What If Franchise League
Ever wonder "What If" your favorite team had been a little wiser in their personnel decisions or had a little more money and sway with a player to keep him in their fold ?
What if the Red Sox had kept Jeff Bagwell instead of trading him for Larry Anderson?
What if Michigan native John Smoltz had a long career with the Tigers ?
What if Baltimore had been able to convince Reggie to become part of the Oriole Way ?
What if Cleveland, Boston, or the Cubs had seen Eck's potential as a reliever ?
What if the financially strapped Expos could have kept Pedro, Vlad, Moises Alou, or John Wetteland ?
This league will allow you to form teams based on your chosen combination of franchise favorites and players that slipped through your selected franchise's grasp. In this league, you'll build a 100 mil team of players from 1965 - 2009 that actually played for your franchise or could have played for your franchise. For building your team, the following three types of players are eligible to be drafted:
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1. Franchise Favorites
Franchise favorites are those players who have the most WIS eligible listed seasons with your team. Seasons prior to 1965 also count toward the WIS season requirement. For example, Omar Vizquel has 11 WIS seasons with Cleveland and would be considered a Cleveland "franchise favorite". As a Cleveland owner, you would be able select any Cleveland Vizquel season or any season after he Cleveland. ( 2005-2008 SF Giants, 2009 Texas). You would NOT be able to select Vizquel's Seattle seasons since Seattle first recognized Omar's talent.
Players with an equal number of WIS seasons with multiple franchises can be designated as a franchise favorite for those teams. For example, Manny Ramirez has 8 WIS listed seasons each with Boston and Cleveland. Manny can be selected as a Cleveland franchise player or Boston franchise player. If selected by Cleveland, an owner could select any season since he started with Cleveland. A Boston owner can select any Boston or LA Dodger season.
Since the intent of these league is for owners to select a combination of traditional franchise players and what-if's, the number of franchise favorites will be capped at 13 for each team.
2. Amateur Draftees, Signees, or Minor Leaguers
Any amateur player selected by your franchise in the draft or signed as a free agent can use any WIS player season for that player. Likewise, any player that was in your organization's minor league system can be selected for any year after he was in your franchise's minor leagues. For example, any Jeff Bagwell player season can be selected by the Boston franchise and any John Smoltz season can be selected by the Detroit franchise.
The amateur draftees also includes players who were selected by your franchise but did not sign. For example, the Cleveland Indians selected Doug Drabek in the 4th round of the 1980 June amateur draft, but he did not sign. The Cleveland franchise can select any Drabek player season.
3. Stop-overs
This class of players includes any player who played for your team and after a short stay. Eligible "stop-over" seasons would include any season a player played for your team and any season after he your team. For example, Reggie Jackson can be selected by the Baltimore franchise from 1976 to the end of his career. Another example would be Randy Johnson with the Houston franchise ( 1998- 2009).
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To help the league fill, I'll offer a FREE team to the league winner. I will also allow two instances of each franchise. They will be placed in separate leagues. Please check the league sign-up thread for closed out franchises. Have fun researching your team's transaction history !