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SRBL Official Rules

Table of Contents

I. Roster
II. Standings
III. The Auction Draft
IV. Position Eligibility
V. Roster Protection
VI. Player Salaries
VII. Transactions VIII. The Option Year and Guaranteed Long-term Contracts
IX. Farm System
X. Transaction Fees
XI. Prize Money


I. Roster

A team's active roster consists of the following players:

  • nine pitchers
  • one catcher
  • one first baseman
  • one second baseman
  • one shortstop
  • one third baseman
  • one middle infielder (either second baseman or shortstop)
  • one corner man (either first baseman or third baseman)
  • five outfielders
  • one DH
  • one utility player (any position)

A team's farm system may contain up to three minor-league players, and their reserve list may contain any number of players. However, only players on the active roster can accrue stats for their teams.


II. Standings

The following categories are used to determine team standings:

Hitting categories:

  • Composite on-base percentage (OBP)
  • Total home runs (HR)
  • Total runs scored (R)
  • Total runs batted in (RBI)
  • Total stolen bases (SB)

Pitching categories:

  • Composite earned run average (ERA)
  • Total wins (W)
  • Total saves (S)
  • Composite ratio: bases on balls (BB) + hits (H) / innings pitched (IP)
  • Total strikeouts (K)

Teams are ranked from first to last in each of the ten categories and given points for each place. For example, in a twelve-team league, the first-place team in a category receives twelve points, the second-place team eleven, and so on down to one point for last place. The team with the most total points wins the pennant.

In cases of ties in an individual category, the tied teams are assigned points by totaling points for the rankings at issue and dividing the total by the number of teams tied.

In cases of ties in total points, final placings in the standings are determined by the following tie-breakers:

  1. comparing placement of teams in individual categories - Respective performances are calculated and a point given to each team for bettering the other. Should one team total more points than the other, that team is declared the winner.
  2. comparing number of first-place finishes in individual categories - the team with the most first-place finishes in individual categories is declared the winner.

Should a tie still exist, the teams will split the pot.

Note: A team that fails to pitch a total of 800 innings cannot be ranked ahead of any team that does pitch 800 innings, in either ERA or Ratio.


III. The Auction Draft

A major league player draft in the form of an open auction is conducted within a week after Opening Day of the baseball season. Each team must acquire 23 players at a total cost not to exceed $26. A team does not have to spend the maximum, but must still pay a $26 draft fee.

The team that finished last the previous season nominates the first player for acquisition. Nominations will then proceed in a clockwise order. The team nominating a player first opens the bidding with a minimum salary bid of $.10 for any eligible player, and the bidding proceeds around the room at minimum increments of $.10 until only one bidder is left. That team acquires the player for that amount and announces the roster position the player will fill. The process is repeated, with successive team owners introducing players to be bid on, until every team has a squad of 23 players, by requisite position.

  • Players eligible at more than one position may be shifted during the course of the draft.
  • No team may make a bid for a player it cannot afford. For example, a team with $.30 left and two openings on its roster is limited to a maximum bid of $.20 for one player. This is a $1 fine.
  • No team may bid for a player who qualifies only at a position that the team has already filled. For example, a team that has acquired two catchers, neither of which qualifies at another position, may not enter the bidding for any player who qualifies only at catcher. This is a $1 fine.
  • Players who commence the season on the major-league disabled list are eligible to be drafted, and if selected, may be replaced during the first transaction period of the season.

Immediately following the major-league draft, a Farm System draft will take place. Any player who is not on a major-league team's active roster is eligible to be drafted.

  • Selection takes place in three rounds, the drafting order being determined by the prior season's final standings: 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st.
  • Each selection costs $1.
  • No team may have more than 3 players on its farm team at one time.


IV. Position Eligibility

A player may be assigned to any position at which he appeared in 20 or more games in the preceding season. If a player did not appear in 20 games at a single position, he may be drafted only at the position at which he appeared most frequently. This position eligibility rule is used only to determine the position(s) at which a player may be drafted. Once the season is underway (but after the draft), a player becomes eligible at any position he has played at least once.


V. Roster Protection

Each team can retain, from one season to the next, no more than 15 of the players on its 23-man roster.

The names of players being retained must be recorded with the Commissioner by noon of roster freeze day (typically one week before draft day). Specific notice must also be made at that time of any guaranteed long-term contract signings and farm-system renewals. The fine for late rosters is $5.

The cumulative salaries of players protected prior to Auction Draft Day are deducted from a team's $26 expenditure limit, and the balance is available for acquisition of the remaining players needed to complete the team's 23-man roster.

Failure to give notice of a guaranteed long-term contract for a player in his option year will result in his being continued for one season at his prior year's salary and then released into the free-agent pool. Failure to renew a farm-system player's minor-league contract will result in his becoming available to all other teams in the subsequent minor league draft.

A farm-system player whose minor-league contract is renewed on roster freeze day, and who subsequently makes his major league team's active roster may, at his Rotisserie League owner's option, be added to the protected list of players on Auction Draft Day (and another player dropped, if necessary, to meet the 15-player limit), or he may be dropped and made available in the auction draft. He may not be retained in his Rotisserie League team's farm system.

If you retain a player who is on his major league team's disabled list at the start of the season, he must still occupy a spot on your 23-man roster at draft time. You may then replace him with a free-agent pick-up on the first transaction date of the season.

Only those players who are on a major-league roster at the start of the season may be retained. In the following cases, the player cannot be retained:

  • If a player who ended the previous season on a major-league roster starts the current season in the minor leagues or as a free agent, he cannot be retained.
  • If a player was traded to the National League during the previous season or during the off-season, and he then returned to the American League before the start of the current season, he cannot be retained. As soon as a player plays a game in the NL, his current rotisserie contract is void, and he becomes a free agent. For instance, rotisserie team A owns Randy Johnson. During the stretch run he's dealt to the Diamondbacks, but team A never replaces him on their roster. During the off-season, he signs as a free-agent with an American League team. Even though team A never replaced him, they still cannot retain him for this season because his contract was voided as soon as he played a game in the NL.


VI. Player Salaries

The salary of a player is determined by the time and means of his acquisition and does not change unless the player becomes a free agent or is signed to a guaranteed long-term contract.

  • The salary of a player acquired in the major-league draft is his auction price.
  • The salary of a player called up from the free-agent pool during the season is $1 (unless two or more owners are bidding for his services).
  • The salary of a player activated from a team's farm system during the season is $1.
  • The salary of a player claimed on waivers is $1 (or his current salary if his current salary is greater than $1).
  • The salary of a player called up during September Roster Expansion as an extra (24th) player is $2.50 if he is drawn from the free-agent pool.
  • The salary of a player called up from the free-agent pool as an unconditional pick-up is $2.50.

Once the draft is over, a team's total salary may exceed the $26 draft day limit, but cannot exceed the in-season salary cap of $45. For purposes of determining a team's salary against the cap, no single player will count more than $6 against the cap, regardless of his actual salary. There is no salary cap during the off-season.


VII. Transactions

Teams may make transactions, including pick-ups, trades, and activations, once a week. The transaction deadline is Monday at Noon every week during the season.

If two or more teams put in a pick-up request (free agent, extra roster player, or unconditional) for the same player, the team with the highest specified max bid will get the player at a salary equal to $.10 more than the next highest max bid. The only exception to this is for extra roster player pick-ups on the first week extra player pick-ups are allowed. In that case, precedence goes to the team lowest in the prior week's standings. If a team does not specify a max bid, the default max bid is $1.00 for free agent pick-ups and $2.50 for extra roster and unconditional pick-ups. If there is a tie for highest max bid, the team lowest in the prior week's standings will get the player.

While it is not necessary that a team's roster reflect the required position distribution upon completion of each individual transaction within a particular transaction period, it is required that the roster reflect the required position distribution upon completion of that transaction period. If for some reason a transaction cannot be completed that would have balanced a team's roster, all previous transactions for that team will be voided until a point is reached in which that team's roster is balanced. For example, team A submits two transactions for the week. The first transaction is a trade of a third baseman to team B for an outfielder who's currently on the DL. The second transaction is the free agent pickup of a third baseman to replace that outfielder, which would then balance team A's roster again. If team A were to have to bid for the player in the second transaction, and did not win the bid, then the first transaction would be voided, because it would result in an unbalanced roster for team A.

Trades

From the completion of the auction draft through the first transaction period following the major leagues baseball trade deadline (midnight of July 31), Rotisserie League teams are free to make trades of any kind without limit, so long as the anti-dumping rules outlined below are adhered to.

From the end of the trade deadline transaction period through the last transaction period preceding August 31, trades may take place only between teams contiguous in the preceding week's standings. Trades made from the day after the season ends until rosters are frozen prior to Auction Draft Day are not bound by the position distribution requirement.

Trades do not affect the salaries or contract status of players.

One team may trade no more than 5 players to any other given team during the season.

Players in the last year of a guaranteed contract, or playing out their option year, and players with a salary of $2.00 or more, are considered "asterisk" players. Such players may be traded only under the following conditions:

  • One team may trade asterisk players to another team provided that for each asterisk player traded, one is received in the same deal.
  • One team may trade asterisk players to another team provided that for each asterisk player traded (when that player qualifies as an asterisk player due to salary), one whose salary is within $.50 of the asterisk player's salary is received in the same deal.
  • The above notwithstanding, a team may trade one asterisk player to another team without an asterisk player coming in return, but may only make one such trade with any given team, and may only make a total of 3 such trades in the course of the season. Between the end of the season and Roster Freeze Day, asterisk players may be traded without restriction whatsoever.

The Reserve List

A team may replace any player on its 23-man roster who is

  • placed on the disabled list
  • released
  • traded to the other league
  • sent down to the minors by his major league team
  • suspended for steroid use

To replace such a player, a Rotisserie League team must first release him outright, waive him, or place him on its reserve list. A team reserves a player by notifying the Commissioner and paying the $1 transaction fee. A reserved player is removed from a team's active roster at the end of the stat week and placed on the team's reserve list. There is no limit to the number of players a team may have on its reserve list. Reserving a player protects a team's rights to that player. A suspended player may not be reserved, released, or replaced, unless that suspension is due to violation of the drug policy for steroid use.

Once a specific action has been taken to remove a player from its 23-man roster (via release, waiver, or placing him on the reserve list), a team is then free to select any eligible player from the free-agent pool of players not already owned by another Rotisserie League team. The salary assigned to a player so selected from the free-agent pool is $1 (unless two or more owners are bidding for the player's services); the call-up fee is determined by the time of the season in which the call-up is made.

When a player on a reserve list returns to active major league duty, he must be reinstated to the active 23-man roster of his Rotisserie League team two weeks after his activation or be waived. Failure to notify the Commissioner shall be considered a waiver of the player on the reserve list. A player may not be reinstated or waived until he has been activated by his major-league team.

When a player is reinstated to the active 23-man Rotisserie League roster from a team's reserve list, the player originally called up to replace him must be waived, unless the replacement player or the original player can be shifted to another natural opening on the roster for which he qualifies. In either case, it is the original player who is linked to the player whose departure created the natural opening. If the replacement player has been traded, reserved, released, or waived within the Rotisserie League, the player acquired in his place is linked to the original player and must be waived or put into a natural roster opening if one exists. A reinstated player may not displace any player on the active 23-man roster other then his original replacement or the player for whom the replacement has been traded. The rule holds through successive replacements that may occur for the duration of the season.

There is one exception to the rule where a replacement player must be waived upon the return of a player from the reserve list. A team now has the option of keeping the replacement player by using a UC pickup. Any other active player on the roster can be waived instead, provided positional requirements are met. The replacement player that is now being kept will have a salary of $2.50 or his current salary, whichever is higher (similar to normal UC pickup salary of $2.50).

Example scenario: You have playerA on your active roster and he gets hurt. You pick up playerB (for $1.50 salary after bidding) and put playerA on IR. PlayerA now comes off the IR, and you want to activate him, but playerB has been crushing it and you want to keep him too. Meanwhile, you've got playerC who has been benched and is giving you nothing. What you could now do is activate playerA ($1.00 IR activation fee), and keep playerB by UCing playerC and putting playerB in his place ($2.50 UC fee). PlayerB's salary would then become $2.50, and playerC would go on the waiver wire.

Placing a player on the reserve list and activating a player from the reserve list are each subject to a $1 transaction fee.

Outright Release and Waivers

When a team activates a player from its reserve list or from its farm system, the player being replaced must be either released outright or waived. If the replaced player is no longer on the active roster of his major-league team, he must be released outright. Otherwise, he must be waived.

The waiver period begins at noon on the Monday after the Commissioner has been notified that a player has been waived and lasts one week, at the end of which time the player shall become the property of the lowest-ranked team to have claimed him. To make room on its roster, the team acquiring a player on waivers must assign the player to a natural opening or waive a player at the same position played by the newly acquired player.

A team may acquire on waivers no more than one player in a given week, but there is no limit to the number of players a team may acquire on waivers during the season.

The team which placed the player on waivers is allowed to re-acquire that player, but only if no other team has claimed him.

If a player is not claimed during the one-week waiver period, he clears waivers and returns to the free-agent pool.

The fee for acquiring a player on waivers is $1. The salary of a player acquired on waivers shall be $1 or his previous salary, whichever is greater, and his contract status shall remain unchanged.

A player with a guaranteed long-term contract may not be waived during the season. However, he may be released and replaced if he is traded to the "other" league.

A player may be given his outright release only if he is:

  • unconditionally released
  • placed on the "designated for assignment" list
  • sent to the minors
  • placed on the "disqualified" list
  • traded to the "other" major league
  • placed on the disabled list

If a player is released outright, he is returned to the free-agent pool, where he will be available for pick-up only if and when he returns to the active roster of an American League team.

September Roster Expansion

If it chooses, a team may expand its roster for the pennant drive by calling up one additional player after September 1 from the free-agent pool, its own reserve list, or its own farm system.

The order of selection for September Roster Expansion is determined by the most recent weekly standings, with the last-place team having first selection, and so on. This selection order pertains only to the first transaction period on or after September 1. After that time, a team forfeits its order in the selection process, though not its right to make a selection.

The salary assigned to a September call-up from the free-agent pool is $2.50, or that determined by the max bid process if more than one team put in a pick-up for the same player. The salary of a September call-up from a team's reserve list or farm system is the salary established at the time he was previously acquired (on Auction Draft Day, or subsequently from the free-agent pool, or via waivers).

Note: Any normal pick-up from the free-agent pool takes precedence over a September Roster Expansion pick-up.

Unconditional Pick-ups

A team may, three times per season, make an unconditional pick-up from the free-agent pool or of a player who is a replacement player (and would normally have to be waived upon the activation of the player he is replacing), and release or waive any player on their roster, whether that player is eligible through normal rules to be replaced or not. These unconditional pick-ups may be used any time during the season.

The salary assigned to an unconditional pick-up from the free-agent pool is $2.50, or that determined by the max bid process if more than one team put in a pick-up for the same player. The salary of an unconditional pick-up of a player who is a replacement player (and would normally have to be waived upon the activation of the player he is replacing) will be adjusted up to $2.50 if the player's current salary is less than $2.50.

Note: Any normal pick-up from the free-agent pool or September Roster Expansion pick-up takes precedence over an unconditional pick-up.


VIII. The Option Year and Guaranteed Long-term Contracts

A player who has been under contract at the same salary during two consecutive seasons and whose service has been uninterrupted (that is, he has not been released, although he may have been traded or waived) must, prior to the freezing of rosters in his third, or option, season, be

  • released
  • signed at the same salary for his option year
  • signed to a guaranteed long-term contract

If released, the player returns to the free-agent pool and becomes available to the highest bidder at the next auction draft. If signed at the same salary for an option year, the player must be released back into the free-agent pool at the end of that season.

If signed to a guaranteed long-term contract, the player's salary in each year covered by the new contract (which commences with the option year) shall be the sum of his current salary plus $.50 for each additional year beyond the option year. In addition, a signing bonus, equal to one half the total value of the long-term contract, shall also be paid.

Here's how it works. Let's say you drafted Mark McGwire of the Oakland Athletics for $.40 in 1987, a fair price then for an unproven talent who wasn't even in the Opening Day lineup. It's now the spring of 1989 and McGwire, who has become the next Babe Ruth, is entering his option year. Only a Charlie Finley would let him play out his option; only a Calvin Griffith would trade him. You compare McGwire's stats with those of other players at various salary levels, assess your needs, project what's likely to be available in the upcoming draft, cross your fingers against injury - and sign him to a five-year guaranteed contract. McGwire's salary zooms to $2.40 ($.40 plus $.50 plus $.50 plus $.50 plus $.50), but he's yours through the 1993 season. His signing bonus, which does not count against your $26 Auction Draft Day limit, is $6.00 (one half of 5 x $2.40). If he really is the next Babe Ruth, you've got a bargain.

A team may sign a player to only one long-term contract, at the end of which he becomes a free agent.

Option-year and long-term contracts are entirely transferable, both in rights and obligations; the trade of a player in no way affects his contract status.

If, during the course of a long-term contract, a player is traded from the American League to the National League, the contract is rendered null and void. The team that loses the player's services shall be under no further financial obligations.

In all other cases - specifically including permanent disability or sudden loss of effectiveness - a team must honor the terms of a long-term contract, as follows:

A player with such a contract may be released (that is, not protected on a team's roster prior to Auction Draft Day), but a team that chooses to do so must pay into the prize pool, above the $26 Auction Draft Day limit, a sum equal to twice the remaining value of the player's contract. The player then re-enters the free-agent pool.


IX. Farm System

If a farm-system player is promoted to the active roster of a major league team at any time during the regular season prior to September 1 (when major-league rosters may expand to forty), his Rotisserie League team has two weeks after his promotion to activate him (at any position for which he qualifies) or waive him.

The fee for activating a player from a team's farm system is $1.

If a farm-system player is activated, the player displaced from the 23-man roster to make room for him must be placed on waivers, unless the farm-system player can be activated into a natural opening, in which case no waiver is required.

Once brought up from its farm system by a Rotisserie League team, a player may not be returned to it, although he may be placed on a team's reserve list in the event he is returned to the minor leagues by his major league club. A farm-system player not brought up to a team's 23-man roster during the season of his initial selection may be kept within the farm system in subsequent seasons upon payment of an additional $1 per year, so long as he is not on a major-league roster and the Commissioner is duly notified on roster freeze day each year.

At no time may a team have more than three players in its farm system. A farm-system player may be traded during authorized trading periods, subject to prevailing rules governing transactions, as may a team's selection rights in the minor league draft.


X. Transaction Fees

All fees are payable into the prize pool and are subsequently distributed to the top five teams in the final standings.

Draft Fee$26
Trades$1 per trade (no matter how many players are involved) for trades on or before 5/31. $1 per player for trades after 5/31. In a trade, the team that pays the fee is subject to negotiation
Pick-up from free-agent pool$2 until the All-Star Game, $4 thereafter until season's end
Pick-up from waivers$1 for each player claimed on waivers
Unconditional pick-up$5
September roster expansion$5
Put on reserve list$1 for each player placed on a team's reserve list
Put in farm system$1 for each player in a team's farm system
Activation from reserve list or farm system$1 for each player activated from the reserve list or farm system


XI. Prize Money

First place:36%
Second place:26%
Third place:18%
Fourth place:l2%
Fifth place:8%