Official League Constitution 2-5-12

[kenny]

The League Constitution is a constantly evolving document that changes to meet the needs of the league. However, the attached document is our substantially complete league constitution.  There may be minor changes later on, but nothing that should substantially affect gameplay. If major changes are expected, they will not take effect until the following season.

Please read this carefully as this is not your typical league.

7-4-11 EDIT: Clarified the following
 - 3/1/12 date for the Red Sox and Yankees to be under the cap.
- Players up for arbitration do not have to be offered a contract. They can be released without penalty.
- Players on minor league contracts automatically make the major league minimum if promoted
- Added designated for assignment


2/5/12:
Rule changes that were already made are now reflected in the league constitution.

NOTE: You have to be logged in to download the file.

[Sportsnut]

Great work, Kenny.  Well thought out and organized.  Thanks.

One question:  Regarding the salary cap, those teams that are over the cap immediately (Yanks, Red Sox, etc) have until next season begins to get under the cap.  Is that at noon on the day of the first pitch? 

In the salary cap thread you wrote this: I am considering setting the salary cap at $125M for 2012. This would mean that the Yankees and Red Sox are already over the cap with their current salary obligations for 2012 (NYY by $38M, BOS by $7M) and they'll have to figure out a way to get rid of some salary prior to November 2011 (beginning of free agency).

I'm not sure why the change.  IMO, those teams will already have an edge over a number of teams (like SD, Wash, Houston, etc) purely from a talent standpoint.  If the November date seems too soon, why not require all teams to be at the cap some time period before the seasons starts (say 30 days) for some of the lesser teams to have time to make claims, etc. before the season starts, enabling at least some better balance before opening day?  Obviously this would be for the first season only.   

[kenny]

The exact day can be discussed. March 1st sounds like a good date to me.

The Red Sox and the Yankees are the only two teams that will be above the cap at any time. None of the other teams will be above the cap once the free agents are removed from their rosters. No team can make any transaction that will place them above the cap at any time, so it will not be an issue for them.

I had originally stated the Red Sox and Yankees should be below the cap by free agency so that they would have an opportunity to bid on free agents. Thinking about this more thoroughly, they really only have to be below the cap prior to the season starting to maintain fair play. If they don't get below the cap before free agency bidding, it only prevents themselves from bidding.

[Sportsnut]

Thanks Kenny.  I didn't think about the free-agency aspect (only had 1 cup of coffee then  ).

March 1 seems like a good cut-off point for salary cap to me as well.

[fantasyguru]

Nice Constitution Kenny and very well written and thought out. My first question is why are the lineups so big and why not use bench scoring to determine who wins should 2 teams tie with their lineups?

[kenny]

My reasoning behind having big lineups was to make sure GM's do not neglect the players at the end of their rosters. This would theoretically encourage them to select the best 25 players rather than just the best 13 or 14.

If we're using such a big starting lineup, the chances of a tie are minimal. If there is, I'm not sure if having the bench players (in this case, the players on the 40-man but not the 25-man) determine who wins the matchup is fair. The bench players will probably not accumulate many, if any, stats. Perhaps someone will get a putout or an assist, and I don't want that to be the final factor in a win or loss. I'd rather keep it a tie if it really was that close.

[BurritoT]

Wow this is as in depth as I could eve have imagined, you really have put an amazing amount of time into this!

[MOLI643]

 

My reasoning behind having big lineups was to make sure GM's do not neglect the players at the end of their rosters. This would theoretically encourage them to select the best 25 players rather than just the best 13 or 14.

If we're using such a big starting lineup, the chances of a tie are minimal. If there is, I'm not sure if having the bench players (in this case, the players on the 40-man but not the 25-man) determine who wins the matchup is fair. The bench players will probably not accumulate many, if any, stats. Perhaps someone will get a putout or an assist, and I don't want that to be the final factor in a win or loss. I'd rather keep it a tie if it really was that close.

    good idea

[sdobelman21]

Kenny, great job on the constitution. Thanks for all the hard work you've done.

[kenny]

The following changes will be added to the next update of the constitution:

- Minor league players without contracts may be dropped at any time without penalty.

- "Any defensive position" will be changed to "non-pitcher" (to include DH’s)

- We will NOT inherit no trade clauses. I was entering the Yankees salaries and NTC's and found it is almost impossible for them just to field a team if we were to have the $125M salary cap and enforce the MLB no trade clauses.