I'll handle each of your questions one at a time, Rog.
1-No. The ability to take the extra base means ANY extra base. Thus Ernie Lombari's 1-8 is for taking (or in his case, NOT taking), 2nd, 3rd or home.
2-Stealing is handled in a couple of ways.
a-CAN the base stealer get a jump?
b-If so, he has a 1 through whatever chance of success stealing 2nd base, LESS of a chance for 3B
c-For players who got picked off, OR caught stealing, THAT is determined during the process in which the player is trying to get a jump.
Thus, IF the player isn't thrown out, and gets a jump, one refers to the player's steal rating; 1-17, 1-16, what ever that may be.
3-An infielders defensive ability is broken into 2 categories; 1-Range, and 2, error likelihood.
Rizzo was rated as a "2" in 2014, "1" ever since. His speed dropped from a 1-13, to a 1-12
Votto was a "2," in 2014, a "2" in 2015, but a "3" in 2016.
4-Nunez in Minnesota, was rated as a "4" at SS, 3B and 2B, OF 4 but his one partial season in SF, 2016, he was a "3" at 3B, which, IMHO, reflects how much improved for us he really was.
I stopped playing ABPA the moment I saw Strat in 1966.
Each player is rated at the position, but UNLIKE APBA, there is more detail involved in the rating on defense.
APBA was too simplistic.
Strat breaks OF by their ability to cover ground, make or not make errors, AND their ability to throw.
APBA uses 1 card, and 2 dice, with pitchers being rated A, B, C or D.
As if pitchers can be put in one of 4 categories.
Strat has hitters cards, AND pitcher's cards.
3 dice are used.
1 die determines the card: 1-2-3, hitter's card, 4-5-6, the pitcher's card
Each card is divided into 6 columns; 3 vs LH, 3 vs RH.
(I couldn't get the picture of the card to paste, so here's the link)
www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiUx9K6sIrYAhUT5mMKHZgVCyAQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oneforfive.com%2Fyu-darvish-japanese-league-strat-o-matic-card%2F&psig=AOvVaw257CbLAwHooymbf_b1V6y0&ust=1513370929777817 In APBA the HRs and extra base hits are ALWAYS located in the same places: 11, 33, 66.
In Strat, they can be ANYWHERE within the three columns, and thus, what happened in real life CAN happen more realistically.
For example; in 1962, Ernie Bowman was their reserve infielder. He had 42 at bats that year.
And according to Russ Hodge's book, My Giants, Bowman's one and ONLY major league HR came as a game winner against the Mets.
In APBA, that random HR would be by rolling a 66, and then a second die roll. With 2 dice the odds are considerably higher that he could hit an HR.
But in Strat, a BAD roll, meaning in any column where a 2, 3, 11, or 12 is rolled, Ernie has a more realistic chance of hitting, or in his case, not hitting an HR.
The realistic, random factor is greater.
I've played multiple complete seasons and Strat is SO MUCH more realistic than APBA it's not even on the charts.
Here's a link to an article written on the subject.
It says "tough call," but whomever wrote that doesn't know baseball very well.
www.oneforfive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Strat-vs-APBA-Sport-Magazine.pdfMark plays Strat, too.
Hope this helps.
boly