NAIL Expansion 1998 Plan


	







1998 NAIL Expansion Plan


[Supplemental Drafts]  
[Expansion Draft]
[1998 Seasonal Draft]









 





        
 
        

        



 

Section 1.  1997 Supplemental Drafts






VI-1-A.Except as noted, the 1997 supplemental drafts will follow the procedures outlined in Section II-2-A.



VI-1-B.During the first supplemental draft (Rounds 36-38), the expansion teams will receive a draft pick after Rounds 37 and 38.  These will be the 11th and 12th picks of the round (numerically, picks #21-22 and #33-34).  Team 11 will pick first in Round 37, and Team 12 will pick first in Round 38.



VI-1-Ba.These draft picks, along with forthcoming 1998 draft picks, can be traded by the expansion teams. They are also permitted to trade for any amount of supplemental picks.



VI-1-C.During the second supplemental draft (Rounds 39-41), the expansion teams will again receive draft picks (after Rounds 40 and 41).  Team 12 will draft first in Round 40, and team 11 will draft first in Round 41.



VI-1-Ca.After the non-expansion teams (also referred to as 'active teams') have completed their drafting, the expansion teams will be given the option of forfeiting 1998 draft picks and replacing them with an additional draft pick in the current supplemental draft.



VI-1-Cb.The first pick forfeited will be a Round 35 in the 1998 draft. The second pick forfeited will be a Round 33, progressing by every other round as each pick is forfeited.  If any of these draft picks have been traded, the next best pick will be chosen as the forfeited one.



VI-1-Cc.The forfeited picks cannot be re-acquired by the expansion teams, but they may trade for picks in the same Rounds, providing they are original, non-forfeited picks.



VI-1-D.During the third supplemental draft (Rounds 42-44), the expansion teams will again receive draft picks (after Rounds 42 and 43).  Team 11 will draft first in Round 42, and team 12 will draft first in Round 43.





Section 2. 1997 Offseason Expansion Draft






VI-2-A.The two expansion teams will be allowed to protect up to 8 of the players currently on their roster.  There will be no question of 'rookie' eligibility, and the expansion teams may choose to protect less than 8 players without reward or penalty.  Players who are assigned a protection slot remain on that owner's roster throughout the Expansion Draft and may are not available to be drafted by the other expansion team. Any players not so protected will return to the pool of available players.



VI-2-Aa.Each of the ten active teams will be allowed to protect 8 players on their current roster.  Eligibility requirements are identical to those in VI-2-B above.



VI-2-Ab.These protected lists will be due by November 24th, one week after the MLB Expansion Draft taking place on November 17th.



VI-2-B.The Expansion Draft will begin no later than the 1st of December, 1997. 



VI-2-C.The league commissioner, or an approved neutral party, shall flip a coin to determine which expansion team will draft first.  The owner who wins the coin toss may choose one of the two following options:

    

  1. To draft first in the Expansion Draft, and 7th in the 1998 draft.

  2. To draft second in the Expansion Draft, and 6th in the 1998 draft.



VI-2-Ca.The draft will take place using a serpentine format. 



VI-2-Cb.The draft shall be run one pick at a time by posting the selected player to the NAIL List.  However, a switch to another method of drafting, including a 'conference room' format, may take place if it is deemed, by majority vote, that it is impossible to complete the draft before Christmas Day.  It is recommended, but not required, that the speed of the draft be foremost when considering a change in the draft method.


VI-2-Cc.When an owner makes a selection and sends it to the List, he should include with it the previous round's drafting and all picks in the current round up to his pick.  This is meant to avoid owners having gaps in their draft records if they have not received recent e-mails, and is to prevent owners from erroneously selecting an already-drafted player.



VI-2-Cd.Once appropriate notification of the selection of an 'eligible' player has been made, that selection becomes final, and may not be retracted for any reason. Procedures in the case of a selection of an ineligible player are discussed in Section VI-2-Eb below.



VI-2-D.After a player has been drafted off of an active team's non-protected roster, that owner will be allowed to protect one (1) additional player.  Note that an expansion team does not have to select a player off of someone's roster.  Any player AL-eligible as of the trading deadline of the 1997 season is eligible to be drafted in the Expansion Draft.



VI-2-Da.After a second player has been drafted off of an active team's non-protected roster, that owner will be allowed to protect an additional two (2) players.  Note that no more than three (3) players total may be selected off of an active team's roster.  



VI-2-Db.The expansion teams will draft until they each possess 12 players.  



VI-2-Dc.During the Expansion Draft, there will be a trading freeze.  Prior to the Expansion Draft, verbal arrangements can be made, though are not considered binding, between teams.  Regardless, the protected slots for active teams cannot be traded.  Likewise, an expansion team cannot trade an expansion draft pick unless it is to the other expansion team.  



VI-2-Dd.The expansion teams will, for the purpose of the Expansion Draft, be immune to any restrictions regarding players designated as 'crossovers', as explained in Section V-2.



VI-2-De.After the expansion draft is over, the expansion teams are free to participate in the trading and acquisition of players and any draft picks in the upcoming 1998 Preseason Draft that they have not already traded during the course of the 1997 season.



VI-2-E.In order for the draft to work successfully, it s imperative that all owners make an effort to keep the draft moving as quickly as possible.  To ensure that the draft proceeds at an adequate pace, if an owner is 'on the clock' for more than 24 hours without selecting an eligible player, he will forfeit his current pick and the draft will proceed to the next owner in line to select.  For the first two offenses, the forfeited pick will be 'replaced' by an additional pick at the time the owner's next scheduled pick takes place.  If the owner has violated the time limit on more than two occasions, or if he has no more scheduled picks remaining, then his forfeited pick will be replaced at the end of the draft, after all other picks have been made.



VI-2-Eb.If the commissioner or another owner realizes that an ineligible player has been selected, including a player who was already selected by another NAIL team, he should send immediate notification of this to the league.  If no other selections have occurred in the interim, and if the owner making the ineligible selection still has not used up his 24 hours of time, then he will have what time remains 'on the clock' to replace the selection (but, his clock will not 'reset'.)  If another selection has occured in the interim, or if the owner making the ineligible pick has 'used up' his time, then the selection of the ineligible player will be replaced with an additional pick at the time of that owner's next scheduled pick, as described in Section II-1-E.



VI-2-Ec.If an owner knows or suspects that the owner picking just before him has selected an ineligible player, he is ethically obligated to inform the other owner of this fact and wait for the selection to be replaced (providing time remains on the other owner's 'clock') rather than going ahead with his selection.

				  

VI-2-Ed.If an owner wins an appeal (see Section III-3-Ca) on behalf of a player originally determined to be ineligible, and he has not selected any other player as a 'replacement' for this player, then he must keep the player in question.  If, however, an owner has made a replacement selection for the player originally deemed ineligible, then he will lose his rights to the player whose selection is being appealed, regardless of the outcome of the appeal.



VI-2-Ee.If a player originally thought to be eligible is determined upon appeal not to be eligible, the selection will be treated as any other ineligible selection, and the pick will be replaced in accordance with Rule II-1-Fa.



VI-2-Ef.Technically speaking, the 24-hour time limit is associated with each pick, rather than with the owner making that pick.  Therefore, though draft picks may be traded at any time during the draft, trading the pick will not 'reset' the 24-hour limit on that selection if some of the time has already expired.



VI-2-Eg.The 24-hour time limit will officially be determined by the time at which the List records a selection.  Thus, the List must record an owner's selection no more than 24 hours after it receives the previous one in order for it to be considered 'on time'.



VI-2-Eh.If an owner sends his pick within 24 hours of the time the commissioner has received the previous owner's pick, but the commissioner does not receive this pick until after the 24 hours have expired, then the commissioner has the right to allow this pick to stand without penalty, but cannot nullify any other picks in so doing. Thus, if Owner B, believing that Owner A's time had run out, selected the same player as selected in Owner A's delayed-beyond-24 hours pick, then Owner B would be awarded the player in question. 



VI-2-F.Exceptions to the 24-hour time limit cannot be granted for any planned absence from his e-mail on the part of an owner. 



VI-2-Fa.Exceptions to the 24-hour time limit may be granted at the reasonable discretion of the commissioner if and only if an unplanned occurrence, such as the failure of an e-mail server, takes place. For obvious reasons, such an exception can only be granted ahead of time if the commissioner or assistant commissioner is informed of the problem; therefore, an owner who is unable to use his e-mail should make every effort to contact the commissioner or another owner via telephone, or via another method. 



VI-2-G.An owner may make his selection by contacting another NAIL owner and having this other owner send his selection in for him. If an owner claims to be making a selection for another owner, but has not actually been given permission by the other owner to do so, this will be grounds for his immediate expulsion from the league.





Section 3. Protected Lists & 1998 Preseason Draft






VI-3-A.The league shall set a date upon which all protected lists are due.  This date should fall no less than one week after, but no more than three weeks after, the release of Scoresheet's January 1998 player lists.



VI-3-Aa.The league shall abide by the Protected List guidelines as explained in Section V-3.  All protection lists should be submitted to Scoresheet or a pre-agreed upon neutral person, rather than to the commissioner or draft secretary, and should not be released to the league at learge until after the date upon which the lists are due.  After the deadline has passed, the draft secretary should obtain from Scoresheet, or the party responsible for reception of the lists, the protected lists and circulate them to all owners.



VI-3-B.THe rules for protection slots, as explained in Section V-1 will apply to all non-expansion teams.



VI-3-Ba.The two expansion teams will follow identical regulations, with the following exceptions:

    

  1. The expansion teams will be allowed to protect up to 20 players currently on their team roster; barring trade, this allows the expansion teams to protect the players drafted in the Expansion Draft as well as the players drafted or traded for prior to the Expansion Draft.

  2. The expansion teams will not possess any 'rookie' slots, as explained in Section V-1-C, nor are they able to trade for them.

  3. The additional protection slots are usable solely by the expansion teams.  These slots are valid for the 1998 preseason only, and are not tradeable to non-expansion teams.  Conversely, active teams' protection slots are not tradeable to the expansion teams.


Protection slots can be traded as usual between non-expansion teams.



VI-3-C.After the protected lists are submitted, drafting will begin, according to the procedures outlined in Article II, with the following exceptions:

    

  1. The expansion teams will be given picks 6 and 7 of each round, inserted into the normal draft order, after the five (5) teams with the worst 1997 records have picked, and before the five (5) teams with the best 1997 records have picked.

  2. The order of the first round will be determined by the aforementioned cointoss in Section VI-2-C above. 

  3. Each round thereafetr, the expansion teams will swap picks.





VI-3-D.After the completion of the 1998 Preseason Draft, the expansion teams are considered fully integrated into NAIL.  These expansion rules will be null and void, and the expansion teams will possess no additional unique regulations.