It’s official. We are going with Fantrax. As mentioned before, I’ll keep ESPN open as a life preserver so we can
be more prepared than the crew of the Titanic.
But I have no fear. There is no iceberg in our path. Only fantasy greatness.
 |
| BLOG POST CLIFFNOTES First, can you believe this photo? Go to Google images and search for moving and you'll find a bunch of photos like these. I just wish that this was a video because there's no way this clears that bridge. Anyway, this is a really long blog post. Here's what you need to know: The June draft, gone. Auction system for June Draft, gone. ESPN player pool issues, gone. New terminology for JLB installed.
If anyone finds anything in the blog to be unclear, reach out to me,
and if there’s a loophole I missed, let me know so I can clarify it ASAP.
IMPORTANT DATES IN THE JLB:
March 20, 11:59 p.m. – League veteran and franchise keepers due,
and
minor league selections (if any) submitted.
March 28, 9 p.m. – 2017 JLB Draft
March 30, 11:59 p.m. – Teams must announce and move eligible
minor
leaguers from 2017 JLB Draft into their minor league system.
|
With the move to Fantrax,
there are a few things to address in the rules because Fantrax gives us a
slightly different look seeing as it is designed for dynasty formats.
We have been gifted the
Premium setup for this year, an $80 value (one-time payment for the whole league). Fantrax, in
my several conversations with them, was gracious enough to waive the fee for us. We were all set to use the
standard setup, but since it’s free for 2017, we’ll use it. The goal was going
to be us moving to premium in a year anyway, so it works out.
Here’s the changes that
comes with this setup, but one quick note before we dive in. If you notice any
quirks that will go up against our rules and will cause issues, please let me
know ASAP. I’d like to avoid the Great
Pitching Limit Debacle of 2015.
1. See Facebook page for this one as I will not post it in blog.
2. Scoring:
Everything will remain the same except the batting category for walks will
become HBP+BB, an option we never had with ESPN. This will cover for the OBP
discussion we had back in January.
3. Draft-pick trading: Fantrax let’s you trade future draft picks.
Awesome, I know. So I have it set up for 1 year ahead. It had options for
several years ahead, but I firmly believe we shouldn’t be trading 2020
first-round picks in 2017. The one rule we will add is, if you’re trading a
future pick, you must submit your league dues for the next season (within five days
of making the deal). It will be non-refundable.
4. Position eligibility: We already had a rule in the JLB rulebook for
offseason positional exceptions when it came to keepers. It reads that if Player A is listed as 3B and he is clearly (defined as playing
that position in spring training and team officials have announced it) playing
another position, you can keep them at that other position.
In those cases, the
example in the old rulebook given was SS Hanley Ramirez moving to 3B, the team
keeping the player would have to wait 10 games for that player to get it, even
though they’re clearly playing every day there. We, however, granted position flexibility
It’s stupid and it’s gone.
Now, with Fantrax, I have the ability to edit positions, so FOR OFFSEASON ONLY,
I will continue with the exceptions when it is clear, and I will give those players
that eligibility heading into the draft.
·
Example of an accepted position change: CF Andrew McCutchen is going to be playing RF
this year, per front office and spring training boxscores. He is eligible
because it will be his primary position. RF will become his secondary position
and CF will be primary until it falls off after the year.
·
Example of a denied position change: Cubs have announced Kyle Schwarber (LF) will play
catcher every fifth day. It’s not his primary position. He’ll be in LF, per
front office reports, 4 out of 5 games. Catcher position will be added
in-season after 10 games at catcher.
Changes already made for 2017 are: Yuri Gurriel added 1B, Mark Trumbo added DH, George Springer added CF, Andrew McCutchen add RF. Submit request to commissioners before keeper deadline.
5. WAIVERS PROCESS TIME
We are used to the
ESPN process time of any random time between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. That was not
adjustable on ESPN, but, as I have found with everything, it is on Fantrax. So
we’re setting it at 8 a.m. That’s enough time for owners to adjust for any possible
afternoon games, while at the same time create some interesting competition at
8 a.m., as opposed to the guessing game many of us played before the sun came up.
6. JUNE DRAFT
This get’s it’s own
section. It’s the last thing to discuss. Moving to Fantrax allows us to get rid
of the June draft completely and just make it part of the March draft and
smooth out the system. No more day-by-day draft over a month, and no more auction.
It will be simple, trust
me!
First, let's explain why. Fantrax has high
school and college players not drafted into MLB yet and international players who have not signed. They're all already in the pool (Take that, ESPN). Fantrax said if you don’t see a player you
want to have available in the draft, just reach out them. They’ll add them. That
will be part of your draft prep now.
Second, Fantrax has an actual minor league roster spot (its in GREEN on your roster page) that can be restricted to legit minor leaguers, aka, our June draftees. As
soon as the player is called up in real life, Fantrax rosters will become
illegal until the owner calls them up to their active roster — also how we ran June draft.
Cool, I know. #Nerdgasm
So, here’s what the JLB is
going to do. Essentially, nothing new in terms of roster makeup, just different
in how we get there and how we term it.
First, the current minor
league system we have, with major leaguers and minor leaguers all being lumped
into one term “minor leaguers” will no longer because called "minor leaguers." This is now the “franchise system.” Those players kept will now be “franchise
players.”
Our “June draftees” will
now be called “minor leaguers.”
Below is the new rulebook
version of roster make-up, the franchise system (formally our minor leagues) and
the minor league system (formally our June Draft). I’m giving you the rulebook
for easy bullet point reading. I’ll do some more Jargon-y explanations below on
how that works for this year.
Again, for those of you
who may see the length of text below and worry that the JLB is changing, I must reiterate that this is
essentially the same setup we have now, it just changes “when” and “how” we get
to 37 players in our “franchises.”
JLB ROSTER RULES
Roster size will be 35
active players plus 2 minor league players. Up to 5 players can be placed on
the disable list. (Fantrax site rules will read 37 active roster spots before
draft, but after players are designated as minors post-draft, 37 will move to
35 before season starts.)
Positions on roster are as follows
(Starters/Maximums)
C: 1/4
1B:
1/4
2B:
1/4
3B:
1/4
SS:
1/4
LF:
1/4
CF:
1/4
RF:
1/4
UTIL:
2/x
SP:
5/12
RP:
4/8
Minor League: 0/2
JLB KEEPER RULES
Teams will be allowed to
keep the following:
- · 6 batters at different positions, NO service time limitations. **
- · 1 wild card bat at any position (can be a duplicate of the 6), NO service time limitations.
- · 3 starting pitchers, NO service time limitations.
- · 1 relief pitcher, NO service time limitations s
- · 1 wild card pitcher, NO service time limitations
- · 7 franchise players, service time limitations — see rules on Franchise System
- · 2 minor leaguers, service time limitations — see rules on Minor League System
** NO service time limitations means they can be any player in Fantrax
player pool.
JLB FRANCHISE SYSTEM
Teams can keep 7 extra players
who are “franchise players” but they must fall within the following
restrictions.
- · 5 players must have 2.099 or less of “Service Time,” according to baseball-reference.com. If the player has 2.100 or higher of service time, they’re no longer eligible.
- · 1 player must have 0.099 or less of “Service Time,” according to baseball- reference.com. If the player has 0.100 or higher of service time, they’re no longer eligible.
- · 1 player must have 3.099 or less of “Service Time,” according to baseball- reference.com. If the player has 3.100 or higher of service time, they’re no longer eligible.
All teams must have franchise
players ready to roster for the next season. If a team goes into offseason
without the proper number, they’ll have to trade to acquire the proper number.
JLB MINOR LEAGUE SYSTEM
- · Each team will have 2 minor league roster spots
- · You are not required to fill those roster spots
- · Each minor leaguer must comply to the active roster positional maximums. If you have 12 SPs on active roster, you cannot have an SP in minors; if you have 4 first basemen on roster, you cannot have one in minors (according to PRIMARY position).
- · You are not required to keep 1 or both of your minor leaguers — you can draft new ones.
- · If you keep minor leaguers, they must go in minor league spots after draft no matter who you draft.
·
There are 3 ways to acquire minor leaguers:
o
1. Via the JLB
March Draft.
§
Each year, any
player selected in the JLB March Draft who qualifies (including keepers no
matter how the keeper was acquired the prior year) can be moved post-draft into
any of the 2 minor league spots. (ONLY exception is if you kept a player as a minor leaguer, you are required to place them in minor league.)
o
2. Via minor
league keepers
§
Each team can
keep 1 or both of their minor leaguers from prior season if they still qualify.
§
Each kept
minor leaguer will NOT be selected as a keeper and rather will be available for
the proper team to pick at the very end of the draft. ##
o
3. Trades
§ Teams can
trade minor leaguers, and team gaining minor leaguer would have to clear space in minor leagues (if necessary) to
immediately place player in minor leagues — UNLESS they intend to place player on active roster.
·
In-season rules
o
Once
called up in fantasy to active roster, ML spot remains empty until next March
draft. Once called up, ML
spot remains empty until next March draft.
o
No free agent
pickup can become the minor league keeper in season.
·
Keepers
o
Each team can
keep 1 or 2 of the minor leaguers (deadline to pick as minor keepers is same as
regular keeper deadline). They can only have been acquired via the prior year’s
draft or trade.
o
## (from above) When a team keeps a minor leaguer, it is a verbal announcement, not
official part of the 19 active keepers. They will be selected at the end of the
draft by the rightful owners.
§
Each minor
leaguer being kept will have every position listed with their primary position
being listed first.
·
EXAMPLE: Shohei Otani would be in the draft as:
“Otani, Shohei, SP, C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, LF, CF, RF, RP, UT, DH”
·
If a team sees
a player with max eligibility, they are untouchable.
o
If you draft them, you will automatically move to
the end of the first round the following year no matter finish.
§
Once drafted,
those players have to go into the minor leagues and the league commissioner
will immediately fix eligibility back to the proper position(s).
§ You cannot keep a minor leaguer in the minor league system and then replace him via draft. If you select to him as a keeper, he's locked in. (Only can replace via trade.)
====== END RULEBOOK ENTRY=======
So, that pretty much
covers it.
The one thing that isn’t
clear in the rulebook section above is the June draft from last year because I’m just not
going to add it to the rulebook since it will (1) be outdated in less than a month, and (2)
make it more confusing.
Everyone this year who has
minor leaguers eligible can choose to place one of their June picks from a year
ago into the new minor league system.
Only 3 teams selected 2
players in last year’s draft, myself, Outs and Steroid, and most didn’t make a
second pick due the now-defunct auction system — they were saving their cash. So, for Outs, Steroid and I,
we’ll have to make a cut out of our two picks since undoubtedly, everyone else would
have made a pick if they knew the money would be gone.
So, everyone can use one
of their June picks from a year ago and designate them as a minor league
keeper. You don’t have to, though. You can just go into the draft hoping to
draft 2 new minor leaguers.
Just remember, if you do select to keep the June draftees as minor leaguers, then they are locked in. They cannot be replaced in the draft.
Please announce your
choice by the keeper deadline.
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