Classic Baseball Union

These rules were borrowed mostly from the Off-Topic Baseball Association (www.otbaonline.com), which were written by Sebastian. He rocks, and so I stole them for the most part. Any changes to the rules may be generally made at any time either by commissioner decision or league vote.

I. Introduction

The Classic Baseball Union (CBU) (aka the CeeBoo) is an Out of the Park Baseball simulation league originally founded in July 2009 to provide a fun fictional baseball experience for anyone. In November 2011, the CBU 1.0 file crashed, and the CBU was forced to restart – hence, the new and improved CBU 2.0.

II. Owner Participation/Activity

Owners are expected to make at least semi-regular exports for their teams. If an owner misses 10 (approximately 2 weeks) unexcused/unexplained-scheduled exports in a row, the commissioner reserves the right to replace said owner. If 10 exports are missed the commissioner may also run the computer manager for the team to ensure there is a competitive roster.

Any owner should post in the Owner Vacations and Absences board if they know they will and/or could be gone for an extended time. Any requests can be made through that forum, but the commissioner is not obligated to complete any moves not made through exports.

If necessary the commissioner reserves the right to make any necessary moves needed in order to complete a simulation. Any necessary moves that are made will not be undone under any circumstance. Please own your team and help the league along.

Cheating is not tolerated; the league office will review any case and make judgment calls based on the allegations.

III. Sim Scheduling & Exporting

Sims will be run on a general Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday schedule with exports due by 6 AM Central Time. Deadlines for exports, trades, or for any changes will be 6 AM central time on those respective days. With one week notice the commissioner reserves the right to move up or move back scheduled sims to work with his own personal schedule.

If there appears to be an error in exporting the league officials will look into the problem, however re-simulating will be avoided at all costs.
Any trades made will be processed after the importing of exports, with any trades please make sure you leave commissioner instruction for where the players are supposed to go. All players involved in trades are expected to be placed in DFA for convenience.

Sims will be run in one week blocks (with expectation of the playoffs). Short sim periods may be used to get to the league All-Star break, League Amateur Draft,  Trading Deadline, Roster Expansion period, or any other deadlines seen fit by the commissioner. Playoffs are simmed one series at a time, Playoffs and the off-season may or may not follow the M-F routine schedule, but will get their own calendar schedule to follow when the time becomes appropriate to do so. See this page for more explanation.

IV. Transactions

Both teams must agree to a trade for it to be processed. Generally, one team will post the trade, and the other will agree to it on the message board. The HTML page links for the players involved must be included on the post. Without this information, the trade may be delayed/canceled. Trades must be confirmed by both parties prior to the simulation in order for the trade to be processed, with exceptions possible at the commissioner’s discretion. In that trade thread is the appropriate place to alert the commissioner to any roster moves involving any players in that trade.

All other transactions are to be completed in the game.

Waivers are now done strictly in game. Waiver wire time lasts 8 days, so anyone dropped will have a sim to be claimed by another team. DFA time is set to 21 days.

Draft picks will NOT be allowed to be traded and the league will follow compensation of draft picks as allowed with the game software.

V. Settings

Basic Setup
Financials are enabled
Scouts are enabled.
Coaches are not enabled.
No DH in any league.
Simulating minors is enabled.
Ability Ratings are set to 1-10 scale
Talent Ratings are set to 1-10 scale.
Other Ratings are set to 1-10 scale
Ratings above 10 will be displayed.
Star Rating system is enabled.
Financial Setup
Revenue Sharing: 75%
Team Cash Maximum: $20,000,000
Minimum Player Salary: $250,000
40-Man Roster Rule: Enabled
Waivers: Enabled for length of sim period, but no less than 8 game days.
Minor League Option Years: Enabled
Rule 5 Draft: Enabled
Salary Arbitration: Enabled
Minor League Free Agents: Enabled

VI. Stadiums

Park Factors will be determined using Gambo’s/Dark Horse’s stadium converter spreadsheet. Park factors must arrive between RAVG/LAVG between 88-112, and RHR, LHR, 2b, and 3B ratings must be between 70-130. Stadiums outside of these regulations will be altered or rejected. Commissioner has the right to alter a stadium or proposal as he or she sees fit to keep realism in check.

Stadium Capacity will default at 30,000.

A certain amount of participation points will be required to edit the stadium.

VII. Expansion

There will be no expansion, unless enormous demand calls for it.

VIII. Relocation

Relocation requires a submitted request on the league’s forum. A certain amount of participation points will be required for any movement of a team. A special discount for new owners will allow them to acquire relocation rights after two full seasons in the CBU.

IX. League Office

The league office consists of the commissioner, the assistant commissioners, the league presidents, and the commissioners emeritus. The league office discusses issues and potential changes in the league before discussing them with the league as a whole. League officers may be asked to handle sim running responsibilities if the commissioner is unable to fulfill them. If you have a conflict with another owner or the League Office, please direct your issues to your respective League President first.

X. Rosters

Teams in the league are required to field a 25 man roster at the major league level. There is no minimum for the amount of players to be kept on the 40 man roster, outside of having 25 players on it (for the 25 man roster).

There is no minimum amount of players for teams to have at the minor league level. The roster maximums for the minor league levels are:

AAA: 30 players
AA: 35 players
A: 35 players
Rookie: 40 players

Special Note: Teams that run a sim with one or more players short of 25 on the ML 25-man roster will be notified and asked to add additional players to their 25-man roster. Teams that run several sims short of 25 men on their 25-man roster in a row run the risk of having players moved to their 25-man roster without their permission and may be considered inactive, running the risk of replacement as owners.

XI. Off-season & Draft

Upon completion of the Championship game, a small amount of time will be given to teams for final contract extension offers and releases. Teams wishing not to offer arbitration to eligible players should release them during this time.

Once the season is flipped, teams are committed to arbitration salary given, and any player not resigned will officially become a free agent.

The amateur draft will be run during the season and will run over 1 week. Drafts may end early, but will never run late unless for some unforeseen circumstance (holidays, etc).

The Draft will be a time slotted setup where auto picks will be made if you miss your time slot. These are final.

Generally the draft will be done on the message board, and the first round will be spread over two days, the following round over one day a piece. Draft lists are strongly encouraged.

If the draft is ahead of schedule the commissioner reserves the right to move ahead time slots for the next day in hope of getting further through the draft faster. An auto-pick list will be made at the beginning from the draft, and any owner at the appropriate time can make an auto-pick for an owner ahead of him.

The Rule 5 draft will occur during the off-season. One scheduled off-season sim will simulate up to the draft. The next day will allow time for draft lists to be made via message board PM lists then the draft will be simulated. No exports will be taken between the draft and the last day to protect people.

Free agency will be run throughout the off-season, and there are no limits on offers made.

Spring training will spread across two simulations.

XII. Salary Cap Violations

There is no longer a salary cap.

XIII. Appeals Process

All punitive league measures are subject to appeal. To appeal, an owner must submit, via private message to the commissioner, a statement with the following information: decision being appealed, reason for appeal / reason for disagreement with league decision, and suggested remedy in lieu of commissioner decision. Within two days of receipt, the commissioner must forward this PM to the members of the League Council or create a thread in the League Office forum (confidential to league officers) with the contents of the PM displayed. The League Council will vote within 2 days of receipt (4 days of appeal submission) whether to approve or deny the appeal, or enact a compromise between the appeal request and the initial punishment.

XIV. Play Testing

We don’t do play testing. We let OOTP carry our baby.

XV. Media Compensation

While the CBU is not a writing intensive league, there are some small bonuses to writing. Very simply, writing any type of story or blurb consisting of some 100 words or more will count as a media point. Each organization can earn up to 3 media points every season. These media points can be exchanged for the following:

1. Extra Stadium Capacity: 1 point for every 1,000 seats.
2. Stadium Renovations: 1 point for each category change in accordance with Section VI.
3. New Stadium Construction: 20 points for a new 50,000 seat stadium. Owner may set park factors according to Section VI.
4. Team Relocation: 15 points to relocate team. (A discount is available to new owners for 5 points. For 6 points they can retain any seating upgrades from current stadium).
5. Market Size/Fan Loyalty Increases:  10 points to increase either Market Size or Fan Loyalty by one scale factor point.  Each owner will be limited to a maximum increase of three scale factor points during the life-time of their ownership reign.  Increases may be done all at once (3 for 30 points) or individually (1 for 10 points).

XVI. Commissioner’s Authority

This league is meant for fun and excitement. However in the best interest of the league, the commissioner’s decisions are the word. While everything shall be up for a vote, in situations where simming at any time may be halted, the commissioner may make a timely decision to keep the league moving. Any fixes, mistakes, or changes may be made, however will be posted in a thread dedicated for those issues.

XVII. PotatoPeeler’s Authority

He has none, but he tends to complain a lot, and like that 4 year old child in the supermarket, he tends to get his way. His avatar is scary.