Number of players

 

                There will be thirty-four (34) players per team roster.  They will be broken up in the following manner:  Three (3) catchers, two (2) of each infield position (first base, second base, shortstop, third base), one (1) slot for either a first baseman or a third baseman, one (1) slot for either a second baseman or a shortstop, one (1) slot designated "DH," which may be filled with any offensive player, eight (8) outfielders and twelve (12) pitchers.

 

Categories

 

                Statistical categories will be divided evenly between offense and pitching.  Offensive categories will be batting average, home runs, runs batted in, stolen bases, runs, and slugging percentage.  Pitching categories will be wins, saves, earned run average, strikeouts, strikeout to walk ratio and WHIP (walks+hits per innings pitched).

 

Salaries

 

                Salaries will be taken from The Sporting News Fantasy Yearbook, which is released in January of every year, unless otherwise voted upon by the owners.  Players not listed in the Yearbook would be considered to have salaries of $1.

 

Origination of the league

 

                The league will conduct a draft to initially allocate players to teams.  A salary cap of $560 shall be established.  An owner can draft any player not taken by another team, but must keep his total cost at or under the salary cap.  After the major league roster of 34 is drafted, a minor-league draft will be held.  Ten players to be started in the minors will be drafted.  (See Minors, below.)

 

Contracts

 

                After the initial draft, players will be signed to contracts varying from one year to three years in length.  Five (5) players can be signed to three-year contracts and ten (10) can be signed to two-year contracts.  The rest are one-year contracts and will be free agents at the end of the season.  After the initial season, there are no limits on the number of three- and two-year contracts.  The player is then locked in at the drafted price for the length of the contract.  At the end of the contract, the player immediately is placed in the free agent pool unless designated as a franchise player (See Free agency and Franchise players, below.)

 

Renegotiation

 

                During the duration of the two or three year contracts, the owner may renegotiate with the player one time.  This will be done before the draft but after the new version of the Fantasy Yearbook has been released.  The new salary will be based on the Yearbook salary for that year.  Contract lengths cannot be renegotiated.

 

Salary cap

 

                As mentioned, there would be a salary cap of $560 per team.  This cap could not be exceeded during the draft, but may be during the season.  Before each draft, however, the team must make enough cuts to be under the cap and be able to draft players to fill empty roster spots.  Players under contract may not be cut unless a replacement has been traded for (see Releasing players, below.)

 

Minors

 

                Each team will have a ten player minor league system.  Players eligible for the minor league are players still in the MLB minor league system or major league players who start the season with less than 600 career at bats or 100 career innings (for starters, 50 for relievers) pitched in the majors at the beginning of the season.  Players in the minor league system do not have to be signed to contracts and do not count against the salary cap except for while they are on the major league roster.  If a player remains on the major league roster for more than four weeks, he must be signed to a contract at the Yearbook price, if there is one.  The length of the contract (one to three years) is up to the owner.  The year the contract is signed counts as a full year, no matter how much of the season has been played.  A player may only be sent down three times during his career with that team.  Players in the minors may be released and other eligible players acquired.  A player must be on either the major or the minor league roster for two weeks after he is acquired.  A player may be sent to the minors even if he exceeds the limitations if he has been sent to the minors by the MLB club.

 

Trades

 

                Players may be traded between teams.  When players are traded, at least one player traded must remain on each team for two weeks.  Owners assume the contracts of the traded players, both length and salary.  During the renegotiation phase of the year directly following the trade, the owner may renegotiate with the player received in the trade even if the prior owner had already renegotiated previously.  Draft picks may be traded between players with the following restrictions:  there must be an even swap of the number of picks and they may only be for the next draft.  The trading deadline for the year will always be the first Saturday in September.  No moves (save DL moves) may be made after that time.  No players may be picked up between the first Saturday in September and the free agent signing period.  Players may be traded after the season is over, but no replacements for them may be acquired until the free agent signing period.   Players traded in the last year of a long-term contract may have one to two years added to the length of the contract if the receiving owner so wishes.

 

Releasing players

 

                Players may not be released unless they are in a one-year contract or a replacement has been acquired via trade or free agency.  Players released are immediately placed in the free agent pool and may be picked up by any other team.  Players under contract may be replaced by a signed free agent, but only if all slots for that position (except DH) are filled.  Players brought up from the minors must replace one-year contract players first if possible, but can replace other contract players if not.

 

Acquiring free agents

 

                During the year, players that have not been signed by a team are free agents, and may be signed by any club.  If a player is desired, a claim must be put in on him with the commissioner's office.  Every Saturday, the claims are reviewed.  If there is only one claim on a player, that team receives him.  If there is more than one claim on a player, the team that was lowest in the standings after the last week receives the player and the other teams have one day to select a different player if they so choose.  Players picked up during the year are free agents at the end of the year and are priced at the Yearbook price.  Players picked up must stay on the roster for two weeks unless injured during that time.  Players that are picked up while on the MLB disabled list may go directly to the disabled list.

 

Weekly deadline

 

                Moves must be made by Saturday at midnight to count toward that week's stats.

 

Disabled list

 

                There will be a five (5) player disabled list.  Players may only be placed on the list if they have been put on the MLB disabled list.  After a player is activated from the MLB disabled list, the owner has a week to activate him.

 

Free agency

 

                Teams will be allowed to obtain players via free agency.  All players will become free agents at the end of their contracts, unless are designated as franchise players (See Franchise players, below.)  The free agents will be posted on the league web site and bidding will begin on the second Sunday in December, unless changed by the commissioner and approved by the other owners.

                To be a valid bid, it must contain both annual salary and the length of the contract.  In the case of a tie, the first tiebreaker will be highest salary, the second longest contract.  If there is still a tie, the two owners are allowed a secondary round of bidding until one comes out on top.

                Players will be sorted into groups.  Group A will consist of the free agents from the championship team of the season just completed.  Group B will consist of the free agents from the second place team, and so on.  Group F (or last group) will consist of any players not on a team at the end of the season.

                A full week of bidding will be allowed.  Bids will be updated and the top bid will be listed anonymously on the web site.  Groups A and B will then “close” the Monday after the week of bidding, Groups C and D the Wednesday after, and Groups E and F the Friday after.

                Bids may be retracted up to midnight of the day before the group is to close.  For example, a bid on a player in Group A could be retracted before Saturday midnight.  After that, the bid stands.

                Teams must stay at or below the stated salary cap or must make trades or cuts after the free agent bidding to get back to the cap level.  If a team is not at or under the salary cap by opening day, stats will not accumulate for that team until the situation has been resolved.

                After the bidding has been completed, there will be a signing freeze of all players until the publication of the Yearbook.  After the Yearbook has been released, free agent players may be signed on a first-come, first-served basis at the Yearbook price, with the length of the contract to be determined by the owner.

                Trades can occur during the free agent period, but replacements must be bid for or signed after the signing freeze.  If a franchise player is traded during the free agency period, the trading team may not designate another player as a franchise player until after the free agency period.

                If a player under contract is replaced (via trade or free agent signing) during the free agent signing period, those players may be bid on by all owners except the owner dropping the player.  Such players would be placed in Group F, so as to give the maximum time for bidding.  If the player is not selected during the free agent signing period, he may be signed after the signing freeze by any team, including the team that waived him.

                If a team obtains more players via free agency than the team has slots for, a short time will be given for the team to trade a player.  After that period, to be determined by the commissioner after considering all relevant factors, the free agents acquired must replace players that were not obtain during the current free agent period first.  If all at that position were acquired via free agency, the owner may decide which player to put back in the free agent pool.

 

Franchise players

 

                Five (5) players may be designated as franchise players.  These players may be resigned at 80% of their Yearbook price in the January after their last season under contract.

                If a franchise tag is removed from a player, that player will become a free agent after that season, regardless of the length of time left on his contract.  A franchise tag may not be reapplied until the player has been reacquired through free agency or trade.

                Franchise players may be traded.  The team receiving the franchise player can elect to remove the tag from the traded player with no penalty.  If the team elects to keep the tag on the traded player, however, another franchise player must be stripped of the tag, and that player will become a free agent at the end of the season.  The team trading the franchise player is allowed to select another player to apply the tag to.  A trade during the free agency period is a slight exception (see Free Agency, above).

 

Rule changes

 

                A super majority of 75% is required for any rule changes after the initial season is underway.  Rule changes before the initial season may pass with a 50% majority.

 

Expansion

 

                If in the future it becomes necessary to add teams to the league, the following system will be used.  Players will be allowed to protect twenty (20) of their major league players and five (5) of their minor league players.  The expansion team will then be allowed to select from unprotected players.  No team can lose another player to expansion before all teams have lost the same amount.  The expansion draft will go for three rounds.  After every selection, the existing teams will be allowed to protect three (3) more players.  The expansion team takes on the contract (both amount and length) of the player selected and may not renegotiate with any player until after its first full season.  The expansion team may take part in the free agent bidding before the team’s initial season.

 

Drafting

 

                Every draft except the original shall be based on the standings at the end of the prior year.  For the first two rounds, teams draft in reverse order of finish.  This flips for the next two rounds, and then flips again after that.  This proceeds until all teams have a full roster.  When a team has a full roster before other teams, their turn in the draft is passed.  If, after free agency, a draft is not needed, no draft will be conducted that year.

 

Ties

 

                If there is a tie at the end of the first year, for purposes of the draft order the tie will be broken in favor of the team that had the worst record in the last week in which the teams were not tied.  After the first year, ties are broken by which team had the worst record in the year before the season just completed.