3/7/25: SportsTalk With Mo Egger, on 700WLW.

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 13 (02:17):
You want answers.

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Speaker 2 (02:19):
You want answer the truth?

Speaker 13 (02:21):
You can't handle the truth?

Speaker 14 (02:23):
True true, what's up.

Speaker 15 (02:24):
Good evening, Happy Friday night. I'm Olleggar in for Lance McAllister.

Speaker 16 (02:29):
This is R and L.

Speaker 15 (02:30):
Carrier Sports Talk. We are presented by Kelsey Sherv Laigh.
Hope your weekend is off to a great start. Lance
is back on Monday. Let's get you caught up with
what's happening today. Let's begin with the Reds update. Reds
were supposed to play the San Francisco Giants in Goodyear.
Unfortunately we got the ever so rare Cactus League Raino.
No game today. Reds is set to play the Arizona

(02:52):
Diamondbacks tomorrow and Goodyear. That game will start at three
zero five, and if you want to hear it, you'll
listen to it on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. Earlier today,
Red's Hall of Famer and nineteen ninety World Series Champion
Chris Sabo was named the Grand Marshall of the one
hundred and sixth Finley Market Opening Day Parade. He'll join
me coming up in less than ten minutes. The Opening

(03:13):
Day Parade will take place on March the twenty seventh,
when the Reds host the San Francisco Giants. In that game,
Hunter Green will get the start. The Reds twenty twenty
four All star will make his second opening day start.
Also had that assignment in twenty twenty three. Hunter, coming
off the season where he finished eighth in the National
League Say Young voting and as I mentioned, was an

(03:34):
All Star, had a one point two ERA over his
last nine starts. We are going to talk in great
detail about the Reds opening day starter coming up after
a seven o'clock a Bengals update. They have not yet
traded Trey Hendrickson. They have signed a player to a
contract extension, Tanner Hudson, the tight end signed to the
twenty twenty five season. He'll be a sixth year NFL

(03:56):
player this coming year. Tanner had nineteen catches for one
hundred fifty four yards and a touchdown last season. College
basketball uce athletic director John Cunningham tells Jason Williams of
The Inquirer that Wes Miller will be our coach next year.

Speaker 14 (04:11):
That is a direct quote.

Speaker 15 (04:13):
Meanwhile, Wes's team plays its regular season finale tomorrow against
Oklahoma State. That game will tip off at three pm.
You'll hear it live on seven hundred wlw Xavier plays
its final regular season game trying to take a step
toward the NCAA Tournament. It'll be Senior Day at the
Centas Center as the Musketeers host Providence. That game tips
off at four on fifty five KRC. Meanwhile, Kentucky takes

(04:35):
on Columbia takes on Missouri in Columbia. That game will
start at noon on ESPN fifteen to thirty. Tonight, the
Miami RedHawks look for win number twenty three on the
season with the home game against ball State. That game
is actually just tipping off as we speak, and the
Dayton Flyers on the road tonight against v CU tomorrow,
a game that is going to be portrayed as kind

(04:55):
of an elimination game. Ohio State takes on Indiana also tomorrow.
Pack ca Elis Louisville Cardinals battle Stanford Soccer tomorrow night.
FC Cincinnati tries to bounce back from its MLS loss
to Philadelphia last week with a home game against Toronto.
That game starts at seven thirty tomorrow night, and you'll
hear it live on ESPN fifteen thirty and tonight at

(05:16):
the Arena Downtown, the Cincinnati Cyclone skate against Wichita.

Speaker 14 (05:21):
I want to know and I will do this at
six thirty five.

Speaker 15 (05:26):
The Bengals I think are the most interesting NFL team
right now because they are dealing with significant contract questions
with beyond Joe Burrow. Aside from Joe Burrow, they're three
best players. Joe is in a different category of his own.
There's no other team in the NFL that I think
is dealing with this right now. The Trey Hendrickson thing

(05:48):
has taken a different turn because he apparently has been
given permission to seek a trade. Now that doesn't guarantee
that he's going to get traded. I want to say,
if there's anyone out there, maybe you, if there's anyone
out there who feels the same way about Trey Hendrickson
and the Bengals that I do, because I think I'm

(06:11):
kind of on an.

Speaker 14 (06:12):
Island when it comes to this.

Speaker 15 (06:14):
Later on at seven thirty five, the great beat writer
for The Inquirer in Cincinnati dot Com covering the Bengals,
Kelsey Conway on what could be ahead for the Bengals
and Trey Hendrickson, perhaps as soon as this weekend, And
we'll do some bracketology coming up in the eight o'clock hour.
As we get closer and closer to selection Sunday, which
is a week from this Sunday. But first, the Reds

(06:36):
Hall of Famer Chris Sabo, this year's Grand Marshall of
the Finley Market Opening Day Parade. He's my guest when
we come back. This is RNL Carrier Sports Talk presented
by Kelsey Chevrolet on seven hundred WLW Kelsey Chevrolet. Lance
McAllister is off tonight on Molleger. Lance returns on Monday.
We are twenty days away from Opening Day. Reds and

(06:58):
Giants at GABP. Hunter Green will get the opening day
start for Cincinnati. The Finlay Market Opening Day Parade Grand
Marshall this year will be Red's Hall of Famer and
nineteen ninety World Series Champion and nineteen eighty eight National
League Rookie of the Year, Chris Sabo. Awesome to have
Chris with us tonight. So good to have you. Opening
Day nineteen eighty eight. You beat out Buddy Bell, You're

(07:22):
the starting third baseman. You beat the Cardinals that day
a twelfth inning walk off hit. You had a single
in that game off Joe mcgreen. What else do you
remember about that day?

Speaker 17 (07:34):
I remember Pete either the day or the day before
or two days before, we were in Louisville playing an
exhibition game or something, and Pete told me obviously would
start Opening Day, and I was thrilled. And I just
remember being so excited to play Opening Day. And I
don't think I slept it all the night before. And

(07:56):
I do remember that hit. I don't remember any of
the other at bats. I do remember getting that hit
over the shortstop's head off Joe McGrain.

Speaker 14 (08:04):
All right, the shorts the is Ozzie Smith, right?

Speaker 17 (08:09):
Uh, yeah, I assume so we played the Cardinals, so
I assume it Zazzie.

Speaker 15 (08:16):
Uh. You know, obviously it's it's your first opening day
and so there's a lot of emotion and a lot
of stuff going on. When when did it hit you
that Opening Day in Cincinnati is a bigger deal than
anywhere else?

Speaker 17 (08:30):
Oh, I think right from the get go. I mean
I grew up in Detroit, and I don't remember parades
and stuff for the Tigers games. I do remember in
Detroit opening Day was a big deal. I know my
grandma used to always go for Opening Day. She was
a waitress in Detroit, and she thought that was a
big deal. She loved those Tigers. But I guess. Uh,

(08:51):
all the old guys that were from Cincinnati, Pete and
Tony and Griffy Sr. Talked about how how they are
the big parade and the Reds are always the first
team that played, and uh so I always knew it
was very special. I was a big baseball history type
of guy, so I knew the Reds were the first
professional team, So I thought it was a big deal.

Speaker 15 (09:14):
Is your first opening day has to be your best
opening day memory? Is there any other opening day that
when you think of your career that stands out?

Speaker 17 (09:24):
Well? Unfortunately, it's just the one where John McSherry died, uh,
which was terrible. But no, I really don't I remember
the first opening day. I do remember I hit a
home run on one of the opening days, but I
can't remember who was pitching, who we even played, But

(09:44):
I do remember hitting the home run. I'm old, mo,
I mean, you sort of forget stuff, but but I
always enjoyed it. I always. I do remember that the
weather was always good. You know, it could be snowing
the day before or two days before and be really cold,
but the weather always sort of broke for our opening

(10:06):
game and the crowd was buzzing and it was always
very exciting. Red fans were great.

Speaker 14 (10:13):
Hopefully the weather turns this year. We're twenty days away.

Speaker 15 (10:17):
This will be an opening day that is unique because
you know, obviously hovering over it and the start of
the baseball season, here is the passing of Pete Rose
on September thirtieth last year, and I know the Reds
are gonna honor him with Pete Rose Night in May,
which which will be awesome and appropriate. Obviously, that is
your first big league manager. How would you describe Pete

(10:39):
as a manager?

Speaker 17 (10:42):
I love Pete obviously. I was actually with him the
day before he died in Nashville. I was with all
those guys and I got the chance to talk to Pete,
and you know, twenty four hours later, you know, you know,
he passed away. But I owe everything of the Pete.
Pete believed in me when maybe some others did in
the organization of the higher ups in the minor league

(11:07):
farm directorships. But Pete believed in me, gave me my chance.
I give myself credit. I took advantage of my opportunity.
But if it wasn't for Pete, I wasn't had that opportunity.
So he always held a special place in my heart,
and I always enjoyed being around him. He always made
me laugh. If you know Pete, he was always very upbeat,

(11:28):
and even the day I met him in Nashville, he
was still the same old Pete looked a little frail,
but he was still the same old guy, cracking jokes.

Speaker 15 (11:38):
Chris Sables with us the grand Marshal of this year's
Finley Market Opening Day parade. You go from Pete Rose
to Lou Panela in nineteen ninety. What was playing for
Lou like in comparison to playing for Pete?

Speaker 17 (11:52):
Well, tell two different guys. I mean Pete was pretty calm,
believe it or not. He was intense, but he was calm.
Me you know, where Lou was was a firecracker. I
mean every day something, something set him off. I just
think that's the way he was wired, and which I liked.
I was sort of the same way back then. I
had a short temper, angered quick. Uh. Fortunately as you

(12:14):
get older that sort of calms down a little bit.
But I love Lou, I was I had him for
three years and I was sad to see him go.
I don't understand why they let him go, but things happened,
and uh, he's very enjoyable. I mean he kept you,
uh kept you entertained. That's the best way I can
put it, because he's always getting upset.

Speaker 14 (12:36):
Uh.

Speaker 15 (12:36):
So the Reds now have Terry Francona as their manager,
a guy who's going to be in Cooperstown as a
manager one day. Uh, I'm sure your paths have crossed.
What do you know about Terry Francona.

Speaker 17 (12:50):
I actually played with Terry Francona and my first big
league uh, spring training was in Tampa when we used
to be an old Alopez field aaron Tampa and uh uh,
Tito was on Tito was on that team. Uh, at
least for spring training. I don't know if he made
the team out of spring. I got cut I got

(13:12):
sent down the Triple A after a couple of weeks.
But uh, I remember him. He was He's always cutting
it up in the locker room. He was a veteran
by then, and uh, but I wouldn't say we were buddies.
You know. I was a young whipper snapper and he
was a he was a veteran. So back then, the
veterans sort of gave it to the young guys. Pretty good.

(13:32):
And uh I was no exception. I got it pretty
good from all those guys. Parker, uh, Frank ConA and
you name it.

Speaker 14 (13:42):
Uh yeah, you mentioned Dave Parker.

Speaker 15 (13:44):
Now he was he was in Oakland by the time
you made your big league debut.

Speaker 14 (13:50):
But but you were with him.

Speaker 15 (13:51):
He gets to Cooperstown and frankly, I think it's way
overdue this summer.

Speaker 14 (13:56):
Do you have a story of the Cobra.

Speaker 17 (14:00):
Oh my god, me and Dhim go way back. We
used to play rocketball every morning and at the old
Scandinavian Help Club in Montgomery. Me and him had some
epic battles. That's what I did to stay in shape.
And he, obviously he was to play rocketball every day.
So so it was me, you know, five to eleven
against ohle big old Parker, and we had epic battles.

(14:22):
And I will say this, I agree with you. It's
well overdue. You look at his numbers, it's ridiculous. He
should have been in a decade ago. But that's another story.
I'm glad he got in. But Parker was great to me.
I mean as a rookie in that same spring training
I was talking about, he treated me great. He gave
me some tips he read me, which was fine, but

(14:45):
he helped me out. I really appreciate it and I
got to, like I said, I got to know him
very well playing racketball every morning. So I'm very happy
for him and I'm looking forward to that induction.

Speaker 14 (15:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 15 (15:01):
Same. Here Chris Sabo with us for another minute of
So the Grand Market Grand Marshal of this year is
Finley Market Opening Day Parade. I have followed your post
playing career and you've You've done coaching. You've done some
coaching at the professional level, the collegiate level, You've been
involved in UH Baseball United.

Speaker 14 (15:18):
What is your level of involvement in baseball now?

Speaker 17 (15:23):
No? None, none, right now.

Speaker 15 (15:25):
Uh.

Speaker 17 (15:26):
I was coaching last year at State College of Florida
in UH in Bradenton. Uh. Unfortunately I developed some souldier issues.
I had to get my shoulders operated on.

Speaker 18 (15:36):
UH.

Speaker 17 (15:36):
So that's really put me back. But fortunately I'm coming
out of it. So UH, I'm hoping by the next UH,
you know cycle in the summer, I can get back
in the coach and I really enjoy it. But but
I enjoyed the physical part of it too, throwing, batting practice, hitting,
fungos along with the teaching. So uh, I'm looking forward

(15:58):
to getting back into it. I'm not in to the
retirement thing and not doing I love golf, but I
can't play golf every single day. It's just too barring.
So I'm hoping to get back into coaching and hopefully
someone out there is gonna hire some sixty three year
old guy. We'll see.

Speaker 14 (16:16):
Yeah, well, I certainly hope.

Speaker 15 (16:18):
So I will say this, there haven't been many father
daughter pairings that I've had a chance to interview, and
we've had Annie on the show, and as she does
a terrific job on the Reds TV broadcast, what is
it like watching your daughter be a part of the
broadcast for the team that you obviously played with.

Speaker 17 (16:37):
Well, first off, I'm glad the Reds thought enough of
her to bring her back, and we're all excited about that.
That just means it gives me an opportunity to come
up to Cincinnati and help out with Annie and the
baby and stuff like that. But yeah, it's the same way.
I have three daughters and they played sports, and it's
the same way watching Annie on TV as we watching sports.

(16:59):
I get nerve. I was never really nervous playing you know,
hockey or baseball or golf. I enjoyed the butterflies and
that kind of stuff, But watching your kids, it's it's
a different story. You get nervous for him. And I'm
the same way watching Annie. I mean I watched, you know,
whenever she's on, I get the baseball package, so I

(17:19):
watch all the Reds games, and uh, yeah, I get nervous.
I think she does a good job, but you're you know,
she's competitive like me. She keeps, you know, wants to
do better and get better. So I'm really fortunate to
be able to watch her, and I'm glad the Reds
brought her back. It's it's great. She was born and
raised in Cincinnati and obviously loves the red so it's

(17:41):
it's a good deal.

Speaker 13 (17:43):
All right.

Speaker 15 (17:43):
So you watch her, which means you're watching the club.
Give me some impressions of what you know about the
Reds as we get set for twenty twenty five.

Speaker 17 (17:52):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm the same way. When
I've played. I'm bullish. You know, when I played, I
thought we were gonna win it, win it all every year.
Uh you know, that's the way I think. And I'm
bullish on the Reds again. You know, it's two hundred
games count spring training. You gotta stay healthy. Uh. My
favorite player is McClain, so I'm glad. You know, I

(18:14):
was so disappointed he got hurt last year.

Speaker 16 (18:16):
It gets him.

Speaker 17 (18:17):
I really enjoy watching him play, and uh, I think
he's gonna be a key for the Reds. I mean
he's sort of like a little engine that could, and
we need those. I mean, obviously Ellie's a superstar and
some of these other guys, but uh, you need the
Steers and you need the mcclaims of the world to
keep it all going too. So uh, I'm looking forward

(18:38):
to it. I'm looking forward to see, uh what they
can do. And uh, you know, it's getting those playoffs,
and once you get in the playoffs, you never know
what the heck is gonna happen.

Speaker 15 (18:48):
Yeah, no question about that. Hopefully this is the year
it gets started an opening day. Opening Day begins with
the Filey Market Opening Day Parade, the Great Chris Sable
this year's Grand Marshall. I know you got to run.
I can't thank you enough for the time. Awesome to
have you. I hope you can do it again. Down
the road.

Speaker 17 (19:02):
Thanks so much, Thanks Bowen, We'll see opening Day.

Speaker 15 (19:07):
Most definitely the Reds Hall of Famer, nineteen ninety World
Series Champion and nineteen eighty eight National League Rookie of
the Year Chris Sabo, this year's Grand Marshal of the
Finland Market Opening Day Parade.

Speaker 14 (19:19):
A defense of the Bengals.

Speaker 15 (19:21):
After the six thirty news on seven hundred WLW, twenty
three minutes away from seven o'clock, I'm oegor in for
Lance McCallister.

Speaker 14 (19:29):
This is RNL Carrier Sports Talk.

Speaker 15 (19:32):
We are presented tonight by Kelsey Chevrolet seven hundred wl W.
Our friend Kelsey Conway from The Inquirer and Cincinnati dot
Com is going to join us at seven thirty five.
She covers the Bengals and obviously has been writing about
Trey Hendrickson and the Bengals, giving him permission to go
seek a trade, find a new deal, find a contract

(19:54):
extension with a team that then would be willing to
execute a trade in order to get that deal done.
And we're gonna see this. I would have to imagine
that from a Bengals perspective. And by the way, the
Bengals have no obligation to sign off on a trade.
This is not the sort of thing that's gonna linger
into late March. And if it does, then I would

(20:18):
imagine the conversation changes and the Bengals are gonna tell
Trey whether he likes it or not.

Speaker 14 (20:25):
Yeah, that's cool.

Speaker 15 (20:28):
We we wanted the trade to get done before we
went into free agency because we wanted to formulate a
free agency strategy. And well, now that free agency has
started and not necessarily ended, and now that we're getting
ready for the draft, you know, I don't know, I
don't know that we're as interested in.

Speaker 14 (20:47):
Trading you away.

Speaker 15 (20:51):
Is there anyone who cares about the Bengals or is
even an observer of the NFL who is where I
am when it comes to this Trey Hendrickson thing. Like,
at the end of the day, what I want most
is I want the Bengals to win the Super Bowl,
and I certainly do think that that becomes a little

(21:16):
bit more difficult at phase value without your best defensive player. Now,
if the Bengals trade Trey Hendrickson and then use some
of the savings to to get better on defense or
apply it on the offensive line, and if Miles Murphy
makes a major lead from a guy who didn't help
last year to a productive player, and they can use

(21:37):
free agency to find comparable replacements or at least decent
replacements for Trey, and they do what they've got to
do in the draft. And if the offense is as
good and as explosive as we think it can be,
as we know it can be, then yeah, I mean
this may work out right, But what we all want
is we want the Bengals to win, and the clock
is ticking.

Speaker 14 (21:57):
I make this about the next three years.

Speaker 15 (22:00):
If you've heard me on ESPN fifteen thirty, you've heard
me recite this a bunch of times. I think only
five quarterbacks have won their first Super Bowl after their
eighth season. Obviously, many many others have won their second
or third or fourth Super Bowl after their eighth season.
But Joe Burrows twenty nine years old, it's time. It's

(22:21):
time to go chase a Lombardi Trophy. And I think
you're being completely reasonable if you do not think that
the best way to do that is to trade Trey Hendrickson.
But I I find myself kind of in the middle here,
and I know number one, we are in a day

(22:41):
and age where whatever the issue, everybody takes sides and
there's no one really left in the middle. And I
also understand that, like my job sports talk radio guy,
it's one of the cardinal rules, like have an opinion,
take a side, one's good, one's wrong, dig in, don't
don't change your mind with this. I'm I'm kind of

(23:07):
in the middle. You'll hear the Bengals are being cheap,
that they're being short sighted, that they're being unfair.

Speaker 14 (23:17):
I don't feel that way.

Speaker 15 (23:19):
And you'll also on the opposite side, you know, you'll
hear or read that Trey is being selfish. I certainly
don't feel that way either. Let's start with the Bengals
here to a large degree, as much as we all
love Trey Hendrickson, as much as we could talk about
him being maybe the best free agent acquisition in the

(23:42):
history of the franchise, they're not wrong here at face value,
because and remember, Trey right now is under contract to
play for the Cincinnati Bengals in twenty twenty five. As
awesome as Trey was this past season, as awesome as
he was the year before that, as awesome as he

(24:04):
has been ever since he put on a Bengals uniform.
They don't want to pay for Trey's twenty twenty four
production in twenty twenty six and twenty twenty seven when
there is a very good chance that his production then
doesn't even come close to matching what it was last season.

(24:26):
That's a fair and reasonable point of view. It may
be that they prove to be wrong about that, Like
I've never crushed him for letting Andrew Whitworth get away,
because they saw a player who in his mid thirties,
if he continued to play at a high level, was
going to defy the odds. To Andrew's credit, he went on,

(24:48):
played great in LA, was a Super Bowl champion, and now,
for my money, at least he's going to be a
Hall of Famer. But they made a wager against him
continuing to play at a really high level deep into
his thirty It's not apples to apples with Wit and
Trey Witt is older than or Witt was older in
twenty seventeen than.

Speaker 14 (25:08):
Trey is now.

Speaker 15 (25:09):
But still you can understand that, right, even if you
want Trey to play for the Bengals, even if you
want then to give him a contract extension, I mean
that makes sense right, like, yes, he was awesome last year,
but we don't want to pay more when the production
is probably not going to go up and is likely
to dip down the road. And from Trey's perspective, could

(25:32):
you blame anybody for wanting to capitalize on their best year.
I think in any business anybody would want to do that,
no matter what their employment status was. I just had
my best year. It was so good. I was a
finalist for Defensive Player of the Year. It was so good,
like I was awesome the team itself. There were still

(25:53):
twenty other teams that had more total sacks. I was
not only that good. I was the only guy, at
least on the defensive line who was any good. And
really I was the only player on the defense who
was any good. I want to get paid. I play
a rough, violent sport. I am always a play away
from my career being over. I want the bag. As

(26:15):
we say, I want to get paid. I want to
I want to get what I think I'm worth, and
what I'm worth is a salary commensurate to being the
best edge rusher in the sport. Max Crosby of the
Raiders just got his mega deal. It's gonna get thirty
two MILLI year, And if I'm Trey Hendrickson, if you
were a Trey Hendrickson, you would want something like that.

Speaker 14 (26:35):
Can't blame anybody. It's not selfish, it's not greed.

Speaker 15 (26:38):
It's it's seeking what you believe you're worth and what
the market you think the market dictates your worth.

Speaker 14 (26:43):
He's not wrong. The Bengals aren't wrong here.

Speaker 15 (26:46):
I had a conversation with somebody today about you know,
somebody asked me, do you like this? Do you like
this as a fan? Do you like this as a
sports talk radio host as a fan? It's uncomfortable, right,
it is. We're talking about great players who have been
a part of your favorite team's success, and then the
questions that come if those players leave for your favorite
team as a sports talk radio host. Like, there's a

(27:08):
thousand different angles to these stories, but we're supposed to
take sides here. I see both sides of this. I
don't know what the best outcome is, in large part
because I'm not entirely sure what the trade value, what
Trey Hendrickson's trade value is. I don't think he's gonna
get him a first round pick back. Maybe he gets

(27:30):
a two, I'd probably make that deal. Maybe he gets
a three, and depends on where it is in round three,
Like I don't know. I also, to a degree, do
not trust the Bengals to take the money they would
save on Trey Hendrickson and.

Speaker 14 (27:47):
Successfully use it.

Speaker 15 (27:50):
And that's part of this too, Like the Bengals recent
track record of replacing really good players and having a
plan to replace really good players isn't very good to
an including Miles Murphy, who I've got to think was
drafted with an eye toward twenty twenty five and twenty
twenty six and twenty twenty seven, where you would like
to think that by now you can count on him.

Speaker 14 (28:11):
To be the kind of pass rusher you drafted him
to be. But you can't. And so now maybe you've got.

Speaker 15 (28:16):
To keep Trey Hendrickson around, even though there's a very
good chance Trey's best seasons are behind him. It's tough, man,
It's tough. And I certainly do believe this because if
I had my way, and it's very rare when it
comes to the Bengals, I do. If I had my way,
you'd say to Trey, look, man, I get it. You

(28:37):
want to get paid but we got to take care
of us. You're under contract for one more year. Let's
win the Super Bowl this season, go out and have
a great year, and at the end of it, you're
free to go. Hopefully in the short term you can
win a ring here. And if you're you know, so
happy here that you decide you want to stay, well,

(28:58):
let's revisit this. But I think there's two things there.
Number One, we've almost we've almost made it that if,
like you ask a player to play out the last
year of his deal with no extension, it's a bad thing.
Number Two, I do believe the Bengals are doing what
they're doing because it has been at least strongly suggested

(29:20):
to them that Trey is willing to miss games, like,
not preseason games, real games, and they don't want that.
I'll also say this, man like I it's such an
interesting dynamic, in large part because the Bengals defense was
so bad last year, and you add the fact that

(29:41):
they've got to pay Jamar and you add the fact
that they've got to pay t Higgins like, there's so
many moving parts, I do think, and part of it
is the Bengals just overall image, which despite the success
of twenty one and twenty two. Let's be honest, it's
still not great. Whenever there's something like this, you'll hear

(30:01):
people say, well, the Bengals are being cheap again, or
here they go. And I think a lot of that
criticism is overstated. I actually think what the Bengals are
doing with Trey Hendrickson is very player friendly because they
could quote hold him captive. They could point to his
contract and say, big boy, you signed it. Here it

(30:24):
is play. They could call his bluff and I gonna
be honestly, this is a part of me that would
do this. You could call his bluff and say, here's
the contract, you have one year left on it. We
expect you to show up for training camp. If you don't,
we can find you. We expect you to show up
for regular season games. If you don't, you don't get
paid for them. And if he decides to miss the

(30:47):
entire year, well that got all sorts of issues as
it relates to his free agency down the road. They
could do that. They could call his bluff. Instead. They
have the original reporting done by Adam Schefter. They have
told him, hey, man, go find a better deal. You
work for us, But go talk to any one of

(31:09):
our competitors. Go see if they'll pay you more. Go
see if they'll give you what you're looking for. Go
see if you can find someone who's going to give
you what you want. And if they do, that might
come at the expense of our chances in twenty twenty five.
That's actually a really player friendly thing to do. Would

(31:34):
your employer do that? Yeah, go go to one of
our competitors. You might be under contract. Go to one
of our competitors. Go ahead, and if you can find
something that works, we'll see if we can make it
work for us.

Speaker 14 (31:44):
But go ahead. That's that's actually doing Trey sol. They're
being upfront with them.

Speaker 15 (31:50):
Look, we do not think you're a thirty to thirty
two million dollars a year player in twenty twenty six.
Like we're not there. We could be wrong about this.
You could prove us wrong. But if you want to
go see if somebody else will do what we won't do,
go for it. Now. We've got to get something back
in return, and it's got to be something about you.
The Bengals aren't gonna just give Trey Hendrickson a way,

(32:13):
But the Bengals are allowing a premier player to go
out of his way to remove himself from a team
that I think has designs on winning the title this year.
You could tell me if I'm wrong. Five point three
seven four nine, seven thousand. I think they're doing Trey

(32:34):
a tremendous favor. They might go, well, they should just
reward them, just pay them.

Speaker 14 (32:43):
In an ideal world, maybe maybe in a non.

Speaker 15 (32:45):
Salary cap league, but you know, like NFL teams, this
is the fun and games department. I have more fun
with sports than anybody. But these are big businesses. Big
businesses are not in the business is of just rewarding people.
They're in the business of investing in the right ones.

(33:07):
Trey Hendrickson, as impersonal as this may sound, is an investment.
He's an investment. You know, if you play this stock market,
his stock is really, really, really high. What do we
always say by low sell high? Well does that at
all apply here? And maybe you don't want them to

(33:28):
trade him, But again, like, are you crazy about investing
in Trey Hendrickson in twenty twenty seven? I mean he's
looking for a long term deal right twenty twenty seven.
By the way, when you're the Bengals, and you've been
burned by contracts like this. It's been pointed out in
a number of different corners by players like Geno. Atkins
a great player, but they give him yet another contract

(33:50):
age thirty and it doesn't pay off. And it's not
that Trey can't still be an effective player. I would
bet on him being an effective player. It's not that
he still can't help you win. But you know, especially
for a team that's got some major, major contracts to
get done with other players.

Speaker 14 (34:08):
Yeah, man, I.

Speaker 15 (34:11):
Think there are a lot of teams. I think there
are a lot of teams across sports.

Speaker 14 (34:14):
That would.

Speaker 15 (34:16):
Baulk at giving a guy top of market money for
years when he is possibly and one might say likely
no longer going to be a top of market player.
Neither side is wrong here. Two things hover over all
of this. I know I'm late for a break, but

(34:36):
two things hover over all of this. One is how
Joe Burrow is processing all of this. It's been a
few weeks since we've heard from Joe. Joe is lobbied
for trade to get paid. Obviously t Higgins as well,
and Jamar Chase. That hovers over all of this, and
the other thing that hovers over all of this is
the Bengals.

Speaker 14 (34:55):
And I mentioned this a few minutes ago.

Speaker 15 (34:57):
The track record of being able to replace players who
leave is just really, really spotty. At best. You are
going to have really good players who leave.

Speaker 14 (35:07):
It happens.

Speaker 15 (35:08):
You are going to have good players who leave your
team to play for someone else. Maybe you trade them,
maybe they just walk in free agency. It's inevitable no
matter what kind of franchise you are. The Bengals have
known this. They had a plan in place to replace
Jesse Bates. It took Dax Hill. The plan did not work. Heck,

(35:31):
they you want to go back a long time ago
and bring up Andrew Whitworth. They telegraph their plan when
it comes to Andrew Whitworth. They took two guys who
played his position in the first two rounds of the
twenty fifteen draft. I mean they did anything but like
buy an ad on this radio station saying hey, Andrew,
we're moving on from you in two years. The plan
did not work. They had a plan in place to

(35:55):
replace DJ Reader, It did not work. Heck, they had
a plan in place to replace Higgins. Jermaine Burton, who
has nearly as many evictions as catches did not work,
von Bell left. That plan was so bad they had
to go bring von Bell back. Chenobi a Woozie did not.

(36:15):
I mean, there's a pretty long list here. They drafted
Miles Murphy, the plan one day replaced maybe Trey Hendrickson,
Perhaps Sam Hubbard hasn't worked. So what hovers over all
of this is if Trey does leave, the spotlight it's
shined on Duke Tobin.

Speaker 14 (36:31):
And for Duke's.

Speaker 15 (36:32):
Successes, and he has had many, the recent track record
of well letting a player of Trey's caliber get away
and the plan to replace them not working is pretty extensive,
which kind of cuts into trust. Your thoughts will welcome

(36:52):
at five one, three, seven, four, nine, seven thousand. Speaking
of investments, I think a lot of people forget how
good of an investment the Reds made not that long ago.
We'll get to that coming up after the seven o'clock news,
which is five minutes away. This is RNL Carrier Sports
Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet on seven hundred WLW.

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It's seven oh seven on seven hundred and WLW Good
evening on omeger In for Lance McAllister. This is RNL
Carrier's Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Sherferde.

Speaker 14 (39:38):
I hope your weekend is off to an awesome start.

Speaker 15 (39:40):
Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Inquirer is going to join
us at seven thirty five. She's been all over the
Bengals offseason, the Trey Hendrickson story, and so much more
that coming up at the bottom of the hour, there
is a pretty big NFL story. Ian Rappaport and Adam
Schefter both reporting that the Seattle Seahawks are trading Geno Smith,

(40:00):
their quarterback, to the Las Vegas Raiders, which will reunite
him with the coach that he played for in Seattle,
Pete Carroll, who about a month and a half or
so ago was named the new head coach in Vegas.
In exchange, the Seahawks get a third round pick. One
of the ongoing ongoing offseason stories in the NFL has

(40:21):
been the Seahawks and their attempts to reach an agreement
on a contract extension with Gino Smith, who you talk
about being one of the cooler recent NFL success stories,
A guy who was regarded as a Boston New York
with the Jets and then bounced around a little bit
goes to Seattle and becomes a two time Pro Bowl quarterback,

(40:43):
wins the Comeback Player of the Year award in twenty
twenty two, and last season at least statistically played pretty well.
He moves on to Las Vegas, and now one of
the storylines as we get into free agency next week
is going to be the Seahawks pursuit of Sam Darnold,

(41:04):
who did in Minneapolis what Gino Smith did in Seattle,
which was arrive in a new town as a flameout
elsewhere and resuscitate his career.

Speaker 14 (41:15):
So stay tuned that obviously.

Speaker 15 (41:19):
As of right now, nine after seven o'clock on Friday night,
no new Trey Hendrickson news, but we'll talk about it
with Kelsey Conway coming up in just about twenty five minutes.
If you don't know, not that anybody's paying a huge
deal to Cactus League games, But the Reds did not
play today. They were supposed to take on the San

(41:40):
Francisco Giants. That game got rained out. You don't get
a lot of Cactus League rainouts. Among the significant items
coming from Goodyear was Terry Francona did announce at least
four fifths of his season opening starting rotation starting with
Hunter Green on opening Day. You might remember last year
this was a thing. Hunter Green didn't start on opening day.

Speaker 14 (42:02):
Last year.

Speaker 15 (42:03):
They gave that assignment to Frankie Montas, but Hunter was
the opening day starter in twenty twenty three. He'll pitch
that first game against San Francisco and then be followed
by Nick Lodolo, Nick Martinez, Brady Singer, the new guy
they got from the Kansas City Royals, and then TBD.
But the headline, Hunter Green gets the opening day assignment.

(42:24):
This was pretty obvious. I don't know how long or
deeply Terry Francona had to think about this. Hunter Green
was an ace last season. He was an All Star
last season. Now, the one thing he didn't do was
get through a full season uninterrupted. But he was a

(42:44):
guy who finished eighth in the National League Say Young voting.
He had a two seventy five ERA, he led all
major league pitchers and wins above replacement. He was better
at keeping the ball in the ballpark career best in
home runs per nine innings career best, and hits per
nine innings, and in his last nine starts, and in

(43:07):
the middle of those nine starts was a stint on
the injured list, Opposing batters hit one.

Speaker 14 (43:12):
Thirty against him.

Speaker 15 (43:15):
Do what you want with the statistic that is batting average.
That's awesome. And as Era was one point zero two
staff ace, staff ace, legitimate staff ace. He did not
hit thirty starts. He made twenty six starts. Hopefully this
year he crosses the thirty start threshold. I think, you know,

(43:36):
we've done this so often with the Bengals, like talking
about contracts and who's been extended. And I know every
time Ellie de la Cruz has a really good game,
folks are gonna ask, like, well, what can they do
to sign him long term? And I've just I've decided
to assume that Ellie is gonna go play somewhere else

(43:58):
next decade. The good news is there's lots of time
between now in next decade. But as we'd like talk
about players that have gotten contracts and what teams are paying,
I still don't think the Reds get credit for what
they did with Hunter Green. Did you know that this
season Hunter Green is going to be the eighty second
highest paid starting pitcher in baseball? Eighty second? Are there

(44:25):
eighty one better? Are there twenty one better? I think
number one, in part because the offseason was so long,
in part because the team last year was disappointing. Number One,
I think people forget how good Hunter Green was last season.
He was one of the best pitchers in baseball. I

(44:45):
also think people forget about what a bargain he is
a little bit more than six million dollars this year.
And it's interesting if you remember they bought out all
the years of team control, bought out his arbitration years,
and then tacked on one more years so Hunter can
still hit free agency. You know, basically when he's thirty
years old, he could still cash in. And I operate

(45:08):
under the same assumption I do with Ellie de la
Cruz that he's probably not gonna be here beyond the
period of time that he assigned for. The good news
is they get four more years of Hunter Green. Like
the Rats, for as much as they get beat up
for some of the stuff they do, and deservedly so,
oftentimes I don't think get nearly the credit they deserve

(45:29):
for doing something that I heard them get criticized for.
Because a lot of people just saw the total dollar
figure of the contract, which was six years, fifty three mil.
They They did something very very They bet on this
guy being really good in a short amount of time,
and if he is, we're gonna end up with one

(45:49):
of the great bargains in the sport. It's gonna make
a little bit more than six million dollars this year,
the eighty second highest paid pitcher in baseball six point
three and by the way, next year that goes up
to eight point three. Chances are he's not gonna be
among the top sixty five to seventy highest paid pitchers

(46:09):
in baseball. It's you know, it's it gives them more
financial flexibility, and you could certainly argue, well, they should
have used more of that money this offseason, and I
think there's some validity to that, even though I think
they had a productive offseason. I think the next question
becomes who signs next? Like, who do they get to
do that next? Do they do that with Matt McLean.

(46:31):
I think one of the interesting questions they have coming
up is what are they gonna do with Tyler Stevenson,
who very quietly had a good season last year. But
as we do this, and like Ellie Dela Cruz, you're
gonna hear it all summer long, especially if he ends
up having the sort of season we think he will,
Are they gonna sign him? Is he gonna leave? What

(46:53):
do they have to do to sign him? Would he
sign here? I think these concerns are a little bit overblown.
He's under contract with the Reds for the rest of
the decade, and Ellie Dela Cruz also has a chance
down the road to maybe be the base baseball's first
one billion dollar player. Not one billion dollars a year,
but you know, total value of the contract. So if

(47:14):
I'm Ellie Dela Cruz and Mat Carrott's being dangled in
front of me, I'm not that interested in signing a
contract with anybody right now. But now we talk all
the time about like Joe Burrow, like they gotta win
while he's here. NFL quarterbacks are different than baseball pitchers,
or baseball shortstops or any baseball player, because one baseball player.

Speaker 14 (47:35):
Can only do so much.

Speaker 15 (47:38):
But if we're going to do the whole thing about
you know, gotta sign Ellie and then you gotta re
sign a hunter.

Speaker 14 (47:44):
You gotta pay these guys.

Speaker 15 (47:46):
One thing you can do to compel them to want
to continue to play for you is to win.

Speaker 14 (47:52):
While you have them.

Speaker 15 (47:57):
I think we I'm guilty of it sometimes I think
we understate how important that is to so many of
these guys. They want to win, which sounds obvious, but
they want to build brands. The way you do that
is to be on the biggest stage. Even like to
a large degree, you know it bothers me as a
Reds fan and is a huge Joe Evado fan. But like,

(48:20):
can you imagine for a guy who's kind of, you know,
universally beloved or among baseball fans, how he would be
viewed if he got the postseason stage. That's not his
fault that he didn't. But like these guys, they want
to they want to play, they want to get paid,
but they I don't think they want to be empty
stat machines. They want some hef to those numbers. One

(48:40):
of the most wasted careers ever is Mike Trout and Anaheim,
who has never played in a game in the postseason
that his team won. Joey Evado never advanced in the postseason,
wasted him. So like if you if you eventually want
to see the Reds come to the negotiating table, and

(49:01):
I'm sure the Reds would love to do it right now.
But if you even want to have a prayer of
getting guys like this Ellie and Hunter and maybe others
to want to sit down with you and continue the
relationship with you, and maybe because you'll hear this, take
the hometown discount.

Speaker 14 (49:19):
Which my guess is no one wants to do that.

Speaker 15 (49:23):
It would help if you have some team success to
point to. This is a vital stretch for the Cincinnati Reds.
We talk about this all the time with the Bengals,
a vital stretch because you have talents.

Speaker 14 (49:36):
He had a Hall of Fame manager.

Speaker 15 (49:37):
Right now, I also have thirty years of fans like
you and I waiting for them to advance in the postseason.
But if they and if you and I are holding
out hope that some of these guys are going to
want to stay here long term, I think you have
to prove that this is a place where they can win,
achieve team success, play on the biggest age, and build

(49:59):
the best possible. But doing what they did with Hunter
Green is a great start because it will give them
financial flexibility over the next couple of years to be
able to win while he's here. And I'm as big
a Hunter Green fan as you'll find ye, there's there's
something to be There's something to be said about you know,

(50:22):
a guy twenty five years old, All Star last year
and he takes a back seat to Elie de la Cruz,
and not that long ago he was viewed as maybe
the future face of baseball. He could be that. This
year he will definitely be the opening day starting pitcher.
It's eighteen minutes after seven o'clock on Twitter at Moeger

(50:44):
Follow me please. Kelsey Conway from The Inquirer also will
do some college basketball. Our bracketologist on my show on
ESPN fifteen thirty is a guy by the name of
Hunter Sansom.

Speaker 14 (50:55):
He's the NKY bracket guy.

Speaker 15 (50:56):
We're going into the last regular season weekend of the
college basketball season.

Speaker 14 (51:03):
You see is on the road.

Speaker 15 (51:04):
Let's face the Bearcats probably aren't gonna make the NCAA Tournament.
They're not gonna make the NCAA Tournament as an at large.
They're gonna have to win five and five days in
the Big twelve Tournament. But you got, you know, squarely
sitting on the bubble right now, Xavier, Ohio State, and Indiana.
And so we'll talk about those schools and some Kentucky
and others, with the NKY bracket guy coming up at

(51:26):
eight thirty five. Meanwhile, if you're a UC basketball fan
and I am, I got a question for you next
on seven hundred WLW twenty three after seven o'clock. This
is our l Carriers Sports Hockey was oed by Kelsey

(51:47):
Sheppard Land Lance McAllister is off tonight. He'll return on Monday.
I'll be back in my normal spot on Monday afternoon
ESPN fifteen thirty from three until six o'clock. We've been
been heavy on the Bengals and the Reds. The other
story that stood out, I think to a lot of

(52:08):
us today, especially those of us who love college basketball
and specifically you see basketball. In a story by Jason
Williams of The Inquirer, you see Director of Athletics John
Cunningham says that Wes Miller will return as UC's head
coach next season. This despite it likely that the Bearcats

(52:30):
will miss the NCAA Tournament for a fourth consecutive season.

Speaker 14 (52:35):
This despite the.

Speaker 15 (52:37):
Very loud and repeated booing by fans at Fifth Third Arena,
and perhaps that booing never as loud and never as throaty.
If you will than Wednesday night when you see lost
to Kansas State in a game that was less about

(52:58):
the results and less about even what the result meant.
And I think more about number one, the team's lack
of effort, as pointed out by Wes Miller. And I
also think a fan base that is frankly struggling to
buy into the idea that Wes is the guy. I

(53:21):
think that's that's a fair a fair way to put it.
I like Wes Miller, I do, and I want this
to work out. I am a die hard UC fan.
I do think it's it's fair to ask. We're four
years into this and there have been obstacles. Joining the

(53:42):
Big Twelve was at least in the short term and
an obstacle, and I think it's completely reasonable to wonder,
like when our when our UC's major sports going to
be in a position to legitimately contend for championships in
the Big Twelve, not just make the NCAA tournament as
an eleven, not just sneak into some no name bowl game,

(54:03):
but like, compete for championships in this league. How long
is it going to take? But I think we've all
given both major programs and for this purposes of this conversation, specifically,
the basketball program men's basketball program a grace period. Nobody
this season coming into the year was talking about u
SEE winning the Big Twelve, competing with Houston and Texas
Tech and Arizona. The expectation was make the NCAA tournament

(54:27):
and make it with relative ease. But beyond that, I
think I think it's hard to put your finger on
what the identity of this program is. Also admit, I
think it's harder to forge and keep an identity than
it used to be, just because the players can come

(54:47):
and go, and that's that's not a lament of how
things operate in college basketball. I am mostly a fan
of how things operate in college basketball. But still I
I feel like a program can still carve out and
maintain an identity. This is what you hang your hat on.

(55:08):
This is what it's going to look like most years,
even if there is a little bit of a talent efficiency.
I don't think that identity has been established. And were
coming to the end of four years, I thought this
was going to be a year where because of an

(55:29):
upgrade in the talent, I mean like they brought in
dudes from high major programs. They brought back all the
players that everybody wanted to come back from last year's team,
and it really felt like this was going to be
the season where we really started to understand what a
Wes Miller coach team is supposed to look like. And instead,
this season has, I think for a lot of fans,

(55:54):
it's come to be defined by questions about effort or
lack thereof. To think about Wednesday night if you love
UC basketball, the think about Wednesday night was it was
disappointing the way they played. They were listless, they were punchless.
A team that you would have thought would have been

(56:14):
desperate to grab a home win and at least stay
in the hunt for an at large bid, play with
some urgency senior nights, and maybe play with some emotion.
There was none of that against a Kansas State team,
and I was there for the first twenty five minutes
of that game. Looked like a team that had no
interest in playing basketball, fighting with each other in the huddle,

(56:37):
just looked totally checked out, right for a beating, begging
to be drilled, and instead, you see, let him hang around,
and if you do that long enough, eventually the other
team's going to go, well, we might as well win.
And after the game, Wes Miller understandably so emphatically didn't
question his team effort. He complained about it. Again. I

(57:00):
don't blame him, but I think the thing that was
really sobering about Wednesday night was wasn't that surprising? And
I'm not talking about them losing. It was the continuation
of what for a lot of us has been a theme.
There have been multiple games this year where I think
a lot of us have walked away from it going like,

(57:21):
what was that? What was that effort? What was that
level of intensity? And so unfortunately, that's I think, become
the identity of this team. Well, this team was supposed
to be the one that established the identity of the program,

(57:43):
So then what's the identity of the program? And I
think that question is really hard to escape, for lack
of a better way of putting it, if you're a
head coach. And when you hear that the coaches coming
back and I really do like Wes Miller and I

(58:04):
really want this to work, and I'm not totally convinced
they should make a change. And I know a lot
of folks who are like demanding that this happened. I
don't know that you want a third coaching change in
six years, but I'll certainly admit what they're doing now
and what they put on the floor this year, and
the overall vibe is really hard to buy into if
you're a fan when you hear that the.

Speaker 14 (58:26):
Head coach is going to come back next season right
now on.

Speaker 15 (58:29):
The opposite end of the spectrum of the Xavier Musketeers
and there's something about them that I don't hear anybody saying.

Speaker 14 (58:34):
We'll do that.

Speaker 15 (58:35):
Coming up in just about twenty five minutes, But first
the Trey Hendrickson thing, how did we get here?

Speaker 14 (58:41):
Why did we get here? What's next? And what do
we think?

Speaker 15 (58:44):
Joe Burrow is thinking those questions and more for Kelsey
Conway The inquire after the seven thirty News, which is
happening right now on seven hundred wlw W presented by
Kelsey Chevrolet, Alm moeger In for Lance McAllister. Hope your
weekend is off to a great start. Lance is back
on Monday. Kelsey Conway of The Inquirer is going to
join us in just a second. She covers the Bengals,

(59:05):
and we obviously have a lot to talk about, mainly
about Trey Hendrickson that coming up in just a second.
A few things to tell you about in case you
may have missed him. First, a Reds update. The Reds
did not have a game today and Goodyear got rained
out the very rare Cactus League rainout. They were supposed
to play the San Francisco Giants, so instead, no game today.

(59:26):
Reds are supposed to be back at it tomorrow in
Goodyear against the Arizona Diamondbacks. That game at three zero five.
If you want to hear it tomorrow afternoon, it's gonna
be on Fox Sports thirteen sixty.

Speaker 14 (59:37):
Hunter Green has.

Speaker 15 (59:37):
Been named the Reds opening day starter for the season
opener against the San Francisco Giants on March twenty seventh.
Hunter has made one other opening day start in his career.
I said this before. I really do think people forget
how good Hunter Green was, and how good he was
after he appeared in the All Star Game. Also today,
Chris Savo was announced as the Grandmark Marshall for this

(01:00:00):
year's Finley Market Opening Day Parade. Meanwhile, Tanner Hudson gets
a one year contract extension with the Cincinnati Bengals. Kelsey
Conway of The Inquirer is not here to talk about that.
She has done some awesome reporting on all the different
pieces moving around with the Bengals this offseason, Jamar Chase
and t Higgins and all of Joe Burrow's comments about

(01:00:22):
what he wants the Bengals to do this offseason, and
obviously the latest involving Trey Hendrickson, we found out yesterday
the Bengals have given him permission to seek a trade.
And so this is really interesting. Kelsey is with us
get her work at Cincinnati dot Com. Also in your
Morning Inquirer. I know you've been asked this I have
as well. I'm just gonna go ahead and post it

(01:00:43):
to you. So Trey Hendrickson, it feels like the likely
outcome is he does get traded. Why have things come
to this.

Speaker 19 (01:00:50):
Because this has been similar to the t Higgins situation
and unresolved issue for two years now, and when things
like this continue to fester, it tends to get to
a boiling point, and they've reached that point. And so
while it's different than the Tea situation, there's a lot
of similarities in some of the conversations I've had with

(01:01:13):
people that are you know, of knowledge of what's been
going on the last couple of years, but it's it
all boils down to the Bengals have a number that
they feel comfortable with Trey Hendrickston at, and Trey Hendrickson
has a number that he and his represent representation believe
he's worse, and they aren't able and haven't been able

(01:01:36):
to come to a male ground on that number. And
it got to a point where I think the assumption
was that there was no way Trey was gonna come back,
and you know, like he requested the trade last year
and kind of like bid his tongue there and just
sucked it up and came back and played that wasn't
gonna happen this year. I have every reason to believe

(01:01:59):
that had this not gone this way and we were,
you know, approaching May first and there was not a
new extension done for him, it would have been another
very tense situation. So I think that the Bengals knew that,
and they actually looked at it and said, you know,
the best interest of the future of this football team

(01:02:22):
is to get something out of him now instead of
trying to play hardball and thinking he will just play
his final year with us and we'll be done with it.
So it's been two years of the making and that's
how we got here.

Speaker 15 (01:02:34):
So you know, you made a reference there to what
might have happened had they hung on to him. And look,
he is still right now technically at least under contract
to play for the Bengals in twenty twenty five. If
no trade was made and no contract extension got done,
I think we would all expect there to be a
little bit of a mini circus once training camp got here,
maybe a hold in, maybe a hold out. Do we

(01:02:56):
think that if things got beyond that, the tray would
have been willing to set out actual regular season games?

Speaker 19 (01:03:03):
Yes, I think that it had It has gotten to
a point with Trey where the market is so out
of whack, and it's one thing if it was close,
but to think he would have played, I mean the
guest he is under contract, and you can there are
a lot of people that bring up, well, he shouldn't

(01:03:24):
have signed that extension, you know, a lot two years ago,
and you know he has some fault in what's gone
on too, and and all of that is is you know,
we could we could talk about that part of it too.
But I from what I have gathered about the situation
the last two years, things have gotten so tense there

(01:03:44):
because he feels so underpaid and undervalued that I do
think that there's some like sense of pride here and
it's you know, you you go on the podium and
you say, we want to pay our players at market price.
We value that all in Dac Taylor's is all these
awesome things about the leader trays and the way he

(01:04:04):
carries himself and the productivity he has on the field.
And I think there's an element of it that is okay,
then prove it. And if you're not going to prove it,
then I'm going to have to dig my feet in here.
And I think knowing Trey and just how you know
passionate he is about his craft, I think there would
be a massive element of this isn't just year one

(01:04:26):
of this, like I'm not We're not doing this again.
And I think that's where it probably would have headed to,
just a rough situation, and I think it was smart
by both parties to get ahead of it. And although
this is not an ideal situation for the Bengals, I
think it's the right move in acknowledging we aren't going

(01:04:49):
to meet you even close to where you want to
be and where the market will pay you to be.
So let's you know, do you a solid here.

Speaker 15 (01:04:57):
How much, if at all, did the Ma Crosby contract
in Vegas where he becomes the highest paid non quarterback
in the history of the NFL at least for now?
How much did that contract extension kick this in the
hyperdrive as it relates to Trey Hendrickson and the Bengals, I.

Speaker 19 (01:05:14):
Think big time. And that's where I go back to.
If there's one thing that is the common denominator here
with the Bengals and these extensions that you haven't gotten done.
When you wait, there's always a price to pay. And
I think I've been on here and said that to
you before, whether it be about Jamar and t like.

(01:05:38):
The Bengals have information to project where these position groups
are going to get priced at right like, That's a
big part of the job, is the projection thing of this.
They have known that the market at the defensive end
position was due for a reset to match more of
the players like Nick Bosa being so high over everyone

(01:05:59):
else wasn't going to be how it went that way.
So I think the main reason it affected the Bangles
because Trey. It's not that I know, I put out
a tweet saying this directly impacts Trey Henderson. And it's
not that I'm saying that Trey is asking for thirty
fives per year. I have no nothing on the record

(01:06:21):
that suggests that. But what I'm saying is that it
provides validation to his representation that if you want a
premiere edge rusher in the NFL, let alone the NFL
sac leader last year, the number has to start with
a three or you're not even going to get anywhere.
And the market is what the market is, whether you

(01:06:42):
like it or not, the market is that. And there's
a lot of people that say that's too much for
Max Crosby or what, But from his standpoint, that was
just more validation. And I think what's interesting about the
conversation with Trey is it feels like the goalpost moves
all the time with him. It's he's not Miles Garrett,
but he and he's not Max Crosby, but he you know,

(01:07:02):
people feel like he's you know, is he better than
Danielle Hunter and Montes Sweat and Brian Burns who are
all making more than Trey. It just to me seems
a little weird that the goalpost for him moved, because
you know, I'm not going to get on here and
say that I think he's Miles Scarrett, nor should he
be paid of Miles Garrett's money. But at the end

(01:07:23):
of the day, these deals get done based off of
SUTs for the most part, and he's got a lot
of facts, and people pay for edge rushers and and
so I think that when that Max Crosby thing came out,
it was just a hey, real, he really now has
even more validation that if he got on the market,

(01:07:43):
he could get way more than what we're willing to
give him. So I do think it impacted it.

Speaker 15 (01:07:47):
Kelsey Conway does an awesome job covering the Bengals for
The Inquirer and Cincinnati dot Com. I'm asking you the guess,
but in your case, it's an informed and educated guess.
So give me a best guess as to what compensation
the Bengals could expect to get for a player like
Trey Hendrickson, not.

Speaker 19 (01:08:05):
A first round pick. I think that that is what
we've seen when you have to pick up a contract.
In addition to giving up draft picks. It significantly hampers
what you know you're willing to give a team. So
my yes, it would be a two or a three
at the highest where I think it's going to be

(01:08:28):
interesting is it does there have to be some give
and take there, Like the Bengals will obviously want the
highest compensation they can get, but like I said, the
team that's picking up the tab on his contract, they
they have to say in it too. But in my opinion,
I think that it'll be a late two or a three.

(01:08:50):
If Deebo Sanuel is getting a fifth, Trey is very productive,
like why would he not, you know, be teams that
need an edge rusher that are trying to win right away.
I think a late two and a third seems about
like the right compensation from the people that I've talked
to about where they think it could potentially be headed.

Speaker 15 (01:09:12):
The free agency negotiating window begins Monday, opens up Monday
at noon, so like, this thing with Trey Hendrickson has
to get done very quickly, doesn't it.

Speaker 19 (01:09:25):
And that's why I feel like the weekend is going
to be the telling part because they can't wait because
there's going to be a time window where the team
that's interested in Trey will call the Bengals and say,
you know, we're willing to give you that our third
round pick for him in addition to this, and the

(01:09:45):
Bengals will obviously have to weigh it. And I'm sure
there's going to be multiple suitors. But you can't wait
too long because say Team X comes in and says
this to the Bengals and they don't get back to them. Well,
when free agency starts, you got to know, and they
don't have time to wait, because if you're going to
get him, then that's one less edgebresher you have to
look for in free agency, and if you're not going

(01:10:06):
to get him, then you need to go find another one.
So they've got to get this squared away and packaged
up by the tampering period because it would significantly change
what they get in return if they wait.

Speaker 15 (01:10:21):
So all along, and you and I have talked about this,
this has kind of been portrayed as Tea or tray, right, Well,
they franchise tag Tea, now they're going to trade tray.
So as soon as they trade Tray, do they go
ahead and get the deal done with Tea.

Speaker 19 (01:10:36):
That's the question of the year, right, I have absolutely
no idea. Here's what I do know about Ta Higgins.
It was never a matter of if Trey or if
t The Bengals have the cash, they have the cap,
they have the money for all of these people. It

(01:10:57):
is about what they value both of the mat and
they had. Like I said at the beginning of this conversation,
they have a number they're comfortable spending. And whether you
agree with that their philosophy on that or not, I
don't If I'm following all the breadcrumbs here t Higgins
tweeting that little cap emoji the day after the director

(01:11:20):
of personnel and head coach went on the podium and
you know, talked about how important he it's them and
how they value him. I don't think that was by mistake.
And I also don't think t higgins mom reposting chat
O Chosinko going on ESPN yesterday saying the franchise tag
was disrespectful, and I don't think that's by mistake that

(01:11:41):
she reposted that. So I don't think he in his
camp are necessarily happy that the Bengals tagged him, nor
should they be. This this has gone on too long
with c. Higgins and he deserves a long term deal,
and you know, the franchise tag never never helps the player.
But to this point, my question is if, like, why

(01:12:04):
is it not done if things are headed in the
right direction, I just don't think you would get that
type of commentary from Tea and his mom. So we'll see,
But got to move here in the next week or two,
because it's in my opinion, if it doesn't happen in

(01:12:25):
the next week. I'm not saying it's not going to happen.
I just think it just makes the situation even more tense.
And it's a completely avoidable situation for the Bengals at
this point because at this point his representation has made
it clear, here's what we're asking for, and it's either
we get it done now or not. But I truly

(01:12:47):
don't know, because every time I get an inkling that
I think it could it's moving in the right direction,
then I see a cap tweet and now I have
to be an emoji investigator.

Speaker 14 (01:12:56):
So yeah, that.

Speaker 15 (01:12:58):
Can't be a very fun part of this one more
because you have other things to do. So what what
hovers over all of this is Joe Burrow, right, who
starts the public campaign for t Higgins back on December ninth,
with which now feels like a lifetime ago. His more
recent comments have included Trey Hendrickson. You know before he

(01:13:18):
was just mentioning t and then Trey has been folded
into the conversation. So, given the fact that things have
changed since we last heard from Joe Burrow, how do
you think he is processing all of this?

Speaker 19 (01:13:31):
Well, I think he's processing in a lot different if.
I don't think he's necessarily happy about Trey Hendrickson, because again,
he was the one that said, you know, we want
all three of them and shoot Joe. The Babel's offense
was awesome last year and they still missed the playoffs.
That was with Trey Hendrickson. Like, they're not a better
defense without Trey Hendrickson. And yes, they'll get picks to

(01:13:54):
replace him, but to expect those picks to come in
and produce at the level that Trey has is not
not not accurate. You hope for two players to give
you that type of production, but that's you're hopeing and
from you know, stones at the wall, and very rarely
does it pan out like that. I think he'd be

(01:14:14):
willing more willing to stomach it if if he gets
done and gets done soon so that we're not, you know,
having to interview Joe and May asking why are t
Higgins and Jamar Chase's deal is not done? But I
also think the part of this that and it will
come out, because it always does. If the offers for

(01:14:35):
t Higgins and Trey Hendrickson aren't, you know, close to
market value, I think that will also be a layer
of it to Joe because remember Joe said, either we're
going to pay them or someone else will pay them,
and they deserve to be paid at the top of
the market. And so if the Bengals offers aren't top
of the market, I think that's another layer that Joe.

(01:14:57):
Joe would probably have an opinion about. So we'll see,
you know, the Bengals have said a lot of things,
and there's still a lot of things to figure out,
but it all works itself out and it all comes out.
But I think that if you're in a situation where
it's draft weekend and you don't have Tea on a
long term extension, your team has traded away Trey, I

(01:15:18):
get the sense he probably wouldn't be jazzed about.

Speaker 15 (01:15:21):
That, and my guess is he's gonna have a lot
of company. You're the best. I know you have a
lot going on. Thank you for giving us some time.
I know you're going to be really busy next week,
so enjoy the weekend and we'll talk soon.

Speaker 19 (01:15:35):
Thanks so much for having me on.

Speaker 15 (01:15:36):
Kelsey Conway covers the Bengals for The Inquirer and Cincinnati
dot Com.

Speaker 14 (01:15:40):
She's going to be busy.

Speaker 15 (01:15:41):
If you're a Bengals fan, you're going to be busy
just trying to sift through all the different stuff. Free
agency officially begins on Wednesday. The negotiating window for free
agency starts on Monday. But I'm with Kelsey. I fully
believe there's a very good chance. Look, this Trey Hendrickson
thing needs a because the Bengals have to get started

(01:16:02):
on next year. And I would say the same thing
about t Higgins, just because you want to know what
you're going to be paying the dude, because you have
other financial decisions to make. And so I would not
be surprised if we get some action this weekend. Heck,
maybe even perhaps tonight. Another esteemed football writer joins us,
coming up at eight h five to say I told

(01:16:24):
you so, I told you this is how things would
end with Trey Hendrickson. That's coming up after the eight
o'clock news on seven hundred WLW Carrier Sports Talk presented
by Kelsey Sheppard Laie Moeger for Lance McCallister, who is
back on Monday. My show is typically heard on ESPN
fifteen thirty weekday afternoons from three to six. We call

(01:16:45):
the show and we, you know, we really strained ourselves
to come up with the name of the show.

Speaker 14 (01:16:50):
It's the Moegar Show.

Speaker 15 (01:16:52):
And we have actually on The Moeger Show, the official
bracketologist of The Moeger Show.

Speaker 14 (01:16:58):
He's a local.

Speaker 15 (01:17:00):
You know, the Internet and really, you know, TV is
filled with bracketologists, people who project what the NCAA tournament
bracket would look like as of a certain date. Joelenardi
is probably the most famous.

Speaker 14 (01:17:12):
ESPN.

Speaker 15 (01:17:13):
Mike Decorsi Fox Sports obviously does a great job. We
have our own guy. He's a local dude from Northern Kentucky,
Hunter Sansom. He goes by NKY Bracket Guy, and he
is going to join us coming up at eight thirty five,
And I think the main focus of our conversation is
going to be the Xavier Musketeers, who have a game
tomorrow against Providence, and it's the kind of game that

(01:17:35):
when it comes to the NCAA tournament, you might not
get a lot of credit for winning, but could sink
your at large chances if they lose. I think Xavier
fans should feel if you're a Xavier fan, you should
be comfortable if obviously they win tomorrow and then get
two in New York.

Speaker 14 (01:17:55):
Now, that doesn't mean.

Speaker 15 (01:17:56):
That if they don't get that, that if they don't
win their next three games, obviously including the biggiest tournament,
that their at large chances are sunk. But I do
think you have to insulate yourself against bid stealing teams
who can knock a team like Xavier who might be
among the last four in off the bubble.

Speaker 14 (01:18:17):
I do think this, though, for as much as we talk.

Speaker 15 (01:18:19):
About and you know, we don't really apply this to
the Bearcats right now, quite frankly, because I think they
have almost no chance of getting in as an at
large team. But Xavier does, and so there tends to
be a lot of focus on will they get in,
what's going to take for them to get in. I
think the interesting thing about Sean Miller's team, though, is
while for the most part here down the stretch they

(01:18:41):
have beaten bad teams, Butler's not very good. You know,
Creighton's good. Creighton's very good offensively. But if you have
watched how the Musketeers have played, and if you have
watched the evolution of their season, I think you're watching
a team that if you're a higher seeded squad, and
let's face sid Xavier is probably going to be wearing
their road uniforms in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

(01:19:05):
I don't think you want to see the Muskies from
a basketball perspective. Now, ignore the metrics and what the
metrics say about their NCAA tournament chances. Look at how
this team has improved. Earlier this year they were having
all sorts of turnover issues, not so much the last
couple of games. I think they had a hard time

(01:19:27):
with guys finding specific roles. I think they had had
a hard time earlier in the season. If a player
like Dante Maddox wasn't having a big game, or a
guy like Ryan Conwell wasn't having a big game, they
were having a hard time finding ways to score. Zach
Fremantle is playing out of his mind right now. Dalen
Swain has turned into a really good two way player
and an absolute defensive stopper, let's face it, man. While

(01:19:50):
his team has at times this season really struggled and
really struggled to put forty minutes together, Sean Miller is
a great coach.

Speaker 10 (01:20:00):
Oh.

Speaker 15 (01:20:01):
I know the profile doesn't suggest dangerous team if you
just look at you know, the team sheet, the tournament resume,
I know the entire body of work, and they've had
some tough and disappointing losses. Might not suggest a team
that can win multiple games in March, and I'm not
saying I'd bet on them doing so. But as cliche

(01:20:24):
as it might sound, I think they're a really dangerous
team if they get in. The question is do they
got to take care of business? Tomorrow against Providence Senior
Day at Sintas Center. Four o'clock will be your tip off.
Pregame on fifty five KARC with Joe and Byron will
be at three point thirty tomorrow afternoon, so we'll talk
about the Musketeers with our guy, the Nky Bracket guy

(01:20:46):
coming up at eight thirty five. Most definitely looking forward
to that the Bearcat end of things, I think the
program is in a really weird spot right now, a
really weird spot right now, where assuming they don't make
the tournament, and let's face it, it's probably going to
require five wins.

Speaker 14 (01:21:06):
In five days for them to get in.

Speaker 15 (01:21:08):
I think it's going to be fascinating to see what
happens with the roster, and I think it's going to
be really interesting to see how much enthusiasm there is
for Wes Miller year five, given the profound disappointment of
the Bearcats not making the Big Dance this year.

Speaker 14 (01:21:23):
More on that in a bit.

Speaker 15 (01:21:23):
We'll chat with our guy Nky bracket guy Hunters Hansom
coming up at eight thirty five, plus good conversation about
Trey Hendrickson and more on the Bengals with a terrific
football writer, Robert Weintraub.

Speaker 14 (01:21:35):
That'll be at eight twenty.

Speaker 15 (01:21:36):
But you know, I was talking about Hunter Green before
and the year that he had last year. He's going
to be opening day starter this year, and Hunter and
Ellie Dela Cruz kind of get lumped in together. Whenever
I mentioned Ellie, I get an interesting pushback that coming.

Speaker 14 (01:21:50):
Up after the eight o'clock news.

Speaker 15 (01:21:51):
This is RNL Carrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet
on the Home of Those Reds seven hundred WLW, Cincinnati.

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Speaker 15 (01:24:21):
Hey, what's up. It's on Malwagger from ESPN fifteen thirty.
This is RNL Carrier Sports Talk. We are presented tonight
by Kelsey Chevrolet on seven hundred WLW. Lance McAllister is
off tonight. He is back on Monday. I hope your
weekend is off to a great start. Our show ears
on ESPN fifteen thirty Monday afternoon at three oh five.
We're gonna jump back into the Trey Hendrickson situation with

(01:24:43):
a great football writer by the name of Robert Wintrod
that is coming up at eight twenty, and we're gonna
do some bracketology with America's best bracketologist. You're thinking, God,
most got Joelan already on. I didn't say most famous bracketologist.
I said best bracket A guy by the name of
Hunter Sansom, the NKY bracket guy. That's coming up at

(01:25:07):
eight thirty five. Big College Basketball Weekend. We'll obviously talk
about the Xavor Musketeers, a bubble team, and the Ohio
State Buckeyes, a bubble team. They play Indiana tomorrow a
bubble team what many might say as an elimination game.
Kentucky is not a bubble team, but we'll talk about
where Hunter has them placed in his mock bracket. Same

(01:25:27):
for the Louisville Cardinals. Unfortunately, we're probably not going to
spend much time on the Bearcats. That conversation coming up
at eight thirty five. It's interesting I was talking about
Hunter Green before, and I feel like what he did
last season erased.

Speaker 14 (01:25:46):
At least most of the skeptics.

Speaker 15 (01:25:48):
Now, I think you're being reasonable if you want to
see if Hunter Green can get through a full season
without having to go on the injured list, and that
was not the case last year. He went on the
injured He did come back late in the season and
pitch in a couple of ball games, which was great
to see. But you could say this about a lot
of the Reds promising starting pitchers. There's a lot to like.

(01:26:11):
They've got good stuff, they've got a lot of upside.
But one of the reasons they had to go get
Brady Singer was there was nobody who had gotten through
a full big league season uninterrupted because of injury, and
Hunter Green is obviously on that list. But from a
performance standpoint, from a stuff perspective, from the perspective of
watching a guy live up to his potential. I think

(01:26:35):
Hunter last season, among everything that he did, I think
he erased most of the doubts about him. There's still
some doubts about Ellie Dela Cruz. And look, I'm a
huge Ellie Dela Cruz fan because of the electrifying plays,
the viral moments, the way that he plays. It's awesome

(01:26:59):
watching him run from home to third. It's awesome watching
him cover the ground. He can cover ag shortstop. It's
awesome watching him steel bases. It's awesome watching him hit
the baseball really, really hard. And last year, look, Ellie
was an All Star. Ellie finished I think eighth in
the nl MVP voting and a good year. Now, statistically,

(01:27:21):
if you look at his Baseball Reference page, if Ellie
spends the next three to four years putting up comparable numbers,
I think that's going to be a disappointment. I think
there's a real hope that most of us have this
year that he could do what a guy like Bobby
Witt did in Kansas City and make this sudden leap
from All Star to superstar from fun player capable of

(01:27:44):
doing great things to a legitimately great player. But he
took a major step forward last year. At the same
time he led baseball and errors among shortstops, he led
baseball in strikeouts. Leeden caught dealings as well. Now he's
always going to be a high strikeout guy, and you

(01:28:05):
kind of accept that to a degree because well, there's
not necessarily the stigma attached to strikeouts that there used
to be, although I would be the first to admit
it'd be great if Ellie could significantly cut back on
the strikeouts, because well, you can't put the pressure on
an opposing defense and you can't make things happen with
your legs if you're not putting the ball in play,

(01:28:26):
and so you expect him to.

Speaker 14 (01:28:28):
Strike out a lot.

Speaker 15 (01:28:29):
You would like to see him bring the strikeout percentage
back a little bit, and you want to see him
make fewer outs on the basis you want fewer of
those moments where you.

Speaker 14 (01:28:39):
Go, oh, Ellie, like, how many.

Speaker 15 (01:28:41):
Of those did you have last year, where you know
he crosses that line between aggressiveness and stupidity. I remember
vividly a playoffs at the Game of GABP where he
hits the ball to right field, and he turns first
and he's going to second, and the plays in front
of him, and the plays in front of the right fielder,
and it's like, dude, what are you doing? Like put

(01:29:02):
pressure on defenses, but don't give defenses outs.

Speaker 14 (01:29:06):
He can't get picked off as much.

Speaker 15 (01:29:07):
He's got to be maybe a little bit more selective
when he steals, so he doesn't offset the successful stolen
base attempts with getting chucked out a bunch.

Speaker 14 (01:29:17):
And he's got to be better in the field.

Speaker 15 (01:29:18):
Right There are those moments where Ellie can do incredible
things with the glove and with his arm and with
his range, and then there are balls that he boots
that are hit right to him. I think he's going
to clean all this stuff up because there are two
things I think are always worth betting on, especially when
we're talking about a really young player who's just twenty
three years old. One is talent. I'm always going to

(01:29:42):
bet on talent. Early in the season last year, Ellie
made I think there were two misplays in the game
early in April and Philadelphia, And of course on social media,
everybody gets mad, which that's what people on social media
do they get mad at everything? And I remember on
my show the next day, going, all right, if you're
done with Ellie, I'll buy the imaginary Ellie Delacruz stock.

(01:30:06):
Because I'm always going to bet on the talent. What happened,
Ellie went on to have a good year, a really
good year in many respects. I'm always gonna bet on
the talent, especially when the talent has shown shown itself.

Speaker 14 (01:30:19):
Like we've seen.

Speaker 15 (01:30:21):
If you have paid any bit of attention to the
Reds since Ellie got called up early June twenty twenty three,
you have seen the things he can do. Can he
do them more frequently? Can he do them more consistently?
And can he do them while at the same time
shedding a lot of that stuff that drives you nuts?
Because I'm betting on the talent, I think the answer

(01:30:43):
is yes. But I'm always gonna bet on great leadership.
I'm of the belief that a manager can only make
so much of a difference. I think it's really hard
to quantify how many wins Terry Francona will Or could
be responsible for this year. But he is talked extensively
about accountability, and he has talked extensively about his role

(01:31:05):
in aiding Ellie Delacruz's development. So I get two high
end things here. I get high end talent. By the way,
according to anything I've ever heard or read about Ellie Delacruz,
I'm getting high end work ethic too. Like I think
this guy sees what's in front of him, a chance
to be a superstar. And as much as he doesn't

(01:31:27):
want to talk about this, Ellie Delacruz has a chance
to sign one day a contract worth one billion dollars.
Probably not gonna be here, but that's that's in front
of him, A chance to sign a contract down the
road worth one billion dollars.

Speaker 14 (01:31:40):
So I'm betting on that too.

Speaker 15 (01:31:42):
I'm betting on somebody who has extreme motivation, but I'm
also betting on leadership. I'm betting on experience. I'm betting
on the skills that have allowed Terry Francona to become
a great Hall of Fame bow manager. This is and
and Terry can bring out a lot in a lot
of these players, and I think that's part of what

(01:32:04):
makes talking about the Reds of the season a lot
of fun. I'm betting on the combination of talent and
motivation and the qualities that Terry Francona possesses in abundance.
Now does that combine to give the Reds a ninety

(01:32:24):
win season this year? A lot has to happen. Can
those things combine to help Elie dela Cruz achieve a
level of stardom that he hasn't reached yet? I think
the answer is absolutely. Does that mean he wins the
MVP this year? I don't know, but it's not that

(01:32:45):
far fetched to suggest he can win the MVP if
you combine all the great qualities Terry Francona has and
the high end talent that Elie dela Cruz has in abundance.
There's lots of really interesting things about the Reds of
this season A lot. I say this all the time
on my show. Be good or be interesting, ideally be both.

(01:33:06):
You gotta be one. I don't know how good they'll be.
I think they're a really interesting club. Terry Francona is
a reason why. Ellie Dela Cruz is a reason why.
But combining the two and talking about and imagining what
that could look like specifically for Ellie, but obviously the
team can benefit from Ellie making a major leap as

(01:33:27):
well is remarkably fascinating to me. I can't wait to
see that start to play out in just twenty days.
What do we have more on the Reds coming up
in just a bit. The Trey Hendrickson thing. A lot
of us kind of saw this coming, not necessarily the
Bengals allowing him to seek a trade, but his contract

(01:33:49):
status coming to a head and resulting in well some
pretty uncomfortable conversations about where Trey may play football in
twenty twenty five and what life might be like without him.
Another voice, another person who saw this coming, a great
football writer, Robert Weintraub. Next, this is RNL Carrier Sports
Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet on seven hundred w LW.

Speaker 2 (01:34:13):
When do you like to listen to Scott's loan?

Speaker 20 (01:34:15):
I love listening to Sloaney to hear some honesty instead
of all the political bs we're bombarded with.

Speaker 14 (01:34:21):
I can't stand all of that endlessbs. That's why I
love me some Sloaney bs is bad.

Speaker 13 (01:34:24):
Sloaney is good.

Speaker 3 (01:34:25):
You know what else is good? Mayonnaise on French fries.

Speaker 2 (01:34:28):
That's absolutely disgusting.

Speaker 3 (01:34:29):
I bet Sloaney puts Mayo on his fries.

Speaker 7 (01:34:31):
Only an idiot would do that, and Sloaney's no idiot.

Speaker 3 (01:34:34):
Scott Sloan, I think I'm gonna puke Monday morning at
nine on seven hundred WLW and check out his podcast
on the free iHeartRadio.

Speaker 15 (01:34:42):
App The Rnel Carrier Sports Talk Roll Song seven hundred
w l Wwe are present it slacked by Kelsey chevro
Lay Lance McAllister is a mambo or filling in lance.
Back on Monday, I'll be back on ESPN fifteen thirty
Monday afternoon at three oh five. A part of our
show on ESPN fifteen thirty during football season on Thursday afternoons,

(01:35:02):
we chat with Robert Wintraub, who writes about football for
a lot of different publications. FTN Fantasy. He is a
part of their annual preseason Almanac, which is a must.
Whether or not you play fantasy football doesn't matter, You've
got to get that publication. He also, during the football season,
does a weekly Bengals column for Cincinnati Magazine.

Speaker 14 (01:35:22):
I wanted to get Robert Weintraub on the.

Speaker 15 (01:35:24):
Show because he kind of told this this was gonna happen.
Trey hendrickson being traded It hasn't happened yet, but that
certainly feels like, if not a likelihood, of strong possibility.
And we'll see what happens in the coming days. Robert's
kind enough to join us. You saw this coming along, right, Yeah.

Speaker 13 (01:35:42):
You could see this one coming, you know, during the
season really, which is when we spoke about it, and
right at the end, certainly when we were already making
our twenty twenty five what if the Bengals look like
discussions happen, and you know, we sort of knew a
few facts, one of which was they were already in
the business is probably of trying to pay Jamar and

(01:36:02):
t both that they only had six draft picks, that
they needed a lot of help, especially on defense, and
their main trade asset was Trey Hendrickson, And also that
he was going to command a lot of money, and
that he was turning thirty years old, and that's at
a point where the Bengals don't necessarily like to pay
their players big money, and he was going to want

(01:36:24):
more than they most likely were going to want to
give them. I find it fascinating that we were at
this point last year, you remember, and trade demanded a
trade this year it's I seek permission and the Bengals
granted it. You know, the verbiage is always so fascinating
when it comes out from the schefters and the pelisaros
via the agents. So I think we should keep that

(01:36:45):
in mind first and foremost. Just because that he's seeking
permission for a trade does not mean that a trade
has happened. It doesn't mean the trade will necessarily happen.
I think Hendrickson may go out there and one or
two things may happen. A he may discover that nobody
is going to pay him in the vicinity of what
Max Crosby just got resigned for over thirty million dollars

(01:37:07):
a year, that they're just not getting as productive as
Hendrickson has been. You're just not going to see that
kind of money given to a player of his age.
That's just reality of the NFL. And you know, the
trade return may not really be in anywhere any way,
shape or form to what the Bengals would want. Trade

(01:37:27):
is under contract still for next year. I mean, he
can hold out, he can go into the corner and
hold his breath. He can do a lot of things.
But you know, he is a Bengal technically, under contract
for next year and we'll see what that how that
plays out. I would say it's still the more likely aspect,
as we've said all along, that he does get traded

(01:37:47):
and the Bengals increase their their draft equity with the trade.
And it's a good time to do it because there's
a lot of defensive ends and a lot of defensive
linemen out there, and you just have to I hate
to draw an on like this, sorry, but I'm just
thinking about these things, and you know it's it's a
reactionary response. That's what the Bengals are. You know, every

(01:38:08):
calls them cheap and short sighted and slow, and you know,
all those things are true to an extent, but really
what they are as reactionary. Right, they make the trade
up for Kajana Carter and that blows up in their face.
Never trade up in the draft again. They who They
signed Antonio'bryant and he got hurt and he never played,
and they sat out a decade of free agency, right,
and then they paid Gino Watkins and Carlos Dunlap right

(01:38:31):
around age thirty to big dollars relatively speaking, and didn't
get much back in return. And they're just you know.
I mean, it's again. You hate to bring it all
back to Bill Belichick, but here it is again. Same
with DJ Reader a year ago. You don't pay for
past performance. You let them go a year too early,
better that than the year too late. It's already really

(01:38:53):
been an outlier kind of situation with Trey. I mean,
I don't think anybody expected this kind of high quality
four years on from his original signing, and it's been.
It's just incredible what he's given the Bengals, far out
performing his contract. And that's the course, the way the
Bengals like it. They've got such a huge bargain out
of him, and now would it behoove them to pay

(01:39:15):
extra for his declining years? You can in that aspect,
probably not, So you understand where they're coming from as well, Yeah.

Speaker 17 (01:39:22):
I do.

Speaker 15 (01:39:23):
I guess at the end of the day, what I
wonder is we've we've almost we've almost made the conversation
about how it's the worst thing in the world to
ask a player to play with one year left under
his contract, and for a franchise that I think, if
the off season has executed successfully, I believe can be

(01:39:44):
in a position to win the whole thing. And with
that being the objective here with Joe Burrow twenty nine
years old, is is it that bad to ask Trey
Hendrickson to do exactly that and go have a big
year and if you want to do hold in, you
want to do all that stuff, which I acknowledge is
is not ideal. But we would all expect them to

(01:40:06):
show up week one, go have a great year, help
us win, and then either we'll revisit this or you'll
hit free agency and maybe have a championship ring on
your finger.

Speaker 14 (01:40:14):
Like why can't they do that?

Speaker 16 (01:40:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 13 (01:40:18):
I think probably sort of behind the scenes, they may
have had a little bit of those discussions, and I think,
you know that's certainly, but the Bengals would have preferred obviously.
And I think if Hendrickson hadn't been so, you know,
incredibly good last year, if you hadn't led the league
in sex, like if you had just finished like fifth,

(01:40:38):
you know, this wouldn't be a discussion like you had
a few extras. This is a thrown on and he
can like point to it. It's it's a counting.

Speaker 14 (01:40:45):
Thing, you know.

Speaker 13 (01:40:46):
It's like, yeah, it's so many, it's one of the
few defensive positions where you can really look at It's
like the guys who get you know, super Bowl MVP
for returning having a couple of pick sixes in the
Super Bowl, right, and then they cash in with that
huge contract even though they're not that great. But it's like, hey,
I had to pick Sick to the Zuper Bowl, I
must be awesome. Same the year he's like he let
the league in Zachs he must be awesome. Well, yeah

(01:41:07):
he's awesome, but you know he's not thirty million dollars
a year awesome. Maybe not at this stage of his career.

Speaker 14 (01:41:13):
And uh yeah, I mean we have gotten to.

Speaker 13 (01:41:16):
The point where it seems like a slap in the
face to the player of God forbid they fulfill their contract,
and certainly the Bengals history is asking the players to
do just that for the most part, fill out your contract,
play to the end, earn every dollar that we've agreed to,
and then you know, we'll take it from there. I think,
you know, it makes what makes it hard is because

(01:41:38):
they see other teams and especially you know, Philadelphia just
splashing money around like they're just you know, in the
in the champagne room, and you know, they wonder to themselves,
why can't the Bengals least just one time, just take
care of a guy early, or spend a little bit
extra the month. The league is in such an incredible
place that it's hard for us to that overpaying a

(01:42:01):
little bit for a guy. Yeah, all right, maybe you
can add a little bit extra to that last year
of the contract, and maybe both sides come out looking.
You know, every contract negotiation doesn't have to be or
one side gets pulled into a fiery pit of death.
You know, both sides can come out smiling at the
end of it. It's okay. I think that's where the
problem is for most fans is that they see that

(01:42:23):
in the Bengals, even with Jamar right now and Tea,
It's like, we know it's gonna happen, and it seems
like they just are knuckle dragging and making everything a
little bit of it so difficult for reasons that most
of the fans really can't understand why.

Speaker 15 (01:42:38):
I acknowledge that this is maybe not the easiest question
to answer, but I've got like a minute heure, what
is fair return on a trade involving Trey Hendrickson.

Speaker 13 (01:42:51):
Well, you'd like to it kind of depends on the team. Obviously,
you'd think, you know, late first, second rounder, late first
might be a bit optimistic. But it seem like, let's
say Detroit, you know, they're thinking themselves, what cost us
last year was pass rush? After Aiden Hutchinson then went down,
Let's get ourselves a really damn the guy across from them,

(01:43:11):
so we're covered in case somebody does get hurt. They pick,
you know, whatever it is, twenty seven to twenty eight,
something like that. It's virtually a second round or anyway,
when you get to that point, you're kind of splitting
hairs with it. Except for that fifty year option, it's
really basically the same pool of players. So I can
see something like that happening. If they wanted to go
that route, they could get maybe a late first round

(01:43:32):
or most likely to get a second and maybe you know,
toss in another Day three pick just to just to
make it a little bit of an extra cherry, you know.
But again, the problem is going to come at the
other end. It's going to be what team is willing
to really write that huge check for Hendrickson and how
much is he willing to band. What we don't know
is where the contract. You know, where's the middle ground

(01:43:55):
between Hendrickson and the Bengals. You know, is it? Are
the Bengals locked in and say you gotta you know,
take it or leave it with this? You know, one
year mini bump that we're offering on top of next
year and that's it. Or you know, can they find
a bit of an hour where maybe they go two years,
twenty five or twenty four million per year and everybody
walks away happy. That would be nice. That would alleviate

(01:44:17):
everybody's feelings and you know, we can go back to
enjoying Trey Hendrickson being the only quality defensive player on
the defensive side of the ball for Cincinnati.

Speaker 14 (01:44:26):
Awesome to hear your voice in March, and may people
talk some.

Speaker 13 (01:44:30):
I'm the four seasons, twelve months of year, Candida guest.

Speaker 14 (01:44:34):
You are and very last minute, very last minute, and I'm.

Speaker 13 (01:44:37):
Always standing by with the batphone ready.

Speaker 14 (01:44:40):
Yes we're on the erend. You're just you. You have
a thirst to talk to me, just shoot a tweet out.
We'll call you no matter what we're talking about.

Speaker 13 (01:44:47):
My thirst for talking to you is hardly ever sleep,
but I appreciate it.

Speaker 16 (01:44:50):
Thanks you so much.

Speaker 15 (01:44:51):
Robert win trod Rights a weekly Bengals column during the
season for Cincinnati Magazine and contributes to a lot of
other outlets, including FTN Fantasy.

Speaker 14 (01:45:00):
We'll be following that all weekend long.

Speaker 15 (01:45:03):
We'll also be watching a lot of college basketball the
final weekend of the regular season. Bracketology is in full swing.
Selection Sunday. A week from Sunday, we'll chat with the
house bracketologists for the Moeggers Show after the eight to
thirty News. This is Rnel Carrier Sports Talk presented by
Kelsey Chevrolet on seven hundred WLW. Carrier Sports Talk presented

(01:45:23):
by Kelsey Chevrolet on seven hundred WLW. Lances back on
Monday night on our show on ESPN fifteen thirty. You know,
typically you get to the Super Bowl and you turn
the page and then people start to pay closer attention
to college basketball, and a lot of folks look at
bracketologists for the first time all season long and take
a look at what they may be projecting for the

(01:45:43):
NCAA tournament. And this has kind of become a cottage industry,
and there's like famous bracketologists. You know, everybody knows Joe
Lenardi and it's fine whatever. Joelenardi has written books about bracketology.
I wanted like our own bracketologists, and so I I
found not that long ago, a guy by the name
of Hunter Sansom. He is the nky bracket guy and

(01:46:08):
he's also a UC basketball good luck charm because he
went to a game this year and they won. This
dude is a bracketologist, and so we had him on
the air a few weeks ago on our show on
ESPN fifteen thirty, and I'm like, I want to see
if this guy's good enough to be the official bracketologist
of The Moegger Show. And overwhelmingly so the answer was yes,
And so we have him on our show on ESPN

(01:46:29):
fifteen thirty. Because we are closing in on the end
of the regular season. Selection Sunday is coming up a
week from this Sunday. I wanted to get Hunter on
to talk about some area college basketball teams and where
he has them right now in relation to the field
of sixty eight. Long winded intro, Hunter, It's good to
have you. Good evening, how are you.

Speaker 16 (01:46:50):
I'm great, though, Thanks for having me on again.

Speaker 21 (01:46:52):
I appreciate it and sorry U see fans, I had
to cancel my trip to last week.

Speaker 16 (01:47:00):
I blame the I'll take full blame for the loss there.

Speaker 14 (01:47:03):
All right, Well, you know, let's face it.

Speaker 15 (01:47:05):
You see is not making the tournament as an at
large team, so we're not going to focus on them
at least out the outset.

Speaker 14 (01:47:11):
Let's begin with Xavier, because I.

Speaker 15 (01:47:13):
Feel like Xavier by beating Creighton, then going to Butler
for yourself obviously, because I'm looking at your projections and
I feel like for most bracketologists right now, the Musketeers
are in. You've got them as a twelve seed in
a first four matchup in date. Nothing's can change, obviously,
they can't lay an egg tomorrow, might have to do
some work in New York. How safe or tenuous is

(01:47:35):
Xavier's position right now?

Speaker 16 (01:47:38):
Extremely tenuous at this point.

Speaker 21 (01:47:40):
I don't see a scenario where they're not going to
be tenuous this year unless they, of course, like the
win in Madison Square Garden.

Speaker 16 (01:47:47):
I have them as my very last team in the tournament.

Speaker 21 (01:47:51):
The bracket matrix, which is a combination of about ninety
two brackets, as them as the last team in Currently.
The big thing with the Creton and Butler wins, they
took care of the resume metrics moved up. They had
been floating between fifty and fifty two, and their resume
metric average right now is forty eight point three.

Speaker 16 (01:48:10):
Why that's important.

Speaker 21 (01:48:11):
Teams under fifty typically have a shot of an at
large bid, especially with good predictive metrics. Xavier and now
checks both of those boxes instead of just one of them.

Speaker 15 (01:48:20):
All right, So I know this might be a hard
question to answer, But where would they what would they
have to do?

Speaker 14 (01:48:25):
Like they've they've got to beat Providence. Providence is a
bad team.

Speaker 15 (01:48:28):
You're not gonna get much credit for winning that game,
but you can't afford to lose it. Let's let's assume
for a second that they do they take care of
business tomorrow. What would they have to do in New
York for Xavier fans to not be sweating bid steelers
from around the country.

Speaker 16 (01:48:46):
To not be sweating bid steelers. I that's gonna be
a tough one.

Speaker 21 (01:48:51):
Xavier's resume is not top of the line amazing, clearly
going to get in the tournament with a one to
nine quadrant one record. Now, assuming that they don't win
everything in Madison Square Garden, they're going to pick up
at least one more quad one win because they will
play at quad one game, So if they win one,
that gets them to two to ten, that's a lot
better than a one and nine situation. Maybe we're talking

(01:49:15):
about them being safe at that point. I personally don't
think they're necessarily going to be safe, unless maybe, let's
say they make it to Saturday night and they play
in the championship, maybe they're pretty safely in at that point.

Speaker 15 (01:49:27):
I asked you this the first time we had, Juan,
and I think it's a question worth asking again because
we're on the verge of champ Week, there's already some
conference tournaments underway. It feels to me like every single
year we walk away from Selection Sunday scratching our heads, wondering, well,
wait a minute, this team did well in its conference tournament.
They won a couple of games, and yet it wasn't
good enough to get them even close to the NCAA tournament.

(01:49:50):
Do we overstate the importance of the conference tournaments as
it relates specifically to at large teams on the bubble.

Speaker 16 (01:49:58):
We absolutely do.

Speaker 21 (01:50:00):
Why that question was so difficult just now, because if
they're not going to take a bad loss, which I've
mentioned before. If they take bad losses, that's a whole
different story. But they're not going to take a bad
loss in Madison Square Garden, and as long as they
beat Providence, they're not taking another bad one to begin with.

Speaker 16 (01:50:15):
So I don't know that they're going to move.

Speaker 21 (01:50:17):
Up the seed line based off of Madison Square Garden,
but they definitely can kind of stave off some bid Steelers.

Speaker 16 (01:50:23):
Bid Steelers are going to be a concern though, I.

Speaker 21 (01:50:24):
Think either way, but overall, we're way over valuing conference tournaments.

Speaker 15 (01:50:28):
Go ahead, let me ask you a question about the process.
When I was a kid, right you would always hear
about how the committee looks at your last ten games,
which hasn't been something they prioritize in decades. And yet
I still hear people go, well, you know what with
their last ten games record?

Speaker 14 (01:50:42):
Was that was a thing like in the nineties. It's
not a thing anymore.

Speaker 15 (01:50:45):
What is the part of this process that the general public,
your average college basketball fans, seems to get wrong the most.

Speaker 21 (01:50:55):
I think it's just it's assuming that a team is
gonna get in because they're hot.

Speaker 16 (01:51:01):
Right now.

Speaker 21 (01:51:02):
I think you hit the nail on the head because
that was just for so long the trend. I mean,
if you look at North Carolina and Xavier this year,
both fan bases are up in arms because they're both
playing well, they're both winning a lot, and their records
look great. In their last ten they're not beating high
quality opponents, but teams and fan bases seem to get
so enamored with that. Between that and head to head matchups,

(01:51:23):
I think those are the two things that people get
wrong the most.

Speaker 15 (01:51:27):
I think the story of the year in college basketball
has been the strength of the SEC. Is that why
you still have a Kentucky team that is nationally ranked
but is in the middle of the pack in the
SEC with eight losses right now as a three seed.

Speaker 16 (01:51:42):
Yeah, it is between their non conference schedule.

Speaker 21 (01:51:45):
I mean, they beat the likes a Duke in the
non conference and then they come into the SEC and
they're picking.

Speaker 16 (01:51:51):
Up some good wins against SEC opponents.

Speaker 21 (01:51:53):
Of course, they're losing some games, but it's the best
conference in the country right now. They're gonna lose, so
they've got enough kind of substance. It's on their resume
to be there right now. That being said, I do
think they're gonna end up falling to the four line.
Just I don't know that they're gonna win enough to
get there. Maybe if they win them, are they stay
as a three? I just think other teams will pass them.

Speaker 15 (01:52:13):
What if they win the SEC tournament, which, frankly, the
strength of the league would.

Speaker 14 (01:52:17):
Suggest to me that's really far fetched.

Speaker 21 (01:52:21):
I would think they're most guaranteed a three seed if
they win the SEC tournament. I know we just said that.
The committee doesn't look at that super hard, but they
would be forced to kind of look at it at
that point in my opinion.

Speaker 15 (01:52:30):
All Right, you have you have two other area schools
as twelves playing in the first four in Dayton. One
of them is Ohio State. Give me the strengths and
weaknesses of the Buckeyees resume Ohio State.

Speaker 21 (01:52:45):
They again, they have the same kind of qualifiers that
Xavier does, the forty seven point seven resume average, the
thirty six metric average, But then they've also got three
Quadrant one A wins, and then they've got six Quadrant
one wins.

Speaker 16 (01:52:58):
Overall, they are six and ten in Quadrant one.

Speaker 21 (01:53:01):
Obviously they've gotten a ton more opportunities than other teams,
but they've capitalized a little bit more frequently. So I
think they've done enough with those top end wins and
their metrics to get in. It's just it's hard to
see them right now, just with the way that their
resume looks.

Speaker 15 (01:53:16):
Hunter Sansom is the NKY bracket guy, by the way.
Follow him on Twitter at bracket nky. So let's stay
in the Big twin in the Big ten and talk
about Indiana, who you have matched up with Xavier in Dayton.
In a hypothetical first four A game, Ohio State and
Indiana play tomorrow.

Speaker 14 (01:53:33):
Should we view that as an elimination game.

Speaker 13 (01:53:37):
Effectively?

Speaker 21 (01:53:37):
Yes, I don't see any other way to put it.
If Indiana loses, they are I don't skip path for them.
Ohio State might have just a little bit of wiggle
room if they were to lose, but they would be
very susceptible to a bid Steeler or something like that.

Speaker 15 (01:53:53):
I am looking at your your graphic right now on
Twitter at bracket NKY. You came out with it at
two thirty this afternoon, and you have among your first
four out North Carolina, Boise State, Nebraska, and Texas. And
this has kind of been where U see has resided
for most of the season. Right, For most of the season,
at least for those of us who didn't start following

(01:54:13):
this on November fifteenth, the Bearcats have kind of been
in that first four out, next four out range. For
yourself and for most people who do this, you don't
even have a next four out. So how many teams
would you have to list? Humor me here, man, how
many teams would you have to list before you got
to my beloved Bearcats?

Speaker 21 (01:54:33):
I honestly, I don't think they would be that far
out of that. Maybe they're fits on the list right there.
I mean, they're not necessarily crazy far away. The issue
is there's no more opportunity for them to move up,
and they've done enough to where I think they're effectively eliminated. Unfortunately,
if I leave them on there, I'm going to give
hope to everybody, and I'm.

Speaker 16 (01:54:54):
Privately hard to not give.

Speaker 21 (01:54:55):
So I don't want to sit here and say, oh,
they've got a chance, their only chances to win the
Big tit or Big twelve tournament at this point.

Speaker 15 (01:55:03):
Yeah, well, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna assume that's not
gonna happen, all right, Just torture me Now where did
you have them before the debacle at fifth Third the
other night?

Speaker 21 (01:55:13):
Oh, they were my third or fourth team out. I
thought they had a legitimate chance if they would have
just beaten Kansas State and Oklahoma State.

Speaker 14 (01:55:25):
You're a visit to fifth Third a few wis ago.
It was your first one ever?

Speaker 13 (01:55:27):
Correct?

Speaker 14 (01:55:28):
Yeah, I know that is.

Speaker 15 (01:55:28):
I mean it's like it's it's it's like, you know,
coming home to an empty house and your your wife
has left you, and then she calls you to tell
you I've left you. Like it just like just twist
the knife a little bit more. You were at that
barricat game. It was your first one ever at fifth Third?

Speaker 14 (01:55:43):
Yes, it was, yeah, and they were in that game.
Did you enjoy the experience?

Speaker 16 (01:55:48):
I did?

Speaker 21 (01:55:49):
Overall, I thought it was good. I will say I've
been to Sentos far more. The setup of Sentos is
a little bit more conducive to a louder, more hostile
type of environment.

Speaker 16 (01:56:03):
But the arena at fifth Third.

Speaker 21 (01:56:05):
Is head over heels better, and I greatly enjoyed my experience.
I set in the upper deck, which I rarely do, thankfully,
and honestly I set I.

Speaker 16 (01:56:13):
Could grow two.

Speaker 21 (01:56:14):
It was a great view there are no complaints about
the arena.

Speaker 16 (01:56:18):
Parking was great.

Speaker 21 (01:56:20):
Definitely, if you're a Bearcat fan and haven't been there,
go you won't regret it at all. I will be
back next year, hopefully most of the season.

Speaker 15 (01:56:29):
I have one more team to ask you about. I
would be remissified in the Louisville Cardinals, who have had
a terrific season. You're one of Pat Kelsey a smashing success.
If I look at your projections and I see Louisville
as a seven seed, I would imagine you'll have folks
who say, wait a minute, this second place finisher in
the ACC, which goes into the final weekend with two losses,

(01:56:51):
is only a seventh seed?

Speaker 14 (01:56:52):
What gives with that?

Speaker 16 (01:56:55):
I feel for Louisville fans.

Speaker 21 (01:56:57):
I just I want to start with I are two
teams that I genuinely feel for this year.

Speaker 16 (01:57:02):
And in Louisville and Lymphis.

Speaker 21 (01:57:03):
Louisville they are now oh to three in Quadrant one A,
which is when you're getting up into the single digit seeds.
Quadrant one A is that top end win, the very
best of the best wins, and you're using that to
kind of separate some of these teams out Unfortunately Louisville's
now and three. They do have four Quadrant one wins
and only the one loss in Quadrant two, So overall

(01:57:23):
it's a great resume, and normal years they're a five
or of six, but the top half of the bracket
this year is unfortunately a little heavier, a little stronger,
and Louisville is unfortunately getting punished for the ACC just
not being a good conference.

Speaker 15 (01:57:37):
Well, we'll see how things unfold this weekend and obviously
during champ week, which I knew it as championship week
and they shortened it. What I want to do on
our show on ESPN fifteen thirty is and you know,
something may happen next week, and we'll get you on.
I think Xavier, obviously here locally, is the team to watch.
But what I really want to do is I want
to look at your final projections, right, and EI are

(01:57:59):
gonna come out on election Sunday morning.

Speaker 16 (01:58:01):
Yeah, all right, we'll actually probably the selections Monday about
two o'clock.

Speaker 15 (01:58:07):
Alright, great, perfect, about two o'clock, which there's like one
or two conference championship games still happening, but those likely
aren't going to influence the brackets, so I want to
look at your final projections. We'll take a look at
the field, and then we'll grade how they did how
you did. And I mean, would you get mad if
we like compared yours to like a guy like the
Joe Lonardi?

Speaker 16 (01:58:27):
No, not at all, happy too?

Speaker 15 (01:58:29):
And when and when will you? When will you start
the bracketology for next year?

Speaker 21 (01:58:35):
I start bracketol in the transfer portal era. I used
to do it right after I would throw them out
in the transfer portal era. My first bracket comes out
on October thirty, first Halloween Day.

Speaker 14 (01:58:46):
Wow, okay, very good?

Speaker 21 (01:58:47):
Well I don't I mean, there's no substance there anyways,
But I don't see a point to put it out
before then, to be honest.

Speaker 15 (01:58:54):
And and will you do bracketology for the Crown or
the NIT?

Speaker 21 (01:58:59):
I will put something out for the Crown of the
n It next week. I finally have learned the Crown
and kind of what we're expecting. I do fully expect
Cincinnati to be playing in Vegas. They're going to be
required to play there by their TV contract, so that
will happen.

Speaker 16 (01:59:15):
I don't know what kind.

Speaker 21 (01:59:15):
Of team is going to be left if they have
transfers out those transfers will already be gone, so I'm
very interested about the Crown this year.

Speaker 15 (01:59:21):
They're gonna have to have like student tryouts maybe to
put a team on the floor in Vegas. All Right, man,
what's been fun having you, and thank you for kind
of humoring me with my silly questions. But I do
enjoy following you and it's been fun having you on,
and we'll do it again at least one more time
this college basketball season. Follow our guy Hunter at Bracket NKY.

(01:59:42):
He is the NKY bracket guy. Good to have you
managery the weekend of games. Thanks so much, appreciate it, Mooth,
Thank you at NKY bracket guy on Twitter, Hunter sansam
a full weekend of college basketball on our radio stations.
Tomorrow We've got Kentucky and Missouri. Sneaky good game in
the SEC, tips off at noon on ESPN fifteen thirty.

(02:00:04):
We mentioned Xavier, a senior day for the Musketeers, XU
hosting Providence. That game will tip off at four pregame
at three thirty on fifty five KRC and the UC
Bearcats tried to wrap up the regular season with a win,
a measure of momentum before they go to Kansas City
to try to win five games in five days. I
will I will try to talk myself into that three

(02:00:25):
o'clock tomorrow. Right here on seven hundred WLW, Dan and
Terry have the pregame show at two thirty. Sterling is
coming up after the nine o'clock news, which is minutes away.
This is RNL Carrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet
on seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 14 (02:00:42):
Coming down the Stretches RNEL Carrier.

Speaker 15 (02:00:44):
Sports Talk presented by Kelson Chevrola On seven hundred wl W.
Lancer Callister returns on Monday night. I'm back in my
spot on Monday afternoon on ESPN fifteen thirty. Make sure
do this for me. Follow me on Twitter. I still
call it Twitter like normal people. This is not a
political state. Normal people call it Twitter like No one

(02:01:04):
ever says like I follow you on X no, I
follow you on to So follow me on Twitter at
Mueger thank you, and follow Drew Westerheidi as well.

Speaker 14 (02:01:12):
Is it Drew by at Drew by W? What do
we got?

Speaker 15 (02:01:15):
Drew Drew by W follow him Big dayton fan Flyers
playing VCU tonight. So follow us on Twitter Sterling is
coming up at nine oh five. Does he got the
fat Guy at the movies? Is he going to be
on Fat Guy at the movies with Sterling?

Speaker 2 (02:01:29):
I would hope.

Speaker 15 (02:01:31):
Kevin Carr a staple of Sterling's shows here on the
big One.

Speaker 14 (02:01:36):
All right, we got to do it.

Speaker 15 (02:01:38):
This day in sports history, I'll be honest with you,
March seventh, in sports history is lame. Might be the
lamest day in the history of sports. Here's what I
have for you. It was on this date in eighteen
fifty seven that baseball adopted.

Speaker 14 (02:01:53):
The nine inning format.

Speaker 15 (02:01:56):
Which this was spit in the face of this in
twenty twenty when the COVID year when they had seven
inning double headers, and then they kept that going into
twenty twenty one seven inning double headers.

Speaker 14 (02:02:08):
I believe.

Speaker 15 (02:02:08):
I don't think we don't ever have schedule double headers,
but I think we got rid of that rule that's
not real baseball. Eighteen fifty seven, baseball adopted the a
nine inning format. It was on this date in nineteen
fifty one Cincinnati's Ezard Charles beat Jersey Joe Walcott in
fifteen rounds for the second time to win the National
Boxing Association World heavyweight title at the Olympia in Detroit, Michigan.

(02:02:32):
And it was on this date in nineteen ninety two,
the UC Bearcats beat Penny Hardaway's Memphis Tigers for the
second time, this time sixty nine to fifty nine to
clinch a share of the Great Midwest Conference championship in
the first year of that league, in the third season

(02:02:52):
with Bob Huggins as the head coach. Obviously, Cincinnati and Memphis.
You know this if you're a fan of either. We're
going to play two more times in the Great Midwest
Conference Tournament and the fourth time in the Elite Eight
in Kansas City of the nineteen ninety two NCAA Tournament.
Bearcats would win that game if I recall, eighty five

(02:03:13):
to fifty five and something like that, to advance to
the program's first Final four since nineteen sixty three and sadly,
the program's most recent Final four as of twenty twenty five.
There you go, this date in sports history. You would
understand why not a lot going on March seventh. There's
no NFL baseballs in spring training, but not a lot

(02:03:35):
happening on March seventh. A couple of things for you,
really quick Hunter Green's going to start on opening day
for the Reds on March twenty seventh. Nick Lidolo is
scheduled to pitch for the Reds tomorrow against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
He's had some pretty significant moments of shakiness down there
in Arizona. Hopefully can get some of that ironed out.

(02:03:58):
Three ZHO five first tomorrow afternoon. That game can be
heard on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. For all the Bengals
stuff that we have talked about, there was one thing
they did today that bears mentioning Tanner Hudson back on
a one year contract has proven to be a reliable
backup tight end. One of the interesting things about the

(02:04:19):
next couple of weeks is going to be what happens
with the Bengals in Mike Kasicki. Joe has talked to
with Joe Burrow has talked about Mike Kasicki. He's kind
of the team's third wide receiver. He's not so much
a tight end. Or does it become another offseason and
they've had success with this IRV Smith aside. Does it
become another offseason where they go and find a veteran

(02:04:40):
tight end on one of those one year prove it contracts. Anyway,
Tanner Hudson, who had nineteen catches last year, back on
a one year contract for the twenty twenty five season.
We are just about done. I want to thank Drew
Wester Heidi for producing, and I want to thank you
for listening. Lances back on Monday. Sterling is on in
a few minutes, but first it's the nine o'clock news.

(02:05:02):
This has been RNL Carrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey
Chevro Lay enjoy your weekend. I'm Moweger on the Home
of the Reds seven hundred WLW, Cincinnati.

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