We're in the 2002 season of the Empire Progressive League. At the moment, we have three teams available - Minnesota, St. Louis, and Boston. (See below for rosters.) The league has been going strong since the 1977 season (26 seasons), with most of the original owners still participating. Also, we use a salary cap, which makes it interesting. Sitemail me if you are interested.

Here are some of the key rules for this league...

SALARY CAP: We have a two-level salary cap - $80M and $85M. Your initial 25-man roster at the start of the season needs to fit under the $80M cap. We also allow the drafting of real-life ML players that start the year at AAA. The salaries of those guys don't count against the $80M cap, but they do count against the $85M cap. Once the season starts, your entire roster - 25-man plus AAA needs to fit under the $85M cap. This additional cap space can be used to pick up better players via trades. As far as going over the cap, the system won't let you do that. (Hopefully, this all makes sense.)

AAA: We do not allow the "imaginary" AAA players to be used. However, as stated above, we do allow the drafting of up to three real-life players that start the season on your AAA roster. You don't have to draft any extra players, but it's an option.

DRAFT ORDER: The draft order is based on the standings at the 120-game mark of the previous season. This allows us to draft while the previous season is completing and start the next season shortly after. We also have a win floor rule to prevent tanking. If a team doesn't reach 30 wins by the 120th game, they get bumped down to the 6th pick.

DH: No designated hitter.

PROSPECTS: A prospect is a player who played in the major leagues in a given season, but isn't yet become WiS eligible for that season. For instance, in the 1995 draft, Derek Jeter was a prospect. He played for the Yankees in the '95 season, but didn't accummulate enough ABs to be WiS-eligible until 1996. So basically, someone can draft him and then they own his rights until he becomes WiS-eligible. He doesn't occupy a roster spot until that point. You can only draft prospects in the first round and you can only have one prospect at a time.

DRAFT PICK TRADES: You can trade picks one year ahead.

For commissioners of other progressive leagues looking for owners, I (and maybe some others from this league) would be willing to fill an empty spot in your league if you fill one in ours.

2003 St. Louis Cardinals

C - Henry Blanco, Brian Schneider, A.J. Hinch

1B - Todd Helton

2B - Mark Grudzielanek, Frank Menechino

3B - Damion Easley, Aramis Ramirez

SS - Jimmy Rollins

OF - Jeromy Burnitz, Jose Guillen, Richard Hidalgo, Gary Sheffield

P - Armando Benitez, Rheal Cormier, Octavio Dotel, Brian Fuentes, Livan Hernandez, Roberto Hernandez, Esteban Loaiza, Mike Remlinger, Scot Shields, Steve Trachsel, David Weathers, P Jason Grimsley, P Joe Mays, P Carlos Hernandez, P Miguel Ascencio

IR -

Retired - none

Draft picks - #4 pick in round 1, 3, 4, 5...

2003 Minnesota Twins

C - Todd Greene, Charles Johnson, Chad Moeller, Greg Zaun

1B - Fred McGriff, Kevin Millar

2B - Jerry Hairston Jr., Luis Rivas

3B - Joe Crede,

SS - Rich Aurilia, Alex Gonzalez

OF - Rob Mackowiak, Albert Pujols, Dave Roberts, Aaron Rowand, Sammy Sosa,

P - John Burkett, Roger Clemens, Joey Eichen, Scott Eyre, Keith Foulke, Jorge Julio, Darrell May, Mark Redman, Jorge Sosa, John Thomson, Jarrod Washburn, Chad Zerbe

IR - none

Retired - none

Draft picks - #10 (out of 24) pick in rounds 1, 2, 3, 4...

2003 Boston Red Sox

C - Geronimo Gil, Jose Molina, Dan Wilson

1B - Jeff Liefer,

2B - Joe McEwing, Eric Young

3B - Mike Lowell, Lou Merloni

SS - Edgar Renteria

OF - Bobby Higginson, Ryan Klesko, Mark Kotsay, Rondell White

P - Danys Baez, Dave Burba, Clay Condrey, Randy Johnson, Steve Kline, Jim Mecir, Chan Ho Park, Arthur Rhodes, Ricardo Rincon, Scott Schoenweis, Carlos Silva

IR - C Raul Casanova [2007], P Trevor Hoffman [2004], P Dennys Reyes [2004]

Retired -

Draft picks - #7 and #17 (out of 24) picks in round 1; #7 pick in rounds 2, 3, 4, 5...

All three teams still available.

I'm taking Boston in exchange for one of your owners in my league- if anyone else wants in I can get more of my guys to join here.