Here are the rules for the 4th season (1999) of the 1996 short season draft league.
How the league is to be played
We will be playing the 1999 season We will be playing under 1999 rules with two exceptions. There will be at least one interleague play to allow each player to play each other player at least one home and away series. There will be no wild cards.
The schedule
We will be playing an 80 game schedule with two series against each opponent.
2 Two game series vs interleague opponents
2 Three game series vs teams in the same league but different divisions
2 Four game series vs division rivals
the final three series of the season will all be within the division to make the races interesting
Frequency of games
There will be one series per week. This will make it easier to get in series vs division rivals and to prevent conflicts with my other leagues.
Number of teams
We have a fixed number of teams 16.
Division setup:
2 leagues, 2 divisions in each no wild cards.
Trades and waivers.
After the fifth series of the season teams may trade. Any player on the current roster may be traded along with any of the first seven draft picks for the next season If a trade is made that increases a roster beyond the 40 man limit a player must be released before the next series is played. Any trades agreed will not be executed until all the teams involved have the same amount of games played.
Waivers takes place after the sixth series. Teams make waivers picked based on their current record and are made from the undrafted players not on rosters.. If a pick brings a Roster over 40 a player must be released or an injured player not on the DL must be placed there to make room.
Note:Any player who is planning to leave the league at the end of the season is encouraged NOT to trade as it is unfair to both the other teams and the player who will replace him or her.
NEW DRAFT TRADE WINDOWS
Pre-Draft Trade window:
There will be a 48 hour window before the formal draft where trading will be allowed.
Any player on the roster (rookie or retained player) may be dealt along with drift picks up to the 7th round at this time.
Only draft picks for the upcoming draft will be tradable.
The trade window will end 15 minutes before the start of the formal draft to allow for any updates to lists to be recorded before the start.
Draft Day Trading up or down window.
At the end of each round there will be a 10 minute window for rosters to be adjusted and all the paperwork to be done.
For the first five rounds of the draft During those 10 minutes teams will be allowed to Trade. NO PICKS BEYOND THE 7th ROUND ARE TRADABLE
In Season Trades and waivers (Note change in when waivers starts).
After the fifth series of the season teams may trade. Any player on the current roster may be traded along with any of the first seven draft picks for the next season (1999) If a trade is made that increases a roster beyond the 40 man limit a player must be released before the next series is played. Any trades agreed will not be executed until all the teams involved have the same amount of games played.
Waivers takes place after the 1st series. Teams make waivers picked based on their current record and are made from the undrafted players not on rosters.. If a pick brings a Roster over 40 a player must be released or an injured player not on the DL must be placed there to make room.
NEW Contested, Uncontested and Emergency Waivers
NEW: Contested Waivers
Contested waivers are waivers picks made after week 5 and works like this:
A team submits a waivers pick from Friday to Monday
Another team may usurp that pick and make it theirs if
It has a worse record than the 1st team
It has not already made waivers pick
It has not already tried to usurp a different pick
No team worse than them has tried to usurp it
They make the attempt 9 PM EST Tuesday
If no team makes a counter claim on the pick by 10 PM EST Tuesday the waivers pick is successful.
If a team successfully usurps the tip go to step 1 as if the usurping team make the pick
New UNCONTESTED WAIVERS
Uncontested waivers picks are waivers picks that take place from weeks 1-4.
The picks are automatically successful and are decided on a first come first served basis. If you unknowingly submit a pick for a player who has already been claimed you may pick again.
Regardless of success the player won’t be added to your roster till your Friday games for that week are completed.
NEW EMERGENCY WAIVERS
On rare occasions due to multiple injuries, suspensions or very long extra inning games or any combination thereof a team may not have a pitcher available to start or a player to play a position for their next series. In such a situation a team may contact the commissioner for Emergency Waivers.
If granted said team may make an uncontested waivers pick to either get the needed starting pitching or position player to fill the spot.
Said pick MUST be made at the end of a series or before the next as the Dynasty system doesn’t allow changes to the 40 man roster while a series is active.
If an emergency pick puts the team over 40 players a player must be released to get the roster back to 40.
If an emergency pick needs to be made for a computer team the commissioner will make the pick. Priority will be given to any qualifying player whose card is from the team needing the pick.
NOTE if a player drops out of the league and we have an empty team any draft picks he has traded those trades are still valid and will be picked by the team that received it.
The DL:
The DL WILL count toward your roster but to make up for it we will have a maximum 40 man roster. We will still only draft 30 but players may expand their rosters to 40 via trade and waivers.
Playing Games.
All games must be completed before the next scheduled series. the Dynasty system will take over and auto play any games that are not completed one hour before the next scheduled game (even if said unfinished game is in progress) Players are encouraged to use the chat room and the Dynasty message system to reschedule games if needed and are also encouraged to make a manager profile in case a game has to autoplay. Instructions on how to do that are here.
Be aware that if you have your team on AUTO and your opponent requests a rescheduled in the system Dynasty will automatically allow it so keep this in mind when or if you turn auto on. Also be aware if both team are on auto and you reschedule the game will be played automatically so make sure your team is not on auto before you do this. I also suggest when you go on auto if you plan on playing your next series make certain you checked off the “take off auto before the next series” button.
Expansion
This league will NOT have expansion. It is designed as a short season to contrast with the 1969 league and to give me an easy schedule to make. If you want a longer season and / or a bigger league check out my 1969 league currently playing 1974.
Selecting a franchise:
Players picked from existing franchises keeping two batters and two pitchers the rest go in the draft
Franchise locations and parks
Every team is presumed to have the park their team played in during the season they entered the league.
Franchises whose teams move in real life are not required to relocate their teams. So the Montreal Expos are not required to move to Washington but they retain the option to do so at the start of any season but such a move must be announced by draft day.
Franchises are NOT required to build new stadiums and my continue to play in their old stadiums if they wish. So Houston can stay in the Astrodome if they wish but they retain the right to move into Minute Maid park at any time If a team chooses to move into their new park in the same city the old park is considered demolished and no other team may use it from that point on.
A team may NOT move into a park that in a different city because the Dynasty system bases the weather on the park used NOT the city that a team’s label claims it is in. Example from the 1971 league: If the Seattle Pilots want to play in Country Stadium they MUST move to Milwaukee
A team may NOT move into a park in the same city that belongs to a future franchise. Example from 1971 league: If the Seattle Pilots choose to remain in Seattle rather than move to Milwaukee they may NOT move into the Kingdome because it is reserved for the Mariners franchise when it becomes available.
Old parks
A team MAY move into an old park from the same city under the following conditions:
The park was once the home park of the franchise OR
The franchise that once owned the park is now located in another city
You or the previous owner of the team in this league did NOT move the team out of the park.
Examples,
the Seattle Pilots move to Milwaukee the Mariners if taken MAY move into Sick Stadium.
The Cardinals may move into sportsman park because it was once their old stadium.
Both the Yankees and the Mets may move into the Polo Grounds because the park is in NY and both teams were once based there.
Franchise Moves and or Replacement players or teams
A player may decide to take a different franchise after playing one season under the following rules
The player who movies will get the city and park of the new franchise at once but will NOT get the rookies for said new Franchise until the season AFTER the move
Example: Boston decides to move to California after the 2010 season. he does NOT get the rights to Mike Trout but retains the rights to any RedSox player who has their first card in 2011. If Boston makes the move to California in 2009 then after keeping the Boston rookies for 2010 in 2011 Mike Trout is his as a rookie (see rookies below)
If due to circumstances in the real world a player has to temporarily drop out of the league their team will be put on auto until a substitute can be found. Said substitute shall take over the team and play games until the original player can return but may not make trades or drop players from the roster (excepting for injury).
If at the end of the season the base player can’t return the substitute has first rights to the team and gets full control over it.
If a player has to drop out permanently the team will go on auto until a substitute or replacement player can be found. Said player will get full rights to the franchise unless they declare that they will only be a substitute till the end of the season.
If no replacement player is found during the season a new player will be recruited for the next season. Said player will retain the franchise and draft picks of the player he is replacing. If said new player wishes to move the franchise he can per the limitations listed above, namely he retains the rookies of the current franchise for his first season and then get the rookie rights to the new franchise the following year.
Example The Yankees drop out of the league due to illness. A substitute is found to play their games. The sub places the games until the Yankees recover. If they do not recover sufficiently to return to the league the substitute may over the Yankees franchise permanently
Example 2: A replacement player is found for the Yankees in the above example but is a big Texas fan. Said substitute can move their franchise to Texas but will retain the Yankees rookies for the 1999 season. Starting in 2000 they will have rights to Texas rookies.
Rookies
A “Rookie” is define as any player who did not have a card for the previous season.
A rookie is considered to be part of the team listed on their card regardless of who they actually played their first game for (Dynasty lists cards based on who a player finishes a season with thus any rookie that was traded by an MLB team in his first season will have their card listed for the team they were traded to NOT the team they played their first game with.
All teams retain rights to their rookies prior to the draft and rookies for a franchise are not eligible to be drafted in any expansion draft.
A Rookie becomes a part of a team after said team names their protected players for the draft. They count toward the 40 man roster
Any team that doesn’t want to retain a rookie may release them before the draft to open up a roster spot but once release all rights to said player are surrendered.
Players retained list
At the end of a season teams may retain a number of players based on their finish in the previous one The players retained list for 1997 is
World series winner 4 players ( Dodgers)
World series runner up 5 players (Redsox)
Division winners that don’t go to the series 6 players (Pittsburgh, Cleveland)
Teams with the 5th and 6th best records that didn’t win a division 7 players (Cubs, San Diego)
Teams with the 7th and 8th best records 8 players (Yankees, Cincinnati)1
Teams with the 9th and 10th best records 9 players(St Louis, Baltimore)
Teams with the 11th and 12th best records 10 players (Minnesota, Houston )2
Teams with the 3rd and 4th worst records 11 players (Kansas City, Mets )
Teams with the worst and 2nd worst record 12 players (Tampa Bay, Toronto)
Rookies do not count toward the keeper list total.
As soon as all the keeper/rookies are finalized the draft day will be set. A minimum of one week wait will be given to make sure people can check out the cards the 1998 cards are here:
NOTE(s): For teams with identical records we go to the tiebreakers
Head to head record the team with the worst head to head record is considered to have the worst record. (Thus Cincinnati with an identical record as St. Louis is considered to have the better records as they went 4-2 against the cards)
How many games behind the players were in their division. A team closer to a playoff spot his considered to have the better record. (Thus Houston with an identical record as the Mets AND with a 3-3 record against them is considered a better team because at 18 games out of 1st they are closer to a playoff spot then the Mets who were 23 games out)
The best record in their division.
The best record in the league
Dice Roll, high roll is considered the team with the better record.
NOTE:If a player on your current Roster does not have a card for the next season due to injury, military service etc but WILL the following year a team may choose to retain the rights to said player but will have to spend a protected spot for it and will have to keep a space for him all season.
Example: Rheal Cormier was out the entire 1998 Season. If a team has him after the 1997 season and wants to keep him they can choose to hold his rights when his season ends and keep a roster spot for him. He will play 1998 with 39 players and in 1999 will hold the rights to Cormier.. If at any time he chooses to release him Cormier will be considered a rookie for Boston because
He had no card the previous year
No team held his rights
His 1999 card says “Boston”
The draft order of teams for each season will be based on their finish the previous season. Any team that is not retained will of course not be drafting BUT If a team holds the draft pick of a team that is no longer in the league he will draft those picks as if that team was still in the league in the round that he holds them.
Worst team (12) Tampa Bay Devil Rays
2nd worst team (12) Toronto Blue Jays
3rd wort team (11) Kansas City Royals
4th worst team (11) New York Mets
5th worst team (10) Houston Astros (Fewer GB than Mets)
6th worst team (10) Minnesota Twins
7th worst team (9) Baltimore Orioles
8th worst team (9) St Louis Cardinals
8th BEST team (8) Cincinnati Reds (won season series vs cards)
7th Best team (8) New York Yankees
Team with the 2nd Best record that didn’t win a division (7) San Diego Padres
Team with the best record that didn’t win a division (7) Chicago Cubs
Division winner not in WS with worst record (6) Cleveland Indians
Division winner not in WS with best record (6) Pittsburgh Pirates
World series loser (5) (Boston Red Sox)
Word series winner (4) (LA Dodgers)
NOTES
Tiebreakers are the same for the keeper order
The pick order of traded picks remain the same even if a team is replaced.
Examples: If San Diego traded the NYY their 3rd round draft pick last season but are not an active team in 1998 then during round 3 the Yankees would get a pick in the sport where SD would have been had they played..
When all teams have drafted that will be considered the end of a round and the next round will commence.
NEW:
Teams WILL continue to draft in this order until:
A team reaches 30 men OR
A team with 25 or more players on their roster voluntarily drops out
Once a team has dropped out of the draft they may not re-enter it. Teams can increase their rosters to up to 40 men either through trades or waivers.
The Formal & InformalDraft.
Formal Draft & Designated Draft day(s):
A date and time will be set for the initial rounds of the draft. It will almost certainly be a Saturday or Sunday as those are the days I have off. Because my schedule is full from Thanksgiving to Christmas this may be delayed. If/When a designated draft day is set All teams will be expected to be either:
Available in the slack chat room (preferred)
Available by phone
With me in my home at the time of the draft
Have a list of players to be drafted submitted
All currently players are presumed to have looked over the card(s) for 1997 online or at least looked up stats by draft day. All teams are encouraged to start doing so at once.
There will be one designated draft day per week.
On a designated draft day a strict 5 minute limit will be allowed to make a pick.
If a team misses their pick will be moved to after the next player on the list who will be considered on the clock and allowed to pick. Example: Cincinnati misses their pick and Houston is next, Houston is allowed to pick and Cincinnati picks after them
If a team who has been skipped has to be skipped twice their pick can be made any time before the end of the round. Example Cincinnati is scheduled to pick 11th They miss their pick If they figure out who they want they can make a pick or submit a list any time before the end of the round and that pick will be valid.
If a team that has been skipped has not picked by the end of the round then a pick will be made for them by me. Said pick will be the player from your franchise who played the most games that season based on their card. Example: Boston does not pick or submit a list for round 5 I will look at the Roster for the actual 1997 red sox to see who is available. If John Valentin has the most game played among unpicked players he will be Boston draft pick. If Boston already has 2 shortstops that will not matter Valentin becomes the pick.
As soon as a round ends there will be a ten minute period to update the rosters and lists and confirm players were put on the right team. During that period draft day trades may be made (see above)
The opening Scheduled draft days will go on for 100 picks. Other scheduled draft days will be 60 picks. Once the number of picks is reached the clock is turned off
The Formal Draft generally begins at either 11 am or 1 pm EST to give west coast folk the time to be awake. Be aware that if you are scheduled to pick
BE AWARE THAT EVEN WITH A FIVE MINUTE LIMIT THAT CAN MEAN 80 MINUTES FOR 16 TEAMS TO PICK IN ONE ROUND. PLEASE DO YOUR BEST TO PREPARE FOR THE DRAFT TO CUT DOWN ON THE TIME REQUIRED. The more prepared everyone is the faster things will go.
Picks off the clock and on non-draft days
As soon as the initial draft ends the “informal draft” begins
During the informal draft a team has 24 hours to make a pick. Picks can be submitted in the draft room or via the Dynasty message system or in person if the person picking is local or via the phone to me. If there is an existing list from the formal draft it will be used to continue the informal draft.
Once the pick is made and recorded on the draft sheet and the player moved to the roster I will announce the pick in the slack chat room and inform the person up, the person on deck and the person in the hole to be prepared to pick. Until you see that announcement the pick is not official.
The Informal draft ends when:
Round 25 is complete OR
The next formal draft begins
The informal draft resumes after any formal draft that doesn’t reach round 25.
Be aware that trading can be made at any time during the informal draft until:
round seven is complete
15 minutes before a formal draft that has not completed round 7
IMPORTANT: Once round seven of the draft is complete trading is finished until the end of week 5 of the season.
The season will begin one week after the draft is complete.
Game Play Etiquette:
Given the weekly nature of the game it should be not difficult to get games in on time or at least get series started but here are some basic guidelines.
If you know in advance you can’t play on the scheduled game day and time try to contact your opponent to arrange a different time both through the chat room and the dynasty system.
If gameday comes and your team is on AUTO your scheduled opponent should assume they can play all or part of their series if they choose.
If gameday comes and you haven’t heard from your opponent check your “Friends” list to see when the last time they signed on was. If it is 10 days or more then play the series vs the PC
If gameday comes and you haven’t heard from your opponent give him or her at least two five minute waiting periods before letting the computer take over the team
On occasions when you and your opponent are in touch but just can’t seem to find a time when both are available I make the following suggestion.
The player who shows up on gameday should play one game (2 game series) or two games (3-4 game series) against the pc.
When those games are finished exit the system and put yourself on Auto being sure to check the “Take my team off auto after this series”
Then your opponent can finish the series as his or her time permits
Keep in mind that the Dynasty system is designed to keep games moving the default position should always be to get games played when possible.
If you have any questions not covered here please let me know.
If you are interested in joining this league let me know
“First we must cross the river,” Benito was saying. “Do you believe me now when I tell you that you must not attempt to swim it, or even get wet from it, or must you try that too?”
“What happens if I just dive in?”
“Then you will be as you were in the bottle. Aware and unable to move. but it will be very cold, and very uncomfortable, and you will be there for all eternity knowing that you put yourself there.”
Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle Inferno 1976
Looking at the results of last nights elections in VA & NJ and particularly NYC two truths are apparent.
“Republicans can’t be surprised that they aren’t winning races in places that they are also leaving in droves.”
Before I list the 2nd and more important quote you need some background:
The quote comes from the SABR site, a baseball analytics group which reprinted a piece about first baseman Hal Chase by Jacob Pomrenke about Hal Chase, a first baseman who played from 1905 to 1919.
Chase was universally considered the best defensive first baseman anyone to that time had ever seen. Both Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson named him the best first baseman of all time.
But Chase was also known from the very start of his career as a man who fixed games. For years in every city where he played allegations had been out there that he threw games or arranged them to be thrown. Allegations that he loudly denied. Then in 1916 he joined the Cincinnati Reds managed by Christy Matterson the great pitcher considered one of the gentleman of baseball. A man so honest that umpires would consult him on close calls. Matterson suspended Chase for trying to bribe players to fix games, as Pomrenke noted:
The suspension by Mathewson was the first time any baseball official had seriously punished Chase for his transgressions. As usual, it didn’t stick. NL president John Heydler reluctantly exonerated Chase after Mathewson joined the military and could not testify against Chase while serving overseas.
Chase would go on to have a part in the fixing of the 1919 World Series. When He heard about this Mathewson said the quote I find relevant to this election:
“Damn them, [baseball officials] deserve it. They whitewashed two players after I caught them with the goods.”
The swearing was VERY out of character for Christy Mathewson but he was pissed.
And that brings us to the night after the 2025 elections in California, Virginia, New Jersey and New York:
Just 11 months ago, LA had the most rainfall in the past 25 years, and several extra feet of snowpack in the Sierras. Since CA is too busy destroying dams to build new reservoirs, the majority of that precipitation drained into the ocean. Newsom's Democrats own this. https://t.co/yxIYaNcE0x
In New Jersey the Democrat running for Governor was involved in a scandal concerning her time at the Navel Academy. It didn’t matter, the state that Trump lost by only 5 points elected her by 13 points.
In Virginia not only did Abagail (duck and run) Springer win by double digits but the man made famous for wanting GOP kids dead won by over six points.
But the real thing is New York City:
You have a open socialist, an open communist, an open antisemite. A person whose opinion on all these things have been well documents and are even available in his own words online for years. A rich kid who never did or ran anything in his life and he not only won the election in NYC but he took over 50% of the vote in a three way race.
What’s the bottom line? Just this: In all of these elections particularly in NYC people in their respective states KNEW who and what these people were and what they supported and STILL not only voted for them, but voted for them overwhelmingly winning margins, with apologies to Sarah Hoyt, well beyond the margin of fraud.
Now it’s very possible that this might hurt the Democrats nationally in states where people have not gone insane as Scott Jennings notes:
NEW: CNN's Scott Jennings fires back after CNN panel starts laughing at him after he claimed Zohran Mamdani was the new leader of the Democratic Party.
Jennings: Mamdani is an avowed socialist… He's now the leader of the Democratic Party.
I think we’re at the point where we have to stop pretending that Democrat voters don’t understand what Communism is, or antisemitism is or violence is or corruption is. I think we have to stop pretending that they are being decieved.
This is what the Democrat/left is. This is what they believe in and what they support this is the government that they want and by golly they’re going to get the government they deserve.
The only question left in my mind is will they be surprised when they get it?
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