Better choice in base running and stealing

Dear SOM

Since strat is all about the %'s, I dont't understand why you don't create the choice of options in more concrete terms. It would be much simpler for Managing strategy and other strategies if it came down to numbers rather than a confusing strategy tendencies. A great example is the following:

Base Stealing

1. Defensive hold

option to hold or not hold at 1st base, 2nd base or third base by giving a check box for 1) if he has *, 2) if the chance for the runner to steal is 60%, 65% etc. All managers have their own style, personally I won't hold a Non * and wont hold on a steal chance if lower than 70% (whether the player is a * or not)

2. Offensive steals

a check mark system that gives the percentage threshold for an attempted steal and how many runs up or down the team is. so for example, never steal if % below 60%, always steal if above 75%, never steal if leading by 5 runs etc.

3. Defensive baserunning

again a checkmark system that gives def manager option to throw runner out or not with a check box for % and game score at the time. So for example throw lead runner out if % is 60% or higher, always throw runner out if he is the tie runner or winning run at home.

4. Offensive baserunning

same thing... send runner if % is higher that 70% etc, also with an up by or down by score of game.

no one who plays strat wants a vague thing like aggressive or conservative or super aggressive etc. they would like the % of the chance to be the overriding factor. if I have a 95% chance to steal 2nd base, I want to steal that base and if I have a 60% chance I don't want to. if my baserunner will have a 75% chance to take the extra base I want him to run, if less I don't. if im up by 5 runs I don't want to take the extra base or steal, if im down I want to steal and take the extra base. It's simple.

if I have an opponent on first base who is not a * I don't want to hold him, if he is a * I want to hold him if the chance is 70% or higher for him to be safe stealing that base. I don't want to hold runners at 2nd base unless they are a * and have an 80% chance to steal 3rd base. I never want to hold at third base.

give us the options on when to hold stealers and steal ourselves, when to send runners or throw them out.

Your plan would be nice, but I suspect it wouldn't be easy to implement.

Easier plan....
Options to set steals with different drop-downs for stealing 2nd, 3rd, and home.

For example:
Steal 2nd - aggressive
Steal 3rd - extra conservative
Steal home - HELL NO!

Perhaps. I would just like to know what normal, aggresive, super aggresive etc means in a concrete way.

The answer i am coming to a conclusion on is that it all depends on situation.

I always steal with an 80% chance and will steal at a 70% chance to try stay out of a double play situation or when its 2 outs to get the guy in scoring position. But i wont ever steal on a 60% chance or lower.

So in the end of it all i shouldnt be at below a 70% stealing percentage.

With baserunning i always go at 70% and will run home at 50% if its two outs.

No way u can figure out how to do that with vague terms.

I'm not a strong critic of the concept of "normal", "aggressive". Vagueness can be a realistic element.

A third base coach in real baseball sends his runner home based on "feel" and experience. He can't say, "80%" probability that Smith will score, so I'm gonna send him."

Sort of like a manager who can't say whether his fatigued pitcher has a 24% or 32% chance of giving up a hit if he's tired. He can only guess and ask himself if the guy warming up gives him a better chance.

There's no concreteness to certain decisions that must be made in baseball, so, maybe "normal", "aggressive", "F9", "F8", "F5", etc. are realistically vague concepts.

With the Cd-Rom you can set the stealing to, only steal at 75% and so on... So it should be available here.

A related question. What are Hal's tendencies for holding runners. Does he use the default for the 2013 season: all * runners and/or runners with a 50 per cent chance or better of stealing a base. These tendencies certainly magnify the importance of a good fielding SS or 2b. I'm currently playing the PC championship with a 3 at SS (Kozma) and am a bit worried.