Donruss Mexpo Preliminary Rules for 2009The purpose of the league is to be dynasty league with a “minor league” system where teams can farm young talent. The separate leagues gives GM’s the chance to win two leagues. Salary cap and contracts only adds to the in-game management and diversity of the league. The major league is the Donruss Mexpo (originally a redraft league for its first six years), and the minor league is the Donruss Tyro.Keepers for 2010 & beyond: Teams may keep anywhere from 0 to 46 players from their franchises each season. Players signed to multi-year contracts must be kept.
League Settings: Both league settings will be the same, focused more on sabermetrics (C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, LF, CF, RF, Util - SP, SP, RP, RP, RP, RP, P – 7 Bench), [HR, RBI, OBP, SLUG, SB, R - W, WHIP, ERA, K/9, SV, HLD]
Initial Draft Order: It is random order for the Donruss Mexpo. The Donruss Tyro draft will be in the opposite order and happen after the Mexpo draft.
How the Tyro draft will be handled is still a question.Waiver Priority: In 2009, it is the inverse of the Donruss Mexpo draft order. For all years after 2009, it is based on the prior season’s standings in each league.
Restricted Free Agency: This occurs each preseason and is conducted like a draft with order based on waiver priority. Only players who are restricted free agents are put into this draft pool. A player is a restricted free agent if they were on a team at the end of the prior season and were subsequently released. Teams may not resign players that they released unless the player went through restricted free agency without being picked up by another team.Salary CapSalary Cap is equal to the SUM of the top 460 player salaries DIVIDED by 10. A player’s minimum salary is $1m. Franchises (combined Mexpo and Tyro teams) must stay under the salary cap at all times during the season.
Player salaries are based off of numbers from the approved website for player values. The approved website for 2009 is:
www.fantasysportscentral.com/baseball/managerrank.aspCurrent salaries of players will be adjusted according to these numbers in February and July. In July, all teams are locked from free agency until they are back under the cap. If the player salary provider changes in the future, then all contracts will be prorated accordingly.
Going over the cap: results in penalties for the guilty team. Once a team is over the salary cap, they are banned from free agency until they are back under the cap. If, within a week (by the Commissioner’s discretion), the team is not under the cap, a player will be dropped whose salary is just enough to put the team under the cap.
Multi-Year ContractsContracts: A franchise may sign a player to a contract. The contracts are simple: 1) at least $3m per year; 2) no more than 5 years in total; 3) annual salary is equal to 120% of player’s current salary rounded up to nearest million
(For example: a player has payroll of $4m per year and you want to give him a 3-year contract. To do so, the annual pay would have to go up to $5m (120% of 4 is 4.8, rounded takes it up to 5) per year for 3 years. In total, it is a 3-year $15m contract.)Contractual Signing Period: After the Donruss Mexpo trade deadline, players cannot be signed to contracts until the next preseason when new salary numbers are released.
Folding Contracts: A multi-year contract may be "folded" or lumped into the current year's pay by taking the remaining total contract value and reducing it by 25%.
(For example: a player has a 3-year $12m contract. The GM decides not to keep this player, but wants to get rid of the pay, so the contract is folded. The total value of the contract is $12m. 75% of this is $9m. The team ends up paying $5m more in the current year, but avoids any further hits to the cap.)TransactionsFree Agency is up for debate. The leagues may use one of the following methods: 1) normal free agency; 2) weekly free agency; 3) weekly waiver claimsEffect on Cap from Moves: The team must be under the salary cap before and after any transaction.
Adding Players: When a team adds a player, the team assumes the player’s current pay for the year.
Dropping Players: A player may be dropped, but if the player is under a multi-year contract, then 50% of the player’s salary (rounded up to nearest million) counts against cap for all remaining years of the contract. Any player in the last or only year of their contract can be dropped for free with no hit to the cap.
Injured Reserve: In addition to the DL spots, a franchise has unlimited IR spots. A team may place a player who is on the real-life MLB DL on their IR. This player will stay on the IR the entire year (no exceptions) and the team can then drop them from their team in Yahoo. Any player on the IR cannot be picked up by another team. In addition, no player who has played in a MLB or MiLB game within the previous two weeks may be placed on the IR.
Illegal Transactions: If a franchise adds a player that is otherwise ineligible to be on their team, then the following will happen: 1) franchise will lose the player; 2) both the Mexpo and Tyro teams’ waiver priorities will be rest; 3) the franchise will lose its top pick in the Tyro summer draft; and 4) the franchise will be locked from free agency for the rest of the current week and the following week. If a franchise violates this rule three times in
a season, their franchise will be banned from free agency for the rest of the season. Leniency is given for those who accidentally made a move, posted immediately about it, and did not start the player.
Special Rules for Donruss TyroTyro Player Restriction: No players with payroll $3m or more are allowed to start for a Tyro team. This prevents the need for a minor league cap and from teams overloading their Tyro team with superior talent to win the Tyro. Teams are allowed to store ineligible players on their bench, but they must notify the league when they are doing so.
Tyro Summer Draft: This is a slow draft where each Tyro team receives three picks to be used on a player that was recently drafted in the actual MLB draft. The player does not count towards the roster size or salary cap until the offseason where a decision needs to be made as to whether the player will be kept. After the summer draft, all players drafted into the MLB are then available in free agency.
This is subject to change based on how the actual initial drafts go.MiscellaneousAnti-Collusion ala Ownership: A person may have stake in only once
franchise each year.
