Off-Season Activity

Final Day of the MLB Season

The final day of the regular Major League Baseball season will be the final day for in-season league activity through CBS Sportsline. Each franchise roster becomes frozen on that day, meaning the players that are on a franchise roster at the end of the season will remain property of that franchise in the off-season unless traded by the owner. If a player is not on any franchise roster when the rosters become frozen, that player will be locked out of all off-season activity.

There are no free agent or waiver pick-ups during the off-season. While new players may not enter the off-season pool, the ones that are already there may shift around from one franchise to another. This can occur via player trades, franchise trades and the Supplemental Draft. If one of these activities results in any roster having more than twenty-six players, that owner will need to drop players. The maximum number of players any franchise can hold on its roster in the off-season is twenty-six.

New Owner Draft

When there are more than one owners choosing not to return the next season, the vacant franchise rosters will be pooled to form a new owner draft pool. The new franchise owners will be randomly assigned a draft order and will draft in that order from the new owner draft pool to form their off season team. If there are only two vacant franchises the draft will not snake, and if there are more than two the draft will snake. The draft will last for 17 rounds and each new owner will be allowed 60 seconds per pick.

The team who was last to pick in the new owner draft will be assigned the earliest supplemental draft position of the vacant franchises. The next team will then be assigned the next earliest supplemental draft position and so on. So, if the GT and WF franchises are vacant and have the 2nd and 7th supplemental draft positions and the GT franchise is the first to pick in the new owner draft - then GT will then be re-assigned the 7th supplemental draft position to account for their first choice in the new owner draft.

Offseason Transaction Period

Off season transactions will be frozen until 12:01 am of Nov. 14th of each year or exactly one week to the day that the last open team is filled (which ever is later). This gives the new owners time to talk. get to know everyone, and read the rules, as well as time for the league to establish the new ruling committee and recruit new owners. Trades and players may be discussed but nothing concrete should be ironed out. This will be completely by the honor code. The importance of this date is eliminate any ambiguity as when an owner is free to trade w/ the new owners.

Official Draft Order Determination

We will randomly determine the official draft order the day that off-season trading opens. Three members of the league will be responsible for drawing the order via AOL chatroom. The commish will not be part of the draw. Owner one will randomly assign a number to each franchise and send the list to owner two. Owner three will draw a number (1-10). Owner one will state which team was assigned to that number and owner 2 will concur. We will do this for selection 1-10. The first getting the first pick in round nine, and so on. The draft will then snake after the initial round (nine) is selected.

Player Trades

While there is no free agency in the off-season, franchises are allowed to trade players from their rosters with each other for the purpose of altering, or bettering their collection of keepers. Trades do not become valid until both owners alert the league via email that an agreement has been made. The new rosters will be immediately reflected on FansOfTheACC.com upon notification from both owners.

Future Considerations

Owners are encouraged to include future considerations in off-season trade negotiations. Please note that future considerations are not permitted as part of in-season trades. Financial incentives are not permitted to be included as part of a trade. The following resources may be used when negotiating a trade:

• Supplemental Draft selections
• Official Draft selections
• Player swaps in the upcoming season
• Keeper trades in future off-seasons

If a trade involves future considerations, the details of that agreement MUST be included as part of the email that announces the trade between the two owners. It is very important that the owners also announce when a previously existing option is activated. Without such an announcement, it could appear that they are announcing an unfair trade instead of reconciling a future consideration from a prior trade.

Each franchise involved in such a trade is liable for his commitment to the future consideration. Any owner who has trouble honoring his commitments will become ineligible for any financial reward and will be immediately removed from the league.

Future Considerations Examples

The Duke franchise trades two outfielders to the Boston College franchise. In return, the Boston College franchise sends one pitcher and its tenth-round draft pick in the Official Draft to the Duke franchise. In this example, the future consideration is a tenth-round draft pick in the Official Draft. So during the Official Draft, the Boston College owner will use its tenth-round draft pick on whichever player the Duke owner wants. The two teams will then complete a post-draft trade so that the player can move from the Boston College roster to the Duke roster.

The Miami franchise has an extra closer and trades one of them to the Clemson franchise. In return, the Clemson franchise gives its second-round draft pick in the Supplemental Draft to the Miami franchise. In this example, the future consideration is a second-round draft pick in the Supplemental Draft. So during the Supplemental Draft, the Miami franchise will get four selections, with two in round two, while the Clemson franchise is left with only first and third-round picks.

The Wake Forest franchise has several players that are expendable and the Maryland franchise is in need of better talent. The Wake Forest franchise trades two players to the Maryland franchise. In return, the Maryland franchise agrees to allow the Wake Forest franchise to demand a one-for-one trade of any player on its roster that was not drafted within the first five rounds and is not in the top 5 spots at their position on the player rater at any point during the next season. In this example, the future consideration is a future trade option. This is a good example of how the options need to be explained so that owners do not protest trades that appear to be unbalanced.

The North Carolina franchise has more keepers than it can retain for the next season. It trades one player to the Virginia Tech franchise, which is in dire need of a keeper. In return, the Virginia Tech franchise agrees to send any one of its players to the North Carolina franchise at any time in one of the next three off-seasons. In this example, the future consideration is a future keeper.

The above four scenarios are examples of how the resources may be used in off-season negotiations. This feature should make the off-season more fun, more active, and more strategic. Owners are encouraged to be creative in developing future considerations to aid in the negotiation process.