MLS Players Union Releases New Salary Numbers; No Big Surprises from Portland Timbers

Each year the Major League Soccer Players Union releases the salaries of every player in the league and this year is no different. With the new CBA recently ratified by the players, the MLSPU have once again given us their take on the players' salaries.

These numbers are always contested by management and some salaries are definitely more accurate to what a player is being paid than others, but this is the best baseline that we will get.

So, without any further ado, the Portland Timbers' salaries:

You can find the rest of the league's salaries here.

Looking at the Timbers there are not too many surprises here. There are the expected raises for a number of players, particularly those at the lower end of the pay scale who had their salaries bumped up by as much as 40% to meet the new minimum.

The team's new arrivals, by and large, seem to be on relatively thrifty salaries, with Jeanderson and Dairon Asprilla both coming in on senior minimum contracts, and Adam Kwarasey being listed at $260,000: the same amount that Donovan Rickets was listed at in 2014. Andy Thoma and Nick Besler, both of whom signed with MLS before the 2015 Superdraft, are both slightly over the senior minimum, while Anthony Manning is on a baseline $50,000 contract.

Sticking out in all of this are the Timbers' centerbacks. With Liam Ridgewell making designated player money -- listed at $1,000,000 this year, down from $1,200,000 last year -- and Nat Borchers and Norberto Paparatto making $245,000 and $120,000 this year respectively, the Timbers have clearly decided to invest in their defense. The one fantastic deal for the Timbers' back line in pure monetary terms appears to be Alvas Powell, who is listed as making just over the senior minimum this year.