MAJOR LEAGUE ROSTER
A. POSITIONS:
Major League rosters will be composed of the following positions (27 Total):
1. Hitters (9): C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, UTIL
2. Pitchers (10): SP, SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, RP, P, P, P
3. Bench spots (8)
4. Each team also has a Disabled List (DL) of up to 13 spots
5. The combined total of the Majors roster, Reserve roster and DL must never fall below 40 players.
6. All 19 starting positions and 8 bench spots must be filled correctly on Fantrax each day or your roster will be considered illegal.
7. Illegal rosters on Fantrax do not accumulate points.
8. It is a good idea to regularly check whether your roster has been considered illegal at any point.
9. Retroactive moves will only be made if the commissioner was alerted first on the appropriate board, timestamped before the first pitch is made that day.
B. DISABLED LIST (DL)
1. There are 13 DL spots.
2. While an injured player is on the DL the team remains responsible for his salary.
3. A player must be eligible to be placed on the FANTRAX DL before you may fill his roster spot with another player. The league in no way determines eligibility. Eligibility is determined by FANTRAX or when player transaction is listed on MLB.com, whichever comes first.
4. Once an injured player is placed on the DL, a replacement must be added from available free agents, the Reserve roster, or the Minors. As written above, the combined total of the majors roster, reserve roster and DL must never fall below 40 players.
5. Once an injured player is removed from the DL by FANTRAX, a team will have 72 hours to reinsert him onto the active roster.
6. Players who remain unsigned by an MLB team due to injury may be placed on the Disabled List, although you will still remain responsible for the entire salary.
C. SALARY CAP:
1. There is a yearly cap of $100,000,000 dollars on the 40-man roster.
2. The Reserve Roster, Minor League Signing Bonuses, Injury Insurance, and Penalties are included in the Majors salary total and go against the Salary Cap.
3. Contract Buyouts: The issue of contract buyouts has come up, and the following option was adopted by the league reference contract buyouts:
100% buyout, has to be all at once, and MUST be decided on within 72 Hours of player passing through waivers. This doesn't mean you have to buyout the player waived at all, it simply provides you with the option to do so if you want to.
Example: I waive Ryan Braun who is owed $10m for 3 more years because he was caught using again on Monday morning at 7 am ET. He sits in waivers, passes through without anyone taking his salary on and is off waiver at 6:59 am ET. I have until Saturday at 6:59 am ET to make the decision to buyout the contract. If not made at that time, I cannot buyout any portion of his contract and will owe the contract as it's played out over the next 3 years.
Contract Buyouts must be completed within the following timelines: Open after team verification, Close after our World Series (2 days after a league winner is declared at 11:59pm EST).
D. RETIREMENTS:
1. If a major league player retires, the GM may opt to void the player's contract entirely or keep the player on the books up to any point before the termination of the contract.
2. If voided, the player's salary will no longer count against the team's caps.
3. If the contract is voided the GM loses all rights to that player. The player must be Waived, and if not claimed enters free agency.
4. If the GM elects to maintain the player on the active roster, the salary will continue to count against the cap until the contract is voided or expires.
5. The retirement rules also apply in the case of players leaving MLB for international baseball; and circumstances in which the player is not in a state allowing him to retire (death or total physical incapacitation: coma, paralysis).
E. UNOFFICIAL RETIREMENT:
1. In cases in which a player is generally thought to be retired or out of baseball at the major league level despite making no official retirement announcement, the league will allow a buyout of the contract.
2. For the buyout to take effect the player must have been out of baseball for a full MLB season.
3. As a guideline, this rule may be applied in cases such as Bonds' or Frank Thomas'. The rule will not be applied in more ambiguous cases, such as young or injured players who are still looked at as having a fair expectation of returning the Majors (Grady Sizemore being one example).
4. The buyout will be 50% of the contract or $400,000, whichever is greater. For example, if the contract were for $2MM, the buyout would be $1,000,000 for each year remaining on the contract.
5. Should the player re-sign with an MLB club after Opening Day, the league will consider it an unlikely event and will honor the initial contract reduction
F. ROSTER MAINTENANCE:
1. The majors roster must remain at 27 once finalized before the start of Opening Day. If not, then your team will not accumulate any points until finalized
2. If after a trade your team has fewer than 27 players, you must make a promotion or be actively bidding on a replacement. Failure to do so within 72 hours will incur a $300,000 penalty. Your team will no longer accumulate stats on FANTRAX until the situation is rectified.
3. After placing a player on waivers you also have 24 hours to call-up a player or bid on a replacement.
4. During the off-season signing period rosters may be maintained below 27 until the pre-season verification takes place. However, rosters may still not exceed 27 players.
5. If your roster falls below 27 for any of the reasons stated above, and you are actively working to fix it, please advise the FANTRAX Commissioner so that you will not receive an illegal roster penalty on FANTRAX.
6. Major League rosters must be full before the season begins (minimum of 40 players) and only those players who are listed as being on their respective team's DL on MLB.com can be placed on Field of Dreams roster DLs.
7. Minor League rosters need to have a minimum of 20 players before the season begins. No Minor League players may be placed on a roster’s DL.
8. Owners will be responsible to make all FANTRAX roster changes