The JLB is going to make a move to regain the roots of the minor league system when it was set up in ESPN back in 2010.
Currently, our setup is still a hybrid of the Fantrax goodies and the old rules we had created many years ago under ESPN's non-user friendly system.
That hybrid is beginning to get us away from the original intentions of the minor league system and we want to get it back on track. We moved to Fantrax for minor league options and we should use them correctly.
The commissioners have had a nice long meeting via Slack over the last couple weeks and we have come up with the following plan for the JLB and the renewed JiLB.
First, I’m going to lay out the end result so you can see our three-year plan; second, I will lay out how we will get there; and third, I will explain in more detail why we are doing this.
The “we” is myself and assistant JLB commissioners Parker Dunbar and Steve Spillane.
(1) The End Result
By the draft of 2021, we will have the following keeper setup:
· 8 vet bats (7 different positions, 1 wild card that can be duplicate position) … That’s an addition of 1 vet bat from the current system.
· 6 vet pitchers (3 vet SPs, 2 vet RPs, 1 vet wild card pitcher) That’s an addition of 1 vet RP from our current system.
· 3 franchise players at any position with 2.099 experience or less. That’s four fewer franchise players than we have now.
· 10 minor league green-flag official minor league players. That’s seven more minor leaguers than we have now.
(2) How We Will Get There
- 2019 Draft will be expanded by 3 rounds to account for 3 new minor league green spots, totaling 6 minor leaguers for the 2019 regular season.
- 2020 Keepers will have the following changes:
o plus one vet bat
o plus one vet RP
o minus two 2.099 experience franchise players (leaves us with the one 0.099, three 2.099, and one 3.099)
o plus 3 minor league keepers to total 6
- 2020 Draft will be expanded by 4 rounds to account for 4 new minor league green spots, totaling 10 minor leaguers.
- 2021 Keepers will have the following changes:
o minus the 0.099 franchise keeper
o minus the 3.099 franchise keeper
o plus 4 minor leaguer keepers to equal 10
- 2021 Draft will involve no expansion.
(3) Why We Are Going This Way
The question could be asked, “Why?” I know Crox is asking it. Here’s the reason. We really want the minor leagues to mimic what it is in major league baseball, a group of players that could help the big league club in the future. Teams shouldn’t have to delete minor leaguers from their teams just to keep a competitive active roster. The active roster should be separate from the minor league roster.
The franchise positions, all seven (which were originally six in ESPN) were designed to be spots for those type of players.
The whole idea of six franchise players in ESPN was to give people options to grab players not yet in majors and be able to control them. There were two reasons for a 2.099 or less tag on them — (1) was to give the flexibility to make decisions on some after they arrive, (2) was because ESPN’s pool was very limited so in our world, minor leaguers had to account for the fact that ESPN didn’t add many players until they saw action, typically September call-ups.
The premise in ESPN was, ideally, you’d have a few minor leaguers and a few rookies/second years in that mix of six.
We still believe you should have the chance to give a few young players a chance to mature as they get to the majors, but having seven spots for that gets away from the origins of the setup.
That’s why we will, at the end of the three-year plan, still have three spots for that, but place more emphasis back into the minor league system.
And the gradual draw-back on franchise and build-up in minors over three seasons is a good way to do it.
We are confident this is for the best and will create a lot of interest and fun going forward.
RULES TO NOTE
Note, rules will remain the same for minor leaguers kept. Anyone kept in green, must stay there until called up or June 1, whichever comes first. If a green-flagged player is called up before June 1, you cannot fill that green spot until 12:00 a.m. on June 1 (using military time to keep you from thinking that’s noon, I’m talking 0:00 on June 1.) … Just like now, it is not a requirement to keep a player in green spots. You can leave as many spots as you want open entering the draft and you can fill them in the draft with minor leaguers. Drafted minor leaguers in green can be replaced at any time.
Also note, that starting in the 2020 regular season — aka after the 2020 draft — there can be no more than 2 players who qualify for the minor league system (0 games played to be green) on the active 35-man roster at any time. This includes players who may be called up that day but have yet to register a game. Any player added illegally will be removed and put onto waivers.
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