2014 NFBC Rules Changes

[Greg Ambrosius]

We will use this thread to officially announce any rules changes we make in 2014 and we'll start out with two that should make life easier when setting rosters each week.

The first one includes your Set Lineup and giving you more time to make those crucial decisions, especially if your players don't start the week with the first set of games on Monday. See below for more details:

11. Lineup submission
The weekly deadline for setting your NFBC starting lineup is on Mondays. But NEW FOR 2014: You now don’t have to lock in your entire starting lineup on Mondays if you have players who don’t play their first game of the week until Tuesday. You now are allowed to lock in your starters on Monday 5 minutes before their scheduled games that day and also 5 minutes before their games on Tuesdays if that is their first game of the week. If you have East Coast teams starting at 7 pm ET on Monday, you have to lock them into your starting lineup by 6:55 pm ET. If you also have West Coast players who don’t play until 10 pm ET, you then have until 9:55 pm ET to lock those starters in. And now if you have two outfielders playing their first games on Tuesday and you have one OF spot open in your starting lineup, you now have until Tuesday night to finalize who you want in your starting lineup. On Fridays, the same flexible Set Lineup procedure is in place where you can lock in your starters 5 minutes before their scheduled starting time for that day. Those players lock 5 minutes before their SCHEDULED STARTING TIME and do not change based on weather or any other matters.

NFBC team owners are also allowed to switch out any hitter (or hitters) from their starting lineup and replace him with a hitter from their reserve roster on Fridays. The deadline for doing that is 5 minutes before the start of that player's game on Friday. Pitchers will not be allowed to be moved out of your starting lineup at any time during the season; what is set for the week remains for the remainder of the week for all pitchers. If there is an MLB tie-breaker game or games, NFBC owners are allowed to reset their starting lineups for that game or games.

First Lineup Deadlines for Week 1: The MLB season starts on March 22 with a two-game series in Australia between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks. That will be considered Week 1 in the NFBC and owners will be allowed to set their starting lineups AFTER that game no matter when they draft in their leagues. Everyone will have the benefit of knowing the final results of those March 22-23 games before setting their starting lineups before the Sunday, March 30th game. Owners can then reset their starting lineups for Week 2 on Monday, March 31st. Lineups for Week 1 will lock as described above.


We'll also tweak our minor-league FAAB process to make it easier to understand going forward:

12. Free Agents
Any player who is not on a team roster within your league and is on a major league roster or once was on an NFBC team in your league is considered a free agent for that league. Even players on the MLB disabled list are eligible to be picked up during the FAAB bidding process. The player pool is deemed closed of new free agents each Sunday at 7 AM ET before the FAAB bidding deadline and a player must have played at least 1 MLB game to be added to the pool at that time. New For 2014: Once a minor-leaguer plays his first game in the majors, he remains in every NFBC FAAB pool whether he returns to the minors or not. Once in the majors, he remains in all FAAB pools. Participants should also note that MLB unsigned veteran free agents at the time of Draft Day are eligible to be picked up or bid on in all NFBC leagues.

That's it for now. Plan accordingly for 2014.

[BK METS]

So the pitching rule stays the same? No switching out for a pitcher that hasn't pitched yet?

[Greg Ambrosius]

So the pitching rule stays the same? No switching out for a pitcher that hasn't pitched yet?

No changes to the Friday pitchers rule in 2014.

[King of Queens]

As of Tuesday, suppose we have an unlocked 2B spot. Brian Dozier (2B/SS eligibility) is currently at SS, and he has a game on Monday. Troy Tulowitzki is on our bench. Can we move Dozier to the unlocked 2B spot, and then place Tulowitzki at SS?

[JimyMarlboroBallgame]

What if a Friday game is postponed before the scheduled start time? Can we wait until Saturday to start players? Let's say we have 2 OF in that game and 1 open OF spot.
What if teams play 3 innings but the game is postponed. It does not count as anything in the MLB. If this happens on Monday, will those players then stay unlocked from the postponed game up until Tuesday?
And then.....what if those two teams did not have a scheduled game after Monday (postponement) until Wednesday? When would they lock then if MLB does not have them make the game up on Tuesday?

LOL.....

[Deadheadz]

I can't speak for NFBC but both previous questions to my post seem to be asking if they can move locked players after the deadline.

KQ: if you chose to lock Dozier into the SS slot Monday but leave 2B open til Tuesday (this gives us the impression you have at least 1-2 more 2B eligible players who also don't play Monday) you're making the decision to lock him into the SS slot. I realize the names are important but let's say Tulo was on the DL but came off Tue morning. I see how it would be nice to shift Dozier to 2B to free up the SS slot but since you locked him in, you could not do that shift.

IF the 2B, SS and MI slots were ALL just MI then it would solve your problem. But having a 2B, SS, MI and Util slot forces us all to sometimes make tough decisions when setting our lineups before the deadline. Tough decisions are part of what makes the game interesting. Otherwise NFBC would just give us a roster with 14 Util positions.


JMB: Maybe it would be different if a game Friday was postponed well before the lineup lock deadline but it seems like you're asking if NFBC would unlock a roster spot after the deadline depending on what happens after the deadline. Sounds like you're looking for "mulligans" which most people believe aren't a part of Roto baseball.

A game being postponed due to weather or another reason is just one of the many outcomes we have to live with just like game time scratches which aren't made public until its too late to change our lineup, injuries and ejections, etc.

"Stuff" Happens is all a part of the randomness that makes fantasy sports fun for us all. Yes, we'd like to have more control over our results but then we're really starting to change a game that's already darn good to begin with.

I really doubt you'd ever get NFBC to go to the trouble of changing their code to allow a Saturday lineup lock deadline on the rare possibility that a Friday game gets postponed AND a manager has 2 or more players eligible for a slot because the haven't played a game that counted yet. Maybe a hurricane warning causes a postponement announcement Friday morning, then you'd have to decide if you want to lock in a player that may or may not play a DH game Saturday.

But no Mulligans in Roto, sorry.

Cheers!

[DOUGHBOYS]

I can't speak for NFBC but both previous questions to my post seem to be asking if they can move lock players after the deadline.

KQ: if you chose to lock Dozier into the SS slot Monday but leave 2B open til Tuesday (this gives us the impression you have at least 1-2 more 2B eligible players who also don't play Monday) you're making the decision to lock him into the SS slot. I realize the names are important but let's say Tulo was on the DL but can off Tue morning. I see how it would be nice to shift Dozier to 2B to free up the SS slot but since you locked him in, you could not do that shift.

IF the 2B, SS and MI slots were ALL just MI then it would solve your problem. But having a 2B, SS, MI and Util slot forces us all to sometimes make tough decisions when setting our lineups before the deadline. Tough decisions are part of what makes the game interesting. Otherwise NFBC would just give us a roster with 14 Util positions.


Cheers!

As long as that locked player is not being moved back to the bench, I see nothing wrong with KOQ's question.
We lock in players at deadlines, not positions.
We should be able to move players to a position of choice before a deadline lock.
Last year, I had to make sure a 7 pm player was not in the U spot, so that it allowed me more freedom should a last minute occurrence happen.
I'd like to be free from that worry.

[Deadheadz]

We lock in players at deadlines, not positions.

NFBC can correct me if I'm wrong but we are locking in positions as well.

If enough people asked for it, they might create a game for you with just 14 Util slots (no set position slots) for hitters, which would solve your problem.

[JohnP]

We lock in players at deadlines, not positions.

NFBC can correct me if I'm wrong but we are locking in positions as well.

If enough people asked for it, they might create a game for you with just 14 Util slots (no set position slots) for hitters, which would solve your problem.

Deadheadz....they do have a game for you. It's over at Yahoo.

[DOUGHBOYS]

We lock in players at deadlines, not positions.

NFBC can correct me if I'm wrong but we are locking in positions as well.

If enough people asked for it, they might create a game for you with 14 Util slots for hitters, which would solve your problem.

I'm not asking for that. You're being facetious.
What we're asking for is that the players be locked in, not positions.
We have always locked positions in the past. You're right. But, Open your mind.
It doesn't have to be that way.
It'll still be Two catchers, 4 infielders, an MI, a CI, 5 outfielders, and a U.
But if we have the ability to change players into a more strategic position as we go along with the deadline, there should be nothing wrong with that.

cheers

[Glenneration X]

I personally think it would be a great improvement if we could implement the suggestion made by KOQ. I don't really understand the argument against.

[Greg Ambrosius]

As of Tuesday, suppose we have an unlocked 2B spot. Brian Dozier (2B/SS eligibility) is currently at SS, and he has a game on Monday. Troy Tulowitzki is on our bench. Can we move Dozier to the unlocked 2B spot, and then place Tulowitzki at SS?

I didn't respond because I don't know the answer for sure. Let me make sure I'm on the same page with IT on all of this before responding. We do have flexibility in NFFC rosters using this same setup as far as Flex after you've set your starting lineup, but I need to ask if players are locked into positions here first before responding. Again, rosters lock 5 minutes before scheduled start time, so plan accordingly even if there is bad weather. Oh, and all MLB teams play every Tuesday (if they didn't play on Monday) and every Friday.

[whale4evr]

But NEW FOR 2014: You now don’t have to lock in your entire starting lineup on Mondays if you have players who don’t play their first game of the week until Tuesday.

The can of worms is now officially open.

[anpyanks]

But NEW FOR 2014: You now don’t have to lock in your entire starting lineup on Mondays if you have players who don’t play their first game of the week until Tuesday.

The can of worms is now officially open.

How so????

[Greg Ambrosius]

But NEW FOR 2014: You now don’t have to lock in your entire starting lineup on Mondays if you have players who don’t play their first game of the week until Tuesday.

The can of worms is now officially open.

This isn't that complicated and if we can make it work in football and basketball without any worms we can definitely do it in baseball. But if we need to add more language to the rules to define every possible scenario, we will. And Glenn's question about locking the player AND the position or just the player is a good one. We'll define that as well and give owners as much flexibility in setting their Starting Lineups as we can. It's fair that way and again it might even help in dealing with pitcher decisions this year.

[BK METS]

But NEW FOR 2014: You now don’t have to lock in your entire starting lineup on Mondays if you have players who don’t play their first game of the week until Tuesday.

The can of worms is now officially open.

Not at all. This is a necessary change for lineup decisions with players that have Monday off. It often happens where we don't know if a player is playing on Tuesday until just before game time, and with the current rules, the lineups are locked. I think we do need the additional rule allowing movement among positions, in order to make it work effectively. Maybe allowing players with multiple eligibility, the ability to move from position to position, until Tuesday games have started.

[lrr]

I realize players lock five minutes before a scheduled start time. I also understand that the purpose of the new rule allowing you to lock in a player on Tuesday who does not play on Monday is greater flexibility. That makes sense to me. It also seems logical to me that if a game is rained out on Monday, the players on those teams shouldn't lock. Or if they lock, they should "unlock". I don't know how hard this would be to accomplish.

[KJ Duke]

I realize players lock five minutes before a scheduled start time. I also understand that the purpose of the new rule allowing you to lock in a player on Tuesday who does not play on Monday is greater flexibility. That makes sense to me. It also seems logical to me that if a game is rained out on Monday, the players on those teams shouldn't lock. Or if they lock, they should "unlock". I don't know how hard this would be to accomplish.

I would stick with scheduled time, it is a substantial improvement and easy to manage and communicate.

[COZ]

So the pitching rule stays the same? No switching out for a pitcher that hasn't pitched yet?

No changes to the Friday pitchers rule in 2014.

Disappointing. We talked ourselves around in a circle and got scared out of a simple, yes simple, rule that everyone over-complicated. Now when someone suffers an injury to their pitcher and their hands are tied, please spare us the whining and inevitable bitching forum post. We had our chance to change it, and the fear-mongerers and the too-little-timers prevailed.

COZ

[Greg Ambrosius]

So the pitching rule stays the same? No switching out for a pitcher that hasn't pitched yet?

No changes to the Friday pitchers rule in 2014.

Disappointing. We talked ourselves around in a circle and got scared out of a simple, yes simple, rule that everyone over-complicated. Now when someone suffers an injury to their pitcher and their hands are tied, please spare us the whining and inevitable bitching forum post. We had our chance to change it, and the fear-mongerers and the too-little-timers prevailed.

COZ

It was a Tea Party reaction and I made a swift call before the Debt Ceiling deadline. We can discuss again next year.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I'll add text to the above rules to clarify the questions here, but here's the explanations:

** We definitely lock at the scheduled game time, regardless of rainouts, etc. That can't change.

** Players will lock in the positions you have them in your Starting Lineup. The suggestion to make positions flexible is a good one and we'll look into this going forward, but currently it's not set up that way. We'll make that known in the rules.