I agree, everything cannot be an academic exercise. However, I too question the pinned base assumption in many situations.
My company has standard "pinned" column base plate details. They show the bolts clustered at the center of the column section to reduce the moment transfer.
In my opinion, this just exacerbates the prying / tension forces on the anchor bolts that don't know that they're not supposed to be restraining column rotations. Then they fail prematurely and indeed become pinned. Of course, baring the provision of other transfer mechanisms, you've also lost your ability to transfer shear through your pinned base. Ouch.
I get nervous about assuming a pinned condition unless the failure mode of the bolts is bolt yielding. And it's tough to make that happen with practical pedestal dimensions and the Appendix D stuff.
Some folks in my office will do a little of both. They design the frame assuming pinned column bases and then design the base plate to take 50% or so of the expected moment were the base fixed. The 50% is entirely arbitrary of course.