IBC Rules

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IBC Rules

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I. IBC Foundation
  1. Rules of the IBC will adhere to those of MLB except where indicated below.
  2. Rules listed below are subject to change at the discretion of the Executive Committee (ExCo). All GMs will be notified of any and all changes and the topic will be open for discussion and debate, however by joining the IBC all GMs agree to accept the final decisions of the ExCo. While the rules and procedures of the IBC are ever-evolving due to technological advances, changes in MLB and inspired suggestions from member GMs, no rules change are immediately foreseen and under no circumstances will a rule be initiated to benefit or favor one team over another. All members are expected to be aware of all rules held within. Any rule change will be updated in this document within seven (7) days of implementation.
II. General Manager Participation
  1. GMs are expected to maintain a high level of participation in the league. Any participant who becomes inactive and unresponsive for a term of more than 30 days may risk losing their club unless discussed with an ExCo member beforehand (business trips or lengthy vacations etc.). GMs are also required to maintain rosters within the rules, including timely deactivation of injured players and fielding a compliant roster.
III. The ExCo 
  1. The ExCo is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the league. Their responsibilities are outlined throughout this document and include the creation and management of these IBC rules.
  2. Responsibilities will include but are not limited to: 
    1. Maintaining and enforcing the Rules of the IBC
    2. Simming games and making box scores available to all members on a regular basis.
    3. Processing trades and player moves in the league database for simming purposes.
    4. Recruiting new members when necessary
    5. Resolving assorted disputes.
  3. The ExCo is comprised of 4 Permanent members and 2 temporary members serving 1 year terms. The Permanent members are JP Starkey, Shawn Walsh, Jim Berger and Brett Perryman. The two temporary members are open to any GMs to run for, subject to league annual league vote. There is no limit to consecutive terms for a GM to run or serve in ExCo.
IV. Rosters 
  1. Each franchise will field a 26-man team from its 45-man, non-draft roster. Each team is expected to maintain a minimum of 25 active players at all times, including at least 9 position players, one catcher and 10 pitchers.
  2. In addition to these 26, each team will also have a 19-player inactive/reserve roster of injured players, minor leaguers or other players.
    1. On September 1st active rosters expand to 28, so any player may play as long as he is in the database.
  3. Each team will also have a 10-man draft roster consisting solely of players eligible for the last two rookie drafts in any combination of proportions. This brings the total number of players under a GM’s control to 55. Note teams may also keep players from last two drafts on their 45-man roster as well. Rookie roster requirements do not update to the latest draft until the completion of the draft and any subsequent draft waivers are completed.
  4. Players on the draft roster are not eligible to play in the sim, even if receiving a projection unless the team is maintaining at least 10 players on the rookie roster in addition to any projected players. A player from the last two years’ drafts with a projection can be moved to the 40 man roster and be eligible to play in the sim.
  5. Roster limits/requirements should be met at all times. If a GM is advised of a roster violation, the GM must IMMEDIATELY drop players to meet roster rules. Attempting to make a trade to fix an illegal roster will be met with sanctions at the ExCo’s discretion.
V. Injuries and the DL 
  1. Players on the disabled list in the MLB are considered injured.
  2. Players on a 'rehab assignment' are considered injured.
  3. Players who are shown to not be playing for two or more weeks due to physical ailment are considered injured. For playoff rosters or injuries during September (when DL use is less common), GMs may appeal to the ExCo for continued use of a player in the sim who has not played in two or more weeks due to physical ailment (for instance in case a player is resting a minor injury due to team being out of contention).
  4. Injuries will be updated twice a week. Any MLB player who is on the DL as of Midnight on Sunday will not be eligible to play for the coming week (Monday through Sunday). Each Member must render each player who is on the DL as 'Farmed' in their roster update. 
  5. All GMs are responsible for checking their players for injury, including minor league injuries.
  6. Players are required to spend a minimum of 10 days on the DL in the IBC. 
  7. If a player is found to be playing in the Sim when injured, the person simming the games will immediately deactivate him and no roster adjustment will be allowed. The first time this happens the player will be benched for 2 weeks beyond the initial DL period. The second time within the span of 60 days of the first offense the player will be benched for an additional four weeks beyond the time the player is activated in the MLB. A third offense within 60 days of the first will result in the player being benched for an additional six weeks beyond his MLB return date. A fourth offense within 60 days of the first may result in the release of the player onto waivers, at the discretion of the ExCo. An offense is one warning that player(s) is playing that should not. (i.e. if 2 players were not deactivated but both are noticed at the same time, that is one offense.)
  8. GMs who are found to have consistent problems with injured players may face further sanctions from the league including loss of franchise, at the discretion of the ExCo.
  9. Any player suspended in MLB is considered suspended in the IBC and is ineligible to play in the sim. A suspended player must miss at least as many games in the IBC as games suspended for in MLB or MILB.
VI. Free Agents and Eligibility 
  1. Any player who is eligible to play in the MLB is eligible to be signed by an IBC franchise. A player may be ineligible for any number of reasons including the following. Retirement (official or unofficial), expulsion from baseball, player's rights being owned by a foreign professional team, player not having submitted for the draft yet, etc.
  2. Any player who is released by a major league team may continue to play for a period of 2 weeks in the IBC without being signed by a major league team.
  3. A player is eligible to play for their team if he is eligible to be signed and is not prevented from doing so due to an injury or suspension.
  4. To sign a free agent, a GM must sign the player in the OOPSS System on the league website. The OOPSS System is the official system and will be used for resolving disputes (assuming there is not an IT issue causing a discrepancy, in which case ExCo to rule on any disputes).
  5. A player may only be signed if the signing will not put the total roster size over 50, while also maintaining valid 40 and 10 man rosters as described in section IV above. 
  6. If player A is released to sign player B and player B is already on another roster, then the GM attempting the transaction keeps possession of player A.
  7. When a player is released by a team in OOPSS, the player goes on Waivers for 24 hours before he can be signed. 
    1. Player A is released by a team and is on waivers for 24 hours. 
    2. GMs wishing to claim Player A do so through OOPSS, indicating players to be released, if necessary. 
    3. After 24 hours, whichever GM has the highest waiver priority gets that player and the player he released goes on waivers. That GM also moves to the bottom of the waiver priority list. If, after 24 hours, no one has claimed the player, he clears waivers and can be signed by anyone without affecting their order in the waiver priority list.
  8. Waiver Priority Order is set and refreshed on the first of the following months (May, June, July, August, September, October) based on team record. Ties will be broken by record over the last 10 days. 
VII. ZiPS Bidding
  1. ZiPS bidding is a process that covers both teams acquiring players when their ZiPS projections are released each winter and also players who leave the US to play elsewhere and return to an MLB team.
  2. During the offseason when ZiPS projections are released at www.fangraphs.com, the league uses a bidding system to acquire players. Each team is provided a budget of ZiPS dollars to bid on players they wish to acquire. As soon as players and teams are posted on www.fangraphs.com, IBC free agents become available and teams must create a thread in the designated forum on www.ibcleague.com with their bid amount. 24 hours after the last bid, the player will be awarded and ZiPS dollars will be deducted from that GM’s account, which is also posted. If teams tie, waiver order will break the tie; however, waiver orders will not change through this process. If a player doesn’t receive a bid 24 hours after release on www.fangraphs.com, he is a free agent in IBC. No players from a given team may be signed once team comps have been posted on Twitter by Dan Szymborski.
  3. ZiPS budgets will also be the tool to acquire players who leave the US to play elsewhere and return to an MLB team. These players are distinct from foreign players eligible for the draft (see IX Drafts). The same process described above in VII (2) will apply to foreign free agents. These foreign free agents will only be eligible for signing through the ZiPS bidding process in the offseason.
VIII. Trades 
  1. All trades agreed to between GMs must be entered into OOPSS. Once agreed by both teams involved, trades will be executed and posted into the OOPSS forums.
  2. Approved trades may be appealed if at least 5 GMs call for a league wide vote on the trade within 3 days of trade execution in OOPSS. The two GMs involved in the trade may then write a brief (fitting on 1 page of a MS Word document at a 12pt font) appeal to be posted prior to league wide vote. A 2/3 majority of GMs not involved in the deal is required to overturn the deal and force a veto.
  3. The trade must be approved by midnight Saturday for inclusion in the coming week's database, or by midnight Wednesday to be included to the Thursday database.
  4. Once both GMs have submitted agreements a trade cannot be undone unless BOTH GMs agree to rework or undo the trade completely.
  5. Players must be dropped to free agency in order to make space so as not to exceed the 40+10 player roster maximum.
    1. The release of players should be done immediately once approval of the trade is announced.
    2. If a trade results in open spots on a roster, those spots cannot be filled until the trade is processed in OOPSS as approved.
  6.  Trades entered into OOPSS between the beginning of the season and midnight on August 31 will be entered into the Sim. Trades entered into OOPSS starting at 12:01 on September 1st will not be entered into the Sim until the following season.
  7. Trades between GMs who were responsible for each other joining the league may be subject to additional scrutiny by the ExCo than other deals.
  8. Any attempts to 'loan' players will be met with league sanctions, at the discretion of the ExCo.
  9. Draft picks in the upcoming draft are only eligible for trade following the All-Star Break.
  10. No commodity other than players currently on a roster and draft picks are valid trading commodities (i.e. no money, franchise trading, Doritos, etc.)
  11. Trades involving GMs with less than 3 months tenure in the league may be subject to additional scrutiny than trades between established members. 
IX. Drafts 
  1. Annual Rookie Draft 
    1. Starting at 12:01am on February 1st a universal new player draft will be held. The order will be determined by the records of the teams from the previous season with the worst team picking first. Teams that made the playoffs will pick last in order of round of elimination. Ties will be broken by Pythagorean winning percentage, head to head record and then finally record in the last ten days of the season. 
    2. Players subject to the draft will include any amateur player who has been signed by an MLB organization during the prior calendar year, whether through draft or international signings. (EXAMPLE: If a player was signed to a contract during calendar year 2018 but had not been signed to a contract prior to 2018 then he is eligible for the IBC 2018 draft, which is held in February 2019). Any players not subject to the MLB International Free Agent pool (such as professional players from Cuba, Japan, Korea and Mexico not affiliated with an MLB organization prior to the previous calendar year (2018 for the IBC 2018 draft) are eligible to be drafted. If the player does not officially sign with an MLB organization prior to the beginning of the IBC draft, they are not eligible to be drafted until the following year.
    3. Following the completion of the IBC draft, any players who were drafted by or signed to a contract by an MLB team during the prior calendar year (in 2018 for the example above) or earlier become free agents.
    4. The draft will continue for 5 rounds. Once a member misses a pick, he will be skipped from there on out unless they clearly indicate to the ExCo an interest and dedication to continue to draft.
    5. Drafted Players are also not tradable until after a GM is completed drafting.
    6. Upon completion of 5 rounds, all remaining eligible players are put on waivers. GMs must email the ExCo a list of players they would like to claim off waivers (including who would be dropped for each waiver claim if successful) within 48 hours of last pick of the draft. Waivers will be awarded in order of the original draft list order based on previous season’s final standings. Once waivers are awarded, all remaining eligible draft players become free agents.
  2. Minidrafts for New Members 
    1. All new members may be subject to a minidraft. Prior to the minidraft, all FA signings are frozen. In the minidraft, all players from the teams belonging to the new members as well as all free agents will be placed into a pool. The new members will then draft from that pool to assemble their 40+10 man rosters. Draft order will be determined at random by the ExCo prior to the draft. Current members may also be permitted to join the minidraft if they so choose, at the discretion of the ExCo.
X. Contraction/Expansion/Strikes/Work Stoppages 
  1. Under no condition will the IBC contract or expand teams, unless done so in MLB. In such situation, league vote will decide if IBC will adopt the same change. Majority rules.
  2. Under no condition will any strike or work stoppage affect play in the IBC. In such a situation, if the strike or work stoppage occurred preventing the start of the season, all players will be considered healthy and not injured. If the strike or work stoppage occurs once the season has started, any players on the DL at the time of the stoppage or strike will be considered remaining on the DL until the completion of the work stoppage or strike.
XI. Updating Rosters for the Sim
  1. Members can send in their DMB rosters to rosters@ibcleague.com twice per week (prior to simulated games on Tuesdays for the week and prior to simulated games on Friday for the weekend). If any member does not have access to DMB, they must make arrangements with the ExCo.
XII. Playoffs 
  1. Playoffs will follow the same format as in the MLB and using the same rules for qualifying with the following exceptions.
  2. Players signed/released after August 31 to a team will not be eligible for the playoffs. If they're not on your roster at midnight on August 31, they are not eligible for your playoff roster.
  3. Any players who are injured when the playoffs begin will remain injured and ineligible to play. No players will become injured during the playoffs.
  4. If teams wish to play their series using DMB’s head-to-head feature, they must wait to play their series until after MLB playoff rosters for that series have been released.
  5. No team which does not have an active GM shall be included in the playoffs.
  6. Home field throughout the playoffs will be determined by best overall record with ties being broken by head to head record and then best division record. 
User avatar
Dodgers
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Re: IBC Rules

Post by Dodgers »

ExCo has updated the league rules and believes these integrate all prior announcements as well as situations that have been uncovered. Please reply with any formatting issues (I had to create this from a Word document) as well as any rules you think aren't correct or were missed.
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Guardians
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Name: Pat Gillespie

Re: IBC Rules

Post by Guardians »

Of note: this process started with the realization that some rule changes had been posted to boards over the years but hadn't been transferred to the official rules page. Kudos to Nils for pushing to get this accomplished. Exco (mostly JP) did a sweep of board postings to try to capture them all.

Exco had extensive conversations over the summer to decide on outstanding issues, one of which is addressed to the zips bidding section. MLB players who go to foreign leagues and return will now be acquired via zips bidding rather than through first come, first serve free agent pickups. The zips bidding process is also now codified in the league rules. Some other smaller things are touched up, including the recent roster requirement changes and a few other issues.
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Angels
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Name: Zach Robertson

Re: IBC Rules

Post by Angels »

Thanks for putting this all together in one place. It's very helpful.
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