Who's With Us?

Today, I emailed all of last year's managers about returning for 2006. If you did not receive it, please send email to bbfl at scottlucas dot com with the following information:

Team Name (old and new, if changing):
Your name:
Email address:
WILL / WILL NOT be playing this year:

BBFL Preseason Schedule

The timetable will be a little sketchy until team ownership is finalized. Rule proposals and discussion will run from now until at least next Sunday. If we have complete team ownership by then, the schedule will run as follows:

Feb 20 through Feb 23: Rule voting
Feb 24: Post results of voting.
Feb 27 through Mar 13: Off-Season Trading Window
Mar 13-15: Announce Keepers
Mar 16: Post Keepers
Mar 23: Deadline to change keepers
Mar 30: Draft.

If we don’t have a full league by Feb 20 I’ll adjust the schedule, but in any case we definitely will announce keepers two weeks before the draft and lock them one week before.

Regarding the trading window, Alomar owners may have players they must relinquish now per the three-year rule, and Barfield owners may have players with only one year remaining. (I’ll post a list in the near future.) Keep this in mind when developing a trading strategy.

Rule Proposal Guidelines

1. One owner proposes a rule change or an addition/adjustment to a current rule.
2. Someone seconds the proposal.
3. The proposal is added to the list. If two or more proposals seem contradictory, I may combine them into a single multiple-choice question at the time of voting (as an example from 2004, we wouldn't have wanted separate proposals on how many teams to relegate). We'll just see how they develop.
4. Before you submit a proposal, please review the existing constitution to make sure you’re not covering old ground.

Remember, BBFL rules can’t contradict Yahoo. For example, last year the BBFL voted to require 100 or more at-bats to qualify for offensive wins (similar to the 25-inning minimum). I later discovered that Yahoo provided no way to implement that rule, so out it went. Also, if a proposed rule would create onerous administrative duties for the commissioner, the commissioner reserves the right to complain incessantly until the rule’s proponents give up.
I’ll have a rule proposal in the comments.

Advancement / Relegation

Per league rules, the three lowest-ranked teams in the Alomar and Barfield divisions move down, and the top three teams (in the standings or playoffs, depending on the circumstances) in Barfield and Carter move up. Here are the switches for 2006:

- Alomar #18 Moscow Rats and Barfield #1 The Mighty Midgets
- Alomar #19 Garces Not On Roids and Barfield #2 Jay’s Ehs
- Alomar #20 Baird Brain and Barfield #3 Schroedinger’s Bat
- Barfield #18 Capers and Carter #1 Baseball North
- Barfield #19 Anarchist Activists and Carter #2 Magic 9
- Barfield #20 Freddy Beach Fracas and Carter #3 Pohnpei Papayas

As you may know, I somehow lost the team roster files. Fortunately, Kent Williams and David Goodwin have supplied me with the Alomar and Barfield rosters, respectively. They’ll be up on the BBFL site soon. I have not heard about a possible Carter division roster yet.

Draft Day

In 2004 and 2005, every division held its draft on the Thursday prior to Opening Day. I suggest the same for 2006; that would be March 30. Choice time slots fill up fast, so we must decide soon.

Waiting List

Interested in playing? Post here and join the waiting list. I'll need to go over my emails and prior posts to see who's waiting already, but we might end up with a few openings.

UPDATE: RESPONSES AS OF FEB 18 1000pm EST

Alomar: 19 returning, 1 out (Red Mosquitoes)

Barfield: 17 returning, 1 out (Good Sports), 2 nonresponding (Canadian Wannabe, Baird Brain)

Carter: 16 returning, 2 out (Hee Seop Choi, Pond -- Simon Pond), 2 nonresponding (Baker Five, Freddy Beach Fracas)