Keeper League Rules....I want some!

[garf112]

a. Each manager may only control one team.
b. All Owners must make a good faith effort to interact with other owners and make TRANSACTIONS that help his team either in the ongoing season or in proceeding seasons. Any sign of collusion or inaction will be reason for expulsion from the league.
B. FRANCHISE FEE In order to participate in the league, each member must pay a $40 franchise fee. The first $30 (of the $40) will go towards end of the year prizes. The remaining $10 is a security deposit for a spot in the following season of 420 Fantasy Baseball. At the beginning of the second year and all subsequent years, each player will pay $30 unless changed by a vote of 8/12. League Fees are due one week prior to the annual draft, which is the same day that keepers are due. League Fees have been increased to $50 per team commencing with the 2005 season. (March 13, 2004)
C. NUMBER OF TEAMS This league was founded with 12 teams, but can be played with any where from 10-20 teams. Rules on EXPANSION and CONTRACTION will follow. (Articles IV and V)
D. PLAYERS ON EACH TEAM
a. Each franchise owner will have a team consisting of a minimum of 22 players and a maximum of 27 players.
b. Each franchise will have 22 active players in the positions of C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, OF, OF, OF, OF, OF, MI, CI, Utility, and 9 Pitchers. c. These active positions will have a maximum in games played and innings pitched i. C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, MI, CI, Utility – 170 games ii. OF – 850 games iii. Pitchers – 1400 Innings

IV. EXPANSION
A. VOTES NEEDED No individual may enter the league unless approved by a vote of 9/12. In addition, no expansion may occur until the completion of the baseball season.
B. EXPANSION DRAFT See Article VIII

V. CONTRACTION
A. WITHDRAWAL Any manager may withdraw from the league at any time without a monetary penalty. However, this individual will be subject to constant ridicule and will be known forever more as a pussy.
B. EXPULSION If it is clear to all other 420 Fantasy Baseball managers that a manager in the league is no longer interested in running his team or if these managers feel that this manager has violated the competitive will (Article ?), the manager in question may be expelled by a vote of 10/11.
C. WITHDRAWAL OR EXPULSION MIDSEASON If an owner quits or is removed during the season, his team will be frozen and disqualified from the season. Regardless of the rotisserie points he has accumulated, that team will finish 12th. By finishing 12th, the new manager who takes over that franchise the following season will receive the #1 draft pick in the next draft.
a. CHOOSING A NEW MANAGER
i. Each current owner will have the opportunity to nominate one potential new owner
ii. A vote will be held by the remaining managers to choose the new manager from those previously nominated.
iii. (if necessary) In case of a tie, the league commissioner will choose the new owner from those who are tied.
b. CONTRACTION – NO REPLACEMENT MANAGERS If a team is contracted and no new manager is available, all players from that roster will be available in the next draft. In case this happens, this rulebook will be revised to accommodate the change (ie votes needed for vetoing).

VI. PLAYERS ELIGIBILITY
A. PLAYERS ON YAHOO! All players listed on the Yahoo! fantasy baseball roster are eligible for each owner’s 27-man roster via the draft or free agency.
B. PLAYERS NOT ON YAHOO! Any professional baseball who is currently on a MLB roster, a minor-league (A, AA, AAA) roster or those players who have been drafted by a MLB team are eligible for 4:20 Fantasy Baseball League. Although these players are not on the Yahoo! roster, they will still require one roster space to have these players on a fantasy team.

VII. KEEPER DRAFT One month before the beginning of each MLB season, each team manager will choose seven players from his current roster as “keepers” for the upcoming season. If this year is an expansion year, see Article VIII. Teams may choose between six and eight “keepers” for each Fantasy 4:20 Season. Any team that keeps less than eight players will participate in supplementary draft rounds (See VIII DRAFT)(March 13, 2004)

VIII. DRAFT Drafts will consist of 19 Rounds with the potential for two supplemental rounds. The first pick in each round will be submitted by the team who finished last in the prior season, while the last pick of each round will be submitted by the League Champion, with the exception of the first round pick which will be decided by a lottery system.
A. 8 TEAM LOTTERY SYSTEM The lottery will include the eight teams who did not win any prize money in the prior season. Each team will have a chance to win the lottery with the team who finished in last place having the greatest probability of winning and the team who finished in fifth place with the least probability of winning. a. The probability of winning the lottery is: 12th Place – 42% 11th Place – 21% 10th Place – 10% 9th Place - 9% 8th Place - 7% 7th Place - 5% 6th Place - 4% 5th Place - 2%
B. 7 TEAM LOTTERY SYSTEM If there is a tie for 4th Place and five teams receive prize monies, the lottery will be altered so that the 12th Place team will have a 43% chance of winning and the 11th Place team will have a 22% chance of winning. The 6th Place team will have the least chance of winning with 4%
C. TIEBREAKERS If there is a tie for any of these non-monetary positions, tiebreakers will be decided in the following statistical categories: HR, W, RBI, Saves, Runs, K, SB, ERA, Batting Average, and WHIP. For instance, if two teams are tied for 6th place, the team with the most HRs will be considered the 6th place finisher while the other team will be considered the 7th place finisher

IX. EXPANSION DRAFT If the league plans to expand to 13 or 14 teams, each manager of the 12 original franchises will choose their seven “keepers” two weeks prior to the draft. Of these “keepers”, five will be protected from an expansion draft that will happen one week later, one week before the draft.
A. EXPANSION TO 13 If the league is expanded by one team, the new manager will choose six players from the unprotected “keepers”.
a. Once one player is chosen from an original 12 team, the other players from that team automatically becomes protected
b. As a result, six teams will have seven players while seven teams will have six players. To make the draft fair, the seven teams with six players will participate in Round 1 of the draft and the order of these teams will be established based on the past season (from 1st place to 6th place and then the 7th pick belongs to the expansion team) Round 2 will involve every team and will begin with the expansion team picking first followed by 12th place, 11th, 10th,…,1st, etc.
B. EXPANSION TO 14 If the league is expanded by two teams, team #13 will pick first from the unprotected “keepers” followed by team #14 and then each round these teams will alternate picks. After each of the 14 teams have six players apiece, the draft will begin in the following order (1st, 2nd, 3rd,…, 12th, team #14 and team #13 and then reverse order. In these situations, there will be one extra round of draft picks.
C. EXPANSION TO 15 OR MORE If the league expands to 15 or more teams, current members of the 4:20 Fantasy Baseball League will vote to choose rules for expansion.

IX. PRIZES Following the final regular season game of each MLB season (including those that are strike shortened), the top four fantasy teams according to our Yahoo! scoring device will receive monetary prizes.
A. NO TIES If there are no ties among the top four placing teams in this league, the monies should be awarded as follows: 1st Place - 50% of total League Fees ($240 in 2004, $300 in 2005) 2nd Place - 25% of total League Fees ($120 in 2004, $150 in 2005) 3rd Place - 16.67% of total League Fees ($80 in 2004, $100 in 2005) 4th Place - 8.33% of total League Fees ($40 in 2004, $50 in 2005)
B. TIES If two or more teams are tied for the top four places in this league, the money should then be distributed following this formula: Monies awarded for places/# of teams tied An example of this would be if two teams tied for 2nd Place (based on 2004) [($120 + $80---3rd place $)/2 = each team receives $100.
C. MONETARY CHANGES In case of expansion, contraction, or an increase in franchise fees (March 13, 2004) (Article IIIB), the prize monies may be changed.
D. LEAGUE PENALTIES Monetary league penalties will be handed down to teams that finish in last place and second-to-last place, which will go towards beer and food at the following year’s draft
a. Last place finisher must pay 50% of League Fees
b. Second-to-last place finisher must pay 25% of League Fees
E. PAYMENT DATES All prize monies must be paid by the commissioner no later than February 1 of the following year

X. TRANSACTIONS There are no maximum or minimum transactions for each franchise. Due to the monetary prizes of the season, there will be a trade deadline created by the commissioner of the league.
A. FREE AGENT/WAIVER Free agent and waiver signings will be allowed from the day the draft results are posted until the last day of the regular season.
B. TRADES All trades will be allowed unless the trade is vetoed by at least six members of the twelve-team league. Other managers should only veto trades they feel are blatantly unfair to one or more parties involved and not based on the fear that the improvement of those teams involved will result in league domination
a. Deals pertaining only to the exchange of draft picks do not have to be approved by other members of the league. i. For example, if Team A trades its late 2nd round and early 3rd round picks to Team B for its early 2nd round and late 3rd round picks.
b. Deals where players are exchanged for draft picks must have an equal number of draft picks exchanged each way i. For example, if Team A trades Player X to Team B for Team B’s first round pick, Team B will also receive Team A’s final pick in that same draft.
c. Deals can only be made (at maximum) one year in advance i. For example, Team A will NOT be able to trade a draft pick two years from now for a player on Team B’s present roster. ii. Team A WILL be allowed to trade next year’s draft pick for a player this season on Team B.
d. ROBERTOGATE CLAUSE: After two or more teams have agreed to a trade and veto voting has begun, none of the parties involved in the deal can rescind from the deal for any reason (including injuries).
e. RENT-A-PLAYER CLAUSE: Players who have been traded may not be traded back to their original team (even as part of a multi-team deal) prior to one calendar year from the date of the original trade unless: i. the player traded was not a “keeper” for any team ii. the player traded was not drafted in the 1st Round of the following draft (thus giving everyone, in theory, the opportunity to draft said player.

We have a lot of rules, and make more every year- for instance, we are making a Losers-Apron, that the last place team owner has to wear, and changing BA to OBP in 2007.

[looptid]

Is $20 too much for a published set of rules? If not: Rotisserie League Beaseball Official Rule Book and Guide: 2006 Edition

You get a paperback that has three sets of published rotisserie rules (Rotisserie, Rotisserie Ultra, and Rotisserie Lite). They'll cover everything from roster construction, the auction, reserve and minor league draft, in-season free agent budgets, transactions, and so on...

The RBLA was the first rotisserie league ever and their rules are the origin of the $260 cap that is standard in most all auction leagues. Rotisserie Baseball gets it's name from the New York french restaurant where the RBLA held the first ever roto draft (auction), La Rotisserie. The restaurant no longer exists, but the name has stuck.

Basically, pages 18-51 provide complete constitutions for all three versions (Regular, Ultra, and Lite), and then the rest of the book contains the same stuff you'd get in a shelf magazine (alphabetical player run downs, last year's dollar values, projected dollar values, ect.).

The rules haven't changed in a few years, so picking up an older edition, if you want to save a few bucks and don't care about a bunch of rankings published in January (although the 2005 second half dollar values are kind of neat), isn't a bad idea.

Find someone that has a photocopier at work, run off copies for your league members, and you're all set. The rules have been published annually since 1984, so you have 20+ years worth of ironing out loopholes and getting the proper wording.

Their one page summary of the regular constitution (not Ultra or Lite) reads as follows:

1. Rotisserie League teams are made up of real, live major league baseball players, selected at an auction draft that takes place at the begining of the season (typically on the first weekend following opening day).

2. Each team in a Rotisserie League is composed of 25 players taken from the active rosters of the National League or 23 players from American League teams. A Rotisserie League drawn from National League or American League players should have 12 teams. You can, however, have fewer teams.

3. A team consists of five outfielders, two catchers, one second baseman, one shortstop, one middle infielder (either 2B or SS), one first baseman, one third baseman, one corner man (1B or 3B), one utility man (NL) or designated hitter (AL), and nine pitchers. National League rosters have two utility men and ten pitchers since 1998.

4. Players are purchased at an open auction. Spending is limited to $260 per team for the American League, or $280 per team for the National League. (If you don't want to use money, call them units or pocorobas or whatever. The points is resource allocation.) Teams may spend less. The first bidder opens the auction with a minimum bid of $1 for any player. The bidding then proceeds around the room (at minimum increments of $1) until only one bidder is left. The process is repeated, with successive owners introducing players to be hid on, until every team has a complement of 23 players from the American League or 25 players from the National League.

5. A player is eligible to be drafted for any position at which he appeared in 20 or more games the preceding year. If he did not appear in 20 games at any one position, he is eligible for the position at which he appeared the most times. Once the season starts, a player qualifies for a position by playing it once. Multiple eligibility is okay.

6. Trading is permissible from Auction Draft Day until midnight August 31st. After every trade, both teams must be whole-that is, they must have the same number of active players at each position that they had before the trade.

7. If a major league player is put on the disabled list, sent to the minors, traded to the other league, or released, he may be replaced from the free agent pool of unowned talent. Replacement must be made by position. The original player may either be released or placed on his Rotisserie team's reserve list. A team may not release, reserve, or waive a player without replacing him with another active player.

8. Cumulative team performance is tabulated in five offensive and five pitching categories:
- Composite batting average (BA)
- Total home runs (HR)
- Total runs scored (R)
- Total runs batted in (RBI)
- Total stolen bases (SB)
- Composite earned run average (ERA)
- Total wins (W)
- Total innings pitched (IP)
- Total saves (SV)
- Composite ratio: walks (BB) + hits (H), divided by innings pitched (IP), also know as baserunners per inning, (BPI or B/I, or walks and hits per inning pitched (WHIP).

9. Teams are ranked from first to last in each of the eight categories. For example, the first-place team receives 12 points, the second-place team 11 points, on down to one point for last place. The team with the most points wins the pennant.

10. Prize money in distributed as follows: 50% for first place, 20% for second, 15% for third, 10$ for fourth, and 5% for fifth. Even more important, the owner of the winning team receives a bottle of Yoo-Hoo - poured over his or her head.

The Yoo-Hoo stuff is odd, and the scoring categories a bit dated, but it's not like you can't take care of that with a ball point pen and a xerox machine. The AL-only league made up of members of the local SABR chapter I'm in uses the ultra rules, and they work great. We've made adjustments (R, HR, RBI, SB, OPS, W, SV, K, ERA, WHIP for the scoring, among others), but the general constitution is a solid one.

[looptid]

Forgot to mention their keepers system described in the constitution. Players won at auction are locked into 3-year contracts at their auction price. Inbetween their second and thrid seasons, teams can sign them to extention years past the upcoming third year of their contract and an increase of $5 per season. So, if you won a player at auction for $10, you could keep them for a maximum of six seasons with salary structure as follows:

Year 1 - $10
Year 2 - $10
Year 3 - $10
Year 4 - $15
Year 5 - $20
Year 6 - $25

It is important to tie the auction values into real money. The league I'm in uses a 1/5th scale (you end up paying $2 of real currency for a player won at auction for $10), basically a $52 entry fee that gets put into the prize pool. If you trade a player, or place him on waivers and that player is claimed by another team, you are off the hook for their salary, but if you just cut a player there is a fine (which we again apply our 1/5th scale to).

There are also rules governing farm systems, reserve rosters, and the in-season free agent budget which cover how much teams must pay for those types of players and what their dollar values will be going forward.

[keving]

You listed some great stuff. I am working on crafting a set of rules for a new auction-keeper league. I was just wondering if there is a consensus regarding the the price value for a free agent pickup? Do all free agent count $1 against a team's cap? Thanks for the help...