Post by Colorado Rockies on Oct 15, 2014 18:11:08 GMT
THE FRANCHISE DYNASTY LEAGUE
League Rules & Constitutions
1. GOVERNANCE
To keep the league structure and concept intact, the council will consist of 3 managers which will be appointed by the commissioner. They will be tasked with maintaining the League.
The overall purpose of the Council is to guide the League with set standards of operation and to promote fair play and good sportsmanship. They will provide input to the commisioner
on matters that come up within the league. All members are expected to show respect for their fellow owners.
2. LEAGUE MEMBERSHIP
2.1. Membership is granted on a semi-permanent basis. Fantasy sports are performance based and Owners are expected to put their best effort forward to field a competitive team at
all times and follow the minimum requirements. Owners are expected to maintain a cordial relationship with all fellow owners. Good sportsmanship and respect are essential to a great
league and we ask all owners to show respect for one another. Granted, the dynasty league format has a large amount of diverse ideas, value systems and trade perspectives. It is a
given that every owner will not agree 100% of the time. If by chance you do not see eye to eye with another owner, please maintain your disagreement between the parties involved
and do not use the ProBoard or Fantrax site to air your differences. Respect that for what it is and realize we are here for the long term, not just today.
2.2. Members are expected to check weekly to the ProBoards site for any new information, trade discussion/approval, new business, etc. The more participation and site visits lead to
a healthy league and cohesive ownership group that is on the same page. All owners are encouraged to visit on a daily basis, answer all email and private message (PM’s) traffic.
2.3. Members who wish to leave the league are asked to provide the Council with a notice sufficient to allow for a replacement owner to be found.
2.4. Members who have abandoned their team will have their roster/team locked until a suitable owner has been selected and the team has been transferred. Prospective members
will first be screened by the council, then presented as a group to the league. The league as a whole will then vote in the member(s) they see fit.
2.5. While we hope for every owner to remain/return annually, members unable to perform to the stated League expectations or conform to League standards will be asked to leave.
If the council decides an owner should be expelled from the league, the council will present their case to the league. Afterwards, the owner will have a chance to respond to any
accusations, followed by a rebuttal by the council, and a final statement by said owner. The league will then vote on the issue, and a 66.7% majority will rule.
2.6. After the end of the season you are asked to update your Team Thread on Proboards. This is essential in for us to update your Offseason Roster (MLB & MiLB) in the MLML. Only
the MLML will save those roster because Fantrax is closing after a certain amount of time with our rosters locked. You will have 2 weeks after the end of the regular season to update
your rosters. After those 2 weeks trading can take place only on Proboards again.
3. TEAMS AND ROSTERS
3.1. 20 team mixed AL/NL players, Dynasty. During MLB season, each team will consist of 31 MLB (Fantrax registered) players and 35 minor league players.
New: There will no longer be a Developmental Roster. We will increase the MLB roster size to 31 spots to make room for the Dev Roster.
3.2. The Major League roster will consist of the following players:
Offensive Starters
1 catcher
1 first baseman
1 second baseman
1 third baseman
1 shortstop
3 outfielder (1 each of LF/CF/RF)
2 utility player (any offensive player)
Pitching
2 SP
2 RP
5 P
12 BN Bench players of any combination of position players or pitching.
Unlimited IL spots
The 31 slots on the team roster are then: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF, Util, Util, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P, P, P (6) BN, (unlimited) IL.
3.3. Players position eligibility will be determined solely by current Fantrax rules.
3.4. The following scoring criteria are used to determine team performance:
Offense:
Total Bases (TB)
Runs (R)
Runs Batted In (RBI)
Home Runs (HR)
Net Stolen Bases (NSB)
Average (AVG)
On-base plus slugging (OPS)
Pitching:
Wins + Quality Starts
Saves
Strikeouts
Earned Run Average
WHIP
Saves plus Holds
Strikouts per 9 Innings (K/9)
3.6. Fantrax will be the statistical service used and will record the official statistics for our league.
3.7. This league will be played with the format of Head-to-Head One Win: Just like H2H Rotisserie, but the winner receives just one win, rather than one win for each category the team wins.
3.7. Each week, your pitching staff must total a minimum of 30 innings pitched. If you fail to reach this mark, you will lose all of your pitching games for that week.
3.8. Divisions and Playoffs
a. Playoffs: There will be 12 playoff teams. The 4 division winners will receive a bye in the first round regardless of record. Seeding will be based off of regular season standings with 4 teams from both the AL & NL making the playoffs. Each round will have the top remaining seed going up against the lowest remaining seed.
b Rounds: The playoffs will consist of 4 rounds. The first 3 will last1 week and the final championship round will go on for 2 weeks.
c. Tie Breakers: Tie breakers are pre-determined on Fantrax. To find the click other>league rules summary>scroll to miscellaneous...H2H record is the first tie breaker, highest seeding will be the 2nd.
4. ROSTER PROTECTION
4.1. Players who are placed on the MLB injured List, may occupy a IL position on the Fantrax Roster. Once a player is activated, the owner is expected to activate that player.
As per Fantrax rules, further modifcations of MLB roster are not permitted when a non-IL player is occupying a IL position. They will all be counted towards your salary. At the end of the season you will have two weeks to remove ALL players from the IL. You will have to make room for them on your roster. If not, the players will be dropped automatically with the 50% penalty. And during the season, Fantrax will prevent you from making transactions if you have a player that is on the IL that is active. So this way we will not be able to stash players on the IL.
5. TRADES
5.1. Trading is allowed (in-season as well as off-season), with the only exceptions being that, after traditional trade deadline (2nd August 2015) and for a two week period after the season ends (Check Rule 2.6.)
5.2. All trades must be posted in ProBoards under the "Trade Agreement" thread, regardless of the type of players involved (MLB, MILB, Draft Picks), along with a substantiation
by each engaging team, as to why the trade is in the best interest of their team.
5.3. The trade must be posted in Fantrax, and agreed to by each manager.
5.4. After the draft is finished, League Members will have up to 48 hours to object to the transaction once to is fully posted on ProBoards (Both teams reasoning must be posted before
Clock starts ticking). Only a vote of at least 9 dissenting members (the "Majority")will disallow a transaction.
5.5. Once agreed to by both managers on Fantrax, The transaction will follow the 2 day approval process in Fantrax, unless there is an objection by the league officers or members
(See above) that would require further review.
5.6. Trade should be posted on ProBoards simultaneously with Fantrax. ProBoards should include each respective managers rationalization for why the trade makes sense for
their team. In context, Fantrax is only there to record transactions, with no ability to rationalize. This is why we have the open forum in ProBoards, so managers can better
understand thinking behind the trade. It helps everyone in the long run to better understand the concept of Dynasty Baseball.
5.7. Trade deadline for the season is based on Fantrax yearly trade deadline. And 2 weeks after the season is over and proboards is updated trading is allowed again.
5.8. Minimum cash involved in any trade is $250,000.
5.9. Cash can be traded for the current season and the next season. If the trade is during the offseason, cash can be traded for the upcoming season and the following season.
6. WAIVERS
MLB Waivers
6.1 - 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.
6.2 - To place a player on MLB waivers please post the name of the player and his salary in the sub-board titled ‘MLB Waivers’.
6.3 - 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.
6.4 - After a player has been put on waivers, teams have 24 hours to place a claim.
6.5 - 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.
6.6 - If a player goes unclaimed on waivers that player can be traded to any team.
*After the trade deadline, the player placed on waivers, can only be traded for only players on Upper Minors, MiLB roster, Low Minors, draft picks, cash , or any other players that are placed on waivers and go unclaimed. You can NOT trade a player that resides on the MLB roster unless that player has also cleared waivers
Only 5 players can be placed on waivers after the trade deadline
6.7 - One other note: A player may only be placed on waivers 3 times during a season.
6.8 - 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.
7. ROSTER RULES
7.1. Minor League Free Agents: Any player meeting the following requirements is considered a Minor League Free Agent, and is eligible to be picked up by any team:
a. The player has not yet surpassed 100 innings pitched or 200 at-bats in the Major Leagues.
b. The player is not listed on an active MLB roster, or on the MLML and is not listed on the Minor League Transaction Log as being owned/claimed by any other team.
c. The player's draft class (whether International Free Agent or June Amateur) has been drafted by the league.
7.2. Claiming a Minor League Free Agent: In order to claim a minor league free agent a league owner must post in the following format on the Minor League Transaction Log:
Last Name, First Name (Primary Position, Organization). For example, Team Name claims LaLoosh, Ebby (SP, ATL) and releases Davis, Crash (C, ATL). Once the MLML administrator
has verified the transaction the claiming team should make the change on their team page. Accuracy is extremely important, as there is a deep pool of players, some of which
have the same or similar names. Incomplete information will result in the cancellation of the transaction. Owners may be asked to submit more information when and if needed.
Any issues will be resolved first by the MLML administrator, then, if necessary, by the council.
7.3. Minor League Roster Eligibility: A player is eligible to be on the minor league roster while the following conditions apply:
a. If the player has not yet surpassed 200 at-bats innings pitched or 100 innings pitched he is eligible for the Minor League Roster. Players under these limits may be promoted
and/or demoted at any time as long as they remain under the limits. All promotions/demotions need to be noted in the Minor League Transaction thread.
b. If players surpass the 100 inning/200AB totals during the season, you would have until the next offseason to promote them. If you promote them before then, you will not be able to send them back down.
7.5. Minor league free agent pickup periods:
a. Unlimited minor league transactions are allowed. During the offseason please allow for more time to update the MLML.
7.6. Minor League players are defined as players in organized minor league baseball. This excludes players in high school, college, foreign/international players who are posted
(Japan) or yet to sign as free agents with an organized minor league team.
7.7. Major League Free Agents: Any player in the Fantrax database and not under the ownership of another team is an eligible Major League Free Agent. Owners must verify that
any player picked up via Fantrax is not owned on the MLML. Players, who are owned on the MLML but picked up by another owner, must be removed from the starting roster
immediately and the player removed from the offending team’s roster. If done so by the Fantrax Commissioner, it will be done so without replacement. Free Agents are available
from the completion of the Major League Draft until the last day of the regular season.
7.8. In the event multiple owners claim a player, the Fantrax claim will serve as the priority and tiebreaker assuming the other owner posts on ProBoards first. The winning Fantrax claim must be posted within 24 hours on the ProBoards transactions thread (current month) or the claim may be nullified by admins.
8.1. A 5 round Minors Draft will be held at a time designated by Council after the Annual MLB New Player Draft and consist of players drafted and signed at the time of the draft
signing deadline. Players claimed in the International Draft are also eligible to be drafted during this draft (cannot be picked up prior to the draft). In our first New Player Draft we
will expand our MiLB Rosters to 20. The following year these players drafted are to be on ‘Low Minor 5 man roster’. They can be traded or called up, but if doing so they then must occupy a space on the main 25 man roster (ie not the 5 player draft). Subsequent players
cannot be placed onto the 5 player roster. Any players still on the 5 player roster as of the next New Player Draft must either be promoted to the 25 man roster, traded or cut.
8.2. The Minor League Draft will have a non-snake format, with pick order determined by the reverse order of the Major League Standings the previous year. .
8.3. Draft picks may be traded for the current year prior to the new player draft. Trades of picks cannot be made for subsequent years beyond the current year. Teams which have
picks in excess of 5 picks in the new player draft must place drafted players on the main 25-man roster or MLB roster as they cannot exceed 5 players on the new player roster.
9. INTERNATIONAL FREE AGENT (IFA) PLAYERS
9.1. These player are eligible to be drafted.
You would pay $500K for the first 3 years as long as you have him on your MLB roster. You would not pay the salary if he is on your MiLB. Since this player would not be using the real life arbitration salaries like all rookies. Fantrax gives us rankings on all players and we would use that. The formula is below.
Ranked 1-25 - Year 4 would be 500% of previous year's salary. Year 5 and 6 would be 325% of previous year's salary.
Ranked 26-50 - Year 4 would be 400% of previous year's salary. Year 5 and 6 would be 275% of previous year's salary.
Ranked 51-100 - Year 4 would be 350% of previous year's salary. Year 5 and 6 would be 350% of previous year's salary.
Ranked 101-200 - Year 4 would be 300% of previous year's salary. Year 5 and 6 would be 175% of previous year's salary.
Ranked 201 and above - Year 4 would be 200% of previous year's salary. Year 5 and 6 would be 125% of previous year's salary.
10. Salary Cap
There is a hard $143 million salary cap. You may not go over the cap through FA bidding.
If you go over the salary cap via trade, the trade will not be processed until your team is under the salary cap. If the trade isn't able to process after 48 hours the deal was posted then the trade becomes void. That way the other team can move on. If you sign a free agent and that player puts you over the salary cap you will have 24 hours to be under the salary cap or the move will not be processed and that player will remain a free agent. If you bid on a player you have 24 hours after winning the bid to be under the salary cap and to be under the roster limits. If you are not the player will be awarded to the previous highest bid. If no other bid the player will have to be bid on again.
We will be using www.spotrac.com for all salary purposes. Round all salaries to two decimal place. So instead of $6.7M put 6.68M.
10.1 Minors
In the MiLB there is no contract for these players until they are called up to the Majors Active Roster.
10.2 Contracts (Years 1-6)
If you draft a player that has less than 6 years of service, when their real life contract expires you can resign them to 1 year deals until their 7th year. You will pay them whatever the real life contract is on www.spotrac.com/mlb/ for that year. If the real life team extends the player to a long term contract you have the option to accept that contract and lock him long term. For example, let's say you draft Jose Fernandez of the Marlins. He has 1 year of service time. You can give him 5 one year contracts until year 7. You will pay him whatever the Marlins pays him in 2015 and every year after. If next year the Marlins sign him to a long term deal then you can sign him to the new deal. Even though you sign him to 1 year contracts you will have control of him until 2019.
10.3 Incentives
There will be incentives if you make the playoffs or have a player that wins a reward. The money will be awarded the following year only.
- Win the division: $2,000,000
- Win the wild card: $1,000,000
- Win AL or NL Championship: $2,000,000
- Win World Series: $2,000,000
- Have AL or NL MVP: $2,000,000
- Have AL or NL Cy Young: $2,000,000
- Have AL or NL Rookie of the Year: $2,000,000
- Each category win during the regular season: $15,000
11. Contracts
11.1 Contracts (Years 7+)
For all other players we will use a site called: www.spotrac.com/MLB/
We will use the BASE salary (payroll breakdown page on spotrac.com) of the year that the player is in, not a yearly average of the entire salary.
All options and opt-out clauses will become YOUR team options. You will be able to exercise or decline the option.
After a player's 6th year is over you will have the option of picking up their new contract, on Spotrac, or letting them go to Free Agency.
Note: If a player retires in the middle of a contract, then you will not owe that player any money of his remaining contract.
11.2a Arbitration Eligible Players
You can tender any arbitration eligible player without penalty during the offseason only. That player will then become a free agent and will be bid on with other free agents. You will have until March 15th to accept or decline the contract. All players left undecided will be released and put into free agency.
11.2b Arbitration Eligible Player Extensions
Once projected arbitration salaries are released (we use mlbtraderumors.com) they will be applied to the upcoming season and locked in. If a player receives a contract extension in real life while still in their arbitration years we will apply that extension to the year following the upcoming season. This allows everyone to budget properly with no big surprise late in the offseason.
11.3 Free agents
Free agents will be auctioned off, meaning every team has the chance to acquire a free agent. As in an auction, the highest bidder wins (=Highest overall contract value). Which is years multiplied by yearly salary (3 years at $10M/year ($30M) beats 2 years at $14M/year ($28M)
The minimum contract length is 1 year. The maximum is 3 years.
You will have until March 15th to accept or decline the contract. All players left undecided will be released and put into free agency. Exception is if the player has not signed with a real life team you would get an extension to whenever he does. But he would be on your roster but not making a salary.
Minimum bid for all players is $500K. After the 6th bid, the minimum increment to the total value is $500K. After the 11th bid, the minimum increment to the total value is $1M.
Remember, the per year salary over the life of the contract remains constant for The Franchise League signed players. In other words, when you sign a FA for 3 years, 9.M, you have to pay him $3M each year.
Any FA signed cannot be traded until May 1st, of the year of acquisition. This only applies to off-season acquired Free Agents.
If your player's contract expires, you have three choices. First choice is to pick up his new real life contract. Second choice is to release him to the Free Agency Pool. That player will be auctioned off as a free agent open to all managers. You are eligible to bid for that player as well. You perhaps could get him cheaper than his real life contract depending on how high the bidding goes. To give managers a extra incentive to release players to Free Agency, you will receive the hometown discount only if you release him and win that player back. If you decide not to gamble and pick up his new contract (not letting other managers have a chance for that player) you will pay that player his actual base salary with no discount. Or you can give them a Qualifying Offer (see rule 11.4).
If you accept a contract and then trade the player; the receiving manager can not undo the decision so if you think you might want to trade the player, please wait to make a decision.
You will receive a hometown discount of 20%.
If you don't resign the player you will get a compensation pick after the 1st round in the next draft if the player is ranked in the top 60 by Fantrax.
11.3.2 Free Agent Claim Priority
In the event multiple owners claim a player, the Fantrax claim will serve as the priority and tiebreaker assuming the other owner posts on ProBoards first. The winning Fantrax claim must be posted within 24 hours on the ProBoards transactions thread (current month) or the claim may be nullified by admins.
11.4 Qualifying Offer
The qualifying offer is 1 year at $12M. You will have until March 15th to decide if you want to offer a Free Agent or Arbitration Eligible player a Qualifying Offer. If you choose to offer the player a QO, you will have that player for 1 year at $12M and you will lose the rights to the player the following year along with your 20% hometown discount. If you choose not to make a QO, you can wait and make a decision later (once real life contract is presented) to accept the player's real life contract or decline them. If you decline the real life contract that player will enter free agency but you will receive the 20% hometown discount when placing your bids.
To simplify, if you're looking at our Google Sheet your "UFA" will receive no hometown discount and if a "FA" goes into free agency due to team owner declining the real life contract then that would result in the 20% hometown discount.
You can not reverse Qualifying Offers. Meaning if you give that player a Qualifying Offer and trade him; The new team can not reverse the decision.
11.5 Waiving a Player
Any player may be waived from your team.
If the contract is an MLB contract/FA contract, you will be responsible for 50% of the salary in each year remaining for the entirety of the contract excluding option years.
All players who are in their 1st through 6th years of experience (arbitration years) have non-guaranteed contracts. This means you only pay for 50% of the current seasons salary.
The only time this does not apply will be when accepting/declining arbitration contracts pre-season in our annual player options thread. Declining arbitration increase will release the player into free agency with no penalty.
11.6 Restricted Free Agent
Any free agent or arbitration player can be a Restricted Free Agent. You will post that player in the Restricted Free Agent auction. You will make the opening bid. The normal auction rules will apply. Once there is a winning bid, the contract amount is the value of that player. The original team will have a choice to keep the player at that new contract, or release him to the winning bid team and receive a compensation pick based on the below table.
Less than $4M = No compensation
$4M - $6M = 3rd round supplemental pick
$6.1M - $9.5M = 2nd round supplemental pick
More than $9.6 = 1st round supplemental pick
11.7 Penalty Free Drops For New Owners
Each new owner joining the league will instantly be provided with two penalty free player drops. This will encourage new ownership and aid in them rebuilding their team. There is currently no time limit on owners making a decision on their two drops.
12. CONTACT INFORMATION
I ask all teams to decide on a name of their team before we start drafting. As soon as the draft starts you cannot change your teams name.
This just makes it more easier for me to keep the Minor League Rosters up-to-date. Furthermore I would ask all managers to connect the same
E-Mail address to the Fantrax Engine and the our ProBoards forum. If we need to get in touch with you and we have multiple E-Mail adresses, stuff
will get confusing very fast.
13. DRAFT ORDER
Draft order will be determined by regular season league standings on Fantrax.
The last ranked team will receive the 1st pick and the best ranked team will pick last in each round.
14. MLB/MiLB Draft
14.1. Draft: The draft will be 5 rounds with 20 picks per. Will typically take place in January (possibly February) during our fantasy league offseason.
14.2. Time windows: You have exactly 12h to make your pick. The draft will freeze at night from 1200am-600am EST
14.3. Player eligibility: Players that were available in the previous years July draft, players that have not exceeded their MILB limits within our league settings, and international signing day prospects for the year in which we draft. (Ex. If we draft in January 2025, the 2024 FYPD and 2025 International Signing Period [Jan 15-Dec 15] prospects will be who we are picking from).
Players who are not yet signed to a franchise can be drafted at your own risk.
14.4. MiLB & MLB eligibilty: Players for MiLB Draft have to be under or exactly at the limits of:
- Pitchers: 100 IP
- Batter: 200 AB
If your player is exactly at 200AB or 100IP you can add him to your minors.
14.6. Procedure:
- Before you make your pick, make sure the player you want has not been drafted. You can do this here:
a. MLB Draft Results
b. MiLB Draft Results
c. MLML
- Make your pick
- Once you post your pick you cannot change it. You are not allowed to do this even if the manager up next has not made a pick.
- Notify the person after you that he is up. You wrote this person 2 messages:
a. Contact information all managers (=Email)
b. Normal ProBoards Message
- Please check regularly on updates in this thread.
14.7. Wrong picks: If a managers makes a wrong pick, he will not be punished. The draft will not stop. The manager will be notified per Mail and
Proboards message and makes his pick as soon as he is online again. Therefore, check your picks carefully, because if the draft is moving you
might lose a lot of spots. Furthermore, if you pick a wrong guy you cannot pick any player that was picked after you. You have to have someone
who was not drafted yet.
Trading is not allowed before the Draft is over. All teams start off the same way.
14.9. Contracts & Salaries: Remember you have to stay within the 143 Million Dollar Payroll!
You can check players salaries and contracts here -> Contract & Salaries MLB
15. LEAGUE VOTING
15.1 Voting Process
We no longer use a league council but allow all 20 team owners to have an equal say in any league changes (primarily rules). A poll will be posted with a time limit (minimum of 7 days) and a vote ending with 66.7% approval will pass. All owners will have an opportunity to vote but the league will not be held up for those who do not participate within a reasonable window. Time limited polls will hopefully improve owner engagement and allow the participating owners to move forward.
15.2 Timing Window
All voting polls will be up for a minimum of 7 days to allow all owners an opportunity to visit the forums and check in
