Open Comment Thread on Possible Rule Change - Changes to Roster Size and Carryover limits

I continually try to look at ways to keep leagues competitive, although that doesn't mean we make a lot of rule changes.  One move a couple years ago was to make multiyear contracts more expensive, but that's a slow change that may be starting to take effect as some cheaper long-term contracts begin to expire.  I don't want to necessarily penalize really good teams and keep them from contending for repeats.  And I know that in some cases, the quality of competition within some divisions over the years has allowed some long strings of repeat division winners.  Still, it's a bit discouraging to watch - and I'm sure it is for teams in these divisions - when some pennant races appear to be over after 3-4 weeks.

Over the last few years, I've received a couple of seemingly conflicting requests from multiple people:

• "Maybe we should limit the number of players teams can keep so that it promotes more good players going back into the free agent pool"
• "How about if we can keep more of the younger players to allow time for prospects to make it to the majors?"

I used to think these were exclusive options - but as I thought about it through the 2016 season, I think they can be done at the same time.  This would be a major change in the roster composition that has largely been in place since BWB began in 2000.

As I talked to one of BWB's original players this summer, the "if it's not broke, don't fix it" phrase came up - so I am doing this with some caution.  And I don't think it's necessarily broken, but might be made better.

So please provide any feedback you might have toward this option.  We're already baseball nerds playing this game instead of just a simple roto game, but it shouldn't be too complex.

IF this were to happen, it would take effect after the Redistribution Draft - it will not affect your current carryover of 28 players.

Please comment to this post if you have any feedback.  It's not really a vote, but if there's significant leaning one way or the other that will help me.

More details to be fleshed out if the rules actually take effect, but here are the basic ideas:

40-man roster changes to a 50-man roster with this breakdown:

• 14 active hitters (9 starters, 5 bench)
• 12 active pitchers (5 SP, 5 RP, 2 spot)
• 4-man taxi squad, increased from 2 - provides a bit more flexibility for injuries and minor league demotions for players with salaries 251 and higher
• 10 players, down from 12, in the minor leagues - must have salary 250 or lower
• 10 players in a new "Low Minor Leagues"
• plus the one IR spot that doesn't count against the roster

The Low Minors work this way:

• After the Redistribution Draft and at any time during the season, players can be designated for the Low Minors with these conditions:
• 100 salary only
• Can never have played in the majors (at the time of designation)
• There is a non-refundable charge - probably 100 - for moving a player to Low Minors - let's call it "player development costs"
• Move is permanent for the current season - cannot be moved out of the low minors until after next season's Redistribution Draft, but can be traded or cut.
• Players in the low minors do not count against the total number of players carried over in December (though can be cut at that time).

Roster Carryover:

• Players in the Low Minors are not counted against carry over numbers.
• Maximum number of players that can be carried over from the 40-man section of the roster into the next season is decreased from 28 to 20
• Teams must pay for the salaries for the next season for all the players they keep at this time

Redistribution Draft:

• Players in the Low Minors do not count against roster size
• Draft proceeds as it currently operates, with maximum roster limit for drafting new players remaining at 40
• After the Redistribution Draft, the players in the Low Minors are moved back to "Regular Minors" and the process starts over to move players into the low minors for the next season

The "40-man roster" would still be a consideration during the regular season for transactions/trades.  To sign a player, there would have to be room on that 40-man portion - so corresponding moves of eligible players to the low minors may be needed.  I would plan on providing a new signing option - to allow eligible players to be signed directly to the Low Minors so that rosters don't have to be torn up when signing new prospects.

There would be a time after the Redistribution Draft where there might be more than 40 players on the "40-man" roster.  Before Opening Day, teams would need to move players down to the Low Minors - and would not be able to acquire any new players at all during the time the roster is above 40.

To cover an extra 10 roster spots of players at minimum salary, an extra 1000 would be added to the salary cap.  But the transaction cost of 100 per move to Low Minors would NOT be added to the cap.

New leagues would draft with a roster limit of 40.  The moves to Low Minors would open when the league moves to weekly transactions.