Post by Brian (Blue Jays GM) on Jan 2, 2011 22:40:40 GMT -5
Are we allowed to keep guys who are current free agents? I ask this because I noticed for example the Rays have Balfour and Soriano on their roster and I know both of them declared free agency this off-season
Post by Ben (Rays GM) on Jan 2, 2011 23:38:04 GMT -5
If a player has reached free agency in real life but has not completed six years of service time, you may choose to keep the player. So Jeremy Accardo is an example of a player from the Blue Jays who is a free agent in real life but whom you may choose to keep. However, remember that your franchise player may not be a free agent (unless he's a free agent due to being non-tendered or something like that) this winter. So the Rays may not franchise Crawford, the Rangers may not franchise Lee, the Phillies may not franchise Werth, etc. The Royals may franchise Greinke though, and the Brewers may not, because he was a Royal at the end of the World Series and was under contract for 2011 with the Royals at the time.
I have a question regarding the rules for service time. Per official MLB rules: "A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in the military service and time on the disabled list)."
I have a question regarding the rules for service time. Per official MLB rules: "A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in the military service and time on the disabled list)."
Fair enough. I've changed the official rules so that a year of service time is now any year in which a hitter had over 130 ABs or a pitcher had over 50 IPs or 25 games. The 25 games is not from MLB's rookie eligibility rules, but because we don't have a 45 day rule, it was necessary to include it for relievers.
Post by bullsforeve41234 on Jan 7, 2011 16:55:31 GMT -5
2 questions, in the rules it says h2h, now does this mean the setting for the league will be points or categories? Also where do you find the contracts for players, I had a site but looking at the contracts you guys have posted the site seems to be inaccurate, a link would be good.
Post by Brian (Blue Jays GM) on Jan 7, 2011 18:08:06 GMT -5
@white Sox in respons to your 2 questions
1)"At the moment, the plan is to use a fantasy baseball site called Fantrax, as it is the only one I know of that allows 30 team leagues for no charge. The regular season will be points-based head-to-head style, meaning each week you will compete in certain categories and you will receive either a win, loss, or tie for the week depending on how you did in those categories. You will receive only one win, loss, or tie each week.
The categories will be: for hitters - AVG, BB, XBH, HR, SB for pitchers - ERA, K/BB, IP, QS, SV"
This means that it will be based on categories. Win more categories than your opponent for the week and you get a W, win fewer categories and you get a L, tie and it's a T.
2)the only real life contract you need to know is your franchise player, otherwise you can follow these guidelines: "3, Payroll:
Players with fewer than six years of service time in real life will be paid based on the following formula:
First year players (players who have completed zero years of service time, according to our criteria) - 0.4 million ($400,000) Second year players (players who have completed one year of service time) - 0.5 million ($500,000) Third year players - 0.6 million ($600,000) Fourth year players - 1.0 million ($1,000,000) Fifth year players - 1.5 million ($1,500,000) Sixth year players - 2.0 million ($2,000,000)
Your players will continue along this salary schedule for as long as they remain under your control. Once they complete their sixth year, they become free agents. So for example, this year I have Evan Longoria as a 4th year player on my roster. He is being paid $1.0 million. Assuming he gets over 130 ABs this year, he will be a 5th year player making $1.5 million next year, then a 6th year player making $2.0 million, and then a free agent. So I have him under control for three more years at the moment.
Please note that every few year these prices may undergo minor changes to ensure realistic salaries. Also remember that this is entirely based on the player's playing time in real life.
A player who is on this salary schedule is called a "cost-controlled" player, and will be referred to as such.
You will have a salary cap of $100 million this season, which will increase every season thereafter by roughly $3-5 million. The exact increase will be announced by the commissioner after the season, and will be chosen based on which would be most realistic.
Your franchise player will earn whatever he earned in 2010. 2010 salaries may be found at espn.go.com/mlb/players "
Post by Ben (Rays GM) on Jan 9, 2011 13:15:13 GMT -5
There have been some questions about the Diamondbacks' franchise tag of Adam Laroche. Your franchise tag may be used on a player who has 6 or more years of service time and was not set to become a free agent this winter. Due to Laroche's team option for 2011 I decided it made sense to give the Diamondbacks the option to use their franchise tag on him. It didn't seem fair to allow the Cardinals to pick up Pujols as their franchise player but not allow the Diamondbacks to franchise Laroche simply due to the teams making different decisions on the options. So, if anyone has a player who had a TEAM option for 2011 that they would like to use their franchise tag on, that is fine. If you've already had your roster approved and would like to switch your franchise tag to a player who had an option that you didn't know you could keep, send me a PM.
Post by Ben (Rays GM) on Jan 12, 2011 11:46:09 GMT -5
Just want to clarify that franchising is for this year only. It's just for creating your starting roster. You do not get to franchise someone next year. So, if you have a 6th year guy and he gets another year of service in 2011, he will be a free agent after 2011, you will not be able to keep him.
Post by bianconero on Jan 17, 2011 17:18:45 GMT -5
There is DL spots ?? another question, why not daily changes instead week changes of lineups? in this way we could use our bench players, if not, these players doesnt have much value, IMO.
Post by Ben (Rays GM) on Jan 17, 2011 18:23:59 GMT -5
For hitters I would be fine with daily changes, but pitchers present a problem: we have extremely deep benches so that we can carry full 40-man rosters. If we allowed daily changes, people could just carry a ton of mediocre pitchers, switch in the ones who are pitching that day, and win three out of the five pitching categories (the counting stats - IP, QS, and SVs). We want people to build teams with good players, not just lots of them. Major league teams set a specific rotation and keep it that way. They don't change their rotations on a daily basis. So it's far more realistic if we can only change our rotations once a week. Orioles, you claim that if we don't have daily lineup changes then our bench players have very little value. If you think about it, isn't this more realistic? The players who have a lot of value in real life are the ones who start: the eight or nine hitters in the lineup, the five starting pitchers, and some of the relievers. The spot starters and bench players have very little value, and the players who are on the 40-man roster but aren't on the major league roster have even less. We don't have separate 25 and 40 man rosters, we just have a 40 man roster, because it keeps things much simpler. So just think of the guys you choose to start each week as your major league roster and the guys who you leave on your bench are the 40 man roster guys who aren't major leaguers. If people really want their bench hitters to have more value, then perhaps we could add another Util roster spot, or we could add an IF spot and a fourth OF spot, but I don't want to change the weekly lineup changes.
Post by Ben (Rays GM) on Jan 17, 2011 18:25:58 GMT -5
Oh, and as for the DL - the reason we don't have one is once again because we don't have separate 25 and 40 man rosters, so there's just no reason to have a DL that would allow you to call an extra player up to your 25 man roster. If a guy gets injured, put him on your bench and move one of your bench players into a starting spot. And perhaps then you'll be glad you have such a deep bench.
Post by Alex (Nationals GM) on Jan 28, 2011 3:09:07 GMT -5
Is there any In-Season adding of players. Like lets say there's someone i want to pick up that doesn't appear on anyone's roster before the season can i add them off the waiver wire during the season or does every player have to go through an auction?
Post by Ben (Rays GM) on Jan 28, 2011 7:30:05 GMT -5
The "secondary" round of free agency takes place during the season. You may only offer one year deals, and there are no discounts or compensation picks.
I appreciate a lot of the stats that are counted and some that are not (RBI, R) in order to make more like the MLB. However, I do not think IP should be a stat because it does not measure a good team. Also, I think WHIP should definitely be a stat that counts, as I think it measures a good pitcher in real life and in fantasy. I also think strikeouts would be good to include, only because it is fantasy. Strikeouts are helpful in real life, but are more of a fantasy boost, much like homeruns. When you think of elite pitchers, they also have a lot of strikeouts so I think that should be considered.
Innings pitched should definitely be a stat, since because stats like strikeouts are not included, a team (like yours) that has few pitchers could win most of the pitching categories. Strikeouts to walk ratio is included, but I think strikeouts should be added in addition to strikeout to walk ratio, because a strikeout pitcher might be wild, taking away from his value because of strikeout to walk ratio, taking away from his value, but I still think he should be valuable because of his strikeouts. I think both should be included. Baseball can not be confined to simply 5x5, so I think the stats included should be expanded. If we are truly trying to be realistic though, (I don't propose this) saves should also be taken out because it is a stat based on environment, kind of like RBIs and runs scored.