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Official Constitution of the Global Baseball Consortium

Revision 8.8 ( Constitutional Committee 2007)
Based off of Revision 15 of the NACBA Constitution dated 9/15/97 by Matthew M. Rectenwald

Changes include:

Index:

1. League Structure

1.1 League Definition

The Global Baseball Consortium Prime (GBC1) and Global Baseball Consortium 2 (GBC2)  are internet based leagues using Sierra Sports Baseball Pro 98 as a simulation engine. These leagues are a continuous, year-round leagues that use fictional players.

The GBC1 and GBC2 are stand-alone leagues. One does not depend on the other. They will be governed by the same constitution, rules and board. They are composed of entirely different sets of players.


1.2 Constitution

The GBC1 and GBC2 are governed by this Constitution. Any reference made to either league, holds to both leagues.

The Commissioner may, at his discretion, make certain changes to the Constitution without Governing Board or league approval. He may change wording, and explanations of rules at any time, or insert new policies which have been implemented into use.

Members may submit proposals for changes to the Constitution. In order to submit a proposal, they must draft it up and send it to the Owner Representative for their respective league, who will consider it, and if applicable, will forward it to the rest of the Governing Board for vote.

Only the Governing Board may cast official votes for Constitutional changes. Owners' voices on referendums will be heard through the Owner Representative.


1.3 League Membership

There will be 28 franchises in the GBC1. Each franchise will have an owner.
There will be 28 franchises in the GBC2. Each franchise will have an owner.

When a franchise opens in the GBC1, owners in the GBC2 will be asked to submit applications for ownership if they are interested. These applications should include as much detail as possible as to their immediate and long term plans for the team. Owners will have 48-Hours to submit an application once the franchise is announced as vacant. Applications should be sent directly to Director of Member Development.

This person will present all candidates to the board and a decision will be voted upon. It should be noted that applications will not be the sole basis for choosing new owners, as other things will play a factor, such as availability of the owner and activity of the owner.

When the all franchises in both leagues are spoken for, future candidates will serve as associates to an owner in one of the two leagues. The associate will then be given a GBC2 franchise when one opens up.

Members may leave the league in good standing if they provide adequate time for the league to find a new member to take ownership of their franchise. If at any time an owner who left the league in good standing wishes to return to active status, he would receive full seniority, at the discretion of the Commissioner and the Director of Member Development.

League Membership is free, however contributions towards internet and office supply fees will be gladly accepted by the Commissioner at any time. Please address any contributions to:                               

  Terry Stapleton
GBC Offices
 

1.3.1 Owners Requirements

Owners are responsible for the ongoing upkeep of their team.

Owners are required to set their lineups and make appropriate roster assignments on the Player Tracking System (PTS) line up form each week. The appropriate times for having this done will be set by the person simming the game league in each respective league.

GBC Owners are asked to make their presence known, this makes for a more enjoyable experience for everyone. Proper etiquette is expected in promptly replying to all email, etc.

Participation in all League Referendums is expected. The Governing Board expects every owner to communicate regularly with the league through the listserv, ICQ, and Journal Team News.

Owners while NOT be required to write one article per season for the Journal. It is strongly encouraged to do so. These are the things that set our league apart and make it real. A lack of any activity over a length of time is a sure way to get your membership status reviewed.

The Commissioner has the sole power to remove an owner due to the owners lack of participation or in the best interests of the Global Baseball Consortium, without vote or consulting the Governing Board.

At the end of each season the Governing Board will review the status of each owner in the GBC to ensure that all minimum standards are being met. At that time if the Commissioner feels an owner should be removed he will proceed in that manner.

Some owners may be determined to be placed on a probation period in which they will retain the rights to ownership in their league. Terms of the probation will be decided upon by the Governing Board and owners being placed on probation will be known only by the owner and the Governing Board members.

The Commissioner shall enforce a Zero Tolerance Policy of unsportsmanlike behavior. Owners of the Global Baseball Consortium are joined here to enjoy and share a baseball experience. They shall behave themselves accordingly, and treat the other members with respect at all times.


1.3.2 Associate Members

GBC Associate Member Training Guide, version. 3.1

Associate members are newly accepted persons to the GBC/GBC2.  The Director of Member Development, along with the Commissioner, will decide on a number of current owners to be designated as Associate Trainers.  These trainers and the DMD are the only members of the GBC/GBC2 who will be responsible for the execution and supervision of associate member training.  Associate trainers may or may not be governing board members.  Associate members shall remain with their assigned trainer until an ownership spot becomes available.  In the event of an     ownership position becoming available, associates deemed ready by the DMD, the trainer and the Commissioner will be assigned ownership of a GBC2 team.  Should a position arise before an associate is ready, a governing board member will take over temporary, interim based ownership of the team in which neither trades nor buyouts may occur without the approval of the governing board.

ASSOCIATE TRAINING GUIDELINES
Associate trainers are responsible for the training and general introduction of the GBC to the associate member.  While the amount of involvement and responsibility given to the associate member is determined by the associate trainer, minimum requirements for training do exist, as outlined below.

The associate trainer will provide the DMD with a brief report once every two weeks regarding the progress of the associate member and what improvements are needed.  This report should merely consist of a simple email to keep the DMD up to date on the associate member.  Please note that an update should also be sent if nothing has been accomplished in order to maintain communication.

The course of action of the training will be determined by the associate member and trainer, but the following items should be addressed during the training period, as well as alternate items as deemed necessary by the trainer.

  • Reading of the Constitution
  • Scouting - team and player
  • Email (listserv), ICQ, Journal web page and Message Board introduction
  • Player Tracking System (PTS) introduction
  • Salary cap rules and management
  • Free Agent System - Franchise  player explanations
  • Draft System
  • Potential Ratings Introduction and Explanation
  • External & Internal Transaction differentiation
  • Future consideration transaction procedures
  • Monetary transaction procedures
  • Roster movement procedures - call ups, send downs, buyouts, DL, player allocation limits (25,15,10)
  • Trade Research - including formal initiation of trade talks with other clubs

Additionally, the following items are required as consistent duties of the associate member:

  • Weekly recommendations to trainer regarding major league team
  • Minor League manager - lineups and press releases
  • Report to DMD - once every two weeks, describing progress, requests and questions - report also necessary when nothing has been accomplished to maintain communication.

1.3.3 Fines

The Commissioner and Vice Commissioner are authorized to issue fines in salary cap dollars.

If a team is over the cap, the Vice Commissioner must follow a process of progressive discipline. The first week a team is over the cap, the Vice Commissioner will suspend your highest paid player from the current week's game play and fine your team $1 million. If that owner does not rectify the situation for the next weeks play, the owner will be given an additional $500,000 fine, and the Vice Commissioner will suspend another player.

If the team is over the salary cap three consecutive weeks, the Vice Commissioner and the Commissioner are allowed to review the ownership of that owner. If proper efforts have not been put into the salary cap issue as deemed by the Commissioner and the Vice Commissioner, that owner will be removed from active ownership.

Fines will be incurred as soon as the team has enough available cap money, to be paid no later than the beginning of the following season's salary cap. Should the owner in question have been removed from ownership, all fines will be cleared for the new owner and they will be allowed one "free" contract buyout to allow them to get under the cap.

Additional fines may be levied by the Commissioner/Vice Commissioner for infractions deemed.


1.3.4 Protests

If any team has a protest about game results, transactions, fines, etc.,  they should promptly submit that protest to the Commissioner, who will then review the protest and make a ruling on it.

Replaying of games is not an option in protesting.

The Commissioner's ruling on all protests is absolute and final, and will not be reversed under any circumstances.


1.4 Governing Board

The GBC will be governed by a six person Governing Board.

These members will be nominated by the Governing Board and chosen by a full league referendum.

The Commissioner will review the status of each Governing Board member at the end of each season. 4 out of 6 Governing Votes, or that owner's resignation will be necessary to remove a member of the Governing Board.

Each member of the Governing Board will issue a bi-weekly report to the league on the status of his or her office Governing Board.  Reports must be posted on the Journal (GBC News) by no later than Wednesday evenings every other week.

There are 5 different offices to the GBC Governing Board:

A. Commissioner: The Commissioner will be responsible for the main management and daily operations of both leagues. The Commissioner will ensure the best interests of the GBC!/GBC2 are protected at all times, by whatever means necessary. He shall rule on any and all protests concerning game play, or other protests. He is responsible for maintaining the League Constitution, and overseeing the Governing Board. He shall also be given the power to assess fines and remove members as need be. He shall delegate responsibilities to the other members of the Board, and also to members of the league who wish to assist on certain projects.

B. Vice Commissioner: The Vice Commissioner will be responsible for all game duties, including game input of transactions, lineups, roster moves, free agent claims, and actual game play. The Vice Commissioner will maintain the league's Salary Cap and Free Agency policies. He will make sure each team is following all rules on transactions and salaries, and assess any fines. He shall also be given the power to assess fines. He will also make sure that the league's player salary pages are kept up to date. He shall also assist the Commissioner in the development of the league, and ensuring the best interests of the GBC! are protected at all times.

C. GBC2 Commissioner: The Commissioner will be responsible for the main management and daily operations of the GBC2. The Commissioner will ensure the best interests of the GBC2 are protected at all times, by whatever means necessary. He shall rule on any and all protests concerning game play, or other protests. He shall also be given the power to assess fines and remove members of the GBC2 as need be.

D. GBC2 Vice Commissioner: The Vice Commissioner will be responsible for all game duties, including game input of transactions, lineups, roster moves, free agent claims, and actual game play. The Vice Commissioner will maintain the league's Salary Cap and Free Agency policies. He will make sure each team is following all rules on transactions and salaries, and assess any fines. He shall also be given the power to assess fines. He will also make sure that the league's player salary pages are kept up to date. He shall also assist the GBC2 Commissioner in the development of the league, and ensuring the best interests of the GBC2 are protected at all times. He will also head the voting procedures for all votable items (All-star, End of Year Award, HOF).

E. League Presidents: Each association of the GBC will have a designated President. The League President will be voted upon during off-seasons for a 1 year term. They are limited to 4 consecutive 1-year terms. After 4 consecutive 1-year terms, a minimum 1-year term away from the position is required.  Presidents appointed by the league Commissioners or the board for a term less then 1 season will not have that term count towards the 4 season max allowed.

The owner representative will have the following Duties:

     1.  The Owner Rep is the elected voice of the Owners in that league to the Governing Board. Poll them as needed, when votes are taken in regard to referendums or league-wide changes.  If it is a global change to all leagues, then both reps will be polled.

If it is a change for a singular league alone, only the rep from that league will vote. If polling will be used, a 24 hour window is only allowed to gauge, the rep vote will be due at that time. Bear in mind the Owner Rep is under no obligation to vote the way of the owners, they have been elected to the post because they are a respected owner who will make the right decisions for the best interests of the league.

     2.  Handle owner recruiting.  Recruit new owners by scoping other leagues, sending otu emails, usenet postings, and website postings.  Handle applications for membership, w/ a Govg. Board vote being the final say.

     3.  Handle Owner Development.  Consistant contact (before each new sim) w/ new owners during their first season will be necessary to handle questions and issues in regard to weekly reports, trade etiquitte, and team management.  Contact w/ veteran owners (1+ year experience) should also be done to make sure that all voices are heard.

     4.  Referendum and Issue presentation:   The Owner Rep will take any issues owners have in regard to potential changes to the Consortium Constitution and present them in a clear-typed fashion to the board.


1.5 Teams, Cities, Stadiums, and Nicknames

1.5.1 Major Leagues

For the GBC1:

  • There will be two leagues, the American and the National. Each league will consist of three divisions;the Eastern, the Central, and the Western.

     For the GBC2:

  • There will be two leagues, the Browne and the Rectenwald. Each league will consist of three divisions;the Eastern, the Central, and the Western.

Teams will not be allowed to have the same city name or nickname as a Major League Baseball Team. GBC2 teams will not be allowed to have the same name or nickaame as a GBC1 team and vice-versa.

     Teams may not be moved, unless permission is given by the Governing Board. Below are the rules/penalties for moving a franchise.

2 Seasons minimum membership.
      1 Move for franchise per 3 years.
      2.5M to move from an original to a non-original city
      2.0M to move from an original to an original city
      2.0M to move from a non-original to a non-original city
      1.0M to move from a non-original to an original city

The original cities refer to the original NACBA cities. This list will be added to the constitution later.

If a team wishes to move outside of their geographical area, they may trade divisions with a team wishing to move into their geographical area; pending Governing Board approval.

Teams may change their names subject to majority approval of the Governing Board.

Expansion may only be suggested by the Commissioner, and must be subject to unanimous approval by the Governing Board.

A team may only change stadiums by trading stadiums with another GBC/GBC2 team in their respective league. The stadium may not be changed during the course of a season. There is no salary cap fee for changing stadiums.


1.5.2 Minor Leagues

The Minor Leagues may be run for any association within the GBC. The results/rosters/etc...  will NOT impact the GBC associations in ANY manner. These minor leagues are usually handled by a volunteer of the league and he/she may impose their own rules for those leagues.

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2. Schedule
2.1 Regular Season

Each team will play a schedule of 162 games, in a schedule determined by the computer. Beginning with the "1999" season, the Global Baseball Consortium will have a balanced schedule, and will abolish the divisional schedule (which was used for seasons "1995"-"1998"). The Vice Commissioner shall play a total of 8 game days, twice a week, and the Journal/PTS shall reflect weekly updates to the best of the ability of all involved.

The GBC1/GBC2 Schedule runs year round.

Owners are responsible to check the schedule for days off, if any, which will influence the use of four or five man pitching rotations.

Standings will be based on winning percentages, with ties decided by tie-breakers that are set forth and determined within the Sierra Sports FPS BBPro'98 game.


2.1.2 Team Reports/Player Tracking System (PTS)

For Both the GBC1& GBC2:
Each week, teams must have completed their Major League lineups and roster assignments through on the Player Tracking System for each of the deadlines outlined by the Vice-commissioner of each league during the regular season. This deadline also serves as the deadline for any and all transactions as well as necessary and appropriate roster assignments as defined by league rules.


2.2 Post Season Schedule

The GBC1/GBC2 Playoffs will be determined by the FPS game, and the Vice Commissioner.

    GBC1 Playoffs
        Division Series

  • The 3 Division Winners and one wild card will square off in the Division Series. These series will be a best-of -5-games series.

         League Finals

  • The winners of any Division Series played will meet in a best-of-7-game series, called the league Finals, to determine the league representative in the GBC! Championship Series.

         GBC1 Stapleton Cup

  • The two winners of the league Finals will meet in a best-of-7-game series, called the GBC1 Championship Series, to determine the GBC1 Champion.

GBC2 Playoffs

GBC2 League Championship Series

  •     Division Series
    • The 3 Division Winners and one wild card will square off in the Division Series. These series will be a best-of -5-games series.

             League Finals

    • The winners of any Division Series played will meet in a best-of-7-game series, called the league Finals, to determine the league representative in the GBC! Championship Series.

             GBC1 Championship Series

    • The two winners of the league Finals will meet in a best-of-7-game series, called the GBC1 Championship Series, to determine the GBC1 Champion.

2.2.5 All-Star Series, Voting, Post-Season Awards

Owners in each league will be called upon for voting of these awards.

The All-Star Series will consist of 7 games played in various locations. These games will be played by a volunteer of the league.

The Owner Rep of each league will call for Owner's Awards voting each season as well beginning in the "1998" season.

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3. Rosters
3.1 Team Roster

Each team is required to have a minimum of 48 players on their roster, up to a maximum of 50 players, to be distributed in the following categories:


3.1.1 Active Roster

Each team is limited to an active roster of 25 players.

Each team's roster must contain at least 9 pitchers at all times, and no more than 12 pitchers. Likewise, each team's roster must contain at least 13 position players, and no more than 16 position players. These limitations do not apply if you have a shortage due to injured players.

The active roster may expand to 40 players as of September 1st in any season. During this period, the combined total of Active and AAA/DL players MUST NOT EXCEED 40 players.


3.1.2 Reserve List (AAA/DL)

Each team is allowed a reserve list of up to 15 players. All players designated as AAA or Disabled List status count against this reserve list.


3.1.3 Low Minors

Teams are allowed a low minors of 10 players. Any player 27 years old or older may not be placed in the low minors.

Low minors players may be called to the major leagues at any time.


3.1.4  Post Season Active Roster

Teams that reach the playoffs may name an post season active roster during the week before playoff action begins.

Post-Season active rosters sizes are now limited to 25.

Teams may replace injured players between Post-Season series.

Anyone that is on the roster is eligible for the Post-Season, and there shall be no IP or PA requirements for Post-Season eligibility.

3.2 Roster Moves
3.2.1 Trades

Trades are allowed at any time until through August 31st, at which time all trading activity will be prohibited.

Any amount of players or college draft choices may be traded, but each teams roster may not exceed a combined 50 players, or go below 48 players after the Transaction deadline.

All conditions of the trade must be explicitly stated at the time of the trade. Otherwise, the transaction is void.

Compensation in trades can be offered in the form of draft picks.

Only players, draft picks, or cash may be traded.

Any trade that puts a team over the "Hard Salary Cap" will not be allowed.
From the beginning of the season until May 31st, this Cap will be $50 Million,
after such time it shall increase to $55Million.

  • EXAMPLE: Team A trades Johnny Virtue to Team B along with 1.5 million to cover the salary difference. If Team B shows more than $55 million in their Salary line the trade will not be allowed. Additionally, no  team may make this kind of trade before June 1st if it puts them over $50 Million. .

Future considerations are defined as draft picks, players, monies that are deferred until a specified later date. If unspecified, the later date will be deemed as the season following the filing of the transaction. All Future Considerations must be explicitly stated at the time of submission.

Traded players that are deferred until a later date are defined as "Player's To Be Named Later".

Player's To Be Named Later (PTBNL) may not reside on a team's active roster at the time of the trade, or are restricted to players with less than 500 AB's or 200 IP lifetime.

Stipulations within a trade agreement may not include players? being returned to teams at a later date for any reason.

  • Example: Team A trades player X to Team B for player Y, with the stipulation that player X  will be returned to Team A at the season's end.

It is the responsibility of the teams submitting the form to include all details of the transaction, including future considerations.

It is the responsibility of the Office of the Vice Commissioner to record and track all future considerations involved in a transaction through use of the PTS.

A trade is not official until a Trade Report (through the PTS) has been submitted.

All trades are subject to review by the Governing Board, who at any time may void a trade in conflict with stated Constitutional Guidelines or that contravenes ethical standards.


3.2.2 Waiver Wire

The PTS maintains the players on the waiver wire. Teams may then claim these players. All waiver wire claims will not be processed after August 31st. The process for claiming a player is as follows:

  1. Players released to the waiver wire will continue to have an impact on the teams salary cap, unless they had non-guaranteed (NG) contracts. Teams may buyout a player for ½ of his total contract.
  2. A player that is released during the season is ineligible to be resigned by the team which released the player during that season.
  3. All released players must remain on the waiver wire for 48 hours before claims may be submitted on those players.
  4. If a team wishes to claim a player from the waiver wire, the owner (or associate) must submit a claim via the "waiver wire" link on the Player Tracking System.

Players are tendered a standardized contracts of $300,000 for 1 year. At the Free agent claim deadline (outlined in the Commish Notes section of each league), the Vice Commissioner will check the free agent claims to see which team will receive the player.

The order for which teams are awarded these claims is determined by the waiver-wire list.

This list is compiled once a week (on Fridays) and when it is created, it is a reveresed order of the standings.

Prior to June 1st the previous seasons record will be used.

The first team in this list will be awarded the first player they submit a claim upon. Then this team will go to the end of the list. Continue cycling through the list until all claims are processed. If the team at the top of the list does not make a claim, they are simply skipped over for the week.

If a player has been claimed by a team and no other teams make a claim on that player within 48 hours after the claim, the claiming deadline expires on this player and the player is awarded to the appropriate team by the Vice Commissioner as described by league rules.

  • Example: Bill Bugle is claimed by Lexington on Tuesday at 11:25 pm. If no other claims are made on Bugle by Thursday at 11:25 PM, the 48-hour period has passed and Bugle is awarded to Lexington, even though the official waiver wire deadline has not passed.

If the buyout amount puts the team over the cap, or over the roster limits, the transaction will not be allowed.

No free agent claims will be accepted after 9:00 pm Eastern Fridays.

Teams may not make claims between September 1st of the season and the end of the Free Agent Bidding Day.

Waiver wire claims INELIGIBLE for FP contracts or arbitration.


3.2.3 Injuries

Injuries are generated by the FPS game.

If a player is injured, he may be placed the disabled list. While on the disabled list that player will count against your 15-man reserve list. Teams who have a player injured for his career shall pay the current season contract and then be absolved of all contract issues for that player.

Players may not be activated in the middle of a game week, and may not be activated until 15 days spent on the Disabled List.

Injuries are turned off in Minor League play.


3.2.4  Call-Ups/Send-Downs

Players may be moved throughout any level of the organization each week without penalty.


3.2.5  Releasing Players

An owner may choose to release a player from his team any time during the season. The team will be assesed a buyout fee of 50% of the total amount of money remaining on the released player's contract.


3.3  Computer Managers

The Computer will act as Manager with a standard profile for all owners.

Owners may choose a name for the manager, and have no limit to the number of "managers" the team may have during the season. The Commissioner has overriding power to stop abuse of this privilege. If a team changes human owners during the course of a season, the new owner may name a new manager.

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4. Free Agency System
4.1 Arbitration Players (28& under)

Upon being drafted, a player is signed to a three year contract with
salaries as dictated in the Amateur Draft section of the
Constitution. After that initial contract, any player ages 28 and
under with an expired contract enters the arbitration phase of his
career. The cutoff date will be Oct 1st of that season. The player is offered a 1 year arbitration contract of a salary to be determined by an arbitration formula, explained as follows:

For hitters, the arbitration formula is as follows:
Annual Salary = Runs Created Squared X $200

  • Example: Taz Rasmussen finishes the season with 80 RCS. His
    arbitration offer will be a 1-year contract paying him $1,280,000 per
    season (80 X 80 X $200 = $1,280,000)

    For pitchers, the arbitration formula is as follows:
    [IP/(Opponent's OPS * Opponent's OPS * Opponent's WHIP)] * $7500] +
    ( Saves * $50,000) = Annual Salary.

  • Example: Jack Branch finishes the season with an Opp's OPS of .800
    and a WHIP of 1.30 With 200 IP. Branch will be offered a 1-year
    contract paying him $1,805,000 [200/(.800 * .800 * 1.30)] * $7500 +
    (0 X $50,000).

The minimum annual salary of an arbitration offer is 10% greater than
the players previous annual salary. All arbitration offers are
rounded to the nearest $5,000. The maximum annual salary of an
arbritration offer is $6 Million.

The owner of the team then has a choice of accepting or rejecting
that arbitration salary. If the owner rejects it, the player becomes
an unrestricted free agent. Players signed to a new arbitration
contract in the offseason are allowed to be traded before or after
June 1st of the following GBC season.


4.2 Franchise Players

Teams may sign any from its roster to the Franchise Player contract
to keep such player from entering the Free Agent pool.

Franchise Contract Offers can be made anytime after June 1st of a
season calendar year.

Each team is allowed to have a maximum of three players designated
as "Franchise" players at any one point in time.

If a Franchise Player is traded, his salary immediately increases by
$1,000,000 for the rest of that season and his contract becomes
void at the end of that season. His new team does have the option to
Franchise him at the end of the season (if they have an open
Franchise slot).

Contract extensions will be based on the $500K raise per year of
extension. The maximum contract length for Franchise Players only is
10 years. Thus if you want to offer a 2yr extension, the player will
be paid $1 Million (2 X $500K) on top of that players current yearly
salary.

When a Franchise Player's contract expires, he is not allowed to be
signed to a "consecutive" Franchise Player contract unless he
meets the following requirements:

  • The player must be either 35 years old at the end of the regular
    season in which his contract expires.

    or

  • The player must have a contract expiring that was at least worth
    $7,000,000 per season.
  • Example: Elroy Futon, of Jackonsville's GBC prime, has a contract
    expiring at the end of the 2004 season. He will be 28 at that time.
    Jacksonville can label Futon as one of the two Franchise players for
    Jacksonville.    Jacksonville chooses to offer Elroy a 3 yr FP extension contract bringing his new contract to $3.3 million for 3 years. This contract expires in the 2007 season, Elroy will be 31. Since he is not 35 or older or making more than $7 million, he can NOT be renamed one of their Franchise Players at that time. So Futon will go into the Free Agency Pool. Alternatively, Jacksonville can offer Futon a 7yr FP contract at the end of the 2004 season, bringing his new contract to 5.3 Million for 7 years. When that contract expires in 2011 Futon will be 35, and thus can be offered a new FP contract at that time.


(NOTE: The rules applicable to consecutive Franchise offers will not be applicable to the 2006 Prime offseason or the 2002 Deuce
offseason, due to system transition per the Chairman of the Board.)

There will be a random chance of denial incorportated into Franchise
Player offers. Each Franchise Player offer will be subject to a 10%
chance that the player will deny the Franchise contract and go into
the FA when his contract expires. Terry Stapleton will run this,
since he's neutral.

If a teams choice for Franchise Player rejects the offer, the team
will get an opportunity to name another player to a Franchise
Contract if they choose to, or save the designation for another year.
If a player is offered a Franchise Player contract while he is still
under a current contract, and he rejects the offer, he will play out
his remaining contract and cannot be offered a Franchise Player
contract from that team again.

Players signed to a Franchise Tag contract ARE allowed to be traded
before June 1st of the following Season, following the rules outlined
above.

*** the minimum FP contract for Arbitration eligible players is 2
years.


4.3 Free Agents

Any player who's contract expires at the end of the year and does not
either retire or sign a contract based upon Arbitration or Franchise
Player sections will be placed into the Free Agency Bidding Period.

A. At the end of the regular season, arbitration values will be
calculated for all Free Agents.

B. Four bidding pools will be created. They will be stocked with
players according to their regular season arbitration values.

  • "Pool A" will be stocked with the top 10% of batters and the top
    10% of pitchers."
  • "Pool B" will be stocked with the next 20% of batters and the next
    20% of pitchers.
  • "Pool C" will be stocked with the next 30% of batters and the next
    30% of pitchers.
  • "Pool D" will be stocked with the remainder of all free agents.

C. Bidding will be in an open system, meaning any bid that stays open
for 24 hours will be considered the winning bid, and bidding will
close on that payer. If a player is not bid on in the first 24 hours
of bidding, bidding will close on that player and the player cannot
sign with a club in the offseason.

D. "Pool A" will open on the first day of the Bidding Period, and
will stay open until bidding is complete. "Pool B" will open on the
third day of the Bidding Period, and will stay open until bidding is
complete. "Pool C" will open on the fifth day of the Bidding Period,
and will stay open until bidding is complete. "Pool D" will open on
the sixth day of the Bidding Period, and will stay open until bidding
is complete.

E. During the Bidding Period, teams may bid on players, following
several rules:

  • Bidding points are determined by multiplying the salary offered (in
    millions) by 10, and adding the years of the contract.
  • Example: Brooklyn offers Will Gagus a contract of $2M for 1 year. The
    bidding points on this contract would be 21. Louisville offers Gagus
    a contract of $1.5M for 2 years. The bidding points on this contract
    would be 17. Brooklyn would receive the services of Gagus.
  • The minimum salary is $200,000.
  • Contract offers for less than $505,000 in yearly salary may not
    exceed 2 yrs in length. Contract offers for less than $1,005,000 but
    more than $505,000 may not exceed 4 yrs in length. No contract offer
    in the Free Agent Bidding Period may exceed 5 years in length.

H. Bids must follow the "Escalating Bid rules".

Escalating Bids Rules: When placing a bid on a player who already has
a valid contract offered, your bid must be HIGHER than the previous
bid by a designated amount of bidding points. The amount of bidding
points in which you must OVERBID the previous bid, is determined by
the current worth (in bidding points) or the previous offer.

Current          Bid Pts Minimum Increase
                 a. 3 - 5.99 pts .25 pts
                 b. 6 - 10.99 pts. .5 pts.
                 c. 11 - 20.99 pts. 1.0 pt.
                 d. 21 - 30.99 pts. 2.0 pts.
                 e. 31 pts. and up 2.5 pts.
Examples
    High Bid                    New Acceptable Bid
a.  $200k/1 yr                  $225k/1 yr
    $300k/1 yr                  $325k/1 yr or $225k/2 yrs
b.  $500k/1 yr                  $550k/1 yr or $450k/2 yrs
    $750k/2 yrs                 $800k/2 yrs or $700k/3 yrs
                                or $600k/4 yrs
c.  $1mil/1 yr                  $1.1mil/1 yr or $1mil/2 yrs
                                or $990k/3 yrs etc.
d.  $2mil/1 yr                  $2.2mil/1 yr or $1.9mil/4 yrs
    $2.7mil/3 yrs               $2.9mil/3 yrs or $2.8mil/4 yrs 
                                or $2.7mil/5 yrs
e. $3mil/1 yr                   $3.25mil/1 yr or $3.15mil/2 yrs 
                                or $3.05mil/3 yrs etc.

I. At the end of two weeks, players still being bid on will go
to "Auction". The "Auction" process will be a private chat between
the only those teams that have been actively bidding on that player
within the last 24 hours. The League Commissioner and a Governing
Board member not involved in that league will moderate these auctions.

J. After the playoffs, trading will be opened for a 48 hour period
before the Free Agency Bidding Period begins. When the trading is
closed, the Cash Available numbers in the PTS are what will be used
to calculate Bidding Cash (Cash Available=Bidding Cash). Teams will
not be allowed to exceed their amount of Bidding Cash in bidding.
Only current "Winning Bids" will count against each teams "Bidding
Cash". For example: If Jacksonville has $11,000,000 in "Bidding Cash"
they will only be able to have a total of $11,000,000 in winning bids
at any one time on the board.


4.4 Retirement and Aging

FPS ages the players automatically and the player's abilities will
decrease or increase based on age. FPS will retire players dependent
on age, playing time, and previous season factors. If a player
retires, it is binding and there shall be no reversal.
Retiring players will still be paid a portion of the remainder of
their contract. If a player retires, 35% of his remaining contract
will be applied to that team's salary cap. If they can not fit that
money into their salary cap for that season, it may be deferred to
the next season, but no further.

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5. Amateur Draft

Each season new players will be introduced to the GBC through the Amateur Draft.

     The Amateur Draft will be in "June" of the FPS baseball year.

The Draft will be done "live" via email until a pre-designated time by the Vice Commissioner. When the "live" period ends, the draft will be completed in a "scoresheet" style draft, meaning teams will submit a list of all players eligible ranked in order.

During the "live" draft, teams are expected to make picks as soon as they have a chance to evaluate the remaining players and get on-line to announce the selection. Any intentional long delay in the attempts to seek out  trade offers will not be permitted and it will be at the descretion of the Governing Board to handle the matter.

If a team does NOT provide a list, or a list that is too short, then the team will be awarded a random player by the VC. This player should be totally random, the VC will have no say, or preference in the picks.

The order of the draft will be based upon the previous seasons standings. The worst record  team will pick first.

Tie-breaker for this is divisional-record.

There will no longer be a Lottery for the 1st Ten picks in the Amateur Draft. The Draft Lottery was abolished after the 2001 Season.

There will again be 3 rounds to the Amateur Draft. The third round was removed following the "2000" GBC1 Amateur Draft, but added back in for the "2001" GBC1 Season.

If expansion teams are entering the league, they shall draft immediately after the existing non-playoff teams.

No later than 48 hours directly following the Amateur Draft a team owner must declare whether or not the draftees will become members of the organization or if they will go directly to the waiver wire, with no penalty to the team.

Upon becoming members of an organization, players will be assigned salaries based on the round and number picked in the draft, as follows (all contracts are 3 years in duration):

          1st Round, Picks #1-5:         $ 800,000
          1st Round, Picks #6-10:       $ 700,000
          1st Round, Picks #11-15:     $ 600,000
          1st Round, Picks #16-20:     $ 500,000
          1st Round, Picks #21-28:     $ 400,000
          2nd Round, All Picks            $ 300,000
          3rd Round, All Picks:            $ 200,000

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6. Salary Cap/Contracts

Each team is given $50Million at the beginning of a season for which to spend his budget upon. The budget includes player salaries, moving costs, buyout fees, $$$ payable to other teams. The amount of money free to a team, may never be negative when team reports are collected, or the team will be subject to probation, fines and suspensions.

The Salary Cap can be raised beyond this by declaration of the Governing Board alone.

The GBC will use a hard cap, beginning with the "2002" season. At the beginning of the year, no team may exceed $50 Million in team payroll. Meaning the sum of all the player salaries may not exceed this amount but the team may have greater than $50 million in total expenses.

On June 1st of each season this limit is raised to 55 million dollars. Any transaction that puts a team over this limit will be voided.

Salary figures will be available through the PTS.

Teams are allowed to exceed the salary cap by 10% of their total salaries at the end of a season during the offseason until opening day. During the regular season, if a trade is made that puts a team over the salary cap, it has until the weekly roster deadlines to make arrangements to lower their salary to below the salary cap. If a team ever attempts exceed the salary cap past these allowed times, the Vice Commissioner will notify the Commissioner that the trade was disallowed, and all moves associated with the trade were disallowed; or fines shall be assessed as per the Constitution.

Player salaries and contracts have a couple of restrictions. The minimum player salary for the GBC is $200,000.

The maximum contract years will be 5 years.

  • Players can NOT have contracts for longer than 2 years if their yearly salary is $505k or below.
  • Players can NOT have contracts for longer than 4 years if their yearly salary is below $1,005,000 or below.

 

Players signed from the waiver wire during the season will receive a 1yr $300K contract.


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7. Reporting
7.1 GBC Team Reports

Team Reports will be collected twice a week at times outlined in the PTS.
Team rosters/lineups must be in acceptable form or subject to it will be fixed to the best of the Vice-Commissioner's ability, and said owner will be placed on probation. The Vice-Commissioner may issue fines for repeat offenders at his discretion.

Common errors in team reports include too many or two few total players on a team (>50, <48), too many players in ACT, AAA/DL or LOW (>25,>15,>10), failure to update lineups after a trade or reassignment.


7.2 Journal

The GBC Journal is what sets the Global Baseball Consortium apart from all other Web leagues, and should merit the regular participation of every owner.

The GBC Journal is maintained by the Journal Editor, and is updated on a regular basis. Governing Board members are strongly encouraged to submit articles regularly to either the GBC Journal or GBC News section. Owners are also encouraged to regularly submit Team News, and participate in the Polls, etc. in the Journal.

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8. Playing Rules Summary
8.1 Front Page Sports Baseball Pro '98

This is the game for playing in the GBC.


8.2 Rules

Rules of baseball are the same as the major league rules. There are a few provisions.


8.2.1 Designated Hitter

The Designated Hitter is used throughout the GBC, all games played.


8.2.2 Pitching Rotations

Pitching rotations can be 4 or 5 man, depending on the owners wishes. IF an owner wishes to switch from a 5 man rotation to a 4 man rotation during the season, he can only do so if the pitcher that started in the last game of the previous sim was NOT in the #4 slot of the rotation.


8.2.3 Playing out of position/position changes

Players are rated at all positions, so players can be played out of position, but it must be understood that a lowering of their defensive abilities will result. The only way to qualify a player at another position is to play him at that position until the games determines that he is qualified. Usually this is determined based on the percentage of games he has played at the position throughout his career. A player may be unqualified at a secondary position at any time by submitting a request to the Vice-Commissioner. A player's primary position may not be changed.


8.2.3 Potential Ratings

Potential ratings will be posted for viewing in the PTS.


8.3 Earl Weaver Baseball 2.0

We used the Electronic Arts program Earl Weaver Baseball 2.0 to play league games for 10 years. It is a simulation program, and shall be held close to the heart of all present members of the GBC. No member may outwardly verbally attack the Earl Weaver program without first saying "Even though it is older and was a good program in it's day, EWB2...".

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