World Baseball League Constitution
Version 3 - Last Modified: 6.30.2009

The World Baseball League (WBL) , was created for the enjoyment and entertainment of its members and affiliates. The WBL will consist of a 30 team league and will be based on actual MLB teams and rosters as of Opening Day 2008. All owners are required to own a copy of OOTP9. The following rules will be in effect for the entirety of the league, unless there is a decision by the league member's to ratify them. Each owner is required to read this constitution prior to any league activity. Please read them and then accept by replying and typing "Accepted".

League Officials
WBL Commissioner
NL President
AL President
Owner Representative

The WBL will be governed by the WBL Constitution, the Commissioner, the AL and NL Presidents and the Owner Representative. However, each league member will, in fact, be an "official". This is "our" league, and no one person will act as a dictator, though the commissioner may make necessary changes or additions for the betterment of the league. The rules do have to be clear, hence the constitution.

The Commissioner will be responsible for running sims, updating the file, keeping the league full and active, and pretty much everything else that improves or keeps the league running smoothly. The WBL will mostly be run from this forum, which serves nearly every purpose that a created home page would provide. A basic home page will be posted, but all important links, documents and communication will run through the forum or your email.

The League Presidents will assist the commish in the quality and longevity of the WBL. They will serve as forum moderators and will also help keep all owners on the same page. League presidents will also keep the participation and activity going in the absence of the commish. These offices are expected to the highly active and 110 % committed to the league. The Presidents will also take over sim duties in the event that the commish is unable to do so by the specified time. Each league president will serve a 1-year term and an election will be held each offseason to determine the next season's league presidents.

The Owner Representative will not have any assigned duties, but will be a sort of unified voice of the owners as a whole. They will be included in all League Officials meetings and will help to keep the League Office aware of concerns and suggestions from fellow owners. Think MLB/NFL/NBA Player Representatives.

Trading
All trades will be posted on the forum in the appropriate section. Trades will be processed post-sim so roster moves are not necessary. All trades must be posted by one team and then must have the original post quoted and then confirmed by the second team. Each player must be listed with their position, full name and level they are currently at (A, AA, ML, etc.). Failure to follow this format will result in the trade being rejected. An example of this will be posted under the Completed Trades section.

Trading of draft picks will not be allowed.
1st round draft picks cannot be traded until the off-season of the year that they were drafted.
FA signees and players that received FA arbitration cannot be trade until June 15th of the season in which they were signed.
Cash can only be traded if a team actually has that amount of available cash to trade.

League Setup
Coaching & Scouting will be set to off.
Top prospect list will be dynamic.
Injury rating set to very low.
Player fatigue set to average.
Suspensions will be on.
Personality & Morale will be set to show & use.

Batter Aging Speed - .500
Batter Dev. Speed - 1.000
Pitcher Aging Speed - .500
Pitcher Dev. Speed - 1.000
Talent Change Randomness - 50
Ratings scale for actual, potential and other will be set at 1-10.
Stars will be on.
Ratings above max will display.

Waiver Period - 15 days
DFA Period - 20 days

*Important Note: If you have a player, that is DFA'd, expire during a sim that player will be released. Without question. The only two exceptions to this rule are if you have notified the league that you will be away, or if it is during one of our long offseason sims. Take care of your DFA's and protect your team's finances.

Placing Waiver Claims

Waiver claims will be pm'd to "Waiver Claim" on the forum. Any claims made in game or not pm'd to that user will be void. I will open the claims each sim and place only the claim that would be the winner. Winner is determined by worst record in same league, then opposite league. If a player is on irrevocable waivers and is claimed, but his team is able to pull him off, he will still be awarded to the claiming team. If a claim is placed in game and awarded, the claim will be voided. Player will be moved to correct team that claimed via PM or returned to their original team.

Sim Schedule
The sim schedule for the WBL Regular Season will be as follows, with alternating 7/8 day sims.

*Note: Beginning with the 2013 season, days per sim will increase to 10 as decided by a league vote.
- Tuesday
- Thursday
- Saturday
Exports will be due by 8am Central.
Times/lengths are subject to change.

Career Ending Injuries
Since these seem to happen far too frequently in OOTP, we will be modifying a CEI if a player is under 33 years old to 12 months. If the player is over 33 years old, the injury will be left as is since it is more likely that an older player will not come back as easily from a major injury. If you have a minor league player that suffers a CEI, it will be your responsibility to report it to the Commish. Failure to do so will result in your player not being corrected.

Free Agent Compensation
Free Agent Type (A or B) was determined by the OOTP9 game engine prior to the 2011 season. Before the 2011 season a new system for determining free agent type was voted on and passed. Beginning with the 2011 offseason, free agent type will be determined outside of the game using the following system.

*Most games played at each position over the past 2 seasons is used to decide on positions. Ties are broken by innings played.
*A pitcher is listed as a SP if he has started 75% of his games.
*The past 2 season's stats are complied into a spreadsheet and VORP is used for ranking.
*Everyone with less than 150 PA's total for the past 2 seasons is eliminated.
*The current season/previous season will be weighted using a ratio of 1.25:1. (Current season = 125%)
*PA minimum for hitters is 200.
*Innings pitched minimum is 50.
*Type A free agents are 1-20%, Type B are 21-40%.

1) If a team signs a Type A FA, the losing team is awarded the signing teams 1st rounder & a sandwich pick (between 1st and 2nd rounds).
* If the signing team has a top 15 pick, the losing team will be awarded a sandwich pick and the signing teams 2nd rounder (or next available).

2) If a team signs a Type B FA, the losing team is awarded a sandwich pick.

Sandwich Round
Clubs that have lost a Type A Free Agent shall receive the first selections in the supplemental round, in the reverse order of their win-loss percentage in the preceding season. Each team who lost a Type A player will pick once before any other team who lost a Type A Free Agent picks for a second time in the supplemental round, then if a team lost a second Type A Free Agent, it will pick again. (For example, if the NYY have the worst record in baseball and lose two Type A Free Agents, they would have the first sandwich pick, then all the other teams who lost Type A Free Agents will pick once, then the NYY would receive their comp pick for the second Type A Free Agent). Following the compensation picks for Type A Free Agents, clubs that have lost a Type B Free Agent shall receive selections, in reverse order of their win-loss percentage from the preceding season, in the same fashion as the Type A comps.

The following stipulation will apply each off season. A list of compensation eligible players will be posted on the forum each off season. You must then choose whether you want to offer your free agents arbitration before the start of Free Agency to be eligible to receive compensation for that player if he is lost to another team. If that player is not signed by the start of Spring Training, then the team that offered the arbitration to the player would get that player back for a 1 year deal at a salary of their previous season amount + 20% (Ex: 5mil last season, they would make 5mil + 1mil(20%) = 6mil for the upcoming season).

2.8.09 - Arbitration % raised from 10% to 20% as decided by league vote.

If you offer a player FA arbitration, you will not be allowed to negotiate a contract with that player during the free agency period. If you do not offer the player arbitration and he signs with another team, you will not receive compensation for losing that player. If a team declines a team option on a player, that team will not be able to offer free agent arbitration for that offseason to the player.

Quotas
The following quotas will apply to the signing of FA compensation eligible players each offseason. Ex: If the finalized list of comp. eligible type A free agents is 12, then each team will be allowed to sign 2 type A free agents, if there are 5 or less type B, each team will be allowed to sign 2 type B free agents, etc., etc., etc.

Type A:
10 or less - 1 per team
11-15 - 2 per team
16+ - 3 per team

Type B:
5 or less - 2 per team
6-10 - 3 per team
11+ - 4 per team

Ensuring Withdrawn Contract Offers Go Through:
Apparently it's possible to make a contract offer to a player, withdraw that offer, export, and the offer stays active. If you withdraw a contract offer and export, and you trust the game handled it correctly, you're on your own. But if you don't trust the game, send me a PM BEFORE the next sim and I'll double check to ensure the contract offer was withdrawn.

I will not reverse errors after the fact if I wasn't made aware of the issue before the sim. If you don't PM me so I can ensure your issue was handled correctly before the sim, I won't go and fix it after the sim. This "policy" is 100% voluntary. If you trust the game to handle your team's business correctly, you never have to say a word to me.

Finances
*Team finances will be checked after the world series each season.

*The following penalties would apply.
- 1st season: Warning and suggestion from league office on a debt reduction plan
- 2nd consecutive season: Warning. Loss of 2nd round draft pick.
- 3rd consecutive season: Release of player(s) that result in half debt reduction.
- 4th consecutive season: Release of player(s) resulting in total debt reduction. Now allowed to offer FA arbitration.

*Penalties for releasing players in advance of their contract expiring will be waived for debt reduction purposes.
*Players released will be immediately available to all teams, except the team he was released from.
*If a team is in debt and has shown a true effort to try and get out of debt, the league officials may consider waiving the penalties. It's possible, but not likely.

*Players to be released will start with the first player showing a positive VORP for the current season. Releases will continue in that order until amount in debt or amount to be released.
Example 1: Team A is in debt 10 million for the 4th consecutive season. The player(s) with the contract equal to or less than 10 mil will be released.
Example 2: Team A is in debt 10 million for the 3rd consecutive season. The player(s) with the contract equal to or less than 5 mil will be released.
Note: Credit goes to the MLSB for the outline to these rules.

Revenue sharing will be enabled for the WBL.
*Note: Beginning with the 2013 season, revenue sharing will be disabled as decided by a league vote.

There will not be a hard salary cap, but a soft cap will be set at the league average plus 120% of the average and if you go over that figure, then there would be a 20% tax on the amount you went over by. See example below:

League Avg. Payroll = $70,000,000
Soft Cap = $154,000,000 (70mil x 1.20 = 84mil. 70 + 84 = 154mil)
So that would mean if you spent 170 mil in payroll, you would pay 3.2 million in taxes. (170 - 154 = 16. 16mil x .20 = 3.2 million)

This will probably rarely (if ever) come into play, but it is there, so keep it in mind. And please remember, the numbers above are examples, as the actual value will fluctuate season to season with team payrolls.

Cash Max will be set at $40,000,000.

For the inaugural season (2008), all stadiums will be set to real life capacity. Owners will have the ability to purchase additional seats for their stadiums at a rate of $10,000,000 per 1,000 seats. This money will come out of your available cash. Max stadium seating capacity will be 60,000 seats.

Contract Extensions/New Contracts
All new contracts and contract extensions will not be allowed bonuses of greater than 2 million dollars. This will not affect any contracts signed before 12.10.11 in-game as those contracts are grandfathered in. This rule is going to help keep contracts at a realistic number and keep the playing field fair across the board.

-Offending contract will be voided and player will be released. No exceptions.
-Players can't be signed to a contract extension until they have accrued 2+ years of MLB service time.
-A team option year can't be more than 10% over the highest year on the contract. (Ex: If you offer Player A a three year/fourth option of 14 mil, 16 mil, 18 mil, his option year would be able to be 19.8 mil.)

League Drafts
The following guidelines will apply to the WBL Amateur and Rule V drafts.

Amateur Draft
The Amateur Draft will consist of 25 rounds. The draft pool will be released at the beginning of each season at which point drafting will begin on the forum. The first round will be scheduled live in the WBL Chat Room on the forum. If you are not able to make the live first round, then a list is required. ALL lists are to be maintained in the league utility, not email or pm'd to the commissioner.

For the remaining rounds, the draft will continue on the forum and we will draft Rounds 2 - 6 there, as well as the sandwich round. There will be a small committee assigned to keep the draft running smoothly. Drafting on the forum will follow this format.

Timed Draft Days: Monday - Friday
Daily Start Time: 8am Central
Daily End Time: 8pm Central
*Subject to change

Picks will be slotted in 1 hour increments, meaning your pick will be due during a specific time period, regardless of how quickly the picks are made before you. For example, your pick is schedule for 1:00pm - 2:00pm Central. All the picks before you are made before 10am Central. You still have until 2:00pm Central to make your pick. Draft order and times will be posted for each round, so you will know well in advance of when your pick is due. Failure to make your pick during your scheduled time or failure to submit a list will result in your team being auto picked for the remainder of the draft.

A few things to think about:

1. The key for each individual is to save the changes made to the draft profile every time. If the changes were made and the user doesn't click save you will lose all the info.
2. The timer is purely cosmetic. It will not auto pick when it reaches the specified time but it helps serve as a warning that the commish will make the pick if needed.
3. Once a team is auto-picked for by the commish then they are automatically placed on auto for the remainder of the draft unless they change it themselves.
4. If a team is on auto by list and auto (2 different checkboxes) the AI will pick from the list and then auto the best available when the list is empty.
5. The lists, as stated above, can be changed whenever and as often as the user likes so long as they save the changes. You are not locked into a list from the beginning.

Rule V Draft
Once the offseason schedule is finalized, the real time date of the Rule 5 Draft will be announced. Here are some quick Questions and Answers....

Q: How do I know if one of my players is eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft?
A: If you go to your team transactions screen and look down the list of players on your MLB and minor league teams, any player with an # next to their name is eligible to be drafted in the Rule 5 Draft. Example:

All the players shown in this image are "exposed" to the Rule 5 Draft and are eligible to be drafted.

Q: How do I protect a player from being exposed to the Rule 5 Draft?
A: If a player has the # next to their name, you can protect them by adding them to your 40 man roster.

Q: Are players on the 60 day disabled list exposed to the Rule 5 Draft?
A: No (I don't think)

Q: Are players who were signed or traded during the sim that ends on the Rule 5 Draft Date exposed to the Rule 5 Draft?
A: Players on DFA will be eligible to be picked. However, it will be the WBL's policy that if they were acquired after the deadline to protect players, they will be ignored on any lists received and no one will be able to pick them, since the team that traded for them would not have had an opportunity to place them on any roster prior to the rule 5 file being released.

Q: When we get to the Rule 5 Draft date, how do I know what players on which teams are available to be drafted?
A: The sim will stop on the Rule 5 Draft date and a league file will be released. That league file will show the Rule 5 Draft pool.

Q: How do I draft players in the Rule 5 Draft?
A: Once the Rule 5 Draft pool is released, you will PM a list of players (if any) you would like to draft to the commish. Then, during the next sim, the Rule 5 Draft will be processed in game just like any other draft, and picks will be made in order of team record from the worst record picking first, to the best record picking last in each round.

Q: How many rounds are there in the Rule 5 Draft?
A: There are up to 10 rounds. A draft normally goes for 2 or maybe 3 rounds.

Q: Do I have to draft a player?
A: No. If there's nobody you're interested in, you can elect not to draft anyone.

Q: I know there are specific rules as to how the players who are selected in the Rule 5 Draft are handled in the real MLB. How does it work in OOTP?
A: Per the OOTP online manual available here: http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/documen ... le_5_draft there are 3 main differences as to how the Rule 5 Draft works in OOTP compared to the real MLB.
1) In the real world, Rule 5 draft picks are offered back to their original teams when these conditions are not met. In OOTP, Rule 5 draft picks are never offered back to their original franchise.
2) In the real world, teams pay a fee for selecting a player. This fee does not exist in OOTP.
3) In the real world, a minor league phase of the Rule 5 exits. It does not exist in OOTP.

Q: What are the roster rules regarding the Rule 5 Draft?
A: Again, per the OOTP online manual linked above, there are 5 roster rules in the OOTP Rule 5 Draft. The game does a pretty good job of policing the teams and their Rule 5 Draft picks. Here are the rules. Pay special attention to #4.

1) A team that wants to select a player in the Rule 5 draft must have at least one spot open on its secondary roster (40 man roster).
2) A player selected in the Rule 5 draft must remain on the selecting team's active roster or disabled list for the entire season.
3) A player who was drafted in the Rule 5 draft can be waived. If he is claimed, then the player must remain on the claiming team's active roster for the remainder of the season.
4) A player selected in the Rule 5 draft can be traded. The team that receives the player must keep the player on its active roster for the remainder of the season.
5) A player selected in the Rule 5 draft must spend 90 days on the active roster. This rule prevents teams from picking players and then dumping them on the disabled list for an entire season to avoid using an active roster spot. This rule can extend into the following season if necessary.

*Note: The game will let you draft until your 40 man roster is full, even if your 25 man active roster is already full before you draft. The game places any player you draft on your 25 and 40 man rosters, even if it means your active roster goes above 25 men. Obviously it'll be up to you after the draft to make roster adjustments to get your active roster back down to 25 players.

(Thanks to Paul of the Dodgers for letting us use the information above, that he typed for his league, the AMBL.)

Owner Participation
Members of the WBL will be expected to maintain a high activity level. It is understandable that everyone does not like writing news articles, but each owner is expected to check the forum consistently, respond to all league matters, respond to PM's about trades, etc. in a timely fashion and export frequently. If are going to be away, then please post in the GM Vacations section on the forum. Failure to do so will result in your missed time being unexcused and run the risk of your team being fined and/or you being removed from the league.

If a GM misses three consecutive regular season exports, a $1,000,000 fine will be imposed against his team. The commish will also contact the GM via email. After 5 consecutive sims with no export, the owner will be removed from the league. Obviously, extenuating circumstances do happen and decisions on those rare cases will be made by the league office. Also, GMs with a great track record and reputation will obviously be given a little longer to explain themselves. If a GM is replaced that has been fined, all fines will be returned to the new GM.

Voting
The WBL owners will vote for their own all-stars, end of season awards and Hall of Fame. Each season, a list will be compiled for each event and a vote will be held on the forum. The voting for the all-star starters will be run through Getch's Utilities for OOTP9. The rest of the voting will be done via polls on the league forum. For all league votes, each owner will be required to reply to the thread and type "voted" once they have made their choice. The commish will use these posts to track voting activity. Failure to make this post after you have voted will result in your not receiving credit for your vote.

The following incentives will apply to participating in league votes (Beginning with 2010 season):
Vote in 100% of polls - $1.5 million dollar cash bonus for your team
Vote in 90% of polls - $1 million dollar cash bonus for your team
Vote in 80% of polls - $500 thousand dollar cash bonus for your team

*If you fail to participate in the voting process, the commissioner will contact you as well as take a very close look at your export frequency, participation on the forum, team performance and general league participation to judge your ability to be an effective GM for your team. You will not be removed from the league for not casting votes, but your abilities will be evaluated much closer.

Selection of All-Star Reserves
Each season, selection of the all-star reserves will be the responsibility of the GMs from the past World Series. Each team must have at least one representative. For the breakdown of the rosters, the following rules will apply.

AL/NL Roster Size: 30 players
NL Starters Voted On: 8 hitters/5 sp/5 rp (18 total)
AL Starters Voted On: 9 hitters/5 sp/5 rp (19 total)
*Number of Players Selected by NL GM: 6 hitters/3 sp/3 rp
*Number of Players Selected by AL GM: 6 hitters/2 sp/3 rp

*The reserve selections will be pm'd to the commish.

Election As a League Official
Beginning with the 2011 elections, if a GM is elected to one of the three league official position, the following incentives will apply:

Election as League President: $2.5 million dollar cash bonus for your team
Election as Owner Representative: $1.5 million dollar cash bonus for your team

WBL Banking System
If your team is maxed out with $40 million in cash, any money you receive as an incentive from the league office will be deposited into your team's "bank account". The money from this bank account can only be used to upgrade your stadium or applied toward your team's negative cash balance.

Player Customization
Beginning with the 2011 off-season, teams will be allowed to rename two of their prospects. The following rules will apply:

*The new names must be of actual, current prospects belonging to that team in real life that are not currently in the WBL. You must be able to provide a link to prove the player's existence.
*Player to be renamed must be the same position (or rated at the position) as the player name to be used.
*Only fictional players will be allowed to be renamed.

Forum Rules
Each owner must use their first name, underscore and team nickname (Ex: Matt_Marlins) as their registered user name on the WBL Forum. This helps keep everything organized and lets everyone know what team you are with the least amount of trouble. Also, though it is not a requirement, the WBL provides several different styles of logos from all MLB teams for use as an avatar. The logos are listed in the gallery in User Control Panel>Profile>Edit Avatar>Display Gallery. If you find a logo set you would like to have added to the gallery, please contact the commish.

Everything else for the forum is pretty much standard. Basically, respect other owners. Everyone has the common sense to know what goes and what doesn't.

Amendments to the Constitution
If any additions or subtractions are to be made to the league constitution, it needs to be posted in the owners suggestion forum and then discussed by the league. The appropriate steps will then be taken and decisions will be made in the best interest of the league and it's future.

Accepted.

Accepted

Accepted.

Sf giants Accept.

Accepted

Accepted

Accepted.

Now dont go springing 60% Vote of all Manged Teams on me. We all know how ugly that can get. lol.

Accepted.

Accepted..

I'm not suggesting we have to follow the MLB rules, it doesn't matter to me either way...Just throwing this out there...In the MLB a team does not lose any draft pick for signing a Type B FA

Anyways, just fodder for discussion