All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team
Since the topic of Geno going to shortstop has come up again, my imagination is going wild trying to put together the all time Reds lineup with guys playing out of position based on similar past ideas.
The king of all of these defensive bad ideas I think starts with the classic:
Third Base: Austin Kearns
Honorable mentions: Javier Valentin, Wily Mo Pena, Yonder Alonso, Johnny Bench, Jason LaRue
Another classic, although at least a little more rooted in reality:
Shortstop: Brandon Phillips
Honorable mentions: Eugenio Suarez, Nick Senzel, Aaron Boone
The rest of the lineup is a little tougher to figure out.
First Base: Jay Bruce
1B is hard because it’s a position any jabroni can play, and I can’t really recall anyone being exceptionally out of place there, so I’ll go with Jay since he got chucked there for a few games in 2014/15 when Joey went down with basically no notice.
Second Base: Michael Tucker
Honorable mention: Todd Frazier, Curt Casali
Tucker is the most out of position guy I could find the Reds ever putting here. I feel like Frazier is a good candidate as well since in hindsight it doesn’t seem like he ever really fit here, but it feels like cheating since he actually played there a good bit in the minors.
Catcher: Joey Votto
Honorable mention: Ryan Freel
Another tough one, I can’t remember any scenario where the Reds had someone ridiculously out of position play there in an emergency catcher situation or something, so we’ll go with Votto since he was drafted as one. Freel gets the backup spot since I know he was the designated emergency catcher while he was a Red. I think we’ve had some other funny emergency catchers since, but I can’t remember who.
Center Field: Johnny Bench
Honorable mention: Jesse Winker, Deion Sanders
Bench had a few starts in CF in double headers on the early BRM teams, so he’s the obvious pick here.
Left Field: Yonder Alonso
Honorable mention: Joey Votto
This one is a tossup, both from the days of trying to fit both Votto and Alonso in the same lineup. They both played games here as a Red early in their careers, but Alonso got more IIRC and Joey is at catcher, so Alonso gets the nod here. Not so hard to get them both in the lineup now.
Right Field: Adam Dunn
Honorable mention: Johnny Bench, Ray Olmedo, Jason LaRue
We’ll put Dunn here since he played quite a bit of RF in his first couple years in the league, which he really never should have in hindsight. Bench is the backup though he’s starting in CF. Everyone else only has an inning or two here in an emergency, so they’re much less appealing candidates.
Starting Pitcher: Danny Graves
The ultimate cautionary tale in trying to convert good closers into starting pitchers.
Closer: Alex Blandino
The best knuckleball you’ll ever see a non pitcher throw. Go Stanford Cardinal Baseball.
Setup: Wilson Valdez
I don’t think he actually ever pitched as a Red, but he did shut down the Reds for an inning in relief as a Phillie late in like an 18 inning game.
Bullpen honorable mentions: Paul Janish, Scooter Gennett, Skip Schumaker, JJ Hoover
For a starting lineup that looks something like this:
SS Phillips
C Votto
CF Bench
RF Dunn
1B Bruce
3B Kearns
LF Alonso
2B Tucker
P Graves
If we went with a DH, I’d say it’d be Bronson Arroyo, since he actually hit a good amount of dingers as a Red. Backup DH does to DeSclafani for hitting the funniest grand slam in Reds history off the Cards.
Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team
Great list. I would like to throw in a nomination of Micah Owings anywhere in the OF
Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MoneyInTheBank
Great list. I would like to throw in a nomination of Micah Owings anywhere in the OF
That’d be a good one. Along the same lines, Michael Lorenzen could definitely make it as a bench player as a backup CF.
Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Wonderful Monds
Since the topic of Geno going to shortstop has come up again, my imagination is going wild trying to put together the all time Reds lineup with guys playing out of position based on similar past ideas.
The king of all of these defensive bad ideas I think starts with the classic:
Third Base: Austin Kearns
Honorable mentions: Javier Valentin, Wily Mo Pena, Yonder Alonso, Johnny Bench, Jason LaRue
Dmitri Young kindly requests that you hold his beer.
Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team
Great list. I'm not going to be able to top it, but a few other not so memorable gloves.
SS: Keppinger and Mark Lewis
1b: Eric Davis had a brief stint there. He later said that it's harder than fans think, his legs were sore from not being used to playing the position
C: Alan Knicely wasn't very good there.
3b: Ed Encarcion
2b: Aaron Boone moved there to make way for the mighty... what's his name? The first round draft pick that flopped. Aaron never got comfortable there.
Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team
Quote:
Originally Posted by
M2
Dmitri Young kindly requests that you hold his beer.
I remembered the Meat Hook playing a lot more 3B than he actually did. I was young enough in the 90s and early 00s that I guess it slipped my mind, I remembered him as being a third baseman as much as a 1B/OF but he only played 30 something games there.
Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team
Quote:
Originally Posted by
REDREAD
Great list. I'm not going to be able to top it, but a few other not so memorable gloves.
SS: Keppinger and Mark Lewis
1b: Eric Davis had a brief stint there. He later said that it's harder than fans think, his legs were sore from not being used to playing the position
C: Alan Knicely wasn't very good there.
3b: Ed Encarcion
2b: Aaron Boone moved there to make way for the mighty... what's his name? The first round draft pick that flopped. Aaron never got comfortable there.
Among the 1B crowd, the Reds love playing older outfielders there. Ken Griffey Jr. could get eligibility as a 1B too from his time with the M’s, coming back from injury. Griffey Sr. of course was also mostly a 1B by the end of his career in his later stint with the Reds. Also Jim Edmonds got a few games there in his cursed Reds goodbye tour.
They also absolutely love playing catchers there, especially backup catchers. Brayan Pena got a ton of starts there. Casali too, Barnhart even started there a handful of times a couple years ago.
Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team
Adam Dunn at any position other than DH would seem an easy call.
Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team
Quote:
Originally Posted by
klw
Adam Dunn at any position other than DH would seem an easy call.
I considered him for 1B, he probably should get an honorable mention there, but I considered him ineligible since multiple teams actually did play him as a first baseman pretty regularly. I also disqualified Edwin there for similar reasons.
Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Wonderful Monds
Starting Pitcher: Danny Graves
The ultimate cautionary tale in trying to convert good closers into starting pitchers.
How long did it take before teams finally were convinced that maybe David Weathers wasn't a starting pitcher?
Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Wonderful Monds
I remembered the Meat Hook playing a lot more 3B than he actually did. I was young enough in the 90s and early 00s that I guess it slipped my mind, I remembered him as being a third baseman as much as a 1B/OF but he only played 30 something games there.
36 hideously comical games. I have never seen anything more adventurous on a baseball field, from a "who knows what will happen?" standpoint, than a batted ball headed toward Dmitri at the hot corner. He played Mad Libs defense. Kearns was just a horrific idea. Young was a horrific reality.
https://i.makeagif.com/media/6-24-2016/sLZ2Z1.gif
Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team
Quote:
Originally Posted by
REDREAD
Great list. I'm not going to be able to top it, but a few other not so memorable gloves.
SS: Keppinger and Mark Lewis
1b: Eric Davis had a brief stint there. He later said that it's harder than fans think, his legs were sore from not being used to playing the position
C: Alan Knicely wasn't very good there.
3b: Ed Encarcion
2b: Aaron Boone moved there to make way for the mighty... what's his name? The first round draft pick that flopped. Aaron never got comfortable there.
Would that have been Brandon Larsen?
Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team
Ray Knight second baseman says hello as does Harry Spillman catcher
Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team
Hal McRae as anything other than a DH also says hi.
Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team
Dan Driessen 3rd base 1974.