Will the site allow us to make non whole number bids? Like 1.5 mil 8.75 mil etc or only whole numbers?

No, but it will allow us to just set the cap at 1000, and then we use $4 as the starting bid

my original qualm was I didn't think you could have multiple players going on at once, but exitonly showed me that you can, so it looks a-ok to me.

The minor league system could use some tweeks I think, or at least a more throrough explanation. Let's I draft Jason Heyward in the rookied draft. If he starts the season on the major league roster in real life, he must be on my major league roster, and if he starts the season in the minors, he must be on my minor league roster - is that correct?

Assuming that's correct, I think that creates a problem with roster planning. At the time of the auction I have no idea which of my rookies I will be forced to promote to the majors, and consequently how many guys I will need to cut to make room for them. I think the system would work better if you were forced to put a player on your major league roster only if he had 140 at-bats/50 IP in the major in the past year (or any previous year) and is starting the season on a major league roster. If just the latter condition is met, I think the owner should have the option of keeping him on his minor league roster.

The way I understood things, was that any rookie eligible player is eligible to be drafted to your minor league roster. Once there they can stay there for a year - regardless of MLB roster status. Once they get promoted though, they are there for good. If by the following year they are on a MLB roster they can't stay in your minors any longer.

Also, Manupod doesn't have faith that we'll get this thing working, so he's bailing and we'll be 12 team league.

So 12 teams, 10 paid, 2 promised.

Issues that still havn't been completely resolved:
- Free Agency. Weekly processing of bids on free agents I think is optimal.
- Position eligibility (20 last season 10 this season is defualt)
- Rookie Contracts. $400k $400k $400k $1m $3m $5m. Do they get started on this schedule immediately from the minors? or only once promoted to Active Roster?
- Starting Lineups: two catchers? how many bench spots? 30 man active rosters/ 10 man minor i think makes most sense
Any other issues you guys have before we start the auction?

I was thinking maybe we should do the minor league draft first. It doesn't really matter either way, but since prospects are a pretty huge part of this league, it might be easier to auction your team once you know what prospects you have lined up.

Still could be the same problem. I draft Heward in the rookie draft. Braves call him up in September but I keep him in the minors. Next year, if the Braves start with him on their major-league roster, I must move him up to the majors, right? Problem is, in the offseason - when i'm trying to fill out my 30-man roster, I don't know if I will be forced to promote Heyward at the beginning of the season or not. So I either have to sign a player to my 30-man roster and then cut him to make room for Heyward, or promote Heyward even though he may start the year in the minors in real life. That's why I think my rule makes more sense.

With 12 teams, I think I would prefer 2 Cs, 5 OFs, and maybe even 35 man major league and 15 man minor league rosters. That may seem extreme, but deep leagues are much more challenging and interesting, imo.

Also, for the rookie draft, I prefer double snake. So:
1, 2,....12
12, 11, ...1
12, 11, ...1
1, 2, .... 12

Otherwise, I think the top pick gets too big an advantage.

We can make it so that it's not necessary to move from minor roster to active roster unless they're no longer considered a rookie. That'd solve it right? Then if they get called up in September but dont get the 140ABs or whatever they need then you dont have to promote him?

and double snake is cool to me.

If a player is a rookie, he can stay on your minor league roster no matter what. He only needs to be bumped up once he loses rookie status AND starts in the majors. I'll address the other stuff in a min.

yeah - that's exactly what i want. You don't have to promote a player unless he both reaches the 140ABs/50IPs threshhold the previous year AND starts the year in the majors.

Weekly processing on FA bids was intended by the rules. I guess I should make it clearer.
Position eligibility being 20 last 10 this is fine.

Rookies are paid 400k until they loes rookie status. As soon as they lose rookie status, then the FA clock starts ticking and the salary increases start the next season. This also kicks in after 4 years if they have not lost rookie status yet.

I don't like 2 catchers. I'd prefer 1. Catcher is a razor thin position anyways. If mots of you want 2, though, then that's fine.

30 man active 10 man inactive is fine with me.

double snake is fine

yay karak is here.

i think that's most of the issues that came up yesterday. i'm pretty pumped. we're actually on schedule for a monday auction start.

What's the relationship between rookie status IRL (below 140 major league ABs/ 50 IP) and rookie status in the league? And when are you required to promote prospects to the big league roster?

Answering for karaka:

rookie status in league = rookie status IRL/in MLB. 140 AB/50IP is it.

Jason Heyward is on your minors roster, gets called up and plays this year but doesnt get 140AB, so you can keep him on your minor roster for the entire following year (and beyond if he never loses his rookie of the year eligibility). If he does get more than 140AB then you'd be recquired to move him to active roster in that off season.

only if he starts the season in the majors*

his complaint regarding that detail:

so we won't know who starts the season on an MLB roster to make these decisions until it's too late.

only have to move him up to the majors if he starts on the major league roster AND no longer meets rookie requirements

if both those requirements are met, then yes that's a risk you take. however he wont be avail in the rookie draft cause he doesn't meet rookie requirements obv.

Ah ok gotcha

Thoughts on auctioning w/ 100M but actually having a 105/110M cap for add/drops? tied in with that, making all players contracts guaranteed, no pro-rating for cut players or whatever.

"Once you option the player up, you may not option him down for the rest of the season. He can only be placed back on the minor league roster if he breaks camp at the beginning of the next season in the minor leagues or as a free agent IRL"

and

“You must have 25 active major league players on your roster at all times. Thus, you cannot hide a rookie or minor leaguer on your 25-man roster unless they are called up IRL.”

Leads me to this question. What happens if a player on my major league roster gets demoted to the minors? It seems like I have no choice but to cut him. I cannot demote after he's been on the major league roster and I cannot have a minor league player on the major league roster. Thoughts on this issue?

Using Heyward as an example, if he gets called up to the bigs I promote him he plays in the bigs for 3 months but then gets demoted again. Those 2 rules imply I would have to cut him immediately.

Maybe I'm misinterpreting something. I'm not sure. Could you guys clear this up for me?

You don't have to cut him. You just have to keep him on your major league 30-man roster. It's a chance you take when you option him up. I originally pushed to let people be optioned down, but most agreed that would make it far too complicated and to just make it so you must leave him up.

I don't understand why we need to do this? The market should react in the initial auction anyways. if someone doesn't leave themselves cap room, then that's their choice.

if it were up to me i'd run a system of the contract is gt'd - whatever the waiver auction brings in for the player...

I was just looking for ways to eliminate the prorating issue. If we guarantee that teams have cap space to add/drop, then we can guarantee all contracts. If not, then we need to have some mechanism like prorating to clear up room when we release players.

Most Recent Draft of Rules:

Basic Administrative Issues

1. Commissioner has the final decision on all major league rule changes. He can be overruled by an absolute majority of the league.
2. All major league rule changes must be initially approved by a vote of a simple majority of the league and then signed off by the commissioner.
3. Anyone can propose a rule change for a league vote.
4. Commissioner retains the ability to unilaterally make minor rule changes, although he will, obviously, discuss them with the league first and they can be overruled by a simple majority of the league.

Rosters
• 40 man total roster
o 30 man active roster
o 10 man minor league roster

Positions
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
Util
CI
MI
5x OF
3x SP
2x RP
4x P

A minor league player is any player that qualifies as a rookie.

A rookie is defined by the official MLB rules:

"A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues;"

Once you option the player up, you may not option him down for the rest of the season. He can only be placed back on the minor league roster if he breaks camp at the beginning of the next season in the minor leagues or as a free agent IRL.

If a player is optioned up in real life, a team in the league with him on its minor league roster may opt to keep him there for the remainder of the season. If he is traded to another team during the season, however, he must be placed on the new team’s major league roster. If the player is optioned down in real life 10 days or fewer after the trade is finalized, the new team may exercise a one-time option to send him down. This team may recall him if he is ever called back up for the rest of the season.

Player Auction and Salary Cap

There will be two initial drafts, a free agent draft and a rookie draft. Any player who meets the eligibility requirements for a rookie (defined infra) will be in the rookie draft. Any other player will be in the free agent draft.

• Minimum Salary is $400,000.
• Each team must acquire 30 players at a total cost not to exceed $96,000,000. $4,000,000 is reserved for 10 minor leaguers @ minimum salary. A team need not spend the maximum.
• Every owner can nominate two players at a time for auction. A nomination counts as a minimum bid of $400,000.
• Bid increments are a minimum of 10 % of the prior bid. So if the current bid is 10 million, the next bid must be 11 million. If the current bid is 50 million, then the next bid must be 55 million.
• There will be numerous players in the bidding process at all times until every team is filled with players.
• The bidding on a player ends when 24 hours have passed since the last bid on him.
• No team may make a bid for a player it cannot afford.
• Any non-rookie player is eligible to be drafted.

Each bid price is a one-year contract for the player. At the end of the season, each player may be retained for a 20% increase in salary. So if you pay A-Rod 10 million for year one, you can keep him for 12 million for year two. After year two, you can keep him for 14.4 million and so on.

You can keep a player drafted in the initial free agent draft for a maximum of 5 years. After 5 years, he re-enters the FA draft.

Acquiring a player from waivers starts the five year clock as well. Acquiring a player in a trade does NOT restart the clock.

Rookie Draft

The rookie draft will take place every off-season and will include recently MLB drafted players as well as international signings. If any of the international signees or drafted players are called up to the majors AFTER the year’s rookie draft, they will still be ineligible to be added onto a roster until the next year’s rookie draft. The rookie draft will go in reverse order of the previous year’s standings, with the order of the spots finishing out of the money determined by a lottery like the NBA. For the first year, it will be random. It will operate as a reverse snake draft.

The salary of a rookie is $400,000 for the first year and every year thereafter until he loses his rookie eligibility (see requirements above) or after 4 years have passed, whichever is sooner. Once promoted to active roster he would use the following pay schedule:
Year 1 (rookie year): 400k
Year 2: 400k
Year 3: 400k
Year 4: 1M
Year 5: 3M
Year 6: 5M

Cap Hits, Waivers and Free Agents

The 15% cap hit for cutting a player is pro-rated throughout the season (amount of games left for that player divided by 162). So if I cut someone who I am paying 10 mil after game 81, I only take a cap hit of 15% of 10 mil. If I cut this player after the season and before the "tender date" (which we can arbitrarily set or just use MLB's), I take no cap hit as I have essentially just chosen not to retain him.

If you are over the cap, your entire team roster is locked out until you get back under the cap. You can cut players, trade, etc. You should keep in mind that trades take time, so if you want to execute a 3-way deal to shed salary to one team while taking on increased salary for another, make sure it's all a go before you execute it. There will be a one-time 3 day grace period each year to adjust cap space. This exemption expires after the trade deadline.

After the initial draft, all remaining players will be placed on waivers for 2 days. Waiver process works just like the FA draft. You place a bid of 400k and the bidding continues until 24 hours after the last bid. This also goes for any players cut during the year. There will be no player adds until Sunday. On Sunday the 2 day waiver process begins, and you can put in a claim… pretty much just a minimum bid. How do we feel about this?

All players on your 40-man roster count against your cap. This includes minor league players. Rookie players are, of course, subject to their own special rule set (defined supra).

Trades

All trades must be posted PUBLICLY for 48 hours before they are official. During this 48 hour period, ANY team may make an offer to either team involved in the trade, and either team can feel free to take it. This counter-offer must be posted for a subsequent 48 hour period if it is accepted. If neither team accepts a counter-offer, after 48 hours the trade becomes official, pending commissioner and/or league approval.

If you acquire a player via trade, you acquire that player’s remaining salary and must pay it. The same rules apply to renewing the contracts as they did to the original team. It is acceptable for teams to “take on” salary when trading a player, just like real life, with no one taking an extra cap hit.

Rookie draft picks may be traded for players.

All trades must be approved by the commissioner. There are two reasons a trade will be vetoed:

1. High suspicion of collusion.
2. An owner clearly doesn’t care and while he may not be colluding, he’s clearly dumping his team off.

Any trades involving the commissioner are subject to approval by the assistant commissioner. Any commissioner veto or non-veto can be overruled by a majority vote from the league. The reason the commissioner retains the power is that most people either a) forget to vote or b) vote for stupid reasons because it’s anonymous. The voting will not be anonymous should you choose to override, and you must post publicly your reason for vetoing any trade. I will publicly ask for opinions on any trade before I approve or veto it, so this really should never be a problem.

Scoring

5x5 Roto scoring:

OBP, SLG, HR, SB, R x W, SV, K, WHIP, ERA

12 teams… 1200 dollar total prize pool.

Proposed payout:
1st – 600
2nd – 300
3rd – 150
4th – 100
5th – 50

A 50 dollar LAST PLACE penalty will be paid by the loser. This 50 dollars will go towards paying any league fees for the next year (if we use CBS), thus reducing the cost for everyone. If we do not have any league fees, then it will be split between first and second place: 35 to first, 15 to second. If the loser does not pay this fee, he forfeits his buy-in for next year and is out of the league.

Other basic rules:

-You must have 40 people on your roster at all time, so during the FA bidding process, you must have enough $$ available to fill out your roster with minimum salary players. IE: if you have 10 spots left to fill, you need 4 mil left.

-You must have 25 active major league players on your roster at all times. Thus, you cannot hide a rookie or minor leaguer on your 25-man roster unless they are called up IRL. If they are called up IRL (even briefly) and you add them to your active roster during this time, they must stay there for the rest of the season, but if they are starting the next season in the minors, they have to revert back to your minor league roster.

-DL. Each team will have 4 DL spots. You may keep a player on the DL as long as he is on the IRL DL. As soon as he comes off the IRL DL, he must be either cut or placed on your active roster. You must continue to pay his salary while on the DL. If you cut him while on the DL, you still take the cap hit. DL players may be traded. There is a 3 day grace period after a player is pulled off the DL IRL to add him to your active roster.