League Rules

THE MLB EXPERIMENT 2.0 - The Reboot


Commish - Jayslater1223
1st Vice -
2nd Vice -

Conduct:
Trash talk is permitted but please be respectful and have a sense of humor when doing so. No Butthurt Betty's or Disruptive Dave's here. Any owner who unnecessarily disrupts the league will be booted. Don't take advantage of newbies [new owners that recently joined pennantchase]. Rather help them, encourage them, and give them advice when necessary. I try not to let newbies into my leagues, so this shouldn't be much of an issue.

Activity:
Owners will be active.
If no activity for 7 days without notification = Penalty
If no activity for 14 days without notification = Booted
Activity = Logging into the league
Notification = Letting the Commish know you will be away for extended period.

Owners will also take steps to improve their clubs. If an owner never opens his LM's, doesn't bid on FA, makes no trades, etc, he can still be booted despite logging in regularly. In baseball, if you're standing pat, you're falling behind. The same can be said for PC. If I see no improvement combined with lack of effort, you will be booted.

Rosters:
Roster size will be 40 players max by end of Spring Training. This will expand to 45 players at the start of Season 3.

You must have 25-26 players in Majors at all times. 26 Maximum. At least 12 hitters and 11 pitchers. Must have 5 SP's. Must maintain a valid lineup at all times. One of each infield spot is mandatory. It is encouraged to keep at least 2 catchers and two SS's. Those two positions will rack up errors quickly if PC plays a different position player there because you don't have a proper backup. No backup catcher also means a non-catcher as a backstop, your opponents will rack up stolen bases with ease.

Commish reserves the right to insert players into invalid lineups if he so finds that the competitive balance sways too much, i.e. a non-catcher at C, only carrying 4 SP on your MLB roster, etc.

Payroll:
Team payroll is currently set at $275M (start of 2021)

Budget:
Going over budget - Teams are allowed to be over budget during the offseason, up to $20M above the cap prior to Opening Day. Anything over that will be negated. Any FA will go to the next highest bidder. Or any acquired player that sent them overbudget via trade will be sent back. A team can't go over budget during the regular season at all. If an owner is over budget prior to start of Regular Season, not only will their moves that took them over budget be negated, but they will also be fined $3M and lose their 2nd rd pick.

Schedule:
Spring training - 30 games (Multiple test runs may be done prior to 'official ST', this ensures accurate leveling.)
Regular season - 162 games
All Star break - Dependant upon schedule, Game 108-110
Trade deadline - Day 130
Playoffs Same as MLB (2-2-1 LDS, 2-3-2 LCS)
World Series Same as MLB (2-3-2)
Start offseason
Minor League Keeper Tags removed where applicable
Sign expiring rookie contracts or other FA PC contracts
Progressions.... Players peak at 28, stay the same until 32, then start to regress at age 33.
Trading turned back on
International FA (class will vary among Asian, Latin American players)
Rookie Draft (3 rounds)
FA bidding (Round 1)
FA bidding (Round 2)
Offseason requests - Player conversions
Supplemental (Filler) Draft to fill any inactive rosters
Free Agency Free For All (Open add/drop)

Rookie Contracts: Any player 18-25yo who wishes to play on an MLB roster needs at least a rookie contract to do so, rookie contracts are $2M/2yr, so they're actually 3 yrs long. At the conclusion of that rookie deal, owners have the option of signing the player to a PC "Team" Contract.

Tagged Minor Lg Keepers Tagged 'Minor Lg Keepers (formerly known as 'Rookie Tags')', aged 18-24, do not need a contract to stay on a Minor league roster. They do need a rookie deal at ANY time if they wish to play. If they remain unsigned through their age 25 season, they will need a PC "Team" Contract in order to remain with the team, he will otherwise become a FA.

Draft:
Draft will be 3 rounds with newly created fictional rookies (ages 18-24) and drafted based on previous season final standings. In case of tie, we go by run differential. Worst picks first. If run diff. is the same, head to head record the previous season will break the tie. Slow draft to follow for Rd 1. Live draft will be executed for rounds 2-3.

FA Bidding:
2 rounds of FA. Conducted immediately following the draft. Bids will done by private bids to the commish. I will send my bids to a vice.

For the first round, a select group of players (GROUP 1) will be bid on exclusively. Initial (qualifying) bids will be accepted for at least 48 hours and then will be posted to the homepage. Bidders will be posted in order of best offer. TOP 3 BIDDERS WILL APPEAR IN CAPS (any other bids will be listed in lowercase letters in parentheses following the TOP 3.) Only the top 3 bidders will be invited to rebid. This will be a 48 hour period. Then winners will be posted to the homepage.

The second round, you will be allowed to submit bids for the next tier of FA's. (GROUP 2) Same rules as above apply. Again, bidding will be private bids. Any Group 1 FA remaining may also be bid on at this time.

Bids must be sent to the commish with the following subject, "Team Name FA bids". The format must be the following, Position- Player Name "Money/Years/Raise=Total $"

EXAMPLE: SP Max Scherzer $4/5yrs/$0=$20 It is your job to do the math. Incorrect bids are VOID.

Bids can be max 7 years. Bids must be for a minimum of $1 per year. Players 36yrs old or older can only be signed to three (3) years or fewer. Max raise/negative raise is $2

Any players with only one team bidding, that player is won automatically, without a need for rebidding.

If a player enters the rebidding phase, but no team rebids on the player, the player is won by the highest qualifying bid, UNLESS OWNERS NOTIFY ME PRIOR TO REBIDDING THAT THEY DO NOT WANT THE PLAYER. If only one team rebids, they receive the player for the qualifying offer amount.

IMPORTANT: EVEN IF YOU ARE STAYING AT YOUR QUALIFYING BID DURING REBIDDING PHASE, YOU MUST STILL NOTIFY ME THAT YOU'RE STANDING PAT OR I CONSIDER THAT DROPPING OUT. ALWAYS REBID EVEN IF THE CONTRACT OFFER ISN'T CHANGING.

Player Conversions:
Position players can only be switched from primary to secondary position. (Ex. A 2B/SS becoming a SS/2B) FLD%/dWAR increase/drop may occur, I'll go over each case with the owner individually.). Hitting stats will stay the same. One per off-season.

SP to RP Conversion:
FOR SP age 34 and older
This process is manual but a here are a few general guidelines to have some idea of what to expect. Stamina will drop significantly (est.50-70%), ERA & WHIP will drop (est. 10-15% with worse WHIP?s & ERA?s potentially improving at slightly higher percentage), W, L?s and IP?s will drop as needed to make sense (est. 50%) , BB/9 will drop by est. 0.7-1.0 K/9 will go up by est. 1.0-1.5 and stats like CG will zero out.Best practice is you may want to wait until after player progressions take place to have a clearer picture of what you have to work with. One per off-season.

Stadium Renovations:
All 30 stadiums mimic true-to-life park effects. Making Coors Field a pitcher's park or PETCO a bandbox is just silly, dumb, and takes away from the realistic feel of the league. They are what they are. They won't be changed at present time.
**I am going to roll out "Rolling Park Factors" after Season 1, as you'll be given an opportunity to have your simulated games (home/away) help change your park effects. More on this to come.**

Penalties:
*$3M Fine and loss of 2nd rd pick for going over budget to start season.
Loss of newly acquired players that caused budget increase.

*$1M Fine for any need for Commish to demote players from your roster, fix your lineup, etc. Will be tracked and compounded for each offense. So a 2nd offense is $2M. A 3rd is $4M, and if by god I have to fix your team more than 3 times in the history of this league, you will be booted. It's inactivity.

Rewards:
I've found rewards systems only create bigger gaps league wide. They create "have's and have not's". So there will be no rewards system here at present time.

Slump Buster:
Maximum of 5 days.

Trades: :
We are all big boys and girls here. ALOT of P.C. Customs experience currently in this rebooted league. I don't see a need for a Trade Committee at present time. I subscribe to the mantra that every owner values talent differently, and I'm not gonna micromanage every transaction. If a deal is lopsided as hell, and I'm given no further information on that deal, then of course, I will reverse those kinds of trades immediately.

Here are tradable assets in MLB Experiment:

*Draft Picks from the next upcoming draft
*Following year's draft picks
[[ To clarify, 2019 will be our first season, and 2019-2020 offseason will be our first draft. You may trade draft picks for 2020 draft AND 2021 draft. You may trade 2022 draft picks once 2020 Regular Season begins, and so on?]]
*Players
*Prospect Rights
*Cash ($1-$10 Max, max of 2 years loaned)

MAXIMUM of 50 Trades per Season.

Signing PC Contracts:
When a player has an expiring rookie deal, has been added via FA and is 25 yo or older, or in the case of the first season, simply on the roster and unsigned, your PC 'Team' Contracts are Max 7 yrs in length.


Rules for Cutting Contracts:
*Two (2) Expiring contracts can be cut each offseason.

New owners may alter (change years) or cut up to three (3) contracts when taking over a franchise.

Since we are a brand new reboot, there will be no cutting of any other contracts. You signed them (whether PC or FA), you live with them/trade them away. Don't sign ridiculous contracts that handcuff your club !!!

Extensions: :
We will vote down the line on how we want to handle extensions. For now, players with expiring rookie deals will be the only players eligible for extension. This isn't really a Year 1 matter.

*There will be a 1-year extension available to any expiring player traded during regular season. This will be +$5M more than their current base salary. Ex. A $7/0 player will be eligible for a $12/1 extension if traded midseason.

Prospects:
Each season, each team will select a prospect for creation from their team's real-life farm system. They can also be on their real-life big league roster if they're still under rookie status and/or not existing in our league yet. With all fictional draft classes, there should never be a shortage of prospects for each franchise.

**In inaugural season (Season 1), franchises selected #21st-25th will get to select one (1) additional prospect. Franchises selected #26th-30th will get to select two (2) additional prospects.**

Prospect creation and statistics are weighed by several factors :

*Real Minor League/MLB Statistics, then scaled
*MLB 'Equivalency' tools
*Real Scouting Reports/Hype

New Owner:
New owners taking over for a team will be allowed to modify/cut up to 3 contracts.

Rookies:
Will be tagged and can remain unsigned if they do not play at all in the majors in the regular season or playoffs up to and including their age 24 season. This is known as a "Minor League Keeper" Tag. They can enter into a $2/2 Rookie Deal at any point during ages 18-24.They must be signed to a PC deal if they stay in the minors until their age 25 season. Any 24yo rookie left unsigned will become a free agent.

Maximums and Thresholds:
No SP Stamina shall exceed 120.
No RP Stamina shall exceed 40.
No SP Fire shall exceed 25.
No RP Fire shall exceed 30.
No Position Player Fire shall exceed 25.
All progressable Pos. Players shall at least have 450 AB
All progressable SP shall have at least 175 IP
All progressable RP shall have at least 50 IP
All players created for the rookie draft, as well as prospects will meet these minimums.


Player Rewards:
No rewards will be given to any players for any reason at this time.


Boosts: :
Each offseason you can request two players/pitchers you would like to have receive Endurance or Fielding Percentage boosts. Or you may choose Stamina boost for SP/RP. Requirements are:

-Must be 27 or younger
-To improve EN, GP must be 140 or lower
-To improve FLD%, FLD% must be less than 0.985%.
-To improve Stamina, a SP must have Stam of 95 or below, a RP must have Stam of 20 or below. (Only one Stamina boost per pitcher, per season.)
You may double on one player, or use a FLD and EN on the same player, so long as they don't exceed the thresholds.


Retirement: :
After age 42 season if on an active roster. Owner can file for a 1-year stay for what they feel are 'special' cases. Think Big Papi or Roger Clemens...Overall Rank and Real Stats will be taken into account.
Players who reach ages 37 that also go two or more seasons without being on an active roster will also be retired to help with player logjams. 33-36 yr olds with awful numbers will also be considered. These are from FA pool only.

Postseason:
Wild Card Game
Best of 5 LDS
Best of 7 LCS
Best of 7 World Series
Two (2) days off will be granted prior to start of Playoffs. One (1) day off will be granted prior to LCS and two (2) days prior to World Series. One (1) Day off will be granted after G2 and G4 of LDS. And G2 and G5 of LCS and WS. Homefield determined by RS W-L, divisional winner or Wild Card.


**ALL RULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE, MOST PER LEAGUE VOTE. RULES CHANGES/PROPOSALS WILL ALWAYS BE SENT OUT VIA LEAGUE MESSAGE.**


"Homegrown Talent Cap Rule"

League Settings

Year Range of Stats	2016 - 2019
Roster Size (Majors)	26
Roster Size (Minors)	19
Keepers	(40 keepers)
Change Stats Allowed
Free Agency
Drops
No-Drop List
Player Fatigue
Batter Injuries	(21 games max)
Pitcher Injuries	(21 games max)
Use Pitcher's HR Allowed Stats
Allows Max Surprise Bunts
Min Batters Pitcher Must Face	0
Slump Buster	(unlimited days)
On Fire	Classic
User Sims