Cyber Baseball Association 2007-2008 Constitution

This league shall be known as the Cyberspace Baseball Association (CBA) and will be playing with the latest version of SOM (13.01). The league will consist of 20 teams in 2 conferences of 2 divisions of 5 teams each. Each team will play a weighted schedule of 162 games.

Besides having fun, the objective of the league is that a player is owned by his manager until he his traded or released. CBA games will generally be played by HAL (Autoplay/Quickplay) with the preference sent by each GM via an exported .mgr files. Commissioner generally verifies each game pitcher and lineups. Owners can arrange to play a given series via NetPlay within the allowed time of each block will be allowed to do so. Each manager will have the responsibility to give his manager tendencies before the beginning of each block (via an exported .mgr files), if he want to change something to his tendencies.

There will be no injuries. The closer rule will be active. DH will be used in the Roberto Clemente conference only.

a} At the end of the yearly spring draft each team will consist of, no less and no more, than 35 strat carded and computer carded players that must meet the requirements of the minimum rule (see section 3 below) At no time during the season a team may drop down below 30 players or go over 35 players.

b} If a team goes over 35 players because of a trade it must release a player, via the waiver wires, immediately upon reporting the trade.

3} Each team must have at least one backup at every defensive position during games.

4} All teams must cut their roster down to a total of 25 before the draft. This years deadline is Dec 15th 2008.

5} A Players service to a team may be released to free agency at anytime to facilitate a trade, draft a free agent or RFA

6} A team must have between 30-35 players on roster at all times after the draft.

7} A minor league designee is considered part of a teams 35 man roster as a non-carded, ineligible player. That players services may be retained. That player may be cut however is not considered a free agent, and is not added to free agent list.

1} For a player to be eligible to play in the CBA he must meet the following requirements: Position players have at least 40 MLB AB.

4} Pitchers designated starter and reliever must have 45 or more IP to qualify as a starter.

7} Players may be sent down or recalled per block of 2 series. Players may not be recalled during a block.

Regular season

1} Usage: All appearance statistics will be based upon those posed on their card. An eligible CBA Player may use up to, yet no more then 100% of their MLB Total plate appearances (AB+BB) or 100% IP for the CBA season, subject to the following exceptions:
a} Batters: A batter may start in games during a block as long as he has 12 PA or more before starting that block. A batter with PA left for the season may be on the roster, but not in the starting lineup, for any block if they have less than 12 PA.
b} Pitchers: A Pitcher scheduled to start a game must have at least 4IP left for the season. A relief pitcher may be on the active roster only if they have at least 3 IP left for the season.
c} If conditions in A or B above or met, then a player going over 100% usage will be deactivated for the rest of the season, but no other penalty will be applied. Penalties will be applied if these conditions are not met.

EXAMPLES:
Batter A has 15 PA left. His coach may use him in lineups for the next block of games. If at the end of that block, he has used 100% or more of his PA for the season, the player will be sent to the minors for the rest of the season
Batter B has 6 PA left. His coach may leave him active, but may not start him in any game during the block. If at the end of the block, the player has used more than 100% of his PA for the season, then one of two things will happen: 1) If he started any of the games, Penalties (as described in section 12) will be applied, or 2) if he did not start any game, but HAL used him as a PH often, then the player will go to the minors for the rest of the season but no other penalties will be levied.

Pitcher A with 5 IP left. May start 1 game during a block (not two) to avoid penalties
Pitcher B with 3 IP left. May not start any game during a block, but may relieve. If he starts, then penalties will be levied.

2} Overusage: If a player goes over Usage limit of allowed number of PA/IP, the player will be placed on seasons Disqualified List for the remainder of the season, and will not be available for post season playoffs. An owner who allows over usage will be subject to a penalty (see section 12) Repeated infraction may result in league dismissal.

3} Out of position players: A player without a position (DH Only) will be allowed to play 1B. Excepting rated outfielders (as per Strat-o-matic OF position rule), No other out of position players allowed to be programmed. Only players with positions listed on their cards and in the ratings may be CM programmed. Illegal player usage programming may be subject to penalty. Position players may under no circumstances pitch in Net Play games.

Each team will play in his current ballpark. Ballparks may not be changed once assigned. At no time shall the dimensions of the ballparks be changed.

{1} Eligible players not on roster and are carded or computer carded are draft eligible and are termed as Free Agents. Non carded minor league players released by other teams are not eligible to become free agents. You may release a player to Free agency during the draft to keep roster under maximum of 35. You may only release a player to facilitate drafting a free agent or to accommodate a trade. No free agents may be acquired after the entire spring draft ends until 1st regular series is sent to list.

{2} Restricted Free Agents: A restricted Free agent is a player who was not drafted and is in the Free Agent pool. These may be acquired after opening series games have been played and released to list. Requests must be made in writing CBA_Council@yahoogroups.com to the league office list to acquire their limited service for only the regular season. Requests will be taken only after games are sent to list. These restricted players will be released back to the Free Agent pool at season end. Initial free agent requests when the period opens will be given in preference to teams whose previous seasons winning pct was lowest. Free Agent services may be acquired at anytime thereafter during the season. Free Agents are restricted when undrafted and non playoff eligible. Players under minimum eligibility are not eligible for restricted Free agent drafting. Their services are non eligible for the playoffs. Teams may release players to free agency to acquire restricted free agents. A player may not be reacquired after release. No player may be released during the supplemental draft. A team may acquire up to 2 restricted free agents during the regular season.

1} On Dec 20th 2008 9pm et, each team will be required to submit a protected list of 25 players. These 25 players should be picked from the end of the season roster minus any RFA. The draft order will be based on last year records (inverse winning percentage and numbers of games from division winner) will be generated and will consist of 10 rounds. Players may be released during to the draft to keep roster at maximum limits. A draft list of available carded players will be provided and will include players let out of protection list, new players and players previously un-drafted. The draft will be held by email over a 20 days period. Each owner will have exactly an hour to announce his pick when his time come up or the pick will be skipped and will go to the next owner, but as soon the manager get online he can make his choice.

A. No team may have more than 35 players at any time

B. All teams must own 35 players at the end of the draft.

C. If a team is a at the 35 player Maximum, they may release players to free agency to accommodate a trade or a draft selection. The following are examples of acceptable notification of release of players:

To make a Draft selection: Release Bob Jones, drafts John Brown.

During a Trade: Team X acquires Turner, Johnson for Smith, and releases Bob Jones.

3} Supplemental minor league draft pick designee: A team may select 1 designated minor leaguer as a prospect pick. That player may be selected in the annual draft. Retained players that become non carded are not considered a minor league draft pick designee.

The minor leaguer must be playing professional minor league or foreign professional baseball at the time of the opening day of the draft. Eligibility will be determined as a rostered 'professional' (minor/foreign league) with at least 1 appearance as of draft time. No amateur players are eligible.

A minor league designee is considered part of a teams 35 man roster as a non-carded, ineligible player. That players services may be retained. That player may be cut however is not considered a free agent, and is not added to free agent list.

4} a. Supplemental draft: If one or more teams are short of 35 players at draft conclusion, there will be supplemental rounds to permit them to reach a total of 35 players (these can't be traded).

b. No draft picks may be traded from drafts beyond the upcoming one. Once the draft begins picks from the next season may be dealt..

c. Non carded players and minor league designees are not eligible to be included in the supplemental draft.

Up to 15 Draft picks may be owned at any one time. The total picks owned by a team may not exceed this limit at any time. Any picks which are owned after the 35 man roster limit is reached will be forfeited unless traded. Any discrepancies will be solved by time date stamp available to the list moderator on Yahoo groups website.

By draft conclusion teams should have at least 2 rated players at all defensive positions on roster. Each position should carry a minimum of 650 appearances between the minimum 2 players rated at any each position. Utility men can fill requirements for appearances at any or all rated positions.

Each team will play 18 games against the team in his division and 12 games against other teams in his conference and one 3 game series will be played against each team in the other conference. There will be no HAL override during a game. All instructions for the HAL computer manager (including player preferences) are to be indicated by the team's General Manager at the beginning of each block via his .mgr export.

Only starters who receive a (*) rating from Strat-O-Matic may start on three days rest. All other starters require FOUR days between starts. The SOM CM must include 4 line-ups in that order: Vs L, Vs R, Vs reverse L and Vs reverse R. Starting rotation must be entered in the CM too. If teams want to play their games F2F, it will be possible, but results must be sent on times to the leagues officials and stating that those games will be played.

The season is divided into blocks. Each block represents 2 full series. A block always begin on Sunday of a given week, each team has until Thursday at 8pm to send their exported .mgr (also called CM) for that block. (note that an owner who failed to send a cm for four consecutive block (a month) may be considered inactive and replaced). The games are then auto played by the league office and the result are sent and posted to the web site anytime before Sunday night 8pm. All transactions made between the last time the result were posted and the day the games are played are processed and included in the result files posted on the web site.

All transactions (trades, scrub FA pick up) are eligible for the following block only. Any transactions reported before the CM deadline of Thursday will automatically be included in the files for the next lock any transactions reported after Thursday might or might not be included in the files depending of when the games are auto played (usually Friday night).

Player trades Player Cuts can be made to allow teams to stay at or under maximum roster size, should be reported at time of trade announcement to CBA_Council@yahoogroups.com mail list. Players who are released to free agency are non-revocable. A team may not re-acquire any player released during a seasons opening day through World series completion.

Trades of draft picks: Teams may trade any draft picks for the current season. Teams may not trade any draft picks for the following season until after the 2008 season's draft first pick has been made on draft day. After the last game of block ending August 29th, 2008 (according to the CBA schedule), no further trade will be recorded until immediately after the regular season has been completed.

All trades must be confirmed by both parties to CBA_Council@yahoogroups.com or the trade is invalid. Player to be named later trades is not allowed. A trade can not be announced until a team that goes over 35 can get back under 35 (cutting players if necessary and must be announced with the trade) .

a Each division winner plus two wild card from each conference make the playoffs. The best division winner will play against the worst wild-card team and the worst division winner against the best wild card team. The winners of the above will play then to determine a conference champion who will face the other conference champion in the World Series. Record tiebreaker #1 is head to head competition. Next tie breaker is a coin flip by Commissioner or league President.

b All series are best of seven and follow a 2-3-2 format with a day off between each change of home team. Divisional winner will always have home advantage in games 1, 2, 6, and 7 against wild card teams. If a tie breaker game is necessary then the teams will be seeded according to Head to Head first, then Run differential second. If there is still a tie between a team then a random draw as set forth by the Commissioner. The highest seeded team will have home field advantage. If there are 3 teams then the highest seeded team will get the Bye.

c There is a minimum of 1 off day at the conclusion of a series and may be more depending on how long the series actually runs. There will be an off day between games 2 and 3 and games 5 and 6 in each series. The playoff rotation will be run continuously and will be turned in to the league before each series is to begin.

d There will be no injuries during the playoffs. REst is cumulative and applies from end of regular season into playoffs. Tiebreaker games count as a regular season game for pitching/batting fatigue and usage. Starters usage counts as fatigue in playoffs. At the end of the year and prior to the playoff all participating team must submitted his 25 players roster for the playoff.

e Home field in the Cyber series championship shall rotate on a yearly basis with the Clemente League being the home team in 2004 and the Staub League being the home team in 2005, Clemente in 2006, Staub in 2007, Clemente in 2008, Staub in 2009, and so on.

f Playoff games must be played by Netplay. If an owner can’t play via Netplay he can nominate someone to play his team or ask the league office to find someone to cover for him. Only If both owner can’t play via netplay will the commissioner either autoplay the series or ask two other members of the CBA to play the series via autoplay at his discretion. Managers are responsible for their own Netplay and maybe terminated for repeated non game play of Netplay.

During the playoffs, players shall be limited on the following basis per series:

Batters Limit
0-250 at bats- 5% of the total at-bats on the card
251-400 at bats- 8% of the total at-bats on the card
400+ unlimited

Pitchers Limit
0-50 IP 10% of the total innings on the card
51-100 IP 15% of the total innings pitched on the card
100+ unlimited

At-bats and innings pitched totals are from the back of the player's card.
Pitchers with less than 100 innings on their card(s) can NOT start in the playoffs.
Starters who are not rated * or do not have 200+ IP can not pitch on 3 days rest.

Please note that the computer version of SOM has a feature that allows the computer manager (HAL) to moderate overusage. This feature will be turned OFF.

Players and Pitchers are strictly limited to usage maximums, no over usage tolerated under penalty of forfeiture of game.

h Playoff procedure: Unlike the regular season, you will be responsible for updating your own
league files during the course of your series. You MUST adhere
to the following procedures when playing your series:

1. After the completion of games 1 & 2 the Home team manager for those
games must send the Game Result Files, Boxscores, AND Play-by-
Play files (PAC) to BOTH the Commissioner and his opponent.
2. Prior to connecting for game 3 the Home team manager for
games 3 - 5 MUST import the Game Result Files from games 1 & 2 into the Divisional
Championship Series league AND must "Play" the "blank" day in the schedule that
exists between games 2 & 3 (Choose 'Start a new SCHEDULED game',
highlight the "off day" in the schedule, click 'Play Day', then
'Done').
3. After the completion of games 3 - 5 the Home team manager for those
games must send the Game Result Files, Boxscores, AND Play-by-
Play (PAC) files to BOTH the Commissioner and your opponent.
4. Prior to connecting for game 6 (if necessary) the Home team manager
for games 6 & 7 MUST import the Game Result Files from games 3 -
5 into the Divisional Championship Series league (See "Importing GRFs"
at the end of these instructions) AND must "Play" the "blank" day in the
schedule that exists between games 5 & 6 (Choose 'Start a new
SCHEDULED game', highlight the "off day" in the schedule, click
'Play Day', then 'Done').
5. After the completion of games 6 & 7 (if necessary) the Home team
manager for those games must send the Game Result Files,
Boxscores, AND Play-by-Play (PAC) files to BOTH the Commissioner and your opponent.

The violations that will result in warnings and/or penalties being levied by the League Office include, but are not limited to:

2. Monthly inactive list or not contributing anything at all to CBA in general (web site, list and forums).

The commissioner have final say over any league rule change, part of his goal is to ensure that the structure and overall format of the CBA is kept intact. The commissioner is the one that is responsible for ensuring that the league is moving forward and co-ordinate all the other staffs in the CBA.

Most importantly he has the final say in all issues concerning the league and has the power to overrule any decision taken by the staff.

The primary function of the League Presidents is to assist the commissioner on resolving issues within the league.

Dennis Concepcion, and Cory Light hold the positions. Jack Jung is a CBA consultant on trade committee.

All new owner that enter the CBA beginning with this season will be closely followed by the co-commissioner for the duration of their first year in the league. He will help the new guys with trades, rules and all others issues pertaining to the league.

Any new owner that will make a trade will be required to check with his assigned co-commissioner before reporting it. We strongly encourage the new owner to implicate is assigned co-commissioner in every part of the negotiation. We do this to ensure some stability in this league and to protect our franchise from depletion like there has been in the past

The Statistician is responsible for keeping the usage of the CBA to date. He may also the one who produce the encyclopaedia for the league. By examining box scores and weekly statistics he provide source material for the reporters for their articles. (See below)

The Librarian works closely with the co-commissioner. He is responsible for keeping track of over usage. He also helps the webmaster with information and validation of the content of the web site.

The reporter’s main task is to provide content for the web site. His job will be much like a real life journalist he will analyze box scores , trade, roster move, real MLB news or any other event concerning the CBA (interview with owner, staff or etc.) They will post their ‘articles’ on the web site via an easy to use news interface. Between one to three people can be reporters. In case there is three people they should arrange between themselves in order to cover as many event as possible.

During the last month, teams will submit nominations of players from their team to place on the post-season ballot for the All-CBA. Team and the Gold Glove Team to League Statistician. At the conclusion of the season and after the final statistics have been distributed, the following individual awards will be voted on by the league membership:

This is one of the most important 'rules'. CBA can only be fun if YOU make it fun for yourself and for others. The success of the CBA is upon each and everyone shoulder. It’s with your participation, your involvement and your work that CBA will again be a joyful and fun place to play baseball.