Cincinnati Reds All-Time Team

Cincinnati might be Bengal country now, but the Reds franchise has called the Queen City home for over 140 years. Where are you gonna go?

How about Riverfront Stadium, where the Reds won five pennants and three World Series from 1970 to 1990.

Hall of Fame manager Bill McKechnie might not be a household name to most baseball fans, but the names in Cincy's All-Time starting lineup surely are.

No changes necessary here. How about the reserves?

Four more Hall of Famers on the bench. There's room for improvement, however. Cincy doesn't have a natural third baseman- which they might need more than a backup for Joe Morgan.

	Reds stats	WAR	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
	*Bid McPhee	52.5	0.272	0.355	0.373	0.728	107
	Heinie Groh	40.7	0.298	0.378	0.394	0.772	130

It's tempting to go with Groh here, and McPhee's best asset is his speed (which, again, Morgan has covered.)  Let's come back to this.

	Reds stats	WAR	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
	*Eric Davis	30.6	0.271	0.367	0.510	0.877	137
	*Vada Pinson	47.7	0.297	0.341	0.469	0.810	119
	Ken Griffey Sr.	25.4	0.303	0.370	0.434	0.804	123

Ken Griffey was in camp to compete for a fifth outfielder spot, but the incumbents stay in place.

Huge shout-out to Gregory at Nine Pockets for the Noddles Hahn custom

The Reds' rotation is one of the weakest in this series, and upgrading options are limited. If Luis Castillo had stayed longer, he'd have a real shot at the fifth starter role.

	Reds stats	WAR	ERA	ERA+	K/BB	WHIP
	*Dolf Luque	38.2	3.09	121	1.28	1.265
	Mario Soto	26.8	3.47	108	2.21	1.186
	Bucky Walters	37.8	2.93	124	1.09	1.251
	Eppa Rixey	40.9	3.33	118	1.09	1.286
	Luis Castillo	18.0	3.62	126	3.00	1.204

Instead it's a two-man battle between Dolf Luque and Bucky Walters, the 1939 National League MVP.


McKechnie has a little more to work with in his relief crew, around Aroldis Chapman and the "Nasty Boys".

I really tried to use as many relievers from the pre-specialization days as possible, but their numbers rarely compare favorably to more recent relief pitchers.

		SV	ERA	ERA+	K/BB	WHIP	Games
	*Pedro Borbon	76	3.32	107	1.65	1.289	531
	*Scott Williamson	54	2.93	155	2.10	1.266	217
	Raisel Iglesias	106	3.15	138	3.63	1.122	274

Borbon wasn't nearly as dominant as Williamson, but look at that number on the right. 217 games is likely the lowest number of anyone on any All-Time team.

Backup infielder and fifth starter aren't significant enough upgrades to make a change. But Raisel Iglesias has to get in this bullpen somehow. Scott Williamson's brief-but-dominant stay in Cincinnati isn't long enough to stay here. 

Looking ahead, the Reds signed starter Hunter Greene to a six-year extension after just one year with the big club. He'll certainly stick around long enough to compete for a spot in a very thin All-Time rotation. Fellow first-rounders Nick Lodolo (starting pitcher) and Jonathan India (middle infield) are possibilities as well.

TL; DR: One change from the original roster.Williamson out, Iglesias in.

 

No, not Fluffy :p

Come back Thursday for our next All-Time Team, the Milwaukee Brewers.

 

 

Thanks for reading!

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