All Time Reds Defensive Out of Position Team

[M2]

Dan Driessen at 3rd was much worse.

I've always been under the impression Driessen was garden variety bad at third, arguably better than Rose was, but that he caught the blowback for the Reds missing out on the playoffs in 1974 (despite 98 wins).

[HokieRed]

Among the Reds many botched 3b experiments, it's probably forgotten that they tried Robinson there for a disastrous 11 games in 1958.

[CaiGuy]

How about almost the entire 2005 team? That team could mash, but the defense was something.

Dunn LF
Griffey Jr CF
Encarnacion 3B
Lopez SS
Aurelia 2B
Casey 1B



Only LaRue, Kearns, and Randa (before trade) were even OK defenders by my memory. And Freel as the super-sup.

[15fan]

Dmitri Young kindly requests that you hold his beer.

Not quite as awful as DY, but 9 games of Paul Konerko at 3b in 1998 probably has a spot in this conversation.

[Bruce Berenyi]

scotty madison at 3rd, mike dela hoz at shortstop

[Roy Tucker]

Edwin Encarnacion belongs in here somewhere.

[M2]

The Reds franchise seems to have made the leap from anybody can play 3B to 3Bs can play anywhere.

[klw]

Adam Dunn even at DH would seem to be an easy call?

Especially as it was not an option at the time.

[Moonlite Graham]

Whoever mentioned Russell Branyan playing anywhere might win the prize.

Though Konerko at 3rd and Yonder in the outfield are strong contenders.

[cincinnati chili]

Paul Janish at 1B, no so much for the glove, but for the bat.

I seem to recall that Bob Boone put Juan “Golden Hands” Castro at first base too. First of all, not a great way to maximize your chances of winning ballgames. Second, we all know that Moises Alou is the only true “Golden Hands.”

The original post was great. Didn’t know about Bench in center field. But remember him at third late in his career. What an ill conceived idea and horrible result.

The comment about Danny Graves being moved to starting pitcher as a cautionary tale. Maybe. I think we know now that Danny’s substance abuse was a major factor in why the experiment didn’t work.

[westofyou]

I seem to recall that Bob Boone put Juan “Golden Hands” Castro at first base too. First of all, not a great way to maximize your chances of winning ballgames. Second, we all know that Moises Alou is the only true “Golden Hands.”

The original post was great. Didn’t know about Bench in center field. But remember him at third late in his career. What an ill conceived idea and horrible result.

The comment about Danny Graves being moved to starting pitcher as a cautionary tale. Maybe. I think we know now that Danny’s substance abuse was a major factor in why the experiment didn’t work.

Castro started vs Arizona when Johnson K'd 20 Reds

Needed to give Casey a breather since he was frightened to death by Johnson

It did not work out well... that was the first week I lived in Portland

[dabvu2498]

Edwin Encarnacion belongs in here somewhere.

In 2002, I had Dayton Dragons season tickets. A 19 year old Edwin Encarnacion played 17 games at SS for the Dragons that year and it was the worst thing I have ever seen on a professional baseball field. However many games I saw him play at SS that year made enough impression that I still remember it well 19 years later.

[Wonderful Monds]

I seem to recall that Bob Boone put Juan “Golden Hands” Castro at first base too. First of all, not a great way to maximize your chances of winning ballgames. Second, we all know that Moises Alou is the only true “Golden Hands.”

The original post was great. Didn’t know about Bench in center field. But remember him at third late in his career. What an ill conceived idea and horrible result.

The comment about Danny Graves being moved to starting pitcher as a cautionary tale. Maybe. I think we know now that Danny’s substance abuse was a major factor in why the experiment didn’t work.

They do like to occasionally do the light hitting utility infielder at 1B. Blandino has a couple starts there in recent years too.

[Wonderful Monds]

One of the more humorous post-Reds developments was notoriously bad SS Felipe Lopez being turned into a straight up utility guy by the Cards. They started him in LF, RF and 1B along with the other infield spots.

[RedsBaron]

Probably one of the "slowest outfields in baseball history" according to Pete Rose was in a 1973 game against the Pirates. Rose was in his customary position in left, but Johnny Bench was the rightfielder with Andy Kosco in center. Kosco had some power but he was quite slow. In a ten year MLB career he stole a total of five bases, with 8 caught stealing attempts. Anyway, at page 31 of his diary of the 1974 season, Charlie Hustle, Rose wrote that Pirates announcer Bob Prince quipped that "Rose is the greyhound of that outfield."
By the way, while looking up the above story in my copy of Rose's book I noticed on pages 16-17 an entry where Rose mentioned participating in the TV show "The Superstars," which I vaguely recall as a show matching up athletes from various sports competing against each other in other sports such as golf, swimming, weight lifting, tennis, etc. Anyway Rose wrote that he had fun, adding that "O. J. Simpson was about the greatest guy I've ever met."