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View Full Version : Historically bad season in Reds' history.



texasdave
05-28-2007, 12:01 PM
Vin Scully is a wise man. Bad teams do find a way to lose. And there is no denying that right now this is a very bad Cincinnati baseball team. Simply listen to the sound of toilets flushing all around the tri-state area. But exactly how bad is it? Let's take a look. This chart shows the five worst seasons percentage-wise for the Reds since 1901.



Year Wins Losses Pct. OPS+ ERA+
1934 52 99 0.344 87 94
2007 18 33 0.353 100 92
1937 56 98 0.364 94 94
1901 52 87 0.374 100 76
1982 61 101 0.377 88 101


One common denominator is poor pitching. Only the 1982 Reds had anything close to average pitching. But, ironically, that team also ended up with the most losses in a single season for a Cincinnati ballclub. In 2007 the Reds are on pace to break that record. Currently they are on a pace to lose about 105.
Eek. Three/fourth of my brain refuses to accept this. This team is better than that and will improve. This team is bad - but 105 losses bad? No way. Yet lingering in the deepest, darkest recesses of my brain is the feeling that injuries, apathy, fire sale or any combination of the three may keep this train wreck of a season rolling along. We all know about the 2007 Reds but what about the other teams on this list? A quick glance is in order.

1934 Reds - Fans had a smorgasbord of of managers to blame in 1934 as Cincinnati went through three of them in the bleakest of all Reds' seasons.
Bob O'Farrell, Burt Shotton and Chuck Dressen all gave it a whirl. In fairness, Shotton was an interim selection and won the only game he managed. Players of note included Paul Derringer, Benny Frey, Ernie Lombardi, Chick Hafey and Jim Bottomley. The latter two are HOFers who were at the back end of their careers. The club had two 20-games losers.

2007 Reds - We are living it.

1937 Reds- Two men skippered this club - Chuck Dressen and Bobby Wallace but the results were much the same as the 1934 season. Lombardi and Derringer were holdovers from 1934, and there were the obligatory end-of-the-line HOFers in Chick Hafey and Kiki Cuyler. Help was on the way in the form of Ival Goodman, Frank McCormick and Johnny Vander Meer. Good times were only a season or two away.

1901 Reds - They were managed by all-time Reds' great Bid McPhee. Bid must have received a mulligan for this season when it came time for his HOF consideration. Noodles Hahn anchored the pitching staff, which in turn anchored the Reds to the NL basement. Stickmen included HOF-bound Sam Crawford and Jake Beckley.

1982 Reds - This is the only squad in Reds' history to pass the century mark in losses. They racked up an impressive, yet stomach-turning, 101 of them. The pitching was not that bad; while the offense was putrid. Hurling for the Reds were Mario Soto, an almost-cooked Tom Seaver and a solid bullpen which included Tom Hume among others. The lumber slumbered in '82. There was Dan Driessen, Cesar Cedeno and not much else. The careers of Johnny Bench and Dave Concepcion were winding down.

There they are. A quick look at the 'Forettable Five' seasons in the history of the Cincinnati Reds.

George Anderson
05-28-2007, 10:33 PM
1982 Reds - This is the only squad in Reds' history to pass the century mark in losses. They racked up an impressive, yet stomach-turning, 101 of them. The pitching was not that bad; while the offense was putrid. Hurling for the Reds were Mario Soto, an almost-cooked Tom Seaver and a solid bullpen which included Tom Hume among others. The lumber slumbered in '82. There was Dan Driessen, Cesar Cedeno and not much else. The careers of Johnny Bench and Dave Concepcion were winding down.



I keep thinking back on when I saw a Reds team as bad as this years Reds team and the 1982 team keeps coming to mind. The big difference between the 82' team and the 07' team is the 82' team had alot of changes in the offseason. If you recall the 81' team had the best record in baseball, but during the 81' offseason Daddy Wags (Dick Wagner) traded George Foster to the Mets for Alex Trevino, Jim Kern and Greg Harris. He also let Dave Collins and Ken Griffey Sr. leave via free agency. They were replaced by minor league phenom Paul Householder and former Royals cant miss prospect Clint Hurdle. Ray Knight was also traded to the Astros for a washed up Cesar Cedeno. The 82' Reds were a much different team than the 81' team but the 07' Reds team is basically the same team as the 06' team, which I think we all would agree basically was an average to good team or at the very least a team that over achieved. Had the 07' team lost five starters like the 82' team did this funk the team is in would make sense. Instead we have basically the exact same team from last year but getting no where near the results we did last year.

In a nutshell, either the success we had last year was a fluke or this cast of characters is indeed a talented bunch, but for what ever reason not getting the job done. Stay tuned and find out!!!

redsupport
05-29-2007, 12:15 AM
charlie puleo was an ace

seligstinks
05-30-2007, 02:02 AM
Actually Griffey was traded to the Yankees for Brian Ryder (he never made it to the majors) and a "player to be named later" who turned out to be Freddie Toliver (a pitcher who was 10-16 in his career, with an ERA of 4.73 according to baseball-reference.com, which was about 18% higher than the league average). So you could say the Reds gave Griffey away, except for the fact that Toliver only pitched 10 innings for the Reds and then was one of the players the Reds traded for Bo Diaz; the Reds got a decent season or two out of Diaz.