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1^st Fantasy Baseball is a non-profit organization. Our express purpose is to promote the gaming side of baseball. Our flagship is the fantasy game BB3000, which is only possible through the graces of Yahoo.com’s Fantasy Baseball section. Our fantasy managerial game is in its 10th full season in this year 2009 A.D.

The philosophy of this league is as follows. Have fun, don’t trash other gm’s, be on time with your picks and participate with votes and opinions when asked. Once your lineup is set at the beginning of the year, if all you want to do is sit back and relax and watch your players, and not worry about daily roster management the remainder of the season, even it’s to the detriment of your position in league standings, that is your perogative.

This is a keeper’s league. The 20 franchise name have been established, and even if the GMs may change from year to year, the franchises will remain intact. This allows continuity to easily tracking franchise records. The 20 franchise names are as follows:

Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Dodgers, Giants, Orioles, Phillies, Pirates, Reds, Braves, Indians, Tigers, White Sox, Cubs, Cardinals, Senators, Angels, Athletics, Twins, Colt 45’s

These were the 20 franchises that baseball had when it first expanded to the 162 game schedule in the 1960’s. The Braves were still in Milwaukee, the Senators moved to Texas and became the Rangers, KC moved to Oakland, and the Colt 45’s changed their name to the Astros when the Astrodome in Houston was built.

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1. Scoring

1a. Batters accumulate points and are ranked using the following formula:

(2 x 1B) + (3 x 2B) + (4 x 3B) + (6 x HR) + (1.5 x BB) + (1.5 x HBP) + IBB – (0.33 x (AB-H)) + SB - CS

1b. Pitchers accumulate points using the following formula:

(saves x 4) + (holds x 2) + (innings x 3) - (earned runs x 2) + (strikeouts ¸ 2) - walks - hr's

SAVES Cap

1. If your saves total at year's end is 30 or less you get that many saves.

2. If more than 30 but no one relief pitcher had more than 30, you get capped at 30. Consequently your season ending point total is reduced by the number of saves over 30.

3. If at least one relief pitcher had more than 30, you get the pitcher with the most saves and consequently your season ending point total is reduced by all other saves by the other relief pitchers.

4. If you trade and receive a relief pitcher who got saves with 2 or more BB3000 teams, then only the saves with your team count. This rule requires a side count. For example, pitcher gets 5 saves with first team and 40 saves with you for 45 saves on the year. You only get the 40 saves.

We are currently using Yahoo's Free Fantasy Baseball to keep score. Included in the Yahoo rules regarding the issue of position eligibility is the following:

1c. from the Yahoo site

How is position eligibility established?

At the beginning of the Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball season, Yahoo! Sports placed all players into positions based in part on information from official rosters, but focusing mainly on past performance. Some players appear in multiple position lists and are eligible to fill any of those positions.

Please note the following conditions that apply to a player's position eligibility.

1. A player's position eligibility will not be adjusted prior to the beginning of the season. (If a player in spring training is playing "new" position, that position will not appear until a player has met the criteria for a change.)

2. Players will not lose eligibility at a previously established position at any time. (For example, if a catcher-eligible player begins to play first base exclusively, he will remain eligible at catcher for the entire season.)

3. It is not possible to customize this setting within Custom Leagues. All leagues are subject to the same constraints.

Gaining eligibility at a new position:

If a position player makes five (5) starts or 10 total appearances at a new position during this season, he will become eligible to play that position in Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball.

Pitchers need to make three starts to become eligible as a starter and five relief appearances to qualify as a reliever.

To track a player's progress toward eligibility at a new position, go to the Players section and click on Position Eligibility. For each player shown, an "E" means they are eligible at a given position, a "-" means they have not played at that position yet, and a number indicates how many games remain before eligibility is earned.

Players will not necessarily be eligible for all positions listed in their Player Profile (viewable by clicking on the player"s name)

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2. The Draft

2a. Our draft will consist of enough rounds to bring all rosters up to 25 eligible players who can be protected if kept for the whole season.

2b. Any of these 25 players can be protected during the winter at the end of the season.

2c. If you release one of these players during the season and another team picks him up at a later time, he can no longer be protected over the winter. The same rule applies if you pick up your own player at a later time.

2d. The draft will begin in mid-December and conclude just before the start of the regular season.

2e. (NOT in effect until December 1, 2003) If any of your players, whether they are on your Winter Protected List, or they are drafted, suffers a MLB CAreer Terminating/major interrupting Situation (CATS) between December 1 and April 1, then you are eligible for compensation in the form of a draft pick for his roster spot. That pick must take place at least 24 hours before the start of the next round of the draft. Forms of CATS are:

2e.1. your player leaves MLB (either retires or decides to play baseball in another league)

2e.2. your player suffers a season ending injury

2e.3. your player is thrown in jail for at least one week

2f. The drafting order in the succeeding springs will be based on worst to best teams, with the teams with the fewest protections selecting first. For example, a team that protected 6 players will draft before a team that protected 7 players, regardless of where they finished. However, once both teams have 7 players on their roster, then the team with the worse previous season will select first.

2g. However, to begin the draft there will be a Round Zero. Every team will get one pick, based on last season's order of finish. The worst team will pick first, all the way to the #1 regular season team picking last.

Round FAB is for all teams.

Catch up Round -10 is only for teams who protected no player over the winter.

Catch up Round -9 is only for teams who protected no one, or just one player over the winter.

Catch up Round -8 is only for teams who protected from zero to just two players over the winter.

Catch up Round -7 is only for teams who protected from zero to just three players over the winter.

Catch up Round -6 is only for teams who protected from zero to just four players over the winter.

Catch up Round -5 is only for teams who protected from zero to just five players over the winter.

Catch up Round -4 is only for teams who protected from zero to just six players over the winter.

Catch up Round -3 is only for teams who protected from zero to just seven players over the winter.

Catch up Round -2 is only for teams who protected from zero to just eight players over the winter.

Catch up Round -1 is only for teams who protected from zero to just nine players over the winter.

Rounds 1-14 to bring roster to 25 players. All teams will have 11 players on their roster by this time. The draft will conclude in Round +14. All teams will have a 25 man roster (excluding trades) at this time. If your roster is greater than 25 then you must cut players to get down to 25, unless players are on the DL. If your roster is less than 25, then you may add players from Yahoo's Available list, but these players cannot be protected after the season.

Round Dump happens on Sunday Opening Night. Send a list by 6pm EDT who you want to dump. If you're not dumping anyone but your active playing roster is less than 25 due to DL's and trades, then declare you will be participating and how many picks you will be taking in the Dumping Round. No one selected in the Dumping Round can be protected on the Winter List.

************ The Commissioner's Office will draft for any team that has no GM. Picks will be made keeping with the Best Interests of Baseball. This Commissioner's Office holds the integrity of Baseball as top priority, unlike the current MLB Commissioner.

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3. Keeper Rules

3a. You may protect up to 11 players maximum on your Winter Roster at the end of the season.

3b. c. d. If a player is under 30 years of age he can be protected on the Winter Roster. If 30 or older he cannot be protected if he has been protected 4 or more straight winters, regardless of how many different teams protected him during that 4+ year stretch. The player's age is determined by the calendar year ending December 31.

3e. Once a player is released, either during the season or at the end of the season, that player goes back into the re-entry draft. He can be kept for a brand new 5-year tenure.

3f. Players picked up after the last round of the spring draft cannot be protected. Thus, if you pick up a player during the season, he must be put back into the available pool. The rationale for this is as follows:

players can be picked up during the season on a first come and first serve system; there are no true waivers, to speak of
this sets up a misguided system that would allow "very" active gm's to have a monopoly on surprise players that blossom out of nowhere and become extremely good (Albert Pujols was the 2001 example)
it would penalize not as active gm's, something this league will never do
the following spring draft would be much more interesting with better players in it
there is room on our 25 man rosters to take a couple of flyers without hurting your current season point totals

3g. We will also have a 3 man minor league system. A player is eligible to stay in your minor league system until either a batter gets to 130 MLB at bats or a pitcher gets to 50 MLB innings, going into the next season. If you trade one of your minor leaguers then you now have 2 in your system while the other team may now have 4. You are limited to 2 in your system until the player that you traded is either called up to the parent club and plays (stats counted) or is released. Thus a team could increase its farm by 1 or 2 or 3 or more players, but always at the expense of someone else’s farm system.

3h. If your player exceeds minor league system eligibility at the end of the MLB season he must be put on your Winter Protected List, or you lose the rights to that player.

3i. The minor league draft will take place each season during the MLB All-Star break. Anyone with NO major league experience can be drafted.

3i. *********** If the Commissioner's Office takes over for a GM after the Winter Protected List has been submitted, but before the draft starts, the Commissioner's Office has the right to make changes to that Winter Protected list in keeping with the Best Interests of Baseball. This Commissioner's Office holds the integrity of Baseball as top priority, unlike the current MLB Commissioner.

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4. Rosters

4a. Your active playing roster can never exceed 25 players. You must cover 8 fielding positions (outfield is broken into CF, OF, OF starting in the 2005 season) and a DH for 162 games. There are 2 starting slots for each of the 9 batting slots, which means you could start 2 players on the same night and get stats for both. However, those 2 slots cannot exceed 162 games without penalty. At season’s end, if the missed games as tabulated by Yahoo is less than 162 for the 2 slots, then you will be penalized 5 points for each game less. This amount will be deducted from your season total in an after season points adjustment. If by chance Yahoo changes its scoring system for batters to be set up like pitchers, then we can use the Yahoo system. However, that is not likely to happen.

For example: Your main 3^rd baseman plays 160 games and you have him in the 3^rd base starting slot all year. However, you had another player fill in the other 3^rd base starting slot for 3 games. The total 163 games would produce a Yahoo accounting ledger showing –2 games missed in one slot, and –159 games missed in the other slot. The total of these 2, -161, is one less than our approved –162. This would result in a penalty of 5 points to be deducted from the team’s season total. Of course, if in that extra game the player produced 8 points, you would still be ahead of the game by 3 points. However, the best players in the league produce just over 3 points per game.

There are 5 Starting Pitcher slots that can only be filled with SP’s, one of which must always be a lefty, and one RP slot that must be filled with a Lefty reliever. Beyond these 6 pitching slots there are 6 more pitching slots you can fill with either starters or relief pitchers. Your pitching staff will not accumulate points beyond 1450 innings, as controlled by the Yahoo scoring system.

How you make up this 25-man roster is up to you. If you wish to go with 10 batters and 15 pitchers, then that is your prerogative. (In this scenario at least 3 of the pitchers would be on the bench.) Also, during the course of the season you can change your balance based on your current needs.

4b. If a player goes on the DL you can pick up players that are not on anyone's roster from Yahoo’s Available list. Once the player comes off the DL then you must decide whether to keep him or release him. If you keep him then you must release another player.

4c. This league will be keeping a lineup balance. You MUST have at least 3 left handed and 3 right handed batters in your starting lineup at all times, and one left handed pitcher in your starting rotation, and one left handed pitcher in the bullpen (the RP slot). Switch hitters count as left or right-handed batters and make it easier to meet your requirements. If you have 3 switch hitters then you have met requirements for both sides of the plate. The starting and relief lefties must be appearing at least once a week to meet the requirement.

4d. I have listed our teams in alphabetical order. The team that is directly after you is the team that you will monitor this season for their lefty / righty minimums. Thus, the Angels will check on the A's, the A's on the Braves, etc. The Yankees will check on the Angels.

Angels, Athletics, Braves, Cardinals, Colts, Cubs, Dodgers. Giants, Indians, Mets, Orioles, Phillies, Pirates, Red Sox, Reds, Senators, Tigers, Twins, White Sox, Yankees

4e. If you find any team not complying with the lefty / righty rules then please email me. This list does not prohibit other teams monitoring you. Anyone can monitor anyone and make a report of non-compliance. I would suggest a weekly check to be enough.

4f. You will receive one warning of non-compliance. A second infraction will eliminate you from any playoff considerations.

4g. If a player on waivers is on the DL, if you take him off waivers you cannot put him on your DL. He must take up one of your 25 active spots.

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5. Trades

5a. Trades are allowed. However, any trade is subject to appeal. If a GM disputes a trade then that trade will be voted upon. A simple majority of all cast votes will determine yea or nay.

5b. The trade deadline for the current season will be around August 15. Trades after that date are only for the future season.

5c. Draft picks can be traded, but only after the Winter Rosters have been declared December 1, and not after the completion of the draft. Draft picks for future years cannot be traded.

5d. New *** If a trade involves a draft pick, the trade must be reported at least 49 hours before that pick’s round. Thus, if a draft round starts Sunday at noon, then the trade must be reported by Friday 11am … if the trade involves a pick from the upcoming round.

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6. Playoffs

6a. While the real winner of the league will be the team with the most points at season’s end, ya gotta have playoffs.

The playoffs this year will be determined by the real MLB playoffs. All our teams can participate. All you have to do is track your stats daily and send them to me for posting. The team with the most points after the final out of the World Series is the playoff winner. All players on your 25 man roster accumulate points during the playoffs.

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7. Rule Changes

In order for one of these rules to change we need a 2/3 of those voting majority to pass. At least 15 must vote for the voting to be valid. (10/15, 11/16, 11/17, 12/18, 13/19, 14/20)

Strategies

Since this is a keepers league, your drafting strategy can take many forms. If you wish to try and win right away you can go for older and established players who will give you consistent numbers. However, if you are willing to sacrifice this season in hopes of great teams down the road, you can draft younger players with a huge upside. Or, you can take a middle of the road approach, blending youth and experience.

The YAHOO system, while not perfect, is OK. I set up the simple Runs + Hits + RBI's + Walks + Hit by Pitch system for batters. It is so easy to look at the boxscore (USA Today style) and immediately see how your player did

I have approached Yahoo with the proposal to change their computer program to Cap batters based on plate appearances as opposed to Games Played. Included in the proposal, but something I believe they failed to pick up, was the program’s ability to allow multiple players at one starting position, but still with the position’s plate appearance cap.

I think there is a reasonable approximation between a player's value and his total number of points from last year. Curt Schilling and Randy Johsnon broke the 500 point barrier for the top pitchers Roger Clemens led the AL. Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds cracked the magical 600 point barrier while Alex Rodriguez led the AL (uh, a shortstop).

When viewing the batter stats PTS is the total number of runs, hits, rbi’s, walks, and hit by pitches. PAV is their PTS divided by plate appearances. Their Team is last year’s last team, and the position is probably the position they played the most.

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Want to Join?

If you are interested in joining this league please send an email to thomvan@yahoo.com. Please indicate your experience in fantasy or simulation baseball leagues, and why you want to join a long term keepers league.

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