4/4/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Ah, sorry I was. I was just signing that petition,
because you know petitions. Petitions always work. Hi, my name's Moegar.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Now I'm all tangled up
my headphone court. This shows off to a rock and start.

(00:26):
Hope your weekend is off to a great start. It
is if you're not here, because the sun's never gonna
shine again, it's not gonna stop rating. Whetherwise, we are
in store for a miserable weekend. It's been a miserable
last couple of days. It hasn't been made any better
by the Reds scoring zero runs in three consecutive games,
becoming the first team since the nineteen sixty Philadelphia Phillies

(00:49):
to lose three consecutive one nothing games. Full show rundown
available on Twitter thanks to Emery Federal Credit Union, your
credit Union with heart since nineteen thirty nine. Remember just
like me, gonna EMERYFCU dot or Kevin Egan from Apple
TV MLS Season Pass is going to join us in
about forty minutes to talk to FC Cincinnati. We've got

(01:11):
some Bengal stuff. A little bit later on, we have
uce basketball season coming to an end. And frankly far
more important than that. The offseason now beginning that here
in just a bit, the Reds have played seven games.
Through those seven games, their starting pitching is first in
Major League Baseball and innings pitched per start third in

(01:33):
Major League Baseball in Era two point six. The starting
pitching is first in Major League Baseball in walks and
hits per innings pitched, first in Major League Baseball in
opponents batting average. They've got a thirty nine to seven
strikeout to walk ratio. That's the starting pitching. The bullpen

(01:54):
hasn't been nearly as good, but certainly hasn't been awful either.
The Reds are getting awesome starting pitching, awesome starting pitching.
That's the shame of it, right, that's the shame of it.
We're not asking the Reds to score a thousand runs
a game. We're not asking them to lead the National
League in hitting or lead baseball and home runs. We're

(02:15):
not asking them to score eight runs a game. We're
not asking them to be prolific, proficient, or even slightly
above league average. We're not asking them to be league average.
We're asking them to score two runs a night, two
runs a night. Each of the last three games would
have been good enough to win. The bar is really low.

(02:36):
It's like the Bengals defense last year. Man, we're not
asking you to pitch shutouts. We're not asking you to
hold the opponent to a fuel goal of game. We're
asking you to like not let the other team score
every single time. The bar is exceptionally low. We don't
need nine runs a night, we don't need double digit

(02:56):
run two two runs, two runs is good enough to win.
It's so freakin' frustrating, so unbelievably frustrating, and it's frustrating
for a lot of different reasons. This team's offensive issues
are problematic, sobering, hard to watch, putrid, woeful. The offense

(03:23):
is meek, punchless. But you know what, none of it is.
None of it's surprising. This is what it looks like
when an already not great offensive team goes into a funk.
I remember years ago, Zach Cozart was on the Reds

(03:43):
and hitting seventh or eighth, and I remember getting phone
calls about Zach Cozart's productivity in the seventh or eighth hole.
I think he was batting eighth, and he was in
a terrible batting slump. And my take was, when the
eighth place hitter goes through a slump, it looks atrociously bad.

(04:04):
It's awful. He almost never gets a hit because he's
an eighth place hitter. When the third place hitter, when
Joey Vada goes through a batting slump, it's better than
Zach Cozart's batting slump because Joey Vado is a good hitter,
and you know he's a good hitter, and you know
he's gonna come out of it. Zach Cozart's a bad hitter,
and bad hitters when they're at their worst, are awful.

(04:28):
This is not a good offensive team. I could have
said that last week, last month, I could have said
it at any point during the offseason, even when they
made additions to it. When an already not great offensive
team struggles, it looks like the last three games. When
a good offensive team struggles, they still at least score

(04:49):
one run in three games. Like, that's the problem here.
You might say, you know, it's an outlier, it's a
statistical oddity, it's a weird historical quirk. Three consecutive one
nothing losses. It's not totally reflective of who they are,
and I would say, well, I kind of hope it is,

(05:09):
because I hope the starting pitching continues to be as
good as it has been. But you might look, mo,
they're gonna hit based on based on what, based on what? Like.
That's the thing this time of year. If you express
any amount of concern or frustration, you often get told
you often get patted on the head and told, hey,

(05:30):
it's early, a lot of baseball to be played. Those
things are true, But if you're doing that to me,
you're asking me to give this team the benefit of
the doubt. Went for me and maybe this is just me.
You can tell me if you disagree. I didn't think
this team was going to be great to begin with. Offensively,
the starting pitching was going to have to carry this team.
Starting pitching is holding up its end of the bargain.

(05:51):
The bats are not ten minutes after three o'clock. Our
phone numbers are five point three, seven four nine, fifteen
thirty and eight sixty six seven two three seven seven six.
You can send me a tweet thanks. The Delta Dental.
Delta Dental is building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for all
good at deltadentaloah dot com at Mugger on Twitter, it's frustrating.

(06:14):
The issue to get mad about is not for me,
the fact that they're not hitting. Teams go through batting slumps.
Sometimes the other team starting pitcher just has your number.
We talked about that with Nathan Vivaldi last night. You
could certainly say that in regards to Nestor Cortez last night.
The issue to me, though, is not that they're not hitting.

(06:35):
It's not that they're going through a batting slump. It's
not even that they've gotten off to a slow start.
The issue for me, and I think if you're a
Reds fan, the issue for you should be that not
enough work was done in the off season to help
ensure that they would not go through stretches like this.
The choice was made to not add a bat the

(06:59):
choice was made to not add more depth. The choice
was made to go to spring training and come north
with the outfield as it's currently constructed. Those were choices
that were made. Now you might argue, hey, reinforcements. Reinforcements
can be brought up. They can bring up Will Benson,

(07:20):
who's off to a nice start in Louisville, and they
could bring up Noel A Marte. Yeah, Noel V Marte,
come on down, and hey, resigns, give him another go.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
And I'm not.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
Opposed to any or all of those things, but come on, man, legitimately,
come on, man, that's the fix. Dudes who weren't good
enough to make the team a couple of weeks ago
are suddenly going to be what fixes this team. Really,
the work that should have been done this offseason is

(07:51):
catching up to it already during the season. And yeah,
there are mitigating circumstances like Tyler Stevenson's injury and like
Austin Hayes's injury, and like whatever Spencer Steer is dealing
with right now. But even with those players healthy, did
this feel like a complete team? Did it feel like
the Reds just finished up the off season and crossed

(08:13):
every tee and dotted every eye and Okay, we've done
all our work here. It kind of felt like they
got to a point where they made some improvements and
said we're good here.

Speaker 4 (08:21):
And I.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Know that that is how many of us feel, because
many of us said that in February, and many of
us said that during the chorus of spring training, and
so this to me, is not just a team going
through a tough week. It's two things. It's an example
of how bad things can be when you already have
a flawed and deficient and short handed offensive team. But

(08:47):
it's also a reflection of the work that wasn't done
this offseason. That's not to say the Reds had an
off season full of misses. By the way, Brady Singer's
acquisition looks really good so far. I was a proponent
of the Austin Hayes signing. I was a proponent of
the Gavin Lux trade, and I'm not opposed to either
guy the idea of either guy helping this team. Obviously,

(09:08):
Gavin Lux is healthy, Austin Hayes isn't playing right now.
But I think it's if anything, it's just this is
hard to digest because it's the realization of what a
lot of is feared, a lot of his feared. Offensively,
this team might be really bad, and if it is,

(09:29):
they're not gonna lose games twelve to two. They're not
gonna lose games nine to one. They're not gonna lose
games ten nothing. They're gonna lose close, low scoring games
that the pitching will have put them in a position
to win, and that's frustrating. I think it is. You
could tell me if you share the frustration. This is

(09:51):
not a team filled with players who are high ceiling
offensive guys, high ceiling hitters. You know what, It's just
a matter of time before these guys flip the switch,
turn it on and take off. The fear coming into
the season was the built in deficiencies were at some

(10:12):
point going to catch up to it. I was hoping
that time wouldn't be during the first week of April,
and yet here we are, and unfortunately, while there is
a lot to like about this team, namely Hunter Green,
Nick Ladolo, who was terrific last night, Carson Spyers still

(10:33):
Andrew Abbitt even though he's going to pitch in Louisville
on Sunday, Brady Singer, and Nick Martinez, the starting pitching
has been fine, and in most cases much much better
than fine. But I think offensively, it brings to mind
what so many of us have said is this organization's
brand that it just isn't going to do everything it

(10:57):
can to be the very best in the sport, in
the division, or anywhere else in the league. It's just
not willing to do that. Well, we were talking at
the end of spring training about what they may do
with the deadline. That in itself was an acknowledgment. They're

(11:18):
not good enough. If you're talking in March about who
they may acquire in July, they should have acquired that
player in February. You're running out there, Jake Fraley. Jake
Fraley's a swell dude, and he's done some good things here.
His numbers have dropped every single season. Is it a
shock that his numbers are as bad as they are?

(11:39):
Is it a shock that a lineup that last night
included Santiago Espinal and Blake Dunn as corner outfielders. Is
it a shock that that lineup didn't produce much last night?
You tell me five one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty.
This organization's brand for better, for We're fair or not,

(12:01):
is that it won't do everything it needs to do
to be the very best in the world. They did
some things this offseason, but it felt like a term
paper turned in without a name on it, or a
test without some of the questions answered. It felt incomplete.
It felt incomplete. So given the fact that we thought

(12:25):
two months ago offensively. At least this team looks incomplete.
Is it that surprising that they're a bad offensive team.
It might be surprising they've lost three consecutive one nothing games,
but it's not that surprising as far as I'm concerned.
And what's really frustrating to me is that starting staff

(12:49):
we knew had a chance to be really good. It
may be outperforming what it ultimately is going to look like,
but we knew. We thought at least this starting staff
had a chance to be really good, which means for
a lot of us, that starting staff was worth taking
advantage of. That starting staff was worth building around. That

(13:09):
starting staff was worth going I'll say it all in with,
And the decision was made by someone in the front
office to not do that. They chose offensively to remain
at best okay. And when your best is only okay,

(13:31):
your worst looks like last night, the night before and
the night before that. So I you know, we can
relitigate the offseason. God knows I've done that. We can.
We can try to convince ourselves that Will Benson is
the answer, or Rhys Hines will be the answer, Noel
Vamarte will be the answer. We try to convince ourselves

(13:52):
that once they get healthy, nobody will ever get hurt again.
I've heard that, Oh, just wait till they get healthy.
By the way, there's a familiar refrain in there. Just wait.
I want to know. Like now, now they play a
game tonight, right, they're two and five. You could say, well,
it's only seven games, but we've watched what can happen
to the Reds when they sink themselves by a terrible
start in April, So there's kind of a premium. I'm

(14:14):
starting to win these games, right starting tonight? Maybe maybe
maybe score a run. Maybe two and two might be enough.
Who knows? What do you do to fix this? What
do you do to fix the offense? And by the way,
if I would have asked that question last year, the
answer for a lot of folks was very obvious. Why, yeah,
I fired David Bell. Well, guess what, David Bell's not
here anymore, and they're not going to fire Tito Franconin.

(14:37):
By the way, it's not his fault.

Speaker 5 (14:38):
What do you do.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
Is the answer? Promote the dudes from Louisville who weren't
good enough to make the team. Is the answer? To
give playing time to somebody who's not getting a lot
of run right now? What's the answer or is the
answer to just wait? Well, if the answer is to
just wait, if you're a Reds fan and you're painfully,

(15:02):
painfully familiar with the concept of just being asked to wait,
because over the last thirty years, that's pretty much all
we've been doing, waiting, and that, to me is the
most frustrating part of this. More than any being a
Reds fan means constantly being told to wait. Seven games

(15:24):
into the season, here we are yet again being told
to wait. Are you tired of waiting? Our phone numbers
are five when three seven, four nine, fifteen thirty eight
sixty six seven two three seven seven six works as well.
Our guy, Kevin Egan from mls se'son Pass on Apple
TV is going to join us in twenty five minutes
of c Cincinnati plays the New England Revolution tomorrow, a

(15:46):
home game. They'll need a canoe and uh an oars
for the guys to get that game in. Kevin joins
us at three forty five. You and I between now
and then we'll do some Bengals in the four o'clock hour.
Remember who's in the spotlight. It's crawl. We got to
talk about him. Plus we have to put a bow
in the UC basketball season, which came to an end
last night in Vegas. All that coming up on ESPN

(16:07):
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(17:32):
Great place to watch the men's and women's final fours,
with the women's starting tonight five three, nine, fifteen thirty.
I know I know how this works because I have
I have endured so many slow starts to the red season.
I know how this works. I will be told, MO,

(17:53):
just be patient, just wait, just wait for them to
get healthy. Just wait, MO, just wait for them to
get healthy, or just just wait until Jamer Candelario starts hitting,
or just a just wait until Gavin Luck starts hitting,
or you know, maybe for those looking further down the road,

(18:13):
just wait until they get help at the trade deadline
in four months. Just wait. Well, there's two things about
being told to wait. Number One, I've endured a lot
of slow starts to the season, by the way, and
this could change in a week. Right now, the start
to the season has been slow. They've lost five out

(18:33):
of seven games. That is a slow start. I've endured
other slow starts. We have endured other slow starts, and
we're often told, hey, just wait, they'll turn it around,
and guess what happens. They never do. They never do. Uh,

(18:54):
they don't turn it around enough to you know, go
to the playoffs or contend for a division title or
seebiously contend for anything beyond you know, eighty three wins
at best. But the other part is being a Reds
fan means being constantly told you gotta wait. You gotta wait, God,

(19:18):
wait until you know, we start this rebuild. Gotta wait
until we can put together a core of young players
worth building around. God to wait through you know, us,
to to get our best players through the system into
the big leagues. Gotta wait. The longer you're told to wait,
the more impatient you're going to become I've used this

(19:40):
example before. Go to a restaurant, you get your name
on the waiting list, you're told it's going to be
thirty minutes, forty five minutes. You will wait, and then
thirty to forty five minutes have passed. You go back
up to the host of stan or the host stand.
You go, hey, how far away are we? And they
tell you it's just going to be a little while longer.
And you wait a little a while longer and you

(20:01):
haven't been called yet, and then you know, you go
back up, Hey, it's gonna be little. At some point
you're gonna get up and leave. At some point you're
gonna I'm done. I'm finished, Like it's you're gonna tell
me I'm being too impatient with this team because it's
only seven games and they're gonna hit and essentiate the
positive and tell me how good the starting pitching. And

(20:22):
by the way, starting pitching has been awesome. Man, that's
what makes this so frustrating. If you're scoring zero runs
and you're giving up eight, nine, ten per night, I
don't care about scoring zero runs. They're giving up one
per night and not winning, and they're not winning close games.
So if you're telling me to wait, I've been waiting

(20:43):
for thirty years. Also, if you're telling me to wait,
you're telling me I should give this team the benefit
of the doubt. And my question would be, since when
do the Cincinnati Reds deserve the benefit of the doubt
when the organizational mantra involves asking you and I to wait?

(21:05):
And by the way, this is when the spotlight's on
Nick Krawl man. Like, for years people have talked about
ownership and the castellinies, and you know, for a while
all the focus was on the manager and you gotta
fire David Bell, Like at some point, Nick Krawl, you
own this team. You own its strengths. By the way,
a lot of its strengths you have you get credit for.
But it's deficiencies, well that falls on you. Nick Kral

(21:31):
gets an incomplete grade at best for what he did
to this roster this offseason. That's not a reaction to
the seven games. It's an assessment of what they did
this offseason that many of us shared or at least
felt a month ago. Two months ago, like Nick Krawl

(21:53):
looked at this outfield and decided we're good. That's a
good enough outfield. That's an outfield that off defensively. We're
comfortable with They made that decision, so you have to
own the results of that decision. The results so far
haven't been very good. But just wait twenty nine away

(22:17):
from four o'clock. Five point three seven four nine fifteen
thirty is our phone number.

Speaker 5 (22:23):
UH.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
The UC basketball season came to an end last night
in Vegas? What's next next? On ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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Regen Brewers continue their series tonight at Milwaukee. Tonight's first
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hundred WLWD Nick Martinez and lefty Tyler Alexander for the Crew.

(23:25):
I have not yet seen a Red starting lineup out
I will tell you this. Alexis Diaz has been sent
to Louisville on a rehab assignment, and Chase Burns, taken
by the Reds in the first round of the draft
last year, is going to make his pro baseball debut
tonight for the Dayton Dragons. FC Cincinnati is getting set
to play tomorrow against the New England Revolution. That game

(23:48):
is on ESPN fifteen thirty from the Soccer Venue in
the West End of Cincinnati. At seven thirty hockey tonight,
Downtown Cyclone skate against Kalamazoo. It's the second to last
home game. Their regular season home finale is tomorrow afternoon
against Toledo. Puck drops the night at seven thirty and
four o'clock tomorrow. The season finale for the UC Bearcats

(24:08):
unfolded last night in Vegas. The Bearcats fall to UCF
in the quarterfinal round of the College Basketball Crown eighty
eight to eighty. It was I texted this to Tony
that say what you want about the event. The game
itself turned out to be a pretty entertaining basketball game,
but a pretty frustrating one for the Bearcats, who had

(24:30):
a lot of opportunities. They would take a one point
lead and then half possession and they just couldn't get
that bucket, and defensively in the second half in particular,
fell apart, allowing fifty points. Ucfter the game shot forty
seven percent. Frankly, it felt like a much much higher number.
They got to the free throw line nineteen times, and
the Bearcats season comes to an end. Here's Wes Miller

(24:51):
in Vegas after the game.

Speaker 6 (24:54):
Well, I'm just proud that our guys stuck together, our
whole team came out here and played. I think it
says a lot about the character of them as individuals
and the character of our team. So proud of that.
Disappointed in the way that we defended tonight. You know,
they hang fifty in the second half, eighty eight for
the game. You know, we haven't been a team that's
been poor defensively, but we didn't have it that way tonight.

(25:15):
I don't have a reason for it, because we were
really good defensively forty eight hours ago, So I don't
think there's any any type of reason or anything. But
we just didn't quite have it have the energy there
like I wanted. I thought dayda and was really good
shooting the ball tonight and was in rhythm. I thought
Dylan played two really good offensive games out here in

(25:38):
Las Vegas. You know, we probably needed a little more.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
Help there.

Speaker 6 (25:45):
But again, I think we score eighty. I think we
won every game this year and we got to that point.
So to score eighty and lose, it's pretty simple on
that one.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
Wes Miller after last night's eighty eight to eighty loss
to UCF, who the Bearcats beat in Orlando by ten.
Far more important than anything that happened in the Crown
is what's going to happen this offseason. This is a crucial,
crucial offseason for uc basketball, and it's an insanely important
offseason for Wes Miller. I think it is fair to

(26:20):
say that there is a lot of impatience and a
lot of frustration and some disaffection and You probably have
a lot of fans who are questioning whether or not
they're going to financially invest in tickets next year. Imagine
those things amplified if a year from now we're still
wondering when are the Bearcats going to make the NCAA Tournament.

(26:44):
This is an insanely important offseason. And I get the
sense that for a lot of folks, merely getting into
the tournament next year is not going to be enough.
I don't know that they sneak in play and date
and lose and everybody's gonna go, all right, mission accomplished.

(27:06):
Here we go like they have to put together a
team this season that can start to compete at the
upper level of the Big twelve. And that might sound
like an impossible task. But a couple of things. Number one,
how many games did they have this year against upper
level Big twelve teams that you knew they had almost
no chance to win? Number two, how many games did
they lose this year to non NCAA tournament teams where

(27:31):
you thought the Bearcats just lost to a team that
is either as good or inferior. Well, if you build
a better roster, you have more of a chance of
winning those games, not losing as many, and you don't
have as many games where you have no chance of
winning going in. You gotta rectify that this offseason. This
is I mean, it's it feels like we were talking

(27:52):
about this in late February, early March. It really hasn't changed.
I asked Chad Brendle yesterday, does he expect there to
be an exodus? And he says, yes, we'll see. I'm honestly,
I'm less interested in how many guys hit the portal
and more interested in what they do with the scholarship
spots they have open, because they've got to find some

(28:14):
guys who could play. They've got to find guys who
fit particular roles. They've got to put together a team
that is capable of physically matching what the Big twelve offers,
that is better on defense, that's better on the glass,
that's not getting pushed around as much. They've got to
find shooters. They've got to find guys who do more
than one thing. They have to figure out a way
to put a team on the floor next year. That

(28:35):
is a lot of the things that this year's team
was not. This year's team had almost no identity. That's
not a good thing. Next year's team needs to carve
out one. We'll see eighteen away from four o'clock. Kevin Egan,
host of MLS three sixty on Apple TV, joins us.

Speaker 7 (28:51):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 4 (28:57):
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(29:17):
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Speaker 2 (29:28):
Twelve away from four. This is ESPN fifteen thirty f
C Cincinnati is home tomorrow. Hopefully the stadium on the
west end is not underwater. The Orange and Blue coming
off a good road win against a Nashville team that
I had gotten off to a really good start to
their season back in home tomorrow, hosting the New England Revolution.
You can watch it on Apple TV's MLS Season Pass,

(29:51):
which if you haven't watched MLS three sixty on Apple TV,
it is so well done. It is a whip around
to every game in the league, and obviously you'll be
able to check in on f C Cincinnati as well.
It is hosted by Kevin Egan, who is no stranger
to our show and kind enough to give us a
few minutes this afternoon. Kevin, how are you mom? Even better?

Speaker 5 (30:12):
Listen to your voice. Good to hear you, Bud.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
It's good to be heard. Good to have you on.
Let me start with FC Cincinnati last week against Nashville.
I guess you can't talk about that performance, which was
badly needed, without talking about the play of Roman Celentano.

Speaker 5 (30:28):
Yeah, my god, it was the best I think I've
ever seen of Celentano, and we've seen some massive performances
from him. You know it called games with Cincinnati in
the playoffs where Celentano stood on his head and the
former Indiana Hoosier last week Mo, he was sensational. I mean,
the penalty save is one of the best penalty saves.
I've seen the strength in his arm to read it

(30:49):
the way he did, to react in the moment, the
way he did with that with that left hand, but
then the power in that moment to somehow get that
over the bar was phenomenal. And then to follow it
up for the ensuing corner kick to make three saves
on the bounce the way he did, and that that
kind of that stoic look afterwards as the team they
celebrated with him, he was clearly enjoying himself. But he's

(31:11):
been absolutely phenomenal.

Speaker 2 (31:13):
And the game itself. I mean, look, this has been
a weird start to the season for f C Cincinnati,
because of injuries, because of the the late in camp
acquisition of a vander, because of players playing for their
national teams, the club's participation in the Conka CAV Champions Cup.
It's been a weird start to the season. That win,
as early in the season as it was on Saturday

(31:34):
in Nashville felt badly needed, felt like it was worth
more than three points.

Speaker 5 (31:39):
You know, there's been points dropped this season for Cincinnati.
But I also think when it's all said and doing
later on the year, Cincinnati they will be a top
four team in the East. In my opinion, the injury
look that this team has had, it just can't continue
the way it's gone. It's just been absurd to think
about the situation last year, constant injuries throughout, constant rotation

(32:00):
in Pat Noon and not being able to list the
same eleven week in week out, and it's followed into
this year somehow. Even last week's victory MO against Nashville
on the road came at a cost. You know, Evander
is day to day now, we're hearing from the club
ahead of this weekend. You know that's a big, big
concern because he's been the MVP for this team alongside
Kevin denke Kubo is a big concern. Woboto is out

(32:21):
for the team tomorrow against New England. So the injury
continues to really bug this Cincinnati side, and Noonan's just
got to find a way around it. And you rely
on a guy like Smith that they bring in this season,
an MLS veteran who can contribute at the back for
a Cincinnati team desperately in need.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
You mentioned and you and I have talked about Pat
Noon in the past. If I've gotten him on my side,
I just assume he's going to figure out a way
to figure it.

Speaker 5 (32:47):
Out, because he's that sort of guy. He's pragmatic, he's
not going to overthink things. He's going to call it
as it is. I've often thought about this, you know,
if I was to play for any coach in the league,
if I was ever good to be a professional first
and foremost, and then I was good enough to play
in the league, who would I want to play for?
And I've said before it's Pat Noon, Because there's no

(33:09):
bs about this guy. He's your blue collar, hardworking but
also incredibly savvy when it comes to in game adjustments,
you know, working with Chris Albright, they've had a great
relationship for years now, bringing in top class talent like
a blockbuster move for Evander and being able to, you know,
entice a guy like Kevin Denke, a Golden Boot winner
from over in Belgium that had options to go elsewhere,

(33:31):
and there he is in Cincinnati, Ohio because of the
project under Pat Noon. And he's a remarkable coach. I
think he's a great human being from a few interactions
with him, and Cincinnati are lucky to have such a
good guy.

Speaker 2 (33:43):
Kevin Egan Apple TV MLS three sixty FC Cincinnati home
tomorrow for New England. At seven thirty, you talked about
the Eastern Conference and you mentioned you still think FC
Cincinnati is going to wind up in the top four.
Last year, in the regular season, we talked all year
long about it kind of being a three team race
between Miami, Columbus and Cincinnati, and then the playoffs got
underway and it was kind of a different story. It

(34:05):
feels like in the regular season that the East is
going to be a little bit more wide open, doesn't it.

Speaker 5 (34:12):
It feels that way because of the advancement of Nashville,
of Atlanta, and of Philadelphia in particular, those three teams
I think will challenge more so Atlanta and Philadelphia. I
think we'll challenge higher up the table. Philadelphia have got
it right so far under Bradley Cornell Barre both score goals,
and they've they've got some good defenders, Levinovitch a really

(34:32):
good addition at the back. And Atlanta spent fifty million
on their attack, so they've got to be there thereabouts.
So it's going to be a little bit jam packed. However,
I still think Cincinnati, with the crowd that they get
at TQL Stadium. The home field advantage needs to be key.
And then for me, Mo last year you go and
you set a record Cincinnati with thirty five points on
the road, You've got to back that up this year.

(34:54):
So to finally get that first victory on the road
last week was huge for them because when this team
is organized, it so difficult to play against, and road
points have been the superpower for the Cincinnati team in
recent years.

Speaker 2 (35:05):
I look at New England and I see a team
that won basically a month without scoring a goal three
goals in MLS played this season. Where do they provide
a threat tomorrow night?

Speaker 5 (35:16):
It's interesting with New England. They bring in fifteen new guys,
so where do they provide a threat? I think you've
got to shut down Carlos Hill. Carlos Hill is the
evander for New England. He's been an MVP in Major
League Soccer already. Without Leo Campana is a huge blow
for them. He's their big money move in the offseason,
coming in from into Miami. They've still got good pieces though,

(35:37):
They've still got like really intriguing pieces that I'm waiting
to see the best out of. And I'm thinking of
Langoni on the flank in midfield. They've hardened MLS veterans.
Here's the other interesting nugget. I was looking at the
numbers earlier. Though Cincinnati has never beaten New England at home.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
No, how is that even possible?

Speaker 5 (35:54):
But how is that possible? Given the Revs have been
so poor in recent years and the Revs last a
diabolical season still went to TQL and won the game.
So they've got to get it right tomorrow. It's got
to be right for pat Nowona, and it's got to
be a first win because anything less than all three
points tomorrow for Cincinnati, even without key pieces, is a
big disappointment.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
How do you watch all those games at once?

Speaker 5 (36:16):
I have a lot of fun doing them, a lot
of fun doing it. I think it's it's for me.
It's the best job in the world. And I don't
say that likely. I genuinely believe that because I love
the league. I always have. You know, I've spent I've
been in the country since two thousand and nine, have
heavily invested in Major League Soccer since started broadcasting the
league in twenty twelve, And for me to be able
to be alongside some of my great friends you know

(36:39):
in Sash, Brad Klin and Decks and have fun bouncing
from game to game as the goals go in. And
it's our job, obviously to educate, in form, entertain, and
bring you know, energy to a show that should absolutely
have that. It's high obtaining, it's in your face, it's
goal after goal, chance after chance, and we're telling you
all the best storylines along the way. It's just so
much fun. I'm literally smiling here to hear while I'm

(37:01):
doing it.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
Is and I'm a a broadcasting nerd. It is an
awesome production. I enjoy watching and we'll be tuned in
tomorrow night man. Thanks so much.

Speaker 5 (37:11):
I appreciate you so much.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
Mom.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
Take care, But that's our guy. Kevin Egan, host of
MLS three sixty on Apple TV, which is like the
NFL Red Zone channel for MLS FC Cincinnati hosting New
England tomorrow at seven thirty. You can watch it on
Apple TV, and of course you could listen to it
on ESPN fifteen thirty. There's a difference between being cheap

(37:33):
and making an evaluation. We'll apply that to the Bengals.
Then we'll jump back to the punchless reds It's coming
up on four o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty. Run a
business and not thinking about podcasting, Think again, ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 1 (37:46):
Thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (37:49):
There you go, it's four or four. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty on Oeger. Thank you for listening. Hopefully your
weekend is off to an awesome start. Awesome, I said, uh, five,
fifteen thirty is our phone.

Speaker 8 (38:05):
Though.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
It is interesting listening to that spot where they're trying
to get you to sign a petition so we can
get an arena to have the NCAA tournament. How many
years and like the late eighties and early nineties the
tournament was here. I remember that in nineteen ninety two.
In ninety two we had the tournament here. I think
we had Miami the Miami at the time, Redskins and

(38:29):
Ohio State both played in Cincinnati and UD Arena was
also hosting the NCAA tournament. The Bearcats played up there
against Delaware and then Michigan State, and uh, it's been
thirty three years, thirty three years and counting and counting. Uh.
Before we dive into the Bengals and Katie versus Trey,

(38:49):
which I think we're obligated to talk about every day
until there's a resolution. Let's take a phone call or two, five, three, seven, four,
nine fifteen thirty Rob, thank you for your patience here
on ESPN Fifth Team, thirty good afternoon.

Speaker 3 (39:02):
Uh yeah, no, thanks for taking my call. I'd like
to get your thoughts about this comparison of a current
Reds outfielder versus a former Reds outfielder. I'm speaking. I'm
speaking about Will Benson, who I think is a much
lesser version of the former Reds outfielder Drew Stubbs. Five

(39:27):
tool players who never come remotely close to realizing their potential.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
I mean, Drew Stubbs played nine years in the big leagues,
which is nothing as neezan, I mean, you know, was
he was? He ever? Maybe as good as advertised, Probably not.
But I mean Will Benson will be lucky to have
Drew stubbs career. And that's because Drew Stubbs played for
an awfully long time. I mean, he was the starting

(39:55):
center fielder for a team that won ninety seven games.
So I don't know, I don't know that that is
the world's most fair comparison to Drew saws Struck out
a lot. There's no getting around that Drew did not
walk enough for a guy who had his speed. He
was often miscast as a leadoff hitter, but he was
a very good defensive center fielder. Will Benson will be

(40:16):
very lucky to have a career approaching anything like Drew Stubbs.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
Well, my thought about Drew Stubbs is that because he would,
you know, you could make a good argument that he
was a five tool player. He just kept getting another
chance and another chance with different teams.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I don't know if that's
gonna happen with Will Benson or not. He's obviously being
given a second chance by the Reds in the organization,
but I mean it's look, he's not on the team
right now. So you know, they looked at Will Benson
last year and said he's going to have to earn
his way onto the roster. And while he did end
up putting up decent numbers once he got sent to

(40:57):
minor league camp, you know, he was given twenty five
at bats in big league camp. He's got five hits,
he struck out ten times, was not getting any better
at making contact. I don't know where Will Benson's baseball
career is going to take him. My guess is he'll
get a chance to play here in Cincinnati. And look
two years ago, Will Benson was one of the cooler
success stories right that team. In twenty twenty three, Will

(41:20):
Benson had an ops of eight sixty three. He was
a dude who contributed and that's why he was given
a very long leash last year. It didn't work out.
Time will tell if it works out between now and then.
But my guess is, especially if you look at the
back end of the Reds roster, Will Benson's going to
get another opportunity here. It will probably be his last,

(41:40):
and he'll either take advantage of it and continue to
get chances here or he won't, and then you know,
we'll see where he goes. With Drew Stubbs, I mean,
Drew was the starting center fielder here for quite a while,
and then he bounced around a little bit. He was
with the Rockies, he was with Cleveland when they were
still the Indians, played for the Braves. I think maybe
was with Texas a little bit, kind of bounced around.

(42:02):
But I think that the success that Will had in
Cincinnati enticed other teams to give him a chance. And
he was always a good defensive center fielder. He was
always a guy who could run and go get the
ball in center field. I don't know that defense is
going to be good enough to give Will Benson other
opportunities if his bat doesn't produce. I think Drew from

(42:23):
a defensive perspective, was a team was a guy that
teams were willing to give chances to or at least
include on the roster because at the very least you
could use him with his glove.

Speaker 3 (42:32):
All right, well, thank you for your thoughts.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
Rob, thank you. I mean, look, I'm not opposed to
calling up Will Benson. I'm in favor of doing anything
beyond what they're trying. At the bottom end of that outfield,
the back end of that roster, Jacob Hurdabees just does
not look like a big league player. Jacob Hurdabies and
Blake Dunn do not look like guys who would be

(42:55):
getting an opportunity for a team that had clear designs
on winning the World Series. And so if you swap
them out for Will Benson and we give Will Benson
another chance, fine, But Will Benson's a guy who was
given up on by the Guardians and who last year
was an absolute strikeout machine. Will Benson struck out him

(43:15):
more than one hundred and fifty times in less than
four hundred plate appearances and didn't stop striking out this spring.
So I'm not opposed to giving him a chance. My
guess is Will Benson's gonna be given one more opportunity.
I'm skeptical as to whether or not he'll take advantage
of it, and then we'll see what happens to him.
I don't know, but they need offensive help. They need

(43:38):
offensive help, and it's sad that we're in some respects
we're kind of back to where we were a year ago,
right talking about guys at the bottom end of the
roster not producing and wondering how can you replace him?
Who can you replace them with? And can you achieve
better results with whoever you can replace those guys with.

(43:58):
Last year it was Mike for Connor Caple, Jacob Herdabies,
and now we're wondering if Will Benson can be brought
back up to give this team a lyft. I don't
know what the better approach would have been, would have
been to go get more established players this offseason, guys
who are better than Will Benson, but better than Blake Dune,
guys who are better offensively in Santiago Espinal look. I

(44:21):
get at the Austin Hayes injury has put them in
a tough spot, but I keep coming back to what
many of us talked about during the offseason. It felt
like they were still a guy away, especially in the outfield.
Like Jake Frayley is is a guy who has done
some nice things in Cincinnati, and I know last year

(44:42):
he was dealing with a lot of off field stuff
because of what his child was going through. And I'm
not insensitive to that by any stretch, But if you
just look at him statistically, his numbers have gone down
year after year after year. Jake Fraley in that miserable
twenty twenty two season as a twenty seven year old
had an OPS of eight twelve. The following year seven

(45:04):
eighty three, the following year seven sixteen. Now right now
it's two twenty two, but chances are it's gonna look
closer to seven sixteen than it is eight twelve. We're
seeing a sudden drop off, but still the continuation of
a decline. And Jake Fraley's in his age thirty season.
He turns thirty next month, Like, we're not talking about

(45:26):
a twenty three year old guy who's just trying to
get experienced so he can be a part of the
whatever's next. Stude in his thirties. They chose to move
forward with him and a starring starting role. Like we
always talk about should they go all in? And I

(45:53):
always counter that with a question, what does all in mean?
Does all in mean you push every reconceivable chip toward
the center of the table, future be damned, or does
it mean make some decisions that involve some sacrifices long

(46:16):
term for the sake of bettering your chances of winning
right now. Two years ago, at the trade deadline, I
know this is not the first time I've brought this up.
The Reds were in it. They had a major issue
with starting pitching. I wanted to see the Reds go
for it. I didn't want to see the Reds go

(46:39):
all into the degree that they just spent carelessly, recklessly
and totally mortgage their future. But they didn't have to.
And if you go look at that year, the moves
that were made at the deadline did not involve a
lot of high end prospect capital. My question, then, is
the same as it is today about the trade deadline
two years ago. Why couldn't they have made a move

(47:02):
to upgrade the starting pitching when it wouldn't have cost
all that much. What move was out there that would
have had the Reds completely blowing up their chances of
winning long term? That team two years ago was worth
moving forward with. And by the way they finished two
games out of the Wildcard and the team they finished
two games behind made the World Series, it was worth

(47:26):
going for it. Not all in the Reds have a
starting staff right now now? Is this starting staff as
good as it's pitched so far? And maybe not, and
probably have some rough starts in front of them, But
Hunter Green, Nicolodolo, Carson Spires, Nick Martinez, and Brady Singer

(47:48):
have so far collectively been very, very good. Andrew Abbott's
gonna get added to that mix. Feels like they're gonna
punt Carson Spiders to the bullpen. We'll see. But the
starting staff has been really good and all of us
agreed during the off season that's the strength of the team.
If your team has that strength, and I mean like

(48:09):
dudes in their prime like hundred Green's established, Nick Lottolo
isn't quite as established, but the guy has been around
a while. Brady's singer is established, Nick Martinez is established.
That's a group worth going for it with. All in again,
what's your definition of all in? Doesn't mean spending recklessly carelessly?

(48:32):
Does it mean saying devil may care about twenty twenty seven,
twenty twenty eight, or does it mean saying, you know what,
we might be willing to move on from a guy
in our farm system. We might be willing to take
that hit. We might have to spend a little bit
more than we would like. That starting staff is worth

(48:53):
going for it with. I think at least you could
tell me if I'm wrong, Like that's that's what those
conference as are all about. I've said on a number
of occasions the Reds are gonna hit a point where
it's gonna be put up or shut up time. And
maybe it's the trade deadline this year, maybe it's next
offseason where it's like, dude, it's time to go for it.
I would argue, when you have a starting staff like

(49:14):
this one, which, by the way, the starting staff last
year was above league average. Everybody got hurt late, but
was a good starting staff. They didn't go for it
with that starting staff, why not go for it with
this one? You added to it. You went and got Singer.
You essentially got back into a corner. But you're still
paying Nick Martinez more than twenty one million dollars. You've
got Hunter Green, an All Star. You've got Nick Lodolo

(49:35):
who everybody likes. You've got Andrew Abbott who has shown promise.
You've got depth, You've got options. You've got some young
starters in the minor leagues that you could argue could
be a part of this rotation. That group is worth
going for it with. And instead Jake Frayley, Jacob Hrdaby's
Santiago Espinal, Blake Dunn Santiago Espinal maybe doesn't belong in

(49:58):
that conversation because he is a a versatile guy who
could play a bunch of different positions. But still a
starting staff you have that's worth going for it with.
And instead you went incomplete with your offense. They did.
And so maybe what we have seen this week is
an outlier. Maybe they're never gonna get shut out again.

(50:20):
Maybe they're never gonna get shut out in consecutive games again.
Maybe they'll never lose one nothing again. But what we
are dealing with is an extreme example of what we
thought was gonna be a problem to begin with. The
offense stinks, the offense has a low ceiling. What's frustrating
about that, or what's among the frustrating things about that
is the starting staff has been awesome, which is an

(50:43):
extreme example of what we thought the starting staff could be,
which is really really good. If you've got a really
good starting rotation, you go for it. Does it feel
to you this offseason like the Reds went for it
five point three seven four nine fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (51:04):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
I think there's a difference between a team being cheap
and a team making an evaluation that you might not
agree with. We'll get to that next on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
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Speaker 4 (51:20):
Don't let injuries slowing you down. You see health Orthopedics
and sports medicine experts and help keep you moving scheduling
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(51:43):
Carrol Cropper Bridge due to the ongoing lane restrictions like
break Shremp Bridge traffic.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
This report is spawns not be in less than thirty
minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty yesterday. Good stuff from James
Rapine on the Draft and Paul Dayner Junior on the
Trey Hendricks versus Katie Blackburn Dynamic. Listen to each, Listen
to both. Listen to all on the iHeartRadio app thanks
to a Long Necks Sports Grill. Because it's the Bengals,

(52:11):
Because it's the Bengals in a high profile contract dispute
with a player, many are gonna call them cheap. That's
a label the Bengals have had to wear often, and
you know, sometimes fairly so, I think often unjustifiably so.
I don't think you can be considered a cheap franchise

(52:31):
if you waited around for the contract value of your
top two wide receivers to go up, and then instead
of signing them for cheap, you waited and then signed
them for a lot more that's not being cheap. That's
not being cheap at all. I think there's a difference
between being cheap and just making perhaps an unpopular evaluation.

(52:56):
I think with Trey Hendrickson, and you can tell me
if you think I'm wrong, I don't believe the Bengals
are being cheap. My guess is if Trey Hendrickson were
twenty seven years old coming off a seventeen and a
half sack season, they would be begging him to sign
long term and would be willing to make him the
highest paid player at his position. But he's not twenty

(53:18):
seven years old, and so what they are doing is
they are assessing Trey Hendrickson not in twenty twenty four,
but they're making an assessment of him and the sort
of player he's going to be in twenty twenty six,
during which he's going to turn thirty two years old,
or twenty twenty seven. During that season he'll turn thirty

(53:41):
three years old, or maybe even twenty twenty eight. During
that season follow along he's going to turn thirty four
years old. Their evaluation, which may be proven to be incorrect,
may be proven to be correct, is they're they think
his best seasons are behind him, and by the ways,
those are really good seasons. It's really really hard to

(54:05):
have not just the last two years, but the last
four years that Trey Hendrickson has had. There's a very
good chance every athlete has a career best year. There's
a very good chance that even if he plays another
ten seasons, that twenty twenty four is going to prove
to be Trey Hendrickson's best year. So it's an evaluation.

(54:26):
Their evaluation is if we're going to be paying him
thirty two million dollars in his age thirty three or
age thirty four season, that's not a great investment. If
we're going to be paying him more, we should expect
more production. Chances are we're not going to get more production.

(54:46):
We're going to be getting less. And so at the price,
at the the dollar amount that Trey Hendrickson and his
agent want, that doesn't make a lot of sense to us.
It's an evaluation. It's not being cheap, like I would
like to think all of us, and maybe more so
in today's climate, all of us when we make financial decisions,

(55:08):
it's not so much about the sheer amount of money
that you're looking to spend or invest or save or whatever.
It's about what you're getting for that money, right, You're
making an evaluation of the worth of the investment or
whatever it is you're buying, or whatever it is you're
supposed to be getting with your money. That's all it is.
It's not being cheap like Jesse Bates. They have gotten

(55:31):
the Jesse Bates thing wrong. Jesse Bates is no longer here,
I don't believe, at least not because the Bengals are cheap,
but because they held safety. They valued safety at a
certain place where maybe they should have valued it a
little bit more because they didn't have a plan in

(55:52):
place that worked, because Dax Hill didn't work out, and
the plan to replace Jesse Bates hasn't worked out, and
maybe they put little bit too much stock in the
twenty twenty one season where Jesse's play was kind of uneven.
They made an evaluation of him, and Jesse has made
them pay for it. I don't think it was so
much about the raw amount of money. It was how

(56:13):
they value the position, how they evaluated his play, how
they evaluated how much he was going to age, how
they evaluated Dax Hill. They got it wrong, you know,
everybody brings up Andrew Whitworth, which is almost ten years old.
I don't think they were cheap with Andrew Whitworth. I
think they looked at him and said, here's a player
in his mid thirties. There's a really good chance his

(56:35):
best years are behind him, and so maybe it's time
to find somebody younger. Maybe it's time to reinvest that
money elsewhere. Maybe it doesn't make a lot of sense
for us to be paying him top end money when
you know he is in his mid thirties and players
in their mid thirties often drop off. Well, good for
Andrew Whitworth because he proved their evaluation to be incorrect.

(56:55):
He played at a really high level for a really
long time, won a Super Bowl, and it's probably now
going to the Hall of Fame. I don't think it
was being cheap. It was making an evaluation. Duke Tobin
has done a poorer job of evaluating some of these players.
They've done a poorer job of executing a plan to
replace some of these guys. I would be willing to

(57:16):
bet the Trey Hendrickson conversations a lot different, both internally
and externally, had they gotten it right with Miles Murphy.
And by the way, you're being very reasonable if you
have a lot of distrust with Duke Tobin and you
look at this draft with not a lot of enthusiasm
because you don't think Duke is going to get it right,
and this draft is uber important. I mean, I think

(57:37):
this draft is going to determine whether or not the
Bengals win a Super Bowl with Joe Burrow. That sounds extreme,
but I think it's true. I think this draft this
year is going to have a lot to say about
whether or not the Bengals ever won a title with
Joe Burrow as the quarterback. And Duke Tobin's the one
in charge of it. He's the one in charge of
evaluating these players or signing off in evaluations, or in

(57:59):
some cases maybe determining whether or not to make a trade,
trade down, that sort of thing. It's a huge draft,
but with Trey Hendrickson, and again you may disagree with
the evaluation. You may look at Trey and go, this
is a guy who takes his craft seriously. If they
build the right pieces around him, you could still get
a lot out of them, and it's worth the amount

(58:19):
of money that you would be paying if they paid
what Trey wants. And by the way, I don't think
anybody has ever said the Bengals don't want Trey Hendrickson
here long term. You know, we talked about this a
little bit yesterday, the whole you know, Katie Blackburn's point about, well,
he's gonna have to be happy, Like I think that's, hey,
we've offered him X he wants. Why if he wants
to stay here and sign, he's gonna have to be

(58:40):
happy with X. I don't think that's that's a bad
I don't think it's a bad take. I don't think
it's a bad place to be. I don't think it's
an incorrect perspective. And I certainly don't think it's the
Bengals being cheap. Being cheap is just not being willing
to spend anything. I don't think it's frugality. I don't
think it's cheap. I don't think it's being tight with
a penny. I think it's dude's going to be thirty

(59:01):
one at the end of the season. He's already under contract.
We think his best years are behind him. We don't
want to pay him top end money if we're not
going to be getting top end production Trey Hendrickson. The
beauty of sports is whether it's in a Bengals uniform
or somewhere else, he's going to have an opportunity to
prove that evaluation wrong, which Jesse Bates has done, which

(59:25):
Andrew Whitworth did. But I think the Bengals have, and
you could criticize them for a lot of things, a
good track record when it comes to paying their absolute
best guys in their prime. I think the Bengals view
Trey Hendrickson's prime as closing down pretty soon. Again, maybe
time will tell they got that evaluation wrong. But it's

(59:48):
not being cheap. There's a difference between being cheap and
making a financial decision based on your evaluation of the
asset we're talking about, of the investment we're talking about,
in this case, the player we're talking about. I want
to know how concerned we should be about Austin Hayes
and his calf. Doctor Adam Messler from Orthosinc. He helps

(01:00:09):
us with that.

Speaker 7 (01:00:10):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 4 (01:00:18):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. Don't let injuries slowing
you down. You see health Orthopedics and sports medicine experts
at you seehealth dot com Traffic sewing seventy five North
nottton Norwood Lateral. I've got the center lane plot two
lanes taking up seventy five southpoint after Union Center watchword
delays and a breakdown seventy five North Ronald Reagan Highway

(01:00:40):
by Rick Shremp with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
Meds are a service at Kelsey's Chevrolet Home mom and
lifetime powertrain protection and a guarantee credit approval from their
family to yours life. Kelseysheve dot com Redsen Brewers again
tonight eight ten This evening seven hundred, WLW has it
Nick Martinez and Lefty Tyler, alexand and on the Hill.
No lineup out yet Tonight. Alexis Diaz is said to

(01:01:05):
begin a rehab assignment at TRIPAA Louisville, and Chase Burns
said to make his professional debut tonight for the Dayton Dragons. Elsewhere,
FC Cincinnati is getting sent to play a home game
tomorrow against New England that's at seven thirty from the
soccer venue in the West end of Cincinnati. Hear it
on ESPN fifteen thirty College basketball. The final fours are

(01:01:27):
this weekend final fours. That's right. You have the women's
final four, which has never ever, ever, ever been more
high profile. Obviously no Caitlin Clark this year, but you
have a pair of ones against each other, Texas and
South Carolina. And then you have A two versus A one,
Connecticut versus UCLA. This is now eight consecutive final fours

(01:01:49):
where there's been no team seated below A three, and
nobody is getting big mad about it. On the men's side,
we have four number ones. We have Duke and Houston.
I'm rooting for Houston. If Houston beats Auburn, I think
I win the office port. But also I've been rooting
for Houston all season long. I think Duke's gonna win.
Not exactly going out on a limb Duke Florida Final, Duke.

(01:02:13):
I think the final is gonna be awesome no matter
what we'll see if these games tomorrow are great, but
you could find those games on Fox Sports thirteen sixty
hockey this evening. The Cyclones play home games tonight and tomorrow,
and then with the exception of a couple of road games,
they are done. Kalamazoo Intown tonight, Toledo in Town tomorrow afternoon.

(01:02:34):
We do this typically on Wednesdays. My schedule this week
was a little bit different because I was off on Wednesday.
So we're doing it now. It's our weekly look at
injuries with one of the experts from Orthos sincey Orthopedics
and sports medicine. By the way, they have fixed my neck.
My neck bothered me all throughout the fall and for
most of the winter, and in February I went and

(01:02:56):
saw my guy, doctor Angel Velaskaz at Orthos Cincy and
they took care of me. And my friend Courtney recently
had her acl fixed at Ortho Since Ortho since he
does it all. They've got specialist locations and services all
over the Tri State, including walkin orthopedic urgent care at
five locations, and extended evening and weekend hours in Edgewood

(01:03:17):
and Anderson. Learn more at Orthosincy dot com. That's orthos
ci Ncy dot com. Doctor Adam Exler from Orthosinci is
with us. I want to ask you about Austin Hayes,
the Reds outfielder who is a start of the season
on the injured list. He is dealing with a left
calf strain. And I guess for me what stands out

(01:03:38):
about this is this is similar to the injury that
he suffered last year, a calf strained same leg kept
him out of action in April. And may so let
me start with that is the fact that he has
dealt with this before. Is is that something that we
should should be a little bit more concerned about than usual?

Speaker 8 (01:03:56):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:03:56):
I think yes, a little bit for sure.

Speaker 8 (01:03:59):
Anytime you've one injury to one area of a muscle,
it does predispose to increase risk of re injury. Hopefully
these these are more precautionary measures, just trying to keep
it from becoming worse.

Speaker 5 (01:04:12):
But yeah, you should always kind.

Speaker 8 (01:04:13):
Of consider that if you've had an injury once to
a muscler, it's can to increase your risk of a
future injury to that muscle.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
I also think often about muscles. This time year, it's
cold out right, and so the Reds are playing maybe
not this week because they're indoors, but they're playing a
lot of cool weather games. Does that have any impact
on something like this?

Speaker 8 (01:04:30):
Yeah, absolutely, there's some reasonable evidence that without appropriate warm
up that you can increase risk of muscle strain. Hamstring,
quad muscle, calf muscle like this, there's an increased risk
of these strain injuries and partial tearing.

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
What are some of the determining factors that Dell weigh
when deciding whether or not he can come back.

Speaker 8 (01:04:52):
Yeah, I mean, ideally we want to be pretty much
pain free as we return to play. For a calf strain,
they're going to make sure range of motion that ankle
is good, making shore that we're able to pass functional testing,
so sports specific testing. Can he run, cut, plant, change direction,
push off, and throw that without having pain? And you know,
if they determine that he's a high percentage of normal function,

(01:05:15):
then they'll let him return back to play as long
as he passes those functional testing protocols they have in place.

Speaker 2 (01:05:20):
And then when it comes to an injury like this,
can you remind us of the different grades that are used.

Speaker 8 (01:05:25):
Yeah, so we use a generic term for these sprain
strained tear. We all they're they're interchangeable, and in a
grade three is a complete tear any of those muscles
or tendons, and so grade three is the worst. Grade
two is a partial pull, partial strain sprain tear, and
a grade one is a mile more mild partial strain

(01:05:45):
or sprain to that that muscle or tendon, and so
Grade three is the worst uh and a longer recovery,
particularly for a calf muscle itself.

Speaker 2 (01:05:53):
We're not talking.

Speaker 8 (01:05:54):
About achilles here, an achilles tear like a Deshaun Watson injury,
that's a complete tear. Those those are season ending injuries
and require surgery. These calf muscle strains, Grade three can
take months sometimes to recover. Grade one can take just
a few weeks.

Speaker 2 (01:06:08):
The other major injury we've been talking a lot about
is the one that Tyler Stevenson is dealing with, and
April seventh is going to be a big day for him.
That's Monday. He is going to undergo another MRI and
hopefully get closer to returning to the field. He has
obviously started the season on the injury list with an
oblique injury. So that MRI give me an idea what
they're looking for.

Speaker 8 (01:06:29):
Yeah, So on the MRA, we're looking for, obviously the muscles,
these the bleak muscles, are the muscles kind of on
the side of our abdominal muscles, to the side of
our body. And what we're going to be looking for
specifically on that MRIs to actually see less inflammation, less
what we call signal or white. So healing is going
to be noted in the lack of white or inflammation

(01:06:50):
on the MARA. That's what we're looking for on these scans,
and so once we see healing will be determined based
on the fact we're I'm going to be seeing that
white signal or a little bit or fluid within the muscle.
That'll suggest that at least based on an MRI, that
we have evidence that there's less swelling inflammation associated with
that oblique strains. That's at least on an MRI. How

(01:07:11):
we look at it clinically, he needs to be able
to do batting, hitting, throwing, catching, in movements behind the
plate in order for us to clear him for a
return to the professional course.

Speaker 2 (01:07:24):
Yeah, you kind of went where I was going to
go next. How much does it complicated the nature of
Tyler's position?

Speaker 8 (01:07:31):
Yeah, I mean I think you're constantly reaching, you know,
around and forward and back for playing catcher. I think
it probably makes it a little bit more challenging. I
think that's why they're, in my opinion, being a little
bit more cautious as they allow them to progress back
behind the plate, and certainly errant pitches and things like
that can put you in odd positions and really pull
those oblique muscles, and probably more so than than other areas,

(01:07:55):
other field positions and behind sutches. So that's probably the
reasons are being more cautious than other positions.

Speaker 2 (01:08:00):
There's one more that I want to ask you about.
This is not a Cincinnati read. I want to ask
you about show Hey O Tommy because I was listening
to a discussion on the MLB Network and they were
talking about his return to the mound because he had
Tommy John surgery late in twenty twenty three. Now, he
played last year and was awesome as a DH, winning
the NLMVP Award. He was the best player on the

(01:08:20):
team that won the World Series. Yet he didn't pitch,
and the question was asked and there were no medical
experts at the desk. The question was asked or they
were talking about the fact that he was so good
with the bat despite the fact that he was coming
off of Tommy John surgery which kept him from pitching. He's, obviously,
when he's healthy, a two way player, and so it
made me wonder, how can you have a procedure like that,

(01:08:41):
not be able to pitch, but still hit and I
guess to a degree hit as effectively as he did.

Speaker 8 (01:08:48):
Yeah, I mean, I think one thing that we forget
in these these are elite athletes with unique skill sets
that most of us average people don't have. And so
I think part of it is just being genetically gifted
and having the ability to be the size and strength

(01:09:09):
and you know, muscles that he has is just so
unique that they can accommodate or account for that. And
I think the reason why you can bat is you
can figure out ways to unload the auto clutter ligament
to Tommy John surgery, if you're bracing or if it's
the non depending on what side your right handed, you know, pitcher,
but you're batting left handed, different ways that you can

(01:09:29):
accommodate or through bracing protocols to protect that arm during hitting.
And the load isn't anything near when you hit compared
to when you throw. The amount of force and torque
on the elbow joint that high velocity is just it's
just insane with that elbow has to hold as you're pitching.
From what we call the late cocking to early acceleration

(01:09:51):
phase when you're in that full backswing to coming into
your initials follow through to pitch the ball. Amount a
torque on that auto clatter ligament that Tommy John ligan,
if you will, it's just so insane that the batting
doesn't even come close to approaching that amount of fork.
And so I think with exceptions and appropriate player understanding,
you can make some exceptions for patients like that. Certainly

(01:10:12):
in the youth level, we're going to be very cautious
and not you know, put our youth at risk compared
to that. But we're also talking about someone who's worth
hundreds of millions dollars and obviously very effective when he's
out there on the field and hitting, but holding back
in the pitchecking opportunities that he has to protect his
Tommy John surgery, as UCL surgery, and the fact start

(01:10:34):
he had two of those.

Speaker 2 (01:10:35):
There's no procedure in baseball we talk about more than
Tommy John. He's had it twice. You know, I think
of tj Antone with the Reds, who has had the
procedure twice. There are a lot of pitchers, a lot
of players who have at once come back and they're
good to go and never have to deal with anything
like that again. And then you have instances like this
where either the surgery happens again, or in TJ's case,

(01:10:55):
the surgery happens again and he still deals with elbow issues.
Why was on athletes does that particular procedure not take
as well as it does to others?

Speaker 8 (01:11:05):
I mean, I think it's unfortunately, like any of there's
lots of variables to go into that question, and.

Speaker 5 (01:11:10):
There's different ways.

Speaker 8 (01:11:13):
So there's been some evolution of the sertical technique that
we think has kind of helped our patients return back safely.
But when you look at the overall return to professional pitching,
you look at the data behind that after a primary
honor clotter ligament Tommy John surgery, you're looking at eighty
ninety percent of professional pitchers are able to return back
to the mound after you do a revision or a

(01:11:33):
redo of that. That never's going to drop again, maybe
in like the sixties and seventies because you're redoing something else.
The question is is why do some people, why are
they able to make it successfully back and others aren't.
I think it's it's just a matter of you know,
a well done technical surgery with great rehab, even that
can still not be enough for bide overall stability for

(01:11:55):
an elbow. And sometimes, unfortunately things can reinjury to become
re injured, or you can get injured. And I always
cray with my patients. You know, I say, look, you know,
you injure yourself to say it's an ACL injury or
UCLA to the elbow. You tore what you were born with.
Even a perfect surgery, you can care what we do. Unfortunately,
and I think sometimes pitch just don't want to hear that,
but that's really the truth. I mean, if you tear

(01:12:16):
your native ACL by playing a sport, even at perfect surgery,
you can recare what we do. And so their inherent
risks with with surgeries, and there's inherent failure rates. And basfully,
with data, we can at least give our pictures and
our athletes a reasonable number to know what they're kind
of getting involved with. But unfortunately, the more surgery you
have to any joint, including the elbow, and more Tommy

(01:12:36):
John surgeries, the less likely you are to make it
back to the mound, and the more likely you are
to have problems with that elbow just from more surgery
to that area.

Speaker 2 (01:12:45):
That's as good of an answer as I ever could
have expected. Awesome stuff. I appreciate the time as always.
Have a great weekend. Man, thanks so.

Speaker 8 (01:12:52):
Much, thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:12:54):
You got a doctor Adam Metzler from Morethos since I
say it every single week because it's true. The great
thing about or So since he is They've got specialists
and locations across the tri State. This includes walk in
orthopedic urgent care weekdays nine am to nine pm and
on Saturdays nine am to one pm at both Edgewood
and Anderson. It's easy because you don't need an appointment

(01:13:15):
and it's definitely cheaper than going to an er. Whenever
you have an urgent orthopedic injury, go to Orthosinc dot com.
That's Ortho ci Ncy dot com. Brendiman and Jones on Baseball.

Speaker 7 (01:13:28):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 4 (01:13:33):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. Don't let injuries slowing
you down. You See Health Orthopedics and sports medicine experts
at you See Health dot com. Seventy five southbound after
Union Center. Two lanes. Left lanes are blocked with a
crash accident two seventy five westbound approaching Taylor Mill and
two seventy five south off Frampton Milford Parkway. When we

(01:13:56):
have a crash, please on the scene by brick Shrimp
with traffic.

Speaker 1 (01:13:59):
This reporting fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (01:14:04):
All right, there you go, what's up. It's four minutes
after five o'clock. This is ESP fifteen thirty. Thank you
for listening. It is the Mikelo Ultra five o'clock Happy Hour,
which it is every day at five o'clock. But there's
no better Mikeelo Ultra Happy hour than the five o'clock

(01:14:26):
Happy Hour on Friday. So get your weekend off to
a great start with a nice cold Micheloi Ultra Superior
light beer. Perfect for active people as you'd cheer your
team on, Enjoy a nice cold michelob Ultra enjoy responsible.
We thank them, We thank you for listening. Hopefully your
weekend is off to an awesome start. You know's what's interesting.

(01:14:50):
You know what's interesting about what Katie Blackburn had to
say this week about Trey Hendrickson. I'll tell you what's
interesting about it coming up in just about thirty minutes
getting said for a baseball game tonight. Remember Tuesday, Remember
Tuesday afternoon, Tuesday. I had a very short show, twenty
two minute show on Tuesday after UC's game in the Crown.

(01:15:12):
They won that game, and then I was on afterward.
I had a twenty two minute show, and I was disappointed,
not because UC was in the Crown, but I know
there are certain days where you just you got a
lot that you want to talk about, you got a
lot that you want to say, and Tuesday was one
of those days because of what the Reds did on
Monday night with the Reds fourteen runs, Ellie de la

(01:15:32):
Cruz drove in seven, Ellie had a big game, Matt
McClain had a big game, Brady Singer was awesome. So
you had the game itself, and you had all the
cool Ellie stuff to talk about, and you know, we
were talking about like the Ellie Show and how cool
it is to have a player like this and the
one two punch of Matt McLain and Ellie de la Cruz.
And then on top of that, yeah, you had the

(01:15:55):
whole mini nontroversy with you know, remember the game on
Monday where they showed the home run celebration where they've
got a money gun. I think that's what it's called
a gold money gun, and when guys hit home runs,
they're shooting fake dollar bills in the air and they're
making it rain on the guy who just hit the
home run. And on the TV broadcast, Jim Day was

(01:16:16):
explaining it, and you know, he kind of explained to
the audience that, well, they're kind of needling a little
bit their manager, Terry Francona, because Terry loves to play cards,
and you know, Terry's saying is a team that gambles
together wins together. And then, of course, because there's always
pearl clutching, you had pearl clutching, and you had people
who were like, oh no, this is just unacceptable because

(01:16:39):
they're flaunting gambling and they're not paying any attention to
the fact that people can lose their house on betting
on baseball. And we made fun of the pearl clutching
because how do you not make fun of pearl clutching,
especially when the people clutching their pearls kind of missed
the point that nobody was talking about Red's players or
Tito betting on baseball. Remember that that was Tuesday. Boy,

(01:17:01):
I miss those days. I miss the days when the
biggest problem the Reds we're dealing with was people being
mad at the fake money gun and Tito Francona liking
to play cards. Because here we are three days later,
and since then the Reds haven't scored. It's it's remarkable

(01:17:22):
free consecutive one nothing losses, first team since the nineteen
sixty Phillies. And you're only going to depress yourself even
further if you go back and look at how bad
the nineteen sixty Phillies were. The Red starting pitching has
been unbelievable. Not that the bullpen has been awful, but
the Red starting pitching right now. And it's early, but

(01:17:42):
among all starting staffs in baseball, Red starters lead the
league in best walks and hits per innings pitch ratio.
They have the lowest opponents batting average against just one
fifty one. Red starting pitchers lead Baseball in innings pitched
per start lead Baseball. They're third in Baseball and starting

(01:18:07):
pitchers ERA two point six. The strikeout to walk ratio
is very good, thirty nine to seven. Last night Nicolodola
was terrific. The night before that. The day before that,
I guess Hunter Green was terrific. The night before that,
Carson Spiers was awesome. The Reds have nothing to show
for it, by the way, and this is something we're
gonna be keeping tabs on all year. Last year, the

(01:18:29):
Reds season was sunk because they were so bad in
one run games, right with fifteen and twenty nine. Well
so far this year. They lose three straight one run
games this week, and then you add to it, like
Opening Day was a one run game in the ninth inning,
and you add to it the game on Sunday last
week was a one run game in the eighth inning.
They're losing close games, they're losing really well pitch games.
They're wasting good starting performances. This is deeply, deeply frustrating,

(01:18:55):
deeply frustrating for I guess a lot of different reasons,
not the least of which is their win wasting really
good starting pitching, which you cannot do and expect to win.
You can describe the Reds offense in a lot of
different ways. Punchless, meek, feeble, putrid, problematic, woeful, whatever whatever
adjective you want to use, however, you want to describe

(01:19:16):
what you're watching or what you're seeing when you watch
the Reds offensively. What it is not is surprising. Now,
is it surprising to get shut out three straight games?
I guess on some level it is. Is it surprising
to lose three straight one nothing games? Well, since it
hadn't happened in sixty five years, I guess it is.
But the offensive ceiling for the Cincinnati Reds in twenty

(01:19:40):
twenty five is probably not very high. And when your
offense has a low ceiling, chances are it also has
a low floor. It's frustrating to me that the Reds
just got swept in three consecutive games. And it's frustrating,

(01:20:04):
and it's disappointing, and it's maddening and it's sobering. What
it is not is disappointing because this is the team
the Reds chose to go with. Now, yes, they're without
Austin Hayes, and I think Austin Hayes will help whenever
he's healthy, and they're without Tyler Stevenson. And Tyler Stevenson
was one of their best three hitters last season, an
All Star caliber catcher, but I'm sorry, man. You have

(01:20:28):
to just sort of account for injury. You do that
by building depth. When Tyler Stevenson got hurt, no knock
on Jose Travino, it wasn't about what they're not getting
a catcher, It was they need Tyler Stevenson because the
outfield is probably not very good. And when Austin Hayes
got hurt, the observation many of us made was, that's
really debilitating because outside of Austin Hayes, who do you

(01:20:50):
count on in this outfield? And when Spencer Steer's arm
we found out the shoulder will not stop bothering him.
He looks like he's basically playing with one arm right now.
The observation many of us made was, holy crap, no Steer,
no Stevenson, no Hayes. Like they're not ready for this
because they're sifting through Stuart Fairchild and Jacob hurd It

(01:21:11):
Bees and Blake Don last night starting lineup. The outfield
spots and the corners were occupied by Santiago Espinal and
Blake Done. They chose this. They chose to go forward
with Jake Freley as one of their candidates to be
a starting outfielder. Jake Frayley is a really nice dude.

(01:21:33):
Jake Fraley is a player whose numbers have dropped every
single year. He turns thirty this season. You can't be
that surprised that a team that is constructed the way
it is offensively is going through struggles to this depth.

(01:21:54):
You can't. That's an indictment on Nick Krawl. That's an
indictment on Nick Krawl. We can make from one of
the fact that the Francoto effect hasn't taken effect. He added,
we could blame some of these individual players. Terry Francona.
Nick Krawl did some good work this offseason, legitimately good work.
The Brady Singer acquisition. It's only one start. It looks

(01:22:15):
like a good pickup. And I was a proponent of
what they did getting Gavin Lux and I think Austin
Hayes is a good pickup and good pictures out of
the bullpen right like there's but it's like he did.
He did seventy percent of the work and then walked
off the job. This felt like an unfinished, incomplete roster
weeks ago. An unfinished incomplete roster cannot afford injury, cannot

(01:22:42):
afford to lose a potential All Star catcher cannot afford
to lose a corner outfielder like Austin Hayes cannot. So
what they are dealing with right now may prove to
be an outlier, may prove to be something that you know,
ends up in the grand scheme of things, being something
that we look back gone and laugh. But it's not

(01:23:02):
very surprising, not very surprising. So here we are, by
the way of reading this from Gordon Wittmeyer of the
Cincinnati Inquired, Terry Francona is not going to manage the
game tonight. He is sick. So uh. Francona, along with

(01:23:27):
several Red staffers and players. This is from Gordon seventeen
minutes ago. Terry Francona and a bunch of Red staffers
and players are sick today. The team will not specify
who's unavailable, but they expect to have plenty for the game.
Francona is not going to manage. Freddy Benavitez will manage instead.

(01:23:51):
You might remember Freddy managed the final five games of
the season last year once David Bell got fired. Mike
Napoli will coach at first base. Collin and cal Gil
the first base coach has been sidelined by the sickness,
the bug that has spread its way through the rest
of the team. I have not tarn have you seen
a starting lineup yet? Not yet, So the already shorthanded

(01:24:14):
Reds who haven't, Is that gonna be the excuse? Well,
not just wait until they get rid of this bug.
I'll pay attention to that. Hopefully everybody's okay, But this
is an endictment against Nick Crawl. It just if this
and it's only seven games, and I know it's only
seven games, Like I understand a couple of things about
that number one. And it feels like every year we're

(01:24:37):
told that the slow start is something they'll get over.

Speaker 3 (01:24:39):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:24:40):
To be fair, last year, last year, the Reds won
nine of the first fifteen, which is pretty good. They
ended April with a winning record I think sixteen and fourteen.
But you know, you have to go back. You had
to go back a long time to find the last
time the Reds had a winning record on April thirtieth.
Before last year. It feels like every year we deal
with this, we deal with the Reds getting off to
a low start, and then we have to hear from

(01:25:02):
these you know, rose colored glasses, folks who I want
them to be right, telling us there's time, it's early,
don't worry, and they never really completely turn it around.
So why am I supposed to give this team the
benefit of the doubt? Also, where are the fix is
gonna come from? Gonna be Will Benson and Louisville or

(01:25:27):
Reese Hines or Noelve Marte. Neither individual is somebody that
is worth giving up on or not worth giving a
chance to. But I don't know, man, Like we do
it every year, we talk about got to avoid the
slow start, got to get off to a good start.

(01:25:49):
But the best way to do that is to not
start too and five. The best way to not start
two and five is to go north with a complete roster.
Spencer was going to be put on the injured list
until the injured list got so populated they had no
choice but to use them to keep them active because

(01:26:12):
there's no one else. We're watching Blake dunplay, We're watching
Santiago Espanol play in the outfield start games. It feels
a lot like last year when we were watching the
Connor Caples and Mike Fords of the world and the
Nick Martinez of the world. This organization's brand. And you

(01:26:35):
may not like this, but part of this organization's brand
is that it's it's not going to go all the way.
It's not going to go to the depths of the
earth to feeld the best possible team. Maybe you may
argue an unfair brand, but that's their brand. Like you ask,
most people are the reds in organization that will do

(01:26:58):
whatever it can to win. Most are going to say no,
this offseason was not unproductive. But when you looked at
the roster at the end of spring training, if you
are like me, and for your sake, for the most part,
I hope you are not, did you look at that
roster and go, yeah, you know what. The front office

(01:27:19):
did everything it could to put together the best possible
twenty six man roster. I don't think the answer is yes.
And since the answer is not yes, when they struggled
to the extent they have offensively, it's not surprising. And
when your struggles are not surprising, you have not done
your job as the person in charge of assembling the roster. Sorry,

(01:27:48):
And the shame of it all is the starting staff
has been awesome. What's frustrating is the starting staff was
worth building around was worth going maybe not all in with,
but more in with than they have recently. They chose
not to. They chose to have an okay at best offense.

(01:28:11):
And when your absolute best is only okay, is only
league average? Your worst looks like the last three nights
the Bengals over the last couple of years, it has
felt like they sought to have a league average defense.
When you're ceiling is league average you saw with your
defense last year? What worst case looks like? It looks
like having a defense that is so bad that you

(01:28:33):
can't make the playoffs when Joe Burrow has an MVP
caliber season. Now, the Bengals at the end of the
year played well defensively, but part of that was bad
quarterback play. But we said it all yearlong, said it
all off season going into the season, Right, the Bengals
just have a league average defense. Okay, fine, but if
best case is league average, worst case is, well, what

(01:28:55):
you saw last year, same with us year is Red's
offense offenses, well, they're kind of league average. Worst case
is frankly, what it's looked like this week, and what
they've done this week is waste really really, really good
starting pitching we'll see if things change starting tonight nineteen

(01:29:18):
minutes after five o'clock five one, three, seven, four nine,
fifteen thirty is our phone number. We'll try to get
word from Milwaukee on who's available tonight. But there's a
sickness permeating its way through the team, and I'm I'm
sure the people who use their online presence to carry
the water for this franchise are running to their keyboards
to tell the rest of us that this is why

(01:29:39):
they're not scoring runs. Phone calls are coming up, and
I wonder who Katie Blackburn was speaking for. I will
make that make sense coming up at about fifteen minutes
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (01:29:53):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:29:58):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center.

Speaker 4 (01:30:00):
Don't let injuries slowing you down. You see health orthopedics
and sports medicine experts can help keep you moving. Schedule
the same day appointment at you sehealth dot com. Seventy
one southbound after taft accident on their shoulder and two
seventy five approaching Taylor Mill. The accident here is off
on the right hand side Ronald Reagan Highway. Moving better
at blue ash. We understand police are clear that crash

(01:30:22):
by Rick Shrimp with traffic

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4/4/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

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