Section 1 - GM Responsibilities

a. Export Rules - Every GM is highly encouraged to export for every sim or post in the "GM Disabled List" sub-forum if you will be unable to.  POSTING IN THE GM DISABLED LIST FORUM ONLY EXCUSES YOU FROM BEING CHARGED WITH A MISSED EXPORT AND DOES NOT RELIEVE YOU FROM RESPONSIBILITY REGARDING ROSTER VIOLATIONS, FINES, ETC.  In addition to being on top of your team, you will earn participation points for each export or excused missed export.  Unfortunately, positive rewards are not always enough and there are some penalties for missed exports.  The rules apply to consecutive exports, every time you do an export, you are reset to zero missed exports.  Note that if you post in the Disabled List Forum, you will not be docked for any missed exports.  The penalties are listed below...

1) 1st Missed Export - No Contribution Points Awarded for Sim

2) 2nd Consecutive Missed Export - Minus 1 Contribution Point

3) 3rd Consecutive Missed Export - Minus 2 Contribution Points

4) 4th Consecutive Missed Export - Minus 4 Contribution Points

5) 5th Consecutive Missed Export - Removal from the League

b. Do not leave players on DFA - Be sure to check your DFA list after each sim.  If you have a player with less than 14 days left of DFA time, you must either release him of place him on a roster before exporting.  The reason is, the sims are 14 days, so anyone with less than 14 days of DFA time will interrupt the sim and the Commissioner will have to do his best to manage the issue.  I will always try placing the player in AAA, if possible.  However, there are some scenarios where I will have to Waive a player to clear space on the 40-man if the DFA'd player needs to be on the 40-man.  I will do my best, but this is often messy and does not result the way you would want it to, so please, don't let it happen.  Any violation of this rule will result in a 2 contribution point penalty. 

Section 2 - Roster and Gameplay Rules

a. Maximum Number of Starts for a Pitcher - The maximum number of starts a pitcher can make in the regular season is 35.  If a pitcher reaches this before the end of the season he will be manually "injured" for the remainder of the regular season as result of his "dead arm." The pitcher will be healed in time for the post-season if a team makes it that far.  The reason for this rule is to accurately reflect the number of games a pitcher can start in modern major league baseball.  See the yearly league leaders in games started; this is what I used to determine the rule.  I check this after each sim, so it is possible that a pitcher may surpass 35 starts during a sim, however, he will be injured for the remainder of the regular season if any regular season sims remain.

b. Tiebreaker Games - In the case of a one-game playoff it will be played during the first playoff sim. Though OOTP does not require it, you must trim your Active Roster to 25-Men for this game because when it finishes and we enter the playoffs OOTP will only allow 25-men on the roster and we'll have to wait for you to make changes before we can start simming the playoffs. If you fail to do this, you will not be fined but your team will be auto-managed by the AI. This never leads to the moves you want so make sure your roster is down to 25.  However, if the game is for a divisional title and does not determine "who gets" in and merely decides Division Champ or Wild Card, it will be a part of the final regular season sim.

Section 3 - Contract Rules

a. Contract Length Rule (Extensions and Offseason Free Agents) - The maximum contract length is limited at 5 years to all players.  Any player asking for more than 5 years may be given that offer, but you must contact the Commish ahead of time so the Commish can verify that the player is asking for additional years.

1) If the player was a free agent, any violation of this rule will cause a void to the contract and the player will be returned to Free Agency.  In addition; the offending team will receive a 2 contribution point penalty. 

2) If it was a contract extension to a current player, the years in excess of 5 wlll be voided and will be allocated equally throughout the first 5 years of the deal.  The offending team will also receive a 2 contribution point penalty.

b. Salary Same Each Year Rule - Moving forward, all contracts must have the SAME salary to a player in each year of his deal.  For example, if a player is offered a five-year deal, he must be offered the same salary in each season of the deal.  There is no front-loading or back-loading of contracts allowed.  There are no exceptions to this rule.  If the player does not have the same salary each year - if its a contract extension to a current player the contract will be edited and he will be given the highest yearly salary for each year.  If it is a free agent offer, the contract will be voided.  The team will also be docked 2 contribution points.

c. Incentives Rule - Total incentives are capped at 25% of the average yearly value of the contract.  For example, if a player is making 4 million per season, the maximum amount of incentives allowed is 1 million.  You may not offer hitter of the year or pitcher of the year incentives unless the player's average annual salary is greater than 15 Million; maximum hitter of the year or pitcher of the year incentive is 1 million.  To offer incentives based on IP or AB's it must not exceed the "Career Year" numbers.  For example, you may not offer an incentive for more IP's than the highest number a pitcher threw as a career high.  Also, you may not offer an incentive to a hitter for more AB's than a player had in his career high season.  If you have any questions on this; please ask before you offer the contract, not after.  If this rule is violated for a Free Agent offer the contract will be voided.  If it is to a current player, any excess incentives will be added to the guaranteed value of the contract in each year.  The team will also be docked 2 contribution points.

d. In-season Free Agent Contracts - All in-season free agent offers are limited to one-year and are subject to the incentives rule. Any violation of this rule will result in a voided contract and a 2 contribution point penalty.

e. Multi-Year Extensions to Players with less than 2 Years of ML Service are NOT allowed.  There are also no exceptions to this rule and any violation of this rule will result in voiding the extension and 2 contribution point penalty.  You may offer a one-year extension to any player, regardless of ML Service Time.

Section 4 - Trading Rules

a. Cash Trades - You can only trade cash if you have it.  Budget room is NOT cash so please be sure you have cash if you are going to include it in a trade.  If you are not sure, please contact the Commissioner and he will help you.  Any trade involving over $5,000,000 in Cash must be approved by the Commissioner.

b. Rookie Draftees - Players drafted in the July Rookie Draft are not eligible to be traded until July 1st of the following year.  The only exception to this rule is during Winter Meetings.

c. Free Agent Signings - Players signed as free agents in the offseason are not eligible to be traded until July 1st.  In-season free agent signings are not eligible to be traded until after the season in which they were signed.

d. Waiver Claims - Players claimed on waivers during the offseason are not eligible to be traded until July 1st of the following year.  Players claimed off of waivers during the season are not eligible to be traded until after the season in which they were claimed.

e. Draft Pick Trading - There is no draft pick trading under any circumstance.

f. Rule 5 Draftee Trading - A player selected in the Rule 5 Draft may not be traded until after the season in which he was drafted.  This is to avoid teams drafting Rule 5 Eligible players with the intention of trading them.

g. $ Available for Trades - In order to complete a trade, you must have the $$ available to accept the contract.  A good way to check this is your "$$ for Free Agents" on the Finances tab of the game.  This is calculated by Cash + Projected Budget Room.  Trades will not be processed if a team can not afford the contract.  In addition, if you $$$ Available is 0, you can only make a trade if salaries are equal or you are shaving salary in the deal.

Section 5 - Contribution Points

a. Exporting - Each regular season export will earn you 2 contribution points.  If you have posted in the GM Disabled List sub-forum and miss and export, it is excused and you will earn 1 contribution point.  

b. Live League Events - If you attend live league events such as the Trade Deadline Chat, Winter Meetings or Postseason Live Sims you will earn contribution points.  You can earn 5 contribution points for attending the Winter Meetings that will be live in an AIM chat room up to a maximum of 8 points per offseason, and an additional 5 contribution points for attending the trade deadline chat.  You can earn 2 contribution points each for attending the Divisional Series and League Championship Series sims in the Live AIM Chat Room.  You can earn 2 contribution points for attending the World Series Sim in the Live AIM Chat Room.

c. Bonus Points - Bonus contribution points can be awarded at the discretion of the Commissioner at any time for going out of your way to perform a service to the league when the need arises.  A way that you'll always be able to earn Bonus points is by submitting articles.  Non-website content coordinators are limited to one article per season.  Please submit your article directly to the Commissioner and not through the websites Post an Article tab, as that system is severely flawed.

d. Forum Posting - You are encouraged to be active onthe forums; Every 5 posts will earn 1 contribution point.  The count will be totaled at the end of each season and kept track of by the Commissioner. You are limited to 10 contribution points per sim season from forum posting.

e. Awards Voting - At the conclusion of each season, the Commissioner will release an awards ballot to the league.  You will earn 5 contribution points for filling out a complete Awards ballot at the conclusion of each season.  

f. Conversion to Savings - At the end of each season, Contribution Points will be converted to Cash at the rate of $250,000 per Point.  

Section 6 - Rule 5 Draft

a. Length and Structure - The Rule 5 Draft is only 1 round long and you do NOT have to make a selection.  Once two players have been selected from a teams farm system, the remainder of their players are ineligible to be drafted.

b. Roster - To make a selection you must have a spot open on your 25-man and 40-man roster.  The player must remain on your active roster all season and is not eligible to be traded.

Section 7 - Foreign Players

a. Announcement - When a foreign player is committed to making a move to the iMLB, it will be announced on the forums as well as a text scouting report to give you a general idea of what type of player he is.  No actual ratings will be divulged at this time.

b. Scouting - If you are interested in the foreign player and would like to scout him to find out his player and personality ratings, the cost is $5 million.  It is payable from your savings account.  If you do not have adequate funds in savings, it is payable from cash.  If you do not have adequate cash but do have budget room, it can be incurred as an expense for the year immediately.

c. Bidding - Whether you have or have not scouted a player, you are eligible to bid on him.  No incentives or options will be included and all teams will be required to offer the amount of years that the player requests.  Plain and simple, the highest bid wins the player and he will be placed on your ballclub.  It costs an additional $5 million to bid on a player

Section 8 - Savings Accounts

a. What is this? - At the end of each season, any cash over 15 million will be rolled into the teams savings account.  In addition, at the end of each season for every 1 contribution point in a teams account, 250k will be added to their savings account.

b.  State of the Art Rehab - This will allow you to rehab a career ending injury into a two-year injury.  You must declare immediately upon the player being injured that you plan to use this and it does not protect any ratings hits that may happen while the player is out.  Start of the art rehab will cost $10 Million.  This does not protect against any potential rating hits caused by the injury or occurring during rehab so choose wisely.  You must also submit a press release detailing the injury and type of treatment being done to treat the injury.  Keep it somewhat realistic but be creative and have fun with this.  500 Word Minimum.

c. Marketing Campaigns - You will be able to launch an ad campaign or hold a fanfest event, etc.  This will increase fan interest, loyalty and market size.  Fan interest will increase by 10 points (up to a maximum of 80), Market Size will increase by one level up (up to a maximum of average), and fan loyalty will increase by one level (up to a maximum of average).  As you can tell this reward is intented to help small market clubs become middle market clubs.  The cost to hold a marketing campaign is $20 million and it may only be held once every five seasons.  You must also submit a press release with picture detailing the event or campaign and it may be no less than 500 words.

d. Ballpark Upgrades - Coming soon...

e. Draft Pick Signing Bonuses - Every Draft Pick will have a signing bonus assigned to him based on draft slotting and modified by his greed rating and other personality traits. You will know prior to the draft what it costs to select each of the top 30 players in the draft.  All signing bonuses are payable from Savings. If you don't have enough savings, you can pay from cash.

f. Scouting and Bidding on Foreigners - As mentioned in the International Players section; it will cost $5 million to scout a foreign player and an additional $5 million to bid on him, payable first from savings.  See Section 7 for more details about the Foreign Player process.

g. Contract Buyouts - This is being considered by the Commissioner and is by no means final.  It was not be on a dollar for dollar basis if it happens (you'd pay more out of savings than the value of the contract).  And it wouldn't be limited on how often you can use it.  Stay tuned for more details.

Section 9 - Ballpark Upgrades - Coming Soon!

Section 10 - Free Agent Compensation

a. Compensation - Free Agent compensation is turned ON.  The cost for signing a Type A Free Agent is your 1st round draft pick, unless you have a Top 15 Pick in which case it will cost your 2nd round pick.  The team that lost the Free Agent will receive you pick plus a Draft choice in the sandwich round between Rd 1 and Rd 2.  The cost for signing a Type B Free Agent is your 2nd round pick.  The team that lost the Free Agent will receive your pick plus a Draft Choice in the sandwich round between Rd 1 and Rd 2.

b. Deadlines - Any compensation eligible player that is signed after May 1st will not cost the signing team a draft pick. The team losing the player will still receive their sandwich pick. As the signing team, it is your responsibility to contact the Commissioner immediately if you sign a compensation eligible player after May 1st. The Commissioner will not be tracking this on his own, so if you don't make proper notification on a timely basis your draft pick will be lost.