I do not think I can auto-merge them. I also don't specialize the names for what the phone type is (Cell, land line, etc) because of concern on how manual merging will respond (having to manually resolve every name, ick).

You can disable contacts through the "Advanced" account settings now (and in more than one way ). System contacts still aren't working.

So with those off the table (unless you feel very strong about it) what do you think would be a good option?