Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

If you had to choose between 2 players only based on the following three stats who would you choose? Assume all other factors are even. Please feel free to explain your choice below.

If they are good base stealers A. Bat him 8th. So he can get to 2nd on his own and pitcher sac him to 3rd so he can be in position to score when the top of the order comes up and he won't clog up the bases. If not good base stealers B. Put him 6th, 7th,or 8th, so he can knock in the leftover base runners using his better average and flyball bs.

So you actually need more info. The rest being virtually even isn't enough. Are they even with good clutch or bad? Do they hit into a lot of dps or not? Can they bunt or h&r or not?

As long as they are at least a 1-13 runner and the salary cap is 100 mil or less I would take player A and bat him lead off.

Mathew Quigley wrote:If they are good base stealers A. Bat him 8th. So he can get to 2nd on his own and pitcher sac him to 3rd so he can be in position to score when the top of the order comes up and he won't clog up the bases. If not good base stealers B. Put him 6th, 7th,or 8th, so he can knock in the leftover base runners using his better average and flyball bs.

So you actually need more info. The rest being virtually even isn't enough. Are they even with good clutch or bad? Do they hit into a lot of dps or not? Can they bunt or h&r or not?

Actually you don't need any more info, that was the point of the question. We all know that other factors would change the scenario entirely. This is more of a statistical question on who you think would perform best in these two scenarios if all other attributes were identical. It wasn't about any two specific players.

I'm a bit surprised at the results so far, not because I don't necessarily agree with them but because of the increasing love affair with OB% over the years. I thought this poll might have swung the other way....

Bat him 8th. So he can get to 2nd on his own and pitcher sac him to 3rd

This was a favorite strategy when I played live with dice. Drove a buddy nuts. He argued (probably correctly) that real life managers would not steal second and then bunt. They would just bunt. Primary reason being if the hitter has to take a few pitches to give the runner a chance to steal he is not likely to be in a count that will allow him to bunt. That is especially true if it is a pitcher at the plate.

So I have to ask. How reliable can you get HAL to follow this kind of strategy? Do you really find Hal will frequently steal second and then put the bunt on verses just putting the bunt on? If you do can you post some teams where that worked?
Even better yet post a bunch of box scores.

I voted it down't matter. The second guy isn't a high slugger which would changs the dynamics for me.

Valen. I've been looking through my past teams and I've used a lot of different strategies. With 440 teams to choose from finding specifics is hard. On the ones I found the 8th hitter was Bowa or Evers. Either case they only stole 25 to 35 times. Trying to run down the games is just more time than I want to spend. If there is a way for you to see my past teams maybe you can stumble on them. You've always been an up and up guy and if you are really interested I could set you up with my pw and you could research it. Note to self, put a clue as to what kind of team it is into the team name.

On a current team Weaver batting 8th only stole 1 base but did it after Plank struck out. Only 12 games into the season though. Funny thing is Alomar had gone 9 games without a hit so I moved him to 8th putting Weaver 7th. HAL had no faith in Alomar either and when Weaver got a double, he stole 3rd right away. Alomar then hit a double and didn't steal even with only 1 out and the pitcher coming up. Alomar set to steal more and Weaver is not. I would have thought that since Weaver stole 3rd Alomar would too. Alomar got hurt but I will keep him down for a while when he comes back because he should be running whenever he gets on. I'm an old dice guy so all I can say is it is a strategy I sometimes use. I have to say it was interesting looking at the old teams. There are a lot of different team compositions. Some lit up the AH HA light bulb and some left me scratching my head wondering WTF was I thinking.

When stats are even, go with OBP so that you give the top of your oder an extra time to bat.

Valen. Tonights game. Weaver batting 8th on this team. Go to play by play/425132/75. Top of the 4th. Weaver walked putting runners on the corners with 1 out. He stole 2nd. Then White tried a squeeze.
Also 425132/81. 7th inning he stole the base and also caught stealing in the 8th.