$1.2 million. Or maybe $1.5 million. According to Ives Galarcep, the price Red Bull is paying for Markus Schopp, making him if not the top, then second from the top earner in MLS. Let us say it again. 1.2 (or 1.5) million dollars for Markus Schopp.

Meanwhile, Joe Vide and Jerrod Laventure are getting by on $11,700 a year. Before taxes.

We have nothing against Schopp; his pedigree in Europe is, if not extraordinary, better than any player currently in MLS sans his teammate Youri Djorkaeff. And if what we saw from Schopp in limited action in his first two matches is indicative of how his Metro career will go (his play, not the team's results), then that million plus could prove a wise investment, if you are concerned more about winning than the bottom line.

And of course, we care about winning, for after ten years of Metro fan suffering, how can we say no to a quality player? And with so many other MLS teams abusing the cap with some individual high salaries, who are we to complain? In fact, for the past few years, we've bitched how other teams (LA, Chivas, DC, etc) are getting preferential treatment while Metro got MLS's and AEG's proverbial shaft.

So we are not complaining. We are just incredibly surprised that the first player to break the bank for Metro since the days of Lothar Matthaus is Markus Schopp.

And again, nothing against Schopp, but it really amazes us, since when Bob Bradley asked MLS to throw him a bone and sign Djorkaeff before the 2005 season, they said no. So Bradley was forced to work within the cap, trading Ricardo Clark for an allocation that allowed him to sign Youri: a winner everywhere he went, one of the best, most creative European players of the past 10 years. What exactly has Schopp won? Could any of us have picked him out of a lineup prior to his coming to Metro? Will any pseudofan or "Eurosnob" come out to the stadium to see Markus Schopp?

Of course, Metro today is not Metro of Bradley's years. Metro now is owned by Red Bull, and Schopp came from Red Bull Salzburg, with the Austrian "sister club" picking up a huge chunk of Schopp's salary, loaning him out to Metro as he is only on the books for $200,000 or so in MLS salary cap money. Again, nothing to cry about. We just wonder where it goes from here.

For if rumors are to be believed, MLS will stabilize its salary cap exemptions for 2007. The "Beckham Rule" or not, they will likely allow teams more flexibility to sign players. And we just wonder if Red Bull goes out and fills the squad with more Schopps, and gets rid of Vides and Laventures.

And yes, in the short run, if it brings us a championship, we will aplaud and raise our hypothetical cans of Red Bull. But in MLS, where one bad game can knock you out of the playoffs, winning a championship is never a guarantee. What we are fearing is that Red Bull wants to turn Metro into the Cosmos. And for all the good and the excitement the Cosmos brought to the area and the sport, it eventually killed the NASL, and while we're not going to push the panic button at this point, Red Bull has to tread carefully not to do the same to MLS.

So one hopes that MLS sees that danger, and although looses its purse strings, does not go crazy. And one hopes that the Vides and Laventures are not squeezed out, but rather the millions of dollars that Red Bull and MLS looks willing to pour into players, they pour into their own players. There is talk how current MLS players don't care about the sport, don't make it their life, but it's very hard to do so on $11,700 a year. Even on $28,000, the minimum for full rostered players.

For Markus Schopp will come and go, but at the end it's the Vides and Laventures who will form the backbone of this league. And one hopes that when Metro finally raises that first championship, MLS Cup will be held up high not just by high-priced mercenaries, but also by the Vides and Laventures. Is that too much to hope for?