Cascades Baseball League Constitiution

Cascades Baseball League is a continuous ownership, computer baseball simulation league.  The league uses Diamond Mind Baseball as the format for running the league and playing all games.


0.0	Organization
Commissioner 
Generally responsible for all regular league functions and holds sole discretion to administer rules contained in league constitution.  Office is held by an individual for a period of one year.  A vote will be held at the end of the season on the re-election of the Commissioner.  Commissioner will remain in office by a majority of approval votes.

Assistant Commissioner
Primary role for office is to act as a back-up or proxy for the commissioner.  Should the Commissioner be unable to fulfill the duties of his office for any period of time, the Assistant Commissioner shall act in that capacity until such time that the Commissioner can resume the activities of the office.  The Commissioner may choose to delegate any responsibilities of his office to the Assistant Commissioner providing that the Commissioner notifies the Assistant Commissioner and he agrees to take over those responsibilities.  The Commissioner may choose at any time to resume the delegated responsibilities.  Should the Commissioner fall victim to an act of God or otherwise expire while holding office the Assistant Commissioner shall immediately assume the office of Commissioner and appoint a new Assistant Commissioner.  The Assistant Commissioner shall be able to choose a Sub-Assistant Commissioner to perform a similar function of assistance.  The Assistant Commissioner shall be appointed to the post by the Commissioner.

Webmaster
Responsible for creating and maintaining league website.  Will work in concert with commissioner to assure all relevant information can be found on the site.

Dispute Resolution Committee
In the event that a dispute develops between two or more individuals, the committee is responsible to decide the appropriate resolution of the dispute.  The committee is comprised of three individuals who are voted on by the league members.  Potential candidates can either volunteer to be members of the committee or be nominated by another league owner.  Term of office is one year.  Members may be re-elected for a second consecutive year after which they are ineligible to be a committee member for one year.

Trade Review Committee
Committee will be comprised of three owners and two alternate committee members who are appointed by the Commissioner.  Any trade may be referred by the Commissioner to the Committee for review.  The Committee has the power to rescind the trade if it is deemed heavily imbalanced in favor or one party or if it is deemed to severely hamper one teams ability to be competitive in the future.  The purpose for rescinding trades will be to prevent collusion among owners and to prevent a team from becoming unattractive for a new owner if the current owner abandons the franchise.

If a trade is referred involving a member of the committee, the involved member will be replaced temporarily by one of the alternate members.  Members may also be replaced by an alternate if they are temporarily unavailable to fulfill the duties of the Committee.  

Trades involving the Commissioner may be referred to the Committee by the Assistant Commissioner.

The Committee will have 48 hours to review the trade from the time of the referral.  During that time, members are encouraged to discuss the trade before making a final ruling.  Any trades referred to the Committee will not be executed until the Committee resolves it.  Trades will be rescinded only by a unanimous vote of the three-person panel.

Committee of the Whole
Changes to the Constitution may be proposed by any league member.  Balloting on proposals will be held in the offseason with voting by all league members.  Changes to the Constitution will be approved by a 2/3 majority vote.  New rules, not considered changes to the Constitution by the Commissioner, may also be proposed and enacted with a 50.1% majority.

Rules of Play
All players must be registered owners of Diamond Mind Baseball and own a copy of the most recent season disk.  Games will be played in one of two methods.  First, teams may play head-to-head via NetPlay or any other application sharing Internet program.  Second, teams may elect to play their home games against their opponents computer manager profile.  

Game settings include no bullpen warmup, no designated hitter, and no interleague play.

Results will be sent to the commissioner within the deadline set for the period, otherwise the Commissioner will allow the games to be simulated by computer.

Teams
Owners must name their franchise using a geographic location and a nickname.  The nickname will be disallowed if it contains an obscenity.


1.0	Player Acquisition

I.	First-year Player draft
Each season a draft of all first-time players will be held.  The number of players available will determine the number of rounds of drafting.

Salaries of players drafted in each round of First-year Player drafts
Round 1  $2.4 million
Round 2  $1.8 million
Round 3  $1.2 million
Round 4  $1.2 million
Round 5+  $600,000

Contracts will be non-guaranteed for three years.  Players will then become Restricted Free Agents (see Restricted Free Agent Phase) unless they have not yet met the minimum service guideline.  The minimum service guideline is 2.7 seasons of real-life major league service.  Major league service is determined by the percentage listed for the player under Games on active roster and Games on DL or injured in the Diamond Mind Season database, e.g. 100% means 1 season of service time, 50% means 0.5 seasons of service time.  If the player has not achieved 2.7 seasons of real-life major league service the non-guaranteed rookie contract will be extended an additional year at the same salary.  At the end of the following season, the player will subject to the same minimum service guideline test.

Players under non-guaranteed contracts may be released at any time without incurring any salary cap penalty.

II.	Team Results Effect

Club salary caps can be increased based upon seasonal performance.  Teams can earn bonuses to the following seasons salary cap as follows:

Less than 70 wins: $4 million
Non-playoff teams: $8 million
Playoff teams: $12 million
World Series participants: $16 million

After applying the cap adjustments based on seasonal results, the salary caps (prior to the application of penalties) for teams more than 10% below and 10% above the average salary cap will be adjusted to be within 10% of the average salary cap.

III.	Offseason Free Agent Signing Phase

The signing of free agents occurs in a multi-phase format as follows.

Restricted Free Agent Phase
Free agents whose teams have the right to match the best offer are eligible to receive offers from other teams.  Bidding will commence and cease at times dictated by the Commissioner with open bidding by all teams during that time.  For teams that wish to retain a restricted free agent who just competed a non-guaranteed rookie contract, the value of the contract must be matched according to the Restricted Free Agent Salary Matching Scale.  If the restricted free agent has completed a guaranteed contract, the team holding the matching rights can sign the player to a contract equal to 90% of the value of the highest bid.  Teams may offer a contract of a different duration than the highest bidder provided the total value of the contract meets the provisions of the Contract Duration & Value Adjustment Table (see below).  In the event the restricted free agent receives no qualifying offers, the team holding the players rights can elect to sign the player for a minimum value contract.  The duration of the contract may be up to five years, subject to the minimum values for long-term contracts.

RESTRICTED FREE AGENT SALARY MATCHING SCALE
Annual Salary
	1-year	2-year	3-year	4-year	5-year	Match %
less than	$1,700,000 	$1,275,000 				100%
	$1,700,000 	$1,275,000 	$1,416,100 			100%
	$2,550,000 	$1,912,500 	$1,700,000 	$1,700,000 		99%
	$3,400,000 	$2,550,000 	$2,266,666 	$2,125,000 	$2,040,000 	98%
	$4,250,000 	$3,187,500 	$2,833,334 	$2,656,250 	$2,550,000 	97%
	$5,100,000 	$3,825,000 	$3,400,000 	$3,187,500 	$3,060,000 	96%
	$5,950,000 	$4,462,500 	$3,966,666 	$3,718,750 	$3,570,000 	95%
	$6,800,000 	$5,100,000 	$4,533,334 	$4,250,000 	$4,080,000 	94%
	$7,650,000 	$5,737,500 	$5,100,000 	$4,781,250 	$4,590,000 	93%
	$8,500,000 	$6,375,000 	$5,666,666 	$5,312,500 	$5,100,000 	92%
	$9,350,000 	$7,012,500 	$6,233,334 	$5,843,750 	$5,610,000 	91%
	$10,200,000 	$7,650,000 	$6,800,000 	$6,375,000 	$6,120,000 	90%
	$11,050,000 	$8,287,500 	$7,366,666 	$6,906,250 	$6,630,000 	89%
	$11,900,000 	$8,925,000 	$7,933,334 	$7,437,500 	$7,140,000 	88%
	$12,750,000 	$9,562,500 	$8,500,000 	$7,968,750 	$7,650,000 	87%
	$13,600,000 	$10,200,000 	$9,066,666 	$8,500,000 	$8,160,000 	86%
	$14,450,000 	$10,837,500 	$9,633,334 	$9,031,250 	$8,670,000 	85%
	$15,300,000 	$11,475,000 	$10,200,000 	$9,562,500 	$9,180,000 	84%
	$16,150,000 	$12,112,500 	$10,766,666 	$10,093,750 	$9,690,000 	83%
	$17,000,000 	$12,750,000 	$11,333,334 	$10,625,000 	$10,200,000 	82%
	$17,850,000 	$13,387,500 	$11,900,000 	$11,156,250 	$10,710,000 	81%
	$18,700,000 	$14,025,000 	$12,466,666 	$11,687,500 	$11,220,000 	80%
more than	$18,700,000 	$14,025,000 	$12,466,666 	$11,687,500 	$11,220,000 	80%


Unrestricted Free Agent Phase
When the period begins as determined by the Commissioner, all teams may submit bids on unrestricted free agents.  The bidding will occur as follows:

	The Commissioner will separate bidding into phases by salary levels.
	The bidding phase will require bids meet a minimum salary amount and will last for a period specified by the commissioner.
	Bids will be compiled each day and posted to the website.
	Successful competing bids may be submitted as either an increase to the annual salary of the current high bid by a minimum amount specified by the Commissioner or an increase to the duration of the contract subject to the provisions of the Contract Duration & Value Adjustment Table.
	Winning bids will be determined when the current bid is not outbid for three consecutive days or if it is the highest bid at the end of the current free agent phase.
	Teams will not be allowed to bid on players that they released from guaranteed contracts during the free agent bidding phase.

Bids can be made for players on contracts ranging from one to five years in length.  For a contract of greater length to be more lucrative than a shorter duration contract, its total value must exceed the total value of the shorter contract by certain amounts.  The following table lists the percentages:

	CONTRACT DURATION & VALUE ADJUSTMENT TABLE

	1-year	2-year	3-year	4-year	5-year
1-year	-	150%	200%	250%	300%
2-year	-	-	133%	167%	200%
3-year	-	-	-	125%	150%
4-year	-	-	-	-	120%

In addition, contracts must meet certain minimum values:

1-year contract: minimum total value of $600,000
2-year contract: minimum total value of $2.4 million ($1.2 million per year)
3-year contract: minimum total value of $6 million ($2 million per year)
4-year contract: minimum total value of $9.6 million ($2.4 million per year)
5-year contract: minimum total value of $14.4 million ($2.88 million per year)

Stipulations of Long-term Contracts
	Teams can secure the right to match free agent offers after the player completes his current contract.  The right is given if the team agrees to increase the total value of the current contract depending upon the length of the contract.  The required increases are:

10% for a 2-year contract
12.5% for a 3-year contract
15% for a 4-year contract
20% for a 5-year contract

	Salaries in future years of the contract count against the future salary cap for the team.  If a team wishes to release a player under contract it may waive the player.  If another team claims the player, the claiming team assumes the obligations of the contract in full.  If the player goes unclaimed, a buyout of 50% will be charged to the team for the value of the unfulfilled years of the contract, which will count against the clubs salary cap in each respective season.  The club may elect to take the entire salary cap hit in the upcoming season.

Example: Player A is released with 3 years remaining on his contract.  His salary is $2.5 million per season.  If the player is not claimed on waivers, the club will be charged 50% of $2.5 million, or $1.25 million against their salary cap in each of the next three season.  Or, if the team elects to do so, it may take the entire charge of $3.75 million against next seasons salary cap.

	Contracts come with a one-year club option after the guaranteed portion of the contract is completed.  This includes all contracts EXCEPT one-year contracts worth less than $2 million.  The option requires a salary increase as follows:

1-year contract: 20%
2-year contract: 25%
3-year contract: 30%
4-year contract: 35%
5-year contract: 40%

When a club accepts an option to renew a players contract the player will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the following season.

	An example of all the possibilities involved in a free agent signing are as follows:

Player A is signed by Club B to a 4-year contract for $17.5 million.  Club B wants to retain the right to match any offers when Player As contract expires.  This right costs an additional 15% in contract value, increasing the total value of the contract to $20.125 million.  Player As annual salary will be $5.013 million.  If after two years Club B wants to release Player A it will carry a debit against its salary cap for the next two seasons equaling 50% of the contracts annual salary, or $2.507 million per year.  If Player A plays out his contract, Club B has the option to re-sign him to a one-year contract with a 35% salary increase, or $6.768 million.  If Club B declines his option, Player A becomes a restricted free agent with Club B retaining the right to match the best offer according to the Restricted Free Agent Salary Matching Scale.
	
IV.	Annual First-year Player Draft

Each January, a First-year Player draft will be held.  The number of rounds will be determined by the availability of players in the draft.  Teams will pick in inverse order by record.  The previous seasons World Series contestants will select in the last two positions in each round.  Only players who made their major-league debut in the season being played are eligible to be drafted.

The first three picks of the draft will be determined by a lottery.  The lottery will consist of teams that did not make the playoffs in the preceding season.  The lottery will be based on an inverse weighted average of winning percentage with teams that won at least 70 games at a 50% weighting compared to teams with fewer than 70 wins.  After the lottery determines the first three picks of the draft, the remaining picks will be set by inverse order by record.


2.0	Rosters
Teams will carry 40 players on their roster at all times.  During the regular season until September 1, the maximum number of players allowed on the active roster is 26.  From September 1 until the end of the regular season, teams will be allowed to carry an active player roster of 40.


3.0	Player Usage Restrictions
All players will be restricted to a maximum of 120% of their real-life usage.  Usage will be measured by plate appearances for batters and batters faced for pitchers.  The restriction also applies for the number of starts allowed to be made by a pitcher as a function of their real-life starts.  An additional limit on the usage of pitchers will be that no pitcher will be allowed to exceed the maximum number of starts nor the maximum number of appearances made by a pitcher in the real MLB season currently in use.  

Additionally, hitters with less than 240 at-bats will be limited to a maximum of 150% platoon usage (vs. RH- or LH-pitchers).  Players violating the maximum usage limit will be declared inactive for the rest of the season.

A minimum usage requirement of 50% for all players will be inforce.  Players with less than 50 at-bats and pitchers with less than 20 innings pitched shall be considered exempt from the minimum usage rule.  The commissioner may allow the retention of a player if he did not meet the minimum usage requirement due to extenuating circumstances such as a lengthy injury.

At the end of the season, all players that did not conform to the usage rules will be declared free agents and the offending teams will incur a salary cap reduction as outlined in Section 3.0, unless the players contract was set to expire at the end of the season.


4.0	Trading
The commissioner upon mutual notification by both involved parties may execute trades.  Trades are subject to the following rules:

	Teams may trade draft picks in the upcoming draft only.  However, from the end of the regular season until the end of the upcoming draft, teams may trade their rights to picks in the upcoming and the following drafts.
	Trades will not be allowed that reduces one teams total draft picks by more than two.
o	Example: A team may trade away three picks as long as they receive at least one in return.
	Teams must always own at least one pick within the first three rounds of all future drafts and at least two picks within the first six rounds.
	Teams may trade picks only from rounds 1-6.
	No trades involving future considerations will be allowed.
	Trades will be allowed after July 31st of the schedule or the first game period beginning after July 31.  After that time, trades are prohibited until the end of the world series.


5.0	Waivers
Players under contract that are released will be placed on waivers for a period of one week.  Players claimed on waivers will belong to the team with the worst record that claims him.  All obligations of the players existing contract will be transferred to the claiming team.  Players that go unclaimed clear waivers and become free agents.

Teams seeking to sign a player who clears waivers during the three-game period following the clearance of waivers must offer to sign the player to a 1-year guaranteed contract for the following season.  The team offering the highest salary for the next season will acquire the rights to the player.


6.0	In-season Free Agent Signings
Teams may sign free agents during the season as necessary to a one-year contract at the minimum salary.  The contract expires at the end of the season at which point the player becomes an unrestricted free agent.


7.0	Salary Cap
The salary cap is in effect from the end of the World Series until May 1 of the following season.  After May 1, teams may hold contracts with total salaries in excess of the salary cap.  However, at the end of the season teams must make the necessary transactions to comply with the salary cap and accept the salary cap ramifications of those transactions.  An exemption exists for new owners who join the league during the offseason.  New owners will be allowed to bring their team into compliance with the salary cap without affecting the teams salary cap in future years, but only to the extent that it brings the team into compliance.


8.0	League Structure
The league will consist of two leagues.  Each league will consist of two divisions.  Each division will consist of six teams.

Each team will play a 162-game schedule.  Any changes to the league structure must be approved by a 2/3rds vote of the Committee of the Whole.

 
9.0	Seasonal Game Play Rules
Rules of Play on the game are set as follows:
	No Designated Hitter (switching to DH in 2023)
	Injuries determined by player injury rating
	No warmup required in bullpen
	No pitchers are allowed to pinch-hit unless all bench players have been removed
	Players may only play positions at which they have a defensive rating, except
o	Players rated at CF may play LF and RF
o	Players rated at LF or RF may play both LF and RF
o	Players with no defensive rating may play 1B
	To be used as a starter, pitchers must have a starter durability rating.
	Teams must carry at least two players with a defensive rating at the following positions:
o	Catcher
o	Shortstop
o	Center Field
	No transactions are allowed during a three-game sub-series under any conditions, except to promote a catcher when all catchers on the active roster are injured.
	Injured players may not be farmed but may be disabled in order to be replaced with another player on the active roster
	Players that are farmed out must remain in the minors for a minimum of nine days before being promoted back to the major league roster.  A demoted player may be recalled prior to nine games to replace an injured player that has been placed on the disabled list in a simultaneous transaction.  Teams violating this rule may be subject to a $100,000 salary cap fine.


10.0	Playoffs
Following the regular season, four teams from each league will qualify for a playoff championship series.  The four teams will consist of the two division winners and the two teams with the best record that did not win the division.  Ties will be broken by a one-game playoff immediately following the regular season.

Each playoff series will be a best-of-seven format with a 2-3-2 home field structure with off-days occurring between changes in home field.  In the division playoff series, the division champion with the best record will play the wildcard team with the worst record.  The division champions will have home field advantage.

In the league championship series and the World Series, the team with the best regular season record will have home field advantage.

Game Play
Games must be played in person on DMBs NetPlay feature.  If both teams agree, the home teams in each game may manage against the computer.  If neither option is suitable, the commissioner will simulate the games by having the computer manage both teams.

Rosters
Teams will maintain a 25-man roster through the entire playoffs.  Changes may be made to roster only for the purpose of replacing an injured player.  Once a player is removed from the playoff roster, he is ineligible for the rest of the playoffs.  Players that exceed maximum playing time limits are excluded from inclusion on the playoff roster.

Player Usage
Starting Pitchers 
	May not start on less than three days rest
	Usage permitted in playoffs will be based on actual number of real-life starts in chart below:

30+   = 3 starts per series
29 - 25 = 2 starts per series (total of 6 for entire playoffs)
24 - 20 = 2 starts per series (total of 5 for entire playoffs)
19 - 15 = 1 start per series (total of 3 for entire playoffs)
14 - 12 = 1 start per series (total of 2 for the entire playoffs)

	Pitchers that appeared both as starters and in relief may exchange their real-life relief appearances to gain more real-life starts for the purposes of playoff eligibility. The conversion ratio is five relief appearances for one start.  A maximum of five real-life starts may be added in the manner.
 
Relief Pitchers 
	Pitchers with over 45 real-life innings will be limited only by fatigue in the playoffs.
	Pitchers with under 25 real-life innings will be ineligible for the playoffs
	Eligible pitchers with less than 45 real-life innings and starting pitchers with no relief rating will be limited to 6% usage per series.

Hitters
	Hitters with less than 150 real-life at-bats may not start a game
	Hitters with less than 75 real-life at-bats are ineligible for the playoffs
	Hitters with over 475 plate appearances will have unlimited usage.  Players listed at catcher as their primary position with over 325 plate appearances will also have unlimited usage. All other hitters will be limited to 6% usage per series.


11.0	Offseason Events
At the conclusion of the World Series, a sequence of events is necessary to progress to the following Opening Day.  Timing is to be determined by the Commissioner.

	Teams decide whether or not to renew contracts of players with options
	Restricted Free Agent Phase takes place.
	Teams that own restricted free agents must decide whether or not to match best offers
	First-time Player Draft 
	Unrestricted Free Agent Phase takes place


12.0	Stadiums
By a random order draft, teams may select any of the active major-league stadiums to utilize for their club.  Teams may elect at the end of each season to change stadiums.  A random order draft will be held involving all teams that requested new stadiums.  Teams may choose any available stadiums in the stadium draft.  After changing stadiums, teams will not be allowed to change stadiums again for three years.

