As John Turnbull explained, there is still quite a bit of work to be done before we can actually start to draft players. And as I had previously announced, the player draft will begin on the opening day of the 2003 World Series.

The draft format is well outlined on our web page. Please consult it to make sure that you understand the concepts we will be using. Additionally, the following draft rules will be in place.

2. If you know that you will be unavailable to make your pick, you may send in a draft list to the commissioner at jewheeler@earthlink.net , listing players you want in order of your preference and player position. If you use a list, it should never consist of more than 48 players.

3. If you use a list, the players will be assigned to your in the order you have them listed, based upon their availability as your draft turn arrives. If you make a mistake on the list, have bad luck, don't like the player picked, or any other reason, do not ask to have the selection changed. Once the player draft selection has been announced to the league, there WILL BE NO CHANGES ALLOWED.

4. If it is your turn to pick and you have not submitted a list of players, as mentioned above, you will have 24 hours in which to make the pick. The timeframe will generally be from 7 PM EST to 7 PM EST. If you do not make your pick within the 24 hour timeframe, the draft will move to the next manager on the draft list. The draft will not be held up in order to wait for you to make your pick.

5. If you fail to make your pick within the 24 hour period assigned to you, as long as the draft round is still active, you may make your pick at any time thereafter. If 2 managers (the overdue manager and the current manager picking) both select the same player, the manager currently having the draft precedence, will be awarded the player.

6. If you fail to make your pick by the completion of the draft round, the DMB computer draft manager will be used to make the player selection for your team. Again, the draft will not be held up for any manager not making their player selection within the allotted times as described above.

7. For planning purposes, the draft will consist of enough rounds to draft all of the players available. With the exception of the 48 impact super rookies, who will be players with less than 100 at bats or 50 innings pitched, please refer to the SPB constitution to determine player availability. Each draft round will consist of two (2) phase; Phase A which will be the draft positions from 1 to 24 and Phase B which will be the draft positions from 24 to 1.

8. The DMB draft manager will be used to determine the draft order for each round. Each draft round will be independantly drawn at the beggining of the round, so that genereally, no two rounds will be the same.

Please review these draft rules in conjunction with the SPB League Constitution. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, now is the time to bring them up for discussion, not after the draft has begun.

Also, I am trying to build the league e-mail list on two seperate computers. If I am not using your preferred address, please let me know now.