When players get better at the game, sometimes it’s bad for the game. The biggest players in Major League Baseball — the owners — are getting very good right now.

For the second consecutive winter, baseball’s free-agent market is swooning. Marquee sluggers like Mannie Machado and Bryce Harper were still unsigned as we went to press, and not because they’re dragging along owners in a fierce bidding war. The market for baseball talent is cooling off all around.