Just replicating Rich's proposed amendment as the original post regarding this has been pushed off the front page by (well deserved) tributes to Porkins.
Article 6 - Minor Leagues
(a) Minor League Draft - At a convenient time following the keeper deadline and preceding the auction draft, there shall be a supplemental draft round during which each Participant may draft one free agent minor league player at no cost to his draft day budget. This shall be the only time during the season when minor league players may be claimed outside of the the normal waiver process. The Participant with poorest record the previous season shall have the first pick and the Participant with the best record shall have the last pick, etc.
(b) Minor League Player - A minor league player shall be defined as any pitcher or hitter who has not yet qualified as a rookie according to MLB (a hitter who has not had 130 ABs or a pitcher who has not pitched 50 IP in any one major league season).
(c) At no time may a Participant claim rights to more than three minor league players.
(d) In connection with the passage of this Article, the Constitution shall be amended to add an additional bench slot.
(e) The Participant may lose exclusive rights to a claimed minor league player in three ways: (1) the minor league player is added to the hosting website's player universe and is not added to the Participant's roster within 15 days, (2) the Participant notifies the Commissioner of his desire to release a minor league player to acquire a new one before the Minor League Draft, or (3) a trade.
(f) In YEAR 1, when a player is no longer a minor league player as defined in subsection (b) of this Article, a Participant may keep this player at an initial cost of $5. After YEAR 1, normal keeper rules apply except as noted in (g)-(h) of this Article.
(g) Franchise Player - A Participant may tag one former minor league player exclusively from his team's minor league system as a "Franchise Player." This gives a Participant a potential fifth keeper slot for this limited purpose until such a time when the Participant no longer wants to keep that player.
(h) A Participant may only apply YPIA in year where a former minor league player's value is above the minimum value as noted in Article 4(c) (currently $15). Consequently, YPIA may only be applied in YEAR 3 at the earliest (if the player remains eligible).
(i) Each Participant's minor league system shall be posted on the FLB blog.
Pantheon of Champions
2006, 2010 Champion's Manager: Dave, PECOTA Monkeys
2009 Champion's Manager: Matt, TINSTAAPP
2008, 2007 Champion's Manager: Rich, Replacement Levelers
Eternal Champion: Billy Beane, Oakland A's
Eternal Champion: Jek Porkins, Rebel Alliance
Eternal Champion: Charlie Pace, Driveshaft
Pantheon of Bizzaro Champions
2010 Loser's Manager: Brandon, Maniacal Mets
2009 Loser's Manager: Dave, PECOTA Monkeys
2007, 2008 Loser's Manager: Mike, Norcal Peaceniks
2006 Loser's Manager: James, LeetSauce II
Eternal Loser: Steve Phillips, New York Mets
Eternal Loser: Neil "Frogurt", Random Survivor
Eternal Loser: TK-421. Not at his post, didn't find the droids he was looking for.
9 comments:
In looking over the proposed amendment, there's one aspect that I'm not convinced is appropriate. Namely, as currently constructed, along with the minor league keeper we are adding a bench spot. Granted, this spot must be used by your minor league player if he's in the Yahoo system lest you lose your rights to that player. My problem, however, is that for most of a minor league keeper's minor league life, he's not going to be in the Yahoo system, thereby essentially adding a free 26th roster spot to every team and reducing the depth of replacement players available off free agency. I'm not sure this makes sense. I understand having an extra bench spot to put the minor leaguer in once he is promoted to the majors and available in Yahoo, but I think we can have that extra bench spot and then simply have a seperate rule, enforced only by the honor of the people in the league, that the bench spot must remain empty except for when a minor league keeper is put in that bench spot.
I agree that the bench slot should be a reserved slot used only for the minor league player if and when he becomes available. I could purposely draft a nimor leaguer who I knew would not be available, then stash an FA major leaguer on my bench while another participant might choose to keep the minor leaguer in that slot. Rich's previous point about short-term verus long-term gains is a good one; in this example I'd be going for short-term by adding an FA while someone else might look to the long-term by securing a spot for the minor leaguer. However, the imbalance that the use of this extra bench spot could create is significant. Two years ago I picked Hanley Ramirez and Brandon Phillips up off of the FA market. Last year I claimed Mike Lowell before dropping him like an idiot. Having an extra bench spot just makes it more possible to squirrel away depth. If participants choose this route, then it kind of defeats the purpose of the minor league draft.
I agree that locking the extra bench slot for the minor league players would be ideal. But, I was leaning towards administrative ease with this rule since their is no direct way to enforce it with the tools available at Yahoo. I would note there is a cost associated with not using the bench slot for your minor league player - you lose rights to him if he is in the system. Also, I would note that the benefits of an extra bench slot aren't that great in this league, due to the lowered IP limit and absence of Saves as a category. If you want to trust to honor over free market be my guest.
I lean towards an honor system and forcing that extra slot to only be used for the minor leaguer. But like my personal hero, Ronald Reagan, I subscribe to the motto of "trust but verify." It shouldn't be hard with a cursory glance through other people's rosters every now and again to make sure that there's an empty bench spot or that the spot is used by the minor leaguer. And there can be consequences for misuse of the spot, whether intentional or accidental. I'm sure we can come up with something, but one possibility is that for every day a bench spot is misused, a player can be forced to leave an active spot in his lineup empty. This might be harsh, but it can be verified by looking back at a player's roster on any given day. With Yahoo you can go back indefinitely to look at rosters on given days. Of course, this would be in addition to having the player drop whichever player was added to bring the roster into non-compliance.
Fine. This will work solong as everyone is spying on everyone else. It kind of fits the paridigm of our times.
Any other issues?
Anyone who comes along after this and wants to comment on the above should feel free to. Moving on to my next issue with this, as I read things now, you can acquire your minor leaguer in the minor league draft or as that player becomes available in the Yahoo universe. I wonder whether we should elminate this secondary method of slapping the minor league player label on someone. I don't have strong feelings one way or the other on this, but I think it's something we should think about closely.
I did not contemplate a player picked up in the normal fashion, off of free agency, being added to your minor league system. The only way a player can be added to your minor league system is through the draft (or trade). Players added through free agency may be kept according to ordinary keeper rules. If you want to keep them as a minor leaguer, you must redraft them the following year. If you think this is ambiguous, please suggest a fix.
I understood it to mean that the minor league slot would be occupied only by a drafted player. If a player is picked up off of the waiver wire or FA, that qualifies as a normal pickup. It seemed clear enough, assuming that was the intended meaning.
OK. I was just confused by the part in 6(a) that says "This shall be the only time during the season when minor league players may be claimed outside of the normal waiver process." This seems ambiguous (to me at least) and maybe should be changed to something like ". . . when a player to which the provisions of this Article applies may be claimed."
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