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.