Greg Maddux won 95 games with the Cubs before signing with the Braves. AP

Lost in the hysteria surrounding the Alex Rodriguez trade, Hall of Famer-to-be Greg Maddux quietly signed a three-year contract with the Chicago Cubs, becoming the last of the big-ticket free agents to sign this offseason.

Big ticket, of course, is just a manner of speaking these days.

This has been an awful, awful few months for many free agents, the second consecutive year that salaries for baseball's top stars have plummeted. While A-Rod still rakes in his $25 million a year -- he signed his contract in December of 2000 -- guys like Maddux have found baseball's bear market to be alarmingly brutal.

Maddux is as good an example as anyone of this new brand of baseball economics. Last year, he surprised the Atlanta Braves by accepting a one-year, $14.75 million arbitration offer. The year before that, he made $13.1 million.

This year, after the Braves got nowhere in early talks with his hard-driving agent, Scott Boras, Maddux hit the free-agent market. And it promptly hit back.

Nothing. For months. Nothing. It came down to Wednesday -- the day Cubs' pitchers and catchers reported to spring training in Arizona -- until Maddux found his deal. For more than $8 million less than the 289-game winner made with the Braves last season.

On the surface, Maddux's contract looks OK, at least for these lean times. It has been reported as a three-year, $24 million deal. But, in effect, it's two years for $15 million (he'll make $9 million in '05). The only way the third year kicks in is if Maddux totals 400 innings pitched over the next two seasons. He's been a durable pitcher -- he's been on the disabled list only once in his 18-year career -- but he does turn 38 in April.

Guys who have taken huge pay cuts are all over baseball. Outfielder Juan Gonzalez, who made $13 million last season, will make $4.5 million with  Kansas City. Raul Mondesi made $13 million last year, too, and he's still looking for a job (though he's reportedly close to signing with Pittsburgh). Roberto Alomar went from an $8 million paycheck in 2003 to $1 million this season with Arizona.

Infielder Tony Womack made $6 million last season. He signed a minor league contract with Boston for $300,000 this season. Ellis Burks made $7.1 million in '03. He signed a one-year, $750,000 deal with Boston.

Kevin Appier made $11.5 million in 2003 with Anaheim. Now he'll pitch for Kansas City for $300,000. He hasn't made that kind of chump change since his first go-round in K.C. in 1991.

Economist Andrew Zimbalist, the author of the 1992 book Baseball and Billions: A Probing Look Inside the Big Business of Our National Pastime, says free-agent salaries are down about 25 percent this offseason, after a drop of 15 percent the year before.

"The market's been soft," said Zimbalist, "and I think that's mostly a result of the new provisions in the collective bargaining agreement."

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That agreement, forged in August 2002, increased revenue sharing and placed a bigger penalty on teams who blew past a set payroll limit (call it the Yankee tax). Those are two mechanisms, in Zimbalist's view, that have put the brakes on runaway salaries.

Those aren't the only reasons that, say, Miguel Tejada recently signed a contract that averaged just $12 million with Baltimore, when his former Oakland teammate, Jason Giambi, got $5 million more per season by signing with the Yankees after 2001. But they are big ones.

Tejada, in fact, was one of the lucky ones. His $72 million deal was over six years, and those long-term deals have been awfully hard to come by. Insurance companies no longer want to assume the risk on long-term deals, so few clubs are willing to take a chance on them. Only seven players signed contracts for more than three years this offseason -- Tejada, Javier Vazquez, Keith Foulke, Bartolo Colon, Vladimir Guerrero, Ichiro Suzuki and Albert Pujols.

A deal like Tejada's or Guerrero's is considered top of the line in these times. Guerrero, one of the most sought-after talents in the game, signed a five-year deal for $70 million with the Angels. Still, those deals pale compared to contracts like Giambi's or the ones that Manny Ramirez (eight years, $160 million) or Carlos Delgado (four years, $68 million) signed before the 2001 season.

Gary Sheffield -- just another example of today's free-agent freeze -- had MVP numbers last season with Atlanta but squeaked only a three-year, $39 million commitment out of the New York Yankees.

Pitchers are not immune, either. After the 2000 season, lefty Mike Hampton signed an eight-year, $121 million deal (just more than $15 million a year) with  Colorado. Lefty Andy Pettitte signed with Houston for three years and $31.5 million earlier this offseason ($10.5 million a year).

Not everyone has taken a hit. Colon, the former` White Sox ace, made $8.25 million last season. He signed a four-year, $51 million contract with the Anaheim Angels (an average of $12.75 million). Pujols reportedly is getting $100 million for seven years. And there are many other lower-level free agents who got a bump in pay.

Whether all this translates to a better game -- whether it achieves the increased competitive balance that baseball officials aim for -- is still up for debate. The Yankees, remember, may start the season with a payroll around $190 million, some $70 million more than their bitter rivals, the Boston Red Sox. And the Milwaukee Brewers, remember, are still threatening a payroll down near $30 million. It's hard to be competitive with that kind of disparity in payroll. It's that payroll money, remember, that buys talent.

Yet there is increased hope around baseball. Prices for the best players are coming down. Teams like Kansas City are landing talents such as Gonzalez, a player the Royals could not have dreamed of affording a couple of years ago.

It could be good news. As long as one team doesn't buy everybody up.

John Donovan is a senior writer for SI.com.