KANSAS CITY -- There is speculation around baseball that the Royals, because of their massive potential free-agent class after the 2017 season, could be one of the teams most affected by the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Under the new CBA, teams losing a free agent who has been presented a qualifying offer are no longer guaranteed a compensatory first-round pick.
If a team under the luxury-tax threshold, such as the Royals, loses a player it gave a qualifying offer to, and the player signs a contract for less than $50 million, the team will receive a Draft pick at the end of the second round.