August 2, 2024 • 20 mins
Tony talks with former Reds pitcher Rob Dibble about the team, the state of MLB, and more on ESPN 1530!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Since Cincy Shirts Cincy three sixty About Cincinnati from Cincinnati,
sponsored in part by Cinci Shirts. Cincy Shirts, All Cincy,
all Day. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Welcome back Cincy three sixty point into hour number two
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Nation, the service of
our good friends at Cincy Shirts. Let's take a break
from the Bengal side of things, Austin. Let's talk some baseball,
and let's do so with one of the nasty boys.
Let's do so with the nineteen ninety NLCS MVP, a
(00:38):
World Series champion and all around great guy. Had the
chance to talk to him a couple of weeks ago
in Cincinnati. He's joining us right now, Rob Dibble, Rob,
what's going on?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Man?
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Not much? How you guys doing.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
I'm great.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Look, before we even dive into anything from a baseball standpoint,
what are you doing now?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Where are you living? What are you doing now?
Speaker 4 (00:56):
For those listening, Well, I've been in my own radio show.
Speaker 5 (01:01):
Actually been in radio TV for almost the last thirty years.
But I moved back to Connecticut from LA about ten
years ago. I've been doing my own show up here.
It's now it's an iHeart affiliate up here in Connecticut,
and so we cover the Yankees, the Yukon Huskies, the Giants,
and so, you know, basically stay in touch with all
(01:22):
the sports and stuff like that, and then coach in baseball.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
So that's pretty much what I've been doing, and raising.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
My thirteen year old daughter who's now getting to the
age where there's a lot of boys that are.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Attacking her, trying trying to date her and stuff like that.
So it's like a constant fight all the time at
my age.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
It's incredible. One of the things I wanted to get
to you. You mentioned you cover the Yankees. Obviously that's
a national brand. Here in Cincinnati, it's a little bit different,
and a lot of that has come because the recent
failures of this team and this organization, not winning, not
advancing in the playoffs, the rebuilds. But when you have
a team like is constructed and Sincinnati right now, I
(02:00):
know they're underachieving a little bit this year, but do
you sense from your standpoint that the Reds as an
organization are starting to get more of that national recognition. Obviously,
a guy like Ellie de la Cruz helps, but outside
of Cincinnati.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
What is the view on the Reds.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Oh, no, they're huge. They're huge.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
Listen, Honestly, the Bengals bring attention to Cincinnati now, and
then then you start thinking.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
About what are the other teams.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
The college is obviously, you know, University of Cincinnati, Xavier,
being in the Big East, things like that keep them
relevant in New England in this area. But you know, listen,
the Reds are always going to be relevant. It's it's
no matter where I go. You know, I was just
in a tournament I got where was I was in Maine.
One of the umpires was a huge, big Red machine,
(02:48):
big Reds fan. Start talking Red start talking about what's
going on now? I mean, listen to the Reds have
had a lot of talented guys. But you you have
to make moves at the trade deadline. You have to
make moves in free agency to try and get better.
And you see some of these teams that don't spend
a lot of money, like like the Cleveland Guardians, the
Tampa Bay Rays, who are in the toughest division the
(03:08):
American League East, they don't spend a ton of money.
Seattle Mariners, I mean they built from within, the Royals
I just had Bobby Witt Senior on my radio show
yesterday talking about Bobby wit Junior. You know, that kid
was a homegrown talent that you got in the draft.
I mean, you have to look at building these teams
from the minor league system. That's how we became champions.
(03:31):
Almost everybody that was in the Reds organization back then.
I'd spent eleven years in the organization, seven in the
big leagues and four and a half in the minor leagues.
And you know, coming up with Paul O'Neal, coming up
with Chris Sabo, coming out with Barry Lark, and Eric
Davis was already in the big leagues doing amazing stuff.
Joe Oliver was my catcher for twelve years. We played
together even after we both left the Reds. So you
(03:54):
have to kind of build a nucleus, then you add
better parts, and that's exactly what we did. We got
Hostjo in a trade from the Oakland A's Tim Burchis
and our bullpen in that age deal. Danny Jackson came
over from the Kansas City Royals. You know a lot
of those guys. We got Billy Dorrin from the Astros,
and even though he was injured down the stretch. He
(04:14):
was still great during the ninety season, So a lot
of the moves. Mariano Duncan another guy, how Morris, came
from the Yankees. So some of the guys that were
on that World championship team, they were either known to
us through other minor league systems or they were guys
that we came up in the minor leagues from. So
you have to kind of build as you go, and
you have to have a foundation.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
And Elie Dela Cruz is a guy you build around.
Speaker 5 (04:38):
I know that they they I talked to Eric Davis
a lot and Barry Larkin, and we have great facilities
in the Dominican Republic in Venezuela, Mexico. So the talents
out there, you just have to scout it projected to
the big leagues and hopefully it all kind of hits
at the same time.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
One of the things you just discussed there is very
prevalent right now in Cincinnati in a huge talking point
is the trade deadline, and you know, you kind of
get stuck in this no man's land with the Reds.
Are are they bad enough to sell? Are they good
enough to buy? And it feels like they're just stuck
in the middle. They're not quite out of the wild
card race. They're gonna get healthier. But the last couple
(05:16):
of years, the trade deadline has come and there's been rumblings,
there's been rumors, but the trade deadline pretty much goes
in the red stay pretty much as is, or they
they buy really low on a player like Austin Slater
what they just got in Joey Weimer and hope that
they can become something. From a clubhouse standpoint, what does
that do when you hear a message of we want
(05:38):
to win right now, but the trade deadline comes and
you don't really feel like the front office went out
of their way to make the team better. Does that
create a little conflict from clubhouse to front office?
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Absolutely absolutely. And if you see some of these guys
that have left.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
In the last few years, and I'll take like a
Nick Casianos, you know that guy was a great leader,
great clubhouse guy. Has been amazing in Philadelphia. He's loved
by the fans there like he was loved in Cincinnati.
When you Frankie montas that guy, he was basically crying
at his press conference when he was leaving town. You've
got Hunter Green, you got Lodolo, You've got you've got
(06:13):
the nucleus like I talked about, But you got to
keep some other guys around, and not just because they're
good on the field, because they're good in the locker room.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Yea, you know.
Speaker 5 (06:21):
I mean, if you look at Bengals locker room, it's
the veterans as much as the the you know, guys
that just got drafted that that builds your franchise because
those guys are our team leaders. They're they're like player coaches.
I was very blessed when I came up. I had
Kn't Griffy Senior on my team, uh, Dave Collins, Joel
Youngblood obviously, Dave Parker and guys like that, Buddy Bell
(06:43):
in spring training when.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
I was a younger player.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
You know, those are the guys that that helped shape
my career. So it's not just about talent. You have
to you have to have team leaders, guys that you
can count on. And over the years, the Reds have
allowed those guys to get away, you know, Eugenio Sworez,
guys like that. Over the years, you know, allowing great
players not just because they're putting up big numbers to
get away is gonna really hurt your franchise because in
(07:08):
the locker room, a trade deadline, you want to make improvements.
Look at look at the Yankees. Do I cover the
Red Sox and the Mets. I think Jazz Chisholm was
one of the best players you could draft four Immediately
he comes in and he goes, I'll play anywhere, do
anything to help this team win. Well, that's not how
you acted with the Marlins. Well, the Marlins was a
totally different situation, no fan base, no direction. They didn't
(07:32):
do anything in the offseasons try to get better, and
all they do is keep selling off their parts. So
if you compare the Marlins to the Reds, that kills
you in the locker room. I don't care how talented
you are or how good your coaching staff is, and
the Reds have a great coaching staff, an amazing coaching staff.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Everything is there.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
I was just in the locker room. You have everything
in place to be a champion. You just you have
to stay with some of these players. And yes, you're
gonna have to.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Pay for him. You know, you can't compete because once you.
Speaker 5 (07:57):
Get to the postseason, you're gonna face the Dodge, You're
gonna face the the the Brewers, You're gonna face these
teams that have uh made.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
In roads in free agency.
Speaker 5 (08:07):
So when you when you look at who you're gonna
face and possibly in the worst World Series. You know,
look at the Phillies, how much they've spent. So the Phillies, no,
we're not building for the regular season. We're building for
the postseason as well. Yankees just did that with Jazz
Chisholm brought in a guy. This guy is an electric guy.
They had no team speed. They went out, they they
you know, if you look at the Red Sox, they
(08:28):
did a great job. They went out and got Paxton,
but they got Danny Janssen. Danny Jansen's a heck of
a catcher. And you look at the Yankees they have
no catching. So there's there's pieces that you have to
look at. And I always build up, you know, when
I'm looking at a baseball team, you have a great
you have to have a great catcher, great shortstop, great
second base, great center field.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
You have to have that middle diamond in your defense.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
And if you don't, if you don't have those superstars,
it's gonna be hard to win, especially in the regular season,
but you're not gonna win in the postseason, uh, playing
against some of these great teams.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I thought that the Chisholm move made so much sense
as well because it's team control after this year, so
it's not just a rental. And there was talks in Cincinnati. Man,
when the Marlins they move on from a rise early
in the season, you don't have to wait till the
trade deadline. You could go get a guy with more
team control as soon as you knew the Marlins were
going to sell.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
The Yankees did that.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
The Chicago Cubs, who are not in a position to
win this year, they go get an All star from
the Tampa Bay Rays this year because he can help
them next year. So you know, you guys, your years
of dominance in winning the World Series. From an ownership standpoint,
I'm sure you guys knew that the ownership group was
going to do everything they could to field the best
product on the field and not worry about financially.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
This is what it does.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
So from a player standpoint, we talk about culture, We
talk about locker room all the time. Could you imagine
in today's Cincinnati Reds organization that maybe there is a
conflict because you're hearing and living one thing, but you're
seeing what's taking place in a completely different way.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
Yeah, and listen, it's a philosophy I'll give you you know, listen.
A lot of people were down on March shot. But
when we had a chance to get Dion Sanders and
one of her best friends with George Steinbrenner, and George
was high on Diana at the time and rightfully so.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Great teammate, one of the best I've ever played with.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
She came to about seven or eight of us as
the team leaders at the time, she said, what do
you think about Dion joining the team? You know, would
he fit in here? And that's exactly the right words
to say, would he shell with this team? Would he
be a great asset? And we were like absolutely, And
the next day we had Dean Sanders on the team.
So when you have an opportunity to improve by bringing
(10:41):
in good leaders, good clubhouse guys, coachable guys, that's why
you go out and get a Louis rise Arise. I
show my fifteen and sixteen year old hitters hit his
work ethic. That's how much I believe in that guy.
So any team that had an opportunity to get that guy.
It's not just winning a batting crown. That guy day
to day work ethic. I I know the people that
(11:02):
make the bats for show Aotani. That guy's work ethic
is worth every guy on your team watching. I used
to watch Ozzie Smith prepare for a game and I
had a Hall of Fame shortstop of Barry Larkin, great friend,
loved him, But I used to go, man, what makes
that guy tick?
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Why is that guy so good?
Speaker 5 (11:19):
So you know you can always improve by watching these
other guys and getting the right guys in your organization.
And it's not it's not just about the talent level.
It's about day to day. It's about can can you
go to these guys. I'll give you an example. Eric
Davis would come to my locker all the time. We'd
have we'd have really deep discussions on improvement and and
(11:41):
getting better and stuff like that because I had all
kinds of anger management issues when I played, because I
was so down on myself all the time. And you
so you've got to have guys on your team that
recognize that, that are constantly trying to pick you up,
build up your confidence and get you to understand where
your place is on the team.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Let me take that one step further. The Reds ultra
uber talented with a lot of young talent. Matt McCain
who hasn't got to play much this year, but Christian
N carnassion strand, Ellie de la Cruz, Jonathan India. You
go up and down the list. They have young talent
in place. The culture. I talk about this in football
a lot, you know. I knew Mark Edwards when he
was playing with the New England Patriots and he said
(12:23):
the culture in New England at the time completely different
than the culture when he went to Jacksonville. So I
look at the clubhouse, I look at the locker room.
When you have a young team that is making some
of the bone headed mistakes, The Reds seemingly make more
mistakes on the base pass.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
They run into outs.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Ellie de la Cruz with two outs the other night
gets thrown out trying to steal third.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
He takes about out of a TJ.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Friedle's hand with a chance to get an RBI when
Ellie's gonna score from second on a hit. Anyway, they
make a lot of errors, just some boneheaded mistakes. That
this team makes from a culture and a locker room standpoint,
how would or how does that need to be handled
with a lot of young players that still need to
be molded in Major League Baseball.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
That's a great point that like, that's why I brought
up Nick Castanos. Guys like that would would meet me
or anybody else at the top step of the dugout
and be like, Okay, let's talk about that.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Let's not do that again. And it's business again.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
You know, when you're you're putting whatever sport you're playing
at the highest level, it's business. It's not personal. You
can't take criticism personally when it comes to your job.
So you know that if a coach isn't doing that,
a player has to do that. And you've got to
police each other. And we we listen. We were a
family as well. The best part about my time with
(13:40):
the Reds and the seven years I was there, these
guys were part of my family on and off the field.
We spent all of our time together. You know when
when guys were working on defense at two o'clock in
the afternoon when nobody can see you see you do that,
or taking extra batting practice, the whole pitching staff showed
up to shag right. You know, we because we understood
(14:00):
you were trying to get better. We're here to help
you and support you. So you have to have that
one through twenty six. It's got to be a support
system that whether or not it's at two.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
O'clock or if it's eleven.
Speaker 5 (14:12):
O'clock at night, going to a restaurant or hanging out
in the lobby, that that has to be a kind
of a thing, that's an unspoken bond, you know, and
and listen, the one of the reason I love Eli
Dela Chris guy made himself better just by learning English. Yes,
I want to be able to talk to the fans.
I want them to be under able to understand me.
You know what, how huge that would have been.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
Our locker room.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
Barry Larkin was that guy. He was bilingual. He learned
how to speak Spanish when he was at college at Michigan.
You know that that just it to me. It shows
the respect you have for your your fellow teammates. So
whether it's not if you're making it's not just a mistake,
it's how everybody makes the adjustments after that and you
try to get better and if you have to discuss
(14:53):
it after the game, you discuss it after the game.
So it's not a personal thing. It's a business because
you're all trying to get better.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
And win a championsh Lastly on that, how do you
handle you mentioned you you're fiery guy when you played
a lot of emotion when you're when you're a pitcher.
Hunter Green has been fantastic, especially in the month of July.
Not a lot of results to show for it, not
a lot of run support. The defense behind him has
been shaky at times. Sometimes the bullpen, sometimes they hit
(15:20):
the ball in the pitching doesn't pull the weight. How
do you how do you navigate a locker room in
that sense of Yes, I'm a fire I'm an emotional guy,
but at the same time you are frustrated, but you
can't take it out on your teamates because you're gona
need him next time you take.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
The ball in the rubber.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Absolutely it's on. It's like defense, they make an air
behind you nine out of ten times they make that play.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
You know, Jose Rijo seemed to always be our guy
we never scored runs for and yeah, he would get.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
Frustrated, but he knew it wasn't because we didn't like
him or something. Honestly, the better the pitcher is the
better of the players. Sometimes. I remember Randy Johnson went
through this with Hunter. It's gonna happen.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
There's gonna be times when they're gonna score him eight
runs and sometimes you know it might be two and
he's got a pit two to one game. That's gonna happen.
But his greatness doesn't always depend on the team. You know,
he's got to keep grinding. He's a great kid. I
love him. But you know, guys try to try to
do too much, Like you talked about Ellie, when you're
struggling as a team and you go through like a
(16:17):
low point, guys try to do too much. They try
to hit a three run home run with nobody on base. Uh,
they try to make it a great catch when you
know just playing that into a single would have been enough.
So you know, he knows these guys are given their
best effort when he's on the hill, and so to
all these other guys. And and listen, Tom Brownie was
always a guy we used to blow saves in his games.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
I can't I can't explain it.
Speaker 5 (16:38):
You know, we love Tommy, we want we wanted to
save it just as much for him as everybody else
on the team. But it's just there's certain certain circumstances
that just seem to be beyond your control.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Uh and and you have.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
Those kind of periods so that that'll straighten itself out.
You know, everybody goes through it. But but as far
as the rest listen, they're just as good as anybody
else in that division.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
And they know it.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
And it's sometimes it's tightening up a piece here or
piece there, and they're they're really close. When you're around
five hundred, you know, if you can play five hundred
on the road, you know you're you're gonna get to
the postseason. And now with the expanded format. You know,
the Red Sox who played horribly the first two months
of the season right now, like just a couple of
games out of the third wildcard spot in the American League,
(17:21):
they just got passed by the Royals. So you know, anybody,
you know, with all the injuries and looking over the
ross right now, they've got a ton of injuries, especially
to the pitching staff. If you can weather those storms,
you can win at the major league level.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Let me finish with this and and certainly appreciative of
your time. When when you guys played the Nasty Boys,
how did you guys approach that from a mental standpoint?
Did you have the enforcer? Did you have Okay, we're
gonna be the enforcers. You're gonna keep your head, You're
gonna keep things cool. And I would imagine you weren't
that that cool headed one. And we talked about it
the last time we spoke when uh, when Doug Descenzo
(17:55):
decided to bun on you. Uh, And you know, I
don't mind throwing at I think the accuracy of the
throw was in question. I think that could have been
a little better. But but how did you guys manage
as as that three headed monster of the Nasty Boys? Okay,
did you have the enforcer? Did you have the hot head?
And and and what did you what went into that?
Speaker 4 (18:16):
Well? First of all, Norm was the craziest you always everybody,
so me I was.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
I was more emotional during the game. Norm he was.
He was more philosophical and was always thinking, So that
was probably scarier that he was thinking of a way
to get you without you noticing. And and Randy was
always the finisher. He was always the closer to close
out games. But it was an unselfishness. Nobody cared. You know,
we were there to get wins. You know, our job
(18:41):
was to try to win win a championship. Uh, no
matter what the cost. There there's a lot of times
when one guy didn't feel right one day and to
be like, hey, listen, you got two innings in you
because I only got one inning in me. And you'd
have those conversations with uh, you know, lou Panella and
the coaching staff. They they knew who was healthy, who wasn't,
all those kind of things. So it though, there was
(19:02):
such an unspoken bond that started in spring training that
year we were locked out nineteen ninety and every guy
showed up for workouts every day. Nobody saw that. Nobody
will ever know that, but but everybody that was at
those workouts knew that we were getting ready for the season,
whether or not the team was allowing us to get
ready or not. So whether it was the three of us,
(19:23):
whether it was twenty five of us and the coaching staff,
everybody was on the same page as far as what
we're what we're being paid to do is go out
there and win championships.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
You obviously knew that Descenzo was out of the base path.
That's why you were trying to throw the ball at.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Them, right.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
It's a high.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
Absolutely that was That was baseball four hundred level. Man.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
I am so appreciative for you taking some time with
us today, Rob. What is the easiest way for listeners
to uh, to really follow along with everything you got
going on?
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Really the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
You can you can look up you know, sports talk
radio and Connecticut and you know, playing ninety seventy nine
Fox Sports Radio or thirteen hundred on AM Fox Sports Radio.
But it's really the iHeart app is national and it's free,
so you just got to download.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
That awesome stuff.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Man.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
I look forward to doing this again soon. Thank you
so much for.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Your time anytime. Man.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
That is Rob Dibble. We are since three sixty on
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. We'll be back right
after this a service of SINTI shirts.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
Hey, Alexa
Since Cincy Shirts Cincy three sixty About Cincinnati from Cincinnati,
sponsored in part by Cinci Shirts. Cincy Shirts, All Cincy,
all Day. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Welcome back Cincy three sixty point into hour number two
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Nation, the service of
our good friends at Cincy Shirts. Let's take a break
from the Bengal side of things, Austin. Let's talk some baseball,
and let's do so with one of the nasty boys.
Let's do so with the nineteen ninety NLCS MVP, a
(00:38):
World Series champion and all around great guy. Had the
chance to talk to him a couple of weeks ago
in Cincinnati. He's joining us right now, Rob Dibble, Rob,
what's going on?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Man?
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Not much? How you guys doing.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
I'm great.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Look, before we even dive into anything from a baseball standpoint,
what are you doing now?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Where are you living? What are you doing now?
Speaker 4 (00:56):
For those listening, Well, I've been in my own radio show.
Speaker 5 (01:01):
Actually been in radio TV for almost the last thirty years.
But I moved back to Connecticut from LA about ten
years ago. I've been doing my own show up here.
It's now it's an iHeart affiliate up here in Connecticut,
and so we cover the Yankees, the Yukon Huskies, the Giants,
and so, you know, basically stay in touch with all
(01:22):
the sports and stuff like that, and then coach in baseball.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
So that's pretty much what I've been doing, and raising.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
My thirteen year old daughter who's now getting to the
age where there's a lot of boys that are.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Attacking her, trying trying to date her and stuff like that.
So it's like a constant fight all the time at
my age.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
It's incredible. One of the things I wanted to get
to you. You mentioned you cover the Yankees. Obviously that's
a national brand. Here in Cincinnati, it's a little bit different,
and a lot of that has come because the recent
failures of this team and this organization, not winning, not
advancing in the playoffs, the rebuilds. But when you have
a team like is constructed and Sincinnati right now, I
(02:00):
know they're underachieving a little bit this year, but do
you sense from your standpoint that the Reds as an
organization are starting to get more of that national recognition. Obviously,
a guy like Ellie de la Cruz helps, but outside
of Cincinnati.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
What is the view on the Reds.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Oh, no, they're huge. They're huge.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
Listen, Honestly, the Bengals bring attention to Cincinnati now, and
then then you start thinking.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
About what are the other teams.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
The college is obviously, you know, University of Cincinnati, Xavier,
being in the Big East, things like that keep them
relevant in New England in this area. But you know, listen,
the Reds are always going to be relevant. It's it's
no matter where I go. You know, I was just
in a tournament I got where was I was in Maine.
One of the umpires was a huge, big Red machine,
(02:48):
big Reds fan. Start talking Red start talking about what's
going on now? I mean, listen to the Reds have
had a lot of talented guys. But you you have
to make moves at the trade deadline. You have to
make moves in free agency to try and get better.
And you see some of these teams that don't spend
a lot of money, like like the Cleveland Guardians, the
Tampa Bay Rays, who are in the toughest division the
(03:08):
American League East, they don't spend a ton of money.
Seattle Mariners, I mean they built from within, the Royals
I just had Bobby Witt Senior on my radio show
yesterday talking about Bobby wit Junior. You know, that kid
was a homegrown talent that you got in the draft.
I mean, you have to look at building these teams
from the minor league system. That's how we became champions.
(03:31):
Almost everybody that was in the Reds organization back then.
I'd spent eleven years in the organization, seven in the
big leagues and four and a half in the minor leagues.
And you know, coming up with Paul O'Neal, coming up
with Chris Sabo, coming out with Barry Lark, and Eric
Davis was already in the big leagues doing amazing stuff.
Joe Oliver was my catcher for twelve years. We played
together even after we both left the Reds. So you
(03:54):
have to kind of build a nucleus, then you add
better parts, and that's exactly what we did. We got
Hostjo in a trade from the Oakland A's Tim Burchis
and our bullpen in that age deal. Danny Jackson came
over from the Kansas City Royals. You know a lot
of those guys. We got Billy Dorrin from the Astros,
and even though he was injured down the stretch. He
(04:14):
was still great during the ninety season, So a lot
of the moves. Mariano Duncan another guy, how Morris, came
from the Yankees. So some of the guys that were
on that World championship team, they were either known to
us through other minor league systems or they were guys
that we came up in the minor leagues from. So
you have to kind of build as you go, and
you have to have a foundation.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
And Elie Dela Cruz is a guy you build around.
Speaker 5 (04:38):
I know that they they I talked to Eric Davis
a lot and Barry Larkin, and we have great facilities
in the Dominican Republic in Venezuela, Mexico. So the talents
out there, you just have to scout it projected to
the big leagues and hopefully it all kind of hits
at the same time.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
One of the things you just discussed there is very
prevalent right now in Cincinnati in a huge talking point
is the trade deadline, and you know, you kind of
get stuck in this no man's land with the Reds.
Are are they bad enough to sell? Are they good
enough to buy? And it feels like they're just stuck
in the middle. They're not quite out of the wild
card race. They're gonna get healthier. But the last couple
(05:16):
of years, the trade deadline has come and there's been rumblings,
there's been rumors, but the trade deadline pretty much goes
in the red stay pretty much as is, or they
they buy really low on a player like Austin Slater
what they just got in Joey Weimer and hope that
they can become something. From a clubhouse standpoint, what does
that do when you hear a message of we want
(05:38):
to win right now, but the trade deadline comes and
you don't really feel like the front office went out
of their way to make the team better. Does that
create a little conflict from clubhouse to front office?
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Absolutely absolutely. And if you see some of these guys
that have left.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
In the last few years, and I'll take like a
Nick Casianos, you know that guy was a great leader,
great clubhouse guy. Has been amazing in Philadelphia. He's loved
by the fans there like he was loved in Cincinnati.
When you Frankie montas that guy, he was basically crying
at his press conference when he was leaving town. You've
got Hunter Green, you got Lodolo, You've got you've got
(06:13):
the nucleus like I talked about, But you got to
keep some other guys around, and not just because they're
good on the field, because they're good in the locker room.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Yea, you know.
Speaker 5 (06:21):
I mean, if you look at Bengals locker room, it's
the veterans as much as the the you know, guys
that just got drafted that that builds your franchise because
those guys are our team leaders. They're they're like player coaches.
I was very blessed when I came up. I had
Kn't Griffy Senior on my team, uh, Dave Collins, Joel
Youngblood obviously, Dave Parker and guys like that, Buddy Bell
(06:43):
in spring training when.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
I was a younger player.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
You know, those are the guys that that helped shape
my career. So it's not just about talent. You have
to you have to have team leaders, guys that you
can count on. And over the years, the Reds have
allowed those guys to get away, you know, Eugenio Sworez,
guys like that. Over the years, you know, allowing great
players not just because they're putting up big numbers to
get away is gonna really hurt your franchise because in
(07:08):
the locker room, a trade deadline, you want to make improvements.
Look at look at the Yankees. Do I cover the
Red Sox and the Mets. I think Jazz Chisholm was
one of the best players you could draft four Immediately
he comes in and he goes, I'll play anywhere, do
anything to help this team win. Well, that's not how
you acted with the Marlins. Well, the Marlins was a
totally different situation, no fan base, no direction. They didn't
(07:32):
do anything in the offseasons try to get better, and
all they do is keep selling off their parts. So
if you compare the Marlins to the Reds, that kills
you in the locker room. I don't care how talented
you are or how good your coaching staff is, and
the Reds have a great coaching staff, an amazing coaching staff.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Everything is there.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
I was just in the locker room. You have everything
in place to be a champion. You just you have
to stay with some of these players. And yes, you're
gonna have to.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Pay for him. You know, you can't compete because once you.
Speaker 5 (07:57):
Get to the postseason, you're gonna face the Dodge, You're
gonna face the the the Brewers, You're gonna face these
teams that have uh made.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
In roads in free agency.
Speaker 5 (08:07):
So when you when you look at who you're gonna
face and possibly in the worst World Series. You know,
look at the Phillies, how much they've spent. So the Phillies, no,
we're not building for the regular season. We're building for
the postseason as well. Yankees just did that with Jazz
Chisholm brought in a guy. This guy is an electric guy.
They had no team speed. They went out, they they
you know, if you look at the Red Sox, they
(08:28):
did a great job. They went out and got Paxton,
but they got Danny Janssen. Danny Jansen's a heck of
a catcher. And you look at the Yankees they have
no catching. So there's there's pieces that you have to
look at. And I always build up, you know, when
I'm looking at a baseball team, you have a great
you have to have a great catcher, great shortstop, great
second base, great center field.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
You have to have that middle diamond in your defense.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
And if you don't, if you don't have those superstars,
it's gonna be hard to win, especially in the regular season,
but you're not gonna win in the postseason, uh, playing
against some of these great teams.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I thought that the Chisholm move made so much sense
as well because it's team control after this year, so
it's not just a rental. And there was talks in Cincinnati. Man,
when the Marlins they move on from a rise early
in the season, you don't have to wait till the
trade deadline. You could go get a guy with more
team control as soon as you knew the Marlins were
going to sell.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
The Yankees did that.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
The Chicago Cubs, who are not in a position to
win this year, they go get an All star from
the Tampa Bay Rays this year because he can help
them next year. So you know, you guys, your years
of dominance in winning the World Series. From an ownership standpoint,
I'm sure you guys knew that the ownership group was
going to do everything they could to field the best
product on the field and not worry about financially.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
This is what it does.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
So from a player standpoint, we talk about culture, We
talk about locker room all the time. Could you imagine
in today's Cincinnati Reds organization that maybe there is a
conflict because you're hearing and living one thing, but you're
seeing what's taking place in a completely different way.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
Yeah, and listen, it's a philosophy I'll give you you know, listen.
A lot of people were down on March shot. But
when we had a chance to get Dion Sanders and
one of her best friends with George Steinbrenner, and George
was high on Diana at the time and rightfully so.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Great teammate, one of the best I've ever played with.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
She came to about seven or eight of us as
the team leaders at the time, she said, what do
you think about Dion joining the team? You know, would
he fit in here? And that's exactly the right words
to say, would he shell with this team? Would he
be a great asset? And we were like absolutely, And
the next day we had Dean Sanders on the team.
So when you have an opportunity to improve by bringing
(10:41):
in good leaders, good clubhouse guys, coachable guys, that's why
you go out and get a Louis rise Arise. I
show my fifteen and sixteen year old hitters hit his
work ethic. That's how much I believe in that guy.
So any team that had an opportunity to get that guy.
It's not just winning a batting crown. That guy day
to day work ethic. I I know the people that
(11:02):
make the bats for show Aotani. That guy's work ethic
is worth every guy on your team watching. I used
to watch Ozzie Smith prepare for a game and I
had a Hall of Fame shortstop of Barry Larkin, great friend,
loved him, But I used to go, man, what makes
that guy tick?
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Why is that guy so good?
Speaker 5 (11:19):
So you know you can always improve by watching these
other guys and getting the right guys in your organization.
And it's not it's not just about the talent level.
It's about day to day. It's about can can you
go to these guys. I'll give you an example. Eric
Davis would come to my locker all the time. We'd
have we'd have really deep discussions on improvement and and
(11:41):
getting better and stuff like that because I had all
kinds of anger management issues when I played, because I
was so down on myself all the time. And you
so you've got to have guys on your team that
recognize that, that are constantly trying to pick you up,
build up your confidence and get you to understand where
your place is on the team.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Let me take that one step further. The Reds ultra
uber talented with a lot of young talent. Matt McCain
who hasn't got to play much this year, but Christian
N carnassion strand, Ellie de la Cruz, Jonathan India. You
go up and down the list. They have young talent
in place. The culture. I talk about this in football
a lot, you know. I knew Mark Edwards when he
was playing with the New England Patriots and he said
(12:23):
the culture in New England at the time completely different
than the culture when he went to Jacksonville. So I
look at the clubhouse, I look at the locker room.
When you have a young team that is making some
of the bone headed mistakes, The Reds seemingly make more
mistakes on the base pass.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
They run into outs.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Ellie de la Cruz with two outs the other night
gets thrown out trying to steal third.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
He takes about out of a TJ.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Friedle's hand with a chance to get an RBI when
Ellie's gonna score from second on a hit. Anyway, they
make a lot of errors, just some boneheaded mistakes. That
this team makes from a culture and a locker room standpoint,
how would or how does that need to be handled
with a lot of young players that still need to
be molded in Major League Baseball.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
That's a great point that like, that's why I brought
up Nick Castanos. Guys like that would would meet me
or anybody else at the top step of the dugout
and be like, Okay, let's talk about that.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Let's not do that again. And it's business again.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
You know, when you're you're putting whatever sport you're playing
at the highest level, it's business. It's not personal. You
can't take criticism personally when it comes to your job.
So you know that if a coach isn't doing that,
a player has to do that. And you've got to
police each other. And we we listen. We were a
family as well. The best part about my time with
(13:40):
the Reds and the seven years I was there, these
guys were part of my family on and off the field.
We spent all of our time together. You know when
when guys were working on defense at two o'clock in
the afternoon when nobody can see you see you do that,
or taking extra batting practice, the whole pitching staff showed
up to shag right. You know, we because we understood
(14:00):
you were trying to get better. We're here to help
you and support you. So you have to have that
one through twenty six. It's got to be a support
system that whether or not it's at two.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
O'clock or if it's eleven.
Speaker 5 (14:12):
O'clock at night, going to a restaurant or hanging out
in the lobby, that that has to be a kind
of a thing, that's an unspoken bond, you know, and
and listen, the one of the reason I love Eli
Dela Chris guy made himself better just by learning English. Yes,
I want to be able to talk to the fans.
I want them to be under able to understand me.
You know what, how huge that would have been.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
Our locker room.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
Barry Larkin was that guy. He was bilingual. He learned
how to speak Spanish when he was at college at Michigan.
You know that that just it to me. It shows
the respect you have for your your fellow teammates. So
whether it's not if you're making it's not just a mistake,
it's how everybody makes the adjustments after that and you
try to get better and if you have to discuss
(14:53):
it after the game, you discuss it after the game.
So it's not a personal thing. It's a business because
you're all trying to get better.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
And win a championsh Lastly on that, how do you
handle you mentioned you you're fiery guy when you played
a lot of emotion when you're when you're a pitcher.
Hunter Green has been fantastic, especially in the month of July.
Not a lot of results to show for it, not
a lot of run support. The defense behind him has
been shaky at times. Sometimes the bullpen, sometimes they hit
(15:20):
the ball in the pitching doesn't pull the weight. How
do you how do you navigate a locker room in
that sense of Yes, I'm a fire I'm an emotional guy,
but at the same time you are frustrated, but you
can't take it out on your teamates because you're gona
need him next time you take.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
The ball in the rubber.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Absolutely it's on. It's like defense, they make an air
behind you nine out of ten times they make that play.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
You know, Jose Rijo seemed to always be our guy
we never scored runs for and yeah, he would get.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
Frustrated, but he knew it wasn't because we didn't like
him or something. Honestly, the better the pitcher is the
better of the players. Sometimes. I remember Randy Johnson went
through this with Hunter. It's gonna happen.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
There's gonna be times when they're gonna score him eight
runs and sometimes you know it might be two and
he's got a pit two to one game. That's gonna happen.
But his greatness doesn't always depend on the team. You know,
he's got to keep grinding. He's a great kid. I
love him. But you know, guys try to try to
do too much, Like you talked about Ellie, when you're
struggling as a team and you go through like a
(16:17):
low point, guys try to do too much. They try
to hit a three run home run with nobody on base. Uh,
they try to make it a great catch when you
know just playing that into a single would have been enough.
So you know, he knows these guys are given their
best effort when he's on the hill, and so to
all these other guys. And and listen, Tom Brownie was
always a guy we used to blow saves in his games.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
I can't I can't explain it.
Speaker 5 (16:38):
You know, we love Tommy, we want we wanted to
save it just as much for him as everybody else
on the team. But it's just there's certain certain circumstances
that just seem to be beyond your control.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Uh and and you have.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
Those kind of periods so that that'll straighten itself out.
You know, everybody goes through it. But but as far
as the rest listen, they're just as good as anybody
else in that division.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
And they know it.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
And it's sometimes it's tightening up a piece here or
piece there, and they're they're really close. When you're around
five hundred, you know, if you can play five hundred
on the road, you know you're you're gonna get to
the postseason. And now with the expanded format. You know,
the Red Sox who played horribly the first two months
of the season right now, like just a couple of
games out of the third wildcard spot in the American League,
(17:21):
they just got passed by the Royals. So you know, anybody,
you know, with all the injuries and looking over the
ross right now, they've got a ton of injuries, especially
to the pitching staff. If you can weather those storms,
you can win at the major league level.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Let me finish with this and and certainly appreciative of
your time. When when you guys played the Nasty Boys,
how did you guys approach that from a mental standpoint?
Did you have the enforcer? Did you have Okay, we're
gonna be the enforcers. You're gonna keep your head, You're
gonna keep things cool. And I would imagine you weren't
that that cool headed one. And we talked about it
the last time we spoke when uh, when Doug Descenzo
(17:55):
decided to bun on you. Uh, And you know, I
don't mind throwing at I think the accuracy of the
throw was in question. I think that could have been
a little better. But but how did you guys manage
as as that three headed monster of the Nasty Boys? Okay,
did you have the enforcer? Did you have the hot head?
And and and what did you what went into that?
Speaker 4 (18:16):
Well? First of all, Norm was the craziest you always everybody,
so me I was.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
I was more emotional during the game. Norm he was.
He was more philosophical and was always thinking, So that
was probably scarier that he was thinking of a way
to get you without you noticing. And and Randy was
always the finisher. He was always the closer to close
out games. But it was an unselfishness. Nobody cared. You know,
we were there to get wins. You know, our job
(18:41):
was to try to win win a championship. Uh, no
matter what the cost. There there's a lot of times
when one guy didn't feel right one day and to
be like, hey, listen, you got two innings in you
because I only got one inning in me. And you'd
have those conversations with uh, you know, lou Panella and
the coaching staff. They they knew who was healthy, who wasn't,
all those kind of things. So it though, there was
(19:02):
such an unspoken bond that started in spring training that
year we were locked out nineteen ninety and every guy
showed up for workouts every day. Nobody saw that. Nobody
will ever know that, but but everybody that was at
those workouts knew that we were getting ready for the season,
whether or not the team was allowing us to get
ready or not. So whether it was the three of us,
(19:23):
whether it was twenty five of us and the coaching staff,
everybody was on the same page as far as what
we're what we're being paid to do is go out
there and win championships.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
You obviously knew that Descenzo was out of the base path.
That's why you were trying to throw the ball at.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Them, right.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
It's a high.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
Absolutely that was That was baseball four hundred level. Man.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
I am so appreciative for you taking some time with
us today, Rob. What is the easiest way for listeners
to uh, to really follow along with everything you got
going on?
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Really the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
You can you can look up you know, sports talk
radio and Connecticut and you know, playing ninety seventy nine
Fox Sports Radio or thirteen hundred on AM Fox Sports Radio.
But it's really the iHeart app is national and it's free,
so you just got to download.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
That awesome stuff.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Man.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
I look forward to doing this again soon. Thank you
so much for.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Your time anytime. Man.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
That is Rob Dibble. We are since three sixty on
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. We'll be back right
after this a service of SINTI shirts.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
Hey, Alexa
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