Hi Scott,
Mark Ward must have been in a lot of leagues. He was in both of mine from there inception & I know he was in the BL ISS League. That's very coool that you named your entire league after him. We names a division in each league after him. The divisions he was in. This is what I have to offer you if you're interested.
Here is some dope on what this leagues offer. So far we have signed only owners some of us have played with before. They are all very good. If you're interested, let me know, since I'm the commissioner & also handle the recruiting.
The leagues are both Scoresheet Leagues. This will be the main aspects of these leagues, but they will be very involved with a ton of new twists & require more time than your normal Scoresheet League.
* If you'd like a real challenge, are interested in building a franchise (rather than just a team) & are really into MiLB, the BL NCML or BL CONNIE MACK 2 are for you.
* They are both contract leagues with identical rules. The BL NCML is going into year 4, with 50 contract years to dole out to it's players, while the BL CONNIE MACK 2 is going into it's 3rd year & also has 50 years to dole out to your players.
* 8 teams will make the playoffs. 4 division winners & 4 wild cards.
* We will hold a 5 Round MiLB Draft ( Only players with absolutely ZERO playing experience in MLB, can be drafted in this Draft.) The MiLB Draft, will be held AFTER the MLB FA Draft (Only players that have appeared in a regular season MLB game) are available in this draft.).
* There will be a 35 man MLB roster.
* There will be a 15 player MiLB roster. However, ALL of these players (MLB & MiLB, will be on the same roster. You & your fellow owners will be able to see all of the players you own, on the same page, which will make trading & such much easier.
* We will hold a 3 Round Bi-Weekly Waiver Wire Mini Draft through the end of August. There will not be any Supplemental Drafts, like most Scoresheet Leagues. The waiver order will be selected on the usual worst to first record for said waiver period. There will be a 3 player limit per team, per period. The add/drops will be just like a mini draft every other week. You put in the players you wish to add, on the Scoresheet draft site. You will not need to drop your players, to get back to the 35 man limit, UNTIL the next weeks lineups are due with Scoresheet, which is before the 1st MLB game every Monday morning. That's Pretty Awesome!
* We hold a yearly 5 Round Amateur Draft, every year the last week in August. After the owners know if the amateurs actually signed and after they've played awhile. In that way you would have a better idea of their skill sets.
* You will be able to keep 15 MiLB players on the farm. There will be no penalties levied for keeping MiLB players. No loss of Draft Picks or anything else. They will be yours to trade or keep and develop. The only stipulation will be, before the following years Draft, if you currently have more than 15, you would have to drop some to get back down to 15.
* Once your MiLB players join your roster and lose their rookie status, after 50 IP or 150 AB, per MLB rules, they will be yours for 3 more years. You would have to sign them to a contract before their 3rd year kicked in, or lose them to free agency, at the conclusion of the 3rd year. With this rule, you would have a fairly good idea, whether or not they would be worth signing to a contract.
* Every owner can have 1 franchise player. Franchise Players are yours to keep and are completely FREE. The Contracts they are Signed to, DO NOT count against the allotted Contract Years, which gives you more years to dole out to other players. You may sign them twice to Contracts ranging from 2- 6 years, which means the longest you can keep a franchise player is 12 years. Your best player costs you nothing.
* Players can be signed to contracts ranging from 2- 6 years. However the more players you give a 6 year contract to, the less you have for other players. This will be a thinking mans league. After the contracts have been turned into the commissioner, any player not signed to a 2-6 year contract, is automatically signed to a 1 year contract.
* Of course you will be able to make all sorts of trades, but will have to take into consideration, the # of years left on the contracts of the players you're trading for, as well as receiving. You can also trade your Franchise Player.
NOTE: After the start of each season, the 50 year contract allotment WILL NOT be in affect! This will help all of our owners immensely, when making trades.
* With 20 owners and all of the MLB & MiLB players being kept, there wouldn't be much to pick from at the beginning of year 2. Going into the 3rd year it would be a better draft and after the 3rd year, it would be amazing, with a lot of players being signed to 3 year contracts, becoming FA. You will see players becoming available , you would never see in a normal Scoresheet league, as the contracts started expiring. In years 4, 5, & 6, etc. It just keeps getting better & better.
* Oh! By the way, all American & National League players would be available. I would never be in anything but a BL format. I really hope this interests you. I'll be looking forward to hearing from you.
If you were ever interested in joining a Contract League, which is the ULTIMATE, by the way, now is your chance. Don't dally or someone will beat you to it!
Don L.
P. S. My e-mail address is:
dlmearns@frontier.com