Rules for the Baseball Sim
League
Members
The League currently has 5 members. To avoid
the scheduling problems associated with having a small odd number of teams
there is a sixth computer managed team. The members are:
Jeff Bihl (St. Louis Spirit)
Steve Bihl (Phoenix Firebirds)
Jeremy Lutz (Los Angeles Dragons)
Heather Parr (Cleveland Cosmos)
Brian Williams (Texas Thunder)
Computer (New York Cyborgs)
Software
This league now uses Diamond Mind Baseball 9 and is currently using Zips projection disks since 2009. The projection disks are made by sabermatrician Dan Szymborski at http://baseballthinkfactory.org and are based off their studies on how past years performance can be used to predict future performance. This includes how much more recent data is more indicative, how data in one park predicts performance in another, how minor league statistics project major league performance, and how players age among other things. If you want to know more about the software visit http://www.diamondmind.com. Each successive season in our league will use the next year’s projection disk which is usually available in early March. You do not need to own the software to participate. I will put as much information as I can on the website,
Teams
Each member will control one team. You will
be responsible for controlling the roster makeup and general strategies of your
team. The computer will execute these strategies as the games are simulated. Initially,
there are more general things you must set for your team.
Stadium
& City
Unlike most sports
the stadium, weather, and environment have a pretty big affect on how the game
is played in a particular location. Each team uses a real MLB stadium. Stadiums
will affect how your players perform. This is usually small but could have a
huge effect in extreme cases. If you play in San Diego and have a lot of
Rockies on your team the hitters will perform much worse statistically than
they did in real life while the pitchers will do much better.
Since major league
teams cannot move at will and moving will make career record keeping more
difficult I am not going to allow teams to move around to new stadiums and
cities every year. We can set some specific limits on this. For now, I’m just
going to say "within reason". If the real life team in the stadium
you play in moves to a new stadium you will be able to move to the new stadium
and I think it would also be reasonable at that to request a move to a new city
and stadium if that were to happen.
Name
Choose a Name that
fits the stadium. If you choose Tropicana field names such as St. Petersburg,
Tampa Bay, or Florida would make sense but calling this team
"Seattle" or "Greenland" would not.
Teams also need a
nickname. The only things definitely out are names that are vulgar or profane.
Creativity is very welcome but I would ask that you not give your team a
nickname that is intentionally stupid. If you really want to go that route then
I guess I will allow it.
Rosters
Size
& Structure
As of the 2005
season teams can carry up to 44 players. Each team will have 44 man rosters
with a 26 man active roster. This means you own the rights to 44 players but
only 26 players can participate in games. At any given point you can have 26
active players and up to 18 inactive players.
Transactions
Transactions
include Trades, releases, signings, promotion to the active roster, demotion to
the inactive roster, placement on the Disabled List, or activation from the
Disabled List. Transactions can be made in person, over the phone, or through
email either by writing out your changes, or, if you have software, sending a
Manager Profile. Transactions can only be made between simulation periods. They
cannot be made between games of the same simulation period.
Any player that is
promoted to the active roster from the inactive roster must remain there for 1
week (2 simulation periods). Any player demoted to the inactive roster must
remain inactive for 2 weeks (4 simulation period).
Players who are
injured may be put on the disabled list to open up a spot on the active roster.
Players must remain on the Disabled List for 15 days. The start of the 15 day
period is retroactive to the last game in which the player played. Players can
be taken off the disabled once the 15 days are up and they are healthy.
Players traded
after the league schedule date of August 1st cannot be placed on an active
roster until the next season.
The roster size and
transaction rules are the same for computer owned teams. Computer owned teams
will only make roster moves as required by injury with the Commissioner or
appointed player picking the best player to promote based on the depth chart
the computer for the team.
Player
Rights
You own the rights
of any player you select in a draft for the rest of their career or until you
release or trade them. Any player who is not on a 44 man roster is a free
agent. You can add free agents to your roster during the season provided you
make room on your roster. If you select a player as a free agent you own his
rights for the remainder of the year or until you release him or trade him. He
will become a free agent again at the end of the year and go into the next year’s
player draft pool. After the 2004 season you will no longer be able to use your
first round draft pick in the yearly player draft to protect one player you had
picked up as a free agent the prior year. If you trade a free
agent to another team that team will still lose the rights to that player at
the end of the year. If you want to trade a player picked up as a free
agent you must specifically inform the other party of that player’s status
before the trade is made.
If a player retires
or disappears from the data disk as a result of playing in a league other than
MLB while one of the teams holds the rights to that player that team will be
able to reclaim him immediately upon his reappearance prior to the yearly
player draft provided that team makes space on their roster.
Player
Usage
For the 2010 season
there is an extensive change to the playing time limit rules. Rather than there being experience trip
points that relieve a player of limitations there will be a formula that
requires the entry of Major and Minor league real life playing time for the
past 2 seasons, age, and projected time.
This formula is too complicated to express here. A spreadsheet that will do the math for each
players limit is available to all players and limits for all players will be on
the website.
Manager Profile
Diamond Mind has a detailed manager profile
that you can fill to tell the computer how to make decisions for you as games
are simulated. This includes pitching rotations, lineups, relief roles, platoon
players, defensive substitutions, depth charts, use of strategies and more.
Changes to the Manager Profile can be made in person or submitted by email or
using DMB stats transfer if you have purchased the appropriate DMB software.
Changes can only be made between simulation periods. They cannot be made
between games of the same simulation period. I wish that I could put these on
the Internet but in the current version of Diamond Mind this is not possible.
Seasons & Schedules
We will play a 180 game season. The schedule
will compose mostly of 3 game series with off days scattered throughout the
season. Every team will play the all the other teams an equal number of times.
With such a small number of teams there is no point in a postseason. The team
with the best record is the champion. In the event of a tie all teams that are
tied will play a tiebreaker round robin with each game played in the park of
the team that won the head-to-head between the two teams. If the head-to-head
record is even then a coin flip decides homefield. If
teams are still tied after one round robin then the teams that are still tied
will play round robins with alternating homefields
until a sole winner is determined. There is no off day after the regular
season's final date. Scheduling for an odd number of teams will require teams
to have scheduled off days with playing order determined by draw.
I hope to get one season done per year. I
would like to keep our league running during baseball season with the rest of
the year off. I would like to conduct the yearly drafts shortly after the
projection disk comes out each year and keep the schedule of our league
concurrent with the time period of the MLB schedule with a start in April.
Simulation
I will simulate one week’s worth of games on
our league schedule every week. Simulations will be done twice per week. Three
days of games on the schedule will be simulated on Wednesdays. Four days of
games on the schedule will be simulated on Sunday. (or,
in emergencies, as close to Wednesday & Sunday as possible). The computer
will make in-game managing decisions for you based on your manager profile. I
will try to work with local players for a time where at least one if not all
can be there for each simulation. I will
post the results, boxscores, injuries and statistics
on the Internet. During the course of the week members can send changes to
their rosters and manager profiles. I will implement these changes before I
simulate the games.
Drafts
Initial
Player Draft
The original team
rosters were filled with a 40 round snake draft. The teams hold the rights for
a player drafted in this draft until he retires, or is traded or released.
Yearly
Player Draft
Before each season
there will be a yearly player draft. This draft will compose of players who
were free agents the following year that are still on the new projection disk
& rookies in the projection database for the first time. For simplicity sake
the computer will not participate in this draft. The first round of this draft
will be in the reverse order of finish from the previous season. As of 2005 teams may no longer forfeit this pick in order to
protect the rights of a free agent signed the prior year. The 2nd
through 11th rounds will be a snake draft with the team that
finished last the prior year picking first in the second round. Teams may be
required to release players to make room for their new draft picks on their
roster. Players released during this draft can not be
selected in this draft by the other teams. Players selected in this draft
cannot be released during this draft. The teams hold the rights for a player
drafted in this draft until he retires, or is traded or released.
Computer
Team Draft
After the above
yearly player draft is completed, The computer will select its team from its
own current players, remaining players that were previously free-agents not
taken during the yearly player draft, and players released during the yearly player
draft. This puts the computer at a disadvantage, as it will not have first
crack at free agents. I don't think this is entirely undesirable, as it should
keep the computer from having a chance at winning the league. The tiny
advantage it will have is first crack at players released during the first
draft. The computer will select its first 33 players as the best 33 currently
available. This draft will be repeated under both DH rules and without and
using both available eras. The computer
will retain all players it picks under all 4 conditions if there are differences. Picks 34-38 will be limited to players and
pitchers 32 or under or a player previously on its team. Picks 39-44 will be
limited to pitchers 28 and under and position players 27 and under or players
previously on the computer team. If in the event that the computer does not
have at least 7 true starting pitchers (130+ IP) or at least 8 pitchers with a
starter rating on its roster it will keep picking until it does. These starters
will be on the roster instead of the computer's last picks. If the computer is
short players at one position as a result of drafting players with playing time
limits I reserve the right to force it to draft another player at that position
at my own discretion. In the event that the computer cuts a player as a result
of the player having a lack of playing time in their projection where that
player may be picked by a human team in the first round of the supplemental
draft that player will be placed back on the computers roster as per a majority
vote of human GMs
Supplemental Draft
After the computer
has selected its team there will be a supplemental draft where any players
released by the computer, any remaining players released in the first 11 rounds
of the draft, or any player remaining from the initial draft can be selected by
the human owned teams. The draft order will be a snake with the last place team
from the prior year going first in the first round or the supplemental draft.
The draft will continue until all players have passed their pick. In the event
that a selection is made in the supplemental draft any player that is released
will be available immediately. Any pick not made within 60 hours during the
real-life baseball season will be considered as a passed pick.
Other Stuff
There was no DH in use during the league’s
first season. In subsequent years the DH will be used according to the rule set
by the home team. Players must choose if the DH will be used or not in their
home park prior to the league starts for that season. Players cannot change
this during the season.
At some point in time we may wish to expand
to include new members or may need to contract if a member does not wish to continue.
At such time we will need to agree on rules for an expansion or contraction
draft.