HANDOUTS FROM 2/10 MEETING (Topic #1):Sanctioning/Post-Season Choices And Your Team BillDue to interest expressed at yesterday's membership meeting, please note that ECTB World Series have been added as program options at 9u-10u-11u-12u. This offering is subject to how many teams sign up to compete for these berths. If any of the latter are cancele... read more

More Drills & Trick Plays - Youth Baseball (Videos) Click here to watch.

HANDOUTS FROM 2/3 MEETING:NEW MEMBERS ORIENTATION CLICK HERE to see why ENYTB is a great league choice for every travel team, regardless of age, ability or post-season aspirations; CLICK HERE for an overview of ENYTB's organizational structure; CLICK HERE to view a timeline of ENYTB's historical development; CLICK HERE to view a schematic of ENYTB'... read more

More Drills & Trick Plays - Youth Baseball (Videos) Click here to watch.

Handouts From 1/27 Meeting:ANNUAL KICK-OFFTo view the handouts from the 2013 Kick-Off Meeting: CLICK HERE for an overview of post-season opportunities available to ENYTB members; and, CLICK HERE for an overview of ENYTB's new system for balancing roster protection and player movement.

ENYTB Adds ECTB Sanctioning and 19U Age Division in 2013.ENYTB will be purchasing berths to all of the ECTB World Series events in 2013. These tournaments are hosted in the eastern PA area. These tournaments are half the cost of CABA tournaments and the competition is more realistic that encountered at CABA (more similar to the level of competition... read more

Youth Baseball Traing Drills - VideosClick here to view. Click here to view/order backyard portable training mound ($149).

Allowed Variances ("Loopholes") In Age Eligibility By Sanctioning Bodies As Well As ENYTB's Own Rules On Allowing Over-Aged PlayersGENERALA player's baseball age is typically defined as his age on April 30 of the current year and a team's age is typically determined by the age of its oldest player. Using this standard, a team would need all players... read more

Important 2013 Rule Changesre: Roster Protection/Player Movement/Releases etc. Background/Guiding League PhilosophyUnlike other local travel leagues, ENYTB does not rely on territorial boundaries to limit a player's opportunity to play baseball. All first-time ENYTB players have the freedom of choice as to what club/team to play for. That has not changed.For a variety of reasons, however, the player's first choice doesn't always prove to be a good fit for him. When that is the case, absent tampering (enticement/recruitment) from other ENYTB clubs, ENYTB believes it is a win-win for all concerned, to grant players the opportunity to find a better fit elsewhere in this league. This process has been significantly changed. The rest of this post will describe and discuss those changes. How Old System Operated Since its inception, ENYTB has provided clubs with 100% roster protection, with certain exceptions. All internal player movement was regulated by requiring that players have releases before they can change clubs. Releases were discretionary i.e., once a player requested a release, the club had the option of granting or denying the player's request.In addition, in order to provide all members with so-called roster protection, ENYTB banned its members' from tampering with another member's rostered players. Flaws with Old SystemIn terms of addressing the needs of players with genuine "buyers remorse" the current system has been quite effective. However, it has been much less effective in preventing tampering/recruitment/enticement etc. Tampering i.e., cannibalizing a fellow member's roster through improper contact with his player(s), is very destructive to any league because it undermines the viability and competitiveness of existing teams. For these reasons, ENYTB has always banned tampering. However, allowing player movement while enforcing our ban on tampering, as our experience gives witness to, is a delicate dance that borders on the impossible.Ineffectiveness Of Current Enforcement EffortsEnforcing the league's ban on tampering has proven to be problematical at best. For every "official" tampering complaint and "conviction", there are numerous instances of suspected tampering that go unpunished either because the member can't prove their strong suspicions or they just don't want to stir the pot.It is not difficult to imagine a variety of stealth or "under the radar" ways to tamper w/o leaving any fingerprints. And, parents, thinking the grass is greener, and sensing little or no risk, often not only succumb to the overtures of the tamperer but cooperate in hiding the fact from the league that tampering took place. In essence, our current system is largely an honor system. The problem with all honor systems is that the honorable follow the rules while everyone else "games" the system to take what they are not entitled to. In the end, to effectively enforce a ban on tampering would take significant resources, far more than this or any amateur youth league has at its discretion. That is the unfortunate reality of the situation.The Tradeoff: A Lesser Degree Of Faux Roster Protection In Return For More "Real" Roster ProtectionThe lesson is that short of banning player movement altogether, absolute protection against tampering/recruitment/enticement is not attainable in the real world of amateur youth travel baseball. The new system recognizes that there is no sure way of determining whether a player requesting a release was tampered with or not. The new system also accepts the notion that to make sure that every "untampered" player that wants a release gets one, ALL players who request a release to play elsewhere in this league, must be given one. Thus, like it or not, "recruited" players are eligible for releases the same as anyone else. However, to deter recruiting as much as possible, the new system places various limits on a team's ability to add released players. ObjectivesThe objectives of the new system are twofold:(A) to provide "unhappy" players with sufficient flexibility for changing clubs within the league from one year to the next; and,(B) to prevent members from forming powerhouse teams through unlimited recruiting at the expense of their fellow members.One of the primary goals of this new system is to limit recruiting inside the league. All of the caps listed below contribute to that. The H2H caps make it flat out illegal to take more than one player per year from the same team and more than two over the lifetime of that same team. The overall RFA credits also restricts how much recruiting any one team can do. A team that doesn't qualify for a bonus credit via compensation is limited to a maximum of one RFA/year. Any unused RFA credits are lost each year. Teams that qualify for a bonus credit are limited to a maximum of 2 RFA in that year. And, any team that has added 5 or more RFAs in the last three years is further limited by the 3 year look-back. All of this is explained below.THE NEW SYSTEM(1) Continued Participation In ENYTB Is The Only Requirement For A ReleaseIt is assumed that all RFAs want to continue in the league or why would they request a release. Thus, the aggregate number of annual RFA credits must be large enough to at least absorb the overall number of RFA losses due to all factors except recruitment.(2) Player Classification Under New SystemDEFINITIONS:Restricted Free Agents (RFA): Any player who participated in ENYTB in the prior season and has since obtained his release. (All releases will go through ENYTB and will not involve the club or team. Player files his request online.) Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA):Any player who did not participate in ENYTB in the prior season or was "cut" by his club in that season or since.(3) Kinds Of LimitsThe new system places various limits on the number of RFA a team can add each year. New teams are allowed a greater number of RFA in their first year than an existing team but over time, the effect of the limits even out between the two. This is accomplished by looking back at the number of RFA a team added in the prior three years, and imposing an RFA penalty in the current period if the total added in the prior three years exceeds four.The system also limits the number of RFA any one team can take from any other team. The latter are called head-to-head limits (H2H). There is an annual H2H limit as well as a lifetime H2H cap. NOTE: The new system places no limits on the number of UFA a team may add in any year.EXISTING TEAMS:Base RFA allotment = one per year per team.NEW TEAMS:Base RFA allotment = five per team in year one.Three Year Look-Back:If team has added more than 4 RFA in prior three years, it forfeits its base allotment (= 1 RFA) in the current period.Compensation For RFA Losses:Any team that loses three or more RFA in the current period shall be eligible for a bonus RFA allotment in the current period = 1. Thus, the maximum RFA allotment for any existing team = 2 per year. Annual H2H Caps:An existing team may take a maximum of 1 RFA from the same team, in any year, provided it would not exceed its LT H2H cap vis a vis that RFA's prior team.A new team may take a maximum of 2 RFA from the same team in its first year of league membership.Lifetime H2H Cap:No team, new or existing, can ever take more than 2 RFA from the same team. Thus, if a new takes 2 RFAs from the same team in year 1, it can never take another RFA from that same team. (4) Balance Between New and Existing TeamsWhile the number of RFAs allowed new teams is accelerated into the first year, these limits still require that the majority of players on any new team = UFA (the so-called "majority rule").Because of the 3 year look-back, new teams will not qualify for an additional base allotment until year 5. Thus, in the end, the aggregate base RFA allowance for a new team is approximately the same as an existing team, the only real difference is new teams get to front load their allowances.(4) Cuts:Some players will leave the league as cuts, not releases. There is no RFA allowance/compensation for cut players. Also, cut players, when added to another team's roster, will not count against that team's RFA annual allowance or liftime caps unless the player requested to be cut.(5) PLAYER DID NOT REPORT LISTPlayers that do not report to their team but do not request a release shall be put on a Did Not Report List. Such players would be classified as "RFA w/o Release", but would not count as an RFA lost for that team.A team's DNR will be continued throughout the life of the team. A player remains on the DNR list unless the player requests a release sometime in the future. In that event, the team shall be credited with a RFA loss in the year the release was granted. The player shall count against both H2H caps as well. Thus, placing a player on the DNR list as opposed to just cutting the player benefits the team in two ways. The player is blocked from being added to another team's roster as a UFA and the team maintains the potential for credit for a RFA loss down the road as well as for its H2H caps. (By cutting the player, the player would be classified an UFA and the team would never get credit for the "RFA loss" should the player want to come back into the league at a later time. The player also wouldn't count against his new team's H2H limits vis a vis teh player's prior team.)(6) Franchise Exemption:Any RFA residing in the franchise area of an ENYTB franchise member but having last played for a different ENYTB club, would not count against any of these caps, if and only if, he is returning to play for a team owned by his home area club. (7) Abnormal Circumstances - League ReviewThe above limits are designed for normal circumstances. It is possible a team could be hard hit by RFA losses in a single year and not qualify for enough RFA credits in that year to replenish its roster and continue on as a team in the league. For teams facing such extreme circumstances we offer the option of League Review.Teams would apply to the league with an explanation of their circumstances, the number of RFA credits they were requesting, and the names of the RFA's that they wish to add to their roster. The League would review these requests on a case-by-case basis and as long as the league was convinced that the request was legitimate i.e., was not a way to game the system in order to recruit better players, the league would have the authority to increase the team's RFA credits as necessary and appropriate for that year. The H2H limits are fixed and can not be raised, even by League Review, unless approved by the team(s) that are losing the player(s).(8) Administrative BurdenThese controls on player movement shall be automated via the website and thus, shall be self-enforcing whenever a player is added to removed from a team's ENYTB roster. We expect to have this new system implemented by early November, 2012, in time for the website re-initialization for 2013.Two types of administrative intervention shall be necessary: (1) to confirm that every player seeking a release was doing so to continue their participation in the league and not to simply give their ex-team an RFA credit; and (2) to exercise judgment when teams are in extreme circumstances and apply for league relief. If, in the judgment of the league, the team was not attempting to "game" the system, it could be given a reasonable accommodation to remain a viable team in the league. (9) Limited Time Period For ReleasesIn the future, releases will be available to players from July 15 through November 1st. That will allow teams to know their roster situation before they are required to activate their teams for the following season (Jan 15 deadline). For 2013, the eligibility period for releases will continue through December 31st.(10) RetroactivityThe new system shall be applied retroactively to July 1 of 2012. This means any player released since that time will be classified as an RFA and the team that losses that RFA, shall be credited with an RFA loss. Similarly, RFAs added since that time shall count against a team's RFA allowance for 2013. Teams that are in violation of their 2013 allowance shall be required to remove a sufficient number of RFAs to come into compliance with the newly established limits.New teams for 2013 shall be required to abide by these limits as well, retroactive to July 1, 2012.All comment welcome.Thank you,Ed

CAPOLOGY 101 - More DetailedACHIEVING LIMITED BUT VERIFIABLE ROSTER PROTECTION FOR ALL ENYTB TEAMS VIA A SYSTEM OF INTRA-LEAGUE PLAYER CAPSWARNING: The complete system is presented below at the level of detail required for developing computer code. Much of that detail will not be useful to the general reader. Use similar to a reference manual (not ... read more