The salaries of major league players on opening-day rosters are down 17 percent from last year, USA Today reports – the biggest dip since the newspaper started keeping track of baseball salaries in 1988.

The average player salary is $2.7 million in 2010, down from $3.2 million in 2009, according to the survey. According to documents from the players association, individual teams and the MLB headquarters, 14 teams start the year with lower payrolls than 2009.