Section IV Trades and Retirements

[Rangers GM (Stephen)]

4.1 Trade Block
4.2.1 Posting an Agreed Trade
4.2.2 Player Details in Posted Trades
4.3 Confirming Acceptance of a Posted Trade
4.4 Trading money/cap
4.5 Trading "players to be named later"
4.6 Dropping Players Involved in a Posted Agreed Trade
4.7 Trade Approval/Veto
4.8 Formation of TC
4.9 TC Voting on Agreed Trades
4.10 Trade Deadline
4.11.1 1st Year Players with 0 MLB Plate Appearances and 0 MLB Batters Faced
4.11.2 Players Traded After the end of the MBL Regular Season
4.12 Withdrawing from Posted Trades
4.13 Posting to Request the Removal of a Contract of a Retired Player
4.14 Conditions for Validating Player Retirement
4.15 TC Voting on Retired Players
4.16 Retirement Request Deadline



4.1 Trade Block
Each team should have a trade block posted in the 'Trade Block' folder.
New team owners are required to post a trade block for one week prior to agreeing to any trade. This 'cooling off' period is intended to allow new owners the opportunity to field offers for the players they may wish to move. It also allows new owners the opportunity to get a better feel for the values of the players they own, and this may help them to decide on their initial team strategy.


4.2.1 Posting an Agreed Trade
Every trade must contain at least one outbound and one inbound player for every team involved in the trade.
Each trade should be entered into the 'Trades' thread in the following format:

  Team A receives:
  Player 1 (real life team) $4.6 2016
  Prospect 1 (real life team) $0.3 1st
  (link to URL identifying the player with the 1st contract)

  Team B receives:
  Player 2 (real life team) $7.8 2017
  Player 3 (real life team) $1.2 5th

  (cap difference for each team)

  (explanation of/reason for the trade)

4.2.2 Player Details in Posted Trades
Player names must be spelt correctly, and their full contract (salary and arb year or contract expiry) must be included.
Any 1st year player included in a posted trade must be accompanied by their current real life team affiliation and one URL link (preferably Fangraphs or Baseball-Reference) to help identify the player.
Any unprotected player included in a posted trade must be specified as such within the trade post.


4.3 Confirming Acceptance of a Posted Trade
The other owner involved in a posted trade should post to confirm that they accept the trade, and give their explanation of/reason for the trade.


4.4 Trading money/cap
There will be no money or cap traded in a trade.


4.5 Trading "players to be named later"
There will be no trading "players to be named later" in a trade.


4.6 Dropping Players Involved in a Posted Agreed Trade
Any player posted in an agreed trade should be dropped from the scoring website immediately upon the posting of the trade or confirmation of acceptance of the trade.


4.7 Trade Approval/Veto
For a trade to be completed it must first be approved by the Trade Committee (TC). Three approvals are required to approve a trade. If three vetos are posted before three approvals are received then the trade is cancelled. Any parties involved in a vetoed trade are free to renegotiate/repost trades by agreement without penalty or prejudice.


4.8 Formation of TC
The TC will be formed each off-season in preparation for the coming season. At an appropriate time volunteers will be sought until six members are found. The Commissioner will serve as a 7th member where appropriate.
If excess volunteers make themselves known then six volunteers will be selected by the Commissioner to form TC. This selection process will consider the activity, reputation and length of current TC service of each applicant to select a group which will best suit the immediate needs and long term health of the league and it's members.


4.9 TC Voting on Agreed Trades
TC members will be required to vote on each agreed trade in a timely manner. They must assess the trade for compliance with the rules before voting to approve or veto the trade. Any veto must be accompanied by a simple explanation or rationale. While the explanation does not have to be lengthy, it should give some sort of concise argument so that the owners involved will have a clear understanding of why the trade was vetoed.
TC members may not vote on their own trades.
Only when the trade has been approved by TC can roster changes be reflected on Proboards or newly acquired players be added to the scoring website (refer to rule section 6.4 to see the penalties for accumulating stats with ineligible players).


4.10 Trade Deadline
The Trade Deadline is 11:59pm ET on the Sunday immediately following the MLB trade deadline. The trade does not need to be approved by this time, but does have to be posted and accepted by all parties.


4.11.1 1st Year Players with 0 MLB Plate Appearances and 0 MLB Batters Faced

1st year players (protected or unprotected) with no MLB plate appearances or batters faced may be traded at any time from when trading opens early in the offseason until the end of the MBL World Series, and are not subject to the trade deadline.

4.11.2 Players Traded After the end of the MBL Regular Season
Any 1st year players (protected or unprotected) with no MLB plate appearances or batters faced acquired via trade after 11:59pm ET on the Sunday of the 18th (and final) regular season matchup are ineligible to be added to the scoring roster of active playoff teams (refer to rule section 6.4 to see the penalties for accumulating stats with ineligible players).

4.12 Withdrawing from Posted Trades
Any party involved in any posted trade is entitled to withdraw from the trade at any point before receipt of the third approval from TC. They need not provide any explanation or reasoning for their withdrawal.
There is no penalty for exercising this entitlement, but each owner is reminded that they are solely responsible for managing their reputation and reliability as a trade partner in the eyes of the league membership.


4.13 Posting to Request the Removal of a Contract of a Retired Player
Each retired player request should be entered into the 'Player Retirements' thread with the name of the player and the word 'retired' as the subject.


4.14 Conditions for Validating Player Retirement
To validate that the player has officially retired the owner of the retired player must provide (in the retired player request thread) either:
1) links to two sources confirming the player's retirement. Note: a verified Twitter account of the player himself is the only Twitter source accepted.
2) links to two sources confirming that the player has received a lifetime ban from MLB.
3) links to two sources confirming that the player is currently serving a suspension (explicitly their first) under the league's domestic violence policy.
4) a link to a source confirming that the player is deceased.
5) a link to a statistics page which confirms that the player has not appeared in any professional baseball league (including overseas and minor leagues) for two full seasons.
6) links to two sources confirming that the player has signed a professional contract with a team in the KBO or NPB.


4.15 TC Voting on Retired Players
TC members will be required to vote on each retirement request in a timely manner. They must assess the validity of the sources provided to confirm that the player has retired. Three approvals/confirmations are required to authorise the retirement. Only when the retirement has been approved by TC can roster changes be made.


4.16 Retirement Request Deadline
Retirement requests can be made at any time assuming that the owner can provide validation that the player has retired.