Heroes of the Zeros: Third Base
During the aughts, the Reds had 39 different players play at least one game at 3B, including Javier Valentin, Jason Larue, Dmitri Young, and Wily Mo Pena. There was also a fan favorite, a fan whipping boy, and a guy that is more famous for a single swing on another team than anything he did with the Reds. Who do you think is the starting 3B for the Reds All Decade team? Vote in the poll after the jump.
Other ballots: Starting Rotation | Bullpen | Catcher | First base | Second base
| Years | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | OPS+ | wOBA | WAR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron Boone | 2000-2003 | 455 | 1889 | 1681 | 242 | 451 | 101 | 7 | 70 | 257 | 144 | 308 | .268 | .335 | .462 | .797 | 103 |
.339 | 8.4 |
| Edwin Encarnacion | 2005-2009 | 514 | 2000 | 1764 | 236 | 462 | 109 | 4 | 71 | 263 | 185 | 364 | .262 | .345 | .449 | .793 | 103 |
.344 | 1.4 |
| Tim Hummel | 2003-2004 | 82 | 219 | 194 | 19 | 43 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 17 | 16 | 30 | .222 | .285 | .314 | .599 | 58 |
.258 | -0.9 |
| Brandon Larson | 2001-2004 | 109 | 332 | 291 | 29 | 52 | 11 | 0 | 8 | 37 | 35 | 86 | .179 | .271 | .299 | .570 | 49 |
.258 | -1.4 |
| Andy Phillips | 2008 | 52 | 80 | 73 | 11 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 14 | .233 | .300 | .397 | .697 | 80 |
.307 | -0.2 |
| Joe Randa | 2005 | 92 | 368 | 332 | 44 | 96 | 26 | 1 | 13 | 48 | 33 | 52 | .289 | .356 | .491 | .847 | 120 |
.362 | 1.3 |
| Scott Rolen | 2009 | 40 | 162 | 137 | 24 | 37 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 24 | 19 | 20 | .270 | .364 | .401 | .766 | 102 |
.342 | 0.9 |
| Adam Rosales | 2008-2009 | 105 | 296 | 259 | 23 | 55 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 21 | 27 | 50 | .212 | .296 | .309 | .605 | 60 |
.275 | -0.3 |
| Chris Stynes | 2000 | 119 | 420 | 380 | 71 | 127 | 24 | 1 | 12 | 40 | 32 | 54 | .334 | .386 | .497 | .883 | 120 |
.378 | 2.5 |
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I voted Aaron Boone
Mostly because I miss the the guy so sorely. Do you guys think anyone is going to fool around with Edwin next year? No multi-year contracts in his near future. I bet he resents that. Yea, I hope he does too.
Start SEEing motorcycles
I've never understood people that openly hated Edwin
I can understand wanting to get rid of him, but it seems like there are a lot of people that wish him ill. I don’t get the reason for that.
I don’t think that Edwin will be a cornerstone for anybody, if that’s what you are asking. However, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him catch on with a team in another position and put up decent though not great numbers. Then again, if his wrist never fully recovers, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him sputter around for another year or two before being out of the game all together.
Red Reporter or follow on Twitter: @redreporter
i know edwin had 59 more games
but find it remarkable that boone and edwin’s numbers are virutally identical, yet boone is the good guy and edwin is dirt.
That same logic kept Tavaras in CF this long.
There’s no crying in baseball!
Start SEEing motorcycles
what a crappy lot.
Edwin. And I still swear a move to 3B could have saved Austin Kearns’s career. Of course, so would have fixing that giant hole in his swing.
by Brian B on Dec 21, 2009 9:06 AM EST via mobile reply actions
Boonie was a solid bat, and a nice glove over there. He's my pick.
I completely forgot about how good Stynes was that year.
-j
I write at:
Beyond the Boxscore | Red Reporter | Basement-Dwellers.com | Twitter: @jinazreds
It's tough to ignore the WAR
But I’m giving it to Edwin based on longevity, and the fact that Boone’s numbers aren’t really that much better than Edwin’s. Big props to Boone for his honesty (“Yes, I was playing basketball”) and for coming back from open-heart surgery. Not to mention convincing Hall o’ Famer Hal to keep writing. What a great guy.
It is tough to ignore the WAR
which is why I didn’t. Gotta go with Boone here. Edwin just had so many ups and downs, and he missed his fair share of time too, due to demotions/injuries.
Boone could be a frustrating player, but he was clearly more valuable.
If I hear the word 'perky' again, I'll puke
WAR??!! Good God! What is it good for??
"Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you!"
by "Red" Moskau on Dec 22, 2009 7:02 AM EST up reply actions
Stynes played in this decade?
who knew
"There is no harder thing than to have Glenn Beck outlive your child."-The Onion
ive always had a place in my heart
for Tim “The Collection” Hummel. that bastard was the OG Adam Rosales.
"Everything you are doing is bad. I want you to know this."
by Charlie Scrabbles on Dec 21, 2009 10:37 AM EST reply actions
How is Edwin only coming in at 1.4 WAR?
Fangraphs has him at 6.0… Does Sean Smith’s WAR dock him 4.6 WAR for his defense?
Yeah, those guys and the Cincinnati Reds. They're a terrible football team. / Because they're a baseball team? / Exactly. You know who's the worst football team? The Philadelphia Flyers. - Best Show
by RijoSaboCaseyWKRP on Dec 21, 2009 10:55 AM EST reply actions
Actually it should be 1.0 WAR
I just noticed that Smith has updated his WAR lists with 2009 data.
It looks like the biggest difference is on defense. WIth the Reds, UZR has EdE worth -35 runs, but Total Zone has him worth -55 runs. There is also a big difference in offense. FanGraphs has EdE at +20.7 on offense, but Smith only has him worth +2 on offense. I’m not sure which formula Sean is using to calculate runs, but I’m pretty sure FanGraphs uses wOBA runs. Those are the two main differences. FanGraphs also has a slightly more favorable replacement level for Edwin.
I like FanGraphs defensive model a little better, but since we don’t have that data for the entire decade, we can’t use it. The important thing is that we shouldn’t say “Fan Graphs has Edwin at 6 WAR, so he compares much better to Boone in that case” because Boone would also likely have some differences in his WAR , though in the 2 seasons we have on Fan Graphs, he rates about 0.4 WAR lower than in Smith’s system.
Red Reporter or follow on Twitter: @redreporter
i voted for joe randa for his opening day game-winning HR
gotta perform while the games still matter…which for the Reds usually ends after the first week of the season.
"Live every week like it's shark week. And dress everyday like you're gonna get murdered in those clothes." - Tracey Jordan
by RedinWrigleyville on Dec 21, 2009 11:20 AM EST reply actions
My choice too
What a sorry lot to choose from….or rather Such a sorry lot from which to choose.
Chris was a guy that ... was heavily misunderstood.. the only guys that knew Chris and knew how good of a heart he had, how kind he was, how gentle he was, how soft of a heart he had, were the guys in our locker room, the guys who were close to him, his family." — Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer
Boone
Numbers are pretty clear on this one but w.i.f. does Larson think of himself for hitting .179? Crap, I could do that and I remember when Ike was president.
i miss aaron boone ...
… should have given him one of those 1 day contracts so he could retire a red ….. he gets my vote
"Some times you get lucky; some times you get Willy Taveras." - Teh Fay
That was close for me...
I voted Boonie, but I really don’t like all the hate EdE’s getting…
People Don't Kill People. Burning Couches Kill People.
ditto
On both counts
"Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you!"
by "Red" Moskau on Dec 22, 2009 7:04 AM EST up reply actions
Scott Rolen anyone?
ok small sample siz’d but he still is by far the best player on this list. no one comes close to his defense, and he is top 3 in offense. He is one of the best 3b of the decade in the MLB not just for the reds. EE or Boone are not even in his league, even when he is 34 years old
"strikeouts are a lot sexier than groundouts"
Are you saying he should be the 3B of the decade for the Reds based on 40 games?
Red Reporter or follow on Twitter: @redreporter
so he gets my vote
i mean he qualified for the list, so im going with the best player on the list
"strikeouts are a lot sexier than groundouts"
The plaque for 2nd place is in the ladies' room...
"Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you!"
by "Red" Moskau on Dec 22, 2009 7:04 AM EST up reply actions
where's Brendan??
he’s gonna be so pissed when he finds out he missed this.
"Everything you are doing is bad. I want you to know this."
by Charlie Scrabbles on Dec 21, 2009 11:31 PM EST up reply actions
They do, he'll just see it in two weeks when the carrier pigeon arrives with the last data packet strapped to its ankle
"Santa Claus doesn't use Craigslist." -- 'tHan
boone for me.
obviously rolen is superior to about 90% of 3B ever to play the game, but i was a huge boone fan. when he came to the plate and everyone yelled “BOOOOOOOOOOOOONE”—i mean that was sweet.
This was just about as easy as the 2B pick for me.
Boone was the easy choice, but if Rolen had put up a full year in Cincy, he’d probably have gotten my vote too.
"If it wasn't this, it'd be something else."
Scrabbles:
I can’t reply in threads like these. But I’m sticking with GrooveLeg, my wingman. He’s lined up to take the shot right now!
and pop tops, too? they never taught us that in school.
it’s just too bad that broadband access doesn’t extend throughout the region (that will change with new broadband bill)
I went to school with the grandson of the guy who invented Poptops
Fraze Pavilion in Kettering? Named after that guy. Dayton has the most patents per capita of any city in the country.
i didn't know you were a dayton guy.
we might be a dying city who has more per capita crime than detroit, but we were the coolest city in the world in 1890.
I'd rather be datin' a girl from Eaton than....
"Santa Claus doesn't use Craigslist." -- 'tHan
by jch24 on Dec 22, 2009 10:57 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Are there any good burger places in Dayton?
We could have an RR burger tour: Dayton edition.
"If it wasn't this, it'd be something else."
Most Daytonians don't venture out past 7:00pm
Ah…how I miss my old one room apartment on Fountain Ave,,,
Incompetents invariably make trouble for people other than themselves.
Larry Mcmurtry

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