Just when you thought it was safe to spend $18 million a year for five years of a great player, the price structure of contracts for very-good players just went through the roof.

With Jayson Werth signing on the dotted line of the Washington Nationals for $126 million over 7 years ($18 per) and Adrian Gonzalez slowing a trade to the Red Sox with a demand for 8 years at Mark Teixeira money ($22 million+ per), the price for Adrian Beltre and Carl Crawford just increased. Beltre looks certain to get a Torii Hunter sized 5 years at $18 million per and Crawford may get $160 million over 8 years ($20 per).

It is not that this is too rich for LAanaheim's blood. Arte Moreno can afford a big investment, especially past 2011 when over $40 million+ in contracts comes off the books (Scott Kazmir, Gary Matthews Jr., Juan Rivera, Joel Pineiro, Fernando Rodney), but everyone else in baseballville knows that the price for this offseasons' s top shelf talent just got higher.

The method that hardcore fans use to analyze a contract's worth may be the first casualty of 2011... has inflation beaten Ben Bernanke to the ballgame?