Reds all-time roster

[OnBaseMachine]

I started to do this last night and then put it off to today. John Erardi and I must have been thinking alike because he just made a similar post over on Fay's blog.

Here's mine:

Lineup:

2B Joe Morgan
SS Barry Larkin
CF Eric Davis
RF Frank Robinson
C Johnny Bench
LF Adam Dunn
3B Pete Rose
1B Tony Perez

Bench:

1B Ted Kluszewski
SS Davey Concepcion
C Ernie Lombardi
OF Edd Roush
OF George Foster

Rotation:

Bucky Walters
Eppa Rixey
Jose Rijo
Paul Derringer
Jim Maloney

Bullpen:

RHP Scott Sullivan
LHP John Franco
LHP Norm Charlton
RHP Rob Dibble
RHP Clay Carroll
RHP Joe Beggs
RHP Scott Williamson

Manager:

Sparky Anderson

[Chip R]

When I used to play Microleague Baseball, I had a pretty good all time Reds team based on career seasons. I'll have to dig that up.

[OnBaseMachine]

Here is Erardi's:

Rose, rf

Morgan, 2b

FRrobinson, lf

Klu, 1b

Bench, c

Eric Davis, cf

Larkin, ss

Concepcion, 3b

RHP, Jim Maloney

LHP, Don Gullet

Pinchhitters

Tony Perez

George Foster

Edd Roush (also an extra outfielder and pinchrunner)

Frank McCormick

Ernie Lombardi (also backup catcher)

Heinie Groh (Bring your own bottle bat, Heinie

Utility Infielder

Roy McMillan

Extra Outfielder

Vada Pinson*

Swing starter

Jose Rijo**

Closer

Johnny Franco***

Setup men

Nasty Boy Rob Dibble

Nasty Boy Norm Charlton****

Rest of staff:

Bucky Walters

Paul Derringer

Mario Soto

Eppa Jeptha Rixey

Manager:

Sparky Anderson

Coaches:

Bill McKechnie

Fred Hutchinson

Birdie Tebbetts

Pat Duncan

Sweet Lou Piniella *****

Front office and Ballpark:

Owner: Louis Nippert

(Not so limited) partner: August “Garry” Herrmann

Comptroller (unlimited payroll): Marge Schott

General manager: Bob Howsam

Asst. GMs: Warren Giles, Gabe Paul

Business manager and promotions: Frank "Banny" Bancroft

Radio booth: Play by play – Marty Brennaman; Color: Joe Nuxhall and Waite Hoyt

Groundskeeper: Matty Schwab and family

Equipment manager: Bernie Stowe.

PA Announcer: Paul Summerkamp

Organist: Ronnie Paul

Historian, publicist: Lee Allen

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs...cincinnati.com

[Cyclone792]

Lineup

LF Pete Rose
SS Barry Larkin
2B Joe Morgan
RF Frank Robinson
C Johnny Bench
1B Tony Perez
CF Edd Roush
3B Heinie Groh


Rotation

SP Bucky Walters
SP Paul Derringer
SP Eppa Rixey
SP Dolf Luque


Bench

C Ernie Lombardi
1B Ted Kluszewski
IF Davey Concepcion
IF Bid McPhee
OF Vada Pinson
OF George Foster


Bullpen

SP Noodles Hahn
SP Jim Maloney
SP Jose Rijo
SP Pete Donohue
SP Johnny Vander Meer
SP Ewell Blackwell
CL Clay Carroll

[Always Red]

I'm going to go ahead and throw a penalty flag- Erardi can't put Concepcion at 3B. He only played 120 games there in his entire career. I read his reasoning, but I disagree.

Groh at 3B
Rose at the Freel/Hairston spot of "first man off the bench, filling in anywhere."

[nate]

I'd love to see how many runs some of these lineups produce with BBM's lineup tool.

I bet it's scary!

[westofyou]

2nd String Roster

McCormick - 1st
Critz - 2nd
Davey - SS
Hatton - 3b
Lombardi - C
Dunn - LF
Pinson - CF
Griffey Senior - RF

Pitching - O'Toole, Bob Ewing, Vander Meer, Red Lucas, Noodles Hahn

BP - Abernathy, Bronson, Carrol, Borbon, Shaw

[Cyclone792]

I've had a request to use "best single seasons" so here goes:

Lineup

LF Pete Rose, 1969
SS Barry Larkin, 1995
2B Joe Morgan, 1975
RF Frank Robinson, 1962
C Johnny Bench, 1972
1B Ted Kluszewski, 1954
CF Cy Seymour, 1905
3B Heinie Groh, 1917


Rotation

SP Bucky Walters, 1939
SP Dolf Luque, 1923
SP Ewell Blackwell, 1947
SP Noodles Hahn, 1902


Bench

C Ernie Lombardi, 1938
IF Tony Perez, 1970
IF Bid McPhee, 1892
OF Edd Roush, 1919
OF Eric Davis, 1987
OF George Foster, 1977


Bullpen
SP Paul Derringer, 1939
SP Jim Maloney, 1965
SP Jose Rijo, 1993
RP Clay Carroll, 1970
RP Rob Dibble, 1990
RP John Franco, 1988
RP Danny Graves, 2000

[*BaseClogger*]

RP Danny Graves, 2000

I find it interesting that in his career season he had a K/BB of 1.26...

[Cyclone792]

I find it interesting that in his career season he had a K/BB of 1.26...

Graves had an undoubtedly lucky year with a very low BABIP, though in the course of historically evaluating players I tend to set the predictive metrics like DIPS aside. They produced what they produced, even if they got a bit lucky, and I give them credit for it. I'll only pull out the predictive stuff when I want to know the most likely performance moving forward.

As for Graves, he was a dominant ground ball pitcher in his peak. He was the type of pitcher who'd enter the 9th in a save situation, aggravate me by walking a guy, then promptly have the following hitter immediately ground into a DP and slamming the door shut on any type of rally.

[Always Red]

I find it interesting that in his career season he had a K/BB of 1.26...

Not me- his best pitch was always a ball, if you had enough discipline to take it. When Graves was on, he was pretty good.

[Cyclone792]

Not me- his best pitch was always a ball, if you had enough discipline to take it. When Graves was on, he was pretty good.

Yup, absolutely wonderful pitcher during his peak.

Graves is another one of those guys who may not get the credit he deserves due to the way he ended his tenure in Cincinnati. Most fans, including myself, couldn't really stand him during his last few years here.

But that stuff is well in the past now ... when I think of Danny Graves, I like to think about that stretch from 1998-2002 where he was absolute filth on the mound and a pleasure to watch ... even if he did walk a few more guys than I liked.

[bucksfan2]

Yup, absolutely wonderful pitcher during his peak.

Graves is another one of those guys who may not get the credit he deserves due to the way he ended his tenure in Cincinnati. Most fans, including myself, couldn't really stand him during his last few years here.

But that stuff is well in the past now ... when I think of Danny Graves, I like to think about that stretch from 1998-2002 where he was absolute filth on the mound and a pleasure to watch ... even if he did walk a few more guys than I liked.

I always thought this was quite ironic. Apparently Graves had a box for his wife along with a number of tickets for every game she was in town for. When she wasn't in town he gave the tickets to local youth charities. The year when he was let go and had a ton of bad press around him he continued to give the rest of the tickets to the youth charities.

He was done in by the yo yoing the Reds did to him. The going from reliever, to starter, and then back to reliever ruined Graves. What could have been a great 1-2 bullpen punch with Graves and Williamson came to a very premature end.

[OnBaseMachine]

Cyclone, I would take Larkin's 1996 season over his 1995 season. I know he won the MVP in '95, but he was better in '96.

1995: .319/.394/.492 - .886 OPS, OPS+ of 133, 15 HR, 51 stolen bases, gold glove winner.

1996: .298/.410/.567 - .977 OPS, OPS+ of 154, 33 HR, 36 stolen bases, gold glove, and became the first 30/30 shortstop in baseball history.

You can't go wrong with either one but if I were forced to choose, I'd take his 1996 season. Sorry for being picky.

[bucksfan2]

Cyclone

1938 Johnny Vandermeer. It may have not been his best season but back to back no hitters is one heck of a season.

I also agree with OBM Larkin was better in 96 than 95. Heck 96 may go down as one of the best seasons in the history of SS.