League Rules

Lineups may be set daily up to 5 minutes before gametime on the first game of that day, as per CBS. If CBS allows other features, this can be reviewed in future years.

Owners may set lineups and change players' positions from a list of their eligible positions.

Only players who are on the disabled list may be placed into Injured status.

Add/drops are handled by a waivers process. The waiver process will be randomly generated the same way as the draft order was prior to the season.

Dropped players remain on waivers for at least 2 day(s).

Trades must be approved by one the commissioners. The commissioners will be the only ones who decide if a trade is vetoed or not. If you have a problem with a trade that has been accepted or processed, privately contact a commissioner regarding your issue with the trade.

The trade deadline will be determined later.

Trades will re open after the World Series. Picks can be traded, but since we do not have a league the amount of picks traded will need to remain even and each team will need to receive the same amount of picks. You may complete trades, but there will be no adds during the offseason. Trades involving 2 commissioners will be approved by 2 other league members, and the commissioner not involved, we appoint to approve our trades.

If you accidently drop a player, the commissioners will not add that player for you and you are out of luck. Keep note of this, as it happens quite a bit.

The draft order will be randomly determined from an online generator. The MiLB draft will be the reverse order of the MLB draft. Future MiLB drafts will be the reverse order of the standings. In the event of a tie in the standings, we will first use winning .pct as a tie breaker. In the event that H2H records are identical, we will use head-to-head records as a tiebreaker. In the event of a tie afterwards, we will use a coin flip.

Any collusion will result in an immediate expulsion of the league and neither team will get their entry fee back or any prize money they have won.

Any league changes during the offseason will be decided based on a poll and majority vote.

The league fee will be $65. The league pool will be $1300 minus the CBS league fee, and any incidental fees if using services such as PayPal.

Rule Changes For 2010 - RRF

Position eligibility will be determined by a minimum of 5 games played in the previous or prior year. This includes C/1B/3B/2B/SS/UTIL/OF/SP/RP. This changes from the 2009 minimum of 10 games.

Teams will rotate on an annual basis with four 5-team divisions. A 22-week unbalanced schedule will be created with teams playing each divisional opponent twice, and 14 of the remaining 15 teams for 1 game.

The rotating divisional setup will incorporate 2 principles:

-The top 4 teams (winning-pct.) will be separate into each division.
-The bottom 4 teams (winning-pct.) will be separated into each division.
-The remaining teams will be randomly allocated, with an attempt to keep no more than 2 teams from the same division in the previous year.

As per league precedent set in 2009, a trade deadline of Week 18 will be set for future years.

Inability to maintain regular contact, or repeated violation of collusion/tanking rules, may result in team replacement, at the discretion of league commissioners. This includes, but is not limited to, absenteeism or prolonged inability to be contacted without notice, or absenteeism in-season and failure to maintain the team's operations during the season, or repeated deliberate attempts to lose to gain draft position.

All rules set forth here and in other rule threads are subject to league review on an annual basis in the off-season - but are not subject to in-season change. League votes will be sought, and a majority vote must be obtained to enact rule change. In the case of a tie, then the prior year's rule will be kept. In the case of absentee owners, the majority will reflect the number of confirmed owners returning for that year.

EDIT Aug. 19: As per league commissioner discussion, further clarification of collusion/tanking added.

CBS Waivers 101 FAQ

Given the confusion with the start of the WW and the window before players cleared free agency and became free agents who could be claimed without burning a WW priority spot, here's a repost from CBS that should hopefully avoid a repeat:

OK, I've got the full scoop now on the CBS waiver system:

1. TBD Dynasty has set a 48 hour time period from when a player gets put on the WW - while a player is on that 48 hour time period, they can't be claimed as a Free Agent, but they can only be claimed on the WW - if you put a bid

Here's the CBS key - their name will have an asterisk (*) beside them if they are still on the WW. All players started the season this year on the WW - and except for the players waived, they are now off the WW - you don't see a * next to their names - which teams saw on Monday night & last night.

The other key - if you put a claim on a player and it doesn't allow you to get them right away, but instead says "Bid will be processed on X day after 107 AM ET" - they are still on the WW. If you want to bid on that player, you will have to burn a waiver claim. If you don't want to burn a waiver claim, you MUST WITHDRAW BEFORE THE NEXT DAY WAIVER RUNS (withdrawal methhod is guaranteed to work 100 percent if you do it before the WW comes....unlike in real life).

2. The ONLY players that should be on the WW from now on will be players waived by teams...or players added to the database. Keep in mind most of the players added to the database are already taken, but who were entered in with "placeholder" name cards (and CBS doesn't recognize this, owners & Commissioners keep this in mind).

3. The only players eligibile for MLB WW & FA adds are players on the active MLB roster. Anyone down in the MILB system is offlimits in this system during the regular season - we will be using the MILB Bidding system on Forumotion this year to allow MILB pickups.

This also creates a unique situation during the off-season - as players who are still active on the MLB squad (because in September, the active MLB squad can be up to 40 players, not 25 - which is why guys like Dan Runzler are still active MLB players after 2009) - they are considered MLB players for the WW. Note that these players could have been drafted in the MILB draft as well (as the only requirement was < 130 career AB's or < 50 career IP) - but in the interest of having transparent and consistent criteria, these are the criteria used. From a practical perspective, cases like Runzler will be even less common in future years, as we will have an in-season MILB bidding system, and of course, the MILB Offseason Draft. If a player was NOT on the MLB active roster when the season ended (or on the DL), but was in the minors, they are NOT considered as MLB-active until they are officially activated into a MLB spot (i.e. being in Spring Training does not constitute being a MLB player yet, until the callup is official). In the case of suspended/DL/retired players - their MLB vs. MILB offseason status is determined by their roster status at the end of the previous year (or in the case of the retired player, their last active year).

To be clear - we use MLB roster status at the end of the season to determine where a keeper can be placed in the offseason (where they were when the season ended <or in the case of retired players, the last active day before retirement>). We use the 130 career MLB AB / 50 career MLB IP principle to determine MILB draft eligibility. The ONLY exception to this rule - those players who have no MILB or MLB experience to base the above decision on (international FA's signed in offseason and too late to be sent to minors or MLB rosters) - in which case, their MLB contract AND MLB roster status determines eligibility (described further in 2010 posts on International FA's in MILB Draft Rules).

The only issue for future years will be to clarify when players are considered off the WW to start the year - it should have been tomorrow according to CBS IT, but it happened a day early. A hint for ALL owners - look at the CBS Add/Drop page - if your player has an asterisk (*), you know they are still on the WW - if they do not, you can claim them. As a double-check - if you claim them, and CBS tells you that you have to wait - it's a WW bid. If you get them right away - it was a FA bid that didn't burn up your WW priority. So, if you don't want to use your WW for the future - WITHDRAW IMMEDIATELY ("that's what she said!" LOL).

Given the confusion, and the inconsistency of CBS's statement (they said it should be 48 hours for all players to clear, but in fact it was 24 hours), the Wed AM bids from Czar & ironmike have been now considered FA adds - as the other teams FA adds were processed today. Czar's & ironmike's WW priority has been reset accordingly.

Now that there is a clear explanation and understanding of the process, no further exceptions will be made. Given that there was no set of rules/procedures in place, and CBS's inconsistency in this incident, both RRF & HLZ agree that exemptions should be given (Czar not ruling given conflict of interest).

The above has been posted on CBS & RW TBD Forum threads - so we should be able to avoid repeat confusion for 2011 onwards.

EDIT March 2011: Please note that with the CBS new interface, we have had issues with the WW operation at the start of the year - for future years, by unanimous Commissionarial consensus, the WW MUST have run completely for teams to start FA adds. This year, due to CBS glitches, the WW was set to run one day, and then suddenly released all players to the FA pool, and allowed FA pickups. These pickups were reversed as there were teams that had WW claims still in for several players - and the WW was the only way to put in for those players at that time. This principle will be used as the precedent for the season-start for the WW going forward.

EDIT March 2012: CBS' WW runs very differently than Yahoo/ESPN. We have noted that when teams try to fill an open spot when the WW opens at the start of our season (not real-life MLB, but Day 1 CBS WW) - it ONLY stops processing WW claims when a player is dropped, or there are no more bids to run. What that means - teams with open spots or open spots created by offseason DL players can potentially run into a glitch where CBS adds MORE WW queues than needed to fill that empty spot (ESPN/Yahoo simply stop when a full roster max is achieved - stupid CBS). What this means for Opening Day of the WW - teams who are below their max bench and/or starter # MUST drop a placeholder player to avoid CBS from granting extra WW queues.

The reason is that if CBS WW grants multiple picks to open up 1 spot - it then screws up the order of picks behind the players incorrectly given away (i.e. 19th place owner puts 10 choices to fill 3 open roster spots - CBS gives 5 guys to that team - but 3rd, 4th & 5th choices granted were targeted by other teams - worst of all, CBS doesn't track WW queues once completed - so no way of knowing who should have had 3rd, 4th, 5th player). As the entire database of CBS WW players only has to run through WW on Day 1, this is NOT an issue for beyond the first WW run of the year.

BOTTOM LINE: Teams that have open spots in CBS WW will drop players to make CBS WW work properly. If those teams had open roster spots at that time, the same players waived will be re-inserted to those teams, as the drop is needed to fix a CBS glitch, and is not due to owner error in decision-making. ANYTIME after the 1st WW run - unless there is a system-wide or league-wide issue, no Commissioner influence or reversal of WW will take place, by unanimous 3-0 decision from Commissioners (John, Doug, Larry).

Anti-Tanking Rule Passed for 2010:

The following owner-report driven system to address potential cases of tanking (moves deliberately made by a team to attempt to lose a weekly H2H match or categories to improve draft position) is now in place by league vote. The system will work as follows:

1. Owners can report any possible instances of tanking a weekly H2H match by deliberate roster moves, or an absentee owner.

2. Commissioners will review, attempt to contact the owner in question, and then decide on the report and actions required - value judgments on players are NOT the focus, only moves that are clearly geared to guarantee/improve a chance at losing a match.

3. If Commissioner review confirms tanking is occurring, they may initiate roster transactions for that day in question and moving forward for the rest of the week at their discretion, and in the case of repeat violations, future weeks. To repeat RW Forum and CBS Message Board discussion - this decision will only be reserved for CLEAR cases of tanking.

4. Add/Drop, WW and Trades are NOT for review.

5. Commissioners who may be affected directly by the match(es) in question will NOT participate. If necessary, other owners who are not involved may be asked to participate.

6. Moves can only be initiated for the current day (it can take place after the deadline has passed, if the game hasn't finished) - there will be NO retroactive moves if the outcome is known.

7. Teams must have a full roster of 18 active and 7 bench players, with all positions filled as needed. If an owner fails to fill his bench roster accordingly to maintain a full active roster, his open spots will be filled according to best players available and roster spot needs.

8. In the event of repeat infractions, penalties may be assessed by Commissioner consensus and only in the event of documented repeat violations with prior warnings. Any Commissioner who has a conflict of interest must be disqualified, and a substitute owner(s) be used at the league's discretion.

RULE CHANGES FOR 2012:


1. MILB Bidding system changes to monthly, from May to August (Bidding clock starts 1st Wednesday of each month - players can be entered up to 1 week prior to lock in bidding process). Details are provided in the 2012 MILB In-Season Bidding Page - Rules Thread
2. Re-organization to continue by online randomization of 1-4, 5-8, 13-16 & 17-20 teams from prior year's regular season standings - and 9-12 reorganized to balance divisions (ONLY exception - if teams are dispersed in a reorganization draft for new owners, as the teams will be different).
3. Weekly 5-move add WW move limit passed in 2011 has been reconfirmed by a 17-1 vote, and will not be reviewed barring a major change in offseason feedback.
4. To ensure 2011's rule changes are known (they were passed by CBS vote, still in CBS archives), the 5-move weekly WW add/drop was instituted - as was the ruling that ANY Forumotion in-season bid that has started will make a player ineligible for CBS WW pick-up - the bid will take precedence, even if it is not completed. This will carry through in 2012 without review given the wide margin in voting.

http://forums.rotoworld.com/index.php?/topic/112650-tbd-dynasty-baseball/page__st__6440

Please read the link above for the full discussion, many of you have already read the CBS Alex Cobb & Christian Friedrich threads to know the backstory.

After much discussion, the two following rule changes are to be implemented immediately for 2012's regular season:

1. CBS Eligilbility for WW Pickups For Unowned MILB Players Promoted To MLB In Real-Life

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY - All unowned minor league players who are promoted to the MLB and have their confirmation confirmed (not planned callup, but confirmed callup that has happened) - will be automatically add/dropped by a CBS Commissioner (John, Doug, Larry or Rob). They will then be eligible for WW pickup (or FA pickup if they clear waivers). This will likely cause many SP's to miss their 1st start - but it will give all teams in the league absolute clarity on when the SP is eligible

In order to make this work, this has 4 implications:

1. If another owners sees a player promoted, please post a CBS message if you don't see anyone has add/dropped them. Do NOT add/drop them yourself unless you have lots of adds left in your weekly limit. The reason is simple - Commishes can't change the CBS WW counter. Commishes (Rob has CBS Commish power thanks to his bidding work in Forumotion) - they can override CBS when the counter reaches zero - all of those transactions show up in red. -

2. The above also means that Commissioners may have weeks in which they have 5 adds to their own team, and extra adds/drops of MILB players. As the adds that go over the 5-move limit show up in red, this will be easy for Commishes to self-police (and for the league to verify). This is the only way for the add/drop system to work, so we thank the league ahead of time for its understanding.

3. Teams who mistakenly add a player by jumping the gun will not have their move counter adjusted (because Commissioners cannot change the CBS counter).

4. UNCHANGED from before - if a MILB bid on Forumotion is started before a CBS WW claim is made (including a starting bid in the week before actual bidding occurs) - the player CANNOT be claimed on CBS until the Forumotion bid is complete (and takes precedence).

2. MILB Bidding Deadline To Create Space For Players Won & Effect on CBS Weekly Add Limit

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY - teams will have SEVEN (7) days to create space to add a MILB player won through bidding. This will in effect guarantee that a team can use either the current week or the next week to get their add in. However, also effective immediately - ALL MILB adds will count as an add to the CBS WW/FA 5-add weekly limit. This will allow teams to use 10 moves within 2 weeks to get their MILB adds in.

This ruling has 2 effects:

-The moment an owner declares a spot open for a Commish to add an unlisted player, that owner is also agreeing to use a CBS add to the weekly limit.
-Adds will not be "refunded" to the counter - as Commissioners cannot affect the counter. This means a team that chooses to add 4 MILB players is using up 4 adds of their 10 adds for the 2-week period, however they see fit.

3. FOR 2013 AND BEYOND...

We thank the league for its feedback - we recognize that the current rules, due to the increasing amount of news and advance notice, and the weekly 5-move limit, were causing problems that made the old rules confusing and impossible to enforce fairly. Having said that, we trust the league realizes that these current solutions will address the current problem - but may not reflect the long-term solution (i.e. some of this is being compounded by CBS).

In that vein - a more comprehensive review of the in-season MILB/WW eligibily rules is coming - so we can make 2013 run MUCH smoother. The rules above are purely for 2012 - let's keep working together to make 2013 even better - we'll submit the review and proposals to streamline the entire system shortly.


EDIT: Clarification of above rules in response to owner questions May 24, 2012, with 3-Commissioner approval:

1. This add/drop treatment is limited to MILB players who are expected to start games as SP's. The reasoning is simple - SP's have created the biggest problem with advance posts, as teams plan rotations ahead of time, but make callups for bullpen & bats with less advance notice. So, for RP's & position players – we'll go by official callup, either they have played 1 game or they are no longer "M" in CBS – in which case they are fair game for FA pickup. After much discussion, we realize that while CBS is late at times, the whole issue with when a player becomes officially up became more confused after we went away from using CBS alone.

2. If a player is not added/dropped through the WW but has played 1 game on the active roster since their callup (doesn't have to pitch/hit, but on the roster for 1 game) – they are eligible for FA adds. This addresses what happens if a player who is called up, and then suddenly is announced to start a game a day or two after they are called up (which was the case with Larry's add of Hefner last week). Also, if the league somehow misses a called up SP and they've pitched one game - well, they're fair game. But, if they are called up & picked up before a start has occurred - too early, the player is waived to the WW (and the move counted on CBS's weekly limit counter). Again, we just want to be consistent.

Again, this is for 2012 - we'll look as a league for more sustainable and software-friendly long-term solutions looking into 2013.

CHANGES FOR 2013

1.  RETURNING TEAMS – 18, NOT 20

First order of business – we have 17 confirmed returning owners, 2 who will not be returning (Pat & Dane – both giving up FBB for good), and 1 who is uncommitted, but leaning towards returning (Brian).  With that in mind – we've had to replace owners the last 4 years, and with the exception of Alex, they've all been bottom 5 teams.   After much discussion, Larry, Doug & I are unanimous in the decision to proceed and contract the league to 18 teams.  Pat has traded away picks for 2013's MILB draft – these will be honored in their spot to the owners who acquired them in past trades, otherwise the rest of the picks are simply gone.


2.  DISPERSAL DRAFT

So, with Pat & Dane's team no longer in existence, we will be holding a Dispersal draft – where anyone off Pat & Dane's team is eligible to be drafted, prior to the MILB draft.      

The principles:

-You must still stick to the 25 MLB roster spot and 15 MILB spot max – so if you pick up a player, and you are at your max, you MUST drop someone in the proper spot.
-The MILB & MLB eligibility criteria will follow along the 2013 simplified guidelines – if the player has 50 career MLB IP or less as a pitcher, or 130 career MLB AB's as a hitter – they can be put in a MILB spot alone.   If they have more than 50 career MLB IP's or 130 career MLB AB's – they must be put into a MLB roster spot.
-We will run the draft in reverse order of last year's standings, so the draft order goes as follows:

1.  Yawk
2.  Nick
3.  Justin
4.  Rob
5.  Kevin
6.  Andy
7.  Bob
8.  Larry
9.  Doug
10.  Gary
11. Richie
12.  Steve
13.  Milt
14.  Brian
15.  Sean
16.  RRF
17.  Luis/Al
18. Mike

The beauty of above – if you want to get the best available player, go for it.   If you want to fill a need and there's someone there – go for it.   If you would rather build for the future and take a MILB player – your choice.  

The Commissioners recognize that since teams could be picking MILB or MLB players in this draft, teams can't predict in advance (besides Yawk) which roster spots to open up - so we will require the drop at the time of the pick.   But, to be clear - the teams MUST create open spots as they pick - teams cannot use picks, either to take players or to trade picks away, if there is no spot available to use that pick.  Please note that players can't be waived after the draft is done to clear space - roster space has to be cleared at the time the pick is made.  To repeat - teams that do not have open space cannot pick, so their turn will be passed and their pick voided if they do not clear space at the time of the pick.  

The draft will be on Google Docs - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aid89dvjc40pdGJHYXYwRl96YkJWRU9VYWJFNDhPWGc#gid=0.  Many thanks to Rob - who has been able to load the team database, and the database of available players from Pat & Dane's old team.   Teams have a tab that lists each team roster, and the teams that have open spots in their MLB/MILB spots.   All teams MUST clear space for each pick accordingly - and do so on the Google Docs page.     Dropped players will be listed on the Drops Page, on the middle set of column of the 1st tab - Drop Grid.  The bottom grid will keep track of open spots for each team (thanks again Rob).   Once a team's spots are full and they pass on a round, their draft is complete.

To keep matters simple - all players waived to clear roster space from the 18 active teams will be eligible for the WW or MILB Offseason Draft later this year - this Dispersal Draft is only for players on Dane & Pat's team.

For teams that wish to explore trading away picks for the 2013 Dispersal Draft, the principle of not trading picks away that are taken by occupied players in your squad still applies (I.E. you likely would need to trade the pick away AND keep an empty spot - so teams aren't getting returns on picks they could not use, as their roster is full).   So, to be extra clear - as teams do not know what spot the pick will be used for, if they trade away a Round 1 pick, there must be one open MLB & one open MILB spot on that team's roster - and must remain that way until the draft.  If teams trade away a Round 2 pick, there must be 2 open MLB & 2 open MILB spots at the time of the trade - and must remain that way until the dispersal draft is complete.  The above only applies to the team trading away picks (but if both teams trade picks then it applies to both teams), in keeping with prior rules in draft pick trades.   Because it is unclear what spot is being used for the pick, a team that trades away picks for value must have open spots to match the picks in both the MLB & MILB roster spots.   Teams who choose to keep their picks only need to clear roster space at the time of the draft.  The rules on trading picks for the MILB Offseason Draft remain unchanged.


3.   SWITCH TO 3 6-TEAM DIVISIONS

There is a huge scheduling advantage to the 18-team league – we can run a 3-Division setup, with each team playing within the Division 2x, and EVERY team outside the division 1x – no skipped teams.   22 week regular season, 3-week playoffs, as before.   We will switch to a 3 division set up – and so it will be a truly balanced schedule – no more complaints of teams skipping cream puffs vs. others who skip a top 3 team.   The playoff system will remain the same – 6 teams in, top 2 division winners get byes, 3-week playoffs.


4.  CHANGE TO FANTRAX

The owners who played in RotoWood can attest to the fact that Fantrax offers all the features that CBS does – and does several things better, including:

-Automatically will send all MILB players who are promoted to the WW
-Allows teams to set lineups 5 minutes before EACH PLAYER'S GAME – not 1st game of the day
-Allows custom schedules, and deep MILB player database, and allows us to add players to database
-Stays functional year-round
-It's way cheaper than CBS

After playing in it last year, the Commishes have agreed to proceed to move the league to Fantrax this year.   We realize it will take some owners a while to get used to it – but believe me, if you have been using CBS, Fantrax will be at least as good (the only issue being the app is coming out still).   And trust me, the change of the WW, and being able to set lineups throughout the entire day, well, I know you will enjoy the change no matter what, after all the torture CBS has put the league through!


5.   REVISED PAYOUT

With the decrease in league fees with the change to Fantrax, and the decrease in # Division winners, this basically offsets the lost income from the 2 teams and allows some creativity in prize structure.   So, with that in mind, in an effort to promote all teams to compete year-round, in addition to the anti-tanking rules that are still in place, a revised prize $ is being set up:

League income – 18 x 65 – 1170
Fantrax fee – 70
     
Prize pool - 1100

PayPal fees – $15
$65 to 3 division winners – $195
$65 to most improved non-playoff team (overall improvement in W-L-T record from prior year) – $65
Extra $ for 1st place regular season - $50
1st place Playoffs – $450
2nd place Playoffs – $225
3rd place Playoffs – $100

What's been changed for 2013 – the division winners get $65 instead of $50, a new $65 award for the non-playoff team that improves most from the prior W-L-T record.    In short, it allows teams to battle for playoffs – but also the bottom dwellers have added incentive to improve, even if they don't have a realistic shot at the playoffs.  After much discussion about the issue of losing 1-2 owners each year perpetually from the bottom 5 of the league, Doug , Larry & I all agree to institute this for 2013, as a measure to preserve the long-term health of the league.  

EDIT 2014: With us down to 16 teams, the payouts change as follows:

Prize pool - $1040 (16 x 65)
League fee - 70
PayPal fee - 10

Total - 960

1st place overall reg. season - 65
Division winner reg. season (x2) - 65 x 2
Most improved non-playoff team reg. season - 65 (from prior year's W-L-T record)

1st place playoffs - 400
2nd place playoffs - 200
3rd place playoffs - 100

TOTAL - 960


6.   DIVISIONAL ANNUAL REALIGNMENT

As the league has had overwhelming majority votes for realignment to be randomized based on tiered standings, we will proceed with a randomization of divisions based on last year's standings, with teams tiered into top 3, bottom 3, 2nd-best 3, 2nd-worst 3, and 2 packs of middle-3 teams.   As always, the randomization will take place online using FFToolbox and you will receive an email of the randomization.   Because the minimum is 4 divisions, we will use a dummy team – and the numbers will be moved up accordingly – I will explain before we randomize online in the spring.



7.  MILB DRAFT ELIGIBILITY & IN-SEASON WW PICKUPS FOR MILB CALL-UP CHANGES


MILB Offseason Draft - Based on overwhelming feedback from the past season, the Commishes have agreed to simplify MILB eligibility for the draft – if you have 130 career MLB AB's or less (hitter), or 50 career MLB IP's or less (pitcher) - you are eligible for the MILB draft.   If you have more than 130 career MLB AB's (hitter) or 50 career MLB IP's (pitcher) - you are ineligible for the draft, and are eligible for the WW only.   That means the Darvishes of the world from last year would be now draftable in the 2013 MILB draft.

In-Season WW Pickups & MILB Promotions – With the switch to Fantrax, they have proposed a simple programming solution for 2013 – all players who are unrostered who get promoted from the MILB to MLB in real life get sent to the WW – and they can be claimed or not by that first, then after WW the FA claims can take place.  Fantrax can also restrict any team from picking up MILB-status players on the WW.

Keeper MLB & MILB Status - Once players are drafted or acquired via WW legally onto team rosters, the same rules on eligibility for MILB/MLB spots on a team roster (i.e. keepers) during the season and at the end of the season remain the same as before, including (but not restricted to):

-Once a player occupying a MILB spot is called up to the MLB in real-life, they can remain in their MILB spot or be activated into an active/bench spot.  Once that player is activated into an active/bench roster spot, they can't be sent down to a team MILB spot unless they are demoted to the MILB in real-life.   Regardless of the decision, the maximum # of keeper spots cannot be exceeded at any time.
-Any player who is demoted to the minors in real-life (except for the MILB-only players who were acquired in-season in 2009) can be slotted into a MILB spot.  In the case of a callup in real-life, all players in MILB spots are exempt from roster decisions, provided the maximum number of keepers spots is not exceeded.
-If a keeper player ends the season in an active roster spot and on the MLB roster (or MLB DL) at the end of the season (or in the last season in which they were playing in real-life), they cannot be sent to a team MILB spot until an official demotion to the MILB occurs.   Conversely, while a player who is occupying an active/bench MLB spot can be kept there if they are sent to the MILB in real-life, once they are moved to a team MILB spot, that player can only be promoted into an active/bench spot on team rosters when a real-life promotion to the MLB occurs.  For all rostered players, their MLB roster status at the end of the previous MLB regular season (or their last active season, in the case of real-life retired players/real-life free agents who are kept on league team rosters, e.g. Ben Sheets 2010) determines their eligibility for MILB/MLB status during the off-season until an official real-life roster decision is announced (and must be confirmed <not "probably" or "should", but hard confirmation> from a major news source - CBS, RW, Yahoo, ESPN, etc.).  EDIT:  For 2013, in keeping with the conversion to a simplified system - Fantrax will serve as the news source to confirm a *change in status* - lack of information will result in the status quo).
-For players on rehab assignments in the minors - Fantrax will now decide on Rehab assignment player DL/MILB status...
-No team can exceed the maximum number of keeper spots at any time.  If a MILB player is picked up through the bidding system or by trade and exceeds the maximum number of keepers spots, they have 24 hours to waive a player to meet the roster limits.



8.  OFFSEASON DL ELIGIBILITY & INSEASON DL ELIGIBILITY - FANTRAX

With the move to Fantrax, which tracks offseason player news from multiple news sources (and not just its own, as CBS did), in order to simplify the DL status issue for both the offseason and regular season, DL status will be determined as follows for the 2012-13 offseason and 2013 season:

Offseason DL Eligibility – Fantrax

1.   All players who have a DL icon (red flag with cross) are eligible for DL.
2.   All players who have a red flag whose injury writeup confirms a DL stint to begin the season (so, mid-season, late-2014 ETA, etc. - counts) - there are several players not on the MLB DL, but who are clearly going to miss a chunk of time to start the year and be on the DL – the nice part is the red icon with information confirms players who qualify under this criterion.
3.   Those players whose Opening Day status is in doubt, but NOT confirmed to start the year on the DL – NOT DL-eligible.  
4.   All players who initially get DL status but whose information changes to announce they are no longer certain to start the year on the DL (or the red flag with white cross icon is removed, without any confirmed DL start to season on Fantrax) - they will be returned to a reserve spot.  

Regular Season DL Eligibility - Fantrax

1.  Only players who have the "DL" icon (red flag with cross) are allowed to be kept in a DL spot.
2.  If a team has a DL spot player who is activated off the DL – their moves are locked until they resolve the issue.  This is like Yahoo, and a great feature – because teams can keep the old lineups if they want – but if they want to start a new SP, or sub other spots in – they have to fix the DL spot situation.  
3.  Players on the DL who are on rehab assignments – Fantrax's status determines whether they are DL players or MILB players.

Given it is the league's first year with Fantrax, these rules will be reviewed as necessary as the offseason and regular season end.

Changes to the MILB In-Season Bidding System, Effective for 2013....

Here are the details of how 2013's system will work with Google Docs & Fantrax (2nd league):

1. First Wednesday 1201 AM to Thursday 1159 PM ET of each month – players get nominated by ANY owner here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?fromEmail=true&formkey=dHRGXzNwb3UweFpUcDhBXzZuajBzZEE6MQ
A spreadsheet with entire list of nominated players shows up here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aid89dvjc40pdHRGXzNwb3UweFpUcDhBXzZuajBzZEE#gid=0

For now, as a measure to reduce decoy bids – we will cap the bids to 35 max per month. Please note that if an excess # decoy bids floods the system – we will abandon using anonymous nominations – and teams will go back to having their identity known, and committing to a $1 minimum bid. So, if you want to use decoys – fine but if you abuse this, you will lose the ability to nominate anonymously (so ask yourself – are decoys more important, or not having all the other owners know you are the bidder more important? If decoys flood the system – we will no longer be able to use anonymous bidding).

2. Once nominations complete after 1st Thursday of month – someone (*cough* GARY *cough*) sends an email with entire player list (owners can check spreadsheet, too). Teams then can put bids on players already in database (on Fantrax 2nd site – TBD MILB BIDDING ONLY – http://www2.fantrax.com/fantasy/home.go?leagueId=274ht6jghc1dze47 ). Owners only get one bid, which processes on 2nd Wednesday of month http://www2.fantrax.com/fantasy/home.go?leagueId=274ht6jqhc1dze47 HIGHEST BID WINS. The MILB bidding process date will be changed if a time delay does not allow for additions of players not in the Fantrax database in a timely manner (to allow owners to then bid on the new players added to the database).

3. Every owner does research, gets $100 to bid on, $1 minimum bid. We have increased the budget because this time, owners only get to bid ONCE - so we wish to give enough to separate bids (and minimize ties).
Fantrax 2nd league is where we do the bidding (TBD MILB BIDDING ONLY – http://www2.fantrax.com/fantasy/home.go?leagueId=274ht6jghc1dze47 ).

4. Ties in bidding go to lower team in current standings.

5. Teams will have 1 week to clear space on regular Fantrax page – a Commish is the only person who can add players on that page (to keep MLB & MILB separate).

6. As usual, the moment a player is nominated – they can't be picked up in MLB WW, even if they are called up. This is from past years precedent.


The above preserves the key principles:

1. League only has to do work at a fixed time, on a fixed # players.
2. Blind nominations prevent owners from being "bid up" on recognition of who bid on the player first – since the Google Doc does NOT ID the owner submitting the player name. HOWEVER, if teams use anonymous submission of names to flood the bidding with decoys – we will revert back to having owners declare a player to be thrown in, and we will revert back to having owners having to submit players for bidding with a minimum $1 bid - AND everyone will know who nominated the player. Since every owner has stated a preference to be anonymous - the flip side is you CANNOT abuse the ability to put decoy bids. If that happens - the league will lose the ability to keep bid nominations anonymous. So please decide which is more important - anonymity, or throwing out decoys (that don't mean as much with the ID of the owner now unknown).
3. One bid, therefore no need to follow a player thread – either you win him, or you don't. No need to go 2,3,4 days.
4. Before anyone asks - it's been clearly voted on multiple times - no trading of bidding $.

Given that the principles are being preserved, and Fantrax will be replacing Commissioner/Gary work significantly, this is being adopted for 2013.

The basic ruleset is now housed on Fantrax, and any discrepancies there supersede any rules here. If a ruleset here is not addressed in Fantrax, the Forumotion ruleset serves as established precedent, subject to future league review.


New Rule Changes for 2015:

1.  Realignment change - http://www.fantrax.com/thread.go?threadId=inpthg36i5zymoig&leagueId=gnqhf8zqi0rjm8uk

2.  Change in DL Status for offseason, change in weekly SP limit for H2H matches to 11 (up to 16 for 10-day week) - soft limit - http://www.fantrax.com/thread.go?threadId=fchcdyjfi5r4nlyd&leagueId=gnqhf8zqi0rjm8uk

The following changes were considered, but voted against change:

1.  WW/FA vs. FAAB - http://www.fantrax.com/thread.go?threadId=vdkg5gj1i5vfsckt&leagueId=gnqhf8zqi0rjm8uk

2.  MILB Midseason Draft retained (Bidding voted out in 2014, in favor of one-time midseason draft) - http://www.fantrax.com/thread.go?threadId=3srowpswi5sqf9mv&leagueId=gnqhf8zqi0rjm8uk

3.  Earlier Opening of WW/FA in offseason - http://www.fantrax.com/thread.go?threadId=euhibwoci5ygii27&leagueId=gnqhf8zqi0rjm8uk

4.  Prize Structure - http://www.fantrax.com/thread.go?threadId=zww6ud6ui5ym0j82&leagueId=gnqhf8zqi0rjm8uk