Winter Meetings

League managers are able to submit proposals for rule changes each off-season. Once all proposals are submitted, a survey is sent out by the allowing all managers to vote on the proposals.

2025

Passed Proposals

Rejected Proposals

Trade Endorsement System

The two managers involved in a agreed-upon trade need to post the full context of the trade into the PLFB GroupMe chat. For a trade to be processed it must receive written approval by at least one (1) third-party manager. The manager supporting the proposed trade must provide written support of the trade in the PLFB GroupMe chat.

Worst Record Punishment

The manager with the worst final record (finishing in last place) shall post/update their social media profile picture to a new image/picture supporting the baseball team to be chosen by the league Champion. The Champion also gets to choose on which social media platform this image/picture update is to be implemented on.

2024

Passed Proposals

Increase the value of relievers?

It is pretty universally known that relievers do not have the value they should when compared to starting pitchers. The obvious starting point to correct this is to increase both Saves and Holds from +3 points each to +5 points each.

From there, we want to ensure batters are not hurt too much by the increasing value of pitchers. To offset, we'll first change GIDP from -1 to 0 points.

Next, we'd need to give a small amount of more value to batters. Here we have two options to vote on:

Increase HR from +4 to +5 points (shout-out Mike Andranovich for finally getting HR to increase!)
Increase SB from +1 to +2 points.

A summary have how either option would have affected the 2023 scoring landscape can be found here.

6 Yeas, by increasing HR / 5 Yeas, by increasing SB / 2 Nays

Cap Free Agent keeper value at the 15th round?

Currently, all free agents' keeper value is determined by their performance from the previous season. For instance, if a player was undrafted in 2023 and finished 20th in overall points, he'd receive a keeper value of the 2nd round since he finished #15-28 (the picks of the second round). This proposal would keep this rule the same, except make the 15th round the highest round keeper value an undrafted player could receive, so even though the player in this example performed at a 2nd round keeper value, he would be kept for a 15th. On the other hand If an undrafted player ranked 238th overall in the previous season, he would still be kept for a 17th round value.

In short, all undrafted players would be kept for a 15th-26th round value.

9 Yeas / 4 Nays

Adjust the roster mandate rule in the playoffs only?

First, we would keep the roster mandate rule and penalty as it is for the regular season. To recap, all roster positions must be filled at all times. Should the Commissioner be made aware of a team's roster that was locked in with an empty slot will lose one move for that week. If the manager does not have any moves remaining, he shall lose two moves the following week.

For the playoffs, the proposal on the table is to intensify the punishment. If an illegal roster is locked in, the manager will lose all remaining moves for the week so long as he has 3 remaining moves at the time of the penalty.

If the manager has 2 or fewer moves remaining in the week, he loses all of that week's moves, as well as 3 moves from the following week.

If there is time to undo a move that made a roster illegal, the commissioner can correct the issue. For instance, if a player was dropped for another player and the move made the roster illegal, but neither player's game has started yet, the commissioner can undo the move.

8 Yeas / 5 Nays

Mandate that all two-part trades be posted in the GroupMe chat at the time of the completion of the first part?

9 Yeas / 4 Nays

Award the manager(s) of the All-Star Game MVP and the winner of the Home Run Derby with 1 additional move for the extended week.

7 Yeas / 6 Nays

Rejected Proposals

Migrate the PLFB from Yahoo! to Fantrax

Fantrax is a newer fantasy sports service that is slowly making its way into mainstream use. It is more flexible and analytical and would benefit the PLFB in a couple notable ways:

We could have 2-week playoff matchups. This could be optimal to avoid teams being at an advantage/disadvantage in a single-elimination playoff format simply because one team has multiple pitchers with 2-start weeks. To schedule this, the regular season would shift from 22 weeks to 20. The first round of playoffs would be 1 week, while the second and third rounds would each be 2.
There's more settings that would aid in enforcing our "roster mandate". First, it could be set that managers would not be able to complete a transaction that would give them an illegal roster. If you attempt to pick up a SP by dropping the only 2B on your roster, the transaction would not proceed. Another option would be point manipulation. Unlike with Yahoo!, Fantrax allows the Commissioner to edit a team's points for the day. If we choose to allow illegal rosters, in case managers are planning multiple transactions in succession, and his roster ends up locking illegally, Jason, as the Commissioner, could go in and retroactively give him 0 points on the day.

There are some perceived negatives with Fantrax as well, but the ultimate product could be worthwhile:

Fantrax only recently introduced an app. It is free, but is littered with ads. That said, Fantrax's mobile site largely acts like a fantasy sports app as is. Saving the website to your phone's home screen for quick access should get the job done.
Shohei Ohtani is only one player on Fantrax. To avoid him being by far the best player in the league, we'd have to set some regulations on him. The most frequently used option for him is his manager deciding if he will be used as a batter or as a pitcher each week. This is something I would recommend.

Fantrax also does NOT shutdown during the off-season. It runs continuously on end. Because of this, I imported our league in November to play around a bit. Let me know if you'd like me to activate your team (would just need an e-mail address) so you can see as well.

Should this proposal receive league approval, we can further discuss handling scheduling, playoffs, and roster mandates.

8 Nays / 5 Yeas

2023

Passed Proposals

Eliminate Divisions and Have Top 8 Teams Make the Playoffs.

7 Yeas / 6 Nays

Rejected Proposals

Migrate the PLFB from Yahoo! to Fantrax

Fantrax is a newer fantasy sports service that is slowly making its way into mainstream use. It is more flexible and analytical and would benefit the PLFB in a couple notable ways:

We could have 2-week playoff matchups. This could be optimal to avoid teams being at an advantage/disadvantage in a single-elimination playoff format simply because one team has multiple pitchers with 2-start weeks. To schedule this, the regular season would shift from 22 weeks to 20. The first round of playoffs would be 1 week, while the second and third rounds would each be 2.
There's more settings that would aid in enforcing our "roster mandate". First, it could be set that managers would not be able to complete a transaction that would give them an illegal roster. If you attempt to pick up a SP by dropping the only 2B on your roster, the transaction would not proceed. Another option would be point manipulation. Unlike with Yahoo!, Fantrax allows the Commissioner to edit a team's points for the day. If we choose to allow illegal rosters, in case managers are planning multiple transactions in succession, and his roster ends up locking illegally, Jason, as the Commissioner, could go in and retroactively give him 0 points on the day.

There are some perceived negatives with Fantrax as well, but the ultimate product could be worthwhile:

Fantrax only recently introduced an app. It is free, but is littered with ads. That said, Fantrax's mobile site largely acts like a fantasy sports app as is. Saving the website to your phone's home screen for quick access should get the job done.
Shohei Ohtani is only one player on Fantrax. To avoid him being by far the best player in the league, we'd have to set some regulations on him. The most frequently used option for him is his manager deciding if he will be used as a batter or as a pitcher each week. This is something I would recommend.

Should this proposal receive league approval, we can further discuss handling scheduling, playoffs, and roster mandates.

9 Nays / 4 Yeas

Standardize the Draft Order

It's become increasingly apparent that teams will begin tanking for valuable keepers well before the conclusion of the regular season. This results in some teams becoming incredibly weak during the second half of the season. As a means to incentivize teams to try throughout the duration of the season, even after being eliminated from the playoffs, we could standardize the draft order.

Should this proposal receive league approval, the following would begin with the 2024 season.

First 6 picks are in order of non-playoff teams:

9th place finisher from prior season
10th place
11th place
12th place
13th place
14th place

Next 4 picks are Quarter-Finals losers by final rank (including 5th and 7th place matchups):

5th place
6th place
7th place
8th place

Next 2 picks are 3rd place matchup results:

3rd place
4th place

Finally, the Champion picks last:

2nd place
1st place

This system incentivizes trying to win at all times, even when eliminated from playoff or championship contention. Furthermore it eliminates the chance of the reigning champion getting the first overall pick, as Eric Hannmann had in 2022.

7 Nays / 6 Yeas

2022

Passed Proposals

Increase Saves and Holds by +1 points?

More information is available here.

7 Yeas / 2 Nays / 3 Years to only increase Saves by +1 pt

To Better Enforce Our League's "Roster Mandate", Should We...

(Fantrax) Configure league settings it so illegal rosters are not possible.
(Fantrax) Commissioner will retroactively give a team 0 points for any day with an illegal roster.
(Yahoo!) Penalize the offending manager by docking them one add in that week. This is not a setting on Yahoo!, but if the manager picks up a fifth player, the Commissioner will manually undo it. If they already had made five moves that week, they would lose two the following week.

10 Yeas for Yahoo! / 2 Yeas for Fantrax option 1 / 5 Yeas for Fantrax option 2

Change the Playoff Tiebreaker Settings by...

(Yahoo!) Best head-to-head regular season record wins.
(Fantrax) Best head-to-head regular season record wins. If tied, then the team with most points scored by bench players win. If tied, then highest seed wins.
(Neither) Keep as Highest Seed

6 Yeas for Yahoo! / 5 Yeas for Fantrax / 4 Nays

Define "Renting" Players.

The PLFB has had a rule for a while that said players could not be "rented". This was loosely defined as players cannot be traded to one team for a quick spot appearance, only to be immediately traded back to the original team. While this doesn't have much impact on batters and relievers, "renting" starters can often sway matchups. To add a concrete definition to "renting", we would state that a pitcher cannot be acquired in a trade and then traded back to the original team until he has made 2 starts.

9 Yeas / 3 Nays

Give Waiver Priorities to Teams Still in the Championship Bracket.

As it stands, teams playing for 3rd, 5th, and 7th place can still make moves once eliminated from contention for 1st. While this will not change, the proposition would be to grant all teams still in contention for 1st waiver priority over those who have been eliminated. The teams in contention for 1st would remain in the order they are currently in among themselves in terms of waiver priority, but all would be manually moved by the Commissioner ahead of any team eliminated from contention.

11 Yeas / 1 Nay

Rejected Proposals

Migrate the PLFB from Yahoo! to Fantrax

Fantrax is a newer fantasy sports service that is slowly making its way into mainstream use. It is more flexible and analytical and would benefit the PLFB in a couple notable ways:

We could have 2-week playoff matchups. This could be optimal to avoid teams being at an advantage/disadvantage in a single-elimination playoff format simply because one team has multiple pitchers with 2-start weeks. To schedule this, the regular season would shift from 22 weeks to 20. The first round of playoffs would be 1 week, while the second and third rounds would each be 2.
There's more settings that would aid in enforcing our "roster mandate". First, it could be set that managers would not be able to complete a transaction that would give them an illegal roster. If you attempt to pick up a SP by dropping the only 2B on your roster, the transaction would not proceed. Another option would be point manipulation. Unlike with Yahoo!, Fantrax allows the Commissioner to edit a team's points for the day. If we choose to allow illegal rosters, in case managers are planning multiple transactions in succession, and his roster ends up locking illegally, I, as the Commissioner, could go in and retroactively give him 0 points on the day.

There are some perceived negatives with Fantrax as well, but the ultimate product could be worthwhile:

Fantrax only recently introduced an app. It is free, but is littered with ads. That said, Fantrax's mobile site largely acts like a fantasy sports app as is. Saving the website to your phone's home screen for quick access should get the job done.
Shohei Ohtani is only one player on Fantrax. To avoid him being by far the best player in the league, we'd have to set some regulations on him. The most frequently used option for him is his manager deciding if he will be used as a batter or as a pitcher each week. This is something I would recommend.

7 Nays / 5 Yeas

While Maintaining the Current Keeper Settings, Add a Fourth Keeper Per Team with the Requirement That At Least One Must Be a Pitcher.

9 Nays / 3 Yeas

Institute a League Buy-In.

5 Nays / 3 Yeas for $100 buy-in / 3 Yeas for $25 buy-in / 1 Yea for $50 buy-in

2021

Passed Proposals

Adopt Revised Scoring System.

More information here.

Reasons for change:

Balance the value of the top-200 batters and the top-200 pitchers.
Why top-200? There were 224 total batters and 212 total pitchers on the 16 final rosters from the 2020 season.
Remove “bonus” and “team” stats to strictly measure individual performance.
Make each out, base, or run worth 1pt.
Make a system that’s balanced. Some years skew in favor of batters (2019) and some in favor of pitchers (2018) due to the nature of baseball, we need a system that keeps them in line over time.

10 Yeas / 5 Nays

Rejected Proposals

Adjust Home Runs and Grand Slams.

Increase Home Runs to +6pts and decrease Grand Slams to 0pts.
Keep Home Runs at +4pts and decrease Grand Slams to +1pt.
Make no changes. Keep Home Runs at +4pts and keep Grand Slams at +4pts.

10 Nays / 3 Yeas for option 1 / 2 Yeas for option 2

2020

Passed Proposals

Adjust Keeper Settings.

Remove the current rule stating undrafted players are kept for the round of your next lowest keep +5. Replace it with an assigned draft based on prior year performance. Once the keeper round is assigned, it remains until that player’s keeper status has run.

EXAMPLE: Undrafted Player A accumulated 295.00 points in the 2019 season. Using PAR (Points Above Replacement) value (which would be calculated by the Commissioner in the beginning of each offseason), we know that the 13th round was valued at 298.79 (calculated by averaging the scores of the #169-182 ranked players, a.k.a. the selections that would occur in the 13th round of a draft). Player A’s 295.00 being nearest to the 13th round's value would make him a 13th round keeper value for the upcoming season. He retains this status for his keeper eligibility window.

In this situation, we choose to calculate PAR by comparing the average round value of 2019 to the undrafted player's past performance (Player A's 2019 season) so that the player in question maintains his low-round keeper value should he have been injured or in the minors for a good portion of the most recent season (2019 in Player A's case).

An additional factor to consider would be capping the undrafted player's keeper value at the 15th round, making it so no undrafted player would cost a 1st-14th round pick.

5 Yeas / 5 Nays / 4 Yeas but cap at 15th round value

Reinstate the Catcher Position.

4 Yeas / 5 Yeas if the active roster is increased to 26 players / 5 Nays

Increase Active Roster to 26 Players

5 Yeas / 4 Yeas if the Catcher position is reinstated / 1 Yea if the Catcher position is not reinstated and a Utility position is instead added / 4 Nays

Increase the Value of Holds (Currently +2 Points for Pitchers).

5 Yeas / 3 Yeas to increase to +5 pts / 3 Yeas to increase to +4 pts / 1 Yea to increase to +3 pts / 1 Yea to increase if the Hit By Pitch stat is added or if Home Runs increase in value / 1 Nay

Rejected Proposals

Remove the Four-Year Limit for Keeper Selections.

Keeper years 1-4: Remain with current rules.
Keeper year 5: Average of 12th round and PAR (taking following season projections vs. previous year ranking). EXAMPLE: In year 5, Ronald Acuna is valued at 2nd Round PAR (comparing his Yahoo projections for year 5 to the PAR calculated from final results in year 4). He can be kept for a 7th Round Pick (12+2=14 / 2 = 7).
Keeper year 6+: Average of previous year round and PAR. EXAMPLE: In year 6, Ronald Acuna is valued at a 1st Round PAR. Since he was kept for a 7th in year 5, he can now be kept for a 4th Round Pick in Year 6 (7+1=8 / 2 = 4)

At no point can a prospective keeper's round value decrease year-to-year. If at any point the average of the previous year round and PAR equals a round value that is less expensive than the previous year's, the player will maintain the same round value as the previous year. Continuing the example, of Acuna has an off year in Year 6 and is projected to be an 8th round value for Year 7, his keeper value would be that of a 6th rounder if the same method was done (4+8=12 / 2 = 6). However, since a 6th round keep is less expensive than a 4th round keep, Acuna would remain a 4th rounder.

Lastly, if the calculated average is a half, the keeper value will round up to the more expensive round. If in Year 7 Acuna was projected to be a 7th rounder, that would equal a keeper value of 5.5 (4+7=11 / 2 = 5.5), however, for our purposes this would round up to a 5th round keeper value.

In this situation, we choose to calculate PAR by comparing the average round value of 2019 to the prospective keeper's projected future (Ronald Acuna's year 5 Yahoo projections, etc.) so that we use an accurate read of the player's estimated keeper potential and value.

FURTHER RATIONALE: Keeper limit of 4 years was always an arbitrary limit. Redrafting 23/26 players every year ensures our league does not function as a dynasty league regardless of keeper term limits. The only argument in favor of a keeper tenure limit is to ensure competitive balance, however, Jason’s analytics have shown that the biggest competitive advantages stem from low round keeps, rather than top players for high round draft picks.

9 Nays / 5 Yeas

Eliminate One Playoff Team to Provide the #1 Seed with a Bye.

In an effort to provide the #1 seed with a reward going into the postseason, remove one playoff team for a new total of 7. #1 seed gets a bye. #2 plays #7, #3 plays #6, #4 plays #5 in round one.

8 Nays / 6 Yeas

Play the First Two Months of the Season Without the Roster Mandate.

8 Nays / 4 Yeas if the Catcher position is reinstated / 2 Yeas

Add the Hit By Pitch Stat as +1 Points for Batters.

9 Nays / 3 Yeas if Holds increase in value / 2 Yeas

Increase Home Runs from +4 Points to +8 Points for Batters.

12 Nays / 1 Yea / 1 Yea if Holds increase in value

2019

Passed Proposals

Reduce Waiver Period and Adds Per Week.

Reduce waiver period from 5 days to 3, while concurrently reducing roster adds from 6 to 5 per week.

10 Yeas / 2 Nays

Adjust Keeper Player Format.

Beginning in 2020, All Undrafted Players have a keeper value other than the designated 25th round keep. Currently it is possible to pick up the next big prospect and stash him for four years as your last overall pick, allowing for that manager to have a big advantage in drafts (Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa, Rhys Hoskins, etc.).

If the value changes, all players that are being kept for the 2019 season will NOT have their keeper value altered, despite if they were originally drafted or not.

5 Yeas if undrafted players are kept at a value of 5 rounds lower than the manager in question's next lowest keeper / 4 Yeas if undrafted players are kept as an 18th round value / 3 Nays

Elect Trent Pickett as Vice Commissioner.

In this post, he would be in charge of any foreign affairs decisions or wartime efforts, and nothing else, that must be made on behalf of the PLFB.

8 Yeas / 4 Nays

Rejected Proposals

Increase RBIs and Runs from +1.5 Points to +2 Points for Batters.

Getting a single or taking a walk shouldn’t be worth the same as driving in or participating in a scoring play. Those are bigger plays and should be weighted as such.

7 Nays / 5 Yeas

Increase Innings Pitched from +3 Points (+1 Points Per Third of an Inning Pitched) to +3.25 Points (+1.08 Points Per Third of an Inning Pitched).

In this new age of short starters and more relievers I think more than ever how many innings a pitcher is out there quantifies how valuable they are and this should be reflected in the point system.

5 Nays / 4 Yeas

Reimplement the Catcher Position.

[The catcher is] a part of baseball, we shouldn’t be picking and choosing which positions we like best to include. All positions matter!

5 Nays / 5 Yeas / 2 Yeas if the Roster Mandate is dropped

Drop the Roster Mandate.

Definitely drop the roster mandate altogether.
Only drop the roster mandate if the Catcher position is re-implemented at the expense of a third Utility spot.
Keep the roster mandate for the first half of the season, and beginning at the trade deadline all teams are able to then structure their roster as they please.
Allow teams to structure their roster as they please until the trade deadline, at which point all roster positions are then mandated to be filled for the remainder of the season.

5 Nays / 2 Yeas / 2 Yeas if the Roster Mandate is reimplemented at the trade deadline / 2 Yeas if the Catcher position is reimplemented / 1 Yea if it is in effect until the trade deadline

Institute a Trade Veto System.

Mandate that all trades be approved by a league majority before taking effect. Should the majority of the league veto the trade, it shall not pass.

8 Nays / 4 Yeas

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