by tcochran » Mon Apr 23, 2012 8:22 am
We will begin with the 2007 season and then move forward, one season at a time. It is anticipated that we will play almost continuously – with only a brief break between seasons – and thus play 3 seasons in each of the first two calendar years, until we become a "standard" keeper league in 2014, playing with the current card set.
LEAGUE SETUP
1) 12 teams with salary cap of $200M, playing one season per card set while a "retro" league and then changing to two seasons per card set when it becomes a "standard" keeper league in 2014.
2) The league will use the unleashed card set, whenever one is available.
3) Roster moves essentially unlimited, at the manager's discretion (subject to limits stated below).
4) Free agent release penalty of 10%.
5) We will use the DH.
6) 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.
7) 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.
8) The league Commish shall maintain a record of all drafts, transactions, and player movements and provide a copy to any owner on request.
9) 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 previous regular season win/loss head to head records will be used, going back one season at a time until the tie is broken.
10) All rule changes must pass by a super majority of 8 owners or more.
11) 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.
ROSTERS
1) Each team may carry a 40 man roster.
2) In the event a transaction sends an owner's roster above the limit, said owner is allowed 1 day to release as many players as necessary to get back to the limit. However if an owner has fewer than the limit due to uneven trades, the owner cannot bring the roster back to the full level until the next annual or supplemental draft.
3) The regular season begins with a standard 25-man active roster. The remaining 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 the TSN/SOM site is not set up for keeper leagues.
4) There will be no limits to transactions between an owner's major and minor league rosters, except those internal to the SOM game engine.
5) In the event of injuries, it will not be 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.
6) 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.
7) 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., no more than 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.
8) All teams must meet SOM roster requirements at all times.
INITIAL DRAFT
1) The initial draft is a 41 round live draft, the order to be determined by a randomizer run anonymously in the main SOM chat thread.
2) Rounds 1 through 40 are for players.
3) Round 41 is for the stadium. Order of stadium selection will be the reverse of that of the first round of the initial draft.
4) Only those players who were issued SOM cards for the 2007 season and appear on TSN's website are eligible for the initial draft.
5) The initial draft is serpentine.
6) Draft picks are tradeable.
7) All drafts 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.
8) The clock will run seven days per week from 10AM until 10PM in the Eastern U.S. time zone, until the draft is completed.
9) The draft will be completed online via the league's ILC chat thread. Sending proxies to the commish and/or a manager who selects 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 playoffs are concluded.
2) Only those players who were issued SOM cards for the current season and appear on TSN’s website are eligible for the draft.
3) Draft order is determined by the previous regular season win/loss records: Reverse order, worst-record first, NFL style. Ties between teams will be handled as in the League Setup rules.
4) 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.
5) There is no requirement for a team to drop a player who is not issued a card in the new year's set. For example, if a star player from 2007 is injured in 2008 but will be able to play again in 2009, then that player can remain on a team's roster while using the 2008 card set.
6) Player drops must be announced prior to the beginning of the annual draft.
7) All owners must have full rosters at the league limits upon completion of the annual draft.
8) Effective with the 2013 card set, we will start the annual free agent draft on July 1.
13) Effective with the 2014 card set, we will arrange the draft sequence of the annual free agent draft with the order based on the combined win-loss records of the 2 seasons for each card set.
STADIUM DRAFT
1) Each player will draft a stadium during round 41 of the initial free agent draft.
2) Stadium draft order in the initial draft will be the reverse of round 1 of the initial free agent draft.
3) Players may trade stadiums with other players at any time, except while a season is in progress.
4) The final round of the annual free agent draft will be for stadium selection. Only those managers who have released their current stadium prior to the beginning of the annual draft will be allowed to draft a new one.
5) If a team’s stadium is replaced in real life (like Yankee Stadium), then that manager will have the option of keeping the new replacement stadium or releasing it to draft another.
6) Stadium draft order in the annual draft will be the same as for players.
PROSPECT DRAFT
1) There will be no prospect draft in this league, until we have played all of the older seasons.
2) Effective with the 2013 season, we will hold a prospect draft after the annual free agent draft, with managers drafting up to 2 prospects per year -- prospects are those players who have never received a card yet and draft sequence will be random and serpentine.
3) Prospects may be held indefinitely, until such time as a player receives a card, at which point the prospect must be either promoted or dropped -- with managers holding no more than 4 prospects at any one time.
SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT
1) There will be no supplemental draft in this league, until we have played all of the older seasons.
2) Effective with the 2013 season, we will hold a supplemental draft between the 2 seasons, in which managers may drop and replace up to 2 players, with draft sequence based on the win-loss records of the first season -- managers may opt to not participate in the supplemental draft.
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 team roster limit is maintained at all times. In the event of an unbalanced trade, the owner of the team whose roster exceeds the limit is allowed 1 day to release player(s) to get back to the 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 extra 2nd, 3rd, and 6th round draft picks during the year. You have also traded away 7th and 9th round draft picks. 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.
3) 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 roster until the annual draft.
4) Regular players can be released from the full roster only for the following: a) Pre-draft release prior to annual free agent draft; or b) to bring a roster down to the 40 man limit, following an unbalanced transaction.
PLEASE BE AWARE OF THE TSN/SOM GAME ENGINE RULES:
1) You must have at least 24 players at all times.
2) You may have no more than 28 players on your active roster.
3) 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.
4) You must have at least 10 and no more than 12 pitchers.
5) You must have at least 5 pitchers who have "starting pitcher" endurance ratings (e.g., S7).
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 7 games) and a final series (best of 7 games).