PCL Redux League Rules
Overview
If you can’t make time to read all these rules, here is
a brief overview of what they are and what they set out to
accomplish:
- This league is a historical PCL replay with a
“twist”; the “twist” being that the PCL breaks the color
line in 1921 and soon after attains Major League status.
With some exceptions, in this league each PCL team
starts out each season with the players it had in real
life. This is to retain some of the flavor of the
historical PCL.
- There is a limited draft (five rounds) before each
season. Some players who were not actually in the PCL in
real life (mostly Negro League players, some MLB
players) are eligible to be drafted, as are players who
were in the PCL the previous season but whose contracts
have run out.
- Each team has six “slots” with which to hold Star
Players. This is to prevent any team from getting too
strong or too weak. There are different types of slots
to hold different types of players (Negro League, MLB
players from the western U.S., minor league stars,
etc.).
- OOTP’s player development is used, but is regulated by
the Commissioner. Mostly, the regulations favor players
who played for a long time; they are generally not
allowed to get too much worse than they were in real
life, while players with short, undistinguished careers
are generally prevented from becoming stars.
Premise
Ambitious and forward-thinking Pacific Coast League
owners, determined to achieve the prestige and financial
rewards associated with “big league” status, elevate their
circuit’s level of play by infusing its ranks with major
league-quality African-American players beginning in 1921.
Before the decade has ended, the National and American
Leagues’ owners have recognized the PCL as a third major
league, instituted a three-league post season
championship, and have begun integrating their own clubs.
OOTP runs all three leagues, but we have GMs/managers
for the PCL clubs only; the AL and NL are run almost
entirely the computer. The Commissioner may intervene if
necessary to ensure that the computer-run MLB clubs have
sufficient personnel and aren’t doing anything too goofy.
In the event that we are unable to assign a GM to a PCL
club, the Commissioner will take an active hand in
maintaining that team until a GM is found (drafting,
roster moves, trades, etc.).
Sections
1 Rosters
2 Free Agent
Draft basics
3 Additional
roster/draft rules
4 Player
development procedures/rules
5 GM duties
6 Miscellaneous
rules/procedures
1 Rosters
1.1
Roster construction/player eligibility
Rosters are largely based on the team’s real-life roster
for that year (per baseball-reference.com).
- A player must meet certain requirements to be
eligible:
- His date of birth must be listed at
baseball-reference.com (or somewhere else I can find
it)
- If he was born in California, Oregon, or Washington,
he must have at least 300 career at-bats or 150 career
innings pitched at the AA level (Pacific Coast League,
International League, American Association) in real
life
- If he was not born in California, Oregon, or
Washington, he must have at least 600 career at-bats
or 300 career innings pitched in the Pacific Coast
League in real life
- A player who played regularly and productively in our
MLB simulation the previous year is only eligible to
join a PCL team if that team has a “need” for him, i.e.,
if they have no other starter at his position. They may
release a starter to make room for him. A team with
fewer than eight pitchers with a Stamina rating of 12 or
higher is considered to be in “need” of a starting
pitcher. Center field is considered a separate position
from corner outfield positions (i.e., a team can have
three starting corner outfielders and still be in “need”
of a center fielder).
- A player who joins a PCL team after a productive MLB
season as described above must start full-time in his
first season in the PCL, unless prevented from doing
so due to injury.
- Teams add to or subtract from their rosters via
trades, post-draft free agent signings, and the annual
Free Agent Draft (see Section
2—Draft basics)
- The league uses a 25-man active roster limit
(expanded to 30 each Sept. 1) and a 5-man reserve roster
limit
Prior to each draft an updated Excel file with the
rosters as they currently stand is updated (available here;
may not be current if draft is not in progress).
1.2
Roster conflict/resolution
-
If a player was on two or more PCL teams during a
season in real life, he goes to the team that had him
first that year (per baseball-reference.com, unless
there is a good reason to believe their info is
incorrect, which it sometimes is)
-
If a player was on a PCL team and another minor
league team in another league, he goes to the PCL
team
-
If a player was on a PCL team and a major league
team, he goes to the PCL team (an exception to this
would be if he was clearly a major league player, but
did a brief stint in the minors to rehab or something)
1.3
Post-draft Type-D free agent signings (during regular
season)
-
Free agents may only be signed during the Free Agent
draft, unless they are designated as Type-D free
agents (see Section
2.4—Contract status definitions). Type-D's
may also be signed during the season on a first come,
first serve basis (generally this should be done by
notifying the Commissioner in Slack)
-
Marginal players (non-starters, generally) released
by MLB teams may be signed as well, subject to the
Commissioner’s approval, if they played in the
real-life PCL, and/or were born in
California, Oregon, or Washington. The
Commissioner will typically disqualify any
non-marginal MLB players and put them back on a MLB
roster (OOTP, in defiance of logic, often releases
good players while retaining marginal players).
1.4
Trades between two or more PCL teams
-
May violate Star Player slot limits (see Section
2.1—Star Player slots) if the trade is
conducted during the regular season; any Star
Player slot limit violations must be rectified immediately
following the end of the postseason (i.e., any team
that received a surplus of Stars in a trade must
release players as necessary). A team which vacates a
Star Player slot by trading away a player must wait at
least one full off-season to become eligible to draft
that player.
-
Will generally always be approved unless the
Commissioner deems them extremely lopsided or an
attempt to circumvent a rule
1.5 Trades between a PCL and a NL or AL team
-
May not violate Star Player slot limits (see Section
2.1—Star Player slots
-
Should not, except in very rare cases, involve stars,
and should generally not have long-term effects (e.g.,
except in extraordinary cases, you can’t trade for a
MLB player who was a starter for several seasons). PCL
teams are expected to address their major roster needs
in the draft or by trading with other PCL teams.
-
Must be approved by the Commissioner
-
The Commissioner will act as an advocate for the
NL/AL team, and will consider all relevant criteria as
if the NL/AL team were a team in our league, including
value-for-value, “real world” plausibility, and
“crystal ball” ramifications
-
Trades involving the Commissioner’s team (Angels) can
be vetoed by any other member of the league
1.6
Roster miscellany
-
Placing a player on the 60-day DL takes him
temporarily off his team’s roster. That team may sign
a free agent to replace him.
-
When the injured player comes off the DL the roster
limits must be observed (meaning players must be
released as necessary) When a player is acquired via
trade, he stays with his new team for the duration he
would have been with the team that traded him (see Section
2.3—Contracts)
2 Free Agent Draft basics
The Free Agent draft is conducted outside of OOTP. We do
not use OOTP’s financial system. There are rules that
prevent teams from having too many stars, and rules that
make it difficult for teams to have too few.
A list of players eligible to be drafted is updated and
made available before each season. The current list is here;
may not be current if draft is not in progress).
2.1
Star Player slots
Teams have six slots to hold players designated as
Stars. Each team has four Flex slots and two Minor League
Star slots (Exception: see Section
3.1—Parity Rule).
-
Flex slot—may hold a star player from the Negro
Leagues, the Major Leagues, or the Minor
Leagues
-
Minor League Star slot—may only hold a
player who was on a minor league team in real life
during the year we are playing in the Redux.
A player going from a PCL team to a MLB team (in real
life) is eligible to be drafted only by his most
recent PCL team.
A star MLB player who was born or schooled in Arizona,
California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New
Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, or Wyoming will be
eligible to be drafted in his real-life rookie MLB season.
Players may be transferred from Minor League Star slots to
Flex slots, but may only be transferred from Flex slots to
Minor League Star slots if they qualify.
2.2
Other player designations
-
Buddy—Competent Negro League player (not a
star) who may be selected when a team drafts a
star Negro League player during the draft. Buddies may
also be exchanged during the draft for free agent
Buddies. Each team is entitled to at least one
Buddy per Negro League player the team has in a Star
Player Slot, so if a team loses a Buddy, it may
replace him during the draft. There is no limit to how
many Buddies a team may have (they can be traded
without restriction), but a team that already has at
least one Buddy for each Negro League star on its
roster does not get an additional Buddy when it drafts
a Negro League player.
-
Freebie—Generally, a player has been added to
the draft by the Commissioner specifically to be
drafted as a Freebie, or who has been released by
a PCL or MLB team. Not all players who are
released become Freebies (See Section
1.3—Post-Draft Free Agent Signings and Section
3.2—Star Player Release Rule). For additional
information on Freebies, see Section
2.4—Contract status definitions.
2.3
Contracts
-
Negro League players (including Buddies) have
lifetime contracts; so do Major League players who are
in Flex slots. They stay with their teams unless they
are traded or released, or until they retire.
-
Players in Minor League Star slots (or minor league
players in Flex slots) sign contracts that last for as
long as the player’s real-life stint in the minor
leagues (or until he retires in our league).
-
Other PCL players (those who aren’t in Minor League
Star slots) have contracts that last for the length of
the player’s stay on a real-life PCL team. Whenever he
changed teams in real-life, his contract is up.
-
MLB players who aren’t in Flex slots (Freebies,
generally) have contracts that last as long as their
real-life MLB career. Exception: a player who has
significant gaps in his real-life MLB career signs
shorter contracts. He gets a new contract each time he
goes from the majors to the minors or vice-versa.
2.4
Contract status definitions
- Free Agent Type-A (player is shown in PURPLE
on the Excel sheets)
-
The player is a draft-eligible Star Player from
the Negro Leagues or Major Leagues
- MLB players will remain eligible until they have a
productive season in our MLB simulation, after which
they will be removed from the eligibility list.
-
Can only be drafted by a team with a “need” for
him. They may create a need by releasing (in effect,
trading) a starting player who plays the same
position to the Type-A players’ MLB team (if
applicable)
- Free Agent Type-B (player is shown in RED
on the Excel sheets)
-
The player was on that real-life team this year
but is eligible to be retained by another team (he
was on their real-life team last year, or was
acquired by them). A Type-B Free Agent may be
retained by his previous team only by using a Minor
League Star or Flex slot. If his previous team
declines to do so, he goes to the team he was on
that year in real life. Retaining a Type-B Free
Agent with a Star Player slot requires the team
retaining the player to compensate the team that
would otherwise have gotten him (see Section
3.4—Compensation).
- Free Agent Type-C (player is shown in BLUE
on the Excel sheets)
-
The player was on a PCL team last year but is
eligible to be drafted by another team (his
“contract” with his most recent team has run out). A
Type-C Free Agent may be drafted by any team using a
Minor League Star or Flex slot. If no other team
drafts him, he remains with his previous team (as
long as they have room for him, or unless he is
released).
- Free Agent Type-D (player is shown in BROWN
on the Excel sheets)
- An eligible player who has been released, or who has
been made eligible as a Freebie by the Commissioner.
- May be signed during and after the Free
Agent draft
- Buddies are brown on the Excel sheets as well, even
though they’re not technically Freebies (you need to
draft a Negro League star to get one). They are
similar to Freebies in that they do not require a Star
Player slot.
3
Additional roster/draft rules
3.1
Parity Rule
A team will temporarily lose one Flex slot whenever the
following has occurred:
A team will temporarily gain one Flex slot whenever the
following has occurred:
The penalty/relief only lasts for as long as the team
qualifies (it would be rare for a team to qualify in
consecutive seasons), so when a team loses a Flex slot,
they will generally get it back the following season, and
when a team gains a Flex slot, they will generally lose it
after one season. If a team does happens to
qualify in successive seasons, it does not gain or lose additional
slots, it just maintains the slot loss/gain for which it
originally qualified.
Teams that are compelled to drop players under this rule
do so before the draft begins. Those players are eligible
to be drafted by other teams.
The Commissioner’s team (LA) forever waives its claim to
the “welfare” portion of the Parity Rule. When the Angels
are good, they may lose a slot; when they’re bad, they are
exempt from gaining one.
3.2
Star Player Release Rule
Players who were occupying Star Player slots prior to
being released do not become Freebies. Major League and
Negro League players who are released from Flex slots are
eligible to be drafted by other teams as Type-A free
agents (they still require an appropriate Star Player
slot). A player who is released from a Minor League Star
slot goes to his real-life PCL team (if he had one);
otherwise he becomes a Type-C free agent (with no attached
matching rights; see Section
3.6—Matching rights).
3.3
Star Player Status Downgrade Option
A team that has an aging Star player who is both near
the end of his real-life career and whose ratings have
declined to a level that render him no longer
substantially more productive than a replacement player
may petition to have that player’s Star Player status
removed (thus keeping him on the team while freeing up a
Star Player slot for a younger, more valuable player). It
is at the Commissioner’s discretion whether the condition
“no longer substantially more productive than a
replacement player” is met prior to approval.
3.4
“Overslotting”
A Minor League Star slot has slightly less value than a
Flex slot because in all but the most extremely unorthodox
cases, players who are typically drafted to fill Flex
slots are better players than those who were only eligible
to fill Minor League Star slots.
There are times when “overslotting” a player—holding him
in a slot that is more valuable than one for which he is
eligible—is desirable. Overslotting is legal.
An example of when overslotting would be desirable: A
player (in real life) was in the Major Leagues but went to
the PCL briefly, then returned to MLB and had a stellar
career. A team may have drafted him using a Flex slot
during the first leg of his MLB career, and during the
time he is supposed to go to the PCL the team may not have
a vacant Minor League Star slot for him. The team may
choose to keep him in the more valuable Flex slot during
the time he would otherwise be going to a rival PCL team
(they would still need to compensate that team; see Section
3.5—Compensation).
3.5
Compensation
When a team uses a Minor League Star or Flex slot to
retain a Type-B free agent who was bound for another PCL
team, it must compensate that team with the player’s
real-life replacement (the player who filled the slotted
player’s role in real life).
-
Sometimes there will only be one reasonable
candidate for the “real-life replacement” (e.g.
starting catcher for starting catcher); however, if
it’s an outfielder or a pitcher, or a player who split
time between two or more positions, some choice will
be involved. Whenever possible, the compensatory
player must be comparable to the slotted player in real-life
playing time for that year. If the slotted
player had 700 AB, a player who had only 300 is not
legitimate compensation. The two players need not
be comparable in quality (and typically they
would not be, as that would entail an unwise use of a
Star Player slot).
-
Teams may negotiate a different compensatory
arrangement than that which is described above, but
the team that is owed compensation is under no
obligation to negotiate. That team may demand that
which is described above in lieu of negotiating.
-
Compensation is necessary each year that the slotted
player changed PCL teams in real life. The
compensation would occur prior to the draft each year
the player changed PCL teams. As some players played
for many different PCL teams, this may eventually
become too costly for the team that slotted the
player; at any time, they may give up the player to
the appropriate historical team rather than compensate
(see Section
3.2—Star Player Release Rule).
-
No compensation is necessary for a slotted player who
is bound for a team in a minor league other than
the PCL.
- See also here.
3.6
Matching rights
In certain situations one team is given preference over
another team in free agent signings.
-
A Type-B free agent may be retained by the team for
whom he most recently played if that team offers him a
Star Player slot. However, the team for which was
otherwise destined (i.e., the team he played for in
real life that year), may "match" the offer of a Star
Player slot, in which case he will go to his real-life
team.
-
A Type-C free agent may return to the team for whom
he most recently played, no Star Player slot is
required. However, another team may also draft him
using a Flex or Minor League Star slot; in this case
the team for whom he most recently played has the
option to retain him by “matching the offer” (i.e.
placing the player in a Star Player slot).
3.7
“Cup of Coffee” major leaguers
A player who went from a PCL team to a MLB team becomes a
Type-A free agent if he meets at least one of these
requirements:
If he fails to meet either of these requirements he
becomes a “Type-C” free agent (or a Freebie, if the
Commissioner deems him suitably sub-par).
4 Player development procedures/rules
The OOTP option “Player Development” is activated for
this league, but we limit the extent to which Player
Development can affect players. All players are
allowed up to a +2 gain on any of their “main” ratings
(CON/GAP/POW/EYE for batters, STU/MOV/CON for pitchers),
and some are also protected from having their ratings drop
too low.
4.1 Tenured players
A tenured player is one who played for ten or more years
in real life, and who is not near the end of his career.
Tenured players are protected from the OOTP player
development engine killing their careers early. A tenured
player will be reset each season if any of his main
ratings drop by more than -2. He will also be reset if any
of his main ratings increase by more than +2.
4.2 Non-tenured players
A non-tenured player is one who played fewer than ten
years in real life. A non-tenured player will be reset
each season if any of his main ratings increase by more
than +2. He will not be reset if any of his ratings drop
by more than -2.
More details about resetting players can be found here.
5 GM duties
Not much in the way of hard and fast rules here, just a
few things that are expected of those brave souls who
deign to be called GMs in this league:
-
GMs are expected to make fairly regular team
exports. GMs should notify the Commissioner whenever
they know they will be unable to make regular exports.
If a GM misses several exports in a row without
explanation, the Commissioner will nag him with
annoying e-mails.
-
GMs are expected to be aware of what is going on
with their team, and to make necessary adjustments
(e.g. using the disabled list, using the reserve
roster, making decisions regarding unproductive
players, initiating trades/responding to trade
proposals, expanding the roster on Sept. 1, etc.).
-
GMs are expected to know (or at least want to learn)
a little bit about:
-
GMs are expected to make an attempt to manage their
teams as appropriate to the era and to the real-life
stature of their individual players
- Due to the many scheduled doubleheaders in this
league, during the regular season:
- GMs must attempt to give pitchers at least
three days of rest between starts (if the A.I. opts to
give a pitcher a relief appearance between starts,
that’s not something the GM can control).
- It is recommended that teams set their rotations to
at least a 5-man; 6-man is highly recommended
in week with more games than days. “Always start
highest rested” or “Strict, on occasion highest
rested” is highly recommended (“Strict Order” should
be avoided except in Spring Training or the
postseason). With these settings the A.I. will usually
skip the starters at the bottom of the rotation when
possible, but use them when necessary.
- GMs opting to use 7-day lineups must not use them to
circumvent the three-days off rule.
- Pitchers may start on two days rest in the
postseason.
- Also recommended:
- Allow SP in Relief
- An 8- or 9-man staff is usually sufficient prior to
September call-ups; the game does seem to use
relievers a little more frequently in September
6
Miscellaneous rules/procedures
6.1 Negro League player eligibility
Negro League players won’t be added to the Free Agent
Draft eligibility list until their second year in Negro
League ball. This is to simulate the lack of an
established system to scout black players for a
newly-integrated PCL; scouts would not have the
knowledge or resources to locate the best amateur
African-American players, and would only become aware of
a black player once he was already playing in the Negro
Leagues.
6.2
Postseason
With this league representing an evolving alt-history,
the postseason setup will not mimic that of real-life,
and will change formats from time to time. A change in
postseason formats will always be announced prior to the
regular season. Currently, the first-place team in the
PCL plays the second-place team in a seven-game series
for the Nyquist Trophy. The PCL champion then plays the
winner of the Eastern Championship Series (the NL/AL
championship).
6.3
Park Factors
We have some real-life park factor data on historical
Pacific Coast League parks, and we use whatever data we
have. I have found that in OOTP park factors give the
most accurate results when a league’s park factors
average 1.000. To achieve this, if any park changes its
park factors, all parks must adjust theirs as well. I
adjust park factors proportionately along with the
league’s other parks to achieve a league average of
1.000.
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