I know we don't have a ton of live leagues to choose from so I thought I would throw an idea out there and see if there is enough interest to get it going. Here is the concept:
Everyone picks a Catcher to start their team train. That catcher becomes exclusive to you. You build the rest of your team with that catchers teammates going up or down season by season. I would ideally like to have 12 "Locomotive" (catcher starts and you go backwards in time) & 12 "Caboose" (catcher ends and you build forwards) then have each form a league. Divisions would be divided by start year of your catcher chronologically, starting with the oldest in the East. The beta team started with 1997 Mike Piazza, who played in 97 with Chad Fonville. Fonville played in 95 with Nomo, and on it goes until your team is complete.
With these rules in mind, 1989 is the cutoff for Caboose teams & 1909 for Locomotives.
*Rookie/Retiring Rule*
Each team is allowed ONE rookie/final season in their train. (Rookie for Locomotive, Old Dudes for Caboose) No restrictions on rookies for Caboose teams or Old Dudes for Locomotive because it doesn't create a hole in train building) When this happens (and it isn't the last pick) the next season in the train must feature a player from the rookie/retiring players Rival/Expansion team list opposite. (In the beta team, Hideo Nomo is the rookie, therefore the 1994 player must be a SF Giant). The Teams are paired as follows:
LAD/SF SD/MTL-WAS COL/FLA ARZ/TB STL/CHC CIN/PIT PHI/NYM MIL/ATL NYY/BOS TOR/SEA
BAL/MIN CHW/CLE DET/OAK KC/LAA HOU/TEX
*Traded Players Rule*
If you use a player traded during his season in your train (or the one prior/next) any of those teammates are eligible for the next spot on the train & you can use any version (just that season that he was traded to fit the train, not any year of his career) of the traded player for your team.
*Missed Seasons Rule*
If a player missed a season of major league service, this means you can NOT use this season and skip to the season prior in building the train. Should be easy enough to avoid this.
OTHER DETAILS
CAP: 100M (Came pretty close to this building the beta team so this seems like a good place to start)
WW: NO
Trades: NO
AAA: NO
40 Live required for playoffs
Playoffs must be live
Must play in the ballpark your catcher did in the season you chose
Have your catcher's last name included in team name
I will pick my Catcher 10th if enough of you guys are interested in this.
8/6/2014 1:07 AM (edited)