Once the draft is over we will gear up to start the season with a bunch of things going on:

 

1.Team Contracts - I will send each of you a worksheet showing your team and its' complete roster. The worksheet will, like the draft document, divide your roster into two sections - players on your roster going into the draft and players that you drafted.

What you need to do: Assign contract lengths of 1 to 5 years ONLY to each of your players drafted keeping in mind your Total of All Contracts from 2023 through to 2026 cannot exceed $816 million. You cannot change anything to do with players you entered the draft with.

When is this due: Midnight Eastern Time (2400 h for you army brats) January 28. You can send me back the worksheet I sent with the your changes, a list or whatever format you want as long as I get the info.

What if the deadline is not met: Any teams who did not submit contract signing info prior to 0001 H Sunday January 29 will have all players drafted this season assigned a one-year deal. This will result in them becoming free agents following the season unless you offer them contract extensions ... which will cost you more money for the same player. So it is generally in your interest to assign multi-year deals where possible to players you want to keep.

 

2. Schedule- While the contracts are being decided on I will be working on the schedule which will hopefully be available by the end of the weekend.

 

3. Trading- The freeze on trading will be lifted immediately after the draft concludes ... which will be when all picks for all teams have been made. Any trade must have a balanced number of bodies switching sides ... no draft picks can be traded until after the season starts.

NEW FOR SEASON 3... At no point in a season can a team exceed the current year or Total Contracts Salary caps. This means you may have trades disallowed if they put a team over the cap.

Can I trade players just drafted? Yes, but only the team that drafted a player can assign a contract length. So if you trade a player you just drafted prior to sending in your team's contract length decisions he will be traded with a one-year contract that his acquiring team cannot change.

Can I trade in order to stay under the Total Contracts Cap? Yes. If you want to sign a player you just drafted to a multi-year deal but cannot because you don't have Total Contracts Salary Cap room you can free up space by trading other players.

 

4. Preparing for the Upcoming Season - Franchise Points - There are a number of opportunities to spend Franchise Points prior to the start of the season which you may not be able to take advantage of once the season starts: Note that all of these perks only affect this season.

What can I buy before the season starts using franchise points? The perks you can buy before the season starts are as follows:

a) INJURY MOD - reduces the injury rating by 1 for up to 5 players on your team. You can only use this on up to 5 players and only one mod per player. You cannot reduce a player to a J-0. The cost is 2 Franchise Points per mod purchased.

b) BASERUNNING MOD - increases baserunning rating by 1 or 2 for up to 3 players. Limited to 3 players per team. The cost is 1 Franchise Point per upgrade point purchased.

c) DURABILITY MOD- increases the durability rating for a pitcher by 1. Limited to 5 pitchers on a team. The cost is 3 Franchise Points per upgrade for a starting or split grade pitcher and 2 Franchise Points for a relief pitcher.

d) VERSATILITY MOD - make a player eligible to play at a position they are not currently carded for. You can only make a player eligible for a position they played at some time during his career. The player will receive the defensive grade for the first previous season for which he played that position or, if no previous season, in the next subsequent season. E.g., Bob Smith is carded for season 1977 in which he only played OF. Smith played 1B in 1973, 1974, 1976 and also 3rd base in 1983. To add eligibility at 1B he would get whatever his defensive grade at 1b was in 1976 and for 3rd base he would get 1983. Cost is 3 Franchise Points per position added. No limit to positions or players.

What can I buy before or during the season starts using franchise points? The perks you can buy before the season starts or anytime during the season are as follows:

e) INJURY SHIELD - reduces all injury lengths for all players on your roster by 50%. Only takes effect after the series in which a player is injured. The cost is 5 Franchise Points and only one purchase per team (cannot stack).

f) PLAYER UNLOCK - Players on rosters going into the Season 3 draft who had seasons played before 1901 normally cannot access the pre-1901 seasons at season selection time and can only be carded for seasons 1901 and later. Pre-1901 seasons for a player can be unlocked at a cost of 2 Franchise Points per player. Note that all players drafted this season are considered to be "unlocked" as will be any player released into the free agent pool for Season 4.

What is the deadline for spending franchise points for these perks?

Perks (a) through (d) must be purchased no later than midnight on Tuesday, January 31 2023. Perks (e) and (f) can be bought at any time.

Should I spend all of my Franchise Points before the season starts?

A definite maybe, but probably not. There are perks you can buy during the season (injury relief/emergency player pickups), but the biggest spend will come at mid-season during Season Selection for Season 4. During Season Selection (or Card Rolling) you can use franchise points to cancel undesired seasons that are selected for your players. Historically, teams have used from 0 to in excess of 20 Franchise Points at this time.

Should I spend any Franchise Points before the season starts?

A definite maybe again. Remember that once the season a team can only have 30 Franchise Points and at no point in a season can a team exceed 30. Any points above 30 on Opening Day will be lost. Remember also that through the season there is a chance to gain Franchise Points by players awards, player selections to the all-star team and use of the Fan Favorite option.

How do I find out how many franchise points my team has?

The team franchise point balance can always be found on the league website at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12Y2JLlylT3aRta7i0WRy8q4m-l-kcBGjqHCKxa4xaGg/edit#gid=0

or by going to http://leg.straybaseball.com/ under Guides and Tools, selecting Franchise Points and then Franchise Points again.

 

5. Fan Favorites - One feature of the league is that each team has the option to designate a player on his team as a Fan Favorite. This option is intended to duplicate the real life existence of the guy on the team that the fans all love. As such, there are benefits and also drawbacks in having a Fan Favorite (FF). .

What are the benefits?

a) When a FF contract is over the chance of the player rejecting a contract extension offer is reduced from a low of 5% to 1% with an automatic contract extension of 3 years with only a 10% salary increase (normally 50%);

b) This player is immune to becoming a free agent due to not meeting usage requirements;

c) A Fan Favorite generates 2 Franchise Points for his team for each month he is on your roster (12 FP per season);

d) If the Fan Favorite had a season of 10 years or more, he will be able to have all seasons eligible for selection each year at card selection time whereas normally once a season in a player's career has been used he cannot again have that season's card until all seasons in his career have been carded;

What are the costs?

a) There is no Franchise Point cost - Fan Favorites are FREE;

b) If traded, a team will lose all accumulated Franchise Points the Fan Favorite earned them in the season and they will lose 1 Franchise Point per month for the remainder of the season;

c) At contract expiration, a team must give the Fan Favorite a 3-year extension;

d) Fan Favorite players cannot have their contracts bought out;

e) Cannot be demoted to the minors/farm team except for injury >5 days

f) player cannot be modified in any way by use of Franchise Points to purchase perks nor does any Injury-related perk apply to this player.

g) At card/season selection time you must accept the results and cannot use Franchise Points to re-roll for a new season;

Can I change Fan Favorites?

Yes, but if the change is by choice and not due to trade, the new Fan Favorite will not receive the Contract Extension nor the Usage Immunity benefits until after their existing contract has expired and been renegotiated. That is, you can't use the Fan Favorite as a means of getting around usage and contract extension rules by having it change from year to year. If you change Fan Favorites as a result of a trade, you cannot have a new Fan Favorite until the start or the next season. Note that a team trading a fan favorite in the off-season can still rename a new Fan Favorite for the upcoming season.

What is the deadline for naming a Fan Favorite?

No later than midnight on Tuesday, January 31, 2023.

 

6. MicroManager Selection and Save Adjustments.

Micromanager Selection?

Please let me know which micromanager you will be using in any games where you are the visiting team and are not playing head-to-head no later than Tuesday, January 31, 2023. You will also need to select this micromanager when sending in your initial f-file (franchise file). All micromanagers in use will be listed on the league website. You can change micromanagers but please let me know when you do so to make sure that home teams are using the right one for your team. If you plan on using pitchers as relievers who are graded primarily as starters make sure you have a micromanager that won't be limited to using pitchers with relief grades.

Save Adjustments?

Some micromanagers use Saves as the determining factor in choosing who to use in a game as your team's closer. You have the option of adjusting any two relief pitchers Saves on his card either up or down. You can decrease the number of saves a reliever had by any amount, but an increase will be limited so that maximum saves cannot exceed Total Games Pitched less Wins and Losses.