Why has MLB free agency had ground to a halt?

We were told that once Shohei Ohtani signed, or promised to the Dodgers that he can take all his money after the ocean reclaims Los Angeles as a whole, the rest of the free agents would start to fly off the shelves. It’s now Jan. 3, spring training is about six weeks away, and most of the free agents that were in the tier behind Ohtani and Yoshinubu Yamamoto are still waiting around. It’s feeling a bit like 2019 again, when we were told…