03/30/2005 - Attention! The constitution has been updated, all updates and additions are in bold.
1.1. There will be 14 teams in the Boston Area Rotisserie Baseball League (BARBL) consisting of a mix of American and National League players. Each team will consist of 28 players (23 starters and 5 bench players) as well as a separate roster of up to 8 minor leaguers.
1.1.1 The Commissioner may decide to add additional Franchises to the league as he deems necessary. This decision should be discussed with the Rules Committee.
1.2. A team's roster consists of the following players:
If needed during the season:
1.3 During the baseball season each team must have 28 players on the roster at all times (23 active and 5 bench) See Rule 12.1. The Roster requirement does not apply to the minor league roster. During the off-season, there are no Roster requirements. Failure to maintain Roster requirements may result in the freezing of your Roster. Stats will not be accumulated for Rosters that are frozen.
1.4.There is a minimum innings requirement for all staffs of 1100 innings. Any owner, who does not achieve 1100 innings, will be placed last in the categories of ERA and WHIP.
1.5. There will be an in season salary cap of $310. This salary cap includes players on the DL and players promoted from the BARBL Owner's Minor League Roster.
1.6. When an Owner has a player on his Disabled List, and his Major League Baseball team activates that player, the Rotisserie Owner has 7 days to activate that player. Failure to do so will result in that player being released from that team and being placed on the Waiver Wire.
back to top2.1. Each team must acquire 23 players at a total cost not to exceed $260 (not real money). A team need not spend the maximum. Any left over money will be applied to the Bench Auction money.
2.2. Teams will nominate players for acquisition in order as determined before the draft.
2.3. Only players on a MLB 25 man Roster is allowed to be drafted at the Annual Auction. No players on the MLB disabled list is allowed to be drafted at the BARBL annual Auction.
2.4. If an ineligible player is selected in the auction and his ineligible status is not noted at the time of the auction, the team who selected the illegal player must pick a replacement player from the free agent pool. This replacement will count as a free agent in all aspects, including a $10 salary and counting towards the free agent acquisition budget. The ineligible player will then be released outright and cannot be resigned until such time he is legally eligible.
2.5. The team bidding first opens with a salary bid of at least $1 for any eligible player and the bidding proceeds at minimum increments of $1 until only one bidder is left. That team acquires the nominated player for the final bid amount. The process is repeated, with successive owners nominating players to be bid on, until every team has acquired a squad of 23 players by requisite position.
2.6. No team may make a bid for a player it cannot afford. For example, a team with $3 left and two openings on its roster is limited to a maximum bid of $2 for one player. (Leaving $1 for the other unfilled roster spot.)
2.7. No team may bid for a player who qualifies only at a position that the team has already filled and that team has already filled its utility position. Bench players will not be selected until all teams fill all 23 positional openings.
2.8. After an owner acquires a player, he immediately chooses the position that player will fill. Players eligible at more than one position may be shifted during the course of the auction.
2.9. The salary of a player acquired in the major league auction is his final bid amount.
2.10. Following the league auction, a second draft will take place. This is the Bench Auction Draft. For the Bench Auction Draft, each owner will have $10 (not real money) in which to draft 5 bench players. All of the above rules apply for the bench draft, except that there is no position eligibility clause. The bench auction draft players will come from the remaining Major League Players remaining from the auction. No minor league players may be drafted in the bench draft. No players on the disabled list may be drafted in the bench draft. The salary of the bench player drafted is his auction price.
2.11. Following the entire major league auction, a minor league e-mail draft will take place. See section XIII for the Minor League Rules.
back to top3.1. 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(s) at which he appeared most frequently.
3.2. Once the season is underway, a player also becomes eligible for any position at which he appears at least 10 times.3.3. For any Auction Draft that takes place before Major League Baseball’s Opening Day, the position eligibility of minor leaguers who have no major league experience will be determined by their projected fielding position for the upcoming season. The Rules Committee will confirm this position.
3.4. Once the season is underway, a minor league call-up who is signed as a free agent and has no prior major league experience will qualify at (a) the position he played most in the minors if he is signed before he actually plays a game or (b) the first position he plays in the field in the major leagues if he is signed before he plays 5 games. After 5 games at one position, the usual position eligibility rules take effect.
back to top4.1. The entrance fee for all Teams is $ 150.00. A deposit, to be determined by the Commissioner, will be required by February 1 of each year to secure the Owner's right to his team for that season.
4.2. All fees must be paid by AUCTION DRAFT DAY! Unless arrangements have been made, the commissioner has right to freeze rosters until fees are up to date.
4.3. All transactions made throughout the season are free.
4.4. The Commissioner will release a schedule every year when all fees are due.
4.5. Failure to pay any agreed upon fees will result in the loss of the owners Rotisserie Team.
back to top5.1. The salary of a player acquired in the Rotisserie Auction Draft is his auction price.
5.2. The salary of a player acquired in the Bench Auction Draft is his auction price.
5.3. The salary of a player acquired in the silent Free Agent Acquisition Auction is his auction price.
5.4. When a player is claimed off waivers, his salary remains the same. If the player clears waivers (i.e., is not claimed), then he becomes a free agent.
5.5. The salary of a player drafted in the minor league draft is $0. However, once a minor league player is activated by his BARBL Owner, his salary becomes $1. See section XIII for more details.
5.6. The salary of a player does not change unless the player becomes a free agent, or is signed to a long-term contract.
back to top6.1. All fees shall be paid promptly, collected, and wisely invested by the League Treasurer, who is empowered to subject owners to public humiliation and to assess fines as needed to insure payments are made to the League in a timely fashion.
6.2. The money shall be divided among the first five teams in the final standings as follows:
1st Place 40% $800
2nd Place 25% $500
3rd Place 15% $300
4th Place 12% $240
5th Place 8% $160
Totals 100% $2,000
Fees are $150 per team. Total fees collected = $2100. TQ Stats is $99.00.
If a different stat service is used, these figures may change.
6.3. Fees and Prize structures may change due to the cost of Stat services. This will be addressed annually by the Commissioner.
back to top7.1. The following criteria are used to determine team performance:
5 x 5 categories.
Batting Categories
Pitching Categories
7.2. Teams are ranked from first to last in each of the ten categories, and given points for each place. For example, in our 14-team league, the first-place team in a category receives 14 points, the second-place team 13, and so on down to one point for last place. The team with the most total points wins the Championship.
7.3. In case of ties in an individual category, the tied teams are assigned points by totaling points for the rankings at issue and dividing by the total number of teams tied.
7.4.In case of ties in total points for any position in the Final standings, the tie will stand. If the teams finishing in the money tie, the total for those positions will be divided evenly. For example, two teams are tied for the Championship, they will split the 1st and 2nd place money ($1300) and each receives $650. If more then 1 team finishes in 5th place, the 5th place money will be divided evenly.
7.5. In the case of cancellation of any part of the Major League Season, the following rules will apply. If any Major League Baseball club plays less than 82 games, than all monies will be returned, minus expenses. If all clubs play 82 games or more, then, for our league purposes, it will be considered a full season.
8.1. TQStats will be the recommended statistical service chosen and will constitute the official statistics for our league. All problems with player movements as well as statistics must be reported to the Commissioner within 2 days in order to give the Commissioner an opportunity to fix the problem, if he is reasonably able to do so. . The Commissioner reserves the right to annually select a different stat service, if he finds one that can provide better service to the League.
8.2. Performance statistics of a player shall be assigned to a Rotisserie League team only when he is on the active roster of that team.
8.3. Standings and Transactions will be tabulated daily on-line and available on the Internet.
8.4. All regular season statistics from Major League Baseball, including any extra games necessary to determine playoff teams, will be included. Statistics from Major League Baseball's playoffs are not included.
back to top9.1. The following chart will be used to allow the BARBL Owner to know when a trade may be made during the year.
| Time Frame | Allowed? | Restrictions |
|---|---|---|
| After Auction to July 31 | Yes | Positional Requirements |
| August 1st - 31st | Yes | Standings Requirements |
| Sept 1st to end of season | No | |
| Day after season ends to Freeze date | Yes | No Restrictions |
| Freeze date to Auction Date | No | |
Positional Requirements: Teams are free to make trades of any kind without limit, so long as the active rosters of both teams involved in a trade reflect the required position distribution upon completion of the transaction. This may cause a trade to be delayed until after the next free agent pick up date.
Standings Requirements: Trades may take place freely between teams within 4 spots either way in the current standings. No other trade may take place (1st place may trade with the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place teams; Last may trade with the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th place teams). Current standings will be defined as the standings on the day both Owners report the trade to the Commish. Positional requirements must still be met.
9.2. Trades are official once the Commish has posted the trade online.
9.3. There are no limits to the number of trades a team may make during the season.
9.4. Auction money, future considerations or "a player to be named later" are not permitted. All facets of a trade must be spelled out fully at the time of the trade.
9.5. Minor league players may be traded.
9.6. Back trades are not permitted. No player may be traded back to the same team during the same season.
9.7. As per Rule 14.10, trades do not affect the contract status of a player's contract. If a player is traded in his final contract year, he still becomes a free agent for the following year's auction.
9.8. Both teams involved in a trade must notify the Commissioner.
9.9. All trades take effect two (2) days after BOTH teams have notified the Commish. The two-day hold allows ALL Owners to evaluate the trade. In the event that an owner feels is unjust, the owner shall send an email to the commissioner's office stating clearly the reasons for his protest. The trade will be put to vote with the rest of the league. In order for a trade to be overturned, a simple majority of the Owners not involved with the trade must vote it down.
9.9.1. If a vote is needed from all Owners, then the trade will NOT take effect until the day following the league vote.
back to top10.1. Any player may be released at any time by his Rotisserie team, provided roster requirements are met.
10.2. We will be using the TQ Stats service to pick up free agents and players placed on waivers. Accordingly, when a player is released, he is placed on waivers until Sunday. At 5:00 pm every Sunday, the lowest placed team to claim the player acquires the player. The most recent standings shall be used to determine the lowest placed team.
10.3. When a player is claimed off waivers, his salary and contract status remains the same.
10.4. If the player has not been claimed, he immediately becomes a free agent and is available to all teams for the following Sunday.
10.5. The team who waived the player cannot claim the player off waivers. That team must wait until the player clears waivers and becomes a free agent before reacquiring the player.
back to top11.1. Any player who is on an active major league roster, not owned by another Rotisserie team, and not currently on the waiver list may be acquired as a free agent. Minor league players are not eligible to be acquired as a free agent.
11.2. No free agents may be acquired between the last day of the previous season and Opening Day of the current season.
11.3. Free agents will be acquired via a Free Agent Acquisition Budget (FAAB). · A free agent is defined as an active player on a Major League Baseball 25man roster (not including the September call up); is not a member of any Rotisserie Owner’s roster and is not currently on the Rotisserie Waiver Wire (Note: Players who are not on major league rosters may only be acquired on draft day, i.e. minor leaguers, who may only be acquired either during the minor league draft).
11.4. The FAAB for each team is $100 for the season. The $100 represents the total that a team is permitted to spend during the season on free agents.
11.5. Free Agent bidding is done in silent auction style. By 5:00 p.m. each Sunday during the season, any owner wishing to acquire a free agent must submit a bid for the player in question through the TQ Stats service. Whichever owner submits the highest bid agent gets the player. If more than one owner bids the same price, the player shall go to the team lowest in the standings.
Addendum: Each Owner is allowed to make 1 bid for each free agent. In the event that an Owner has erred and has made multiple bids to acquire the free agent, ALL bids from that Owner, in which the same free agent is involved, will be nullified. 1 bid for each free agent.
Conditional bids are still allowed, but may not contain bids for a free agent you have already submitted a bid on.
11.6. The minimum bid for a free agent is $1. There is no maximum, provided the bid is not higher than the amount of money left over in the team’s FAAB and it does not put you over the salary cap.
11.7. Any owner with a FAAB of $ 0.00 will no longer be able to acquire free agents.
11.8. The FAAB will reset to $100 at the beginning of each year.
back to top12.1. Each team has a 23-man active roster and a 5-man bench. Using TQ Stats, each Owner is able to change his lineup daily and substitute an active player for a bench player, providing that all Position Eligibility Requirements are satisfied. Each team must have 28 players on the roster at all times. Failure to maintain roster requirements will result in a warning. If no action is taken before the daily transaction deadline the team roster will be frozen for non-compliance and no stats will be accumulated for that day.
12.2. An Owner must have 5 players on the bench. Any player released from the bench must be replaced with a free agent or a waiver wire claim.
12.3. A suspended player may be placed on the bench.
12.4. A player on the disabled list may be placed on the bench. Please note that each owner has one Disable List spot on his Roster. When a player is placed on the disabled list, the Owner must acquire a free agent or waiver wire claim to fill the empty bench slot.
12.5. The bench players will be drafted Auction style after all Owners have drafted their 23 positional players.
12.6. The salary of a bench player is his auction price.
back to top13.1. Following our league's auction, an eight round minor league draft will take place. This will take place by email, with all Owners having 24 hours to make a selection. Please check your email constantly during this draft period. After your 24 hour limit expires, your slot will be moved to the end of the draft.
13.2. The selection of the minor league draft will be done in reverse order of standings from the previous season. In years in which an expansion team is drafting, the expansion team will draft last in each round.
13.3. The definition of a BARBL Minor League eligible player is as follows:
Any MLB Minor League player with numbers greater than those listed may NOT be drafted during the BARBL Minor League Draft and may not be on a BARBL Minor League Roster at any point during the season. Once a player obtains the numbers listed, he must be promoted to the BARBL roster (either active or bench) or released outright.
Any player with numbers greater than those listed may NOT be drafted during the Minor League Draft and may not be on your Minor League Roster at any point during the season.
13.4. Salary of a minor leaguer will be $0 and will not count towards your in season salary cap, unless the player is promoted to the Major Leagues and you decide to activate him, at which point his initial salary will be $1.
13.5. When a player is drafted in the minor league draft, he is placed on the team's minor league roster. This protects a team's rights to that player.
13.6. At no time during the season may an Owner have a player who does not meet the Minor League Definition listed in Rule 13.3, on their Minor League Roster
13.7. Once a MLB Team activates a player you have on the Minor League Roster, the BARBL Owner may activate the minor league player, and his salary will become $1. The player's salary will remain at $1 for the remainder of the season.
13.8. Minor Leaguer Players may be sent from your active roster to your Minor league roster as many times as necessary during the season, provided he still retains Minor League status as described in Rule 13.3.
13.9. Contracts: Players coming off the Minor League Roster may be kept at the same $1 salary for the upcoming season. Call this the Minor League Option year. There is a limit of 8 Minor League Option year contracts an Owner may give per season. This is not to be confused with your Keeper list or contracted players as described in Rule 14.
13.9.1. Players may be signed to a long-term contract from their Minor League Extended Opportunity Year. This will count towards your 6 contracted players.
Spring 2007 decide to give a 1, 2 or 3 year contract.
13.9.2 Contracted players released before the end of the contract (13.9.1 c, d &e) will result in a penalty to the BARBL of $3 per each year of the contract to be subtracted from the next Auction Draft.
13.9.3 Players released from and Minor League Contract or Minor League Extended Opportunity Year deal (13.9.1 b, c, d &e) will be available in the following BARBL Auction.
13.10. A minor league player may be retained from one season to the next without his salary counting towards the team’s $260 salary cap, , provided he was not activated during the previous season.
13.11. Each team has a maximum of eight minor league players he may retain from one season to the next. In the minor league draft, a team may only draft enough players to reach the eight-man minor league roster limit.
13.12. Each owner is allowed annually drop up to 2 minor league players on their roster. This drop list is due 2 weeks before each auction. If an Owner has obtained more than 8 players on his Minor League Roster due to trades, than he must drop enough players to get back to the 8 player limit. If an Owner has to drop more than 2 players to get to this limit, than he will not be allowed any further drops.
back to top14.1. From season to season, each Owner may retain 6 players on their roster, excluding Minor League Extended Opportunity Year players.
14.2.The names of the players being retained must be sent to the Commish at a date to be determined each year. Typically, this date will be the Roster freeze date.
14.3. After the leagues season (a season is defined as any part of a major league season) of a player being owned by any rotisserie team without having been released to the free agent pool, the player must be
Players under any contracts are considered keepers. Players who have been in the minor leagues from Opening Day through August 31 are not bound by this restriction. Their service time does not begin until they are called up to the major league roster during the season before September 1. Also see ADDENDUM 14.6.1.
14.4. If a player is released from any of the contract options at any time during the season, he is made available to all teams in the next major league auction.
14.5. If a player is given his option contract, his salary remains the same for one season. After that season is complete, the player must be released and made available for the next major league auction.
14.6. . This rule applies for 2005 ONLY.
If a player is signed to a long-term contract, his salary will be raised by an additional $5 during each year of the long-term contract.
14.6.1. Beginning with the 2006 season, the costs of the long-term contracts will change to $3 per year.
14.6.2. Those Owners with players contracted long term will have the contracts adjusted accordingly, with each long term player having their contract reduced by $2.
14.6.3. Players tendered contracts for the 2005 season must follow the current Rule 14.6.
14.7. If a player is released before the end of his 2 or 3 year contract, the team releasing that player will be penalized as follows: The team's salary cap will be decreased by $5 for each year in the total number of years in the contract.
ADDENDUM14.7.1 Beginning in the 2006 season, the penalty for release will be $3 per year for each year of the contract.
14.8. A player may be signed to only one long-term or options contract. After the contract has expired, the player must be released and made available for the next major league auction.
14.8.1 Any player picked up during the season who was in their option year contract , long-term contract or extended opportunity contract will not be allowed to be tendered a contract by the new Owner the following season and must be made available to the whole league at the next Auction Draft.
14.9. Minor league players are not bound by contract until they are called up to the major leagues. A minor league player may be retained from one season to the next without his salary counting towards the team’s $260 salary cap.
14.10. Trades do not affect the contract status of a player’s contract. If a player is traded in his final contract year, he still becomes a free agent for the following year’s auction. If the new owner releases a player during the season, he will be penalized as per rule 14.7 for the next auction.
back to top15.1. The decision of the Commissioner supersedes the rules herein and is final in any disputes. The Commish also has the power to change a rule with an unforeseen loophole post de facto (After the fact) for the benefit of the league. The overall good of the league as a whole will be greater then the benefit to any sum of its constituents.
15.2. The current Commissioner is Chris Kelly.
15.3. An Executive Committee composed of the Commissioner and three team owners in good standing will be responsible for the handling of all league business.
15.4. Rule changes and amendments may be proposed during the off-season. There may be a small group of volunteer Owners who may be considered to work as a Rules Committee. This group may be also be asked to work or advise on issues. The group has no formal standing or power other than indirectly guiding the Commissioner. The Commissioner will make a significant attempt to solicit opinions if warranted. The Commissioner may or may not elect to have the league vote on an issue.
15.5. The Commissioner, who may generally lean to an open forum to decide the future course of the league, ultimately controls off-season rule changes. However the Commissioner may choose to limit changes to those which fit the Commissioner's general long-term concept.
15.6. In-season, once the Rules are considered "set", there shall generally be no changes made to those types of Rules that may affect the strategic balance of the league.
Such "strategic Rules" can only be changed to fix obviously-not-intended errors or dangerous misconceptions, or to react to unforeseen emergencies externally forced upon the league. In such cases, the Rule changes should be kept to a minimum.
In-season, the "administrative rules", which do not measurably affect the strategic balance of who wins or loses, (eg. what time pickups are held) can be changed. This is provided there is sufficient rationale in terms of the general good of the league, and lack of a hardship that's centered on a very few teams.
15.7. If the Office of the Commissioner were to change to a different person, this section may be rewritten.
15.8. Pete Berce will be responsible for the upkeep of the leagues official website at http://www.barbl.net. Please direct any questions or comments regarding the website and it's content to his attention.
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