CALENDAR :::

  • Early February / FINAL KEEPER LISTs (midnight on Sunday, February 10th, 2008)
  • Week of February 11th / Final Keeper Lists posted. Early Picks e-mail Draft.
  • Mid February / League Pre-ranking. RR Draft participants state their intentions.
  • LIVE Draft Date by on-line RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR.

    8:00pm EST on weeknights; 2:00pm EST on weekends.

  • Pre-Season RR Draft follows Live Draft.
  • Pre All-Star Break / RR Draft participants state their intentions by July 1st.
  • All-Star Break / RR e-mail Draft.
  • September 15th / Preliminary 2008 Keeper Lists due.

RULES :::

  1. Team Names : NO in-season changes please! ::: Franchise names: Preferably, teams should be tied to a city, state, or geographic area, as all professional teams are, but it is not required. No offensive nicknames will be accepted. Continuity is preferred. Try to pick a name you'd like to take to the grave.

  2. Draft Order: Last place team through 1st place team; then reverse. SNAKE.

  3. A preliminary Keeper List must be sent to the Commissioner by September 15th. Teams not complying will be assumed to be playing out the year and abandoning their teams thereafter, and these teams will be placed with new owners for the following year.
  4. Off-Season Team Rosters ::: All (thirty / twenty-two) players on a team roster at season's end remain on the roster throughout the off-season, until final Keeper List comes due in February. Teams can continue to trade players, including Rookie Reserves, throughout the off-season.

    In this regard-- all players on team roster involved in off-season deals must either be added to receiving team's Keeper List OR (if Rookie Reserve) to receiving team's Keeper or Rookie Reserve list. This will ensure that all player movement is meaningful. ANY PLAYER INVOLVED IN AN OFF-SEASON TRADE CANNOT BE DROPPED until the pre-season Live Draft is completed.

    EXCEPTION ::: Any player involved in an off-season trade whose season is jeopardized by injury or retirement may be dropped before the Keeper List deadline in February.

    During the offseason, final team rosters will be posted at the League home-pages. The Commissioner's Office remains open for trade reviews, and notices will be sent to the other owners. Once approved, changes will be made to the rosters of the involved teams. Changes can also be made to your Keeper List AT ANY TIME during the year by notifying the Commissioner.
  5. Keeper Lists ::: Each team may designate a maximum of...

    • [ Pafko-at-the-Wall / Archie Graham Moonlighters / Free Shoeless Joe ]
      EIGHT players as "Keepers".
      Maximum split of +/- 2 between Position Players and Pitchers.

    • [ High Heat / K-Zone ]
      SIX players as "Keepers". Owners have the option of retaining a 3/2+1 split, or...
      beginning after '08 season, a 2/SP/2CL/2MR split.

  6. OPEN Keeper Slots ::: Owners are not required to fill all Keeper slots--

    Any open Keeper slots will entitle owner to a corresponding number of early pre-Live Draft Picks (See Rule #11), chosen from the Free Agent pool after Final Keeper Lists are posted (well BEFORE live Yahoo Draft), and these draft picks must progress in a way that complies with the league splits. Commissioner will run an e-mail Draft for any teams leaving Open Keeper Slots.

    To clarify :::
    [ Pafko-at-the-Wall / Archie Graham Moonlighters / Free Shoeless Joe ]
    Keepers must follow a maximum split of +/- 2.

    Examples: 5 Hitters + 3 Pitchers, or visa-versa; 3 Pitchers + 1 Hitter; 4 Pitchers + 4 Hitters; 2 Hitters + 0 Pitchers; and so on.
    BAD examples: 6 Hitters + 2 Pitchers (+/- 4); 4 Hitters + 1 Pitcher (+/- 3).

    [ HighHeat / K-Zone ]
    Keepers must follow an SP / CL + MR combination which maintains the balance between SP/RP and CL/MR...

    Six Keepers (3/3) 3 SP / 2 CL + 1 MR 3 SP / 1 CL + 2 MR
    Five Keepers (3/2, 2/3) 3 SP / 1 CL + 1 MR 2 SP / 2 CL + 1 MR 2 SP / 1 CL + 2 MR
    Four Keepers (2/2) 2 SP / 1 CL + 1 MR
    Three Keepers (2/1, 1/2) 2 SP / 1 CL or 1 MR 1 SP / 1 CL + 1 MR
    Two Keepers (1/1) 1 SP / 1 RP (CL or MR)

    Again-- beginning after the '08 season, a 6 Keeper option of 2SP / 2CL / 2MR split will be added.
  7. "Rookie Reserve"

    ROOKIE Defined ::: Player must not have passed the Maximum 130 AB or 50 IP of major league service in his career to be eligible for this draft.

    "Rookie Reserves" will hold these RR roster spots for as long as they are so assigned, or until the end of the season following the year during which which they surpass the Rookie Stat Line (130 AB or 50 IP). Any rookies, prospects, college players, or minor leaguers can be assigned these spots on your roster-- whether available in the YAHOO lists or not.

    The Commissioner will create an INACTIVE ROOKIE RESERVE team, where all RR players in the Yahoo system will be kept. (For our purposes, they're in the Minors.) To ACTIVATE a player, a request must be sent to the Commissioner by the team owner.

    If you choose a player in the RR Draft that is not in the YAHOO system, this roster spot will be left VACANT on the Rookie Reserve team, but the player's name will be slotted in the KEEPER List / Rookie Reserve List on the league home-page. Commissioner will announce any post-draft ROOKIE RESERVE changes on the league update list as they are made.
  8. Rookie Reserve Drafts ::: [Drafts will be held off-line via e-mail]

    Late March / RR Draft in pre-season will be held AFTER the active roster Yahoo Live Draft scheduled for March.
     ANY PLAYERS QUALIFYING AS ROOKIES in the Yahoo system may be drafted during the Yahoo LIVE draft and held as LOCK picks for Rookie Reserve.

    Early July / RR Draft will be held during the three-day All-Star Break.
    ANY PLAYERS QUALIFYING AS ROOKIES in the Yahoo system may be held on the live roster during the season and held as LOCK picks for Rookie Reserve.
    Any team with an OPEN Rookie Reserve Slot resulting from a "PASS" from previous year's draft will PRE-PICK a replacement in a PRE-RR-DRAFT supplementary round.
    Those not participating in the RR Draft move to top of the list.
    Those participating move to the bottom in reverse pick order (SNAKE).
    Owners are responsible for :::
    --- Confirming participation in the RR draft by the commissioner's deadline by sending in a list of THREE picks PER Open Slot. No exceptions-- anyone failing to do so will wait until the following Bi-Annual RR Draft. All owners are expected to be aware of when the drafts take place and to plan appropriately.

    --- Owner is solely responsible for checking desired players against current draft results, current Rookie Reserves, AND free agent player list at YAHOO league page. Anyone picking a player not available for any reason (including non-eligibilty because of surpassing 130 AB or 50 IP limit), will be skipped and must pick a replacement after draft is complete.

    --- Owner MUST include name, team, and league info in e-mail correspondence.

    --- Any Owner who intends on picking an eligible player that they have held on their active roster during the first half of the season, inform the Commissioner AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. The player is essentially a "lock" for drafting purposes when on your team roster, and these picks will expedite the draft process.

  9. Rookie Reserve Moves :::

    To ACTIVATE a Rookie Reserve ::: Alert the Commissioner of your intention, and name the active roster player to be dropped. The Commissioner will perform the transaction.

    You may choose to make an RR active at any time. Activate one of your Rookie Reserves during the current season, and he is active from that point on.

    You may keep player on your RR roster until the season AFTER he surpasses the Rookie Stat Line (130 AB or 50 IP). Following the post-Rookie season, you must either release him to free agency, or retain him by adding him to your Keeper List.
    All players in RR slots who surpass rookie stat limit will have end of following year indicated as DROP year on RR list below-- for example, a pitcher surpassing the IP limit in the current '07 season, would be eligible to stay with the current team until end of next season and will be notated as ::: '08.

    You can trade Rookie Reserves one for another / You can include Rookie Reserves in trades for regular roster players / You can trade future RR Draft picks for roster players or RR players. [Commissioner will determine whether or not trade is equitable and balanced, taking into consideration place in standings, future needs, etc.]

    Any traded RR player over the Rookie Stat Line ::: Career numbers of 130 AB or 50 IP, will retain his DROP year with new team and can be placed on its RR list.

  10. Pre-Season DEADLINE and LIVE DRAFT Preparation ::: Team owners will be sent an early February e-mail notification that players must be officially CONFIRMED on a FINAL Keeper List for the next season by midnight of the 2nd Sunday in February.
    [ February 10th, 2008. ]

    The players who were designated as keepers will be your first (pitching only: SIX / hit+pitch: EIGHT) draft picks.

    Any team failing to confirm designated keepers will be assigned the (pitching only: SIX / hit+pitch: EIGHT) players from their roster who ranked highest (OVERALL) on the Yahoo Player Rater.

    Owners with Open Keeper slots who choose to keep less than the maximum will participate in an Early Round Keeper Draft via e-mail. Commissioner will alert the participating owners by announcing that the Draft is underway. Commissioner will provide drafting owners with the Draft Order (with "Snake" Draft determining the order by appropriate Round), and with a list of current Keepers and Rookie Reserves. Owners will be responsible for using the Pre-Ranking function at the Yahoo League Page to EXCLUDE all Keepers and Rookie Reserves in order to determine the available Free Agents. As this phase of the Keeper process will determine how much time owners have to do their final Pre-Rankings in preparation for the Yahoo LIVE DRAFT, these Open Keeper slots must be dealt with in a timely fashion. Early Round Keepers will be chosen from the remaining Free Agents not on the Pre-Ranking EXCLUDE list.

    When Drafting Early Round Keepers, owners will be expected to provide the commissioner with a list of at least THREE picks per open Keeper Slot in preferred draft order, and with appropriate position splits. Commissioner will alert any owners of "conflicts" that may occur if the Commissioner is drafting, which may require owner(s) to hold off on later picks. This Draft should take no more than a few days to complete. Any owner who is unprepared will be assigned Keepers by the Commissioner, who will slot in the highest ranked player at the appropriate position (Pitcher or Hitter) in compliance with the Keeper Splits. Such Commissioner draft picks will follow a middle-ground split progression of 4/4. (See Rule #7)
  11. PLAYER PRE-RANKINGS :::

    Once the Draft Time and Date are determined and the Early Pick Keeper Draft is complete, do your PLAYER PRE-RANKINGS at the Yahoo League Page as you normally would, EXCEPT--

    a) Make your Keepers your TOP picks.

    b) DELETE (place on "EXCLUDE" List) all Keepers from other teams. (Commissioner will provide the complete League Keeper List as soon as they are received.)

    c) DELETE (place on "EXCLUDE" List) any player in the Yahoo system that is a Rookie Reserve. (Commissioner will include this list along with the KEEPER List.)

    --Commissioner will set the Rookie Reserve team to "Exclude" all other players except those chosen as Rookie Reserves.

    If any team owner is absent for any reason from the LIVE draft-- these mechanisms will insure that the draft runs smoothly.

    PLEASE NOTE ::: Any team owner not complying with this pre-draft ranking process will be held responsible for resulting draft mayhem and will be IMMEDIATELY banned from the league.
  12. **Dead Team Note** ::: The commissioner will distribute abandoned teams to other owners to continue the integrity of the league. The new owners must assume the existing rosters and accept the determined league settings. Existing Teams must be created for the new season immediately following league creation in the Yahoo FBB system.

    If any team is still orphaned when the season begins, the Commissioner will run it until a new owner is found. Draft Preferences will be set to Yahoo Rankings default (with appropriate EXCLUDES in place); Position players and SPs will be made active or benched as needed; Waiver Wire will only be used for DL issues-- top-ranked available player at needed position will be taken.
Rick Lopez, Commissioner

League Home Pages :::