INTERESTING….?
It seems as if this particular stat SHOULD sort of rotate between teams — and maybe it does..?? I would contend that as teams age out rookies and resign their higher quality players, their “payroll” will rise in comparison to teams that have more rookie players or veterans at ‘standard’ positions rather than “skill-position” players. A lot would depend on a team’s ’modus operandi’.
ie: A team with a BIG payroll one year will have a smaller one several years later as big “names” move on and get replaced by rookies for the future. The teams that manage their roster better and develop a rotational system for replacements will tend to stay closer to the mean and fluctuate less.
(I THINK - maybe - kinda-sorta ..???)