A QUICK UPDATE ON LEAGUE PROGRESS:
Wanted to give you a quick update.  The first part of the update is on Free Agency.  Please also read the update below the directory on the OPEN TEAMS.

Pete Heilig (BOS GM) is the Free Agency Coordinator for the league.  I just got off the phone with Pete and we have finalized the Instructions and BID Spreadsheet for the 2026 Free Agency Process.

Pete will be sending each of you a DIRECT EMAIL shortly after 9 PM EST tonight with those documents.  You will need to fill out the BID SPREADSHEET and return it DIRECTLY to Pete (please cc me as well) NO LATER than the FREE AGENCY DEADLINE, which is TUESDAY, JUNE 23rd at 9PM EST.  This gives you one week to review all of the players and submit your bids.  If you CHOOSE NOT TO BID, please send Pete an email indicating that, so that we know that you are passing on Free Agency.  Note also that for THIS SEASON ONLY, the Maximum number of Free Agents you can Sign is 4.  You may have multiple Bid Clusters and many bids in order to increase the odds of successfully landing the max of 4 players.

If you have questions about the instructions or process, or anything about the differences between the RFA/VFA/UFA contracts that you cannot figure out either from the instructions or the Constitution, please feel free to reach out to either Pete or myself for clarification.  Please make sure that you understand ALL ASPECTS of the various contract types, such as PLAYER OPTIONS for UFA Contracts whereby players can OPT OUT of the deals you sign for those players if there MLB performance substantially improves.

Since it is our first time going through the process, I would encourage you to get your bids in PRIOR to the deadline, so that Pete and I can make sure that there are no issues with your bids that can be corrected before the deadline.

Here is the current manager directory, which also shows update to date Salary Cap numbers so that you can remember how much you currently have in contracts.  Remember, the Salary Floor is $160M and the Salary Cap is $320M.  For those of you closer to the Cap, remember you can submit bids that would exceed the cap in order to ensure that you have a chance to get a Free Agent, but when it comes time to accept players, you obviously cannot exceed the Cap:

We currently have two open teams (I have release 3 Free Agents from the open teams rosters) and will make every effort to fill those spots during the Free Agency Week.  If we cannot, the league will make bids on behalf of one or both of the teams if they are still open.  I will be determining those bids prior to looking at any bids from other teams that come in should we need to use league created bids for those teams.

I am once again asking for your help in filling the open positions by recommending managers who might be good fits for our league.  For any team that has not already earned the Maximum of $20 Million in league payments for Offices, I will be offering $5 Million for any team from the Commissioner’s discretionary fund for any manager that refers a manager that takes one of the open teams.

Bill