Info Roto League OH! Constitution

Preamble

I. Object

II. Teams

III. Roster

IV. Auction Draft Day

V. Position Eligibility

VI. Fees

VII. Player Salaries

VIII. Prize money

IX. Standings

X. Stats

XI. Trades

XII. The Reserve List

XIII. Farm System

XIV. Signing Free Agents

XV. Waivers

XV-A. Nukes

XVI. September Roster Expansion

XVII. The Option Year and Guaranteed Long-Term contracts

XVIII. Roster Protection

XIX. Governance

XX. Yoo-Hoo

XXI. Rule changes

Preamble

I. Object

II. Teams

III. Roster

A rotisserie team's active roster consists of the following American League players:

Two catchers, one first baseman, one third baseman, one corner infielder (CI) (either a first baseman or a third baseman), one second baseman, one shortstop, one middle infielder (MI) (either a second baseman or a shortstop), four outfielders, one designated outfielder (DO) (either an outfielder or a designated hitter), one utility player (UT) who may play any batting position, and nine pitchers (unrestricted as to starting or relief pitchers). [DO designation created in 1995.]

If, and only if, the league has a full complement of twelve teams, the UT may also be a pitcher and each owner is free to make transactions that change the UT's hitting or pitching role as often as desired. [1999].

IV. Auction Draft Day

A Major League Player Auction is conducted on the first Saturday after Opening Day of the baseball season. Each team must acquire 23 players at a total cost not to exceed $26.00. A team need not spend the maximum. The League by general agreement determines the order in which teams may nominate players for acquisition. The team bidding first opens with a minimum salary bid of 10 cents for any eligible player, and the bidding proceeds around the room at minimum increments of $0.10 until only one bidder is left. That team acquires the player for that amount and announces the roster position the player will fill. The process is repeated, with successive team owners introducing players to be bid on, until every team has a squad of 23 players, by requisite position.

• Don't get hung up on bidding order; it's irrelevant. Do allow plenty of time; your first draft will take all day.
• Players eligible at more than one position may be shifted during the course of the draft.
• No team may make a bid for a player it cannot afford. For example, a team with $0.30 left and two openings on its roster is limited to a maximum bid of $0.20 for one player.
• No team may bid for a player who qualifies only at a position that the team has already filled. For example, a team that has acquired two catchers, and whose UT slot is also occupied, may not enter the bidding for any player who qualifies only at catcher.
• Players who commence the season on a major league team's disabled list are eligible to be drafted. If selected, they may be reserved and replaced upon completion of the auction draft.

NOTE: Opening Day rosters for each American League team will be needed before Auction Draft Day. MLB teams often delay until the last minute (midnight before Opening Day) before finalizing their rosters. The League Secretary will e-mail all owners a list of the Opening Day rosters from the best available source on the web as soon as possible on or after Opening Day. This list (less players already owned by rotisserie teams) becomes the list of players eligible to be drafted. But MLB teams may make further roster moves before the Auction Draft is held. Thus, before beginning the Auction Draft, the League Secretary will inform all owners of additions and deletions from the list of eligible players. Note that owners will usually have to submit their April 1 freeze lists (see Article XVIII) before seeing the MLB Opening Day rosters.

A Minor League Player Draft is conducted immediately following the major league auction, in which each Rotisserie League team may acquire players (a) who are not on any National or American League team's active roster; and (b) who still have official rookie status, as defined by major league baseball. The major league rule reads:

Precedent: A player is eligible to be drafted even if he were on some Roto team's main roster in a prior year, as long as he is now back in the minors and still meets the MLB criteria for being a "rookie".

• Selection takes place in two rounds of a simple draft, not an auction.
• In the first season, the selection order shall be determined by drawing paired numbers from a hat (that is, positions 1 and 24, 2 and 23, and so on in a 12-team league).
• In subsequent years, the selection order in each of the two rounds is determined by the order in which the teams finished in the previous season. The 5th place team selects first, proceeding in descending order to the last place team, which is in turn followed by the 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st place teams. [1995 change]
• The cost of each farm system player drafted is $1.00, but the player salary upon call-up to the major leagues is only $0.50. [reduced from $1.00 in 1999.]
• See Article XIII for rules governing farm systems.

V. Position Eligibility

A player may be assigned to any position at which he appeared in 20 or more games in the preceding season. If a player did not appear in 20 games at a single position, he may be drafted only at the position at which he appeared most frequently. The 20 games/most games measure is used only to determine the position(s) at which a player may be drafted. Once the season is under way (but after Auction Draft Day), a player becomes eligible for assignment to any position at which he has appeared at least twice [changed from once in 2000]. A player selected for the DO slot must qualify at either OF or DH position (i.e., appeared in 20 games as DH or outfielder the preceding season). A player selected for the UT may qualify at any batting position (and may even be a pitcher if the league has the full complement of twelve teams). Position eligibility for players who played in the majors the previous season is well-documented and easily determined. The tqstats web site has an accurate list. For rookies, the League Secretary will research eligibility based on minor league appearances, and make a list available to all owners prior to auction draft day. All owners are invited to help in this eligibility determination effort.

If the previous season is not a full 162-game season, a player qualifies at any position at which he played 10% of the available games (rounded normally). Thus, for 1994, that would be a player who played 113*.10=11.3 or 11 games, and for 1995 that would be 144*.10 or 14. [1995 rule change that we all hope is moot in the future.]

VI. Fees

The Rotisserie League has a schedule of fees covering all player personnel moves. No money passes directly from team to team. No bets are made on the outcome of any game. All fees are payable into the prize pool and are subsequently distributed to the top four teams in the final standings. (See Articles VIII and IX).

1. Basic: The cumulative total of salaries paid for acquisition of a 23-man roster on Auction Draft Day may not exceed $26.00, and may be less at owner discretion or incompetence.
2. Transactions: $1.00 per trade (no matter how many players are involved) or player activation (from Reserve List or farm system). In a trade, the team that pays the fee is subject to negotiation. [Precedent: in practice in our league, each team is simply charged $0.50 for any trade they are involved in.]
3. Call-up From Free Agent Pool: $1.00 for each player called up from the free agent pool. [Lowered from $2.50 in 1993.]
4. Reserve: $1.00 for each player placed on a team's Reserve List (see Article XII).
5. Farm System: $1.00 for each player in a team's farm system (see Article XIII).
6. Activation: $1.00 for each player activated from the Reserve List or farm system.
7. Waivers: $1.00 for each player claimed on waivers (see Article XV).
8. September Roster Expansion: $5.00 (see Article XVI).

VII. Player Salaries

The salary of a player is determined by the time and means of his acquisition and does not change unless the player becomes a free agent or is signed to a guaranteed long-term contract. (See Article XVII).

• The salary of a player acquired in the major league draft is his auction price.
• The salary of a player called up from the free agent pool (as a replacement for a reserved or released player) during the season is $1.00
• The salary of a player acquired from the free agent pool by a FAAB bid (see Article XIV) is the amount of that bid (minimum $0.30) [reduced from $0.50 in 2000].
• The salary of a player activated from a team's farm system during the season (including prior to the draft) is $0.50 [reduced from $1.00 in 1999].
• The salary of a player claimed on waivers is $1.00, or whatever higher salary the player had when placed on waivers. [Language added to agree with Article XV.]
• The salary of a player called up during September Roster Expansion to supplement the 23-man roster is $2.50 if he is drawn from the free agent pool (See Article XVI).

NOTE: The $26.00 salary limit pertains to Auction Draft Day only. After Auction Draft Day, free agent signings and acquisition of high-priced players in trades may well drive up a team's payroll [from John Benson's rule book annotations]. [Two attempts to impose an in-season salary limit have been defeated, most recently in 2000.]

All fees shall be promptly collected by the League Treasurer, who is empowered to subject owners to public humiliation and assess fines as needed to ensure that payments are made to the League in a timely fashion. Owners are expected to pay an advance of $100 toward their fees at the time of the auction draft. [$50 in 1998, .increased to $100 in 2000]. The interest income from this investment can be used to defray the cost of a gala postseason awards ceremony and banquet. The principal shall be divided among the first four teams in the final standings as follows:

1st place -- 50%

2nd place -- 25%

3rd place -- 15%

4th place -- 10%

• Composite batting average (BA)
• Total home runs (HR)
• Total runs batted in (RBI)
• Total stolen bases (SB)
• Total runs scored (R) [added 1998]
• Composite earned run average (ERA)
• Total wins (W)
• Total saves (S)
• Composite ratio: bases on balls (BB) + hits (H) / innings pitched (IP)
• Total strikeouts by pitching staff (K) [added 1998]

[Note that we are now what is sometimes called a 5X5 league as opposed to the original 4X4 league. A variety of other changes to categories have been proposed and regularly defeated, most recently a "Defense" category in 2000.]

Teams are ranked from first to last in each of the ten categories and given points for each place. For example, in a 12-team league, the first-place team in a category receives 12 points, the second-place team 11, and so on down to 1 point for last place. The team with the most total points wins the pennant.

• Pitchers' offensive stats are not counted. Nor are the pitching stats of the occasional position player called in to pitch when the score is 16-1 after five innings and the relief corps is hiding under the stands.
• In cases of ties in an individual category, the tied teams are assigned points by totaling points for the rankings at issue and dividing the total by the number of teams tied.
• In cases of ties in total points, final places in the standings are determined by comparing placement of teams in individual categories. Respective performances are calculated and a point given to each team for bettering the other. Should one team total more points than the other, that team is declared the winner.
• Should the point totals still be equal, the tie is broken by adding each team's total at-bats at season's end, plus triple the number of its innings pitched. The team that scores a higher total by this measure wins the contested place in the standings. In the extremely unlikely event a tie still exists, prize money is split. We don't do coin tosses..

Player-performance statistics are provided daily by tqstats.com, a stats provider company on the web whom we employ for this purpose (and they in turn get their statistics from STATS, Inc.). The previous day's stats are usually updated onto our league's webpages by mid-morning. Tqstats also sends each owner a weekly e-mail on Monday with the end of week (through Sunday) stats for all teams in the league. The league webpages updated daily by Tqstats also show rosters, the waiver wire, and free agent listings.

• The effective date of any transaction for purposes of statistical calculation is the Monday before the commencement of play on those days.
• Our transaction deadline is the start of the first American League game each week. This usually means 7:05pm EDT on Monday, but can be early afternoon if there is a day game and can be 11:00am on Patriot's Day. After the All-Star Game, it is not until sometime on Thursday. Only those transactions received by the League Secretary before the deadline will become effective that week. The League Secretary may determine, at his sole discretion, the methods by which he will receive transactions from owners. E-mail is the preferred medium. Phone calls may or may not be adequate notification. Warning: any MLB transaction occurring on Monday is deemed to have happened before any Roto transactions. This may occasionally invalidate and void an attempted Roto transaction. [A change to only consider MLB transactions through Sunday night was defeated in 2000.]
• Transactions recorded on Auction Draft Day, including trades and call-ups to replace disabled players, are effective retroactive to Opening Day. Transactions occurring after Auction Draft Day but before the closing time of the first transaction deadline are effective the Monday of that first transaction deadline.
• Performance stats of a player shall be assigned to a Rotisserie League team only when he is on the active 23-man roster of that team. It is common for a player to appear on the roster of more than one Rotisserie League team during the season because of trades and waiver-list moves. Even a player who is not traded may spend time on a team's Reserve List, during which period any numbers he might compile for his major league team do not count for his Rotisserie League team.

From the completion of the Auction Draft until midnight August 31, Rotisserie League teams are free to make trades of any kind without limit, except as stipulated below, so long as the active rosters of both teams involved in a trade reflect the required position distribution upon completion of the transaction. No trades are permitted from September 1 through the end of the major league season, or between frozen roster submission (midnight April 1) and Auction Draft Day. [This last clause from Benson's revised rules, but congruent with our practices.] Trades made from the day after the season ends until rosters are frozen on April 1 prior to Auction Draft Day are not bound by the position distribution requirement. [A proposal to permit unbalanced trades during the season was defeated in 2000.]

NOTE: This means that if Team A wants to trade its star pitcher (say Pedro Martinez) for Team B's star slugging outfielder (say Juan Gonzalez), Team A must throw in a duff outfielder and Team B a bum pitcher to make the trade come out even. In the off-season, the trade could be made straight up.

• Trades do not affect the salaries or contract status of players.
• Each trade is subject to the $1.00 transaction fee (50 cents charged to each Rotisserie team). The fee is not affected by the number of players involved in the trade.
• Unless you want knife fights to break out among owners, prohibit all trades involving cash, "players to be named later," or "future considerations". Trust us.
• Precedent: Trades may include either FAAB budget amounts or Nukes [1998], as well as farm players and position or slots in the following year's minor league draft.

NOTE ON DUMPING: [from Benson's revised 2000 rules] "Dumping" is the inelegant but scientifically precise term used to describe what happens when a team out of contention gives up on the season and trades to a contending team its most expensive talent and its players who will be lost to free agency at the end of the year, typically for inexpensive players who can be kept the following season. A "dumping" trade is always unbalanced, sometimes egregiously so, with the contending team giving up far less than it gets, and the noncontending team giving up much more in order to acquire a nucleus for the following season. While this strategy makes sense for both clubs, extreme cases can undermine the results of the auction draft, which should always be the prime indicator of an owner's ability to put together a successful team. To guard against this, we have in the past employed rigid and restrictive Anti-Dumping measures to control trades between contenders and noncontenders. But in light of major shifts in international politics and economics in recent years, we decided in 1993 that these restrictive measures tended to inhibit rather than enhance the playing of the game. Accordingly, we swept away all Anti-Dumping legislation effective with the 1993 season. We did so with some trepidation, but we felt the benefits of a free market would outweigh the potential for abuses. We were right. Let freedom ring. For leagues wanting Anti-Dumping legislation, an "In-Season Salary Cap" is a viable alternative solution. [Such a cap was defeated for this league in both 1999 and 2000.]

A team may replace any player on its 23-man roster who is:

• placed on the disabled list,
• released,
• traded to the other league, or
• sent down to the minors by his major league team.

To replace such a player, a Rotisserie League team must first release him outright or place him on its Reserve List. A team reserves a player by notifying the League Secretary and paying the $1.00 transaction fee. A reserved player is removed from a team's active roster at the end of the stat week (on Monday) - when formal notification is given - and placed on the team's Reserve List. There is no limit to the number of players a team may have on its Reserve List. Reserving a player protects a team's rights to that player.

A team has two weeks to take action once a player is placed on the disabled list, released, traded to the other league, or sent to the minors by his major league team. If no action is taken, the position is frozen open until the original player's return, and no replacement may be made. Precedent: We have chosen to interpret this deadline as being the second transaction deadline (usually Monday) following the first publication of a "Thursday Free Agent List" which warns the owner that a transaction needs to be made. Thus, in practice the deadline will be 11 to 17 days after the major league transaction occurs. [Reduced from a 14-20 day window in 2000.]

• A suspended player may not be reserved, released, or replaced. Note: We have decided to consider players suspended for substance abuse as if they were on the disabled list, and allow teams to replace them.
• Once a specific action has been taken to remove a player from its 23-man roster (via release or placing him on the Reserve List), a team is then free to select any eligible player from the free agent pool of players not already owned by another Rotisserie League team. The salary assigned to a player so selected from the free agent pool is $1.00; and the call-up fee is $1.00 [reduced from $2.50 in 1993]. (See Article VI).
• Precedent: An eligible player is defined as a player who meets position eligibility requirements and who is available in the free agent pool on the Thursday before the Monday transaction deadline. To make it abundantly clear which players are available as free agents each week, the League Secretary (or his designate) e-mails a list of available free agents to all owners each Thursday (or Friday at the latest). [1997 or earlier]. Note that the purpose of this Thursday list is to equalize information available to all owners, and eliminate disputes about whether players were or were not activated by their MLB teams in time to be eligible for transactions on Monday. Further precedent: We have occasionally augmented this list with a prominent player who is widely expected to be activated during the week-end, if an owner petitions the League Secretary to add this player before the Thursday list is published.
• If the same player is claimed by more than one team in a given week, he goes to the team ranking lowest in the most recent weekly standings. [Therefore, owners are advised to provide a prioritized list of alternate free agent choices to the League Secretary when making this kind of a transaction, and the team will get its highest available choice.]
• Every reserve move must be accompanied by a concomitant replacement move (i.e., a team may not reserve a player without replacing him). [The attempted reserve move becomes void if none of the requested replacement player(s) is available.]
• Placing a player on the Reserve List and activating a player from the Reserve List are each subject to a $1.00 transaction fee.
• The call-up takes effect as soon as it is recorded by the League Secretary, although the player's stats do not begin to accrue to his new team until Monday of the week the League Secretary records the call-up.
• A player on a Rotisserie League Reserve List may not be traded unless the replacement player linked to him is also traded. Thus, a team might trade Chuck Knoblauch (on reserve) and Donnie Sadler (called up to replace him) for Carlos Febles.
• To avoid even the appearance of collusion, a replacement player traded from one team to another may not be traded back to his original team for three reporting periods. [This clause is from John Benson's revised rules for 2000, and was formally adopted by our league in 2000.]
• A replacement player remains linked to the specific player on the Reserve List whom he replaced and cannot be relinked to another reserved player. The Thursday Free Agent List published by the League Secretary also shows which replacements are linked to which reserved players [1998].
• A replacement player may be traded or otherwise replaced (e.g. in case of injury, he could be reserved and a free agent called up to fill his slot). In such a case, the newly acquired player becomes linked to the original reserved player.
• When a player on a Reserve List returns to active major league duty, he must be reinstated to the active 23-man roster of his Rotisserie League team within two weeks after his activation or be waived. Failure to notify the League Secretary shall be considered a waiver of the player on the Reserve List. However, if the player on the Reserve List goes back on the DL or back to the minor leagues before the activation deadline, then this reinstatement requirement is voided, and the clock does not start ticking again until the player again returns to active major league duty. NOTE: Intended to prevent stockpiling of players, this rule is tricky to monitor, and we have chosen to interpret "two weeks" as the second Monday after a warning of this pending deadline is published with the Thursday Free Agent List. The effect is to 11 to 17 days after the major league team activates a player until the Roto team must take action. [2000]
• A player may not be reinstated or waived until he has been activated by his major league team. [A proposal to remove this requirement was narrowly voted down in 2000.]
• When a player is reinstated to the active 23-man Rotisserie League roster from a team's Reserve List, the player originally called up to replace him must be waived, unless the replacement player or the original player can be shifted to another natural opening on the roster for which he qualifies. Use of a "Nuke" avoids this restriction (see Article XV-A).
• If the replacement player is replaced (e.g. he is injured, put on reserve, and a free agent is called up), then his replacement becomes linked to the original player on the Reserve List.
• A player reinstated from the Reserve List may not displace any active player on the Rotisserie League team's 23-man roster other than his original replacement (or his successor).

NOTE: [This note is derived from John Benson's revised 2000 rules, and is largely obviated by our special rules concerning "Nukes" to create "natural openings".] The intent of all of this is to minimize the benefit a team might derive from an injury. Say Alex Rodriguez twists his ankle, and you call up David Bell to replace him. Bell then exceeds all expectations, and when Bush is reactivated, you'd like to retain them both and get rid of your other middle infielder, Jon Shave who hasn't had 10 AB any week yet and is unlikely to get 10 RBI all season. Our rules say you can't, on the premise that a team is not ordinarily helped by an injury to a key player. We know the big leagues do not handle it this way, but art does not always imitate life. Without some restriction, the owner might never have to pay the price for the bad judgement of drafting Jon Shave in the first place.].

XIII. Farm System

If a farm system player is promoted to the active roster of a major league team at any time during the regular season prior to September 1 (when major league rosters may expand to 40), his Rotisserie League team has two weeks after his promotion to activate him (at any position for which he qualifies) or waive him. However, if the player gets sent back to the minors or goes on the DL prior to the deadline, the activation requirement is voided, and the clock would not start ticking again unless and until the farm system player is again on an active major league roster. Warnings of these deadlines are also attached to the Thursday Free Agent List [1999] The actual deadline is the second Monday after the first posting to the Thursday list (which means 11 to 17 days from actual activation) [change voted in 2000].

• The fee for activating a player from a team's farm system is $1.00.
• If a farm system player is activated, the player displaced from the 23-man roster to make room for him must be placed on waivers, unless the farm system player can be activated into a natural opening, in which case no waiver is required.

Example: One of your pitchers is placed on a major league disabled list; you reserve him and activate a pitcher from your farm system who has been called up by his major league team.

• Once brought up from its farm system (activated) by a Rotisserie League team, a player may not be returned to the farm system, although he may be placed on a team's Reserve List in the event he is returned to the minor leagues by his major league club.
• A farm system player not brought up to a team's 23-man roster during the season of his initial selection may be kept within the farm system in subsequent seasons upon payment of an additional $1.00 per year, so long as he retains official rookie status and the League Secretary is duly notified on April 1 each year, when rosters are frozen. (See also Article XVIII). If a farm system player makes the major leagues on Opening Day, the owner must choose to freeze him (at a salary of $0.50 [down from $1.00, 1999]) or release him.
• Precedent: [Jeremy Giambi 1999] If a farm system player begins the year on a major league team's disabled list, he may remain in the rotisserie team's Farm System, and need not be activated unless and until his major league team removes him from the DL. If the major league team sends the player back to the minors before he is activated by the rotisserie team, he can remain in the Farm System.
• If a former farm system player who was promoted to the active roster of a rotisserie team is released, he then becomes available in next year's draft -- in the major league Auction Draft, if he is on an Opening Day major league roster or DL list, or in the minor league draft if he is back in the minor leagues and he still has rookie status. In the minor league draft he might be acquired by any team including his former owner [2000 clarification].
• A team may have no more than three players in its farm system.
• A farm system player may be traded during authorized trading periods, subject to prevailing rules governing transactions, as may a team's selection rights in the minor league draft.

NOTE: This means that a team could acquire and exercise as many as three farm system draft picks, providing it does not exceed the maximum of three players in its farm system at a given time.

Active major league players not on any Rotisserie League team's roster at the conclusion of the Auction Draft become free agents. During the course of the season the pool of free agents may also include minor league players not in any Rotisserie League's farm system (see Article XIII) who are promoted to an active major league roster; waived players who are not claimed; and players traded from the "other" major league. Such players may be signed in the following manner.

From Auction Draft Day until the final transaction deadline of the Rotisserie season: Free agents may be called up to replace players placed on a Rotisserie League team's Reserve List as outlined in Article XII. The only exception to Article XII's provisions for signing free agents during this period is that players traded into the league from the "other" major league must be signed by a Rotisserie League team with its Free Agent Acquisition Budget (FAAB), as described below. [This paragraph used to apply to the period from Opening Day until the All-Star Game, and limited replacement of players to only the cases permitted in Article XII, so that a team could be stuck for half a season with a bad player it drafted. This may have led to the creation of the "Nuke" idea. By 1998, the FAAB process in the next paragraph was expanded to apply to the entire season, although this is not true in many rotisserie leagues.] [A proposal to eliminate FAAB bids in September was narrowly defeated in 2000.]

Also from Auction Draft Day until the last weekly transaction deadline of the Rotisserie season: [Prior to 1998 this paragraph applied only to the period from the All-Star Game until September 1^st.] Free agents may be signed, without limit in number, but within the limitations of a Rotisserie League team's Free Agent Acquisition Budget:

• Each team shall have, for the purpose of acquiring free agents during the course of the season, a supplementary budget of $10.00.
• At the deadline established by the league for recording weekly transactions (by first AL game each Monday), each team may submit a sealed bid for one or more free agents.
• The minimum bid shall be $0.30 [lowered from $0.50 in 2000]; the maximum shall be the amount remaining in a team's FAAB.
• A free agent so selected goes to the highest bidder. If more than one team bids the same amount on a player, and if that amount is the highest bid, the player goes to the team that was lower in the most recently issued weekly standings.
• The salary of a free agent signed in this manner is his acquisition price. His contract status is that of a first-year player.
• In addition to the player's acquisition price, a team signing a free agent must pay the $1.00 transaction fee [reduced from $2.50, 1993] for call up free agents as set forth in Article VI.
• For each free agent that it signs, a team must at the same time waive or release a player at the same position from its active roster. (If on a major league team's active roster, such a player is waived. If he has been placed on a major league team's disabled list, released, traded to the "other" league, or demoted to the minors, such a player is released and may not be acquired by a Rotisserie League team until he is once again on a major league roster.) [One may not reserve the player being replaced by the FAAB acquisition!] [Failure to observe this last provision has been the leading cause for the Secretary rejecting illegal transactions. A proposal to permit FAAB replacements of reserved players was narrowly defeated in 2000.]
• A free agent signed for a salary in excess of $1.00 (i.e., more than the customary call-up fee for replacement players) is deemed to have a guaranteed two-year contract. If such a player is not protected the following season (i.e., if he is released into the free agent pool at the time rosters are frozen on April 1), then a contract buyout fee in the amount of twice his salary shall be paid by the team owning his contract at the time. [The original rules have a minimum charge of $10.00, but this provision was deleted by our league in 1993.]
• If a Rotisserie League team loses a player to the "other" league in an interleague trade, then the team's available FAAB dollars are increased by an amount equal to the lost player's salary. [In the case of a star player, this compensation often seems inadequate, but a proposal to continue accumulating stats from the other league was defeated [1999].] [A proposal to also let teams recoup FAAB budget for players who retire or are released was defeated in 2000.]

NOTE: If a team wishes to replace an injured player and reserve him, it must use the mechanism described in Article XII; it may not use the FAAB process without releasing the player. But FAAB bids in excess of $1.00 take precedence over reserve/replace moves made under Article XII.

NOTE: The provision regarding players acquired for a sum in excess of the $1.00 call up fee is intended to discourage frivolous bidding for free agents. It is also intended to make teams who are most likely to benefit from signing costly free agents—that is teams in the first division –pay for it dearly, by making such players expensive to dump the following spring.

NOTE: Set up a simple, common-sense mechanism for handling the "sealed bid" part of the FAAB process. Nothing elaborate is needed. Price Waterhouse need not be called in. [Since 1998, our league has used a mailbox (faab@mv.mv.com) that is monitored by a former owner who then transmits its contents to the League Secretary immediately after the transaction deadline.][In 1998 and 1999, our league used a mailbox that was monitored by a former owner who then transmits its contents to the League Secretary immediately after the transaction deadline.]

Beginning in 2000, we voted to permit conditional FAAB bids as follows:

• Rotisserie teams are free to submit conditional FAAB bids, waiver claims, reserve list assignments, and replacement claims subject to a few restrictions that are needed to avoid recursion, guarantee clarity, and defeat attempts to get two bites of the apple (or, two swings at the same pitch). An owner submitting conditional transactions must submit them in his order of preference. Each conditional transaction must have the form:

'IF <condition>, THEN <transaction>'

where the only allowable conditions are the success or failure of earlier transactions in the owner's ordered list. A transaction fails if the player sought is not available for whatever reason (typically acquisition by another team that had precedence or bid more) or if the player being waived/reserved/released to create the needed opening has already been removed from the active roster by a previous transaction. It is recommended that the list of transactions be ordered in the same order as the natural priority of adjudicating competing claims for players, namely, waiver claims first, then FAAB bids greater than $1.00, Article XII replacement claims, and FAAB bids less than or equal to $1.00.

• An owner may only submit one FAAB or replacement bid for any particular free agent to fill a particular roster slot. A second transaction attempting to acquire the same player will be summarily dismissed as illegal, unless the free agent would be displacing a different player on the active roster. An owner must figure out how much he is willing to pay and submit that bid, with no chance to wrangle a cheaper acquisition by multiple transaction requests.
• A waiver claim and a FAAB bid for the same player are legal only if the FAAB bid is conditioned on the waiver failing (because this owner already acquired another player on waivers). This is the only way an owner may acquire more than one player off the waiver wire in any particular week (and the FAAB bid may not be less than the player's salary would have been if acquired on waivers). One may not condition a waiver claim on the failure of a FAAB bid on the same player.

Examples:

1. Claim OF CYazstremski on waivers, waiving OF MCordova. IF waiver claim failed, THEN FAAB $1.60 for OF JRice, waiving Cordova. IF FAAB of JRice failed, THEN reserve MCordova replacing with Ruth, Gehrig, or Mantle (in order of preference).
2. Bid FAAB $5.20 for P Juan Pena, waiving P PMartinez. IF FAAB of JPena failed, THEN claim P CYoung on waivers, waiving P RClemens. IF claim of CYoung failed, THEN bid FAAB $0.60 for P RGarces waiving P RClemens.

Also, beginning in 2000, we have permitted the League Secretary some discretion in helping novice owners correct illegal transactions as follows:

• In relaxing restrictions on allowable transactions, the intent is to give each owner the fullest opportunity to make transactions that will improve his team. The rules for specifying transactions should not provide any advantage for veteran owners over novices. Therefore, if a less experienced owner submits an ambiguous or perhaps illegal transaction that the League Secretary deems to be a correctable mistake, the Secretary has 24 hours beyond the transaction deadline to attempt to contact the errant owner and ask the necessary questions to clarify the owner's intent. But this correction privilege will be extended sparingly and never in cases where there is any possibility that purposeful ambiguity may have been used to give any owner an unfair advantage.
• The League Secretary shall also be diligent in discouraging attempts to find loop holes in the rules. This game is about choosing the best baseball talent -- not legalistically exploiting the rules. While preferring to permit any transaction that is not specifically prohibited, the Secretary may choose to request that the Commissioner prohibit a particular transaction or type of transaction if it violates the spirit of the game and is not "in the best interests of Rotisserie Baseball."

Under certain conditions, a Rotisserie League player may be waived.

• When a player on a Rotisserie League team's Reserve List is activated by his major league team, either he or the player called up earlier to replace him must be placed on waivers (see Article XII) unless a "natural opening" exists. An exception is provided which involves using a "Nuke", as explained in Article XV-A. [Nukes date from 1993.]
• When a team activates a player from its farm system, except into a natural opening (see Article XIII), the player dropped from the 23-man roster to make room for him and must be placed on waivers.
• A player no longer on the active roster of his major league team and whose Rotisserie League position is taken by a player activated from the Reserve List or farm system may not be placed on waivers but must be released outright.
• A player placed on waivers is no longer eligible to be claimed if he is sent down to the minors, traded to the other league, or is placed on the DL by his major league team. NOTE: This is to prevent a team from picking up a disabled list player on waivers merely for the purpose of releasing him and replacing him with a player of higher quality from the free agent pool. When and if such a player later comes off the DL or gets recalled to the majors, he will be included in the next Thursday Free Agent List.
• The waiver period begins at noon on the Monday after the League Secretary has been notified that a player has been waived and lasts one week, at the end of which time the player shall become the property of the lowest-ranked team to have claimed him. To make room on its roster, the team acquiring a player on waivers must assign the player to a natural opening or waive a player at the same position played by the newly acquired player.
• Waiver claims take precedence over the replacement of an injured, released, or demoted player who has been put on reserve. Waiver claims also have precedence over FAAB bids. That is, a player on waivers may be signed by a team with a roster opening at his position only if no other team lower in the standings claims this player on waivers.
• A team may acquire on waivers no more than one player in a given week, but there is no limit to the number of players a team may acquire on waivers during the season. With interest in more than one player on the current Waiver Wire, an owner may provide the League Secretary a prioritized list of players he desires to acquire via waivers (stating the current player to be waived in each case) and the first available player will be the one claimed on waivers.
• Precedent: [1998?] Teams may also make a FAAB bid for any player on the waiver wire, but this bid will not succeed if any other team claims that player on waivers. [Note: This is the only way a team might acquire more than one player off the waiver wire in any given week.]
• A player who clears waivers - that is, is not claimed by any team - returns to the free agent pool. [And thus becomes available for cheaper FAAB bids the following week.]
• The fee for acquiring a player on waivers is $1.00. The salary of a player acquired on waivers shall be $1.00 or his current salary, whichever is greater; and his contract status shall remain the same.
• A player with a guaranteed long-term contract may not be waived during the season. However, he may be released and replaced if he is traded to the "other" league. An exception to this rule is also provided by the "Nuke" mechanism (see Article XV-A). Using a Nuke to waive such a player requires the immediate buy-out of the player's contract. [An additional surcharge for doing this was defeated in 2000.]
• A player may be given his outright release only if he is
  1. unconditionally released,
  2. placed on the "designated for assignment" list,
  3. sent to the minors,
  4. placed on the "disqualified" list,
  5. traded to the "other" major league, or
  6. placed on the disabled list.

The Info Roto OH! League has invented a mechanism for circumventing some of the more restrictive rules concerning roster moves. Each team begins each season with three "Nukes", and must use up one of these Nukes if it wants to make certain roster moves that would otherwise be prohibited. The use of a Nuke basically creates a "natural opening" where none previously existed (a stunning abuse of language!). A team must use a Nuke to execute any of the following transactions:

• To create a natural opening into which to activate a player from the Reserve List. That is, to waive (Nuke) some player other than the replacement player, so that both the reactivated player and his replacement are both retained on a team's active roster (in contradiction of the standard rules in Articles XII and XV).
• To create an opening for signing a free agent during portions of the season when FAAB bids are not permitted under Article XIV. The ability to Nuke a poor choice acquired in the Auction Draft was the original intent of this mechanism, but this point is currently moot with FAAB bidding permitted throughout the rotisserie season.
• To waive a player with a guaranteed contract in contradiction to Article XV. This guaranteed contract is created either by a FAAB bid above $1.00 (see Article XIV) or by a long-term contract created by the rules of Article XVII.
• The cost of nuking a player is $1.50. or the player's salary, or the buy-out cost of the remaining long term contract (including the current season), whichever is greatest. The player nuked is treated as if he was waived. [1993] Nukes may be freely included in any legal trade. [1999]

If it chooses, a team may expand its roster for the pennant drive by calling up one additional player on or after September 1 from the free agent pool, its own Reserve List, or its own farm system. [The original 17 player expansion with a draft was eliminated in 1993.] Precedent: The actual roster expansion occurs on the first transaction deadline (Monday) on or after September 1, therefore on some date between the first and the sixth.

• The performance stats of the player called up during September Roster Expansion start to accrue on the Monday after the League Secretary has been notified of the player's selection.
• The player called up goes into a second UT position, but this position can always be either a hitter or a pitcher, and can be switched between these roles at subsequent transaction deadlines at the owner's discretion.
• The fee for expanding the roster in September is $5.00.
• The salary assigned to a September call-up from the free agent pool is $2.50. The salary of a September call-up from a team's Reserve List or farm system is the salary established at the time he was previously acquired (on Auction Draft Day, or subsequently from the free agent pool, or via waivers). [Precedent: But this $2.50 salary does not create a guaranteed contract or any penalty if the player is not frozen the following April.]

NOTE: A device for heightening the excitement of contending teams and for sweetening the kitty at their expense, September expansion will not generally appeal to second-division clubs (who should, however, continue to watch the waiver wire in the hopes of acquiring "keepers" for next season at a $1.00 salary). [This helpful note comes from John Benson's 2000 rotisserie rulebook. In our league, with FAAB purchases available throughout September, all teams also need to watch rookie call-ups in hopes of acquiring a promising prospect for 30 cents.]

NOTE: This rotisserie roster expansion coincides with the major league roster expansion to 40 players. At this time rotisserie farm system players are often activated onto major league rosters, but according to the provisions of Article XIII, there is no deadline for activating the farm system player onto the rotisserie roster if he is called up on September 1^st or later. It may be advantageous to retain rights to the player by leaving him in the rotisserie farm system. However, if the recall happens on August 31 or earlier, then there is a 2-week deadline to activate or waive the farm player. Remember that once activated, a farm system player may not be returned to the rotisserie farm system. However, if not frozen the next April, and if still having rookie status, this player could be drafted by any team in the next minor league draft.

A player who has been under contract at the same salary during two consecutive seasons and whose service has been uninterrupted (that is, he has not been waived or released, although he may have been traded) must, prior to the freezing of rosters in his third season, be released; signed at the same salary for his option year; or signed to a guaranteed long-term contract.

• If released, the player returns to the free agent pool and becomes available to the highest bidder at the next auction draft.
• If signed at the same salary for an option year, the player must be released back into the free agent pool at the end of that season.
• If signed to a guaranteed long-term contract, the player's salary in each year covered by the new contract (which commences with the option year) shall be the sum of his current salary plus 50 cents for each additional year beyond the option year. In addition, a signing bonus, equal to one half the total value of the long-term contract, but not less than $0.50, shall also be paid.

Example: Let's say you drafted Deion Sanders for 20 cents in 1991. It's now the spring of 1993. You could let Sanders play one more season for you and get a tremendous return on your twenty cents. Taking a longer view, you sign him to a four-year guaranteed contract. Sander's salary zooms to $1.70 ($0.20+$0.50+$0.50+$0.50), but he's yours through the 1996 season. His signing bonus, which does not count against your $26.00 Auction Draft Day limit, is $3.40 (one half of 4 X $1.70). [This example is obviously from the 1993 rulebook. John Benson's 2000 rulebook instead has the following Note.]

NOTE: This rule is intended to prevent blue-chippers, low-priced rookies who blossom into super-stars, and undervalued players from being tied up for the duration of their careers by the teams that originally drafted them. It guarantees periodic transfusions of top-flight talent for Auction Draft Day and provides rebuilding teams something to rebuild with. And it makes for some interesting decisions at roster-freeze time two years down the pike.

• In determining a player's status, "season" is understood to be a full season or any fraction thereof. Thus, a player called up from the free agent pool in the middle of the 1998 season and subsequently retained at the same salary without being released in 1999 (even though he may have been traded) enters his option year in 2000 and must be released, signed at the same salary for an option year, or signed to a long-term contract.
• A team may sign a player to only one long-term contract, at the end of which he becomes a free agent.
• Option-year and long-term contracts are entirely transferable, both in rights and obligations; the trade of a player in no way affects his contract status.
• If, during the course of a long-term contract, a player is traded from the American League to the National League, the contract is rendered null and void. The team that loses the player's services shall be under no further financial obligations. [Other teams should send tasteful condolences - no gloating, please!]
• In all other cases - specifically including a sudden loss of effectiveness- a team must honor the terms of a long-term contract, as follows: A player with such a contract may be released back into the free agent pool (that is, not protected on a team's roster prior to Auction Draft Day), but a team that chooses to do so must pay into the prize pool, above the $26.00 Auction Draft Day limit, a sum equal to twice the remaining value of the player's contract. [Removed $10.00 minimum charge, 1993.]
• Releasing or waiving a player on a long-term contract during the season is only possible by using a "Nuke" (see Article XV-A), and carries the same financial penalty (including the current year as part of the value of the remaining contract).

For the first three seasons of the League's existence, each team must retain, from one season to the next, no fewer than 7 but no more than 15 of the players on its 23-man roster. After three seasons, this minimum requirement is eliminated, the maximum is retained. The minimum is removed because, after three seasons, a team might find it impossible to retain a specific minimum because too many players have played out their options.

• Any player on a team's active roster or reserve list at the end of the previous season can be put on the April 1 freeze list (protected roster), provided he has not been traded to the other league, gone to the Japanese League, retired, or otherwise is no longer affiliated with an American League team.
• Each team's Reserve List starts empty at the beginning of the season. However, a team may choose to protect a player who might start the season on the DL or even in the minor leagues.
• The names of players being retained must be recorded with the League Secretary by midnight, April 1. Specific notice must also be made at that time of any guaranteed long-term contract signings and farm system renewals of players still in the minors. A player cannot be renewed in the Farm System if he was ever on the team's active roster during the prior season, or if he no longer has official rookie status.
• The cumulative salaries of players protected prior to Auction Draft Day are deducted from a team's $26.00 expenditure limit, and the balance is available for acquisition of the remaining players needed to complete the team's 23-man roster. A team must obviously leave an adequate balance to finish stocking their roster (at least 10 cents per player needed).
• The League Secretary should promptly notify all teams in the League of each team's protected roster, including player salaries, contract status, and amount available to spend on Auction Draft Day.
• Failure to give notice of a guaranteed long-term contract for a player in his option year will result in his being continued for one season at his prior year's salary and then released into the free agent pool. Failure to renew a farm system player's minor league contract will result in his becoming available to all other teams in the subsequent minor league draft.
• A farm system player whose minor league contract is renewed on April 1 and who subsequently makes his major league team's active roster may, at his Rotisserie League owner's option, be added to the protected list of players on Auction Draft Day (and another player dropped, if necessary, to meet the 15-player limit), or he may be dropped and made available in the auction draft. He may not be retained in his Rotisserie League team's farm system.
• If a player on a team's April 1 freeze list is traded to the National League before Auction Draft Day, the player is deemed to be released and his salary is added to the team's balance available for bidding in the auction. [2000]
• However, if a player on a team's April 1 freeze list is put on the DL or demoted to the minor leagues, the player stays on the Roto team's roster throughout the Auction Day Draft, and may then be released and replaced or reserved and replaced after the draft is over (with retroactive stats for the replacement player to the start of the season).

NOTE: The April 1 roster-protection deadline was originally set to correspond with the end of major leagues' spring interleague trading period, a defunct rite of spring that still gives us a week or so to strategize. Until you know who the other teams are going to keep, you won't know for sure who's going to be available. And until you know how much they will have to spend on Auction Draft Day, you won't be able to complete your own pre-draft budget. So April 1 it is; don't fool with it. [This helpful note added from John Benson's 2000 rulebook.]

The Rotisserie League is governed by a Committee of the Whole consisting of all team owners. The Committee of the Whole may designate as many League officials as from time to time it deems appropriate, although only two - the League Secretary and the League Treasurer - ever do any work. The Committee of the Whole also designates annually an Executive Committee composed of three team owners in good standing. The Executive Committee has the authority to interpret playing rules and to handle all necessary and routine League business. All decisions, rulings, and interpretations by the Executive Committee are subject to veto by the Committee of the Whole. Rule changes, pronouncements, and acts of whimsy are determined by majority vote of the Committee of the Whole. Member leagues of the Rotisserie League Baseball Association may appeal to the RLBA for adjudication of disputes and interpretation of rules. The Rotisserie League has three official meetings each year:

• Auction Draft Day (the first weekend after Opening Day),
• the Midsummer Trade Meetings (at the All-Star break), and
• the Gala Postseason Banquet and Awards Ceremony.

Failure to attend at least two official meetings is punishable by trade to the Minnesota Twins. [The 1993 rules said Cleveland Indians. My! How times have changed.]

[In practice this league only has Auction Draft Day, but we sometimes try to get a group together for a midseason visit to a game at Fenway Park.]

[Our league does not have an Executive Committee. We instead have a Commissioner-for-Life, who makes rulings as necessary, subject to override by the Committee of the Whole.]

To consecrate the bond of friendship that unites all Rotisserie League owners in the pursuit of the pennant, to symbolize the eternal verities and values of the Greatest Game for Baseball Fans Since Baseball, and to soak the head of the League champion with a sticky brown substance before colleagues and friends duly assembled, the Yoo-Hoo Ceremony is hereby ordained as the culminating event of the baseball season. Each year, at the awards ceremony and banquet, the owner of the championship team shall have a bottle of Yoo-Hoo poured over his or her head by the preceding year's pennant winner. The Yoo-Hoo Ceremony shall be performed with dignity and solemnity appropriate to the occasion.

NOTE: If Yoo-Hoo, the chocolate-flavored beverage once endorsed by soft-drink connoisseur Yogi Berra, is not available in your part of the country, you have two options: (a) send up an alternate beverage, one chosen in the Yoo-Hoo spirit, as a pinch hitter, or (b) move. [This whimsical Note is from Benson's 2000 rotisserie rulebook.] [Thank heavens our league is too dispersed to have actually performed this messy ceremony.]

Note: I left this section here verbatim, but believe all the

Note: I left this section here verbatim in 2000, but believe all the amendments are now incorporated in the main body of the document, and we could remove this list.] [Instead, I'm going to use this section as an historical compendium of official rule change ballots from 2000 onwards -- Alan, 2001]

The following rule changes will take precedence over the previous rules in this document.

• The transaction fee for call-up free agents has been changed from $25 to $10, 1993.
• The minimum FAAB bid has been changed from $5 to $1, 1993.
• The maximum number of players that may be added to a roster during the September Roster Expansion period has been changed from 17 to 1, 1993.
• Each team is allowed three nukes over the course of the season.
• The cost of nuking a player is $15, or the player's salary, or the buy out cost of the remaining long term contract, which ever is greater. The player nuked is treated as if he was waived, 1993.
• All fees, salaries, and other charges are 1/10 of what is listed here, 1993.
• The position slots are as follows: Four outfielders, two catchers, one second baseman, one shortstop, one middle infielder (either second baseman or shortstop), one first baseman, one third baseman, one corner man (either first baseman or third baseman), one utility player (who may play any nonpitching position), one DH (must qualify at the DH position), and nine pitchers, 1993.
• If a player has a long term contract, and he is dropped in the middle of the year, or left off the freeze list the following year, the contract must be bought out. The buyout cost for long term contracts is 2 x remaining value of the contract. There is no minimum cost, 1993.
• The charge for cutting a player picked up via the FAAB rule with a salary larger than $10 is 2 x the player's salary. There is no minimum cost, 1993.
• Players claimed as injury replacements will have a higher priority than FAAB acquisitions with one exception. A player coming over from the NL *must* be acquired by having the highest FAAB bid, 1993.
• A player will qualify at any position he has played 20 games at the prior year, unless it is not a full season, in which case it will be 10% of the games (rounded normally). So for this year, that would be a player would be 113*.10=11.3 or 11 games, and next year it would be 144*.10 or 14. 1995
• The current DH slot will change to DH/OF (DO) slot, where a player who qualifies at either DH or OF can go. 1995
• The minor league draft order will change from 6-7-8...5-4-3-2-1 to 5-6-7...4-3-2-1, because we only give prizes to the first 4 place finishers.
• The minimum FAAB bid will return to the "official" minimum of $0.50, rather than the current minimum of $0.10. 1995

Results of Rule Change Ballot for 2000:

No fewer than nine of the 21 ballot questions were decided by a single vote. We passed three measures by only one vote, and defeated six others by that same slim margin. Here are the results:

• Q1. Accept Revisions Passed 11-0 Thank you!
• Q2. FAAB to replace reserved players Failed 5-6
• Q3. Pre-activation of DL players Failed 5-6
• Q4. Incr FAAB for ret/releases Failed 2-9
• Q5. No Sept FAAB bids Failed 5-6
• Q6. Opt release at Auction Failed 5-6
• Q7. $$ back if pre-draft trade to NL Passed 10-1
• Q8. Not trade back for 3 weeks Passed 6-5
• Q9. Upfront $100 Passed 8-2
• Q10. Increase inseason eligibility Passed 6-5, will be two games
• Q11. Add 'Defense' scoring category Failed 1-9
• Q12. No more NUKES! Failed 5-6 Damn!
• Q13. Permit voiding long-term deals Failed 3-8
• Q14. Conditional FAAB bids Passed 7-4
• Q15. Monday MLB moves don't hurt Failed 3-8
• Q16. Secy can clarify ambig moves Passed 7-4
• Q17. Decrease activation time limits Passed 8-3
• Q18. No 2nd farm draft if "tainted" Failed 1-10
• Q19. Decrease minimum FAAB bid Passed 6-5 it will be $0.30
• Q20. Inseason $35 salary cap Failed 2-9
• Q21. Permit unbalanced trades Failed 5-6