[USML Announce] Andy's Proposal

[Andrew R. Klein]

Per Rich's request, here's a summary of my proposal with appropriate language for a revision to the constitution.

My suggestion would reduce in-season salaries of players bought with FAAB dollars.  I support this proposal because the current FAAB system allows people to violate the spirit of our anti-dumping rules by buying worthless asterisk players solely for the purpose of "balancing" trades.  I also support the proposal because I think teams should be able spend their FAAB dollars late in the year to improve their teams without bumping up against the salary cap. 

In short, I am suggesting (as Mark B. did last year) that we reduce each FAAB dollar to 20 cents for in-season salary purposes.  At the end of end of the year, we would multiply the salary by 5 to convert it back to a normal figure.  So, under my proposal, each player would start the year with $20 FAAB dollars.  The minimum bid would be $1.  Bids would go up in increments of 20 cents.  To take an example, say that Kerber buys Rich Delucia for $1.80 with his FAAB money.  Delucia's salary is $1.80 for the remainder of the season.  At the end of the year, Delucia's salary converts to $9.  

Here's how I would amend the language of our constitution, with proposed changes in bold and brackets:

Article XIV:  Signing Free Agents

. . .

2.   Each team shall have, for the purpose of acquiring free agents during the course of the season, a supplementary budget of [$20] known as its free agent acquisition budget ("FAAB").

3.  At the weekly transaction deadline, a League team may submit a sealed bid for one or more free agents. The minimum bid shall be [$1]; bids above [$1] shall be in [increments of 20 cents]; the maximum bid shall be the amount remaining in a team's FAAB. A free agent bid may be contingent upon the success of another free agent bid made by the same team. All non-contingent bids shall be considered before any contingent bids are considered. For example, consider the following bid: League team A submits the following: I bid $5 for x and if I don't get him then I bid $5 for y and if I don't get him then $10 for z. The bid for x shall be considered a non-contingent bid. If another team makes a non-contingent bid of $2 for z then that other team would acquire z, even if team A fails to acquire x or y. 

. . .

6.  If a player who is traded to the National League during the course of a season is on the Active Roster or the Reserve Roster of any team in the League, that team may elect to waive such player at any time during such season while such player remains in the National League. Upon any such waiver, [one-fifth of the waived player's salary] shall be immediately added (as opposed to waiting until the commencement of the next succeeding Reporting Period) to the waiving team's FAAB; provided, however, that in the case of a player acquired in the most recent Rotation Draft or retained on a Reserve Roster without having his salary deducted from the team's $260 expenditure limit for the most recent Auction, [20 cents] shall be added to the waiving team's FAAB. This Section 14.6 shall not apply to off-season major league trades. 

[7.  At the end of the season, the salary of each player purchased through the FAAB shall be multiplied by five. For example, suppose that team A acquired John Smith through a FAAB bid of $1.40.  At the end of the season, John Smith's salary converts to $7, and this salary shall be used for future salary cap purposes.] 
[8.]  FAAB balances shall not be retained from season.



-Andy



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Andrew R. Klein
Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis
(317) 274-2099
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