All Reds team 1965-2016 position players

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Whenever you start a project like this involving the Cincinnati Reds, invariably the question is, “What do you do with Pete Rose?” Rose is, of course MLB's all time hits leader. At first, I was going to put Rose at third ahead of Tony Perez. Then I thought about putting in him in right field. Ultimately, I didn't put him anywhere. What Rose recently admitted to was enough for me to leave him off this team. Frankly, I wonder when the Reds and baseball knew about off the field habits. I wonder, if Rose was actually was having sex with underage girls, when the Reds and Baseball in general knew. How big of a secret was it. Pete Rose is neither a low profile or quiet guy. I also wonder how isolated incidents like this are. Whenever you combine the topics of baseball and Pete Rose, it seems the discussion is seldom fun and lighthearted. With that out of the way, he we go.

Catcher: Johnny Bench When you have a HOF catcher who twice led the league in homers and three times led the league in RBIs, it's usually a pretty easy choice. The fact he was a gold glover behind the plate adds to his value. His best home run season was in 1970 when he hit 45. His best RBI totals were 148129-125. Johnny spent 17 seasons with the Reds and finished with a WAR of 75.0 In his prime, I think he's the best catcher I've ever seen.

First base: Joey Votto Joey is having a hall of fame career on a bunch of bad teams. He's an on base machine. As of now, his career OBP is .426 Joey has had three seasons where his OPS was over 1.000. He also hits with power. He's generally been good for 25-30 runs a year. As of now, he's hit 29 in the 2017 season. His defense isn't great, but considering his bat, that's okay. The Reds have had other first basemen of note. I've got Tony Perez playing third, so there will be more about him later. Lee May put up a nice run of 38-34-39 homers from 1969-71. Is best value to the Reds was being traded to the Astros for Joe Morgan. Sean Casey, provided a decent left handed bat for a number of years. The position goes to one of the toughest outs in baseball, Joey Votto.

Second base: Joe Morgan And another hall of famer. I wasn't thrilled by Joe Morgan the baseball color guy, but Joe Morgan the ballplayer was something to behold. In 1976 Joe had one of the best seasons of any second baseman in baseball history. Joe had an OBP of .444, and slugged .576. Both of those led the league. He also had 27 home runs and 111 RBIs. His WAR for the season was 9.6. Surprisingly he had an even higher WAR in 1975 when it was 11.0. Joe led the NL in OBP four times. In eight seasons with the Reds, Joe put up an OPS of .885 and won five gold gloves. From the 2016-16 Brandon Phillips gave the Reds stellar defense and decent power from the second base position.

Shortstop: Barry Larkin Our next hall of famer is shortstop, Barry Larkin. Barry had a wonderfully balanced game. He had some speed, could hit for power and average and was strong defensively. Barry spent 19 years with the Reds, putting together an OPS of .815. His defensive WAR was 13.8 and his total WAR was 70.2. Good enough for the Hall of Fame and a spot on this team. The Reds had another shortstop of note who played with them for 19 years, Dave Concepcion. Davey was a glove first guy as his defensive WAR of 20.9 attests to. While his bat wasn't particularly loud, his .679 OPS was okay, considering his glove. His total WAR with the Reds was 39.8.

Third base: Tony Perez Tony played first and third for the Reds, but I've got him at third. Tony played in the bigs 23 years, 16 of them with the Reds. Tony had 287 home runs and and 1192 RBIs while in Cincinnati. Tony had six seasons of 25 or more home runs and six seasons with 100 or more RBIs. Todd Frazier came up with the Reds in 2011 and from 2012-15 gave the Reds some power at the position. He even managed to play some decent defense. Todd finished with a WAR of 15.3 in five seasons with the Reds.

Left field: George Foster One of the big mashers on those Big Red machine teams of the 70s was George Foster. In 1977 George led the NL with 52 homers. He followed that up with a league leading 40 in 1978. From 1976-78 his RBI totals were 121-149-120. He led the NL in that categories all three of those seasons. George played 11 seasons for the Reds and totaled 244 homers and 861 RBIs to go with a .286 average. His WAR for his Reds career was 39.3. Adam Dun also gets a shout out. From 2004-08 Adam hit 46-40-40-40-40 home runs. His WAR for his 8 years in Cincinnati was 16.4. He would have been much higher if his defensive WAR hadn't been -13.5.

Center field: Eric Davis Eric was one of the most exciting players to wear a Reds uniform. Eric was a great combination of speed and power. In nine years with the Reds, Eric slugged 203 home runs to go with 615 RBIs and 270 stolen bases. Eric stole 80 bases in 1986. His OPS was .841 to go with a WAR of 30.5. Eric could have done much more if he hadn't been slowed by injuries. Another center fielder of note was Cesar Geronimo. Cesar was a gold glove center fielder for those great Big Red machine teams of the 70s. Cesar didn't swing a big stick, but won four gold gloves.

Right field: Reggie Sanders When you take Pete Rose out of the equation, you have some guys who were good, but not great. I put Reggie Sanders at the top of that group. Reggie spent 8 seasons with the Reds and hit 125 home runs to go with 158 stolen bases. Add an OPS of .829 and a WAR of 21.4. Reggie was a nice player for the Reds. So was Paul O'Neil. Paul also spent 8 years with the Reds and put up an OPS of .767 and WAR of 12.2. Things picked up for him in New York.

Those are my picks, how do they compare to yours?