# 2004 Cincinnati Reds season

The 2004 Cincinnati Reds season was the 135th season for the franchise in Major League Baseball, and their second season at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. They improved on their 69–93 record from 2003.

## Offseason

* January 14, 2004: John Vander Wal was signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds.
* March 14, 2004: John Vander Wal was released by the Cincinnati Reds.
* March 17, 2004: John Vander Wal was signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds.

## Regular season
### Season summary

The Reds finished with a final record of 76–86. That earned them fourth place in their division. They finished 29 games behind the division winner and eventual National League champion, the St. Louis Cardinals. The Reds also finished 16 games behind the second place team and National League wild card winner, the Houston Astros. The Reds finished 13 games behind the third place team, the Chicago Cubs. They finished 3½ games ahead of the fifth place team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and 8½ games ahead of the sixth place team, the Milwaukee Brewers.

### Season standings
#### National League Central

vteNL Central :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 105 | 57 | .648 | — | 53‍–‍28 | 52‍–‍29 |
| Houston Astros | 92 | 70 | .568 | 13 | 48‍–‍33 | 44‍–‍37 |
| Chicago Cubs | 89 | 73 | .549 | 16 | 45‍–‍37 | 44‍–‍36 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 76 | 86 | .469 | 29 | 40‍–‍41 | 36‍–‍45 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 72 | 89 | .447 | 32½ | 39‍–‍41 | 33‍–‍48 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 67 | 94 | .416 | 37½ | 36‍–‍45 | 31‍–‍49 |

#### Record vs. opponents

2004 National League recordvte Source: :
| Team | AZ | ATL | CHC | CIN | COL | FLA | HOU | LA | MIL | MTL | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | AL |
| Arizona | — | 2–4 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 6–13 | 3–4 | 2–4 | 3–16 | 3–3 | 0–6 | 3–4 | 1–5 | 2–4 | 7–12 | 5–14 | 1–5 | 6–12 |
| Atlanta | 4–2 | — | 3–3 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 14–5 | 3–3 | 4–3 | 4–2 | 15–4 | 12–7 | 10–9 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 4–3 | 2–4 | 8–10 |
| Chicago | 2–4 | 3–3 | — | 9–8 | 5–1 | 3–3 | 10–9 | 2–4 | 10–7 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 13–5 | 4–2 | 2–4 | 8–11 | 8–4 |
| Cincinnati | 3–3 | 4–2 | 8–9 | — | 3–3 | 4–2 | 6–11 | 4–2 | 10–8 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 9–10 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 5–14 | 5-7 |
| Colorado | 13–6 | 2–4 | 1–5 | 3–3 | — | 1–5 | 1–5 | 8–11 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 1–5 | 5–3 | 2–4 | 10–9 | 8–11 | 1–5 | 8–10 |
| Florida | 4–3 | 5–14 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 5–1 | — | 3–3 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 11–8 | 15–4 | 12–7 | 1–5 | 4–2 | 2–5 | 2–4 | 7–11 |
| Houston | 4–2 | 3–3 | 9–10 | 11–6 | 5–1 | 3-3 | — | 1–5 | 13–6 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 6–0 | 12–5 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 10–8 | 7–5 |
| Los Angeles | 16–3 | 3–4 | 4–2 | 2–4 | 11–8 | 3–3 | 5–1 | — | 3–3 | 4–3 | 3–3 | 1–5 | 6–0 | 10–9 | 10–9 | 2–4 | 10–8 |
| Milwaukee | 3–3 | 2–4 | 7–10 | 8–10 | 4–2 | 2–4 | 6–13 | 3–3 | — | 5–1 | 2–4 | 0–6 | 6–12 | 2–4 | 1–5 | 8–9 | 8–4 |
| Montreal | 6–0 | 4–15 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 8-11 | 4–2 | 3–4 | 1–5 | — | 9–10 | 7–12 | 4–2 | 1–6 | 1–5 | 3–3 | 7–11 |
| New York | 4–3 | 7–12 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 5–1 | 4–15 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 10–9 | — | 8–11 | 1–5 | 1–6 | 4–2 | 1–5 | 10–8 |
| Philadelphia | 5-1 | 9–10 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 3–5 | 7–12 | 0–6 | 5–1 | 6–0 | 12–7 | 11–8 | — | 3–3 | 5–1 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 9–9 |
| Pittsburgh | 4–2 | 2–4 | 5–13 | 10–9 | 4–2 | 5–1 | 5–12 | 0–6 | 12–6 | 2–4 | 5–1 | 3–3 | — | 3–3 | 5–1 | 5–12 | 2–10 |
| San Diego | 12–7 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 9–10 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 9–10 | 4–2 | 6–1 | 6–1 | 1–5 | 3–3 | — | 12–7 | 2–4 | 8–10 |
| San Francisco | 14–5 | 3–4 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 11–8 | 5–2 | 4–2 | 9–10 | 5–1 | 5–1 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 1–5 | 7–12 | — | 3–3 | 11–7 |
| St. Louis | 5–1 | 4–2 | 11–8 | 14–5 | 5–1 | 4-2 | 8–10 | 4–2 | 9–8 | 3–3 | 5–1 | 3–3 | 12–5 | 4–2 | 3–3 | — | 11–1 |

### Notable transactions

* April 6, 2004: Kenny Kelly was signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Jason LaRue | 114 | 390 | 98 | .251 | 14 | 55 |
| 1B | Sean Casey | 146 | 571 | 185 | .324 | 24 | 99 |
| 2B | D'Angelo Jiménez | 152 | 563 | 152 | .270 | 12 | 67 |
| SS | Barry Larkin | 111 | 346 | 100 | .289 | 8 | 44 |
| 3B | Ryan Freel | 143 | 505 | 140 | .277 | 3 | 28 |
| LF | Adam Dunn | 161 | 568 | 151 | .266 | 46 | 102 |
| CF | Ken Griffey Jr. | 83 | 300 | 76 | .253 | 20 | 60 |
| RF | Austin Kearns | 64 | 217 | 50 | .230 | 9 | 32 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Wily Mo Peña | 110 | 336 | 87 | .259 | 26 | 66 |
| Juan Castro | 111 | 299 | 73 | .244 | 5 | 26 |
| Felipe López | 79 | 264 | 64 | .242 | 7 | 31 |
| Javier Valentín | 82 | 202 | 47 | .233 | 6 | 20 |
| Jacob Cruz | 96 | 147 | 33 | .224 | 3 | 28 |
| Brandon Larson | 40 | 118 | 25 | .212 | 3 | 14 |
| Tim Hummel | 56 | 110 | 24 | .218 | 1 | 7 |
| Darren Bragg | 38 | 94 | 18 | .191 | 4 | 9 |
| Anderson Machado | 17 | 56 | 15 | .268 | 0 | 4 |
| John Vander Wal | 42 | 51 | 6 | .118 | 2 | 4 |
| Corky Miller | 13 | 39 | 1 | .026 | 0 | 3 |
| Jermaine Clark | 14 | 30 | 4 | .133 | 0 | 2 |
| Jason Romano | 22 | 26 | 4 | .154 | 1 | 3 |
| Ray Olmedo | 8 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Paul Wilson | 29 | 183.2 | 11 | 6 | 4.36 | 117 |
| Aaron Harang | 28 | 161.0 | 10 | 9 | 4.86 | 125 |
| Cory Lidle | 24 | 149.0 | 7 | 10 | 5.32 | 93 |
| Brandon Claussen | 14 | 66.0 | 2 | 8 | 6.14 | 45 |
| Josh Hancock | 12 | 54.2 | 5 | 1 | 4.45 | 31 |
| Luke Hudson | 9 | 48.1 | 4 | 2 | 2.42 | 38 |
| Jung Bong | 3 | 15.1 | 1 | 1 | 4.70 | 11 |
| Jesús Sánchez | 3 | 14.1 | 0 | 2 | 7.53 | 8 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| José Acevedo | 39 | 157.2 | 5 | 12 | 5.94 | 117 |
| Todd Van Poppel | 48 | 115.1 | 4 | 6 | 6.09 | 72 |
| Jimmy Haynes | 5 | 15.0 | 0 | 3 | 9.60 | 8 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Danny Graves | 68 | 1 | 6 | 41 | 3.95 | 40 |
| John Riedling | 70 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 5.10 | 46 |
| Phil Norton | 69 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 5.07 | 48 |
| Todd Jones | 51 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 3.79 | 37 |
| Ryan Wagner | 49 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4.70 | 37 |
| Gabe White | 40 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6.23 | 33 |
| Mike Matthews | 35 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6.30 | 15 |
| Joe Valentine | 24 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5.22 | 29 |
| Brian Reith | 22 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7.27 | 24 |
| Juan Padilla | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10.67 | 12 |
| Aaron Myette | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.31 | 6 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Louisville Bats | International League | Rick Burleson |
| AA | Chattanooga Lookouts | Southern League | Jayhawk Owens |
| A | Potomac Cannons | Carolina League | Edgar Caceres |
| A | Dayton Dragons | Midwest League | Alonzo Powell |
| Rookie | GCL Reds | Gulf Coast League | Freddie Benavides |
| Rookie | Billings Mustangs | Pioneer League | Donnie Scott |