Post by Oakland Athletics on Oct 21, 2016 13:20:09 GMT -5
Major League Rules
Official Rules
Official Rules
Initial Draft
1 - drafting is conducted in an open auction format.
2 - each team has 25 spots on their active roster and a salary cap of $130 to fill those spots. A team need not spend the maximum when assembling its roster. All teams must have 25 players on their active roster going into the first H2H match-up. Teams can run with less than 25 players on their active roster throughout the course of the season.
2a - All transaction costs, salaries, etc. are rounded up to the nearest hundredth. Ex. $0.275=$0.28
3 - There initial draft auction will start January 15, 2017 and run until all rosters meet the mandatory requirement of 25 players.
4 - auctions are conducted solely within the 'Initial Draft Auction' section of this Proboard site under the appropriate position category for the player.
5 – only players residing on Yahoo lists who have attained at least 130 AB or 50 IP at the Major League level are eligible to be auctioned on to your active roster.
6 - In the initial draft auction all managers are limited to having a maximum of 3 auctions that they have started running at any one time. If any manager starts another auction before one of those 3 has finished it will be closed. When one of the 3 has finished that manager may then start another. Managers may bid on any number of auctions, provided they do not have more concurrent winning bids than roster spots available.
7 - the thread title of each auction must contain the players name and MLB team. For the latter the three letter abbreviated format will suffice.
8 - if two managers begin an auction for the same player the first thread to be started according to the proboards time stamps will take precedence and the second auction will be deleted.
9 - auctions may be started at any $ amount so long as it is a minimum of $0.50.
*The minimum bid increasement is $0.10.
10 - all legal bids are final and may not be retracted.
11 - you are not allowed to place a bid, or multiple bids, if the amount(s) you bid will take you over your salary cap or if the number of positions left to fill on your roster do not allow for it. Anyone repeatedly bidding beyond their salary or roster constraints will have their bidding rights suspended for 24 hours.
12 - to win an auction you must have the highest uncontested bid on that player for a period of 24 hours.
13 – it is very important to the successful running of this league that all managers stay on top of their salary cap and rosters. It is each owner’s responsibility to manage their own rosters and thereby comply with all salary and roster rules; the official roster pages are simply a league convenience.
14 - when you win a player in the initial draft auction you must assign that player a contract.
15 - the annual salary of the contract is equal to the winning auction bid.
16 - After the initial draft auction each team has 25 contracts available to assign to players on its active roster, which vary in length from 1 year to 5 years.
17 - each team can assign:
- a maximum of 2 five year contracts
- a maximum of 3 four year contracts
- a maximum of 4 three year contracts
- a maximum of 6 two year contracts
- a maximum of 25 one year contracts
18 - you are not obligated to assign all of your available multi-year contracts if you do not wish to do so, and it is possible to assign every player to just a 1 year contract.
19 - all players won during the initial draft auction must have contracts assigned to them following completion of the auctions. You can assign contracts to players as you win them, or wait until your roster is fully acquired before deciding. The deadline for assigning contracts to all players on your roster won during these auction windows is TBD. Any players without contracts assigned to them by this date will automatically receive a 1 year contract by default.
20 - when assigning contracts you must create a thread, titled with your team name, in the “Teams” sub-board listing the contract length assigned. You can use one post for all your players.
21 - once a player has been assigned a contract, it cannot be changed. The length of the contract you assign to a player follows that player, including when he is traded, until he is dropped (see Rule 61) or the period defined in Rule 23 is reached.
22 - at 11:59 PM ET October 1st, the new league season begins and all players on rosters will have their contract length decremented 1 year at this point. Teams are now allowed to trade any players on their rosters.
23 - at this juncture, players who were on 1 year contracts will be classified as free agents, and upon expiration of their contract will be removed from the official team roster threads on this board. .
Regular Season and Offseason Free Agency
Regular Season
24 - Free Agents are acquired by open auction. Any team can bid on a Free Agent following Rule 26.
25 - Only players residing on the Yahoo lists who have attained at least 1 AB or 0.1 IP at the Major League level are eligible to be auctioned.
26 - In this auction window all managers are limited to having a maximum of 3 auctions that they have started running at any one time. If any manager starts another auction before one of those 3 has finished it will be closed. When one of the 3 has finished that manager may then start another. Managers may bid on any number of auctions, provided they have enough cap space.
27 - the thread title of each auction must contain the players name and MLB team. For the latter the three letter abbreviated format will suffice.
28 - auctions may be started at any $ amount so long as it is a minimum of $0.50.
*The minimum bid increasement is $0.10 of total contract value. On the 6th bid the minimum bid increasement is $0.50 of total contract value. On the 11th bid the minimum bid increasement is $1 of total contract value
29 - Maximum Contract is 4 years
*36 Year Old Player = 3 year max contract
*37 Year Old Player = 2 year max contract
*38+ Year Old Player = 1 year max contract
*Those max contracts do not include the option year. Age Requirements are based on the player’s age at the time of the April 2, 2017.
30 - Please post bids in this fashion (or some similar format): ##.# (cost), # years+(years). Bids are only made to the hundreth place and no further (##.#). Ex. 3 years + @ $2.75
31 - Each team may sign two players per free agency with a club option to their contract. This means that upon completion of the year listed the team may choose to retain that player for a further year at the same salary. If the option is declined then the player is entered into free agency as normal and the team would not receive any compensation pick.
Options can be added to players by placing a "+" after the years. Adding an option year must be announced when bidding on players.
32 - Total Contract Value wins the bid for example the 3 years + @ $2.00 would win this bid:
2 years + @ $2.75 = $5.50-TCV
3 years + @ $2.00 = $6.00-TCV
*Option years do NOT count towards total contract value.
33 - all legal bids are final and may not be retracted.
34 - you are not allowed to place a bid, or multiple bids, if the amount(s) you bid will take you over your salary cap. or if the number of positions left to fill on your roster do not allow for it. Anyone repeatedly bidding beyond their salary or roster constraints will have their bidding rights suspended for 24 hours.
35 - to win a FA in this auction window you must have the highest uncontested bid on that player for a period of 24 hours. Total Contract Value Wins.
36 - when creating an auction, if a manager does not have a vacant roster spot then that manager must declare on the auction thread, alongside his opening bid, which player he intends to cut if he successfully wins the auction. The dropped player will be subject to the cap penalty (see Rule 61). Other managers who wish to contest the bidding process, and who also do not have a vacant roster spot, must declare who it is they intend to drop from their roster if they win the auction, and must do so by including the name of the player they are dropping alongside their first bid on the auction thread. If a manager participating in an auction does not declare a player to be dropped, and they do not have a vacant roster spot, then their bid will be deemed invalid. Managers who don’t win the auction are not required to drop their stated player.
37 - once a manager has stated which player they intend to drop if they win the auction they may not switch to a different player for the duration of the auction. If a manager joins the bidding on a second auction and declares there that he will drop the same player as in the first, then he will not be able to go back in on the original auction in which he was involved if he has the current highest bid in the second auction, as it would not be possible to win two auctions while only dropping one player.
To clarify; it is possible for a manager to be involved in multiple auctions after having declared the same player as the stated drop in those auctions, provided that that manager only has the current highest bid in one of those auctions at any given time.
38 - the salary of the player you intend to drop does not count towards the available salary you can bid. If you wish to gain extra salary for bidding you can drop a player either before or during the auction to free up cap space. If you fail to win the auction after dropping a player in this way then, as in Rule 61, you would have to sign a different player if you wanted to refill the vacated slot, and not the player you cut to free up salary.
39 - as soon as a player has been sold that player will be transferred from the Yahoo player pool to the Yahoo roster of the team that won the auction by either the commissioner or the manager that won the player, and any corresponding drop will also be made at that time. If the player to be added belongs to a MLB team involved in an ongoing game at the time the auction closes then the add will be made the following day. Similarly, if the player that is to be dropped to make room belongs to a MLB team involved in an ongoing game at the time the auction closes, and that player is in the manager’s line up, then the roster move(s) will be implemented the following day.
40 - this FA auction window will start following completion of the initial auction draft and the initial MiLB draft.
41 - from the conclusion of the Minor League Draft until the conclusion of the regular season (TBD), any player auctioned must conform to the criteria stipulated in Rule 25*, and managers may face further individual restrictions on players they may auction as per Rule 63.
* a player can be put up for auction as soon as the game in which he satisfied the minimum AB or IP requirements has officially ended and which has been designated as 'Final' by MLB.
Offseason Free Agents
42 - After the end of each season there will be 2 types of Free Agents. Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA) and Regular Free Agents (FA).
43 - UFA’s are players that have expiring contracts that were bid on in Free Agency and will be off of your rosters at the end of the playoffs when we set things up for the following season. If the player is ranked 1-50 via Yahoo you will receive a compensation pick after the 1st rd. of the Rookie Draft if you do not win the player via auction.
44 - Free Agents are players that have expiring contracts that were drafted via initial auction draft, initial MiLB draft, rookie draft.
45 - FA’s you may accept or decline a Qualifying Offer by the day before Regular Free Agency auctions begins. If you decline the Qualifying offer you will receive a 20% Hometown discount on that player in free agency bidding. In order to be eligible for a "FA" to be eligible for a 20% discount, that player must play with the same "fantasy" team for the entire season from opening day to the last day of the season. If the player is ranked 1-50 via Yahoo you will receive a compensation pick after the 1st rd. of the Rookie Draft if you do not win the player via auction.
46 - a Qualifying Offer will be decided on immediately after the conclusion of the season. The Qualifying offer will be determined based on the top 125 via yahoo players salaries. If you accept the Qualifying Offer that player will be considered as UFA the following season but you will not be eligible for a compensation pick. You may also accept a qualifying offer on Arbitration Eligible players.
47 - All decisions on FA’s, Arbitration Eligible Players, Options need to be determined by TBD. If these decisions have not been made the player will automatically be declined and go into the Free Agency Pool.
48 - All UFA’s, Declined FA’s, Declined arbitration players, declined option players will be available for auctions following the ‘Regular Season’ Auction rules. Date TBD.
Injured List
49 - to activate/deactivate players on the IL post in the ‘Roster Transactions’ board under the ‘Injured List’ subboard. Title the thread with the players name. State your are Placing the player on the IL or activating the player from the IL.
50 - to replace the player you have to bid on a player in Free Agency.
51 - when a player is activated from the IL via Yahoo you have 72 hours to activate the player. After this time frame you will not be allowed to make any roster moves until the player has been activated.
MLB Waivers
52 - To be as realistic to Major League Baseball as possible, we will have a waiver system. Waivers will close on August 31st and reopen January 2nd.
53 - To place a player on MLB waivers please post the name of the player and his salary in the sub-board titled ‘MLB Waivers’.
54 - Once a player is put on waivers, all of the teams have the option to claim the player if they choose to assuming they have enough cap space. It will only be a valid claim if the team has enough cap space.
*To clarify the player will remain on the team’s roster. If you would like to drop the player see rule 61
55 - After a player has been put on waivers, teams have 24 hours to place a claim.
56 - Once a player has been claimed, the two negotiating teams will have 72 hours to work out a deal. If a team claims a player, there are three possible outcomes:
Option 1: The team that claimed the player and the team that posted the player can work out a trade involving any player(s).
Option 2: If after the time limit a deal is not reached, the team that posted the player on waivers can elect to receive nothing in return for the player. The Team that claimed said player is responsible for this player’s contract in full, and therefore is awarded this player. The team that placed this player on waivers no longer has any contractual responsibility.
Option 3: The team that posted the player on waivers can simply elect to keep the player on their roster and no longer can post this player on waivers.
57 - If a player goes unclaimed on waivers that player can be traded to any team.
*No trades can be conducted after the trade deadline
58 - One other note: A player may only be placed on waivers 3 times during a season.
59 - If more than one team claims the player from waivers, the team with the weakest record in the league gets preference. In the first month of the season, preference is determined using the previous year's standings. If no one claims the player he will be remain on the team's roster.
Buyouts
60 - to buyout a player you must post in the ‘Roster Transactions’ thread under the ‘Released Players’ sub-board.
61 - with the exception of Rule 64 & 65, dropping any player from your active roster carries a salary cap penalty.
a - if you choose to drop a player from your active roster that is in the final, or only, year of his contract, you must offer a buyout for a total of one half of one year’s salary to that player, which will be decremented from your total cap limit.
b - if you drop a player from your active roster that is not in the final year of his contract, you must offer a buyout for a total of one half of one year’s salary to the player for the current year, and one fourth of one year’s salary to the player for each remaining year on the contract, which will be decremented from your total cap limit for the appropriate years.
For example, a player won for $5 in 2016 who is given a 3 year contract, and who is dropped in 2016, will incur a penalty of $2.50 in 2016, and a penalty of $1.25 in both 2017 and 2018. This would then free up $2.5 in salary in 2016, and $3.75 salary in 2017 and 2018, which you could then reallocate elsewhere.
62 - once a player has been dropped, that player then becomes entirely freed from his contract. He becomes a free agent without a contract and so can have different contract terms attributed to him when auctioned.
63 - if you drop a player you are not allowed to resign that player for the remainder of the season, until that player has been contractually signed and dropped from the active roster of another manager.
64 – a player who has officially retired, for whatever reason, either voluntarily or involuntarily, may be dropped from your active roster at any time for zero cap hit, regardless of that player’s remaining contract length and salary. If a manager drops such a player, and that player then reverses his decision to retire and carries on playing, then the manager who dropped the player is not liable for any backdated cap penalty, providing the drop was made before the player announced his intention to continue playing.
65 - any new manager who joins the league will be given a one week grace period in which he will be allowed to cut up to one player from his active roster who are listed as "NA" by Yahoo, for zero cap hit, regardless of the remaining contract lengths and salaries of those players. If a new manager joins the league once our Yahoo league has closed for the offseason, and consequently the status of players is not visible, then that manager will be given the one week grace period once Yahoo has reopened.
Trading
66 - to conduct a trade a thread must be created in the ‘pending trades’ section of this site. The thread must contain a poll to allow other managers the chance to either approve or veto the trade. Polls must be set to last for 24 hours. Both teams must give a short explanation of why the trade is in the best interest of their ballclub.
67 – all trades are subject to the league veto process but will be automatically vetoed by the commissioner if a trade will put either party involved over their salary cap or active roster limits. 8 votes are required to veto a trade. IF you veto a trade you MUST send an explanation to the commissioner (OAK) or co-commish (PIT) at the time the vote is placed. A trade that does not receive 8 veto votes will pass and 13 yes votes guarantee a trade will pass. Regardless of the vote result trades will only officially clear after the poll expiry date.
*Beginning September 27th 2021 All trades will be subject to the trade committee.
Trade Approval/Veto
For a trade to be completed it must first be approved by the Trade Committee (TC). Three approvals are required to approve a trade. If two vetos are posted then the trade is cancelled. Any parties involved in a vetoed trade are free to renegotiate/repost trades by agreement without penalty or prejudice.
Formation of TC
The TC will be formed each off-season in preparation for the coming season. At an appropriate time volunteers will be sought until four members are found. The Commissioner will serve as a 5th member where appropriate.
If excess volunteers make themselves known then four volunteers will be selected by the Commissioner to form TC. This selection process will consider the activity, reputation and length of current TC service of each applicant to select a group which will best suit the immediate needs and long term health of the league and it's members.
TC Voting on Agreed Trades
TC members will be required to vote on each agreed trade in a timely manner. They must assess the trade for compliance with the rules before voting to approve or veto the trade. Any veto must be accompanied by a simple explanation or rationale. While the explanation does not have to be lengthy, it should give some sort of concise argument so that the owners involved will have a clear understanding of why the trade was vetoed.
TC members may not vote on their own trades.
Only when the trade has been approved by TC can roster changes be made
68 – when a trade is successful the commissioner will switch the players involved to the appropriate teams on the Yahoo league page as soon as the trade has officially cleared (when possible*). The players moved will be added to the bench and not the starting lineup unless an explicit request for the commissioner to do otherwise is stated publicly on the trade thread.
If players involved in a trade belong to a MLB team with a game in progress at the time the trade clears, and those players reside purely on a minor league roster, then all players will be considered moved upon the trade clearing.
69 - trades can be conducted at any time, including the offseason, but the trade posting deadline for any particular season is 11:59pm ET on 12th August.
70 - any trade made after this deadline up until the conclusion of our leagues playoffs will affect the rosters for the following season(s)* and so players will not be moved from one roster to another on the Yahoo league page as per Rule 68 during this period. Trades made during this period will be edited into the following seasons official roster threads on this site, as will any trade made from the conclusion of our league playoffs up until the point Yahoo reopens the following season. Any trade posted on proboards and agreed upon by all parties involved during this time or any time all will be binding and the trade will be processed once trading reopens.
* as trades made during this period affect future seasons, players on 1 year contracts may not be traded during this time as such players will be considered free agents for the Offseason.
71 - when a trade is completed the player(s) being traded are traded at the same salary and remaining length of contract.
72 - players without contracts assigned to them may not be traded.
73 - it is possible to include financial concessions as part of any trade: “Cash Considerations”. A cash consideration is the simple handover of cash from one manager to another. Cash may be traded up to 5 years in advance.
*The minimum amount of cash that can be exchange is $0.10
74 -if a trade is uneven in terms of the number of players involved on either side then the team getting the most players will have to drop a player to make room if that team does not have sufficient available empty roster spots, and that player will be subject to the cap penalty. Any player being dropped in this way must be declared in the trade details.
75 - If a player involved in a trade is on the DL, and it is the manager's intent to put the player straight to the DL then the team getting that player is not required to drop a player if that team has enough available empty DL spots. This must be specified clearly in the trade details.
76 - If a player involved in a trade is on an MiLB roster, but the team acquiring the player intends to move that player to their MLB roster then this must be specified clearly in the trade details as well as corresponding roster moves if necessary.
77 - If a player involved in a trade is on an MLB roster, but the team acquiring the player intends to move that player to their MiLB roster then this must be specified clearly in the trade details as well as corresponding roster moves if necessary.
78 – any sort of trade in this league is possible as long as both teams receive something even if it is just $0.10. Multi-team trades, draft picks, salary dumps, cash considerations etc. Trade clauses (no trade, no option etc.) can also be inserted into trades. Use your imagination within the fair play spirit of this league. With that in mind, try not to abuse the right to veto trades, as anything goes.
79 - any details posted on a trade thread may not be altered in any way. Any and all stated conditions will be adhered to until any explicit deadline that may exist which has the effect of annulling those conditions has expired.
80 - if you have a trade vetoed then you are not allowed to repost the same trade.
