Here are the official rule proposals for the upcoming season. Thanks to everyone who took the time to think through issues and submit rules. Since everyone who submitted proposals has also provided a rationale for them, I am also going to include those rationales. Of course, I highly encourage questions/responses/debate about the merits of the proposals.
Votes are due by 11:59 pm Wednesday Oct. 19. Proposals will pass if they receive majority support for those voting.
(1) Players still in High School (or younger) shall be ineligible for drafting.
RATIONALE: Many owners do not follow high school or younger players and are thus disadvantaged.
(2) Pitchers shall not be allowed to bat in any game situation unless: (i) no position players are available to bat and an in-game injury results in the need for a new batter; (ii) the pitcher is brought in solely to bunt and is replaced by a position player after bunting or running the bases; (iii) the pitcher is forced to bat due to the team moving its DH into the field in the 8th inning or later in the game (or earlier if the DH is moved into the field due to an in-game injury); or (iv) the pitcher is pinch-hitting for another pitcher or an unlimited batter.
RATIONALE: Owners are currently unclear about whether pitchers may bat. This rule would allow pitchers to bat in all situations where they currently bat in MLB.
(3) Some position players and pitchers may be designated as "unlimited" players. Unlimited status is calculated on the basis of ON BASE AVERAGE plus SLUGGING PERCENTAGE (OPS). The Commissioner will each year establish the OPS, which will be used as the demarcation between regular players and those who are unlimited. The demarcation number for determining unlimited players will be 125 points below the major league average OPS for batters and 50 points higher than the same average for pitchers.
RATIONALE: This rule proposal is an attempt to bring inline the unlimited pitchers and hitters. OPS gives unlimited status to truly low performing players.
(4) Any manager who accrues in excess of $325,000 in overuse player fines will not be eligible for the playoffs.
RATIONALE: Keep managers from "making the playoffs" who have excessive overuse on their pitchers and hitters. The Commissioner sets the overuse fines at the beginning of each season and there should be no surprises if a manager does not manage their plate appearances/at bats. The proposal sets a value on overuse.
(5) Before the start of play each season, each team must have enough pitchers for 162 starts and position players to provide 600 at bats for each position (including the DH). Specifically each team must have a minimum of 5 outfielders, 6 infielders and 2 catchers for a total of 13 position players. One player can serve as a backup for more than one position, but every starter must have a backup.
RATIONALE: To make sure that every manager fields a team capable of completing the season. You can have more than the minimums, but these are the minimums.
(6) Each team must maintain a minimum of 20 minor leaguers at the start of each season.
RATIONALE: Additional protection for a new manager who is taking over an existing team. The current minimum is 10 and every team carries more than 10.
(7) Players who have 500 or better at bats will be considered unlimited and will only be restricted by their injuries. Players with less than 500 at bats will receive their actual at bats plus 10 percent.
RATIONALE: This rule allows more players to be full time, which allows each team to carry additional prospects not necessary in fielding a team. Arguments have been in the past about players getting inflated stats because of these additional at bats, while this is true it also allows each team to not NEED players to field a position therefore they can carry more prospects. This rule will have a positive impact on the rebuilding teams.
(8) Players with 100 or more at bats and pitchers with either 10 starts, 30 relief appearances or 50 innings will be considered carded.
RATIONALE: The dynamics of major league baseball have changed, more and more players are being used to get thru a season. This rule allows a manager to hold onto his prospects a little longer before they become carded.
(9) Six teams from each league will qualify for the playoffs. The first and second place team in each division will be eligible for the playoffs with the 2 teams with the best overall records will be given a bye in the first round. Teams 3, 4, 5 and 6 will play a seven game series with home field advantage going to the two teams with the best record. Team 3 plays team 6 and team 4 plays 5. The winners advance against the 2 teams with byes. The bye teams will receive the home field advantage.
RATIONALE: Pretty obvious. Lets get a couple of more teams in the playoffs.
All pitchers are eligible to bat in a game, whether AL or NL. The only restrictions concern pitchers already in the game or already removed from a game or moving the DH into the field.
The ops thing makes sense to me, except my calculations show we would be adding many, many, many players into the UL lists. By my calculations, ML average ops was between .751 and .752. So, unlimitedness for hitters would be defined around .626. Anyone want to check the math?
For those of you short on catchers, this rule would create 20 unlimited catchers, the best of whom would be Chad Moeller, who comes in with a nifty .624 ops. By comparison, the current rule produces 11 unlimited catchers.
New rule would create 6 or 7 UL SS (Relaford sits at .627). Old rule makes 4.
New rule would create 11 or 12 UL 2b (Rivas sits at .627). Old rule makes 2.
I haven't looked at 3b, 1b, OF yet and am unlikely to bother. At the three positions I examined, I didn't find any sub .200 hitter who loses unlimitedness by adopting the new rule.
Now, pitchers, oh, man. Just .050 above ML average ops allowed?
Chan Ho Park sits at .802. Then, Sean Douglass, Tony Armas (4.97), Glendon Rusch (4.52), Wes Obermueller, Joel Piniero, Vicente Padilla, Halama, Lilly, Halsey, Ray King, the list seems to go on forever. . . Mike Wood (4.41 and MINE), Ricardo Rodriguez, Leiter, Randy Wolf, Brazoban, Moehler, Harville, Fogg, Glover, Groom, Claudio Vargas. . .and I skipped a bunch, didn't count guys with ERA +6.00 and just stopped counting . . .Pavano, Jamey Wright, Joe Mays . . .and so on.
1) why should we limit who a gm can draft? Because someone doesn't want to do as much research as other gms. Why not disallow the selection of college players. Many gms don't draft those players. If JR, Jeff, Travis and Don want HS players, me and Tom S want college and Warren wants Jr HS and foreigners, who are we to say that they shouldn't have them because someone is too lazy to do a little reading.
2) Gdp had pitchers batting last yr and Hdt did this yr. The owning gm can always play any player within the rules of mlb. No need to have a rule limiting who to bat or pitch.
3) I don't understand what is wrong with the current baselines for pitchers/hitters to be unlimited.
4) no big problem with this. I do think fines/sanctions should continue to belong with the commisisoner.
5) I don't know how this helps. Hdt met all those requirements and still came up short.
6) I don't know how this helps either. Gms who are concerned about their minors will always have 30 minors. A gm who doesn't care about the 10 isn't suddenly going to dive into BA and load up their roster because they now need 20. They will just grab 10 more crappy minors to comply with league rules.
7) This will return us to the 9 star players and a good pitching staff to contend. 92 arba champs gdp had 13 position cards. 9 good to excellent unlimited position players and 4 reserves. If this is what we want then vote for this. The current restrictions were put in place to force gms to have a complete roster and bring value to part time players.
8) under this rule a player like Matt Cain (7 starts 44 ip) would not be carded. these players have value and players with less than 50 pas or 30 ip can still be stored in the minors. many of the "unlimited players" would lose their carded status with these restrictions. calero who is killing lar in the playoffs wouldn't even have a card under these rules 45 ip.
9) this needs to be amended. playoff teams are afforded cash bonuses based upon appearing in the playoffs and winning playoff series. What are the cash rewards for the new playoff structure. i do like the idea of more teams competing to win. anything can happen in a short series.
It seems to me that the majority of the rule proposals are trying to make things easier on GM's to be able to field a competitive team, instead of having to work at it. For me anyway, the fun of ARBA is the challenge of developing a competitive team. The current rule proposals would just water down that challenge, rewarding those who want it to come easy, instead of rewarding those who invenst the effort.
