Turn Off Ads?
Page 1 of 4 1234 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 59

Thread: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team

  1. #1
    rest in power, king Wonderful Monds's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Posts
    11,455

    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.
    Last edited by Wonderful Monds; 02-24-2021 at 03:32 PM.

  2. Likes:

    *BaseClogger* (02-24-2021),Boss-Hog (02-24-2021),goldglover9 (02-25-2021),Joeyjection19 (02-24-2021),KronoRed (02-24-2021),M2 (02-24-2021),paintmered (02-24-2021),REDREAD (02-24-2021),RedsBaron (02-25-2021),RedTeamGo! (02-25-2021),Revering4Blue (02-24-2021),RFS62 (02-25-2021),The Operator (02-25-2021),TheBigLebowski (02-25-2021),wally post (02-25-2021)


  3. Turn Off Ads?
  4. #2
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    3,758

    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

  5. #3
    rest in power, king Wonderful Monds's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Posts
    11,455

    Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team

    Quote Originally Posted by MoneyInTheBank View Post
    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.

  6. #4
    Posting in Dynarama M2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2000
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    45,727

    Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team

    Quote Originally Posted by Wonderful Monds View Post
    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.
    I'm not a system player. I am a system.

  7. Likes:

    westofyou (02-24-2021)

  8. #5
    I rig polls REDREAD's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
    Location
    ohio
    Posts
    29,254

    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.
    [Phil ] Castellini celebrated the team's farm system and noted the team had promising prospects who would one day be great Reds -- and then joke then they'd be ex-Reds, saying "of course we're going to lose them". #SellTheTeamBob

    Nov. 13, 2007: One of the greatest days in Reds history: John Allen gets the boot!

  9. #6
    rest in power, king Wonderful Monds's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Posts
    11,455

    Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team

    Quote Originally Posted by M2 View Post
    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.

  10. #7
    rest in power, king Wonderful Monds's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Posts
    11,455

    Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team

    Quote Originally Posted by REDREAD View Post
    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.

  11. Likes:

    REDREAD (02-24-2021)

  12. #8
    Member klw's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    New England
    Posts
    15,119

    Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team

    Adam Dunn at any position other than DH would seem an easy call.

  13. #9
    rest in power, king Wonderful Monds's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Posts
    11,455

    Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team

    Quote Originally Posted by klw View Post
    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.

  14. #10
    Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2000
    Location
    Southwest Ohio
    Posts
    5,933

    Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team

    Quote Originally Posted by Wonderful Monds View Post

    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?
    “I think I throw the ball as hard as anyone. The ball just doesn't get there as fast.” — Eddie Bane

    “We know we're better than this ... but we can't prove it.” — Tony Gwynn

  15. #11
    Posting in Dynarama M2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2000
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    45,727

    Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team

    Quote Originally Posted by Wonderful Monds View Post
    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.

    I'm not a system player. I am a system.

  16. Likes:

    *BaseClogger* (02-24-2021),cincinnati chili (02-25-2021),Wonderful Monds (02-24-2021)

  17. #12
    Cheekily Non-Conformist CarolinaRedleg's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Greensboro, NC
    Posts
    784

    Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team

    Quote Originally Posted by REDREAD View Post
    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?
    Hope isn't a strategy

  18. Likes:

    REDREAD (02-24-2021)

  19. #13
    breath westofyou's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    PDX
    Posts
    56,984

    Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team

    Ray Knight second baseman says hello as does Harry Spillman catcher

  20. #14
    Member Bourgeois Zee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Posts
    12,620

    Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team

    Hal McRae as anything other than a DH also says hi.

  21. #15
    Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    Posts
    1,954

    Re: All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team

    Dan Driessen 3rd base 1974.

  22. Likes:

    cumberlandreds (02-26-2021),mth123 (02-24-2021),RedsBaron (02-25-2021)


Turn Off Ads?

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please.

Thank you, and most importantly, enjoy yourselves!


RedsZone.com is a privately owned website and is not affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds or Major League Baseball


Contact us: Boss | Gallen5862 | Plus Plus | Powel Crosley | RedlegJake | The Operator