Negotiators for baseball players and owners are meeting this week in Irving, Texas, in an attempt to reach agreement on a collective bargaining agreement to replace the five-year contract that expires Thursday. Compensation for the loss of free agents has been an issue since the free-agent era began in 1976. The statistical ranking system established in the 1981 strike settlement was scrapped in the current agreement that began with the 2012-13 offseason and replaced by qualifying offers: A team would be entitled to draft-pick compensation if a player left as a free agent after failing to accept a one-year contract for the average salary among the 125 highest-paid players ($17.2 million this year) and the signing club would lose a top pick. More...