A lot of talk has gone into the stolen base discussion. I'll say from personal experience the last couple years I don't even fool with them a lot even when I have players that can steal.

WHY you ask?

Well my subjective opinion is that the whole base running game is really goofy in this game. I look at catcher throwing success stats accross leagues and runner stolen base sucess stats accross leagues and I scratch my head. How a 2.5 Arm catcher has the same results as a 6.0 Arm catcher for me is mind boggling.

But ignoring that for a minute...... [over a two year period] when I have had a good stolen base guy (Kenny Lofton and Robbie Alomar a couple years ago make a good example) coming up in front of Alex Rodriguez, Chipper Jones, and Frank Thomas it used to really tick me off when I tried a steal and got thrown out. Cause I know that if I didn't make the attempt there was a really good chance one of the other guys would drive it in.

So its with continued experiences like this in a lineup with plentiful quality hitters that I have soured on the stolen base. I kind of only use it in specific circumstances late in a game where 1 run is important. [And then I get frustrated when they are stranded at 3rd but thats another thread].