10MiLB players will be owned outside of the standard Ottoneu 40-man roster system for a salary of $0 each. Ownership and transaction history will be managed by commissioner in a spreadsheet shared with all owners. 10MiLB players are consider non-rostered and are ineligible to receive annual arbitration allocations so long as the player has not been added (“called up”) to any owner’s standard 40-man Ottoneu roster at any point during the year.
Unless they are added via trade, 10MiLB players may only be added during the annual non-roster draft. 10MiLB players cannot be added to the non-roster portion of an owner’s roster at any other time during the year, and cannot be added via the standard Ottoneu free-agent or waiver system by starting a player auction. - Players ineligible for 10MiLB non-roster status:
- Unsigned (amateur or foreign) players
- Players with MLB experience (one PA or IP)
- Any player that is currently owned by another team in the league
- Any player with either a slary or cap penalty of >= $1 in the current season - Draft:
- 10MiLB keepers will occupy your first available round picks in the 10MiLB draft the following season.
- Ex: if you keep eight 10MiLB players, your first 10MiLB pick in the draft will be in Round 9.
- The draft will be a randomized snake draft beginning in January 2019.
- Each team will have 12 hours to make their selection and post it to the league board or external thread. List of exempt players will be provided prior to the draft. - The Call Up:
- 10MiLB players may be “called up” (added) to an owner’s standard 40-man Ottoneu roster at any time by announcing the transaction to the league via the league message board.
- 10MiLB players must be added to an owner’s standard 40-man Ottoneu roster within 48 hours after the player incurs his first MLB PA (hitters) or IP (pitchers). Upon “call up”, the league commissioner will add the non-rostered MiLB player to the owner’s 40-man roster for a salary of $1, at which point the player will be considered “rostered”, immediately included in the team’s salary ($400) and roster limits (40), and eligible for cut (with cap penalty), trade, and arbitration allocations, and ineligible for future 10MiLB status (even if the player is sent back to the minor leagues).
- In order to cut a 10MiLB player, the player must be first “called up” to the 40-man roster, thus incurring a $1 cap penalty upon cut.
The “restricted list” that Niv created late last year has helped manage this MiLB process quite a bit. I’m personally maxed out on leagues but wish you well in filling what looks to be a fun one for those who really follow @prospects
Much appreciated! I actually reached out to Niv about this, and he sent me the restricted list and said you’d be a helpful resource so I may be reaching out for advice/guidance in the coming months.
Looks interesting. Some questions (I don’t think any were addressed directly, apologies if I missed it):
Are qualified minor leaguers still eligible to be taken in the regular auction (e.g., Vlad or Eloy) or does all acquisitions of minor league players have to occur during the minor league draft?
If I acquire a player on another team’s minor league roster without trading someone off of my minor league roster and the newly acquired player gets added to my minor league roster, then do I have to cut a minor leaguer from my roster? If so, does that mean a $1 penalty (because I’d have to call him up to cut him) or would that cut be penalty exempt?
@walt526 thanks for the interest. a couple answers…
all minor league players that are not drafted in the MiLB draft are eligible for the regular draft. Minor leaguers can be auctioned normally during the regular season if they are not a part of another team’s MiLB roster.
you are only allowed to have 10 MiLB players on your MiLB roster. If you acquire a MiLB player from someone else’s team then you will have to cut one of your players unless you do not have 10 at the time. No cap penalties are assessed as all of the players on the MiLB rosters technically have a salary of $0.
We had not discussed draft pick trades, but we are open to the idea.
Let me know if you have further questions. We would be excited to have you in the league.
Hi @JD15, in the last post you said “Minor leaguers can be auctioned normally during the regular season if they are not a part of another team’s MiLB roster.” So if a prospect is not selected in the annual MiLB draft, and he can be brought up for auction any time during the year, wouldn’t that be an advantage for rebuilding teams to just snatch up all the prospects before the following year’s MiLB draft? Would you be open to limiting the pickup of an MiLB eligible player to an MiLB draft, and maybe have multiple of them throughout the year like LuckyStrike’s league?
Thanks for your interest and also for bringing up a good point. @drewoneill and I are currently discussing how we will counteract this and it will likely mean multiple MiLB drafts with some restrictions on MiLB auctions during the season. We’re willing to discuss this more if you have additional thoughts.
A solution could be to exclude all players without an MLB PA or pitch from being added to a team outside of an MiLB league draft or trade. There could also be two annual MiLB drafts, one off-season and another mid-season (maybe during the AS beak). League 649 is 5 MiLB and they don’t have what I’m suggesting, and you can see rebuilding teams take advantage. For example, this trade included 3 top tier prospects from one team and their team still has a handful more, so then all those prospects already being taken really dilutes the MiLB draft.
Our most recent discussion included a draft during offseason and allstar break to help restrict the amount of minor league hoarding in season. As a warning we are only down to 2 spots remaining in the league so if you’re interested don’t wait too long to join as we’ve added 3 people this week. We will continue work out the kinks with the league owners to make sure that we have a good league manifesto.
I’ll jump in here since we have an 15MiLB system in 836: I don’t recommend you limit minor league in-season prospect auctions. First, it’s almost unmanageable. Second, it’s unnecessary. While it’s certainly possible a team could tank and hoard prospects on the 40 man, the prospects available will be thinned by the MiLB drafts anyway, so the true talent available will be limited. Plus, those teams that hoard prospects are often uncompetitive, and even the biggest prospect lovers will figure out that hoarding B level prospects isn’t a good way to win long term. Finally, if you’re set on limiting minor leaguers outside of the MiLB drafts, consider doing it with a carrot rather than a stick. In 836 each team has to “earn” the 15 MiLB slots by hitting certain PA and IP thresholds. If you don’t meet the minimums, you lose a few draft spots (I lost one spot from 2018 so I will only be able to carry 14 MiLB into next season rather than 15 like other teams). It should help offset your concern about prospect hoarding but the better benefit is that it really pushes every owner to remain engaged all season long, even when they are out of the race. You can’t hit the minimums if you carry too many prospects…
Hi @LuckyStrikes, for your MiLB rosters, when a player gets called up to the 40 man (including a cut), does that open up a spot for that player’s drafted round in the next draft or does it just bump everyone else up? For example, if I drafted 15 MiLB guys, including Soto in the 3rd round, when Soto got called up, did that open up my 3rd round pick in the next draft or the 15th round? I assume the latter, but wanted to confirm. Thanks
Since the draft order is reverse order of the standings, all your MiLB keepers just go to the latest round possible, opening up your earliest rounds for the next draft (most owners are keeping 12+ players heading into the draft anyway). So in your Soto example, if Soto was the only player called up (out of 15), you’d get a 1st round pick but nothing after that.