[BigBadBuc]

Have you guys noticed the decline is bases stolen or is it just me?

Maury Wills and Rickey Henderson were the state of the art bag swipers. Juan Pierre is a good base stealer but I just don't see this as an important part of the game anymore. A good base stealing team can drive opposing pitching staffs crazy. It puts so much pressure on the pitcher. If I were to go about a creative way to create offense on a low budget, I just might try and do it with a bunch of speed merchants.

BBB

[legend]

You are correct. Managers nowadays wait for a big inning. They do not want to risk having someone thrown out and the next guy hitting a home run. The stolen base is just another victim of the steroid era. Does anyone actually think that today's athletes could not steal bases in bunches?

[Mid-depth_Reporter]

Seems to me that in a steroid era, base stealing should be more popular. You put a guy on second base, then, with these "power hitters", you easily score an extra run. Of course, the thing about stealing bases is it's an art. Just because you're fast doesn't mean you can steal everything. You have to know when to go. But that can be taught.

Give me a team that can hit with RISP (runners in scoring position) over hitters who can hit 50 HR, but only .250 with RISP, anyday.

[Jersey]

Stealing bases is totally an art form, you are right. Tagging up, hopping off the base with enough lead to steal the next base, sliding at the right time to get under the tag all goes into advancing runners into scoring position.

Stealing after a fly ball is caught or the drop three strike rule is also a talent that goes with the timing.

The best is to see a runner slide too early and totally miss the bag or better yet, sliding right by the bag and having to do the reach back before they are tagged with the ball.

But as an ex-stealer, when you know how to do accomplish it, it is the most fun thing to do.

[Lefty Noob]

Hello, Jersey! Welcome to GoTeamsGo.com, and thanks for sharing your expertise on this issue. Do you see anyone in today's game who, if given the green light enough, could get 80-100 in a season? Figgins, Pierre, Reyes or Podsednik perhaps?

[legend]

Base stealing IS an art. Look at Bernie Williams-at one time he was as fast as a deer but remains one of the worst base runners I have ever seen.

[kazmerzack]

One of the reasons also is the hitting is much better so why send a guy when the number 7 hitter is batting over .300? Plus it seems pitchers control the runners more with endless throws over, and I don't think there is anything worse than seeing a guy picked off from first. And the steroid issue is a valid reason as well. But I agree with the fact that I bet many could steal 80 to 100 bases.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by legend

You are correct. Managers nowadays wait for a big inning. They do not want to risk having someone thrown out and the next guy hitting a home run. The stolen base is just another victim of the steroid era. Does anyone actually think that today's athletes could not steal bases in bunches?

Hey, I think this is a conspiracy...you guys are not planning to draft any speed guys in your baseball draft, until late in the draft and are spining a story to discourage others from taking them...

...and in the words of Earl Weaver..."good pitching and three run home runs win ball games."

...But if you look at the history of the game, it comes and goes in cycle...look at some of your steal kings in the 50's and 60's...Apparicio and Willis aside...a lot of people stealing?...I think not...a lot of Roids the reason?...I think not... Its a cycle...some day another psycho manager will want to play "Billy Ball" and a club will have +300 SB and win...when that happens...those that follow the trend will follow...that simple...but hey, conspiracy theories...I like them!!!...

Want my theory?..."Its all cause chick's dig the long ball...so why steal?"... ...want to argue against that, huh?..huh?

[BigBadBuc]

Gotham,

I think that your reason about chicks liking the long ball is probably closer to the truth. My wife knows what a home run is but if I tell her the runner stole second she says then "he should give it back to the umpire" and go buy his own base.

BBB

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by BigBadBuc

Gotham,

I think that your reason about chicks liking the long ball is probably closer to the truth. My wife knows what a home run is but if I tell her the runner stole second she says then "he should give it back to the umpire" and go buy his own base.

BBB

BBB...you the man!...Thanks for the backing bro...the favor will be returned...name the posting and I'll be there...your back's covered bro..

[BigBadBuc]

Gotham,

I love your posts. They are entertaining and sometimes I need that.

YOUR DA MAN!

BBB

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by BigBadBuc

Gotham,

I love your posts. They are entertaining and sometimes I need that.

YOUR DA MAN!

BBB

We is teamates...I pass it form the top of the key...you go dunk it on them BBB!

[ThePundit]

Stolen bases is the most overrated stat in baseball. Statistical analysis shows that high stolen base totals do not correlate to more runs scored.

But there is a definite correlation between On Base % and runs scored.

The logic of this makes sense. Steals can kill a rally and even when they're successful, it often takes the bat out of a good hitters hands due to an open base.

[BigBadBuc]

Pundit,

While I would agree that stolen bases has little affect on runs scored, I do see it having an affect on pitch count and wearing the pitcher down with throws to first base. It puts a lot of pressure on the defense also. These are things in baseball that stats are not able to quantify.

BBB

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by ThePundit

Stolen bases is the most overrated stat in baseball. Statistical analysis shows that high stolen base totals do not correlate to more runs scored.

But there is a definite correlation between On Base % and runs scored.

The logic of this makes sense. Steals can kill a rally and even when they're successful, it often takes the bat out of a good hitters hands due to an open base.

Pundit you Pureist!!!...bless your pure baseball lovig soul... ...the stats may show that, because teams that steal sometimes do not have the hitting needed to sway the stats the other way. Thus Weavers comment...(see above a few posts above)

But its not an "overated stat"...One thing about stats is that you can make them dance any way you want to ...if you lack hitting...then its not an overated stat to have a one dimensional player like Vince Coleman steal his way to second, or third...etc...

I love stats and math as much as anybody...my career demands it...but hey, lets take our collective heads out of the sand...some teams need to steal...there is a place for "the off spring of Billy Ball" if you have the right mix on your team...

...and by the way...duh!...of course there is a correlation between On base % and runs scores, Captian Obvious...haven't seen someone score from the bench yet, so it has to correlate in some fashion ...The stat does not fit the argument, simply because you can't really put a number on what runs would have or would not have scored if the rally hadn't ended in the attempt to steal...

Basically some teams need to steal more than others given their make-up...some teams don't...and if it ever becomes an exact science...a chess game of sort with a obsolute mathematical answer to it...then managers would be replace by machines...you would press a button, and the answer would come out..."On cloudy days with the pitchers velocity down below 92 mph, a third year catcher behind the plate, a batter not on his last year of a contract...with the count 2-1...you MUST send the runner."...For all the stats you can crunch, it is a game played by a multitude of people with a zillion variables...no one variable can thus be truly overated...Thus..."If a Butterfly flaps his wings in Brazil on a mid summers day, the odds of the man stealing second scoring will be affected... "