May 30, 2025 • 10 mins
Nick Kirby from Chatterbox Sports joined Todd Walker to reflect on what has been a frustrating season for the Reds.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Reds are back out of tonight. They're actually this afternoon
with the Cubs. We'll have it for you a pregame
at one fifty in game time two twenty. Nick Kirby
is with us now from Chatterbox Sports, of course, the
diehard Reds guy, and here to hopefully give us some
good news on the Reds getting better instead of basically
treading water at five hundred all season. Nick, good morning,
(00:24):
Hey God, how you doing. I'm doing all right. The
Reds very I guess an average team right now. I
mean they're twenty eight and twenty nine. You know, Offensively,
they tend to have some really good games and then
they have a few games where they don't score. Pitching wise,
they seem to have a bullpen issue of Hunter Greens
(00:44):
had his yearly stint on the disabled list. So I
guess let's talk about expectations to this point. Is this
team where you kind of thought they might be or are
you a little bit underwhelmed at this point?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
They're probably not that much. You are off from probably
what we should have realistically expected. It's just how they
got to this point. That's the most I guess the
prizes thing for me, just because all the factors that
have kind of led to them being twenty eight and
twenty nine. It's just it's been such a wide range
(01:19):
of issues at times. And I don't know, Todd, you
this is a hard team to gauge because you really
do not have to squint very hard to think this
team is so close it being five games over five
hundred right now. I think maybe the best thing to are,
the most interesting thing to look at is the Cardinals
(01:41):
and the Reds right now. I think the Cardinals had
very low expectations coming into the year. I think everyone
thought they were going to be sellers at the trade deadline,
and they still might end up being, but they've kind
of won all these games in the margins and they're
thirty two and twenty four right now, and the red
you're twenty eight and twenty nine. But the Cardinals have
(02:02):
a little bit better run differential plus forty five. The
Reds are plus thirty two. But the Cardinals they have
they're six and are there. They've won a lot of
their one run games. The Reds is lost one of
their one run games. The Reds of lost haven't been
able to come back in any games, and that's why
kind of the Reds are where they're at Cardinals in
an eight in one run games, Reds five and nine.
(02:24):
I mean that's literally probably the difference in the two teams.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, and you know, run differential, I get it, but
you know sometimes that that's sort of a bogus stat.
I mean They're red scored thirteen runs in the game,
they scored twenty, and they scored twenty in a game. Yeah,
twenty four. I mean that right, there's twenty two of
their run differential. So this team right now, to me,
is just built to not win. They're built to kind
(02:48):
of almost win. The bullpen clearly is a problem, you know,
and Amelia Pagan has sort of been thrown into the
closer roles. So to me, that's their number one downfall
right now. And that's a lot of one run game losses,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Well that that and they haven't been able to come back,
and I think they have yet to come back in
a game all year. I think they're zero to twenty two.
I think it is what I saw in games where
they trailed after six innings. So some of it's the
bullpen and some of it's the bullpen has been very good.
But they haven't been good in spots. Free just really
really needed them to be good, just you know, for
(03:24):
one game, right Like the Cub series comes to mind,
I have a bullpen performed as well as you could
have reasonably hoped, but they just haven't been able to
come back at all. I mean, when they're down, it's over.
If they're you know, not winning after six innings, it's over.
And you're not gonna win a lot of those games.
Let's not act like you should have a stellar record
(03:44):
when you're trailing after six innings. No one does. But
the fact that they haven't won one of those games
all year, that that's just the biggest issue. And I
know Franktona has kind of downplayed that and said, you know,
it's well, it's one of the things. And I don't
know the answer to that, because yes, it is. It's
(04:05):
hard to predict when you come back. I don't think
there's some magic formula that you know, you do this
in certain situations late in the game and you come back.
But yeah, hard to believe. They haven't done it one
time this year. And it's the team that we saw
in twenty twenty three that I felt like they were
never out of a game. They always came back, and
we just haven't seen that at all this year.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Nick Kirby is, well, it's with Chatterbox Sports talking Reds,
and of course, you know. The other thing is this lineup.
The offense has been comically back and forth. I mean,
they just had a nice run here where they scored
at least six runs in a game, I think five
or six games in a row. Then Wednesday night they
scored only two. You know, they had a run for
(04:44):
a while where they would score two, one, three, fifteen
two six for twenty. This team offensively, though, it's kind
of like you said earlier, I can't figure this team out.
Are they good offensively? Are they bad offensively? What? What
is this team right now? It's really sort of a
(05:05):
mystery still to me.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I think they're an average offensive team that's just vastly inconsistent.
And I think you see that. A guy like Austin
Hayes has been really good, but he's it's still has
been an injury pop up every other week with him,
so that's that's been hard. The most positive time, though,
is both Elbie day La Cruz and Tyler Stevenson are
showing some power, and one of the reasons the Red
(05:30):
DApp has been able to come back in games, in
my opinions, because they just didn't hit enough on runs.
It's so hard in today's baseball games against bullpens, the
string hit after hit after hits together. These pitches are
just too good. They're too nasty, they throw too hard.
So in order to come back late a lot of
times that they had home runs, it's all the Cubs
(05:50):
do it all weekend to get the Reds. We could
they the game, and they came back and they beat
up the Red bullpen. So you know, Bill Benson has
been certainly a spot. Spencers sis, We're going to battle
a lot better. So if this offense could just be
close to average, I think you have to starting pitching
to at least keep you in the race. Year. But again,
(06:14):
it's just been a year where players just have been
shuffled in and out of the lineup. You've had guys
being consistent, but Ellie and Tyler Stevenson. That's the hope
right now is those guys are looking like Tallas. Stevens
is looking like the guy that we saw last year
that was the Red second best player behind Eli Dada.
Cruz and La Daa Cruz looks like he could be
(06:35):
poised for one of those months where he just absolutely
goes off and La Daila Cruz goes off. He could
fix a lot of your problems at least over you know,
a month's time.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah. You know. The other thing, Nick, is this team
sort of had a reputation for being able to create
runs and create havoc, and last year it kind of
got sideways on them because they seem to run into
Alex more than they created runs. But this year it
seems like all of that is gone. Is that just
because they're not producing enough and having enough opportunities to
(07:06):
wreak havoc as we say, or is this team just
not doing that anymore?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Funny after, we were actually talking about this last night
on our show, and I was looking at Ellie da
La Cruz in particular, because so much of the Red
Stolen Bases is Ellie Daya Cruz, and is what Ellie
does or doesn't do. He makes up a large portion
of your your stolen bases. And last May Ellie stole
fourteen bases, I believe it was, so Yeah, so fourteen
(07:35):
bases in the month of May in twenty six games
that he started this year in the month of May,
he's only stole four and Ellie has a higher on
base percentage this year in the month of May, so
Ellie's not being as aggressive. There's a lot of comments about,
you know, Ellie trying to be more selective and be
(07:56):
a more high IQ base runner. Well it's not. The
issue is that the Reds are stealing less basis and
there's still, like, I think top five in Baseball's steal
on a decent amount of basis. But it's like they've
cut down in their aggressiveness, but they haven't really been
that much more efficient either, Like they're still getting thrown
(08:18):
out on the basis Hunter Joe's been thrown out. It
feels like half the time he's gotten on basis making
an ouncishere. So it's it's hard to justify like the
trade off of that habit going away and not getting
the result of being more efficient either.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yeah, I kind of agree with that, Nick. You know
one other thing that is a bit of a downer.
I saw somebody did a compilation of the schedules to
date and the future schedule, and the Reds have played
the easiest schedule to date and have the hardest schedule remaining,
so that doesn't bode well.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
No, it's not ideal. For some reason, the Reds played
decent against good teams. They just I mean, kans City
Worlds are a pretty solid team. They just won two
of three, close to sweeping that series the Cubs. I mean,
they played pretty well against the Cubs over the weekend.
So I don't necessarily think that's sustainable. I think you
play those teams a lot, you know, maybe the opposite
(09:16):
will happen. But the Reds failed to capitalize on a
lot of these games against some five hundred teams, so
I don't know. I mean, the thing is coming up
here in the month of June. Yes, the Reds are
playing a lot of teams that are above five hundreds.
But the teams coming up aren't necessarily Juggernauts either, right,
So it's not like you're playing the Dodgers coming up.
(09:37):
You're playing the Yankees at the end of June. But
your next like five or six series outside of this
series against the Cubs at Wrigley. I remember talking Brewer,
Simon Vack, Guardian, Tigers, Twins, Cardinals. To me, those are
a lot of teams that are probably similar to the
Reds in terms of what the realist expectations are this year.
So you're probably gonna get a good gauge of maybe
(10:00):
where the Reds are in terms of, you know, can
they beat some of these teams, because these are the
kind of teams that are probably the most similar overall
to the rest.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Yeah, the next month is really going to lay out
a template for what we expect as that will get
us toward the end of June, and then next thing,
you know, it's the All Star Game, and pretty soon
you've got to decide what kind of season you're having
and what your personnel decisions might be. Nick Kirby has
been with us with Chatterbox Sports, and Nick, we appreciate
(10:31):
you taking time for us.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, God, appreciate it.
Reds are back out of tonight. They're actually this afternoon
with the Cubs. We'll have it for you a pregame
at one fifty in game time two twenty. Nick Kirby
is with us now from Chatterbox Sports, of course, the
diehard Reds guy, and here to hopefully give us some
good news on the Reds getting better instead of basically
treading water at five hundred all season. Nick, good morning,
(00:24):
Hey God, how you doing. I'm doing all right. The
Reds very I guess an average team right now. I
mean they're twenty eight and twenty nine. You know, Offensively,
they tend to have some really good games and then
they have a few games where they don't score. Pitching wise,
they seem to have a bullpen issue of Hunter Greens
(00:44):
had his yearly stint on the disabled list. So I
guess let's talk about expectations to this point. Is this
team where you kind of thought they might be or are
you a little bit underwhelmed at this point?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
They're probably not that much. You are off from probably
what we should have realistically expected. It's just how they
got to this point. That's the most I guess the
prizes thing for me, just because all the factors that
have kind of led to them being twenty eight and
twenty nine. It's just it's been such a wide range
(01:19):
of issues at times. And I don't know, Todd, you
this is a hard team to gauge because you really
do not have to squint very hard to think this
team is so close it being five games over five
hundred right now. I think maybe the best thing to are,
the most interesting thing to look at is the Cardinals
(01:41):
and the Reds right now. I think the Cardinals had
very low expectations coming into the year. I think everyone
thought they were going to be sellers at the trade deadline,
and they still might end up being, but they've kind
of won all these games in the margins and they're
thirty two and twenty four right now, and the red
you're twenty eight and twenty nine. But the Cardinals have
(02:02):
a little bit better run differential plus forty five. The
Reds are plus thirty two. But the Cardinals they have
they're six and are there. They've won a lot of
their one run games. The Reds is lost one of
their one run games. The Reds of lost haven't been
able to come back in any games, and that's why
kind of the Reds are where they're at Cardinals in
an eight in one run games, Reds five and nine.
(02:24):
I mean that's literally probably the difference in the two teams.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, and you know, run differential, I get it, but
you know sometimes that that's sort of a bogus stat.
I mean They're red scored thirteen runs in the game,
they scored twenty, and they scored twenty in a game. Yeah,
twenty four. I mean that right, there's twenty two of
their run differential. So this team right now, to me,
is just built to not win. They're built to kind
(02:48):
of almost win. The bullpen clearly is a problem, you know,
and Amelia Pagan has sort of been thrown into the
closer roles. So to me, that's their number one downfall
right now. And that's a lot of one run game losses,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Well that that and they haven't been able to come back,
and I think they have yet to come back in
a game all year. I think they're zero to twenty two.
I think it is what I saw in games where
they trailed after six innings. So some of it's the
bullpen and some of it's the bullpen has been very good.
But they haven't been good in spots. Free just really
really needed them to be good, just you know, for
(03:24):
one game, right Like the Cub series comes to mind,
I have a bullpen performed as well as you could
have reasonably hoped, but they just haven't been able to
come back at all. I mean, when they're down, it's over.
If they're you know, not winning after six innings, it's over.
And you're not gonna win a lot of those games.
Let's not act like you should have a stellar record
(03:44):
when you're trailing after six innings. No one does. But
the fact that they haven't won one of those games
all year, that that's just the biggest issue. And I
know Franktona has kind of downplayed that and said, you know,
it's well, it's one of the things. And I don't
know the answer to that, because yes, it is. It's
(04:05):
hard to predict when you come back. I don't think
there's some magic formula that you know, you do this
in certain situations late in the game and you come back.
But yeah, hard to believe. They haven't done it one
time this year. And it's the team that we saw
in twenty twenty three that I felt like they were
never out of a game. They always came back, and
we just haven't seen that at all this year.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Nick Kirby is, well, it's with Chatterbox Sports talking Reds,
and of course, you know. The other thing is this lineup.
The offense has been comically back and forth. I mean,
they just had a nice run here where they scored
at least six runs in a game, I think five
or six games in a row. Then Wednesday night they
scored only two. You know, they had a run for
(04:44):
a while where they would score two, one, three, fifteen
two six for twenty. This team offensively, though, it's kind
of like you said earlier, I can't figure this team out.
Are they good offensively? Are they bad offensively? What? What
is this team right now? It's really sort of a
(05:05):
mystery still to me.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I think they're an average offensive team that's just vastly inconsistent.
And I think you see that. A guy like Austin
Hayes has been really good, but he's it's still has
been an injury pop up every other week with him,
so that's that's been hard. The most positive time, though,
is both Elbie day La Cruz and Tyler Stevenson are
showing some power, and one of the reasons the Red
(05:30):
DApp has been able to come back in games, in
my opinions, because they just didn't hit enough on runs.
It's so hard in today's baseball games against bullpens, the
string hit after hit after hits together. These pitches are
just too good. They're too nasty, they throw too hard.
So in order to come back late a lot of
times that they had home runs, it's all the Cubs
(05:50):
do it all weekend to get the Reds. We could
they the game, and they came back and they beat
up the Red bullpen. So you know, Bill Benson has
been certainly a spot. Spencers sis, We're going to battle
a lot better. So if this offense could just be
close to average, I think you have to starting pitching
to at least keep you in the race. Year. But again,
(06:14):
it's just been a year where players just have been
shuffled in and out of the lineup. You've had guys
being consistent, but Ellie and Tyler Stevenson. That's the hope
right now is those guys are looking like Tallas. Stevens
is looking like the guy that we saw last year
that was the Red second best player behind Eli Dada.
Cruz and La Daa Cruz looks like he could be
(06:35):
poised for one of those months where he just absolutely
goes off and La Daila Cruz goes off. He could
fix a lot of your problems at least over you know,
a month's time.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah. You know. The other thing, Nick, is this team
sort of had a reputation for being able to create
runs and create havoc, and last year it kind of
got sideways on them because they seem to run into
Alex more than they created runs. But this year it
seems like all of that is gone. Is that just
because they're not producing enough and having enough opportunities to
(07:06):
wreak havoc as we say, or is this team just
not doing that anymore?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Funny after, we were actually talking about this last night
on our show, and I was looking at Ellie da
La Cruz in particular, because so much of the Red
Stolen Bases is Ellie Daya Cruz, and is what Ellie
does or doesn't do. He makes up a large portion
of your your stolen bases. And last May Ellie stole
fourteen bases, I believe it was, so Yeah, so fourteen
(07:35):
bases in the month of May in twenty six games
that he started this year in the month of May,
he's only stole four and Ellie has a higher on
base percentage this year in the month of May, so
Ellie's not being as aggressive. There's a lot of comments about,
you know, Ellie trying to be more selective and be
(07:56):
a more high IQ base runner. Well it's not. The
issue is that the Reds are stealing less basis and
there's still, like, I think top five in Baseball's steal
on a decent amount of basis. But it's like they've
cut down in their aggressiveness, but they haven't really been
that much more efficient either, Like they're still getting thrown
(08:18):
out on the basis Hunter Joe's been thrown out. It
feels like half the time he's gotten on basis making
an ouncishere. So it's it's hard to justify like the
trade off of that habit going away and not getting
the result of being more efficient either.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yeah, I kind of agree with that, Nick. You know
one other thing that is a bit of a downer.
I saw somebody did a compilation of the schedules to
date and the future schedule, and the Reds have played
the easiest schedule to date and have the hardest schedule remaining,
so that doesn't bode well.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
No, it's not ideal. For some reason, the Reds played
decent against good teams. They just I mean, kans City
Worlds are a pretty solid team. They just won two
of three, close to sweeping that series the Cubs. I mean,
they played pretty well against the Cubs over the weekend.
So I don't necessarily think that's sustainable. I think you
play those teams a lot, you know, maybe the opposite
(09:16):
will happen. But the Reds failed to capitalize on a
lot of these games against some five hundred teams, so
I don't know. I mean, the thing is coming up
here in the month of June. Yes, the Reds are
playing a lot of teams that are above five hundreds.
But the teams coming up aren't necessarily Juggernauts either, right,
So it's not like you're playing the Dodgers coming up.
(09:37):
You're playing the Yankees at the end of June. But
your next like five or six series outside of this
series against the Cubs at Wrigley. I remember talking Brewer,
Simon Vack, Guardian, Tigers, Twins, Cardinals. To me, those are
a lot of teams that are probably similar to the
Reds in terms of what the realist expectations are this year.
So you're probably gonna get a good gauge of maybe
(10:00):
where the Reds are in terms of, you know, can
they beat some of these teams, because these are the
kind of teams that are probably the most similar overall
to the rest.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Yeah, the next month is really going to lay out
a template for what we expect as that will get
us toward the end of June, and then next thing,
you know, it's the All Star Game, and pretty soon
you've got to decide what kind of season you're having
and what your personnel decisions might be. Nick Kirby has
been with us with Chatterbox Sports, and Nick, we appreciate
(10:31):
you taking time for us.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, God, appreciate it.
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