Fantasy Baseball League Bylaws

THE MANCHISE FANTASY BASEBALL LEAGUE

OFFICIAL LEAGUE BYLAWS


I. LEAGUE STRUCTURE

A. The Manchise Fantasy Baseball League (MFBL) will be comprised of 10 teams in a one conference structure.

B. The league will use a rotisserie scoring format with no playoffs. It is the individual owners’ responsibility to review and understand the scoring rules and format found on the league website.

C. Winners will be determined by the highest score at the end of the MLB regular season.


II. GOVERNING BODY

A. The MFBL has a governing body of three Commissioners, all of which have equal authority.

B. The league will be governed as a democracy. While the commissioners will have the ability to facilitate changes on the league website, owners will have the opportunity to bring forward issues and concerns, as well as bring items to a vote.

C. To call a vote on any item, a league owner may request one via the league message board. To initiate a vote, the request must be seconded by another owner. At that time, all owners will be required to post a reply to the request to indicate they are active. All matters will be determined by a majority vote. As the league contains ten teams, a majority of six votes will be required to make any changes to rules/bylaws.
c1. If it is determined that any league owner is inactive, they will not be considered as a part of the vote.
c2. Owners will be considered inactive if they are unable to respond to the initial message regarding a vote within 5 business days.

D. The league bylaws, as well as any league rules contained within the website, may only be changed during the offseason. As such, no rule changes should impact the strategy or results of a given season already underway.


III. ANNUAL MFBL DRAFT

A. Team rosters will be filled by an auction draft to be held on a date determined by the league owners via a vote. For details on calling a vote, please refer to section II, subsection C.

B. Each team will be given an auction budget of $260 to spend on players to fill their roster. Each player must be purchased for a minimum of $1 with all bids being dollar denominated (players cannot be purchased for $1.50). Each team will be required to fill each spot on their roster during the draft. Unused draft budget will not be carried over or used for anything else throughout the season.

C. Following the inaugural draft, teams will be given the option to keep a selected number of players for the following season. All players kept will reduce the draft auction budget for the respective team in the following season. For details regarding keepers, please refer to section V.

D. In addition the standard auction draft to be held annually, a one-round minor league draft will be held prior to the beginning of each season.
d1. The minor league draft order will be determined by final standings of the preceding year. The 4th place team will have the 1st pick, the 5th place team will have the 2nd pick, etc. Following the 10th place team (the 7th pick), the 3rd place team will have the 8th pick, the 2nd place team will have the 9th pick, and the 1st place team will have the 10th and final pick.
d2. The player universe will be pulled from the top 50 prospects as per MLB.com.
d3. Players drafted in the minor league draft will not count towards a team’s roster limits. The draft is designed to give teams the rights to own a player, but not the obligation. The rights are only good until the minor league draft the following season. As such, a player drafted in a minor league draft may be kept following a season, but must be on the team’s roster and selected as a keeper. In such cases, the player will be considered undrafted and may be kept for $1. For further details on keeper pricing, please see section V, subsection F.


IV. ROSTER SIZE AND STARTING LINEUP

A. Each team roster will consist of the following positions in a Starting Lineup:

1 Catcher (C)
1 First Basemen (1B)
1 Second Basemen (2B)
1 Third Basemen (3B)
1 Shortstop (SS)
1 Middle Infielder (2B/SS)
1 Corner Infielder (1B/3B)
5 Outfielders (OF)
1 Utility Player (any position)
9 Pitchers (can be any mix of starting and relief pitchers)

TOTAL: 22 starters

B. In addition to the starting lineup, each team roster will include 3 bench spots (BE) which can be comprised of players from any position. This brings the total roster size to 25 players.

C. Each team will be allowed one roster spot for players on the Disabled List (DL). To be eligible for the DL, a player must be on the DL (any time frame) in the MLB. Players listed as Day-to-Day (DTD) will not be eligible to add to the DL.

D. To be eligible at a given position, a player must have played 20 games in the prior season at the given position or participate at a position for a minimum of 10 days in the current season.

E. Starting lineups must be submitted every day. Players will lock at their individual game start times. As such, it is the owners’ responsibility to ensure they have a player in the lineup prior to their individual game time. Starting lineups may be set for every future day of the season at any given time. If a lineup is not submitted, the previous day’s lineup is automatically used.


V. KEEPING PLAYERS

A. Each season, all teams will be allowed to select 3 players to remain on their respective rosters as “keepers.” However, teams are not required to keep any players.

B. Players can only be selected as keepers if their original draft price was less than $30.

C. Players selected as keepers will reduce the draft auction budget of their respective teams the following year based on their keeper price.

D. Keeper price is determined by using the player’s original draft price, plus a 25% inflation increase for each year. As such, players kept for a second year will incur a 25% increase in keeper price over their keeper price in year 1. Players kept for a third year will incur a 25% increase in keeper price over their keeper price in year 2.
d1. Players which are drafted and later dropped during the season can be kept, but at the original draft price. As such, no player drafted in the annual draft will be kept for less than $1.
d2. Keeper prices will be rounded to the nearest dollar amount (i.e. a keeper price of $1.49 will be rounded to $1, while a keeper price of $1.51 will be rounded to $2).

E. Players can only be kept for 3 seasons. However, if a player is dropped after any given season, they may be kept again for up to three contiguous seasons by any team, including the team which originally dropped the player.

F. Players which are undrafted may also be kept. If a player does not have an original draft value, a keeper price of $1 will be used in year 1. The above guidelines for determining keeper price (subsection E) will apply in all subsequent seasons.

G. Keepers must be selected according to the league deadline as per the website.


VI. TRADING PLAYERS

A. During the course of the season, owners may trade any mix of players, FAAB budget dollars (current and future), future draft auction budget dollars and/or minor league draft picks.
a1. Future draft auction budget dollars and minor league draft picks may only be traded for seasons in which both parties have already paid in advance.
a2. Prior to the keeper selection deadline, all players, FAAB budget dollars, future draft auction budget dollars and minor league draft picks may be traded. However, after the keeper selection deadline, only players selected as keepers, future FAAB budget dollars, future draft auction budget dollars and minor league draft picks may be traded.

B. The trade agreement must be a mutual agreement between the owners involved. Trades must be submitted via the website to be considered official. (NOTE: Trades involving FAAB budget, future auction budget or future minor league draft picks must indicate as such in the notes section of the trade. In addition, a message must be submitted via the league website indicating such as soon as the trade agreement is accepted. Any trade which does not follow these guidelines will be reversed by the league commissioners.)

C. All trades are subject to a 1-day league review period. A trade will be vetoed if so voted by 4 league owners.

D. Trading begins immediately after the conclusion of the annual draft and continues throughout the season. During the season, trades can be made on any day of the week; however, if any player involved in the trade has locked, the trade will not go into effect until the following day.


VII. FREE AGENCY AND WAIVERS

A. All players which are undrafted will be placed on waivers. A player may be claimed from waivers by submitting a FAAB bid.

B. The minimum bid for waivers is $1. Players are awarded to the team with the highest bid.

C. Waivers process each day at NOON CENTRAL TIME (1:00 PM EASTERN TIME).

D. In the event two teams place identical bids, the player will be awarded to the team that is currently lower in the standings at that time.

E. When making multiple waiver claims, a team must prioritize the claims. The claim with the highest priority will be processed first. As such, if a team submits a bid on two players while another team submits a bid on the lower priority player, the other team will be awarded the lower priority player (waiver claims are processed one at a time – after your highest priority claim is processed, all other high priority claims are processed, followed by lower priority claims).

F. Following the end of the season, all players will become free agents. At that time, FAAB budgets will not be used to make claims. Players can be added to rosters immediately at no cost.


VIII. WINNING THE LEAGUE

A. The league winners will be determined by point totals in the rotisserie scoring categories. The highest point total will receive 1st place, second highest 2nd place, etc.

B. Scoring will end with the final regular season game of the MLB season.

C. In the event of a tie in final standings, the team owner with a last name higher in the alphabet will receive the higher ranking in even years (2012, 2014, etc.) and the team owner with a last name lower in the alphabet will receive the higher ranking in odd years (2011, 2013, etc.).


IX. FRANCHISE FEE & WINNINGS

A. Each owner will be expected to pay an entry fee of twenty dollars ($20) per year. The entry fee for the first three years is required upon joining the league meaning each owner must pay sixty dollars ($60) up front to join.

B. At the end of each season, owners will be given the option to extend their “contract” at the price of $20.
b1. If an owner does not wish to extend their contract at that time, they can do so later, but with an additional $5 required for each year they delay (i.e. if an owner decides after the second year that he would like to extend the contract to play past the third year, he/she can do so at the cost of $25 per additional year)
b2. All additional fees (the extra $5) will be applied to league purchases (a draft board or food/drinks for the draft the following year).

C. At the completion of each season, all league fees will be distributed to the winners of the league. The winnings are awarded as follows:

$20 x 10 Owners = $200

Champion $125
2d Place $55
3rd Place $20

Total: $200