In order to form a more perfect league ...
A. Rules of the Game
__ a1 - Participation in Jeepers Keepers determined by ability to pay specified draft fee. Regular season champions earn 50 percent of the prize pool. Postseason champs collect 30 percent. Regular season and playoff runners up get 10 percent.
__ a2 - Owners are entitled to rosters of 21 active major leaguers, two disabled list spots and a farm system of 15 minor league or rookie players. All must belong to American League franchises or their affiliates.
__ a3 - During the MLB season, owners field daily starting lineups (OFx3, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, C, DH, RPx2, SPx5) that accrue statistics (H, HR, R, RBI, SB, W, SV, K, ERA, WHIP) via Yahoo! fantasy baseball software. Eligibility for hitting positions is determined by Yahoo!; pitchers may be used only in the role (starter/reliever) they fill on their actual team. If a pitcher's role changes throughout the year, so too does his fantasy eligibility.
__ a4 - Using the rotisserie scoring system, Yahoo! compiles teams' totals in the 10 stat categories and determine their place in the overall standings, updated daily.
__ a5 - The league standings on Labor Day (counting stats from all games BEFORE Labor Day) are considered final and determine the JK regular season title.
__ a6 - Head-to-head league playoffs begin Labor Day, include a number of teams specified at season's start, utilize seedings determined by the final standings and follow a rotisserie scoring system based on those same 10 stat categories.
B. Off-season Rosters
__ b1 - After the conclusion of a JK season, each franchise declares an off-season roster, which includes those players it wishes to protect from selection in next season's dispersal draft.
__ b2 - Each kept player must either be under or be placed under a contract specifying the number of consecutive off-seasons (no more than five) he will be protected.
__ b3 - The sum of the contract lengths on a team's off-season roster may not exceed 23. There is no limit to the sum of contract years on a team's roster during the regular season.
__ b4 - Players count the same number of years towards the 23-year cap for the duration of their contracts; the "cap number" does not reduce as a player's contract runs out.
__ b5 - When a JK franchise trades for a player or claims one off waivers, that franchise assumes the acquired player's contract as well. A contract immediately becomes void, however, when a player clears waivers or is released into the dispersal draft.
__ b6 - Players' contracts expire at the conclusion of off-seasons, marked by completion the dispersal draft. At this point, players may be dropped without penalty or kept for the remainder of the season.
__ b7 - The only times at which an owner may place a player under binding contract are: (1) between the dispersal draft and the first day of the season and (2) at the conclusion of the JK playoffs.
__ b8 - Franchises face the following penalties for failing to honor a player's contract in full: (1) In the off-season immediately following, the franchise's 23-year cap is reduced by one-half of the years on the player's original contract. (2) In each of the years that would have remained on the player's contract, the franchise forfeits its first pick (not counting those traded for).
__ b9 - A player's contract immediately becomes void if the player (1) retires or (2) enters the National League via free agency or trade.
__ b10 - Whenever a JK franchise loses a player on its roster to the National League, that franchise is compensated. Compensation is determined by the owner's investment in the lost player.
---->(1) If the lost player was a major leaguer without a JK contract, his franchise receives a pick at the end of the fourth round in the next dispersal draft.
---->(2) If the lost player was under a JK contract and traded into the NL, his owner may claim one of the player(s) for whom the lost player was traded [this provision is not an option if two or more players under JK contract are involved in the same trade].
---->(3) If the lost player was under a JK contract, his owner (provided he did not choose to claim the player traded into the league) may take a compensatory pick in the next dispersal draft based on the original length of that contract. Players under four- and five-year contracts warrant a pick at the end of the first round, players under two- and three-year contracts warrant a pick at the end of the second round. Players under one-year contracts warrant a pick at the end of the third round.
---->(4) If the lost player was on a JK minor league roster, his owner receives a pick at the end of the first round of the next minor league draft the following formula applies:
- If the player made the top 50 of the most recent Baseball America or MLB.com prospect rankings, his owner receives a pick at the end of the first round.
- If the player ranked 51-100, his owner receives a pick at the end of the second round.
- If the player was unranked but drafted into our league during one of the two preceding minor league drafts, his owner receives a pick at the end of the round in which the player was taken.
- If the player was unranked and has more than two years of JK "service time," his owner receives a pick at the end of the minor league draft. Same goes for Rule 5 picks and free agents lost to the NL.
__b11 - If you choose to take a comp pick for a player lost to the NL, you now have the option of deferring the pick for one year. If you lose the player in the middle of the season, you must declare your intention before the keeper deadline. If you lose the player in the off-season, you must declare your intention immediately. (added draft 2016)
C. Down on the Farm
__ c1 - Each season the league sets a date for its annual minor league draft. The first two minor league drafts will be seven and five rounds long; all following drafts will be four.
__ c2 - All players on the rosters of American League teams' minor league affiliates are eligible for the minor league draft, provided they (1) are not already on the major or minor league roster of a JK team, or (2) have not logged more than 130 major league at bats or 50 major league innings pitched.
__ c3 - Minor league rosters may not exceed 15 players.
__ c4 - Players may remain on a JK franchise's minor league roster until they lose their rookie status. At the end of their rookie season, players may be protected as major leaguers for one off-season under the Morneau Exemption without affecting the cap status of their owners. After their second season of major league service, such players must either be signed to a JK contract or released into the dispersal draft.
__ c5 - Minor leaguers may not be acquired at any time other than the date of the minor league draft (exception: when a player under JK contract is traded to the NL for minor leaguers, his owner may choose to claim one of the minor leaguers as compensation). They may be traded, but they do not go onto waivers when dropped. Minor leaguers may only be dropped in the JK offseason, and only if they have served 5 consecutive years on JK minor league rosters.
__ c6 - When a trade involves a player on a JK franchise's minor league roster, the franchise acquiring that player receives all of the roster priveledges and exemptions that the original owner would have received.
__ c7 - Minor leaguers not on a JK roster called up to the major leagues go onto the waiver wire once recognized by Yahoo!.
D. Drops, Adds, Trades
__ d1 - Franchises may, for the most part, trade anything of value related to league operations, although all trades must be fully disclosed to the public and are subject to a vote of disapproval from the majority of owners not involved.
__ d2 - Each season the commissioner will set a trade deadline, after which teams may not make trades unless all players involved pass through waivers. Trading re-opens after the playoffs conclude.
__ d3 - Players may make add or drop players and change their starting lineups on a daily basis. Pitching staffs, though, must be set weekly on Monday. The only acceptable reasons for changing the rotation mid-week are demotion, trade or injury.
__ d4 - The annual dispersal draft occurs before the beginning of each season. Players eligible include all major and minor leaguers not on a team's off-season roster. The draft's rounds proceed in order of worst to first from the previous season's standings.
__ d5 - Teams may use a maximum of 35 transactions per season. Owners can pay $1 for every transaction that exceeds 35. That money will be added to the following season's prize pool.
E. In Case We Forgot Something. . . .
In the event of a rule dispute, the commissioner plots an immediate course of action, but any "executive rulings" may be overturned by a majority vote by the league's owners.
Additions
1) Addition to rule B6: After the trading deadline, those players whose contracts have expired may not be "sneaked through" waivers or dumped to clear room for potential keepers, as those moves may affect the regular season and playoff outcomes.
2) Addition to compensation matrix: Players not under contract are not eligible for lost-player compensation until serving one full week on a team's roster.
Rules approve before 2012 Draft:
1. Flip flop (again) the minor- and major-league drafts, so that the major-league draft occurs first.
2. Add two additional DL spots, one of which is open only to players under contract who will remain in that DL spot for the rest of the season. It will become prohibited for teams to pick up DL-eligible players and put them into a DL spot.
3. Each minor league player will come with one "option" back to the farm. This option must be exercised before the player exhausts his rookie eligibility completes his rookie season. Teams must declare in a message post that they are exercising the option, and the player will not be open to waiver claims after being dropped.
4. Players under contract may be put on waivers and "pulled back" if no team claims them, without penalty. In order to avoid penalty, the team must leave that player's roster spot open while he is on waivers.
Added 3/15: No more than 2 players not under contract or protected via the Morneau Exemption may be on the DL at any time. Teams have access to an unlimited number of DL spots for players under contract, protected via the Morneau Exemption or out of minor league options.
