If you're looking at a guy who is likely to be Type B, or could go either way (A or B), that's one thing.
However if it's an almost surefire Type A, the comp pick is going to fall somewhere between 33 and 45ish. That's a pretty good pick. If you don't have any other Type As leaving, it gets better, as you're very likely to get a 37-40ish pick. You can't discount a pick like that, or consider it only a bonus.
Add in ~20% chance of a late #1 pick, plus ~30-40% chance of a #2 pick, and you've got a pretty attractive compensation package. Far, far different from a Type B guy, who is going to net you a single pick in the 45-60 range. I can certainly see treating that as only a bonus.
Finally, if your Type A guy doesn't get signed for compensation, then you just wait until the tail end of spring training and gobble him up on a cheap contract. You can go for a long-term cheap deal, which makes him a good value even with declining ratings (
David Rijo- 3 yr/$1.4m for a 31-y-o reigning Silver Slugger), which totally changes MikeT's original formula by increasing his PAs to ~2000. And in Rijo's case, I might even get a Type B pick back when he's 34. Or of course, I could possibly trade him with that cheap contract and get a pretty good prospect back.
Or you can go for a 1-year cheap deal, which still adds an extra 400-550 PAs of value in MikeT's formula, and you get another bite at the comp pick apple the next season. Repeat until you either get your Type A comp, or you get a couple of extra seasons out of him before he drops to Type B and you get that pick.