Did Manny and Dunn just get cheaper?  Selig recently brought in an economic bogeyman to talk to the owners about what the recession means to them.  The bogeyman is Paul Volcker, an economic giant both literally (6'7") and figuratively (often credited with stemming the hyper-inflation of the early '80s, now an advisor to Obama).  The details of the talk are unclear but attendees said that "his assessment was not upbeat." 

Selig, like Peter Ueberroth 20 years ago, is probably trying to "protect" the owners against themselves by pressuring them to keep free agency offers down.  Ueberroth managed to make it work but baseball paid a heavy price, ultimately paying the Union $280 million as a result of arbitration decisions finding that the league had violated the CBA.  By using Volcker Selig avoids the appearance of issuing a direct order to the owners, but the Players' Union may see it differently depending on how the winter shakes out.