Block girdles, yay or nay

splayed caps are a no-no for a production block. No meat there.
Can a non splayed 4 bolt cap be used? Wouldn't it be a good idea to have the block align honed and have the entire assembly balanced? One thing that I've never seen on here is having the crankshaft checked for being straight, maybe because that's second nature to you guys. I read earlier on this post about using aluminium main caps? I don't think that is a good idea.