1) League Name:
The league shall be known as "The Fellowship of the Diamond"
2) League Composition:
The league has 18 or fewer franchises, generally divided into 3 divisions, although another arrangement
may be necessary. Make-up of the divisions starting 2010 will be decided by in order of finish.(Div.1 will be
1st and 2nd place teams,Div.2 will be 3rd and 4th place teams and Div.3 will be 5th and 6th place teams).According
to the final standings from the previous year
.
Note: Agreed upon formula for 2008 expansion: Each of 16 owners
protects 8 players. New owners draft, one -at-a-time, 6 players each(1st pick will be decided by a flip of a coin).
We throw two back, new owners draft 17th and 18th, but reverse of expansion draft( whoever pick 1st in expansion draft,drafts
18th at the draft).
Also, in 2008 we will have three divisions of 6 teams each, and
award prizes to the top two teams in each division. Formula for funds disbursement TBA.
3) Conditions of Ownership
a)Each owner has a moral responsibility to act in the best interests of the league.
b)Each owner shall abide by all rules set down in the constitution.
c)An owner may not have a financial interest in full or part of more than one franchise
d)Each owner ecognizes that the league flourishes because its members participate in all facets of our game.
This includes (but is not restricted to)
i)maintaining an interest in league affairs
ii)conspicuously
attemptinfg to improve the intrinsic value of his franchise
iii)being receptive to other owners offering to do business
4) Ownership Change
a) An owner may sell his franchise for whatever financial consideration he is able to attain. Note: It is
not the league's responsibility to sell an owner's team for him.
b) A new owner will pay any outstanding debt left by the previous owner, unless extenuating circumstances
warrent the league absorbing the unpaid debt.{see Rule 7, part f)}
c) Sale of a franchise to a new owner is subject to approval by the Commissioner
d) Should an owner leave mid-season, a new owner shall be found to take over his team. Failing this, the
league shall operate the team with the Comm. making those line-up changes necesssary to maintain the team's competivetive
atmosphere. No purchases nor trades can be made.
e) Teams apparently up for sale or being abandoned will have their rosters frozen.
5) Officers
The league shall appoint a Commissioner whose responsibilities include, but are not limited to: scoring,
communication (web site), collection and disbursement of fees and other matters inherent in the day-to-day operation of the
league.
The Commissioner can be removed by a 50% + 1 vote of all owners
6) Voting / Rule Changes
a) The league will hold a Winter Meeting annually to discuss business, date set by Comm.. This might well
be the same day as the draft.
b) Rule changes can be made at the Winter meeting only. Exception: Suggested changes may be put forward
by league's official scorer at any time from the close of the Winter Meeting until the end of the MLB season. These suggested
changes will then be voted on in an expedient manner by all owners wishing to have a voice
c) At other times during the year, and in the instance of an emergency situation only, (as an
exception to part b) above), the Comm. may poll all owners to bring about a necessary change
d) Rule changes need a 50% + 1 of majority of attending owners to pass.
e) In cases of multiple owners, each franchise is permitted one vote only.
f) Owners unable to attend the Winter Meeting may vote by proxy but only on those issues outlined in the
pre-meeting agenda
g) Rules passed at the Winter Meeting must be given at least one season of life to prove / disprove
their value.
7) Fees and Payment
a) The League's financial year runs from the last Monday night of each ML season to the next
b) The annual Franchise Fee will be $55
c) Trades are $2 per franchise involved / Purchase - $5
d) Franchise fee is due at the time of the draft. Thereafter, failure to pay Franchise Fee makes the owner's
team subject to sale or closure at the Comm.'s discretion.
e) Transaction debts are due the day the ML season ends. Failure to pay within 30 days makes an owner's
franchise subject to sale or closure, at the Comm.'s discretion.
f) The commissioner may not pay out any of the prizes until all
the year's debts are paid.
g) A returning owner must
pay all debts before participating in the current year
h) Debts unable to be recouped
by the sale of a franchise will be considered a league expense and deducted from the following season's income before disburesements
made
8) Prizes / Awards
a) Prizes / award shall be made from income remaing after expenses are deducted
b) Prizes / Awards are...
3 divisions 1st place prizes.......22.3%
3 divisions 2nd place prizes.......11.03%
Condidered expenses are the Official Scorer's remuneration of $550 and the Commissioner's honourarium of
$55 (price of franchise fee)
9) Protected Players Lists
a) At the Winter Meeting it shall be decided the number of players each owner will protect for the season
one year hence (i.e. Winter Meeting '06 decide on protected players for '07). At this time we may also alter the total number
of players on owners' rosters by adding / subtracting rounds from the one-year hence draft.
Note: For 2008 we will each protect six players with a 15 round draft giving each owner 21 players
b) Each owner shall submit a list of protected players, date to be set by the Comm.. Should an owner
fail to submit his list by midnight of the date for doing so, the Comm. may submit the list in his stead.
c) Ray Lankford Rule - Once an owner has submitted a Protected List and the deadline for doing
so has past, he has no further claim on those players he previously owned.
10) Draft
a) Held annually, date set by the Comm.
b) Will consist of enough rounds to bring number of protected players plus number of drafted players to
21('2006 only)
c) Draft order for each round (excepting trades) will be determined by owners' final standings in
their divisions... the three last place teams will draft 1st,2nd and 3rd, with the one of those with the lower point
totals going first, followed then by the three next-to-last finishers in their divisions and so on...Ties will be broken by
moving week(s) back into the standings.
d) On his turn, once an owner has announced his selection (one player), he has until the Comm. calls on
the next owner and that subsequent owner makes his pick, to change his selection. Any shortfall will be made up at the end
of that current round.
e) During the draft, should an owner wish to drop a player he has selected, he may do so but any shortfall
will not be made up until the end of the draft (using natural order)
f) Players need not have their rights owned by ML clubs in order to be eligible for selection at our draft.
11) Rosters
a) Comm. will set the date starting line-ups are due. Should an owner fail to submit a starting line-up
by the due date, the Comm. may do so in his stead.
b) From opening day until the close of the ML season each owner must field a position-eligible player at
c, 1b. 2b, 3b, ss, of(3), sp(4), rp(3)
c) An owner must have no more or no less than 6 players on there bench at all times.
d) If an owner has an non-active player in his line-up (def: one who has not played for any
reason during the previous two weeks, and is not expected to play in the coming week) the owner will be contacted by
the scorer and asked to replace the non-active player.(*a player cannot be replaced by another inactive player)The owner may
refuse, but will pay a fine of $5.00 per week / per player for non-active players used.
12) Position Eligibility (rules apply to both fielders and pitchers)
a) A player must have played ten games at a position the previous season to qualify for that position in
the coming year. Players with fewer than ten games at a position for the coming season will be given the one position that
they occupied most often.
If a player has fewer than 10 games at a position and played two or more positions equally, his owner will
select one of the positions for the player when he's picked up. Note that players may be eligible to occupy more than one
position.
b) A player must play five games at a position in the current year to earn or maintain (post-All Star Break)
eligibility at that position. (Exception: SP requires only three starts to maintain or earn SP status) Position eligibility
for all players is re-aassed and takes place the first week of play following the All -Sar game.
c) ML DH's who have played zero games at a position are given the one position they last most-commonly occupied.
Once a DH plays a position, that becomes his new position until he reaches the five-game mark, at which time he'll have earned
that position for the year.
d) Players who have not played in the ML the previous year.....will be given the position they most often
occupied in previous ML appearances, or failing that, the position they most commonly occupied in the minors. Note that once
one of these players has five games at a position, he loses eligibility (if different) at the position he was given from
his minor league or one-year removed ML experience. [Example: An infielder enters the majors with zero games played. He
was primarily a second baseman in the minors. His new ML club uses him a SS. After 5 games at SS, that's his new position,
and he loses 2b eligibility.
13) Roster Moves
a) All roster moves are due by 10:00 p.m. on Mondays (Exception: All Star Week...because that week generally
begins on Thursday, line-ups are not due until 10:00 p.m. Wednesday, at the Comm. discretion)
b) There is no limit on the number of roster changes an owner may make each week.
c) If an owner is unable for some reason to contact the Comm. with his moves, he may legitimize his roster
changes / transaction by reporting them to another owner, however that other owner must report the moves by the deadline.
14) Transactions
A. Trades...
a) All trades are made "caveat emptor" (buyer beware)
b) A trade is considered complete when agreed upon by the owners involved and reported to the Comm.
c) An owner may trade players / draft choices at all times throughout the year. Note: This includes the
post-Protected List / pre-Draft period. Each owner will enter the draft will the ability to end the session with 21
players, thus he may have any combination of draft picks / players at that time. Owners may may not trade draft choices
from a coming year until the current (upcoming) draft is over.
d) Trades deemed questionable will be first examined by the Comm. for evidence
of collusion or gross indifference (e.g. "lending" and "reckless abandoment"). If Comm. finds this to be so, he may cause
the trade to be disallowed. If necessary, and requested by at least two owners, the TRC will be contacted to review the deal.
This request to review the deal must be made within three days of the deal's publication.
The TRC is comprised of all owners who may voice their opinions to allow / disallow a trade. They may
do so by contacting the Comm. via the website. Also, the Comm. will attempt to contact as many owners as possible within the
time alloted to get their opinions.
A majority of owners voting so (50% plus 1) is required to overturn a trade.
Note: It is recognized that...the Comm. or TRC in general cannot legislate against stupidity.......and
it is recognized that players have often significantly different values depending upon the time of the year they are traded.
e) No financial consideration or other compensation can be given/promised as part of a trade other than
to pay both ends of the deal or pay for a player purchased.
f) In the case of multiple ownership of a franchise, only one of the owners need agree to the trade for
it to be valid.
g) Jimmy Rollins Rule: The Comm. / Scorer may not trade for a player that another owner
reveals is a player the owner plans to drop as part of a pending purchase.
h) Two of the same owners cannot trade a player(s) back that you traded through the season,until
the beginning of following season.(lending players)
i) Trading deadline will be the last 2 weeks of the season.
j)No trades can`t be reported to commissioner/scorekeeper until monday nights.
B. Purchases
a) Owners may purchase players at a rate of one per week on Monday nights from the close of the draft until
the last Monday of the ML season.
b) When purchasing a player, an owner must concurrently drop a player from his roster. If an owner fails
to name the dropped player and that owner cannot be contacted within 24 hrs, the Comm. will select the player to be dropped.
c) A dropped player may not be purchased until the following week.
d) An owner may choose to change the player he has requested to purchase up until the time the deadline
passes. After that the owner must take the player he requested.
e) Should more than one owner make application for the same player within the same week, the owner with
the lowest position in the standings from two weeks previous will get the player. If owners are tied in the standings, the
owner with the lower point total will be the successful applicant.
f) Purchased players may not be traded until the following week.
g) Information regarding purchase applications is not public knowledge, although the Comm. will inform an
applicant, if feasible, if a player he requests has been applied for by an owner with a lower standing.
15) Scoring
a) Stats anre tabulated by Comm. and points awarded on a weekly basis (ordinarily Mon. thru Sun.)
b) A scoring week must have at least four days worth of games.
c) The scorer will use whatever source of info.necessary to compile scoring stats.
d) Only the 15 players in an owner's starting line-up will have their points tabulated and counted.
e) Catagories for tabulation & comparison...Offense - runs, hits, HRs, RBI, SB-CS.....Pitching - AP,
IP, W-L, K-BB, Sv-BS.
f) Ranking points are awarded for owners' players in each catagory, then totaled for his weekly gain.
g) Pitchers' batting stats nor fielders' pitching stats will be counted.
h)Scoring will be based on a 162 game schedule(no tie breaking playoff games will be included in the final
week scoring).
