Expansion Draft:
Each of the 4 Expansion teams will have their names drawn at random. The manager drawn first
will be allowed to select where, 1-4, he wants to pick in the expansion draft. The draft will
consist of 26 rounds and proceed in a serpentine fashion (1,2,3,4, 4,3,2,1) until all 26 roster
spots are filled or all managers pass. Each team must select a minimum of 20 players.
Pullbacks:
Teams will have the opportunity to protect (pull back) additional players after having a player
selected from the team's roster. The number of pullbacks will be based on the number of players
initially protected from the expansion draft.
13 spots ( b-2): 3,2,2,1,0
14 spots ( b-1): 2,2,1,1,0
15 spots (base): 0,1,2,1,1
16 spots ( b+1): 0,0,0,2,1
17 spots ( b+2): 0,0,0,0,2
This structure will encourage existing teams to protect less players than the base of 15. In each case of protecting less than the base, the team will only be worse off for one pick and then will be allowed to recover players faster. This format encorages greater talent to be exposed in favor of the number of players. The pullback structure will not allow any team to protect more than 21 players and fewer than 19 after losing 5 players.
Maximum Loss:
No team will be allowed to lose more than 6 players. If a 6th player is selected from any
roster, a compensatory pick will be awarded to that team between the 1st and 2nd round of the
1999 Free Agent Draft. Draft order will be the same as that used for the free agent draft.
Once an existing team has 6 players selected from its roster, the remaining players will be
removed from the expansion pool. At the conclusion of the expansion draft, all unselected
players will be returned to their original teams which means that existing teams will have
1-2 more players (27 or 28) than the expansion teams (26).
1999 Free Agent Draft:
Expansion teams will draft just in front of the existing playoff teams. Draft order will be
determined as in the Expansion Draft and progress in a serpentine format.
1999 Free Agent Draft - Compensatory Round:
A compensatory round will be inserted into the 1999 Free Agent Draft immediately following
the first round. The purpose of this round is to fairly compensate teams for inequities
caused by expansion. Each expansion team will receive one pick in this round because they
will have fewer players than existing teams after the expansion draft. As mentioned earlier,
existing teams may also pick in this round if they lose more than 5 players during the
expansion draft. Draft order will be the same as that used for the Free Agent Draft.
Timing:
It is recommended that the Expansion draft be held in January so that the extra work load
does not impact season ending activities. After a date is selected, any existing manager
that can't participate will be required to submit a pull-back list to the Commissioner.
Other Information:
Official trading with the expansion teams will not be recognized until the conclusion of
the Expansion Draft. The Commissioner highly recommends that expansion team managers should
not make trades until they have their expansion roster established. This is to prevent
unforseen shortages.
Expansion teams will be made available to existing managers before being opened to people outside the league. Any existing manager who decides to take an expansion team will forfeit the right to his existing team, its name, and stadium. The team vacancy will be filled from outside the league, just as we have always done in the past.