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NORTH AMERICAN BASEBALL LEAGUE
RULES & REGULATIONS
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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GENERAL INFORMATION
a. The North American Baseball League (NABL) was founded in July, 2000.
a. The Commissioner is the sole governing body of the NABL.
c. The original NABL Commissioner shall remain until such time as he resigns from his position.
If/when the Commissioner resigns, he may chose to either appoint a new Commissioner or hold a league election for new Commissioner.
LEAGUE FEES
a. League fees will be determined by the Commissioner each year in order to cover the costs of the league (i.e.-purchasing the season disk, webspace, etc...). Typically, this cost will not exceed $ 15-20 per season, but this is not firm, as the fees may rise as the costs involved with running the league do. b. It is each owner's responsibility to pay their dues before the deadline each season. If they have not been received by the deadline, the Commissioner reserves the right to penalize unpaid teams, including removing non-paying owners from the league entirely. c. League fees are non-refundable. If an owner leaves the league during a given season, their fees will not be returned to them. d. Information on how to pay will be provided early in the off-season.
LEAGUE ORGANIZATION
a. The NABL will be divided into two leagues, the American League and National League, both of which will
use the Designated Hitter rule. c. Every team must be based in a city within North America that has at least one professional sports team in MLB, the NFL, NHL, and/or NBA.
d. Teams must be based in a city aligned with their
division (i.e.-a team in the AL West must be based in a western city).
a. There are four types of seasons:
OFF-SEASON
a. Begins the day after the conclusion of the NABL Championship Series. e. Teams submit their Claim of Rights (see section XII). f. Typical off-season timeline:
PRE-SEASON
a. Two-week period before the regular season.
REGULAR SEASON
a. The regular season will consist of a 162-game schedule for each team.
POST-SEASON (PLAYOFFS)
a. At the conclusion of each season, the division winners of each of the
four divisions will advance to the playoffs as well as four wild card
teams, two from each league. The wild card teams will be the two
non-division winners in each league that have the best record.
c. In the event of a tie between two teams for a wild card berth, there
will be a one-game playoff, with home field advantage being determined
first by the team with the better head-to-head matchup between the two
teams or, if the matchups were evenly split, with the better record within
their division .
g. Teams will be seeded 1-4 in each league,
with the two division champions having the first two seeds and the two
wild card teams having the bottom two seeds. The division champion with
the better record will have the higher of the two seeds, and the wild card
team with the better record will have the better of the two wild card
seeds. If a tie exists in either case, it will be determined first by
head-to-head record, second by division record, and third by the team with
the better run differential.
TEAM MANAGEMENT
a. Formerly known as the 60-Man Roster
b. Features all active players who are eligible for the 25-man roster.
d. Teams who reach the playoffs will be allowed a maximum of 50
players on this roster the following year, while all other teams will be
allowed a maximum of 55 players on this roster.
25-MAN
ACTIVE ROSTER
a. Features all active players who are eligible to play in regular season games. c. The 25-man roster must, at all times, be comprised at least of the following: 2 x Catchers, 5 x Infielders (at least two players at each infield position), 4 x Outfielders (at least one at each outfield position), 4 x Starting Pitchers, and 3 x Relief Pitchers. Players rated at more than one position can be counted at multiple positions, with the exception of pitchers. d.
Teams can expand
their 25-man rosters to 27 players effective games starting September 1st
of each year.
PLAYER CONTRACTS
a. There are two types of player contracts:
b. A Major League Contract is the most common player contract in the NABL. Every player other than those who qualify for Minor League Contracts will receive a Major League Contract. c. The minimum salary for a Major League Contract is $ 250,000. d. Any player acquired through any form of free agency, the NABL Draft or waivers will receive a Major League Contract. e. Only players with Major League Contracts are eligible to be on the 25-Man Active Rosters f. A Minor League Contract is given to every player selected in the Minor League Draft. This is the only way in which any player can receive a Minor League Contract. g. A player with a Minor League Contract accumulates no service time or salary while he maintains that contract. However, Minor League Contracts do expire and if the player is to be renewed at that time, he must be given a one-year, Major League Contract worth $ 300,000. After that one season, the player can be renewed like all other players.
STADIUMS
a. Each team must have a home
stadium in which to play their home games. d. A team must remain in the same stadium for a minimum of three consecutive seasons. At that point, they may request to change their stadium to any available stadium providing they have had at least two losing seasons during their last three seasons. If they do not meet that requirement, they may still request to change their stadium, but they must pay $ 2,500,000 to do so. e. An exception to the rule in Section D above is if and when a stadium becomes inactive. At this point, the team that played in that stadium may choose a new stadium to play in without any requirements or compensation required. f. Stadium changes can only be done in the off-season.
TEAM FINANCES
SALARY CAP & PAYROLL
a. The current salary cap is $ 80,000,000. During the off-season, the league will institute a 'flex cap' policy in which teams can exceed the cap by no more than $ 10 million. The flex cap period will be determined each year, but it will usually run from the start of post-season renewals through the end of February, with all teams required to be under the salary cap by March 1st. At all other times when the flex cap policy is not active, no team can have a payroll that exceeds the salary cap. b. Salaries that apply towards the cap are total annual salaries and are not pro-rated. For instance, if a player with a salary of $ 1,000,000 is acquired halfway into the current season, the entire $ 1,000,000 will apply to the cap rather than the pro-rated amount of $ 500,000. Likewise, if a team trades that player, the entire $ 1,000,000 will be removed from that team's payroll. c. The payroll applies only to every player on a team's roster with a salary.
CASH FUNDS
a. Cash funds are used for a variety of purposes, including buying out contracts, including in trades, adding as a cash bonus to a free agent contract, and paying off fines. b. At no time can a team's cash reserves fall below $ 1,000,000.
CASH AWARDS
a. Teams will receive cash awards for a variety of achievements, including team performance, owner performance, and contributions to the league as decided by the Commissioner on a per-case basis (this is referring to incidences where the Commissioner may offer a cash award incentive for participation in a league activity, such as writing news articles for the website, etc....) b. The primary source of cash awards will come from a per-win cash bonus system that will begin during the 2007 season. This system will apply as follows:
c. The per-win cash award does not apply to all wins when a team moves into a higher win range. For example, if a team wins 110 games, they would receive $ 100,000 for each of their first 81 wins for a total of $ 8,100,000, $ 75,000 for wins 81-89 ($ 675,000), $ 50,000 for wins 90-99 (a total of $ 500,000), and $ 25,000 per win for wins 100-110 (a total of $ 275,000). In total, that team would receive $ 9,550,000 in cash funds for their 110 wins. d. Teams will also receive cash awards for team and individual accomplishments as follows:
LEAGUE FINES
a. League fines are issued solely at the discretion of the Commissioner and are paid only by cash funds. b. Fines will be issued for offenses such as violating usage rules, repeated late submissions of profiles, roster violations, and any other violation of the rules or spirit of the league as he sees fit.
PLAYER USAGE
REGULAR SEASON USAGE
a. Any player who is on the DMB season disk in-use is eligible to play in NABL games in any given season.
POST-SEASON USAGE
a. All the conditions set out in Section XXIII regarding player usage exist in the playoffs except where noted below: b. Playoff usage limits are, per series, 7% of real-life plate appearances
for batters and 10% of real-life batters faced for pitchers. d. Each team's 25-man roster must be submitted before the beginning of each series. After each series has begun, team's cannot promote any players, only demote players once their usage expires.
LEAGUE
DRAFTS
a. Any player who is not on any team's 40-Man, Reserve or Minor League roster or on waivers, and is on the Diamond Mind Baseball season disk to in-use for the upcoming season is eligible.
d. All players who are eligible and are not drafted will be placed into the free agent pool and may be signed through In-Season Free Agency.
e. Any team who receives the first overall pick in an NABL Draft may not
receive a draft pick higher than fourth overall in the following year.
MINOR LEAGUE DRAFT
Effective September 1, 2011, the
league will no longer conduct a Minor League Draft. The information below
is for reference only. a. Any player who has not been previously drafted and has not yet played in the major leagues in his career and is on a minor league roster at the Rookie, A, or AA level as of the cutoff date (ideally June 1st of each season, but is subject to change) of that given season is eligible for the Minor League Draft.
b. The draft lasts two rounds and the draft
order is determined by the final standings of the previous NABL season,
with the team with the worst record drafting first each round and the team
with the best record drafting last each round.
Rookie Players - 4 years d. In between rounds 1 and 2 as well as after the second round will be supplementary rounds for all teams who lost a restricted free agent to make a selection as compensation. The order for the supplementary rounds will be in the order of the team who lost a player to the team who had the worst record the previous season picking first to the team who lost a player to the team with the best record the previous season picking last. e. Minor League Draft picks cannot be traded at any time. f. Players selected in the Minor League Draft cannot be traded until the off-season following that draft (i.e.-Rich Harden is selected in the 2003 Minor League Draft; he cannot be traded until after the 2003 season ends).
f. Teams must have enough room on their minor
league rosters to accommodate their picks as of the day of the draft
(i.e.-if a team has three picks, it must have no more than 17 players on
their minor league roster going into draft day). If they do not, they will
only be allowed to draft until they reach their maximum (i.e.-if a team
has three picks and 18 players on their roster, they will only be allowed
to draft players with their first two picks and their final pick will be
forfeited). i. Once a selection is promoted to the 40-man roster and begins to earn a salary, it cannot be reversed. His team is liable for that salary until the end of his contract.
EXPANSION DRAFT
a. Should the league expand, an Expansion Draft will be held in order to redistribute talent from the existing NABL teams to the expansion teams. b. All players on any NABL roster will be eligible, including players whose contracts have just expired and can be renewed, as well as those who cannot be renewed. An expansion team can draft them and renew them or put them in the RFA auction. c. The Expansion Draft will last five rounds. d. Each existing NABL team will initially protect fifteen draft-eligible players. After the first round, each team may protect an additional two players. At the end of the second, third, and fourth rounds, each team may protect an additional two players. f. After a team loses one player in a round, they cannot lose any additional players that round. g. Expansion Draft picks cannot be traded.
TRADES
GENERAL INFORMATION
a. Each team is entitled to trading activity, providing that it does not infringe with any
NABL Rules. In general, these are the core guidelines for trading:
c. The trading deadline will occur at a pre-determined date each season,
usually in late-July/early-August.
DRAFT PICKS
a. Only NABL Draft picks can be traded and can only be done one draft at a time, meaning picks from the 2011 NABL Draft cannot be traded until the conclusion of the 2010 NABL Draft, and so on. b. Draft picks cannot be used as players to be named later in any trade. c. Any compensatory picks that are awarded in the NABL Draft cannot be traded.
RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS
a. Any player who is acquired via Restricted Free Agency cannot be traded until they have spent at least one full season with their new team. b. This does not apply to any player who was re-signed/matched via RFA, only players who change teams via RFA.
FREE AGENCY
CONTRACT EXTENSIONS & RENEWALS
i. Contract Extensions: This are discounted renewal rates that apply to all players being renewed prior to the beginning of their final year under contract. A player can be renewed within a certain timeline during the off-season, usually beginning at the same time as off-season renewals. While the renewed salary goes into effect immediately, the final year of a player's existing contract does not count as one of the years of the contract extension. For instance, a player who has an expiration in 2014 could be renewed for up to three more years following the 2013 season. If he was renewed for three years, his new salary would take effect in 2013, and his contract extension would run three years past the 2013 season, expiring after the 2016 season. ii. Contract Renewals: In the off-season, a team may choose to renew a player whose contract expired at the conclusion of the most recent season. The renewal rates are determined in percentages of current salary. However, keep in mind that the contract years will increase by one before the off-season renewal period begins, so if you have a player who is at four years, he won't be able to be renewed in the off-season as he will then have five years and that will violate the rule below. c. Any player with more than
four years cannot be extended or renewed and must become either a restricted or unrestricted free agent. e. Cash funds cannot be used in renewals whatsoever (i.e.- as bonuses, etc.).
FREE AGENCY
a. In all types of free agency, the winning bid is determined as the offer with the greatest value and, in case of two or more bids being tied in value, the greatest value over the shortest period
(i.e.-Team A and B are bidding on Carlos Delgado. Team A offers $ 20 million for five years, while Team B offers $ 20 million for four years. Team B wins the
bidding).
RESTRICTED FREE AGENCY
a. Restricted Free Agency is reserved for the elite players of the NABL once their contracts have expired. b. Restricted free agency gives the original teams of these free agents the right to match the top bid for each player and retain them with that contract, or to receive compensation in the form of supplementary draft picks in the NABL Draft. As well, it allows them to re-sign a player who a) has exceeded four years and cannot be renewed through conventional renewals; or b) has a renewal salary that the owner feels exceeds his market value, so he could RFA the player in hopes of re-signing him at a salary below his renewal salary. c. Teams are limited to declaring two Restricted Free Agents per off-season and may only retain a maximum of one RFA each season. d. The starting bid will be $ 30,000,000. Should the player not receive any bids, his current team will be forced to sign the player for a $ 30,000,000 contract spread out over no more than four seasons. e. Teams will receive one supplementary draft pick for each player they lose, up to a maximum of two picks. The first supplementary picks will be between the third and fourth round of the NABL Draft, and the second supplementary picks will be between the fourth and fifth rounds. f. Because RFA status is reserved for elite NABL players, the Commissioner may reject a team's RFA designation if they do not fit that categorization. However, any player who has achieved an Elias player rating of at least 70.0 in at least two of the last three seasons is automatically eligible for RFA status and cannot have their designation overrule. Elias ratings can be found at http://espn.go.com/mlb/playerratings/_/type/batting/rating/elias g. If a Restricted Free Agent signs with a new team, that team is prohibited from trading that player for one full NABL season. If he is retained by his initial team, then this rule does not apply. h. Cash bonuses can be applied to the RFA contract to offset the amount paid via salary over the life of the contract. A team signing a new player can pay up to 25% of the contract via cash bonus. A team re-signing their own player can pay up to 30% via cash bonus. If a team is re-signing a player who has been with that team for at least the last three seasons, they can pay up to 35% via cash bonus.
UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENCY a. Any player whose contract has expired, has been released or is left undrafted, and not a restricted free agent is an unrestricted free agent. b. Free agents will have a minimum annual salary based on the length of their contract. These minimums will be as follows:
d.
The specific procedures for unrestricted free agency will be modified from
year to year. As of now, the current method is that of bidding via e-mail
with results posted daily on the website; however, each off-season
specific details will be given as to that year's free agency procedures.
IN-SEASON FREE AGENCY
a. Any player who is unsigned after off-season free agency and the NABL Draft and eligible to play the upcoming season will be placed in a Free Agent
pool, which teams can sign players from throughout the season. c. Players are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.
WAIVERS
GENERAL WAIVER RULES:
Please note - until further notice, the league will not be using a
waiver system. The rules below are for reference only. a. If a team wishes to release themselves from the liability of a contract, they may choose to use the Waiver method before or instead of a full cash buyout of the contract. b. All waiver claims must be done on the Waiver Wire on the NABL Message Board. c. Once a player is put on waivers, he must stay on for a set period of time before he either clears waivers or is awarded to a claiming team. d. During the season, the waiver period is 48 hours. In the off-season, this period is seven days. e. Once a player is put on waivers, he cannot be removed until the waiver period expires. Likewise, once a claim is put in on a player, it cannot be removed. f. If more than one team places a claim on the same player, the winning claim will be awarded to the team with the worst winning record. In the off-season, this will be based on the season just ending. During the regular season, this will be based on the current season. g. If two or more teams put in a claim on the same player, and have the same record, the team who put in the first claim will win. h. At the end of the claim period, the posting team will have the option to either release the player to the winning waiver claim, or pull the player back and retain him on their roster. i. If there is a claim and the posting team pulls the player back from waivers, they may not do so again should they place the player back on waivers within the next 12 months. k. If there is a winning claim, the posting team will have a set period of time to decide to let the player go or pull him back. In the off-season, that period of time is three days. In the regular season, it is 24 hours. Should a team not post their decision within the time frame, the player will automatically be awarded to the claiming team (if there is one) or back to the posting team, if there are no claims. As well, the posting team will receive a $ 500,000 fine should they not post any response within the timeframe. l. A posting team may place a player on Conditional Waivers. This will allow the posting team to offer to pay part of the remaining salary as a condition of the waiver claim. In order to do so, they must specify "Team A places Player B on Conditional Waivers and will pay 50% of the remaining salary." m. If a player is claimed on Conditional Waivers, the posting team will have the conditional dollar amount immediately removed from their cash reserve and credited to the winning team. n. Players claimed after August 31st of each season are ineligible for any post-season use. o. The
Waiver Wire will close on September 15th of each season until a designated
point in the off-season. l. The subject of any new waiver post must always be the players full name (i.e.-Chipper Jones) and the first post must always have any details of the claim.
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Copyright © 2020 by NABL Commissioner
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