Changes to the League
Any changes to the league will be added to the constitution in the future. Most shall need a 3/4 vote from the current owners to be put into place, but in some instances, the commissioner can make changes on his own. In these situations, there will always be an announcement on the board, and plenty of advance will be given.
Steroid Testing (appended Jan 12, 2003)
The league has adopted a "no tolerance" stance on steroid and drug use. Once league play begins, one team a month will randomly be tested for drugs and steroid usage. (The teams will be determined with a random number generator.) Once a team is tested, the same team will not be tested for another 3 months. (The same number generator will be used on each player to see if they test positive. Don't worry, the percentages are pretty low that players will test positive. But it can happen. Certain players will be less likely to test positive, past offenders more likely. But the percentages will be low enough that a team will not lose their pitching ace, cleanup hitter, highly touted AAA prospect and first round pick all in one month. Most teams will sail right on through the testing without one player testing positive.)
If a player does test positive, the following punishments will be enforced:

Steroids

  • First offense: Two year***[Three year] unpaid suspension. Once the player has served his suspension, he will return to his former team for a 2 year, league minimum salaried contract ($100,000) unless the team refuses his services. In this case, he is places on the waiver wire, with waiver rules applying.
  • Second offense: Lifetime ban from the game.

Illegal drug usage (ex. marijuana)

  • First offense: Six month unpaid suspension.
  • Second offense: One year unpaid suspension.
  • Third offense: Three year unpaid suspension. Steroid offense rules apply.
  • Lifetime ban.

Marijuana usage

  • All offenses will be punished with a six month suspension without pay
Positional Changes (appended Jan 19, 2003)
De to the nature of real life positional change and the poor simulation of this by the game, I will be taking care of this externally.

The standard positional learning from the minor will still take place. The second way to teach a player a new position will be to post it on the "Positional Changes" Board. This can only be done during spring training (although a player can play out of position anytime). Determining whether a player is successful at learning the position will be done by a random number generator. The likelihood that a player learns the position will have be set according to a few factors.

  • Current positions known and position being taught
  • Range at positions
  • Build of player (ie, no one Randy Johnson's size is going to play 2b)
  • Players speed
  • In a minor part, age

A few guidelines:

  • Middle infielders will almost always succeed in moving around the infield.
  • Aging catchers (34+) will generally easily move to the corners (3b, 1b, lf, rf)
  • First basemen will rarely move anywhere but the outfield
  • Outfielders will generally learn other outfield positions very easily

Bear in mind switches to DH and back (to a position known) will be automatic, as will pitching roles.

* Changes made Jan 19, 2003 [old rules]
** Changes made Jan 25, 2003 -- All Star Game hosting and benefits
*** Changes made Feb 3, 2003 -- Steroid penalties [old rules], Stadium Renovation, Simming games (owners) and Major League player rule obsolescence.