Looking for people to play newest 12-team Keeper League

[fredpaii]

That was mentioned to me as a possible alternative to DD for our initial draft.

One, what do you know about that and...

Two, do you prefer it over the DD draft?

This is addressed to the people that already have expressed interest in this new 12-team Keeper league and those folks who wish to join up.

ALSO...Are Keeper league rules consistent from one league to another? Are there variances? [b:460872bea0]If not, then I will simply copy the rules from TheTurtle's newest league (the one I'm in) for our league here.[/b:460872bea0]

EDIT: Actually, I won't be copying rules from a 24-team league for this 12-teamer. No.

[fredpaii]

I don't foresee any major issues in our league even with a rookie Commish like myself. Because I can always ask an existing Commish for help if needed or ask fellow league members like yourselves.

and the good part of having me as your Commish is I HAVE LOTS OF TIME!

But first we need to settle on the basics. Someone here please chime in on your preference for initial draft format (such as DD, Stratdraft, message board, etc...) and whether or not there are different rules for Keeper leagues. Are they consistent.

[fredpaii]

These rules are tentative. But because they are taken from an existing 12-team league format I prefer to use them. Some things will need more clarification. What are prospects and when the initial prospect draft is held are two questions that need answering. Can someone help me out? The way that The Turtle differentiated a prospect from a free agent was that a prospect (drafted as such) could not have played one MLB game prior to the 2011 season. He could therefore have played in 2011 but did not have too to retain prospect draftable status. Does anyone disagree with that or have a differing point of view on the subject?

I'm also unfamiliar with the one season dual (Spring and Summer) prospect draft. Do we still hold a prospect draft immediately upon conclusion of the Initial regular draft?

I need your input on this stuff.

Initial Draft:
1) The initial draft is a 41 round live draft. Rounds 1 through 40 are for players; Round 41 is for the stadium.
2) Any player who played in at least ONE MLB game during the 2010 is eligible.
3) 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.
4) The initial draft is serpentine; all subsequent Free Agent drafts are non-serpentine based upon the previous season's regular season records. Draft picks are tradeable.

Prospect drafts:
1) There are 2 prospect drafts during each season
2) The first yearly prospect draft is 4 rounds, to be held immediately after each year's Spring Free Agent draft.
3) The second yearly prospect draft is 4 rounds, to be held immediately after each year's Supplemental Free Agent draft.
4) Only those players without MLB experience signed by MLB teams are eligible for any prospect draft.
5) Both Prospect Drafts will be straight (non serpentine)

a)Spring Propsect Eligibility: Prospects are defined as any player that has a signed contract with an MLB organization that has no MLB experience prior to the start of the Propsect draft
b) Summer Prospect Draft Eligibility: Same as above but may include players called up during the actual MLB season, but will not include MLB draft picks that have not signed contracts prior to the start of the summer draft


5) The initial prospect draft is serpentine. Draft order for this initial Prospect draft will be the reverse of the draft order for the Initial Free Agent draft. All subsequent prospect drafts are non-serpentine, and draft order is based on the previous season's regular season records.
6) Owners lose rights to all prospects that they release; Released prospects are eligible to be drafted as either a) Free Agents if they were issued SOM cards or b) prospects again
if never issued SOM cards.
7) There is no clock for Round 1 of each prospect draft. All subsequent rounds will operate with a 3 hour clock.
8) Individual owners are responsible for their own prospect research.

Supplemental Free Agent drafts:
1) A Supplemental Free Agent draft of up to 3 rounds will be held between seasons 1 and 2 of each calender year.
2) All owners must announce their roster drops ( up to 3) prior to the Supplemental draft.
3) The supplemental draft shall not exceed 36 picks. Owners may drop up to 3 players. Owners with less than a 40 man roster may use the Supplemental Draft to get back to a full 40 man roster under the following conditions:
a) They have the draft picks available to do so
b) They do not drop more than 3 players
c) They can do it within the 3 round/36 pick draft window
4) Supplemental Free Agent drafts are non-sepentine; Supplemental Free Agent draft order is determined by the previous season's regular season record.
5) There is no clock for Round 1 of the Supplemental Free Agent draft. All subsequent rounds will operate with a 3 hour clock.
6) There will never be more than 36 picks made in the Supplemental draft.
7) Players eligible for the supplemental draft are any player with MLB expierience prior to the start of the current MLB season


Annual Spring Free Agent drafts:
1) A non-serpentine free agent draft of at least 10, and up to 15 rounds, will be held each year shortly after TSN/SOM cards are released. Draft order is determined by cumulative win/loss records. Worst to first, NFL style.
2) All owners must drop enough players to bring their rosters to a maximum of 30 players allowing for 10 draft picks; Owenrs can drop below 30 players, but must not have less than 25 prior to the draft.
3) Player drops must be announce prior to the beginning of the Free Agent draft.
4) All owners must have a full 40 man roster upon completion of the annual Spring Free Agent draft.
5) There is no clock for Round 1 of each Annual Free Agent draft. All subsequent rounds will operate with a 3 hour clock.

General rules:
1) There will be 2 seasons played each year; Season 1 will begin in after the Initial spring free agent draft - Season 2 will begin in August.
2) Divisional assignments will change each season. The format is this: a) initial divisional assignments will be follow the general 1-4-7-10 East, 2-5-8-11 Central and 3-6-9-12 West.
3) Cumulative team records will determine the divisional assignments for Season 1 of each new year.
4) Divisional assignments for season 2 each year will be determined by the final win/loss records of the previous season.
5) All transactions must be posted on the individual league thread.
6) The league Commish shall maintain a record of all drafts, transactions and player movements and provide a copy to any owner on request.
7) All ties between teams will be broken by the previous season's head to head win/loss records. If this does not break the tie, cumulative win/loss head to head records will be used.
8) 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 picks 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.
9) All rule changes must pass by a super majority - 8 owners or more.
10) There are no specific rules against "roster dumping." Owners no longer in a pennant race can use their best judgement 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.
11) All leagues will be set up using the DH.

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) Stadiums are unique and belong to each owner for the duration of the league. There will be no annual or seasonal draft of new stadiums, so choose your stadium wisely.
4) Stadiums can only be changed through trade. Players may trade stadiums with other players at any time except while a regular season is in progress.

Roster rules:
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 less than 40 players due to uneven trades, the owner cannot bring his roster to the full 40 until a Free agnet draft, whether spring or supplemental. ( See Player Movement)
2) Each team must carry a 25 man league roster during each season.
3) Each will carry a 15 man minor league roster during each season.
4) Each team may add an additional 3 players (to a maximum of 28 players) to their MLB roster once game 132 has been played.
5) There are no limits to tranactions between an owner's major and minor league rosters except those internal to the SOM game engine.
6) Injured players can be kept on a team's major league roster for the duration of their injury. Players promoted to the major league roster as injury replacements must be returned to the minor league roster once the injury has healed. There is a 2-game grace period to return injury replacement players to the minor league roster - this allows each
owner to maintain a constant 25 man roster at all times. We will be using the honor system here - please don't keep players beyond their authorized time!
7) Each team is set up with a $200 million dollar roster; all roster transactions will use the 10% Free Agent penalty.
8) The minimum roster size is 30 players. The only exceptions are during the supplemental and free agent draft periods.
9) All teams must meet SOM roster requirements at all times.

Prospect Player rules:
1) The maximum number of prospects allowed on each roster is 12.
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 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 authorized and encouraged. The trading of draft picks is also authorized. Unbalanced trades 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) There will be no pickups of free agent players except through the Annual and Supplemental Free Agent drafts.
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 Supplemental free agent draft; c) to bring a roster down to the 40 man limit as a result of an unbalanced transaction.

[fredpaii]

blackjack says he'll do it.

I'm ecstatic right now. YEAH!

He's a great guy.

[b:94f30a993b]So current league members are...

1. Jerlins
2. Aray
3. derfs
4. sjkorte
5. blackjack (commish)[/b:94f30a993b]

[azpanthers11]

Ahh derfs why do you tempt me with this!!

To join or not to join, that is the question?
(yes I'm completely original! Ha)

[fredpaii]

[quote:a0e3a99d65="azpanthers11"]Ahh derfs why do you tempt me with this!!

To join or not to join, that is the question?
(yes I'm completely original! Ha)[/quote:a0e3a99d65]


az, after you join we will be half way there.

[travelingjack]

Here are a few changes I would make but it's up to you:

1)Prospect Draft- I would go with just one a year, to be held after the supplemental draft. One less draft to worry about having to "herd cats" and do research on. Some keeper lgs have two so they can have their draft right after the MLB draft but to me it's not worth the trouble.

a. Prospect eligibility- The rule you have is standard for keepers lgs, but I would prefer to just make anyone who has not had an MLB appearance eligible, even if they have not been signed. It's easier to determine eligibility that way and adds some strategy- if someone wants to use a draft pick on a high schooler who may or may not make the majors someday they can do it. To go with that you would need to allow owners to keep prospects indefinitely.

2) Roster size- 40 is standard, I would prefer 34. It shortens the initial draft and helps keep good teams from stockpiling too much. 34 is enough to cover injuries and still allow owners to carry one or two young "future" players. I would also like to have mandatory cuts of 12 instead of 10. This would help bad teams a bit but wouldn't hurt the good teams that much since they would still be keeping their top 22 players. Obviously the spring FA draft would need to be at least 12 rounds.

3) MLB franchise- Before the initial draft each owner would choose a MLB franchise, then two players from that franchise. Each year after that he could keep those two players or choose different players from that franchise. Franchises could be traded but not otherwise changed.

[fredpaii]

1) Awesome suggestion. One prospect draft is much better. I agree.

a. that does add more strategy. Also makes it close to mandatory that we have a subscription to an online site dealing with high schoolers. That idea is okay with me but I wonder if the rest of the league is alright with that. Maybe we can vote on that?

2) How many prospects (collegiate, high school, and minor league) could we carry at any one time in addition to the 34 carded players from the initial draft?

And after how many years carded would they surrender their prospect status?

I'm tempted to make the number a little higher than 34 just because people might be so used to the 40 man figure. I'm not sure though. if our existing league members are fine with that then I can roll with it. Personally, I think the amount of prospects we can carry is more of an issue. If we do 34 man roster then the prospect allowance better be high. Maybe we can keep that list higher than normal leagues if we cut down on regular carded players...especially with added high schoolers and international players qualifying as prospects.

3) I'm not a fan of #3. it seems a little too much. But then I'm just starting out with keepers so I don't know. Have you seen this rule implemented in any of your Keeper's? How do people like it?

[travelingjack]

a. I don't think anyone would need to subscribe to anything extra for high school/college players, there are a lot of free websites with info. I think most people would still take rookies or players close to the majors anyway. A few would take chances on young players but they would be taking a big risk so don't think those who did not want to do extra research would be at a disadvantage.

For the number to carry I would make it unlimited as long as they are not carded. Once they got a card they would either have to be released or on the regular roster.

Roster size- Could also go to 36 or 38, it just seems like the last few players don't get used. Whatever the roster size having more mandatory cuts helps with competitiveness.

3. Franchises- just an idea for something different, not a big deal if we don't use it.

[fredpaii]

Really? You would make our prospect allowance unlimited? Doesn't there need to be a limit per team? Or am I misinterpreting what you're saying?

EDIT: Would the prospect players be counted towards the 34 man roster limit?