Philadelphia Union 2017 player salaries as of April 15

The Major League Soccer Players Union has released the year's first batch of salary data. Now we know how much the Philadelphia Union's new signings, including Jay Simpson and Haris Medunjanin, are getting paid.

You can look back at past salary data sets here.

Each name is followed by up to four numbers: base salary, guaranteed compensation, and any change in each figure from the previous release last September.

GK Andre Blake: $148,500.00 / $186,500.00 (+$48,500.00 / +$48,500.00)
GK John McCarthy $86,500.00 / $95,750.00 (+$7,500.00 / +$7,500.00)
GK Jake McGuire: $53,004.00 / $53,004.00 (new signing)

D Jack Elliott: $53,004.00 / $53,004.00 (new)
D Fabinho: $159,759.00 / $167,759.00 (+$15,571.00 / +$17,571.00)
D Raymon Gaddis: $165,000.00 / $167,500.00 (+$15,000.00 / +$15,000.00)
D Aaron Jones: $53,004.00 / $53,004.00 (new)
D Richard Marquez: $133,000.00 / $139,430.00 (+$70,000.00 / +$70,030.00)
D Oguchi Onyewu: $65,004.00 / $65,004.00 (new)
D Keegan Rosenberry: $104,500.00 / $110,312.50 (+$42,000.00 / +$42,000.00)
D Ken Tribbett: $65,000.00 / $65,000.00 ($+13,500.00 / +$13,500.00)
D Auston Trusty: $75,000.00 / $104,100.00 (+$23,499.96 / +$23,499.66)¹
D Giliano Wijnaldum: $65,004.00 / $78,337.33 (new)
D Joshua Yaro: $130,000.00 / $194,000.00 (no change)

M Roland Alberg: $345,000.00 / $394,250.00 (+$17,000.00 / +$17,000.00)²
M Eric Ayuk: $65,625.00 / $65,625.00 (+$25.00 / +$25.00)
M Alejandro Bedoya: $1,131,000.00 / $1,197,250.00 (+$30,996.00 / +$30,996.00)³
M Brian Carroll: $132,000.00 / $140,000.00 (+$12,000.00 / +$12,000.00)
M Warren Creavalle: $125,000.00 / $138,000.00 (+$7,000.00 / $12,333.33)
M Maurice Edu: $750,000.00 / $818,750.00 (+$25,000.00 / +$25,000.00)³
M Marcus Epps: $53,004.00 / $53,004.00 (new)
M Fabian Herbers: $110,000.00 / $135,500.00 (+$10,000.00 / +$10,000.00)
M Ilsinho: $470,000.00 / $518,333.33 (+$40,000.00 / +$40,000.00)²
M Derrick Jones: $65,000.00 / $70,900.00 (+$13,496.00 / +$13,496.00)¹
M Haris Medunjanin: $460,008.00 / $505,008.00 (new)²
M Adam Najem: $65,000.04 / $65,000.04 (new)¹
M Fabrice "Fafa" Picault: $114,999.96 / $128,666.63
M Chris Pontius: $400,000.00 / $431,000.00 (+$20,000.00 / +$20,000.00)

F Charlie Davies: $108,960.00 / $114,684.94 (+$22.50 / +$1369.31)
F C.J. Sapong: $300,000.00 / $300,000.00 (+$75,000.00 / +$75,000.00)
F Jay Simpson: $465,000.00 / $508,333.33 (new)²

The Union's payroll totals $6,516,876.00 in base salary and $7,117,010.10 in base compensation.

Before getting into this, a 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: $20,153,697.00 / $22,478,565.27 (+$869,922.00 / +$948,765.04; no change)
2. New York City FC: $17,370,525.68 / $17,930,365.69 (-$3,419,650.86 / -$3,383,442.52; no change)
3. Orlando City: $12,382,053.80 / $13,219,199.70 (+$1,488,561.80 / $1,465,932.70; up 2 places)
4. Chicago Fire: $12,272,624.00 / $12,952,278.17 (+$8,270,028.00 / +$8,648,376.51; up 16 places)

5. Los Angeles Galaxy: $9,768,662.64 / $12,117,892.11 (-$6,260,337.32 / -$5,906,343.89; down 2 places)
6. Portland Timbers: $9,294,532.04 / $10,824,144.54 (+$2,871,879.08 / +$3,447,928.11; up 1 place)
7. Seattle Sounders: $9,052,852.89 / $10,372,300.48 (-$1,749,681.21 / -$2,073,014.54; down 3 places)

8. Atlanta United: $7,958,612.04 / $8,930,754.26 (n/a)
9. Vancouver Whitecaps: $7,040,366.08 / $8,079,371.07 (+$1,023,274.62 / $1,167,551.61; up 1 place)
10. Colorado Rapids: $7,254,748.75 / $8,040,619.75 (-$613,014.83 / -$622,167.92; down 4 places)
11. Real Salt Lake: $7,156,440.44 / $7,734,355.44 (+$1,564,924.52 / $1,487,865.02; up 3 places)

12. Philadelphia Union: $6,516,876.00 / $7,117,010.10 (+$709,914.46 / +$714,316.26; no change)
13. San Jose Earthquakes: $6,429,566.00 / $6,959,287.11 (-$42,350.92 / -$202,538.14; down 5 places)
14. New York Red Bulls: $6,313,982.00 / $6,895,186.17 (+$702,231.93 / +$577,981.93; down 1 place)
15. Columbus Crew: $6,345,232.48 / $6,747,544.99 (+$755,950.64 / +$873,475.65; up 2 places)
16. Sporting Kansas City: $6,365,856.00 / $6,730,358.78 (+$11,158.04 / -$110,362.29; down 5 places)

17. FC Dallas: $5,690,579.28 / $6,510,760.94 (+$1,581,793.32 / +$1,767,834.98; up 2 places)
18. New England Revolution: $5,406,993.25 / $5,800,118.33 (-$59,124.08 / -$78,244.92; down 2 places)
19. D.C. United: $4,812,135.44 / $5,272,447.94 (-$580,283.82 / -$788,717.83; down 4 places)
20. Minnesota United: $4,926,046.04 / $5,322,864.55 (n/a)
21. Montréal Impact: $4,995,921.08 / $5,215,855.89 (-$1,157,879.42 / -$1,746,652.95; down 12 places)
22. Houston Dynamo: $4,837,899.98 / $5,025,066.65 (-$7,185.50 -$79,102.16; down 4 places)

This year marks the first time since I've been tracking salary data (going back to 2007) that every club in MLS is spending at least $5 million on guaranteed salary. I can't prove that it's the first time in MLS history that this has happened, but the low mark back then was around $3 million. If anyone out there has earlier numbers, please let me know.

Portland's payroll figure includes Lucas Melano ($790,000.00 / $1,010,000.00), who is on loan to Argentine club Belgrano.

Montreal dropped the farthest, mainly because of Didier Drogba's departure. The club's books will likely look quite different when Designated Player midfielder Blerim Dzemaili arrives next month from Italian club Bologna.

As for the biggest riser of all, the Chicago Fire, you can probably guess what sparked their jump. If you can't, the answer is in the next segment.

In past years, I've listed the top 25 salaries leaguewide. This season is the first with more than 25 players making $1 million in guaranteed salary. There are 27 in all, or 28 if you include Melano. Here they are:

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 Andrea Pirlo, New York City FC: $5,600,000.00 / $5,915,690.00
5. F David Villa, New York City FC: $5,610,000.00 / $5,610,000.00

6. F Giovani Dos Santos, Los Angeles Galaxy: $3,750,000.00 / $5,500,000.00
7. M Bastian Schweinsteiger, Chicago Fire: $5,400,000.00 / $5,400,000.00
8. F Jozy Altidore, Toronto FC: $4,875,000.00 / $4,875,000.00
9. F Clint Dempsey, Seattle Sounders: $3,200,000.00 / $3,892,933.50
10. M Diego Valeri, Portland Timbers: $2,227,500.00 / $2,607,500.00

11. GK Tim Howard, Colorado: $2,000,000.00 / $2,475,000.00
12. M Miguel Almirón, Atlanta: $1,912,500.00 / $2,297,000.00
13. M Maximiliano Moralez, New York City FC: $2,000,000.04 / $2,000,000.04
14. M Romain Alessandrini, Los Angeles Galaxy: $1,669,400.64 / $1,999,400.64
15. F Yura Movsisyan, Real Salt Lake: $1,750,000.00 / $1,973,750.00

16. F Nemanja Nikolić, Chicago Fire: $1,700,000.04 / $1,906,333.37
17. F Fredy Montero, Vancouver Whitecaps: $1,400,000.04 / $1,800,000.04
18. M Nicolás Lodeiro, Seattle Sounders: $1,371,428.57 / $1,743,428.57
19. F Fanendo Adi, Portland Timbers: $1,190,004.00 / $1,736,254.00
20. F Shkëlzen Gashi, Colorado Rapids: $1,575,000.00 / $1,668,750.00

21. F Bradley Wright-Phillips, New York Red Bulls: $1,500,000.00 / $1,635,000.00
22. M Alejandro Bedoya, Philadelphia: $1,131,000.00 / $1,197,250.00
23. M Osvaldo Alonso, Seattle: $1,100,000.00 / $1,141,667.00
24. M Sebastián Blanco, Portland: $1,000,008.00 / $1,075,008.00
25. M Federico Higuaín, Columbus: $1,050,000.00 / $1,050,000.00

26. F Kevin Doyle, Colorado: $1,000,000.00 / $1,045,000.00
27. F Josef Martínez, Atlanta: $924,000.00 / $1,041,310.00
28. F Lucas Melano, Portland: $790,000.00 / $1,010,000.00

The highest-paid player who is not a Designated Player is Kevin Doyle. His salary cap hit is paid down with a very large amount of Targeted Allocation Money.

A total of 75 players earn more than the senior-level Designated Player threshhold of $480,625 in base salary. Within that group, 30 are not DPs, thanks to TAM and other ways MLS teams can fudge the books.

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, because it's just easier to explain things that way.

Seven of the 53 Designated Players across the board are classified as Young DPs, which means they are 23 or younger. They carry a lower payroll charge.

There is also the odd case of Montreal's Ignacio Piatti. The 32-year-old midfielder is a DP even though he officially earns $450,000 / $450,000. This is because spending on transfer fees counts toward DP status, and the Impact paid one to acquire the Argentine playmaker from San Lorenzo.

You'll also find some people, including ESPN's Taylor Twellman, who believe that Piatti is in fact making more than what's listed.

With changes from the last round of data.

Overall expenditure: $182,938,285.91 / $200,901,764.26 (+$18,562,335.53 / +$19,851,356.46)

Total players: 616 (+61)

The increases aren't surprising, since MLS expanded by two teams this year. But it's still worth noting that this is the first time the leaguewide payroll has risen above $200 million.

Mean (average) salary: $296,977.74 / $326,139.23 (+$16,472.71 / +$17,179.49)
Median (middle) salary: $125,000.00 / $135,002.00 (+$20,000.00 / +$18,702.00)

The new mean is a record high for base salary and guaranteed compensation, surpassing May 2016's $290,245.66 / $316,768.32.

The new median is a record high, surpassing May 2016's $107,887.50 / $116,833.34.

Mode (most common) salary: $53,004.00 / $53,004.00 (-$9,996.00 -$9,996.00)
Lowest salary: $52,999.92 / $52,999.92

Two players make the absolute minimum: Seattle's Nouhou Tolo and New York City's Sean Okoli.

For conversational purposes, we might as well call the mode $53,000.00 / $53,000.00, which is the minimum salary for this year in the collective bargaining agreement. Fifty-one players make that figure or within a few dollars of it.

Four of those 51 are on the Union's roster: Jack Elliott, Marcus Epps, Aaron Jones and Jake McGuire. Three teams have five minimum-salary players on their roster: Houston, Kansas City and Seattle. Another three teams have just one minimum-salary player on their roster: Chicago, Montreal and New England.

As always, I save the end of these posts for players who spend the least time in the spotlight.

League-wide goalkeeper pool

Billy Heavner: $53,004.00 / $53,004.00

The 23-year-old signed with Minnesota United in preseason, but didn't stick on the roster.

Unsigned players

D David Mateos: $420,000.00 $453,333.33
F Mo Babouli: $54,075.00 $54,075.00

Mateos was with Orlando City until being waived in March of this year. He had been with the club since July of 2015.

Babouli is a Toronto FC academy product who joined the senior club as a homegrown player in May of last year. He was waived earlier this month.

Here are the latest versions of the charts I use to show key MLS salary metrics and changes over time. I've removed the data from earlier this year, as I try to keep consistency across years by using only the last dataset issued each season.