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Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The Cincinnati Reds were 12th in the NL in runs scored for 2008, and that's with playing in a good hitters' park. In reality, they were pretty near the bottom. The offense that ended the year little resembled the offense that began the year. Cincinnati's offense at the beginning was based around two veteran hitters, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Adam Dunn. Both were traded before the year ended. Griffey, in his age 38 season, batted .245 with 15 HR and 53 RBI, showing his age before going to the Chicago White Sox for their pennant drive. Dunn was the best offensive player on the team, as he usually was, hitting 32 HR and driving in 74 runs even with a .233 average before going to Arizona for their aborted pennant push. Dunn also drew 80 walks as a Red. Both veteran outfielders were known for slugging and for sluggish defense, a combination that gave the club most of its character. That character changed when the veterans left. Younger, less experienced, and less powerful players were left in their place. Rookies Joey Votto, 24, and Jay Bruce, 21, became the focus of the team. Votto contended for Rookie of the Year honors, hitting .297 with 24 HR and 84 RBI. Bruce got off to a hot start and then cooled, before making adjustments. He hit .254 with 21 HR and 54 RBI. Young veterans Brandon Phillips and Edwin Encarnacion were the other everyday players. Phillips hit .261 with 21 HR, 78 RBI, and 23 steals before going down for the year with a broken hand. Encarnacion was his usual streaky self, and finished at .251 with 26 HR and 68 RBI. Jeff Keppinger spent most of the year at short, and got off to a good start that looked like his strong 2007. A trip to the DL didn't seem to last long enough, as he slumped when he returned and never did get back to where he was. He finished at .266 with 3 HR and 43 RBI. Corey Patterson got entirely too much playing time for his history and his stats. It seems manager Dusty Baker thought he could "fix" Patterson, and pushed for his signing. After a strong first week, Patterson soon sank, and was replaced by Bruce in center field. After the Griffey trade, Patterson spent most of the rest of the season back in CF, between player movement and injuries. In 366 AB, Patterson batted .205 with 10 HR, 34 RBI, and 14 steals. Jerry Hairston was very effective offensively whenever he could manage to be in the lineup. He hit .326 and posted a 124 OPS+. He got just 261 AB, because of his injuries. At 32, it was his career year. Ryan Freel hit .298 in 48 games before going down for the season, and Chris Dickerson came up late in the year and battted a solid .304 with 6 HR before going down himself. Catching was a season-long problem. Paul Bako had a great April, then his bat disappeared. He finished at .217 with 6 HR. Dave Ross was batting .231 with 3 HR when he was released. Javier Valentin batted .256, but once again his defense discouraged his manager from playing him. He mostly pinch-hit. Ryan Hanigan provided a September bright spot, batting .271 in 31 games and earning a shot at the 2009 job. In the veteran backup division, Jolbert Cabrera batted .252 and Andy Phillips .233. Shortstop Paul Janish hit .188 in his first 80 big league AB. Other youngsters: Danny Richar was 8-for-36 (.222), Wilkin Castillo was 9-for-32 (.281), and Adam Rosales was 6-for-29 (.207). Supposed pitcher Micah Owings just pinch-hit, and was 2-for-4 with a double and 3 RBI, and led the team in OPS+ at 218. That's a really small sample size, though. Other OPS+ numbers: in order, Dickerson 160, Dunn 130, Votto and Hairston 124, Encarnacion 106, Griffey 103, Bruce 96. |
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