O'Brian White: $182,000.00
Maxim Usanov: $102,250.00
Martin Saric: $90,000.00
Gabe Gala: 40,000.00
Ravis Hscanovics: $120,250.00
Mista: $167,000.00
That's $701,500. Add to that Ali Gerba's cap hit ($177,433.50), which the team ate last year, at least half of Carl Robinson's number ($157,500 - although I think it was higher) and a big part or all of Nick Garcia's (let's be liberal and say they bring him back for $70,000 - that knocks $128,750 off the books). Suddenly Toronto is looking like it took about $1,165,183.50 off of its wage bill today.
The other way to think about it is that they have about $1,504,816.50 to spend on players. Plus allocation, of which they will receive some additional as part of what's charmingly referred to by MLS fans as the You Suck allocation (non playoff teams).
This is a lot of money -- especially in MLS terms. You might want to give a bump to guys like Nana Attakora and Dan Gargan, but that will barely register. Basically, there are no excuses. The cap is no longer an issue. The bad contracts are gone. Mo Johnston was fired a couple months ago. His legacy was erased today.
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What's interesting is that clubs like New York and LA have a lot tied up on the cap right now. When you're talking about competing for European transfers Toronto might be up against some less sexy opposition than it would have been a year or so ago. Columbus is shedding payroll as well and the two expansion sides have lots to spend. However, for the most part Toronto is sitting in a good place.
In the past, TFC has struggled a great deal in attracting transfers. The ones they have brought over have been overpriced and often arrive too close to the season. With the amount of money shed today there is no excuse for TFC not to aggressively go after players and to make sure they are with the club come training camp. Those that argue that the club should wait to a full-time GM is named should re-think. The guys there now were smart enough to fix Mo's mistakes today. A Reds fan has no choice but to trust that they will be smart enough to start the re-build now.
New York did it in a year. L.A. did it in a year the year previous. It can be done.
It's up to the club now to prove that Toronto can follow suit.