April 17, 2001
Here is the official hitter's emergency pitching card ...
March 4, 2001
Gentlemen,
Here are the voting results on rules proposals that were considered this year.
Rules voted in (PASS) will go into effect in 2002. Please note, one team (Ryan's
Express) did not submit a ballot:
1. Repeal the current unplayed games rule which penalizes teams that do not
play their full schedule without regard to the effect of its application to
teams that may have acquired draft choices etc. from the offending team. It
is necessary to repeal this rule before voting on a new rule.
PASS --- 7 YES ... 4 NO
2. Games Played Rule (in two parts but voted on as one rule).
a. Only teams responsible for games not played (or forfeited) will be penalized in the draft or playoff seedings. If Team A attempts to line up a series and Team B either refuses to respond or cancels the series without making an attempt to reschedule only Team B is penalized.
b. If Team A owns a draft pick that formerly belonged to a penalized Team B, then Team A would not have it's draft position compromised as it relates to the said pick and draft position for natural picks owned by other teams would be based on winning percentage of games played. That pick no longer belongs to the penalized team, and therefore, carries with it no penalty.
FAIL --- 3 YES ... 8 NO
3. Expand Rosters to 21 players. 20 + 1 rollover.
PASS --- 7 YES ... 4 NO
4. Revert back to the traditional season ending date of October 31. For years, this was the traditional finish date for the league. It should also help get a few more games played.
PASS --- 7 YES ... 4 NO
5. The three HBP rule. After the third hit by pitch of the game by a single pitcher, the pitcher rolls the 20-sided to determine a punishment. 1-4 No ejection 5-10 Ejection. 11-17 Ejection plus minor suspension (1 start for a starter, 3 games for a reliever). 18-20 Ejection plus major suspension (2 starts for starter, or 5 games for reliever). In the case of starters, they can be replaced in the four-man rotation, but the team can only use 24 players on the active roster for the series in which the suspension is served.
FAIL --- 4 YES ... 7 NO
6. Hold the ballpark draft in inverse order of finish like the regular draft.
FAIL --- 4 YES ... 7 NO
7. In the case of any future owners who fail to play a full season, readmittence to the league for the following season would be based on a supermajority (2/3) vote of eligible owners (ie owners that have completed the season).
FAIL --- 5 YES ... 6 NO
8. An alternative rule proposal to the unplayed games rule. Entry into the playoffs is open only to teams that complete their full 88 game schedule (or complete as many games as possible ... in other words, if the games remaining unplayed are deemed to have been unplayed because the opponent for those games did not make an effort to arrive at a mutually agreeable date or refused to play). Playoff seedings are based on actual games played and will continue to use the accepted format of two division winners and the four best records of the remaining teams after the completed schedule rule is applied.
With regards to the draft, since picks often change hands and it makes it difficult to penalize a team for not abiding by the rules without draft pick penalties affecting teams that did follow the rules, there would no longer be any change in draft order. The draft order would be in reverse order of winning percentage with the exception of the world series winner picking last as they do now. However, for every series unplayed, the team responsible for the unplayed series, would sacrifice two protection spots for the upcoming season. One unplayed series would mean that team only has 18 protection spots for the following season. Five unplayed series would result in that team having only 10 protection spots etc. Trading protection spots does not affect this penalty. If a team traded a protection spot and was penalized, the traded spot would come from their remaining protection spots. Since a penalized team would be short players on their roster as a result of not being able to protect the normal number of players, there would be a supplemental draft following the regular draft for those teams to complete their rosters.
PASS --- 8 YES ... 3 NO
9. Expand playoff rosters from the current 25 man active roster to 30 active players.
FAIL --- 1 YES ... 10 NO
March 26, 2000 Gentlemen, In the JBL, changes in league rules are voted on prior to each season and a majority of the team owners must vote in favor of a rule change for that change to be adopted. With 12 eligible owners, a rule change requires seven (7) yes votes to become a part of our league's rules. As of 12:01 AM CST, Friday, March 24, 2000, voting closed on this year's proposals with eleven teams casting ballots on the 20 proposals set before the ownership this year. Three proposals have been officially adopted by the JBL. They are: proposal #6 which was an affirmation rather than a change in rules and passed with a vote of 8 YES, 2 NO and 1 ABSTENTION, proposal #16 which states the home team for any series other than a group Stratfest has the right to name the venue for the series passed with a vote of 7 YES, 3 NO and 1 ABSTENTION, and proposal #19 which eliminates the rollover designation for protections beginning in 2001 passed by a vote of 7 YES, 3 NO and 1 ABSTENTION. Each team will then be allowed 20 protections spots (with adjustments made as a result of trades) with an eight-man taxi squad to be named following the draft but prior to playing their first series. It is my understanding that even though proposals #7 and #8 failed to garner the required number of votes for passage, these two issues will be revisited on draft day, Sunday, March 26, 2000 in an attempt to reach a compromise agreement on the structure of a "supplemental non-carded player draft" that all owners will be comfortable with for the upcoming season and future seasons. The result of this discussion was the passage of the following rule: For the 2000 draft,there will be a supplemental draft of one rookie player that has never had a Strat card by each team. Beginning with the 2001 draft, each team will be allowed to draft rookie non-carded players that have never had a Strat card with one of their regular draft choices but no team shall ever have more than two of these rookie non-carded players on their roster at any time. Until a player receives a card, he must be protected within the team's normal protection spots. When he receives his first card, he automatically falls under all of the same rules as any carded player. It was agreed that this rule would be longstanding and that a super majority of owners would be again required should their be any wish to alter or dispose of the rule in the future. YES-11 NO-1 PASSES ** Please be aware that there will also be a 21st proposal set before the owners at that time as well. It seems one of our owners had a proposal that was inadvertently left off the ballot and the commissioner has, in all fairness to that owner, offered to request a league vote on the following proposal prior to the 2000 draft: 21. Pinch hitters (hitters cards with less than 100 at bats but more than 49 at bats) will not be eligible to pinch hit until that pinch hitter's team has passed the halfway point of his team's season in games played (games 45-88). YES-2 NO-10 FAILS ** Also note that Strat did change the rules regarding the "infield in" situations and these are a part of our rules since they are a change to an existing rule and not a new rule per say. We already use "infield in" (unlike blocking the plate) so changes of this nature are not part of the voting process. ALL 2000 PROPOSALS (AND THE FINAL VOTING ON THESE PROPSALS) ARE LISTED BELOW: 1. The loser of the World Series picks second to last, the winner last in each round of the regular phase draft. YES-4 NO-6 ABSTAIN-1 FAILS 2. The Ballpark Draft should be staged in reverse order of finish, like the regular player draft. YES-6 NO-4 ABSTAIN-1 FAILS 3. Creation of a supplemental round to the draft with the opportunity to draft non-carded prospects. These draft picks can not be traded. Players selected in this round will be placed on the taxi squad of teams and count against the eight-man taxi limit within the 40-man roster. YES-2 NO-8 ABSTAIN-1 FAILS 4. Throw out the 25-man roster rule for playoff series and re-instate the previous rules, which allowed for 32 eligible players (not counting taxi guys). The 25-man rule is effective in regular-season play, when both teams know which park configuration all 4 games will be played in. But it is too restrictive for a 7-game playoff series in which venues change. YES-4 NO-6 ABSTAIN-1 FAILS 5. Pitchers with 20 innings on their card are eligible to pitch in JBL games. YES-3 NO-7 ABSTAIN-1 FAILS 6. Keep the current JBL innings pitched limitations (25 innings minimum) and hitter minimums (50-99 at-bats for use as pinch-hitter, defensive replacement; 100+ at-bats for unrestricted use). YES-8 NO-2 ABSTAIN-1 PASSES 7. Supporting the proposed intentions of the league to allow each team to develop one prospect, but protecting the future integrity of regular player drafts by not allowing stockpiling of uncarded players, the following is proposed: Each team is currently allowed one uncarded player who HAS had a strat card in a previous season and was drafted with that card. Should proposal number 8 below pass, teams would be allowed one and only one uncarded player on their 40 man roster who HAS NOT had a strat card in a previous season. Once a player receives his first strat card, he immediately falls under the current rules for carded players. If a supplemental draft player does not receive a strat card for the following season, that player may be released back into the draft to allow the team to select a different player or he may be protected and the team will then pass in that year's supplemental draft (similar to the ballpark draft now). However, so as not to penalize the team opting to keep their previously drafted supplemental player, protecting that player will not count against their regular protection list. YES-6 NO-3 ABSTAIN-2 FAILS IMPORTANT NOTE: If your vote on proposal number 8 below is affected by the outcome of the voting on proposal number 7 above, please indicate that on your ballot!!! 8. Proposal to add a supplemental round annually to the draft, to be held prior to the regular draft,in which each JBL franchise will be allowed to draft one minor league player who has never before had a Strat card and has never before appeared in the major leagues. The order of selection of said supplemental round would be determined in reverse order of finish of the previous season, just like the regular phase of the draft. The first supplemental round would take place in conjunction with the 2000 draft. YES-4 NO-5 ABSTAIN-2 FAILS 9. Adopt strat's suggested new catcher blocking the plate rule. YES-2 NO-8 ABSTAIN-1 FAILS 10. Increase reliever's innings availabilty to 8 per four-game series. YES-3 NO-7 ABSTAIN-1 FAILS 11. Increase roster protection slots to 20 unrestricted plus 2 rollover players. YES-4 NO-6 ABSTAIN-1 FAILS 12. Decrease roster protection slots to 12 unrestricted places plus 3 rollovers, of which one can be activated for the playoffs. YES-1 NO-9 ABSTAIN-1 FAILS 13. Teams must be present at the draft with the following exceptions: Special exemption from the commissioner, work, religion and familial emergency. All other reasons will bring the following punishment: A one-round dispersal draft of the teams players (no protections allowed) and forfeiture of all picks in the first five rounds. YES-4 NO-6 ABSTAIN-1 FAILS 14. In recognition and thanks to owner Brad Johnson for his tireless devotion to our league website, and time invested in said site and in traveling to Peoria for drafts and games, we propose his annual entry fee into the league be reduced to $1. YES-5 NO-4 ABSTAIN-2 FAILS 15. Tampering rule -- Teams will be penalized a third-round draft pick if accusations of tampering are proven, and any deal made by the tampering team involving players or picks from the deal undermined will be voided by the commissioner. YES-6 NO-4 ABSTAIN-1 FAILS 16. Other than neutral-site Strat-fests all games must be played at the respective home team's site of choice. YES-7 NO-3 ABSTAIN-1 PASSES 17. Active players, defined as those players not on a taxi squad or roll over players, can NOT be used as future considerations in deals to prevent them from playing against the team they would be headed to. Future considerations shall now be defined only as protection spots, taxi squad/rollover players (i.e. minor leaguers) or draft picks or non-player compensation.This rule mirrors the actual "future considerations" rule in Major League Baseball in which they are minor league players. YES-5 NO-5 ABSTAIN-1 FAILS 18. All drafting, including regular draft and supplemental draft, but excluding ballpark draft, should be inverse order of finish based on overall regular-season won-lost records with no exceptions for playoff results. YES-4 NO-6 ABSTAIN-1 FAILS 19. Eliminate the rollover taxi squad, currently 3 men, and beginning in 2001 season allow teams to protect 20 players, with no restrictions from their previous season.This means that following the draft, any eight of the players on a team's 40 man roster must be designated as taxi squad players and current rules regarding activation remain in effect. YES-7 NO-3 ABSTAIN-1 PASSES 20. The team with the best overall record in the regular-season will have the right to choose which division it plays in when annual re-alignment occurs. The last-place team is forced into the division the first-place team does not choose. YES-2 NO-8 ABSTAIN-1 FAILS PROPOSALS AND RULE CHANGES FOR 2000 SEASON NOW CLOSED E-mail votes on JBL website or in person to commish at newspaper office by midnight Thursday, March 23.