Post by David - Cleveland on Jul 29, 2017 14:14:03 GMT -8
These are the original rules for ABL. I am leaving them here as a reference to the new ones.
I have cleaned up the current ABL rules to make them far easier to follow and have adopted a couple of conventions that were essentially part of the rules below, but were part of much more convoluted language.
I sincerely believe our new ones are clearer.
I simply want to make ABL among the easiest online leagues to play, with rules kept to only those outside the game that seem absolutely needed in an online league.
I welcome discussion - there is another thread for that!
David
*** Original ABL League Governance - 2017 **
Commissioner
The Commissioner will be responsible for the management and daily operation of the league, simulating games in a timely manner, maintaining the associated league files and being involved in all GM discussions. He will respond to questions about the league and facilitate the recruitment and development of new members.
The Commissioner will act in the best interest of the league at all times, will be the deciding voice in any disputes and also will have the power to assess fines and remove members as required.
GM’s will own a copy of OOTP, strive to be active in the forum, respond to messages in a timely manner and are encouraged to make suggestions and voice concerns. American Baseball Legion welcomes new ideas and fresh perspectives!
GM’s are also encouraged to export on a regular basis, even if they are not making changes to their team, to show participation. And they should post their absences in the appropriate thread.
Should communication cease, exporting drop off substantially or any GM conducts himself in a detrimental to the league kind of way, the Commissioner reserves the right to take action.
* Any player under team control that has completed 4 years of major league service time and two arbitration hearings is eligible for a multi-year ABL contract extension.
* A one-year contract, strictly to avoid arbitration in the first and second arb years, may be offered to arbitration-eligible players after the off-season begins.
* For any contract extension that has a yearly value over $10M, no yearly value (in any year of the negotiation) can be more than double any other yearly value throughout the lifetime of the contract.
Once the free agency window opens then players can be signed in the usual way in-game. The same front/back-loading above would apply.
* Contracts may include team options as set out in-game.
* Any team option year must have a buyout equal to at least 25% of the highest year of the contract, whether that year is an option or guaranteed year.
* Only a second team option year may follow a team option year (in other words, no other kinds of options or opt-out).
GM’s may offer incentive clauses.
The TOTAL value of ALL incentives must not exceed 25% of the lowest annual contract offered to the player.
An example is that if a player is offered a three-year contract of $8M, $9M and $10M dollars then the incentives cannot total more than $2M (25% of the lowest annual contract value)
For both incentives and vesting options, the following rules also apply:
No vesting option can be triggered based on the number of At-Bats of a pitcher
Amount of At-Bats must be 550 or less
Innings pitched for Pitchers with Endurance greater than or equal to 5 must be 180 Innings Pitched or lower
Innings pitched for Pitchers with Endurance less than 5 must be 80 Innings Pitched or lower
No Cy Young Award bonuses for Pitchers with Endurance less than 5
No deliberately unachievable incentive clauses such at-bats for a pitcher
Illegal contracts involving option years will be converted into all years being guaranteed. There will be additional penalties if teams repeatedly violate the rules.
Regular season SIMs will be conducted as often as possible (assume daily), with a dated forum notification and export times will generally be 8 pm. Simulations will be seven in-game days during the regular season.
Playoff schedules will be determined at end of regular season. Wild Card and Divisional playoffs will be done in one sim, Championship Series and World Series divided into two.
Spring Training will be one week at a time. The off-season will be posted and is subject to change.
a. Attendance baseline per game is 31,000
b. Ticket price $25.00 (Team ticket prices can NOT exceed $50)
c. Visiting team gate share is 20%
d. Draft compensation for declining a qualifying offer (free agency) then signed by another team
e. Average media contract is $40,000,000
f. Media contract is fixed for all teams
g. Owners decide team budget
h. Luxury Tax - Soft cap 170%
i. Cash max $10,000,000
j. Playoff Rosters will now use the 40-Man roster (as of September 1st)
k. The 10/5 Rule has been removed. Players with 10 years service (5 on the same team) may no longer veto a trade.
In OOTP, when a team loses a compensation eligible player (as determined by OOTP - based on real life rules) to free agency and that player is signed by another team compensation will be as follows:
The team that originally lost the player to free agency will receive an additional draft pick in the upcoming first-year player draft as compensation for the player signed as a free agent. The pick will occur in a supplemental round between the first and second rounds. Players eligible for free agency at year end must be offered arbitration (referred to as arbitration in-game but similar to a qualifying offer in real life) in order to be eligible for compensation.
Compensation “COMP” tags will be removed on Opening Day!
Waivers - 8 days (expanded to appropriate length in off-season)
DFA - 15 days (expanded to appropriate length in off-season)
Note: If a player on Waivers of DFA holds up a sim, the Commissioner reserves the right to make roster decisions by first trying to demote the player(s) or releasing the player(s) should he be unable.
Each GM is responsible for Waiver and DFA attention. If a player has their DFA time run out, the Commissioner will take the following steps manually:
a) try to demote the player to AAA
b) if he refuses, if a player is owed less than $3m, he will be released
c) if owed more than $3m, he will be forced to the ML roster with demoting of similar rated player
The following rules will apply to all trades:
A trade must first be posted and quoted/confirmed in the forum trade thread. GM’s may request a trade be processed PRE-SIM if both GM’s state that, otherwise trades will be processed POST-SIM.
If a player involved in a POST-SIM trade is injured during that SIM then the deal will be declared void until both GM’s restructure their trade. If a player involved in a PRE-SIM trade is injured then normal in-game rules apply.
Draft picks can only be traded for the upcoming draft and only after the World Series and prior to that pick “on the clock” in the draft. Compensation “COMP” draft picks cannot be traded.
Recently drafted players cannot be traded until after the World Series of the season they were signed.
The cash value may not exceed the total salary of the player(s) you are trading.
Example 1 - If a player makes $400K for 1 year, only $400K can be included in the deal.
Example 2 - If a player makes $2M per year over next 2 years then $4M can be traded.
Teams can now agree to pay a portion of a traded contract over 3 consecutive years.
The payment CAN NOT exceed 50% of its lowest annual earning.
Example: Player X is under contract for 5 more years AFTER this season at a base salary of $13.5M each season. His current team can agree to trade him to another team and pay them $6.750M for the next three seasons. For the final two seasons, the team trading for Player X would be responsible for full payment of his contract.
If a player has salaries of $10M, $12M and $15M then the team can pay up to 50% on the $10M salary so $5M can be paid for 3 seasons.
Teams can negotiate payments for 1, 2 or 3 season. The transaction will be handled by the Commissioner when the trade is processed as miscellaneous future expenses in-game.
Trades may include players to be named later. The conditions of the PTBNL must be stated as part of the trade in the thread post. The PTBNL part of the trade must be completed within 4 SIMS of the deal being made.
Players signed in the off-season as Free Agents cannot be traded until June 15th of the season in which they were signed.
No trade can be made by a GM whose team player payroll budget is in the red unless it is a trade that reduces salary. Teams in the red are not permitted to make salary neutral trades.
Amateur Draft Lottery
The ABL l is proud to bring an NBA-style Lottery to the worst 10 teams from the previous season. The Lottery will be held along with the release of the Draft Pool.
The teams with the 10 worst records from the previous season will be put into a Lottery system to determine the draft order for those teams. The remaining teams will draft in order from the season before like a standard MLB Draft.
ABL uses players generated by OOTP. The draft consists of 30 rounds and the Player pool will be 34rounds deep. The Commissioner, in consultation with the GM’s, reserves the right to adjust the number of rounds in the future so the optimum number of players are generated.
The Rule 5 Draft will be held in December each year. Any players noted “#” in-game on the Transactions Screen will be eligible. To protect players, GM’s are responsible for adding them to the 40-man roster.
The Rule 5 Draft will be held by an in-game list. Any player selected in the Rule 5 Draft must remain on the selecting team's Active (25-man) and Secondary (40-man) rosters for the entire upcoming season or be returned to the original team.
This is accomplished in-game. Release the player in-game as you normally would return a Rule V Draft player.
Coaching is OFF. Scouting is ON and 100% accurate, to be used for INTERNATIONAL finds, so any money spent elsewhere is useless. Use 100% on International.
Edited: March 30, 2017
I have cleaned up the current ABL rules to make them far easier to follow and have adopted a couple of conventions that were essentially part of the rules below, but were part of much more convoluted language.
I sincerely believe our new ones are clearer.
I simply want to make ABL among the easiest online leagues to play, with rules kept to only those outside the game that seem absolutely needed in an online league.
I welcome discussion - there is another thread for that!
David
*** Original ABL League Governance - 2017 **
Commissioner
The Commissioner will be responsible for the management and daily operation of the league, simulating games in a timely manner, maintaining the associated league files and being involved in all GM discussions. He will respond to questions about the league and facilitate the recruitment and development of new members.
The Commissioner will act in the best interest of the league at all times, will be the deciding voice in any disputes and also will have the power to assess fines and remove members as required.
General Managers
GM’s will own a copy of OOTP, strive to be active in the forum, respond to messages in a timely manner and are encouraged to make suggestions and voice concerns. American Baseball Legion welcomes new ideas and fresh perspectives!
GM’s are also encouraged to export on a regular basis, even if they are not making changes to their team, to show participation. And they should post their absences in the appropriate thread.
Should communication cease, exporting drop off substantially or any GM conducts himself in a detrimental to the league kind of way, the Commissioner reserves the right to take action.
Contracts and Extensions
* Any player under team control that has completed 4 years of major league service time and two arbitration hearings is eligible for a multi-year ABL contract extension.
* A one-year contract, strictly to avoid arbitration in the first and second arb years, may be offered to arbitration-eligible players after the off-season begins.
* For any contract extension that has a yearly value over $10M, no yearly value (in any year of the negotiation) can be more than double any other yearly value throughout the lifetime of the contract.
Free Agent Signings
Once the free agency window opens then players can be signed in the usual way in-game. The same front/back-loading above would apply.
Team Option Years
* Contracts may include team options as set out in-game.
* Any team option year must have a buyout equal to at least 25% of the highest year of the contract, whether that year is an option or guaranteed year.
* Only a second team option year may follow a team option year (in other words, no other kinds of options or opt-out).
Incentive Clauses
GM’s may offer incentive clauses.
The TOTAL value of ALL incentives must not exceed 25% of the lowest annual contract offered to the player.
An example is that if a player is offered a three-year contract of $8M, $9M and $10M dollars then the incentives cannot total more than $2M (25% of the lowest annual contract value)
For both incentives and vesting options, the following rules also apply:
No vesting option can be triggered based on the number of At-Bats of a pitcher
Amount of At-Bats must be 550 or less
Innings pitched for Pitchers with Endurance greater than or equal to 5 must be 180 Innings Pitched or lower
Innings pitched for Pitchers with Endurance less than 5 must be 80 Innings Pitched or lower
No Cy Young Award bonuses for Pitchers with Endurance less than 5
No deliberately unachievable incentive clauses such at-bats for a pitcher
Penalties for Illegal Contracts
Illegal contracts involving option years will be converted into all years being guaranteed. There will be additional penalties if teams repeatedly violate the rules.
SIM Schedule
Regular season SIMs will be conducted as often as possible (assume daily), with a dated forum notification and export times will generally be 8 pm. Simulations will be seven in-game days during the regular season.
Playoff schedules will be determined at end of regular season. Wild Card and Divisional playoffs will be done in one sim, Championship Series and World Series divided into two.
Spring Training will be one week at a time. The off-season will be posted and is subject to change.
Financial and General Settings
a. Attendance baseline per game is 31,000
b. Ticket price $25.00 (Team ticket prices can NOT exceed $50)
c. Visiting team gate share is 20%
d. Draft compensation for declining a qualifying offer (free agency) then signed by another team
e. Average media contract is $40,000,000
f. Media contract is fixed for all teams
g. Owners decide team budget
h. Luxury Tax - Soft cap 170%
i. Cash max $10,000,000
j. Playoff Rosters will now use the 40-Man roster (as of September 1st)
k. The 10/5 Rule has been removed. Players with 10 years service (5 on the same team) may no longer veto a trade.
Free Agent Compensation
In OOTP, when a team loses a compensation eligible player (as determined by OOTP - based on real life rules) to free agency and that player is signed by another team compensation will be as follows:
The team that originally lost the player to free agency will receive an additional draft pick in the upcoming first-year player draft as compensation for the player signed as a free agent. The pick will occur in a supplemental round between the first and second rounds. Players eligible for free agency at year end must be offered arbitration (referred to as arbitration in-game but similar to a qualifying offer in real life) in order to be eligible for compensation.
Compensation “COMP” tags will be removed on Opening Day!
Waivers and DFA
Waivers - 8 days (expanded to appropriate length in off-season)
DFA - 15 days (expanded to appropriate length in off-season)
Note: If a player on Waivers of DFA holds up a sim, the Commissioner reserves the right to make roster decisions by first trying to demote the player(s) or releasing the player(s) should he be unable.
Each GM is responsible for Waiver and DFA attention. If a player has their DFA time run out, the Commissioner will take the following steps manually:
a) try to demote the player to AAA
b) if he refuses, if a player is owed less than $3m, he will be released
c) if owed more than $3m, he will be forced to the ML roster with demoting of similar rated player
Trades
The following rules will apply to all trades:
A trade must first be posted and quoted/confirmed in the forum trade thread. GM’s may request a trade be processed PRE-SIM if both GM’s state that, otherwise trades will be processed POST-SIM.
If a player involved in a POST-SIM trade is injured during that SIM then the deal will be declared void until both GM’s restructure their trade. If a player involved in a PRE-SIM trade is injured then normal in-game rules apply.
Trading Draft Picks
Draft picks can only be traded for the upcoming draft and only after the World Series and prior to that pick “on the clock” in the draft. Compensation “COMP” draft picks cannot be traded.
Trading Recently Drafted Players
Recently drafted players cannot be traded until after the World Series of the season they were signed.
Including Cash in Trades
The cash value may not exceed the total salary of the player(s) you are trading.
Example 1 - If a player makes $400K for 1 year, only $400K can be included in the deal.
Example 2 - If a player makes $2M per year over next 2 years then $4M can be traded.
Teams can now agree to pay a portion of a traded contract over 3 consecutive years.
The payment CAN NOT exceed 50% of its lowest annual earning.
Example: Player X is under contract for 5 more years AFTER this season at a base salary of $13.5M each season. His current team can agree to trade him to another team and pay them $6.750M for the next three seasons. For the final two seasons, the team trading for Player X would be responsible for full payment of his contract.
If a player has salaries of $10M, $12M and $15M then the team can pay up to 50% on the $10M salary so $5M can be paid for 3 seasons.
Teams can negotiate payments for 1, 2 or 3 season. The transaction will be handled by the Commissioner when the trade is processed as miscellaneous future expenses in-game.
Player To Be Name Later (PTBNL)
Trades may include players to be named later. The conditions of the PTBNL must be stated as part of the trade in the thread post. The PTBNL part of the trade must be completed within 4 SIMS of the deal being made.
Trading of Free Agent signees
Players signed in the off-season as Free Agents cannot be traded until June 15th of the season in which they were signed.
Trades with Financial Implications
No trade can be made by a GM whose team player payroll budget is in the red unless it is a trade that reduces salary. Teams in the red are not permitted to make salary neutral trades.
Amateur Draft
Amateur Draft Lottery
The ABL l is proud to bring an NBA-style Lottery to the worst 10 teams from the previous season. The Lottery will be held along with the release of the Draft Pool.
Amateur Draft
The teams with the 10 worst records from the previous season will be put into a Lottery system to determine the draft order for those teams. The remaining teams will draft in order from the season before like a standard MLB Draft.
ABL uses players generated by OOTP. The draft consists of 30 rounds and the Player pool will be 34rounds deep. The Commissioner, in consultation with the GM’s, reserves the right to adjust the number of rounds in the future so the optimum number of players are generated.
Rule-V Draft
The Rule 5 Draft will be held in December each year. Any players noted “#” in-game on the Transactions Screen will be eligible. To protect players, GM’s are responsible for adding them to the 40-man roster.
The Rule 5 Draft will be held by an in-game list. Any player selected in the Rule 5 Draft must remain on the selecting team's Active (25-man) and Secondary (40-man) rosters for the entire upcoming season or be returned to the original team.
Return Rule V Draft Players
This is accomplished in-game. Release the player in-game as you normally would return a Rule V Draft player.
Coaching and Scouting
Coaching is OFF. Scouting is ON and 100% accurate, to be used for INTERNATIONAL finds, so any money spent elsewhere is useless. Use 100% on International.
Edited: March 30, 2017