Cincy 360 -- Tony Pike and Austin Elmore with Charlie Goldsmith

Tony and Austin talk with Charlie Goldsmith from Cincinnati.com about the Reds struggles, the plan, their morale, and more on ESPN 1530!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
In fifteen at iHeartRadio stations. Outof the plate, Hey off, Mitchin
and it's in the air right fieldtoward the corner going back is McCarthy shy
of the track. He's there andhe's got it. And that's all.
The Reds come back in the ninthfall short and the Reds ran the tying

(00:21):
run at third and leave the winningrun at second. Man, that's tough
today, tough call of the night, last and cold world tone, Man,
cold war. We're living in man, cold world. Baby, ain't
nothing sunny. That's how they sayit. It's j Cole there. Unbelievable.
Well, the Reds have a daygame today. We got a lineup.
It's a one ten start. We'llget to the lineup in just a

(00:43):
little bit. But since you andI are both not here tomorrow and the
Reds play a day game today,how could we not talk to Charlie Goldsmith
before the end of our week.He's joining us right now from Cincinnati dot
Com. Charlie, what's up?How are you? How you guys doing,
Charlie? You at the ballpark?You ready to go to that?
I'm at the ballpark and I justhad my my pregame meal. Oh,

(01:03):
what's a pregame meal consistent for you? Different every day? You know,
they got a cafeteria today was achicken fingers and turkey sandwiches. Oh and
that sounds like you had both.I did. They were smaller turkey sandwiches,
Yes, I probably three chicken fingersto I guess maybe like turkey sandwich
sliders. What you wash it downwith? Okay, Charlie, help help

(01:32):
those Listen, Let's start with thejust the feel around this team, because
you know it's it's a young team, it's a confident bunch going into the
season. Here they are in thisseven game skid. Have you noticed a
change in that confidence, in theway that they've carried themselves as they go
through these offensive struggles. There's beena lot of research done about this.

(01:53):
It's never been a harder time inbaseball to be a young hitter, at
least in a long time in recentmemory, than it is right now.
And I think what you're just seeingis a reflection how the roster has been
constructed. It's a bunch of guyswho are just going through it, and
I think there are different ways tolook at it. You could go guide
by guy, adjustment by adjustment.This guy needs to do this, that

(02:13):
guy needs to do that. Ido think as a whole, I haven't
seen a huge let down yet froma team. In tangible perspective, I
would say the most concerning part isa team that's so reliant on young guys
isn't in a spot where they canbe successful right now because so many guys
are kind of behind the eight ballwith different adjustments based on different things are
thrown at them. Is there asense that as a pitching staff you could

(02:36):
start to press a little bit whenthe offense is struggling. I mentioned at
the top of the show, they'vegot five starters with sub four eras.
You're going to sign up for thatwith what this offense was going into the
season on paper, and we'll talkabout the injuries and everything else going on
around that. Is there attention oris there a press that happens to a
pitching staff when the offense isn't performingthat you don't want to feel like you're

(03:00):
really good starts right now? I'veseen that happen. I would say,
I haven't seen that happen now,specifically, like these guys are doing well,
I would say, you know,Green, Lidolo, Ashcraft, Abbot
mon top five of the best overallplayers right now, they're doing their thing.
I don't think anyone's even way overtheir head too in terms of someone
you'd almost expect to regress back tothe mean. It's really become the strength

(03:23):
of the team, the strengths thatthey thought would lead them into being from
a certain contention spot, whining alot more games than they have, the
the pitchings where it needs to be, and then obviously the focus is where
it should be with the lineup thatcan't get anything going. Let's talk about
Christian and Carnassio and Strand for asecond, because there are a lot of
people that thought this was going tobe a breakout type season for Cees.

(03:47):
He's had a very slow start tothe season and then he gets hit by
a pitch against Texas. X rayswere negative, but they did reveal an
old fracture. In the risk hedoes not go to the injured list,
he comes back, he played,he's in a couple of games, and
now in the move made yesterday,they're saying he's going to miss six to
eight weeks. Where has been thedisconnector or how did this, uh,

(04:09):
how did this end up happening withCees? It is It is confusing,
It is complex from how I understandit. He gets hit in Texas.
The X ray reveals an old fracture. Because of the inflammation around the new
fracture, and because the old fracturewas so close to the new fracture,
the new fracture wasn't apparent, wasn'tvisible on that X ray. Eleven days

(04:32):
go by, he's struggling to gripthe bat, He's hitting terribly, and
then finally after Tuesday night's game,he goes to the coaching staff and he
goes, you know, he's normallya tough guy. He goes, I
can't, I can't do this,and you know, they get him checked
out again bone and behold, they'rethe new fracture there are on his wrists.
So what that's two fractures on hiswrist right now? And if season

(04:53):
we're already from a swing digit andperspective, he wasn't having mature disciplined at
that. He wasn't putting himself inposition to step into the incredible power.
He has definitely a very concerning toughstart to the season that will now,
you know, lead to him beingon the IL for four to six weeks.
Is the timeline. Not only that, there is a setback in Ian

(05:15):
Jabbo and his quest to get backto this club, and there's just a
lot of unknown surrounding Matt McClain.Is there is there a new update since
we've talked about Matt McClain and thelatest on Ian Jabou as well. So
I'll start with Jabo. Jabou hadsurgery an ai N release which is a

(05:35):
nerve release too, I guess easingor you know release. I guess the
pain and the discomfort that he hadbeen feeling coming from a nerve out of
his forearms since the start of thespring. So they're hopeful he'll be back
this season. But he's had thesame injury, the same issues flare up
a few times. Here's where I'mmattam Matt McCain. So like the information

(05:56):
that they are operating with is McClainwill return in August. That's that's the
plan that's pretty set in stone.Obviously, things strain, things change,
Shoulders are tricky. You know,we have to see how he feels when
he goes that with swings for thefirst time. When he faces velocity for
the first time when he dives,when he plays in games, they're obviously
a million boxes he has to check, and you know, one by one

(06:18):
he's making that progress. So willyou return it August again? That's the
plan right now. Nothing has delayedor to turn that plan yet. But
obviously there's a long way to go, a long way to go in this
season as well. It's one hundredand sixty two game season. But when
you're in a slide like this,the season can can can end pretty quick.

(06:43):
We've seen that with slow starts inthe past, where you say,
yeah, it's a one sixty twogame year, but you get to late
June early July and it feels likeyou've dug yourself such a big hole.
Do you feel that sense of urgencyfrom this team or this organization right now
or does there need to be anuptick in the urgency for the Reds.
Here's a one player told me.One player said, you know, talking

(07:04):
about how tough the schedule was,talking about how tough these upcoming road trips
are. They've been on the Westcoast a ton and they're going on the
West coast for ten games. Youknow, going forward, here right after
this game today. So these arereally tough situations. But one player told
me was stay at five hundred,kind of survived the gauntlet and then take
off after that. And of courseyou can have higher expectations than that.

(07:26):
Internally, Definitely, the expectations forthe Reds will high entering the year,
but that would follow an overall timelineof last season where the Reds basically late
May got to five hundred and thenthey took off. Obviously, some new
players spark that they're under the ideathat the schedule and the travel will really
set them up to be in amore advantageous spot, as well as more

(07:47):
division games which will help them climbthe standings. So from a mind to
perspective, I get the sense thatthey're at and when they look at it
that way, they're not too farbehind the e Bowl right now, and
they do have plenty of time toreach those goals. But you know,
definitely for a team that was,you know, talking about the playoffs all
off season, this isn't where youwant to be on Mad Charlie, did
the expectations of the organization going intothis season matched the expectations of the fan

(08:13):
base? I would say, Ilike the players were talking about the playoffs
consistently and they still are. That'swhere they're at. I guess. Let
me let me rephrase it to you. I would say the expectations for the
Reds were to win the division aweek around El Central. They understood that
they're not quite yet on the BraveDodgers level, et cetera. But they

(08:35):
wanted this year to be a growthyear and a step year to get there
while getting that playoff experience and thenhoping that the upside on the roster would
you know, run into some reallystrong games when you make it onto that
stage. I guess the expectation fromthe fan base was about the same.
Obviously, all of that changes whenyou lose McLain freedom miss time, but

(08:56):
right now they are just as healthyas the as the division, So from
an ex vacation's perspective, certainly theyhaven't met that so far this season.
Charlie, you mentioned last year thatthis team and the offense was sparked by
calling up players. That was theconversation last year. When are they gonna
call Ellie up? When are theygoing to bring some of these other young

(09:18):
talented players up? If that's notthe case this year because they're already on
the roster. Talked about this alittle bit on the show yesterday. Could
they try to reach out to ateam in Major League Baseball? We've seen
the Miami Marlins have already been incell mode, a player like Jazz Chisholm.
Could that be the avenue that theBengals could look to take to to

(09:39):
try to find a player that wouldbe under team control, young talented player
on a team right now elsewhere that'sunderperforming or kind of already packing it in.
Could that be a jump start orcould that be a move that the
Reds could look to make. Sohere's no one's told me this about Luisa
Ryes, but reading the tie,he is an understanding kind of the market.

(10:01):
The reason I think Luisa Riise wastraded right now was because there's some
concern that he might not be thatgood, which is crazy to say for
someone who's the best pure basketball hitterin baseball. But Luisa Riis doesn't hit
for power, he's a poor defender, he brings not much at all as
the base runner. So this isa guy who has to be hitting three
twenty to be an above average starterif he has a bad month that tanks

(10:26):
his trade value. I get thesense Miami was very motivated to move him
now because they're still not sure wherehe is as a player. A doll
like Jazz Chislm. He's going tobe Jazz Chisholm in two months from now.
And you know any sport, youknow, football, Baseball, any
of these extension for agent markets,deadlines, sper action, and teams,
like the Reds did with Luis Castillo, wait for that deadline to wait for

(10:48):
teams to get the most aggressive.So in Marlins have no incentive to trade
jash Chisel. Now, no onehas any incentive to trade anyone now.
I do look at the Arise dealas a one off. It's about the
Reds regulars just got to hit likeagain. Ultimately, what the rest of
the season is about to me isare these the guys? And I'm still
very confident you know that Will Benson'sand every day big leaguer Steers and every

(11:11):
day big leaguer Cees will be anevery day big leaguer at least the platoon
guy. Like all of these guys, who are they and what are their
roles on a playoff team? Thoseare all more not questions, but they're
linked. They're leaning a bit moretowards that than they were maybe at the
start of the season. Any improvement'sgoing to be have to be from within,
and you're gonna have to really learnand decide who these guys are you

(11:33):
if you still believe that what youjust said, how do you explain the
struggle? They're figuring it out andthey got a lot. The Reds are
still very very young, and that'snot something that the Reds have been very
very young for a long time andhaven't been in a contention window in a
while, and that is the flawin the plan. I guess you could

(11:56):
say the fact that the Reds areso reliant on such young talents does lead
to stretches like this, Like thatis baseball when you have guys at these
stages of their career. But theReds do have a bunch of raw talents
and probably like oh look at itthis way, the like trade value talent
and a lot of you know,other teams like the Brews, even though
they're great, I think would loveto have a young core like the red

(12:18):
doat right now. The problem is, like you need more time for them
to develop, and also you probablyneed more time to figure out again who
your lynch pins are going to beand who your lynch pins are going to
be. They're going through that processnow. You know, we'll see which
players stick again, Like I dothink most of these guys are solid big

(12:39):
league players. And then Ellie Lodolo, they have some star power in there,
so like there's a good team.There's a good team in there with
the Reds, but clearly not asquickly as expectations were heading into the seasons.
Right now, at this point,they're waiting for people to take these
big leagues. Lastly, Charlie,you get to see this from a Red
standpoint all the time. I'm guiltyof overreacting on a weekly basis to what

(13:01):
players are doing, and you losesided such a long season. When you
watch Will Benson, or let's sayyou're watching a Spencer Steer who's in his
last thirty days is hit in oneseventy six, he has struggled since a
very good start to March in April. What are things you see when you
watch these guys up close that say, okay, that's not indicative of who
they are or how close they areto getting back to who they need to

(13:24):
be. Like the real answer thereis the intangible stuff that you know David
Bell often talks about in his postgamepress conference, is like, I see
these guys work, and they areworking and addressing the issues. Clearly,
again, they're not there yet.And an important point to it is I
don't think the right of an overalllike there's not like a big team development
problem right now. It's not likeeveryone's struggling with the same thing. Benson's

(13:46):
striking out too much. I thinkhis strike zone judgment is fine, but
he's not having a consistent enough passwith his swing. There's probably something small
mechanical there that can help him Here, you know, David Belt said this,
I agree with it. I thinkHere's probably try to do too much.
Maybe she's trying to tap in toomuch of his power instead of the
overall consistent, well rounded approach thathe has. You know, Ces when

(14:07):
he was healthy was chasing too much. Jonathan India probably needs to be a
bit more aggressive and more you know, hunting his pitch, taking more chances
and situations like that. Everyone hastheir thing, everyone's in the lab kind
of at the same time, whichfrom a big picture perspective, is kind
of what you expect for a teamwith so many first and second year players,

(14:28):
Like the Diamondbacks. They were,you know, such a young team
in the World Series last year.The Diamondbacks are like twice as old last
year as the Red dar now interms of when you look at where they
were getting their contributions from. Solike, even among young teams, they're
just still young. It's taking time. That's life when you're in the business
of development at the big league level. And I think when that's the case,

(14:48):
like, I'm not writing the Redsoff at all, but you will
have stretches like this. This isas much of a part of the plan
as anything, which again maybe it'sa flaw on the plan, but the
the Reds are still believing and bangingon the talent they have, Charlie.
But before I let you go,we'll get to react on this next week.
Leading in next Wednesday night, theschedule release across the National Football League

(15:11):
very simply put, how many primetimegames, in your opinion, do the
Bengals get on the schedule. Itfeels like people are sleeping on the Bengals.
Again, like every conversation I've hadabout the Bengals recently after remind people
of the San Francisco and the Buffalogame. I think we'll be talking a
lot about those over the summer asreminders of you know, they had all

(15:31):
of these problems last year that theyspent the off season correcting the explosive plays,
the youth at safety, inconsistency withthe pass rush on you know,
irb Smith, and the depth theydidn't have on offense. They've made upgrades
to raise the floor, and thenthey've still shown they have the ceiling.
So I bet the Bengals only getlike four or five, Okay, but
I personally still see the Bengals asa team that's in that top tier.

(15:54):
Love it, Charlie, you arethe best. Thank you so much.
I know it's a busy day coveringthe Reds at Great American Ballpark. First
pitch one ten, Have a havea great day. We'll talk again next
week, Charlie, Charlie. Allright, there he is Charlie Goldsmith Cincinnati
dot Com. How about that,Austin, take your three primetime games and
let Charlie raise you four or five, maybe six. We'll do a schedule

(16:18):
release more than six and you cando six though schedule release mock when we
come is like the Germany game consideredprimetime. No okay, all right,
is like a Black Friday game consideredprimetime, no okay. Interesting. We'll
get to a mock schedule release atthe start of our number two. We'll

(16:41):
get some of these phone calls.But before that, we got to play
some of that David Bell audio fromlast night. And I want to pair
that, Austin with a tweet thatI saw you send last night. We'll
do that when we get back.Yes, Cincinnati Sports Station a service of
Skyline Chili when I'm not in