Article 6 - Minor Leagues
(a) Minor League Player - A minor league player shall be defined as any hitter or pitcher who has not yet qualified as a rookie in accordance with MLB rules (i.e a hitter who has not had 130 ABs or a pitcher who has not pitched 50 IP in any one major league season).(b) Minor League System - Each Participant has a minor league system. To be eligible for placement in a minor league system, a player must have been selected in a Minor League Draft and must have qualified as a minor league player for the entire preceding year. Players kept in a minor league system do not count towards the keeper limit. At no time may a Participant have more than three players in his minor league system. The Commissioner's post regarding minor league systems on the Blog shall be authoritative.
(c) Minor League Draft - Immediately following the posting of keepers and preceding the auction draft, the Commissioner shall announce the commencement of a one round Minor League Draft. All minor league players are eligible for this draft with the exception of minor league players who have been kept or who are in a Participant's minor league system. The Participant that finished in 10th Place the preceding season shall have top pick, followed by 9th, 8th, et. seq. Each Participant shall have one calendar day to make his pick known via an e-mail addressed to all Participants. In the event that a Participant does not make his pick in his alloted time, his turn shall be skipped. That Participant may make a pick at any time afterwards, but shall forfeit his pick if not made by midnight draft day. The Participant's draft pick shall be added to his minor league system.
(d) Minor League Bench Slot - In connection with the passage of this article, the Constitution shall be amended to include an additional bench slot. Only a player in a Participant's minor league system is eligible to fill the additional roster slot. At all times, this bench slot must either: (1) remain empty; (2) fill the slot with a player from his minor league system; or, (3) fill the slot with a major league player and fill an active slot with a player from his minor league system. In the event that a Participant uses this bench slot for any other purpose, the Commissioner shall impose an appropriate sanction.
(e) Minor League Transactions- A Participant may lose exclusive rights to a minor league player in three ways: (1) the minor league player is added to the Host's player universe and is not added to the Participant's roster at or before 15 days; (2) a Participant notifies the Commissioner prior to the Minor League Draft of his desire to release a player currently in his minor league system in order to free up a spot that will be filled at the upcoming draft; or, (3) a trade. In the event that a Participant picks up a minor league player that another Participant has exclusive rights to, the Commissioner shall nullify the transaction.
(f) Player Cost - Players in a Partipant's minor league system cost $0. In the year that follows a player losing eligibility for a Participant's minor league system, a Participant may keep this player at a cost of $5. In subsequent years, normal keeper rules apply except as otherwise noted in this article.
(g) Franchise Player - In the year immediately following a player losing eligibility for a Participant's minor league system, that particular Participant may tag that player as a "Franchise Player". A Franchise Player may be kept as a fifth keeper as long as this tag has not expired. This tag may only be applied to one player on a Participant's team. This tag expires when applied to another player or when that player is dropped, traded, or not kept. If a Participant declines to apply the Franchise Player tag to a player when he becomes eligible, the tag may not be applied in subsequent years, although that player may be kept according to normal keeper rules.
(h) Effect on YPIA - A Participant may not apply the YPIA tag to a player whose cost is below the normal minimum keeper cost, set at $15.
3 comments:
I think that Section 6(d)(2) should be rephrased to say ". . . notifies the Commissioner prior to the draft of his desire to release a player currently in that Participant's minor league system in order to free up a spot that will be filled during the upcoming minor league draft." or something along those lines. It's a little ambiguous as currently worded.
The only substantive thing I'm noticing is that you can still use that extra bench spot as long as you've got your "minor leaguer" in the active lineup. That's one option certainly. Another option would be to just have that one bench spot as a safe haven that can only be used by "minor leaguers" who have been promoted to the majors. Under this formulation, it serves the purpose of allowing such players to be held for a while without having to play or release them or even without having them take up a spot that might otherwise be used by a regular free agent. On the other hand, it limits the number of guys who may be kept in this fashion to one (which will obviously not be relevant in Y1 of this rule, but might be in the future). I kind of like my idea better than the free extra bench spot idea, but I'm open to hearing what others think about it.
I agree with the revised rules, but I will pick up one item that Dave mentioned regarding bench slots. I am sure I would be more inclined to take a risk on a minor leaguer or recent call-up just by virtue of an extra bench slot and the fact that this a keeper league. Then again, my teams usually fall apart after the All-Star Break, so maybe I am just clueless about how to properly manage and FLB team. With an extra bench slot, given a choice between adding a backup catcher, another bench outfielder, or a guy with future potential, I would take the later. Thus, I have fewer concerns about how exactly the extra bench space is constructed and instead I would worry that placing restrictions on how it is used would be difficult to track.
I guess I can live with that, particularly as the ability to use this extra bench spot only comes into play if you bring up your minor leaguer and put him in the active lineup. As long as people understand that this is the only situation in which that extra bench spot may be freely used. Along those lines, this means that if your minor leaguer in the active lineup is injured and put on the DL, and you put him on your Yahoo IR, you can't then use that fourth bench spot freely. It must go empty or be filled by another minor leaguer taken in our league's minor league draft.
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