I.League Structure and General Provisions
A.The purpose of The World League of Simulated Baseball (WLSB) is to offer an entertainment opportunity to members in good standing to act in the capacity of general manager of a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise from either the American or National Leagues competing through Diamond Mind Baseball simulation software. If Diamond Mind Baseball chooses not to publish updated projection disks for any given year, the Executive Committee shall designate a 3rd party replacement source for that year’s projections.
B.The WLSB was formed between the 2005 and 2006 MLB seasons with the initial members being assigned franchises via a lottery. General Managers inherited the rosters for their respective teams, as they existed at the end of the 2005 MLB season, and were given the full minor league system for said franchise from which to form, in total or in part, the sim- league team’s reserve roster.
C.The WLSB shall be maintained in accordance with the provisions set forth in these bylaws and rules.
D.The membership of WLSB shall consist of a number of members in good standing equal to the number of MLB franchises. Each WLSB team shall have one member designated as franchise general manager.
i.Members in good standing have the option of designating one or more additional persons as co- general managers, or assistant general managers, but any responsibility inherent with WLSB membership shall remain with the designated general manager.
1.The Co-GM may make line-up and depth chart changes. They may discuss any other function that a GM has, with that GM, but are NOT permitted to sign free agents, post trades, or place/claim waiver players.
ii.Good standing as it relates to membership shall be defined as a GM not on probation as well as lack of financial debt to WLSB.
iii.Any existing GM may be given a warning and placed on probation for 1 year by a simple majority vote of the Executive Committee (EC) if it is deemed that due to neglect or poor decisions the long term future of the franchise is at risk.
iv.All new members to the league will be initially placed on probation for 1 year.
v.While on probation:
1.The EC will scrutinize all transactions made by the GM
2.If at any point the EC believes that the GM is either neglecting or making moves to the long term detriment of the team, the GM may be immediately removed, with the team being run by the EC until a suitable replacement is found.
E.Upon joining WLSB, each member shall make payment in an amount set by the league, and shall not be expected to make supplemental payments unless additional funds are necessary for league operation. In the event that additional monies are necessary for league operation, the contribution required by each member toward that amount shall be equitable, and shall be made with cash or check with no "in-kind" credit granted to members based upon labor or other contributions to the league. As of right now, no payment is required to join or participate in WLSB.
F.The league shall seek to maintain a waiting list of potential members to fill any vacancy created by the departure of an existing member. Departing members shall not receive financial or other considerations from replacement members in exchange for the opportunity to participate in WLSB.
G.In the event that MLB contracts one or more teams, displaced WLSB members will be given first option to fill any GM vacancies.
H.All provisions of these bylaws and rules shall be enforced by the league Executive Committee (EC), as required and/or deemed necessary and appropriate. The EC shall consist of:
1.The league Commissioner Brian MacMillanand,
2.Six (5)other GMs in good standing determined by the Commissioner to have sufficient expertise and time to dedicate to the league.
I.Each WLSB team’s name, ballpark, geographic location, and designation as an American League or National League franchise shall remain identical to the same of said team’s MLB counterpart.
J.Each WLSB team’s schedule for a given season shall be remain identical to the same of said team’s MLB counterpart with the exception that no WLSB games shall be rescheduled due to inclement weather or other external reasons and shall be played as originally scheduled by MLB.
K.Each WLSB team will have a specified payroll limit for players, or individualized salary cap, for each season.
i.Payrolls for each season are set by the EC at the end of the prior season and are based on team success from the previous year.
ii.Teams shall be at, or below their payroll limitation (Hard CAP) at all times. Failure to comply with this rule can result in forfeiture of one or more player contracts until an adequate amount of money is pared from the effected team’s payroll to be compliant with the specified individual team salary cap.
1.In the event that player contracts must be forfeited, the EC shall opt to either:
a.Select a pool of players contracts from which the effected team’s general manager can chose from in order to become compliant with the specified payroll limit; OR
b.Nullify any individual, or any combination of said contracts with, or without consultation from the effected team’s general manager.
2.Any player who’s contract is nullified in an effort to comply with the salary cap shall immediately become a free agent, and thereby eligible to be signed to a contract by any WLSB team.
L.The EC reserves the right to void any trade if the trade would result in any effected team to fail to remain under the teams Hard CAP.This includes trades involving players or cash for draft picks.
M.At no time teams exceed their pre-set spending limit (Hard Cap).
N.Revenue sharing will be a feature of the WLSB financial model.
O.The WLSB shall use a 100% Luxury Tax system for each payroll dollar over $150,000,000.
i.The Luxury Tax threshold will be initially set at $170,000,000 for the 2006 season.
ii.In 2007 the threshold will drop to $160,000,000.
iii.The Luxury Tax threshold will be lowered to its permanent level of $150,000,000 for 2008 and beyond.
P.Revenue Savings will be a feature of the WLSB financial model.
i. All teams will be allowed to carry a portion of any unspent revenues to the following season. Teams will be allowed to carry over up to $1 million plus 20% of any remaining unspent revenue. All debt will be fully carried over to the next season.
ii. Any money carried over will not affect the teams Base Revenue, but will increase the amount of money teams can spend before incurring debt.
iii. At no point will carried over money allow a team to spend over its pre-determined Hard Cap.
iv.At no point will carried over money allow a team to spend over its pre-determined Hard Cap.
Q.Any WLSB general manager in good standing shall be able to propose an amendment or modification of the league bylaws and rules to the EC.
i.Situations or issues not resolved through adherence to the bylaws and rules shall be resolved by the WLSB EC on an as needed basis.
ii.A playoff shall occur upon the completion of the sim-season based on the same rules used for MLB, with the exception that the League Championship and World Series shall use the 2-2-1-1-1 scheduling format & home field advantage shall be determined by the team with the best regular season record.
II.WLSB Team Rules
A.Each WLSB team shall be allowed a franchise roster that shall not exceed a total of sixty (65)players. The franchise roster shall consist of an active roster (25) and a reserve roster (40).
B.During the regular season each team shall be limited to and must maintain an active roster of twenty-five (25) players at any given time.
i.All players not designated, as members of a team’s active roster shall comprise said team’s reserve roster.
ii.The total number of players on each team’s reserve roster shall not exceed 40players.
1.Minor league players YOS clock will start regardless if they have been on the major league roster at age 25
2.Players with 4 YOS or more must clear waivers before being placed on the reserve roster.
a.Players with V or LTC status who do not appear on the projection disk do not need to clear waivers to be assigned to the reserve roster. However they will count again the active roster payroll.
b.Players with a no-trade clause may not be placed on trade waivers.
iii.Rosters will NOT expand to 40 men on September 1, as MLB uses this tool to see how a player will perform at the Major League level, while we are using the simulation projections which will change on the following season’s disk.
iv.Any roster below the active limit size of 25 shall be charged a veteran minimum contract for each empty active roster spot.
C.Only the collective amount of player salaries for players on a team’s active roster shall be considered when determining the amount to be measured against said team’s individual payroll limitation, with the following exceptions:
i.The salary for any player on the reserve roster with four (4) through six (6) years of service (YOS) since initially meeting the league’s determining factors for qualifying MLB service who has not been released by said team prior to the league’s deadline for such a personnel action;
ii.The salary for any acquired free agent, or player with "full contract status" (more than six years of qualifying MLB level service) acquired by other means, but not placed on the team’s active roster;
iii.The salary for any “full contract status” player the team has waived, but that no other team claims during the period of time which would require the second team to assume responsibility for the waived player’s salary;
iv.If a player with less than four (4) years of WLSB designated MLB service is promoted from the reserve roster to replace an injured member of the active roster, during the period of the injury, both salaries shall be considered as measures against the salary cap.
v.All players on the team’s reserve roster with a multi- year contract (V or LTC) shall have salaries counting against payroll.
D.Only players contained on the DMB projection disk can be used on 25-man roster.
E.Each general manager shall provide the WLSB with preferences of managerial tendencies in a series of categories provided by the EC.
i.If a general manager fails to provide preferred managerial tendencies, the Diamond Mind Baseball simulation software default settings shall be assigned;
ii.These settings will be set at the beginning of the season and may only be changed;
1.During the week of the All Star game,
2.In the event of a GM change,
3.During the final 4 weeks of the season (for teams in contention only),
4.Settings will be allowed to change at the beginning of each series in the Post-season.
F.During the regular season teams shall have the opportunity to set batting line-ups and make general roster moves on a weekly basis, including adjustments made necessary to accommodate for player injuries.
G.Post-season rosters can be comprised of any 25 players from the team’s 65 man roster provided that each player selected was on the team’s 25 man active roster for at least one day prior to September 1.
i.The number of pitchers versus position players on the active roster on September 1 shall be equal to the same number of player in those categories for the team’s post-season roster.
ii.If a player who is eligible for the post season roster is injured for a time longer than the scheduled end of the playoffs, he may be replaced with any player from the team’s 65 man roster, regardless of whether or not the replacement player was on the 25 man active roster prior to the September 1 deadline.
iii.Each team may announce one player as their “emergency catcher” during the postseason. Only one emergency catcher is allowed per team, and he may only play if all the team’s other catchers are currently injured.
1.This player must be an infielder, and will be given a default catcher’s grade of poor (PR).
2.Exception- If the player has previous catching experience at the major or minor league levels (college and high school don’t count), the GM MUST provide proof. If it is verified, that player will be given a default grade of fair (FR) instead of poor.
III.Qualifying Player Service Time
A.All players who have not yet reached Veteran status will have a year of service (YOS) that corresponds to their length of time in the league;
i.xxx = The player has no service time.
ii.1 = The player appeared on the active roster at least one day in a previous season or age 25
iii.2 = The player has completed 1 full season and is in his 2nd or age 26
iv.3 = The player has completed 2 full seasons and is in his 3rd or age 27
v.4 = The player has completed 3 full seasons and is in his 4th or age 28
vi.5 = The player has completed 4 full seasons and is in his 5th or age 29
vii.6 = The player has completed 5 full seasons and is in his 6th and final year before entering Free Agency or age 30
B.All players enter WLSB as rookies with a YOS of xxx. If a player is on the active roster of a team and records less than: 125 AB for batters, or 35 IP for pitchers (total accrued), his YOS will increase to 1 to denote that he was on the active roster, but did not play a full season. If the player who entered the year with a YOS of xxx exceeds these limits he will be considered to have spent his first full season in the major leagues and will go to a YOS of 2 the following season. For every year that a player with a YOS of 1 or higher is on the active roster of a team for at least 1 day he will accrue a full YOS.
C.All service time was calculated for all players entering the 2006 sim-season, the inaugural season for the WLSB, and is non-negotiable. Individual player service time for subsequent seasons shall be based on active player status occurring during and after the 2006 WLSB season.
IV.Player Salaries
A.All players with YOS of xxx shall have a salary of $490,000 which will be the league minimum for rookies. This minimum shall be reviewed each off-season by the EC and adjusted accordingly.
B.All players going from xxx to 1 YOS shall receive automatic 10% raises.
C.For the purpose of player raises for non-free agents, players shall be divided into the following positional groups: Starting pitcher, relief pitcher, catcher, first base, second base, shortstop, third base, & outfield. The position at which a player spent the majority of the sim season will determine his positional group.
D.For second and third-year players, the top 25% of each positional group (as determined by the EC) shall receive automatic 20% raises (1-year contract), the next 25% shall receive 15% raises, the following 25% shall receive 10% raises, and the bottom 25% shall receive 5% raises.
E.Arbitration eligible players: Players entering their 4th, 5th, or 6th seasons are arbitration eligible (AE).
i.The EC shall statistically compare each player entering his 6th year with veterans in his same positional group.The two position players with the statistical totals closest to his are earmarked for comparison purposes.The annual salary for the player shall equal 85% of the average of the two annual salaries that are given to the earmarked players.
ii.The EC shall statistically compare each player entering his 5th year with veterans and players entering their 6th year in his same positional group.The two position players with the statistical totals closest to his are earmarked for comparison purposes.The annual salary for the player shall equal 85% of the average of the two annual salaries that are given to the earmarked players.
iii.The EC shall statistically compare each player entering his 4th year with players entering their 5th and 6th years in his same positional group.The two position players with the statistical totals closest to his are earmarked for comparison purposes.The annual salary for the player shall equal the average of the two annual salaries that are given to the earmarked players.
iv.The maximum pay increase for players shall be 200% of their previousyear’s salary.The minimum pay increase shall be 5% of their previous year’s salary.
F.The rankings for 2nd-year, 3rd-year, and AE players shall be conducted by the EC, using statistical measures, and shall be non-negotiable. The rankings shall be based upon statistics generated from the Diamond Mind Baseball simulation, and may not reflect actual MLB production of said player.
G.Long Term Contracts (LTC) will be a feature of the WLSB.
i.Players eligible for LTC will be any players entering their 4th, 5th, or 6th YOS.
ii.Each off-season teams will be allowed to submit to the EC a list of names (unlimited) of players from their team for LTC negotiations.However, each team may only accept the terms for three (3) players per every two off-seasons.
iii.Each team will be allowed no more than five (5) LTC players on their roster at any given time.