Constitutional cleanup

Here is my attempt to trim some fat and clarify some things in the constitution. I will post it here for a bit just in case anyone has any objections. If no one does, it will become the default constitution in a couple of weeks.

Article 1 - Definitions

(a) Managers in this league will henceforth be termed Participants.
(b) Players in major league baseball will henceforth be termed players.
(c) The website where this league is played (Yahoo!) will henceforth be termed Host.
(d) The blog where league news is posted (http://bpguineapigs.blogspot.com/) will henceforth be termed Blog.

Article 2 - General Rules

(a) Roster - Participants begin with 25 roster slots that must be filled as follows: 1 C, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 SS, 5 OF, 1 CI, 1 MI, 1 UTIL, 9 P, 3 BENCH (any position). Once the season begins, a DL slot may be filled by an injured player as made eligible by the Host.
(b) Scoring - Scoring categories are as follows: R, RBI, HR, SB, OBP, W, K, ERA, WHIP, K/BB.
(c) Innings Pitched Limit - IP limit is 1500.
(d) Entry Fee- Participants must pay an entry fee of $25 to the Commissioner, due on March 1. If entry fee is not received by March 1, the Commissioner may find a replacement Participant.
(e) Prizes - Prizes are as follows: 1st Place - $150; 2nd Place - $75; 3rd Place - $25. In the event of a tie, for all purposes the tiebreaker will be the order the teams are listed on the Host.
(f) Waivers - The Participant that finished in 1st Place the preceding season shall have top waiver priority at the start of the season, followed by 2nd, 3rd, et. seq.
(g) Roster Freeze - Rosters are frozen on the last day of the regular season until draft results are posted. Trades may be allowed in the off-season at the discretion of the Commissioner.
(h) Incorporation - These rules are not exhaustive. Additional applicable rules and interpretative material may be found at the Host, the Blog, and elsewhere.

Article 3 - Auction Process

(a) Budget - The total budget for the auction is $260. Dollar values for keepers are subtracted from this total before the start of the auction.
(b) Length - The auction will be comprised of as many rounds as necessary to fill Participants' rosters. (n.b. In 2007, the auction took about 4 hours)
(c) Nomination Order - The Participant who finished in 10th Place the previous season nominates the first player, followed by other Participants in snaking order.
(d) Bidding - A Participant who nominates a player makes the initial bid on that player, which shall be not below $1. A Participant may not nominate a keeper. Another Participant may bid a higher dollar amount in whole dollars. The highest final bid wins the player. Tying bids are not permitted. At no time may a Participant bid more money than would be necessary to fill out all remaining empty roster spots on his team with $1 players.
(e) Bidding Closure - The Commissioner will give two warnings when the bidding slows down that bidding is about to conclude. Then, the Commissioner will call an end to the bidding (e.g. "going...going...gone."). The winning bidder will be awarded the player and his budget will be adjusted accordingly. No bids will be accepted after the Commissioner concludes the bidding.
(f) Remedies - In the event that a Participant bids an amount exceeding his budget according to subsection (d) of this article, this bid will be disallowed at the time it is made. In the event that bidding has already closed on that player, bidding shall be reopened at the last acceptable bid.
(g) Filled Roster - Once a Participant fills his roster with players, he is ineligible for subsequent nomination of or bidding on players.
(h) Final Word - The Commissioner's post regarding auction cost on the Blog shall be authoritative.

Article 4 - Keepers

(a) Keeper Quantity - Each Participant may tag up to 4 players as keepers per year. A Participant may tag as few keepers as desired.
(b) General Keeper Cost - In general, the cost to keep a player is the preceding year's auction cost plus inflation. Inflation is set at $3.
(c) Minimum Keeper Cost - Without exception, the minimum cost for a player tagged as a keeper is $15.
(d) Devaluation Authorization - Keeper cost may be adjusted downward by the amount of time that the player spent injured during the season and/or on waivers. See subsections (e) through (g) of this article for specific devaluation rules. All of these specific devaluation rules may be applied to one player in accordance with subsection (c) of this article.
(e) Waiver Cost Reduction- A player's keeper cost may be reduced by $3 if that player is picked up off of waivers or free agency. Only one waiver cost reduction may be applied per year.
(f) Hitter Injury Cost Reduction - For players who are hitters: A player's keeper cost may be reduced by $6 if he plays in 81 or fewer games due to injury, by $3 if he plays 120 or fewer games but more than 81 games due to injury.
(g) Pitcher Injury Cost Reduction - For players who are starting pitchers: A player’s keeper cost may be reduced by $6 if he starts 17 or fewer games due to injury, by $3 if he is limited to starting fewer than 25 games, but more than 17 games due to injury. Based on the rules above, any necessary devaluation for relief pitchers/ swingmen will be made at the discretion of the Commissioner.
(h) Young Player Inflation Adjustment (YPIA) - Any player whose age is less than or equal to 25 on opening day of the preceding season may be immune from inflation if tagged as a YPIA keeper for one year of his career. Should such a player be retained beyond that season (i.e. into YEAR 3), standard inflation would apply.
(i) Keeper Notice - The deadline for submitting keepers will be posted on the Blog. Submissions made after the deadline will be accepted solely at the Commissioner's discretion. All finalized submissions must be emailed to the Commissioner with the subject line - (Team Name) Keepers. Those emails will remain unopened until the deadline date, at which point all finalized keepers will be posted on the Blog. When a Participant submits his keepers to the Commissioner, Participant must provide a good faith valuation of the keeper. If any circumstances apply besides the general rule regarding inflation, the Participant must justify a deviation from the general rule in this email.
(j) Catastrophe Allowance - In the event that a keeper becomes significantly injured or otherwise unavailable in the time between the deadline for keeper selection and the start of the draft, a Participant may name a replacement keeper if so desired provided that the replacement has been submitted to the Commissioner prior to the start of the draft. The Commissioner reserves the right to review all replacement requests and will determine whether or not a replacement is allowable and warranted under this rule.
(k) Final Word - The Commissioner's post regarding keeper cost on the Blog shall be authoritative.

Article 5 - Commissioner's Powers

(a) Rule Making Power - The Commissioner shall have the power to make any changes to the rules that he deems fit so long as he gives the league adequate notice.
(b) Trade Review Power - The Commissioner shall have the power to veto any trades consummated during or after the season. The Commissioner shall exercise his veto only if the trade is grossly unbalanced.
(c) Remedial Power - The Commissioner shall have the power to impose sanctions on Participants that violate any rules or correct any injustices.
(d) Advice & Consent - Before exercising rule, veto, or remedial power, the Commissioner shall attempt to obtain the advice and consent of an executive committee consisting of at least two other Participants.
(e) Votes - In regard to any of the aforementioned executive actions, any Participant may call for a vote on these actions to be conducted by the Commissioner. 5 votes are required to strike the Commissioner's actions.

Article 6 [reserved]

Article 7 -Amendments

Amended 2007: OBP replaced AVG and K:BB replaced SAVES.
Amended 2007: 1500 IP instead of 1600 IP.
Amended 2008: Special rule for 2007 draft stricken.