On-Deck Circle League Rules

[White Sox GM (Michael)]

Fully Updated League Rules - Google Doc - Click here



Overview
Welcome to The On-Deck Circle! This is a free 30 team fantasy baseball dynasty, complete with prospects, salaries, drafts, free agents, and more! We strive to keep an active, fun, and realistic atmosphere year-round.

Any rule decisions not listed in the rules below will be left up to the discretion of the league managers. Please respect their decisions.

League Managers
The League Managers are White Sox (Michael) and Royals (Brandon).

Directory
Below are links that will open in a new tab.

Rosters (26-Man, 40-Man, and Minors)
Scoring, Scheduling, and Playoffs
Trading
Contracts
Salary Cap and Free Agency
Waivers and Amnesties
Drafts (Amateur, Rule V) and International Free Agency
ODC Google Drive Account

Questions?
If you have any questions, please PM or talk to either of the League Managers. If we are offline, most of the league veterans should be able to help you. Alternatively, make a post in the Questions and Concerns board.

Good luck, and have fun!

[White Sox GM (Michael)]

Major League Rosters
Your Major League Roster will consist of:

5 Starting Pitchers
5 Relief Pitchers
Catcher
First Baseman
Second Baseman
Third Baseman
Shortstop
Left Fielder
Center Fielder
Right Fielder
Designated Hitter

You will also have a 6 man bench. The maximum amount of players allowed in your majors at one time is 25, you can not go over this number during the season or else you will be penalized. You will also be granted 2 DL spots.

In order for a player to gain eligibility at a new position, he must play 10 games there during the season. He must play 20 games at the position in order for the eligibility to be carried over into the next season.

Injured List
You get (5) IL spots, if a player gets put on the IL IRL, you are allowed to move them to your IL as long as you have a spot available. Then you are allowed to make a corresponding move of adding someone during the week to replace the injured player. If that said player gets activated from the IRL IL in another week, you are able to activate them from your IL and drop a player from your 26 man - mid week. A person moved to your IL spot will be labeled red on the Master Roster sheet. Players must be added to your IL list within a day (or so) of them going on the IL IRL or you have to wait until the normal Sunday night/Monday before 1st pitch to add them.

You get (1) 60 day IL spot. A player has to be put on the 60 day IL IRL before they are moved to your 60 day IL. You should make a post indicating you are moving one person to the 60 day spot. They are eligible to return after 60 days from your ProBoards post. This spot does not count towards your 40 man roster but does count towards your salary cap. A player moved to your 60 day IL will be labeled bright green on the Master Roster sheet.

40-Man Rosters
On Mondays during the season, every team's 25-man roster is locked for the week. However, the lineups themselves will not be locked weekly. In-week call-ups are allowed only for injury fill-ins or new acquisitions (e.g. via trade or waivers). There are no restrictions on how your roster is constructed.

Call ups must be from your 40-man roster. Every player on the 40-man roster must be paid.

Irrevocable Waivers
If you have a (1) scale player on your 40 man roster and want to send him to your minors during the season, they will now be exposed to irrevocable waivers, any team will have the option to claim them and the highest waiver wire team will receive that player. During the offseason you’ll be able to send down (1) scale players freely without them being eligible to be claimed. You can make a conditional drop of a player from your 40 man roster to free up space for a claiming WW player.

A player must clear waivers to go to the free MiLB roster. In order to allow for roster flexibility, a 40-man roster does NOT have to be full at all times. Players on the 40-man roster DO NOT COUNT toward the MiLB prospect limit; only those on the MiLB roster (paid or unpaid) will count toward the limit.

Offseason movement between the 26-man, 40-man, and MiLB rosters is unrestricted. The deadline for 40-man rosters and 26-man rosters to be first set is the Friday before the first Major League game of the season (including international games). [For 2015, this is April 3rd].

Minor League Rosters
Your Minor League Roster has no limit but each prospect you own will cost 100K. This cost cannot be paid off. Players who are beyond year 1 cannot be in your minor leagues.

[White Sox GM (Michael)]

Scoring
We hold one league on Fantrax. This is where lineups are set and scoring is recorded.

Tie breaker in standings will be most wins, followed by head to head record, and then division record.

Each matchup is one week long. There are 21 head-to-head regular season matchups each season.

AB/IP minimums are raised to 75AB/20IP, A $1M cap penalty would be issued for the following year for each minimum not met throughout the season. This rule will end on June 1st.

Our league is scored head-to-head, with each category scored as a win, loss, or tie. There are fourteen categories. The categories on Fantrax are:

Hitting: HR, RBI, Runs, SB, AVG, OBP, SLG
Pitching: Wins, Ks, QS, ERA, WHIP, Saves, Holds

Scheduling
Fantrax allows us to play interleague games. As such, each team will have the following schedule:

8 interdivision weeks
10 intraleague weeks (outside of division)
3 interleague weeks

The 3 teams played in interleague will have finished with an equivalent divisional place in the previous season (e.g. 3rd in the AL West in 2017 plays the 2017 3rd-place finisher in the NL divisions in 2018).

All Star Break Matchup

One period, 10 days. This replaces the three day matchup we previously had.

Playoffs
Each playoff matchup also lasts one week. There are five playoff teams per league: three division winners and two Wild Cards. There are four playoff rounds:

Wild Card Round: The two Wild Card winners play each other, and the division winners have a bye.

League Division Round: The #1 overall seed plays the Wild Card Round winner, and the #2 and #3 seeded division winners play each other.

League Championship Round: The winners of the League Division Round matchups play each other.

World Series: The winners of the League Championship Round matchups play each other. This will be a two-week matchup.

[White Sox GM (Michael)]

Trading
To post a trade, go to Trades and post the trade with the names of the teams involved. The following can be traded:

Major League players
Minor League players (prospects)
Picks in the next two amateur drafts
Payments on a player's salary in the trade for the next two seasons
Payments on a player's salary or obligation in the current season

Permanent cap cannot be traded.

When posting a player in a trade, you must include his salary (including length). If applicable, clearly state all money changing hands outside of the salaries themselves.

Both owners must accept the trade before the league can vote on it. If a trade has four approvals, it will be passed, and both teams can make the necessary changes on their rosters. However, for every veto, another approval must be made. This continues until the vote has reached four vetoes.

Note on changing votes:
Once you have submitted a vote on a trade, you are not allowed to remove or change it unless you are presented with new information about the trade (e.g. a player is injured, has an extension that can be picked up, or one of the owners is new and therefore subject to stricter vetoing standards). This is all left up to the discretion of each individual voter, but please exercise a vote change sparingly.

Trades will become official only when they are added to the Master Rosters.

If a team trades a player with a wrong contract then that team is required to pay the amount of money that the contract was off by, unless the 2 teams reach a separate agreement that must be approved by an LM.

No provisions or clauses in any trade. If a trade is posted to ProBoards and both or all teams accept it, it's final.

For information on sign-and-trades, consult Salary Cap and Free Agency (link).

[White Sox GM (Michael)]

Contracts (Years 1-6)

Years 1-3
We will be using a scale for players in their 1st-6th years in the majors. A player's first year is the year that they exceed either 150 PA or 50 IP cumulative in their careers. The following season will be his second and so on. For a season to count against a players service time, he must reach either 50 PA or 15 IP. This is the scale we will use for their 1st-3rd seasons:

1st year: $0.3M
2nd year: $0.5M
3rd year: $1.0M

Years 4-6
For players in their 4th - 6th year we will use the following scale:

Batting Scale (For rate statistics, player must have 250 PA that season, otherwise not applicable)

20-29 HR = $0.75
30-39 HR = $1.50
40-49 HR = $2.25
50+ HR = $3.00

90-99 RBI = $0.75
100-109 RBI = $1.50
110-119 RBI = $2.25
120+ RBI = $3.00

90-99 R = $0.75
100-109 R = $1.50
110-119 R = $2.25
120+ R = $3.00

20-29 SB = $0.75
30-39 SB = $1.50
40-49 SB = $2.25
50+ SB = $3.00

.280 < Avg < .290 = $0.75
.290 < Avg < .300 = $1.50
.300 < Avg < .310 = $2.25
Avg > .310 = $3.00

.850 < OPS < .900 = $0.75
.900 < OPS < .950 = $1.50
.950 < OPS < 1.000 = $2.25
OPS > 1.000 = $3.00

Starting Pitching Scale (For rate statistics, pitcher must have thrown 100 IP that season, otherwise not applicable)

A SP needs to have started more than 50% of his appearances; otherwise, he is a RP.

14-15 Wins = $0.75M
16-17 Wins = $1.5M
18-20 Wins = $2.25M
21+ Wins = $3M

170-179 K = $0.75
180-189 K = $1.50
190-199 K = $2.25
200+ K = $3.00

3.0 < ERA < 3.3 = $0.75
2.5 < ERA < 3.0 = $1.50
2.0 < ERA < 2.5 = $2.25
ERA < 2.0 = $3.00

1.20 < WHIP < 1.30 = $0.75
1.10 < WHIP < 1.20 = $1.50
1.00 < WHIP < 1.10 = $2.25
WHIP < 1.00 = $3.00

Relief Pitching Scale (For rate statistics, pitcher must have thrown 40 IP that season, otherwise not applicable)

A RP needs to have appeared in relief at least 50% of his appearances; otherwise, he is a SP.

20-29 SV = $0.75
30-39 SV = $1.50
40-49 SV = $2.25
50+ SV = $3.00

20-24 HD = $0.75
25-29 HD = $1.50
30+ HD = $2.25

2.5 < ERA < 3.0 = $0.75
2.0 < ERA < 2.5 = $1.50
ERA < 2.0 = $2.25

1.10 < WHIP < 1.20 = $0.75
1.00 < WHIP < 1.10 = $1.50
WHIP < 1.00 = $2.25

You will add up where they fall in the stats and then will multiply by the following scale:

4th: Total x 0.6
5th: Total x 0.8
6th: Total x 1.0

The minimum salary for 4th-6th year players is $1.0M.

If an MLB team calls up a prospect, but you wish to leave them in your minors, you will not owe them their contract until they pass the 50 IP/150 PA barrier. If you do call the player up to your MLB team, you will owe them $0.3M even if they have not yet reached the IP/PA barrier. If you then send them back down to your minors before they reach the IP/PA barrier, you will no longer owe them anything.

Contracts (Years 7+)
For players who have surpassed the scale but have not become ODC Free Agents, we will use Cot's Baseball Contracts. We will use the salary of the year that the player is in, not a yearly average of the entire salary.

All options (team, player, mutual, vesting, or opt-out) will become team options.

Minor Leaguers are owed a 100K holding charge. Players beyond year 1 cannot be sent to the minors.

After a player's 6th year is over you will have the option of picking up their new contract, on Cots, or letting them go to Free Agency. All extensions/contracts must be signed by the end of the World Series for you to be able to pick them up. For example, if player A's 6th year ended this year, he has a contract that extends through 2016, I would be able to pick up that contract and have that player through 2016.

The example for this rule was Adrian Gonzalez. Entering his 6th season in the MLB, Gonzalez did not yet have a longterm MLB contract and therefore would become a FA after the season. However, he signed a new contract shortly after joining the Red Sox and his owner in this league was then able to pick up that contract following the season. An opposite example could be Jose Reyes. Reyes exited the 2011 season without an MLB contract and although he struck a deal quickly in free agency, it was after the World Series so he became a free agent in our league.

If you wish to pick up a player's contract or an option, you must announce your decision by December 1st at the latest.

If a player retires on a real-life contract, then you will not owe him money. However, if you signed the player in free agency in the league, you will owe 50% of the contract each year for the remainder of the contract.

[White Sox GM (Michael)]

Salary Cap
There is a hard $110M salary cap. You may not go over the cap through FA bidding or through a waiver claim. You are allowed to go over the cap in trades during the offseason, up to $140M. If you are not under cap by the time the season starts you will be subject to the following penalties:

Week 1: Loss of both Rule V draft picks
Week 2: Loss of the right to sign FAs the following offseason
Week 3: Loss of all draft picks in rounds 3-5
Week 4: Loss of all draft picks in rounds 1-2
Week 5: Banned from league

Additionally, if your team is over the cap at the start of the season you will lose the right to the $140M hard cap the following offseason, and will be confined to an $110M hard cap.

Free Agency
Free Agents will be auctioned off, meaning every team has the chance to acquire a free agent. As in an auction, the highest bidder wins. However, to win the auction, your bid must stand the highest for at least 24 hours. The minimum contract length is 1 year. The maximum is 5 years.

Because Max is an infant I'm now obliged to remind everyone that the FA Calculator is the proper calculation because while the calculator is based on these guidelines, following these exactly when bidding is still under 10M AAV results in tied bids per the 100K AAV increase rule. The calculator fixes this. So use it.

Bidding System
Contract years add value based on the following: $1M = 1 point

1 Year = 1X multiplier - 1 Year @ 5 mil = 5 X 1 = 5 pts
2 Year = 1.2X multiplier - 2 Years @ 5 mil = 5 X 1.20 = 6 pts
3 Year = 1.4X multiplier - 3 Years @ 5 mil = 5 X 1.40 = 7 pts
4 Year = 1.6X multiplier - 4 Years @ 5 mil = 5 X 1.60 = 8 pts
5 Year = 1.8X multiplier - 5 Years @ 5 mil = 5 X 1.80 = 9 pts

Remember, the per-year salary over the life of the contract remains constant for ODC-signed players. In other words, no front-loading or back-loading.

You are not allowed to bid more money than you have available to use. If a team has $30M available, it cannot have a winning bid of $25M on 1 player, $4M on another, and $3M on another (total: $32M) all at the same time.

You must place your current outstanding bids and your remaining cap with every bid for it to be valid. Noncompliance will result in an invalid bid.

You may NOT edit a bid outside of adding/correcting cash. You may NOT delete a bid. Editing a bid to invalidate it or deleting a valid bid will result in some currently undetermined punishment. It probably will depend on how much we like you at this second.

FA Contract Length (at the start of FA)
The maximum length of a FA offer is determined by their age at the start of free agency. This prevents signing a 39 y/o to a 5 year deal just to win that player.

Example: a 35 y/o or younger player can get a max 5 year deal.
Example: a 36 y/o player can only get a max of 4 years.
Example: a 37 y/o player can only get a max of 3 years.
Example: a 38 y/o player can only get a max of 2 years.
Example: a 39 y/o player can only get a max of 1 year.
Example: over 40 y/o can only get a 1 year max deal.

You will receive a hometown discount depending on how long you have owned the player. To count as a season, you must have owned the player since Opening Day of that season.

Less than one season: 5%
1-2 seasons: 10%
3-4 seasons: 15%
5+ seasons: 20%

The minimum allowed salary per year is $0.5M and bidding in $100K increments.

Sign-and-Trades 
You will be allowed to trade free agents in the first 48 hours after signing them AS LONG AS BOTH TEAMS REMAIN BELOW THE CAP. After that time has passed, signed FA's cannot be traded until May 1st of the year of acquisition. This only applies to off-season acquired Free Agents.

Free Agency Compensation
There will be compensatory picks for lost free agents.

Some free agents will be classified as "Type A" or "Type B" after the season according to the FANTRAX player rater (set to ODC settings). The following is a breakdown of Type A and Type B free agents:

Type A:
Ranked 1-15 SP in the previous season
Ranked 1-30 Batter in the previous season

Type B:
Ranked 16-45 SP in the previous season
Ranked 31-75 Batter in the previous season
Ranked 1-15 RP in the previous season

If the player is not resigned by his former team and is a Type A or Type B free agent, appropriate compensation is awarded to the player's former team. Teams that lose Type A free agents are compensated with a pick following the first round of the following year's amateur draft. Teams that lose Type B free agents are compensated with a pick following the second round of the following year's amateur draft. The draft order of the compensation rounds is ordered according to their ranking in the Player Rater.

These compensation picks may be traded at any time after the player is signed.

In order to earn compensation, the team must own the player before the regular season starts.

[White Sox GM (Michael)]

Releasing Players
Any player may be released into Free Agency. If you release a year 1-6 scale player in-season, you will owe them half their salary for that year. This is only for in-season scale players, in the off-season you won't pay a penalty. If you release a player past year 6, you will owe them half of their salary for the duration of their contract.

Waiver Wire
1) The waiver order to start off with was the reverse of the 2012 season's final standings. The wire order never resets.
2) When a player is waived, he can be claimed. If you wish to put in a claim for that player, you must state your intent under the claims board.
3) If you win a claim on a waived player you will pay half (50%) of the player's salary (the waiving team pays the other half still).
4) Eligible waiver wire players need to accrue 30PA/10IP minimum in their career to be claimed.
5) A claimed player from the waiver wire can not be sent down to your minors until 30 days.
6) If a scale player is unclaimed, he will remain as such until someone puts a claim on him.
7) The team with the highest placement on the waiver order that claims a player will win that player, and then move to last place in the waiver order.
8) You have to have enough salary cap at the time you place a claim on a player to win that player. Cap space to cover winning the player cannot be cleared after the claim is made.
9) A waiver claim cannot be retracted.
10) When posting a player, please include his position in the title.
11) (5) waiver wire postings per GM maximum within 24 hours of the 5th post.
12) If (10) of more players were posted, you must send Blue Jays (Sanders) a list in chronological order of when they were claimed.
13) You may claim a player with a full 40 man roster, if the player is won you have 24 hours to clear a roster spot on your 40 man roster for them.
14) Players won on the waiver wire must be placed on the 40-man roster. (1)'s in the offseason may be sent directly down to the minor league roster.

Amnesty Clauses
-Every current owner will receive one (1) amnesty clause.
-Every new owner who joins the league will receive an amnesty clause to use.

-This amnesty clause can be used to release any player on your team, it covers the entire contract of that player.

The amnestied player will become a normal FA to be bid on.
-Amnesty clauses are not tradable.
-Once you've used your amnesty clause you will not receive another one, so be smart about it.

[White Sox GM (Michael)]

Amateur Draft
There is an Amateur Draft every season that simulates the MLB Amateur Draft. ODC's draft begins in early-to-mid June, shortly after the MLB Draft finishes. Our draft lasts seven (7) rounds.

Draft order is determined by regular-season record in the previous season. The order is as follows:

Non-playoff teams, ordered by best to worst record
Playoff teams, ordered by worst to best record

Record is determined by winning percentage, followed by number of wins, followed by head-to-head record, followed by coin flip.

In addition, after the first round, there will be a supplementary round, wherein the teams with the five worst records in the previous season will pick in reverse order of their records.

Picks in each of the next two amateur drafts are available for trade. In addition, free agency compensation picks may be traded once the player to who the pick is attached has signed with an ODC team other than the one they were previously on.

The Jared Horn Rule
Players that have been drafted before are eligible to be redrafted if they meet the following two criteria:
1. They were waived before the current draft began
2. They were drafted in the current year’s draft in the MLB.

If they fail to meet this criteria, they can be added through the Rule V draft if they have accumulated at least one game in the minors

Rule V Draft
Every offseason, there will be a three round Rule V draft. The draft order will be the reverse of the season's final standings, which will snake in the 2nd round and again in the 3rd round. The players eligible will be any unowned prospects, including the previous summer's IFA who went unsigned. These picks are also available for trade once the LMs make the announcement.


International Free Agents (IFAs)
There are two different sections of IFA. The first will occur in-season, most likely in July, and will be for the "prospect" international free agents (such as Eloy Jimenez, Amed Rosario, etc.). The second will occur in the offseason and will be for the MLB or near-MLB international free agents (such as Yu Darvish, Yasiel Puig, etc.). Here are the different rules for the 2 sections....

In-Season:
-Players will be bid on using lump-sum bidding. One time payments to acquire the prospect.
-If you have the highest bid on a player for 24 hours you will win the player.
-You cannot acquire more than four (4) in-season IFA.
-After signing a player who is unsigned in real life, you will carry his rights for one year. If the player has not signed with an MLB team after that time you will lose his rights.
-The LMs will have final say over who is eligible to be bid upon.

Off-Season:
-Players age 23 and older will be bid on as normal free agents, with yearly salaries. There will still be a 5-year maximum on contracts. They will be placed on the 40 man roster of the winning bidder.
- Players won via FA bidding will be controlled for the term of their contract. They cannot be extended at the end of their ODC contract.
- Players age 22 and younger are subject to lump sum bidding. You do not bid a contract length. These players will be placed in the winning bidder's minor league system.
- Players won via lump sum bidding will graduate to our "developing player" year 1-6 scale system similar to a normal minor leaguer.
-Off-season IFA may not be sign-and-traded. They cannot be traded until May 1st.
-The LMs will have final say over who is eligible to be bid upon.

Besides in the Rule V draft and IFA, teams may not acquire unowned prospects.

ODC Google Drive Account
We created a public Google Drive folder where we can share articles about pretty much anything that are behind the paywall. Articles from BA, the Athletics, etc all work.

Here's the Link

[Mariners GM (David)]

New Owners

All new owners will be on a 30 day probation period to ensure they are improving their franchises after taking over a team. This will include the ability of LM's to remove an owner if the new owner doesn't login to PB on a consistent basis, update their team on Fantrax or actively improve their team. This is to ensure their franchise isn't being neglected and to help improve the league overall.

During the probation period, trades that are deemed unfair and detrimental to the future of the new owner's franchise should be vetoed.

Penalties
1. If an owner is found to be cheating or is issued a penalty for an infraction, the standard penalty will be a loss of a 2nd round amateur draft pick in the next upcoming draft.