DBBL Minor League Draft & Roster Rules

Minor League Dratt: a 3 round minor league draft is conducted every year prior the free agent draft.  Any player meeting the qualifications below is elgible to be selected. 

Any unowned player meeting the qualifications below can be drafted in the minor league draft.

However ONLY players during drafted the minor league draft are considered "minor league roster protected".

Qualification: Any player that has NOT had 130 AB or 50 IP in a single season is eligible for the minor league draft.

Three Minor League Spots: Minor leaguers roster spots will be filled via a 3 round draft held BEFORE the standard / "free agent" draft. The draft order for the minor league draft will be the inverse of the previous year standings and will NOT snake.

Since ESPN doesn't have a specific minor league roster slot, your minor league players are just part of your 10 bench slots. They can be used as you would use any other bench player - unlike the past there's no requirement to keep them in a bench slot / they can be used in a starting slot.

The commish publishes a list of each team's minor league players at the conclusion of the minor league draft.

Contract Immunity: Players acquired via the minor league draft (or trade of an existing minor league player) can be kept for free UNTIL they achieve MLB rookie of year eligibility (130 AB or 50 IP in a single season). Once this happens, a player MUST be signed to a contract regardless or released into a free agent draft.

Special bonus years are applied for players signed after being drafted as minor leaguer - if you sign a ML player 1 year, you get to keep him for 2; 2 gets you 4 years and 3 gets you 6 keeper years. The bonus is phased out at that point but you can add additional years to the contract if you wish (i.e. 4 year contract allows you to keep for 7, 5 for 8, etc).

Transactions: They only way players can be added to your minor league roster is via the 3 round minor league draft or trade with another DBBL team. Minor leaguers retain their minor league status as long as they are not dropped. They can be used in your starting lineup or traded to another team and still retain their minor league status / be eligible for contract bonus.

If a minor league player is dropped they lose their minor league player status. Even if the drafting team picks them back up they are still no longer eligible for minor league status / a bonus contract. They can be kept but will require a standard, no bonus years contract. 

If a minor league player is traded to another team his minor league status follows him but the acquiring team can still only keep 3 free minor leaguers at the end of the year (so they'll likely need to sign or drop one).

Miscellaneous: Existence on CBS (or whatever site we may be using) is NOT required in order for a player to be placed on a minor league roster - we'll just use place holders in that case.