I do think that this would make the task of managing more difficult, but I don't think that's a bad thing.

Teams who find themselves with more than one starter at a position will deal with it the way they do in real life. A) find another position to play the guy at. B) trade him. or C) let him rot on the bench and get unhappy until something else can be worked out.

In your case, would Alomar and Knoblauch be happy playing for the same team if one of them didn't change positions and play everyday? Of course not, one of them would have to be moved.

I think there are alot of "what if's" and scenarios to consider. This idea is obviously not fully fleshed out. I do believe that the GM aspect of PB could use an added level of complexity though. This would provide that, and address some other problems at the same time.

I think that this game has the potential to be more that a statistical simulation. Ideally I would love to see a seperation of the on field manager and the GM/Owner roles. If you could somehow seperate the two roles and have them performed by two different people, there would be a more realistic conflict of interest there. Coaches generally want to win and win now. Although GM's and owners want to win, they are more apt to keep and eye on the future and they must also consider the financial aspects as well.

Imagine if, when you bought a perpetual team, you did not manage the same team that you bought. Instead, you become part of a pool of managers in a paralel league. Now you still get to own and manage but for two different organaizations. As an owner, you are in control of the trades, team image and hiring a field manager to play your home games. As a manager in another league, you become a hired gun to play actual games from season to season. You build your lifetime winning record as a manger without regard for personel moves. At the end of the season, the bottom six teams have thier managers automatically fired. Everyone else in the league has the option of firing or keeping their manager. Then you have a draft based on winning percentage to re-distribute the managers for the next season.

That probably sounds insane, but I think that it would destroy the notion that managers are throwing games. Managers with the best records would be most in demand, and since the manager draft is based on winning percentage, the best managers would also get the best team available to manage. There would be absolutely no incentive to throw games. It would force alot more interaction between PB participants as well.

Anyway, enough crazy talk. Lets find a way to fix the bugs in the current version first.. hehe.