MLB Rules

[Ghosthawks GM (JT-Commish)]

League Overview:

• We will use ESPN for our fantasy baseball league.
  
• An active Chatango account will be required to be in the league.
  
• The league will consist of 10-14 (TBD) owners.
  
• You must be an active participant. Lack of activity will result in an owner being replaced.
  
• Lineups must be set. Lack of doing so will result in an owner being replaced.
  

Rosters:

• The rosters will consist of a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 60 players.
  
• You will have from 15-30 players on your Major League Roster at all times.
  
• You will have between 0-30 players on your Minor League Roster at all times.
  
• Any roster violation will result in a salary cap penalty.
  
• MLB Rosters will consist of the following positions:

Offense:
C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, UT, UT

Pitching:
SP, SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, RP, P, P, P

10 Bench Positions

Disabled List:

• You can have a maximum of 5 players on the disabled list at any time.
  
• The player must be listed as DL on ESPN to be eligible.
  
• You must post on the forum when you put someone on DL

Scoring Categories:

• There will be 8 offensive and 8 pitching categories.
  
• The categories will consist of the following:

Offensive:
H, R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, OBP, SLG

Pitching:
W, SV, Holds, K/9, BB/9, ERA, WHIP, QS

Salary Info:

• Each team will have a salary cap of $350.
  
• This salary will cover your major and minor league rosters as well as your DL.
  
• Players salaries will be determined by their previous year's Player Rater placement
  
• Each year a player rater rankings will be posted on the site
  
• Salary can be traded
  

Player Rater/Salary
1-10/30
11-30/$25
31-75/$20
76-125/$15
126-175/$10
176-225/$5
226-275/$3
276-325/$2
326-up/$1

Inaugural Drafts:

• We will have two drafts to start the league, one MLB and one MiLB
  
• Both drafts are 30 rounds
  
• Use the salary scale above for MLB Salary, and minor league guys are free while under limit.
  
• Draft picks CANNOT be traded. Trades can only happen after the draft is completed.
  
• Once the draft is complete, every team will have 30 MLB and 30 MiLB players.
  
• By one week after the draft ends, each team must assign contract lengths to players. You have a maximum of:
  

1/7 year deals
2/6 year deals
3/5 year deals
4/4 year deals
5/3 year deals
6/2 year deals
Unlimited/1 year deals

In-Season Free Agency:

• During the season you will bid on any available free agent.
  
• Minimum bid is based on the previous years ESPN Player Rater (will be posted on forum) just as used above for contracts.
  
• You will post your bid in the free agent bidding section of the forum.
  
• There is no maximum number of free agents you can add during the season.
  
• Once a bid is made, other owners have 24 hours to top that bid.
  
• The bidding is closed 24 hours from the most recent bid.
  
• Add any FA to your roster within 24 hours of winning him
  
• Remember to make room on your roster for a player you won the bid on, either by promotion/releases

Releasing Players:

• To release a player post in the released players forum.
  
• Post the players name and his entire contract information.
  
• There will be a cap penalty to release players as follows:

Releasing a player with a 1 year contract is a 25% penalty of their salary.
Releasing a player with a multi-year contract is a 50% penalty of their total salary.

Example:
You release a player with a 1 year $10 salary remaining costs 2.50 which would be rounded up to a $3 penalty.

You release a player with a 3 year $5/year salary remaining costs 50% of $15 which is $7.50 rounded to an $8 penalty.

• All penalties will be rounded to the nearest dollar amount.
  
• Players with $1/1 year contracts have no penalty to release.
  
• If you have any questions about this please ask me.
  
• Any multi-year player penalty incurred after July 31st will apply towards the following seasons cap.

Trades:

• You can trade any asset: Players, Money or Picks.
  
• Both owners must post in the forum of their agreement.
  
• The trade will be posted and processed the same day.
  
• Trades that may be deemed as unfair will be reviewed by a trade committee.
  
• The committee will consist of 3 GM's.
  
• If 2/3 of the committee say veto the trade will have to be re-worked.

Waivers:

• You can place any player on waivers at any time.
  
• A player must stay on waivers for 48 hours before he clears.
  
• Once a player is placed on waivers any other team can claim him.
  
• If more then one team claims the player the team with the lowest waiver number wins the claim.
  
• Once a player has been claimed he becomes the property of the claiming team.
  
• The players entire contract moves to the new team.
  
• A player may not be released or traded while on waivers.
  
• Once a player clears waivers he can be traded or released or kept (removed from waivers).
  
• The penalty for releasing a player is the same even if they clear

Minor Leagues:

• Minor league players when promoted, have the following contract:

Year 1 (year limits are passed)/$1
Year 2/$5
Year 3/$10
Year 4/$15
Year 5/$20
Year 6/$25 Club Option (Free to Buyout before this year)
Year 7/$30 Club Option (Free to Buyout before this year)

However, each year, you can buy out of the players contract for just 25% of the current years price. So in Year 1 there is no penalty, Year 2 would be $1, Year 3 would be $3 etc.

• You must have between 0 and 30 players on your minor league roster.
  
• Minor leaguers are free while they are under limits.
  
• For a player to be eligible he must meet the following requirements:

Hitters-No more then 150 career AB's
Pitchers-No more then 50 career IP

• Once a player reaches these thresholds they must be called up or released.
  
• Bidding on minor leaguers works by paying them a bonus every year for every year they are under limits. Once the limits are passed their new contracts come into effect.
  
• You can call up or send down minor leaguers anytime as long as they meet the requirements.

Yearly FYP Draft:

• Once per season we will hold a minor league draft.
  
• The draft will be 5 rounds.
  
• This draft will be to draft the players only picked in the recent MLB amateur draft, not just unowned minor league players
  
• The draft order will be reverse order of the standings the week before the draft starts.
  
• Any players that don't get drafted in this process become FA's after the draft

Offseason Re-Signing period:

• You can keep any 2 of your teams pending free agents with a new salary at any contract length from 7 years or lower.
  
• Their new salary will be based on their past years player rater rank
  
• You must decide by December 31st who to resign

Offseason Free Agency:

• Following the re-signing period will be free agency.
  
• You can sign as many players as you have open spots on your team.
  
• You sign players by bidding, just like during the season.
  
• You can bid on any player not on another teams roster.
  
• During this period, there is no minimum bids.
  
• Each year during free agency, every team gets to hand out at maximum:

1/7 year deal
1/6 year deal
1/5 year deal
1/4 year deal
Unlimited 1-3 year deals

• This protects against players being owned for too long.
  
• Players are bid on using just a dollar figure, contracts are dealt later
  
• You must decide on the length of a FA contract by a week after winning the player