I agree with a lot of the comments posted here. But I would like to give my $0.02 on the topic of realism.

No sim is ever going to totally reflect real life for several reasons. Some mentioned in previous post include the fact that we know the averages of each player against different kinds of pitchers and hitters before the game which the real life managers do not know. (In the sim Griffey's chance to hit a home run is based on previous real life stats... In real life it has more to do with whether the pitcher throws a hanging curveball in that particular at bat).

Other reasons the sim will not totally reflect reality include the fact that we do not have a large enough sample size to model the number of home runs that Mark McGwire will hit when the wind is blowing 15 M.P.H. from RF to LF on a Tuesday game that starts at 3:05 P.M. in Wrigley Field with Steve Trachsel pitching. And that doesn't even take into account whether they had chicken, steak, or shrimp for the pre-game meal.

BUT... given the fact that the game will never be perfectly realistic because it is based on STATISTICS.... I would rather have a game that is realistic Russ Davis hitting .260 with 20 HR... than an arcade like game in which Davis will hit .320 with 45 HR. In this area of realism I think Purebaseball does a good job.

Sure there will be some fluke occurences where people can exploit a certain aspect of the rules. But it really is necessary to have some of these rules to allow flexibility when wierd things happen. If John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, and Greg Maddux are all in a car wreck and end up in the hospital the Braves can't forfeit the games... they have to let a reliever start... or bring up a player from AAA or AA. Since we don't have the luxury of having a 100 player farm system then instead they have to give us the luxury of using a RP as a SP or playing any hitter at any position. True some people may find a way to exploit the system. But this flexibility is really necesary in the game.