Post by Rangers GM (Stephen) on Nov 17, 2015 7:34:30 GMT -5
5.1 Free Agent Eligibility
5.2 Free Agency Rounds
5.3 Free Agency Contract Lengths
5.4.1 Free Agency Round Commencement
5.4.2 Free Agency Deadline
5.5 Free Agency Bid Format
5.6 Free Agency Bids are Final
5.7 Minimum Free Agency Salary Offers
5.8.1 Club Options
5.8.2 Club Option Bid Format
5.8.3 Accepting or Declining Club Options
5.8.4 Accepted Club Options
5.8.5 Declined Club Options
5.8.6 Club Options Neither Accepted or Declined by the Start of Free Agency
5.9.1 Automatic Free Agent Contracts For Unowned Teams
5.9.2 Automatic Free Agent Contract Length
5.9.3 Automatic Free Agent Contract Salary
5.9.4 Rostering Automatic Free Agents
5.9.5 New Owner Permission to 'Drop' Automatic Free Agent Signings
5.9.6 Automatic Free Agent Signings Exceeding Salary Cap
5.10.1 Hometown Discounts
5.10.2 Hometown Discount Bid Format
5.10.3 Hometown Discount Salary Calculation
5.10.4 Bettering a Hometown Discount Bid
5.10.5 Available Cap Space Required for Hometown Discount Bids
5.10.6 Hometown Discounts on Option Contracts
5.11.1 Free Agent Initial No-trade Window
5.11.2 Free Agent signed with a Hometown Discount Initial No-trade Window
5.12 Free Agent Bid Prerequisites
5.13.1 Invalid Free Agent Bids
5.13.2 Non-Leading Invalid Bids
5.13.3 Leading Bids Identified As Invalid Whilst The Player Auction Is Still In Progress
5.13.4 Invalid Bids Found To Have Won An Auction (Identified Before The 'Previously Unlisted Free Agents' Group)
5.13.5 Invalid Bids Found To Have Won An Auction (Identified After The 'Previously Unlisted Free Agents' Group)
5.14 Winning Bids
5.1 Free Agent Eligibility
Players eligible for free agency are:
1) Any player who has reached the 7th year of eligibility under the arbitration scale
2) Any player who has reached the end of a given contract
3) Any player whose arbitration eligibility has expired (at any time in the past) and is without a contract in this league.
5.2 Free Agency Rounds
There will be multiple rounds of Free Agency, with players being auctioned off in groups according to their position. The group in which a player with multi-positional eligibility is placed will be solely determined at the discretion of the Commissioner. It is the responsibility of the bidder to ensure that any player they bid on will have qualified for the eligibility they expect/desire in the coming season, and the Commissioner takes no responsibility for any inaccuracies in group placement.
Once the free agency period has begun, any identified player eligible for free agency but not yet listed in a free agency group will be added to the 'Previously Unlisted Free Agents' group.
Once the 'Previously Unlisted Free Agents' group has begun, any identified player eligible for free agency but not yet listed in a free agency group will be added to the 'In Season Free Agents' group with their auction beginning at the midnight (ET) immediately after their posting.
5.3 Free Agency Contract Lengths
Free agents will receive guaranteed contracts (meaning that they cannot be unprotected) ranging from 2 years to 5 years in length, with a possible club option to add another year to the end of the contract.
If a Free Agent finished in the top 5 in the ESPN rankings (per position they retain eligibility for) then he will receive a minimum 5 year deal.
If a Free Agent finished in the top 10 in the ESPN rankings (per position they retain eligibility for) then he will receive a minimum 4 year deal.
If a Free Agent finished in the top 15 in the ESPN rankings (per position they retain eligibility for) then he will receive a minimum 3 year deal.
DH-only eligible players will be allocated minimum contracts in line with performance of the 1B position.
All other players will receive a minimum 2 year deal.
5.4.1 Free Agency Round Commencement
The start of each round of Free Agency (and a confirmation of the players in that round, and their minimum contract requirements) will be communicated to the league by the Commissioner.
5.4.2 Free Agency Deadline
The deadline for beginning Free Agency auctions is the trade deadline (see rule 4.10). Any auction begun prior to the trade deadline will run as normal even if the trade deadline passes whilst the auction is in progress.
Once a player is available to be bid on (either from their Free Agency Round commencing or from midnight passing after they are posted in the 'In Season Free Agents' group) their auction can begin at any time prior to the Free Agency deadline, regardless of how long has passed since they were first available to be bid upon.
5.5 Free Agency Bid Format
Free agency bids should be made in the following format:
[Salary offered] [Year of contract expiry]
or
[Year of contract expiry] [Salary offered]
For example:
$4.0 2017
or
2017 $4.0
Here, if this were the winning bid, the player under auction would have a guaranteed salary of $4.0 until the end of the 2017 season - at which time he would become a free agent.
5.6 Free Agency Bids are Final
All bids on free agents are final. You may not withdraw, edit or delete any bids under any circumstances.
If you discover an error in your bid then you should enter a follow-up post, explaining your error and confirming your correct bid. Both posts will remain as a complete record of the auction.
5.7 Minimum Free Agency Salary Offers
The minimum initial salary that may be offered as a free agency bid is $0.3.
The minimum increment for a free agency bid is $0.1. Any bid failing to increase the annual salary offered by $0.1 or more will be ignored (with the clock of the existing leading bid remaining unaltered). Any bid increasing the annual salary offered by $0.1 or more will be considered the new leading bid until it is identified to be invalid or until it wins.
All free agent bids must be a multiple of $0.1 (ie salaries to two decimal places or more are invalid).
5.8.1 Club Options
Each team may sign two players per free agency with a club option to their contract. This means that upon completion of the year listed the team may choose to retain that player for a further year at the same salary. If the option is declined then the player is entered into free agency as normal.
5.8.2 Club Option Bid Format
The offer of a option should be signified by adding a '+' to the contract expiry year shown in the free agency bid. For example:
$4.0 2016+
or
2016+ $4.0
5.8.3 Accepting or Declining Club Options
Each player reaching the end of a guaranteed contract will be individually listed in free agency, with players who carry an available option also listed in a separate 'Team Options' thread. Once a player with an available club option is listed, the team holding the option has until the deadline for picking up team options (specified in the annual schedule published by the Commissioner) to post in the 'Team Options' thread that they wish to pick up or decline the option. Once posted, this decision is final and cannot be changed.
5.8.4 Accepted Club Options
If a club option is accepted then the player returns to the team for another season at his existing salary. He will then become a free agent in the following offseason.
5.8.5 Declined Club Options
If a club option is declined then the player enters into free agency that offseason.
5.8.6 Club Options Neither Accepted or Declined by the Start of Free Agency
Any outstanding options which are not picked up or declined by the deadline for picking up team options (specified in the annual schedule published by the Commissioner) will automatically be declined.
5.9.1 Automatic Free Agent Contracts For Unowned Teams
Teams deemed by the Commissioner to be unowned at the start of any free agency round will automatically sign any players in that free agent group who finished last season on that team's roster. Such signings will be announced in the player auction thread by the Commissioner within 24 hours of the commencement of the Free Agent group. Any bids made by other teams on a player automatically signed by an unowned team (either before or after the Commissioner announcement) will be ignored.
5.9.2 Automatic Free Agent Contract Length
All automatically allocated free agents will be given a 1 year contract.
Players signed as an Automatic Free Agent are not deemed to have been signed with a Hometown Discount and are not subject to the Hometown Discount Initial No-trade Window (rule 5.11.2).
5.9.3 Automatic Free Agent Contract Salary
All automatically allocated free agents will be given a salary of their previous season's ESPN Rater score (see rule 3.6) plus 50% of their ESPN Player Rater score from the season prior to last season. If for any reason the ESPN Player Rater is unavailable and an unknown player salary needs to be calculated, the Commissioner will provide an estimated salary. This salary will be used temporarily until the Player Rater is available again.
Where a player has a negative Player Rater score in either of the past two seasons this will be counted as a zero in the free agency salary calculation.
The maximum automatic free agent salary will be capped at $20.0, and the minimum automatic free agent salary will be capped at $1.0. The salary for the automatically awarded free agent will be announced by the Commissioner in the free agent thread.
5.9.4 Rostering Automatic Free Agents
The Commissioner takes responsibility for adding automatic free agents to the relevant roster(s).
5.9.5 New Owner Permission to 'Drop' Automatic Free Agent Signings
If a new owner assumes a team which has automatically signed free agents they will be given the option of withdrawing their Free Agent offer to any player signed and throwing them back into the Free Agent pool. New owners will be given 7 days from their joining date to identify Free Agent signings they wish to drop. They may drop as many or as few Automatic Free Agents signed as they wish.
1) If this is occurs before the end of Free Agency then any dropped players will go into the final Free Agency group.
2) If this occurs after the end of Free Agency then the player will remain unowned for the remainder of the season and will go into the next season's free agency.
If an automatic free agent signing is 'dropped', no hometown discount is applicable the next time they are auctioned in Free Agency.
5.9.6 Automatic Free Agent Signings Exceeding Salary Cap
Automatic free agent signings are permitted to take an unowned team's salary commitments above the cap limit. New owners will be given 21 days from their joining date or until opening day (whichever is later) to unprotect players (rule 7.3), 'drop' automatic free agent signings (rule 5.9.5) or agree to trades reducing their cap commitments to bring their salary obligations below $100.0. After this time, exceeding the salary cap will be subject to penalties (rule 6.3).
5.10.1 Hometown Discounts
Players who go into Free Agency are eligible to be re-signed by the team that lost them to free agency with a hometown discount of 20%. If the player was also controlled by the real life organization of the owning team at the completion of the MBL World Series then the discount is increased to 30%. In order to claim the hometown discount, a player must appear on the claiming team's final roster from the previous year as being paid a salary (ie a 6th year player must be protected on the final roster to qualify for a discount).
5.10.2 Hometown Discount Bid Format
Free agency bids including a hometown discount should be made in the following format:
[Salary offered] [Contract expiry] ([recalculated salary] after [percentage] discount)
or
[Contract expiry] [Salary offered] ([recalculated salary] after [percentage] discount)
For example:
$4.0 2017 ($3.2 after 20% discount)
or
2017 $4.0 ($3.2 after 20% discount)
(If this were the winning bid then the player would be paid a salary of $3.2 for the duration of the contract)
5.10.3 Hometown Discount Salary Calculation
Hometown discount salaries calculated to be below $0.3 will automatically be rounded up to $0.3. Otherwise, normal rounding rules apply if calculating the discount returns a salary that goes to two or more decimal places.
5.10.4 Bettering a Hometown Discount Bid
If another team wishes to continue bidding then they must make a valid offer to beat the pre-discount salary offered.
5.10.5 Available Cap Space Required for Hometown Discount Bids
When placing a bid using a hometown discount the amount of available cap space required for the bid to be valid need only cover the discounted amount.
5.10.6 Hometown Discounts on Option Contracts
If a player's contract expires and his option is picked up then the following off-season he will be eligible for a hometown discount.
If a player's contract expires and his option is declined then no hometown discount is given.
5.11.1 Free Agent Initial No-trade Window
You may not trade a Free Agent signing until June 16th of the season he is signed.
5.11.2 Free Agent signed with a Hometown Discount Initial No-trade Window
You may not trade a Free Agent signed with a Hometown Discount (20% or 30%) prior to the end of the MLB World Series following their signing.
5.12 Free Agent Bid Prerequisites
When making bids on free agents you must be able to fulfill all simultaneous offers you have made. You must already have cap space available to meet the combined salaries (post-discount, where applicable) you have committed to in open offers, and may not make offers including options if it could result in more than two players receiving options from your team in the same free agency period.
5.13.1 Invalid Free Agent Bids
All invalid free agency bids will be voided by the Commissioner.
Examples of invalid free agency bids:
- A free agency bid that would take the bidding team over cap if all outstanding offers were winning offers
- A free agency bid including a club option that would take the bidding team over the maximum annual allowance of club options if all outstanding offers were winning offers
- A free agency bid which doesn't meet the minimum years specified for the auction
- A free agency bid which doesn't include a contract expiry year
- A free agency bid not above $0.3
- A free agency bid which is not a multiple of $0.1
- A free agency bid made in a window from which the bidding team has already been disqualified
- A free agency bid claiming a hometown discount which is not available to that team
- A free agency bid which has been edited by the bidder for any reason
5.13.2 Non-Leading Invalid Bids
If a bid is identified to be invalid and has been surpassed in value by more recent valid bids by more than one other bidder then the auction will continue as if the invalid bid had not occurred. The auction will not be stopped nor have the 24 hour clock re-set, and the existing 24 hour timer will continue to count from the time the current leading bid was placed. Penalties from rule 6.6 will still apply.
If a bid is identified to be invalid and has been surpassed in value by only one other bidder then the commissioner will reinstate the leading bid prior to the invalid bid, and reset the auction clock to 24 hours from the post confirming the voidance to allow rival teams fair opportunity to beat the reinstated leading bid.
5.13.3 Leading Bids Identified As Invalid Whilst The Player Auction Is Still In Progress
If a current leading bid is identified to be invalid it will be immediately voided by the Commissioner. Upon voiding the invalid bid the Commissioner will reinstate the previous leading bid, and reset the auction clock to 24 hours from the post confirming the voidance to allow rival teams fair opportunity to beat the reinstated leading bid.
5.13.4 Invalid Bids Found To Have Won An Auction (Identified Before The 'Previously Unlisted Free Agents' Group)
If a leading/won bid is identified to be invalid after the auction has finished but before the 'Previously Unlisted Free Agents' group has begun then the bid will be voided by the Commissioner. The player will be removed from the roster of the 'winning' team and added to the 'Previously Unlisted Free Agents' group. The 'winning' team will be prohibited from bidding on that player when he is re-auctioned.
5.13.5 Invalid Bids Found To Have Won An Auction (Identified After The 'Previously Unlisted Free Agents' Group)
If a leading/won bid is identified to be invalid after the 'Previously Unlisted Free Agents' group has begun then the bid will stand and the player will remain rostered with the 'winning' contract as it was made.
5.14 Winning Bids
Any leading bid that remains unchallenged for 24 hours either after the bid was placed, or after the auction has been reset to 24 hours by a Commissioner, wins the auction.