2009 Sons of Theo Constitution

This Constitution is based on one found in the “Official Rotisserie Book” by Glen Waggoner, et al, published sometime prior to 1993. After consultation with league owners, some changes have been made to the original version of the book. Also, some explanations of our procedures have been added to make the rules clearer. Where ambiguous cases have been clarified by rulings from the Commish, these have been added with notes labeling them as “Precedents”. This is a living document; further changes will occur!

I. Object

To assemble a lineup of 23 American League baseball players whose cumulative statistics during the regular season, compiled and measured by the methods described in these rules, exceed those of all other teams in the League. 

II. Teams

There can be up to 12 teams in the Sons of Theo Rotisserie League “SOT” each composed entirely of American League players. We are a “keeper league” with teams retaining some players across multiple seasons.

III. Roster

A rotisserie team’s active roster consists of the following American League players:

One catcher, one first baseman, one third baseman, one corner infielder (CI) (either a first baseman or a third baseman), one second baseman, one shortstop, one middle infielder (MI) (either a second baseman or a shortstop), four outfielders, one designated hitter, one utility player (UT), and one catcher/DH players who may play any batting position, nine pitchers (unrestricted as to starting or relief pitchers).  Also, each team can carry up to 20(WM08) minor league players in their farm system as described in Article XIII.

 

At the Winter Meetings (WM) in 2007, the league voted 5-3 to implement a C/DH spot on the roster, eliminating the mandatory 2 catcher’s spots on the roster.  This rule will be in place starting with the 2009 SOT Season.

 

IV. Draft Day

A Major League Player Draft is conducted on the first Saturday after Opening Day of the baseball season. Each team must acquire 23 players at a total cost that A) does not exceed the set salary cap. The salary cap and baseline will be sent to all teams before the draft.  (The salary cap formula: The average salary of the combined AL franchises.  In 2004, the Salary cap was 70,000,000.  In year one, the League by general agreement determines the order in which teams may nominate players for acquisition.  In each following season, the order of player selection is decided by the reverse order of finish from the prior season.  The last place team drafts first with the league champ drafting last.  This order repeats for each round until completion of the draft.  The team drafting first opens with the players name, roster position he will fill, salary figure. The process is repeated, with successive team owners introducing players to be drafted, until every team has a squad of 23 players by requisite position.  (note: some teams may have up to 43 players on their roster, when including 20 farm team members)

• Players eligible at more than one position may be shifted during the course of the draft.
• No team may draft a player who qualifies only at a position that the team has already filled. For example, a team that has acquired two catchers, and whose UT slot is also occupied, may not draft a player who qualifies only at catcher.
• Players who commence the season on a major league team’s disabled list are eligible to be drafted. If selected, they may be reserved and replaced during the first transaction, or during the Transaction Draft to be held immediately after the draft.
• During the WM’s prior to the 08 SOT season, the league voted to allow the trading of draft picks.  Also, using the 08 draft as precedent, referred to as the “DMB-JM Draft Day Shenanigans Rule”, teams are not allowed to trade picks that they will not be using because their roster is already full. 
•  

NOTE: Opening Day rosters and salaries for each American League team will be needed before Draft Day. We do not submit our protected lists until we have both the rosters and the salaries of all players. 

Also, up to 20 Minor League Players (a) who are not on any American League team’s active roster; and (b) who still have official rookie status, as defined by major league baseball may be drafted during the 31 rounds.  Each ML will access a $3 charge to be placed on your Farm.  The major league rookie rule reads:

“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 a 25-player limit (excluding time in military service).”

Precedent: A player is eligible to be drafted even if he were on some Roto team’s main roster in a prior year, as long as he is now back in the minors and still meets the MLB criteria for being a “rookie”.

• Selection may take place in any round of the Major League draft.
• See Article XIII for rules governing farm systems.

 

Compensation Draft MLB: A draft will be held after round 2 for  MLB players lost the NL via Free Agency.  In order to qualify for compensation a player must be top 3 vorp(see below for calculation) for each Infield position, top 10 for Outfielders, and top 20 for Pitchers(starters and relievers).  The Team who loses the highest ranked player will pick first, and so on. 

Vorp: Taking the average vorp over the past two seasons, with the most current season vorp counting twice. 

Compensation Draft Farm:  the draft will be begin after the second round immediately following the FA Supplemental Draft with the team losing the highest ranked farm picking first.  Scenario:  Rios/Snider get traded to St. Louis for Pujols.  Rios owner would be able to take on pujols, while the team with Snider would receive a compensation pick in the upcoming draft. 

Farm Supp Criteria:  Top 20 in AL as rated by BA. BP, and John Sickels. 

Supplemental Draft:  Draft head immediately after the All-Star that allows a team to forfeit it’s 1^st round selection for the upcoming draft, in order to add a player to it’s current farm system.  The 20 player maximum still applies.  A team may make room by trading or nuking a current farm player.  mb

V. Position Eligibility

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 at which he appeared most frequently. Once the season is under way a player becomes eligible for assignment to any position at which he has appeared at least twice.A player selected for the UT may qualify at any batting position. Position eligibility for players who played in the majors the previous season is well-documented and easily determined. For rookies, the League Commish will research eligibility based on minor league appearances, and in some cases, the Commish will research the players major league appearances and combine the two stat lines. All owners are invited to help in this eligibility determination effort.  As of 2008, players are eligible to be drafted at positions they’ve played PRIOR to draft day, assuming they’ve played at least 2 games at the qualifying position. Also, the “Miggy Rule” allows teams to use positional stats from games played on the Saturday of Draft Day, but only in games played prior to teams drafting players.

If the previous season is not a full 162-game season, a player qualifies at any position at which he played 10% of the available games (rounded normally). Thus, for 1994, that would be a player who played 113*.10=11.3 or 11 games, and for 1995 that would be 144*.10 or 14. [1995 rule change that we all hope is moot in the future.]

·         Minor League players and those playing between the minor and MLB eligibility will be determined by combining all the games played at each level to determine position eligibility. 

 

VI. Fees/Salary Cap/Flexibility Cap

The Rotisserie League has a schedule of fees covering all player personnel moves. No money passes directly from team to team. All fees are payable into the prize pool and are subsequently distributed to the top three in the final standings. (See Articles VIIIand IX).

1. Transactions: $4.00 per trade (no matter how many players are involved) or player activation (from Reserve List or farm system). In a trade, the team that pays the fee is subject to negotiation. [Precedent: in practice in our league, each team is simply charged $2.00 for any trade they are involved in.]
2. Call-up From Free Agent Pool: $1.00 for each player called up from the free agent pool.
3. Reserve: $1.00 for each player placed on a team’s Reserve List (see Article XII).
4. Farm System: $3.00 for each player in a team’s farm system (see Article XIII).
5. Activation: $1.00 for each player activated from the Reserve List or farm system.
6. Waivers: $1.00 for each player claimed on waivers (see Article XV).
7. September Roster Expansion: $10.00 (see Article XVI).

Salary Cap: The cumulative total of salaries paid for acquisition of a 23-man roster (31 if you have 8 farm players) on Draft Day may not exceed $95,000,000 (this figure will change year-to-year) and may be less at owner discretion or incompetence. An end of season minimum salary bar will also be set to prevent roster purging.  The salary will be determined by finding the average salary for all 14 AL teams.  We use the AP salary database that is released shortly after the season started.  We now use the actual average salary as opposed to rounding up or down.

Flexibility Tax: A $5,000,000 “flexibility tax” has been added to the salary cap on a trial basis for the 2004 season.  The objective of the “flexibility tax” is two-fold, 1) penalize those owners that draft poorly and go over the cap, and 2) give greater flexibility during the season for trades, FA acquisitions, etc.  [The goal is not to give a deep-pocketed owner an unfair advantage (i.e. MLB àSteinbrenner and the Yankees)].  The “flexibility tax” will be capped at $5,000,000 for the 2004 season.  All salary totals will be rounded up.

 

Flexibility Tax Scale:

 

0-1M – $10 = $10

1M-2M – $10 + $40 = $50

2M-3M – $10 + $40 + $50 = $100

3M-4M – $10 + $40 + $50 + $100 = $200

4M-5M – $10 + $40 + $50 + $100 + $200 = $400

 

Also, any team that exceeds the salary cap during a scoring period will not only pay a financial penalty but also be subjected to a smaller cap figure in the following season.  [Ex: Team A exceeds the cap by 2 Mil in 2004. Team A’s 2005 cap figure would be 80M, less the 2M they went over, for a total of 78M.  If Team A stays under the cap figure in Year 2, the full salary cap will be reinstated.  However, if Team A does not manage to say under the cap, they will continue with the smaller cap figure in year 3 and onward until they get back under the cap.] 

 

VII. Player Salaries

The recognized MLB salary determines the salary of a player for the current season.  (Salary figures are released at the end of spring training.) The AP salaries are used in SOT (not USA Today)

VIII. Prize money

All fees shall be promptly collected by the League Treasurer. Owners are expected to be paid in full by draft day.  The franchise fee for the 2004 season is $200. Which is due at draft day.  The interest income from this investment can be used to defray the cost of a gala postseason awards ceremony and banquet (or a night of drinking).  The principal shall be divided among the first three teams in the final standings as follows:

1st place — 60%

2nd place — 30%

3rd place — 10%

 

Late Payements:  Subject to 2% Interest Accrued Weekly

 

Transaction Fee’s – See Above

IX. Standings

The following criteria are used to determine team performance (commonly referred to as a 6×6 league):

• Composite batting average (BA)
• Total home runs (HR)
• Total runs batted in (RBI)
• Total Net stolen bases (SB-CS)
• Total runs scored (R)
• Composite OPS (OBP + SLG)
• Total Total Bases (TB)
• Composite earned run average (ERA)
• Total wins (W)
• Total saves (S)
• Total Holds (H)
• Composite ratio: bases on balls (BB) + hits (H) / innings pitched (IP) = WHIP
• Total strikeouts by pitching staff (K)
• Quality Starts (changed from ops VS to QS at WM08)

Teams are ranked from first to last in each of the ten categories and given points for each place. For example, in a 9-team league, the first-place team in a category receives 9 points, the second-place team 8, and so on down to 1 point for last place. The team with the most total points wins the pennant.

The IP Requirement. A team must pitch a total of 1075 innings to receive points in ERA and ratio. A team that does not pitch 1075 innings maintains its place in ERA and ratio ranking (Whip,ERA,OPS against) but receives zero points in both of these categories.

The AB Requirement. A team must have 4250 at bats in the season. A team that does not have 4250 at bats maintains its place in the batting average ranking but receives zero points in that category.

• Pitchers’ offensive stats are not counted. Nor are the pitching stats of the occasional position player called in to pitch when the score is 16-1 after five innings and the relief corps is hiding under the stands.
• In cases of ties in an individual category, the tied teams are assigned points by totaling points for the rankings at issue and dividing the total by the number of teams tied.
• In cases of ties in total points, final places in the standings are determined by comparing placement of teams in individual categories. Respective performances are calculated and a point given to each team for bettering the other. Should one team total more points than the other, that team is declared the winner.
• Should the point totals still be equal, the tie is broken by adding each team’s total at-bats at season’s end, plus triple the number of its innings pitched. The team that scores a higher total by this measure wins the contested place in the standings. In the extremely unlikely event a tie still exists, prize money is split. We don’t do coin tosses.

X. Stats

Player-performance statistics are provided daily by cbs.sportsline, a stats provider company on the web whom we employ for this purpose (and they in turn get their statistics from STATS, Inc.). The previous day’s stats are usually updated onto our league’s webpages by early-morning. CBS also sends each owner a weekly e-mail on Tuesday with the end of week (through Sunday) stats for all teams in the league. The league webpages updated daily by CBS also show rosters, the waiver wire, and free agent listings.

• The effective date of any transaction for purposes of statistical calculation is the Tuesday before the commencement of play on those days.
• Our transaction deadline is 2:00PM on Tuesday. After the All-Star Game, it is not until sometime on Thursday. Only those transactions received by the League Commish before the deadline will become effective that week. The League Commish may determine, at his sole discretion, the methods by which he will receive transactions from owners. (E-mail will probably be the ONLY medium accepted,) Telephone, Fax, Text, in person all have been acceptable forms.
• Performance stats of a player shall be assigned to a Rotisserie League team only when he is on the active 23-man roster of that team. It is common for a player to appear on the roster of more than one Rotisserie League team during the season because of trades and waiver-list moves. Even a player who is not traded may spend time on a team’s Reserve List, during which period any numbers he might compile for his major league team do not count for his Rotisserie League team.

XI. Trades

From the completion of the Draft until midnight August 31, Rotisserie League teams are free to make trades of any kind without limit, except as stipulated below, so long as the active rosters of both teams involved in a trade reflect the required position distribution upon completion of the transaction week and both rosters post-trade fall within the salary cap limitations. No trades are permitted from September 1 through the end of the major league season, or between frozen roster submission (varies) and Draft Day. Trades made from the day after the season ends until rosters are frozen are not bound by the position distribution requirement.

• Off-season trades are not subject to salary cap limitations.
• Each trade is subject to the $4.00 transaction fee ($2.00 charged to each Rotisserie team). The number of players involved in the trade does not affect the fee.
• Trades may include farm players and reserve list players.

XII. The Reserve List

A team may replace any player on its 23-man roster who is:

• placed on the disabled list
• released
• sent down to the minors by his major league team.

To replace such a player, a Rotisserie League team must first release him outright orplace him on its Reserve List. A team reserves a player by notifying the League Commish and paying the $1.00 transaction fee. A reserved player is removed from a team’s active roster at the end of the stat week (on Tuesday) – when formal notification is given – and placed on the team’s Reserve List. There is no limit to the number of players a team may have on its Reserve List. Reserving a player protects a team’s rights to that player.

A team has two weeks to take action once a player is placed on the disabled list, released, traded to the other league, or sent to the minors by his major league team. If no action is taken, the position is frozen open until the original player’s return, and no replacement may be made. Precedent: We have chosen to interpret this deadline as being the second transaction period deadline (usually Tuesday).

• A suspended player may not be reserved, released, or replaced. (This includes the MLB new performance enhancing drug policy)
• Once a specific action has been taken to remove a player from its 23-man roster (via release or placing him on the Reserve List), a team is then free to select any eligible player from the free agent pool of players, waiver wire not already owned by another Rotisserie League team, or from their own resereve list.    The call-up fee is $1.00 (See Article VI).
• Every reserve move must be accompanied by a concomitant replacement move (i.e., a team may not reserve a player without replacing him). [The attempted reserve move becomes void if none of the requested replacement player(s) is available.]
• Placing a player on the Reserve List and activating a player from the Reserve List are each subject to a $1.00 transaction fee.
• The call-up takes effect as soon as it is recorded by the League Commish, although the player’s stats do not begin to accrue to his new team until Tuesday of the week the League Commish records the call-up.
• To avoid even the appearance of collusion, a player traded from one team to another may not be traded back to his original team for three reporting periods.
• When a player on a Reserve List returns to active major league duty, he must be reinstated to the active 23-man roster of his Rotisserie League team within two weeks after his activation or be waived. Failure to notify the League Commish shall be considered a waiver of the player on the Reserve List. However, if the player on the Reserve List goes back on the DL or back to the minor leagues before the activation deadline, then this reinstatement requirement is voided, and the clock does not start ticking again until the player again returns to active major league duty. NOTE: Intended to prevent stockpiling of players, this rule is tricky to monitor, and we have chosen to interpret “two weeks” as the second transaction Tuesday after the transaction has taken place.
• A player may not be reinstated or waiveduntil he has been activated by his major league team(Any team may activate a player prior to being activated from the DL) Be careful(see Roy Halladay 2005)
• When a player is reinstated to the active 23-man Rotisserie League roster from a team’s Reserve List, the player originally called up to replace him must be waived, unless the replacement player or the original player can be shifted to another opening on the roster for which he qualifies.  In this instance, the nuke rule could also be used to free up a roster spot. 
• If the replacement player is replaced (e.g. he is injured, put on reserve, and a free agent is called up), then his replacement becomes linked to the original player on the Reserve List.
• WM08- After completion of the draft during the Transaction Draft each team may reserve any player with less than 6 years of MLB service time on their 23 man roster for any reason they deem necessary.  This was put in place to prevent owners from having to play young players who have started the year in the majors but aren’t getting enough playing time.  For example, daric barton lost his farm status, therefore he must be placed on the 23 man roster on draft day.  Effective the first transaction period an owner can reserve Barton in favor a FA or player from their own reserve list.  This rule is only in place for the first transaction period.  The normal rules for reserving a player come into effect for the remainder of the season.(please see “reserve list” for further details). 

 

XIII. Farm System

Each team is allowed a total of 20 Farm Players as defined.  If a farm system player is promoted to the active roster of a major league team at any time during the regular season prior to September 1 (when major league rosters may expand to 40), his Rotisserie League team has the option of either calling up that player or leaving him in the farm.   If a team promote a farm player to the 23 man roster, the team must keep that player on the 23 man roster unless the player is put on the DL, sent back to the minors, or released. The actual deadline is the second transaction Tuesday.

• The fee for activating a player from a team’s farm system is $3.00.
• If a farm system player is activated, the player displaced from the 23-man roster to make room for him must be placed on waivers (Article XV), reserved (Article XII), or nuked.
• Once brought up from its farm system (activated) by a Rotisserie League team, a player may not be returned to the farm system during that year, although he may be placed on a team’s Reserve List in the event he is returned to the minor leagues by his major league club.
• A farm system player not brought up to a team’s 23-man roster during the season of his initial selection may be kept within the farm system in subsequent seasons upon payment of an additional $3.00 per year, so long as he retains official rookie status and the League Commish is duly notified on April 1 each year, when rosters are frozen. (See also Article XVIII). If a farm system player makes the major leagues on Opening Day, the owner must place the player on their 23 man active roster.
• A team may have no more than 20 players in its farm system. Unless a farm/mlb player is traded to the NL for other farm players.  For example, Austin Jackson traded to the NL for 4 minor leaguers.  The team losing Jackson would be allowed to add all 4 Farm players.  This would result in 23 Farm players.  Once this threshold has been reached, the owner has to right to maintain the 23 farm roster throughout the rest of the season, but returning the to 20 farm max the following season. 

• A farm system player may be traded during authorized trading periods, subject to prevailing rules governing transactions.

XIV. Signing Free Agents

Active major league players not on any Rotisserie League team’s roster at the conclusion of the Draft become free agents. During the course of the season the pool of free agents may also include minor league players not in any Rotisserie League’s farm system (see Article XIII) who are promoted to an active major league roster; waived players who are not claimed; and players traded from the “other” major league. Such players may be signed in the following manner.

From Draft Day until the final transaction deadline of the Rotisserie season: Free agents may be called up to replace players placed on a Rotisserie League team’s Reserve List or “nuked” players.

Also from Draft Day until the last weekly transaction deadline of the Rotisserie season: Free agents may be signed, without limit in number, but within the limitations of a Rotisserie League team’s payroll:

• At the deadline established by the league for recording weekly transactions (we’ve established a 2pm deadline in 2008), each team may submit a request for one or more free agents.
• If more than one-team requests the same player, the player goes to the team that was higher in the most recently issued priority list.  For week #1, the player goes to the team lowest in the standings.  The priority list rules are in effect from week #2 onwards.  [Note: This rule was amended by a vote of 8-0 during the first few weeks of the 2004 season.]
• A team signing a free agent must pay the $1.00 transaction.
• For each free agent that it signs, a team must at the same time waive or release a player from its active roster. (If on a major league team’s active roster, such a player is waived. If he has been placed on a major league team’s disabled list, released, traded to the “other” league, or demoted to the minors, such a player is released and may not be acquired by a Rotisserie League team until he is once again on a major league roster.) [Note: One may not reserve the FREE AGENT acquisition]
• If a Rotisserie League team loses a player to the “other” league in an interleague trade, then the team losing the player has the first right to acquire the player moving into the AL, as long as the added player’s salary stays within the salary cap limitations. (When multiple teams are involved, the Commissioner decides which team gets first priority)
• FA can only be added to the 23 man active roster.  No FA may be added to Farm or Reserve List. (WM08)

NOTE: If a team wishes to replace an injured player and reserve him, it must use the mechanism described in Article XII; The League Commish has some discretion in helping owners correct illegal transactions as follows:

• In relaxing restrictions on allowable transactions, the intent is to give each owner the fullest opportunity to make transactions that will improve his team. The rules for specifying transactions should not provide any advantage for veteran owners over novices. Therefore, if a less experienced owner submits an ambiguous or perhaps illegal transaction that the League Commish deems to be a correctable mistake, the Commish has 24 hours beyond the transaction deadline to attempt to contact the errant owner and ask the necessary questions to clarify the owner’s intent. But this correction privilege will be extended sparingly and never in cases where there is any possibility that purposeful ambiguity may have been used to give any owner an unfair advantage.
• The League Commish shall also be diligent in discouraging attempts to find loop holes in the rules. This game is about choosing the best baseball talent — not legalistically exploiting the rules. While preferring to permit any transaction that is not specifically prohibited, the Commish may choose to request that the Commissioner prohibit a particular transaction or type of transaction if it violates the spirit of the game and is not “in the best interests of Rotisserie Baseball.”

XV. Waivers

Under certain conditions, a Rotisserie League player may be waived.

• When a player on a Rotisserie League team’s Reserve List is activated by his major league team, either he or the player called up earlier to replace him must be placed on waivers unless a “natural opening” exists or a “nuke” is used to create an opening.
• When a team activates a player from its farm system, except into a natural opening or a “nuke” is used, the player dropped from the 23-man roster to make room for him and must be placed on waivers.
• A player no longer on the active roster of his major league team and whose Rotisserie League position is taken by a player activated from the Reserve List or farm system must be placed on waivers.
• A player placed on waivers is no longer eligible to be claimed if he is sent down to the minors, traded to the other league, or is placed on the DL by his major league team. NOTE: This is to prevent a team from picking up a disabled list player on waivers merely for the purpose of releasing him and replacing him with a player of higher quality from the free agent pool. When and if such a player later comes off the DL or gets recalled to the majors, he will be included in the next Thursday Free Agent List.
• The waiver period begins at noon on the Tuesday after the League Commish has been notified that a player has been waived and lasts one week, at the end of which time the player shall become the property of the lowest-ranked team to have claimed him. To make room on its roster, the team acquiring a player on waivers must assign the player to a natural opening or “nuke” a player to make room for the newly acquired player.
• A team may acquire on waivers no more than one player in a given week, but there is no limit to the number of players a team may acquire on waivers during the season. With interest in more than one player on the current Waiver Wire, an owner may provide the League Commish a prioritized list of players he desires to acquire via waivers (stating the current player to be waived in each case) and the first available player will be the one claimed on waivers.
• A player who clears waivers – that is, is not claimed by any team during the one week following his release – returns to the free agent pool.
• The fee for acquiring a player on waivers is $1.00.
• A player may be given his outright release only if he is
  1. unconditionally released,
  2. placed on the “designated for assignment” list,
  3. sent to the minors,
  4. placed on the “disqualified” list,
  5. traded to the “other” major league, or
  6. placed on the disabled list.

[AMMENDMENT: ON APRIL 15^TH, 2004, THE LEAGUE VOTED 8-0 TO AMEND THE WAIVER RULE TO INCLUDE A “NUKE” TRIGGER.  THE “NUKE” TRIGGER ALLOWS OWNERS TO ADD OR DROP PLAYERS ON A LIMITED BASIS AT-WILL.  OWNERS ARE PERMITTED UNLIMITED “NUKES” PER SEASON – HOWEVER, NO MORE THAN 1 “NUKE” MAY BE USED IN A GIVEN SCORING PERIOD (ONE WEEK).  THIS AMENDMENT WILL NOT CHANGE THE CURRENT WAIVER CRITERIA RULES. THE FEE FOR “NUKING” A PLAYER IS $1.00] 

• If the same player is claimed by more than one team in a given week, he goes to the team ranking lowest in the most recent weekly standings. [Therefore, owners are advised to provide a prioritized list of alternate waiver choices to the League Commish when making this kind of a transaction, and the team will get its highest available choice.]

 

XVI. September Roster Expansion

If it chooses, a team may expand its roster for the pennant drive by calling up one additional player on or after September 1 from the free agent pool, its own Reserve List, or its own farm system.  Precedent: The actual roster expansion occurs on the first transaction deadline (Tuesday) on or after September 1, therefore on some date between the first and the sixth.

• The performance stats of the player called up during September Roster Expansion start to accrue on the Tuesday after the League Commish has been notified of the player’s selection.
• The player called up goes into a second UT position, but this position can always be either a hitter or a pitcher, and can be switched between these roles at subsequent transaction deadlines at the owner’s discretion.
• The fee for expanding the roster in September is $10.00.

NOTE: This rotisserie roster expansion coincides with the major league roster expansion to 40 players. At this time rotisserie farm system players are often activated onto major league rosters, but according to the provisions of Article XIII, there is no deadline for activating the farm system player onto the rotisserie roster if he is called up on September 1^st or later. It may be advantageous to retain rights to the player by leaving him in the rotisserie farm system. However, if the recall happens on August 31 or earlier, then there is a 2-week deadline to activate or waive the farm player. Remember that once activated, a farm system player may not be returned to the rotisserie farm system. However, if not frozen the next April, and if still having rookie status, this player could be drafted by any team in the next minor league draft.

XVII. Roster Protection

• Any player on a team’s active roster or reserve list at the end of the previous season can be put on the April 1 freeze list (protected roster), provided he has not been traded to the other league, gone to the Japanese League, retired, or otherwise is no longer affiliated with an American League team.
• Each team’s Reserve List starts empty at the beginning of the season. However, a team may choose to protect a player who might start the season on the DL or even in the minor leagues. That player can be reserved during the first transaction period.
• The names of players being retained must be recorded with the League Commish by midnight, April 1(24 hours after official salaries are released) Specific notice must also be made at that time of farm system renewals of players still in the minors.
• The League Commish should promptly notify all teams in the League of each team’s protected roster, including player salaries and amount available to spend on Draft Day.
• Failure to renew a farm system player’s minor league contract will result in his becoming available to all other teams in the subsequent league draft.
• A farm system player whose minor league contract is renewed on April 1 and who subsequently makes his major league team’s active roster may, at his Rotisserie League owner’s option, be added to the protected list of players on Draft Day (and another player dropped, if necessary, to meet the 15-player limit), or he may be dropped and made available in the draft. He may not be retained in his Rotisserie League team’s farm system.
• If a player on a team’s April 1 freeze list is traded to the National League before Draft Day, the player is deemed to be released and his salary is added to the team’s balance.
• However, if a player on a team’s April 1 freeze list is put on the DL or demoted to the minor leagues, the player stays on the Roto team’s roster throughout the Day Draft, and may then be released and replaced or reserved and replaced after the draft is over (with retroactive stats for the replacement player to the start of the season).

NOTE:The April 1 roster-protection deadline was originally set to correspond with the end of major leagues’ spring inter-league trading period, a defunct rite of spring that still gives us a week or so to strategize. Until you know who the other teams are going to keep, you won’t know for sure who’s going to be available. And until you know how much they will have to spend on Draft Day, you won’t be able to complete your own pre-draft budget.

XVIII. Governance

The Rotisserie League is governed by a Committee of the Whole consisting of all team owners. The Committee of the Whole may designate as many League officials from time to time it deems appropriate, although only two – the League Commish and the League Treasurer – ever do any work. The Committee of the Whole also designates annually an Executive Committee composed of three team owners in good standing. The Executive Committee has the authority to interpret playing rules and to handle all necessary and routine League business. All decisions, rulings, and interpretations by the Executive Committee are subject to veto by the Committee of the Whole. Rule changes, pronouncements, and acts of whimsy are determined by majority vote of the Committee of the Whole. Member leagues of the Rotisserie League Baseball Association may appeal to the RLBA for adjudication of disputes and interpretation of rules. The Rotisserie League has two official meetings each year:

• Draft Day (the first Sat after Opening Day)
• Winter Meetings (TBD)

 

 

 

 

XIX.      Amendments

 

 

[AMENDMENT: ON APRIL 15^TH, 2004, THE LEAGUE VOTED 8-0 TO AMEND THE WAIVER RULE TO INCLUDE A “NUKE” TRIGGER.  THE “NUKE” TRIGGER ALLOWS OWNERS TO ADD OR DROP PLAYERS ON A LIMITED BASIS AT-WILL.  OWNERS ARE PERMITTED UNLIMITED “NUKES” PER SEASON – HOWEVER, NO MORE THAN 1 “NUKE” MAY BE USED IN A GIVEN SCORING PERIOD (ONE WEEK).  THIS AMENDMENT WILL NOT CHANGE THE CURRENT WAIVER CRITERIA RULES. THE FEE FOR “NUKING” A PLAYER IS $1.00] 

 

Reducing the number of Catchers from 2 to 1 effective 2009. 

Creating a new roster spot (c/dh) effective 2009

Weekly Transaction Deadline change to Tuesday at 1:00 PM  (2005 Winter Meetings)

Farm Roster expanded from 6 to 8 (2005 Winter Meetings)

Increasing the minimum innings pitched requirement from 900 to 1100 innings (2005 Winter Meetings