Bid Period and Due Date
Draft Day to Pre-Opening Day of Season
- The bid period ends at 11:59 pm EST (or EDST) on the day before American League Opening Day.
- The bid is due at noon EST (or EDST) on the second day following the American League Opening Day.
Opening Day to End of Season
- The bid period ends at 11:59 pm EST (or EDST) on a Wednesday.
- The bid is due at noon EST (or EDST) on the following Friday.
Qualifying Bid Requirements
A submitted bid must include all of the following:
- Bid player
- Qualified replaced player(s)
- Bid price
Bids that do not meet the above requirements are void.
Bid Player
A player who is not on an AL 40-man or AL minor league roster or contract on Draft Day is subject to the bid process when activated onto an AL 26-man roster.
For a player who is traded to the AL and is on the AL 26-man roster at a bid period end date, the trade date (and not the activation date) determines the bid period. Otherwise, the activation date determines the bid period.
You must protect the Bid Player on your following year's Protect List at the bid price unless the Bid Player:
- Is waived and picked up as a free agent by another WMRL team during the current season,
- Is traded to another WMRL team before the following year's protect list due date,
- Is not on an AL 40-man roster at the later of the following year's Protect List date, or the beginning of the following season, or
- Is not protected on the following year's protect list and the entire Bid Player's bid price/contract is charged against following year's total team budget ($260.00).
Qualified Replaced Player
You will need to identify the player you are replacing, and that player must be on your active 23-man roster on the effective date of the winning bid through the bid due date.
If you have questions on this point, please let the Rules Committee know. There have been several violations of this rule in the past, which makes remediation difficult for all parties involved.
Bid Price
Bid price must be in increments of $1.
If the winning bid price is submitted by more than one team, then the teams with the tied winning bids will be asked to resubmit new bid prices to determine an eventual winning bid. This process will be repeated until one remaining winning bid is determined.
Effective Date of the Winning Bid
Draft Day to Pre-Opening Day: The effective date of the winning bid will be the American League Opening Day.
Opening Day to End of Season: The effective date of the winning bid will be the Monday of the same week the bid is due.
Process
Bids must be submitted to Mike Yarger. Yarger's bids will be submitted to Phil Krill. To protect the integrity of Yarger's bids, submit your bids to Yarger as follows:
- Email must include in the header: BID PLAYER (or similar words)
- Either include an attachment with the bid, or include the bid in the body of the email but lower down so that bid information isn't revealed as part of the header even though the email is unopened.
- All email bids will be opened after the bid due date.
2025 Trading Deadline
WMRL's 2025 trading deadline is Sunday, August 31 at 11:59:59 pm EDST.
At 12:00 am September 1, 2025, all trading ceases for the remainder of the 2025 season. Post-season trading will resume after the Clean Up Rosters are finalized sometime after the season ends.
Recording Trades
Please record your trade by the deadline through the website. The website date and time stamp will determine whether the trade meets the trading deadline.
What Can Be Traded
You can trade any player on your active roster, including any player on your IL or minor league rosters. You can also trade next year's (2026) draft picks.
Trade Requirements
Trades cannot include any future considerations or promises. All aspects of any trade must be completely transparent to all league owners.
Any trade that does not meet these requirements will automatically be disqualified retroactive to the effective date of the trade, without any corrections, modifications, or substitutions to the original trade.
Historical Reference — 2023 Trading Deadline
WMRL's 2023 trading deadline was Thursday, August 31 at 11:59:59 pm EDST. All other trading rules were the same as 2025, except that 2024 draft picks could be traded.
Last Transaction Date
Monday, September 22, 2025 is the Last Transaction Date for the 2025 season (see website for actual closing time for rosters on that day).
Any transactions after the closing time for rosters for the week of September 22, 2025 will be voided.
A player who is on a WMRL Injured List (IL) or Minor League List (ML) and was activated onto an AL roster for more than one week (for a player on your IL) or two weeks (for a player on your ML) as of September 22, 2025 will be automatically waived and not available to be placed on your End of the Season Clean Up roster.
Exceptions
- Any bids that are due Friday, September 26, 2025 with an effective date of September 22, 2025 will be considered a transaction effective prior to the closing time for rosters for the week of September 22, 2025.
- This rule does not apply to a "Qualified Rookie" as defined under the September Activation of Qualified Rookies Rule who is on a WMRL minor league list.
Commentary
A player who is on a WMRL IL or ML as of September 22, 2025 and isn't automatically waived (as explained above) is available to be placed on your End of the Season Clean Up roster.
September Reserve Slot
Beginning September 1, 2025 (until the due date of the Clean-up Roster, or September 28, 2025), each team will have ONE September Reserve List Slot that can be used for any player on your active 23-man roster.
This does not include a player picked up directly off the free agent or waiver list.
"Active roster" is defined as the 23-man scoring roster and must be a complete and position-compliant 23-man roster before a player is moved to the reserve slot. You can use the September reserve slot any number of times as long as there is only one player on the reserve list slot at any time.
Commentary
This rule allows teams to replace any player on their 23-man active roster who may be injured (but not officially placed on an AL injured list), not playing regularly, or playing poorly, while still retaining the player's rights until the due date of the Clean Up Rosters, at which time the Reserve Slot is eliminated.
Since MLB teams can expand their active rosters to 28 players beginning September 1 (or 29 players when there is a doubleheader), players who are injured in September generally are not put on the disabled list. This rule addresses that issue in addition to providing more roster flexibility in September without jeopardizing the integrity of the WMRL and its rules.
Rule
A qualified "rookie" who is activated onto an AL active roster on September 1 through the end of the season has his activation period suspended. A team is not required to activate the "rookie" within two weeks of his MLB activation date and can still retain exclusive rights to the "rookie" player after the activation period expires.
Qualified Rookie Definition
A qualified "rookie" is a player who meets all of the following criteria:
- Qualifies for rookie status as of September 1 (no more than 130 at-bats for position players and no more than 50 innings pitched for pitchers),
- Is on an American League (AL) minor league team,
- Is on a WMRL minor league list, AND
- Has NOT been treated as a free agent player during the season as of August 31.
Commentary
You have discretion as to when and if you want to activate the "rookie" onto your WMRL active roster regardless of the two-week activation rule — you don't have to activate the "rookie" at all.
However, once you activate the qualified "rookie" onto your active 23-man roster, the player cannot return to your minor league list during the remainder of the season unless the player is officially sent to an AL minor league team per mlb.com.
You can place the activated qualified "rookie" onto your Reserve List on September 1 or later, subject to availability (only one slot available on the Reserve List).
Requirement
Your team must have a minimum of 1,000 innings pitched by the end of the season. If your team does not meet this requirement, the following adjustments are made:
Penalty — Final Standings for Cash Payout
Any team that does not meet the 1,000 innings pitched requirement receives demerit (negative) points equal to the points it earned in the ERA and WHIP scoring categories.
Example: If Team A earned 10 points for ERA and 9 points for WHIP at the end of the season, and did not meet the 1,000 innings pitched requirement, then Team A would receive 19 demerit points, effectively reducing the final net points to zero for each of the ERA and WHIP scoring categories.
After the demerit points are awarded, the final standings will be recalculated for purposes of the cash payout.
Draft Order Not Affected
Demerit points awarded do not impact the final standings for purposes of determining the following year's major and minor league draft order.
Two Teams Tied in Total Points
For two teams that are tied in Total Points at the end of the season:
- The tied teams will be scored head-to-head for each of the ten scoring categories as of the end of the season.
- The team with the most "wins" from the ten scoring categories is deemed the winner of the tie and placed one position higher in the standings.
- If the tied teams remain tied, then the team with the best WHIP Ratio is deemed the winner of the tie and placed one position higher in the standings.
More Than Two Teams Tied in Total Points
Round 1:
- The tied teams will be scored head-to-head as a group for each of the ten scoring categories as of the end of the season.
- The team with the most "wins" from the ten scoring categories is deemed Tiebreaker #1 and placed one position higher in the standings than the other remaining tied teams.
- If the tied teams remain tied, the team with the best WHIP Ratio is deemed Tiebreaker #1 and placed one position higher.
Round 2:
- The remaining tied teams will be scored head-to-head as a group for each of the ten scoring categories.
- The team with the most "wins" is deemed Tiebreaker #2 and placed one position higher than the remaining tied teams, but below Tiebreaker #1.
- If the tied teams remain tied, the team with the best WHIP Ratio is deemed Tiebreaker #2.
Round 3 and beyond: The tiebreaking steps in Round 2 repeat until there is one remaining tied team, which will be placed last among all tied teams.
Effect of Tiebreaker Results
Tiebreaker results will be honored for the current season's standings and cash winnings. They will also be honored for the following season's minor league and major league drafts.
Protect List Deadline
Please submit your protect lists to mike.yarger76@gmail.com on the worksheet no later than:
Noon EDST on Sunday, March 15, 2026.
Please use the attached worksheet (previously sent) to submit your protect list. The worksheet is the controlling document for the Protect List and eventually Draft Day — not the website. Using the worksheet helps with compilation of all protect lists onto one spreadsheet for rapid distribution.
Please be timely so that we don't have to rule on the timeliness of your protect list submission.
Trading Season Dates
- The offseason trading season (which began when the clean up rosters became final) ends on the Protect List due date. Position requirements did not apply for offseason trading.
- The in-season trading season begins right after the completion of Draft Day (March 21, 2026) and ends on August 31, 2026.
Number of Players to Protect
- If you finished out of the money in 2025 (6th–12th place), you can protect up to 13 players for your 23-man active roster.
- If you finished in the money in 2025, you can protect up to 11 players for your 23-man active roster.
- All teams must use your 2025 clean up roster as shown on the website as the basis for your 2026 Protect List.
Position Requirements
You must adhere to position requirements with your Protect List. Since the season has not yet started (there's a 10-game minimum for games played in the current year), a 20-game minimum for games played in 2025 is the controlling rule for Protect Lists and Draft Day rosters. If a player did not play 20 games at any position in 2025 in the major or minor league (measured separately for each level), then that player qualifies only at the utility (or DH) position.
Existing Player Contracts — 2026 Treatment
| 2025 Contract | 2026 Contract Comments | 2026 $ Addition |
|---|---|---|
| "K-25" | Contract expired at end of 2025 season with NO extension available. | — |
| "L-26" | Good contract thru 2026 with no possibility to extend. | — |
| "M-25" | Contract expired at end of 2025 season with option to extend two years to 2027 ("M-27") with 2026 Protect List.* | $10 |
| "N-26" | Good contract thru 2026; expires end of 2026 with option to extend two years to 2028 ("N-28") with 2027 Protect List.** | — |
| "O" | Contract expired at end of 2025 season with NO extension available. | — |
| "O-27" | Good for 2026 and 2027; expires end of 2027. Can extend two years to 2029 ("O-29") with 2028 Protect List.** | — |
| "P" | Good for 2026; expires end of 2026. Can extend two years to 2028 ("P-28") with 2027 Protect List.* | — |
| "Q" | Contract expires end of 2027 with option to extend two years to 2029 ("Q-29") with 2028 Protect List. | — |
| "Q-Bid" | Must be protected on 2026 Protect List subject to Protect List rules.** | — |
* Contract must be extended with submission of the 2026 Protect List with $10 contract addition.
** Contract can be dropped subject to Protect List Rules (see below).
Q-BID Contract Rule
For a bid player (Q-BID contract) on your 2025 clean up roster as shown on the website, you must protect him on your 2026 Protect List (and on Draft Day) if the player is on an American League team's 40-man roster as of the Protect List day OR Draft Day. If you do not want to protect the player, you can buy out the contract — you will not need to protect him, but you are charged the full amount of the one-year contract, which will be subtracted from your total available draft dollars on Draft Day.
Long-Term Contract Buyout Rule
For any active long-term contracts, you must protect the player on your 2026 protect list (and on Draft Day) unless the player is not on an AL team's 40-man roster as of Protect List Day OR Draft Day. If you do not want to protect the long-term contract player, you can buy out the contract — you will be charged 50% of the remaining total long-term contract value, subtracted from your Draft Day dollars.
Example: If a player has a "$14 O-27" contract and you buy out, the total buyout is $14 ($14 × 2 × 50%). Amounts are rounded up to the next dollar increment.
Minor League Roster — Rookie Protection
You can protect up to 10 "rookie" players on your Protect List. Note that depending on how many rookies you protect, you can only draft rookie players in the Minor League Draft on Draft Day such that the total number of rookie players on your minor league roster is at the maximum of 10 after the Minor League Draft concludes.
Rookie Definition
Minor league players are considered "rookies" in the WMRL if hitters do not exceed 130 career major league at-bats and pitchers do not exceed 50 career major league innings pitched (measured as of the end of 2025). Service time requirements used by MLB for its rookie definition are ignored.
New Japanese players and all other non-Japanese rookies (e.g. Cuban players) who meet this definition are available for the Minor League Draft, provided they are officially signed to a major or minor league contract by an AL team as of Draft Day.
Eligibility Criteria
A player who is considered a free agent (i.e. not on a Protect List, as defined, or a WMRL Minor League roster) is eligible to be drafted in the major league draft if one of the following criteria is met as of Draft Day:
- Is on an AL major league 40-man roster, or
- Is on an AL minor league roster, except if that player has been officially assigned to an AL minor league team.
BID Player Exception
Any BID PLAYER, as defined, from the prior year who was not protected on the current year's Protect List and is now on an AL major league 40-man roster as of Draft Day, must be placed on the appropriate WMRL team's Protect List prior to the beginning of the major league draft, with the appropriate roster adjustments made.