2013 Cyberzahm Roto Baseball Rules by beloved Commissioner Fox the ICC Note: We are moving league management as much as possible to the CBS Site. This introduces some uncertainty. These rules are the ICC's best guess as to how things will work. In the event things are different, the rules will be adjusted as necessary. A) Determining draft pool There are almost no restrictions on the draft. Draft anybody you want - except do not draft an injured player simply so that you can replace him with "free" DL moves. This will more or less be an honor system. A gentlemen's agreement. We all trust each other. Note that you can draft an injured star who is expected to return sometime during the season, and you can DL said star until they return. That is OK if the main reason for your pick is that you want that player when they return. It is not OK to take a player mainly because they are hurt and due back later rather than sooner and you know you will be able to replace them, possibly over and over again, after you have more info and can see who is hot and what categories you need help with etc. B) Determining draft positions 1. Starting March 1st, we will take turns choosing our draft position. The previous year's last place finisher will choose their position first, the next to last place finisher will pick their position second, and so on. Ties will be broken by the ICC flipping a coin. If there are any new participants they will choose their position last. Selection order is: Terry Al Prep Andy Fox Hans Mags Sobo Gabes For 2013 the draft order will be: 01 Terry 02 Al 03 Andy 04 Hans 05 Fox 06 Sobo 07 Gabes 08 Mags 09 Prep 2. Remember that we will draft in the order 1 2 3 .. N-1 N N N-1 ... 3 2 1 1 2 3 ... If you draft in position 1 you'll get picks 1 2N 2N+1 etc. C) Player positions Offensive players are originally eligible at their "primary" position (CBS determines this) plus any position where they appeared in at least 20 games in the previous season in the majors A player earns eligibility at a new position if they appear at that position in the majors "this year" for at least 10 games (assuming we can set this up automatically with CBS -- I believe we can). Players who are eligible for more than one offensive position can be "shifted around" so that roster balance is maintained during a trade or DL/NR move. D) The Draft 1. We will begin the draft on the Ides of March. Beware. We will do it as quickly as we can. We will use the CBS Draft Room for the draft. 2. The draft will consist of 24 rounds. Each round each participant will claim one player. Each participant must end up with 6 outfielders, 1 1st basemen, 1 2nd basemen, 1 3rd basemen, 1 shortstop, 1 1st or 3rd baseman, 1 2nd or shortstop, 2 catchers, 1 utility offensive player (any position or DH), and 9 pitchers. An owner's active roster must show this balance throughout the entire season, even after trades and other moves. E) Calculating Standings 1. We will track these categories: batting average (team Hits/team ABs), Runs, HRs, RBIs, SBs, Wins, Saves, Stikeouts and team ERA. Pitcher's batting stats are not counted. Offensive player's pitching stats are not counted. Standard roto point system will be used. F) Beginning of season We will define the end of the pre-season, for trade purposes, to be midnight, the day before the first official game is played on US soil, i.e., in the contiguous 48 states. Likewise, the start of season is that same day, i.e., the day the first official game is played on US soil. Any major league stats that accrue during preseason are considered, for our purposes, to have occurred during the first week of the season. So, if two teams play an early game in Japan, and Player A hits a grand slam, and his owner trades him to Owner B after that game but before the end of preseason, then Owner B gets credit for the slam. G) Moves Transaction periods will be week to week. Using the CBS tools each owner manages his own team. Owners may enter roster changes any time during the week. They will take affect the following Monday. This includes trades. Trades should leave a roster balanced. There is no restriction on the number of add/drops you make although there is a $2 charge for any dropped player. Adds are made first come first serve. You must maintain an active balanced roster of 24 players as described above. Players that are on the DL will be able to be moved to inactive status (I hope). When they return from the DL they will become active, so you will need to adjust your roster to maintain "balance". Dropped players will be placed automatically on a "waiver list" for three days by CBS (I hope). If two or more owners lay claim to a waived player during the waiver period, then whoever is further back in the standings will get him. The trade deadline is the earliest Sunday that follows the major league trade deadline. Typically that is the first Sunday in August. J) Side Bets Note that several owners have mentioned they will lower their sidebets this year under the new format .. wanting to see how this plays out before committing too much moola to the whole thing. That is fine in fact side bets are just that .. on the side. They are never required. The only "official" side bets will be those of the $X per category and $Y overall variety. I will gather, post, determine the results, and fold those results into the payoff scheme for such bets that are properly submitted by the deadline I announce (probably about 1 week after the draft ends). Each owner should send me, and the league as a whole, one note saying they are willing to bet so much per category and so much overall with whomever. For example, you might write "I accept all $5 category wagers and all $10 overall wagers, except I'm willing to raise that to $15 per category with Joe Blow." Or "I accept $10 overall wagers with these 5 teams ...". You get the idea. Other types of bets, for booze or music, or of the "my catchers will destroy those charlatans you have behind the plate" variety, can be posted on the CZ site but you will have to determine the results yourself and handle the payoffs. If such bets are for cash, and you can get the results to me in a timely fashion after the season is over, I will fold them into the payoff scheme. In any case, I can post the results of such bets if you send them to me. In order for an unofficial bet between Owner A and Owner B to be posted, Owner A should send the bet description to Owner B, who then forwards it to me. K) The Bottom Line 1. Entry cost is $75. Dropping a player from roster costs $2. 2. Payoffs will be as follows: First, we deduct the cost of the stat service. Second, we deduct 10% of the remaining pot to be donated to a charity that I select. Third, the remaining money is divvied up as follows: First place: 30% Second place: 15% Third place: 7% The remaining 48% will be given out using the following scheme which essentially pro-rates payouts based on total points ... The total points earned by the last place team are subtracted from everybody's total points, giving everyone an adjusted point value. The adj pt vl of the last place team would be zero. The first place team would have the highest adj pt vl. Each team would be paid from the remaining 48%, a share equivalent to their percentage of the total adjusted point values. L) I'm the commissioner (ICC). When rulings are needed I'll try to ask for opinions, but I've got the final say. Fox