MLBSD Rules Update 2020

[Marlins GM (Andrew)]

Welcome to MLB Sim Dynasty. This is a 30 team league begun in 2018 that started with real-life rosters & a draft and has since evolved as General Managers have drafted, signed, traded and waived players.

This league is operated in several places:
- Fantrax: Day to day matchups, scoring
- Google docs: master roster management & tracking
- Proboards: all transaction & league business performed here
- Groupme: Day to day league chat

As a General Manager, there are several baseline expectations of your involvement in this league.
Cheating & colluding are absolutely not tolerated. One strike and you’re out
Create a Groupme Account & consistently respond to PMs from other owners
Compliance with the rule set as listed out below. Penalties can be assessed for infractions, including but not limited to:
Loss of draft picks
Loss of salary cap
Suspension of trading / free agency engagement
Expulsion from the league

[Marlins GM (Andrew)]

In-Season Management
This league uses Fantrax for its in-season scoring mechanism. Full majors and minors rosters on Fantrax should match up with the rosters set up on the Master spreadsheet at all times, with 26 players on the active MLB roster.

The scoring categories on Fantrax will be:
Hitting: R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, OBP, SLG
Pitching: K, QS, W, ERA, WHIP, SV, HDs

Rosters: Major league rosters will comprise of 26 active slots, of which at least 15 must be filled, with unlimited injured list spots
Hitting: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF, UT
Pitching: SP x 5, RP x 5
Bench: 7 slots

Position eligibility is 10 games played in the current season or 20 games in the prior season.

Standings tie-breaker will be fewest losses, then head-to-head, and then division record.

Roster Management: 
There are 3 types of rosters in MLBSimDynasty:
1) 26-Man Active Roster - these players will constitute your active roster, and are the only ones allowed to be owned on the active roster on Fantrax. There are no restrictions as to who may be on your 26-Man Roster
1a) Injured List Players: A maximum of 3 players may be tagged as Injured at any given time and maintained on your 26-Man Roster
2) 14-Man Extended Roster - These players plus your 26-Man Roster equal your 40-Man Roster. There are no restrictions as to who may be on your 14-Man Extended Roster
3) Minors: Only prospects (0 years) and 1st year (1) players may be held in the minors. A hard cap of 150 players may be held in any one team's minor league system. A soft cap of penalties exists as follows;
Free: 0-50 players owned
$0.25M / player: 51-75 players owned
$0.50M / player: 76-100 players owned
$1.00M / player: 101-150 players owned

Movement between rosters is not limited in any way during the offseason. 

However, in-season:
Demotion from the 26 man to the 40-man will consume one of 5 annual options for each player, after which the player must be exposed to waivers
Demotion from the 40-man to the Minors will expose the player to the waivers process


Playoffs
Each year, 10 teams will reach the playoffs. Each division winner will qualify as well as two wild cards from both the AL and NL Divisions. The MLBSD Season will end Week 20 of the MLB Season. The top 5 teams from each division will make the playoffs, with the Division Winners earning a first round bye for their efforts.

Playoff Rosters
Similar to real-life playoffs, MLBSim will lock each playoffs teams roster the Sunday night before the matchup begins. Rosters will remain set at 26 players and teams will not be able to call up or send down players during a matchup, with two exceptions:
A player on the MLB roster goes on IL during the week.
A player on the MLB roster goes on DTD during the week.

PLAYOFF TIEBREAKER
1. Winner of most pitching categories. Pitching wins championships.
2. Winner of most hitting categories.
3. Winner of QS.
4. Winner of OBP.

[Marlins GM (Andrew)]

Salary Cap & Cash Management

Salary Cap
We have a hard $120M salary cap & a $60M salary floor applicable during the MLB season. All players currently rostered (Active MLB + IL + minors players with salary) will hit against this cap, and teams may not place free agent bids or trades that cause them to exceed this cap.
The salary cap will increase by a TBD amount every 3 years, beginning with the first increase in the 2021 season.

During the offseason, this cap extends to $140M, but any teams not under the cap by the beginning of the new season will be subject to penalties to be defined.

Cash Obligations: Salary cap can be traded, and beginning in the 2020 season, will not be applied to players, simply increasing or decreasing the total salary cap of the team. All teams must remain within +/- $20M of the initial $120M cap (between $100-$140M).


Contracts
Similar to real life, we have a 6 year arbitration scale for players contracts, followed by free agency. A players first year is the first year they reach 130 ABs, 50 IP, 12 games started or 25 relief appearances. A players first year can occur regardless of whether he is currently rostered on a MLBSim teams minor or major league roster. Following the first year, the player will gain a year of experience each year regardless of playing time, injury status, etc.

The salary for those years is fixed, and is as follows:
1st year: $0.3M
2nd year: $0.5M
3rd year: $1.0M

For years 4+, a players salary will grow subject to arbitration. The minimum will be $1M, and the arbitration values will be set according to years of experience and performance as follows:

Hitting Categories
HR: 0-19 (free), 20-29 ($0.625M), 30-39 ($1.250M), 40-49 ($1.875M), 50+ ($2.5M)
RBI: 0-74 (free), 75-94 ($0.625M), 95-109 ($1.250M), 110-119 ($1.875M), 120+ ($2.5M)
Runs: 0-74 (free), 75-94 ($0.625M), 95-109 ($1.250M), 110-119 ($1.875M), 120+ ($2.5M)
SB: 0-9 (free), 10-18 ($0.938M), 19-28 ($1.875M), 29-38 ($2.813M), 39+ ($3.75M)
AVG: 0-0.269 (free), 0.270-0.284 ($0.469M), 0.285-0.299 ($0.938M), 0.300-0.309 ($1.406M), 0.310+ ($1.875M)
OBP: 0-0.309 (free), 0.310-0.324 ($0.469M), 0.325-0.339 ($0.938M), 0.340-0.349 ($1.406M), 0.350+ ($1.875M)
SLG: 0-0.499 (free), 0.500-0.528 ($0.625M), 0.529-0.548 ($1.250M), 0.549-0.568 ($1.875M), 0.569+ ($2.5M)

Pitching Categories
W: 0-9 (free), 10-12 ($0.625M), 13-15 ($1.250M), 16-18 ($1.875M), 19+ ($2.5M)
QS: 0-12 (free), 13-15 ($0.625M), 16-18 ($1.250M), 19-20 ($1.875M), 21+ ($2.5M)
K: 0-149 (free), 150-169 ($0.625M), 170-189 ($1.250M), 190-199 ($1.875M), 200+ ($2.5M)
ERA: +3.81 (free), 3.80-3.51 ($0.625M), 3.50-3.11 ($1.250M), 3.10-2.51 ($1.875M), 2.50- ($2.5M)
WHIP: +1.31 (free), 1.30-1.21 ($0.625M), 1.20-1.11 ($1.250M), 1.10-1.01 ($1.875M), 1.00- ($2.5M)
SV: 0-14(free), 15-24 ($0.625M), 25-34($1.250M), 35-44 ($1.875M), 45+ ($2.5M)
HLD: 0-14 (free), 15-18 ($0.625M), 19-23 ($1.250M), 24-28 ($1.875M), 29+ ($2.5M)

Depending upon the players years of experience, the following multiplier will be applied to the sum of the above values:
(4): 60%
(5): 80%
(6): 100%

Following a players 6th year of experience, they will become a Free Agent, unless one of 2 available RFA tags or an extension is applied.

[Marlins GM (Andrew)]

Acquiring Players

A player may be acquired one of 5 ways:
1) First Year Player Draft
2) Rule 5 Draft
3) Free Agency
    3a) Unrestricted Free Agency
    3b) Restricted Free Agency
4) Waiver Wire
5) Trades

1) First Year Player Draft:
The annual FYPD will be scheduled to begin shortly after the signing deadlines in July. There will be 7 rounds, with a fixed draft order locked in the reverse order of the prior season's final standings (including playoffs). The eligible pool of players is all players drafted and signed in the current years IRL FYPD, as well as any current year July 2nd (IFA) signees.

The draft clock will be 6 hours per pick in Rounds 1-4, and 3 hours thereafter.

2) Rule 5 Draft
The annual Rule 5 draft will be scheduled to begin shortly after the new year begins each offseason. There will be 2 rounds, with a snake draft order set in reverse order of the prior season's final standings (including playoffs). The eligible pool of players is all minor leaguers (i.e. no service time) that are currently unowned as well as all current year IFA signees.

The draft clock will be 3 hours per pick in each round.

FOR 2020: Rule 5 picks will be limited to the teams who finished in the bottom 15 of the standings in 2019, draft pool limited to unowned prospects.
For 2021+: Rule 5 draft expanded to include all 30 teams, 3 rounds, and IFA signees are moved into this draft pool and out of the FYPD draft.

3) Free Agency
These rules will be consistent for both in-season and off-season free agency. Free agency will be locked at the beginning of the playoffs and will only re-open once the offseason process begins.

- Eligibility: Any currently unowned player that has reached non-rookie status (150 ABs, 50 IP, 12 Games Started or 25 Appearances)

Bidding:
- Contract lengths are limited in the following ways:
    - The max contract length is 5 years
    - For players older than 33, this limit is constricted to 3 years
    - For players older than 38, this limit is further constricted to 1 year

- Minimum Bid is $0.5M and each bid must increase the previous by at least 0.1 points
- All bids must include average salary, # of years offered, and points based on the below system
- Annual value of the offered contracts will be fixed

Winning a bid: To win, a bid must stand for 24 hours as the highest, with highest defined by the Average Annual Value (AAV) times the following multipliers dependent upon length of contract:
1.0: 1 Year
1.1: 2 years
1.2: 3 years
1.3: 4 years
1.4: 5 years

3b) Restricted Free Agency: All above rules apply, except the tagging team has the option to MATCH or DECLINE the player

4) Waiver Wire
Once waived, a player will be eligible to be claimed for 24 hours before entering the free agency pool. Additionally, players with MLB experience who are under the rookie limits may be claimed.

The claiming team with the highest waiver priority (as listed on the master sheet) will win the claim. If placing multiple claims, priority order must be posted or the claim will be considered ineligible. Once posted, a claim is considered binding and may not be changed.

5) Trades
The following assets are eligible to be traded:
-Any owned players
-Any owned draft picks (current year + 1)
-Cash (as long as your team remains within +/- $20M of the initial cap)

Posting a trade: Please include the following pieces of information in your trade post
-Player Name
-Position
-Full contract (years of experience & salary or FA contract)
-Brief rationale behind the trade

Approval process: We are a Trade Committee league. With 9 members, 5 approvals will constitute a pass, while 5 vetos will constitute a veto.
TC votes, once placed, may not be altered.

New Owner warm up period: a one week trade stoppage will be in effect for each new owner that joins while they learn the rules, get up to speed, etc. Note that if a new owner joins near the trade deadline, they may trade but should anticipate increased scrutiny.

Trade Deadline will be one week following the real-life trade deadline. Trading will re-open following the IRL World Series

[Marlins GM (Andrew)]

Cutting Players:
Players can be removed from rosters one of 5 ways (Waivers, Non-Tenders, Amnesties, Retirement, trades)

1) Waivers:
Any player may be waived at any time. The penalty for this process is 50% of total salary commitment, and the GM can allocate that penalty across years at their discretion, as long as at least the AAV is expended in each year;
- Minor Leaguers: no penalty
- Arbitration-eligible players: Only current year salary assessed as penalty
- All other players: Each year over the life of the contract will be assessed as penalty, excepting any contract years that are considered options
- Within 24 hours, any waived player may be claimed. IN this case, the claiming team assumes the full salary and no penalty is owed.

2) Non-Tenders:
During the offseason, all arbitration eligible players will have their next year salary calculated. At this point, a GM can decide to accept the results of arbitration (and keep the player) or decline the results (and non-tender the player). In this situation, no penalty will be assessed and the player will enter that years free agency pool.

This option is only available in the window between when arbitration values are calculated and free agency starts.

3) Amnesty: 
-Every owner will receive one (1) amnesty clause.
This amnesty clause can be used to release any player on your team, with no cap penalty.
-After being amnestied, a player will go to waivers. If the player is claimed, the claiming owner assumes the player's entire salary (that still will count as that owner's amnesty waive, however).
-If the player goes unclaimed, he will become a normal FA to be bid on.
-Amnesty clauses are not tradable.

4) Retirement: 
Upon player retirement, 1 of 2 treatments will occur;
- If still on an IRL contract: can be freely waived without penalty
- If on a MLBSim Free Agency contract: Must be waived as described above.
If you previously waived a player on an IRL contract, who later retires, the penalties you’d incurred can be cancelled if brought to a LM’s attention


5) Trades: discussed above