2023 Rule Change Discussion/Clarifying Current Rules

[Rangers GM/Commish (Joey)]

1. Lottery for draft (discussion)
* Recently real life MLB implemented a draft lottery involving the non-playoff teams. The top 4-6 picks would be determined via lottery instead of record. This would help us curtail some tanking issues potentially.

* I am not sure if we should go this direction or not but I think it's something that we should discuss and if enough people think it's worth voting on then we should do so after we discuss it. I do believe tanking has been a bit of an issue here and this might be the easiest way to address that situation without making rule changes.

2. Potential Penalty for teams who leave guys on IL longer than 2 days beyond the stats ding as this has been a repeat issue that should not be an issue considering you are sent an email and it shows up on your fantrax roster page.

* This has continued to be a reoccurring issue for teams and honestly I am not sure why. You get a 2 day buffer period as it is to make a move to get a guy off IL yet some teams leaving guys on their beyond affecting not only them but their opponent and potentially the rest of the league via standings. One idea would be you get 1 warning then next time it happens you drop a draft spot each time it happens. Open to other potential penalties as well so if you have any suggest them as part of the discussion phase.

3. Minors - this continues to be an issue and if I have to come up with some kind of draft penalty for teams to have better minors it will be considered. Everyone at bare minimum should have some kind of draft history as well as players gained/lost.

* See #2 about 1 warning then some kind of penalty for it not being done.

4. Expanded Playoffs (discussion) - this is much more complex than yes or no.

* If we were to expand playoffs adding another round that would mean we would likely have to add some type of double matchup week in order to maintain our current balanced schedules. Currently we have 4 schedules that were created for our league that we rotate each year.

5. All-Star Week: Short Vs Long
* We have always done short all-star week but if we wanted to make it a long all-star week it would be similar to expanded playoffs which would likely require a double week somewhere (likely at start of year or in middle of year but not final week of season). We generally do a long first week then the World Series can also go longer than 7 days depending on when the season ends.

6. Opening Day Roster - What you have listed on OPENING DAY on fantrax is what will be marked on spreadsheet as your opening day roster this includes players on IL so if you do not want those guys listed as being on IL on roster page PUT THEM IN MINORS otherwise once they come off IL you will have to make a roster move to create a roster spot for them or demote them via normal channels (waivers, waiver pass or rookie rule). This also goes for guys who you want in paid minors not on roster page they need to be put in minors (if they qualify) BEFORE opening day they are not allowed to be freely moved after opening day NO EXCEPTION.

* This will be a straight acknowledgement once we move to that phrase.

7. World Series End Date should we discuss this? Options would be 7 days only or until end of season.

8. Anything others would like to bring up to be added

These are all discussion topics. If there is enough interest in them we would move to a vote or acknowledging changes moving forward whichever was decided.

Deadline to discuss will be Nov 30th. After that we will either do nothing, vote on changes or acknowledge changes (or some combo of these).

[Spyder89 (Reds GM)]

Quick thought on #2:

Isn't there a setting on Fantrax that addresses this? I think it's under Roster restrictions and called Injured Reserve Enforcement type.

[Mets GM-Bundy]

I like the idea of a draft lottery for the 1st 6 teams.

[Rangers GM/Commish (Joey)]

Nov 22, 2022 20:02:35 GMT -6 Spyder89 (Reds GM) said:

Quick thought on #2:

Isn't there a setting on Fantrax that addresses this? I think it's under Roster restrictions and called Injured Reserve Enforcement type.

Not for a free league.

[Oakland A’s GM (Daniel)]

I'm not opposed for the lottery, but maybe the top four considering we don't have 30 teams?

[rock30 (Orioles GM)]

I’d like to propose a set 26 or 30 man roster for playoffs in each round. If a team has injured players, they can still be replaced but the injured player would need to sit out the following round. This rule would only be for injured players who are out for at least a week or 2 and at the most out for the playoffs if injured in real life playoffs.

[Rene-Pierre (Rockies)]

1. Lottery for draft (discussion)
I am not sure some teams are tanking but I would agree for a bottum 3 lottery maybe.

2. Potential Penalty for teams who leave guys on IL longer than 2 days beyond the stats ding as this has been a repeat issue that should not be an issue considering you are sent an email and it shows up on your fantrax roster page.

I would like to discuss a penalty for this. Can we remove points weekly?

5. All-Star Week: Short Vs Long

It would be nice to do a long all-star week with another interleague game.

[Rangers GM/Commish (Joey)]

I will say this about #1 I used the same post for all my leagues. Some things might not be a big of an issue here as others but it was just easier this way.

[Rangers GM/Commish (Joey)]

Nov 23, 2022 15:04:01 GMT -6 Rene-Pierre (Rockies) said:

2. Potential Penalty for teams who leave guys on IL longer than 2 days beyond the stats ding as this has been a repeat issue that should not be an issue considering you are sent an email and it shows up on your fantrax roster page.

I would like to discuss a penalty for this. Can we remove points weekly?

We can't even do illegal roster which takes away stats for each day illegal currently which is what most leagues use because we are a free league thus we are limited. Its more at this point about having something in place to forces teams to not leave guys on IL for longer than 2 days which has happened A LOT over and over here.

[Seattle GM - Jamie]

1. I would like to see a lottery system for the pick. I do think it will help some with teams that might think about tanking. I also like how it will add value to the lottery picks in trades.

2. I would like to see a penalty. Maybe if you have multiple offenses in same year, you lose a waiver pass or the player is put on waivers? I know harsh but should get someones attention.

3. We need to let everyone know what all has to be included in minors and if it isn’t then move their 1st pick to end the of the round.

4. Yes

5. Short but either is ok with me.

[Rangers GM/Commish (Joey)]

Nov 23, 2022 19:52:41 GMT -6 Seattle GM - Jamie said:

1. I would like to see a lottery system for the pick. I do think it will help some with teams that might think about tanking. I also like how it will add value to the lottery picks in trades.

2. I would like to see a penalty. Maybe if you have multiple offenses in same year, you lose a waiver pass or the player is put on waivers? I know harsh but should get someones attention.

3. We need to let everyone know what all has to be included in minors and if it isn’t then move their 1st pick to end the of the round.

4. Yes

5. Short but either is ok with me.

1. I would like to think it would since you could end up with any where between 1 and 6 with no guarantee but who knows.

2. Open to any penalty ideas

3. "Everyone at bare minimum should have some kind of draft history as well as players gained/lost."

[Minnesota Twins GM – (DK)]

1. Not a fan of the lottery. Plus, In my view tanking has not been a big issue in this league.

2. Potential Penalty For IL violation. I think it should impact that weeks score as that’s where you gain an advantage. Maybe a warning after 2 day grace and if not corrected after 2 more days no points/stats for days where roster is still illegal.

3. Maybe the penalty should be your team is on auto pick for drafts if you don’t meet the minimum minor league roster requirement. You can’t update your minors; you can’t draft (auto pick).

4. Expanded Playoffs - my vote is NO. The regular season is really long and should be meaningful. The only reason MLB went to expanses playoff was for a money grab. We don’t have that issue here. No need to dilute the regular season further. The playoffs is already a crab shoot as it is. Expand playoffs and we’ll have terrible teams winning chips based on a couple lucky weeks.

5. All-Star Week - LONG

6. 👍🏾

7. World Series End - I like going till the end but I understand that the last few days gets quirky as real teams stop playing good players to either get ready for real MLB playoffs and rest good older players that have nothing to play for since they are eliminated. So, I would be ok if we ended early……. I would like the finals to be two weeks if we can make the scheduling work. Makes it less fluky.

[Rangers GM/Commish (Joey)]

On #2 while 2 days has been what we used I am opening to discussing that # but I don't think I would be in favor of anything more than 3 days.

In terms of penalty I am very open to ideas. Could be something as simple as if teams leave a guy on IL longer than allowed team must burn a waiver pass and if they are out of waiver passes that player must go to waivers (this could be done by TAB Member to get roster legal). But again I am open to ideas on what others would think where we could vote on potential changes like days and penalty.

[Rangers GM/Commish (Joey)]

Nov 24, 2022 10:21:25 GMT -6 Minnesota Twins GM – (DK) said:

1. Not a fan of the lottery. Plus, In my view tanking has not been a big issue in this league.

2. Potential Penalty For IL violation. I think it should impact that weeks score as that’s where you gain an advantage. Maybe a warning after 2 day grace and if not corrected after 2 more days no points/stats for days where roster is still illegal.

3. Maybe the penalty should be your team is on auto pick for drafts if you don’t meet the minimum minor league roster requirement. You can’t update your minors; you can’t draft (auto pick).

4. Expanded Playoffs - my vote is NO. The regular season is really long and should be meaningful. The only reason MLB went to expanses playoff was for a money grab. We don’t have that issue here. No need to dilute the regular season further. The playoffs is already a crab shoot as it is. Expand playoffs and we’ll have terrible teams winning chips based on a couple lucky weeks.

5. All-Star Week - LONG

6. 👍🏾

7. World Series End - I like going till the end but I understand that the last few days gets quirky as real teams stop playing good players to either get ready for real MLB playoffs and rest good older players that have nothing to play for since they are eliminated. So, I would be ok if we ended early……. I would like the finals to be two weeks if we can make the scheduling work. Makes it less fluky.

1. I will say this about #1 I used the same post for all my leagues. Some things might not be a big of an issue here as others but it was just easier this way. I would tend to agree that maybe tanking hasn't been as big of an issue here as other 28-30 team leagues but probably still worth discussing to take temperature of league.

2. Not even sure that is possible. It needs to be something we can do probably outside of fantrax esp as a free league where we are limited on stuff.

3. I am open to penalties but not sure auto-draft is right but not against it being an option either.

4. I can see that argument too. Its maybe also a little different here where 8 of 20 make playoffs instead of 8 of 30. Again this goes back to I posted the same discussion points in all my leagues because it was just easier overall.

5. Will require a double match-up week some where in schedule much like this year but would not be last week of regular season.

7. Any change to length will effect schedule. I dont think its possible to do 2 week playoff. I mean we just had basically a week and half with some teams not liking that. The argument will be reg season is 7 days why should WS get an extra week. When you start making changes whether its length of All-Star Week or WS week that will have a cause/effect on schedule set-up.

[dejcannet (Brewers GM David)]

1. Lottery for draft:
- All that would happen is teams 7-11 would then tank in hopes of getting into the lottery, and have the opportunity to win the first pick in the draft.
- This would also be disheartening to a new team owner with a defunct mess to rebuild (could make it more difficult to find new owners).

2. Potential Penalty for teams who leave guys on IL longer than 2 days:
- See if Fantrax can police this issue, even if we need to pay more.

3. Minors:
- Spot check by Tab. If more than 2 errors are found, the team drops 1 spot in each round of the draft.

4. Expanded Playoffs (discussion) - this is much more complex than yes or no.
- Majority vote wins issue. If “yes” – do whatever must be done to make it work (no complaining)

5. All-Star Week: Short Vs Long:
- see answer #4

6. Opening Day Roster :
- Post rules and have each team acknowledge. Then no one can complain later. If they do, just post their acknowledgement of the rules.

7. World Series End Date should we discuss this? Options would be 7 days only or until end of season.
- Tough one. That last week can be a killer when many teams are resting veterans. No opinion on this one.

8. Anything others would like to bring up to be added:
- No