October 2, 2025 • 10 mins
Mo and Jeff Carr from Locked on Reds put a bow on the Reds 2025 season.
Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
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Instagram too: @MoEgger
Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Speaking of set app that's where we put all the
podcasts of this show, so listen to them anything you
might have missed good baseball stuff from earlier this week,
lots on the Bengals as well, the podcast of the
show or service of Long Neck Sports Girl, awesome place
to watch college and pro football this weekend, Wilder Hebron
and Richwood and the host of the Roundtable Show, which,
(00:20):
by the way, I had the Reds one I was
going to host tonight, which it would have been bittersweet
because I would miss this show, but I would have
gotten to go to Long Necks.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I guess I can still go tonight to watch Lance
and Rocky.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Jeff Carnes with us Locked On Reds podcast and the
Locked On Bearcats podcast. It was what a week ago
today you called in drunk with euphoria about how the
Reds have beaten the Pittsburgh Pirates, and yet here we
are a week later talking about something entirely different.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Jubilation, the consternation, the twenty five Cincinnati Rids.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I'm beck Actually, yeah, one moment across the last two
nights that stood out to you.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Give it to me.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I think it was Ellie with the bass voted in
the sixth as much as I didn't want it to
be as much as I wanted to be the other
way around, where it was all right, this is the
point where Ellie just transformed and he didn't. And I
thought that based on his last couple of weeks in September,
he was getting his second win and he was going
to be ready for the big stage. But he had
(01:22):
a chance to transform that game and really turned it
into the Reds favor and he couldn't. And I know
there were two outs, and obviously the two guys before
him could have done something as well. But if there's
gonna be a guy in this lineup, it's got to
be him, and for much of the season, at least
in the second half, it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
I think of how many times this year we talked
about his performance in the context of what the Reds
were demanding from him. By many measurements, he didn't have
a bad year. By the measurement of what the Reds
needed from him this season, based on how the rest
of the roster was constructed, he didn't do enough. And
(02:05):
so to me, the main goal next year is to
take some pressure off of Ellie de la Cruz.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
How are they going to do that.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
They have got to focus. I think the main focus
of this off season, and whether it's trade, free agency, whatever,
is to get that anchor in the lineup, because they
don't have. And as much as you know, we had hoped,
different guys would step up, and they would do it
at different times, but not in a consistent enough manner
to the point where you could count on them moving forward.
(02:35):
But nobody really took over that mantle where it was like,
we need a hit right now, you go give it
to us. There's nobody in that lineup that does that.
And you know, there's the opportunity, of course that everybody's
going to talk about all off season of Kyle Schwarber
and that that really just depends on how much investment
ownership really wants to put into the roster, because they
could do that. But at the same time, that's me
(02:58):
saying that and not the folks that are right in
the chicks down there Grand American Ballpark. So there's going
to be some opportunities, and I think Nick Carl's gonna
have to get creative with trades because on the other
side of what they need is what they have and
what they have is a lot of the same thing.
They have a lot of infielders and not a lot
(03:18):
of outfielders, and they gotta figure that out. There's just
too many there's too many pieces that fit in the
same place, and you can't put two pieces in one place.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
We often talked leading up to this year and in
the early stretch the early going this season about the
lack of corner infield production. I think one of the
most damning things that happened with this team this year
is Christian and Cornassi on Strand just did not work out.
I'm not sure how many more chances that guy is
gonna get. They've got a third baseman in key Brian Hayes,
who is awesome with the glove.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
There's no getting around that he is horrific with the bat.
He is below league average.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
They have a decent amount of chunk, a decent amount
of money invested in him moving forward. He's got years
of team control because of the contract he signed with
the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Moving forward. For a team that.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Has such offensive deficiencies, can you have a guy who's
an offensive zero at third base?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
No, Because there's there's already question marks about your second basement.
There's question marks about I love TJ. Friedel and his
on base ability, but I wonder about him moving forward
because he's not necessarily he's kind of on the downslope
of his prime, as it were, So what does that mean?
And then you have absolute blank question marks in you know,
(04:36):
left field, and who's going to play first base, all
these different things, Like you could say, well, Spencer's year
is going to be here, Stout Stewart's going to be there.
That's fine, but it doesn't seem like the Reds have
this appetite to want to do that. And so if
you're looking at third base and you're saying that we've
got this dude for seven and a half million for
the next four years, but you tell me that half
(04:56):
of his game is completely just a black hole, a
deficiency like that, that's such a problem for me. Like
you've got to acquire somebody else in another position that
is just as good with the bat as he is
with the glove to make up for what he doesn't do.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Am I wrong for wanting an entirely new al field.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
I don't think so. I love the idea of the
potential of Noel V Marte. But that is the story
of the Reds for the last thirty years, is that
you love the idea of the potential of what they've
put on the field, and none of it's really ever
come to fruition. So there's still too many question marks
around noelvi Marte for me to fully commit and say yes,
(05:41):
they don't need to worry about that position moving forward.
And like I mentioned with TJ Friedel, like, that's a
dude that people constantly say, like, how much longer is
he going to be here? Well, first of all, he's
under team control for a couple more years, so they
don't have to necessarily worry about that.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
And by the time that.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
He's free agent eligible, he's got to be to the
point that you're looking to replace an anyway the way
that this game is. So I'm with you, like I
think that Nick Krawl could get could you know, shot
till you drop this offseason, and it would make total
sense to me.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
I'm conflicted about Matt McClain because I want to give
him a pass for the fact that he didn't play
at all in twenty twenty four, and even in a
really down year for him, he managed to hit fifteen
bombs last night, notwithstanding, was decent with the glove, stole
eighteen bases. But they had him written in black magic
marker in the two hole this past season that ended
(06:33):
yesterday as the starting second basement. I don't think I
can do that, So what's the plan there moving forward?
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I think he's got to be written in pencil, but
you're right, definitely not in the top of the lineup
for sure. His glove is so good at second base,
and I think that if they if they decided something else,
And I don't necessarily believe that Eli de la Cruz
is on the way to the outfield, but if for
some reason that happened, he would be your shortstop, and
then you would really need to see him step it
up with the bat. But I tend to believe he will.
(07:04):
But I think they've got to definitely keep one eye
on him at the beginning of the season because if
we continue to see this where it's lots of strikeouts,
lots of weak contact, and every so often you get
something but it's definitely not enough to really trust it,
then they've really got to be honest with themselves and say,
who is Matt McClain Moving forward because he did not
(07:25):
play a full season in twenty twenty three, but if
you talk to most people, they feel like he did.
And it was the performance that he put in twenty
twenty three that put these expectations in our minds about
what we would get out of twenty twenty five, and
we got maybe fifty percent of that if you're being generous.
And so, how does he attack twenty twenty six, because
(07:46):
if it's not a quick start, then they've got to
have a plan be and maybe that is Gavin Lux.
Maybe they keep him around and he's the backup plan
for Matt McLain, But I don't think that you can.
Like you said, right, Mark, you got to be honest
with yourself and keep an eye.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
On him early.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Realistically, they have a lot of starting pitching. It's an
enviable group, man, and if you're going to make a trade,
you're going to deal from a place to surplus. If
you had your way and you've got to trade one
of those guys because you know it's going to get
you what you need in return.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Who you willing to move on from.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
I'd say Nick Lodolo, just because I'm a little worried
that and I don't even necessarily think it's specifically the blister.
He's just a guy that it seems like injuries crop
up on him every so often. You could also say
the same thing about Hunter Green, but I think I
like Green ceiling more than I like Lidolo's sailing, and
I think that you could still get a lot for
Ladolo because he's not to the point where people believe
(08:45):
he's injury prone at this point in his career. So
I still think you could really you could probably land
your anchor of the lineup with a guy like Nick
Lodolo in that trade. So if I were picking and
it came down to that, then that's probably where I mean.
Because you also have Andrew Rabbit from the left side.
(09:06):
You have Brandon Williamson from the left side, so it's
not as if you would be depleting your rotation of
a lefty per se, because you still have other options.
But I'm with you. I think that if they're going
to make an impactful enough trade, there's going to be
a name that we kind of maybe squirm a little
bit whenever we hear it.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
One more was next year's closer on this year's team.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Absolutely, I think it's Connor Phillips. I think Connor Phillips
is the guy that you can trust. He may not
be the closer on opening day, but I think he
takes the closer job relatively quickly. Next year. There's going
to be a market for Amelio Pagan that I think
is beyond what the Reds are going to want to
pay him, or any closer for that matter, just because
(09:49):
they're a team that they put certain values on certain players,
and I don't think they have the same value for
a closer that almost had forty.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
The closes weren't opening.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
The closes weren't opening day this year was Ian Jabou.
So as long as that's not the answer, then I'm
open anything. Jeff Carr locked on Reds podcast and the
Lockdown Bearcats podcast as well.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Thanks man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Go right there you.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Go, Lee Sterling helps make us some money.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
The UC Health Traffic Center.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
The UC Cancer Center offers personalized prostate cancer care, exclusive
clinical trials and treatments you won't find anywhere else. Call
five one three five eighty five UCCC on southbound seventy one.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
An accident is now cleared off before Reading road. On
Paddock Road, however, still got that crash. Between California and
laid Law Avenue northbound seventy five.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Traffic is running slow between Mitchell and Paddock, a five
to ten minute delay.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I'm at ezelic with traffic.
Speaking of set app that's where we put all the
podcasts of this show, so listen to them anything you
might have missed good baseball stuff from earlier this week,
lots on the Bengals as well, the podcast of the
show or service of Long Neck Sports Girl, awesome place
to watch college and pro football this weekend, Wilder Hebron
and Richwood and the host of the Roundtable Show, which,
(00:20):
by the way, I had the Reds one I was
going to host tonight, which it would have been bittersweet
because I would miss this show, but I would have
gotten to go to Long Necks.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I guess I can still go tonight to watch Lance
and Rocky.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Jeff Carnes with us Locked On Reds podcast and the
Locked On Bearcats podcast. It was what a week ago
today you called in drunk with euphoria about how the
Reds have beaten the Pittsburgh Pirates, and yet here we
are a week later talking about something entirely different.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Jubilation, the consternation, the twenty five Cincinnati Rids.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I'm beck Actually, yeah, one moment across the last two
nights that stood out to you.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Give it to me.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I think it was Ellie with the bass voted in
the sixth as much as I didn't want it to
be as much as I wanted to be the other
way around, where it was all right, this is the
point where Ellie just transformed and he didn't. And I
thought that based on his last couple of weeks in September,
he was getting his second win and he was going
to be ready for the big stage. But he had
(01:22):
a chance to transform that game and really turned it
into the Reds favor and he couldn't. And I know
there were two outs, and obviously the two guys before
him could have done something as well. But if there's
gonna be a guy in this lineup, it's got to
be him, and for much of the season, at least
in the second half, it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
I think of how many times this year we talked
about his performance in the context of what the Reds
were demanding from him. By many measurements, he didn't have
a bad year. By the measurement of what the Reds
needed from him this season, based on how the rest
of the roster was constructed, he didn't do enough. And
(02:05):
so to me, the main goal next year is to
take some pressure off of Ellie de la Cruz.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
How are they going to do that.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
They have got to focus. I think the main focus
of this off season, and whether it's trade, free agency, whatever,
is to get that anchor in the lineup, because they
don't have. And as much as you know, we had hoped,
different guys would step up, and they would do it
at different times, but not in a consistent enough manner
to the point where you could count on them moving forward.
(02:35):
But nobody really took over that mantle where it was like,
we need a hit right now, you go give it
to us. There's nobody in that lineup that does that.
And you know, there's the opportunity, of course that everybody's
going to talk about all off season of Kyle Schwarber
and that that really just depends on how much investment
ownership really wants to put into the roster, because they
could do that. But at the same time, that's me
(02:58):
saying that and not the folks that are right in
the chicks down there Grand American Ballpark. So there's going
to be some opportunities, and I think Nick Carl's gonna
have to get creative with trades because on the other
side of what they need is what they have and
what they have is a lot of the same thing.
They have a lot of infielders and not a lot
(03:18):
of outfielders, and they gotta figure that out. There's just
too many there's too many pieces that fit in the
same place, and you can't put two pieces in one place.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
We often talked leading up to this year and in
the early stretch the early going this season about the
lack of corner infield production. I think one of the
most damning things that happened with this team this year
is Christian and Cornassi on Strand just did not work out.
I'm not sure how many more chances that guy is
gonna get. They've got a third baseman in key Brian Hayes,
who is awesome with the glove.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
There's no getting around that he is horrific with the bat.
He is below league average.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
They have a decent amount of chunk, a decent amount
of money invested in him moving forward. He's got years
of team control because of the contract he signed with
the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Moving forward. For a team that.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Has such offensive deficiencies, can you have a guy who's
an offensive zero at third base?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
No, Because there's there's already question marks about your second basement.
There's question marks about I love TJ. Friedel and his
on base ability, but I wonder about him moving forward
because he's not necessarily he's kind of on the downslope
of his prime, as it were, So what does that mean?
And then you have absolute blank question marks in you know,
(04:36):
left field, and who's going to play first base, all
these different things, Like you could say, well, Spencer's year
is going to be here, Stout Stewart's going to be there.
That's fine, but it doesn't seem like the Reds have
this appetite to want to do that. And so if
you're looking at third base and you're saying that we've
got this dude for seven and a half million for
the next four years, but you tell me that half
(04:56):
of his game is completely just a black hole, a
deficiency like that, that's such a problem for me. Like
you've got to acquire somebody else in another position that
is just as good with the bat as he is
with the glove to make up for what he doesn't do.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Am I wrong for wanting an entirely new al field.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
I don't think so. I love the idea of the
potential of Noel V Marte. But that is the story
of the Reds for the last thirty years, is that
you love the idea of the potential of what they've
put on the field, and none of it's really ever
come to fruition. So there's still too many question marks
around noelvi Marte for me to fully commit and say yes,
(05:41):
they don't need to worry about that position moving forward.
And like I mentioned with TJ Friedel, like, that's a
dude that people constantly say, like, how much longer is
he going to be here? Well, first of all, he's
under team control for a couple more years, so they
don't have to necessarily worry about that.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
And by the time that.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
He's free agent eligible, he's got to be to the
point that you're looking to replace an anyway the way
that this game is. So I'm with you, like I
think that Nick Krawl could get could you know, shot
till you drop this offseason, and it would make total
sense to me.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
I'm conflicted about Matt McClain because I want to give
him a pass for the fact that he didn't play
at all in twenty twenty four, and even in a
really down year for him, he managed to hit fifteen
bombs last night, notwithstanding, was decent with the glove, stole
eighteen bases. But they had him written in black magic
marker in the two hole this past season that ended
(06:33):
yesterday as the starting second basement. I don't think I
can do that, So what's the plan there moving forward?
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I think he's got to be written in pencil, but
you're right, definitely not in the top of the lineup
for sure. His glove is so good at second base,
and I think that if they if they decided something else,
And I don't necessarily believe that Eli de la Cruz
is on the way to the outfield, but if for
some reason that happened, he would be your shortstop, and
then you would really need to see him step it
up with the bat. But I tend to believe he will.
(07:04):
But I think they've got to definitely keep one eye
on him at the beginning of the season because if
we continue to see this where it's lots of strikeouts,
lots of weak contact, and every so often you get
something but it's definitely not enough to really trust it,
then they've really got to be honest with themselves and say,
who is Matt McClain Moving forward because he did not
(07:25):
play a full season in twenty twenty three, but if
you talk to most people, they feel like he did.
And it was the performance that he put in twenty
twenty three that put these expectations in our minds about
what we would get out of twenty twenty five, and
we got maybe fifty percent of that if you're being generous.
And so, how does he attack twenty twenty six, because
(07:46):
if it's not a quick start, then they've got to
have a plan be and maybe that is Gavin Lux.
Maybe they keep him around and he's the backup plan
for Matt McLain, But I don't think that you can.
Like you said, right, Mark, you got to be honest
with yourself and keep an eye.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
On him early.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Realistically, they have a lot of starting pitching. It's an
enviable group, man, and if you're going to make a trade,
you're going to deal from a place to surplus. If
you had your way and you've got to trade one
of those guys because you know it's going to get
you what you need in return.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Who you willing to move on from.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
I'd say Nick Lodolo, just because I'm a little worried
that and I don't even necessarily think it's specifically the blister.
He's just a guy that it seems like injuries crop
up on him every so often. You could also say
the same thing about Hunter Green, but I think I
like Green ceiling more than I like Lidolo's sailing, and
I think that you could still get a lot for
Ladolo because he's not to the point where people believe
(08:45):
he's injury prone at this point in his career. So
I still think you could really you could probably land
your anchor of the lineup with a guy like Nick
Lodolo in that trade. So if I were picking and
it came down to that, then that's probably where I mean.
Because you also have Andrew Rabbit from the left side.
(09:06):
You have Brandon Williamson from the left side, so it's
not as if you would be depleting your rotation of
a lefty per se, because you still have other options.
But I'm with you. I think that if they're going
to make an impactful enough trade, there's going to be
a name that we kind of maybe squirm a little
bit whenever we hear it.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
One more was next year's closer on this year's team.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Absolutely, I think it's Connor Phillips. I think Connor Phillips
is the guy that you can trust. He may not
be the closer on opening day, but I think he
takes the closer job relatively quickly. Next year. There's going
to be a market for Amelio Pagan that I think
is beyond what the Reds are going to want to
pay him, or any closer for that matter, just because
(09:49):
they're a team that they put certain values on certain players,
and I don't think they have the same value for
a closer that almost had forty.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
The closes weren't opening.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
The closes weren't opening day this year was Ian Jabou.
So as long as that's not the answer, then I'm
open anything. Jeff Carr locked on Reds podcast and the
Lockdown Bearcats podcast as well.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Thanks man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Go right there you.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Go, Lee Sterling helps make us some money.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
The UC Health Traffic Center.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
The UC Cancer Center offers personalized prostate cancer care, exclusive
clinical trials and treatments you won't find anywhere else. Call
five one three five eighty five UCCC on southbound seventy one.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
An accident is now cleared off before Reading road. On
Paddock Road, however, still got that crash. Between California and
laid Law Avenue northbound seventy five.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Traffic is running slow between Mitchell and Paddock, a five
to ten minute delay.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I'm at ezelic with traffic.
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