Each of the 4 expansion teams will select up to 20 players each, rotating picks in a 20-round draft. The list of players available to draft will consist of all players released by the 16 existing teams, which will be due August 19th.
If an expansion team acquires any players through trades and has said player(s) on their roster when the Expansion Draft begins, they will count against the number of players the team may acquire in the Expansion Draft. (Example- If Expansion Team A acquired two players through trades and still had them on their roster when the Expansion Draft begins, they will only be able to draft 18 players in the Expansion Draft, effectively forfeiting their final two picks). Once the Expansion Draft is over, all 4 Expansion Teams will have a roster of 20 active players, and up to a 3-man Taxi Squad- which will be equal to the rosters of the existing 16 teams heading into the off-season.
The existing 16 teams will cutdown their rosters to 15 players each (Not including any players that remained on their Taxi Squad all season), one week after the final game of the C.R.A.B.S. World Series. All players released will form the Expansion Draft Pool. Everytime an existing team has three of their players drafted, they will be able to recall one of their (still undrafted) players. The existing teams may only lose as many players as possible as to allow them to still retain their 20-man roster. The rules regarding how many players teams may lose directly correlates to how many players they have released into the Expansion Draft. (See chart below):
An existing team that releases 13 players into the Expansion Draft will lose players as follows:
3 Players drafted by Expansion Teams
1 Undrafted player recalled by team
3 Players drafted by Expansion Teams
1 Undrafted player recalled by team
2 Players drafted by Expansion Teams
Remaining 3 Undrafted Players are returned to the existing team, giving them 8 players lost and 5 retained.
Once the Expansion draft is over, the off-season will officially begin. Teams may trade players as well as 2011 and 2012 Free Agent Draft Picks as they wish during this time.
Beginning with the 2011 Free Agent Draft, C.R.A.B.S. will add the rosters and prospects of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays to the Free Agent Pool. The Expansion Teams will own the first four picks in each round, with the four picks rotating each round to try to achieve balance between the four teams. These draft picks are tradeable for players or future draft picks (Though 2012 Draft Picks cannot be traded until after the completion of the 2010 Free Agent Draft).
