"Pre-Card Draft" Keeper League

[tcochran]

A new "pre-card draft" keeper league is being formed; i.e., the initial draft and all subsequent annual drafts will be held BEFORE the new card sets are issued.

All player selections will be done during the MLB off-season, so this will be a keeper league that can start playing as soon as the new card sets are issued.

This will be a 12-team league, using the "unleashed" card set, whenever it is available:
... $200M salary cap
... Roster moves unlimited (FA drops 10%)
... Yes to DH

A full set of rules is shown below. You may join the league at http://forums.sportingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=621940

* * * * *

"PRE-CARD DRAFT" KEEPER LEAGUE RULES

Variations from typical keeper league rules are shown in [b:e654b061ff]bold font[/b:e654b061ff].

LEAGUE SETUP
[b:e654b061ff]1) This is a "pre-card draft" league; i.e., the initial draft and all subsequent annual drafts will be held BEFORE the new card sets are issued.[/b:e654b061ff]
2) 12 teams with salary cap of $200M, roster moves unlimited, FA drops 10%.
3) We will use the DH [b:e654b061ff]and play with the alternate "unleashed" card set, whenever such a set is issued by TSN/SOM.[/b:e654b061ff]
4) We'll play 2 seasons per year, one as soon as the new card set is issued and one later in the year, as soon as the supplementary draft is completed.
5) Divisional assignments will change each season. Initially, divisions will be determined by draft order: 1-4-7-10 East, 2-5-8-11 Central, 3-6-9-12 West.
6) Divisional assignments for each subsequent season will be determined by the final win/loss records of the previous season, with the four best teams in the East division, the following four in the Central, and the remaining four in the West.
7) The league Commish shall maintain a record of all drafts, transactions and player movements and provide a copy to any owner on request.
8) All ties between teams will be broken by the previous season's regular season head to head win/loss records. If this does not break the tie, then the run differential in the previous season's regular season head to head contests will be used.
9) All rule changes must pass by a super majority of 8 owners or more.
10) There are no specific rules against "roster dumping." Owners no longer in a pennant race can use their best judgment in determining the makeup of their team, provided that all general roster size limits are met. However, it is expected that all owners will act in the best interests of the game.


INITIAL DRAFT
1) The initial draft is a 41 round live draft, the order to be determined by state lottery results.
2) Managers will select the state lottery of their choice when they sign up. Draft order of the first round of the initial draft will be from lowest-to-highest, based on the most recent Daily 3 winner for each state as at 8AM in the Eastern U.S. time zone on the first day of the draft.
3) Rounds 1 through 40 are for players.
4) Round 41 is for the stadium. Order of stadium selection will be the reverse of that of the first round of the initial draft.
[b:e654b061ff]5) Only those players who played at least one MLB game during the 2010 season may be selected.
6) Buyer beware: If a player is drafted but then does not receive a card in the set for the coming season, he still remains on a team's roster. There are no replacement picks allowed later.[/b:e654b061ff]
7) The initial draft is serpentine.
8) Draft picks are tradeable.
9) All drafts -- initial, annual, supplemental and prospect -- will be conducted with no clock for the first round and a 2-hour clock for subsequent rounds. If a manager fails to draft within the 2 hours, the next person is free to make a pick. The manager who was skipped may make his/her pick at any time, choosing from the players not yet picked.
10) The clock will run seven days per week from 10AM until 10PM in the Eastern U.S. time zone, until the draft is completed.
11) The draft will be completed online using the TSN/SOM individual league chat thread setup for the league. Sending proxies to managers who will select after you is encouraged, both so that managers will not miss their chances at the earliest possible draft slots and so that the draft will be completed as quickly as possible.


ANNUAL FREE AGENT DRAFT
1) A non-serpentine free agent draft of at least 10, and up to 15 rounds, will be held each year after the initial draft year, beginning after the MLB World Series ends.
[b:e654b061ff]2) Only those players who played at least one MLB game during the season for which the draft is being conducted may be selected.
3) If a player is drafted but then does not receive a card in the set for the coming season, he still remains on a team's roster. There are no replacement picks allowed later.[/b:e654b061ff]
4) Draft order is determined by the final win/loss records of the previous season: Reverse order, worst-record first, NFL style. All ties will be broken as in the League Setup section, above.
5) Prior to the draft, all owners must drop enough players to bring their rosters to a maximum of 30 players, allowing for 10 draft picks. Owners can drop below 30 players, but must not have fewer than 25 prior to the draft.
6) There is no requirement for a team to drop a player who is not likely to be issued a card in the new year's set. For example, if a star player from 2010 is injured in 2011 but will likely be able to play again in 2012, then that player can remain on a team's roster while using the 2011 card set.
7) Player drops must be announced prior to the beginning of the annual draft.
8) All owners must have a full 40 man roster upon completion of the annual draft.
9) There is no clock for round 1 of each annual free agent draft. All subsequent rounds will operate with a 2-hour clock, as in the initial draft.


PROSPECT DRAFT
1) After the initial draft and after each year's annual free agent draft, there will be a four round prospect draft.
2) Each team will be able to select 4 prospects, defined as any player who: [b:e654b061ff]a) did not play in an MLB game during the season for which the draft is being conducted;[/b:e654b061ff] and b) is the property of an MLB team. In other words,
...no, those who have not yet signed as of the start of that year's draft are not eligible for the prospect draft; and
...yes, those injured players who sit out the entire season are eligible for the prospect draft, as long as they are not already on a roster in this league.
3) The initial prospect draft is serpentine. Draft order for the initial prospect draft will be the reverse of the draft order for the initial free agent draft. All subsequent prospect drafts are non-serpentine, with draft order based on the final win/loss records of the previous season: Reverse order, worst-record first, NFL style.
4) Owners lose rights to all prospects they release. Released prospects are eligible to be drafted as either a) free agents or b) prospects again, [b:e654b061ff]depending on whether or not they played in an MLB game during the season for which the draft is being conducted.[/b:e654b061ff]
5) There is no clock for round 1 of each prospect draft. All subsequent rounds will operate with a 2-hour clock, as in the initial draft.
6) Individual owners are responsible for their own prospect research.


SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT
1) A supplemental free agent draft of up to 3 rounds will be held between the two seasons of each card set.
2) All owners must announce their roster drops (up to 3) prior to the supplemental draft.
3) Owners may draft no more than 3 players. Owners are not required to drop or draft any players during the supplemental draft.
4) Supplemental free agent drafts are non-serpentine, with draft order based on the final win/loss records of the previous season: Reverse order, worst-record first, NFL style.
5) There is no clock for round 1 of the supplemental free agent draft. All subsequent rounds will operate with a 2-hour clock, as in the initial draft.
6) The supplemental free agent draft is only 3 rounds. Owners with less than a full roster may use the supplemental free agent draft to get back to a 40 man roster, provided they can do that within 3 rounds. There will never be more than 36 picks made in the supplemental draft.
[b:e654b061ff]7) Only those players who played at least one MLB game during the season for which the draft is being conducted may be selected.[/b:e654b061ff]


ROSTERS
1) Each team must carry no more than a 40 man roster. In the event a transaction sends an owner's roster above the 40 man limit, said owner is allowed 1 day to release as many players as necessary to get back to the 40 man limit. However if an owner has fewer than 40 players due to uneven trades, the owner cannot bring the roster back to the full 40 level until the annual or supplemental drafts.
2) The regular season begins with a standard 25-man active roster. The remaining 15 players on the roster are the sole property of the team that drafted them and may not be used by any other team. These players are considered to be in your minors, even though teams will have to “release” them into the Free Agent pool, since TSN/SOM is not set up for keeper leagues.
3) In the event of injuries, it is not necessary to release the injured player. A replacement may be called up for the duration of the injury, but he or another player must be returned to the minors -- "free agent" status in the TSN/SOM system -- before the next series. Managers are responsible for doing this on the honor system.
4) Each team may add an additional 3 players to their active MLB roster (to a maximum of 28 players) after game 132 has been played.
5) Prior to each night's play, each manager will make sure his/her team has the appropriate total number of players on the active roster; i.e, either 25 or 28, depending on the number of games played in the season, with the exception that injured players need not count against such total at that moment in time.
6) There are no limits to transactions between an owner's major and minor league rosters, except those internal to the SOM game engine.
7) All teams must meet TSN/SOM roster requirements at all times.


STADIUM RULES
1) Each player will draft a stadium during round 41 of the initial free agent draft.
2) Stadium draft order will be the reverse of round 1 of the initial free agent draft.
3) Teams can independently change stadiums, but they can only be changed a maximum of once in three years. The stadium change must be made when there is no season in progress. Changes can be made on a first come, first served basis, by posting a notice on the message board.
4) Players may trade stadiums with other players at any time, except while a season is in progress.


PROSPECT RULES
1) The maximum number of prospects allowed for each team is 10.
2) Prospects are not counted as part of the 40 man roster while they maintain their prospect status.
3) Owners control the rights of their prospects for no longer than 2 years. At the end of 2 years (from time of draft) a prospect must either be promoted to the MLB roster or released.
4) Prospects can be traded, but the 2 year timeline remains constant for each prospect. Prospects moving from one team to another must be promoted or released when the end of the original 2 year cycle has been reached.
5) Prospects can be promoted to the major league roster at any time, provided there is roster space available. Once promoted, all prospects lose their prospect status and cannot be demoted back to prospect status.

PLAYER MOVEMENT
1) Trading players is allowed and encouraged. Trades must be posted by both owners on the league website before they can be enacted. The trading of draft picks is also authorized. Unbalanced trades (two for one, three for two, etc.) are authorized, provided that the 40 man roster limit is maintained at all times. In the event of an unbalanced trade, the owner of the team whose roster exceeds the 40 man limit is allowed 1 day to release player(s) to get back to the 40 man limit.
2) You cannot trade draft choices that you do not own. This means that if you trade a 9th round draft pick, you must release as many players as necessary to insure that you will have a 9th round pick. For example, you have a 40 man roster, and you have acquired an extra 2nd, 3rd, and 6th round draft pick during the year. You have also traded away a 7th and 9th round draft pick. This means you must release at least 12 players prior to the draft to insure that you will have a 9th round pick. If you plan to continue drafting beyond round 9, you will have to release an additional player for each subsequent round. You cannot drop more than 15 players.
2) There are NO free agent pickups during the season. This means that if you wish to do a 2-for-1 trade, the team getting back one player does not get to replace the player they lost on their 40-man roster until after the season, through the annual or supplemental draft.
3) Prospects can be activated and promoted to the major league roster during the regular season provided there is roster space available to do so. Players with a full 40 man roster cannot promote a prospect until there is room available to do so.
4) Regular players on the 40 man roster cannot be released in order to promote a prospect while a season is in progress.
5) Regular players can be released from the 40 man roster only for the following: a) Pre-draft release prior to annual free agent draft; b) pre-draft release prior to the supplemental free agent draft; or c) to bring a roster down to the 40 man limit, following an unbalanced transaction.

PLEASE BE AWARE OF THE SN/SOM GAME ENGINE RULES:
1) At all times, you must have at least 24 players and no more than 28 players on your roster.
2) You must have at least 13 and no more than 17 hitters -- and at least two of those hitters must be eligible to play catcher.
3) You must have at least 10 and no more than 12 pitchers.
4) You must have at least 5 pitchers who have "starting pitcher" endurance ratings (e.g., S7).
5) You must have at least 4 "pure" relievers (i.e., a relief rating such as R2, but no starter rating).
6) You must have at least 1 pitcher who has a closer endurance rating (e.g., C4).
7) After game 142, rosters cannot be changed.
8) At the end of the 162-game regular season, the 3 division winners plus the wild card team advance to the 2-round playoffs. The wild card team is the team that has the best record among teams that did not win their divisions.
9) The playoffs consist of a semi-final series (best of 5 games) and a final series (best of 7 games).

[thisisdan26]

Is this league full?

[tcochran]

[quote:f35d3f0459="thisisdan26"]Is this league full?[/quote:f35d3f0459]

Nope, just posted. See link at http://forums.sportingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=621940

[thisisdan26]

Bump

[thisisdan26]

Bump

[thisisdan26]

only 1 more spot!!!

[tcochran]

The results are in! And the winners are...

1. Hk Mossy - MI - 014
2. Terry101- NM - 200
3. thisisdan - NY - 223
4. tcochran - AZ - 518
5. Smitty - PA - 550
6. jerlins - OK- 643
7. MrBaseballWorld - W Canada - 702
8. hawk- IL - 774
9. cslip4 - NJ - 781
10. ironwill1 - CT - 822
11. Palmtana - CA - 855
12. bbasebrawl- GA - 869

With all of the holiday travel, we're likely to have a raggedy start-up to the draft. Let's have untimed selections throughout the weekend and then start the 2-hour clock on Monday morning at 10AM Eastern.

[tcochran]

{{ROUND 1}}
1. Hk Mossy -
2. Terry101-
3. thisisdan -
4. tcochran -
5. Smitty -
6. jerlins -
7. MrBaseballWorld -
8. hawk-
9. cslip4 -
10. ironwill1 -
11. Palmtana -
12. bbasebrawl-

[Palmtana]

[quote:71c31fd316="tcochran"].....With all of the holiday travel, we're likely to have a raggedy start-up to the draft. Let's have untimed selections throughout the weekend and then [b:71c31fd316]start the 2-hour clock on Monday[/b:71c31fd316] morning at 10AM Eastern.[/quote:71c31fd316]


From the League Rules:

[quote:71c31fd316="tcochran"]........INITIAL DRAFT Rule #9) All drafts -- initial, annual, supplemental and prospect -- will be conducted with [b:71c31fd316]no clock for the first round[/b:71c31fd316] and a 2-hour clock for subsequent rounds.......[/quote:71c31fd316]


On the off chance that one of our members was overly offended by a TSA pat down and ended up in the pokie, or developed stratamnesia, or...... shouldn't we stick with the league rule?

Thanks for doing this tcochran. This is my 4th pre-card league and I was becoming anxious since Dan's only has 10 rounds to go. As this one winds down Terry can revive his $80/$200 pre-card league idea and
that will take me to the launch of the new game in March. :D

(Are you going to start a chat thread?)

[tcochran]

Hi Palmtana, sure, I agree that the first round should have no clock, whenever it occurs, I guess I was just hoping that we might finish the first round before that!

Now, let's find HK and get this thing started...