Questions about running real life league

[jmknpk2]

I have a website and have made some trial leagues. I'm now planning out what type on-line league I would like to set up.

I have an idea that I might like to run a real-life MLB style league. Something that would mirror the majors, but be a year behind in stats, etc. But would update to the real-life major stats each season (rather than going down a fictional path eventually).

I was in a Diamond Mind Baseball league many years ago that had a draft external from the game, allowing owners to choose any player in the amateur draft (could be high school or college even). And then if/when the player actually entered the game universe, they would be assigned to the appropriate team.

Anyway, the questions I have are about whether something like this can successfully be done. I am wondering about things like, if we upgrade to the latest version, then we need to wait until the game is released. Then I guess I'd manually have to run a draft to get the existing real-life players assigned to the OOTP fictional owners' teams. If I just did an import, would it have the revised MLB stats or would it just be a continuation along a fictional path? I guess it is necessary to either drag the season out for the duration of a real-life year or take a several month break in the off-season. What if game release is delayed and the real-life season has started. Do owners just sit idly waiting? Is there a workaround that people use? Is the best strategy just to start a new OOTP universe each season, and then set things up to synch with the on-line league. Is it possible to somehow set up a historical league that can update each season (and with each OOTP version)? Is there a way to handle the setup so that on-line league team histories are correct in the game?

Anyway, I was hoping if someone has had long-term success (several years) along this theme, they could acknowledge that and give some ideas about how they resolve the kind of concerns I mentioned above.

Are there issues I'm not seeing? Is this feasible at all?

Thanks in advance.