[John Galt]

I actually read through a lot of that monstrous manual. I had a couple questions for people who have the game. I love the idea of starting small time and advancing in a career. However, am I right that the only real ability you have to enhance your team's success as an A-ball manager is to set lineups and manage games? Since you can't control transactions, isn't your success really entirely at the whim of the parent organization? That's probably realistic, but it does mean you can have years upon years of failure with little you can do about it. Am I wrong there?

Related to that, does someone have a feel for the prospects of job advancement? In the real world, it is really damn hard to break into the big leagues. An overwhelming majority of minor league managers never do that. And unlike FM, you can't crash the big leagues through promotion of your team. Does OOTP make it too easy (not that I'm sure I want the realistic option either - I'm torn on this)? And if making from minor league manager to MLB manager is rough, how is it from foreign leagues? In the real world, it is pretty much impossible (since managers like Valentine who go to Japan also had MLB experience). Does OOTP make this happen too easy (since you have much greater control of a foreign franchise than you would a minor league team)?

edit: I realize the 2nd question is unlikely to have a solid answer in the short term for players. So, maybe it is better directed at the developers or beta testers.