Virtual Baseball League 4 - Constitution*
*NOTE: This is an ADAPTED version of the original VBL constitution that has been specifically created for VBL4.

**Revised 7/30/07

Section A: League Overview

1. Virtual Baseball League 4 (VBL4) is a fantasy baseball league that is simulated by a computer game with human control over many managerial and ownership aspects of the game. It is simulated as a career league, meaning players will age and eventually retire. New players are added via the amateur (first year player) draft and at the discretion of the commissioner.

2. VBL4 is simulated using Out of the Park Baseball 6.5 from Out of the Park Developments. The commissioner reserves the right to change the simulator at any time.

3. League and Divisional Alignment:

The Aaron League (AL)
Eastern Division (5 Teams)
Central Division (4 Teams)
Western Division (5 Teams)

The Ruth League (RL)
Eastern Division (4 Teams)
Central Division (4 Teams)
Western Division (4 Teams)


Section B: Season Format

1. Each season consists of 162 games, playoffs, and an All-Star game.

Playoffs

2. All division winners and one wildcard from each league will qualify for the playoffs.

3. In the first round of the playoffs, the top team from each league plays the wildcard team, and the other two teams play each other. This will be a best-of-5 series.
4. In the second round of the playoffs, the remaining teams play in their respective league championships. This will be a best-of-7 series.

5. The league champions will play in a best-of-7 World Series to determine the VBL4 champion.

All-Star Game

6. All-stars are selected by Out of the Park 6.5. All-star games will be broadcast online.

Simulation of Games

7. Five calendar days will be simulated three-four days per week, approximately every other day. The commissioner will announce a simulation schedule as far in advance as possible. The simulation schedule will be altered at the discretion of the commissioner. Any changes made to the simulation schedule, whether temporary or not, will be made known to the league with as much advance warning as possible.

Section C: League Offices

Commissioner

1. The commissioner holds the position for life and can name his own successor.

2. The commissioner’s responsibilities are simulation of games, website upkeep and maintenance, enforcement of league policies, approval and entering of trades, and administering the free agency system.

3. The commissioner will not be an owner in VBL4.

4. The commissioner may choose to appoint a Senate and hold elections for Senate seats every three seasons.

5. The commissioner can sign free agents for ownerless team's at his discretion.

6. The commissioner can spend 50% of an ownerless team's alloted extension money.

7. The commissioner can spend 25% of an ownerless team's money during the free agency period, with the following restriction: there can only be one bid made per player on the ownerless team's behalf, meaning, once outbid, the ownerless team could not submit a second bid.

League Policy Creation

8. League policies can be suggested by all owners.

9. Policies must be submitted in writing via e-mail.

10. Policies will/can be voted on by the owners (majority or percentage determined by commissioner to pass) if the commissioner chooses.

11. The commissioner has the final say regarding all policies.

12. The commissioner can use the Senate to create new league policy or alter current league policy.

Section D: League Rules

Disenfranchisement

1. Owners can be removed from the league for various infractions. Disenfranchisement will be the decision of the commissioner.

2. Grounds for disenfranchisement are as follows:

TAn owner fails to e-mail the league offices for three weeks.
TAn owner who fails to submit lineup changes to address an injury for one week (21 virtual calendar days.)
TAn owner who is determined by the commissioner to be unproductive and/or detrimental to the league.
TCollusion

3. An owner who must leave his team for three or more weeks due to circumstances beyond his control may find a substitute owner to run his team while he is gone. The substitute owner will have full authority to make any changes to the team he sees fit. The substitute owner will, based on the commissioner’s approval, become the owner if the team if the original owner does not return to the team. An owner who cannot find a substitute owner must make arrangements with the commissioner to prevent losing his team.

Rosters

4. VBL4 will have a 25 man major league roster as well as AAA, AA, and A rosters that may hold up to 25 players. Owners do not have to keep these rosters filled. The game will simulate statistics for each of these players as if they were playing. You can view progress of your prospects throughout the season and promote/demote them.

5. Each owner will manage a 40-man roster, a list of 40 protected players. All active players must be on this 40-man roster.

6. Waivers and option years have been disabled in VBL4. Players may be moved freely between the minors and majors. Players must be on the 40-man roster to be moved to the majors. Certain players in the game may refuse removal from the 40-man roster; this is generated by the game's simulation engine.

7. All teams may use 40-man active rosters from September 1 until the end of the regular season. At that point, all playoff teams must return to a 25-man active roster.

8. Promotions/demotions are not allowed during the postseason. The game does not allow for players on the DL to be moved back to the active roster, so plan accordingly when making roster moves.

9. No minor league level should ever have more than 25 players. Teams in violation of this must correct the problem within one week after notification from the commissioner; after that, the commissioner may correct the problem himself at his own discretion.

Batting Orders

10. The DH rule will be in place for both leagues in VBL4.

11. Owners can submit lineups versus right and left-handed pitchers, or they may have one lineup for both.

12. Roster moves and lineup changes should be submitted by noon Eastern on the day of a sim. Lineups received after that time may or may not be processed depending on the time games are simmed. The commissioner may alter the deadline for lineup changes at his discretion.

Trades

13. Trades must be submitted via e-mail to the commissioner by both parties.

14. The commissioner has the final say on any trades.

15. If a fellow owner submits a trade offer to you, it is a common courtesy to submit a response to that owner for the sake of league participation, no matter how you feel about the offer. Responding to trade offers is required. An owner who fails to respond to two different trade requests will be warned. If that owner fails to respond to another trade offer, he or she will be removed from the league.

Drafts

16. There will be an amateur (first-year player) draft of up to ten rounds. Amateurs will be drawn from the Lahman Database and will be introduced to the league during the same virtual year as their real-life MLB debut. Additional amateurs can be created and/or imported at the discretion of the commissioner. Amateurs may be edited at the discretion of the commissioner but will not be changed once the list is posted on the website.

17. Draft picks from rounds 1-5 only may be traded. There is no guaranteed number of rounds for any draft. Draft picks for future drafts (any draft beyond the current or upcoming draft) cannot be traded under any circumstances.

18. All non-playoff teams will be placed into a draft lottery to determine draft position. Playoff teams will earn their draft positions based on their previous season record. Ties will be broken by giving the higher draft position to the team with the worst all-time franchise record. Ties from here will be broken by coin flip.

Team Relocations

19. An owner can only move his franchise under the following conditions:
A) He is a brand new owner, OR...
B) His team has performed under .500 for the past three seasons.

20. An owner may only change his stadium model under the following conditions:
A) He is a brand new owner, OR...
B) His team has performed over .500 for the past three seasons.

21. Any team relocations and changes to stadiums must be done in the off-season.

22. A team who relocates OR builds a new stadium will have its fan interest adjusted. The fan interest for the team will be adjusted under the following conditions:

A)The relocation and new stadium bonus will add a bonus of +20 to a losing team's fan interest.
B)A team can only benefit from the relocation and new stadium bonus only ONE time EACH in the span of TEN seasons.
C)A team cannot benefit from BOTH the relocation and new stadium bonus within the same season.
D)A winning team who relocates will receive no fan bonus regardless of current fan interest.
E)A winning team who builds a new stadium will receive a fan interest bonus of +10; their total fan interest cannot exceed 100 as a result of this bonus.

Game Features

23. The following game features are disabled for this league: Rule 5 Draft, Minor League Free Agents, Waivers, Coaches & Scouts system.

24. The financial system is enabled.

25. Position player fatigue is disabled; pitcher fatigue, however, is not disabled.

Game Features

26. Spring Training will be run in two parts.

27. Part one of spring training will be conducted as follows:

Twenty points are allotted to each player for training purposes. By default, they are divided evenly into four categories:

For batters: Contact Hitting, Power Hitting, Strike Zone Judgment, and Defense.

For pitchers: Pure Stuff, Pitching Velocity, Pitching Control, and Stamina.

You can adjust these ratings for UP TO FIVE PLAYERS ONLY however you like. Batters can also learn new positions and pitchers can learn new roles. This costs five points each.

Here is a sample of how you could submit changes:

OF Willie McCovey CH -1, PH +1
1B Mark McGwire CH -1, PH -2, Strike Zone Judgement -1, Defense -1, Learn LF.

RP Eric Gagne Pure Stuff -1, Velocity -1, Control -3, learn middle relief role.

THIS IS PURELY OPTIONAL. You do not have to do anything at all.

28. Part two of spring training will be conducted as follows:

You may redistribute up to FIVE ratings points for any FIVE of your players.

For hitters: Contact, Gap, Power, Plate Discipline, Eye (no defensive
adjustments will be allowed because the game does not use defensive talent
ratings). [NOTE: Plate Discipline is used in the game to determine a
player's ability to avoid strikeouts.]

For pitchers: Stuff, Control, Movement, Endurance

The catch for this is that you cannot increase a player's rating higher than
his talent rating. For example, let's say you have a player with 28 power
and his talent rating is 30. The max amount of points you could
redistribute and add to his power rating would be 2. [NOTE: Sometimes a
player exceeds his talent rating naturally in the game, but you cannot
artificially cause this to happen with spring training points.]

The only exception for this rule is a pitcher's endurance rating. Endurance
does not have a talent rating, so you can add five points for any pitcher
not to exceed 100.

The concept is pretty much the same as the first part of spring training.

Examples:

Willie Stargell -2 Contact, -2 Gap, -1 Power, +4 Plate Discipline, +1 Eye
Mark McGwire -3 Eye, +3 Power
Satchel Paige -3 Endurance, +1 Stuff, +1 Control, +1 Movement

Section E: Free Agency System

Off-season Free Agent Bids

1. We will use the 30-day free agency signing period in the game. Free agency will be simmed on the following schedule: Days 1-3; Days 4-6; Days 7-10; Days 11-15; Days 16-20; Days 21-25; Days 26-30. The free agency sim schedule can be altered at the discretion of the commissioner.

2. Contract offers must be e-mailed to the commissioner. These will be blind bids. Your total offers may not exceed the cash you have on-hand.

3. Free agent offers, once made, cannot be retracted unless you have made the player's favorite offer. This is built into the game. Offers will stay on the table until a player signs with a team.

In-Season Free Agent Bids

4. Unsigned free agents can be bid on at any time during the season. There is a limit of three signings per simulation day. Contract offers are to be e-mailed to the commissioner. The minimum for a big-league contract is $300,000 per year. Most players will accept one-year minor league contracts.

5. If a free agent is bid on by two or more teams in the same day, the team bidding the highest will be awarded the free agent. If two or more teams submit an equal bid, then the team with the worst record will be awarded the free agent. For players who will agree to a minor league contract, the team with the worst record always has priority.

6. When determining which team successfully signs a free agent, the previous season's record will be used until the 30th game of the current season has been played by all teams, at which point the current season's record will be used.

Section F: Finances
1. All team markets will be evened out to begin the game. This can fluctuate over the course of the game based on performance.

2. Currently VBL4 has a salary cap. This as well as other financial issues may be reviewed on a seasonal basis.

3. You may not spend more on free agents than the game indicates you have available; the same goes for offering extensions.

4. You may offer a contract extension to a player who is IN THE LAST YEAR OF HIS CONTRACT. Extensions must be e-mailed to the commissioner. If you want to offer a contract extension, you must e-mail the commissioner, who will see if the player is open to discussing his contract. The commissioner will provide the appropriate information to the owner after the request is made.

5. Extension offers will be made to pitchers set at the role where they have made the most appearances in the current season.

6. All teams will have the option to use the following in-game promotions system:
Retro game day - allowed once per year - costs 75 K - attendance avg. increase 15%
Baseball cap day - allowed once per month - costs 100 K - attendance avg. increase 20%
Bobble Head day - allowed once per month - costs 250 K - attendance avg. increase 45%
Bat day - allowed once per month - costs 125 K - attendance avg. increase 25%
Glove day - allowed once per month - costs 150 K - attendance avg. increase 30%

7. All teams will receive equal money yearly for their national TV contract. This number may be adjusted by the commissioner.

8. Salary arbitration will be enabled, causing players with more than 3 years of major league experience (and less than 6) to file for arbitration if they do not have a multiyear contract. The game simulates both sides of arbitration and determines a figure in line with the average salary paid for a player of that value and position. Teams have the right to release a player at the end of a season to avoid arbitration.

9. The league will institute a salary cap of 112 million dollars. Here is how the cap will be introduced to the league:
1983 season - Cap at 135 million
1984 season - Cap at 125 million
1985 season - Cap at 112 million

To help teams get under cap, a short-term 50% buyout system where teams over cap can cut players and only be charged 50% of their salaries to buy out their contracts will be implemented. This will ONLY take place during the offseason AFTER the 1983 and 1984 seasons. Once 1985 begins, there will be no more buyouts. If you are over the cap, there is no penalty; you just have to get under immediately. Every owner will have to comply.

10. No matter what ballpark model is used, all ballparks will have a seating capacity of 50,000.