DwMurphy Rules - January 2015
General
These are the rules of the DwMurphy Scoresheet Baseball League. In the event an issue is not covered in these rules, the standard Scoresheet rules will apply. If an issue is not covered in either these rules or the standard Scoresheet rules, the Commissioner may either submit a proposal for vote by the league or make a ruling.
A change to these rules requires approval of 2/3 of owners. A new rule addressing an issue not covered in these rules requires approval by only a majority of owners.
The Commissioner
The Commissioner has responsibility for the smooth functioning of the league. His term runs for one year starting with the day of the Primary Daft. His responsibilities include:
primary contact point for Scoresheet
coordinates the drafts including determining the draft order
submits rule change proposals to the league, counts votes, and modifies the rules accordingly
monitors teams regarding roster restrictions
approves trades (for balance and conformance to roster restrictions)
The Commissioner is not expected to perform all of these duties personally, and is expected to delegate some of these tasks. The owners are expected to volunteer assistance as necessary.
Teams
The DwMurphy League contains 24 teams. These 24 teams are divided into 6 divisions of 4 teams. The teams play a "balanced" schedule (each team plays every other team approximately the same number of times). After each season, the Commissioner randomly assigns teams to Divisions for the following season.
Playoffs
Eight teams make the playoffs. These teams are the 6 division winners and two wildcards. The wildcard teams will be the two remaining teams with the best records. Both wildcards can be from the same division. There will be three rounds of playoffs, each determined by a "best of seven" series. For round 1, the eight teams will be seeded by record but with the two wildcards receiving the two lowest seeds. (Rule changed by league vote 9/2000) For round 1, the eight teams will be seeded by record regardless of whether the team won the division or entered as a wildcard. The highest seed plays the lowest seed, second highest plays second lowest, and so on. In round 2, the winner of the series between the 1st and 8th seeds plays the winner of the series between the 4th and 5th seeds. The winner of the series between the 2nd and 7th seeds plays the winner of the series between the 3rd and 6th seeds. In round 3, the winners of the two round 2 series play for the Murphy Championship.
Round 1:
Series A: Seed 1 plays Seed 8
Series B: Seed 2 plays Seed 7
Series C: Seed 3 plays Seed 6
Series D: Seed 4 plays Seed 5
Round 2:
Series E: winner Series A plays winner Series D
Series F: winner Series B plays winner Series C
Round 3:
Series G: winner Series E plays winner Series F
Primary Draft
The draft will be held in person at a mutually agreeable time in February or March.
The primary draft will consist of 35 rounds of selections. The draft order in the first round is determined by a lottery, with each team having equal probability of receiving the first selection. The draft order in the second round is the reverse of the draft order in the first round (the first pick in round one receives the 24th pick in round 2 in a 24 team league). The draft order in subsequent rounds will follow the first two rounds: the draft order in odd numbered rounds is the same as in the first round, and even numbered rounds the same as in the second round.
The picks in the first 8 rounds are defined as "Protection Picks". An owner possessing a draft pick in the first 8 rounds may use this draft pick to either keep a player from the previous year's roster, or select a player in the current year's draft. Thus, the less players an owner keeps, the more draft picks he receives.
Protection Picks may be traded. If an owner trades a Protection Pick, the actual draft pick traded is the highest draft pick below the 9th round. In other words, an owner is not allowed to trade his first round draft pick, but keep the next 7 rounds to protect players. In case of dispute, the Commissioner has the final authority regarding which pick is the "highest". Note that as a result of trades, a given owner may have more or less than 8 protection slots, allowing him to keep more or less than 8 players. However, since only draft picks in the first 8 rounds are Protection Picks, there can be no more than 192 players protected (8 x 24 in a 24 team league).
Rookie Slot
a) Starting with the 2013 season, BL DwMurphy will have one (1) rookie slot per team.
b) Protecting a rookie will be optional (i.e., "soft" slots).
c) Rookie slots will be designated as 19th round draft picks.
d) Rookie slots will be tradeable.
e) A team may own no more than 3 round 19 picks.
f) The primary draft will continue to be a snake draft in all rounds.
g) The rookie definition will be the standard one that Scoresheet uses.
Protection Lists
Each owner must submit to the Commissioner a list of players he will keep going into the following season (his "Protection List"). Protection list are due 1 week before the primary draft. Protection Picks are used from highest pick to lowest pick. For example, if an owner with only his original 8 Protection Picks protects 6 players, he uses his first 6 draft picks for these players, and may draft players in the 7th and 8th rounds.
The Commissioner must submit his protection list to another owner before examining any protection lists submitted to him.
The Commissioner will provide a composite listing of all Protection Lists to the owners once all such lists are received.
Supplemental Draft
The Supplemental Drafts will be administered by Scoresheet. There will be five drafts, beginning on the first Wednesday of April, May, June, July, & August. The April draft will be ordered in the same order as the spring draft.
The other drafts will be done as a straight draft based on the current standings.
Roster/Trade Restrictions
Draft picks can be traded only for the next Primary Draft and Supplemental Draft. Specifically, if the current year's Primary Draft has not occurred yet, an owner can trade draft picks for the current year's Primary Draft and Supplemental Draft, but not for the following year's. Once the Primary Draft for the current season has been completed, an owner can trade draft picks for the current year's Supplemental Draft and the following year's Primary Draft. Once the current year's Supplemental Draft is concluded, draft picks can be traded for the following year's Primary Draft and Supplemental Draft.
No owner may have more than 37 or less than 33 draft choices for the primary draft. In other words, at the end of the primary draft, every team will have between 33 and 37 players. Once the main draft is concluded (every team has finished drafting), there are no roster restrictions for the current year. However, no trade will be allowed that leaves a team with more than 37 or less than 33 draft picks in the next draft. There will be no "additional" picks after the draft is over: an owner can only draft players with draft picks he possesses.
If an owner trades a draft pick for a lower value pick, he must pay the next year's fees at the time of the trade. However, if previous trades have yielded draft picks such that, in the Commissioner's opinion, the net position is still favorable after trading a draft pick, the Commissioner may waive this requirement.
Draft picks and players can be traded between the date after the playoffs are concluded up to the day of the Primary Draft. Following the day Protection Lists are due, if a protected player is traded, the "Protection Pick" used to protect him is also deemed to have been traded. The 37 maximum and 33 minimum draft pick restriction must include these adjustments. For example, Team A has 37 draft picks, and chooses to protect 8 players (leaving 8 players and 29 draft picks). Team B has 35 draft picks and chooses to protect 8 players (leaving 8 players and 27 draft picks). Team B can not trade a Protected Player and a draft pick for one of team A's draft picks since this would leave Team A with the equivalent of 38 draft picks (9 players and 29 draft picks).
The Commissioner is responsible for approving all trades (he has veto power). No trade is final until approved by the Commissioner.
Note: There is no official league position regarding "Conditional Trades". A Conditional Trade is a trade in which part of the trade is not executed until a later date. The commissioner in a given year may choose to approve or reject Conditional Trades. Approval or rejection of Conditional Trades by a given commissioner does not commit commissioners in following years to also approve or reject Conditional Trades.