League Rules

[Admin]

League Rules

Drafting

D-1– only players residing on the Yahoo lists who have attained at least a stat line are eligible to be auctioned onto your active roster. If a player not on the Yahoo lists or a player who has not satisfied this criteria has an auction opened on him it will be deleted.

D-2- all predefined auction rules apply in both auction windows. The sole variance between the auction windows is that managers may not put any free agent player up for auction in October. During October managers may only put up for auction free agent players coming off of their own roster (see Rules C-1 and C-2).

Drafting is conducted in an open auction format. Each team has 25 spots on their active roster and a salary cap of $175m to fill those spots. A team does not have to use the maximum when assembling its roster. All teams must have 25 players on their active roster going into the first H2H match up. Teams can however run with less than 25 players on their active roster throughout the course of the season if they choose to do so.

There are two auction windows that afford teams the opportunity to acquire the mandatory 25 players. The first auction window opens in October, shortly after our Yahoo league championship match up has finished, and runs into November. The second auction window opens in February, shortly after Yahoo Fantasy Baseball reopens, and closes the last Sunday in March to give the auctions time to close out before the MLB Season starts up. The commissioner will make managers aware of the specific starting and end dates for each auction window at the appropriate times.

Auctions are conducted solely within the 'Auction' section of this Proboard site under the appropriate position category for the player. Any member of the league may start an auction on any eligible free agent player (see Rule D-1) in the February auction window. In the October auction window there are restrictions on which players managers may create auctions for (see Rule D-2).

In each auction window all managers are limited to having a maximum of 3 auctions that they have started running at any one time. If any manager starts another auction before one of those 3 has finished it will be closed. When one of the 3 has finished that manager may then start another. Managers may of course bid on any auction they haven’t started. The number of positions left to fill on your roster must be taken into consideration when determining how many auctions you can create.

If a player qualifies for more than one position then the auction must be posted on the board of the first position that player is listed under according to our Yahoo league page. The thread title of each auction must contain the players name and MLB team. For the latter the three letter abbreviated format will suffice. If two managers begin an auction for the same player the first thread to be started according to the message board time stamps will take precedence and the second auction will be deleted.

Auctions may be started at any $ amount so long as it is a minimum of $1m. Subsequent bids can raise by anything so long as they are multiples of $0.25m. So $X/X.25/X.50/X.75m are allowed. Bids that are not increments of $0.25m will be rounded up to the next interval. If two equal bids are made on a player then the first bid to be displayed according to the time stamp on the message board will take precedence and the second bid will be deemed void. All bids are final and may not be retracted. The only exception here is that bids which take you over your salary cap or available number of roster spots will be void, so monitor your rosters and cap closely to refrain from doing this. Anyone found to have retracted a bid by deleting it will have that bid reinstated, providing it doesn’t take them over their cap or roster thresholds, and will have their bidding rights suspended for 48 hours if found doing this repeatedly.

To win an auction in either of the aforementioned auction windows you must have the highest uncontested bid on that player for a period of 48 hours. After 48 hours without a fresh bid the auction thread will be marked as 'SOLD!', and the thread moved to the sold players section under the appropriate teams thread.

ex: If the current highest bid was placed at 6:00pm on a Monday then the auction will be deemed closed at 6:00pm on the Wednesday. The manager who wins the auction on a player is obligated to take that player at the cost of the winning bid.

You are not allowed to place a bid, or multiple bids, if the amount(s) you bid will take you over your salary cap or if the number of positions left to fill on your roster do not allow for it. During the auction windows all teams must take into account the value of players currently on their roster and the minimum amount needed to fill any remaining roster spots when placing bids on players. If you have the current highest bid on a player then that bid counts towards your salary spent amount until it is overtaken. Anyone repeatedly bidding beyond their salary capability will have their bidding rights suspended for 48 hours and so may miss out on players.

It is very important to the successful running of this league that all managers stay on top of their salary cap and rosters. When winning a player in auction managers have to then add that player to their team roster thread and edit their salary (remaining and spent amounts) and player roster information accordingly. You can view the ‘official roster’ threads as a guide. If a manager chooses not to put a player eligible for free agency up for auction in the October auction window then that player will become eligible to be put up for auction by any manager in the February auction window.


Contracts

C-1- the day after the end of the MLB regular season, when the championship match up of our Yahoo league has finished, all players on rosters will have their contract length decremented 1 year.

C-2- at this juncture, players who were on 1 year contracts will be classified as free agents, and upon expiration of their contract will be removed from the team rosters. Players classified as free agents in this way will be the only players eligible for the October auction window and the contract extension process (see Contract Extension).

C-3- once a player has been assigned a contract, it cannot be changed. The length of the contract you assign to a player follows that player, including when he is traded, until he is dropped (see Rule DP-1) or the period defined in Rule C-1 is reached.

C-4- each team can assign:
- 2 five year contracts
- 3 four year contracts
- 4 three year contracts
- 6 two year contracts
- a maximum of 25 one year contracts

* note that the 15 multi-year contracts listed above represent a permanent fixed set amount for each team, they do not regenerate into a fresh set each year and managers have to accommodate their current playing staff and future signings into this contract framework.

When you win a player in auction you must then assign that player a contract. The annual salary of the contract is equal to the winning auction bid.
Each team has 25 contracts available to assign to players on its active roster, which vary in length from 1 year to 5 years.
You are not obligated to assign all of your available multi-year contracts (see Rule C-4) if you do not wish to do so, and it is possible to assign every player to just a 1 year contract.
In addition to the contracts listed above, managers are also entitled to a single 'prospect contract' each year (see Minor League Rules: C-1).

All players won during the two auction windows must have contracts assigned to them by the start of the season. You can assign contracts to players as you win them, or wait until your roster is fully acquired before deciding. The deadline for assigning contracts to all players on your roster won during these auction windows is 11:59pm ET on the last Sunday before the opening date of the first H2H match up. Any players without contracts assigned to them by this date will automatically receive a 1 year contract by default. For assigning contracts to players won in auctions other than the two main auction windows please see Rule AP-1.

When assigning contracts you must put a notification of this on your teams roster thread next to the player(s) in question. You must also notify the commissioner via the board’s message function that you have assigned contracts to players. The commissioner will also notify everybody else in this way when assigning his contracts.


Team Option

After the conclusion of our Yahoo leagues championship match up there follows a three day period before the beginning of the October auctions when managers, if they so choose, are allowed to exercise a Team Option to a single player entering free agency, thus being able to retain the services of that player and prevent him from becoming available to other teams via auction. The commissioner will open a thread for the posting of extensions at the appropriate time where the player you wish to extend and the desired contract length must both be stated.

Managers can only extend a player entering free agency that is coming off of their own roster.

The cost of extending a player depends upon their position in the Yahoo player rankings at the end of the season, as defined by 'rank', not 'o-rank'.
- players ranked [1-25]* cost $8m+ 100% previous years salary
- players ranked [26-50]* cost $6m + 100% previous years salary
- players ranked [51-100]*cost $4m + 50% previous years salary
- players ranked 101* and above cost $2m + 50% previous years salary
* ='s inclusive

When giving a player a team option, that player may be assigned to any of the available contract lengths that you have remaining.


Adding players

AP-1 any player won in auction before 11:59pm ET on the last Sunday before the opening date of the first H2H match up will be required to have a contract assigned to them by this same date. Any player won in auction after this date will have 72 hours from the point at which he is marked as SOLD! to have a contract length assigned to him. Managers can assign any contract length that they have free and available to them. Players not assigned contract lengths in this 72 hour period will automatically be assigned to only a 1 year contract. The commissioner will notify managers of their contract obligations to give fair warning.

With the exception of DL replacements (see Rule DL-1), players can only be added to your active roster via the auction process, as laid out above. To sign a player via auction a notification about the intended auction must first be posted on our Yahoo league message board, which must include the name of the player you are creating the auction for. This will ensure that all managers are aware of the impending free agent auction and that they have fair warning to contest the bidding process.

Once a manager posts a notification on the Yahoo league page of their intention to create an auction for a player they are obligated to then proceed with that auction. Immediately after posting the auction notification on the Yahoo league page an auction thread must be created on the Proboards site. If the auction thread is created prior to the notification on the Yahoo league page, then the auction start time, and therefore the time of the opening bid, will be determined by the time stamp of the notification on the Yahoo league page.

Any auction will be deemed void if no notification is posted on the Yahoo league page. When creating an auction, if a manager does not have a vacant roster spot then that manager must declare on the auction thread, alongside his opening bid, which player he intends to cut if he successfully wins the auction. The dropped player will be subject to the cap penalty (see Rule DP-2). Other managers who wish to contest the bidding process, and who also do not have a vacant roster spot, must declare who it is they intend to drop from their roster if they win the auction, and must do so by including the name of the player they are dropping alongside their first bid on the auction thread. If a manager participating in an auction does not declare a player to be dropped, and they do not have a vacant roster spot, then their bid will be deemed invalid. If a manger does have a vacant roster spot then he is not required to state a player to be dropped. Managers who don’t win the auction are not required to still drop their stated player.

Once a manager has stated which player they intend to drop if they win the auction they may not switch to a different player as the bids progress. So if a manager bids on an auction and declares that he will drop a certain player, and is then outbid, then he may not declare a different player as his drop alongside any subsequent bids. Similarly, if a manager joins the bidding on a second auction and declares there that he will drop the same player as in the first, then he will not be able to go back in on the original auction in which he was involved, as it would not be possible to win two auctions while only dropping one player.

The salary of the player you intend to drop does not count towards the available salary you can bid. If you wish to gain extra salary for bidding you can drop a player either before or during the auction to free up cap space. If you fail to win the auction after dropping a player in this way then, as in Rule DP-5, you would have to sign a different player if you wanted to refill the vacated slot, and not the player you cut to free up salary.

As soon as a player has been sold that player will be transferred from the Yahoo player pool to the Yahoo roster of the team that won the auction by either the commissioner or the manager that won the player, and any corresponding drop will also be made at that time. If either the sold player, or any player dropped to make room, belongs to a team involved in an ongoing game at the time the auction closes then the roster move(s) will be implemented the following day.

From the close of the October auction window until the opening of the February auction window it is not possible to add players to your active roster via auction.
Once the September auction window has closed creating further auctions can be created any time after the DL replacement add period (see Rule DL-3) has ended up until 11:59pm ET on 12th of March. This represents the last available date to sign players during a season.

The period running from the close of the February auction window up until 11:59pm ET on the last Sunday before the start of the first H2H match up is not deemed to be ‘during’ the season, and so the 48 hour rule will still apply to auctions created on or before this date. After this date a manager only has to have the highest bid for 24 hours instead of 48 hours. This will speed up the process of replacing players during the season.

From the end of the February auction window until the conclusion of the Minor League Draft, any players remaining on the Yahoo lists who still retain rookie status (as defined in MLR:PE-1) may not be put up for auction until the draft is complete. From the conclusion of the Minor League Draft until 11:59pm ET on 12th of March, any player auctioned must conform to the criteria stipulated in Rule 6*, and managers may face further individual restrictions on players they may auction.

* a player can be put up for auction as soon as he has officially had 1 GP, even if the game he achieved this in is still in progress.


Dropping Players

DP-1- once a player has been dropped, that player then becomes entirely freed from his contract. He becomes a free agent without a contract and so can have different contract terms attributed to him when picked up by another manager.

DP-2- with the exceptions of Rules DP-3 and DP-4, dropping any player from your active roster carries a salary cap penalty.

DP-3- a player who has officially retired or has signed overseas may be dropped from your active roster at any time for zero cap hit, regardless of that players remaining contract length and salary. If a manager drops such a player, and that player then reverses his decision to retire and carries on playing, then the manager who dropped the player is not liable for any backdated cap penalty, providing the drop was made before the player announced his intention to continue playing.

DP-4- any new manager who joins the league will be given a one week grace period in which he will be allowed to cut up to two players from his active roster who are listed as NA by Yahoo, for zero cap hit, regardless of the remaining contract lengths and salaries of those players. If a new manager joins the league once our Yahoo league has closed for the off season, and consequently the status of players is not visible, then that manager will be given the one week grace period at the beginning of the following season, once Yahoo has reopened.

DP-5- if you drop a player you are not allowed to resign that player for the remainder of the season, including as a DL replacement, until that player has been contractually signed and dropped from the active roster of another manager. This also applies to players who have been dropped in the period running from the end of the DL replacement add period to the start of the first H2H match up.

DP-6- when a player is dropped from a roster, the player will be placed on waivers for a period of 48 hours. The 48 hour waiver period for a dropped player will commence at the time stamp of the drop on the Yahoo league page. During this waiver period the player remains eligible to be put up for auction by any other manager, but he may not be added by anybody as a DL replacement until he has cleared waivers.

*note that we do not use the Yahoo waiver process, our waiver process is determined purely by the time stamps so please remember to check the last 48 hours of the transaction history on the Yahoo league page to check specific drop times for specific players.

A player will be considered to have been dropped when a manager performs this action on the Yahoo league page.

Buyout Penalty for Dropping Players:
a - if you choose to drop a player from your active roster that is in the final, or only, year of his contract, you must offer a buyout for a total of one half of one years salary to that player, which will be decremented from your total cap limit.

b - if you drop a player from your active roster that is not in the final year of his contact, you must offer a buyout for a total of one half of one years salary to the player for the current year, and one fourth of one years salary to the player for each remaining year on the contract, which will be decremented from your total cap limit for the appropriate years.

For example, a player won for $5m in 2012-13 who is given a 3 year contract, and who is dropped in '12-'13, will incur a penalty of $2.5m in '12-'13, and a penalty of $1.25m in both '13-'14 and '14-'15. So in this example, your salary cap for '13-'14 and '14-'15 would become $148.75m, as opposed to $175m. This would then free up $2.5m in salary in '12-'13 and $3.75m salary in '13-'14 and '14-'15, which you could then reallocate elsewhere.

When incurring a salary cap penalty you must post a notification confirming the cap penalty on your teams roster page, and also make the necessary adjustments to your salary cap. When a player is dropped from a roster, the player will be placed on waivers for a period of 48 hours. The 48 hour waiver period for a dropped player will commence at the time stamp of the drop on the Yahoo league page. During this waiver period the player remains eligible to be put up for auction by any other manager, but he may not be added by anybody as a DL replacement until he has cleared waivers.

* that we do not use the Yahoo waiver process, our waiver process is determined purely by the time stamps so please remember to check the last 48 hours of the transaction history on the Yahoo league page to check specific drop times for specific players.

With the exception of Rules DP-3 and DP-4, players can only be cut from your active roster after the IR replacement add period (see Rule DL-3) has ended up until 11:59pm ET on the 12th of March* **. At no other time can players be dropped from an active roster. This is applicable to players that you have carried over from the previous season, and to players that you have won in either of the auction windows.

* if you have an auction that is still running after this date, and you have declared a player to be dropped, then that player may still be dropped if you successfully win the auction.

** please note that although this date signals the last opportunity to cut a player the limitations of our Yahoo league page may not allow you to perform this action if players from teams with a game in progress are involved. Managers will need to account for this accordingly.

Any player on an active roster with rookie status may not be dropped until the Minor League Draft has finished.


Disabled List

DL-1– if a player on your active roster goes on the DL you may immediately add any eligible player (see Rule DL-2) from the free agent pool, or from your minor league roster (see Rule), as a DL replacement (DLR), up to a maximum of four times.

DL-2- players ineligible to be picked up as DLRs are:
- players involved in active auctions
- players on waivers (see Rules DP-6 and DL-4)
- players who belong to another teams minor league roster
- players who are without at least 1 AB/IP at MLB level (with the exception of such players from your own minor league roster)
- players that you have previously cut from your active roster are ineligible to be used as DLRs unless they have been contractually added and dropped from the active roster of another manager. If such a player was used by another manager only as a DLR then he remains ineligible for use. If you previously owned a player that you only ever used as a DLR then you may pick up that same player again as a DLR, even if he has not been added and dropped by anybody else.
- players added by Yahoo to the player pool during the season are also subject to the same 48 hour waiver restrictions as in Rule DP-6 from the date they were added to the player pool and must clear waivers before becoming eligible for use as a DLR.

DL-3- twelve hours from the last player being marked as SOLD! in the February auction window, according to the message board time stamp, there will then be a 48 hour period exclusively for picking up DLRs before any further auctions can be created and players can be dropped.

DL-4- players dropped as DLRs are subject to the same 48 hour waiver rule as players cut from your active roster.

DL-5- when a player is activated after being on the DL, a manager has two days in which to drop a DLR. So if a player is activated from the DL on a Monday, a manager has until before the commencement of Wednesdays MLB games to drop a DLR. If a manager does not drop a DLR in that period the commissioner will make the necessary drop for that team. In the event that the team has more than one DLR the commissioner will drop the DLR who was added specifically for the returning player.

DL-6- if you have a DLR who himself goes on the DL, or who becomes designated as NA, then he may be dropped for zero cap hit and a fresh DLR may be picked up and installed in his place. A manager would not be able to add a fresh DLR for a current DLR should the current DLR go on the DL. DLRs can only be attached to players on the active roster, and not to other DLRs.

DL-7- if you drop a player from your active roster who is listed as DL then a DLR can be attached to that player and cut for zero cap hit when both players are dropped in combination.

Each team has three DL spots available to them. A player is only considered to be on of the DL when designated as such by Yahoo. A player will be considered to be reactivated from the DL if either designated as such by Yahoo, or if it is clearly apparent that his return to the lineup for his MLB team is imminent (i.e. he is scheduled to be in his MLB teams starting line up on the same game day that you drop his DLR).

Players added from the FA pool as DLRs cost $1m, and may only be allocated a DLR contract and as such are not considered part of your active roster. If you do not have sufficient salary remaining then you cannot add the player. You will have to free up cap space either by dropping a player, or through trading, but I would recommend not spending your entire salary at auction and holding a little bit back for possible replacements throughout the season. If you move a player to one of your DL spots, that players salary still counts towards your salary cap. In order to replace him you must have the cap room to add the additional player. DLR contracts are temporary, and at their maximum can only last the length of the season.

When activating a player from the IR back onto your roster, a player signed as a DLR may be dropped for zero cap hit. Players that are signed to a DLR contract are not tied to a specific player on the DL. You may choose to keep the same player on a DLR contract if you have multiple players rotating between your active roster and the DL at the same time. You may not make use of a player activated from the DL and his DLR at the same time. For example, if you reactivate a player from the DL and move him to an empty roster spot then it would be possible to use both the player and his DLR at the same time. This is not allowed, either the player stays in a DL spot for two days as in Rule DL-5 or if activated a DLR must be dropped.

If you drop a DLR without a player on your DL being activated, then the 50% cap penalty will apply to the dropped DLR, with the exception of Rules DL-6 and DL-7. If you wish to swap DLRs by dropping the player you are currently using and switching to a different player then this action carries with it the 50% cap penalty on the dropped DLR. If you have a DLR that you wish to move to your active roster, then this can be done using the regular auction process, using the predefined auction rules. Throughout the auction the DLR will remain on your roster and will of course stay there if you win the auction. If the auction is won by another manager then the player will be removed from your roster and placed instead on the roster of the winning team as soon as he is sold. The $1m DLR fee assigned to the player will count, either in full or in part, towards the opening bid in such auctions.

You can only create auctions for DLRs on your own roster, and auctions for them must be started before the DL replacement player is scheduled to go back to the FA pool, see Rule DL-5.
Auctions for DLRs onto your active roster can be done up until 11:59pm ET on the 28th of February. If you wish to swap DLRs (as stated above) then this can only be done up until 11:59pm ET the day before our playoffs begin. During the playoffs DLRs already on rosters will be frozen, with the exception of circumstances stipulated above, although you can however still pick up DLRs for any new injuries you sustain during the playoff period. And if you have a player come off the DL in the playoff period then a DLR must still be dropped, as per Rule DL-5.

*please note that although this date signals the last opportunity to perform this action the limitations of our Yahoo league page may not allow for it if players from teams with a game in progress are involved. Managers will need to account for this accordingly.

Once the regular season of our Yahoo league has ended, managers who did not make the playoffs are not allowed to pick up DLRs. At the end of the season, any player assigned to a DLR contract will be removed from the roster and will not be eligible for either the April auction or the team option contract. Managers may not pick up DL replacement players during the April auction window. During the August auction window, all players not on a roster are available to be put up for auction by any manager and are therefore considered to be involved in active auctions. In the event that you have a player listed as being on the DL during this time you will have to wait until the August auction window has closed before you can then pick up DLRs.


Trading

T-1- trades can be conducted at any time, including the offseason, but the trade deadline for any particular season is 11:59pm ET on the 12th of March.

T-2– during the off-season there will be a winter break. Managers are not expected to be checking in frequently during this period, and so any trades made from 00:00am ET on December 1st up until 11:59pm ET on January 15th will need to have their veto polls set to run until noon ET on January 19th. If any trades during this break period receive the eight votes needed to automatically pass before noon ET on January 19th then they will go through as soon as the eleventh yes vote is cast.

T-3- if you trade a player to another team, and you are paying for a portion of a players contract via a salary consideration, and the team that received the player subsequently drops the player, you are not subject to a cap penalty for the player being dropped. The manager who dropped the player is responsible for the entire cap hit imposed by the player being cut. The cap hit will be calculated from the total value of the players contract. The manager who was picking up a portion of the contract via a salary consideration will have the amount they were paying refunded and added back to their salary cap.

For example: Manager A trades away Player X, who has a annual salary of $20m, to Manager B. Manager A pays $10m of Player Xs’ salary in the trade. This decreases Manager As salary cap by $10m and increases Manager Bs salary cap by the same amount. If at some point in the future Manager B decides to cut Player X then he will be liable for the cap hit of $10m as well as any future cap hits dependent on contract length) and furthermore he will also lose the $10m salary concession from his salary cap, which will be returned to Manager A. The cap hit and loss of the salary consideration decrease Manager Bs salary cap by $20m and increases Manager As salary cap by $10m.

In the above example Manager Bs dropping of Player X freed up zero salary, and in some instances it might not be possible to drop a player due to the handing back of salary concessions. Salary considerations also follow any players they are attached to. So if Manager B then trades Player X to Manager C then Manager B loses the concession as it is transferred to Manager C.

To conduct a trade a thread must be created in the ‘pending trades’ section of this site*. The thread must contain a poll to allow other managers the chance to either approve or veto the trade. Trades on this site are subject to the same conditions as our Yahoo league page in terms of the time they will remain open for voting before they clear (3 days), so the poll being created must be set to last for that duration (with the exception of Rule T-2). After creating this thread a trade notification posting must be made on the Yahoo league page.**

* trades may also be conducted on the Yahoo league page, but any trades made that way must also adhere to the salary and contract structure set out in these rules.

** this is not possible during the off season when the Yahoo league has closed and so only the ‘pending trade’ portion need be posted.

All trades are subject to the league veto process, but will be automatically vetoed by the commissioner if a trade will put either party involved over their salary cap or active roster limits. Again, the same conditions as Yahoo apply and 4 votes are required to veto a trade. A trade that does not receive 4 veto votes will pass and 8 yes votes guarantee a trade will pass. Trades will only officially clear after the poll expiry date.

When a trade is successful the commissioner will switch the players involved to the appropriate teams on the Yahoo league page as soon as the trade has officially cleared (when possible*). The players moved will be added to the bench and not the starting lineup unless an explicit request for the commissioner to do otherwise is stated publicly on the trade thread.

* If any player involved in a trade is on an active roster, or from a minor league roster and being used as a DLR, and belongs to a MLB team with a game in progress at the time the trade clears then all players involved in the trade will be moved at the next opportunity the following day. This is because such players are not editable on Yahoo once their games have begun. If players involved in a trade belong to a MLB team with a game in progress at the time the trade clears, and those players reside purely on a minor league roster, then all players will be moved upon the trade clearing.

Any trade made after the trade deadline (see Rule T-1) up until the conclusion of our leagues playoffs will affect the rosters for the following season(s)* and so players will not be moved from one roster to another on the Yahoo league page as stated above during this period. Trades made during this period will be edited into the following seasons official roster threads on this site, as will any trade made from the conclusion of our league playoffs up until the point Yahoo reopens the following season.

* as trades made during this period affect future seasons, players on 1 year contracts may not be traded during this time as such players will be considered free agents for the October auction window.

When a trade is completed, the player(s) being traded are traded at the same salary, and remaining length of contract. Players without contracts assigned to them may not be traded. When a player is purchased through auction, that player must be assigned a contract length before he may be included in any trade. In these circumstances you may negotiate the contract length for that player with the other manager. The contract length that can be assigned to a player in this situation is dependent upon what contract lengths the manager who owns the player has available.

Because contracts follow players (Rule C-3), it is possible through trading to end up with more players tied to a specific contract length than would be allowed under Rule C-4.

For example:
If team A has assigned 5 year contracts to two players, and then trades with team B to obtain a player who is also on a 5 year contract, then team A will then have three players on its roster who are on 5 year contracts. That way it is possible for team A to carry more than two players on its roster on 5 year deals. At the end of the season, those three players on 5 year deals will then have their contracts decremented by 1 year. Those three players will then each move onto a 4 year contract, and will occupy the three 4 year contracts that team A is allowed to assign to players.

At that point, team A will not 'keep' that third and extra 5 year contract slot. At the end of the season it will again only have two 5 year contracts available to it to assign to players. Likewise with team B. When team B trades away the player on a 5 year contract it does not 'lose' that contract. If that player traded away on a 5 year contract was the only player on a 5 year contract that team B had, then team B would then have both of its 5 year contracts available to it again to assign to players. It is not the case that if team B makes this trade that it will only have one 5 year contract left out of the two it originally had.

It is possible to include financial concessions as part of any trade: ‘salary considerations*’ or ‘cash considerations**’. A salary consideration involves the manager trading away a player picking up a portion of that players salary, while a cash consideration is the simple handover of salary from one manager to another. When posting a trade involving a financial component it is necessary to clearly define which type of concession is involved, and if it is a salary consideration which player that concession is attached to. Either type of concession must be recorded on the roster threads of the parties involved, with the agreed upon amount being deducted from the total salary cap.

* salary considerations remain attached to a player for the duration specifically stated in the trade thread, and as a consequence they can be lost or gained as they are transferable from one team to another if that player is involved in further trades. (see Rule T-3)

** cash considerations are not refundable as per Rule T-3.

If a trade is uneven in terms of the number of players involved on either side then the team getting the most players will have to drop a player to make room if that team does not have sufficient available empty roster spots, and that player will be subject to the cap penalty. Any player being dropped in this way must be declared in the trade details. During the off season when we have empty roster spots waiting to be filled via auction this situation is unlikely to occur. Players assigned to DL replacement contracts may not be included in trades.

The trading of the Team Option itself (see Team Options), so that one team may end up optioning two of its free agents is not allowed. Optioning one of your own free agents and then trading him is allowed and can only be done during or following the period defined in TO. You may negotiate the contract length for that player with the other manager, and the contract length that can be assigned to a player in this situation is dependent upon what contract lengths the manager who owns the player has available.

Any sort of trade in this league is possible. Multi-team trades, salary dumps, cash considerations etc. Trade clauses (no trade, no option etc.) can also be inserted into trades. Use your imagination. With that in mind, try not to abuse the right to veto trades, as anything goes. If you do have a genuine concern however about the integrity of a trade then feel free to apply your right in those instances, but please don't let vetoing descend into personal tit-for-tat retaliations that affect so many leagues.

Any details posted on a trade thread may not be altered in any way. Any and all stated conditions will be adhered to until any explicit deadline that may exist which has the effect of annulling those conditions has expired. If you have a trade vetoed then you are not allowed tore post the same trade.

Minor League Rules 

Teams have their own Minor League Roster (MLR) for amassing rookies and/or prospects. Managers are required to keep an up to date record of their MLR on their teams roster thread.
All players on the MLRs are protected, meaning nobody is allowed to create an auction for a player currently on an MLR, or add a player from another teams MLR as a DL replacement.


Drafting

MLR:D-1- teams are allocated a position in the draft based upon their regular season finish of the previous season. The team that finished in twelfth place will receive the first pick, while the team that finished in first place will receive the final pick. All other teams in-between these two extremes will be aligned to a draft position in accordance with that principle. The draft is non-snaking, meaning the draft position for each team will be maintained for each and every round.

Any blatant indication that a team has purposefully tanked in its performance, deliberately negating its competitiveness with the sole intention of gaining a higher draft position, will be considered an abuse of the system. Such abuses will result in the forfeiture of the higher draft position gained in this way and discretion will be exercised to determine the final draft position of that team.

The Minor League Draft (MLD) that allows managers the opportunity to augment their MLR takes place immediately after the February auction window has closed. The yearly MLD represents the only opportunity to draft players onto your MLR. The MLD is conducted within the 'minor league drafts' section of this Proboard, on the appropriate sub-board for the year in question. There are four draft rounds each year.

At the beginning of each season all twelve teams are awarded a single default pick for each round of the following seasons MLD. A teams total number of picks in the MLD can increase or decrease from the default four overall picks through trading, and a teams picks for the prevailing seasons MLD will be those that have been accumulated from the first day of the preceding season.

The draft method employed is the traditional standard ‘pick’ format. Managers are required to simply state the name of the player, and his parent club, on the appropriate thread when it is their turn to pick.

There is no official clock or limit on the amount of time a manager is allowed to take before declaring his pick, but managers are asked to please make their picks in a timely fashion. If it is deemed that any manager is deliberately lolly gagging during the MLD then that manager will have his pick skipped and the draft will continue on from the next manager in line to pick. The commissioner will state this on the draft thread. In this situation the manager that was skipped may declare his pick(s) at any subsequent point in the draft but will not be able to select a player that has already been drafted by a manager picking 'after' him.

The draft will officially conclude with the scheduled forty-eighth pick. In the eventuality that a manager who has had a pick, or picks, skipped has not drafted his full allocation of prospects by this time then those unused picks will be carried over to the following seasons MLD. Any unused picks that are carried over will be tagged on to the end of the equivalent draft round the following year. If multiple teams have unused picks for the same round and same year then the order they are tagged on in the subsequent years draft will reflect the draft order of the year those picks are from. If unused draft picks are carried over from year to year, then newer picks will take preference over older ones, which will fall to the back of the queue.
Once a manager has declared which player he is selecting that decision may not be retracted for any reason.


Player Eligibility

Any player with exactly 129 AB or 49.2 iP shall still be considered a rookie. For bookkeeping purposes, the official player pages at MLB.com will be used to determine a players number of AB/iP. From the close of the February auction window up until the conclusion of the MLD, any player on the player list of our Yahoo league page with rookie status may not be added to an active roster via the regular auction process and may not be added as a DL replacement until the draft is complete. Such players remain protected for the duration of the MLD.

MLR:PE-1- to determine whether or not a player qualifies as eligible for the MLD the following definition of 'rookie' will be used:

“A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in the military service and time on the disabled list).”

Any player who has not surpassed rookie status is eligible to be drafted to a MLR. This means that any such player left on the Yahoo player lists after the conclusion of the February auction is eligible to be drafted to a MLR, and also applies to any and all such players who are not on the Yahoo player lists. Players from international leagues, such as NBP etc., as well as unattached international free agents, are also eligible to be drafted to a MLR provided they also have rookie status at the NHL level.


Promoting players

MLR:PP-1– there are three windows for promoting players from your MLR to your active roster:
- window one* opens on the first day of the season and remains open for three days, paralleling the option period.
- window two* opens in early September, shortly after Yahoo Fantasy Hockey reopens, and remains open until the close of the auction window or the last day of September, whichever occurs first.
- window three* opens once the two day DL replacement add period has ended and closes at 11:59pm ET on the 12th of March**, this date signaling the last opportunity to promote a player during a season.

* note that in window one a player will be promoted via the required notification. A declaration of intent to promote a player during windows two and three will not constitute a promotion. In windows two and three a player will only be considered promoted when physically added to that teams active roster on Yahoo.

** note that while this date signals the last opportunity to promote a player the limitations of our Yahoo league page may not make adding and dropping players possible at this specific time as it is not possible to perform either of these actions when players from teams that have a game in progress are involved. Managers will need to account for this accordingly.

During window one (see Above) managers are obligated to make a decision on any and all players on their MLR who have exceeded rookie status. Players that have accumulated a minimum of 130 AB or 50 iP at the MLB level are required to either be promoted to the active roster or released from the MLR at this point (Type A Prospect). During any of the three windows (see Above) managers are permitted to promote players from their MLR to their active roster who have not exceeded rookie status (Type B Prospect). Promotions for such players are purely at the managers discretion, but to be eligible for promotion a player is required to have finished the previous season on the player lists of our Yahoo league page if being called up in window one, or to be on the Yahoo player lists for the prevailing season if being called up in windows two or three (Type C Prospect) these players must have produced at least a stat line on the Yahoo player lists.

When you promote a player from your MLR to your active roster during window three (see Above), and you do not have an empty roster spot, then you will need to cut a player from your active roster to make room, and that player will be subject to the cap penalty. If you should find yourself with a vacant roster spot then you are not required to cut a player. Players may not be cut from your active roster during windows one and two but managers will have the convenience of empty roster spots at these times.

When promoting a player from your MLR to your active roster a notification of this must be made in the 'minor league adds and cuts' section of this Proboard, along with the contract length that you are assigning the player to. There are no limits on the amount of players you can promote during any window. With the exception of Rule MLR:DLR-1 there is no backward motion between the active roster and the MLR. Once a player has been promoted from your MLR to your active roster he may not be sent back to the MLR.

Players not promoted will remain stored on your MLR indefinitely, their rookie status being reevaluated at the beginning of each new season, and there is no maximum on the amount of players you can store on your MLR.


Salaries

When promoting a player from your MLR to your active roster there is a salary cost attached to the player, and so to promote the player you must have the sufficient salary space needed in order to make the move.

Players drafted to the MLR have the following default salaries assigned to them on their promotion to the active roster:
- players drafted in the 1st round cost $3m in the season you promote them, $4m in their 2nd season and $6m in the third, fourth and fifth years.
- players drafted in the 2nd round cost $2m in the season you promote them, $3.5m in their 2nd season and $5m in the third, fourth and fifth years.
- players drafted in both the 3rd and 4th rounds cost $1m in the season you promote them, $2.5m in their second season and $4m in the third, fourth and fifth years.

If you promote a player from your MLR to your active roster, then decide to option that player when his contract expires, then the base salary used to determine his option cost will be $4m, $5m or $6m, depending on the round the player was drafted.


Contracts

MLR:C-1- players promoted from the MLR to the active roster may be assigned to any of the contract lengths listed in Rule C-4 that you have free and available to you.

In addition to the contracts listed in Rule C-4 every team has a solitary prospect contract at its disposal that can be assigned to one promoted rookie every season. The prospect contract can only be assigned to one player promoted from the MLR to the active roster during any of the three promotion windows. It cannot be assigned to players with rookie status who have been signed via the regular auction process.

When designating a player to the prospect contract that player can be assigned to any of the contract lengths listed in Rule C-4, Irrespective of how many players you currently have on your active roster at that contract length. A player on a prospect contract will not occupy any of the fifteen multi-year contract lengths on your active roster, this allows managers more flexibility in calling up prospects during an ongoing season.

At the beginning of each season, any player who was assigned a prospect contract during the preceding season will transition from the prospect contract to a regular active roster contract, with the appropriate diminution in contract length. This then frees up the prospect contract for use in the new season.


Dropping

At the beginning of each season, during window one (see Rule MLR:PP-1), any player(s) on your MLR who have exceeded rookie status that you do not wish to promote to your active roster are required to be released from your MLR back into the player pool. During window one managers may also release prospects from their MLR who have not exceeded rookie status at their own discretion.

When releasing players from your MLR during this period a notification must be made in the 'minor league adds and cuts' section of this Proboard.
Players may not be dropped from the MLR at any other time. Once a player has been released from your MLR you may not redraft that player in the subsequent MLD, assuming he is still eligible, nor can you sign that player for the rest of that season until he has been added and dropped from the active roster of another team, at which point you will have to create a regular auction to add him to your active roster – you could not simply decide to re-add the player back to your MLR. There is no cap hit involved when releasing a player from your MLR.

If you promote a player from your MLR to your active roster, and then cut that player at some point in the future, then the salary attributed to the player in the year in which he was dropped will be used as the base salary for calculating the cap penalty.

For example, a player drafted in the first round will cost $3m in the season you promote them, $4m in their second season and $6m in the third, fourth and fifth years. So if the player was dropped in the second year of his contract then $4m would be used as the base salary for determining the cap penalty, which in this example would be $2m for that year, and $1m for every subsequent year of their contract.


DL Replacements

MLR:DLR-1 when an injured player returns from the DL then it is possible to send the player called up as a DL replacement back to the MLR.

During the season it is possible to use a player on your MLR as a DL replacement. When adding a player in this circumstance you must clarify on the Yahoo league page that you are adding him as a DL replacement, and that the move does not constitute any longer term promotion to the active roster. The player will cost the usual $1m DL replacement fee.


Trading

The trading of players on your MLR, as well as the trading of picks for future minor league draft rounds, is permissible. These can be included as a part of any trade involving players on active rosters. Any trade that involves either, or both, of these components must be made through the Proboard trade facility rather than Yahoo, including during the season.

If you are trading away a player from your MLR, or a draft pick, for a player on the active roster of another team, and you are not including anybody from your own active roster in the trade, then you will be required to cut a player from your own active roster if you do not have any free roster spots available to you. You must declare which player you are cutting when posting the trade, and that player will be subject to the cap penalty. If you do have a free active roster spot then you are not required to cut a player. Having to cut a player from your active roster in this way will be less of a concern in the off-season when we will all have empty roster spots.

You may not exchange picks for future minor league drafts beyond the following season in trades. If you trade away your pick for any particular draft round, then you will not be eligible for a pick in that round, unless you have obtained a pick for that round in another trade. When you receive a pick for any particular draft round in a trade then the position of that pick will be determined by the regular season finish of the team you received the pick from, as per Rule MLR:D-1.

If you receive a pick for a particular draft round in a trade then that pick then belongs to you and you can include that pick in any further trades if you so wish. If through trading you have accumulated more than one pick for any particular draft round, and you wish to trade one of those picks away, then you must clarify in the trade details which pick it is that you are including in the trade.

For example, Team A, which still has its own first round draft pick, trades with Team B, and receives Team Bs first round draft pick as part of the trade. This means Team A now has two picks in the first round of the following years draft, its own pick, and the one it received from Team B. Team A may however decide to trade one of those picks away, and must declare in the trade details which pick it is sending away. It must specify whether it is trading away its own pick or the one it received from Team B. As these picks will be determined by Team A and Team Bs standings in the regular season, then one pick will obviously be higher than the other, so it is crucial to state the pick being traded.

If a player on an MLR is involved in a trade, then the round in which that player was drafted, and therefore the salaries involved when promoting him to the active roster, remain attached to that player.
There is no limit to how many players you can add onto your MLR via trade.