Philadelphia Union 2015 player salaries as of September 15

The closing of Major League Soccer's summer transfer window and the leaguewide roster freeze a few days later meant it was time for another round of leaguewide salary data. Earlier this week, the MLS Players Union released those numbers, and here's my analysis of what they mean.

You will see four numbers listed next to each name: base salary, guaranteed compensation, and (where applicable) the changes in each figure from the previous release in July.

GK Andre Blake: $85,000.00 / $123,000.00 (no change) ¹
GK John McCarthy: $60,000.00 / $66,250.00 (+$10,000 / +$10,000)
GK Brian Sylvestre: $60,000.00 / $60,000.00 (no change)

D Warren Creavealle: $108,500 / $119,000.00 (no change from previous salary with Toronto FC)
D Fabinho: $114,000.00 / $118,500.00 (no change)
D Raymon Gaddis: $130,000.00 / $132,500.00 (no change)
D Richard Marquez: $60,000.00 / $60,000.00 (no change)
D Steven Vítoria: $400,000.00 / $400,000.00 (no change)
D Ethan White: $125,000.00 / $125,000.00 (no change)

M Eric Ayuk Mbu: $50,000.00 / $50,000.00 (no change)
M Tranquillo Barnetta: $624,000.00 / $661,500.00 (first season in MLS) ²
M Eric Bird: $60,000.00 / $60,000.00 (no change)
M Fred: $60,000.00 / $60,000.00 (no change)
M Brian Carroll: $150,000.00 / $150,000.00 (no change)
M Maurice Edu: $700,000.00 / $768,750.00 (no change) ³
M Michael Lahoud: $108,900.00 / $112,233.33 (no change)
M Sébastien Le Toux: $275,000.00 / $285,228.13 (no change)
M Cristian Maidana: $203,500.00 / $217,250.00 (no change)
M Jimmy McLaughlin: $60,000.00 / $60,000.00 (no change) ⁴
M Vincent Nogueira: $330,000.00 / $330,000.00 (no change)
M Zach Pfeffer: $60,000.00 / $60,000.00 (no change) ⁴
M Andrew Wenger: $180,000.00 / $282,000.00 (no change)

F Fernando Aristeguieta: $350,004.00 / $350,004.00 (no change) ³
F Conor Casey: $180,000.00 $180,000.00 (no change)
F Dzenan Catic: $60,000.00 / $75,000.00 (first year in MLS)
F Antoine Hoppenot: $60,000.00 / $60,000.00 (no change)
F C.J. Sapong: $125,000.00 / $142,000.00 (no change)

1 - Generation Adidas
2 - Salary cap hit paid down with "Targeted Allocation Money"
3 - Designated Player
4 - Homegrown player

The MLSPU also lists the following players as tied to the Union, even though they are on loan to other clubs at this time:

D Austin Berry: $93,519.00 / $108,519.00 (no change, at FC Anyang of South Korea's second division)
M Danny Cruz: $125,000.00 / $131,666.67 (no change, at FK Bodø/Glimt of Norway's first-division Tippeligaen)
M Leo Fernandes: $60,000.00 / $60,000.00 (+$11,500.00 / +$11,500.00, at the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League)

Including the three loaned-out players, the Union's payroll comes in at $5,057,423.00 in base salary and $5,408,401.13 in guaranteed compensation. Excluding them, the numbers are $4,778,904.00 and $5,108,215.46, respectively.

You might have noticed that goalkeeper Zac MacMath, who's on loan to the Colorado Rapids, isn't listed with the other loanees. The MLSPU counts him as being on the Rapids' books, even though he is officially Philadephia's property. His salary is currently $130,000.00 / $130,000.00 - up from $120,000.00 / $120,000.00 earlier this year.

Before getting into this, another reminder that the numbers can include players loaned out by the clubs in question even if those players aren't officially on those clubs' rosters at the moment.

In addition to the money figures, there's a note on how much each club has moved within the rankings since the last salary data release.

1. Toronto FC: $19,761,936.96 / $22,136,512.03 (-$639,138.04 / -$638,054.71, no change)
2. Los Angeles Galaxy: $18,965,008.08 / $21,267,574.75 (+$145,000.00 / +$1,792,275.00, no change)
3. New York City FC: $16,922,421.04 / $17,414,267.89 (-$425,000.00 / -$446,100.00, no change)
4. Seattle Sounders: $11,434,048.00 / $13,288,443.30 (+$1,567,999.96 / +$1,920,062.46, up 1 place)
5. Orlando City: $10,388,355.00 / $11,290,004.11 (-$189,242.00 / -$188,783.67, down 1 place)

6. New England Revolution: $5,871,005.04 / $6,516,089.57 (-$50,000.04 / -$50,000.04, no change)
7. Montréal Impact: $5,467,536.92 / $6,301,786.93 (+$1,516,668.00 / +$1,965,001.33, up 10 places)
8. Portland Timbers: $5,748,125.08 / $6,052,908.41 (+$624,992.00 / +$739,992.00, up 3 places)
9. Vancouver Whitecaps: $5,221,615.04 / $5,954,844.71 (-$211,874.96 / -$195,381.96, down 1 place)
10. Sporting Kansas City: $5,453,500.04 / $5,885,126.47 (+$244,250.04 / +$274,150.04, down 1 place)

11. Chicago Fire: $5,389,775.00 / $5,843,613.53 (-$453,008.00 / -$498,174.67, down 4 places)
12. Columbus Crew: $5,296,983.52 / $5,745,122.37 (+$739,628.56 / +$820,107.73, up 2 places)
13. Real Salt Lake: $4,598,884.00 / $5,436,920.18 (+$710,000.00 / +$1,108,666.67, up 5 places)
14. Philadelphia Union: $5,057,423.00 / $5,057,423.00 (-$212,500.00 / -$520,978.13, down 4 places)
15. San Jose Earthquakes: $4,821,892.24 / $5,332,505.76 (+$264,000.00 / +$547,125.00, no change)

16. Houston Dynamo: $4,632,875.00 / $5,121,708.33 (+$128,000.00 / +$133,216.67, down 4 places)
17. Colorado Rapids: $4,655,492.04 / $5,050,908.71 (+$99,990.00 / +$110,990.00, down 4 places)
18. D.C. United: $3,791,509.00 / $4,286,763.83 (-$60,000.00 / -$63,000.00, down 2 places)
19. New York Red Bulls: $3,753,746.00 / $4,229,936.39 (+316,008.00 / +$345,708.00, up 1 place)
20. FC Dallas: $3,669,999.92 / $4,098,291.59 (no change / no change, down 1 place)

1. M Kaká, Orlando City: $6,660,000.00 / $7,167,500.00
2. F Sebastian Giovinco, Toronto FC: $5,600,000.00 / $7,115,555.67
3. M Michael Bradley, Toronto FC: $6,000,000.00 / $6,500,000.00
4. M Steven Gerrard, Los Angeles Galaxy: $6,200,004.00 / $6,332,504.00
5. M Frank Lampard, New York City FC: $6,000,000.00 / $6,000,000.00

6. M Giovani Dos Santos, Los Angeles Galaxy: $4,000,008.00 / $5,750,008.00
7. F David Villa, New York City FC: $5,610,000.00 / $5,610,000.00
8. F Jozy Altidore, Toronto FC: $4,750,000.00 / $4,750,000.00
9. F Clint Dempsey, Seattle Sounders: $3,913,008.00 / $4,605,941.50
10. F Robbie Keane, Los Angeles Galaxy: $4,500,000.00 / $4,500,000.00

11. M Jermaine Jones, New England Revolution: $2,800,000.00 / $3,052,500.00
12. F Obafemi Martins, Seattle Sounders: $2,400,000.00 / $3,000,000.00
13. M Andrea Pirlo, New York City FC: $2,000,004.00 / $2,315,694.00
14. F Didier Drogba, Montréal Impact: $1,666,668.00 / $2,166,668.00
15. D Omar Gonzalez, Los Angeles Galaxy: $1,200,000.00 / $1,450,000.00

16. M Pedro Morales, Vancouver Whitecaps: $1,190,000.00 / $1,410,900.00
17. F Innocent Emeghara, San Jose Earthquakes: $988,000.00 / $1,300,000.00
18. F Nelson Valdez, Seattle Sounders: $960,000.00 / $1,215,000.00
19. M Federico Higuaín, Columbus Crew: $1,175,000.00 / $1,175,000.00
20. F Kevin Doyle, Colorado Rapids: $1,125,000.00 / $1,170,000.00

21. D Liam Ridgewell: Portland Timbers $1,000,000.00 / $1,150,000.00
22. F Gilberto Junior: Chicago Fire $1,144,992.00 / $1,144,992.00
23. F Juan Manuel Martínez: Real Salt Lake $710,000.00 / $1,108,666.67
24. F Kennedy Igboananike: Chicago Fire $800,000.00 / $901,666.67
25. F Octavio Rivero, Vancouver Whitecaps: $890,850.00 / $890,850.00

You may recall that back in July, Maurice Edu came in at No. 26. He's now at No. 30, and Tranquillo Barnetta is at No. 39.

The highest-paid player who is not a Designated Player is Omar Gonzalez. His salary was paid down with the "Targeted Allocation Money" program that was introduced by MLS earlier this year. It allows teams to pay down DP cap hits in order to sign more big names.

By now you know that there are multiple age-based salary tiers for Designated Players. When counting the number of non-DPs who make more than a DP salary, I use the senior-level threshhold of $436,250, because it's just easier to explain things that way.

A total of 52 players earn more than the senior-level Designated Player threshhold in base salary. Nineteen are not DPs.

From what I can tell, eight players have had Targeted Allocation Money applied to their salary cap hits: González, Igboananike, Alonso, Barnetta, Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Fanendo Adi (Portland), Gaston Sauro (Columbus) and Roman Torres (Seattle). If there are others, please let me know and I'll add them to the list.

The other 11 players in that group of 19 are: Roger Espinoza (Kansas City), Mix Diskerud (New York City FC), Sacha Kljestan (New York Red Bulls), Kei Kamara (Columbus), Aurélien Collin (Orlando), Brek Shea (Orlando), Dom Dwyer (Kansas City), Álvaro Saborío (Real Salt Lake), José Gonçalves (New England), Mike Magee (Chicago) and Brad Davis (Houston),

With changes from the last round of data.

Overall expenditure: $151,767,143.96 / $167,569,743.03 (+$4,506,411.52 / +$7,907,687.85)

Total players: 574 (+8)

Mean (average) salary: $264,402.69 / $291,933.35 (+$4,224.72 / +$9,844.91)
Median (middle) salary: $100,000.00 / $112,000.00 (+$2,500.00 / -$279.00)
Mode (most common) salary: $60,000.00 / $60,000.00 (no change)

Minimum salary: $50,000 / $50,000, 29 players (no change on all counts)

Orlando and the New York Red Bulls are tied for the most players on the absolute minimum salary with four each. Seven players make barely above the minimum at $50,000.04 base and guaranteed.

As always, I save the end of these posts for players who often get overlooked.

League-wide goalkeeper pool

Trey Mitchell: $50,000.04 / $50,000.04

Union fans might remember that Mitchell was summoned to back up Brian Sylvestre for a game at Vancouver in May when Andre Blake and John McCarthy were injured.

Unsigned players

D Jhon Kennedy Hurtado: $230,000.00 / $230,000.00
D Tony Lochhead: $134,375.00 / $134,375.00

F Bright Dike: $60,638.00 / $64,388.00
F Schillo Tshuma: $85,000.00 / $123,000.00

Hurtado and Lochhead were most recently with Chivas USA. They have both been off the field since the end of the 2014 season. Dike was most recently with Toronto; he was loaned to the NASL's San Antonio Scorpions in April, then waived in August. Tshuma was most recently with Portland; he was waived in late July, then joined the USL's Arizona United.