Draft Procedures

Draft Procedures

Pre-Draft

The pre-draft phase will follow the following steps, in order:

  1. Each that is team losing a Star Player slot due to the Parity Rule or due to a temporary overage as the result of a trade must decide on who to let go at this time.
  2. Each team with potential incoming MLB regulars (colored bright red or bright orange on the Excel file) will make a decision on these players.
  3. Each team will make decision regarding any compensation they owe. The Commissioner will remind each team that owes compensation, and inform them of their options.
  4. Each team may make a decision on any outgoing Type-B free agents (salmon-colored on the Excel sheet).
    • Because some, if not most, outgoing Type-Bs are not likely to be under serious consideration to be slotted, this allows those players to move on to their new teams before the draft.
    • The “decline to slot” decision is optional, but also irrevocable. If a team isn’t sure they won’t be slotting a specific outgoing Type-B player during the draft, they should hold onto him at this time.
    • After these decisions have been made the Commissioner will move any “declined to slot” Type-B’s to their new teams. These players will now be considered “under contract” to their new teams and will be colored green on the updated Excel files (which the Commissioner will post shortly after each team has made their declarations).
  5. Each team will then submit a pre-draft 30-man roster. If a team has more players than the maximum number allowed under contract (green-colored players on the Excel sheet) they must release players until they are at or under the legal limit.
    • The pre-draft roster should not include any outgoing free agents; it should only include players who are already under contract (those colored green, plus any players colored bright red or bright orange that have been retained).
    • An incoming MLB regular (bright red or bright orange) who has not been accepted remains with the previous year’s MLB team. A player who has been released to make room for an incoming MLB regular goes to the incoming regular’s previous MLB team.
    • A Negro League or MLB player released from a Star Player slot becomes a Type-A free agent.
    • A minor league player released from a Star Player slot becomes a Type-C free agent (no matching right attached).
    • If it seems simpler for a team to submit a list of “cuts” rather than a list of “keeps”, it may do so. The team should make sure the “keeps” number 30 or less.

Draft

The draft will follow the following steps, in order:

  1. Options on some types of outgoing free agents must be prioritized. A team wishing to retain a Type-A free agent must do so in the First Round (if they are retaining two Type-A’s, they must do so in the First and Second Rounds, etc.).
  2. Aside from that, Rounds One and Two are “free” rounds, i.e., there is no other restriction to what type of free agent may be selected (non-outgoing Type-A, Type-B, Freebie, etc.).
  3. If at least one team is getting one or more additional Flex slots due to the Parity Rule, a Supplemental Round in between Rounds One and Two will be added. In the Supplemental Round only the teams with added Parity Rule slots will draft. A team may have more than one turn in the Supplemental Round.
  4. After Round Two (not the supplemental round) is complete, all teams will declare which, if any, of their remaining outgoing Type-B (red) free agents they intend to retain.
    • After Round Two, Type-B free agent picks have priority. If the team is retaining one Type-B free agent, they must select him at the first opportunity (generally Round Three). If a team is retaining two Type-B free agents, they must select them in the next two rounds (Rounds Three and Four).
  5. Following these declarations, Type-B free agents who are not being retained will go to their new teams.
  6. All teams will then submit a provisional 30-man roster (including any of their outgoing Type-B (red) and Type-C (blue) free agents they wish to retain.
    • A Type-B (red) free agent requires the team to use a draft turn to retain him
    • A Type-C (blue) free agent does not require the team to use a draft turn to retain him; he is retained simply by being put on the provisional roster (unless another team drafts him using a Minor League Star or Flex slot).
    • Any players (excluding those who were in Star Player slots) who are not on a provisional roster after Round Two are considered to have been released, and become Type-D (brown) free agents (Freebies).
    • The provisional roster is not the final roster; Type-C free agents who are on a provisional roster can still be drafted by other teams (using a Minor League Star slot).
  7. Immediately after the draft all Type-C free agents that have been successfully retained will “turn green” on the final, post-draft Excel files.

Miscellaneous Draft Rules

  • The draft has five rounds (not counting any supplemental rounds).
  • A team may pass during a round. A team may may also make “retroactive” selections in a later round to “catch up” (e.g., a team that has made only one pick in the first three rounds combined is allowed to make three picks in Round Four).
  • An additional round may be added to allow a team to fill a Star Player slot if the team has used all previous rounds to fill Star Player slots (i.e., if a team decides to fill all six of its Star Player slots in a single draft, a sixth round will be made available for them to complete the process).

League Files During the Draft

Between rounds the Commissioner may upload a new league file. This is done for reference purposes only (player ratings will be current in these uploads, so it is recommended that GMs look at players in-game before making draft decisions on them).

Team exports are never collected during the off-season. The first collected export for the new season is at the start of Spring Training.

Post-draft

Undrafted Freebies are still eligible to be signed after the draft on a first-come, first-serve basis. Shortly after the draft ends (the next day, usually), the Commissioner will advance the game calendar to the beginning of Spring Training, at which point some undrafted Freebies will have been signed by NL and AL teams (by the OOTP A.I.). These players will no longer be eligible to be signed by PCL teams.

During the season the only players that can be signed by PCL teams are:

  • Players on the Freebies list who are not on MLB teams
  • Players that MLB teams have released (i.e., “in-game” free agents) that at one time played in the PCL in real life

The OOTP A.I. is capable of making bizarre decisions at times, and sometimes the game releases a player who no sane person would ever release. Although this doesn’t seem to happen as often as it did with earlier versions of the game, it is still a possibility. These “obviously shouldn’t have been released” players will not be eligible to be signed by PCL teams, and will generally be reassigned to a MLB team once the Commissioner has become aware of them.