Drafts and Keepers

Rule V Draft

In order to dissuade GMs from retaining players in AA that are performing well in MLB, LDB will hold an MLB Rule V-style draft. In that draft, GMs may poach such players from other GMs farm systems. To be eligible for the Rule V Draft, a player must:

• Currently be in LDB AA
• Not be a team's designated protected player
• Be age 23 or above as of draft day (birthday on draft day counts)
• Have accumulated 900 PA, 225 IP, or 50 pitching appearances over his career

The Rule V draft will take place over all-star week each season beginning in 2012. During that week, and before the draft begins, teams will be afforded an opportunity to announce one protected player that cannot be drafted and to promote AA players subject to the Rule V draft before the draft. The draft will last until each team passes. Once a GM passes, the GM may still participate further in the draft. There are no restrictions on the number of players one team may take or have taken from them. The draft order will be non-serpentine, with the order being in reverse order of the current standings at the close of the LDB week preceding the all-star game. The commissioner will conduct the Rule V Draft via means he deems most efficient (e.g., email, website, or conference call).

Teams drafting a player by Rule V will be required to keep them on their LDB Majors roster for the following 1.5 seasons. Time on the LDB disabled list will not count toward the 1.5 seasons, although owners may still place them on the disabled list. Owners will not be required to include Rule V draftees on their playoff roster.

Rule V draftees may be traded. Traded Rule V draftees or draftees claimed off of waivers will remain under the same restrictions for teams acquiring them.

If a GM is unable to maintain the player in LDB Majors or the DL and cannot move him by trade, the player must be offered back to his original team for $0.2 million. If the original team declines to take the player, he enters general waivers. When an original owner acquires a player back before they have cleared waivers, the original team is under Rule V restrictions described here.

Teams will not be able to change their protected player without promoting that player or subjecting him to waivers. Teams cannot change their protected player once the draft begins.

Keepers

Majors and AAA Players

In the off-season, GMs will be able to designate a select five players on their Majors and AAA rosters as keepers. layers in the (LDB) Majors and (LDB) AAA who are signed to long-term deals (contract status of K1/2/3) are eligible to be kept. These players are retained for the next year at their current salary: auction price less a 10% signing bonus (but no player can be paid less than the league minimum). A player may be kept twice for a total of three seasons with a team, and then they become a free agent.

Restricted Free Agents

After players have served three seasons under a contract, they are restricted free agents (RFAs). RFAs are up for auction during the following draft. However, the GM owning RFA rights has the option to match the winning bid, as described above. The team with RFA rights is generally the previous owner, unless the RFA rights were previously traded to another team.

Hometown Heroes

Mid-season free agents are automatically free agents after the season ends. However, each team will be allowed to designate one of their mid-season free agents as their "hometown hero" (HTH). The HTH gets a one-year contract extension at six million dollars. The HTH cannot be extended beyond that one year, and must be a player who logged non-September call-up time in the Majors and is no longer rookie-eligible.

Homegrown and Super-twos

Homegrown players are players drafted into AA (and possibly promoted). Homegrown players do not count against the Majors/AAA keeper total above. After AA players' promotion to AAA or the Majors, they are subject to the following salary schedule:

Homegrown Salary Structure
Year 1	$0.4 million
Year 2	$0.6 million
Year 3	$1.2 million
Year 4	$3.6 million

If a homegrown player is traded, they remain on the same salary structure when they join their new team, unless released and not claimed on waivers.

GMs may promote a homegrown player in the second half of a the LDB season (after week 10) without starting the four year clock on their homegrown status. These players are super-twos and are treated exactly as homegrown players for keeper purposes, but they follow an accelerated salary promotion scale:

Super-two Salary Structure
Year 0 (promotion year)	$0.4 million
Year 1	$0.6 million
Year 2	$1.8 million
Year 3	$3.6 million
Year 4	$3.6 million

GMs may decide upon promotion whether they want they player to use up a year of eligibility or to be a super-two at promotion time through notice to the commissioner.