A QUICK UPDATE ON LEAGUE PROGRESS:
I continue to work on the Constitution & Player Database which will contain the 2,300 or so players that will make up the initial FARMCap Player Pool for each team, as well as the Free Agent Pool & the General Draft Pool which will come primarily from the non-MLB affiliate teams. I thought I would put some color to the rosters I am working on as I work on the Constitution (specific questions will be answered in the Constitution, which I am still shooting for 5/15 publishing date, with the Executive Committee reviewing and approving it prior to publication). In terms of the Major League Players (all 2025 SOM players other than Chase DeLauter, who was playoff only, including “computer only” guys a total of 1,469 players), you may recall that they will be assigned first based on the OPENING DAY 2026 40-MAN Rosters for each team (including the Non-MLB affiliates, for the purposes of FA/Draft Pools). There were 1,250 players (40 x 30 plus 50 others who were on the 60-Day IL) for their respective teams that are accounted for this way. Of those 1,250 there were 185 that did not play in 2025. This grows the player pool to 1,654. Beyond that, each team will add their TOP 30 PROSPECTS (as of Opening Day 2026) to the extent they are not already in the pool. Note that in this case, I WILL NOT be adding the Non-MLB affiliates prospects to the Draft Pool (so for example, no Sebastian Walcott (TEX #1 and MLB.COM #6 overall prospect) who would come to FARMCap either when he is traded to a FARMCap team or makes the major leagues and qualifies for a future General Draft. Finally, after Free Agency (around the time of the General Draft) we will also add any player drafted by one of the 24 FARMCap teams in the FIRST 5 ROUNDS of the MLB ROOKIE DRAFT to their pool as well. From this final total pool (including players successfully bid on in Free Agency in June and drafted in the General Draft in July, you will form an 80-Man Roster (40-Man Majors, +5-Man (60 Day-IL)=45-Man Majors total, plus 35-Man Minors). Note that in addition to ML players (prospects who have never played in MLB), Players in their first 6 MLB seasons who have had one of their 3 “player options” used to put them back on the minor league roster, the 35-Man Minors roster can also include veteran players who “clear waivers” and have “accepted a minor league assignment.” in this manner, many of the lesser carded players from 2025 will find their way onto your team’s 35-Man Minor League Roster as future depth. Part of the reason I wanted to talk about rosters at this point (besides the fact that some of you have been asking), is that I wanted to emphasize a couple of points in case you either missed it in the recruiting email, or it wasn’t clear). First, your franchise will come with your 2026 opening day 40-Man roster in it’s ENTIRETY. So that means for example, my Cubs get Alex Bregman, but they DO NOT get Kyle Tucker. Since there are only 1,250 players who will land on a roster in this manner, there are a large number of players that were part of the 1,470 from 2025 who were not in the 1,250 from the 2026 40-Man rosters. I want to make some points on how these will be handled: I will be CUTTING OFF ROSTER MOVEMENT for the purposes of these players at MIDNIGHT Eastern on Saturday April 25, (so basically one-month after opening day). Any player that I CAN LOCATE on a minor league team (or any of those players who have been subsequently added to the 40-man roster of the MLB team since opening day, (including Major & Minor League disabled lists), will become part of the player Pool for their respective FARMCap team. Any retired, playing overseas (Japan, Korea, Mexico) etc. players will be RETURNED to their 2025 team’s pool. So for example Clayton Kershaw goes back to the Dodgers, while Kyle Hendricks will be in the Free Agent Pool (LAA). Any player TRADED after the opening day 40-MAN Roster was set (for example the White Sox trade of Lenyn Sosa for a prospect & cash), WILL NOT be taken into account. To be fair to ALL TEAMS, the Opening DAY 40-MAN Rosters are frozen for this purpose. If there is a need for any exceptions, then it will be brought to a managers attention at the time that rosters are delivered. Finally, any players who REMAIN FREE AGENTS, for example Lucas Giolito, if he doesn’t sign with a team by the Saturday April 25 deadline, will be added to either the Free Agent Pool (Giolito) or the General Draft (for a player in years 1-6 of MLB service time). So in conclusion, I needed to get a deadline for INITIAL ROSTER CONSTRUCTION SET (so I don’t have a moving target), so I wanted to cover some of this here. Hopefully I haven’t caused any confusion in the process. I would encourage you to wait for the Constitution where all of this will be spelled out in more detail, as well as your team’s INITIAL ROSTER FILE (having said that, I am happy to clarify any confusion or answer a question you may have if you want to email me directly). I am still shooting for 5/23 for INITITAL ROSTER FILE. I hope that we head into the season with the 24 managers that we have on the directory below, but I have already begun to collect names for a waiting list in case we lose anyone between now and September for whatever reason.
I will send out an update late this weekend to update you all on my progress at that point.
Bill