ESPN's Buster Olney charts the decline in free-agent spending throughout baseball over the last two seasons. Except for the Yankees, of course.
Here's the table:
| Free-agent spending (past three offseasons) | |||
| 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
| Total | $1,655,595,000 | $1,066,800,000 | $984,932,500 |
| Yankees | $61,250,000 | $396,150,000 | $441,000,000 |
| Non-Yankees | $1,594,345,000 | $670,650,000 | $543,932,500 |
| $40M+ contracts | 12 | 7 | 5 |
When you take out the Yankees, the decline is even more severe. You also have to wonder about the sustainability of a system where one team can spend 45 percent of the free-agent dollars.