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.