Pine Tar and Rosin Baseball League Constitution
Contents
1. League Overview
The league will use Out of the Park Baseball 6.5 (OOTP6.5) as the Game Engine. The Game Engine will be updated with any patches as soon as the current season has completed unless they are deemed critical. In that case, they’ll be added immediately. At this point with OOTP2006 released, it’s unlikely we’ll get any further OOTP6.5 patches.
Each GM must own or have permanent access to OOTP6.5. I will not be able to perform transactions, roster changes, lineup and/or pitching moves, etc. on a regular basis for any team.
The purpose of the league is to have fun, first and foremost. Any owner that is threatening or abusive to another owner for ANY reason, or tries to undermine the league can and will be removed without notice. Too many people spend too much time and effort to allow one "bad apple" to ruin it for the bunch.
1.1 Game Engine
The league will use the Modern baseball Era Game Engine
Home field advantage will be enabled.
1.2 Basic Setup
There will be 2 leagues with 3 divisions each. No division shall have less then 4 teams in it at any time.
The American League will use the DH rule, the National League will not. The exception to the rule is when the American League is hosting a National League team during intra-league play.
The regular season will consist of 162 games.
The winner of each division, plus one wild card team will qualify for the post season playoffs. The wild card is the team with the best record of all non-division winners in both the American League and the National League.
The league will begin with the CubbyFan 2006 most recent updated roster set (released in late June 2006).
The computer will run any team that does not have an owner and no trades will take place with a vacant team.
League mode will be Career.
The Financial System will be enabled.
Coaches and Scouts will be disabled.
The minor leagues will be simulated.
1.3 Player Ratings
Ability ratings will range from 1 to 100.
Talent ratings will range from 1 to 10.
Other ratings (endurance, speed, defense, etc.) will range from 1 to 10.
Star ratings will be displayed on the player pages.
Ratings of > 100 will be displayed.
1.4 Injuries
Injuries will be enabled.
Frequency will be set to low.
Position player fatigue will be enabled.
1.5 Promotions
To be determined, but most likely as they appear in the game.
1.6 Other Settings
The All-Star game will determine home field advantage in the World Series.
Veteran Japanese and Cuban players may enter the league in the off-season as determined by OOTP.
2. Owners Responsibility & Restrictions
You are allowed to manage one team only in the league. No owner shall be permitted to collude with another owner or group of owners for the purpose of improving any team or group of teams. Any evidence of such collusion will result in immediate expulsion from the league.
Ownership of the OOTP6.5 game is mandatory, as mentioned previously.
It is required that owners have AIM as the majority of league activity and communication is done through AIM.
Owners will be required to submit lineups, player promotions/demotions and managerial tendencies using the export feature of OOTP.
Each owner is responsible to submit lineups or a notice of “no changes” via a PM through the forums at a minimum of once a week, unless that owner has posted being out of touch (vacation, no computer access, etc.) on the forums. Missing three consecutive exports without prior notice that you will be unavailable will result in expulsion from the league. Inactivity hurts more than just the vacated team, but eventually becomes a detriment to the league as a whole. I know you’re all busy, as am I, but asking everyone to check in once a week isn’t too much to ask if you’re at all active in the league.
As mentioned, any owner that expects to be away for a time greater than two sims (about 4 days apart) should post on the forum in the proper place.
Any owner who becomes inactive (no lineups, contact, leaving severely injured players active, or any other signs of inactivity) may also be replaced without notice. Twenty-nine other owners/teams are counting on you to be active. If you can’t, please let me know and you will be replaced if requested.
Owners will be expected to participate in all league votes (league issues, proposed rule changes, All-Star game, Post Season awards, etc.). This is a league for all of us. The only way that can happen is if we here from ALL of us.
3. League Management
3.1 Sim Schedule
The commissioner, or the co-commissioner, will simulate the regular season based on the following schedule (Subject to change by the commissioner. A one week’s notice will be given when possible should a change be required):
Tuesday: 10pm Central (11pm Eastern)
Thursday: 10pm Central (11pm Eastern)
Sunday: 10pm Central (11pm Eastern)
Playoffs will be simmed every other night to pick up the pace in the post-season.
The export deadline for each sim will be 9pm Central (10pm Eastern). Any exports sent after the deadline may not be imported for the sim depending on the time the rest of the imports are pulled. Each sim period will be 7 days prior to the All-Star break and 10 days after the All-Star break to keep teams interested if they’ve been eliminated from contention.
The sim schedule may be modified for holidays and other events, with prior notice being given when possible.
Sims will be performed offline. Occasionally we may try to have a live sim for special occasions. Owners will be notified through the forums and an e-mail if that’s the case. My goal at this point would be to have all World Series games done live if possible.
To provide owners with an opportunity to make necessary changes (injuries or other roster moves deemed necessary), each round of the playoffs will be simmed 3 days at a time as long as necessary to proceed to the next round. The last thing I want to happen is a team fight all season to get to the post-season and have an injury in an early game prevent further success. Being able to replace that player between sim periods might make the difference between moving on and going home early. I think with the time and effort each owner puts in, they deserve that right.
Trades, free agent signings and waivers will be process AFTER the sim has completed. Though I would prefer them to be done pre-sim for many reasons (primarily in the case of an injury to a player involved in a trade), it would create too much additional work to try and adjust all subsequent lineups, rosters, etc. for that to happen. Therefore they’ll be post-sim so you’ll have the opportunity to make your own changes prior to the next sim period with your export.
3.2 League Modifiers
The league will operate under the following modifiers. The settings will be reviewed after each season to determine if they should be adjusted.
Ratings weight: 67%
Current year stats weight: 25%
Last year stats weight: 8%
Year before last weight: 0%
Batter – Contact: 9%
Batter – Gap: 4%
Batter – Power 9%
Batter – Eye 22%
Batter – Strikeouts 41%
Pitcher – Stuff 10%
Pitcher – Control 25%
Pitcher – Movement 25%
Pitcher – Endurance 5%
Player – Speed 4%
Player – Stealing 4%
Hitter development +65%
Hitter aging -54%
Pitcher development +65%
Pitcher aging -54%
4. Roster and Team Management
4.1 Active Roster
The active roster is limited to 25 players, expanding to a 40 man roster in September. In the postseason the active roster is again limited to 25 players. Roster moves are only allowed between a series.
There is also a Disabled List for injured players. Major League players injured more than two weeks (noted by red color) should be placed on either the 15-day or the 60-day DL. NOTE: A player must remain on the DL for a minimum of 15 days depending on the duration of the injury. A player’s name is highlighted in red during the injury and will turn white once he’s recovered.
Players with more than 5 years of Major League service may refuse assignment to the minor leagues and demand to be kept on the Major League club or be placed on waivers. All owners are responsible for their roster management. It’s highly recommended that you take this into account when signing and/or promoting players to your Major League roster.
Players in the minors who have more than 6 years of Major League service and who are not on the 40 man roster will become a free agent at the end of the season.
It will be the owner’s responsibility to place newly signed free agents within your roster, whether it be your ML roster or your minor leagues (AAA, AA or A).
4.2 Lineups, Rotations & Positions
Owners need to create 4 different lineups: vs. left-handed pitchers, vs. right-handed pitchers, vs. left-handed pitchers with a DH and vs. right-handed pitchers with a DH. National League teams will also have to fill out the DH lineup options due to intra-league play.
Owners may utilize OOTP 6.5's 7 day lineup feature and submit lineups for specific games up to 7 days in advance.
Owners have the option of setting their minor league lineups via the team export feature of OOTP6.5. Minor League lineups can only be set this way; the Commissioner will set Minor League Rosters otherwise through computer generation.
Owners can choose to have the computer set their Minor League lineups.
Pitching Rotations must consist of at least 4 pitchers throughout the regular season, no exceptions. Due to stamina and injury-risk through overuse, owners are encouraged to use 5 pitchers. During the playoffs, owners are allowed to switch to a 3-man rotation, if necessary.
Any pitcher may be used as a SP/MR/CL regardless of endurance. Changing a SP/CL to a MR for the purpose of signing them to a lesser contract extension is illegal and will not be tolerated. Violators are subject to dismissal from the league.
Players can start at any position, though I’m hopeful owners will be reasonable with their defensive assignments and not exploit this feature. This rule may be re-evaluated at a future time.
Each team must have at least 2 catchers on its Major League roster at all times, or a backup with a defensive rating at Catcher.
The Commissioner will monitor and make changes to a team's roster if necessary to enforce these rules.
Major League roster players can learn a new position in Spring Training or play while learning the position in the majors.
Minor league players can learn a new position using the "teach" function in the game as seen fit by their team’s GM. After a certain time determined by the game engine, they may be assigned a rating for the new position. Sometimes a player just can’t learn a position.
5. Trades
5.1 Trade Deadline and Requirements
Trade deadline is July 31st of each sim year. No trades can or will be processed after the trade deadline passes.
Players signed during the off-season Free Agency period can NOT be traded the following season until June 1st at the earliest. This prevents a team from working out a deal to get a coveted free agent via a “sign and trade” whereas the free agent had otherwise refused to negotiate with that team.
Trading will begin each season after the league file has flipped from year to year.
All trades must be reported using the league forum by both teams involved in the trade. All trades MUST include player position and FULL Name in the post of EACH team. They must also contain a brief statement as to why the deal was made and how it helps your team. I don’t want a bunch of trades being completed just for the sake of trading. I want to ensure that there’s logic behind every move.
Owners are NOT allowed to process trades themselves within the OOTP game. Doing so could result in immediate expulsion.
Each trade must contain at least one player on each side for them to be able to be processed in the game.
Cash may be included in trades though a team may not exceed the cash maximum through trade. A team can only give as much cash as it has (i.e., cannot trade itself negative).
Cash can only be traded during the current year only. No payments can be stretched into the future (i.e. $1 million per year for the next 4 years).
Draft picks may be included in trades, as long as the team is not in violation of the Financial System Rules. A team may only trade draft picks for the next amateur draft. Future draft picks (2 seasons or more beyond the current sim date) may not be traded.
Rule 5 draftees may not be traded the year they were drafted. Any player selected in the Rule 5 draft must remain on the 25 man major league roster the entire season.
Owners will be required to make necessary roster and lineup moves after the trades have been processed post-sim.
5.2 Trade Challenges
Trade challenges can be submitted by any member of the league and are to be done in the following manner, show below. They are NOT to be posted on the message board. Violators of this policy will be fined by the commissioner in any manner he deems fitting. Possible fines may include, but are not exclusive to, cash, draft picks and/or restriction from trading for a predetermined period of time. Repeated violators are subject to dismissal from the league. Any trade being challenged will not be processed until it has been cleared.
1. An owner submits his challenge as well as the reason for the challenge, via an e-mail to the commissioner.
2. Within 12 hours of receiving the e-mail, the commissioner and assistant commissioner will review the challenge. If BOTH see no merit to the challenge, it is rejected and the trade will be processed.
3. If the commissioner and assistant commissioner see merit in the challenge, the Trade Committee members will then vote to approve or reject the trade. Part of their review criteria will include looking for collusion and if it hurtful to the league. This includes extremely unfair trades or collusion between two members.
The longest time a trade will be “in limbo” is one sim. It will either be processed or vetoed prior to a second sim after it’s been originally accepted by both teams.
At the completion of each stage, the commissioner will e-mail all parties involved as to the progress of the Challenge. The final e-mail on a challenge will have some comments as to why a certain decision has been reached. These comments may be placed in the message board, by the commissioner, if deemed as having an information benefit for the other members of the league. No names of any of the people involved with the challenge will ever be included with these comments.
5.3 The Trade Committee
The Trade Committee will be the final decision makers on any trade challenge they receive.
The Troika will consist of the following, 3 active members & 2 reserves that will step in for any members involved in the challenge. Active members will be excused for voting if they are involved in the trade being challenged or is the owner filing the challenge. Each term is for 1 season.
The Trade Committee will be filled in the following manner:
Year 1: The commissioner will select 5 owners to assume the various roles.
Year 2 on: Division winners, in the rotation listed below, will assume the 3 active member roles while the wild card winners will become the reserve members. If one of these owners was not the owner the previous season or that owner is the commissioner or assistant commissioner, the commissioner will ask another owner from that division to take over in the Trade Committee.
The Rotation will be. With Year 2 using Rotation 1:
Rotation 1: AL East, NL Central, AL West
Rotation 2: NL East, AL Central, NL West
6. Free Agents
6.1 Free Agent Signing Period
When the season is over and the next season starts the free agent auction period starts. We will use the in game function to conduct the FA signing period.
The FA signing period will consist of 3 day rounds and will be simmed daily. (ex. Days 1-3, Days 4-6, Days 7-9, Days 10-12, etc. through Days 28-30). That still means Free Agency will last a total of 10 “real time” days.
The FA offer process will be conducted by Export By FTP through the game’s FA system.
FA Signings and results will be posted on the website and in the league file each night after each the recently completed signing period.
FA’s signed during the off-season period will not be eligible to be traded until June 1st at the earliest, as mentioned above.
6.2 Mid-Season Free Agents
All mid-season FA requests will be handled via PM’s through the Forums to the commissioner. The message subject must include the player position, first name, and last name as the Subject. The message body must include the amount of your offer. All free agents can only be signed a maximum of one year. The highest bid before the next sim will be awarded the FA. That player will be assigned to his new team post-sim.
Teams are limited to offering 2 minor league contracts (MLC) per sim.
All offers must include a specific monetary amount. Postings will not be accepted with general amounts or "give him what he wants".
If a player is willing to accept a MLC, the following rules apply. At the start of each month, the team records will be saved in the following order: winning pct., games back in their division, road record. If multiple teams claim the same FA, the team lowest on this list will get the player.
At that time, the team that was awarded the player will move to the top of the list. This will allow better teams a shot a signing these players & keep lower teams from signing every player.
Free agents signed mid-season cannot be traded for 2 months after their signing. Before the 2 month period is over, they may only be waived or released.
7. Waivers
When a player is waived from a team’s roster he is placed on waivers for a period of a minimum of 24 real-time hours on the league forum. The waiver wire period will be extended between weekend sims and other sims with more than a 24 hour break between them.
Waivers may not be placed in the game's exports without posting the waiver to the forums. Violators may be subject to a $500,000 fine per attempt and warning. Repeat violators will be subject to the release of the player from their team. This means cheating the league's waiver policy puts a team at risk for losing the player and paying the entire salary with no compensation.
During the waiver period teams may make claims on waived players.
If the waiver is revocable, the owner may pull their player off waivers if a team makes a claim. If the waiver is irrevocable, the claim may not be pulled back.
After 24-hours, the player will be awarded to the claiming team with the highest-rank on the Waiver Priority List. The claiming team will then inherit the player's contract and be moved to the bottom of the Waiver Priority List.
The Waiver Priority List will open as the reverse order of the previous season’s standings.
When the season begins, the Waiver Priority List will be in reverse order of the current season standings. In the event two teams claim with the same record, the reverse order of the previous season's standings will be used as the tie-breaker. Teams may claim as many players from the waiver wire as they wish per sim.
The order will be reset to reverse order of last year’s standings upon each new season.
If a player receives no claims on the waivers process, the player may be demoted, removed from the 40 man roster, etc if the player agrees. Players with no options remaining may refuse to accept such an assignment. In such an event, the team must keep the player on the 25 or 40 man roster or choose to release the player.
8. Contract Extensions
All players must be in their final year of their contract to be eligible for an extension.
Extensions may be offered at any time between May 1st and the end of the regular season. No offers will be accepted before May 1st or after the playoffs begin.
Teams may request to know what the player is asking for in terms of amount and years. They may give a figure or they may say "make me an offer." If they give an amount it does not mean that is the only terms they will accept. It is a negotiation process. Once an agreement has been reached the player will be signed with no backing out.
Contract extensions must be for major league contracts. Minor league contracts (MLC) will be not be allowed to be given as an extension.
All contract extension offers with the replies by the players will be posted on the message board to be valid.
A player may refuses to listen to additional offers and break off negotiations. It is advised to wait until later in the season to make another offer. The player still may not want to talk contract at that time also. If the player refuses after all attempts he will go into the FA pool for next season or can be traded away before the trade deadline.
A player may refuse to listen to additional offers because he is unhappy with his playing time. Exceptions to this refusal will be handled on a case by case basis. Owners may be given the right to offer the player if the refusal is based upon an extended injury that the game doesn't account for. The Commissioner will have final say on this exception.
A team may trade for a player that refuses to resign with the previous team before the trade deadline, however, the new owner is given no guarantees that the player will be willing to resign with that team either.
9. Arbitration
Player Arbitration is enabled in the league.
Players between 3-5 years of experience are allowed arbitration.
Contract extensions for players eligible for arbitration are permitted. If a player is to a contract extension, he is no longer eligible to receive arbitration during the contracts length.
Arbitration figures are calculated by the game engine, and cannot be changed. The arbitration number is figured by the player’s performance.
Arbitration is a 1 year salary only. If you do not care to pay a player's arbitration amount into the following season, the player MUST be non-tendered before the end of the World Series.
Arbitration is controlled by the game engine. There are no guarantees by the league for awarding arbitration.
10. Amateur Draft
The amateur draft will include 7 rounds.
The draft will be conducted in the off-season.
The draft order will be determined by reverse order of the previous season's standings with adjustments for traded picks.
Round 1 will be held in the league forum. The owner “on the clock” will have 12 hours to make their pick after the last owners pick IF Round 1 completed smoothly, Round 2 will be held in the same manner. If not, Rounds 2-7 will be completed using the auto-draft function.
If you are unable to make your selection, you will be allowed to email a list of preference list of players for your picks. If you do not post within your allotted time and have not sent a preference list, your pick will be auto-selected by OOTP 6.5 and you will be fined $250,000 and possible removed from the league if it becomes a constant issue.
The league will not use signing bonuses.
Every draft class will be automatically generated by OOTP 6.5.
11. Financial System
Any owner caught tampering with the financial data for his or her team will be removed from the league immediately.
11.1 Revenue
Teams will earn revenue from National and Location television contracts, ticket sales, merchandise sales, playoff revenue, gambling winnings, and article awards.
National television contracts are set to $25,000,000 for all teams. Local television contracts are determined by the game using team performance, market size, fan loyalty, and fan interest as factors in the calculation. Renegotiations for local contracts will take place when the initial contracts expire.
Ticket prices are subject to the owner's preference. All teams will begin at the default price of $10. Owners may adjust their ticket prices between $1 and $20 at any time. The league does not guarantee attendance rising or falling based on ticket prices. This is dictated by the game engine only.
If a team makes the playoffs, the team will earn additional ticket sales for each home game they play.
11.2 Promotions
Promotions may be used to help improve attendance. Promotions will remain those that are found in the game.
11.3 Cash Awards
Cash awards may be given to owners for writing articles about the league or their team in the league forums.
All player awards will be generated by the game engine.
All-Star appearances will be chosen by the OOTP engine.
A Coach/GM of the year award will be awarded in both leagues.
Coach/GM of the year award will be voted on by all 30 owners. All owners will vote for both leagues with the voting taking place during the playoffs.
Money will be awarded to teams for award winners as follows:
11.4 Expenses
Expenses are limited to player contracts only, including those players with major league contracts and those that have been released by the team during the season.
The league does not use a salary cap or revenue sharing, however, the rules may be adjusted based upon what the owners demand.
All teams are permitted to save up to $35,000,000 cash. Any profits earned that would send cash above $35,000,000 may be saved in a "team bank account" in the forums -- NOT in the game's financial system. This allows teams to save their profits without allowing teams to exploit the game's free agent and extension flaws. A team may move money from their "team bank account" on the forums into their cash reserves in the game at any time, except during the Free Agency Period, as long as this transfer does not bring a team’s cash reserve above the $35,000,000 limit.
The league commissioner holds the authority to fire an owner or revoke draft picks based upon a team's financial performance. Such grounds may include:
- 1 year of financial losses (-$3,000,000 cash balance or more) – Probation (Trading of Draft Picks Prohibited).
- 2 consecutive years of financial losses (-$3,000,000 cash balance or more) – Probation, 2nd round pick revoked for following amateur draft and owner may be subject removal from the league by the Commissioner.
- 3 consecutive years of financial losses (-$1,000,000 cash balance or more) – Probation, 1st round pick revoked for following amateur draft and owner may be subject removal from the league by the Commissioner.
- 4 consecutive years of financial losses (-$1,000,000 cash balance or more) – Removal from the league by the Commissioner.
11.5 Ownership Replacement
The new owner will start with $5,000,000 cash if the previous owner had less than a $5,000,000 cash balance.
The new owner takes responsibility for all trades of cash, draft picks, long-term contracts, and any other doings of previous owner not listed.
If an owner leaves or is expelled in mid-season, the new owner will be given the opportunity to veto or accept any newly signed contract extensions or stadium changes.
12. Spring Training
Spring Training will be conducted in the offseason, first occuring at the conclusion of our first season (2006). Owners will be expected to export their Spring Training allocations on how they would like to allocate their ST points. Owners who do not export may either select "Straight 5" (all 5 ratings) or the "Ask the Coaching Staff" options via e-mail or PM to the commissioner.
13. Stadium Seating
If an owner would like to increase attendence by purchasing additional seating for their ballpark, notice will be required in the designated area in the forum. Additions will be made in hte offseason at a charge of $1,000,000 per 1,000 seats. Owners cash will be debited to pay for the seats added. All work done will then be posted in the forum for owner reference. A maximum of 10,000 seats can be added per team.
14. New Owner Recruitment Incentive
An existing Pine Tar and Rosin owner will receive $250,000 for each recruited new owner completes their first season in the PTRBL.
15. Final Note
All Rules are subject to modification AT ANY TIME as seen fit by the Commissioner and the Assistant Commissioner. The Commissioner has all final say on matters and will do so in the best interest of the league.