OFFICIAL CONSTITUTION OF THE SWARM ROTISSERIE LEAGUE BASEBALL PREAMBLE We, the *Players* of the SWARM Rotisserie League, in order to spin a more perfect Game, drive Justice home, kiss domestic Tranquility good-bye, espeically for John, Mark, Adam, Randy, Joe, Carl and Bob, promote the general Welfare and secure the Blessings of Puberty to ourselves and those we've left on Base, do ordain and establish this Constitution for SWARM Rotisserie League Baseball, and also finish this run-on sentence. I. OBJECT To assemble a lineup of 23 National League baseball players whose cumulative statistics during the regular season, compiled and measured by the methods described in these rules, exceed those of all other teams in the League. II. TEAMS There are *12* teams in the duly constituted SWARM Rotisserie League composed only National League players. III. ROSTER A team's active roster consists of the following players: Five outfielders, two catchers, one second baseman, one shortstop, one middle infielder (either second baseman or shortstop), one first baseman, one third baseman, one corner man (either first baseman or third baseman), and nine pitchers; AND A position on the roster shall be designated for an owner, at his discretion, to fill with either a position player of his choosing, or with a pitcher. The postion player may be of any position he chooses, and the pitcher may be either a starting pitcher or a relief pitcher. IV. DRAFTING A Major League Draft is conducted in the two weeks preceding Opening Day of the baseball season. Each team must acquire 23 players at a total cost not to exceed $260. A team need not spend the maximum. The Commissioner determines the order in which the players are listed for acquisition by providing to the owners a list of available players. They will be players and promising rookies who are not on a present SWARM League team. A team must bid a minimum salary bid of $1 for any eligible player they are interested in, and the team bidding the highest $'s on a player acquires the player for that amount and announces the roster position the player will fill if it is other than the one listed by the Commissioner. Players eligible at more than one position may be shifted during the course of the draft. No team may make a bid for a player it cannot afford. For example, a team with $3 left and two openings on its roster is limited to a maximum bid of $2 for one player. No team may bid for a player who qualifies only at a position that the team has already filled. For example, a team that has acquired two catchers, and whose utility position is occupied, may not enter a bid for any player who qualifies only at catcher. Players who commence the season on a major league team's dis- abled list are eligible to be drafted. If selected, they may be replaced upon completion of the auction draft. (See Article XII for details.) A Minor League Player Draft is conducted immediately following the major league auction, in which each rotisserie League team may acquire players (a) who are not on any National/American League team's active roster and; (b) who still have official rookie status, as defined by major league baseball. NOTE: The major league rule reads: "A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the major leagues; or (b) accumu- lated more than 45 days on the active roster of a major league club or clubs during the period of a 24-player limit (excluding time in the military service)." Selection takes place in two rounds of simple drafting.Each team will submit a list of 10 rookies in each round, in order of preference of first-to-tenth. Tied bids are decided by the order in which the teams finished in the previous season. The price of activation from the farm system is $10. The salary of a player is $6 plus $2 for each year he has been held in your farm system See Article XIII, for operational rules governing farm systems. V. POSITION ELIGIBILITY A player may be assigned to any position at which he appeared in 20 or more games in the preceding season. If a player did not appear in 20 games at a single position, he may be drafted only at the position at which he appeared most frequently. The 20 games/most games measure is used only to determine the position(s) at which a player may be drafted. Once the season is under way (but after the Draft), a player becomes eligible for assignment to any position at which he has appeared at least once. Players selected for the utility slot may qualify at any position except pitcher. VI. CREDITS The SWARM Rotisserie League has a schedule of credits (NOT REAL $"s) covering all player personnel moves. No money passes directly from team to team. No bets are made on the outcome of any game. All credits are payable into the prize pool and are subsequently distributed to the top three teams in each division in the final standings. We keep track of the $'s spent as a matter of interest; NO REAL $'s are involved. (See Articles VIII and IX.) 1.BASIC: The cumulative total of salaries paid for acquisition of a 23-man roster on the Draft may not exceed $260. 2.TRANSACTIONS: $10 per trade (no matter how many players are involved) or player activation (from reserve list or farm system). In a trade, the team that pays the fee is subject to negotiation. 3.RESERVE: $10 for each player placed on a team's reserve list (see Article Xll). 4.FARM SYSTEM: $10 for each player in a team's farm system (see Article VIII). 5.ACTIVATION: $10 for each player activated from the reserve list or farm system. 6.WAIVERS: $10 for each player claimed on waivers (see Article XV). 7.SEPTEMBER ROSTER EXPANSION: $25 (see Article XVI). VII. PLAYER SALARIES The salary of a player is determined by the time and means of his acquisi- tion and does not change unless the player becomes a free agent or is signed to a guaranteed long-term contract. (See Article XVII.) The salary of a player acquired in the major league draft is his auction price. The salary of a player called up from the free agent pool during the season is $10. The salary of a player activated from a team's farm system during the season is $10. The salary of a player claimed on waivers is $10. The salary of a player called up during September Roster Expansion as an extra (24th player) is $25 if he is drawn from the free agent pool. (See Article XVI.) NOTE: Because you can commit only $260 for salaries in the Draft, and because you will keep some of your players from one season to the next, salaries are very important, particularly after the first season ends and winter trading begins. Would you trade Strawberry for Dunston? The dodgers wouldn't, not even if the Cubs threw in Wrigley Field. But a smart Rotisserie League owner just might make the deal. If Strawberry's salary is a whopping $50, not enough to fix even one speeding ticket but still among the highest in the game and Dunston's is only makes $15, and the $35 difference is enough to buy a Glavine and a Pendelton to catch him. Maintaining accurate, centralized player-personnel records (i. e., sal- ary and contract status) is the most important task of the League Secretary, who deserves hosannas from the other owners for all the work he does. VIII. PRIZE MONEY All fees shall be kept track of by the League Treasurer. The principal shall be divided among the first three teams in the each division in the final standings as follows: NORTH DIVISION SOUTH DIVISION 1st place = 30% 1st place = 30% 2nd place = 15% 2nd place = 15% 3rd place = 5% 3rd place = 5% IX. STANDINGS The following criteria are used to determine team performance: Composite batting average (BA) Total home runs (HR) Total runs batted in plus run scored minus HR (Run Produced) Total stolen bases (SB) Composite earned run average (ERA) Total wins (W) Total saves (S) Composite ratio: bases on balls (BB) + hits (H) / innings pitched (IP) Teams are ranked from first to last in each of the eight categories and given points for each place. For example, in a ten-team league, the first-place team in a category receives ten points, the second-place team nine, and so on down to one point for last place. The team with the most total points wins the pennant. The divisions are combined for the purpose of point totals on a 1-to10 point system. THE SWARM IP REQUIREMENT. A team that fails to pitch a total of 1000 innings cannot be ranked ahead of any team that does pitch 1000 innings, in either ERA or ratio. This rule is in response to an "all-relief" strategy. THE SWARM AB REQUIREMENT. A team that fails to reach 4250 at bats cannot be ranked ahead of any team that does have 4250 at bats in batting average. Pitcher's offensive stats are not counted, mainly because they don't appear weekly in USA Today. Nor are the pitching stats of the occasional position player called in to pitch when the score is 16-1 after five innings and the relief corps is hiding under the stands. In cases of ties in an individual category, the tied teams are assigned points by totaling points for the rankings at issue and dividing the total by the number of teams tied. In cases of ties in total points, final places in the standings are determined by comparing placement of teams in individual catego- ries. Respective performances are calculated and a point given to each team for bettering the other. Should one team total more points than the other, that team is declared the winner. Should the point totals still be equal, the tie is broken by adding each team's total at-bats at season's end, plus triple the number of its innings pitched. The team that scores a higher total by this measure wins the pennant. X. STATS The weekly player-performance summaries published in USA Today begin- ing in late April constitute the ofiicial data base for the computation of standings in Rotisserie League Baseball. NOTE: Box scores in daily newspapers are riddled with errors, and olficial scorers occasionally change rulings. USA Today is the final word. The effective date of any transaction for purposes of statistical calcu- lation is the Tuesday before the commencement of play on those days. This is because cumulative weekly stats appear in USA Today on Wednesday for NL games through the preceding Monday. Transactions recorded in the Opening Draft, including trades and call-ups to replace disabled players, are effective retroactive to Opening Day. Transactions occurring after the Opening Draft but before the closing date of the first cumulative summaries to appear in USA Today in April are effective the Tuesday immediately after the first closing date. Performance stats of a player shall be assigned to a Rotisserie League team only when he is on the active 23-man roster of that team. It is common for a player to appear on the roster of more than one Rotisserie League team during the season because of trades and waiver-list moves. Even a player who is not traded may spend time on a team's reserve list, during which period any numbers he might compile for his major league team do not count for his Rotisserie League team. Standings shall be tabulated and issued in a regular and timely fashion, as determined by the League owners.( Hopefully Weekly) This is an E-mail league, and as such transactions must be posted no later than 00:00 CST Wednesday. Mail recieved after mid-night will not be acepted for that week. NOTE: Keeping score is the only part of SWARM Rotisserie League Baseball that isn't any fun. It's eight or nine hours of number-crunching for each standings report if you're not computerized, a couple of hours of data entry if you are. It's especially important to have weekly standings during the April-May-June trading period, however, and teams still in the race will want weekly standings as the season draws to an end. XI. TRADES From the completion of the auction draft until July 31, SWARM League teams are free to make trades of any kind without limit, except as stipu- lated below, so long as the active rosters of both teams involved in a trade reflect the required position distribution upon completion of the transac- tion, and so long as the anti-dumping rules outlined below are adhered to. From July 31 through August 31, trades may take place only between teams ***in the same division.*** No trades are permitted from September 1 through the end of the season. Trades made from the day after the season ends until rosters are frozen in mid-May prior to Draft are not bound by the position distribution requirement. NOTE: This means that if Team A wants to swap Strawberry to Team B for Gooden anytime between the Draft and the trade deadline, Team A will have to throw in a bum pitcher and Team B a duff outfielder to make the deal. During the off-season, Strawberry could be dealt for Gooden even-up. Trades do not affect the salaries or contract status of players. Each trade is subject to the $10 transaction fee. The fee is not affected by the number of players involved in the trade. All trades involving cash, "players to be named later," or "future considerations" are prohibited. Anti-Dumping. Players in the last year of a guaranteed contract, players playing out their option year, and players with a salary of $25 or more are considered "asterisk" players. Such players may be traded only under the following conditions: A team may trade asterisk players to another team provided that for each asterisk player traded, one is received in the same deal. The above notwithstanding, a team may trade one asterisk player to another team without an asterisk player coming in return, but may only make one such trade in the course of the season. Between the end of the season and Roster Freeze Day, asterisk players may be traded without restriction whatsoever. NOTE: "Dumping" is the inelegant but scientifically precise term used to describe what happens when a team out of contention gives up on the season and trades to a contending team its most expensive talent and its players who will be lost to free agency at the end of the year, typically for inexpensive players who can be kept the following season. A "dumping" trade is always unbalanced, sometimes egre- giously so, with the contending team giving up far less than it gets, and the noncontending team giving up much more in order to acquire a nucleus for the following season. While this strategy makes sense for both clubs, extreme cases can undermine the results of the draft, which should always be the primary indicator of an owner ability to put together a successful team. What the anti-dumping rule outlined above is intended to accomplish is to restrict the most extreme forms of dumping, while at the same time permitting a noncontending team to rebuild for the future. XII. THE RESERVE LIST A team may replace any player on its 23-man roster who is: placed on the disabled list, released, traded to the other league, or sent down to the minors by his major league team. To replace such a player, a Rotisserie League team must first release him outright or place him on its reserve list. A team reserves a player by notifying the League Secretary and paying the $10 transaction fee. A reserved player is removed from a team's active roster at the end of the stat week on Tuesday-when formal notification is given-and placed on the team's reserve list. There is no limit to the number of players a team may have on its reserve list. Reserving a player protects a team's rights to that player. A team has two weeks to take action once a player is placed on the disabled list, released, traded to the other league, or sent to the minors by his major league team. If no action is taken, the position is frozen open until the original player's return, and no replacement may be made. A suspended player may not be reserved, released, or replaced. Once a specific action has been taken to remove a player from its 23-man roster (via release or placing him on the reserve list), a team is then free to select any eligible player from the free agent pool of players not already owned by another Rotisserie League team. The salary assigned to a player so selected from the free agent pool is $10. If the same player is claimed by more than one team in a given week, he goes to the team ranking lowest in the most recent standings. Every reserve move must be accompanied by a concomitant re- placement move (i.e., a team may not reserve a player without replacing him). Placing a player on the reserve list and activating a player from the reserve list are each subject to a $10 transaction fee. The call-up takes effect as soon as it is recorded by the League Secretary, although the player's stats do not begin to accrue to his new team until Tuesday (NL) of the week the League Secretary records the call-up. A player on a Rotisserie League reserve list may not be traded unless the replacement player linked to him is also traded. Thus, a team might trade Andre Dawson (on reserve) and Terry Puhl (called up to replace him) for Lenny Dykstra. A replacement player may be traded or otherwise replaced (e. g., in case of injury, he could be reserved and a free agent called up to fill his slot). In such a case, the newly acquired player becomes linked to the original reserved player. When a player on a reserve list returns to active major league duty, he must be reinstated to the active 23-man roster of his Rotisserie League team two weeks after his activation or be waived. Failure to notify the League Secretary shall be considered a waiver of the player on the reserve list. A player may not be reinstated or waived until he has been activated by his major league team. NOTE: Intended to prevent stockpiling of players, this rule is tricky to monitor. Daily newspaper transaction columns and telephone sports- information lines are unreliable about reporting major league roster moves. The clock starts ticking when the League Secretary is made aware of a player being reactivated. By the way, "two weeks" means two full reporting periods and may actually be as much as two weeks plus six days (as in the case of a player being reactivated the day after a reporting deadline). In fairness, and because this is not full-contact karate but a game played among friends, an owner should be given warning by the League Secretary that time is up and he will lose a player if he doesn't make a move. Especially if there are extenuating circumstances (We will use the USABaseball Weekly as confirmation. If the move is not confirmed by the USABaseball Weekly, the move will not be allowed, and the player and any $'s spent will be returned to his team). When a player is reinstated to the active 23-man Rotisserie League roster from a team's reserve list, the player originally called up to replace him must be waived, unless the replacement player or the original player can be shifted to another natural opening on the roster for which he qualifies. If the replacement player has himself been replaced (e. g., he is injured, put on reserve, and a free agent is called up), then his replacement becomes linked to the original player on the reserve list. A player reinstated from the reserve list may not displace any active player on the Rotisserie League team's 23-man roster other than his original replacement (or his successor). NOTE: The intent of all this is to minimize the benefit a team might derive from an injury. Say A.Dawson is injured and you call up Terry Puhl to replace him. Dawson comes back. What you'd like to do is activate Dawson, keep Puhl, and waive your other corner man, C.Hayes, who hasn't had an at-bat in six weeks. Our rules say you can't, on the premise that a team is not ordinarily helped by an jniury to a key player. We know the big leagues don't handle it this way, but art doesn't always imitate life. Without some restriction, an owner might never have to pay the price for his bad judgment in drafting Charlie Hayes in the first place. Added 1998: The replacement player of a player reinstated from the reserve list may not displace any active player, including other replacement players, on the Rotisserie League team's 23-man roster. XIII. FARM SYSTEM If a farm system player is promoted to the active roster of a major league team at any time during the regular season prior to September 1 (when major league rosters may expand to 24), his Rotisserie League team has two weeks after his promotion to activate him (at any position for which he qualifies) or waive him. The fee for activating a player from a team's farm system is $10. If a farm system player is activated, the player displaced from the 23-man roster to make room for him must be placed on waivers, unless the farm system player can be activated into a natural open- ing, in which case no waiver is required. Example: One of your pitchers is placed on a major league disabled list; you reserve him and activate a pitcher from your farm system who has been called up by his major league team. Once brought up from its farm system by a Rotisserie League team, a player may not be returned to it, although he may be placed on a team's reserve list in the event he is returned to the minor leagues by his major league club. A farm system player not brought up to a team's 23-man roster during the season of his initial selection may be kept within the farm system in subsequent seasons upon salary increase of an additional $2 per year, so long as he retains official rookie status and the League Secretary is duly notified in mid-March each year, when rosters are frozen. (See also Article XVIII). At no time may a team have more than three players in its farm system. A farm system player may be traded during authorized trading periods, subject to prevailing rules governing transactions, as may a team's selection rights in the minor league draft. NOTE: This means that a team could acquire and exercise as many as three farm system draft picks, providing that it does not exceed the maximum of three players in its farm system at a given time. XIV. SIGNING FREE AGENTS Active major league players not on any Rotisserie League team's roster at the conclusion of the draft become free agents. During the course of the season the pool of free agents may also include minor league players not in any Rotisserie League's farm system (see Article XII) who are promoted to an active major league roster; waived players who are not claimed; and players traded from the "other" major league. Such' players may be signed in the followng manner. From Opening Day until the All-Star Game. Free agents ,may be called up to replace players placed on a Rotisserie League team s reserve list as outlined in Article Xll. XV. WAIVERS Under certain conditions, a Rotisserie League player may be placed on waivers. When a player on a Rotisserie League team's reserve list is activated by his major league team, either he or the player called up earlier to replace him must be placed on waivers (see Article XII). When a team activates a player from its farm system, except into a natural opening (see Article XII), the player dropped from the 23-man roster to make room for him must be placed on waivers. A player no longer on the active roster of his major league team and whose Rotisserie League position is taken by a player activated from the reserve list or farm system may not be placed on waivers but must be released outright. NOTE: This is to prevent a team from picking up a player on waivers merely for the purpose of releasing him and replacing him with a player of higher quality from the free agent pool. The waiver period begins at noon on the Tuesday after the League Secretary has been notified that a player has been waived and lasts one week, at the end of which time the player shall become the property of the lowest-ranked team to have claimed him. To make room on its roster, the team acquiring a player on waivers must assign the player to a natural opening or waive a player at the same position played by the newly acquired player. Waiver claims take precedence over the replacement of an injured, released, or demoted player. That is, a player on waivers in a given week may be signed by a team with a roster opening at his position only if no other team lower in the standings claims the player on waivers. A team may acquire on waivers no more than one player in a given week, but there is no limit to the number of players a team may acquire on waivers during the season. A player who clears waivers-that is, is not claimed by any team- returns to the free agent pool. The fee for acquiring a player on waivers is $10. The salary of a player acquired on waivers shall be $10 or his current salary, which- ever is greater. A player with a guaranteed long-term contract may not be waived during the season. However, he may be released and replaced if he is traded to the "other" league. A player may be given his outright release only if he is (a)unconditionally released, (b)placed on the "designated for assignment" list, (c)sent to the minors, (d)placed on the "disqualified" list, (e)traded to the "other" major league, or (f)placed on the disabled list. XVI. SEPTEMBER ROSTER EXPANSION If it chooses, a team may expand its roster for the pennant drive by calling up an additional player between September 1 and September 7th from the free agent pool, its own reserve list, or its own farm system. A team may call up one player as subject to payment of appropriate fees as outlined below, except that at no time may the number of active players on its roster exceed 24. The order of selection for September Roster Expansion is deter- mined by the most recent standings, with the last-place team having first selection, and so on. During this one week period, September Roster Expansion claims take precedence over waiver claims and routine call-ups to replace players who are disabled, released, or traded to the other league by their major league teams. This selec- tion order pertains until midnight, September 7 only, after which time a team forfeits its order in the selection process, though not its right to make a selection. Selection after midnight, September 7, is on a first-come, first-served basis. Also, after midnight, September 2, waiver claims and routine call-ups to fill natural openings take precedence over September roster expansion claims. The performance stats of players called up during September Roster Expansion start to accrue on the Tuesday after the League Secretary has been notified of the player's selection. The fee for expanding the roster in September is $25. The salary assigned to a September call-up from the free agent pool is $25. The salary of a September call-up from a team's reserve list or farm system is the salary established at the time he was pre- viously acquired (on Draft Day, or subsequently from the free agent pool, or via waivers; often $10). NOTE: A device for heightening the excitement for contending teams and for sweetening the kitty at their expense, September Roster Expansion will generally not appeal to second-division clubs (who should, however, continue to watch the waiver wire in the hope of acquiring "keepers" far next season at a $10 salary). XVII. THE OPTION YEAR AND GUARANTEED LONG-TERM CONTRACTS A player who has been under contract at the same salary during his first two consecutive seasons and whose service has been uninterrupted (that is, he has not been waived or released, although he may have been traded) must, prior to the freezing of rosters in his third season,take one of the following three options: 1. He is released. The player then returns to the free agent pool and becomes available to the highest bidder at the next auction draft. 2. He is signed at the same salary for his option year. The player then must be released back into the free agent pool at the end of that season. 3. He is signed to a guaranteed long-term contract. The player's salary in each year covered by the new contract shall be the sum of his current salary plus $5 for each additional year beyond this upcoming option year. The maximum length of the contract is 4 years. NOTE: This rule is intended to prevent blue-chippers, low-priced rookies who blossom into superstars, and undervalued players from being tied up for the duration of their careers by the teams who originally drafted them. It guarantees periodic transfusions of topflight talent for Draft Day and provides rebuilding teams something to rebuild with. And it makes for some interesting decisions at roster- freeze time two years down the pike. Here's how it works. Let's say you drafted Pedro Astacio of the Los Angeles Dodgers for $10 in 1992, a fair price then for an unproven talent who wasn't even a regular. It's now the winter of 1993-4 and Astacio, who has blossomed into a three-category star, is entering his option year. Only a Fred Claire would let him play out his option; only a George Steinbrenner would trade him. You compare Astacio's stats with those of other players at various salary levels, assess your needs, project what's likely to be available in the upcoming draft, cross your fingers against injury and sign him to a three-year guaranteed contract. Astacio's salary zooms to $20 ($10 plus $5 + $5), but he's yours through the 1996 season. If he continues to blossom, you've got a bargain. In determining a player's status, "season" is understood to be a full season or any fraction thereof. Thus, a player called up from the free agent pool in the middle of the 1992 season and subsequently retained at the same salary without being released in 1993(even though he may have been traded) enters his option year in 1994 and must be released, signed at the same salary for an option year, or signed to a long-term contract. A team may sign a player to only one long-term contract, at the end of which he becomes a free agent. There is no option year to a long-term contract; thus, the player must be released into the free agent pool at the end of the contract. The team may reacquire him through the free agent draft. As an example, at the end of this year, Pedro Astacio will have completed his second and final year of his original contract, at a salary of $10. At this point, the SWARM owner has the following choices: 1 - release him Astacio enters free agent pool 2 - exercise his option pay $10 for 1994 and release at end 1994 3 - sign 2-yr. contract pay $15 for each year from 1994-95 and release at end 1995 4 - sign 3-yr. contract pay $20 for each year from 1994-96 and release at end 1996 5 - sign 4-yr. contract pay $25 for each year from 1994-97 and release at end of 1997 Option-year and long-term contracts are entirely transferable, both in rights and obligations; the trade of a player in no way affects his contract status. A SWARM owner may only release a player under a long-term contract if he is traded to that other league or the major league team releases him from his contract. The contract is rendered null and void. The team that loses the player's services shall be under no further financial obligations. A player under a long-term contract who has been placed on the reserved list cannot be waived under the two-week reinstation rule. The player replacing this reserved played must be waived if the owner does not activate the player with the long-term contract within the alloted two weeks. XVIII. ROSTER PROTECTION For the first three seasons of the League's existence, each team must retain, from one season to the next, no fewer than 7 but no more than 15 of the players on its 23-man roster. After three seasons, this minimum require- ment is eliminated, the maximum retained. The minimum is removed because, after three seasons, a team might find it impossible to retain a specific minimum because too many players had played out their option. The names of players being retained must be recorded with the League Secretary by mid-March. Specific notice must also be made at that time of any guaranteed long-term contract signings and farm system renewals. The cumulative salaries of players protected prior to Draft Day are deducted from a team's $260 expenditure limit, and the balance is available for acquisition of the remaining players needed to complete the team's 23-man roster. The League Secretary should promptly notify all teams in the League of each team's protected roster, including player salaries, contract status, and amount available to spend on Draft Day. Failure to give notice of a guaranteed long-term contract for a player in his option year will-result in his being continued for one season at his prior year's salary and then released into the free agent pool. Failure to renew a farm system player's minor league contract will result in his becoming available to all other teams in the subsequent minor league draft. A farm system player whose minor league contract is renewed in mid-March and who subsequently makes his major league team's active roster may, at his Rotisserie League owner's option, be added to the protected list of players on Draft Day (and another player dropped, if necessary, to meet the 15-player limit), or he may be dropped and made available in the auction draft. He may not be retained in his Rotisserie League team's farm system. NOTE: The mid-March roster-protection deadline was originally set to correspond with the end of the major leagues' spring interleague trading period, a rite of spring that no longer exists. We've stuck to mid-May , because it gives us a couple of weeks to fine-tune draft strategies. Until you know whom the other teams are going to keep, you won't know for sure who's going to be available. And until you know how much they will have to spend on Draft Day, you won't be able to complete your own pre-draft budget. XIX. GOVERNANCE The SWARM Rotisserie League is governed by a Committee of the Whole consisting of all team owners. The Committee of the Whole may designate as many League officials as from time to time it deems appropriate, although only two; the League Secretary and the League Treasurer ever do any work. The Committee of the Whole also designates annually an Executive Com- mittee composed of three team owners in good standing. The Executive Committee has the authority to interpret playing rules and to handle all necessary and routine SWARM League business. All decisions, rulings, and inter- pretations by the Executive Committee are subject to veto by the Commit- tee of the Whole. Rule changes, pronouncements, and acts of whimsy are determined by majority vote of the Committee of the Whole. XX. SWARM WORLD SERIES (statement about a computer simulation, best of 7 series between the North and the South Divisional winners, to determine a yearly SWARM Winner) The Comissioner will play a best of 7 series between the winners of the Northern Division and the Southern Division. The simulation is run using a computer simulation baseball game created by APBA baseball, and incorporates all the stats of the present Major League season. Regaurdless to how long a given player has been with the SWARM team, his full season stats will be incorporated into the program. The owners can announce the starting lineups and the starting pitchers for each game. If the comissioner is also an owner, and the comissioner's team is a Division winner, the commisioner will ask another owner to volenteer to run a similar simulation if an owner can be found who has one. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Amentments 1992: Notes on the Offical Constitution: Section IV: It is difficult to determine without exhastive searching the Status of 'true' rookies, particularly the '45 days on the active roster'. To that end I will be tolerant in determinig rookie status, but will disquailfy any players who can be positively determined to exceed the limits. In most cases you'll be given the benifit of the doubt. Section VIII: "Composite ratio" should read BB+H/IP or base-on-balls plus hits divided by innings pitched. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 1) Any player injuried between cut-down date and the final round of the draft can be placed on reserve and the spot filled during the draft, but the salary of the injured player and the drafted player both come out of the $260 team salary limit. When the reserved player returns to active duty the team will have two weeks from the first Tuesday after he is activated to activate or waive him, as per rule XII. 2) Any team having a player traded to the AL during the period between Cut-down and the final round of the draft will get an open roster spot and a full refund. 3) If a team exceeds the 120% budget allotment during any round of the draft, the highest bid (or bids if necessary) will be dropped, untill a total equal or less than his teams 120% of $'s are reached. Additionally, maximum bid on any player in any draft round is = total dollars minus open positions plus one; ($ - # of posiotns open +1) ie the RMOysters have $79 and 8 open posiitons. $79-$8+1 = $72 is the most the RMOysters can bid in round #1. This would leave $7 for 7 remaining positions. If the RMOsyters got 3 players for $29 in round #1, they would have $50 left for round #2, where their maximum bid could then be $46 ($50-5+1) with $4 left for 4 positions. (Confused yet?) 4) A player who is drafted and announced at one position, but does not play at that position during the year, will be allowed to hold that position though-out the year even after such a time as he is moved to a different roster position. ie, Biggio on the RMOysters is qualified only at Catcher, but it is possible he only plays at 2B this season. The RMOysters can play use hiom as their Catcher, all Season (next year he would only qualify at 2B) and should the regular 2B-man be injuried, traded, sent down ect, and Biggio used to fill in at 2B, he could be returned to the Catcher position, even if he has not appeared there during the season. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx