Duck Moves
Quote from Chris on February 8, 2026, 4:53 pmThe rule says that if there's a media outlet that says there's somewhat of a chance the player is out for the season, the player is eligible to be put on season ending IR. Once on season ending IR, the player can't be moved from the season ending IR part to regular IR or IR+. So this doesn't happen often in our league but Dubois is a player who's healthy and returning before end of the season.
I can't remember the last time a team wanted to activate a player from season ending IR. I thought this was something we could do. It seems silly to me that a healthy player that we own rights to can't be added back to our active roster.
Not a big deal though because if you guys are saying that the rules in place mean that Dubois can't be added back to my roster this season no matter what, I can probably pay another team $1 to facilitate them taking Dubois and then trading Dubois back to me. That payment a team needs to make to another team for this work around seems like a penalty for wanting to activate the player from season ending IR.
Up to you guys on how you want to handle rule. I'm fine either way
The rule says that if there's a media outlet that says there's somewhat of a chance the player is out for the season, the player is eligible to be put on season ending IR. Once on season ending IR, the player can't be moved from the season ending IR part to regular IR or IR+. So this doesn't happen often in our league but Dubois is a player who's healthy and returning before end of the season.
I can't remember the last time a team wanted to activate a player from season ending IR. I thought this was something we could do. It seems silly to me that a healthy player that we own rights to can't be added back to our active roster.
Not a big deal though because if you guys are saying that the rules in place mean that Dubois can't be added back to my roster this season no matter what, I can probably pay another team $1 to facilitate them taking Dubois and then trading Dubois back to me. That payment a team needs to make to another team for this work around seems like a penalty for wanting to activate the player from season ending IR.
Up to you guys on how you want to handle rule. I'm fine either way
Quote from Steve on February 8, 2026, 5:37 pmPost the rule that lays that out.
Also, where are the rules even published?
I am decade in and it has always been once on Season Ending IR done for the year. That’s the risk of putting someone on season ending IR.
I also have no clue what you are throwing out about trading someone to get the off Season Ending IR.
I’d like to see published rules on all this.
Post the rule that lays that out.
Also, where are the rules even published?
I am decade in and it has always been once on Season Ending IR done for the year. That’s the risk of putting someone on season ending IR.
I also have no clue what you are throwing out about trading someone to get the off Season Ending IR.
I’d like to see published rules on all this.
Quote from Chris on February 8, 2026, 5:54 pmI was saying it wouldn't be hard me to trade Dubois to let's say Kraken for $1. And then you trade Dubois back to me for $2. It's a work around
I was saying it wouldn't be hard me to trade Dubois to let's say Kraken for $1. And then you trade Dubois back to me for $2. It's a work around
Quote from Steve on February 8, 2026, 5:56 pmI am not clear that what you are describing is a work around.
And to the broader point. Where are league rules published? Let's reference those for clarity or lack there of.
I am not clear that what you are describing is a work around.
And to the broader point. Where are league rules published? Let's reference those for clarity or lack there of.
Quote from Chris on February 8, 2026, 6:06 pmAs far as published rules, Ted had sent me this back in 2014 when I became co commish for baseball league. We never created a version for hockey league because the rules were almost identical. Obviously we've passed a lot of new rules in the last 12 years that are not found below. But if you wanted to put that together go for it.
-
Contraction League Rules
Rule 1 The Basics:
This is a Keeper League. The league was created by Runner10K (RIP) in 2000.
Rule 2 Money Basics:
The amount of money you start with is the amount you had at the end of last season
including any money distributed at end of season. You earn money for wins, ties, and
based on your finish at the end of the regular season.
Rule 3 How to Earn Money:
You will receive 5.00 per win and 2.50 per tie. End of year money awards for 2009 were
as follows: (1) $3 plus $3 bonus for playoff bye (2) $4 plus $3 bonus for playoff bye (3)
$5 (4) $6 (5) $7 (6) $8 (7) $9 (8) $10 (9) $11 (10) $12 (11) $13 (12) $14.
End of year money subject to change depending on amount of money in the system.
League champion earns one FREE resigning. All-Star $5 bonus for Home Run Derby
Winner and All-Star Game MVP.
Rule 4 League Settings:
The settings for the league can be found at the actual yahoo site (and yahoo now keeps
track of these from year to year) any changes must be authorized by the league with a
majority vote.
Scoring & Settings
Setting Value
League ID#: 148147
League Name: Contraction League
Password: steroids
Custom League URL: http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/contraction
Season Type: Full
Draft Type: Offline Draft
Max Teams: 12
Scoring Type: Head-to-Head
Player Universe: All baseball
New Players Become
Available:As soon as Yahoo! adds them
Max Moves: No maximum
Max Trades: No maximum
Trade Reject Time: 2
Trade End Date: August 15, 2010
Waiver Time: 2 days
Waiver Type: Continual rolling list
Can't Cut List Provider: None
Trade Review: Commissioner
Post Draft Players: Free Agents
Max Acquisitions per Week: No maximum
Min Innings Pitched: 20
Weekly Deadline: Daily - Tomorrow
Start Scoring on: Week 1Playoffs: Week 23, 24 and 25 (6 teams)
Divisions: No
Roster Positions: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF, Util, Util, SP, SP, SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, RP, RP, RP, BN, BN, BN,BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, DL, DL, DL, DL
Batters Stat Categories: Runs (R), Doubles (2B), Home Runs (HR), Runs Batted In (RBI), Stolen Bases (SB), Strikeouts
(K), Batting Average (AVG), On-base + Slugging Percentage (OPS)
Pitchers Stat Categories: Innings Pitched (IP), Wins (W), Saves (SV), Strikeouts (K), Holds (HLD), Earned Run Average
(ERA), (Walks + Hits)/ Innings Pitched (WHIP), Strikeouts per Nine Innings (K/9)Rule 5 FA Signing and Scale:
Here is the approved FA Signing Scale
Cost is determined by Rank and not O-Rank.
You must post a message when you sign someone and include player name, rank, cost,
how much money you had before the transaction, and how much money you have after
transaction.
1-10 20$,
11-25 18$,
26 - 75 16$,
76-125 14$,
126-175 12$,
176-225 10$
226-275 8$,
276-325 6$,
326-350 4$,
351-400 2$,
401+ 1$Rule 6 Re-signings:
At the end of each season you will resign your players over 30 years of age (turns 30
prior to April 1 of current season) or you will release them back into the FA pool. Players
will be resigned for half the price of their rank. Multi-year contracts are allowed up to 3-
years. Each additional year is half the cost. For example, a $10 player costs $5 for year 1,
$2.50 for year 2, and $1.25 for year 3. For $1 players, the resign works as $.50 for year 1,
$.25 for year 2, and $.25 for year 3. Sign and trades are allowed in the period leading up
to the draft. All resignings must be completed by the established date.
Rule 7 Trades:
You must post all trades on the message boards. Trades are automatically approved
through Yahoo after a one-day wait period or 24 hours after trade if not possible to do
through Yahoo (note that the 24 hours is subject to commish availability). Six out of 10
managers must veto to overturn a normal 2-way trade. Vetos can be public on the board
or private to the commish, however, managers who vetoed are named in the event of an
overturned trade. In the week of the trade deadline, trades will be pushed through after a
quick consultation with league members to assure there won’t be enough veto votes.Trades must be done on the Yahoo system unless impossible to do so. If the trade is
impossible to do using the Yahoo system, you cannot drop players from your roster that
are involved in the trade until after 12 hours. The acquiring team cannot add the player(s)
until after 24 hours have passed.
Rule 8 FA Draft:
Each year we will have a three-round FA draft. These picks are tradable and once the
season begins, picks for the following year's FA draft may be traded. The draft order is
the reverse of the previous season’s final regular season standings.
Rule 9 FA Freeze:
Each year we will freeze FA pick-ups for the first two weeks of the season to allow
Yahoo to alter their rankings.
Rule 10 Prospects:
A. Prior to the Preseason FA Signing Period each owner has the right to protect 4
prospects from their teams farm system that have not surpassed MLB Rookie Rule
eligibility in the previous season.
-If that prospect gets called up to the big leagues during the season the owner can ferry
that player back and forth from the FA wire at no cost for the remainder of the season
while still keeping exclusive rights to that player.
-Owners will list these protected prospects in the Smack Talk area of their teams page.
-If a prospect is not listed in the Smack Talk area and becomes available in FA, any
owner will have the right to add that player to their team.
-If a protected prospect from the previous season has surpassed the MLB Rookie Rule in
the previous season, that player must be on the active roster or he becomes a FA since he
is no longer prospect eligible.
B. In addition to the three protected prospects from an owners farm system there will be a
Prospect Draft following the annual MLB draft. The draft order is based on last season’s
standings with the first place finisher drafting first. However, the draft will be snaked so
the 2 nd round is opposite of the 1 st round.
-Both recently drafted players (who have not yet signed with teams) and any unprotected
minor leaguer who did not surpass the MLB Rookie Rule in the previous season is
available in that draft (even if the player is in the Yahoo system). This is limited to only
the current year's MLB draft and current minor league players who are rookie eligible. It
excludes international draft players and anyone else. Owners will have until the start of
the Prospect Draft to protect recent draft picks or adjust protected players.
C. New owners will be made aware of what prospects the prior owner had protected.
Those who have surpassed MLB Rookie Rule status must be added to the active roster
prior to the Preseason FA Draft or they will be eligible for any owner to draft.
-New owners do not have to keep the same prospects from their farm system that the
previous owner protected but they can only protect a maximum of 4 from their own team.
D. Teams can have a maximum of 8 protected prospects but only 4 from their farmsystem the rest can be acquired in the prospect draft or by trade. (Those with more than 7
prior to this year will be grandfathered in but will need to go below the maximum before
adding new prospects)
E. If an owner trades one of their own organization prospects or simply chooses to
replace one with a new prospect, it will count as one “change”. Each team is allowed
three changes per year beginning after their prospects are set at the start of the season.
Rule 11 Organization Changes:
You may change your team name and minor league organization a maximum of once
every five years.
Rule 12 The Richy/Phillies Rule:
You may not trade any “future” money (no interest clause trades).
Rule 13 Pre-season DL:
Because actual MLB teams do not place players on the DL until the start of the season
and Yahoo does not add these players to the DL until then, we have pre-season DL slots
available matching the # of regular DL spots for players injured during spring training
and expected to miss the start of the season. Teams may not exceed the total # of DL
spots allowed for players actually on the rosterable DL and the pre-season DL. (i.e. if we
have four DL spots which we do as of 2014, then a max. of 4 players can be on the pre-
season DL. If two players are on the DL on the roster, then only two players can be on
the pre-season DL). The player(s) must be placed on the actual Yahoo DL by the start of
Week 2 (date to be determined) or he is released to FA.
Rule 14 The Daniel Hudson Rule:
This is for players on your roster last year but mysteriously not in the system anymore.
Once it is passed the resigning deadline and that players is still not in Yahoo, you may list
the player in your smack talk. Once he becomes available on Yahoo you have one week
(7 days) from the date Yahoo says he became available to add him to your roster or he
becomes a FA.
Rule 15 Improper Add/Drop or Trade Completion
If a team does any of the following it will be subject to a penalty:
1. Add/Drop a player in a trade before the specifically designated time.
2. Signing someone that the team can't afford
3. Signing another team’s prospect or pre-season DL player
Each offense regardless of which one would count as one offense and be subject to the
following penalties: First offense is a warning, second offense is a $5 fine (team can go
negative), and the third offense and after is $5.Rule 16 The Jurickson Profar Rule
For an accident situation, such as accidently dropping a player or some other situation
where it is clear that an obvious mistake occurred, the following applies:
If the mistake is recognized within 4 hours, the first time is considered an accident and
mercy is granted and the situation is returned to the pre-mistake status. For the second
time and any subsequent occurrences there will be no grace or reversal of the mistake.
If it takes more than 4 hours to recognize the mistake, it is too late. Be a civil and
courteous owner. If someone makes a mistake that they might not be aware of, tell them.
Surely the favor could be returned to you someday.
As far as published rules, Ted had sent me this back in 2014 when I became co commish for baseball league. We never created a version for hockey league because the rules were almost identical. Obviously we've passed a lot of new rules in the last 12 years that are not found below. But if you wanted to put that together go for it.
-
Contraction League Rules
Rule 1 The Basics:
This is a Keeper League. The league was created by Runner10K (RIP) in 2000.
Rule 2 Money Basics:
The amount of money you start with is the amount you had at the end of last season
including any money distributed at end of season. You earn money for wins, ties, and
based on your finish at the end of the regular season.
Rule 3 How to Earn Money:
You will receive 5.00 per win and 2.50 per tie. End of year money awards for 2009 were
as follows: (1) $3 plus $3 bonus for playoff bye (2) $4 plus $3 bonus for playoff bye (3)
$5 (4) $6 (5) $7 (6) $8 (7) $9 (8) $10 (9) $11 (10) $12 (11) $13 (12) $14.
End of year money subject to change depending on amount of money in the system.
League champion earns one FREE resigning. All-Star $5 bonus for Home Run Derby
Winner and All-Star Game MVP.
Rule 4 League Settings:
The settings for the league can be found at the actual yahoo site (and yahoo now keeps
track of these from year to year) any changes must be authorized by the league with a
majority vote.
Scoring & Settings
Setting Value
League ID#: 148147
League Name: Contraction League
Password: steroids
Custom League URL: http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/contraction
Season Type: Full
Draft Type: Offline Draft
Max Teams: 12
Scoring Type: Head-to-Head
Player Universe: All baseball
New Players Become
Available:
As soon as Yahoo! adds them
Max Moves: No maximum
Max Trades: No maximum
Trade Reject Time: 2
Trade End Date: August 15, 2010
Waiver Time: 2 days
Waiver Type: Continual rolling list
Can't Cut List Provider: None
Trade Review: Commissioner
Post Draft Players: Free Agents
Max Acquisitions per Week: No maximum
Min Innings Pitched: 20
Weekly Deadline: Daily - Tomorrow
Start Scoring on: Week 1
Playoffs: Week 23, 24 and 25 (6 teams)
Divisions: No
Roster Positions: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF, Util, Util, SP, SP, SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, RP, RP, RP, BN, BN, BN,
BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, DL, DL, DL, DL
Batters Stat Categories: Runs (R), Doubles (2B), Home Runs (HR), Runs Batted In (RBI), Stolen Bases (SB), Strikeouts
(K), Batting Average (AVG), On-base + Slugging Percentage (OPS)
Pitchers Stat Categories: Innings Pitched (IP), Wins (W), Saves (SV), Strikeouts (K), Holds (HLD), Earned Run Average
(ERA), (Walks + Hits)/ Innings Pitched (WHIP), Strikeouts per Nine Innings (K/9)
Rule 5 FA Signing and Scale:
Here is the approved FA Signing Scale
Cost is determined by Rank and not O-Rank.
You must post a message when you sign someone and include player name, rank, cost,
how much money you had before the transaction, and how much money you have after
transaction.
1-10 20$,
11-25 18$,
26 - 75 16$,
76-125 14$,
126-175 12$,
176-225 10$
226-275 8$,
276-325 6$,
326-350 4$,
351-400 2$,
401+ 1$
Rule 6 Re-signings:
At the end of each season you will resign your players over 30 years of age (turns 30
prior to April 1 of current season) or you will release them back into the FA pool. Players
will be resigned for half the price of their rank. Multi-year contracts are allowed up to 3-
years. Each additional year is half the cost. For example, a $10 player costs $5 for year 1,
$2.50 for year 2, and $1.25 for year 3. For $1 players, the resign works as $.50 for year 1,
$.25 for year 2, and $.25 for year 3. Sign and trades are allowed in the period leading up
to the draft. All resignings must be completed by the established date.
Rule 7 Trades:
You must post all trades on the message boards. Trades are automatically approved
through Yahoo after a one-day wait period or 24 hours after trade if not possible to do
through Yahoo (note that the 24 hours is subject to commish availability). Six out of 10
managers must veto to overturn a normal 2-way trade. Vetos can be public on the board
or private to the commish, however, managers who vetoed are named in the event of an
overturned trade. In the week of the trade deadline, trades will be pushed through after a
quick consultation with league members to assure there won’t be enough veto votes.
Trades must be done on the Yahoo system unless impossible to do so. If the trade is
impossible to do using the Yahoo system, you cannot drop players from your roster that
are involved in the trade until after 12 hours. The acquiring team cannot add the player(s)
until after 24 hours have passed.
Rule 8 FA Draft:
Each year we will have a three-round FA draft. These picks are tradable and once the
season begins, picks for the following year's FA draft may be traded. The draft order is
the reverse of the previous season’s final regular season standings.
Rule 9 FA Freeze:
Each year we will freeze FA pick-ups for the first two weeks of the season to allow
Yahoo to alter their rankings.
Rule 10 Prospects:
A. Prior to the Preseason FA Signing Period each owner has the right to protect 4
prospects from their teams farm system that have not surpassed MLB Rookie Rule
eligibility in the previous season.
-If that prospect gets called up to the big leagues during the season the owner can ferry
that player back and forth from the FA wire at no cost for the remainder of the season
while still keeping exclusive rights to that player.
-Owners will list these protected prospects in the Smack Talk area of their teams page.
-If a prospect is not listed in the Smack Talk area and becomes available in FA, any
owner will have the right to add that player to their team.
-If a protected prospect from the previous season has surpassed the MLB Rookie Rule in
the previous season, that player must be on the active roster or he becomes a FA since he
is no longer prospect eligible.
B. In addition to the three protected prospects from an owners farm system there will be a
Prospect Draft following the annual MLB draft. The draft order is based on last season’s
standings with the first place finisher drafting first. However, the draft will be snaked so
the 2 nd round is opposite of the 1 st round.
-Both recently drafted players (who have not yet signed with teams) and any unprotected
minor leaguer who did not surpass the MLB Rookie Rule in the previous season is
available in that draft (even if the player is in the Yahoo system). This is limited to only
the current year's MLB draft and current minor league players who are rookie eligible. It
excludes international draft players and anyone else. Owners will have until the start of
the Prospect Draft to protect recent draft picks or adjust protected players.
C. New owners will be made aware of what prospects the prior owner had protected.
Those who have surpassed MLB Rookie Rule status must be added to the active roster
prior to the Preseason FA Draft or they will be eligible for any owner to draft.
-New owners do not have to keep the same prospects from their farm system that the
previous owner protected but they can only protect a maximum of 4 from their own team.
D. Teams can have a maximum of 8 protected prospects but only 4 from their farm
system the rest can be acquired in the prospect draft or by trade. (Those with more than 7
prior to this year will be grandfathered in but will need to go below the maximum before
adding new prospects)
E. If an owner trades one of their own organization prospects or simply chooses to
replace one with a new prospect, it will count as one “change”. Each team is allowed
three changes per year beginning after their prospects are set at the start of the season.
Rule 11 Organization Changes:
You may change your team name and minor league organization a maximum of once
every five years.
Rule 12 The Richy/Phillies Rule:
You may not trade any “future” money (no interest clause trades).
Rule 13 Pre-season DL:
Because actual MLB teams do not place players on the DL until the start of the season
and Yahoo does not add these players to the DL until then, we have pre-season DL slots
available matching the # of regular DL spots for players injured during spring training
and expected to miss the start of the season. Teams may not exceed the total # of DL
spots allowed for players actually on the rosterable DL and the pre-season DL. (i.e. if we
have four DL spots which we do as of 2014, then a max. of 4 players can be on the pre-
season DL. If two players are on the DL on the roster, then only two players can be on
the pre-season DL). The player(s) must be placed on the actual Yahoo DL by the start of
Week 2 (date to be determined) or he is released to FA.
Rule 14 The Daniel Hudson Rule:
This is for players on your roster last year but mysteriously not in the system anymore.
Once it is passed the resigning deadline and that players is still not in Yahoo, you may list
the player in your smack talk. Once he becomes available on Yahoo you have one week
(7 days) from the date Yahoo says he became available to add him to your roster or he
becomes a FA.
Rule 15 Improper Add/Drop or Trade Completion
If a team does any of the following it will be subject to a penalty:
1. Add/Drop a player in a trade before the specifically designated time.
2. Signing someone that the team can't afford
3. Signing another team’s prospect or pre-season DL player
Each offense regardless of which one would count as one offense and be subject to the
following penalties: First offense is a warning, second offense is a $5 fine (team can go
negative), and the third offense and after is $5.
Rule 16 The Jurickson Profar Rule
For an accident situation, such as accidently dropping a player or some other situation
where it is clear that an obvious mistake occurred, the following applies:
If the mistake is recognized within 4 hours, the first time is considered an accident and
mercy is granted and the situation is returned to the pre-mistake status. For the second
time and any subsequent occurrences there will be no grace or reversal of the mistake.
If it takes more than 4 hours to recognize the mistake, it is too late. Be a civil and
courteous owner. If someone makes a mistake that they might not be aware of, tell them.
Surely the favor could be returned to you someday.
Quote from Ted on February 8, 2026, 6:09 pmseason-ending IR is exactly that. Guys can't come back from it. It doesn't matter if traded either. It was done this way so that if a guy was completely done you could replace him with someone without affecting shorter term IR or roster spots. So you can still compete and the player could just be set aside until next year. They are not just extra IR spots
season-ending IR is exactly that. Guys can't come back from it. It doesn't matter if traded either. It was done this way so that if a guy was completely done you could replace him with someone without affecting shorter term IR or roster spots. So you can still compete and the player could just be set aside until next year. They are not just extra IR spots
Quote from Ted on February 8, 2026, 6:10 pmit was also mainly set up in baseball because alot of guys did not have a formal IL or IL+ status and you couldn't do anything but have them take up a roster space
it was also mainly set up in baseball because alot of guys did not have a formal IL or IL+ status and you couldn't do anything but have them take up a roster space
