Rosters


Overview

Each roster will have up to 40 players. Each player is to be listed on the roster for each position he is eligible to play. Naturally, a player can only play one position at a time. The team is required to have enough players to fill the Position Breakdowns listed, as well as enough pitchers to cover the required innings. (Pitchers requirements are detailed later). The remaining spots on the roster can be used for as the franchise desires.


Vertical Lists

Each league roster is organized in two lists called "Vertical Lists", one for pitchers and one for non-pitchers. The players are listed from best to worst, regardless of position. These lists determine which players' statistics will be scored for the Recording period in question.

Each Franchise is required to use the Excel spreadsheet provided by the League Statistician. They are also required to like it.

Determining The Pitchers

The first step is to assign the pitchers' positions (SP or RP). Any pitcher who starts 50% or more of the games in a particular period will be considered a starter in that period. All other pitchers will be considered relievers.

The pitchers' vertical list will be searched for relievers first. The first three relievers who pitched during that period are scored. If the total number of innings is less than 20, additional relivers are added to bring the total to 20. If more than three relievers are needed, and the last reliever to be used would put the total number of innings over 20, then only the needed number of innings is scored.

Next, pitchers will be scored in the order they appear on the vertical list until the total is 110. If the last pitcher scored puts the total over 110, then only the needed number of innings is scored for that pitcher.

Note: The other stats for any pitcher who is only being partially used will be prorated to match the percentage of the innings used.

Penalty

If a team uses less than 110 innings, then the team will be forced to add at least one pitcher for the next scoring period for each 10 innings missed.

For each total inning the team is short in each category (relievers or total), the team will add 1 inning, 1 earned run, 1 hit and 1 walk.

For each three innings the team is short in each category (relievers or total), the team will add 1 game pitched.

Determining The Hitters

The Vertical List (for hitters) is made up of a list of all the hitters on a given RRBL Team. A list of positions is associated with each hitter. If a player qualifies for more than one position, those positions will be listed in order for that player. That player will be used at the first position in his list that requires more plate appearances. A team must fulfill its plate appearance requirements by using players at their first positions if at all possible.

The hitting vertical list is scored in several passes, each pass adding more scored players to the list.

First Pass - Starters

On the first pass, the vertical list is searched from the top down for all active players. Each player's position list is searched for the first position listed that has no-one assigned to it. If one is found, then this player will be the starter at that position. All of the starter's plate appearances are scored for that position. Note that LF, CF and RF are kept distinct. A player who qualifies only as a right fielder may only be scored as a right fielder, or as one of the choice players.

Second Pass - Filling Positions

Once a starter has been determined for each position, the vertical list is searched again for any position that does not have 35 plate appearances assigned to it. When a active player is found, the number of plate appearances required to bring the total to 35 are counted for that player.

Third Pass - Choice Players

Once all the starting positions have been filled, the vertical list is searched for the first four active players who have not had all their plate appearances assigned to a particular position. If a particular player (with, say, 45 plate appearances) had 10 plate appearances used as a catcher comes up for use as a choice player, then the remaining 35 plate appearances will be scored as choice. If the plate appearances assigned to "choice" for the four players do not total 140, then more players are added until the total is hit. The last player used will only be scored for enough plate appearances to hit 140 exactly.

Fourth Pass - Anyone Except Bench Players

If there is still a position with less than 35 plate appearances, then the starters will be searched once again. If a starter has more than 35 plate appearances, and they can also play a position that is short of plate appearances, then plate appearances will be reassigned so that at least 35 are at the starting position, and the extra goes towards the deficit.

Fifth Pass - Bench Players

If there is still a position with less than 35 plate appearances, then the three bench players will be searched. Bench players are scored as active players; however, their position eligibility is greatly enhanced. For instance a bench player who officially qualifies at left field may be used in any outfield position or first base. The following table lists the positions that may be scored for a bench player based on his official position(s).

Official
Position
Additional
Bench Positions
C1B
1B(none)
2BSS, 3B
SS2B, 3B
3BC, 1B, 2B, SS
LFCF, RF, 1B
CFLF, RF
RFLF, CF, 1B

Note that first basemen on your bench can only play first base, so there's not a whole lot of reason to put a first baseman on your bench.

Penalty

If a team has less than 35 plate appearances for a given position, then extra plate appearances will be added to bring the total to 35. The same rule applies for the 140 choice total. The extra plate appearances are the penalty for not meeting the minimums.

Trading

Trades may be made from the completion of the draft position selections until September 1. No trade may involve "Players to be named later" or cash. All trades become effective in the following Recording Period.

Major League Trades

If a player is traded by his Major League team to a team in the other league then that player's rights belong to the franchise's other RRBL team the following Recording Period.

For the period of the trade, the player will be scored as placed on the vertical list. His stats from both league will count in those statistics. The player must be moved to the other roster in the following period.


Free Agent Drafts

Free agents may be added to a roster every Thursday prior to the submittal of a Vertical List. These changes take effect at the beginning of the following Recording Period. If a franchise wants to draft a player, the request is sent via email to the League Commissioner no later than 5:00 PM on the given Thursday (Of course, if he's weaseled out of that duty - the request goes to whoever the gets stuck with doing it). A franchise may list as many players as wishes in their request. Please include the player ID number along with the player names.

Each team will be awarded one free agent in each round. This will continue until all request lists are exhausted. Like the initial draft, the Free Agent draft runs from first team choosing to last, then last to first, and so on.

The teams will be draft in order based on won/loss record from worst to best. Ties will be broken according to run differential, with the worst team drafting sooner. For the first draft, because there is no won/loss record yet, the draft goes in reverse order of the original draft positions.

A Franchise is charged one roster move for each player drafted, regardless of whether that player ever makes the Franchise's vertical list.


Changing The Roster

Roster Moves

A "roster move" is charged to a team for each player added to its roster, regardless of how the player was added. The only exception is when a Major League trade sends a player to the opposing league. Switching the player on the RRBL rosters is free.

Deadlines

All roster moves take effect on the day following the end of the current Recording Period. The deadline for all changes to a roster or vertical list is 5:00 PM on the first day (Monday) of a Recording Period.

Expansion Of Rosters

Previous rules allowing expansion of the roster on the first scoring period following September 1 have been revoked.
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