Heroes of the Zeros: Second Base

by Slyde on Dec 18, 2009 8:00 AM EST in All Decade Team Comment 20 comments

Today's installment of vote for the best of the Reds worst moves us to second base. The Reds have seen some decent offense from 2B over the decade, and two of the best defenders they've ever had at the position. However, until Brandon Phillips came along in 2006, it was one of the most unstable positions on the team. This shouldn't be a difficult vote today, but who knows with you guys. Ballot is after the jump.

Other ballots: Starting Rotation | Bullpen | Catcher | First base

Click header to sort table by column
	Years	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	wOBA	WAR
Rich Aurilia	2005-2006	236	949	866	122	252	48	3	37	138	71	118	.291	.344	.482	.825	110	.352	3.2
D'Angelo Jimenez	2003-2005	260	1102	958	124	260	48	5	19	103	130	165	.271	.359	.391	.751	98	.335	3.3
Brandon Phillips	2006-2009	601	2542	2329	330	642	108	19	88	345	151	365	.276	.324	.452	.776	98	.330	5.2*
Pokey Reese	2000-2001	268	1051	946	126	228	40	8	21	86	79	168	.241	.303	.367	.670	68	.289	1.5
Donnie Sadler	2001	39	95	84	9	17	3	0	1	3	9	20	.202	.280	.274	.553	42	.251	-0.6
Bill Selby	2001	36	100	92	7	21	7	1	2	12	5	13	.228	.273	.391	.664	66	.277	-0.5
Drew Sutton	2009	42	76	66	10	14	4	1	1	9	7	20	.212	.297	.348	.646	70	.282	0.1
Todd Walker	2001-2002	221	964	873	120	260	59	3	16	96	76	123	.298	.356	.427	.783	101	.338	1.9

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/15/2009.

* Because FanGraphs only goes back to 2002, I have been using Sean Smith's WAR Database for WAR values except for 2009, which I have pulled from FanGraphs. Smith's WAR is calculated using different defensive metrics which rate Brandon Phillips much more poorly than I think anyone would actually say he is, and therefore lowers his WAR value dramatically. Using just FanGraphs, Phillips WAR with the Reds is 12.5, which I would guess is closer to a correct valuation of BP. However, for consistency sake, I have only included it in this footnote and am sticking to Smith's WAR in the table.

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Comments

Donn-ie Sad-ler!

Wear something sexy to my funeral.

by Pops Daniels on Dec 18, 2009 8:30 AM EST reply actions

Gook-ie Daw-kins

only 30 years old and just got his 2nd drug suspension. bring him back!

"Nate Silver is a genius" .... BK

by obc2 on Dec 18, 2009 8:41 AM EST reply actions

did aurilla play all of those games at 2nd? it seems like a lot.

"Some times you get lucky; some times you get Willy Taveras." - Teh Fay

by joshuar9476 on Dec 18, 2009 9:03 AM EST reply actions

nevermind, slyde answered this in the first basemen post

"Some times you get lucky; some times you get Willy Taveras." - Teh Fay

by joshuar9476 on Dec 18, 2009 9:12 AM EST up reply actions

no

all stats are for all of their time with the Reds, not just when they played that specific position. I have assigned players to the position that they played the most.

Red Reporter or follow on Twitter: @redreporter

by Slyde on Dec 18, 2009 9:13 AM EST up reply actions

this one is easy.

by GrooveLeg on Dec 18, 2009 9:14 AM EST reply actions

Yeah, I don't expect this one to be very close

which is funny because there are actually some decent players on this list. I was surprised to see the number of pretty good hitters at 2B they’ve had. Too bad the good hitters, for the most part, couldn’t play defense.

Red Reporter or follow on Twitter: @redreporter

by Slyde on Dec 18, 2009 9:19 AM EST up reply actions

that's true

and i was most surprised at jimenez’s avg. and WAR during his time here. my memory of him doesn’t serve me well.

by GrooveLeg on Dec 18, 2009 2:57 PM EST up reply actions

I was surprised to see that Aurilia hit so well with the Reds

I just assumed that he was much more of a league average hitter. And who would’ve thunk that D’Angelo was a better hitter as a Red than BP?

Red Reporter or follow on Twitter: @redreporter

by Slyde on Dec 18, 2009 9:15 AM EST reply actions

I selected Aurilia as the Reds' best hitter in 2006

http://www.basement-dwellers.com/2007/02/2006-reds-hitting-review.html
Mostly because he led in VORP. That was Dunn’s really bad year. Aurilia was the only guy who hit over the last two months or so.

‘Course, FanGraphs has Freel as being huge that year.
http://www.fangraphs.com/winss.aspx?team=Reds&pos=all&stats=bat&qual=0&type=6&season=2006&month=0
But we didn’t have much in the way of fielding stats back then.

I mean, holy crap, VORP? That was the dark ages! (really like a few of those plots I was doing back then, however. Might need to start doing some of them again).
-j

I write at:
Beyond the Boxscore | Red Reporter | Basement-Dwellers.com | Twitter: @jinazreds

by JinAZ on Dec 18, 2009 9:51 AM EST up reply actions

is VORP not cool anymore?

I’m not keeping up on my stat hipness at all.

And yeah, D’Angelo, Todd, and the Bad Man all were pretty solid, I expect Aurilia to be one of the utility players we end up getting on this team.

"And then there was the USAID guy in Kandahar who drove a giant pink Cadillac, which the locals set on fire one day. If you wanted to destroy something symbolic during a riot, you just could not do better than that. Good stuff." - Ghosts of Alexander

by Cy Schourek on Dec 18, 2009 10:12 AM EST up reply actions