[USML Announce] Serious Rule Change Proposal

[Richard E. Robbins]

I vote no.

I wish you had raised this issue in the midst of the off-season and not so
close to the draft.

-- Rich

-----Original Message-----
From: announce-bounces at usml.net [mailto:announce-bounces at usml.net] On Behalf
Of Andrew R. Klein
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 10:03 AM
To: USML Announcements
Subject: [USML Announce] Serious Rule Change Proposal

League-

Here is a serious rules proposal.  My usual caveat applies -- I have been
part of the league for 18 years and hope that we're still playing
18 years from now.  The proposal is not end-of-the-world stuff; it just
reflects some issues that have impacted my enjoyment of the game.  
Here's the proposal:

Article XII

13.  No player may be traded until his USML contract is running.  This rule
shall not apply to players retained by team owners before April 1, 2007.


My reasons for making the proposal follow.

1.  As you know, I do not share the enthusiasm that many league members have
for prospecting.  I'm fine with prospects supplementing a league based on
major league players.  But in recent years I feel as if our league has
worked the other way around.  My proposal  would allow prospecting in the
rotation draft to continue unabated.  An owner could watch prospects develop
and then retain them (or trade them) after a call-up.  But the proposal
would eliminate the movement of top-flight major leaguers for players who
are years away from contributing to our actual standings.  To me, this would
be a good thing.  No longer would the biggest leg-up on competitiveness be
the ability to engage in dump deals for minor league prospects.

2.  Our current rules encourage people to dump very early if they want to
position themselves to win a future title.  I know that a number of league
members dislike this aspect of the league and would rather have rules that
encourage teams to play for a while before looking to next season.  The
proposal would make early dumping harder to accomplish and a riskier
proposition.

3.  The proposal contains a grandfathering clause so teams that have
gathered prospects under our current rules (like the Riptorns) are not
disadvantaged.  Administering this would be easy.  We could simply list the
names of the 30 or so exempted players on usml.net and cross them off as
they become active or are waived.

That is all for now.  I ask our esteemed commissioners to tally votes.

-Andy

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