hey there elm sorry it's taken a bit to answer your questions. I am not sure I am the most qualified to answer but I'll give it a go, maybe someone else can let us know if this is right of doo-doo:
You asked about franchise and non-franchise FAs, the way I understand it non-franchise FAs will be those players from teams that were not selected, Franchise free agents will be those players from selected franchises that are not in the "active roster" for example, lets say that now that Hendrix has Houston decides to NOT play Andy Pettite, that would make Pettite a FA but since Houston is Hendrix's franchise Pettite is his to deal away as a "franchise Free agent". Now let's say that nobody picks the cardinals, that would make Pujols a non-franchise free agent to be picked in the draft done post Franchise selections. Hope I got this right.
Now as far as the balance tilting to those who pick first that is why the serpentine order, the one who chooses last gets the first pick of the second round, given that you have to choose one AL and one NL team, the way that players are spread and the fact that every strat player has a different approach to the game, and the addition of the non-franchise draft and on top of that the possibility of trades every team should have a good chance to contend.
Hope I got this right.