2020-2021 Rule Change Proposals

The following proposals are just that, proposals.
Each idea was submitted to the league office and passed the initial test of:
1) Does this add realism?
2) Is it easy to implement?
3) Would it be good for the league?
More discussion will be had at a later date.


  1. Allow the trading of competitive balance picks one time
  2. Remove in-season trading of personnel

POTENTIAL CHANGE #4
Update the league minimum salary to $565,000
(This one is more in line of going to happen barring a full-on revolt.)
We have used the last MLB/MLBPA CBA to update our minimum salary to 550K a few years back splitting the difference between the 545K of MLB in 2018 and the 555K in 2019. The minimum salary this year was 563,500 in the CBA with another adjustment for 2021 coming.Using the MLB minimum from 2020 and giving the players a half of one percent raise (and rounding to make things easier on everyone), the proposed minimum MLB Pro salary for 2021 is: $565,000

1) Draft bonuses on, while keeping negotiations off.
Way, way, way back when in 2013, a league vote was had on whether or not to turn draft pick negotiations on or not. At the time, the vote failed (7 yes, 7 no, 6 abstain (rest no votes)). When the initial discussion was had, their were two strong sides.

Upon hearing about the idea again during the season, I saw during draft negotiations on as a means of realism. In addition, this season has again brought up the notion that not enough quality free-agents ever make it to free-agency. By during draft bonuses on, EVERY team would add ~5-8 million to their expenses, a small amount, but potentially enough to help free-agents make it to free-agency.

In an attempt though to ease some of the previous concerns that were had, while draft bonuses would be on, negotiations themselves would not. In order to do this, a system would be created out of OOTP and used to track draft pick expenses.

A proposed system would look like this. ALL picks in the first five rounds would have a value associated with it. 20 players (5 college hitters, 5 college pitchers, 5 HS hitters, and 5 HS pitchers) would have a multiplier attached to their value (Linked to greed/intelligence) that would increase their per slot value.

4) Removal of or self-policing of Stopper Role DURING THE REGULAR SEASON…

RP Data compares the top 150 used MLB relievers of last season vs. our current top 150 used relievers (ONLY accounting for RP Innings, this ends up being pitchers who have thrown roughly 39/40 IP so far)-Pitches Per Appearance: MLB Pro: 19, RL: 16.5
-Pitches Per Inning: MLB Pro: 16.3, RL: 17
-Innings Per Appearance: MLB Pro: 1.2, RL: .99-Number of Pitchers who average 20+ pitches per appearance: MLB Pro: 53, RL: 10
-Number of Pitchers who average 30+ pitches per appearance: MLB Pro: 5, RL: 0
****Small caveat to some of this is role, this includes Crosby (Follower), Daniel Hudson & Michael Pineda were being thrown out in bad game situations to eat innings, other two beign Craig Missigman (mets) and Isliexel Gonzalez (TB)
-Number of Pitchers who average 15 or fewer pitches per appearance: MLB Pro: 39, RL: 34Alex Claudio led all relievers with 83 apperanaces. 7 pitched in 75 or more games, 30 in 70 or more, 60 in 65 or more.
MLB Pro Projections…
Chapman/Osuna would lead w/ 90 apperances, 16 at 75 or more, 33 at 70 or more, 52 at 65 or more.On the bottom end of the top 150….
19 RL pitchers pitched in 50 or fewer games. 39 MLB Pro relievers fit that category.1 RL RP threw 90+ innings last year (Sam Gaviglio), 7 80+, 10 75+, 27 70+, and 78 60+ innings.
MLB Pro “rough” projections…
5 projected 100+ innings, 15 at 90+ innings, 30 at 80+ innings, 39 at 75+, 65 at 70+, and 108 at 60+ innings.The average # of appearances for the RL top 150 used relievers was 61 G, pitching 60 innings, throwing 1000 total pitches.
MLB Pro projections.
The average # of projected G for MLB Pro top 150 used relievers is 59.7 G, pitching 69 innings, throwing 1,125 pitches.
(Eliminating those projected to throw 100 or more innings, the average # of pitches for season falls to: 1,100)
—–
As far as those that pitch a ton…questions loom on whether some are innings eaters/long relievers on bad teams, are high endurance guys being used as stoppers (something OOTP doesn’t handle that well IMO), or are just being thrown a lot even while fatigued.Ideally yes, the innings eaters be cut back some. Increasing the effect of RP fatigue could see the average number of games drop even more (while doing so it would rise other relievers innings so maybe that’s a net wash?), while cutting the high innings of those who pitch in the projected 90/80 IP area.

 in real life, is the “stopper” role a big overblown perhaps in the minds of those in the OOTP community? Don’t for the most part, guys fit the middle/setup/closer roles pretty standard across the entire league? Only maybe say during the playoffs do those roles really change and grow into say the “stopper” situation/usage?11:54Sure, there’s the very occasional regular season 4 out save or a 4th out for an 8th inning guy getting a key out in the 7th, but beyond that…?

What would your reaction be if I were to suggest either (I think I can do it in-game, forget exactly how) eliminating the role as a whole (during the regular season at least) or at least asking teams not to do use outside of key games/rest day to follow etc.?

5) Off-Season MLB Coach Hiring Auction

  • At the start of the off-season, teams could protect up to to two of the following personnel at the MLB level (Assistant GM, Bench Coach, Hitting Coach, Pitching Coach [All current managers would not be eligible to be poached.]) as well as one minor-league manager, hitting coach, and pitching coach.
    • MLB Manager and MLB Bench Coach openings could be filled by any unprotected MLB personnel or minor-league personnel so as long as they have managerial traits/ratings and are not showing a “not interested in being a manager” line in their profile.
    • MLB Hitting and Pitching Coach openings could be filled by a minor-league manager or equal minor-league position coach. An MLB team cannot hire a current MLB manager or bench coach to take the role of hitting or pitching coach.
    • There would be no filling of minor-league positions via coach poaching.
    • A team could lose no more than 1 MLB personnel and 1 minor-league personnel.
  • How would the process go?
    • The process would be similar to the Player Auction that takes place during the Winter Meetings. Instead of nominating players from your own team, a team can submit a list of up to three personnel they would like the opportunity to bid on (from other teams) and the type of role they would like that coach to be fill.
    • You can only nominate a coach to fill a position that you currently have open.
      • Example: Team X does not currently have a manager or pitching coach. They submit the following list…
        • 1) Team Y’s unprotected bench coach for an MLB managerial job
        • 2) Team Y’s unprotected MLB pitching coach for an MLB managerial job
        • 3) Team Y’s unprotected minor-league pitching coach for a MLB pitching coach job
    • Night 1 of the auction would be to fill the role of open MLB managerial jobs. If someone put up for auction this night does not receive any bids AND has also been up for auction for an additional role, they will remain up for auction on the other night. If they were only put up for auction as a manager and did not receive a bid, they remain on their current team.
      • To be clear, you do not need to fill your openings on this night. The auction would only be for hiring of coaches currently employed. All free-agent coaches would be open to be filled as normal.
    • Night 2 of the auction would be to fill open bench/hitting/pitching coach positions via coaches who were nominated.
    • The order of coaches put on the auction block each night would be random.
    • In the above example, if team Y’s unprotected bench coach was hired as a manager, they would not be able to lose their unprotected pitching coach for any type of job.
    • The team that loses their coach will be given a TBD type of compensation, either a portion of the cash or a compensation draft pick.