CML RULES
last update: May 4, 2007 *Recent
changes in Blue
GAME SETTINGS
The League will be operated
using Baseball Mogul 2005, on "Manager" setting, using patch Version
7.1.5, available on the sportsmogul website.
All expense settings changes
must be dollar or percentage amount. (No ranking requests)
ROOKIES.INI is set as
follows (1979)
75: Pitchers, DH
70: C, 1b, 2b, 3b, SS, LF, CF, RF
Due to some potential
bugs/misuses of the Intentional Walk setting, it will be limited to the range
from -1 to +1.
The league revenue slider is
set to +30%.
The salary request slider is set to -30% (1979).
SIM SCHEDULE
Sims will be
conducted in the evening on Monday and Thursday. All lineups and
changes must be submitted by 6:00pm Eastern the day of the sim.
Each sim is two weeks of game time.
Deadline
Time is always 6:00 pm ET for everything, unless the commish specifically
states otherwise (which he never does).
July 31 –
Trade Deadline. Sim will stop at 8/1 for this deadline.
Aug 31 – Free
Agent/Waivers deadline.
Sim will stop at 9/1 for this deadline.
AUGUST sims are usually
stretched to 15 or 16 days to get from the trade deadline to FA deadline in 2
sims. Once the playoffs begin we will go to the playoff schedule, as follows (1981):
DAY 1/2 – League Division
Series
DAY 3/4 – League Championship Series
DAY 5/6 – WORLD SERIES
Playoff sims will be simmed
one complete series at a time. The offseason schedule will be posted on the
forum.
APPLYING FOR OWNERSHIP
E-mail the
commissioner if you are interested in the league. All prospective owners must
provide an e-mail address from an internet provider. No e-mail address from
hotmail, yahoo, or the such will be acceptable, unless your plea to the commish
warrants it. e-mail The
Commissioner.
NEW OWNER PROVISIONS
(The following policies apply to new owners, or existing owners moving to
new teams.)
New owners get
one free release, limited
to one free release per team per season. That release may only be used on a
player on the teams roster at the time the new owner signs on (i.e. no trading
or selling of the FR), and must be used by the 2nd sim after the
owner joins.
Get out of debt free card: When
a new owner takes over a team in debt, the debt is forgiven and the cash of the
team is reset to $1. (1980)
TEAMS
There will be two
leagues, American and National. As of 1973, each league has 3 Divisions. The DH
was implemented in the AL in 1973.
EXPANSION
We have followed
actual history and expanded in 1961, 1962, 1969 and 1977. The next season for
expansion is 1993 (Florida and Colorado).
POSITION RESTRICTION (1978,
confirmed 1987)
Permanent position
changes are not allowed. Players can only play at positions at which they are
listed in the DEFENSE screen, and on the player screen.
IF can play 1b, 2b, ss, 3b
OF can play LF,CF,RF.
Historical rookies will be
created with defensive positions on the defense screen for each position that
they played at least (10% for C,1b,2b,3b,ss,of and 5% for specific LF/CF/RF
positions) of their games in real life. Note:
getting the defensive screen to match these values is not always possible –
I’ll do the best that I can.
Starting Pitching: Only
pitchers with an Endurance rating of 60 or above may be put into the 5 starting
pitching spots in the lineup. (1983)
Injury Emergency clause
In case of
injury to a starting position player, the following applies:
If there is another player
on the major league roster (starter or bench) who qualifies on the defensive
screen at the injured position, they may play there.
If there is NOT another
player on the major league roster who qualifies, then another player may play at
that position under the allowed position matrix below, but only until the
injured player returns.
Emergency
Allowed Position Matrix
1b can play LF or RF
LF,CF,RF can play any OF position or 1B
SS can play 2b or 3b or OF
C can play 1b or 2B or 3B
3b can play SS or 1B
Only C can play Catcher
2b can play SS or 3B or L/RF
(i.e. you’d better have 2 or 3 catchers)
FARM SYSTEM SETTINGS
They can be set once
a season between the trade deadline (July 31) and the conclusion of the World
Series.
SALARY CAP & ROSTER
SIZE
There is no salary
cap. Each team will consist of a MAXIMUM roster size of 40 players (confirmed 1987).
Keep this in mind, when, after each season, new rookies are added to your roster
by the game. A week after the first sim, your roster must be trimmed down to 40
players. If you have to release players, Mogul allows all computer generated
rookies that have never played in the majors to be free released, otherwise you
must buy out their contract.
If a team's roster exceeds
40 players at the deadline (one week after first sim), a $1M penalty will be
assessed for each player over the 40 player limit per sim, and this penalty may
be increased if the roster is not reduced.
During the off-season, free
agent signings and trades may put you over your roster size. However, one week
after the first sim, your roster must be 40 players (or less).
FREE AGENTS
Free agent bidding
is in auction format and is done on the discussion forum. No withdraw/change of
bids. Once posted, it is official (obvious typos excluded). NOTE: Once posted on
the forum, bids MAY NOT be withdrawn or edited. This would corrupt the bidding
process.
Once the commish releases
the official “APRIL 1” file
(contains the new rookies and the FA list from season turnover) , then a time is
announced for the opening of Free Agency. FA bidding begins when a player is put
on the forum, and ends when 24 hours passes on the highest bid. Free
Agent bids CANNOT be posted before the official clock start time. If you are
going to be out of town, e-mail your bids to another owner or commish to post
for you.
Please list the players name & position in the title for
everyone’s benefit.
Minimum contracts are $300k
per season (for 1-3 years) or $1M per season (for 4-7 years).
Players may not be signed
for extended contracts past age 40, unless their peak extends beyond 40.
Long-term contracts must end at age 40, or at end of player peak if over age 40.
Only one-year contracts after age 40, or to end of peak. (e.g. An age 38 FA may be signed for 3 years – age
38,39,40).
Overbid requirement:
To better an existing bid, your bid MUST be at least 10% over the TOTAL amount
of the contract.
24-hour Lead Clause:
If a bid leads for 24 hours, then it wins.
Teams in debt cannot bid on
free agents.
Players can only be bid on
as free agents after they appear in an official file as a free agent.
No free agents can be
acquired after September 1.
WAIVERS
All players (not
injured) in AAA making $1M or more salary can be claimed on waivers on the forum
– with an e-mail sent to the team’s owner. The player’s current team has
48 hours from the 1st claim to allow the player to go, or to move the
player into the major league roster. If more than one team claims, lowest record
gets him after 48 hours from 1st claim. Claims made in April – go
by the previous season’s W/L record.
If the waiver claim is denied by moving the player to the major league roster,
the player must remain on the major league roster for the remainder of the
season. The Commish will not track this, so owners must be watching their own
claims. If any owner notes a claimed player returned to AAA, the player will be
awared to the original claiming team immediately. Injured players may be sent
down, and left
there after healthy but subject to future waiver claims. (1983)
PLAYER RIGHTS AND OPTIONS
Any player in his
final year may be re-signed at any time. But contracts signed during the regular
season have a limit of 7 years and any player who can be re-signed for under $1
million per season can not be resigned for more than 3 years. Teams in debt may
not resign players.
(1976) Players may not be signed for extended contracts past
age 40, unless their peak extends beyond 40. Long-term contracts must end at age
40, or at end of player peak if over age 40. Only one-year contracts after age
40, or to end of peak. (e.g. a 38 year old player currently under contract may
sign a 2 year extension, with age 40 being the last year)
ROOKIE DRAFTS
There will be a
rookie draft lasting two rounds in the CML (1979).
Teams will select these players based on reverse order of record from the
previous season (the 8 Playoff teams will receive the last 8 picks), with a
lottery system used to determine the order of the first 8 picks and to determine
tiebreakers (confirmed
1987).
The draft will be actual players and they will have 4 year
contracts. Drafts will include players 1 year before the year they had their
major league debut.
The lottery picks will be
reversed for the 2nd round. Non-lottery picks maintain the same order
as the 1st round. 2nd
round picks will have 5 year contracts.
I will post a list that
includes the players in the draft on the forum, under the DP register. The
players will have their actual 162 game average stats as their predicted stats.
Endurance Fix: BBM does not model well a player who is a starting pitcher
who also spends a significant amount of time as a reliever. Their endurance is
forced low by the number of games as a reliever. Therefore, any historical
rookie who’s 162 game average has him starting at least 40% of his total games
(Commish will make judgment calls on other pitchers with
less starts) will
have his relief appearances cut in half. (e.g. John Doe’s 162 game average is 45
games pitched and 23 starts. That’s 22 relief appearances, which are cut to
11, changing his games to 34 with 23 starts – that should make his endurance
better) (1983
– thanks Jon)
You may trade your draft
picks for the next draft and one year after (e.g. your 1983 draft picks may not
be dealt until after the 1981 draft). (1982)
Rookie Defensive Range
Limitation (1977):
In order to reduce the occurrence and impact of defensive “freaks”, new
rookies will have their values adjusted so that their predicted range is no
greater than +30. This is done only at the time of creation.
PARTICIPATION
You must send in an
initial Opening Day line up, before the second sim and a list of Free Agent
re-signings at the end of the season. Failure to do this may result
in removal from the league.
RELOCATING AND STADIUM
RULES
Teams can NOT make a
move that didn't take place in real life. Teams that moved in real life will
move at no expense. The stadium will be same stadium that the real teams moved
into. See Ballparks
for stadium info. One seating comfort will be set to Excellent, one to Good, and
one seating comfort will be set to average. No other new stadiums at this time.
STADIUMS
Changes to stadiums are made during the offseason only.
The stadium name and
capacity will be kept historically accurate per www.ballparks.com.
When a team receives a new stadium, their fan loyalty will be increase by one
letter grade.
(1979)
Upgrades to stadium seating
conditions may be made at $4M per upgrade. (1979)
No changes to capacity,
surface, layout etc. are allowed. Stadium field conditions may be changed for
free during the off-season, to tailor them to your team's strength and style of
play.
ADJUSTMENT FOR SMALL
MARKETS
Cities will be set
with a minimum per capita of $19,000. (1977)
Teams that make less than half of the highest revenue
team will get the following before the end of season file turnover:
1. a 50,000 bump in city population
2. a 100,000 bump in region population
3. a $500 per capita increase (1982)
Teams
that have >$75M in cash will not benefit from market bumps
(1985).
Revenue Sharing
Tax: Teams over $150M
revenue will be taxed 50% (of over $150M)
Distribution: This pot is distributed evenly to all teams <$100M revenue (1983)
Teams that have >$50M in
cash will not benefit from revenue sharing (1985)
AWARDS
MVP and Cy Young awards will be voted on by the owners. Owners are encouraged to
vote for both leagues, and to list the top 3 for each award in order from 1 to
3. Voting is optional, but please vote.
VACANT TEAMS
Teams whose owners
have abandoned them are considered "vacant". A vacant team's daily
activities are taken over by the commissioner or designee until a new owner is
found. Thus, the team continues to tailor its roster, substitute in the event of
an injury, and so on. You can offer trades to vacant teams, but the mindset of a
vacant team is a small payroll and to build for the future. So remember this
when offering trades. These teams are prohibited from making trades with each
other until a new owner is found. Vacant teams are allowed to re-sign their
players and sign free agents at the discretion of the acting owner.
INPUT FILES Ignored
The Mogul game has an INPUT files directory. These files are used to
“tune” statistics to match actual MLB variations (e.g. Deadball years).
Since CML uses actual rookies using their predicted stats, this already takes
seasonal variations into account. Therefore, the INPUT files are deleted so that
no adjustment is made (1977).
RULE CHANGES
Rules changes can be
proposed by any owner at any time. First step: Post it on the forum for
discussion. If there is enough interest, it will go to an official vote (or if
no significant dissent, just enacted). NOTE: To prevent kicking dead horses, a
specific item will only be voted on at least 5 seasons after the last vote. Last
votes are indicated in the rules in highlighted green text (xxxx).
FINAL RULE
The commissioner has the right to make any change or implement
any penalty for the good of league.
