Player Usage/Roster - Seasonal Limits

Rosters: PB rosters are limited to 25 active and 35 total. There is no upward limit to the total roster size in Launch Leagues (can go over 35). In Traditional (using last season's statistics) Perpetual Leagues the total roster limit can be over the limit of 35 but may not exceed 40. After the Formation draft to start the league and at the end of each spring Free Agent draft, every team's roster is at 35.
That roster can exceed 35 (limited to 40 total) in the following two ways:
1. By virtue of an uneven player exchange in a trade.
2. If an INN player is awarded by PB to a team during the season to fill a specific IP or PA need. These players are chosen by PB and added to the requesting team's roster only if deemed necessary by PB to field a rated player at each position. The INN players awarded do not have any intrinsic trade value at the time they are awarded.

NOTE: All PB teams will carry two active players rated at CATCHER and READY to play in upcoming series.

In REAL TIME (using current season statistics) perpetual leagues, the same 40 man "hard" limit applies but the monthly free agent drafts keep rosters at or below 35 total by requiring that room on the roster below the 35-man level be made to get draft picks.

Active rosters can be expanded over the 25-man limit after game 135 in 160 game perpetual seasons and after game 40 in 50 game Launch seasons. In seasons, which are playing a reduced first year schedule, rosters may be expanded 20 games before the end of the season.

In shortened Perpetual Seasons (Late starting first year Perpetual Leagues will have shortened first seasons), the last 20 games of the season will be played with expanded rosters.

Please make certain that your active rosters are at 25 before the games are enabled on Thursday morning. It is my job to check all teams manually for roster size and cut those that are over. I do not have the time to message those teams that are over or spend a lot of time considering options. Leaving your rosters over 25 slows down the game enabling process and may hurt your team if I cut the "wrong" player. If you have a late trade, which will affect your 25 man roster, please send an email to the commissioner instructing him on how to alter your roster if the trade is approved.

ROSTER MOVES UNLIMITED: Roster moves are unlimited in PURE BASEBALL but must be made between series only. In the play-offs, they can only be made between play-off series.

Pitchers: All pitchers are limited to 115% of the innings they pitched in the corresponding season. The limit is imposed in a gradual manner. Pitchers who had 50 or more innings in a 162 game corresponding season are unlimited in their use for the first 20% of the season (50% or 25 games in Launch Leagues) . They are limited to 150% of their innings pitched after the first 20% of the season but that percentage gradually goes down to 115% by the end of the season.

Relievers starting and Starters relieving:

Relievers who started: A reliever who started during the corresponding MLB season can be used as a starter without reduction of effectiveness (only if he starts the game with either 10 BFA or fully rested). He will be given extra BFA by the GAME at the beginning of his start, which will be taken away at the end of the game. His RECOVERY rate will be increased by 75% if his last appearance was a start.

Relievers who did not start: A reliever who did not start during the corresponding season can be used as a starter, but will be severely degraded by the GAME. This practice should only be tried in an emergency situation because in addition to the degradation of his skills, it is a severe drain on the reliever's innings.

Starters used as relievers: There is no degradation of skills and in fact starters make very good long relievers. A starter has to have at least 30 BFA to be READY, so starters can't be relied on to make consecutive relief appearances very often.

--Starting pitchers can't be taken out of a PB game unless they have pitched a minimum of 4 innings or allow a minimum of 4 runs. The game enforces this rule. It will not allow you to relieve or pinch hit for a starting pitcher which has not fulfilled those requirements. This rule prevents a team from using relievers so early and so often as to eliminate the need to maintain a realistic group of starting pitchers.

NOTE 1: If a pitcher is NOT READY (overused, tired, very overused, worn-out) and named as the starting pitcher, the GAME ROBOT WILL NOT use him. Unfortunately our network ROBOT is not yet equipped to catch this problem. The home team will be given a lineup with that pitcher or player in the starting lineup but that lineup will be incorrect as the GAME ROBOT will remove any pitcher or player who is not READY.
To determine who the GAME robot will select to start in this situation, use the following guidelines.

1. If there are one or more starters (pitchers with max-bats of at least 30) who have 30 BFA and are READY, the Game Robot will select the pitcher with the highest PB pitching grade.

2. If there is no READY starter the ROBOT will select a long reliever (with max bats less than 30) with at least 10 BFA.

3. Failing the availability of pitchers designated in one and two above, the GAME ROBOT will select the highest PB rated reliever with either 10 BFA or full BFA.

NOTE 2: When a pitcher goes past his BFA allowance he will go into negative BFA but will not become ineffective until he allows a base runner. A pitcher with negative BFA will be degraded immediately upon entering a game with negative BFA but will be treated as rested with "0" BFA.

Non-Pitchers: Position players (non-pitchers) are limited to 110% of their plate appearances for the corresponding season. The limit is imposed in a gradual manner. Position players with 150 or more plate appearances in the corresponding season are unlimited in their use for the first 20% of the season (50% or 25 games in Launch Leagues). They are limited to 150% of their plate appearances after the first 20% of the season but that percentage gradually goes down to 110% by the end of the season.

Innocuous Players (INN): Players or pitchers marked "INN" in STAT and STATUS pages are players whose use is unlimited with respect to plate appearances and innings pitched. They can still suffer long term injuries if they were injured in the corresponding season and innocuous pitchers can still become "TIRED" by virtue of running our of BFAs.

NOTE: If you need an INN Player during the season you can apply to commish@purebaseball.com for such a player.The player is awarded by PB to a team during the season to fill a specific IP or PA need. These players are chosen by PB and added to the requesting team's roster only if deemed necessary by PB to field a rated player at each position. The INN players awarded do not have any intrinsic trade value at the time they are awarded.

Here are the standards used to determine if a positional player or pitcher is innocuous:

Position Player: Catchers and shortstops (primary position): Overall OPS below .625 with OPS versus RH or LH pitching below .725.

Other positions (primary): Overall OPS below .675 with OPS versus RH or LH pitching below .775

NOTE: OPS = sum of slugging plus on base percentages.

Pitchers:A pitcher is innocuous if his pitching grade plus his clutch rating is less than 8.0 and his ERA in the corresponding season was at least 5.00

Overused and Very Overused: If a pitcher or non-pitcher is over his limit of usage as stated above, he is overused. If he is 50% over the limit he is very overused. A player who plays while overused is liable incur a day to day injury. He is also less effective. Very overused players are more likely to be injured and will perform to very poor standards.

Stolen Bases: Stolen base attempts are limited to 125% of actual attempts in the corresponding season. The limit is enforced on a gradual basis, as are plate appearance and innings limits above. Players who steal bases when they are over their limit will have a much smaller chance of success and will risk a day to day injury.

Platoon Factor: Players (batters) who are rated Platoon L (Stats/Rosters-ratings page) are limited to their actual plate appearances versus LHP. After those actual plate appearances, they will become very poor hitters versus LHP. This is to avoid the phenomenon of a left-handed batter who batted over 300 times versus RHP and only 10-15 versus LHP and got lucky for that very small sample of plate appearances.
The same thing applies to Platoon R for their plate appearances versus RHP.

Low Plate Appearance Factor: If a player or pitcher has less than 10 plate appearances versus either left-handed or right-handed pitching, his actual performance will not be followed in the game. He will be assigned performance criteria which is below average major league offensive production for his position.

Play-off Usage: Injuries will carryover as will batter faced status for pitchers (BFA). There will be a day of rest between the end of the season and the start of the first play-off series. There will also be days of rest between games 2 and 3 and 5 and 6 in all play-off series. All series will be best of seven.
Season PA, IP, and SB limitations will not carry over. Instead a Play-off season limitations will be used. Players will be limited as to their total play-off games. The maximum would be 21 games if a team were to play in the World Series (league championship series) and have all three series go the full seven games.
The limits will be as follows:

PA= 15% of corresponding season PA
IP=20% of corresponding season innings
SB=20% of corresponding season SB attempts

The play-offs will be handled like the first 20% of the season with respect to USAGE.
Once the 21-game play-off season starts, players will never get overused, but rather will be READY until they are WORN-OUT.

The PAuse, IPuse, and SBuse numbers will look and work different than they did in the regular season. In all three cases the players and pitchers will have a number which will climb to 100, at which point they will be worn out for the duration of the play-offs. You will be able to gauge the effect of their appearances buy reading the changes in their PAuse, IPuse , and SBuse numbers as they climb towards 100. The play-off usage allowances above (15% for PA and 20% for IP and SB) will be used to determine the relative effect of players' appearances (PA, IP, or SB attempt) on their climb to 100.

NOTE 1: "corresponding season" refers to the corresponding MLB season for which the player is rated

NOTE 2: Position players with less than 50 PA during the corresponding season and pitchers with less than 20 IP during the corresponding season are ineligible for post season play.

Note#3- Special games scheduled to break ties at the end of the season are considered part of the season. The division championship play-off games will be played on the rest day scheduled between the end of the regular season and the first day of the play-offs. Please be aware that players who are at the limit of their use at the end of the season, will likely be WORN-OUT for that extra game. There is no extra usage offered to those players for the extra game. The ROBOT will not use these players or pitchers on the road and you should not at home unless you don't mind risking an overuse injury. As you know, injuries and pitcher BFA carryover into the play-offs. Overused and Worn-Out condition only lasts until the last day of the regular season (including one-game play-offs), the slate is wiped clean for the play-offs themselves!

Game To Game Status

Tired or Very Tired: Only pitchers can be Tired. Pitchers become tired as a result of running out of allowable batters in a game and then being marked "tired" by the game. Pitching tired can result in a day to day injury as well as reduced effectiveness. A pitcher who is "tired" at the start of a game and is used during that game also risks injury and will be less effective than usual. Pitchers who are Very Tired will have a greater risk of injury and will lose more effectiveness.

Rustiness: Rustiness results form players not appearing in a particular number of consecutive game while on the major league roster. That number varies according to the role of the player. Regular players become rusty faster than part time players for example. Players who are returning from the farm team (inactive roster)are not considered rusty.

Players sent to the minors never come back to the majors "rusty", even if they are "rusty" when they are sent down. One exception to this rule is after the regular season. During the play-offs, if a player is sent to the minors between play-off series, he can return "rusty".

NOTE: The game does not enforce rustiness on ROAD players or when the ROBOT is managing the home team. Rustiness is only enforced on the HOME team players when the game is played by the HOME manager.

ALSO: The rest days allotted in the play-offs can easily cause a team to have a lot of rusty players if they win in four. A sweep means 5 consecutive days of rest before the next game. The team winning a playoff series early is able to rest players and set up their rotation, but suffer the handicap of a "rusty" roster. This is meant to mimic real life, when teams having a long layoff after playing almost daily for 6-7 months will perform differently than teams who have "survived" a seven game play-off series.

Defensive Position Limitations: Players can appear at any position the manager desires. It is advisable to use players at positions for which they are rated, but certain positions can be played by non-rated players without fear of serious negative consequences.
In every case the player's primary position is the only one considered when making a determination of his ability to play a position for which he is not rated. The following are position moves for which the consequences are reasonable: