2009 Wizards Salaries

The MLS Players Union has released this years player salaries to the public. Overall, the minimum salary has improved to $20,000 with the majority of the players making at least $34,000. According to the list, the Wizards have the second lowest base salary, with $1.806 million. That is with the Wizards only currently having 22 of the 24 roster spots full. That is not counting recent signing, Santiago Hirsig, who is rumored to be making somewhere around the $200K mark. That leaves the Wizards with one roster spot left and three players fighting for it, in second round draft pick, Graham Zusi, one of the "winners" from last years open tryouts, Nelson Pizarro, and fourth round draft pick last year, Rauwshan McKenzie. Just based on the way the preseason has gone, one would think that Zusi is the favorite to grab that spot, but McKenzie is the only one of the three to appear on the Wizards roster on their website.

EDIT: Looking at the rosters again, the Wizards don't have any developmental players listed at all, minus their GA players. That means that one of the currently players on the list will likely need to be waived to make room for Hirsig on the roster. It also means the Wizards have two developmental roster spots to fill, which means that one of Zusi, Pizarro, and McKenzie will not make the team this year it would appear. This is all contingent on whether or not the Wizards put Kronberg and Myers who will miss the start of the season on IR or not. If they don't, then all 4 of those players will be on the roster without anyone getting cut.

As for the rest of the roster, here are the salaries for the rest of the players. The base salary is listed first, followed by the gauranteed compensation.

Davy Arnud $220,000.00 $228,750.00
Matt Besler $36,000.00 $47,250.00
Jimmy Conrad $213,750.00 $225,000.00
Adam Cristman $34,650.00 $34,650.00
Roger Espinoza $70,000.00 $103,750.00
Herculez Gomez $54,408.38 $54,408.38
Michael Harrington $64,560.00 $82,060.00
Kevin Hartman $165,000.00 $165,000.00
Aaron Hohlbein $34,650.00 $34,650.00
Jack Jewsbury $130,000.00 $139,125.00
Michael Kraus $34,000.00 $34,000.00
Eric Kronberg $34,650.00 $34,650.00
Jonathan Leahters $34,000.00 $34,000.00
Claudio Lopez $180,000.00 $180,000.00
Matt Marquess $34,000.00 $34,000.00
Kurt Morsink $34,650.00 $34,650.00
Chance Myers $70,000.00 $130,000.00
Boris Pardo $34,000.00 $34,000.00
Kevin Souter $34,000.00 $34,000.00
Abe Thompson $60,000.00 $63,625.00
Lance Watson $34,000.00 $34,000.00
Josh Wolff $200,004.00 $200,004.00

Some notes about the salaries. Davy Arnaud is now the highest paid Wizards player making $220,000 in base salary this year. Last years highest paid player, Claudio Lopez is earning 4 tims less against the cap this year, with only $180,000. It looks like even with the addition of Hirsig and whoever else takes a roster spot, the Wizards will have quite a bit of cap room left heading into this season.