League Rules

MARCH THROUGH HISTORY: 1995
commish: bennyboy44 (Red Sox)
vice-commishes: mikespaz (Giants), gdpicker (Rockies), keyavakil (Phillies)

BUDGET/ROSTER SIZE

Teams are allowed a 50-man organization (25 in majors/25 in minors), and teams are allowed to sign 50 players to contracts. Teams are not allowed to carry less than 25 men on their active roster. Rosters are expanded to 40 players during the final ~30 games.

Teams will be allowed to exceed their budget during the offseason and through spring training. If a team exceeds their budget entering the regular season, they will surrender their next owned first-round draft pick. The commissioner will then work to get the team under budget. There are no exceptions.

A team exceeding budget during the regular season will be given one real day to get under budget. Otherwise, the team will lose their next owned first round pick.

Teams are not allowed to dip below $140 budget under any circumstances. Teams are not allowed to acquire cap once their budget has reached $280.

DRAFT

Draft order will be determined by the previous season?s standings.

Each rookie class will consist of real-life players who made their first significant contribution that season. Notable players will be edited by commish to reflect their real-life career. These changes can be tracked via the transaction log.

There will be three rounds of the draft. First round will be slow draft. Live draft will pick up wherever slow draft leaves off.

If commish is forced to pick for a team, highest-ranked player will be selected. If there are multiple players with the same rank, the absent team will receive the oldest player (as to not incentivize missing picks). Second tie-breaker is potential (order: U, C, A, S).

Run differential will be used for draft order tie-breakers. The team with the inferior +/- will receive the more favorable pick. Head-to-head is second tie-breaker (team with inferior record gets favorable pick), and division record is third tie-breaker (team with inferior record gets favorable pick).

FREE AGENCY

Free Agency will follow the draft.

The max increase for a free agent is $4. Decreases are not allowed. Max contract length is 10 seasons.

Following the first round of bidding, the top three teams (without bids) will be listed on the home page. These three teams will be allowed to re-bid (if they desire) on the players. Following the second round of bidding, the highest bidder will be announced.

Teams are allowed to rescind up to three contracts between the first and second round of the first phase of free agency. Otherwise, the winning team is obligated to sign the player. If a team rescinds a bid, the second-place team is *not* obligated to sign the player. This does not apply if second- or third-place teams have $0 bids.

There are no restrictions on who can be bid on. Teams can only bid on 25 players during each phase of free agency.

There will be a second phase of free agency. There are no re-bids or rescinded offers during this portion.

Players signed via free agency cannot be cut or traded until game 60. This does not apply to franchise/tendered players returning to their team.

Other factors to keep in mind:

- Players signed to $0 contracts will be placed on a winning team (if there?s only one bid) without a contract. If a player has at least one monetary bid, the $0 bid will be ignored. In this scenario, team's offering a $0 bid will not be allowed to re-bid.

- If a free agent receives only one monetary bid and the total contract value exceeds $30, $2 will be deducted from the player's yearly salary.

- If a team wins a bid by more than $40 total, $2 will be deducted from the yearly salary.

In free agency, be aware of player tenders (see CONTRACTS)

CONTRACTS

Following the season, players with unsigned/expiring contracts (excluding rookies) will become free agents. Teams will have an opportunity to retain their own free agents via the following three methods:

1) FRANCHISE TAG:
Teams can designate one impending FA a ?franchise player.? This means the player will receive a three-year contract worth the average of the top-5 highest paid players at that respective position.

Teams are allowed to submit on franchise tag per season.

2) PLAYER TENDER:
Teams can assign a first, second or third round tender to their FAs. A tender does not guarantee the player?s return, but it guarantees some kind of compensation should they be signed by another team.

Teams assigning a player tender are essentially offering a one-year contract for the values below.
- 1st Rounder: average of the top-10 highest paid players at that respective position
- 2nd Rounder: average of the top-15 highest paid players at that respective position
- 3rd Rounder: average of the top-20 highest paid players at that respective position

The player will not automatically accept this offer; he will still enter free agency. All teams (except those without the applicable draft picks) will be allowed to bid on a tendered player. All offers for tendered players must have an average annual salary that matches or exceeds the respective tender value.

If a team wins a tendered free agent, they will have to surrender whatever draft pick was chosen by the original, tendering team. The surrendered draft pick will be awarded to the signed player's former team during the following year?s draft. If a team does not own any of the respective draft picks, they will not be allowed to bid on the tendered free agent.

If a team wishes to bid on a player with a first-round tender, they MUST own their own pick. There are no exceptions. If a winning team has multiple draft picks for second- and third-round tenders, they will sacrifice the most valuable pick (based on previous year's standings). This pick will be frozen the moment the team submits their bid (i.e. the team can't quickly trade multiple seconds in pursuit of giving up the worst possible pick).

Teams placing a player tender can still bid on that player if, for example, they?re worried a free agent bid may exceed the free agent price. Otherwise, the incumbent team will be listed with a one-year deal for the tender value. Rescinding this bid (even if it's to retain the player on their tendered value) counts towards your three.

If teams don't bid on a tendered free agent, the player will return to his former team on the tender contract.

Teams are allowed to apply each of the tenders once per offseason.

3) EXTENSIONS:
If a player is on the same team for at least five straight seasons, they're eligible for extensions. Players must play at least one game to earn credit for a season.

The formula/process can be found here. Starting values are based on positions (specifics for hitters, starting pitchers, and relievers).

The monetary discount is capped at 60% of the position grouping?s value.

Teams can submit infinite number of extensions per season. Players are only allowed to be extended five times, counter doesn't reset when switching teams.

For info on players with "ROOKIE" tags, see ROOKIES/DRAFT.

IMPORTANT NOTE ON CONTRACTS

PC has an odd quirk in their contract system. Essentially, the player receives an extra year on the contract that doesn't count against the cap. So, if you ink a guy to a five-year, $50 deal, the player will be owed $10/season for five years, and he'll be on your roster for a sixth year at $0. If a player signs a one-year, $1 deal, they'll be on your roster for $1 the first year and $0 the second year. This doesn?t apply to players with $0 contracts.

ROOKIE CONTRACTS

All players with ?rookie? tags don't need to be signed to contracts. These tags will be removed for hitters when they exceed 150 compiled ABs in a single season, and they?ll be removed for pitcher when they exceed 50 IPs (25 for relievers). Tags are removed following progressions. When players turn 28, their rookie tags will be removed, regardless of their compiled stats.

When the tag is removed, the player will need to be signed via PC?s standards. The tags will be removed during the offseason, meaning the player will need to be signed before the following offseason/progressions. Otherwise, they?ll become free agents.

ADD/DROP

Following free agency, all free agents can be added freely (assuming the team has the necessary roster spots).

If a team wishes to cut a player, they must message the commish. Teams can release players with no contracts/expiring contracts without any financial penalty. Trade deadline is the final chance to cut any players.

Teams are allowed to cut players under contract, and they'll be responsible for paying 50% of the player's yearly salary for the remainder of the player's contract. The salary for the released player will be subtracted from the team's cap for the respective season(s). If the salary is an odd number, the value will be rounded down (in the owner's favor).

There is no financial benefit to cutting a $1 player.

When a player is cut, they will be placed on a holding team. All teams are allowed to bid on the free agent. Bids will be open for 24-48 hours after the player has been officially dropped.

PROGRESSIONS

Player progression will take place following every season. Players will peak at age 28 and begin declining at 32. Free agents 41 and over will retire following free agency. Players who are not free agents will retire when they're 45, regardless of contract status. Teams will still be responsible for paying the rest of the contract (money will be deducted from budget for each applicable season).

POSITION CHANGES

Teams are allowed a pair of position changes every offseason. For offense, the following rules apply:

-Any player can be switched to first base
-Any player can be switched to their secondary position (excluding "UT")
-Any player with a speed of 8 or higher can play any position (except catcher)
-Any 2B/SS can switch to another infield position or OF

Fielding percentage is reduce by .02 when a player's position is changed.

Starting pitchers can be switched to the bullpen. Starters switching to relief will see a .15 improvement in WHIP. Pitcher "position changes" can only be made if the player is 32 or older.

A position player is allowed to be switched back to their original, imported position without any penalty to their fielding percentage. This rule isn't applicable to pitchers. Refer to "League History" to see the list of previous position changes.

TRADES

Trades can include any combination of players, picks or cap. Picks can only be traded up to two years in the future (the upcoming draft and following draft). Following progressions, teams are allowed to trade picks for the current draft and the following two drafts. There are three rounds of the rookie draft, so picks from rounds one, two, three can be dealt.

All trades will be approved by commissioner. Both teams MUST send all trade details pertaining to picks or cap to commish.

New owners, regardless of website tenure, will have every completed trade reviewed by the commish for their first 20 real days in the league. Commissioner has the right to reverse any trade made by these respective teams. This is to reduce the chance that a tenured owner takes advantage of a less-experienced owner.

Cap trades are permanent. Teams are not allowed to dip below $140 budget under any circumstances. Teams are not allowed to acquire cap once their budget has reached $280 (they can still acquire money via playoff bonuses).

Players signed via free agency cannot be traded until after game 60.

IMPORTED PLAYERS/ROOKIES

Imported player stats are at the commish's discretion. For example, popular players with ugly rookie stats may be edited.

Imported players with an All-Star appearance will receive "A" potential. Imported players with 6+ All-Star Appearances or induction into the HOF will receive "S" potential.

Imported players 25 or younger will be in the respective year's draft class. Imported players 26 and older will be included in that respective year's free agent class.

PLAYER AWARDS

-All-Stars will be selected by PC, and each player will receive 1 power point. Players in top-5 of MVP/Cy Young who aren't selected to teams will be added by commish.
-MVP, Cy Young, ROY winners will receive 1 power point.
-Award Winners/All Stars will also receive "A" potential.
-A player with 5+ All-Star appearances or 3+ MVP/Cy Youngs will be upgraded to "S" potential (regardless of "imported" potential)

Gold Glove Awards

Gold Gloves are awarded to the player in each league with the greatest difference between D+/- and errors. Players must have an .980 fielding percentage or better to be eligible for award.

Three OF awards will be given per league. Players must meet total PO/A minimums to ensure the winning players are daily positional players (not splitting too much time at DH). If deemed prohibitive or inaccurate, these minimums are subject to change by the commish at his sole discretion.

Current minimums (PO+ A, reflective of how each position performed in the 2001 season) are as follows:

C: 900
1B: 1300
2B: 500
3B: 250
SS: 500
OF: 300

Golden Glove winners will be awarded .1 dWAR point.

Silver Slugger Award

Silver Sluggers are awarded to the player in each league with the highest compiled OPS at their primary position for the season. Three OF awards will be given per league. Players must meet PC default AB minimums to qualify. One additional ?utility? award will be given in each league to the player with the highest compiled OPS who is NOT the highest at his position in his league.

Silver Slugger winners will be given the addition of 4 total bases to their real stats at the owner of the player?s discretion. Options include 1 HR, four singles, a single and a triple, two doubles, or a double and two singles. This allows owners to improve slugging comparably while increasing either power or contact in the way that they feel best suits the player. If owners do not request a specific combination by a given deadline, the player will be rewarded with one HR.

TEAM AWARDS

-World Series Winner will receive $5
-League Champs will receive $4
-Regular Season League champs will receive $3
-Division Champs (non-league-champs) will receive $2
-All wildcards will receive $1

PLAYOFFS

Each league will send the three division winners and three wild cards to the postseason. The bracket is identical to the NFL (byes for top two seeds, reseeding after every round). The highest remaining seed will get "home field" in the World Series. Regular season record is first tie-breaker, run differential is second tie-breaker.

There will be off-days granted during the playoffs, allowing for a four-man rotation.

If there are ties pertaining to a playoff spot (not including divisions or seeding), there will be a one-game playoff to determine the winner.

Head-to-head is tiebreaker for seeding, with run differential being the second tiebreaker. Third tiebreaker is division record.

HALL OF FAME

Now that we have enough seasons behind us, the Hall of Fame is being introduced in order to recognize individual players? careers.

The initial ballot will consist of the pool of eligible players from all currently retired players. Moving forward, the ballot will be adjusted to include newly-retired eligible players (as retirements are permanent, there is no need for a five-year grace period). If you have any questions regarding the specifics of player eligibility, feel free to reach out to the commish.

Each owner will be allowed TEN votes per season. Owners may use as many or as few of their votes as they see fit, but votes do not carry over to following seasons or ballots. Votes should be sent to MikeSpaz by the given deadline.

Players who receive 75% of the total votes will be inducted. Players who receive at least two votes will remain on the ballot. Players can remain on the ballot for up to ten seasons.

Inductees of the HOF will be tracked on the History page.

Once voting is completed, teams with whom the newly-elected HOFers played will be awarded $0.05 cap per season of significant contribution. A ?significant contribution? means the player meets ONE OR MORE of the following thresholds for a given season:

Hitters
- 200 ABs
- 50 hits
- 50 runs
- 15 HRs

Pitchers
- 20 appearances
- 15 games started
- 50 IP

Teams? monetary rewards will be tracked on the History page. When a team has accumulated $1 in cap, it will be added to their team budget and their counter will be reset to $0.

League Settings

Year Range of Stats	1995 - 2017
Roster Size (Majors)	25
Roster Size (Minors)	25
Keepers	(50 keepers)
Change Stats Allowed
Free Agency
Drops
No-Drop List
Player Fatigue
Batter Injuries	(50 games max)
Pitcher Injuries	(50 games max)
Use Pitcher's HR Allowed Stats
Allows Max Surprise Bunts
Min Batters Pitcher Must Face	0
Slump Buster	(5 days)
On Fire	Classic
User Sims