With Hamilton's exploits growing day by day(as well as the team's penchant for aggressive (I LOVE IT) baserunning [Spitting in the face of MoneyBall]
Is it possible to fashion a 1985 Cardinals type of line-up with the current roster--or with people coming up?
The line-up could look something like this...
Team/Order 2014 Reds 1985 Cardinals 1 CF-Hamilton LF-Coleman 2 LF-Heisey CF-McGee 3 1B-Votto 2B-Herr 4 RF-Bruce 1B-Clark 5 C-Mesoraco RF-Van Slyke 6 3B-Frazier 3B-Pendleton 7 2B-Phillips SS-Smith 8 SS-Cozart C-Nieto
I hate taking Ludwick out of the line-up, but I just can't for the life of me see Phillips and/or Cozart being number two hitters that will
- a. allow Billy at least ONE or TWO chances to run. (I am not convinced Heisey can do it either)
- b. steal/put pressure on when they get on base. (I am not convinced Heisey can do it either)
I like how the line-up is working now, but... is there anything there?
The obvious differences in that 1985 line-up to the 2014 Reds Line-up
OBP and Speed
McGee v Heisey.
McGee's 1985 year was RIDICULOUS (MVP) .353/.384/.503 56 SB/54 XBH/
Herr v Votto (Although not as big a difference as McGee to Heisey)
Herr's 1985 year .302/.379/.416 31SB/ 49XBH/ [Herr was 5th in MVP voting!]
Van Slyke v Mesoraco (Just way different players--and Mes cannot put SB pressure that Van Slyke did)
Van Slyke 1985 year .259/.335/.439 34SB /44XBH
Clark v Bruce
Clark 1985 year .281/.393/.502 22 Home runs (out of 126 games)
Smith v Phillips
Smith 1985 year .276/.355/.361 31SB / 31XBH
Ok--well... that was a waste of time! Sorry.. was just randomly thinking outloud...
That 85 Cardinals team was a fun team to watch...
And when the Reds were running like they were on April 23 against the Pirates... it reminded me a lot of that team.