The No Whining Progressive - Early Edition is a unique 16 team (currently in midseason 1896/1961 and looking to expand to 20 next season) progressive league that is very likely the only of its kind on WhatIfSports. The main differentiating points are a contract system and a completely random draft order from season to season. The uniqueness of this league makes it a different challenge, as well as a lot of fun if you like researching and learning about new eras.

- Contract System...Each team is given 75 contract points (going up to 80 due to expansion, 1 point = 1 season) to allot to it's 25 man roster. Once a player is drafted, he is given a contract of X number of points...and then he can only be kept for that many seasons going forward. Once his contract runs out, he goes back into the draft. His contract cannot be changed while he is on your roster, but he can be cut between seasons, to free up cap point space. (There is one exception to this, to be explained later)

- Draft Order...Each season, at the all-star break, the draft order is set for the next season. The order is completely random, and the draft is serpentine (1-20, 20-1), so if you happen to end up with the 20th pick in the first round in a given year, you do get back to back picks to help fortify your roster.

- The rest of the rules are more normal progressive rules....No WW, No DH (which is scheduled to change in the AL come the 1908/1973 season), Draft picks may be traded up to 2 seasons in advance, Trade deadline is Game 120. If a player is traded, his contract goes with him, with one caveat (explained below)

***When a player is traded in the NWPEE, the acquiring team has the option to extend the player's contract. So in practice, it works like this...You trade for Player Z, who's in the final year of his contract, and you extend his contract by 3 seasons. Therefore, you get to keep him for the duration of the season in which you made the trade, plus the next 3 seasons. HOWEVER, if you extend the player, his contract becomes guaranteed, and you can then not cut OR trade that player. He is yours for the duration of the contract***

The 4 expansion teams for 1897/1962 will be as follows:

***Washington (moves to Texas in 1972) - A.L. East - CLAIMED
Los Angeles (moves to Anaheim in 1965) - A.L. West
New York - N.L. East
Houston - N.L. West

The expansion procedures will be outlined below.

1. Beginning with the 1897/1962 season, the NWPEE will expand from 16 to 20 teams, using WIS Format F: 4 divisions of 5 teams each, interleague play, no wild cards. It is anticipated, pending owner approval, that we will expand a second time (to 24 teams) effective with the 1904/1969 season. The main reason for expansion is that by 1897/1962, our league will be drawing from 32 major league teams, soon to be 36 (by the 1901/1966 season) and then 40 (1904/1969). Concurrent with the 1897/1962 expansion, we will plan to increase the seasonal contract point limit to 80. Pending owner interest, we may consider a further increase in the contract point limit for the 1904/1969 expansion.

2. At the conclusion of the 1896/1961 season, the commissioner will post keeper lists for each of the existing teams in the usual fashion. At this time each owner will designate a “protected keeper” list. These players will not be eligible to be drafted during the expansion draft. The protected keeper list will be capped initially at 5 players, INCLUDING any IR players you wish to protect. All unprotected keepers – including unprotected players on IR – will be eligible to be drafted during the expansion draft.

3. The four expansion teams will have a 16 round serpentine expansion draft: ABCD, DCBA, ABCD, DCBA, etc. They can ONLY draft players who were left unprotected by the original 16 teams in this phase. Again, including unprotected IR players. Rookies and previously undrafted free agents will not be included in this phase.

4. In each block of four rounds, no more than 1 player can be selected from each original team’s roster (in other words, after four rounds of the expansion draft, each original team will have lost exactly one player; after the entire expansion draft, each original team will have lost exactly four players). This rule is to ensure that no existing team is penalized disproportionately.

5. After rounds 4, 8, and 12 each original team will be able to protect 1 additional keeper. Thus each of the original 16 teams will end up with 8 protected players, and each team will lose four of their unprotected keepers.

6. At the conclusion of the expansion draft, each expansion team will have 16 players, and each original team will have 8 protected keepers. Any unprotected keepers who were not drafted in the expansion draft will return to their original teams.

7. All 20 teams will then participate in a rookie/free agent draft of all remaining players. Each team will draft as many players as necessary to fill out their rosters. The expansion teams will be included in the normal random ordering process, and will have the same chance of drafting 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, etc. as each of the original teams.

8. Starting with the 1897/1962 season, we will expand the contract point limit to 80 points (and continue to allow the 5 point buffer during the season in case of trades). At the conclusion of the rookie/free agent draft, owners will allocate contract points to their new draftees per usual, with the following additions:
a. Owners of the original 16 teams will be able to allocate additional contract points to any player on their roster
b. Owners of the 4 expansion teams will also allocate contract points to the 16 players they drafted in the expansion draft. They will not be beholden to the original contracts of any of those players. If they draft a player with only 1 season remaining on his contract, they may sign him to a longer deal if desired.

9. Assuming the draft runs smoothly, we will run a second, very similar, expansion draft to grow from 20 to 24 teams at the conclusion of the 1903/1968 season.

If interested in being one of the new expansion owners...please sign up here and/or sitemail me.

I am interested in an expansion team

Posted by fabulous on 6/25/2017 10:17:00 PM (view original):
I am interested in an expansion team

Awesome....which franchise would you be interested in taking over?

DC

Great league, rewards skill and luck, not losing. And an expansion process that is way fairer than others I've seen!

Seems like an interesting concept- I'll take the L.A. team if it's still available.

If LA is taken, I would like the New York expansion team.

Posted by gumbercules on 6/27/2017 9:17:00 AM (view original):
Seems like an interesting concept- I'll take the L.A. team if it's still available.

Welcome. They're yours.

Posted by alanzahm on 6/27/2017 10:32:00 AM (view original):
If LA is taken, I would like the New York expansion team.

Welcome. They're yours.

One to go! Houston still available.

Even though the draft order is random, the contract points mean more players go back into the mix each year... making it easier to built a contending team.

Great league, check it out.

What the hell, I'll give Houston a try. This seems like a fun concept.