—Etienne Jr. has also not lived up to his price tag as of yet. But it’s a totally understandable deal for player coming off a nine-goal, six-assist season and, like Lennon, is entering his prime. Personally, I still feel like he’ll come good soon.
—Miles Robinson only has about $150k to go before he reaches a DP salary. This might be another hint as to what the contract he has on the table looks like (and why he hasn’t signed it.)
More caveats
Please do not take this as gospel. These are approximations at best. We’re lucky in Atlanta to be given a little more information than most teams and we still know very little. That’s more on the league than Atlanta.
Again, it's far from perfect. But it’s likely a good starting point that can help frame the discussions we have around player value and the work Atlanta United has to do to reshape this roster into an MLS Cup-caliber team.