N.I.L. Rulebook

Those paragraphs or sections marked with [$$$$$] will be in effect only if this league plays for real money. Unmarked paragraphs are in effect at all times.

I. OBJECT

Assemble a lineup of 23 MLB players whose cumulative stats during the regular season, compiled and measured by the methods described in these rules, exceed those of all other teams in the league.

II. TEAMS

There are 11 teams in a duly constituted Rotisserie League composed of MLB players.

III. STATS

All league stats are supplied by Yahoo as we manage the NIL league there at this time.

IV. STANDINGS

The following criteria are used to determine team performance (Standard 5x5 Rotisserie):

Batters:

Pitchers:

Teams are ranked from first to last in each of the categories and given points for each place, e.g. 13 for 1st, 12 for 2nd, etc., 1 for last.

V. ROSTER

A team's active roster consists of 5 OF, 2 C, a 2B, a SS, a MI (either 2B or SS), a 1B, a 3B, a CI (either 1B or 3B), a UT player (non-pitcher) and 9 pitchers.

VI. POSITION ELIGIBILITY

All player eligibility is assigned by Yahoo and will appear next to that players name on your roster. A player can only be assigned to those positions listed during that current season. Any batter can be assigned to your UTIL spot.

A player becomes eligible at a new position once he plays 5 games at that position during the season.

VII. PLAYER SALARIES

The salary of a player is determined by the time and the means of his acquisition and does not change until the player is signed to a guaranteed long-term contract.

Form of Acquisition Salary
Draft -> auction price
Farm system call-up -> $5
Free agent signing -> $10
Waiver claim -> salary prior to waiver
September roster expansion from free agent pool -> $25

VIII. THE OPTION YEAR AND GUARANTEED CONTRACTS

A player who has been at the same salary during two consecutive seasons without interruption (such as being waived or released) must be released, signed at the same salary to a guaranteed contract for his option year, or signed to a long-term guaranteed contract prior to the freezing of rosters in his third season. Any player kept on the frozen roster and is not indicated as being signed to any contract will automatically go up 1 level, i.e. 'a' goes to 'b' and 'b' goes to 'h'.

In determining a player's status, "season" is understood to be a full season or any fraction thereof. A team may sign a player to only one long-term contract, at the end of which he becomes a free agent - he cannot be resigned to another contract. The years on the contract will include the year in which the player is signed to that contract, thus a player signed to a 3 years + option contract will have 2 years + option left on the contract after the season in which he was signed to that contract. Once a player is signed to a contract, the contract cannot be renegotiated (i.e. signed to a shorter or longer one)!

If signed to a guaranteed contract, the player's salary in the first year of the contract shall be the cumulative sum of prior year's salary plus $5 for every year on the contract, not counting the option year. After the initial year, the salary will increase $5 every year, except during the option year when it will remain the same as the prior year. If signed at the same salary for an option year, the player must be released at the end of the season.

For example:

This is what happens to a player's salary that is signed to a guaranteed contract with a starting salary of $1. Make sure to read the rules concerning players with contracts as far as releasing, waving, and trading. To figure out any other player's salary, just add his current (salary-1) to the contract, thus a $10 player signed to a 5+O contract will have a salary of $31 in the first year of the contract. (5+O means 5 years + option year)

Year 5+O (c) 4+O (d) 3+O (e) 2+O (f) 1+O (g) O (h)
1 26 21 16 11 6 1
2 31 26 21 16 6 -
3 36 31 26 16 - -
4 41 36 26 - - -
5 46 36 - - - -
6 46 - - - - -

a. Player no longer at NL Major League level

If, during the course of a long-term contract, a player is traded to the other league, the contract is rendered null and void.

If a player under a guaranteed contract is sent to the minors at any time after the start of the season, he must be kept on the NIL roster, but he can be reserved and a free agent signed to replace him.

Any player who is under a guaranteed contract must finish the season on the NIL roster as long as he remains the property of a NL team, either at Major or Minor League level

b. Releasing players under guaranteed contract

Any player under a guaranteed contract can be released prior to the start of the auction at the beginning of the season by removing him from the Frozen Roster. The cost of removing a player under a contract shall be 50% (rounded down) of prior year's salary to be counted against the team's $260 limit for the current year.

A player who is entering the option year of his contract, may be released prior to the start of the season, i.e. not kept on the pre-season frozen roster, or may be kept for his option year at his present salary.

In all other cases a team must honor the terms of the long-term contract.

[$$$$$] In addition, a signing bonus, equal to one half the total value of the long-term contract, but not less than 5, shall also be paid (into the prize pool).

c. Emergency Clause

If the frozen pre-draft roster that is submitted to the Commissioner contains players only under contracts 'c' through 'g' and there is not enough money left to be able to draft the remainder of the team of at least $1 per needed player, the Commissioner shall remove from the roster, the lowest salaried player that will free up enough money to allow the drafting of the remainder of the team. If an owner can free up the required money by removing a player who is either under 'b' or 'h' contract, then that owner has the option of choosing the player to remove from the team. The owner has 24 hours after notification by the Commissioner to comply with the requirement.

For example:

Team A signs X number of players in the spring of year Z to multi-year contracts.All of the players are kept through the season and winter. In the spring of year Z+1,it signs Y number of players to multi-year contracts, and the contracts of the originalX players go up 1 level (including the salaries). All of the X and Y players stay with the team through the season and winter. In the Spring of year Z+2, all of X and Y players have at least 1 year besides the option year remaining on the contract,but because of the increased salaries, the team doesn't have enough money to be able to draft the rest of the team.

In this scenario, the Commissioner takes over and determines what player is removed from the team. In all cases, the Commissioner must do everything in his power to allow the owner to determine how to free up the necessary money, but owner participation is required!

d. Disclaimer

Since guaranteed contracts have a few gray areas, every effort will be done to follow the constitution as written. If a situation comes up that appears that a team is taking advantage of a loophole due to incorrect or missing wording, then the 'spirit' of the constitution will be followed. The same thing will be done if it appears that the loophole is hurting a team. This league is trying to emulate the actual Major League Baseball as much as possible and problems will be solved as much as possible according to MLB actions.

IX. ROSTER PROTECTION

Each team can maintain a maximum of 15 players, and a minimum of 0 players from season to season. Teams will submit a frozen roster before the live action draft.

The cumulative salaries of players protected prior to Auction Draft are deducted from a team's 260 expenditure limit, and the balance is available for acquisition of the remaining players needed to complete the team's 23-man roster.

The Commissioner shall promptly notify all teams of all this information prior to the live auction draft.

X. AUCTION DRAFT

Frozen Rosters are due at a date set by the commissioner. This date is normally around or on opening day once all MLB teams have announced their opening day rosters.

The live auction draft takes place on Yahoo, a link to enter the draft will appear 30 minutes before the scheduled auction draft time.

Once the draft begins, teams will bid on players to build a legal roster, taking turns nominating players. The nomination order reflects the previous years standings, last to first in that order. Only active MLB players are available to be nominated. Players marked as IL can be nominated. NA players cannot be nominated during the draft.

At the completion of the live draft, the commissioner will review all teams and prepare for Week 0 transactions.

Week 0 transactions are scheduled post draft, allowing teams to reserve any IL, NA, SUSP player and sign a corresponding player from the free agent pool.

XI. TRADES

NIL teams are free to make trades of any kind without limit so long as the active rosters of all teams involved in a trade conform to the position distribution requirements upon completion of the transaction.

Any team below positional distribution after a trade must successfully add a player before the weekly deadline to make sure it meets the positional distribution requirement. Any team above positional distribution after a trade must successfully remove a player from the active roster before the weekly deadline to make sure it meets the positional distribution requirement.

If after all transactions are processed, one or more team is short of the required 23 active players, the Commissioner will pick alphabetically from the free agent list the first eligible player to fill the empty roster spot.

If after all transactions are processed, one or more teams has more than the required 23 active players, the trade and all transactions directly related to said trade would be voided.

No trades are permitted after the announced season trade deadline. The commissioner will announce the trade deadline week at the beginning of the season. Trades made from the day after the season ends until rosters are frozen are not bound by the position distribution requirement.

The Commissioner may rule to void any trade if such trade is deemed by the Commissioner to be not in the best interests of the league. For instance, trading Fred McGriff and Greg Maddux for Gerald Perry and Rob Murphy might be viewed as attempting to stack one of the teams in the league.

XII. THE RESERVE LIST

a. Reserving a player

A team may reserve any player on its 23-man roster who is placed on the disabled list, sent down to the minors, etc. provided he is still the 'property' of a NL team. Any player who is no longer the 'property' of a NL team, either at Major or Minor League level, cannot be reserved by his NIL team but can be released or kept on the roster without a replacement.

A player is removed from a team's active roster at the end of the stat week and placed on the team's reserve list. There is no limit to the number of players a team may have on its reserve list. Reserving a player protects a team's rights to that player.

A team can replace an inactive player at any time. A player suspended for a short period of time, i.e. not the rest of the season or life, may not be reserved, released, or replaced unless he falls under conditions outlined elsewhere in the constitution.

Once a specific action has been taken to remove a player from the 23-man roster, a team is then free to select any eligible player from the free agent pool. If the same player is claimed by more than one team in a given week, he goes to the team ranking lowest in the most recent standings. A concomitant replacement player must accompany every reserve move.

b. Player activation

When a player on a reserve list is returned to active Major League duty, he must be reinstated to the active 23-man roster within two weeks after his activation or else he must be waived.

In the event a team fails to activate, within 2 weeks, a player who is under a guaranteed contract, the player who replaced him will be waived. If that the player is no longer on the roster, the 'chain' of transactions will be followed to determine who is the current player on the roster to occupy the spot of the reserved player. If such determination is not possible, the lowest priced player not under contract who is filling the reserved player's position will be waived.

To free a spot for the activated player, any player not under a guaranteed contract on the 23-man roster can be waived provided the position requirements are adhered to, unless one of the players can be shifted to another natural opening on the roster for which he qualifies.

Failure to notify the Commissioner shall be considered a waiver of the player on the reserve list. A player may not be reinstated or waived until his MLB team has activated him. If the player to be waived is under a guaranteed contract, then any player not under a guaranteed contract can we waived provided the position requirements are maintained.

c. Special Condition

Any player who becomes injured and is determined (by the Commissioner) to miss a considerable amount of playing time (i.e. miss remainder of season, sidelined indefinitely, had surgery, etc., but not day-to-day) will be eligible to be reserved by his NIL team even if his ML team fails to reserve the player.

XIII. WAIVERS

a. Replacing active player from free agent pool

A player with a guaranteed contract may not be waived during the season. He maybe released and replaced if traded to the other league.

Any player who is not under a guaranteed contract may be waived at any time during the season and another player signed in his place from the free agent pool as long as the position eligibility is adhered to. This unconditional waiver can be done only 5 times during the season, after which a player can be released only if he's placed on the "designated for assignment" list, sent to the minors, placed on the"disqualified" list, traded to the other league, or placed on the disabled list.

b. Replacing active player from within your system

When a Rotisserie reserved player is activated by his NL team, either he or another player, provided position requirements are legal, must be placed on waivers unless the newly activated player can be placed into a natural opening.

When a Rotisserie farm system player is activated, except into a natural opening,the player dropped to make room for him must be waived.

A player no longer on the active roster of a NL team and whose position is taken by a player activated from the reserve list or farm system may not be placed on waivers but must be released outright or reserved.

c. Replacing active player from the "Waiver Wire"

The waiver period begins as soon as the transaction results are sent out, and lasts until next deadline for transactions to be submitted to the Commissioner at which time the player shall become the property of the lowest ranked team to have claimed him.

The team who places a player on waivers has last priority of claiming that same player. If no teams successfully claim that player during that weeks transaction period, that same team who waived him can claim him.

To make room for the acquired player, the team must assign him to a natural opening or waive a player at the same position played by the newly acquired player.

There is no priority of replacing an inactive player over an active player. The only priority will be based on the current week’s standings as of Saturday using the NIL website’s daily updated standings as the source. A team may acquire on waivers no more than one player in a given week.

XIV. SEPTEMBER ROSTER EXPANSION

The commissioner will announce the official week when September roster expansion begins at the beginning of the season. This date is normally on the first week that September 1st occurs.

If it chooses, a team may expand its roster for the pennant drive by calling up one additional pitcher and/or one additional batter at any time at or after the announced September expansion date week until the end of the season from the free agent pool, its own reserve list, or its own farm system.

The order of selection for the expansion is determined by the most recent standings, with the last place team having first selection. This applies until the end of the season.

XV. LOSS OF PLAYERS BEYOND YOUR CONTROL

(a) - (d) below continues until all of the teams have had the opportunity to be compensated.

a. Inter-league trade involving players on ML and NIL rosters

The team of the highest salaried player traded away has the option to pick up anyone of the players coming into the league. Once it has chosen a player (or stated that it is waiving the right to choose), the team of the next highest salaried player can pick up any one of the remaining players. This continues until all of the teams had the opportunity to be compensated.

Each new player will acquire the salary and the contract status of the player he is replacing. During the regular season, the integrity of roster positions must be maintained.

If such trade was conducted during the off-season, the above rule will hold except any leftover players will go into the general free agent pool and will be available for draft.

b. Inter-league trade involving players not on NIL rosters

Any player coming into the league is immediately available to be claimed by any team. If no one claims him, he will automatically go on the waiver wire after the transaction deadline.

During the off-season, the new players will go into the general free agent pool and will be available for draft.

c. Inter-league trade of Minor League players

The team lowest in the standings of the player traded away has the option to pickup any one of the players coming into the league. Once the team has chosen a player (or stated that it is waiving the right to choose), the next lowest team in standings can pick up any one of the remaining players. This continues until all of the teams have had the opportunity to be compensated. Any Minor League player left will be ignored.

d. Inter-league trade of Minor League for Major League players

If a NIL team loses a Minor League player, the team lowest in the standings has the option of:

  1. Pick up the Major League player and put him on the roster by releasing, waiving, or reserving (if eligible) a player, or
  2. Pick up another player from the Minor Leagues and put him in its farm system.

If a NIL team loses a Major League player, the team of the highest salaried player has the option of:

  1. Pick another player either from the free agent pool without a loss of an unconditional waiver or it's own system, or
  2. Pick up the Minor League player and put him in its Minor League system. If the team already has 3 players in its farm system, it must remove one of the players from the system and then sign a free agent (if necessary) with a loss of an unconditional waiver. If the team doesn't have any left, then (1) must be followed.

e. Salaries

Any player coming into the league and not picked up via other means will have a salary of $10 when picked either from the "Waiver Wire" or the free agent pool.

f. Deadlines

A team has until the next transaction deadline, but never less than 3 days, to either declare which player is being chosen or state that it is waiving the right to choose. After the deadline, the team loses its priority and the next team has the choice. After the deadline has passed, all new MLB players follow rule (b) above.

g. Players leaving the NL due to retirement, being cut, free agency,etc.

If a player is no longer on a NL roster due to various conditions where the NL team does not receive compensation, the team can release him even if the player is under guaranteed contract. If this happens during the regular season, the team can choose another player from the free agent pool without the loss of an unconditional waiver or its own system. If this happens during the off-season, then the player need not be kept on the frozen pre-season roster even if he is under guaranteed contract.

h. Other

The Commissioner, to the best of ability and in the best interests of the league, will settle any situation that comes up that is not covered by any of these rules.

XVI. MINOR LEAGUE DRAFT

A Minor League Player Draft is conducted on the day of the All-Star Game, in which each team may acquire players who are not on any active roster and who still have official rookie status.

If the owner of a Minor League player no longer wants the player to be in his farm system, he must specifically state that on Sunday prior to the All-Star game, otherwise, the player will remain in the farm system. The list of players released from the farm system will be sent out to all of the current owners.

Selection takes place in 2 rounds of a simple draft, not an auction. The selection order of the draft shall be the reverse order of the current standings. Each team will submit a list of players and the Commissioner will assign the players based in the above-mentioned method.

XVII. FARM SYSTEM

A player can be placed into the farm system from the NIL roster at any time as long as he still qualifies as a rookie, is the property of a NL team, and is not on the ML roster of any team. If the team already has 3 players in its farm system, then one of the players must be released.

a. Contract status

Any minor league player promoted by the NIL team after the All-Star break, will retain his contract status of 'a' and salary of '$5', (5a) for the following year.

b. Farm player on Opening Day roster

If a Minor League player makes the Opening Day roster, he can still remain in the farm system but must abide by the rules below.

If an owner wishes to bring up a farm player who makes Opening Day roster prior to the start of the draft, he must be submitted as part of the frozen roster and will be assigned a salary of $5 with 'a' contract status.

c. Farm player promoted after the season's All-star break

If a farm system player is promoted to the active roster of a NIL team after the MLB All-Star break, that player's contract will remain $5a going into the following season.

d. Appearance limits

If during the course of being at MLB level, a farm player reaches 130 AB or 50 IP cumulative over the course of 1 or more years, the NIL team has 2 weeks to either activate or waive him.

A player who reaches the 130 AB or 50 IP at MLB level can never again be drafted into, returned to, or kept for next season at the Minor League level.

e. Trading

A farm player may be traded, as may a team's selection rights in the Minor League draft. If a NIL team has 3 players in its farm system and receives a minor league player as part of a trade from another NIL team, it must release one of its minor league players or promote him to the NIL roster if that is possible.

XVIII. EXPANSION DRAFT

In the event that the National League expands its number of teams, NIL will have the option to also expand by no more than the same number of teams. The exact number of teams to expand will be determined by a 2/3-majority vote of the active teams of the league. If expansion is approved, the league will seek new owners either by advertising or individually contacting prospective owners. The new teams will follow the draft rules as stated below.

XX. ADMINISTRAVIA

a. Governance

The team owners shall elect a Commissioner of the League. The Commissioner shall take full responsibility for the normal running of league, appointing assistants as necessary, resolving all disputes. The Commissioner shall serve until retirement or until a two-thirds majority of the owners elects a new Commissioner. There are no meetings of any type.

b. Special Dates/Deadlines

The end of the season overrides any and all deadlines. Frozen rosters and contract signings are due on Opening Day

Unless otherwise stated, the Commissioner at the beginning of the season will send out all transaction deadlines.

c. Amendments to the Constitution

Amendments to the Constitution will be voted on only during the off-season and require that at least 2/3 of the active teams cast a vote, and of those cast, 2/3 of the votes are in favor of the change. All fractions will be rounded down.

d. Franchise Ownership

After a league has been established, a team franchise shall be considered abandoned after 3 consecutive weeks of no communication between the team and the Commissioner.An owner may protect his franchise by notifying the Commissioner at any time, by any means possible, of any expected communication blackouts.

Once a team has been abandoned, the Commissioner shall make every effort to confirm that the team owner is either unable or unwilling to participate in the league.After the confirmation, or an additional 2 weeks have passed, the Commissioner shall announce that the franchise has been abandoned and will advertise for a new owner.

XXI. PRIZE MONEY [$$$$$]

The value of units used in bidding, salaries, and all transaction fees is $0.05, e.g. the salary cap of 260 units is $13.

All fees shall be promptly collected and paid out as follow:

XXII. FEES [$$$$$]

There are no fees covering player personnel moves. $26 season fee is paid to the commissioner before the season draft.

XXIII. DEFINITIONS

Active Team - A team that currently has an owner and said owner has indicated to the Commissioner that he plans to participate in the league in the upcoming season.

Guaranteed Contract - Any contract that is neither 'a' or 'b', i.e. even a player who is under an 'h' contract for that year is under a guaranteed contract and is bound by all restrictions of such contract.

Natural Opening - An opening on the 23-man roster that was not created by the owner of the NIL team, i.e. the natural events of the game caused the player to be no longer active.

Release - Removing a player from the 23-man roster of the NIL team who is no longer on the active roster of the MLB team.

Rookie - A player who has fewer than 130 total at-bats or 50 innings pitched at the Major League level over the course of his career.

Waive - Removing a player from the 23-man roster of the NIL team who is still active on the MLB team.