Mike Petraglia with Joe Danneman

Trags talks about the Bengals ahead of opening camp and the 2024 season with Joe Danneman of Fox 19.

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
Mike Petralia trags back with you onCincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty, entering hour number
two of three on the afternoon,filling in for the one and only Moegger.
He is otherwise supposed today, sohe is taking today and tomorrow off
and I will be filling in forhim for the next two hours and Tuesday

(00:30):
as well. Before we get toJoe Daniman and talk all things Bengals and
Reds, I want to get toMike in La He's been patiently waiting online.
Number one. What is up,Mike? What's Updrag? How are
you doing well? I got abeautiful view here at my hospice then in
La Joyo, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, so in a nice deck out here.

(00:54):
So I'm a pretty lucky guy.That sounds like a beautiful view.
Yeah, it's really nice, Mike, it's really nice. It's, you
know, just a little moms ofSan Diego there up by u by uh.
Shoot, I can't remember the tanknow in town with all the flower
farms drawn blank. But anyway,it's a good place to be in this

(01:15):
situation. So thanks for asking.You know, last week you kind of
you got you had to go,I hit you with that last uh switch
hit or MVP to win the lastNow, Mickey Mantle is the easy pick,
Mike. You try, you wheezearound on me and then you had
to get me out. But whatit is? But in nineteen seventy one,

(01:41):
Oh, William McVey, No,not William McCovey, Reggie Smith.
Nope, here's why you want aton of money on this trivia question at
the bar and get you some threebeers. It's by the Blue and seven
the Sky Young Award winner and hewas the MVP, which means I think

(02:06):
he had a pretty good year,wouldn't you? Yes? And and that
was three years after they lowered themounds, so that it makes that all
the more impressive. Well, yougot any thoughts, by the way,
on the Reds and what they're doingright now, or more to the point,
what they're not doing? Well,you know, I don't know what

(02:29):
you said about this team. Howcan we have? Well, these bonehead
and mistakes, they'll make a loveYou're right about that, Mike if they
get within snipping distance, Mike ofthis last playoffs. But they and what
bothers me is Ldolo Green or oneof these Cats can go out and throw
a great game and then knucklehead Elliewho makes up for his mistakes to a

(02:53):
degree by his great player, butstill no excuse. He's been playing baseball
since he played twelve years old.He knows not to do No, we
didn't have to coaching to do that. I don't buy that. So those
little mistakes in the field and mentalerrors are what's going to kill them,
even if they're playing great in thepitching. I mean the pitching. Could
the starting they get, the bestthey get, the fifth best bullpen in

(03:16):
Major League Baseball, I mean,come on, guys, and the starting
pitchings. I don't know. It'sgoing to have to do that. And
maybe more home runs although they ledthe league and I think they're leading the
league in July for home team homeruns, which is impressive. Their team
agree with that. Yeah, Theirteam ERA is three point eighty eight.

(03:36):
That's almost a full run lower thanit was last year, and a run
and a half lower than it wastwo years ago when they lost one hundred
games. This team should be betterthan forty seven and fifty three. They've
gone five and eight since sweeping theNew York Yankees in New York. The
bottom's fallen, fallen out, andI think a lot of Reds fans are

(03:58):
anticipating them being sellers at the deadline. Mike, we got to let you
go. We have a guest comingup here on the Moager Radio program on
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. He isthe sports director at the station that will
be the I don't want to sayvoice of the Bengals. Oh, we

(04:19):
don't have them yet, Sean So. Sean McMahon, my clutch rock solid
producer, tells me, and boardoperator tells me that we don't have Joe
Daniman lined up yet. So wewill vamp here a little bit longer and
tell you that the Reds tonight playthe Atlanta Braves down in Atlanta. It's

(04:42):
Game four of what has been adisastrous road trip so far. Of course,
they got swept away by the WashingtonNationals down in DC over the weekend.
They followed to forty seven and fiftythree on the season five and eight.
As I mentioned, since they sweptthe New New York Yankees in New
York. It's just they make toomany mistakes, too many fundamental mistakes that

(05:06):
drive fans well and the coaches onthe coaching staff just crazy. And David
Bell has really defended his players andwill continue to do so. Let's face
facts here. He's not going tothrow any player under the bus. That
is not his style. But thepatience of the fans is wearing thin.

(05:27):
What will be interesting is to seeif the patience of the front office is
wearing thin and if they indeed say, look, we're not going to be
what we envision this team to begoing forward this year. It's just not
in the cards and we're going toreorganize, shuffle the deck, trade away
some veterans that are certainly valued byother teams. And we can get into

(05:53):
that subject and much more with ournext guest. He is Joe Daniman does
a great job as sports director ofChanneling teen Fox nineteen here in Cincinnati.
Joe, you were down at Bengalsmedia day. I was trags, Yes,
turtle soup day. It was mockturtle soup. We will not somebody

(06:14):
Sewan. As a matter of fact, Sean McMahon was asking me, I
wish you could get into the details, and I'm like, Sean, I
don't think you do want to getinto the details. Trust me, on
that just understand that mock turtle soupis the appetizer they give before a nice
meal following media availability for the firsttime, right before training camp begins with

(06:35):
all of the big dignitaries that arethere, Mike Brown of course, the
owner, Duke Tobin, Zach Taylor, the head coach, and the assistant
coaches, the coordinators and whatnot.And I think people have to understand that
most people, and this is justfrom my table, no one touched the
turtle soup. I felt bad becausethey put this out there, and this

(06:58):
is part of the brand of theday, right, this is Mike Brown
sting, and they put it now. I was at a table of like
six people, and there was oneperson who was new to Cincinnati who tried
it just to say she tried it. But everybody else just kind of discarded
it to the middle and went straightto the cell. And so I feel
bad that we are wasting Mike Brown'sunique delicacy here in Cincinnati. I feel

(07:20):
bad about it. Well, weare going to move on from talking about
the food on the menu to whatplayers are on the menu and could really
serve up an appetizer here in trainingcamp. What big battles. Are you
looking forward to the most this trainingcamp which begins on Wednesday down at pay

(07:43):
Corpse Stadium. Okay, So I'mgonna have a unique take here for you,
because I think everybody's going to say. I'm going to say on the
surface, certainly Dax Hill DJ Turneris the big battle I'm watching for maybe
a dark horse of Amarus Mimes andthe news of the day of him signing
his contract ready to go, Maybethat's a dark horse one to watch.

(08:03):
Could he unseat Trent Brown from aseat that Trent Brown actually never has had
here in Cincinnati. So that's whatI'm going to watch. But I think
the most interesting battle is going tobe the Cincinnati fan base and it's patients
battling the process of Joe Burrow.Now my point here, Trags is Joe

(08:24):
told us the first time he talkedin the off season that he was going
to dial it back, that theywere planning on him taking some days off,
and then when it happened during theoffseason, there was still a bit
of a panic button hitting in Cincinnati. People were still wondering, what's going
on, Why isn't he practicing?And that's despite Joe telling us he's gonna

(08:46):
take some days off. He isgoing to dial it back. So that's
going to happen throughout training camp.Joe's gonna take some days off, as
he should. I think it's thecorrect move going forward, not even if
it's this year with the risk andcoming back from that. I think this
should be a every year thing forJoe Burrow, just to make sure he
is ready to go in September andthen ready to go all the way through

(09:07):
January and February here in Cincinnati,if they make it that far. So
to me, the training camp battleof people fighting their own emotions and impatience
and worries that there's something wrong withJoe Burrow if he takes a day off,
I think that's going to be veryinteresting to watch here in Cincinnati.
How the fan base digests the daysJoe Burrow doesn't practice. Are they okay

(09:30):
with it, do they understand aspart of the process, or are they
deep down inside going to be concernedgoing to ask questions? And therefore,
we feel the pressure to ask questionsabout Joe Burrow and his health on a
daily basis, even though we areprepared for him to take days off I
do not think Joe Daneman of Foxnineteen the Bengals would clear Joe Burrow for

(09:52):
full contact unless they were confident thathit his wrist is to the point where
he can take part fully in trainingcamp, no question about it. And
not only that Trags, but ZachTaylor also saying today that they're likely to
play him in some preseason snaps,which I was a little bit surprised by.

(10:15):
Now I'll fully admit I kind offlip flopped on this whole thing.
You go back to Week one whenhe played poorly against the Pittsburgh Steelers and
through all the interceptions, and Ithink I tweeted that day he said,
bookmark this tweet, come back herea year later, Joe Burrow will be
playing in the preseason. And thenhis next offseason went to hell and he
wasn't able to play in the preseason. So here we are now with him

(10:39):
coming back from a major surgery onhis wrist and the understanding that the most
important thing for Burrow is his health, and now they're likely going to put
him in the preseason. I thinkthat's very interesting from Zach. And I
also think that, again to yourpoint, a bit of vote of confidence
right for where they think he isis to the point where if it's the

(11:01):
first preseason game here in a fewweeks that they're gonna put Joe Burrow out
there, they've got to feel fullyconfident that he's not only himself throwing the
ball, but also fully ready totake hits fall down, brace himself,
do everything you would have to dowith that risk to be a football player.
So I found that not only interesting, I thought that could be even
better news for the fan base intheir confidence that Burrow is all the way

(11:26):
back to where he should be atthis point of the year. The bigger
deal to me, Joe is theBengals ramping up the intensity and the competitive
nature of training camp. I don'tcare if it's in a preseason game.
I don't care if it's in trainingcamp. I don't care if it's in
a joint practice. In talking toa number of people inside and outside the

(11:48):
organization, what they want to seeis the Bengals come out with more determination,
a greater fierceness entering the regular seasonthan they have the last several seasons.
And you know you hear look,Zach Taylor knows this stat and he
gets gets it thrown out there.The Bengals are one to nine in the
first two weeks under Zach Taylor,and that's that is what it is,

(12:13):
Okay. I think what the Bengalfan base wants to see is this team
embrace a more competitive, intense trainingcamp. And that is to me,
what's most important to Joe Burrow.I don't you know, I don't think
he cares if it's in a preseasongame or in joint practice in Lake Forest,
Illinois. It's got to be therethough for him to get ready.

(12:37):
That's that would be my point tothe Bengals, and I think it's a
great point. But I do thinkand let's debate this year, because I
do think there's a good color pointto this, this entire argument. You
know, you're you're correct on thestats, You're correct on the slow starts,
and the idea on the surface soundsright. Fast starts play better start

(12:58):
of the season. My question isdoes that matter because we looked at what
the Bengals have done in September inrecent years, even look at what the
Chiefs have done in September in recentyears. The Chiefs get off to slow
starts too, and it is thatpart of the sacrifice they make to give
up a fast start to have agreat finish. Now we've seen the Bengals,

(13:22):
and I think you have to throwlast year out because of what happened
with Joe. I don't think theslow start will hurt the scene now the
Devil's advocate and in the other sideof this point would be, if you
get off to a slow start thisyear with this schedule, then you're giving
yourself a problem because three of thefour easiest games of the year on paper

(13:43):
before the season starts are in thefirst four games. That's being the Patriots,
that being a game against the Commanders, in a game against the Panthers.
Three games that the Bengals will befavored to win, and quite honestly,
Bengals should win those games. Soif they're not ready to play and
they lose those games with portions ofthe schedule that are backloaded a little bit
harder, then you're running into problems. So I know I'm speaking out of

(14:05):
both sides of my mouth here,but I do wonder if the plan they've
had in the past to make surethis team peaks in December and January and
has worked right it's worked and madethe AFC Championship two of the last three
years and made a Super Bowl aswell. Why deviate from that when this

(14:26):
team can lose games and as longas Burrow plays a full season, they're
going to go to the playoffs,and then once they're in the playoffs,
they have as good a chance asanybody as in advancing in the playoffs.
Now, the one other argument Iwould put trags to this is you're playing
a pretty important game Week two.If you want home field advantage, if
you want to play home games inthe playoffs, that is a massive game.

(14:48):
And to your point, if youwant to be ready for Week two
and the challenge that will be therein Kansas City, if you do go
harder in training camp practice, maybethat does give you a three to five
percent chance better of winning that game. So I think there are debatable points
to this, but certainly it's somethingin the fan base that is frustrating and

(15:09):
I understand it. But I wouldalso say at the other side, I'm
not sure if it's get to theplayoffs and then let Joe do his thing
and let this team be as competitiveas anybody the playoffs, I'm not sure
A fast start matters that much tothis team, although the city and the
fan base want them to get offthe faster starts. If that game two
years ago in Kansas City is inCincinnati, they win the AFC Championship and

(15:33):
go to the super Bowl and probablywin the Super Bowl, that would be
my counter to that. I think, okay, I think they their yeah,
they to me, this team needsto show that it can get home
multiple home games in the playoffs inCincinnati with this fan base completely charged,

(15:54):
and with Burrow as the quarterback,and I think you've almost got an unbeatable
combination. If that's the fact,you know what, fans in Cincinnati are
getting really sick and tired of,Joe, I'm a major League baseball team
that can't execute fundamentals and knows howto run the bases and field the ball
and what base to throw to.You know what I'm talking about. You
been watching the one? Oh Ihave, but it's interesting to watch that.

(16:17):
And I was watching the game yesterdaywith one of my teenagers, and
quite honestly, every single day theReds give you a talking point to a
young person playing baseball what to doand what not to do, and look
tracks we know baseball tracks every numberpossible. Is anybody found out if the
Reds lead the league and outs madeon the base pass, that's a great

(16:41):
That is something I think Elias couldlook up very easily. I'm sure it's
something I could dig into on theMLB press box. A fight, I
mean between caught stealings, pick offLa Da La Cruz now multiple times trying
to get the third when he shouldfreeze, guys being thrown out at home,
like what happened in the game inMilwaukee when Stuart Fairchild was looking over

(17:04):
his shoulder with two outs on aball hit the center field. So yeah,
there are so many small base runningairs, not even small, sometimes
big base running airs that are costingthis team runs. And if you look
at this team and we all understand, the Reds record in one run games
is very poor this season. Sothe fact that they're leaving runs consistently on

(17:26):
the bass pass for a team whois not winning close games, it has
to be absolutely maddening to the fanbase to watch this happen and continue to
happen more than one hundred games intothe season. I have to bring this
up. Look, we like him, but at some point David Bell has
got to be accountable for this.Now. My question, but my question

(17:51):
here is if the Reds front office, and we assume that they believe in
Nick Crawl and and what Nick Krawlhas built here, if Nick Krawl is
calling the shots, does Nick Krawllook at David Bell and say he is
our manager for this group going forward, regardless of what this year portends,

(18:12):
whatever the results are this year,it's a messed up seaton, kind of
like the Bengals in twenty twenty three, very similar in that regard. It's
been disjointed from the get go.Does Nick Krawl say, I'm not judging
David Bell on this season. I'mjust not going to do that. I
want to see what he does witha full compliment of players. So my

(18:32):
knee jerk reaction would be this needsto be if nothing else, has to
be a conversation. I don't thinkthey can just blindly brush it aside and
say David's the guy next year.Understanding whatever happens in two months, good
or bad, might might change thatconversation. I think we're all aware of
that. But I do think it'ssomething they've got to talk about, at

(18:52):
least now. I will say thisand to your point for what this team
has had this year with handcuffed bysome by injuries, by suspensions, by
whatever it is. I was talkingto Sam Lecuur last night and Sam made
the point that the the the unfairthing for this team, and this is
and people might roll their eyes whenthey hear this. He said, it's

(19:15):
unfair to hold this team, thecurrent team, to the expectation they had
at the start of the year becausethis is not that team. And look,
we can name all the names,right, we can say the freedoles
and the eighty games for Marte andthe season long injury for McLain, Nick
Lodolo in and out of the lineup, and all those things sounds like they
sound like excuses, but it's partof the explanation, and I think that

(19:38):
has to be part of the conversation. So to try to hold this team,
which just is not itself because ofthose reasons, to that expectation,
I think Sam made a good point. I think that's unfair. Also,
we go back to last year.Now you can you can look at last
year and it's it's interesting because itdepends on the red Span you talked to.
It was last year a success andhis day Vid Bell get credit for

(20:00):
that? Or was last year amissed opportunity and does David Bell get dinged
for that? So it's interesting whatthe front office thinks of last year and
what he accomplished when he had moreof a whole group and they were quote
unquote a year ahead of schedule butalso had a chance to make the playoffs
and did not because of a Itwas not a collapse in the second hand,

(20:21):
but it didn't play good baseball inthe final two months. So I
think there's a lot to unpack withthe David Bell question. I think that
the headline and what should be underlinedis depending on what happens in the next
two months trags. I think itneeds to be at least a conversation from
the decision makers within the Reds.Look, here's how I answer that.

(20:42):
I want the if I'm a fan, I want to hear the message from
the manager of accountability, and Iwant to hear the message that we're not
going to tolerate these mistakes happening overand over and over. It's like with
Trent Grisham in New York, AaronBoone didn't dress him down the last game

(21:03):
of the Red Series, the Redsweep. As a matter of fact,
in New York, he you know, lollygagg that single that turned into a
double. I don't know if itwas Stuart Fairchild. Somebody took second base,
and I forget who it was,but that just sent the Yankee fan
base into a rage. And AaronBoone's response to it was, well,
you don't understand. You know,he was you know, giving him,

(21:26):
he was trying his best and hejust lost control of the ball. And
I'm like, that's not what thefan wants to hear. And the fan
is paying to watch this team andsupport this team both, you know,
fiscally and emotionally. That's not whatthe fan wants to hear. Well,
I apply that here in Cincinnati.I think the fan wants to hear David
Bell say we have to clean thingsup. You know, we may not

(21:49):
win the game, but if theplayers are held accountable then that's all that
will satisfy. And satiate. Ilove that word, satiate a Cincinnati ban
and that to me, that thatis really I think we're a lot of
the angst you hear out there forDavid Bell. Emanate's from that's where that's
where the genesis all of that is. I think it's a very smart point,

(22:15):
Trags, and I think you're correctthat if David Bell would say that,
it would satiate the fan base.Now the question is, is his
message that he's sending to the fanbase the same message that he's giving behind
closed doors, And I would argueit might be different, And I think
I think that's important to at leastthink about that. The guy doesn't want

(22:37):
to publicly throw someone under the busfor whatever mistake that person's making, be
it a physical or mental mistake,and we've seen both this year, so
maybe that's his way of policing it, handling it. I think you and
I would would probably both guests thatthe message we are getting to the media,

(22:59):
where it's on t whether it's inprint, is probably around the same
message that he's giving the team.That that's just kind of what I would
guess, knowing his personality, knowingthe way he manages. And then if
that's the case, I'm with you, the message has to be different.
If the message isn't different, thenthe messenger needs to be different. I'm
not all the way there just yet, but I do think it's important to

(23:22):
at least think about that. Alot of times what the coach says to
the media isn't always what they sayto the team or to this specific player,
So that's something also to keep inmind here in this debate. But
I do think it's a smart pointthat I think the fan base wants that.
I think they want someone to flipa table or kick over a gatorade
jug. I don't even want thatshow he did throw around a chair or

(23:47):
he did do that. I don'teven want that though. I want the
message to the fans from the organization, Yeah, we see what's going on,
and we have a problem with it, and it will be corrected.
That's all. And I think DavidBell is one of the five bright and
I will get crucified on X forthis. I think he's one of the

(24:07):
five the six brightest guys managing inbaseball. And I think because he doesn't
always hold guys verbally and publicly accountable, that gets lost and people think that
he's not bright. They think he'sdumb, he doesn't know what he's doing.
Games too fast for him. Butanyway, that's my rant on the

(24:30):
messaging somewhat from David Bell, butthe organization in general. I want to
get to Joe Danaan what he hasin store for Fox nineteen viewers tonight as
you wrap up media day. Okay, So I am standing outside of paid
Horse Stadium right now where it isblazing hot on a guy. Look,
we get to dress up for thisthing today, right. We have to

(24:52):
wear a suit, so I can'twear my golf shirt and be out here
in the warm. He's so,I'm out here in a suit, just
just dying in the heat to deliverBengal five and six. It's okay,
It's okay, hey, But Iwill say this to the fan base.
We do have two thirty minute specialscoming up Wednesday night, opening day of
camp, six thirty to seven onFox nineteen, and then next Monday as

(25:17):
well to twenty ninth, six thirtyto seven. So two thirty minute specials
in the first week of training campto give Bengals a really good look Bengals
fans a good look if they can'tget down here to training camp practice.
There is not a better reporter inthe city of Cincinnati than one Joe Danaman.
Please tune in to him. Theofficial station of Bengals coverage, Fox
nineteen Joe, thanks for joining meanytime. Trags, thanks for having me

(25:42):
all right. He's Joe Daniman.My name is Trags. We ran a
little bit long here, but ladlyso you are listening to Cincinnatis ESPN fifteen
thirty. Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.Traffic from the UC Health