The ALOOO Times
Updated 11/15/2007



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ALOOO Constitution

Updated 11/2007 (additions indicated in red)

Requirements
All team owners must be registered users of the Diamond Mind Baseball software and the current season disk. The version of the Diamond Mind Baseball software to be used will be determined prior to the season start.  The most current season disk will be used.

Structure
The ALOOO Organization is comprised of two leagues, the American League and the National League. Each league is divided into three divisions. The American League divisions will be known as the AL North, AL South, and the AL Midwest The National League divisions will be known as the NL East, NL Central,  and NL West.

The Organization has 24 teams with each division having four teams. 

The Commissioner will preside over the league and resolve all disputes in a fair and objective manner. In the event that the Commissioner is involved in a dispute, other opinions will be sought out to determine an equitable resolution.

The Statistician will be responsible for preparing the league season disks for league play. All monthly results must be e-mailed to the Statistician by the stated deadline.

Schedule
The season consists of 168 games with interleague play.  It is each manager's responsibility to play 84 home games per season and report results on a monthly basis to the league statistician.

Playoffs
A total of eight teams will make the playoffs, four from each League. The three division winners in each league will qualify for the playoffs and the team with the best record in each league that does not win the division will be the wild card playoff team.

All playoff series will be a best-of-seven with a 2-3-2 format. The team with the better record will have home field advantage. In the event of identical records, head-to-head play during the regular season will serve as the first tie-breaker, followed by division record, league record, run differential, and coin flip. The series will be as follows:

Wild Card Round:
AL division winner with best record (#1) hosts AL wild card winner (#4)
AL division winner with second best record (#2) hosts AL division winner with third best record (#3)
NL division winner with best record (#1) hosts NL wild card winner (#4)
NL division winner with second best record (#2) host NL division winner with third best record (#3)

Teams from the same division cannot meet in the Wild Card Round.  In the event that this occurs, then #1 hosts #3 and $2 hosts #4.  The Wild Card team can never host a playoff series unless they play the Wild Card team from the opposing League in the World Series, in which case the best record will have home field advantage.

League Championship Series:
AL series winners meet 
NL series winners meet

World Series:
AL Champion vs. NL Champion

Eligible Player Pool
The player pool consists of players from all current Major League Baseball teams.

Free Agent Draft
Before each season, a free agent draft will be held to bring each team roster up to 30 players. Each team may retain as many players from the prior year as they wish, but the team can only draft up to 30 players.

The first four draft picks will be known as lottery picks. The teams with the worst four records from the previous teams will enter a weighted lottery to determine the order these teams will select in the first round of the following draft. This draft order is used for the first round only.

Beginning with the fifth pick in the first round, teams will draft in reverse order of their finish in the previous season. The winning percentages to be used for draft order will be post-penalty winning percentages (see Penalties). This order will continue until all non-playoff teams have picked. The playoff teams will then pick in reverse order of their playoff finish: (wild card series losers with worst records, wild card series losers with better records, LCS loser with worst record, LCS loser with better record, World Series loser, World Series winner).  A division winner will never pick before a wild card team, unless the wild card team advances to a round of the playoffs beyond that division winner.

Addition picks may be added into the draft in expansion years.

Players must meet certain eligibility requirements to be in the draft:
a) They must not be on any team roster at the time of the draft
b) Position players must have at least 70 plate appearances.
c) Pitchers must have at least 23 appearances or 45 innings pitched

All players will have their allowable league usage increased by the following:
a) Position players with at least 600 unadjusted real life MLB plate appearances will be allowed unlimited use
b) Position players who batted under .240, on base percentage under .320, and slugging percentage under .400 against LHP and RHP will be allowed unlimited use.  (Note:  Catchers with a Vg or Ex throwing rating are not allowed to be unlimited with this rule).
c) All other position players will have their plate appearances increased by 10%
d) Position players will have their split numbers reset to their overall numbers if they meet the following requirements:
    a. Less than 60 at bats vs. either LHP or RHP, and
    b. At least .300 batting average vs. that type of pitcher, or
    c. OPS of at least .700 vs. that type of pitcher, and
    d. Batting average .050 points higher or OPS .100 higher vs. that type of pitcher
e) Starting pitchers with ERA over 5.00 and batting average over .250 vs. RH and LH batters will have their allowed starts doubled, up to 36 starts, relievers will be allowed unlimited innings pitched.

Player Reclaims
After the draft, a team may reclaim any player they cut that was draft eligible and not drafted.

Silent Auction Draft
Each December there will be a Silent Auction Draft. Each team will confidentially submit to the Statistician a list of players that they would like to put up for bidding, along with the lowest acceptable bid (draft pick) for that player. Once the player has been submitted for auction, that player may not be traded.

The Statistician will then release the list of players and asking bids and the teams are free to confidentially bid on these players by e-mailing the Statistician with the bids. The bidding will remain open for a specified period of time, after which, the team who has placed the highest bid for the player will receive that player in exchange for the draft pick bid.

Roster Requirements
All teams will have 30 man rosters with all players eligible for every series. The exception is if an owner chooses to deactivate a player by farming him in the manager profile for his team.

The roster must include a minimum of 750 plate appearances for every position, including designated hitter. 

The roster must include a minimum of 168 starts by the starting pitchers.

The roster must include a minimum of 350 relief innings, with at least five relief pitchers available for every series. A pitcher may not start and pitch in relief in the same series.  Pitchers with starter only ratings may pitch in relief.  If they pitch in relief ONLY (make no starts), they are allowed to pitch up to a maximum of 75 innings for the season.  (If a true starter i.e. no relief appearances only made 4 starts for 28 innings pitched then that pitcher only gets 28 IP + 10% = 30 2/3 IP).  If a pitcher has both starting and relief ratings, he may make his actual number of starts +10% and be used in relief in any series that he is not starting, as long as he does not exceed his actual innings pitched +10% for the season.

The roster must include at least one backup at every position.  Outfielders may play in a position that they are not rated at any time.  Other position players may play out of position only after there are no more available players to play that position and in extra-inning games only. 

Overuse of Players
Penalties:
The following penalties will apply when a player exceeds the 110% limit:
Hitters:
(111-115%) - Team winning percentage is reduced by 0.001 for each 2 plate appearances over the 110% limit
(116-125%) - Penalties to winning percentage applied, draft position is lowered one spot for each percentage point over 115%
(>125%) - The player is lost and put back in the player pool and loss of the team's highest remaining draft pick
Pitchers:
(111-115%) - Winning percentage is reduced by 0.001 for each inning pitched by a player over his 110% limit
(116-125%) - Penalties to winning percentage still applied, draft order is lowered one spot for each percentage point over 115%
(>125%) - The player is lost and put back in the player pool and loss of the team's highest remaining draft pick

In addition, for starting pitchers, every game started by a pitcher over his game started total, the team will lose one win, and gain one loss.

Player Drop/Adds (In-Season)

Teams will be allowed to drop a player and add a player during the season. This will be limited to 4 moves per team per season (4 players added and 4 players dropped). At the conclusion of the season, all players who were BOTH dropped and added by their respective teams will be automatically released into the next seasons Rookie Draft.

Playoff Limitations


All playoff rosters will be frozen as of July 31st.  Any players added to a playoff team after July 31st will be removed and the player that was on the roster as of July 31st will be returned to that team for the playoffs.

Players will not be rested between playoff series. If pitchers are tired from a previous series, they will remain tired until they have received necessary days off to be rested.

Starting pitchers with 15-19 adjusted starts may start no more than one game in a playoff series. Pitchers with at least 20 adjusted starts may start unlimited playoff games, but need three days rest between starts. A pitcher may not start and relieve in the same series.

Relief pitcher usage (based on adjusted innings allowed during regular season):
70+ innings: maximum of 6 appearances per series
50-69 innings: maximum of 5 appearances per series
30-49 innings: maximum of 4 appearances per series
29 or less innings: maximum of 2 appearances per series

Starting pitchers who do not start during a playoff series will have their number of adjusted starts converted to innings pitched. Example: Pitcher with 39 adjusted starts who does not start in a playoff series is allowed up to 4 appearances in that series per the above chart.

Batter usage:
475 + plate appearances: 7 starts per series
420-474: 5 games started per series
315-419: 4 games started per series
210-314: 3 games started per series
105-209: 2 games started per series
80-104: 1 game started per series
0-79: 0 games started per series
Any player who appears in a game before the end of the sixth inning will have a start counted against him. If a player comes in from the 7th inning on it does not count as a start.

Manager Profiles
Each owner will complete a manager profile before the season begins and before each month of play begins. The profile may be left "as is" from month to month and a deadline will be announced each month as to when all profile changes need to be submitted. The profile will include at least one lineup. Other settings such as backups, reliever roles, and manager tendencies are recommended, but not required. Any information not provided by the manager profile will be decided by the computer manager.  Each manager is responsible for their own manager profile, the more thoroughly it is done, the less misuse the computer manager will make.

Pitching Rotation
Prior to the season, each team must submit a complete 168 game pitching rotation for the entire season, listing the starting pitcher for every game. Starting pitchers require at least 3 days between starts.  Example: a pitcher starting a game on June 30th may not start the next series beginning on July 1st.  With the addition of in-season trading for the 2008 season, any team that trades for a starting pitcher during the season, MUST update the pitching rotation on the ALOOO Yahoo! Groups page prior to the next month's games being played. That team must also leave the original pitching rotation on the web in case of an error.

NetPlay
NetPlay will be optional for regular season games and mandatory for playoff games. NetPlay is encouraged for regular season play as it enhances the game experience as well as provides teams the chance to better control their plate appearances/inning pitched. The home team should contact the visiting team prior to beginning the series to see if the teams can get together for NetPlay if they are both interested.
Diamond-Mind Baseball is a technically sound game, but occasionally has glitches. Usually if a disconnect occurs during NetPlay, the game can be resumed from where it left off. However, if it cannot be resumed, the game must be replayed from the beginning.

Ballparks/Weather
Ballparks and weather are used. Ballparks may be drafted during the Free Agent Draft. Ballparks must be kept for a minimum of three years and may be traded.

Trading
Trading of players is allowed upon completion of the ALOOO World Series until 2 weeks prior to the Rookie Draft. Upon Completion of the Rookie Draft trading will be allowed for 2 weeks. Trading will close at that time for pitching rotations and Manager profiles to be completed. Trading will reopen with opening day of the ALOOO Season until the Trading deadline of July 31st of that current year.


during specified times only. Trading opens following the completion of the World Series until two weeks before the Free Agent Draft. This may be altered in expansion years where trading may be suspended until following an expansion draft. Trading is then open until July 31st.  Trades that are made after the season begins are not made official until all games for that month have been played.  The players will then move to their new teams for games beginning the following month.  The new team owner is responsible for making sure that all players on his roster do not exceed their playing limits at the end of the season.   All trades are subject to league review. Once trades are announced, they will be posted on the league website. Other teams have one (1) week from the time the trade is confirmed to send a veto to the commissioner if they feel the trade is unfair.  In-season trades will get an extended veto period of one (1) week from the time the trade has been confirmed on the ALOOO Yahoo! Groups page.  If there is a simple majority of vetoes, the trade will be rejected by the league. Campaigning for vetoes will not be tolerated.