I think the concepts behind the present system are fine, I just think the defensive ratings are ineffective.

The game gives Glaus a crummy rating at SS. This makes sense. The problem is that when you play the game he's too darn effective with that crummy rating.

If you want to give him a really bad rating at SS thats fine. But the idea that we need to limit innings is kind of crazy to me. Give him a rating that fits his skill and then be done with it.

There are some position switches that should not be grossly penalized, and if you believe what is in the game manual they aren't (example a SS can play anywhere on the infield without much penalty). You can't make it work in the reverse direction... you can't have a 1B playing SS and expect that to work.

But I'd like to make the following point--- As long as you follow reasonable substitutions ... i.e. players from harder positions playing easier positions.... then I think playing guys out of position should be allowed.

The reason is this..... MLB teams move players around often when personell changes. In purebaseball teams may try to make trades to fill every position with the right players but sometimes its just not practical. I remember one league where I tried for a year and a half to get a second baseman but I couldn't because all of the extra second basemen were locked up on rosters of a couple teams that didn't want to trade. My solution: I finally picked up another good SS and stuck him at 2B. Thats a reasonable substitution that should not be penalized severely. I've done the same at 3B on occasion (used a 2B or SS there).

The outfield is another great place to make this point. Outfielders move around a lot.... and since center field is a place where you really need a guy rated in center field it often makes sense to have two full time center fielders... that way you are covered if one of them gets moved one year.

I used Jim Edmonds as a LF for an entire season. I don't see this as a problem.

Because Chipper Jones was moved to OF last year I knew I would have a need for a third basemen in one league for this year. My solution was to trade for Troy Glaus last year. I kept Jones and played him in LF all of last year even though he only played a few games. I don't see anything wrong with this.

I flip LF and RF all the time and don't even blink.

My opinion is that if you follow the appropriate guidelines for using players at positions that are reasonable then that should cover these situations.

Insisting that a player play exactly the position that they played most often in MLB (especially when you go to the OF or 1B) is not necessary IMO. Furthermore to do so would be too constraining on the creativity (and practicality in some situations) of managing