Dark Side Fantasy Baseball League Official League Constitution

SECTION I - Administrative

•1.1 - Fees

• Each team will pay a total of $45. This will be made up of the following:
• $150.00 Site Fee
• $32.50 towards Prize Pot

•1.2 - Prizes

• 1st place - 65%
• 2nd place - 35%

•1.3 - Scoring System

• Each team will be ranked in each of the 10 categories (Offensive - On-base percentage, Home Runs, RBI, Runs Scored and Stolen Bases; Pitching - Wins, Strikeouts, ERA, Saves, WHIP).
• For each category, the team in 1st place will get 12 points, 2nd place will get 11 points, and so on, until last place gets 1 point in each category.
• The full standings are determined by adding up each team's points for all 10 categories. The team with the most points is in 1st place.

•1.4 - Important Dates

• Keepers Due – TBD every season.
• Draft Day – TBD every season and will be a online draft unless otherwise stated.
• Trade Deadline - TBD every season.
• Add/Drop Keeper Deadline - TBD every season.
  

•1.5 - Rule Changes
The process for proposing rule changes will be as follows:

• E-mail the commissioner suggesting the change first. If the commissioner finds that the rule change could have some merit, he will put it to a vote. No rule changes will go into effect unless the vote is 3/4 for the change. This 3/4 will only include those who vote. If an owner doesn't vote, then his voice doesn't count.
• There will be a 1-week voting period for any of these votes, in most cases. Any rule change that is passed will not go into effect until the following season, unless the terms of the rule change included a change for the current season.

•1.6 - Standings Tiebreakers

• If two teams finish the season with the same amount of points, their standing will be determined by which team finished higher than the other team in the most of the 10 scoring categories (OBP, R, RBI, HR, SB, W, SV, K, ERA, WHIP).
• If they are still tied after the 1st tiebreaker, then the final tiebreaker will be whoever finished higher in the most weeks.
  
• If they are still tied, they will split the prize and their draft position will be determined by a coin flip.

•1.7 - Commissioner's Council

• The commissioner will have a council of 3 other owners who will help him with all judgements. All rule changes, trades and grievances will be deliberated on by the council as a whole. In the event that one of the members of the council is directly related to the issue at hand (such as a trade including that owner) they will abstain from voting on that issue.

SECTION II - Rosters

•2.1 - Roster Positions

• Each team will have in it's starting lineup:

• 1 - Catcher
• 1 - 1st Baseman
• 1 - 2nd Baseman
• 1 - 3rd Baseman
• 1 - Shortstop
• 1 - Corner Infielder (1B or 3B)
• 1 - Middle Infielder (2B or SS)
• 5 - Outfielders
• 1 - DH (Any Offensive Position)
• 9 - Pitchers (Starter or Relievers)
• You may also carry:
• 5 - Backups (any position)
• 4 - Injured Reserve (must be on major league DL)
• 6 - Minor Leaguers (see 2.3 for eligibility) - discontinued after 2007 season

•2.2 - Position Eligibility

• Players will only be eligible at positions which they played either 20 games during the previous season, or 5 games during the current season. This includes the minor leagues.
  
• We will NOT be accepting Sportsline's automatic position placement starting in 2006. This means that any player who was not in the major leagues the previous season will only be eligible at the Utility spot until they've gained 5 games at a particular position, at which time they will be eligible at that position.

•2.3 - Minor League Players – No Longer Active(except for Grandfathered Players)

• As the Minor League System has been dissolved only players who have not been promoted to the majors can remain in the minor league category:

• The player must be an official major league rookie (less than 130 career At-Bats or 50 Innings Pitched).
• The player must not have been activated on a starting roster by any Darkside team at all during the season in question.
• Minor League rosters are limited to 6 players.
• If, at any time during the course of a season, you promote one of your minor leaguers to your ACTIVE roster, then you have bought out their "MINOR LEAGUE CONTRACT" and they can not be demoted ever again.
  
• Putting them on the RESERVE roster is ok, since they are not helping your team.
• At the end of the season, all players with a "MINOR LEAGUE CONTRACT" may be kept for next season, without being counted against the Cap or losing a draft pick, provided that they are still a Major League Rookie at the time (as defined above).
• There are no longer Rookie Contracts. All players who have been called up and are no longer Minor League Eligible can be resigned at round 15. This will be the round they are considered drafted at and will remain for the life of their contract. (See Section 3 for applicable keeper rules.)
• You may drop a minor league player at any time but once that occurs they can no longer be placed in the minor leagues.
• This new rule is going to be called the “Brett Myers Rule”. Last year(2008) saw a number of pretty high players be sent down to the minor leagues for a period of time. Therefore if a player who was drafted is sent down to the minor leagues and is down there for more then just a rehab start he can be placed on your minor league roster.
  
• However, this is only to allow you to free up a reserve roster spot for the duration of the time the player is in the minor leagues.
  
• If it is stated that the player will be down there for the rest of the season you can keep him there and resign him but it will be at whatever round he was drafted.
• Also you can not pick up a player off waivers and put him in your minor leagues. Any player picked up off of waivers will fill a reserve spot on your roster.

SECTION III - Keepers

•3.1 - Draft Round Value

• Each player has been assigned a value called "DRAFT ROUND" which is the round in which they were drafted in the previous year's draft.
• If they were un-drafted and picked up as a Free Agent during the season, then their "DRAFT ROUND" value is listed as FA.
• Any player with "ML" as their "DRAFT ROUND" value (which means they were kept as a minor leaguer) can be signed to a full contract, depending on the rules in section 3.5
• Any player with "ML*" has used up his rookie eligibility and can no longer be kept as a free minor leaguer. - discontinued after 2007 season

•3.2 - Contract Types

• A player with a contract type of "FULL" is under contract for the remainder of time left on the contract. See 3.3 for details.
• A player with a contract type of "DRAFT" is not under contract, and can either be signed at the end of the season to a FULL contract, pending the contract cap rules, or can be released back into the draft pool.
• A player with a contract type of "MINORS" is a "free" keeper, in a team's minor leagues, for as long as the owner wants the player provided the player has less than 130 at bats or 50 innings pitched. - discontinued after 2007 season
• A player with a contract type of "PROMOTED" was previously on a minor league roster, but has since been promoted to the active roster. These players may not ever be sent back to a minor league roster. - discontinued after 2007 season
• A player with "MINORS*" has used up his rookie eligibility and can no longer be kept as a free minor leaguer. - discontinued after 2007 season

•3.3 - Signing Players to FULL contracts and DRAFT contracts

• Each team may sign any of their restricted free-agent players to "FULL CONTRACTS" in the following manner:
• Each kept player must be signed to a contract for a chosen amount of years, where the total value of contract years on a given team is no greater than 15 per season.
• The player cannot be dropped once they are signed to a contract of more then one year.
• A player will remain under contract at the round he was drafted for the life of the contract.
• If two players are kept at the same round the the second player will drop down to occupy the next round.
• The only exception to this rule is if you have to players on your team that were drafted in round 1. If this is the case every player you sign to a contract at round 1 after the initial player will be charged an extra year on their contract. An example is below:

Through a trade a team has obtained three players who were drafted in the first round of the draft. (Player A, Player B and Player C)
Player A is signed for four years in the round 1 spot.
If the owner wishes to sign Player B long term then each year he is signed is 1(x1) meaning that every season Player B will count as two contracts toward the maximum of 15 per season and Player B would take up the round 2 draft spot.
If the owner signs Player C to a contract then he is 1(x2) per year meaning that every season Player C will count as three contract years towards the maximum of 15 per season and Player C would take up the round 3 draft spot.
Thus if the owner signed all three players he would lose round 1, 2 and 3 and use 6 contract years per season on these three players.

• After the draft, when each team has drafted enough players to fill out their full 22 starter and 5 backup roster, all players without "FULL CONTRACTS" will be given "DRAFT CONTRACTS".
• A "DRAFT CONTRACT" is a one-year contract for the coming season.
• The "DRAFT ROUND" value of these players will be the round that they were selected in that year's draft.
• At season's end, all players with "DRAFT CONTRACTS" will be considered "restricted free agents" and are eligible to receive "FULL CONTRACTS", if their team owner wishes and has the contracts to give.
• If a player is not given a "FULL CONTRACT" then they will become free agents and are returned to the draft pool.

•3.4 - Transactions with Contracts

• All contracts, both Full and Draft can be traded.
• When trading players that have been signed to contracts before the draft, realize that you will lose the draft round that the player cost you, whether you trade him or not. Think of that draft pick as the price it cost you to keep that player. Once you keep him, thatpick is gone. All trades should be made under that assumption.
• All players that have a "FULL CONTRACT" can not be released from a team. The only way a player under a "FULL CONTRACT" can be removed from a team's roster is to be traded to another team.
• No team may have more than 15 Contract Years on it's roster at the contract deadline. Teams may have more than 15 during the year, however (due to trades). If a team does have more than 15 at the contract deadline, that owner must attempt to trade players with contracts to get to 15 years.
  
• The penalty for this will be reflected by the fact that the player with the LATEST draft round value will be the one that is voided.
  
• Ex: If you have 16 contract years going into next season, and the latest round that you are keeping a guy is round 26, then that player is the one that will be released back to the draft pool.
• Players who retire may have their contract voided, if approved by the commissioner. The commissioner will determine whether there is enough evidence to announce the player as "retired". If there is, then the owner of that player will be allowed to release him. If, for some reason, this player ends up returning then he will be considered as a Free Agent in the last year of his contract and will be fair game for all owners. If the player in question retires during the offseason (obviously with a contract for the next season), his contract will not count against the allowable keeper cap if he is in the last year of his given contract.
  
• Any other decisions not specifically mentioned here will be determined by the judgement of the commissioner.

•3.5 - Minor League and Rookie Contracts - discontinued after 2007
season

• Players who are promoted to an ACTIVE roster (not a RESERVE - ie, bench - roster) will have their contracts changed from "MINORS" to "PROMOTED".
• After a player with a "MINORS" or "PROMOTED" contract has used up his rookie eligibility (more than 130 at bats or 50 innings pitched), he may be signed to a FULL contract starting at Round 15
• Only players that are on your Minor League roster at the end of a season may be kept as a free Minor Leaguer.
  
• You may resign any player with a MINORS contract as a free minor league keeper (whether in your minor leagues, or taking up space on your bench - but never activated/promoted), but you may only keep a total of 6 free minor leaguers.

3.6 - Additional Info about Contracts

• All contracts are binding unless they violate the league rules and exemptions mentioned above.
• All contracts will be due by midnight, generally 1 month before the draft.
• See the right hand column of the League Homepage for all important dates
• Any owner that does not submit his contracts by the deadline will be not be allowed to assign contracts for that season.
• Only players taken BEFORE the season's transaction deadline are eligible to be kept for the next season.
  
• Any free agent pickups taken later than the add/drop keeper deadline are merely rentals to end the season with.

SECTION 4 - Transactions

•4.1 - Transaction Deadline

• The Trade deadline and add/drop keeper deadline will be determined prior to the start of every new season.
• These dates will be listed in the League Info box on the League Homepage.
  
• Only players taken BEFORE the season's add/drop keeper deadline are eligible to be kept for the next season.
  
• Any free agent pickups taken later than the trade deadline are merely rentals to end the season with.

•4.2 – Trade Vetoing

• I do not believe in vetoing trades unless they are intended to improve one team at the cost of another.
• With that said, trades can still be contested in the following way:

1. Any successfully completed trade will be reviewed by the commissioner.
   
2. If the commissioner finds the trade to be unfair, or if a member of the league protests the trade, they will first give the involved owners a chance to explain their reasoning to him, if they choose.
   
3. If they either choose not to divulge their reasoning, do not have a good reason or do not respond to the commissioner within 2 days of the trade, it will be put to a vote by the Commissioner's Council and will require a unanimous vote by all members of the council(unless they are involved in the trade) to veto a trade.
4. All trades may require a short wait period under which the council can review the trade.
5. If a trade is completed on Sunday morning I will do my best to send out all of the information of the trade to the council so that we can have a decision on your trade prior to the start of the next scoring period.
   

•4.3 - Trades During the Offseason

• Players acquired in an offseason trade are required to be signed to a keeper contract, unless a written request accompanied by a valid reason (injury, trade) is submitted to and approved by the Commissioner.
• See section 4.4 for restrictions on trading draft picks.

•4.4 - Trading Draft Picks

• Draft picks may be traded unconditionally ONLY during the period between "Keeper Due Date" and "Draft Day".
• Because of limitations on the Sportsline system, all trades involving draft picks must be emailed to the commissioner, rather than put through online.
• Also you may not trade a draft pick in which a player under contract occupies. If you have a player signed in round 1, 2 and three you can not trade those rounds.
  
• Only rounds in which you would otherwise be able to make a pick yourself can be traded.

•4.5 - Transactions with Contract Years

• Any trade that puts a player over the maximum contract total will be allowed, subject to other trade rules.
  
• The Contract Cap will only be enforced at the start of a season.
  
• If trading for a player puts a team at 16 years, that is OK, but at the start of the next season, they have to be back to 15.
  
• In almost any case, this will not be an issue, because even if a team goes over 15 during the season, all player's contracts will be decremented by 1 at the end of the season so it would be very unlikely to still be over 15.
• This overrides all Contract rules during the season only.
• See Section 3.4 for more details.

•4.6 - Add/Drop Rules (FAAB)

• Any player who is not selected by a team in the league in the draft, or kept from the prior season, will become a free agent.
• Players released by their fantasy teams will be placed on waivers for 3 days. If no claim is made on the player through the process outlined below, the player will be added to the free agent pool.
• Players who are in the free agent pool will be eligible for acquisition by teams in the league through a closed-bid process called the Free Agent Acquisition Budget (FAAB):
• Each team at the start of the season will be given $100 for the acquisition of players from the league's free agent pool.
• If a team wishes to acquire a player who is a free agent, they must submit a closed bid for that player through the appropriate link on the league's website. That bid may start at $0 and no more than their remaining FAAB.
  
• They also must have room on the roster for this new player, or make another roster move to make room.
• FAAB bids will be processed overnight on Tuesday and Sunday nights.
• The team that has placed the highest bid on a player by the FAAB processing deadline will receive the player, with the winning bid being decremented from their remaining FAAB.
• In case of a tie bid, the team lower in the league's current standings will receive the player.
• If a team spends it's entire FAAB budget, it may only bid $0 for the remainder of the season.
  
• The process described in this section will also apply to players who are on waivers:
• While a player is on waivers, a team may place a FAAB bid on the player.
  
• At the end of the 3 day waiver period, the FAAB process will "run" for that player and he will go to the highest bidder.
• If there are no bids on the player when he comes off waivers, the player will be placed in the free agent pool.
• All players that are won in the free agent pool will have a Draft Round Value for the following year of 10.
• If you bid on a player and win him but do not have room on your roster for that player he will go to the next team who bid on him and you will also lose the FAAB money you bid on him. The reason for this is because when processing the waiver wire pick-ups I can not see if you have dropped anyone or have the roster space. Thus you will be awarded him if you have the highest bid but I will verify afterwards that you either A) dropped a player to make room on your roster or B) had an empty roster space to begin with.
  

SECTION 5 - Drafts

•5.1 - Draft Order for Each Season

• To encourage teams to stay both interested and astute in their trading, we will offer a meaningful consolation prize by making the next year's draft order be based on finishing strong.
  
• Since the league offers prizes to the top two finishers, the first pick in next year's draft goes to the team that finishes third, rather than last.
  
• The second pick goes to the fourth place team and so on.
  
• In other words, we won't reward futility but rather, we reward the team that is closest to contention but which hasn't actually won anything in the current year.
• Each season's draft order, based on finish:
• 3rd
• 4th
• 5th
• ...
• ...
• last
• 2nd
• 1st

•5.2 - Drafting With the Keeper System

• The draft will be a straight draft, which means that the team with the #1 draft pick will choose first in each round that they have an available pick.
• As mentioned in Section 3: Each player's "DRAFT ROUND" value will carry with them through the life of their contract with his team losing the draft pick from that round in each year's draft that the player is under contract.

SECTION 6- General Rules of Behavior for Owners

•6.1 - Expectations

• This section is being added for ALL owners to understand what isexpected of them.
  
• Consistently ignoring these guidelines will be considered grounds for removal from the league:
• Always put the most competitive team you can on the field each and every week.
  
• Please do not start injured players, inactive or demoted players.
• Always respond to trade offers within 2 days. If you must reject a trade, please do so within two days (and preferably right away). The other owner may be looking to trade with somebody else if you decline them, so please don't leave them hanging.
  
• If you would like time to consider the offer, simply tell the other owner that you want to think it over, but then you are required to get back to them again quickly.
• Abide by all the rules set by the commissioner, either in this constitution or in email.
• You are expected to respond to all emails from the commissioner immediately (ie, that same day or the next day if you need time to think about it), especially votes.
  
• Even if you have nothing to add, please just let him know that you received his email.
  
• You don't have to write a novel; just one sentence is fine.
• Be respectful to the other owners, especially in trading.
  
• Do not offer stupid and insulting trades, and do not respond rudely if you don't like a trade that was offered to you.
  
• If you have an issue, please bring it to the commissioner.
• New Owners: If you have any questions concerning these rules please contact me immediately for clarification and do not be offended if I ask if you are clear on a rule or not I am only looking out for you.
• You are required to be available for all drafts. Draft dates will generally be planned out months in advance.
  
• There will be emails sent out to gauge if we will be doing the draft live or via the internet.
  
• If something suddenly comes up, you will be allowed to provide a comprehensive list of all players ranked in your order of preference.
  
• If we do a live draft:
  
• There will be no "remote" drafting - ie, via phone or internet.
  
• Either you can make it live, or you will provide a list to the commissioner.
• If we do an online draft:
• The date and time will be stated on the league info page.
  
• Also if you can not make an online draft you can pre-rank your the draftable players in order of preferance or have someone outside of the league draft for you.
  
• I will not be able to draft for you or go off a list as I am drafting a team as well.
• If the draft is online we will do the date that everyone is available. If there is one or two people who can not make the draft online then unfortunately they will have to pre-rank their players.
  
• If you find any trade to be unfair, bring it to the commissioner before attacking the owners involved in the trade.
• Any player that consistently breaks these guidelines WILL be removed from the league, at the commissioner's discretion.
  
• If you are removed from a season that you have paid for, you will be refunded your money and your team will be replaced.
  
• Therefore, in almost all cases, you will not be able to participate in future seasons.

SECTION 7 - Expansion Teams

•7.1 - Rules for Expansion

• There will be expansion teams added if there arises a situation where a new person would like to join our league and no vacant teams available. (I would prefer to keep the league at an even number of teams but would make an exception if necessary)
• If a current owner knows someone who is interested in joining they must contact the commissioner with the new owner request and the commissioner will follow up with the new owner. That person will not be in the league until I have talked to him first. He is merely being considered to join up until then.
  
• Any expansion teams should be prepared to have a challenging first season. It would not be fair to current teams if we make it too easy for the expansion teams to get good players.
• Getting into the league as an expansion team should be considered a privilege and an
• investment in the future, rather than a chance to win the league immediately.
  
• A smart owner, though, will have every chance to compete, it just might be an uphill battle.
  
• The expansion team will select 6 players from the "expansion pool".
• The "expansion pool" will consist of all players that have a DRAFT contract AND were not signed to a new keeper contract by another team at the end of the previous season.
  
• This means that players that were previously under contract for the previous season, but whose contracts are expiring, will not be eligible for the expansion draft.
  
• Please see the page on "Pending Free Agents" for a list of these ineligible players, as well as a spreadsheet of all the eligible players.
• These 6 selected players will be signed to FULL CONTRACTS just like every other team's keepers, and they will carry over their current "DRAFT ROUND VALUE".
  
• The new owner will decide how many years to sign each player for, but the total number of years may not exceed 15 years.
• The new owner will lose the corresponding draft pick for eachplayer he signs and keeps. For example, if he selects player John Smith with DRAFT ROUND VALUE of 3, then the owner will lose his 3rd round draft pick. If the DRAFT ROUND VALUE is FA then this is equivalent to 10. See Section 3 for in depth keeper/contract rules.
• The expansion team will have the last spot, before the top 2, in the season's full draft (pick # 12).
• Once again, the players drafted by the expansion team in the expansion draft will be subject to the same draft value rules that all keepers are subject to (ie, you will lose the pick in the draft round that the player was chosen in last season).
  
• The Expansion team should take this into account when choosing keepers.
• Finally there will be some restrictions when an expansion team drafts.
  
• This is essentially in place so that the new owner does not have the opportunity to draft five first rounders.
  
• The list below will designate how many players a new owner may take from the
• free agents list:
• Tier 1:Rounds 1-5 – Only 1 Player originally drafted in these rounds
• Tier 2:Rounds 6-10 – Only 3 Player originally drafted in these rounds
• Tier 3:Rounds 11-15 – Only 3 Players originally drafted in these rounds
• Tier 4:Rounds 16-20 – Only 4 Players originally drafted in these rounds
• Tier 5:Rounds 21-27 – Only 6 Players originally drafted in these rounds.
• To make this a little clearer the owner get 6 players total.
  
• He can take all 6 from players drafted in round 21-27 or mix and match within the limits stated above from each Tier.

League Champions

1. 2004 - The Incredibles(Larry)
2. 2005 - John Karma Allstars(John)
3. 2006 - Long Island Losers(Joe)
4. 2007 - Lex Corp. Kryptonite(Brian)
5. 2008 - Fighting Hellfish(Mike F)
6. 2009 - Chris' Team(Chris)
7. 2010 - Gravy Robbers(Jason S)