Nightengale: Teams learn to be frugal in offseason

• Thanks to A-Rod, Crawford contracts, free agents are finding the going tough
• No free agent has received more than a three-year deal, except Upton and Pagan
• Red Sox GM: "There's been a preference to try and keep the deals shorter"

NASHVILLE -- It's like walking into a honky-tonk on these downtown streets and finding Diddy on the banjo and Jay-Z on the keyboard.

A bizarre phenomenon has taken over this town, leaving baseball agents scratching their heads and team owners sleeping a whole lot easier at night.

There have been dozens of free agents who have agreed to contracts this offseason, but except for center fielders B.J. Upton and Angel Pagan, not a one has received more than a three-year deal. Call it the Alex Rodriguez and Carl Crawford tutorials.

Teams are adopting the philosophy that it's fine to overpay their players, but in return for the extra loot you'll have less years of security.

It's why Shane Victorino is being grossly overpaid at $13 million a year. But instead of the five-year deal he sought, the Boston Red Sox signed him for three years.

Texas Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton might be the most talented player on the planet, but he won't be getting anything more than a four-year deal from the Rangers to stay, a high-ranking Rangers executive told USA TODAY Sports.

The executive spoke on condition of anonymity because contract talks are ongoing.

R.A. Dickey might have won a Cy Young Award with the New York Mets, but the Mets aren't budging, refusing to offer more than a two-year extension.

"There's been a preference to try and keep the deals shorter," Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said. "In order to do that, we may have to use a little bit of our yearly flexibility to get it accomplished."

Voila! The team that signed first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and Crawford to seven-year contracts worth a total of $296million two years ago are abandoning their drivers on the tee box and going with their short game. They signed first baseman-catcher Mike Napoli and Victorino to three-year, $39million deals.

It is the new unwritten Economics 101 philosophy.

Several high-profile agents told USA TODAY Sports that teams have become scared committing to long-term contracts and have adopted a new way of approaching free agency.

The horror stories of the Yankees still owing Rodriguez $114 million over the next five years while Crawford has $108.5 million left in the final five years of his deal has executives petrified they could be saddled with similar millstones.

You know the baseball world has been turned upside down when the Yankees, after being outbid by the Pittsburgh Pirates for catcher Russell Martin, can't even afford to sign Jeff Keppinger or Eric Chavez. It's outrageous enough that the Yankees actually were coveting these guys.

Keppinger agreed to a three-year, $12 million deal with the Chicago White Sox and Chavez got a one-year, $3 million deal from the Arizona Diamondbacks.

What's next, the Yankees qualifying for revenue sharing?

General manager Brian Cashman politely declined to comment about their approach Wednesday, but power agent Scott Boras did the talking for him, along with everyone else in his own state-of-address to news reporters.

"(Cashman) is not on a lot of players that he liked," said Boras, who met with him earlier. "He'd like to be in on more, but right now he is working with ownership to see where he can go. …

"The model to be a Goliath is totally different than the approach they're taking. They're reducing their payroll despite record revenues in the $800-$900 million area."

Certainly, agents say, it's too early to call it the wave of the future. Zack Greinke might get a seven-year deal that's the richest ever for a pitcher.

Starter Anibal Sanchez already has a slew of five-year offers. There's a better chance of Boras becoming the next baseball commissioner than letting his center-field client, Michael Bourn, sign for less than five years.

"It's a 'Laissez-faire market,'" Boras says. "These markets work like your pants. You put on the bottom first, and then pull them up."

There's no doubt baseball is thriving, with revenues projected to exceed $8 billion, but maybe teams are getting wise. You might not always make the right choice in free agency, but if it's the wrong one, at least the embarrassment ends quicker.

Thank you, A-Rod. You too, Carl.