4/11/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

Is it time to give a chance to a player some have given up on? Plus, we'll put the spotlight on the best rule in sports.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
What's up, Good afternoon on Moegar. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
Thank you for listening today. Hopefully number one, you're having
an awesome Friday. Number two that your weekend is off
to an unbelievable start.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
An unbelievable start.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
I said, our weekend will get started in two hours
and fifty five minutes, and we are looking forward to that.
Full show Rundown is available on Twitter, Yes we still
call it Twitter, at Moegar, at Moeger. Thanks to our
friends at Emery Federal Credit Union, your credit union with
hard since nineteen thirty nine. Go to EMERYFCU dot org

(00:43):
and become a member. Become a member of Emery Federal
Credit Union, and then you could say to yourself, God,
you know what that mo guy on the radio, he
and I are something in common. And that thing we
have in common is we both belong to the same
credit union.

Speaker 4 (00:56):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Wow, that'd be pretty cool. There's a lot to get
to today, pretty pretty blank canvas, so to speak, So
room for you at five point three seven four nine,
fifteen thirty and eight six six seven oh two three
seven seven six. I have a new favorite college football
player and No, he is not a Ucy bear Cat.
But I do have a new favorite college football player,

(01:20):
and uh, and we're going to talk about him. And
there's a there's a very good chance that when I
talk about this guy, you're not gonna like him, and
you're not gonna like me for talking about him. But
I do have a new favorite college football player, and
we are going to talk about him.

Speaker 3 (01:34):
I have my own draft thoughts.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
We've spent a lot of time this week talking with
and about the draft, or talking with draft experts about
the draft, like Joe Goodberry who was on yesterday, and
our buddy Ryan Roberts from A to Z Sports, who
is awesome. Both of those conversations, by the way, available
on the iHeartRadio app. We're going to get to that
coming up here in just a bit, and I may
have a Master's related topic.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
We will see.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
It looks much nicer down there at Augusta than it
does here in Cincinnati, which is no real surprise. First things, first,
Reds and Pirates tonight, first to three. The Reds are
gonna miss Paul Schemes this weekend, which is a nice break.
Cincinnati is coming off the road trip that got off
to a rough start, then got better, and then ended

(02:19):
very poorly on Wednesday afternoon. We spent a lot of
time on this show yesterday talking about two people in particular,
obviously Terry Francona. And you know, the conversation was about
Terry Francona and how much should we be allowed to

(02:39):
second guess him or debate his moves, because you hear
from a lot of folks that will say, well, look,
leave him alone. He's a Hall of Fame manager and
you're not, so you shouldn't question anything.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
That Tito the Magnificent does.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
And we also talked a lot about Ellie de la
Cruz and I got a few more thoughts on the
Francona thing. We'll get to here in just a bit.
Ellie dela Cruz is the most talked about Red, and
he's the most talked about Red for some really good reasons. Right, Offensively,
his ceiling is limitless over the last two years, whether

(03:16):
he has been on a tear offensively or whether he
is struggling offensively.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
The big picture of valuation for.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
People who really, really, you know, study these things and
have great evaluation chops, the evaluation hasn't changed. You know
this is a guy who when he was in the
minor leagues, people wrote about his potential to maybe be
the best player in baseball, which, by the way, that
is a subjective title, but that's that's where that's where

(03:47):
a lot of people think he can take his game,
and that hasn't changed. I haven't read or heard any
of those evaluators that have backed off of that claim,
that have backed off and have said, you know what, actually,
we think he might be okay, or perhaps he could
be an all star caliber player on a consistent basis,
but best in the sport maybe not so much. So

(04:08):
he's talked a lot. He's talked about a lot for
that reason. He's talked about a lot because of how
exciting he can be. He's talked about a lot in
terms of what his future may hold. Is he going
to be Baseball's first one billion dollar player or is
he going to be Baseball's next one billion dollar player?

Speaker 3 (04:26):
How do the Reds retain him? Can the Reds win
with him?

Speaker 2 (04:29):
But we also talk a lot about his deficiencies and
they are out there, especially on defense. So he made
up an error the other day and it ended up
not being an error that cost the Reds a run,
but it was an error, nonetheless, and it was an
error during this stretch where the Reds have actually been
pretty good defensively, and I think that's one of the
hidden stories of the season through thirteen games. Granted they're

(04:52):
only five to eight and they've got all sorts of
offensive issues, but you know, defensively, there haven't been nearly
as many moments like we've seen in the past, specifically
last year, that maybe you wanted to throw the remote,
or maybe you wanted to yell in agony, or maybe
you wanted to punch yourself in the face or life
light yourself on fire, depending on how masochistic you are.
There haven't been nearly as many of those, and that's

(05:14):
a good thing, so to a degree, that's why the
error stood out. But let's face it, man, Ellie's potential.
Ellie's potential means there's a different standard for him, and
it also means he is put under a microscope unlike
anybody else on the team. That's what comes with hype,
and that's what comes with stardom and promise, and I

(05:37):
think he as much as anybody knows that when Santiago
Espinal makes an error it's a little bit different than
when Ellie Dela Cruz does. When even Christian and carnassion
Strand has a bad ad bad it's talked about a
little bit differently than Elie dela Cruz. Ellie is the
guy we're all paying attention to more than anyone else,

(05:59):
and so so we talk more about the mistakes that
he makes, and he's still making a fair share of them,
and if that continues, how he's utilized is only going
to become more and more of a discussion. So we
did this thing yesterday where we talked about the suggestion

(06:22):
that many have made that he's best suited in center field,
and by the way, maybe he is.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
Maybe he is.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
It is a credit to his I think overall athletic
profile that you can imagine him in center field doing
great things like we're not talking about or those who
want to see him in center field are not talking
about putting him there because you're trying to hide him,
like you don't do that with a center fielder. You

(06:51):
watch the things he does on a baseball field. You
watch the amount of ground he can cover just playing
at shortstop. You see what he does with his speed,
you see the power of the throwing arm, and yeah, man,
I don't know how you don't think about what that
might look like in the outfield. Now, I think most
of us believe shortstop is a more important position. They're

(07:14):
all important, but shortstop is I think in the infield,
it's the most important position. It's where I think you're
most involved in the game. You need a really good
throwing arm, you need great range, you need to do
a lot of things at shortstop. It's a position where
you're gonna handle the ball more, You're gonna be involved
in more plays than in the outfield. It's an important position.

(07:35):
If I've got a great athlete with a great arm,
who has great range and can do a lot of
great things and has been learning the position for a while,
I want Ellie de la Cruz to play shortstop. I
think Ellie at his best is best helping the team
at shortstop. But he does make a lot of mistakes there.

(07:56):
He led the league in errors last season, and many
of those errors, let's be honest, many of those errors,
maybe not most, but many of them. You look to
at whoever you're watching the game with or at the
game with and said, holy grat that's a throw you
gotta make, or man, that's a ground ball you gotta
handle like that, that's a play that an average big
league shortstop makes. And I've heard this about like Barry

(08:20):
Larkin and Ozzie Smith when I was a kid, because
you know, Ozzy Smith was the Gold Glove winner for years,
and Ozzie Smith is in the Hall of Fame, and
so is Barry Larkin. But it often felt like, you
know that Ozzy seeded the mantle of the best defensive
shortstop in the National League when I was a kid,
a little bit later than maybe he should have. But

(08:43):
I used to hear all the time, like, you know,
you see the highlight reel stuff with Ozzy and maybe
with Barry too, but they also make the routine play.
Barry Larkin's my all time favorite red, all time favorite red,
and he could do flashy stuff, but when the.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
Ball was hit to him, he made the play.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
Make errors early in his career, yes he did a lot,
but when the ball was hit to him, by the
time he got established as like the everyday shortstop, when
the ball was hit to him, he made the play.
When the ball was hit to shortstop, he fielded it cleanly.
He threw the ball to where it had to go, and.

Speaker 3 (09:17):
That was it.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
That was it with Ellie. Let's be honest. When the
ball is hit to him, it's still kind of holding
your breath. Like he made the error in that game
on a week ago Sunday against the Giants that helped
them kind of put the game away in the eighth inning.
And I was at the ballpark that day with my
daughter and the ball got hit to Ellie and you

(09:41):
could hear in the ballpark like this, this sound that
I can't even describe, as he's fielding it, as he's
on corking the throw, and as the throw went awry,
like you still you're still kind of holding your breath. Now,
you might be holding your breath because you think you're
gonna see something awesome. By the way, Ellie made a

(10:01):
play on Wednesday on a ball hit up the middle
where he goes in the air, catches a liner and
it's awesome, And he might have held your breath and
he might have gasped in excitement.

Speaker 4 (10:09):
But you admit it.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
And I'm as big an Ellie guy as you will
talk to admit it. When the ball comes his way,
you still kind of hold your breath. You still kind
of wonder is this gonna end well, until that's no
longer the case. Yes, yes, people are gonna talk about
whether or not he's best suited to play the outfield.

(10:34):
Now again, I'm betting on his talent. I'm betting on
his work ethic, which by every account is admirable. I'm
betting on the experience paying off, like I'm betting on
Ellie de la Cruz. And I think it's silly to
suggest you put him in center field without any training,
and I don't think that's where most people are. But

(10:55):
you know, the next time he makes an air or
someone's gonna say, just put him in center field, Well
that's not what you do.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
But it's it's.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
Really on Ellie to eliminate those moments where when the
ball is hit his way, we kind of we kind
of take a breath, take a deep breath, kind of sigh,
kind of gasp, kind of hold our breath.

Speaker 3 (11:18):
Right, it's up to Ellie to change that.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
And so the rest of this season, which there's obviously
one hundred and forty nine games, that's from a defensive perspective,
that's what I want. I want him to play and
I think the Reds are going to benefit from this. Obviously,
we should want him to play shortstop so capably that
when the ball comes his way, you're not expecting an

(11:42):
adventure that you just simply expect him to pick it up,
throw it and again.

Speaker 3 (11:46):
Will You're you're going to build in room for error. Shorts.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
Baseball players make physical mistakes. Errors happen with shortstops like that.
We're not expecting flawlessness, but you're hoping for a level
of consistency and quality that when you're watching and the
ball comes his way, you're not holding your breath when
the ball is hit to Matt McClain, different position, easier throw.

(12:14):
I don't hold my breath when the ball is hit
to jam or Candelario. I don't hold my breath when
the ball is hit to first base. I don't hold
my breath. Even acknowledging that I'm among the bigger Elie
Delacruze fans and proponents of him playing shortstop that you'll
hear from. When the ball comes his way a shortstop,

(12:36):
I'm still not exactly sure what's going to happen. And
when he makes an error, it's not that surprising until
that changes. Yeah, yes, the topic is going to be
on the table. Is he best suited somewhere else? That
could be an indictment against what he does and doesn't

(12:56):
do a shortstop. It is also a credit to what
he can do athletically. When you projected to him playing
in the outfield and covering as much ground as he
would be asked to cover. This conversation is not going away,
and you may find it annoying. I find it annoying
when people say that you should just stick him in
the outfield and forget about, you know, waiting till spring training,

(13:19):
but until those moments are gone and behind him, and
until there's a level of consistency that means that anxiety
that we all feel when the ball comes.

Speaker 3 (13:29):
Especially in a big situation. Admit it, you still feel it.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
And again, most of the time is a big lead shortstop,
he makes the play, but there are still enough times
that he doesn't that when the ball is hit towards him,
towards Elie Dela Cruz, you're not exactly sure what's going
to happen until that changes. Yeah, absolutely, long term, big picture,

(13:53):
especially given the fact that there are other shortstop prospects
in the system.

Speaker 3 (13:59):
You are you are completely reasonable.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
If you wonder down the road, would it make better
sense for the player and for the team to have
the current shortstop eventually in centerfield eighteen minutes after three o'clock.
Phone numbers are five point three seven four nine, fifteen
thirty and eight six six seven two three seven seven six.
You could always reach us on Twitter thanks to Delta Dental.

(14:25):
Delta Dental is building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for all
good at Delta dentaloh dot com. At Muegger is where
you can find me. Uh. We have a one guest
later on. It's our weekly Injury Reports segment on a
Friday this week, and normally we try to do it
on Wednesday, but a bit of a scheduling issue, so
we'll have one of the experts from Ortho Sinsey with us,

(14:47):
talk about Matt McLain and talk about Edwin Arroyo as well,
speaking of shortstop prospects as well as Tyler Stevenson, Reds
and Pirates. Tonight, the Noelve Marte Conversation, we have to
have it. We'll do it next on esp IN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC.

Speaker 5 (15:09):
Health Traffic Center. April is Donate lifemonth. Register to become
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Slash Transplant westbound two seventy five. A disabled vehicle blocking
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Another accident, this one at Gainer Road. A little bit

(15:31):
of slow traffic from State Route forty eight and Greenwood
an accident at Washington on that e'zik with traffic.

Speaker 6 (15:39):
This report is sponsored by Rapid Radio.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
Speaking of the iHeartRadio app, that's where we put a
lot of stuff, like our show when it's over, we
put it on the app because not everybody can listen
between three and six o'clock. And we also take interviews
that we do on this show, like Joe Goodbury yesterday
he was terrific.

Speaker 3 (15:57):
Jed Brendle on the Bearcats.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
We did some football, did some pad basketball with Chad
Lorie Lindsay from MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. We
talked FC Cincinnati versus DC United, that and so much
more all in well two places, one just right there
on the iHeartRadio app, which by the way, make sure
you set ESPN fifteen thirty is one of your presets,

(16:20):
and if that's not good enough for you, you can
just go to my page at ESPN fifteen thirty dot com.
Podcasts of this show are a service of Long Neck
Sports Grill, which three locations in northern Kentucky. We're going
to be at the Wilder location on the twenty fourth,
which is the afternoon of Day one of the NFL Draft.
I will be there from three to six. Rapene's going

(16:41):
to join me for a while, and that's going to
be a lot of fun. If you're looking for a
place to get out this weekend and watch the Masters
or watch the Reds. Long Neck Sports Grill, Stay long
Come often. I mentioned Apple TV that the game tonight
is on Apple TV, and I this is this doesn't
bother me on one level, and it bothers me on another.

(17:04):
I subscribe to Apple TV's MLS Season Pass because that's
where the FC Cincinnati games are. And then along with it, okay, fine,
I'll get the Friday night Baseball because the Reds are
going to be on one or two times, and there's
some stuff on Apple TV that I like and my
family likes and so I can watch the game tonight

(17:25):
could also listen to it on seven hundred WLW. And
I say this not because I'm being asked to the
Apple TV. And by the way, like I had this
like week long back and forth with the folks at
Apple TV about getting one of their announcers for tonight's
game on and so, and that didn't happen. But their
their TV broadcasts are really nice.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
It is.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
It's really really becoming more and more difficult, though, to
be a sports fan and actually consume sports, right, I
mean it, like the NFL. The good news is your
local NFL team, and obviously here that's in Cincinnati, it's
the Bengals, your local NFL team. Every single one of

(18:07):
its games locally are going to be on free TV.
So even if they're on NFL Network or Peacock or something,
the game is aired locally. So if you know, for years,
if you haven't had cable and the Bengals are on ESPN,
a local TV station has picked up the feed and
you could watch it here. But beyond that, if you
want to watch as much NFL football as you possibly can,

(18:31):
well you got to have Amazon Prime for Thursday night,
and you got to have Netflix and Peacock, and obviously
you got to have all you know, access to ESPN
because Monday night football like it's it's it's more and
more widespread.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
It's more and more difficult.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
There are fans of really good baseball teams that have
their team's games on ESPN because they're often on Sunday night.
They're local carrier Apple TV. Some games are now on Roku.
They're more widely distributed.

Speaker 4 (18:58):
Now.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
I can't blame baseball for trying to tap into every
conceivable dollar, although their streaming deals are not that expensive.
But then you add to it. Look at college sports.
The Big East Tournament this year, right, Like, I don't
subscribe to Peacock, but if I wanted to watch Xavier
play in the NCAA Tournament while or not the INCNABA Tournament,
the Big East Tournament, while I was on the air,
I had to borrow someone's Peacock logging.

Speaker 3 (19:20):
Fortunately I did that. If not, I was gonna have
to pay for Peacock. Like, it's just.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
It's more and more difficult. I think it's more and
more difficult to be a sports fan than it's ever been.
Games are more expensive, there's more streaming services. And I
just I wonder how many people like, well, here the
Reds are on Apple and it's one of one.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
Sixty two right now.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
If the Reds get good, chances are they're on Apple
more frequently.

Speaker 7 (19:45):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (19:47):
I just I know so many people who, you know,
we're gonna take some NBA playoff games next year and
put them on Amazon. I have a lot of folks
who just go enough, like enough, I could live without it.
I think to a degree, the Reds are dealing with
that Fandel Sports Network on my carrier. It's on there,

(20:07):
so I don't have to pay the twenty bucks a
month to get Fandel Sports Network.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
But for a lot of people who cut.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
The cord, you know, and didn't have access to what
was then Bally Sports or prior to that, Fox Sports
kind of realized like, I can live without this service.
And I've talked to a lot of people who consider
themselves Reds fans who just you know what, it's something
else I got to subscribe to. It's twenty bucks a month,
you know what, got other stuff price? If everything has

(20:35):
gone up, I'm good. It's just it's becoming more and
more difficult, and so you know, there will be folks
who tonight go to turn the game on on Fandel
Sports Network and try to find the game and can't,
and they're gonna complain about it, And I like, I
get it, and I get it because I'm When they
put an NFL playoff game on Peacock two years ago,

(20:57):
I'm like, you know, I badly want to watch Chiefs
and Dolphins. And I went somewhere and watched it, and
it was on at the same time as a UC
basketball game, so I got a chance to see it.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
But it's like enough, man, Like I'm not at Peacock.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
Just I got Netflix, and the NFL games on Netflix
I could watch, and I got Amazon Prime so I
could watch Thursday Night football. And because I'm a Knicks fan,
I watch NBA games on League Pass. I gotta subscribe
to that. That's been the choice. That's been the case
for you know, twenty years. And I gotta get ESPN
Plus because you know, U see's in the Big Twelve,
and there's a bunch of Big Twelve games, including a

(21:33):
whole bunch of UC games on ESPN Plus, and it
just goes on and on and on, and you just
throw your hands up and go enough enough, and I
think for a lot of people, baseball on Apple TV
is where you go enough. We'll see three thirty ESPN
fifteen thirty, and their product is good. And again I

(21:53):
got Apple TV, and I uh we we got rid
of it after ten lasso and then the FC Cincinnati
games were on MLS Season Pass and the only way
to watch them was Apple TV, so I got it.
And then the baseball's on it, so I get that too.
But man, it's exhausting, especially with the price of every

(22:15):
single subscription seemingly going up all the time. It's exhausting.
And I bet you there's not a sports fan within
the sound of my voice who cannot relate. Five point
three seven four nine, fifteen thirty is our phone number.
Can we get to my favorite, my fate, my new
favorite college football player? We can because it's my show.

Speaker 3 (22:35):
So we'll do that next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 1 (22:37):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (22:42):
Traffic from the UC Help Traffic Center. April is Donate
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(23:05):
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Speaker 6 (23:14):
This reporting sponsored by Quickly.

Speaker 2 (23:16):
Before we do the sports headlines here, let's address that.
So earlier this week we were named the readers of
cityb magazine voted us the fourth best radio show in Cincinnati.
And uh, you know we we have poll questions on
this show on Twitter thanks to United Heartland Insurance go
to uhi ands dot com. Yesterday we actually had three,

(23:40):
and usually poll questions on Twitter, the margin.

Speaker 3 (23:44):
Is is pretty wide.

Speaker 2 (23:46):
So like, for instance, yesterday we asked does Terry Francona's
incredible resume and excuse me status as a future Hall
of Fame manager mean that his decision shouldn't be second guest,
criticized or debated and eighty six point five percent of
you said no, pretty decisive overwhelming majority. And then we

(24:08):
had the question about Ellie dela Cruz. Should the Reds
move Ellie Delacruz to center field, and we had three options.
We had Yes, we had maybe one day, and we
had no, and forty seven point three percent said no.
Pretty clear majority between three choices. Obviously not over fifty percent,

(24:28):
but a large difference in the number of yes votes
versus no votes versus maybe.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
One day votes. Right, So there you go.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
But then the third question we asked was about the
readers of Cincinnati Magazine voting us the fourth best radio
show in town. Because what I've been wondering is is
that good? So we asked it on Twitter, and there's
actually forty minutes left in this one. So far Yes

(24:57):
has gotten fifty one percent of the vot This is
one of the closest pole questions we've ever asked.

Speaker 3 (25:03):
You can still vote on that one.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
At Moeger Sports Headlines and Service a Kelsey Chevallet home
of lifetime power train protection and guaranteed credit approval from
their family to yours for life kelseyshev dot com. Red's
starting a six game homestand tonight the Pittsburgh Pirates in
town first of three Brady Singer and Bailey Falter six
point forty Tonight seven hundred WLW has first pitch Your

(25:27):
starting lineup this evening. Starting lineup on this show still unsponsored.

Speaker 3 (25:31):
Let me know.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
Freedol and center, done and right, Dela Cruz at short,
Spencer Steers dhing, Jamer Candelario at third, Christian and Carnassi
on strand at first base. Gavin Lux left, Santiago Espinall's
playing second base tonight, and Jose Travigno is behind the
dish one NFL note of interest, the Cleveland Browns are
bringing back Joe Flacco. Joe Flacco took the Browns to

(25:55):
the playoffs at the end of the twenty twenty three season,
then spent last year with the Colts. Was totally irrelevant.
Now he's back in Cleveland. Speaking of irrelevant. FC Cincinnati
on the road tomorrow against DC United seventh Speaking of irrelevant,
was a Cleveland shot, not an FC Cincinnati shot.

Speaker 3 (26:14):
Just for the record, I was taking a dig Cleveland.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
F C Cincinnati Soccer tomorrow on ESPN fifteen thirty, the
Orange and Blue taking on DC United. That game will
start at seven thirty. Pregame cover chere on ESPN fifteen
thirty at seven o'clock in the Cincinnati Cyclones are winding
down their season. They are playing a couple of road
games this weekend, both at Iowa. Tonight's puck drops at

(26:40):
eight o'clock. Tomorrow they'll play at seven pm. Speaking of
pole questions, I should do a pole question about this guy.
I have a new favorite college football player, Tennessee quarterback Nico.

Speaker 3 (26:53):
I am A Leva or Emiliva.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
I'm sorry, Nico eam Oliva did not attend the volunteer
spring practice today. His absence, according to a report on
ESPN dot com, came as a surprise to coaches, players
and other staff members. According to sources, iam Oliva has
been in conversation with the Vols about a new NIL contract.

(27:20):
He is sitting out, holding out, apparently until he gets
a new one. Now, of course, you have the folks
who watch college sports solely through the lens of every
NIL development or every transfer portal entry is the latest
sign that college sports are falling apart. Now they will

(27:42):
say these things, and then they will watch dozens of
college football games this year, hundreds of college football games
this year. I hear often about how college basketball is
being ruined. And then we had insane ratings for the
final four, for the National Championship game and for the
NCAA tournament itself. And by the way, somebody said to
me yesterday, well that's because of gambling. Okay, whatever the

(28:04):
motivation is, people are still watching. So of course this
came out today, and then there's the usual handwringing about well,
college football is being ruined, and like I am the
pro nil guy, I also recognize, like you do need
some rules. We do need some some guardrails. That's the
term that everybody loves. We do need some regulations. You

(28:25):
can't have anarchy. They have to be regulations. I don't
know how you get to them because they're not going
to be collectively bargained. But yes, there should be rules.
But I like this. I like this.

Speaker 3 (28:39):
Number one.

Speaker 2 (28:40):
We're talking about a QB here who doesn't seem to have,
according to many, that much of an NFL future, Like
he is not viewed as a guy who is going
to be taken early in the NFL draft. Doesn't really
seem to have that much of a draft grade, and
so there's a very good chance that his best opportunity

(29:02):
to cash in and earn every dime he can get
his hands.

Speaker 3 (29:06):
On is at the collegiate level. So good for him.

Speaker 2 (29:10):
For trying to capitalize on what for him is a
very small window within which he can capitalize on his
football career financially. So there is number one. Number two.
You know, yeah, college is a college is the thing
you use to get yourself ready for life. Whether or
not you graduate is almost irrelevant. College is supposed to

(29:33):
prepare you for life. I nearly quit the University of
Dayton with a semester to go because I already had
a job at the radio station. I had already taken
my communications courses, many of which were useless. I had
ten hours to go. I'm working full time here an
hour away. I'm like, I'm ready. I've got all the

(29:55):
life experience i've needed here, I've the practical experience mattered.
I'm ready to enter the workforce. I'm ready to go.
I didn't want to do that to my parents. I
wanted to become one of the first males of my
family to get my degree, so I stuck it out.
But like the objective there was satisfied well before I
got my degree. The objective is to get prepared for life,

(30:15):
get prepared for what's next, get prepared for the workforce.
And one of the things you have to do in life,
and one of the things you have to do in
the workforce is get leverage and at times use that leverage.
In this case, this kid's leverage is his availability, right,

(30:39):
it's his availability to his team. He's using it to
better himself. What's wrong with that? By the way, this
is almost celebrated in the NFL, like, let's say Trey
Hendrickson holds out this summer, which he may and he
may not. Let's say Trey Hendrickson holds out this summer,
and I gotta be honest with you, man, as much

(30:59):
as I would love for a serene training camp as
a fan like, I wouldn't blame Trey Hendrickson. Do what
you got to do and use what you have to
get a better situation. And if he does that, I
bet you he has the majority of public opinion on
his side. I think that's been a dramatic shift over
the last couple of decades where now when players hold out,

(31:20):
you know, fans kind of see it their way. And
I'm not sure that was the case, you know, ten fifteen,
twenty twenty five years ago. In fact, I know it wasn't.
Trey will be celebrated, Jamar Chase didn't hold out. He
held in and from where I sit, most people had
his side, had his back. That is not going to
be the case with the college kid.

Speaker 3 (31:41):
Why not?

Speaker 2 (31:43):
Like legitimately, why not? By the way, I don't think
he can be fined if you're a player under contract
like Trey Hendrickson, if he misses training camp this year,
is going to be fined for every day that he misses.
I don't think that's in play here. But like that's
that's one of the lessons you learned, and you might
not learn it in college, but it's a lesson you
learn once you get to the you know, the workforce,

(32:07):
which this dude is effectively a part of the workforce
because college football players are now basically pros. Find leverage
and when it's right, use it. He's doing that. He's
doing that during springball too. By the way, it's not August,
it's not September.

Speaker 3 (32:26):
Now.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
Could I completely see a scenario where a player decides
I'm not playing on Saturday until I get a better deal. Sure,
but for now. I'm always in favor of people having
and using leverage when necessary, and this dude apparently thinks
that having leverage and using it right now is necessary.

(32:48):
I don't know how you could be that angry with
that if you're a Tennessee fan. I'm sure it's better
if your quarterback is in camp and learning the plays
and developing chemistry with his teammates, especially ones who have
come to the program from the transfer portal. But this
is something that almost everybody in life does at some point.
You might not refuse to show up to work largely

(33:09):
because you can't. This guy can get away with it.
I don't know how you can have a problem with it.
He's like kind of my new favorite college football player,
a college football player who in a sport, and you
can really apply this to all of college athletics where
the players have had very little leverage. This guy's got

(33:29):
some and he's using it, and I find it admirable.
Almost when people who have leverage use it. His leverage
is his availability. Good for him for using it. Thirteen
Away from four o'clock five point three seven four nine,
fifteen thirty. We were talking last hour Tony Auten and

(33:52):
I And by the way, if you miss Frank calliendo
with those guys today it's podcast, go find it. We
were talking about Noel ve Marte. It is re remarkable
how everybody has soured on him, and that's fair. There's
a difference between souring on and giving up on. We're
gonna play my favorite sports talk radio game coming up

(34:12):
at four oh five on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

Speaker 5 (34:22):
UC Health Traffic Center April is donate lifemonth Register to
become an organ donor or explore living Donation at uc
heelp dot com. Slash Transplant northbound seventy one. It is
an accident now onto the right shoulder after Redbank Road.
Still got a little bit of slow traffic from Ridge
Avenue southbound seventy one near Reading Road. Another accident was

(34:45):
found on Columbia Parkways. An accident at Meadow Lark Lane
and Gilmour Avenue and accident at Madison Road. I'm at
Ezelk with traffic.

Speaker 3 (34:53):
This reporter times play the Pirates tonight.

Speaker 2 (34:58):
With interleague play, you don't play the team in your
division as many times as you used to. It still
feels like the Reds play the Pirates four hundred and
seventy six times during the course of a season. Tonight,
the first of four hundred and seventy six. And if
you're thinking all the guy asked, what's going on in
baseball right now? The answer is nothing really because there
are no day games on this Friday because the Cubs
are on the road in LA for late night baseball.

(35:21):
So there you go. Five point three seven, four nine
fifteen thirty is our phone number. By the way, On
Monday show, NFL Draft analyst Mike Renner, we're ramping up
our draft stuff. I mentioned before Joe Goodberry was with
us yesterday. If you don't love Joe Goodberry, you don't
like football, you certainly don't like the Bengals. My my
preference in this draft I think is like many, maybe

(35:43):
like most, and I certainly believe it's much like the Bengals,
where it'd be cool to see him trade down. You
want to buy as many Raffle tickets as possible if
the idea is to win the Raffle.

Speaker 3 (35:55):
This is a very important draft.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
It's a very important draft, not because they've got to
nail it in the first round, but because they need
a lot of players. You know, Dana and I were
talking about this on Tuesday, that they need you know,
I said they got to hit four doubles. That's probably
a little ambitious, But they need they need a lot
of guys who this year make positive contributions. Don't need

(36:18):
a Rookie of the Year, though that would be nice.
Don't need you know, a whole slew of Pro Bowl players,
So though that would be nice, need some guys. And
by the way, you got to get to a point
where you have some guys that you want to give
second contracts to. Like the part of the T Higgins
thing that I don't think really got talked about a
lot at all, was one of the reasons why I

(36:40):
think it made sense to pay T Higgins, And I
believe one of the reasons why the Bengals ultimately felt
like it made sense to pay T Higgins was there's
nobody else to pay, Like, there's not a lot of
guys that they've drafted recently that you're looking at as
cornerstones for the future. This season may change that, and
I hope it does. But you know, now moving forward

(37:02):
in the draft, like the idea is to have a
lot of guys that you you want to bring back
and give second contracts to and have some more difficult decisions.
I did the topic maybe a month ago where I
said it's kind of a role in sports, right, Like
bad teams have easy decisions, bad team had an easy decision.
The Bengals were bad last year. They didn't make the playoffs.

(37:23):
They weren't awful, but they were bad enough to not
make the playoffs, which is why I bring them back.
T Higgins. For me, it was pretty easy. They didn't
have enough good players. The idea moving forward is to
have a lot of good players, and maybe you have
to let some walk because you want to sign all
these good players. The way you do that is by
drafting well enough that you have a lot of guys
that you want to invest in long term. Bengals have
not done that, so this draft has to yield that too.

(37:45):
But more than anything, I need guys who can help immediately.
This is basic math for me. If I need four
play let's say it's four, I need four players who
can help immediately. I have a better chance of getting
four players who could help immediately. If I have seven picks,
then I do. If I have six a simple math

(38:06):
for me. Now you know if you trade the seventeenth pick,
and my guess is they don't in large part because
they can't find anybody who wants to move up. But
if I can get just one more pick and stay
in the first round, like that's a no brainer. So
there's my first there's my first preference. My second is
a guard in round one, and you know, we'll see

(38:30):
if that's what they do. Chances aren't. Positionally we're going
to nod along and be okay with whoever they take.
Like if they took a safety in round one, let's
say it's Malachi Start, You're gonna go, yeah, they need
a safety. But like I like Tyler Booker from Alabama.
I like a guy who can play guard now and
move the tackle later. I also, as much as they

(38:54):
have to get better on defense, I go back to
what I thought a year ago, and what I think
the Bengals thought, and what I think a lot of
us thought, that if you're ever gonna build an elite
offensive line, like a well above average offensive line, maybe

(39:15):
even elite, If you're ever going to do that, that's
gonna happen mainly through the draft. That to me was
beyond his I think obvious physical gifts. That was to me,
the driving force behind taking taking Amarius MEM's last year.

(39:37):
You obviously could have made and many did the case
for other players at other positions with their first round
pick last year. But my thought was, if you're ever
going to build an elite offensive line, that is going
to happen mainly through the draft. I want one day
for Joe Burrow to play behind an elite offensive line.

(39:59):
A guard in round one takes a step toward doing that.
Does it come at the expensive defense, Well not if
you're good at drafting for the first time in forever.
They have to be my preference positionally for what it's worth,
which is nothing is a guard. It's coming up on
four o'clock ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 8 (40:18):
This is Jeff for Tristatation ESPN Sports Sports all right,
three minutes after four o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty up, Boeger,
thank you for joining us today.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
Hopefully your weekend is off to an unbelievable start. Brendiman
to Johnson Baseball. Later on this hour, also we got
to talk about Matt McLain man. Matt McLain's hamstrings train
we hope is not a big deal and once he
comes back, can can we just get like the rest
of the season without Matt McClain dealing with something. From
a health perspective, Doctor angel Alaskaz from Ortho Sincy, the

(40:54):
man who fixed my neck, is going to join us
at the bottom of the hour or as normal people,
I'll say four thirty five to talk about Matt McClain
as well as Edwin Narroyo and maybe spent a few
minutes on Tyler Stevenson as well as he attempts to
come back from that oblique issue and things are being
ramped up with him. By the way, Austin Hayes Louisville

(41:15):
did not play last night. They got rained out, so
Austin Hayes I have not seen a Louisville lineup, but
the expectation I think is that he plays tonight as
part of his rehab stint.

Speaker 3 (41:29):
The Internet is well.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
The Internet is doing what the Internet is doing, which
is losing its mind. At any moment in any day,
the Internet is losing its mind over something as it
relates to the Reds. The Internet is losing its mind
because Bailey Falter is pitching tonight for the Pirates. He
is a left handed pitcher and Noelve Marte is on
the bench. Red's called up Noelve Marte while he was

(41:52):
in Louisville, and in a very brief amount of time
after being sent down, once the Reds made their cuts Noel,
they swung the bat well batted three fifty three ops
nine fifty four very very small sample size, just forty
played appearances. But the numbers, the numbers look at least
a little bit like the numbers that he put up

(42:14):
at the end of twenty twenty three. Now, since the
end of twenty twenty three, Noelve Marte has done pretty
much nothing right. There was the eighty game suspension for
Peds last year, and then once he got called up.
Noelve Marte last season was frankly a disaster. You cannot
draw up a worse season for a guy than the

(42:36):
one that Noelve Marte had eighty game suspension, then comes
off the suspension and he was abysmal. Batted just two
ten and sixty six games. The OPS was below six hundred.
It was awful. So it felt like a bit of
a long shot to make the team during spring training
and Noelve did not help his case because in spring

(42:57):
training games this year against small sample size, dude battage
just one fifty do what you want with batting average
as a stat guy battas one fifty. So Ever, since
the end of twenty twenty three, Noelve Marte has done
like nothing right, which uh is no good for a

(43:17):
lot of different reasons.

Speaker 3 (43:21):
But he's back.

Speaker 2 (43:23):
He's back out of necessity because of injury, and when
he came back, I think you're being reasonable if you go, Okay,
this team offensively is not doing all that much. They're
not getting much production from any number of players, most
notably as it relates to Noelve Jamer Candelario. Because Noel
de Marte is a third baseman, so might it make sense,

(43:46):
especially for the right handed hitting Marte, to give him
a shot at third base tonight against a lefty instead
of jam Er Candelario. Now, Jamer Candelario tonight might rake
and might turn his season around and might have a
big game. But among all the underperforming Reds hitters, the

(44:06):
guy whose lack of production is most glaring is thirty
one year old Jamer Candelario. The dude is hitting a
buck forty ops, as you might imagine, a paltry three
seventy one like Jamer Candelario, who we heard all spring,

(44:27):
how what good of shape he looked, how productive he
was gonna be, reverse of at it?

Speaker 3 (44:33):
Whatever?

Speaker 2 (44:34):
Has been atrocious this year, by the way, He's hitless
in eight played appearances against left handed pitchers and frankly,
obviously not that much better against right handed pitchers. So
you would think tonight would make sense for Noel Marte
to get a shot. They've called him up, nobody else
is hitting. Let's give Noelve Marte a chance.

Speaker 3 (44:58):
I'm with you.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
I don't know that I see this as egregiously bad
as maybe others do. But if if I had my way,
if Terry Francona gave me the lineup card and said
you're in charge of tonight's lineup, I'd give Noelve a
chance because what's the harm and not the dude he
would be replacing who you had to be fair? Historically speaking,

(45:23):
Jamer has been better against lefties. He's a switch hitter,
but he's been better against lefties and right he's over
the course of his career. What do you have to
lose by giving Noelve Marte a chance? It is interesting
to me, and he overused that word. I guess sometimes
if you go back to the end of the twenty
twenty three season when there was this, you know, just long,
steady stream of players who when they got here, you know,

(45:46):
almost instantly produced, starting with Matt McClain who got called
up way too late, continuing through Elie Dela Cruz, continuing
through Will Benson who started the season on the roster,
got sent down, then came back up and was was
really really good, continuing with Andrew Abbott and Christian and
Carnassi on strand, and then ultimately Noelve Marte. There was

(46:09):
this long string of guys who when they got called up,
produced and looked the part and made you feel like
maybe they got a lot of guys they can build around,
a lot of guys the worth moving forward. With Noel
they played fewer games than any of those guys, at
least on the offensive end, played in only thirty five games,

(46:32):
got fewer opportunities, fewer at bets.

Speaker 3 (46:35):
But the guy looked the part. Like the guy, the
guy looked the part.

Speaker 2 (46:41):
And so at the end of the twenty twenty three season,
which wasn't that long ago, if you were listing players
that you thought could be a part of this team's
core moving forward, I think Marte would be one of
those guys, maybe not to the same degree as a
Matt McLain, maybe not to the same degree as a
Elie de la Cruz. He thought it was gonna be
one of those guys. Well, a year and a half later,

(47:02):
we know what's happened. Suspension, lack of production, got sent
to the minor leagues. I'm still buying the stock. Remember
that's our favorite sports talk radio game, Buy the stock
or sell the stock. So, as a lot of people
have learned this week, it's good to buy a stock
when it's low.

Speaker 3 (47:23):
It can't get lower than Noel A Marte right now.

Speaker 2 (47:27):
It cannot get lower than Noelve Marte, who can't get
in the lineup tonight against the lefty, and instead they're
using jam Or Candelario, who has been a disaster in
his own right this year. It can't get any lower.
Can't get any lower than a guy that couldn't make
this team, which doesn't have a very high offensive ceiling
out of spring training. Can't get any lower than a

(47:48):
guy who hit two ten last year. Can't get any
lower than a guy who, on top of that, missed
eighty games because of a peed suspension. But he's still
just twenty three years old, and this franchise thought highly
enough of him to trade for him in the deal

(48:10):
that included Luis Castillo. That's a guy worth not giving
up on. Was talking about this with Tony and Austin,
and Austin made the point, and I think it's a
fair one that it feels like the Reds like they're
they've kind of told you how they feel about him, right,
Like not a lot of offseason chatter about Noel Vea.

Speaker 3 (48:31):
The spring training thing.

Speaker 2 (48:33):
It felt like, even had he had a better statistical
spring training, he faced a very uphill battle to make
the club, got sent to Louisville. Who knows if he
would still be there if the Reds hadn't had so
many injuries, or if the Reds had more guys hit.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
But he is here now.

Speaker 2 (48:51):
If everybody's hitting, if the starting third basement is hitting,
if this team's offensive production is heck just league average,
nobody's talking about neelve Martin.

Speaker 3 (49:01):
Nobody's making the.

Speaker 2 (49:01):
Case on the internet right now that he should be
the guy tonight in the fourteenth game of the season
against the Pittsburgh Pirates in their left handed pitcher Bailey Falter.
But he is here the guy who plays the same
position has been awful. He is still just twenty three
years old. It wasn't that long ago that it felt

(49:24):
like he was a part of the corps. They thought
highly enough of him to trade for him in a
deal that included Edwin Arroyo. Levi Stout. I think Andy
Moore was the other picture. I'm not giving up on
Noelve Marte and the red should either twenty three years
old not that far removed from what he looked like

(49:46):
and how he played at the end of the twenty
twenty three season. Now you might go, Okay, well he's here,
and for however long he's here. When he plays, he's
gonna have to justify a roster spot, and he's going
to have to make a tough decision for the Reds
when it comes to keeping him, and who knows how
many more opportunities he is going to get. But he
did go to Louisville and he did hit well, and

(50:08):
Will Benson did too. Will Benson gets called up. Will
Benson was a disaster last year. Will Benson obviously no
ped suspension, But it's interesting everybody on board with Will
Benson right got to be on board with Noel A. Martinez, Well,
that is a penny stock right now. But what he

(50:30):
was doing at the end of the twenty twenty three
season wasn't that long ago that I'm throwing it out
the window and not clinging to the idea that he
can't recapture he's offensively what he was at the end
of the twenty twenty three season. We'll see, but we're
not going to see tonight, at least not at the
start of the game because he's not in the starting lineup.
And you know, again, like Jamber Candelaria is making a

(50:53):
lot of money. It's the reason why they brought him here.
Nobody is saying that he shouldn't be given a chance
to pull himself out of his season opening slump. But
you got a guy in Marte that you added to
the team that did what you wanted him to do.

Speaker 3 (51:07):
At Louisville.

Speaker 2 (51:08):
The guy who plays the same position is not hitting,
and there's a pitching matchup, at least from a lefty
righty standpoint, that is more favorable to Noelve Marte than
if a righty was throwing tonight. Tonight, you give him
a chance the Reds unless there's a change in the
next two hours and twenty five minutes tonight at least,

(51:28):
are not a quarter after four ESPN fifteen thirty five
point three seven four nine fifteen thirty is our phone number.
We'll throw a poll question or two out there on
Twitter at Moeger thanks to United Heartland Insurance. Brendanvan and
Jones on baseball is coming up in thirty five minutes
and we're gonna talk to my guy, doctor Angel Alaska

(51:49):
is Matt McClain is the subject, the main subject of
our conversation. Matt McLain is of utmost importance to this team,
utmost importance to this team. We were talking before about
Ellie dellacro CRUs and how when a ball has hit
his way, you kind of hold your breath because you
don't know what's going to happen.

Speaker 3 (52:05):
I do that when Matt.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
McClain is on a baseball field, because I have no
idea if from moment to moment there's going to be
some sort of strained pull, fracture or anything else that
causes him to miss more time. He wears the title
of injury prone, He wears the reputation for being injury prone.
How can that change and how much should we be

(52:28):
worrying about his hamstring strain. Doctor Velaskaz will tell us.
Coming up in just about twenty minutes on ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (52:37):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (52:42):
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(53:04):
River Road closed off between Amsterdam Road and before Hayward Street.
That due to month's slides in the area. On that
he is that like with traffic.

Speaker 2 (53:13):
This report is sponsored by jet. It is twenty minutes
after four o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you
for listening. My name is Mogar. This is our show.
You're listening to it. It makes me happy, both you
listening to it and the show itself. At Moegar on

(53:34):
Twitter been I've had like a lot going on. I
need an assistant in here. Sometimes I have not had
a chance to post a pole question, but.

Speaker 3 (53:44):
We will do that at moegar.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
On social media, we'd spend a lot of time yesterday
talking about Terry Francona and whether or not you know what.

Speaker 3 (53:55):
The rules are this year?

Speaker 4 (53:56):
Right?

Speaker 3 (53:56):
What the rules are for the team this year.

Speaker 2 (53:58):
I do this sort of tongue in cheek like there
are there are no rules, you can do whatever you want.
But you know, it feels at times like when something
has gone wrong with the Reds, the instant default is
to blame the manager. Now, I find that, my opinion,
at least often lazy and short sighted and unfair, and

(54:20):
it sometimes lacks nuance and sometimes takes the onus off
of the players.

Speaker 3 (54:24):
But like it.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
It happens a lot, and then you know, Terry Francona
has done some things in games this year that have
kind of defied reason. Using Ian Jabou on opening Day,
some of the lineups have, you know, included some things
that have made a lot of a scratch our heads.

Speaker 3 (54:43):
Who he's used to hit second?

Speaker 2 (54:45):
Tony Pike's current cause celeb and I'm with him on
it is Elie de la Cruz batting third. He should
be batting leadoff, leaving Nick Martinez in on Wednesday, when
there's a proven track record that he has of not
being very good getting through the lineup a third time.
Like just some things that have kind of flown in

(55:05):
the face of data, of stats and to a large
degree common sense. And you can find people who when
you bring those things up and you maybe you know,
criticize a little bit, the manager get really defensive about it.
Number one, like Terry Francona managed in Boston and like
managed in the postseason in Boston. I don't know, and

(55:32):
New York would be possibly an obvious exception. I don't
know that there's a market where the individual minute decisions
by the local baseball manager is as heavily scrutinized as
in Boston. Like Terry Francona can handle it. A dude

(55:56):
who's been in the game for decades. That guy is
going to Cooperstown. I don't care if he loses one
hundred games this year and next and next, dude is
going to be in Cooper's town. His legacy in this
sport is safe. That guy has been criticized a lot
in his career because it's what comes with the territory,

(56:16):
especially given his second Manageri'll stop in Boston.

Speaker 3 (56:20):
So number one, he can handle it.

Speaker 2 (56:22):
Number Two, criticism of someone's decisions or moves doesn't mean
you want them replaced. It's not apples to apples. But
if every time your wife criticized you or something you did,
it doesn't mean you're getting a divorce, right. That doesn't
mean that the end is near. It's not time to
go call a lawyer. Like, maybe not the most fair comparison,

(56:44):
but I'll use it anyway. There's also going to be
times where he gets this stuff wrong, and so you
do two things with it. Number One, you acknowledge that
this has always been my thing with other managers the
Reds have had. I can't believe Brian Price did this,
or I can't believe that David Bell did this. Like
over the course of one hundred and six two games,
they're not going to press the right button every single time.

Speaker 3 (57:05):
That's number one. Number Two, when they don't.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
I think it's fun to second guess those things. I
think it's fun to play along with the manager. I
think it's interesting to debate the merits of certain moves.
And the cool thing is it's easier to do that
now because we have so much data at our disposal
with Nick Martinez in the third time to the batting
order a not even a couple of years ago, ten
fifteen years ago, we didn't have as as at our

(57:29):
fingertips as we have now the data to tell us
here's how he does when he has already gotten through
the order two times, which makes it easier to make
an argument about Terry Francona and that particular move. I
also think this though, that like, we've got a manager
everybody likes. Whereas you know, David Bell, while certainly a

(57:54):
very nice guy, I.

Speaker 3 (57:56):
Remember when he got hired.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
I don't remember that much excitement, in a large part
because the team itself wasn't very good. He was walking
into a situation where the Reds had lost like ninety
four games, and so you know, I finally got a manager.
But who are the players going to be? Well, now
we know who the players are. But a lot of
folks soured on David Bell in recent years and had
already made up their mind like I'm done with this guy,
and so there was even a larger tendency to criticize

(58:21):
some of the individual moves. And now that they have
a manager who everybody loves who everybody's on board with,
and he's doing some things that have kind of backfired
or haven't worked out.

Speaker 3 (58:33):
Maybe maybe that has.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
Made many of us reveal that the most overrated part
of the job are the in game decisions. Like with
other managers, David Bell was here for a very long
time and was Terry Francona's predecessor. So that's the example
we're going to use. Do this with Dusty Baker as well,

(59:01):
because like with Dusty Baker, I thought he had some
really good strengths that kind of played out in private right.
Players really respected and players really like playing for him,
by all accounts, a good communicator, and what people didn't
want to focus on was that stuff. Instead it was like, well, yeah,
he does a bad job. He took this guy out
in the seventh and replaced him with this guy and
it backfired, and said that's why I'm done with him.

(59:22):
Same thing with David Bell. But once we decided we
like the manager and we want to de emphasize the
impact of some of his decisions, maybe what we're doing
is acknowledging that, you know what, the managers in game
decisions matter less than some of the other things like accountability,
like Terry francon Is, setting a tone or establishing a culture,

(59:46):
being a good communicator, or working well with the clubhouse,
handling any issues that might exist between players. Maybe that's
what we'll acknowledge this year, if we don't want to
pick apart, you know, the decision to use this guy
out of the bullpen in a certain situation, or the
decision to hit this guy second, or the decision to

(01:00:06):
stick with a picture when clearly he has a bad
track record of not getting outs once we get through
the second time in the batting order. If we don't
want to highlight those things, then we want to focus
on the other parts.

Speaker 3 (01:00:18):
Of the job. And if we want to do that,
then we are acknowledging.

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
I think the most important parts of the job have
less to do with who bad second, who comes out
of the bullpen, and whether or not the pitcher stays
in the game after he's gotten through the batting order.

Speaker 3 (01:00:32):
A second time.

Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
Maybe that's what we're doing this year, And by the way,
a lot of us have been there all along.

Speaker 3 (01:00:41):
Like David Bell.

Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
Lost his gig, I think what was interesting about it
was he was actually at the time doing some of
his best work. If you remember, at the end of
the season last year, the Red starting pitching staff completely
fell apart, totally fell apart, and the team was still
staying afloat, and he was having This was September last year,

(01:01:05):
he was having to do bullpen games. And I remember
at the time going like, I know that not that
many people are paying attention because it's September and we're
onto football, But like, David Bell's doing some really good work.

Speaker 3 (01:01:14):
And then he got let go? Why did he get
let go? Got let go.

Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
Because it kind of felt like the players took advantage
of him, walked all over him right when he lost
his job. I don't recall anybody going, well, yeah, it's
because he hits this guy's second where it's because he
does a bad job of knowing when to use a
certain relief picture or when to take the starting picture out.

(01:01:40):
They got let go because of his failures at the
big picture stuff. The new manager is apparently really good
at the big picture stuff, so much so that many
do not want to talk about the small picture stuff,
like Jabo in the ninth inning, like Nick Martinez coming
back for the sixth, like Santiago Espinal batting second, because

(01:02:03):
perhaps now there's a realization that the big picture stuff
is what matters most sports headlines. An update on the Masters.
I'll look at our weekly injury report as well with
doctor angel Alaskaz from Orthosincy.

Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (01:02:20):
Traffic from the UC help Traffic Center. April is Donate lifemoth.
Register to become an organ donor or explore living donation
at uchelp dot com slash transplant. All earlier accidents have
now cleared out, but keep in mind that River Road
is closed off due to landslides between Amsterdam Road and

(01:02:41):
the Villa Hills Marina. Otherwise you're going to find delays
on northbound seventy five between Mitchell Avenue and Paddock Road.
A ten minute slow down there. I'm at Ezelik with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
This report is sponsored by Minds Are, a service of
Kelsey Chevrolet Home of Lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit
approval from There Family to Yours Life, Kelsey chev dot Com,
Reds and Pirates Tonight Brady Singer versus Lefty Bailey Falter
six forty Tonight It is cold at GABP seven hundred
WLW has it the starting lineup tonight, Friedol and center,

(01:03:16):
done and right, Dela Cruz at shortstop, Steer DH and
Candelario at third, Cees at first, Gavin Lux and left field.
Espinall's playing second base. Jose Travigno is catching and batting ninth.
A couple of other things. FC Cincinnati hitting the road,
the first of consecutive road tilts for the Orange and Blue.
They will take on DC United tomorrow at seven thirty.

(01:03:39):
That is going to be on ESPN fifteen thirty with
pregame coverage at seven pm. Justin Rose has a one
shot lead over Bryson Deshambeau. Both players have finished their
rounds and obviously have made the cut. Two others two
back of the pace at six under Roy Macker and

(01:04:00):
Corey Connors. Cyclones play the final two games of the
season tonight and tomorrow on the road against Iowa. I
gotta get a break in because we got to call
our buddy, doctor Angel Alaskis from Ortho Cincy. He'll talk
Matt McLain with us next.

Speaker 1 (01:04:14):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (01:04:18):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. April is Donate
Life month Register to become an Oregon donor or explore
living donation at uchelp dot com. Slash Transplant roadways remain
accident free at the moment, but River Road is closed
off due to landslides between Amsterdam Road and before Hayward Street.

(01:04:39):
Construction leaves westbound two seventy five down to one lane
near the Kentucky Indiana state line. That four repairs on
the Carroll Cropper Bridge. I'm at Ezelik with traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:04:50):
This report is posed including my mix. All right, let's
do this.

Speaker 2 (01:04:56):
We typically do this on Wednesdays, sometimes Thursdays, and then
this week because of scheduling, we're doing it on a Friday.
We talk injuries with one of the experts from orthos
Since the Orthopedics and sports Medicine. The great thing about
Ortho Since is they have specialists on locations and services
across the tri State, including walk in orthopedic injury urgent

(01:05:16):
care at five locations with extended evening and weekend hours
in Edgewood and Anderson. You can learn more at orthosince
dot com. That's orthos ci Ncy dot com. Joining this
week is my guy, doctor Angel Velasquez from Ortho Sincy,
The Man who fixed my neck.

Speaker 3 (01:05:38):
It's good to have you.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
Let's talk about Matt McClain and actually fold Edwin and
Royo into the conversation as well, because both players are
dealing with hamstring strains. So let's start with this. Can
the location of a hamstring strain on the leg help
determine the severity?

Speaker 9 (01:05:54):
You know, absolutely, you know, number one, thank for the introduction.
Now that sounds pretty good, but definitely, definitely, you know
the location of the handstring or any kind of muscle
tendon group injury it is it is important for uh,
you know, to evaluate and see, you know, how long
this injury may may take, may take to come back

(01:06:16):
from the you know, for the place to come back. Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:06:19):
You know, any injury that is muscle diactally into the muscle,
especially in the handstring.

Speaker 9 (01:06:23):
You had a lot of blood vessels, You had a
lot of blood flowing. So with the blood flowing, you're
eating properties increase and you're gonna get back quicker.

Speaker 4 (01:06:32):
Obviously when there's a.

Speaker 9 (01:06:33):
Tendon involvement, uh, depending severity of the injured of the tendon. Uh,
it is where the tendon and the muscle get together,
you know, is better than just the tende for the bond.
So definitely the position of the injury of the location
is important to identify this.

Speaker 2 (01:06:49):
What is the recovery timeline based on the grade of
the strain.

Speaker 9 (01:06:54):
You know, most of the time grade two string, especially
muscle strained, you know, could be something between in two
and three weeks and I'm and I'm just talking about
you know, recovery, start doing baseball related activities. In the meantime,
the player need to be doing some physical therapy and
other body parts so they're not losing you know, the

(01:07:15):
conditions they have before. So as soon as the injuries
healed and they start doing baseball related activities, they can
start coming back and ramp it up. So, you know,
the first several weeks would be for complete hitting or
like grade one, and the next week or so to
get in conditioning, you know, get the in a position player,
get the hand eye coordination to hit, and then go

(01:07:37):
from there. A great tree is a significant there, you know,
that could be three to four months, you know, especially
if it's a tenel.

Speaker 4 (01:07:44):
Involvement could be more than that or even surgery.

Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
Does the early season cool weather that we're dealing with
right now impact the recovery timeline?

Speaker 7 (01:07:52):
At all.

Speaker 9 (01:07:54):
I think the the early season cold weather that we're
having uh in increase the risk for the injuries. You
know those this is a static you know, this is
a sport that you are not constantly moving, right, you're moving,
but you have a lot of moments where you are
not engaged in your muscle groups and and that active

(01:08:15):
movement UH definitely increase your increase your risk of injury.

Speaker 4 (01:08:21):
The warmer that you are, the more blood flow goal
to your to your muscle, the more those muscles are ready,
the colder it is, obviously, you know, take a little
bit more time for them to warm up, and you
can get injury a little bit easier.

Speaker 9 (01:08:33):
And obviously the recovery time, the recovery is not the
issues getting.

Speaker 4 (01:08:37):
Ready to play right. So if you continue being.

Speaker 9 (01:08:40):
Cold, you're you have more risk for reinjury because you know,
you need to be constant moving and keeping warm, and
it's impossible this weather.

Speaker 2 (01:08:48):
With Matt McClain specifically, so he's obviously dealing with a
hamstrings train. He missed all of last year with a
shoulder injury. It was an oblique two years ago, or
some athletes simply more injury prone than others.

Speaker 9 (01:09:01):
You know, you have to think that too, right, So
some players are maybe their genetics made them be less
prone two injuries, maybe their flexibility, you know, maybe they
are you know, put.

Speaker 4 (01:09:15):
The work you know, before their their their games, or
due to the.

Speaker 9 (01:09:21):
Process in the off season. So there's a lot of factors.
You can't say that he worked less than others. You
assume that he works as a professional as good as
other and you know, sometimes this is in their games. Uh,
you know, sometimes just bad luck, right that that shoulder
injury is just a bad luck. You like Marte, you know,
you die and you feel that something happened on your shoulder.

Speaker 4 (01:09:41):
That's just bad luck, you know. But but these are
professional players. This is the guy that can bounce back.
These are not at least is mentering.

Speaker 9 (01:09:49):
Doesn't sound like it's a severe injury.

Speaker 4 (01:09:52):
So he should be able to bounce back.

Speaker 9 (01:09:54):
And then you know, address his flexibility address is a
strengthening address his you know, uh, the process of getting
ready for games and and and put a little bit
of work into it.

Speaker 2 (01:10:06):
There was a study done recently that indicated that hamstring
related injuries are more prevalent in baseball than other sports.

Speaker 3 (01:10:13):
Any idea why.

Speaker 4 (01:10:16):
Well, number one that study came and it's true.

Speaker 9 (01:10:20):
You know this, these athletes, like I mentioned before, it
is not a sport that you're on constant movement, right.

Speaker 4 (01:10:27):
So you know, you got basketball players.

Speaker 9 (01:10:29):
They're moving defense, offense, they are moving constantly. You know,
football players they you know, obviously they in and out,
but when they are in, you know, in their position,
they're moving constantly.

Speaker 4 (01:10:39):
They might have periods of seconds to get rest. But
on baseball there's a lot of stuff and going.

Speaker 9 (01:10:44):
Obviously now the pitch clock, the game is a little
bit quicker, they're moving a little bit more, but you
still go to the you know, to the dog out
and sit down and watch the game. So you have
a lot of those process So this muscle you're asking
them to go from being.

Speaker 4 (01:10:58):
Studied not move, to suddenly go as fast.

Speaker 9 (01:11:02):
As you can to get a ball, or run as
fast as you can to get the first base, to
beat up the grand.

Speaker 4 (01:11:07):
Ball to second base or short stop.

Speaker 9 (01:11:10):
That is probably why baseball players are in more risk,
especially position players. You know, you got players who have
played all the time, have less resting. Well they break
down to the season. You know, you've got players who
got more ADATs, they got more on there. So if
you look, position players are the highest risk, and you

(01:11:30):
know obviously the incident is coming more from running on
the basis, and the word word is important with less
periods of rest in depending the players, you know, play
one hundred and sixty two games or one hundred and.

Speaker 4 (01:11:42):
Forty games resting.

Speaker 2 (01:11:44):
Doctor Angel Velaska is from Ortho Sincy. With this all right,
one more Tyler Stevenson. Obviously we are waiting for him
to come back because he's missed the entire season so
far with an oblique injury, and there's some optimism based
on his most recent MRI that they can start to
ramp up his baseball activities. So give me an idea
of what they might have seen on the MRI that

(01:12:05):
has everybody so encouraged.

Speaker 9 (01:12:08):
Well, first, when you got an MRI, you want to
be sure the number one, the tear or the injury
that he had into the old league has healed, right,
so there's a scar tissue.

Speaker 4 (01:12:18):
Then after that you say, okay, the tear healed, but
there's still some inflammation over there. So perhaps that you
have a scar tissue, you don't have the tear of
the bond, or you don't have the tear in the muscle,
but you still have a little bit of inflammation. So
that's what you take on concenteration. So when you got
an MRI and shows hey, this looks good. Now it's more.

Speaker 9 (01:12:37):
About let's start do some baseball related activities.

Speaker 4 (01:12:40):
Let's progress. You know, this on his left side, so
it is.

Speaker 9 (01:12:45):
On the control side from throwing for instrowing arm, but
that is one that get more injury on a throwing
adlets right, So when you're throwing, you are arching and
turning to you to your left for him as a
right handed and you know that po't gonna put a
lot more stress there hitting the same thing.

Speaker 4 (01:13:03):
So now it's time.

Speaker 9 (01:13:04):
To you know, the baseball realactivity is what that means
is let's toss the ball. Let's start doing some dry swings.
Let's see it, you know every other day, how you feel.
Be sure there's no sort that's coming back. You know,
sometimes all to some help to take a look at
it to be sure it's not any injury in the process,
and then build it up.

Speaker 4 (01:13:21):
You know, his effort to progress from.

Speaker 2 (01:13:24):
That awesome stuff. Cannot thank you enough. We will do
it again soon. The man who fixed my neck, doctor
Angel Alaska, as you're the best.

Speaker 6 (01:13:33):
Thanks so much.

Speaker 4 (01:13:35):
Hey, that was an easy face for me. Okay, so
you did a good job and you're a good patient too.
He told me that you were working really hard.

Speaker 9 (01:13:41):
So that is a really important part of the recovery,
doing physical therapy and put the hard work, and you
did it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:48):
If if a guy who knows more about me tells
me to do something and it's going to decrease the
pain or make it go away, I say yes, watchat
soon man, Thank you.

Speaker 4 (01:13:57):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:13:57):
There you go. That's my guy.

Speaker 2 (01:13:59):
Doctor angevill ask is the man who fixed my neck
from orthos Sincy. I say this every week because it's true.
The great thing about Orthosincy is they have specialists on
locations all over the Tri State. This includes walk in
orthopedic urgent care weekdays nine a m. To nine pm
and on Saturdays nine am to one pm at both
Edgewood and Anderson. It's easy because you don't need an

(01:14:20):
appointment and it's definitely cheaper than going to an er.
Whenever you have an urgent orthopedic injury, check out Orthosincy
dot com. That's orthos ci Ncy dot com. Brendanvan and
Jones on baseball. Next, this is Jess. We got to
address a couple of things we just heard while we
were away. But first it's time for the michelob Ultra
five o'clock Happy Hour, thanks to our friends at michelob

(01:14:43):
Ultra Superior Light Beer.

Speaker 3 (01:14:45):
It's the weekend now.

Speaker 2 (01:14:47):
The five o'clock Happy Hour is a service of michelob
Ultra every day of the week, but there's something special
about Fridays, you know that, So start your weekend.

Speaker 3 (01:14:55):
We're starting our weekend with a cold one.

Speaker 2 (01:14:57):
We're having a cold one from Mike McConnell that the
company is doing his happy hour right now, and well
we're here working. Yeah, they didn't think about that very well,
they didn't. They did it from three to five. I
think mike'scoring of the game. They did it from three
to five. There are two of his former producers working
right now. So we're we're lifting a cold one, a
cold michelob Ultra for Mike McConnell and uh and the

(01:15:18):
other people there who didn't well, I guess we technically
got invited, but we had a show. We could have
done the show from the happy hour, I guess. Nonetheless,
whatever you're doing this weekend. Have a nice cold michelob
Ultra and you know we're having one right now. All right,
two things we have to discuss. I caught the tail
end of that Sports Center update, and so I don't

(01:15:41):
know who the analyst was, and I don't know which
team he was necessarily talking about. But in basketball, there's
no two sides of the ball. My big, my, single
biggest sports pet peeve, single biggest one. And this is
coming from somebody who gets a lot of stuff wrong.

Speaker 3 (01:15:57):
When we're talking about hoops.

Speaker 2 (01:15:59):
You players play offense and defense, and some teams are
really good at offense. And sometimes an analyst will say,
but on the defensive side of the ball, there's the
defensive side of the ball. In football, there's two ends
of the floor, and depending on which half you're in,
there's the offensive side of the floor, the basket you're
shooting at, and the defensive side of the floor, the
basket you are defending. There's no sides of the ball

(01:16:21):
in basketball. For the love of God, please make that stop.
Very few things in life annoy me. That's one that does.

Speaker 3 (01:16:33):
But you heard.

Speaker 2 (01:16:34):
Bredenman and Jones. Do you hear that they were talking
about leadoff hitters and how the best guys should bat
lead off. Thank you, Marty and Tracy on our side,
they're on Tony's side, they're on my side. Ellie Dela
Cruze should bat lead He not bat lead off tonight.
I'm not sure he's ever gonna bat lead off. Ellie
Dela Cruci, Your best hitters should bat lead off. I'm

(01:16:54):
like with Ellie, it's double because he's fast. Like remember
back in the day, Dusty Baker, he bat the center
field or leadoff, no matter who it was, and it
could be like a bad hitter. Remember that Corey Patterson
and then morons on the internet were like, you know,
Corey Patterson is dating Dusty's daughter.

Speaker 3 (01:17:10):
It's like, do you know that? Or are you just
making that up?

Speaker 2 (01:17:12):
Corey Patterson was not a good hitter, but because he
was fast and because he played center field, Dusty decided
he's got a bat leadoff. And pretty much, if you
played center field for the Reds while Dusty Baker was
the manager, you hit leadoff. Now, sometimes that was good,
like when Shin Choo Chow was here, But the best
hitter should hit leadoff. Joey Vado batted lead off early

(01:17:35):
in the twenty fourteen season. I was joking about this
with Tony and Awesome before. I will never forget the day.
It was a Saturday Day game. It was the day
I got engaged. I remember two things about that day,
getting engaged and being so happy that Joey Vada was
batting leadoff. So I'm like, dude, Brian Price, GATSI, he's
hitting the best hitter now. Joey was not good that year,

(01:17:56):
missed a ton of games because he got hurt.

Speaker 3 (01:17:58):
Like it's it's just, here's the idea.

Speaker 2 (01:18:01):
Maybe the Reds have so many good hitters that there's
a lot of different options to hit leadoff. They don't
have a lot of good hitters right now, Like that
that's part of this, Like they don't have a lot
of quality hitters right now. And Ellie de la Cruz
is certainly not a hitter without flaws. I mean, if

(01:18:23):
you look at the numbers right now, he's batt in
two fifty not exactly overwhelming. Do what you want with
batting average as a statistic I did this very rudimentary
exercise last week. The leadoff batter for the Reds last
year batted one hundred two more times than the third
place batter. Did Ellie is the team's third place batter?

(01:18:45):
Why would you want Ellie or your best hitter to
bat one hundred two fewer times? But with Ellie you
get what a lot of people look for at a leadoff hitter,
which he's you know, he's fast, and he might not
be as patient at the plate as he needs to be.
We'll certainly acknowledge that. But there you go, Marty and
Tracy on my side, on Tony side, and on the

(01:19:08):
side of common sense, Ellie should be Ellie should Ellie
should about lead off? I had something else that I
was going to get to, and uh, I lost it.

Speaker 3 (01:19:21):
I lost that.

Speaker 2 (01:19:22):
I say, uh, the defense part with Ellie. And we
talked about this a lot yesterday, and I I try
not to formulate sports talk radio topics around whatever is
the thing of the day on social media. But you know,
Ellie moving to center field was the thing of the

(01:19:42):
day on social media on Wednesday because he made an error.

Speaker 3 (01:19:46):
And Ellie like, this is what.

Speaker 2 (01:19:47):
Comes with his place on the team, This is what
comes with burgeoning stardom.

Speaker 7 (01:19:55):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:19:55):
Added attention, added scrutiny. And when the Reds a couple
of years ago had a bunch of bad players, nobody
cared who made errs.

Speaker 3 (01:20:05):
Well, now they got a guy who's.

Speaker 2 (01:20:06):
Talked about is one of the down the road at
least one of the premier players in the sport. He
is an all star. I mean, he's Ellie is their guy.
At least, they're the face of the franchise right now,
and so with that comes a lot of attention and
a lot of scrutiny. And Ellie the other day made
an error. And by the way, not only did he
make an air earlier or later in the game, in
the tenth inning with a stupid magic runner rule, like
he cut off a ball that made no sense for

(01:20:29):
the shortstop to be cutting off. Ended up being kind
of a moot point. He has his defensive deficiencies. Now
I want to see Elie de la Cruz play shortstop.
I want to see Eli Delacruz play shortstop because from
a pure entertainment standpoint, he's fun to watch. But that's also,
i think, and many would agree, the most important position

(01:20:50):
on the field. And you're involved in more plays, and
you're handling the ball a lot, and you're you're active,
and you're in the middle of the game and there's
a lot going on, and you've got to have a
unique skill set to play there. You gotta be ranger
Rangey Rangey, I say, you gotta be rangy. You gotta
have a great arm. Like it's I think he can
be good enough to play that position at a really

(01:21:11):
high level. And even if you're a bit of an
Elliott shortstop detractor, I think you have to admit over
nearly full two big league seasons, he's done a lot
of really cool.

Speaker 3 (01:21:20):
Things at shortstop.

Speaker 2 (01:21:21):
Unfortunately, he makes a lot of errors, and it's on
Ellie to make the errors go away. And I would
promise anybody who hates this conversation the conversation will go
away when Ellie stops making errors. First of all, him
in center field is not solely or the idea of
him in center field is not solely a reflection of

(01:21:45):
frustration with him playing shortstop. It's also a statement about
what the guy can do athletically. Like as much as
I want to see him play shortstop, I the curiosity
part of me wonders, like, what does that look like?
Him in center field? Running from gap to gap, cutting
off balls, getting the balls that other guys can't get

(01:22:08):
to like, there's something about that that is a reflection
of how just insanely athletically gifted he is. But it's
also a reflection of the fact that Ellie makes a
lot of errors. I use my own metric. I am
as all in on Ellie Dela Cruz as anybody you

(01:22:29):
will ever listen to or talk to, Like I buy
the hype. First of all, he is I think, to
a large degree, met the hype. He is not yet
where we want him to be or where he can be,
But I think he's on his way. I think he's
going to be a terrific player in this league for
a really long time. If I'm wrong about that, then

(01:22:49):
so what. But when the ball is hit to Ellie
Dela Cruz, I hold my breath and I think, if
you're a Reds fan and you watch this on a
regular basis, I would imagine you'd do the same. Ball
is hit his way, you have no idea what's gonna happen? None,
You have no clue. Is he going to make the play?

(01:23:11):
Is is he gonna throw it into the net? Is
he going to pull the guy off first base? Is
he going to make a great throw? Like? What is
about to happen here, and sometimes he does the amazing.
Sometimes he could do things that you go, like, man,
there are very few human beings walking the planet that
could do what Ellie just did. And there are times
where it feels like he fails to make a play
that's very routine that you go, you know what, even

(01:23:33):
a below average big league shortstop makes that play, whether
it's him booting a ball, him screwing up a throw,
him making a bit of a mental mistake in the
field when the ball comes his way. I still I
get a little queasy, little antsy, I feel a little uneasy.
I hold my breath, and I think that's how most

(01:23:56):
of us are, until most of us aren't.

Speaker 3 (01:23:59):
That way.

Speaker 2 (01:24:00):
It is completely on the table big picture, long term,
would it be better for the team and would it
be better for Ellie if they taught him how to
play center field? And by the way, I think that's
the correct verbiage. It's not they got to move him
to center. It's either we had to teach him how

(01:24:24):
to play center or we had to try him in center.
And really those two things are not mutually exclusive, right
You teach him to play center and then you try
him out there. And you don't do that today. You
don't do that on the fly. You don't do that
until he's had some reps out there, but until when
a ball is hit his way. If you're at the

(01:24:44):
ballpark tonight, if you're watching tonight and here's a line
driver or a ground whatever it is toward Ellie Dela Cruz,
admit it, like this is what happens when you make
a lot of mistakes.

Speaker 3 (01:24:57):
He's made a lot of errors.

Speaker 2 (01:25:00):
That's a thing, like, that's not a made up stat
He led the league airs last year, leads leaguan aras.
Right now, when a player makes a lot of areas,
you kind of hold your breath.

Speaker 3 (01:25:10):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:25:10):
It's like if a bad three point shooter, you know,
is behind the arc and the ball comes his way
and he starts to lift, you kind of get weird
about her, right, Or a bad field goal kicker is
lining up for one and it's even if it's a
short range you get a little weird about it. Well,
you know, Ellie is not bad again. He's done some
unbelievable things. And I want to exhaust every possibility with

(01:25:33):
him at shortstop because I think it could be awesome.
There are a lot of people in the sport who
think it could be awesome. So also are a lot
of people who think it could be awesome with him
in center field. That discussion gets nipped in the butt
to a large degree, maybe not entirely, but to a
large degree. If when he's that shortstop and the ball

(01:25:56):
comes his way, we don't get a little weird. He'll
start to make routine plays, and you and I as fans,
will behave like a routine play is about to be made.
We'll see sixteen after five o'clock he should be playing shortstop.
He is playing shortstop tonight. He is also batting third.

(01:26:16):
He should be batting leadoff. Five one, three, seven, four nine,
fifteen thirty is our phone number. It's the michelob Ultra
five o'clock Happy Hour on ESPN fifteen thirty. Grab some
phone calls. I gotta throw a pole question out there.
I gotta do that.

Speaker 3 (01:26:35):
I've been saying I'm gonna do it all afternoon, and
I have not.

Speaker 4 (01:26:39):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:26:39):
Sixteen now, seventeen minutes after five o'clock. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (01:26:44):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (01:26:49):
Traffic from the UC help Traffic Center. April is Donate
Life Month. Register to become an organ donor or explore
living donation at ucehelp dot com. Slash transplay on Cole Rain.
There's an accident south of Struble Road. Another crash along
Warsaw Avenue between McPherson and Fairbanks Avenue.

Speaker 3 (01:27:10):
River Road closed off due to.

Speaker 5 (01:27:11):
Landslides between Amsterdam Road and before Hayward Street. Please avoid
the area on that EAZELK with traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:27:20):
Free, excuse me free Monday.

Speaker 2 (01:27:24):
Mike Renner, formerly a Pro Football Focus one of the
very best when it comes to the draft, joins us
at four thirty three plus full recap of Red's Bucos
FC Cincinnati against DC United. A lot of the stuff
we have done this. We went at Lori Lindsay yesterday.
We had Lori Lindsay on the show asould Say. Lori
Lindsay from mL Season Pass is a calling Tomorrow's game

(01:27:47):
FC Cincinnati versus DC. She joined us our buddy Joe Goodberry.
I don't know that there is a more popular Bengals
related draft nick, if you will, than Joe Goodberry was
with us yesterday and if you missed it, shame on you.

Speaker 3 (01:28:02):
But the good news is.

Speaker 2 (01:28:03):
You can go listen to it on the iHeartRadio app
podcast of the show, a service of Long Next Sports.
Grail wouldn't mind being at long Next right now, Mike,
you're on ESPN fifteen thirty high.

Speaker 7 (01:28:20):
Oh no, thanks. You said to call on Friday. I
can't remember why. Uh the critique of the show for
the week maybe or something.

Speaker 3 (01:28:29):
Do you recall, Well, I don't recall.

Speaker 2 (01:28:32):
What I do recall is you sent me a very
strongly worded email on Wednesday afternoon after the show that
made me think you don't even like the show.

Speaker 7 (01:28:42):
Really, I must have been in some agonizing pain at
the moment. Oh man, I didn't do that.

Speaker 3 (01:28:47):
Come on, you were you were up, you were you?

Speaker 2 (01:28:49):
You were upset with me because of how the Reds
game unfolded, and you basically said that I'm the race
of the lost.

Speaker 7 (01:28:56):
Oh yes, that's yes.

Speaker 3 (01:28:59):
From two thousand miles.

Speaker 7 (01:29:01):
We had it in the bag, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:29:02):
No, I didn't know. I never said they had it
in the bag.

Speaker 7 (01:29:05):
Okay, but I said they.

Speaker 2 (01:29:06):
Are in the driver's seat, which when they're up six
to one, they are.

Speaker 7 (01:29:11):
I think I was partially just pissed off at the
Reds more than anything, and I took it out on you.
I apologize Why you take it out of them? I
don't know because I don't know. Because you're my friend,
you know what I mean, and you were handy. I
guess I don't know my bad, but thanks for taking
my call today. Well we're looking at these I just

(01:29:36):
vaunted Pittsburgh Pirates starting rotation starting three this weekend.

Speaker 9 (01:29:42):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (01:29:42):
It took me a minute to pronounce the third guy's name,
the right hand of the Ludzinski or something like that.
But the first two lefties, I don't think we're going
to compare them to Vita Blue Bloomin Odum and Capfish
Hunter or McNally Palmer and play Art. So I think
we got a good sh this weekend, especially with that
home e R, don't you.

Speaker 2 (01:30:03):
Uh yeah, I mean this is a more than anybody
the Pirates have on the mound. These are two not
great offensive teams, and so they're likely to be low scoring,
close games. And despite the issues that the Reds Relief
Corps had the other day, Uh, if it's two of
three at home against Pittsburgh, I will take Cincinnati and

(01:30:26):
at home and my chances with their bullpen. But these
are these are two below average offensive teams.

Speaker 7 (01:30:33):
Yep, and here's here's evidence.

Speaker 2 (01:30:35):
And the Reds do have I mean, the Reds don't
get Paul Skans. The Pirates do get one hundred on Sunday.

Speaker 7 (01:30:42):
Yeah, yeah, we lucked out without schemes. Speaking of that
hitting situation, I kind of did a little quick research today,
and then I do want to ask you quickie about
Patino junior report.

Speaker 4 (01:30:54):
You hang up, but.

Speaker 7 (01:30:56):
You know who's leading the league and hitting? Take a
guess by average.

Speaker 2 (01:31:00):
Was at the exact moment like leading the National League
or leading all of Baseball.

Speaker 7 (01:31:06):
MLB, the the whole deal, Paul Golsman. No, no, no,
the team, buddy, I'm sorry, the team, the team batting?
Oh which team?

Speaker 4 (01:31:15):
My bad?

Speaker 7 (01:31:16):
Yeah, I was. I was surprised.

Speaker 3 (01:31:22):
The Yankees.

Speaker 7 (01:31:25):
And Diego is hitting close to two ninety really to
eighty six, second place. The Saint Louis Cardinals are hitting
two seventy eight, remarkable to me. Then the Cubs, now
we're in the central Cubs are tenth at two fifty,
Brewers fifteen to two thirty eight, Reds twenty six, just

(01:31:49):
above the Mendoza at two oh six. Yeah, and the
Pirates one of two teams under the mendozat one ninety eight.

Speaker 2 (01:31:58):
Well, I guess the Padres wouldn't be a surprise because
Jackson Merrill's off to a great start, Fernando Tatis is
off to a great start, Manny Machado's off to a
great start, Xander Bogarts is off to a great start.
I don't think Last check Arise is off to a
killer start, but certainly a very good hitter. They've got
some guys, you know, Jackson Merrill's awesome. They've got some

(01:32:19):
guys who have you know, two and a half weeks
into the season, done really well. The Reds are a
below average offensive team, Mike, and when a below average
offensive team suffers injuries the.

Speaker 3 (01:32:29):
Way they have.

Speaker 2 (01:32:29):
I mean, if you take their top four hitters from
last year, Elie Dela Cruz would be one of them,
and Spencer Steer would be would be one of them,
and Tyler Stevenson would be one of them, and TJ.
Friedel would be one of them. Well, Steer has played
with one arm for most of the year, Stevenson hasn't

(01:32:50):
played yet. And then you add to it their best
player from two years ago, Matt McClain. He's obviously gotten hurt.
Their biggest offseason acquisition in all, Austin Hayes. He hasn't
played yet, he has gotten hurt. Like it's an already
below average offensive team that has those issues amplified when
you have to do without, and unfortunately the Reds have
had to do without some key guys.

Speaker 7 (01:33:13):
I think, I think, you know, with what you just
stated there, they're pretty lucky to be. Maybe where they are,
it could be way worse than this, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:33:22):
I mean, can you imagine?

Speaker 2 (01:33:26):
I mean, look, they they won the two games on
Monday and Tuesday where they scored a grand total of
three runs, right, I mean, if if Hunter Green and
Nick Lodolo and the relievers behind him weren't as awesome
as they were, specifically Lodolo's game because he only got
through six, if those guys weren't as awesome as they were,
if they would have given up, you know, four runs
across those three games, who knows what happens, right, I mean,

(01:33:49):
you know, one maybe goes extras the other day lose
Like they are, they are playing with fire offensively right now,
and they they need a combination of players to reform better.
They could certainly use some of the guys who have
joined the team from Louisville, like Benson and Marte to
help out a little bit, and they've got to get healthy.
And when they get healthy, they've got to stay healthy.

(01:34:11):
But you know, Mike, in March, we were wondering who
are they going to get at the deadline, And the
fact that we were having those conversations is a reflection
of how low we thought this team's offensive ceiling was.

Speaker 7 (01:34:23):
And I'm you're you're really good at capitalizing things. That's
one thing I like about this pod. Well, you're good
at a lot of things. That's why you're fourth in
the city. My only question was sports out of what
I think you were wondering.

Speaker 3 (01:34:38):
That too, Well, yeah, I don't know how many number one?
Well you sure about that?

Speaker 7 (01:34:44):
Well, I mean, I don't listen to LW that much.

Speaker 4 (01:34:47):
What wouldn't know?

Speaker 3 (01:34:48):
What would you say to Tony and Austin?

Speaker 7 (01:34:52):
Their show is entertaining, but they're not pros like you.
They're just not in my opinion was listening to Petro
and Money and different shows.

Speaker 2 (01:35:02):
Petro some Money is the best radio show in the
United States of America. But I think Tony and Austin
are complete pros and do an awesome job.

Speaker 7 (01:35:11):
I love him, I call him every day. But you,
you have more experience and you're just my my personal
If I had to pick, which, I wouldn't want to
because I like those guys that really do it, But
I would pick you from my personal case.

Speaker 3 (01:35:26):
What is your least favorite radio show?

Speaker 9 (01:35:31):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (01:35:32):
Like, if I said, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:35:33):
Well whatever sports talker, you know, general talk, and we're
gonna lock you in a room and we're gonna torture
you because you have to listen to this person's show
on Loop, what would it be?

Speaker 7 (01:35:43):
It would have been Rush Wimball, all.

Speaker 2 (01:35:47):
Right, not a big rushing I guess. Okay, is a
sports show that you would put on that list?

Speaker 7 (01:35:52):
Maybe because you couldn't have both sit in a room
if it was a small room.

Speaker 3 (01:35:56):
That's not nice.

Speaker 7 (01:35:57):
And I'm skinny as you know. Uh, Warts talk. There's
a guy down in Tampa named Tom Krazinsky or something
like that. He's in New York Transplant. Be down there
Agust twentieth. His show. I'll tell you the main problem
with his show. He's pretty good on the ear, but
he takes calls. But he takes calls and his producer says, look, man,

(01:36:20):
just get right to the point and cut it, cut
it short. And he means it because you can ask
the guy one question and hey, thanks for the call.
I mean, that's it. There's no interaction whatsoever. Maybe that's
the way to do it, because that only he's popular
down here. But I don't I'm not used to that
kind of.

Speaker 3 (01:36:39):
Well he's popular down here. Where are you now?

Speaker 7 (01:36:43):
Well, I mean when I used to be down in
Tampa for a while.

Speaker 2 (01:36:46):
You know, it's sort of the gym, the Jim Rome
school when it comes to a team. If you ever
listened to Jim Rome show, He'll take calls, but like
the caller will talk for forty five seconds and then
Jim will just let him go, like he doesn't have
a conversation with them. And certainly it's worked for Jim.
He's done quite well for himself. But I'd do it
a little bit differently.

Speaker 7 (01:37:07):
I cut my teeth on Rome and uh pretty much. Well,
I mean I cut my teeth on Trumpy and Collins. Yeah,
but yeah, I started listening to Rome in the early
nineties and with his clones and his you know, all
his little cult that he developed, it was pretty interesting.
You know and what were they.

Speaker 3 (01:37:27):
Called the clones, the clones, the clones.

Speaker 7 (01:37:31):
But then he'd have the different different listeners go head
to head and like the.

Speaker 3 (01:37:37):
Smack Off the smackoff Off.

Speaker 2 (01:37:41):
We had a we had a Jim Rome tour stop
this right when we used to carry the Jim Rome Show.
We had a gym Rome tour stop in two thousand
and three, I think in May of two thousand and three.
It was at the Cintas Center and uh, I have
never it was not sold out, Like I didn't fill
the place. I don't know that I have ever been

(01:38:01):
in an arena where the energy right before the event
was what it was the day of the Jim Rome
Tour stop that was through the room and I and
it was like I got to meet Jim Rome. I
was it was really neat. I got he's really nice.
He's really really shy, really really quiet. But I got
to meet Jim Rome and he was nothing like he

(01:38:24):
is on the air.

Speaker 3 (01:38:26):
It was cool. It was cool.

Speaker 2 (01:38:27):
But my favorite part of the Jim Rome Show and
I haven't listened to it in quite a while. We're
always the segments after his interviews, like he would do
an interview, like he'd say he get like Jimmy Rollins
on right, and he would do it like an eight
minute interview with Jimmy Rollins and I think jim Rome's
a good interviewer, and then come back from a break
and then spend the entire next segment just going like, man,

(01:38:49):
how about Jimmy Rollins, how awesome was that interview?

Speaker 3 (01:38:52):
Well? He was just the best.

Speaker 2 (01:38:53):
How about when he said he I mean like he
would spend the entire next segment just telling the audience
how good the guest he just had on was. I
don't know if he still does that because we don't
carry that show anymore. And I haven't listened to jim
in quite a while.

Speaker 7 (01:39:07):
He's a trip there. He's one of the kind. There's
no question real quick, and I know you gotta go
for I asked you about Patino Lakers. Okay, NBA playoffs.
I'm real that Western Conference is going to be something else.
We know that.

Speaker 3 (01:39:22):
But well, yeah, like every everybody's everybody separated by a game.

Speaker 7 (01:39:27):
Yeah, And what I like is is it looks like
the Warriors. It's step and them guys can get a
week off, watch out watch out for them, And you
got to watch out for the Lakers too well.

Speaker 2 (01:39:40):
If things hold where they are so right now, Golden
State sixth a game out of the five. LA is
currently third with a one game lead over Denver and
the Clippers. I want to see Lebron versus Steph in
a seven game series, which obviously we've gotten in the
finals before and they played in the play in a
couple of years ago. But I want the new remade

(01:40:00):
Warriors with Jimmy Butler against the Lakers, the newly made
Lakers with Luka Doncic.

Speaker 3 (01:40:06):
I want that series.

Speaker 7 (01:40:07):
I would love it because Jimmy Butler a lot of
people kind of knocking, but that's a great two way player.
There's no question. And my last question is do you
think OKAC Now I doubted their defense based on ignorance,
because when I looked up defensive categories, OKAC is number
one in almost every damn one. Do you think they

(01:40:28):
can win the title this year?

Speaker 2 (01:40:29):
Yes, I think they can win the title. My money
is still on Boston. It's interesting if you look at
the East, everybody is tanking to be the four because
they don't want to play Boston in round two, which
you could argue is very disrespectful to a terrific Cavaliers team.
But yeah, I can okay see win the title. Sure,
but the West is an absolute landmine. You are correct
about that, Mike. Have a good weekend.

Speaker 7 (01:40:51):
Thanks Mom.

Speaker 2 (01:40:52):
All right, it's twenty six away from six o'clock. Five
point three seven four nine. Fifteen thirty is our phone number.
Sports headlines next in fifteen.

Speaker 1 (01:41:00):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (01:41:05):
Traffic from the UC Help Traffic Center. April is Donate
Life Month. Register to become an organ donor or explore
Living Donation at uc heelp dot com slash transplant. In
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Police on scene directing traffic around that accident. Area southbound

(01:41:26):
four seventy one at Alexandria Pike disabled vehicle on the
left shoulder and Queen City Avenue in accident at Harrison Avenue.
I'm at Ezelek with traffic.

Speaker 6 (01:41:37):
This reporting sponsor bikeen Hope they.

Speaker 3 (01:41:39):
Know, hope, they know.

Speaker 2 (01:41:43):
I'll be listening. By the way, if you miss Frank
Calliando with those guys must listen. So Frank Calliando, among
his many impersonations. He does mel Kuiper and they got
him in mel Kiper.

Speaker 6 (01:41:56):
Boys.

Speaker 2 (01:41:56):
To read Tony Pike's twenty ten draft profile, go get
that on the iHeartRadio app. We have sports headlines. That's
what we're doing next. Sports headlines are a service of
Kelsey Chevrolet, Home of lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit
approval from their family to yours for life, kelseyshev dot Com,
Reds and Pirates. In a rematch of the nineteen seventy,

(01:42:20):
seventy two, seventy five, seventy nine, and ninety Nationally Championship
Series and twenty thirteen Wildcard game play tonight, first of
three at GAVP Brady Singer and Lefty Bailey Falter on
the Hill six forty tonight on a seven hundred WLW.
I know you want it. I know you want it,

(01:42:42):
so I will give you tonight's red starting lineup courtesy
of perhaps one Day down the road your company. Here
we go against the Lefty friedel Don and De la
Cruz done Is playing redfield, Steers, dh In Candelarios at third.
For some reason, Cees at first, Gavin Lux in left field,
Espanol at second, Travino is behind the plate and batting ninth.

(01:43:06):
It is time to take a look at tonight's or
today's Postman Law injury report. If you are injured, you
know what you gotta do, right, you gotta call eight
four to four Postman. If you're injured. Postman delivers no
real major news as I have seen on the injury front.

(01:43:26):
Austin Hayes is in Louisville and the River bats not
the River bats anymore, but the bats got rained out
last night. So the expectation is he'll play in a
game tonight, will be the DH for nine innings tomorrow
after he plays five to seven innings in left field
tonight and then back in the outfield on Sunday. Tyler

(01:43:48):
Stevenson has started to do limited baseball activities. He is
scheduled to begin catching in the bullpen on April fifteenth,
and Matt McClain, who went on the injured list this week,
has been taking batting practice and ground balls. Terry Francona
says the expectation are the hope not The expectation is
that McClain could be activated on his first day eligible.

(01:44:09):
So there you go, and Abbot's going to be Andrew Abbott.
You knew this is going to be activated to start
tomorrow against the Pirates. So if you look at anything
like on MLB dot com or ESPN dot com, it
has the red starter as TBD. That was Carson Spider
Spot Andrew Abbot's going to take his turn tomorrow. One
NFL note of interest, Joe Flacco is back with the
Browns on a one year contract. FC Cincinnati on its

(01:44:31):
way to Washington, DC to play DC United tomorrow. That
game will be at seven thirty and you'll hear it
on ESPN fifteen thirty. And the Cyclones on the road
tonight against Iowa. They also play tomorrow against Iowa and
then their season is over. A master's update. Justin Rose
needed just twenty two puts today, shot a seventy one
in round two. He is one shot in front of

(01:44:54):
Bryson Deshambeau, both in the clubhouse. Roy McElroy and Corey Conners.

Speaker 3 (01:44:59):
Both back play.

Speaker 2 (01:45:01):
Still happening at beautiful Augusta where, by the way, that
is it's gorgeous and like I said this yesterday, I
could do without some of the more maudlin sentimental tones
that you hear people use when they talk about Augusta
National and the Masters, Like, I think some of that
gets to be a little there's a little bit too
much saccharin there. I feel mostly the same way about baseball.

(01:45:26):
But it is an awesome event and I was lucky
enough to attend in twenty nineteen. I went to Thursday
and Friday, and it was a few things in life
like exceed your expectations and that did. I am not
one of these folks who spends a lot of time
telling others God, I wish everybody would get off their phone.

(01:45:50):
Like I'm the first to admit I even at home
sometimes will say to myself, like, dude.

Speaker 3 (01:45:54):
Put the phone down. Like you have a family, your
wife and kid, like, put the phone down.

Speaker 6 (01:46:00):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:46:01):
In fact, that was like one of my resolutions last
year was to be on the phone lesson home, and
I stuck to it. But my favorite thing about the
Masters was the no cell phone policy, like so much.
It was so liberating because, like we've at times, you'll
be without your phone for whatever reason, maybe you leave

(01:46:21):
it at home one day or you know, you just
you find yourself without it. But it's rare, I think
if you're a sports fan to go to an event
and not have your phone with you, And to me,
it was like the most liberal I looked. I went
to bed Thursday night thinking most about it. I can't
wait to spend eight hours tomorrow without my phone. It

(01:46:44):
was the best part of the event. Like even said
of the guy that I went with my buddy, like
I'm like, this is this is awesome, Like I don't
have the impulse to like grab it and look or
like it. It was like the most freeing thing of
all time. I've talked to other folks who have gone,
and you know, they leave it in the car or whatever,
and like they get really weird about it. It's like

(01:47:04):
I didn't give it a second thought. Even heard someone
say there like I'm dreading going back to my car
to see all the mis calls and miss text Like
I'm not. I'm I might when I get to my
car not go in the console and pull out the phone.

Speaker 3 (01:47:19):
I might leave it in there. I wonder this.

Speaker 2 (01:47:22):
And I had this conversation a little bit with the
three sixty guys. If you said, if I said to you,
you can go to the super Bowl, but you can't
take your phone with you, you may say yes. You
and I both know there are people and maybe you're
one of them that would go, yeah, I'm good, I

(01:47:42):
need my phone with me. And by the way, like
if I'm going to go to an event like that
and I take a picture, does it really count?

Speaker 3 (01:47:49):
I would do it. But that, to me was the best.

Speaker 2 (01:47:52):
Whenever I watched this tournament and I've got it on
here in studio, I always I think about a lot
of things. I think about, like when you first walked
in and if you've ever done this, if you ever
had a chance to go. It's just there are a
few things that, like legitimately make.

Speaker 3 (01:48:05):
Me go, holy crap.

Speaker 2 (01:48:06):
That was one of them, and lots of cool things
about the experience. The best one for me was not
having a cell phone. Sign me up for that. Uh.
It is a quarter to six, five, one, three, seven, nine,
fifteen thirty. This is ESPN fifteen thirty CINCINNAI Sports.

Speaker 1 (01:48:20):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from.

Speaker 5 (01:48:26):
The UC Health Traffic Center. April is Donate Life Month.
Register to become an organ donor or explore living donation
at uchelp dot com. Slash transplant on Warsaw Avenue. It's
an accident between McPherson and Fairbanks Avenue. Police are there
on scene. Traffic also being directed around that accident area.

(01:48:48):
Eastbound seventy fours an accident on the ramp to ride
Bolt Road, and northbound seventy one seventy five accident at Donaldson.
I'm at Ezalek with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:49:00):
Rab. It's gonna come off the DL tomorrow, even though
it's not the DL anymore. Tyler Stevenson, you add a question,
I had an answer.

Speaker 3 (01:49:09):
Now get the get the the verbage right. It's not
the d L anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:49:14):
I think it's been the d EL since twenty seventeen.
Maybe we might celebrate the tenth anniversary of that liner
being cut in a couple of years. You could follow
me on Twitter at moeger thanks to Delta Dental. Delta
Dental is building healthy and smart and vibrant communities for
all good at Delta dentaloh dot com. It's the michelob
Ultra five o'clock Happy Hour on ESPN fifteen thirty. We

(01:49:37):
are inch and closer and closer to the NFL draft
and mentioned earlier good stuff this week Joe Goodberry also
Ryan Roberts. Joe Goodberry's all in on taking a guard
right and that's maybe a slight mischaracterization of what he
said on this show.

Speaker 3 (01:49:51):
Go listen to it.

Speaker 2 (01:49:53):
I want the Bengals to trade down in the absence
of that, I will not be upset if they take
a guard in round one. I understand the need to
fix this defense, and they haven't done enough in my opinion,
and they've they've really got a they've really got to
do well in the draft when it comes to the
defensive side of the ball. See, that's the sport where
you could say side of the ball. But if you
want to build an elite offensive line, that's really only

(01:50:17):
going to happen via the draft and you have you
don't need five elite offensive lineman, you need five good ones.
Better chance of getting a good one in round one.
So that's positionally, at least that's kind of where my
head is. We do our show from Long Necks and
Wilder every year on the Thursday of the NFL Draft,
and so we are going to be there that is

(01:50:38):
the twenty fourth, and James Rapine is always kind enough
to join me, even though he is uber uber busy
for those days. But James doesn't forget his roots. So
make plans now that is going to be a week
from this coming Thursday, thirteen days from today, April twenty,
fourth day one of the Draft. We will be at
Long Necks and Wilder and it's always a really good time,

(01:50:59):
so we hope to see you there for that. Mike Renner,
a long time with Pro Football Focus, is going to
join us on Monday afternoon at four thirty three. By
the way, I just heard. I just got a message
here from Pat Brennan. I put on Twitter last night
that I missed having Pat Brennan.

Speaker 3 (01:51:18):
On the show.

Speaker 2 (01:51:19):
Now Pat has you know, for years he was like
the FC Cincinnati guy, and he's expanded his coverage portfolio
that now he's doing a lot of Reds.

Speaker 3 (01:51:29):
Let's see what Pat says. Like Pat, Pat does good.
That's work on the Reds has been really, really good.
And that's no knock on anybody else.

Speaker 2 (01:51:38):
I know how that's going to be interpreted, Like most
said something nice about Pat, which means that Gordon Wittenmeyer's
no good, or see Trent Rose Grants is no good,
or Mark Shelton's no good, or Charlie Goldsmith is We
have some really.

Speaker 3 (01:51:49):
Good people covering the Reds.

Speaker 2 (01:51:50):
But Pat has added his pen to that beat and
has done a really nice job. So maybe, hell maybe
we'll have Pat on the show next week. I have
a no idea. Any think you might to miss go
find on the iHeartRadio app. We are done, Thank you
for listening. Thanks to A. Terran Blan for producing. We
return on Monday at three oh five. Have an awesome weekend.

(01:52:11):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati sports station.

Speaker 6 (01:52:39):
So your small business is outgrowing