Actually, if you compare the value of A-Roid's, quarter billion dollar Texas contract to whatever the largest contract had been to that date, giving out $1 billion dollar contracts in 2016 may work out to a proportionately comparable increase over the 2016 status quo.
And I'd rather give $1 billion to Strassburg, who already has pitched half as many 14 or more strikeout, 9 inning games in half a season in the majors as Sandy Koufax did in a decade, than give $120 million to Jason Werth and $70 million to Nancy Drew.