PSDOOTP Rule Book

[RandyRocks77]

OOTP Rule Book


I. Lineups/Promotions/Demotions/Releases

1. Lineups are due by sim time the day of the sim. Sims for the most part are done on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Azazel's sim days they generally occur around 8pm unless otherwise specified. On Randy's sim days they generally occur after midnight unless otherwise specified. If you see one of us posting in lineup, trade or extension threads showing that we're processing changes that means the sim has started and it is too late to submit further lineup changes.

2. Lineups must be done using the following template:

Quote:
Release:
Player name (position) (level)

Activate from DL to MLB:


Demote from MLB to AAA:

Demote from AAA to AA:

Demote from AA to A:

Promote from A to AA:

Promote from AA to MLB:

Promote from AAA to MLB:

Lineup: (if you want multiple lineups please post multiple times)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7
8.
9.



Bench:


Rotation:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Bullpen:
LR:
MR:
MR:
MR:
SU:
SU:
CL:
If they are not done in this format, you are not guaranteed to have them done correctly or your changes will be ignored all together. If you've forgotten something and what you need is unclear because of it, we do not want to make any decisions in regards to your roster. If you miss something it is left as is until you fix it. Also you may post depth charts but only one backup player per position with no additional options selected, such as defensive replacements or how often the backup subs for your starter.

3. Promotions and demotions are limited to a total of 2 per sim. We will also auto your minors for you if requested. Exceptions to this limit are as follows:
a) For the 9/1 sim you are allowed to call up as many players to the MLB level as you want, but your minor league promotions/demotions will be limited to a total of 4.
b) The same is allowed in reverse for the opening day sim or for the playoff sim for any playoff teams that need to drop from 40 man roster to 25. In other words, you can demote as many players from your MLB roster as you need, and you have a total of 4 minor league promotions/demotions in addition.
c) After a trade, any adjustments you need to make to call up someone that you just traded will not count toward your limit. BUT, this only applies to calling up someone to your MLB roster or adjusting a minor leaguer that you just acquired via trade to put him at the correct level. Anything outside of that counts toward your limit.

4. If you want any more done please purchase the game and do it yourself. This amount of processing is the most we have time to keep up with. It is great to see everyone active enough to manage their minor league system, but we need to limit things to the most basic and necessary forms of assistance to prevent this from becoming too time consuming. These limits may seem to only be saving us a few minutes, but when more than one GM requests these changes it adds a lot of time to the sim and makes it take an hour or more just to process lineup changes.

II. Contract extensions:

1. Contract extensions can be done anytime of the current year.

2. In order to do extensions you must post a thread in the contract extension forum. You are only allowed one thread per year. All offers must go in this thread, and must be posted as follows:

Quote:
Mike Podell (C): 10 million for 4 years
This means that you will be offering said player 10 million each year for 4 years. You may also ask what the player is wanting before you begin negotiations. Sometimes they will say what they want per year.

3. Feel free to send your extension offers to the commissioners as well to make sure they are seen, but this is not a requirement. If your offer is missed by one of us, we will fix it.

III. In-Season Free Agents:
1. There is no limit to the amount of Free Agents you can sign. If you have the game, you can offer contracts in game. They will be exported when you export your team.

2. If you don't have the game, PM your offers to BOTH commissioners and your offer will be submitted during the following sim. The limit is 2 offers per sim, unless you are replacing an injured player, in which case the limit is 4.

IV. Trading

1. Trades can occur any time after the World Series until July 31st. The deadline is sim time of the 7/31 sim, but make sure your deal is posted in plenty of time because it is likely to be missed if it is posted last minute while the commissioner is processing trades and lineup changes, and the trade will be null and void.

2. Trades may include draft picks, but are subject to a 2 year cap (current year and next only). If you post a trade that includes a draft pick, you must specify which round and which year, and then also make sure to post in the traded draft picks thread along with a link to your trade thread for us to reference later when creating the draft order. This is your responsibility, not ours.

3. Trades can also involve cash.

4. Trades need to be in the following format:

Quote:
Team A gets:
(player from team B) (position) (level)

Team B gets:
(player from team A) (position) (level)
or:

Quote:
Team A gives:
(player from team A) (position) (level)

Team B gives:
(player from team A) (position) (level)
If the trade is not done using this template there is no guarantees the trade will be processed.

5. Trades are processed following the sim. What this means is that if the calender says 5/1 when you make the trade you will not have that player on your team until 5/15. Otherwise exports wouldn't work. The exceptions to this rule are the trade deadline, and opening day. On opening day you will still be required to have the trade done before a certain time. You also need to make the commissioner aware of what changes you need made to your lineup after the trade is processed if it is going to be processed before the sim.

5. Trades involving PTBNL are not allowed. If you are trading a recently signed player that isn't eligible for trade until 6/1, just put the player's name as normal and in the title line for the trade include "to be processed 6/1". There are no circumstances where an included player should not be disclosed.

V. Draft

1. The draft will take place in the game on 6/1 of each year, so this is our deadline for being finished and delaying it can create problems for us to have to clean up. Therefore, we prefer to avoid that. We will begin the draft after the season flip, as soon as we are able to import the draft class.

2. There is no limit on how many round draft picks a team can have

3. The time limit for the draft is 24 hours. It is the responsibility of the GM that is currently picking to let the next person in line know that they are up. This starts the clock for the pick. If the GM is not notified, they are not held liable and will be given a full 24 hours from the time of notification. If forgetting to notify the next GM becomes a frequent issue, we may pursue a policy to punish GMs for forgetting it because it has repeatedly caused delays in the past. When the 24 hour timer is up, if you haven't picked you will be auto-picked and receive the highest remaining player according to overall potential rating regardless of position. You are strongly encouraged to send in a draft list if you know your pick may be coming up and you won't be around.

4. The draft order will be as follows: The first 16 will be in order of non playoff teams from worst record to best record. Picks 17-22 will be in order of non World Series teams that made the playoffs from worst record to best. The 23rd pick will be the World Series loser and the 24th pick will be the world series winner.

5. If there is a tie we will go by the following order (the higher pick will be):

a. Team with the best Pythagorean record gets priority.
b. Team with the best H2H record.
c. Team with the best home record.
d. Team that scored the most runs.
e. Team that gave up the least runs.
f. Coin toss.

VI. Free Agency

1. Free Agency will be held every year on 1/1. There will be at least two FA sims per year. There can be more and will be decided by the commissioners discretion.

2. Every year the commissioners will post a thread with the asking prices of the top 50 free agents so anyone without the game will be able to see what their demands are and offer accordingly. If you need additional asking prices you are allowed to ask for the demands of up to six players that are not on the list. If you need anything beyond this, buy the game and do it yourself. If the player is not in the top 50, chances are his price is rather low and you could likely just make a reasonable offer and sign him anyway.

3. Minor league free agents will now be put on a limit as well because having your minor league rosters filled out is not required by the game, and asking us to spend time submitting offers for players that would never see a major league roster is beyond what we are willing to provide. We are going to judge this by ratings rather than whether or not the player is receiving a minor league or major league contract. Any pitcher that has a rating of 40 or less in more than one category will be subject to this limit, and so will any positional player that is rated 40 or less in more than two offensive categories. Players of this type will be limited to a total of 4 during FA sims. This is enough to allow you to sign backup players or add a few players for depth. If the free agent market is truly thin enough for exceptions to be necessary that will be considered, but it will mean the player will need to be on your MLB roster rather than in your minors. We will no longer help you fill out your minor league system because it is far too time consuming and adds no value. If you wish to do so, please purchase the game and do it yourself.

2. FA offers must either be PMed to BOTH commissioners or exported via FTP if you own the game. Offers must be submitted prior the free agent sim. If you send it in last minute, there is no guarantee that your offer will be submitted.

3. When sending us your offers, please make sure to include all necessary info to help us quickly find the player and accurately submit what you're wanting. In other words, include the player's full name and position, and a breakdown of the offer similar to this:
5yrs/$30mil
6mil
6mil
6mil
5mil
4mil
3mil

Also make sure to include any information about options and bonuses. If any of this info is not clear, there is no guarantee that it will be submitted accurately and it is your responsibility to make sure it is clear enough to avoid that.

4. Players signed in FA may not be traded until 6/1 of the year they were signed.

5. Everyone has a limit to how much they have available to spend in FA. If you need this number, ask the commissioners and we will get it for you.

6. We reserve the right to deny offer submission to someone that is in danger of bankrupting their franchise because if they quit it becomes our problem, or the problem of the GM that takes their place. We have seen this destroy franchises for several years and believe everyone should be able to work within their financial limits.


VII. September Call-Ups
1. Starting on September 1st, you can increase your MLB Roster to 40 players. Rosters will need to go back to 25 players for the playoffs. Any team that is in the playoffs and is not back down to 25 players by the time the Playoffs start, will have their entire organization Auto'd.

VIII. Playoffs
1. Playoffs will generally be held either in a chat room, or on AIM depending upon availability. Any GM may attend the Playoffs. If there is not significant interest in a live playoff sim then it will be run automatically just like a normal sim.

IX. Arbitration
1. At the end of every season there will be arbitration. Arbitration is for players who have more then 3 years of Major League Service time but less then 6 years and who are not signed to a multi-year contract. The game automatically submits an offer for you, so you are not required to make an offer. However, if you want to non-tender a player that will need to be done during this sim either by doing it in the game or asking the commissioner to do it for you.

X. Roster floors
1. If a team has less then 10 pitchers on their MLB team, their team will be auto'd.
2. If a team has less then 20 total players on their MLB team, their team will be auto'd.
3. You will get one warning, then your team will be auto'd.

XI. Media Contract (This rule is currently being re-written and does not currently apply)
Reset every teams Media Contract to 3.5M
Ceiling - 4.25M
Floor - 2.75M

Every year your team has the ability to change it's media contract for the following year based on performance.

sub .500 season - lose 100k
sub .300 - lose 50k
above .500 season - gain 100k
Playoffs - gain 50K
WS appearance - gain 50K
WS Winner - gain 50K



XII. Trade Committee
1. A 3 team Trade Committee will be in place for new GMs for their first two seasons. 2/3 is needed to pass or veto a trade.


XIII. Tanking

1. There is a minimum win threshold of 55 wins. Any GM that wins less than 55 games in a season will be under review by the commissioners whether guilt is suspected or not. This minimum was decided upon by a league wide vote, and a low number was purposely chosen because it is difficult to lose this many games without doing it intentionally or by complete neglect. That said, falling under the threshold is not an automatic guilty verdict. It is merely a safeguard put in place to identify teams that either need help or are capable of doing better on their own. Falling under the minimum will result in a discussion with both commissioners. All aspects will be considered and a verdict will be agreed upon by the two commissioners.

2. In addition, Any team that is suspected of purposely losing will be put under review by the commissioners. The 55 win minimum is designed to trigger an automatic review, but blatant behavior with a clear goal of intentional losing is grounds for punishment regardless of your win total. Behavior that will be cause for review includes but is not limited to: starting sub replacement level players when there is a clear better option, demoting fully developed and capable MLB level players in order to give playing time to a clearly lesser player, fielding multiple players that are clearly incapable of playing defense at the positions they've been slotted to play. This rule does not directly apply to new GMs, as they would be coached by a commissioner or a more experienced GM to help them get their team in shape. It also does not apply to a situation where a team has gone completely neglected. That is something that will be dealt with accordingly as well, but this rule is designed to prevent active GMs from purposely losing.

A warning may be given, but this will be at the discretion of the commissioners depending on the severity of the infraction and whether or not it is the first offense for the GM in question. In general, any experienced GM should know better and not need to be made aware that they're doing something wrong when everyone has been made aware of the rule. Thus, any loophole in this rule that is found and exploited will result in being put under review. No tanking gentlemen. Plain and simple. Both commissioners are heavily against it, and everyone knows it. Please have some respect for the fact that we donate our free time to make this league available, and abide by the rules rather than purposely finding ways to break them if you disagree with them. The same process applies as the minimum win threshold. If someone is suspected guilty, there will be a discussion with the commissioners and a verdict will be reached.

3. First offense will result in the first round draft pick of the guilty GM being moved to the last slot of the round. Second offense will be discussed by the commissioners and could include expulsion from the league. If a warning was given prior to being found guilty, the fact that the warning was ignored will be taken in to account.

[azazel529]

Posting the additions that are being added for the 1993 season. This will likely be edited a bit for clarity when we have more time, and the original list of rules above will be rewritten as well. Obviously when the league started and the original rule book was posted there was a lot of uncertainty and a lot has changed since then, so not everything above is accurate. Anyway...

NEW RULES as of 1/1/93


1) Compensation System. The compensation system is as follows:
A Player will be qualified as a "Type A" Free Agent if they meet ALL of the following qualifications:
- Were signed to a multi-year contract.
- Must have a combined VORP between 100-120 over last season and the current season (aka 50-60 VORP average between the two seasons)
- Age (as of Dec 31st) is 29 or younger
"Type A" - a prospect with Potentials equal to 100% of the Free Agent's Overalls

A Player will be qualified as a "Type B" Free Agent if they meet ALL of the following qualifications:
- Were signed to a multi-year contract.
Must have a combined VORP between 100-120 over last season and the current season (aka 50-60 VORP average between the two seasons)
Age (as of Dec 31st) is 29 or older
"Type B" - a prospect with Potentials equal to 90% of the Free Agent's Overalls

A Player will be qualified as a "Type C" Free Agent if they meet ALL of the following qualifications:
- Were signed to a multi-year contract.
- Must have a combined VORP between 121-140 over last season and the current season (aka 61-70 VORP average between the two seasons)
- Age (as of Dec 31st) is 29 or younger
"Type C" - a prospect with Potentials equal to 90% of the Free Agent's Overalls

A Player will be qualified as a "Type D" Free Agent if they meet ALL of the following qualifications:
- Were signed to a multi-year contract.
- Must have a combined VORP between 121-140 over last season and the current season (aka 61-70 VORP average between the two seasons)
- Age (as of Dec 31st) is 29 or older
"Type D" - a prospect with Potentials equal to 80% of the Free Agent's Overalls

A Player will be qualified as a "Type E" Free Agent if they meet ALL of the following qualifications:
- Were signed to a multi-year contract.
- Must have a combined VORP between 141-160 over last season and the current season (aka 71-80 VORP average between the two seasons)
- Age (as of Dec 31st) is 29 or younger
"Type E" - a prospect with Potentials equal to 80% of the Free Agent's Overalls

A Player will be qualified as a "Type F" Free Agent if they meet ALL of the following qualifications:
- Were signed to a multi-year contract.
- Must have a combined VORP between 141-160 over last season and the current season (aka 71-80 VORP average between the two seasons)
- Age (as of Dec 31st) is 29 or older
"Type F" - a prospect with Potentials equal to 75% of the Free Agent's Overalls

A Player will be qualified as a "Type G" Free Agent if they meet ALL of the following qualifications:
- Were signed to a multi-year contract.
- Must have a combined VORP higher than 160 over last season and the current season (aka 81 VORP or higher average between the two seasons)
- No age requirement
"Type G" - a prospect with Potentials equal to 75% of the Free Agent's Overalls

Relief Pitching Compensation will be a minimum of 60 VORP for a 100% comp and 50 VORP for an 80% comp. No age stipulation applies to this due to the limited value of relief pitchers and the very low percentage of relievers that could hit these requirements at an advanced age. Using a reliever as a starter makes the player ineligible for compensation if the number of starts is equal to or greater than 30% of a regular season (approximately 10 starts).

Stipulations:
-The free agent must be signed by opening day in order for the previous team to receive compensation.
-You do not receive compensation if you resign one of your own players after he files for free agency.
-The compensation prospect will be the same position as the free agent
-Any action taken to intentionally lower a pending free agent's VORP in order to obtain a higher % comp is strictly prohibited and will essentially be under the same review process as the tanking laws. If there is a case where someone is blatantly attempting to lower VORP for this reason, Randy and I will review their case and take action accordingly.
-The names of all compensation prospects will be randomly generated by the game. In order to keep the historical aspect of the league intact as much as possible, you are not allowed to choose the name of your compensation prospect.


2) International Free Agents:
Each season we will import international free agents. Most seasons there will be two of them, and a small number of seasons there will be more but only in cases where more than two high profile IFAs came to MLB in real life. We plan to have as many recognizable names as possible, but will also let the game auto-generate a player during years where there aren't two IFAs that were imported in real life. They will be visible in the free agent class so everyone can see their ratings before bidding. We will try to create them with the first FA sim to help everyone plan accordingly with finances.

You can make a cash bid from your cash on hand by sending your offer to BOTH Randy and I. Any bids that are missed due to not following these directions will not be valid. The highest bidder wins the rights to negotiate with the player and sign them to a contract. If after winning bidding you are not able to agree on terms with the player, you do not get your cash back and the player will be released in the FA pool for everyone to bid on. This should be an extreme rarity because asking prices will be known ahead of time and you'll have plenty of time to work out a deal. If anyone signs the IFA players without bidding for negotiating rights, the player will be released.


3) Finances:
The cash cap has been raised to $50mil and everyone's cash on hand has been updated to reflect this. You should have your full profits from last year, unless of course you lost money. This will continue until you reach $50mil, or whatever the cap is at the time. The cash cap will be raised $5mil per year until we reach $100mil. At that point Randy and I will evaluate league finances and see if it would be best to stay at $100mil or go slightly higher, although we don't expect anything higher to be necessary.

Also, keep in mind that anyone that loses money in a season does not get that money back. So just because we're adding cash doesn't mean you're getting a clean slate if you haven't managed your finances. We'll add the same amount for everyone, but if you took a loss that amount will still be deducted from your cash total.


4) Diamonds In The Rough:
Po has graciously volunteered to be the person that chooses the names for Randy and I. Here's how it works...when the draft class is released, Po chooses four players that would likely be later round picks. No one that would go in the first round. We plan to target recognizable names that the game unfortunately generated with crap ratings. Once Po chooses the players he PMs the names to Randy and I. The players will be given a 10-15 point boost in each category. Every four seasons, a fifth DITR will be chosen and that player will get a 15-20 point bump in each category. The editing does not happen until after the draft sim has happened, at which time we will announce the players. These guys won't be turned in to superstars, but will be boosted enough to be the equivalent of a late first rounder.

[azazel529]

Updated 3/14/13 to include the following changes:
1) Limits for lineup changes, FA asking price requests, in-season FA and minor league FA.
2) Trade policy rewritten for accuracy
3) FA policy rewritten for accuracy
3) Draft policy rewritten for accuracy
4) Media contract policy marked currently under review