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RSE Rotisserie Baseball - Official Rules

I. Drafting

A. Draft Logistics

  1. The draft will be held on the first Saturday after Opening Day at 10:30 ET unless otherwise specified.
  2. Draft order will be determined by a weighted lottery based on last year's order of finish. Draft order will be determined at least 1 hour before the draft to allow possible pre-draft deals.
  3. All new owners are considered to have placed in the middle of the group rounded down (ex. 10 total owners = 5 chances for newcomers).
  4. Any ties in last year's standings will be broken by coin flip.
  5. Any new owners joining after the lottery is held will pick last.
  6. Each owner has one (1) minute to announce a draft pick after the previous selection has been made for the first 19 rounds. For all rounds after the 19th, each owner will have 30 seconds. If the owner does not make a pick in the alloted amount of time, the next owner goes on the clock. The late drafter is free to make his selection at any time on a "first come, first served" basis.
  7. All owners are responsible for verifying that any transactions from the previous year are entered correctly, and that their position in the draft is correct prior to draft day. Once the draft has started, the draft order as presented is official.
  8. If an owner makes a draft error, the owner is obligated to cut the last incorrect player drafted. In addition, when the owner picks up a replacement, he does not get the new player's retroactive stats, only his stats moving forward from the next transaction period.

B. Player Eligibility

All players listed on an MLB opening day roster or disabled list are eligible to be drafted at their designated positions.

C. Protected Players

  1. Owners may protect a certain number of players on their final roster from last season. Each owner is responsible for reporting his protected list to the commissioner no later than midnight the night of the Sunday before the draft.
  2. There is no minimum number of players that an owner must keep.
  3. The maximum number of players that can be kept is based on the number of returning owners as follows:
    • 19 or more: 3 players
    • 16-18: 4 players
    • 13-15: 5 players
    • 12 or less: 6 players
  4. A new owner cannot assume an old owner's franchise.

D. Player Positions

All teams must draft the following positions (in any order they please):
  • 1 First Baseman
  • 1 Second Baseman
  • 1 Shortstop
  • 1 Third Baseman
  • 1 First or Third Baseman
  • 1 Second Baseman or Shortstop
  • 1 Utility Infielder (any non-outfielder, non-pitcher)
  • 5 Outfielders
  • 2 Catchers
  • 1 Designated Hitter (any non-pitcher)
  • 5 Starting Pitchers
  • 5 Relief Pitchers
In addition, an owner may draft one reserve player (see F. Reserve Clause below).

E. Position Eligibility

A player's position is determined by:
  1. Documentation stating that he will be playing that position this season.
  2. Played a minimum of 16 games at that position for non-pitchers. Pitchers must have 3 starts to qualify as a starter, and 6 relief appearences to qualify as a reliever. In the event of a shortened season, the non-pitcher's quota will be 10% of his team's games (truncated down).
  3. If a player does not have the minimum number of games at any one position, he qualifies for starting pitcher or non-pitcher's position by playing 1/3 of his games at that position. Relief pitchers must have 2/3 of their games be relief appearences.
  4. Games played at DH do not count toward a player's total number of games. However, a player who only qualifies as a DH is assumed to also qualify at 1B.
  5. If a player did not appear in the majors last year, his position is the one he played in the minors (and/or the position he is scheduled to play in the majors). All undrafted players have their eligible position(s) strictly determined by major league appearances.

F. Reserve Clause

All owners may draft one minor leaguer or unsigned veteran in any round that they choose.
  1. The owner retains the rights to this player until he returns to the major leagues. Unless otherwise notified, the commissioner assumes the non-major league player is cut the week he returns.
  2. Drafting a reserve player is completely optional and must be done during the context of the draft.

II. Transactions

A. Roster Moves

  1. Any player placed on the disabled list, inactive list, or sent to the minor leagues may be replaced. Minor league players are not eligible to be picked up.
  2. An injured player may be picked up for and injured player, ad infinitum, as long as the proper number of players at each position is maintained through each transaction.
  3. At the time of the replacement, the owner should declare who is to be cut when the inactive player returns. If nothing is stated, it is assumed that the replacement player will be cut.
  4. All pickups are first come, first served. Only definite pickups will hold a player, not am "I'm thinking about...".
  5. NOTE: The commissioner is not responsible for errors in the transaction sheet. Each owner is responsible for making sure the right players are cut. Once a player is cut, the transaction is final.

B. Trades

  1. Any number of players may be traded, but each owner must have all required positions filled at the end of the trade.
  2. An inactive player may be traded provided the owner has not picked up a replacement player, but not afterward.
  3. If a replacement player is traded, the commissioner assumes that the acquired player will be cut when the inactive player returns (unless otherwise notified).
  4. Trading of the next year's draft picks is acceptable, as long as the swap is announced at the time of the trade. If one of the owners in the trade does not return the next year, the remaining owner(s) will lose a 5th round pick and have two picks in the last round. A single owner can only be punished once per year via this mechanism.

C. Waiver

An owner may replace any player on his roster for a $5 transaction fee. This can be done a maximum of three (3) times per season and the owner must not owe more than $25 to the league for past transactions and entry fees.

D. Deadlines

  1. All trades and transactions must be made before Monday at 7:30 Eastern Time to go into effect during that next week.
  2. Any major league transactions (i.e., players placed on the disabled list or sent to the minors) must happen before Monday to be acted upon in the current week.
  3. Trading deadline is the first stats after August 1st. Transaction money is due September 1st.

III. Scoring

A. Ranking

Year-end totals for each of 10 categories are ranked from 1 (highest) to X (lowest) where X is the number of owners. Ties use the average (e.g. three-way tie for fourth, each team gets (4+5+6)/3 = 5 points). Lowest total from the sum of all eight categories wins.

B. Categories

The ten categories are:
  1. Team Batting Average
  2. Runs
  3. Home Runs
  4. Runs Batted In
  5. Stolen Bases
  6. Team ERA
  7. Wins
  8. Saves
  9. WHIP (walks + hits per inning pitched)
  10. Strikeouts Thrown

C. Crossover Statistics

Neither pitchers' hitting stats not hitters' pitching stats count.

D. Minimum Requirements

Each team must finish with a minimum of 300 AB/hitter and (150 IP/SP + 75 IP/RP). Any teams which do not meet the minimums shall automatically finish last in team average and team ERA, respectively. If a season is prematurely cut short after it begins, these requirements do not go into effect.

E. Correctness of Statistics

Each owner is responsible for the correctness of his own team's stats. The statistician is not responsible for any errors in the transaction sheets or the weekly stat updates.

IV. Money

A. Entry Fee

The entry fee is $55 ($5 for newspapers and postage) to enter payable to the League Treasurer on draft day.

B. Roster Moves

There is a $2 fee for each trade (per team) and/or roster move, with $0.50 going to the commissioner as a transactions charge.

C. Purses:

Expressed as a percentage of entry and transaction fees. If less than 20 owners,
  • 1st place: 45 %
  • 2nd place: 25 %
  • 3rd place: 10 %
  • 4th place: 10 %
  • 5th place: 5 %
  • 6th place: 5 %
If 20 or more owners,
  • 1st place: 40 %
  • 2nd place: 20 %
  • 3rd place: 12 %
  • 4th place: 10 %
  • 5th place: 10 %
  • 6th place: 4 %
  • 7th place: 4 %

V. Disclaimer

The commissioner has the right to void any ridiculously one-sided trade or rule on any situation not covered above. Any judgement made by the commissioner may be overturned by a majority vote of the owners. The commissioner is responsible for at least attempting to form a consensus of opinion before any rulings.

These rules are subject to change up to draft day with a majority vote of the owners. All absentee owners are responsible for any votes taken on draft day.

These rules were last updated on March 6th, 2007


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Keith Carangelo
E-mail: mail@kcaran.com