It's back. The 2011 BtB "Ball on a Budget" Fantasy League. The basics:
- 12 team snake draft
- $60MM budget using actual MLB salaries
- 25-man roster, no subs, no transactions
- The only scoring category is Fangraphs' version of WAR.
We will be looking to fill as many leagues as we can. Last year we had two, hopefully we'll have more this year.
We'll start filling leagues immediately, but we're going to need a little help from the participants.
Depending on the number of leagues/people involved, we will require each person to do the 2011 salary and position eligibility for 1 or 2 teams. If a salary changes, the predraft list will be used.
Once we have the salary information, we will begin starting the drafts. I would like to start as soon as possible.
The rules are simple, hopefully, so read on for details:
Complete rules:
- 25-man rosters consisting of 13 offensive players (2 C, 1B, 3B, 1B/3B, 2B, SS, 2B/SS, 4 OF, and a UT), six starters, and six relievers. LF/CF/RF are NOT separate positions.
- To qualify at a position, a player must have played it in at least 20 games in 2009, either in the majors or minors.
- You have two hours to make a pick or else the next person can (and should) jump in. You may then make up your missed pick at any time. The hours between 9pm and 9am EST don't count towards the two-hour window (non-EST folks will likely sleep through part of the morning, but can stay more on top of things at night.)
- Salaries as listed by Cot's -- make sure to add in any signing bonus money.
- For arbitration players, we're using the midpoint of the two offers, unless there's a settlement by the time of the first pick. There are currently only five arbitration-eligible players still unsigned and that could go down, possibly to zero, by the time the drafts start.
- Unsigned free agents as of the first pick are ineligible to be drafted.
- After the draft, we'll be entering the teams in over at Fangraphs so WAR can be tracked throughout the season. I'll likely ask for updates periodically (monthly) in an EditGrid spreadsheet.
- Anything that these rules don't cover will be decided on by the secret Rules Committee.
If you would like to play--and you would!--leave a comment in the thread below with your email address in the subject line. For reference see last year's final standings and last year's announcement (from which I plagiarized most of this post). Once the sign-ups start rolling in we'll create another thread to manage the salary submissions. Once the salaries are submitted, we'll start drafting.