Constitution of the Cyberspace Baseball Association
Table of Contents
1.League Structure 8.The Regular
2.The Teams 9.The Trade Deadline
3.The Minimum Rule 10.The playoffs
4.Usage Limit 11.Rosters moves
5.Scrub Players 12.New Rules
6.Ballparks 13.Internal League Affairs
7.Next Years Draft
Updated: June 19th 1997 (Clarifieng paragraph number 2)
Updated: April 8th 1997 (Correcting minor typo)
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1. League structure
This league shall be know as the Cyberspace Association of Baseball (CBA). All
rules of the CBA are described within this constitution unless amended by the
league as a whole and distributed as an official constitution update. The league
will consist of 24 teams in 2 conferences of 3 divisions of 4 teams each. Each
team will play a weighted schedule of 162 games. This league is rules by the
objective of keepers league. A player is owned by his manager until he his
released. The starting draft will be a serpentine of serpentine (1 to 24, 24 to
1, 24 to 1, 1 to 24...) draft 34 rounds, where 33 players will be choose and a
choice for the stadium (no specific round for that). All CBA games will be
played by HAL with the preference sent by each GM. Each manager will have the
responsibility to give his manager tendencies before the beginning of each away
series, if he want to change something to his tendencies. The injury system will
be set to on. The closer rule will be active and every setting will be put on
the most advanced settings. At no time shall a manager be running more than one
team. No fees will be charged unless a team owner request a periodic report sent
to him by snail mail. DH will be used in the Roberto Clemente conference only.
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2. The teams
Each team will consist of 33 carded players, 30 must meet the requirements of
the minimum rule and the 3 other carded players, but not meeting requirements
are designated to the minors until the September call-up. At no time during the
season a team may drop below a total of 29 players (including the 3 players not
meeting requirements), or have more than 33 players, even if they do a lopsided
trade (3 against 1, 2 for 1...).
On the other hand, all teams must cut his roster down to 25 players at the end
of the season (I will announce this date later, because I need to let everyone
evaluate his team carefully). During the season, if there is one or more players
over 33, the team must trade or release player(s) over the waiver to reach the
number of 33. The team is allowed a one week delay (after the announcement of
the trade) to reach the 33 players limit.
If a team want to hire a player on waiver, he must first cut a player from his
own roster and let him go on waiver. Waiver pick up order is designed by the
inverse order of winning percentage of the previous year (for the first year,
the order is the same as the draft order of the first round).
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3. The minimum rule
For a player to be eligible to play in the CBA he must meet the following
requirements: Position Players with at least 40 AB. Starting pitchers with at
least 45 IP Relief pitchers with at least 30 IP. Those pitchers designated
starter and reliever must have more than 45 IP to qualify as a starter. For
those carded players who do not meet these requirements, they will be classified
as prospects and will remain in the minors for the entire season.
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4. Usage limits
All players with more than 500 AB will be allowed to play every inning of every
game. Pitchers with a (*) will be allowed to pitch every four days without
limit. For players who do not meet these requirements, all appearance stats will
be based upon those posted on their card plus 10%. In case of a shortened real
season, all appearance stats will be prorated accordingly. If a player reach is
allowed number of AB/IP the player will be on season’s DL for the rest of the
season, but be available for playoffs. Please note that the computer version of
SOM has a feature which allows the computer manager (HAL) to moderate overusage.
This feature will be turned ON, but does not insure a player will not be
overused. I don't want overusage, please check your stats and be sure to make
changes accordingly.
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5. Scrub players
During the course of the regular season, a GM may need to pick up a scrub player
to cover lost AB or IP due to trades or injuries. A scrub player is any
positioned player or pitcher with a current SOM card that does not belong to any
other team. A total of three scrub players can be picked up during the regular
season with the following restrictions: They will not be eligible for
post-season play and, after the regular season they must be cut and returned to
the free agent pool. Please note that in order to pick up a scrub player you
must cut one player (offered on the waiver wire) for each scrub you pick up to a
maximum of three.
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6. Ballparks
Each team will play in its choosen ballpark. At no time shall the dimensions of
the ballparks be changed. In the future, an owner may wish to move to an
occupied stadium. It can be done by announcing that they will move from that
stadium to this new ballpark before the middle of the calendar.
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7. Next year draft
At the end of the season each team will be required to submit a protected list
of 25 players. These 25 players were pick in the 33 man roster of the end of
season. A draft order based upon last season's records will be generated and
will consist of 8 rounds. The team with the worst record will draft first in
each of the eight rounds unless he has traded rights to that draft choice away.
No draft picks may be traded from drafts beyond the upcoming one. Once the draft
commences, picks from the next draft may be traded. Also, a draft list of
available carded players will be provided. Available players will be those let
out of protection list, new players and players previously undrafted. All draft
will be held by email and a time restriction will be put to answer or the pick
will be skipped and will go to the next owner, but as soon the manager get
online after he can make his choice. The owner can make a drafting list sent to
commissioner or Draft-O-Matic can draft for him if he choose to. If we find a
better method, it will be approved by managers (this vote must be 75% of the
vote).
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8.The regular season
Each team will play 22 games against the team in his division and 12 games
against other teams in his conference. No game will be played against 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 serie. I will make sure that
each team's starting rotation is set before each game and I will also ensure
that player resting is carried out when requested. At the start of the serie a
list of starting pitchers can be submitted. Only starters who receive a (*)
rating from Strat-O-Matic may start on three days rest. All other starters
require FOUR days between starts.
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9. Trade deadline
After the 31st of August (according to the CBA schedule), no further trades will
be recorded until the completion of the World Series. Trades may be made at all
other times. All trades must be confirmed by both parties to the commissioner or
they are invalid. Player to be named later trades are not allowed.
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10. The playoffs
Each division winner plus one wild card from each conference make the playoffs.
The team other than the divisional champs will be named to the wild card
position regardless of their divisional alignment within the conference. Wild
card plays the divisional champ with the best record. The two others division
winner play against each others. The winners of the above will play then to
determine a conference champion who will face the other conference champion in
the World Series. All series are best of seven and follow a 2-3-2 format with a
day off between each change of home team. Best divisional champions will always
have home advantage in games 1, 2, 6, and 7 against wild card teams. For all
other series, the team with the best record will hold this advantage. Tie breaks
will be decided by a one game playoff, home team to be decided by a coin toss.
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11. Roster moves
Roster moves can take effect immediately as long as the manager e-mail the
information to me, but it can’t be done in the middle of a serie, just before a
serie. By September 1st, each team must submit his 25 players available for
playoffs.
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12. New rules
A rule may be changed during the offseason with a simple majority vote. New rule
requests should be sent to the Commissioner, who has the responsibility of
conducting and tabulating a vote. During the season a rule should not be changed
unless required to greatly facilitate further play during that season. A rules
change during the season requires that at least 75% agree. A one-week discussion
period is mandatory during the season unless waived by unanimous vote of the
managers.
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13. Internal league affairs
During the course of the season it may become necessary to arbitrate or
interpret a rule or trade/transaction. Should this occur, the commissioner has
this responsibility. Any dispute of this decision by either the person ruled
against, or another league member disputing the commissioner's decision, will be
handled by the commissioner. The commissioner should have no conflict of
interest in the decision. A majority vote will replace the commissioner's role
if he is in conflict, but I want to add that the commissioner can always use a
veto if he think it's for the best interest of the league. I hope to never use
it.
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Last modified on Febuary 27th / Claude Lamarre lamarrcl@ere.umontreal.ca