Was discussing the Reds as a whole with my brother, pondering the position groupings (ie "all shortstops for the team") and wondering which group would be accepted by most (more than 16) major league teams. Figured probably all but shortstop, even though I'm heavy on the Paul "Kimmel" Janish bandwagon.

The convo evolved into making a comparison to the Reds team 9 years ago, the Reds defensively cover more field on defense and still get more from the bad.  (Dunno how you measure increased defensive area, cum zones? but prolly 10% more given how bad some of our glove men were in the past)

Here they are, your 2011 Reds vs your 2002 Reds:

Outfield: Dunn, Kearns, Griffey, Juan Encarnacion            vs            Stubbs, Gomes, Heisey, Bruce  (obviously, Gomes being the weak link by far)

1b: Casey                                                                             vs            Votto (pretty equal, edge to Votto)

2b: Todd Walker                                                               vs            Brandon Phillips  (puhleez)

3b: Aaron Boone                                                              vs            Rolen    (edge Boonie)

SS: Larkin                                                                             vs            Janish / Renteria   (older larkin, so edge to Janish)

C: LaRue / Stinnett/ Corky                                            vs            Hernandez, Kevin Bacon, Corky  (edge to 2011)

Then the pitchers are just higher quality ANYWAY, let alone that the defense makes them even better than that.