V. Fees and Prizes There will be no fees for 2003, unless the league is hosted by an online service that charges fees (see section XIII). If online service fees are necessary, they will be apportioned equally among all participating teams. There will be no monetary prizes awarded. We do ask that you take the time to properly manage your team and reply to trade offers made by other managers on a timely basis. Any manager who does not participate on a timely basis may be replaced by a unanimous vote of the executive council. VI. Player Salaries The salary of a player acquired in the active and reserve drafts is his auction price, otherwise, free agents prices will be set by the national service listing used for base salaries. If a player is not listed upon the national service free agent listing, then his salary is $1.00. VII. Standings The following criteria are used to determine team performance: Composite batting average, Total home runs, Total RBI?s, total stolen bases, Runs scored. Composite ERA, Total wins, Total saves, WHIP (bases on balls + hits)/ innings pitched, Strike Outs. Teams are ranked from first to last in each of the ten categories and given points for each place. For example, in an 12-team league, the first place team in a category receives 12 points, the second place team 11, and so on down to 1 point for last place. The team with the most total points wins the league. A team must pitch a total of 900 innings to receive points in ERA and WHIP and a team must have 4250 at bats in the season to receive points for batting average. Pitchers? offensive stats are not counted. Nor are the pitching stats of the occasional position player called in to pitch. VIII. Trades From the completion of the auction draft until the first Monday in September, fantasy teams are free to make trades of any kind without limit, except as stipulated below, so long as the active rosters of both teams involved in a trade reflect the required position distribution upon completion of the transaction. No trades are permitted from the first Tuesday in September through the end of the season. Trades made from the day after the season ends until rosters are frozen prior to draft day are not bound by the position distribution requirement. During the regular season, unbalanced trades are allowed under the following conditions. The number of players traded between two teams can differ by no more then one player. The team receiving the greater number of players must immediately designate which player is released, while the team receiving the lesser number of players may announce a free agent they intend to sign IF they have remaining drop/adds for the month. If not, they will have one too few reserve players available. Contracts follow traded players. The commissioner and the executive committee have the right to challenge trades that they strongly feel resemble ?dumping?. A vote of three out of the five members of the executive committee is required to approve or veto a trade. The commissioner and the executive committee have the right to review and challenge any of the most recent roster moves that may have been by a departed owner. IX. The Reserve Roster In addition to the active roster, there will also be a reserve roster. These players can be freely substituted with active players at any time throughout the course of the season. These players can be freely substituted with active players at any time throughout the course of the season. There is no salary cap on the reserve roster, however, the active roster and the reserve roster combined can not exceed a maximum that is determined by the number of teams in the league. Also, the number of players on the reserve roster will consist of 5 to 7 players, again depending on the number of teams in the league: 17-18 teams: 5 reserves - roster cap would be $303 15-16 teams: 6 reserves - roster cap would be $311.50 12-14 teams: 7 reserves - roster cap would be $ 320 X. Free Agents Active major league players not on any fantasy league team?s roster at the conclusion of the auction draft become free agents. During the course of the season the pool of free agents may also include minor league players who are promoted to an active major league roster, and released players who are not claimed. XI. Injured Reserve Each team has a maximum of Injured Reserve (IR) slots where they can designate a player who has been placed on the MLB Disabled List (DL). A player on the IR does not count against the roster limit and salary cap. When a player is placed on IR, the team is free to add a replacement from the free agent pool. Transactions to replace a player who has been placed on injured reserve do not count against the monthly transaction limit. Whenever the injured player is activated from the MLB DL, they must be either activated or released within 48 hours. If the player is activated, another player must be dropped so that a legal roster is maintained. XII. Replacement of active and reserve roster positions A team may replace a player on its active roster with a player from the reserve roster or from a player added to the team from the free agent pool. Each team is entitled to 4 drop/adds per month. A manager may drop and add any player on his roster as any time up to 4 players per month. The replacement player must be named at the time of the drop. His salary is determined by the price posted on the league web site. If a replacement player is picked by more than 1 manager, the manager who posted his pick earliest gets that player. The salary of all released players will be the salary at which they were signed for when they joined the team. XIII. Roster Protection & Retention Each team may retain, from one season to the next, no more than 11 players. The names of players being retained must be recorded with the league office by 10 PM, on a date to be announced by the commissioner prior to the major league draft. All contracts are for a one year duration. To retain the player the following year, his salary increases by $3. If a player is dropped prior to the start of the season, his salary reverts back to the posted salary based upon The Sporting News posted prices as modified by the league formula. The cumulative salaries of players protected prior to auction draft day are deducted from a team?s $260 expenditure limit, and the balance is available for acquisition of the remaining players needed to complete the team?s 23-man roster. Players being retained have a $3 addition to their salary. XIV. Posting of Results Posting of results are handled by a stat service selected by the commissioner. The commissioner will notify all league members of the site before the start of the season. For 2002, the service will be mlb.com service XV. Disputes All and any disputes will be handled by the executive committee, decided by a majority vote. The executive committee consists of Dave Elkin, Wayne Aumen, Leon Feingold, Scott Mullins and Bryan Jaffe for the year 2002. Appendix A. Draft Procedure 1. Active roster draft a. All teams will submit a list of draft selections for each active roster position. For each open position, a player and bid price will be designated along with a "backup" player for that position. All bid amounts must be equal to or greater than a player's base price (base prices for all players will be documented by the commissioner before the draft begins) and they must be in five cent increments. b. First, all dollar bids bid players will be evaluated together. The owner bidding the overall highest dollar for a player will receive that player. c. If there are equivalent bids for the same player, there will be a bid-off. The owners of the equivalent bids will submit follow-up bids via email, with the player going to the team with the highest bid. If there are ties, the process will be repeated until the player is won. d. Next, backups will be considered for every unsuccessful bid. If the backup is available, and the owner is the only one to list this player as a backup, they will get them for their base price. e. Where backups are available but they are listed by more than one owner, there will be a bid-off between all owners that list the player in question. f. The steps in this phase are continued until all teams' active rosters are filled. 2. Reserve roster draft a. After the conclusion of the active roster draft, a second session will take place to fill each team's reserves. It functions in the same way as the first phase of the active roster draft. NOTES 1. It is illegal to submit bids that, if successful, will violate the roster salary cap restrictions. All bids by a violating team will be cancelled for the round in which the violation occurs. 2. At the conclusion of the draft, each team must be able to field a legal lineup, following both the terms of the salary cap as well as positional requirements. Any teams that cannot meet this rule must drop/add players until they can.
