By far the worst part of being Commissioner, I have assessed the fines for the 2011 season.
First, the good news - there were no unexcused late series this season. Many thanks to everyone for keeping things running smoothly.
As per usual, all fines were waived for teams that are changing hands this offseason. There have also been various special circumstances that I have already been made aware of that have been taken into account.
Every team receiving a fine should have received an email explaining the reason and breaking down the math. If any of them have any questions or believe that a waiver is appropriate, please contact me asap.
For reference, here is the fine schedule, taken from prior posts on this subject:
Late Reporting of a Home Series: $50K per incident
Failure to Play and Report a Home Series within 2 weeks after the Due Date: $200K per incident
Games Started in Excess of Total Allowed: $25K per GS
For PA and IP usage in Excess of Total Allowed: $2K per PA $5K per IP
PLUS, an additional penalty applicable only to PA/IP overusage: For PA/IP fines totaling less than $49K: +$50K For PA/IP fines totaling between $50K and $99K: +$100K For PA/IP fines totalling $100K or greater: +$250K
For example, if Player X has 3 IP over the allowable limit, but the team owning Player X has no other overusage, that team will be fined $65K (3*5K + 50K).
As another example, if players on team Y aggregate to 21 IP over their allowable limits, team Y will be fined $355K (21*5K + 250K).
Finally, if player Z makes 31 starts when he was only allowed to start 30 games, but the team owning player Z has no overusage fines for PA or IP, that team will be fined $25K. (additional penalty only applies to PA/IP overusage fines)
While this may seem harsh, the reality is that most teams do not overuse any players in a given season and most minor cases of overusage are explainable in such a way that a fine can be waived or reduced in the Commissioner's discretion.
As always, I welcome any comment or discussion on this subject.
