2017 League Discussion, Rule Changes

[chrisetc21]

I exchanged emails with Maydab23 this afternoon and these are some of the issues up for discussion.  Please feel free to chime in on these issues and present your own issues.  Thanks.

1) Recruitment Volunteers - We need dedicated recruiters to help find knowledgeable, long term owners for the league.  It is a lot of work to operate the league so we need some help in recruitment. 

2) Transaction limit - Limiting the number of promotions that can be conducted each season.  I think we discussed a limit of 15.  We had a couple of teams that were sort of streaming players up and down from their major league roster and that's really problematic from the standpoint of operating the league.   

3)Executive Committee Volunteers - We need volunteers to help with FanTrax and the spreadsheets.  Helping to move threads, edit threads for team logos and sticky them on the board, stuff like this that isn't difficult but is time consuming.

4) Possibly moving the league to another site - Unfortunately this site is dying on the vine, just neglect really.  Right now for example, Maydab23 can't even log into the site and can't get any help.  Personally I love how this site is set up but we have to be realistic in that this site could disappear at any moment and all of our work here with it.  That is problematic.   

5) Contraction - We have a great core of dedicated owners, people who've been with the league for many years but it's increasingly evident that a 30 team league creates significant problems when spots can't be filled.  As teams go without owners they become increasingly difficult to turn around and as a result, less attractive for new owners to take over.  We've discussed just a bit about contracting down to 24 teams.  The worst ownerless teams in each division would be contracted and we would have a 3 round contraction draft with MLB and minor league players to be drafted in one large pool.  Each team would inherit the contracts of the players drafted.  This would really help the competitiveness of the league, strengthening some of the weaker teams much quicker than they could do normally.

6) Minor League Free Agency - Looking for a way to give teams an advantage in posting minor league free agents.  As it stands, after someone has done all the work in finding and posting a minor league free agent any team can simply bid on it without any restrictions.  It's sort of unfair that one person does all the work and every other owner can merely bid on that player all of a sudden.  In international free agency a team has to double the bid of a player posted but everyone in regular free agency has much more money available.  So I was proposing a team in minor league free agency have to make a bid 4 times the original bid.  So a minor league free agent posted for $50k would require a second bid to be a minimum of $200k. 

[Jss0062]

1) I don't have time to help in this area

2) 15 for a season seems to few, only 3 per month.  Its the constant promotion/demotion transactions that eat the most time as the demotions have to be processed multiple times because of waivers. Possibly a set number allowed per season then limit after that threshold is reached.  Maybe 1 every two weeks after the 15th.

3)yeah

4)above my paygrade, makes no difference to me.

5)Open to it, some teams are chronically ownerless and tilt the balance of the league.  I would say eliminate the teams in terrible shape regardless of division and then shift rosters of newer owners to where needed to keep divisions equal.  A 66 game schedule works with 24 teams. 

6) Wouldn't mind this, though I think 3x would be a better starting point

[johnbosma]

1. Unable to help right now

2. No preference - whatever is easiest to manage is fine by me

3. Unable to help in this area either

4. I don't have any objections

5. I like this idea a lot

6. No strong preference but I would agree that 3x sounds a bit more reasonable

[indiansnation]

1) i can help with this on my 3 days off wensday,thurs,friday.
2) what ever the best for the league ill go with it.
3)i can handel fantrax part of it.
4) ill do what is best for the league.
5) open to it
6)ill go with whats best for the league

[ldsjayhawk]

1) I would be happy to help recruit.  I commish another league and I could easily recruit both leagues at the same time.  In fact I posted on Rotoworld tonight.

2) I'm mixed on this.  First of all, it's only fair to note that I am one of the teams you refer to.  Secondly, this league is not your run of the mill dynasty league.  It seems like the only rules that are proposed are rules that limit the work that has to be done, which also tend to limit teams' competitive ability.  At the same time, it isn't very realistic.  I would support something more like, you cannot use a waiver to send a player down to the minors more than once in a season.  The second time is an outright release.  This would be more realistic and limit the number of transactions.

3) I'd like to help, but I only have time to do this for one league and barely that, but I will help with #1.

4) If you move the league, I likely will not go with it.

5) Again, I am mixed on this as well.  It does hurt the league to have players locked up by teams, however, again, it hurts the realism factor.  There really has been little recruitment efforts in the league for awhile. 

6) I'm not sure I understand why you would only 2x international, but 4x minor league free agency.  Is this really a problem?  If it is, shouldn't people just up their opening bid?

[chrisetc21]

1) I would be happy to help recruit.  I commish another league and I could easily recruit both leagues at the same time.  In fact I posted on Rotoworld tonight.

2) I'm mixed on this.  First of all, it's only fair to note that I am one of the teams you refer to.  Secondly, this league is not your run of the mill dynasty league.  It seems like the only rules that are proposed are rules that limit the work that has to be done, which also tend to limit teams' competitive ability.  At the same time, it isn't very realistic.  I would support something more like, you cannot use a waiver to send a player down to the minors more than once in a season.  The second time is an outright release.  This would be more realistic and limit the number of transactions.

3) I'd like to help, but I only have time to do this for one league and barely that, but I will help with #1.

4) If you move the league, I likely will not go with it.

5) Again, I am mixed on this as well.  It does hurt the league to have players locked up by teams, however, again, it hurts the realism factor.  There really has been little recruitment efforts in the league for awhile. 

6) I'm not sure I understand why you would only 2x international, but 4x minor league free agency.  Is this really a problem?  If it is, shouldn't people just up their opening bid?

2) The discussion we had on limiting transactions had nothing to do with your team.  Maydab can confirm if you like.

There was a team that may have had more transactions than every other team combined.  The team was using the rules to their advantage and that's fine but it's a logistical problem.  Ideally the waiver system would prevent this streaming of players issue but the players being demoted were very marginal players so nobody would claim them.  We're trying to balance the realism of the rules with the realism of having nobody to run the league because it's too time consuming.  This is why we're asking for volunteers.

I believe there were two teams in the league that had more than 15 promotions.  This rule would not have any effect on the majority of the league. 

[RyanJames5]

2) Transaction limit - I’m ok with this. I can’t  imagine using More moves than that.

3)Executive Committee Volunteers - Sorry, I’ve started coaching 2 sports, so I just don’t have the extra time.

4) Possibly moving the league to another site - I fear the site going as well. But I’m not aware of any better options.

5) Contraction - I hate the idea, but I believe you’re correct that it is probably necessary.

6) Minor League Free Agency - I would love to see something happen here. But I think the reason it works in international free agency is the finite number of players that everyone likes and a finite amount of money. If we require the first bid to be doubled or quadrupled, it makes no difference to the bidder if they have 10 million dollars to work with.

[rotodojo]

1) I can do some recruiting in my other leagues.

2) I'm against the transaction limit. Rebuilding teams are scrambling for any utility player that could potentially start. Teams should be allowed to stream marginal players that likely would also clear waivers in the MLB. I went much of the season without an everyday left fielder and I had a plethora of injuries with no depth. A transaction limit inhibits the ability to rebuild.

3) Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry and myself will only be able to help the Executive Committee in the case of a league emergency.

4) I am alright with moving the league to another site. I'd like things condensed to a league page with spreadsheet.

5) I think you have a good argument for Contraction, however, I'd prefer keeping the teams and maintaining the realism. The vacant teams can be made competitive through a supplemental draft or with expansion style protection rules. Also, it can be entertaining to watch "dummy" teams play spoiler and a maintained computer picked team is no guarantee to finish in the cellar.

6) I agree with raising the minor league free agency bidding. I think the team who posts the player first should benefit and receive more protection.


I appreciate all the time and thought you've put into the league. It's a nice hangout. See you all at the draft.

[chrisetc21]

We're nearing a point where we need to make some decisions so if you have something to add this would be the time. 

[chrisetc21]

1) I can do some recruiting in my other leagues.

2) I'm against the transaction limit. Rebuilding teams are scrambling for any utility player that could potentially start. Teams should be allowed to stream marginal players that likely would also clear waivers in the MLB. I went much of the season without an everyday left fielder and I had a plethora of injuries with no depth. A transaction limit inhibits the ability to rebuild.

3) Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry and myself will only be able to help the Executive Committee in the case of a league emergency.

4) I am alright with moving the league to another site. I'd like things condensed to a league page with spreadsheet.

5) I think you have a good argument for Contraction, however, I'd prefer keeping the teams and maintaining the realism. The vacant teams can be made competitive through a supplemental draft or with expansion style protection rules. Also, it can be entertaining to watch "dummy" teams play spoiler and a maintained computer picked team is no guarantee to finish in the cellar.

6) I agree with raising the minor league free agency bidding. I think the team who posts the player first should benefit and receive more protection.


I appreciate all the time and thought you've put into the league. It's a nice hangout. See you all at the draft.

What do you mean by expansion style protection rules?