League Concept

This will be a salary cap progressive league starting in 1985. However, instead of using the WIS generated salaries, we will use each player’s real life salary for that year.

I have exported player salaries from baseball-reference.com (herein referred to as BR) and am building a database by season beginning with 1985 (so far I have 1985-91 complete). I will post this data in our private forum once we have one established. I will try to always be at least ten seasons ahead of the league so owners can plan ahead regarding their cap strategy.

Each team will maintain a 35 man roster which will consist of 25 active players plus 10 in AAA. All 35 players will be subject to the salary cap. Teams will be required to fill all 35 roster spots so that everybody’s salary cap is spread over the same number of players.

The initial draft will be 24 rounds. Rounds 1-15 will be one player/pick, rounds 16-21 will be two players/pick, and rounds 22-24 will be three players/pick. This will allow us to pick all 35 players plus a ballpark.

At the end of each season, owners may keep as many players as they wish, subject to being able to stay under the cap based on the number of picks needed to get back to 35 players. You may protect as many IR players as you wish but they do count against your 35 man roster and salary cap. If an owner protects one or more IR players, then less than 10 real life players will be available for AAA. In this situation, teams may not use a fictitious AAA player. Future draft order will be randomized and will snake each round. This will ensure nobody is rewarded for tanking.

Salary cap formula:

• Average player salary x 35 (rounded off to the nearest half million)

• Once the average player salary reached $1M+, we’ll round off to the nearest million

• Example (assume $410,500 avg player salary)

  • $410,500 x 35 = $14,367,500

  • $14,367,500 rounds up to $14.5 million

• I have tested this out multiple times and feel it will give owners sufficient space to build their rosters while still providing enough of a challenge where budgeting cap space comes into play

Other details to note about player salaries…..

• Not all players have a listed salary in BR; for the most part they are mid-season call ups or mid-season traded players (traded players usually have their salary listed with the team they were with at the beginning of the season)

• Occasionally I have found a traded player with 2 different listed salaries in the same year; in this case the highest salary of the two will be the official salary

• If no salary is listed for a player, then it will be assumed that their salary is the league minimum for that season (exception-if a player had a salary the previous year and the following year, we’ll average the two to determine the player’s salary for that year)

• BR will be the official salary determination method so even if other sites have conflicting data, we’ll always go with BR

Owners may not carry forward any unused cap space from one season to the next nor borrow cap space from a future season. They also may not trade cap space with other teams.

Other Rules

• League Format - WIS Alt Format F (5/5/5/5) with 4 playoff teams and interleague play and a balanced schedule

• WIS Salary Cap - Max

• Ballparks:

  • Must be one of the 26 parks used in 1985

  • As new parks become available teams may change by drafting the new park in the offseason draft

• Other Settings

  • AAA (6/4) - Must only use real life players

  • Trades - Yes, with # of vetoes required to block a trade (14)

  • DH - Yes, both leagues

  • WW - No

  • Injuries- Yes

  • Transaction Deadline - Yes

Down the road as real life expansion happens and more players are available, we will consider expanding the league. If/when this happens, we’ll form an expansion committee to come up with the rules and procedures for conducting this process.

Also, from time to time we may as a league revisit the rules and salary cap structure and consider whether changes are necessary. To change an existing rule, a majority of all owners is required to pass the change. If a new rule is proposed, a simple majority of all owners is required to pass the rule.

• 1985 - $296,252 ($10.5M Cap)
• 1986 - $321,334 ($11M Cap)
• 1987 - $305,826 ($10.5M Cap)
• 1988 - $329,836 ($11.5M Cap)
• 1989 - $375,198 ($13M Cap)
• 1990 - $443,934 ($15.5M Cap)
• 1991 - $610,813 ($21.5M Cap)

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