League Origins

The year is 2023. Major League Baseball went from 26 teams (1992) to 34 teams (2007), but lost much of its fan support in recent years to more "exciting" sports such as basketball, football, and extreme soccer. In 2015, the season was shut down after just 15 games by the conglomerate of agents that ran the game through intimidation and extortion. The game of baseball - the "national pastime" - was lost to millions of fans.

The owners, fearing that this might become a losing venture, decided that the game could not continue on the same path, and disbanded their franchises. The players were forced to find work elsewhere.

Finally, in 2022, an idea was hatched that was met with great celebration: baseball would be born anew! 24 new teams were established, in cities all around North America, by all new owners. Some came from old money, others were "nuveau riche," but they all had one thing in common: a love of the game. In order to avoid the avarice that shut down their beloved sport seven years prior, the owners appointed a strong commissioner to represent their interests and those of the game itself, and an equally strong "super-agent" to represent the players. Rather than having players pick agents whose only love was money, this single agent was well-compensated and out to represent his players fairly, without malice toward the owners or the institution of baseball.
This new organization is known as "The Money Ball Union," after the famous book written in 2003 about "The art of winning at an unfair game," in the hope that people would remember the fate of baseball years prior and avoid the pitfalls that led to that unfortunate event.

Now, in 2023, players are getting back into shape, some more successfully than others. Some are hoping to be drafted by a city in their hometown, some are just ready to play some ball, and still others are hoping to carry on the legacy left by their fathers, grandfathers, or even great-grandfathers!

Revision History

Original Version: 12/22/03 (JSB, with thanks to the FIBB)

Updated: 5/30/04 (Mile_High_GM)

Updated 4/06/05 (gcsii99)
added links/outline
major revision - added mucho content

Updated 5/6/05 (gcsii99)
added PA Tips
updated FA stuff

Updated 5/27/05 (gcsii99)
added AS Game bidding
added new PP rewards

Updated 11/22/06 (scotto313)
updated PP rewards
updated PA description
updated PP requirements
added negative cash/draft limitations
updated free agency
added waivers
added HPL
updated ARL
updated JL

Updated 1/18/07 (thickman1)
added RFA rule
added waiver trade rule

Updated 3/31/07 (thickman1)
added PP spending option (Spring Training Specialist)

League Settings

• Fantasy Draft using created and modified roster set
• All initial contracts will be assigned by the computer
• OOTP6.12 software REQUIRED
• DH is off
• Coaches/Scouts Disabled
• Talent Only, No Ratings
• All teams are financially equal to start
• Fan Interest set to 65 on all teams
• Amateur Draft 5 rounds plus the “Scout-a-Prospect” feature
• 24 teams; 2 leagues; 3 divisions each (4/4/4)
• 3 Round Playoff Format (Best of 5, Best of 7, Best of 7)
• Era = Modern Day
• Player Refuses Assignment to Minors and Arbitration ARE active

SIMS

Will be conducted 3 times a week: Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday. Check the home page for Team Export deadlines. Live sims will be conducted on Opening Day, our special "managed" All-Star Game, the end of the regular season and all Playoff Series. Other live sims may be possible, but are not promised. Each sim will consist of 10 days on the league schedule (note: the third sim of the month will be as many days as it takes to close out the month.) The July sim will stop one day short of the end of the month to facilitate extra trading days at the trading deadline. Playoffs will occur off the normal schedule as announced by the Commish and found on the message board Calendar.

Governing Board

A. Commissioner: The Commissioner will be responsible for the management and daily operation of the league. He is responsible for ensuring that all things happen that make the league go: simulating the games, maintaining the league file, updating the home page, and keeping very involved in all owner discussions. He is always available to answer questions about the league. He is one of four primary persons responsible for the recruitment and development of new members. The Commissioner shall ensure, either through his own means or through delegation, that the Owner Participation Point spreadsheet is maintained and reported to the league in a regular fashion. The Commissioner will ensure the best interests of the league are protected at all times. He shall also be given the power to assess fines and remove members as need be. He is the leader of the league.

B. Vice-Commissioner: Acts as a second set of eyes for the activity and pulse of the league. Recommends rule changes, updates and answers questions from the League Presidents as well as other owners, and helps maintain the Message Board. Initiates and participates in any needed Governing Board discussions. He shall also ensure the best interests of the league are protected at all times. He is there to help the Commissioner in whatever way is needed. Assumes the role of the commissioner if circumstances arise which preclude the commissioner from fulfilling his duties.

C. Player Agent: Has the unique duties of representing the players' interests in negotiations with the owners. He also acts as another set of eyes for the activity and pulse of the league. As a member of the governing board he can recommend rule changes, make updates and answer questions from the League Presidents as well as other owners, and helps maintain the Message Board. He shall also ensure the best interests of the league are protected at all times. The Player Agent may not own a team in tMBU.

D. League Presidents: There is a League President for each league in TMBU. They are expected to voice the opinions of the owners' in their league to the Governing Board, answer any questions that owners may have in regards to the rules or league procedures, and encourage activity among the owners. Their primary responsibilities include participating in Governing Board discussions and handling the collection and summation of required league votes. They will also welcome new owners to the league and are expected to remain in contact with all the owners in their league. The League Presidents serve a very important role to the league and are some of the most active owners in the league. They are expected to be among the best Participation Point owners and will be readily accessible via the forum, email or AIM.

Owners

The Money Ball Union is made up of 24 teams in 2 leagues. Each league consists of 3 divisions. Owners are expected to participate by exporting lineups, being active on the message boards and by promptly responding to communication attempts by others in the league. Having and using AOL is expected. An owner will be relieved of his team if he is no longer active with exports and has had no communication with the Governing Board. You are also expected to monitor the message boards and remain active in that area. A participation point system is also used to track owner activity and provide rewards for owner involvement. The minimum participation point requirement is 15 per season.

As mentioned above, owners are expected to submit Team Exports, or post in the Owner Availability forum that they will not be exporting. Owners must post on the message board in the Owner Availability forum when they expect to be unavailable for any period of time. If you are unavailable for one-third or more of a season, you are in jeopardy of losing your franchise. In these situations, it is your responsibility to find an AGM to run your team while you are away, but the Governing Board will help where possible. Owners are given an opportunity to participate in shaping the rules of the league, and thus participation in mandatory league votes is, in fact, mandatory.

Wherever groups of people gather, problems will arise. tMBU is no different. However, each owner is expected to always behave civilly toward other owners and league officials. If a problem arises between members of the league that can't be privately resolved, it is expected that the involved parties not "take matters into their own hands", but inform the Governing Board of the issue and work peaceably toward a resolution. Hostility and harassment between members will not be tolerated and can result in punishments that may include (but are not limited to) reprimand, probation, fines, or outright dismissal from the league at the discretion of the Commissioner and/or Governing Board.

On a more positive note, owners are the lifeblood of the league and are in-fact the reason for the league's very existence. In this light, owners are encouraged to make suggestions and voice concerns either on the message board or directly to a Governing Board member. tMBU welcomes new ideas and fresh perspectives that make the league more enjoyable for everyone.

Participation Requirements

Exports
Since the main purpose of being in tMBU is to control a team, owners are encouraged to export regularly. This is the most basic and easiest of the Owners duties. However, it is understood that sometimes an owner will not be able to export for a sim. In this event, owners are expected to post that they are unable to export on the message boards before the sim time. With notification, missed exports are forgiven completely. Without notification the following rules shall apply:
8 points will be awarded for not missing an export
5 points for missing 1
3 points for missing 2
0 for missing 3 or more.
*Additionally owners who miss 5 exports exports in a season may be removed from the league at the discretion of the Commisioner and Governing Board.

Writing
The Money Ball Union is a writing league. This means owners are encouraged and expected to create articles on league happenings, players, etc. Each owner has access to his/her own team news forum where reports can be posted. Additionally, reports on the League in general may be posted in the "League Feature" forum.

**What constitutes a sufficient Team News report? In order to qualify for participation points, your Team News writings must be original, owner-created content. Copying and pasting from your OOTP team page will not count. You must have at least one solid paragraph of original, owner-created content. One sentence is far less than a paragraph. You are free to post whatever you want about your team in your team forum, but these are the guidelines to determining what is point-worthy. Also, please post each news item as a separate thread for easier tallying.

Mandatory Voting
tMBU is a league where participation is expected out of all owners. The following important league issues require a mandatory vote:
• Voting for Owner's Awards
• Voting for All-Stars
• Voting on any other critical league issues (e.g. rule changes, going to OOTP5, etc)
These types of league issues will be subject to a mandatory vote, facilitated by the Governing Board. Such League Votes will have at least a 72 hour voting window. Owners who do not participate in the mandatory voting will have 4 fan interest points deducted and will lose $1,000,000 Cash. Significant rule change votes will be subject to a 2/3 majority to enact the change.

Participation Points
Participation points (PP) are the vehicle by which owner activity is measured in tMBU. They are awarded for various actions such as writing team and league news, posting polls and special events as announced on the message boards by the Governing Board. There is a minimum PP requirement in tMBU of 15 points per season. Points can be carried over from season to season, but are assigned to the owner not the team. Thus, new owners start with 0 PP, regardless of how many the previous owner had. At the owner's discretion, they may be exchanged for various rewards. The chart below shows the breakdown of participation point awards, rewards, and punishments.

Finances

Salary Cap

In-game finances will be used. Salary cap is $90 million - no exceptions - and Max cash is $15 million. It is the owners' responsibility to track their payroll when making a trade - if a trade is made that puts a team over the cap, and that team fails to get under the cap prior to the next sim, then the team will be fined $1million for each sim that they are over the salary cap. In addition, the Commissioner will dole out 1-sim (10-day) suspensions to the team's most expensive player(s) - however many players it takes to put the team under the cap.

Negative Cash
A team that drops below zero dollars in cash (ie carries a negative cash balance from the prevoius year) to begin a season in two consecutive years will be placed on Financial probation. This entails:
1) The team will be unable to sign free agents over 350k.
2) The team can only offer same amount extensions to their impending free agents. Meaning you can’t extend a guy for more money then he is already making.
3) The team cannot trade so that he increases his payroll. Meaning you cannot trade someone making 3 mil. for a player making 5 mil.

If the team goes a third year with zero dollars in cash, the Commish (or someone the Commish designates) will then make trades with the teams assets to reduce payroll. The GM will have NO input at this point and any trade will be at the sole judgment of the Commish/Designee to the best of their abilities.

Amateur Draft
A team cannot draft a player in the Rookie Draft with a bonus of over 500K if it'll put that team (or you're already more than) -5,000,000 in cash. This league emphasizes financial prudence. Watch that bottom line!

Team Settings
Ticket prices can range from $1 to $20 dollars. You may update your ticket prices via Team Export at any time. Default price for regular season tickets is $10. Lowering your ticket price can increase attendance, but may also hurt your revenue, so beware of changing this.

Owners will be allowed to do as many promotions as allowed per month given they have the necessary funds. They should be done via Team Export.

There is no Revenue Sharing. The Commish will erase any monies given to a team by the OOTP engine for Revenue Sharing purposes. This includes the auto-reduction of any deficit to negative $5mill and any possible revenue sharing amounts distributed and noted in the League News.

Player Contracts

In-Season Free Agency
Signing of free agents during the season is governed as follows:
You may only sign one free agent to a minor league contract per 24 hour period. In-season free agency will be done through the Player Agent on a first-come, first-served basis. If your offer is acceptable to the player and the Player Agent, then the player will sign with your team. If not, you may not make a further offer to the same player until the next day.
All offers to the Player Agent should feature the following:
• Email or PM whose subject is "Player Name, team"
• a link to the player's OOTP html page
• a contract offer with the number of years and yearly salary
• any previous email quoted in text.

Off-Season Restricted Free Agency (RFA Period)
* Any player that is minimal loyalty/minimal desire to play for a winner and meets the pre-determined star minimums are allowed no extension attempts ever, be it during the final year of their contract, or during their final arbitration year.
a. For hitters, all players 2.5 gold stars and higher will be RFA's
b. For starting pitchers, all players 2.5 gold stars and higher will be RFA's
c. For relievers, all players 3.0 gold stars and higher will be RFA's.

* The RFA players will be announced shortly after the file rollover by our Player Agent and posted in a new section (2039 announcement will be for players hitting FA in 2040). The star rating of the players AT THE TIME of the posting will be used to determine RFA's. These may flucuate during the course of the season but it will not change a player's RFA status. Bottomline: if the player is on the RFA list, he'll stay on the list. If someone isn't on the list he won't be added unless it's deemed a "clerical error" on the part of the PA.

* These players will be bid on inside of OOTP using the in-game engine in a special 2-day sim (Day 1: 1-10, Day 2: 11-25). At the end of the 2 day-sim, teams will have 24 hours to decide whether to match. Former team cannot bid on their own RFA player.

* Teams can match the original contract in 3 ways:
a. Team can match at 140 % of yearly value at same number of years.
b. Team can match at 120 % of yearly value with 1 extra year added.
c. Team can match at 100 % of yearly value with 2 extra years added.

4. If original team chooses not to match, they will receive an SAP as compensation. These SAP's will be created between end of amateur draft and Spring Training - the value of the SAP will be known to the former team as to assist in their decision to retain player or take SAP. SAP star level will be randomly determined via randomizer program with highest odds being the star rating of player lost. Teams will not receive a player of great star rating then what they lost.

ODDS: 40% will be same rating as player lost
30% will be 1/2 star lower
20% will be 1 star lower
10% that SAP will be 1 1/2 star lower

5. All RFA's that do not sign with a team during the 2-day RFA process will then go into an exclusive bargaining session with their previous team during normal FA with the Player Agent. It will be the Player Agent's duty to decide whether the team has a desire to resign the RFA. If not, the Player Agent can seek out other suitors.


Off Season Free Agency
The off-season free agency period for tMBU is generally 5 days. Unless otherwise noted it begins shortly after the release of the new file (after the button is pressed). At this point teams may begin to send their contract offers to the Player Agent. Unlike contract extension negotiations, the off-season period is basically a highest-bidder auction. Teams are limited to one contract offer per day.
All offers to the Player Agent should feature the following:
• email or PM whose subject is "Player Name, team"
• a link to the player's OOTP html page
• a contract offer with the number of years and yearly salary
• any previous email quoted in text.

Players signed during off-season free agency may not be traded until June 1 of the upcoming season.
Check the Financial News Forum for parameters and guidance regarding the Player Agent. New agents bring their own insight and perspective to the role.

Between the end of the off-season FA period and Opening Day, 1 MLC may be inked by a team assuming the Player Agent agrees. Regular monetary contracts can be offered and agreed upon during this period as well on a first come, first serve basis.

Contract Extensions
Player contract extensions are handled in much the same way as free agency. Owners may make offers to the Player Agent by email. Generally, the Player Agent will begin accepting offers in June and will announce this to the league via the message board. Extensions may be negotiated until the completion of the playoffs.

In the contract extension process, owners may negotiate with the Player Agent who will look out for the player's interest. The owner may use similar player salaries, stats, etc to prove that an offer is fair. This is much more of a give and take with the Player Agent so it is often wise to begin negotiations early. The Player Agent takes factors like age, talent level, stats, loyalty and desire for to play for a winning team into consideration, and thus the wise owner will do likewise. Please refer to the Financial News Forum for further guidance on how to deal with the Player Agent.

There is no maximum contract length. The Player Agent will instruct the simmer to process extensions any time before or after importing teams, during the next sim after the extension is agreed upon. It is not necessary to extend players who are arbitration eligible, but you may elect to attempt to do so.
All offers to the Player Agent should feature the following:
• email/ PM whose subject is "Player Name, team"
• a link to the player's OOTP html page
• a contract offer with the number of years and yearly salary
• any previous email quoted in text.
• justification of offer (optional)

Waivers
The waiver forum is for teams to put players on Waivers. Reasons you might put a player on Waivers:
- Want out of the bigs, but out of minor-league options
- Not in the bigs, but want to remove from 40-man roster
- Want out of the bigs AND off the 40-man roster
- Trade after July 31st

Waivers are turned on within the game to notify you when you must place a player on Waivers to perform an action.
NO ONE SHOULD ACTUALLY PLACE A PLAYER ON WAIVERS WITHIN THE GAME.

How to Do It:
1) Create a thread in this forum with the player's position and full name as the title
2) Hyperlink the player in the body of the post
3) Indicate why you are putting this player on Waivers (one of the above reasons).

* The player is on Waivers for 24 hours. Teams wanting to place a claim should reply to the player thread as such.
* Once the 24 hour period has expired, the owner with the highest waiver claim position has rights to the player.
* Waiver Claim position is determined by current record. The worse your record, the higher your claim position. During April, previous season records are used. In this case of a tied W-L percentage, the first claim wins.
* The owner placing the player on Waivers has the option of pulling the player back if they so desire. However, a player may only be placed on Conditional Waivers once during a given season. If an owner does decide to pull a player back, this must be done within one hour after the conclusion of the 24 hour Waivers period or the player is awarded to the team with the highest Waiver Claim.
* Players placed on Waivers because they refuse minor-league assignment CAN NOT be pulled back if claimed.
* Once awarded a player from Waivers, the claiming team assumes all contract responsibilities of said player.
* A player successfully claimed after being out of minor-league options must be kept on the winning team's 25-man active roster all season
* A player successfully claimed for attempting to move off the 40-man roster must be kept on the winning team's 40-man roster all season
* A player successfully claimed who was to be removed from the 25-man roster AND the 40-man roster must be kept on the winning team's 25-man active roster all season (and therefore also the 40-man)
* After the trading deadline, players do have the option of negotiating a Waiver deal with the claiming team. However, if no deal is reached within one hour immediately following the 24 hour Waivers period, the player must be pulled back or awarded to the Claiming team. Players with minor league contracts do not need to clear Waivers.
* Trades involving cash for draft picks will not be allowed after the July 31 deadline. What this means is that you may not make any trades after the deadline that involve cash considerations. We feel that allowing these type deals basically circumvents the spirit of the cash max and could skew league finances. Again we are continuing to discuss this issue and look at consequences and could very well decide differently for future seasons. As always we welcome your opinions and suggestions on this issue.

* Although we are using the honor system to enforce the "must remain on" rules listed above, punishments will be determined at the discretion of the Gov Board, but will likely include both substantial cash ($1 million +) and PP. Repeated offenses will lead to loss of draft picks or removal from the league.

REMEMBER, we are not actually using the OOTP in-game waiver wire – our waiver wire is the messageboard. Because of this OOTP will not restrict the movement of players claimed off of waivers like it should. The players who have moved teams as a result of waivers will be pinned in the Waiver forum of the messageboard. The Gov Board will be periodically double-checking those players to make sure they are where they are supposed to be.

Designated For Assignment (DFA)
Stealing some of this from Joel and the FIBB ...... Thanks, as always!

OOTP6.11 has introduced the Designated for Assignment area. This is a place that attempts to solve the problems with players always being placed in AAA after acquisition. Adding the DFA fixes that loophole in OOTP's transactional system, but of course changes things for the tMBU.

The impact to our existing Waivers system is not huge. We are going to continue to process Waivers on the message board as we have been doing. ***The main changes to the Waivers system are that now you can not remove a player from the 40-man with a big-league contract ($300k or greater) and any player acquired off waivers now goes into your DFA area and is subject to the DFA rules.

The DFA is essentially being used as a holding area in tMBU . Basically, any player acquisition regardless of the type now goes to your DFA. Once on the DFA, it will be up to you from within OOTP to determine what your next course of action is for those player(s).

Once a player is in DFA, what can I do with him?
(1) You can assign him to your 25-man roster (prefaced by a placement on the 40-man)
(2) You can assign him to a minor league roster, however...
- ***Players with a big-league contract must be placed on the 40-man roster before being assigned to the minors.
- Players with five or more years of MLB service can refuse assignment to the minors and must clear irrevocable waivers
- Players with no option years remaining must clear irrevocable waivers before being assigned to the minors.
(3) You can attempt to negotiate a trade involving the player before 7/31
(4) You can out-right release the player and eat his contract
The DFA will also change how transactions are processed during the sim. All transactions now need to occur at the same time due to the DFA time element. We will now process all player acquisition transactions post-sim. This means that FA adds and Waivers will be processed post-sim like trades have always been. When you get the new file after a sim, you will find any newly acquired players on the DFA and you must resolve their DFA status before the next sim. If the sim is halted by OOTP b/c you have not resolved your player's DFA status, they will be outright cut. There will be no exceptions to this rule.. However, if you have posted that you are unavailable to export you can either send me instructions via email or PM or catch me on AIM with any changes you may want done to your players in DFA, and those will be done prior to the sim.

One good thing noticed about the DFA from other leagues, is the ability to clear a roster spot when you post a waiver request on a player on the message boards. Now, you can move that player to the DFA prior to your export (which clears a roster spot on your 25-man roster), post him in the waivers section, and use his roster spot for a call-up prior to the waiver being processed. This helps teams out big time, so take advantage of it!

So, to sum things up:
WE ARE USING THE DFA. YOU CAN PLACE YOUR PLAYERS IN THE DFA AREA PRIOR TO YOUR EXPORT BUT YOU MUST ALSO POST HIM IN WAIVERS ON THE BOARDS. YOU MAY NOT POST YOUR OWN PLAYERS IN THE WAIVER SECTION, THAT IS STILL BEING DONE ON THE BOARDS
Anyone caught cheating on this will be punished!

Example:
Let's say Larry was thinking of waiving Ivan Ivanoff and wanted his roster spot for some 1* blue scrub to come up to the bigs. So, he would post on the boards that he was putting Ivan on waivers. Then, within the game, he could legally be allowed to put Ivanoff in the DFA section. This would clear a spot on his 25-man roster for that 1* blue scrub to now come up. After bringing him up to the bigs for his shot, he would then export via ftp. It's as easy as that.

Trades

ALL trades must be posted on the message board and confirmed by both owners and will be processed by the Commissioner AFTER the games are simmed. However, owners may request that a trade be processed pre-sim if instructions are given as to what to do with the player(s). This is completely at the Commissioner's discretion and can be denied. Any combination of players, draft picks, and/or cash may be traded, subject to the following limitations.

1. During a season, only the draft picks of the upcoming draft are available for trading by an owner. After the “Proceed to Next Season” button has been pressed, owners may trade the draft picks of the upcoming draft as well as the picks of the next draft.
2. Trading of “Players to be named later” and/or conditional picks is not allowed.
Cash: Trading of cash is allowed with a $100,000 minimum.

Special Policy 1: A player can not be traded back to the same team he was traded from during the same season in a contract walk year.
Special Policy 2: If an owner wishes to protest a trade as collusion or extremely lopsided, he must notify the commish or co-commish privately. If the complaint is valid the commissioner will assemble a league trade committee to make a ruling on the trade. All committee rulings are final and will be accompanied with an explanation.
Special Policy 3: Players signed during off-season free agency may not be traded until June 1 of the upcoming season.
Please do not add/trade players in your league file prior to exporting lineup as it will cause your lineup to be invalid. Please respond to trade offers as quickly as possible and be nice, even if the offer is absurd.
tMBU's trading deadline is July 31 of each season. Players traded after this date must clear waivers first.

Amateur Draft

The previous champion will pick last no matter what their draft position would have been based on record. Runner-up will pick next to last. All playoff teams slot in next by regular season record. The rest of the order is based on regular-season record. Teams with the same record will have their draft order determined by a tiebreaker process.

Tiebreakers: Head-to-Head, Division record, Run Differential.

The off-season amateur draft will be 8 rounds. The draft usually begins as soon as the "proceed to next season" button is pressed. The Governing Board will post the order and the time limits for making each pick and drafting will begin on the forums. If a team doesn't make a pick in the allotted time, a CPU pick will be made for them. Lists can also be used if they are submitted in a timely manner to a GB member. As much of the draft will be done on the boards as possible with the remaining picks being made by CPU. All efforts will be made to allow owners to make as many picks themselves as they desire.

Remember your cash situations...you cannot pick a guy with a bonus of over 500K if it'll put you (or you're already more than) -5,000,000 in cash.

tMBU Rule V Draft

Beginning in 2027, the tMBU will have a Rule 5 Draft. This will be governed and enforced by OOTP6. Your team’s in-game transactions page will show those players who are eligible. You can make a player ineligible by placing the player on your 40-man roster.

Teams with less than 40 players on their 40-man roster and less than 25 players on their 25-man roster will be allowed to participate. The draft will only be one round.

All players chosen must stay on the selecting team’s 25-man roster all season or be traded back to their original team. The terms of such deals will be between the two owners, but it must follow tMBU trade guidelines.

Excessively filling your big-league roster with Rule 5 draftees who are not truly big-league ready will subject you to tanking scrutiny by the Gov Board.

Scout-a-Prospect

The 6th round of the Amateur Draft will be replaced with the "Scout-a-Prospect" project. Everyone will be expected to create and write a little bio on their hero or you don’t get one. You will specify all intangibles:
Name
Nickname
Number
Bday (excl year)
Born in
Height
Weight
Position
Everything else will be randomly generated by the OOTP Player Creator. However, your talent levels will be generated via a randomizer program that gives slight bonuses based on your record and better bonuses if you have purchased the Scouting Reward.
This method gives bad teams a slightly greater chance at a better player. It also gives active teams with Participation Points to spend a better chance. But still adds randomness to the equation.

Partnership Leagues

Japanese League
tMBU has a partnership with the Nippon Japanese League to allow players to enter the off season free agent pool. The league's statistics will be posted in the Japanese League forum, and a simulation will be run on an as needed basis.

Hawaiian Pineapple League
tMBU also has a partnership the Hawaiian Pineapple League.The Hawaiian Pineapple League, the HPL, will be a feeder league along with the Japanese League. The HPL will bring to the tmbu each offseason, the CY Young and MVP winners from the previous season.

These 2 players will enter the free agency pool and be available for bidding during each tmbu offseason.

Now remember, the HPL is like a AAA league compared to tmbu. The talent is stronger and better in tmbu compared to the HPL. So, when the CY Young and MVP come into tmbu keep in mind these players may succeed or fail during their tmbu career.

All Japanese and Hawaiian League imports will have the following rules apply:
1. They will be imported into the tmbu file at the beginning of free agency.
2. All 24 teams will submit offers to me via PM during free agency.
3. The winning team will be granted that player's services for the agreed upon contract.
4. Come the last year of the player's contract, the team's GM must resign the player in order to retain his services.
5. If the player is not resigned in his final year of his original contract, that player will become a FREE AGENT.
6. Once a free agent, he will go into the free agent pool and takes bids from all 24 teams again.

There will be no arbitration years following the end of their original contract, as well as no players reverting back to a minimum 300k salary at the end of their contract.

Arizona Rookie League

Each season tMBU owners have the opportunity to send their young players to the Arizona Rookie League (ARL). This provides another means of developing young players in the league. Each team may send up to 10 players each year. The qualifications for the ARL are as follows:
1. Each team selects 10 players of ANY position from their minor league teams to participate in the ARL.
2. No player can be older than 25 years old (as of Jan 1st).
3. No player can have more than 50 days of Major League service.
4. When listing your players, please give full name and position and link.
5. Injuries will be turned on, however they will not be carried over into the main game after the ARL is over
6. NO player can incur a talent loss but will retain ALL earned talent increases
7. Deadline to turn your team in will be the end of the championship series

All-Star Game Bidding

Before each season the league will decide where to hold its annual All-Star Game. Cities interested in entering this bidding process should submit their proposals to the Governing Board before the conclusion of the championship series. The Gov Board will then present qualified proposals to the league to vote. The proposals may be as elaborate as desired, but a few paragraphs explaining why a city should be chosen will suffice. Cities will not be awarded the game within 5 years of hosting. The rewards for hosting the All-Star Game are as follows:
• $2,000,000 cash reflecting a city economic boost
• Gate receipts = game attendance * $25
• An immediate increase of 5 to the team's Fan Interest
• All qualified bids are counted as League Features (+4 ppts)
• Winning bid receives an extra 2ppts

Credits

Thanks go out to the Federation of International Base Ball, the WBL, the Front Office Baseball League, Global Baseball Consortium, Nexgen Baseball League and any others that inspired this document or were used as a model for different sections. Many thanks also to Karen Lutz, Joel Odenbach, Scott Stewart, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, the seven dwarves and many others.
A special thanks to Joshua Bob and Chris "Oak" Oxford for their efforts in starting the MoneyBall Union. Many people have contributed to make this such a fine league but, it all started with these two.