ESPN.com has an AP article indicating that free agents aren’t signing for as much this year:

Why the drop-off?
Except for the 32-year-old Thome, all the big-name free agents were either over 35 or coming off injuries. Teams are putting more players on the market, refusing to give contracts to 46 players by the Dec. 20 tender deadline, up from 34 last year and 27 two years ago.

Supply and demand. The more players that become free agents every year, the less you have to compete to get a player. Charlie Finley realized this back in the 1970’s, when he wanted baseball to grant free agency to all players every year (each player would have a one-year contract). Unfortunately, he was the wrong messenger, and baseball set up a system that would lead to the free-agent price spiral.