Keeper Rules, input wanted

[mrbo]

We are in the first year of our keeper league, please give some input on the rules we have come up with.

Selecting Keepers

• Prior to the 2008 draft, each team must select 6 players from their final 2007 roster as their keepers, as follows:

• Two players who were drafted from Rounds 1 through 7 in 2007 (Pool A)
• Two players who were drafted from Rounds 8 through 14 in 2007 (Pool B)
• Two players who were drafted from Rounds 15 through 22 in 2007 or were acquired as free agents or waiver wire pickups and had not been drafted (Pool C)

• Player selection can be moved down but not up.

EXAMPLE 1:
• A team can select 2 Pool A players, 1 Pool B player and 3 Pool C players.
EXAMPLE 2:
• A team can select 0 Pool A players, 3 Pool B players and 3 Pool C players.

Player Contracts

• After Keepers are selected, each team is to award each player with a contract, according the following rules:

• Original Contracts:

Each team is given 11 years to distribute to their six keepers. All keepers are to be given a minimum of a one year contract, and a maximum of six seasons. All 11 years must be used. At the start of every season, each team must have 6 players under contract for a total of 11 years.

EXAMPLE 1:
• Player 1 (3 years)
• Player 2 (3 years)
• Player 3 (2 years)
• Player 4 (1 year)
• Player 5 (1 year)
• Player 6 (1 year)

EXAMPLE 2:
• Player 1 (2 years)
• Player 2 (2 years)
• Player 3 (2 years)
• Player 4 (2 years)
• Player 5 (2 years)
• Player 6 (1 year)

EXAMPLE 3:
• Player 1 (3 years)
• Player 2 (2 years)
• Player 3 (2 years)
• Player 4 (2 years)
• Player 5 (1 year)
• Player 6 (1 year)

After a season is over, each player will have one less season on his contract, so each team will be granted 6 more years to distribute, in order to: extend current contracts or sign new keepers. The following rules apply:

• Expired and Expiring Contracts:

Players granted one year contracts (or in future seasons, have one year remaining) are considered “expiring” and are released back in to the draft pool after the season (zero years remaining or “expired”).

• Expired Contracts:

After the season a team MAY grant ONE expired player a NEW contract in order to keep him, and prevent him from being released back to the draft. Using the examples cited above:

EXAMPLE 1 (original contract):
• Player 1 (3 years)
• Player 2 (3 years)
• Player 3 (2 years)
• Player 4 (1 year)
• Player 5 (1 year)
• Player 6 (1 year)

EXAMPLE 1 (after one season):
• Player 1 (2 years)
• Player 2 (2 years)
• Player 3 (1 years, expiring)
• Player 4 (0 years, expired)
• Player 5 (0 years, expired)
• Player 6 (0 years, expired)

After the season, this team may grant a new contract to Player 4, 5 OR 6, if it chooses to do so. The two expired players who are not granted new contracts are available for the following season’s draft.

EXAMPLE 2 (original contract):
• Player 1 (2 years)
• Player 2 (2 years)
• Player 3 (2 years)
• Player 4 (2 year)
• Player 5 (2 year)
• Player 6 (1 year)

EXAMPLE 2 (after one season):
• Player 1 (1 years, expiring)
• Player 2 (1 years, expiring)
• Player 3 (1 years, expiring)
• Player 4 (1 year, expiring)
• Player 5 (1 year, expiring)
• Player 6 (0 years, expired)

After the season this team may grant a new contract to Player 6 if it chooses to do so. No players from this team are available for the following season’s draft.

EXAMPLE 3 (Original Contract):
• Player 1 (3 years)
• Player 2 (2 years)
• Player 3 (2 years)
• Player 4 (2 year)
• Player 5 (1 year)
• Player 6 (1 year)

EXAMPLE 3 (After One Season):
• Player 1 (2 years)
• Player 2 (1 year)
• Player 3 (1 year)
• Player 4 (1 year)
• Player 5 (0 year)
• Player 6 (0 year)

After the season this team may grant a new contract to Player 5 or Player 6 if it chooses to do so. Any expired players who are not granted new contracts are available in the following season’s draft.

• Expiring Contracts:

In addition to keeping one expired player, a team may wish to extend an existing keeper player’s contract. However a team may only extend up to THREE expiring contracts (contracts with only one year remaining). Using the EXAMPLES cited above:

EXAMPLE 1 (original contract):
• Player 1 (3 years)
• Player 2 (3 years)
• Player 3 (2 years)
• Player 4 (1 year)
• Player 5 (1 year)
• Player 6 (1 year)

EXAMPLE 1 (after one season):
• Player 1 (2 years)
• Player 2 (2 years)
• Player 3 (1 year, expiring)
• Player 4 (0 year, expired)
• Player 5 (0 year, expired)
• Player 6 (0 year, expired)

This team has only 1 player (Player 3) with an expiring contract and can extend him with no restrictions. Additionally, as stated previously, this team has 3 expired contracts and is allowed to re-sign one of them.

EXAMPLE 2 (original contract):
• Player 1 (2 years)
• Player 2 (2 years)
• Player 3 (2 years)
• Player 4 (2 year)
• Player 5 (2 year)
• Player 6 (1 year)

EXAMPLE 2 (After one season):
• Player 1 (1 year, expiring)
• Player 2 (1 year, expiring)
• Player 3 (1 year, expiring)
• Player 4 (1 year, expiring)
• Player 5 (1 year, expiring)
• Player 6 (0 year, expired)

This team has five players with expiring contracts and can choose to only extend three of those. The other two contracts must be allowed to expire after the season is over. Additionally, as previously stated, Player 6 can be re-signed.

EXAMPLE 3 (original contract):
• Player 1 (3 years)
• Player 2 (2 years)
• Player 3 (2 years)
• Player 4 (2 year)
• Player 5 (1 year)
• Player 6 (1 year)

EXAMPLE 3 (after one season):
• Player 1 (2 years)
• Player 2 (1 year, expiring)
• Player 3 (1 year, expiring)
• Player 4 (1 year, expiring)
• Player 5 (0 years, expired)
• Player 6 (0 years, expired)

This team has three players (Players 2, 3, and 4) with expiring contracts and can extend all of them if he wishes. Any contracts not extended are considered expired after the season. Additionally, as stated previously, this team has 2 expired contracts and is allowed to re-sign one of them.

• Non-expiring Contracts

Players with 2 or more years remaining on their contracts are considered non-expiring and can be extended without restriction.

Cutting Keepers

• A team may not cut a player with a 2 year or longer contract.
• A team may cut a player with one year remaining in-season, as his contract would be expired after the season anyway. However:

After a keeper player is cut, he is not considered under any contract if he is picked up by another team.
If the team that cut him picks him back up, his contract is reinstated. This prevents a team from circumventing the rule about only renewing one expired contract.

• Trading Keepers

Teams wishing to trade keepers must match the amount of players and contract years on both sides of the deal. Non-keeper players can be added to the trade with no restrictions:

EXAMPLE
Team A receives
• Player 1 with 2 years remaining
• Player 2 with 3 years remaining
• Player 3 with 1 year remaining
(3 keeper players, 6 total contract years)

Team B receives
• Player 4 with 2 years remaining
• Player 5 with 2 years remaining
• Player 6 with 2 years remaining
• Player 7 (non-keeper)
• Player 8 (non-keeper)
(3 keeper players, 6 total contract years)

• New Keepers

If a previously ‘keeper’ player’s contract is allowed to expire he is released back in to the draft pool. All teams must have six players under contract for a total of eleven years, so this player needs to be replaced-

• Beginning with the 2008 draft, the Pool system will be as follows

• Pool A- players drafted in rounds 1-5
• Pool B- players drafted in rounds 6-10
• Pool C- players drafted in rounds 11-16, or were acquired as free agents or waiver wire pickups and had not been drafted.

• If a team needs one new keeper it is to be selected from:

• Pool C

• If a team needs two new keepers they are to be selected from:

• Player 1- Pool C
• Player 2- Pool B or C

• If a team needs three new keepers they are to be selected from:

• Player 1- Pool C
• Player 2- Pool B or C
• Player 3- Pool A, B or C

• If a team needs four new keepers they are to be selected from:

• Player 1 and 2- Pool C
• Player 3- Pool B or C
• Player 4- Pool A, B or C

• If a team needs five new keepers they are to be selected from:

• Player 1 and 2- Pool C
• Player 3 and 4- Pool B or C
• Player 5- Pool A, B or C

• Other than being limited to 6 extra years per off season to be applied to contracts, there are no restrictions on the contract lengths of new keepers.

• Voiding Contracts

• If a player will permanently no longer play Major League Baseball, his contract can be transferred to a non-contract roster player of equal or lesser value (as determined by Yahoo O-Rank). Examples of ‘permanently no longer playing Major League Baseball’ include:

• Retirement
• Banned from MLB
• Death
• A contract cannot be voided for:

• Injury
• Suspension
• Demotion

[HBNYC]

WOW. Very comprehensive. I see it would let teams keep their top players pretty much indefinitely, but it seems like through good drafting and smart contracts a team can climb back to the top.

The trading of keepers seems pretty limited, but I am not sure what else you can really do- each team having varying amounts of players under contract and years would get out of control I would think, and allowing throwing in non-keepers into trades would make it easier to work something out.

overall, good job.