The Shalrie Joseph era, if you can even call it that, is officially over. The Seattle Sounders did what we had all been expecting them to do all along, buying out their former Designated Player and freeing up whatever salary cap space he was scheduled to occupy. The formal announcement came about an hour before kickoff for Saturday's season-opener, but was surely finalized before then.

It is still unknown how much, exactly, Joseph was scheduled to make this season. But he had been scheduled to make about $600,000 before agreeing to restructure his contract, a move that allowed the Sounders to sign Clint Dempsey. When the last salary-data was released, it had Joseph making about $100,000 in guaranteed compensation. Assuming his contract was originally pro-rated over 12 months, he was probably paid about $390,000 last season, leaving the Sounders on the hook for at least $210,000 this season.

The Sounders said they were salary-cap compliant as of March 1, even without buying out Joseph. That suggests they still have a fair amount of cap space with which they can maneuver.