Record: 76-86, 4th NL East (21 GB)
Postseason: --
Ballpark: Crosley Field (102 hits, 109 HR)
Runs scored: 770 (3rd)
Runs allowed: 719 (9th)
Pythag record: 86-76 (-10)
Recap: The Reds rang out good old Crosley Field with a disappointing season, although, writing this, I just now realized how fantastically unlucky they were. The only other team in baseball that had a double digit discrepancy between actual wins and Pythagorean wins was Oakland, and Oakland was terrible. It's hard to pinpoint, too: their bullpen was bad but not really any worse than the rest of the team (and was led by a pretty decent stopper) and they were 21-29 in one-run contests - which is a lot, and that's not a good record, but... okay, on second glance, that's exactly where things went wrong. If they were 29-21 in those games they'd have been a dark horse NL West contender.
History: The Reds won a single pennant in 1960 but have never won a title. Perhaps that will change in the 70s! They'd just run through (and apparently ended but who knows?) an okay run in Cincy terms: 88-74 in 1967, 80-82 in '68.
Outlook: Cincinnati behaved like a rebuilding team this offseason, making a few trades that kind of tore things down. Was that a bit premature, in retrospect?
Rotation
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+ --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
| first_name | last_name | w | l | Pct | Sv | era | g | gs | cg | sho | gf | ip | bfp | h | r | er | hr | sh | sf | hp | bb | ibb | so | wp | bk | Hper9 | HRper9 | BBer9 | Kper9 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
| Steve | Waiters | 14 | 16 | 0.467 | 0 | 3.57 | 34 | 34 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 252.0 | 1048 | 250 | 112 | 100 | 22 | 15 | 13 | 5 | 73 | 8 | 163 | 4 | 1 | 8.9 | 0.8 | 2.6 | 5.8 |
| Joe | Hagan | 18 | 10 | 0.643 | 0 | 3.29 | 31 | 31 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 241.0 | 983 | 217 | 101 | 88 | 29 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 70 | 2 | 174 | 6 | 1 | 8.1 | 1.1 | 2.6 | 6.5 |
| Josh | Young | 10 | 15 | 0.400 | 0 | 4.46 | 30 | 29 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 207.2 | 870 | 236 | 116 | 103 | 28 | 18 | 13 | 7 | 51 | 2 | 58 | 16 | 2 | 10.2 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 2.5 |
| Jim | Truss | 9 | 7 | 0.563 | 0 | 4.22 | 17 | 17 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 111.0 | 463 | 106 | 59 | 52 | 16 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 36 | 3 | 72 | 7 | 0 | 8.6 | 1.3 | 2.9 | 5.8 |
| Bill | Vanover | 6 | 5 | 0.545 | 0 | 4.19 | 16 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 109.2 | 462 | 113 | 60 | 51 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 26 | 1 | 50 | 7 | 0 | 9.3 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 4.1 |
| Garrett | Elser | 2 | 3 | 0.400 | 0 | 3.15 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 34.1 | 142 | 24 | 14 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 2 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 6.3 | 0.8 | 5.5 | 4.7 |
| Matt | Mason | 0 | 3 | 0.000 | 0 | 6.61 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31.1 | 145 | 39 | 24 | 23 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 30 | 1 | 0 | 11.2 | 1.1 | 2.9 | 8.6 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
The Reds were sunk by a pitching staff that finished the season with an ERA higher than 4 (4.03, 10th in the league) and to their credit they took great pains to rectify that. They do return last year's ace, Joe Hagan, who in spite of the team record finished in the top 10 in wins, winning percentage, and strikeouts. One year removed from being banished to the bullpen, Hagan proved he can anchor a rotation. Steve Waiters was the Reds' ASG representative as a starter on the face of a hot start - as of June 19 he was 10-5 with a 2.60 ERA and there was talk of a CYA in his future. Then he had a couple of awful months in July and August - 0-4 and 2-3 with ERAs over 4.50 for both months - before getting back to a somewhat average level for September (2-3, 3.56). Waiters is still young and struck out 200 batters in '68, so the Reds will go in hoping he can eliminate those bad months in 1970 and be that star.
The back half of the rotation are all guys the Reds brought in over the past year. The tentative #3 is Tom Bertan, acquired from the Angels along with two other pitchers in exchange for their star catcher Mike Perez and LF Nelson Vargas. He's more of a workhorse than a star but the Reds desperately needed decent innings last year. The #4 is a guy they traded for in midseason, "Big Bill" Vanover, who went a combined 11-13 with the Reds and Senators, posting a 3.71 ERA in doing so. And their current 5th starter is newly acquired Mike Johnston, who went 19-5 for the Cardinals back in their WS victory year of 1965 but has had issues staying healthy each of the past two seasons. He was also kind of bad last year but our stat boys tell us that this might have been due to bad luck, a thing the Reds are very familiar with.
Bullpen
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| first_name | last_name | w | l | Pct | Sv | era | g | gs | cg | sho | gf | ip | bfp | h | r | er | hr | sh | sf | hp | bb | ibb | so | wp | bk | Hper9 | HRper9 | BBer9 | Kper9 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
| Greg | Shrewsbury | 4 | 7 | 0.364 | 0 | 3.93 | 43 | 16 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 151.0 | 641 | 155 | 71 | 66 | 16 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 43 | 2 | 108 | 2 | 0 | 9.2 | 1.0 | 2.6 | 6.4 |
| Ricky | Rosas | 8 | 6 | 0.571 | 19 | 3.33 | 65 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54 | 92.0 | 370 | 66 | 35 | 34 | 17 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 37 | 4 | 83 | 3 | 1 | 6.5 | 1.7 | 3.6 | 8.1 |
| David | Williams | 2 | 4 | 0.333 | 1 | 4.44 | 15 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 50.2 | 222 | 63 | 28 | 25 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 11.2 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 2.3 |
| Carlos | Duran | 0 | 4 | 0.000 | 0 | 6.98 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 40.0 | 176 | 50 | 32 | 31 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 3 | 24 | 2 | 0 | 11.3 | 2.5 | 3.6 | 5.4 |
| Robby | Mounier | 1 | 3 | 0.250 | 2 | 6.49 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 26.1 | 122 | 31 | 27 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 10.6 | 1.4 | 4.4 | 4.8 |
| Josh | Miner | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 4.08 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 17.2 | 81 | 17 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 8.7 | 1.0 | 8.7 | 3.6 |
| Gavin | Yates | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 1 | 5.19 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 17.1 | 75 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7.8 | 1.6 | 4.7 | 4.2 |
| Greg | Comer | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 1 | 4.15 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 13.0 | 60 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 9.0 | 0.7 | 6.9 | 6.2 |
| John | Labbe | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 2.63 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 13.2 | 55 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 7.9 | 1.3 | 3.3 | 7.9 |
| Manny | Rivera | 0 | 0 | | 1 | 2.38 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 11.1 | 44 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7.1 | 0.0 | 3.2 | 6.4 |
| Geoff | Stephens | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 2.79 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.2 | 45 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 9.3 | 0.9 | 4.7 | 3.7 |
| Bill | Castillo | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 0 | 10.80 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5.0 | 27 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 14.4 | 3.6 | 7.2 | 5.4 |
| Rick | Legere | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0.00 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.0 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 |
| Edwin | de la Garza | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.0 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 13.5 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
Ricky Rosas was... well, truth be told, he was merely above average as a relief pitcher, which probably puts him towards the bottom of the stopper list (incidentally, OSA is no help - they rank Cincy's "closers" at 4th but then list a guy they just brought over from California to be a 6th starter / long reliever as their top guy). Ricky Rosas didn't completely melt down at times the way, say, a Paz Lemus in Pittsburgh did last year, but for a guy who struck out 8 batters per 9 innings, he sure had trouble with the longball. The Reds' early plans are to challenge him with former Astros prospect Cory Rosanova, who played the entire year in the minor leagues last year. He wasn't super effective at Oklahoma City (4-5, 1 save, a 4.52 ERA) but on the other hand the PCL was very, very hitter-friendly in 1969 and the Reds will hope he can be more like he was in 1966, when he pitched 63 innings over 32 games with a sub-2.50 ERA (2.42).
Greg Shrewsbury was another big workhorse last year, more out of necessity than anything else. While his ERA climbed a run and a half from 1968 (from 2.43 to 3.93) he still wound up being one of the most effective guys coming out of the bullpen for them. In fact, all of his woes came when they tried to use him in the rotation - he was 4-7 with a 4.50 ERA and 13 HRs allowed in 114 innings in 18 starts, vs a 2.19 ERA in 27 games in relief, along with a nearly 3-1 K/W ratio (29:10).
Catcher
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+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| pos | first_name | last_name | g | ab | r | h | 2B | 3B | hr | rbi | bb | ibb | k | hpb | sh | sf | sb | cs | gdp | ba | obp | slg |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| C | Mike | Perez | 117 | 435 | 61 | 102 | 20 | 3 | 27 | 75 | 44 | 1 | 127 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0.234 | 0.307 | 0.480 |
| C | Oliver | Williams | 50 | 151 | 16 | 33 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 19 | 21 | 3 | 28 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0.219 | 0.318 | 0.338 |
| C | John | Kohut | 8 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.143 | 0.368 | 0.143 |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
There is no doubt that losing Mike Perez opens up a giant hole at catcher for the Reds. For now the plan is to go straight to the backup Oliver Williams. Williams showed signs of hitting for average in the minor leagues but failed to do so in his rookie campaign last year. He does handle pitchers well, which was a thing Mike Perez was praised for, although the early verdict on his arm is that he can be run on. His backup is 30 year old career minor leaguer John Kohut, who got his first taste of the big leagues last year. As you might expect, Kohut doesn't really do anything a major league player ought to do, although he should be able to hit higher than .143.
Infield
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+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| pos | first_name | last_name | g | ab | r | h | 2B | 3B | hr | rbi | bb | ibb | k | hpb | sh | sf | sb | cs | gdp | ba | obp | slg |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| 1B | Stephen | Clark | 145 | 583 | 89 | 164 | 24 | 3 | 24 | 97 | 32 | 1 | 32 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 0.281 | 0.327 | 0.456 |
| 1B | Alonzo | Rivera | 15 | 53 | 7 | 24 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0.453 | 0.473 | 0.547 |
| 2B | Pedro | Ortiz | 147 | 614 | 87 | 194 | 23 | 6 | 6 | 56 | 51 | 5 | 23 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 21 | 16 | 3 | 0.316 | 0.370 | 0.402 |
| 2B | Matt | Downing | 47 | 97 | 14 | 31 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0.320 | 0.364 | 0.402 |
| 3B | Bobby | Kraljevic | 80 | 249 | 38 | 69 | 7 | 1 | 11 | 39 | 58 | 4 | 23 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 0.277 | 0.415 | 0.446 |
| 3B | Johnny | Madison | 66 | 150 | 29 | 46 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 22 | 23 | 4 | 32 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.307 | 0.400 | 0.513 |
| 3B | Killian | Bychyk | 28 | 71 | 7 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 16 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.127 | 0.281 | 0.141 |
| 3B | Tim | Parsons | 36 | 75 | 7 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.147 | 0.235 | 0.280 |
| 3B | Fidelio | Guerrero | 17 | 36 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.222 | 0.349 | 0.333 |
| 3B | Mike | Ramos | 9 | 23 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.348 | 0.464 | 0.522 |
| SS | Mike | Wendt | 114 | 439 | 53 | 104 | 18 | 8 | 12 | 57 | 24 | 0 | 89 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 5 | 10 | 0.237 | 0.282 | 0.396 |
| SS | Ryan | Russell | 56 | 135 | 21 | 29 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 15 | 3 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.215 | 0.291 | 0.326 |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
Stephen Clark bounced back from a poor 1968 in which he hit just 14 HRs in a full season of play to slap 24 of them last year. He may never quite reach the heights of his amazing 1966 season again (a league-leading .346 BA, 41 doubles, 27 HRs, 98 RBIs) but you know what you're getting from this 5-time All Star, and that's a lot of production.
Pedro Ortiz reached his 3rd All-Star Game in his young career last year. He's a prototypical #2 hitter: a high average hitter, good gap power, and a nearly 2:1 walk to strikeout ratio. Last year saw him set new personal highs in at-bats, runs, hits, RBIs, and walks.
26 year old Bobby Kraljevic earned a spot on the 1970 roster with a fine second half. He was called up from the AAA Indianapolis Indians in mid-June to replace Killian Bychyk, who went from merely bad in 1968 (he slashed 178/243/249 in 309 at-bats) to "pitchers regularly outhit him" levels of bad. In going with Kraljevic the Reds bypassed 36 year old Johnny Madison, who signed with the Reds after being cut loose by the Washington Senators at the end of April. Madison himself was only a .229 career hitter but he did break the .300 mark last year with Cincy.
Mike Wendt is a sure-handed shortstop who isn't quite living up to his reputation as the #10 pick in the 1966 draft. OSA ranked him as the 38th best prospect at the end of that year but he just kind of fell out of the prospect lists after that. As of now he has some tantalizing skills - good pop for a middle infielder, potentially world-class speed - but his shortcomings, particularly his proneness towards striking out, prevent him from being considered as more than a roughly league-average shortstop. He's still a big upgrade from Ryan Russell, who hit just .170 in 1968 as a full-time starter for this team and is still somehow unhappy that he lost his starting job.
Outfield
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+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| pos | first_name | last_name | g | ab | r | h | 2B | 3B | hr | rbi | bb | ibb | k | hpb | sh | sf | sb | cs | gdp | ba | obp | slg |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| LF | Junior | Cannon | 73 | 277 | 59 | 98 | 13 | 2 | 25 | 63 | 33 | 2 | 33 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.354 | 0.427 | 0.686 |
| LF | Bobby | Kelly | 63 | 216 | 34 | 52 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 42 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 0.241 | 0.362 | 0.292 |
| LF | Matayahu | Patterson | 99 | 117 | 20 | 32 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 24 | 15 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.274 | 0.356 | 0.547 |
| LF | Greg | Cowan | 52 | 88 | 12 | 24 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 11 | 1 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0.273 | 0.363 | 0.364 |
| LF | Willie | Ortega | 23 | 90 | 12 | 25 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.278 | 0.293 | 0.567 |
| LF | John | Penn | 9 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.167 | 0.167 | 0.167 |
| CF | Chris | Wilkes | 114 | 408 | 44 | 96 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 37 | 46 | 1 | 81 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 15 | 6 | 0.235 | 0.314 | 0.277 |
| CF | Nelson | Vargas | 121 | 379 | 59 | 124 | 14 | 2 | 9 | 42 | 43 | 3 | 29 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 0.327 | 0.393 | 0.446 |
| RF | Justin | Jensen | 98 | 355 | 54 | 88 | 10 | 1 | 23 | 64 | 57 | 7 | 98 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.248 | 0.357 | 0.476 |
| RF | Tommy | Scott | 24 | 56 | 6 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.268 | 0.323 | 0.304 |
| RF | Roger | Greeno | 9 | 23 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.261 | 0.346 | 0.304 |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
Junior Cannon all by himself has to put the Reds into AL West talks. If he'd have played at that level for the entire season - he was called up at the end of June and didn't take over as a starter until after the All-Star Break - he'd have certainly won the MVP. He had a month of August to rival anyone's - a .382 average, 17 dingers, 45 RBI. He came down a bit in September but still.. that's very, very good for a guy who was only rated the 88th best prospect in baseball at the beginning of the year (note: TCR, anyone?). He supplanted Bobby Kelly, a defensive wizard and 5-time Gold Glover (which, OOTP, you don't need to hand out GGs to actual left fielders) who hit more like a middle infielder than a corner outfielder. Kelly incidentally was cut loose in early September after complaining about at-bats for months and was quickly snapped up by the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Reds are going with Ben Menke as their starting CF going into 1970. Menke is a former starter for the Red Sox and White Sox who even attended two All-Star Games. However, he's always had issues with striking out too much and since 1967 he's struggled to even hit .200. He is a plus-plus fielder (no Gold Gloves only because the AL has Norm Hodge in it) and if he can cut down on those Ks just a little bit, he can resurrect his career at age 29. If not, the Reds still have last year's guy, Chris Wilkes. Wilkes isn't quite the gloveman that Menke is but he also doesn't have the K issues.
Justin Jensen will be the steady veteran presence in this outfield as it moves out of Crosley Field and into shiny new Riverfront Stadium. Jensen's missed significant time the last 2 years it's slightly to be expected - the man is 34 - and he's topped 20 HRs for 7 straight seasons since winning the full-time job back in 1963. He is currently 63 HRs behind Reds all-time leader Lorenzo Vazquez (who has 304 of them). It seems like it will be a race between Jensen and Clark to see who reaches that first.