5/22/24 - The Mo Egger Show

The Reds win and David Bell throws a chair. Plus the Bengals ring of honor nominees are revealed, I tell you who I think should be in.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Go on in yes much after doyour thing. Bengals season ticket holders and
sweet holders vote for lap. We'llspend time on that a little bit later
on Get afternoon. My name's Mallegger. You're listening to ESPN fifteen thirty.
Thank you for spending part of yourWednesday afternoon with us. My thanks to

(00:21):
Chad Brendel for pinchhitting yesterday. Ihad to take the day off. I'm
not allowed to talk about why Ihad to take yesterday off. The reason
why I had to take yesterday offended up not even happening. But I
still took the day off because well, Chad was set to fill in and
it was really nice out yesterday.So anyway, thanks to a Chad for
for filling in one day. Oneday. I'm either going to write a

(00:45):
book about the last eleven months ofmy life or maybe do a podcast.
I did like a podcast about whatthe last eleven months of my life have
have been like. It was well, we were supposed to to do something
yesterday. I'm not allowed to talkabout it, but I badly want to.
This is tough. This is oneof those things, one of those
times when you do what I dofor a living, there's something on your

(01:06):
mind, there's something happening in yourlife, and you're told you can't talk
about it. But I do,but I won't. I will talk about
the Bengals Ring of Honor. Thatthe ballot is out, the list of
players who are up for induction thisyear. They're going to have two for
the Monday night game against Washington,and we'll roll through the ballot. I
think one of the choices is veryvery obvious, the other maybe not so

(01:26):
much. I have my preferences.I'll have who I vote for. We'll
spend a little bit of time onthat. And I'm also I like to
I like to help. I liketo provide some assistance. I'm going to
do this with folks who write aboutand talk about and care about and podcast

(01:49):
about and do radio shows about theNational Football League as it relates to the
Bengals and T Higgins plus one ofthe experts from Ortho Sinse. He is
going to join us on a fewdifferent Reds related injuries that coming up.
Excuse me at four thirty three.We have a lot to get to today.
Reds win last night. They winlast night because Andrew Abbot was awesome.

(02:12):
And Andrew Abbitt is having a reallygood second season, and the Reds
starting pitching. Despite all of thisteam's larger issues and all of their offensive
issues and all of the injury issues, this team starting pitching has been fine.
It hasn't been great, it's beenit's been good enough. It's been,
for the most part, across theboard, better than league average.

(02:36):
Andrew Abbott was more than fine lastnight. A good start to the home
stand, a good start to theSan Diego series. I'll be honest with
you, before we start talking aboutthe Reds going on a run, or
before we start talking about, youknow, last year they won twelve straight
games at one point, before wedo any of that, how about win
two games in a row. Howabout win a series. Let's do that.

(02:58):
Do that, and then I'll getto a point where I could at
least entertain the possibility that they goon a little bit of a run or
do something close to what they didlast season. By the way, for
what it's worth, Jake Frayley isnot in the red starting lineup tonight after
getting hit last night. Now afterhe got hit David Bell through a chair,
which we're gonna get to in justa second. Our entire show has

(03:21):
been previewed on x thanks to ourfriends at Emory Federal Credit Union, your
credit union with heart since nineteen thirtynine, got to EMORYFCU dot org.
Check out the show preview video onit. I throw a chair. I
think my chair toss was better thanDavid Bell's, but it was a good
chair toss. Now, for folkswho want baseball to be like it is

(03:43):
in the movies, that was abig moment, right because you know,
for those who watch sports through thelens of it being like the movies,
you want to see a manager who'slike walking up and down the dugout,
yelling at people and grabbing ear holesin the helmets and throwing stuff. And
most baseball managers kind of just sitthere and eat sunflower seeds and spit and

(04:06):
sit there. David Bell, though, last night, he threw a chair,
and you know his true motivations forit. I think I know why
he threw the chair, number one, because he can. That's an occupation
that allows you to behave like that, which is kind of cool. I
guess I think we all wish wecould do that at our jobs. I'm

(04:29):
sure the way the team is playedis deeply frustrating. Look, they just
had an awful road trip by everymeasurement, an awful road trip, bad
win, loss record, lost abunch of gut punch games, lost walkoffs,
lost one run games, lost extrainning games. They lost every conceivable
type of game they could. They'renot hitting more. Injury bad news.

(04:49):
So they just come off this awfulroad trip. They get a day off,
and then okay, home stand's gonnastart. And before the game even
really begins, another guy gets hiton the hand. Another guy is facing
an injury question. You don't knowin real time if Jake Frayley is gonna
have to miss time, whether it'sa game or two, or miss a

(05:10):
lot of time like so many ofthe other guys. And I'm sure just
that came to a head. Myteam's not playing well, we're scuffling,
so to speak. Let's get thishomestand off to a good start. And
then suddenly, man, I gottago test my team's depth even further.
We have another guy who's getting hit. That's frustrating. All of those things
combined probably put David Bell in apretty sour mood at the point where which

(05:35):
he threw the chair. Now ifyou believe that throwing the chair lit a
fire under the Reds goody three hitslast night, scored one of their runs
because the Padres catcher dropped the ballon a throw to the plate where Jonathan
India would have been out by amile. But okay, fine, if
you like narrative ball, then DavidBell throwing the chair lit a fire underneath

(05:56):
this team. And if they goout there and do something like win seven
out of eight, then you cancling to the idea that David Bell through
the chair and that's what led tothe turnaround. It lit a fire out
of this team. Maybe that's what'sgonna happen. I think I know,
though, why he was pissed,And I don't think he could admit this,
but I think I know why hewas upset last night. Yes,
frustrated with how his team is played. Yes, frustrated with having with having

(06:20):
to go yet again and look alower on the lineup card to replace the
guy who's going to start. Ithink I know why he threw the chair.
You will not acknowledge why. Ithink you will not hear him acknowledge
why I think he threw the chair. But here's David Bell chatting after last
night's two Zip went over San Diego. We've had a lot of guys hit.

(06:40):
You know, We've had a lotof guys hit in the hand,
and that's where that came from.You know, I just don't like to
see our guys get hit. Idon't like and messes with their career.
Not so much about the game,which it does affect the game, you
know, affects our team, butmostly it affects these individuals that are that
are trying to stay healthy and onthe field. So it wasn't directed at

(07:01):
any team or any pitcher or anythinglike that. It's just, uh,
it was all about, you know, just we've had a lot. It's
happened a lot. I've nurse seenanything like it. So you know,
at some point and enough enough,there's not a whole lot I can do,
you know. So yeah, butthat's that's where it came from.

(07:21):
Obviously it was the actrays were negative, so I'm we'll have to double check
that tomorrow. They got the bestof me, that's for sure. Oh
yeah, all right, So DavidBell throws the chair. Now you heard
what he said. A lot ofguys have gotten the hit. A lot
of dudes gotta have gotten hit onthe hand. It's been weird this season.

(07:44):
It feels like every other game theReds have somebody who's being hit on
the hand. Christian and Carnassi onStrand has had to deal with this.
TJ. Friedel has had to dealwith this, like they've had a lot
of guys that have gotten hit onthe hand. But what he didn't say
I thought was interesting because what hedidn't say was reflected by what he did
say. Yes, it's frustrating whenyou have a lot of guys getting hit,

(08:07):
but it's even more frustrating when yourpictures aren't doing anything about it.
David Bell I think through the chairbecause he's tired of not only his guys
getting hit, but nobody on histeam doing anything about it. He's not
gonna say after the game, ourpictures aren't doing anything about it. But
I think there's I think there's somecoded language there. The coded language is

(08:30):
I'm tired of our guys getting hit. Right. It's like if your kids
make a mess and never clean itup. You could say I'm tired of
you guys making a mess. It'ssort of implied I am also tired of
you not cleaning it up. Itis maybe not the best analogy. I
think David Bell is he's had itup to hear with how his team is

(08:50):
played. He's had it up tohere, I'm sure to a degree with
those who think he's at fault forwhy this season so far hasn't really taken
off. Sure, sure he's exasperatedwith his guys getting hit, but his
guys are getting hit, perhaps becauseno one on his team is doing anything
about it. Now, let mebe very clear about this. I'm not

(09:13):
big into the old school eye foran eye way of doing baseball. I
don't like watching guys get hurt.I don't like watching players have their safety
get compromised. At the same time, it is tiring watching your team get
pushed around. So here you havethis young club. Here, you have
this young club that I think collectivelythere's some cockiness to him. Here you

(09:37):
have this young club that last yearfelt like it was a little ahead of
schedule, and they're walking the walk, right. I mean, that team
was feeling it last year and thisseason, let's see if we can push
them around a little bit. Theteams on the red schedule through forty eight
games have pushed them around. DavidBell has watched his team not push back.

(09:58):
Yes, that has something to dowith how they have played. Yes,
that has something to do with whothey haven't had. Also, I
think it has something to do withwatching his starting pitchers and relief pitchers not
do anything about it. I don'tthink he could say that. I'm pretty
sure he can't say that. Maybehe should, uh. I think that's

(10:20):
at the root of his frustration.It's one thing to watch your guys get
hit. It's something else to notwatch your team push back. How many
times, whether it be intentional ornot. Have you seen a Reds hitter
get thrown at? Have you seena Reds hitter have to leave a game?
Have you seen a Reds hitter sufferan injury and then watched as Cincinnati

(10:45):
pitchers have done nothing about it?Nothing, nothing about it. Perhaps it's
time for some pushback now. AndrewAbbott didn't offer any pushback last night.
He did pitch brilliantly. I lovewatching him pitch when he's at his back,
but man, at some point,as much as I don't love the
idea of let's injure other players onother teams, as much as I think

(11:07):
it's silly that disputes in baseball getssettled by having a pitcher throw a baseball
at someone. At some point,if you want to stop being pushed around,
you push back. I think DavidBell threw that chair because he's tired
of watching his team not pushback,And I don't blame him now if there
are ancillary effects, if you believethat the team played well last night and

(11:31):
got three hits because David Bell throwa chair, and then go ahead,
take that and run. But ifI was on that team, if I
was any one of his pitchers,if I was Tyler Stevensenter Luke Mayley,
if I was Derek Johnson, ifI was on the Reds, I would
be wondering, Huh, here's aguy who was pretty uncharacteristic with how he
behaved in the dugout last night.What are some of the reasons why?

(11:54):
And aren't I tired of watching myteammates get hit? Aren't I tired of
watching team get pushed around? Perhapsour skipper is tired of it too.
Maybe there was a bit of ahidden message with not only him throwing the
chair, but his explanation as towhy he threw the chair. I think
he's tired of watching his pitchers notdo a damn thing about guys getting hit

(12:16):
on the hand. Time it again. Tell me if you think I'm right
or wrong. Five point three sevenfour nine fifteen thirty is our phone number.
You could also use eight six sixseven oh two three seven seven six.
I'm tired of it, and like, I'm not the guy that wants
to see fights. I'm not theguy that wants to see players get hurt.
I'm not the guy that wants tosee guys get hit in the head.

(12:39):
Like I I kind of detest alot of that conjecture around the game,
But I'm tired of it. Notwatching the game last night, sitting
there with my wife and daughter,and I'm going like, hey, again,
we're doing this. Is anybody gonnado something about it? If I'm
wondering that, you mean to tellme the manager of the Reds, a
baseball lifer, ain't wondering we gotanybody who's gonna do something about it?

(13:01):
And should he have to say somethingto one of his guys or should he
expect them to get the message whenhe starts throwing a temper tantrum in the
dugout at Mulegger on Twitter. Thanksto our friends at Delta Dental. Delta
Dental is building healthy, smart,vibrant communities for all good at Delta Dental
oh dot com. I'll ask youwe might make this a pole question as

(13:24):
well. Forget what David Bell wants. You watch this club. You've watched
it get pushed around. You've seena lot of guys get hit. On
the hand, the Reds aren't evenclose to the top of the league lead
and batters being hit by pitch,but it's been a big part of the
season right A lot of guys gettinghit in exactly the same place you want
to see Red's pitchers do something aboutit. Five point three seven four nine

(13:46):
fifteen thirty eight six six seven ohtwo three seven seven six eighteen after three
a lot of ground to cover.Bengals Ring of Honor ballot is out.
I think who we should vote foris mostly obvious. I have quests,
though, I have questions about theBengals Ring of Honor. They're legit questions.
They're not criticisms. You can aska question and and have it not

(14:09):
be a criticism. Plus, Ijust I'm gonna help everybody when it comes
to T Higgins, Hell, Imight help T Higgins. I'm here to
help today, and we do haveto talk more about Andrew Abbott, who
was terrific last night. Lots ofground to cover between now and six.
Glad you with us on Moeger sixteennineteen after three o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station twenty five after three. This is ESPN fifteen thirty on Moeger.

(14:37):
Thank you so much for joining ustoday. Do some Bengal stuff a
little bit later on. Anything youmight have missed you can find on the
iHeartRadio app podcast page as well atESPN fifteen thirty dot com. Podcasts of
our show are a service of LongNeck Sports Grill. There is no better
place to post up on a summernight than the patio at Long Necks.

(15:01):
And if you're interested in maybe openingyour own long Necks, perhaps in your
neighborhood, be cool if someone onthe West Side would do this so I
can go to Long Necks on theWest Side. Go to Long Necksportsgrill Franchise
dot com, open your own longNecks. I'll see you there, See
you there. Twenty six after threeo'clock I mean, look, it's that

(15:24):
there is the reason for optimism ifyou if you're clinging to the idea,
and I am that forty eight gamesin, the record's not very good and
they have a huge hill to climb, and they have a fair amount of
ground to make up, and youknow, the idea is to do better
than last season. They've they've gotto kick it into gear here pretty soon,

(15:46):
right like if we're if three fourweeks from now, we'll we'll still
go. Well, you know lastyear they made it, or like when
they made a run was now whenthey made a run For me, it
really kind of started. They goto Chicago Memorial Day weekend, sweep the
Cubs, and then a week orso later, Andrew Abbott gets called up,
Elie de la Cruz gets called up, Like the next day, Matt
McClain has already made an impact.Like it's got to start happening now if

(16:07):
we're going to keep drifting back tolast year. But the starting pitching has
been good enough. And we saidthis at the beginning of the season.
If the starting pitching can be healthyand achieve some level of consistency, that
could put it somewhere in the middleof the pack. That should be good

(16:30):
enough. Now. When we saidthat, we thought, you know,
the team offensively was going to bea lot better, and we thought it
was going to be a lot betterbecause of the guys we hoped that they
would have. But the starting pitchinghas been good enough. Obviously, you'd
like to get Nick Lodolo back soonerrather than later. Andrew Abbott has been
more than good enough last night.You know, not overpowering by any stretch,

(16:53):
but efficient, effective, didn't allowmuch hard contact, kept the hitters
off balance, got the first outin every inning, gave up just four
hits, gave up just five baserunners, was mostly ahead of the hitters,
throwing strike one, and you know, maybe could have gone a little
bit deeper into the game. Butseven innings, I mean, in this
day and age, seven innings nowis like throwing nine twenty years ago.

(17:15):
Andrew Rabbit was really good. Istill, especially if you watch the first
hitter he faced when he didn't comeclose on any of his pitches. I
still, I'm still really worried aboutAlexis Diaz. But Andrew Rabbit was really
good. We'll give him the performanceof the night. Thanks to our friends
at Blue Choo, they'll help yourperformance. Blue Cheo dot com, you're

(17:36):
not your performance on the mound,your performance yes in the bedroom. Bluechoo
dot com. Use promo code moat checkout m O and you'll get your
first month free twenty nine minutes afterthree o'clock. And like, I'm gonna
be very upfront about this. I'mI love baseball fights and I love watching
people get worked up about baseball justice. But I'm not one of these people.

(17:59):
Like I'm the pro batflip guy.I'm pro batflip, but I think
it's stupid. If your feelings arehurt because a hitter flipped the bat and
now you're gonna have your pitcher throwa baseball at him, I think that's
stupid. Or they stole a basewhen they were up eight runs, so
guess what, We're gonna have ourpitcher throw a baseball at one of their
guys. Also stupid. What's notstupid is standing up for your your team

(18:25):
as a whole in deciding we're notgoing to be pushed around anymore. Man,
I don't want to see anybody gethurt. I don't want to see
anybody so offfer any sort of majorinjury. I think you have to be
very, very careful when it comesto throwing purpose pitches like it. But
when when you're running the club thatrepeatedly has the same thing happen, and
it's it's costing player availability, it'scosting your team, it's best guys and

(18:49):
its best chances of winning. You'rehaving to take guys out of games unexpectedly,
and that shrinks your bench. You'regetting pushed around. At some point
you got to push back. DavidBell cannot say that. He cannot say
I want our guys to push back. I'd be willing to bet if you

(19:10):
got them one on one. Maybeyou're having a cold one with him.
Would you like to see some ofyour guys push back meeting your pitchers,
I'd be willing to bet he wouldsay yes. Your phone calls are coming
up. At five point three,seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty.
We have a red starting lineup togive you because you can't get that
anywhere else. And uh, oneof my favorite things to do is to

(19:30):
have Bengals Ring of Honored discussions.I'm kind of more interested in who's not
on the ballot than who is,But I'll tell you who you should vote
for if you have a vote nextto ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Sports headlines are a service of KelseyChevrolet Home having lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed
credit approval from their family to yoursfor life kelseyshev dot Com, Reds and

(19:53):
Padres again tonight at GABP six forty. First pitch. Uh. The weather
it was this morning is some ofthe loudest thunder I've ever heard. I
think it's going to be overcast basedon what I have seen, and maybe
we'll get a complete weather forecast herein a bit. Based on what I
have seen, I think I thinkthe weather tonight is going to be dry.

(20:15):
Hope, So Reds and Padre Cincinnatilooking for consecutive wins for the first
time in a month. The startinglineup behind Nick Martinez, who pitched brilliantly
in his relief outing against the Dodgerslast week. Our guy heard Abies is
in left field. Elie de laCruiz is at short. Jambercandelario is the
third. Stevenson behind the plate,Mike Ford is dhing. Spencer Steers back

(20:37):
in the line at the first base. He is hitting six. Nick Martini
and right India had Second Benson incenter field, righty Michael King on the
mound for San Diego. There hasbeen no update on Jake Fraley, who
came out of last night's game afterbeing plunked on the hand. Florence y
All's played tonight against Gateway. Pittsburghis going to host the twenty twenty six

(20:59):
NFL Draft. Good for them,and the Bengals have announced that their Ring
of Honor Game, their now annualRing of Honor Game, will take place
on September the twenty third, whenthe Bengals host the Washington Commanders on Monday
Night Football. The Ring of Honorballot is up and running. Bengals season
ticket members and suite holders select twoformer players to be inducted into the Bengals

(21:23):
Ring of Honor. Voting starts nowcontinues through June seventh, and the Bengals
app. You could vote if you'rea season ticket member or a suite holder,
and if so, look for email. Look for an email and information
with information on how to vote.One of the two is very obvious for
me, and I'll be honest withyou, there's a big part of me

(21:45):
that wishes the Bengals would just say, look we're taking this out of voters'
hands. We're putting Dave Lapham in. And I said this last year,
I'll double down on it every yearif I have to. Dave Lapham.
This year will commemorate fifty years sincehe was drafted by the Bengals in nineteen
seventy four. He was dubbed manymany years ago by Alan Cutler mister Bengal,

(22:07):
and I think there's something to that, uh, fifty years. I
kind of wish they would just say, look, we're putting lap in.
What he did as a player,but what he's done as a broadcasters,
an ambassador for the team, somebodywho has told a lot of stories about
this franchise, been a great broadcasteracross many eras. They should just put

(22:32):
him in. They're putting them onthe ballot. If he's not among the
two, then as a fan base, we should be embarrassed. I mean
it's rare that I go to thatlength. If if we like, I
voting on him as a player.It's why I sort of feel like he

(22:56):
shouldn't even be on the ballot becauseyou might say, well, you can't
compare Dave Lapham as a player.Those good versatile player in the offensive line
and played in Super Bowl sixteen.You might want to say, well,
he doesn't compare us a player tolike a Lamar Parrish or a David Folcher
or a Corey Dillon, and that'sfine. The Bengals should just say he's
going to be in. If youwanted to say, well, look,

(23:18):
let's put up there the guys whohave the clearest and best Hall of Fame
cases, or who are in theHall of Fame, like Ken Anderson,
very clear Hall of Fame case,Ken Riley, who's obviously in the Hall
of Fame, Anthony Munoz. Ifyou want to put big personalities and players
who are revered here because of whatthey did on the field and off the
field, you want to go Chadand Boomer. That's fine. Isaac Curtis,
Okay. If Dave Lapham is notinducted into the Bengals Ring of Honor

(23:44):
this year, the Bengals should beembarrassed. Bengals voters, the people who
vote on this stuff, should beembarrassed. And my guess is he's going
to get in fifty years. Iknow, not fifty continuous years, but
all those years as a broadcaster,played on the team for a while played

(24:06):
well if if he's not in theRing of Honor, like legitimately, the
Bengals should rig this. They shouldeither rig it or say, look,
Lap's going in no matter what.Vote for the other guy, or vote
for two more or at least rigit, let people feel like they have
a vote and then put lap in. If Dave Lapham's not of the Ring

(24:27):
of Honor this year, everybody involvedshould be painfully embarrassed. So this one's
obvious in terms of the other one. For me, I've done a little
bit of a pivot. There's alot of guys here that if they got
in, you wouldn't object. I'mof the belief that Corey Dillon, despite
his gripes with the organization, deservedto be in. He is the franchise's

(24:48):
all time leading rusher. For years, he was one of the only reasons
to watch the Bengals. He's gotto think a better Hall of Fame case
than many might realize. And youknow, I think it would be it'd
be neat to sort of bring himback into the fold and celebrate what was
a brilliant career, even if youdon't necessarily associate him with winning. I

(25:10):
do understand everybody's criteria is going tobe a little bit different. If you
look at most of the other guyson this list, they're associated with some
level of team success. Played inplayoff games and many cases played in Super
Bowls. In some cases played inmultiple Super Bowls, like Jim Breach and
Chris Collinsworth. And with Corey Dillon, there's no you don't associate him with

(25:30):
team success. It's not really hisfault, but that might be one voter's
criteria For me. I want towinsure like Lamar Parish. Lamar Parrish is
seventy six years old and while playingfor the Bengals, was a six time
Pro bowler, terrific player, Ringof Honor worthy. I don't want there

(25:52):
to be another Ken Riley situation wherehe gets voted in well after the fact
and isn't a lie for it.I have not seen anything to indicate that
Lamar is in poor health or anythinglike that, but he is seventy six
years old, and I think it'sI think one of the tragedies of this
entire thing happening way too long isKen Riley should have been put in the

(26:15):
Bengals Ring of Honor decades ago,because they should have had one decades ago,
decades ago, but he wasn't becausehe wasn't alive by the time the
Bengals had a Ring of Honor andso and obviously he wasn't alive for his
Hall of Fame induction. And thosemoments, to a degree, were bittersweet,
they were deserved. His son gavea beautiful induction speech up in Canton

(26:37):
this past summer. I'm glad thathe got in. I'm glad the Bengals
have a Ring of Honor. KenRiley was obviously a no brainer when he
was on the ballot. But Ilook at some of these players who are
older, and I don't want himto have to wait anymore. And that's
not to say that you automatically getvoted in. Not every very good player,
not every good player who had abunch of great seasons, is going
to be Ring of Honor worthy.But I think Lamar Parish is, so

(27:00):
I defer my criterias. I defermore toward the players who have who are
older and might have less of achance of being here in a few years
if we wait any longer to putthem in the Ring of Honor. I
think there are fewer things as sadas player gets honored and he's not here

(27:21):
for it, and it's bittersweet forhis loved ones, his family, his
friends, his teammates. And soI'm going lap and Lamar lap is a
no brainer. If Dave Lapham isnot on September the twenty third, put
in the Bengals Ring of Honor,shame on the Bengals and shame on everybody
who voted legitimately shame. I feltsimilar last year. I feel even more

(27:45):
so this year. Shame on everybodyand then the other one. You know,
whoever, that's fine. What Ido kind of wonder about this process
is this started in twenty twenty one, so this will be the fourth year.
Use me two questions. One,when will the list of nominees include

(28:07):
coaches? Will it ever include coaches? Now? Marvin Lewis is still making
his living in the NFL with theLas Vegas Raiders, so you know,
maybe the idea is to put himon the ballot when he's no longer being
paid by another team. But SamWeisch hasn't had a crack at it,
Forrest Greg has not had a crackat it, And so I think It's
going to be interesting. Also,when do they start to fold into the

(28:32):
list of nominees. And I askedthis not from a place of criticism.
I'm just there's a lot of guyswho have played for this team pretty recently
who have not yet been voted on, who clearly are going to have a
good ring of honor case. Youknow, Geno Atkins, Geno Akins,
for my money, is a ringof honor guy. Andrew Whitworth, for
my money, is a ring ofhonor guy. AJ Green certainly has a

(28:53):
very strong ring of honor case.So does Carlos Dunlap, you know.
And then there are players like JoeMixon's gonna be given serious consideration. He's
still an active player. And AndyDalton, you might say, is going
to be given consideration and he's stillan active player. And not every name
I just mentioned is a surefire,bona fide Bengals ring of honor guy.
But you know, for the mostpart, the most recent players who have

(29:15):
been on the ballot are guys ofthe you know, the mid two thousands
Chads era. And what I'm kindof curious is when will it be updated
to include some guys who are whohave played a little bit more recently,
and when will it include coaches?That's all. But again, if Dave
Lapham is not the Ring of Honorthe voting ends June seventh. I have

(29:40):
no idea when we find out whomade it. If I'm reading the thing
that announces who made the Bengals Ringof Honor, I will offer my congratulations.
I will try to get both menon the air. But if Dave
Lapham isn't one of those two,that's going to be pretty embarrassing. Let's
make sure that doesn't happen. Thirteenaway from four o'clock will throw a pole

(30:03):
question out there. It's about whatDavid Bell I think was mad about last
night. That coming up on ESPNfifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Visit us
at Hollywood Casino, Lawrence question onX. Thanks to our friends at United
Heartland Insurance, they can help yousave get ready for it, MO money
on your personal insurance, business insurance, auto insurance, homeowner's insurance, and

(30:26):
you name it. They can helpyou. Check out h i NS dot
com. Lots of Red's hitters havebeen plunked on the hand. Should their
pictures quote do something about it?Vote now at mogar. Let's see,
I have babbled long enough. Let'sgive someone else a term. Brian,
you're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Goahead, what's up? Mo? How

(30:49):
you doing today? Bud? Wonderfulyourself? I'm good. Hey. This
poll question I could cure less oneway or the other. And how whether
it's right or wrong? Question toyou would be you take your favorite let's
say active manager, and let's sayyour favorite inactive managers, somebody from the
past. Do you think either ofthose teams that they managed the players it

(31:14):
was up in to quit up inthe air, whether or not the players
knew what he wanted them to do. Uh no, okay, And but
we're asking the same question right nowabout David Bell. And that's my problem
with David Bell. So his ownplayers, his own players don't know how
he feels about it, or he'sdone a really really bad job of communicating

(31:34):
that to him because he can't practicea little bit of self control and not
pro freaking chair and let in thedugout because well, he feels bad and
God gone and he's he's not happythat his players are getting hit. Every
every good manager has already made itclear to their pictures. Hey, and
now listen, I'm with you.I don't even body getting hurt permanently,

(31:56):
but you got to. You gottadrow them in the ribs, you know,
below the shoulder, above the knee. Drill him and let him know
you're not going to keep hitting ourplayers. Yeah, and every good manager
has let his team know that beforethe freaking season starts. Yeah, I
need to given him a pass aboutfifty percent of the wins. Yeah,
not his fall whatever I think.This is night against the Dodgers. Go

(32:20):
ahead, when bases, when Elliewas our ghost runner whatever you want to
call him. Yeah, why isn'the leaving on the first or second pitch
to get the third? I haveno idea, because as a manager,
you have the authority to say,hey, we have signs. Tell Ellie,
Hey, Ellie, listen. Hellhe could have told him at the
beginning of the inning because he didn'thave to wait to get him this second

(32:42):
base. Hey, Elly, firstor second pitch, I need you on
third. If you get thrown outdoing the best you can, I'll accept
that, but get the third becauseit gives us the best chance to win.
Yeah, I even understood. Ihaven't understood not sending them with nobody
out. Okay, let's let's let'sspy. I get the adage, don't
make the first or third out atthird base once there's one out. I
want that hitter batting with a guyin scoring position or with a guy on

(33:04):
third base in less than two outs. I could not agree more. Now,
maybe they just found that if there'sa if there's a guy on third,
where's the player, where's the batter'ssupposed to hit the ball to At
the right field, right side ofthe field, So you have was Ford.
It was up right after Ellie wason second base board let off.
I think it was, yes,lot at batter, Well, he's gotta

(33:30):
do is pull the ball, andwe and we went there and Reese would
go into the next half of theinning with the lead. Right. It
just we keep giving him. Firstof all, we gave him extinction,
which is still a ridiculous idea tome. But we keep giving him a
pass because of these injuries. Everymanager deals with injuries. David Bell directly
affects a certain amount of games,and that certain number of games is getting

(33:52):
to the point where you gotta letyou gotta get rid of the guy.
Well, I don't. I'll tellyou right now. Yeah, I don't
don't think that's gonna happen. Imean, look, Brian, Brian,
they gonna let me talk, thenit gonna happen. They're not gonna pay
him for two and a half yearsto not work. Yeah, that's unfortunate,
isn't it. We got two anda half more years of this.

(34:13):
I mean I had no issue bringinghim back. I didn't understand the necessity
to give him three years that assomebody who talked often last year about how
I thought he did a good jobwith that team. I had no issue
at all with him being the managerof the twenty twenty four Reds. I
don't know why they felt the needto lop on more than the standard two
year extension to guarantee twenty twenty sixdidn't make a whole lot of sense to

(34:37):
me, I hear you. Hey. As far as the real quick one
other thing, yeah, I thinkI think the average age of a season
ticket holder who votes on the Ringof Honor probably dropped about twenty to twenty
five years. Uh huh, fromold to young. Yeah, I'm gonna
be honest with you, dude.I've never even heard of Lamar Parrish.

(34:58):
Yeah, you were talking about Ibecame a season ticket holder three years ago.
But I'm four, I'm fifty fouryears old. I've never heard of
the guy. Yeah, I didn'tknow he had six Pro Bowls. So
I think the average age of thevoter is going to really kind of set
the tone for And you know,Dave Lapham was at the beginning of when
I became a fan. I wasborn in seventy So I think you got

(35:20):
to give a Yeah, I kindof give the voters a bit of a
pass because they don't know. They'reignorant in the true sense of the word.
I don't give I don't give aI don't give a pass for ignorance.
And look, there is a weightedsystem where you get your your vote
carries more weight the longer you've beena season ticket holder, and that's good.
I think it should be that way. Look, man, if you're
gonna if you're gonna cast a ballotand you care about such things and you're
invested enough in the team to bea season ticket holder, and you understand

(35:44):
your ballot's going to go a longway toward determining this. I think as
as as much as this is funand games and it is, I think
you owe it to the process toat least do a little work and and
do a little research. It's itdoesn't we all have football reference. It
ain't that hard. We could allask older fans. I didn't watch Lamar
Parris play, but I know abouthow good of a player he was.

(36:05):
Brian, thank you for the phonecall. I know what kind of player
he was. If you're going tocare enough to I believe this about real
life voting. If you're going tocare enough to make a vote to vote,
if you're going to care enough tofill in a ballot, you should
care enough to at least educate yourselfas to what you're voting on. Brian

(36:27):
made a good point. We'll expandupon at next four o'clock ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station. This is sports. I'm Christine Leacy. The Western Conference
Finals grab center stage tonight in theNBA when the Timberwolves host the Mavericks in
Game one, eight Eastern ESPN Radio. That's smugthering defense, just one advantage

(36:47):
for Minnesota this series, notes ESPNNBA analyst Austin Rivers. They have size
that they're in. They got rintprotection, they got good on the ball,
perimeter defense, and they had thenumber one overall defense in the NBA
Dallas. This says a non defendingteam, they're playing better defense right now.
Obviously it's the playoffs, you hope, But if we're talking about a
seven game series in which team Ihave more confidence than I have to go

(37:07):
to the team that plays on bothsides of the ball. Austin Rivers on
First Take MIXT point guard Jalen Brunsonhead surgery to repair his broken left hand.
He'll be evaluated again in six toeight weeks. NHL East Final Tonight
Rangers Panthers eight Eastern ESPN President Tropewinning Rangers Lois OG's among the full remaining
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(37:29):
Clark intends to play tonight against Seattledespite a step in sore left angle,
ohing four Fevers seeking its first winon the season. The NFL has selected
Pittsburgh to host the twenty twenty sixNFL Draft. Feeling great starts with a
great shave, and great shaves startwith Barbisol's shaving. Cream. That's Barbisol's

(37:49):
shaving cream, an American classic forover one hundred years. Close Shave America,
Close shaved Barbisol. This is ESPNfifteen thirty. Thanks for doing that.
Could that? No, I'm alegger. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
Thank you for listening today. Ihope you had. I was gonna

(38:12):
say hope you had a great weekendbecause I was. I was not here
yesterday, so it feels like aMonday. It's not. It's Wednesday of
Memorial Day week, Memorial Day weekend. I guess nobody's going to be working
on Friday. I will, andI mentioned nobody's really working tomorrow either.
I'm not sure anybody's working today.We are. We're here. A good

(38:37):
conversation coming up in just about twentyfive minutes on some of the recent reds
to deal with various injuries, someperhaps more severe than others. That coming
up in just about twenty five minutes. And I think there's somebody and a
lot of folks oh an apology towhen it comes to T Higgins and the
Bengals. Will do that here injust a few minutes plus. Brendanman and

(39:00):
Jones on baseball. We started bytalking to David Bell kicking the or throwing
the chair last night, throwing thetemper tantrum. And there's a lot of
folks who they love that. I'mnot gonna say that I didn't love it.
It's fun to watch a grown manact like that. It's fun to
watch a grown man act like afive year old. And I do think

(39:22):
that was the result of a lotof different things, not the least of
which is just the sheer number ofhis players who have gotten hit on the
hand and have had to miss timeor had their short term availability compromised.
And maybe he's feeling the weight ofthe team's poor performance through forty seven forty
eight games, maybe he's tired ofsome of the outside criticism, whatever it

(39:43):
is, but I do believe inthere was a level of fatigue with his
pitcher's not quote doing anything about thenumber of guys who have gotten hit.
We had a call before the topof the hour Brian, who I think
may a good point. Like youhear this all the time, that the

(40:04):
best managers are really good communicators.Forget calling the play, so to speak,
and forget what the lineup is goingto look like. The best managers
are very very clear with their communication. And so David Bell after the game
last night is talking about how manyguys who have got how many guys have
gotten hit, and I think inthere is sort of a subliminal, if

(40:27):
you will, at least acknowledgment thatour pitchers aren't doing anything about this,
and I'm kind of tired of it. And I don't blame him if he
feels that way. I admit tofeeling that way. But if you want
someone to do something, then thebest way to get them to do something
is to tell them to do it. If you're in a leadership role.
The best bosses I've ever had,there was no ambiguity. I didn't have

(40:51):
to wonder what they wanted from me. I didn't have to wonder what they
were looking for from their staff.I understood it. It was clear.
It was very very clear. Ididn't have to read between the lines.
I didn't have to look for subtleclues. I knew specifically what they expected
and what they wanted and what theydemanded. Those are the best. I

(41:12):
think those are the best bosses.I think those are the best parents.
I think those are the best leaders. Here's what I expect, here's what
you need to do. If youhave any questions, come ask. It's
not I don't think it's that hard, and so I do think there's something
like, all right, so theway that he got his pictures to understand
that enough is enough is to throwa temper tantrum in the dugout. And

(41:36):
look, I say this as theleast gratuitous David Bell critic that you'll ever
meet, I think that's pretty wellestablished. I don't think he's a bad
manager. I think he's actually apretty decent manager. I don't think he's
perfect. If he got let gotoday, I don't know that I would
think it was the worst thing inthe world. And if he's the manager
of the team next year, probablygonna be okay with it. Now.

(42:00):
That said, when they gave hima contract extension, I wasn't entirely sure
why they needed to do three years, But okay, of the many Reds
issues that have presented themselves this year, I don't think David Bell's managing has
been near the top of the listof the worst things. But again,
if they decided we're firing him today, like, I don't know that I
would think that was like the worstthing in the world. I'm more sort

(42:23):
of ambivalent when it comes to themanager than many. There are some things
I think he has done really well. There are times where a certain decision
in a game is backfired, andI think it's subjected him to very fair
second guessing slash criticism. But inregard to this particular thing, if if

(42:44):
the idea, and I'm not expectinghim to come out publicly and say,
we got to knock some guys down, we got to put one in a
guy's ribs, We've got to goeye for an eye, we need to
deliver retribution. I don't expect himto say that at publicly, but privately
it should be. If it's notjust simply understood where a picture takes it

(43:08):
on his own to say enough isenough. I'm gonna protect one of my
teammates. The manager should communicate thatvery clearly, very clearly, not publicly,
not everything that, not everything thathappens with the baseball teams needs to
play out publicly, but there shouldbe very clear communication as to what's expected.

(43:34):
And so I believe that what yousaw last night was a frustration with
a lot of different things, notthe least of which was our guys continue
to get hit and our pictures don'tdo anything about it. And I understand
that frustration. But if you wantthem to do something about it, and
they're not going to do it ontheir own, then it's up to you
to communicate this. Not hope theycatch a hint by throwing a chain,

(44:00):
not hope that the clue phone goesoff because you're throwing a temper tantrum,
but because you're communicating it with themvery very clearly. You can't expect everybody
to simply understand on their own orguess on their own what you're expecting of
them, can you. So Ithink in this regard it is completely fair
to wonder if there is at leasta little bit of a communication gap with

(44:23):
a job that has come to bedefined by whoever has its ability to communicate.
If you want your pictures to quotedo something about it, make sure
they understand very explicitly, though notpublicly, we need you to do something

(44:44):
about this. And if the ideawas I'm gonna make sure that my pictures
know I'm not happy about this,because they're gonna see me tossing a chair
around on the dugout. That's nothow to do it. The best leaders,
the best bosses, the best communicators. It's very clear and it's very
direct. Here's what I expect,Here's what we need. Here's what we

(45:07):
need from you. There's no guessinggame, there's no passive aggressiveness, there's
no dropping subtle hints here and there. It's do this, thanks, this
is what we expect. Thanks,here's what you're expected to do. Thanks.
That seems to maybe be missing herewith this club. Fourteen minutes after

(45:31):
four o'clock five point three seven fournine, fifteen thirty is our phone number.
We'll spend a few minutes on.Uh, We're gonna spend a few
minutes on T Higgins and I'll behonest with you, Mark, Mark this
down May twenty. Today might bethe last time we spend anytime on T
Higgins for a while. And there'sa reason for that, and I think

(45:53):
it's a good reason for it.We'll get to that in just a few
minutes. First, let's chat withJacob. Jacob, you're on ESPN fifteen
thirty. What's up? No,are you doing? Brother? I'm well
yourself. Hey, you know youwere asking who's out there? Working.
Yeah, I'm always out working,especially when Sun's out of the brand.
I can answer too much, butit's one of those gigs. But you

(46:16):
have your your father. You Ithink you've also mentioned you've coached a couple,
you know, lower level divisions ifyou will, in the early stages
of her Croxley's eight sports time period, if you will. But you see
what's going on with college athletics andnational and IL deals and people transferring into

(46:37):
that and the other. Primarily,how much of the nucleus of this Reds
team is below twenty five years oldA large chunk. And so what I'm
trying to say is is, yes, man, me and you were growing
up. I'm thirty seven. Whenwe were growing up, we had a
signal and we played ball. Thecatcher would put the middle finger down and

(46:57):
that's whenever we put somebody on theirbutt. Also, you know, growing
up, you had coaches who couldyou know, obviously, deliver messages differently.
Today's athletes is a different athlete.And because it's funny, is this
is all hypothetical. This is somethingthat you were, you know, saying,
hey, this is and it makesperfect sense. I didn't even think
about that until you brought it up. I think the hard part now for

(47:22):
a lot of the managers and coachingis the athlete today you don't know what
you know emotion they're going to getthe fact. You have some athletes who
you know, that compete like they'rekillers, if you will, They just
any type of competition, they feedoff of it. Then you have some
athletes who are just they're actually gifted, who just you know, happy,

(47:45):
go lucky, real happy type people, but they don't have that quote unquote
killer mentality if you will, ormaybe they haven't established it yet. That's
something I've learned in my experience ofcoaching is that every athlete is different.
And where I would have thrived withthe coaching methods that of our times,
that would not recollect or be thesame tickle down effect if you will.

(48:08):
I don't know if this is beingtaught in the minor lease. A lot
of these guys are coming from,you know, from the lower ranks,
and they're coming up there. AndI mean Hunter Green has been up there
for a little bit. Abbot's inthe second season. A lot of the
pitchers that you know, I guesswhat I'm trying to say is is that
the challenges now with coaching and beinga manager in sports are becoming more and

(48:30):
more difficult because you don't know whatthe motivation is behind the athlete. Maybe
they're just really good at it andit's a nice living and they can make
millions of dollars. Maybe you can. Maybe you're just you want to become
a Hall of Famer. You're goingto break all the records. Every athlete
has different motivations as to what they'redoing it for, and David's job or
role is is to get everybody onthe same page. If that is the

(48:52):
issue that you know, hey,you're stick and tired of it, I
think you hit the nail right onthe head. And I would love for
our pitching coach to be in alignmentwith that because that shouldn't have to come
from the manager down. And thecomment about I think Ellie, I think
David mentioned many times basically the redbase runners are on their end. The
other day, I think Herman Herbitoidgot picked off. I think that was

(49:14):
on his own accord Elliott's second base. I don't know why he didn't go,
but it's one of those things Ijust I don't know what the issue
is. I just know that it'snot easy being a manager. It's not
easy being a coach. You haveto do multiple different things per each individual,
and the main objective is is tomake them get the most out of

(49:35):
themselves for the team and the bettermentof the whole organization, and from the
top down. I still think itstarts at our ownership. But no,
have a great day, brother,All right, Jacob, Thanks, you
do the same. I mean,I'll say this, I don't. I
think there are maybe some unique challengeswhen it comes to managing or coaching players
in the current environment that we're in, and maybe some of those challenges are

(49:58):
better than the challenges that coaches dealtwith twenty five thirty years ago. I
think the best coaches are able tosort of, number one, understand that
everybody comes from different backgrounds and differentlevels of experience and different different types of
coaching and and and blends all thosethings together for the common goal. But
I don't think it's that hard toget. I don't want to say I

(50:21):
don't think it's that hard. Ithink the the objective of any coach is
to get the players to sort ofunderstand here's there is some commonality in terms
of how we do things, howwe prepare, how we present ourselves,
how hard we play, what ourcore philosophies are, and what is expected
of individuals. But what's expected ofthe team, and in this instance,

(50:45):
what's expected of the team is let'skeep ourselves from being bullied and pushed around.
I don't know if this speaks tosome sort of veteran presence not being
there that could perhaps, you know, pull a young picture to the side
and say, hey, look,dude, you're going to have the backs
of your teammates. I also thinkthis dynamic is completely different because pitchers don't
bat anymore in the National League,and so you know, it makes it

(51:07):
a little bit different to get directretribution because the guys who are hitting your
guys aren't coming to the plate themselves. But I mean, that's the job
David Bell signed up for. It'sthe job that he's being paid for.
And I would say this about anymanager in the sport. I'd say this
about any coach in any sport.Like the idea is to take everybody different
levels of experience, different backgrounds,different cultural backgrounds, different languages, and

(51:30):
make sure that there's some things weall have in common and again, it's
how hard we play, how weplay, what our plays are in a
certain sport, what our core philosophiesare in baseball, what our signs are,
and get everybody to understand these thesethings we have in common. One
of those should be, Hey,we're gonna make sure we don't get pushed

(51:51):
around. And so, yeah,I get David Bell's frustration with having his
team get pushed around. But ifyou communicated to everybody that we're not going
to tolerate any more. Twenty minutesafter four o'clock, you're gonna hear from
someone who is deserving of an apology. Coming up next on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station, Cincinnati's ESPN twentysix after four o'clock. This is ESPN

(52:16):
fifteen thirty one o eggor more ofyour phone calls are coming up. Brendan
and Jones on baseball as well,And an lapiece was written this week.
I think some took it the wrongway, speaking of people who have things
taken the wrong way. This isfrom the The Pat McAfee show. So
the story came out, Adam Scheftertweeted about it. T Higgins has yet

(52:39):
to sign his franchise tag. OhNo, T Higgins has yet to sign
his franchise tag, so he's hecan't come to OTA's and it can't come
to training camp until he signs hisone year deal that comes under the franchise
tag. And then so there's thiswhole round of T Higgins content and the

(52:59):
Pat Matt McAfee show. On thatshow, you got Pat McAfee, and
whenever I watch it, aj Hawkis also on the screen, but I've
literally never seen him. I don'tI like the Pat McAfee show from what
I've seen of it. It's onopposite since he three sixty and so I
like Tony and Austin more. Butanyway, so they took the T Higgins

(53:20):
thing and ran with it and gotKelsey Conway. On. Kelsey Conway,
the inquirer, who's always kind enoughto come on our show and to the
big national Pat McAfee audience, explainedthis whole T Higgins thing here it is,
guys, him not being there,big deal. How are you guys
viewing it in Cincinnati right now?With Tea, I think everyone is viewing

(53:43):
it as it's similar to what happenedwith Jesse a couple of years ago.
Jesse Bates. It's a lot ofsimilarities there, but it's different in that
I've done a lot of reporting onthis situation, and the main difference from
what I've gathered is that T Higginscamp, there's two things here. They
felt like the initial offer that theywere looking for was similar to Michael Pittman's

(54:08):
deal with the Colts, which Iknow you obviously know a lot about being
Aboliston playing for them. That's kindof the deal that T. Higgins was
looking for. He was never lookingfor a deal that would make him the
highest paid player, like he's fullyaware that Jamar Chase is playing aside of
him. From what I have learnedthat his camp felt that the Bengals initial

(54:30):
one time offer was so low thatit couldn't even move into a conversation about
guaranteed money, so it was neverabout guaranteed money. And then they never
tried again. So both sides nevertried again because the initial offer was so
low. And I think from Higgins'scamp, the frustration comes in that six

(54:51):
of the seven players this year thatwere franchise tagged got long term deals done,
and his side basically believes like thespirit of the franchise tag is to
allow more time for a long termdeal to get done. But from the
Bengals side, I mean they gota pay Jamar Chase, so you know,
you can see both sides here,right, Like, the Bengals have
a lot of people they need topay. I'm sure they'd love to be

(55:12):
able to keep T Higgins, Butfrom his side, from the player's side,
the franchise tag kind of sucks,but it doesn't really suck that bad
when you're going to get twenty twomillion dollars guaranteed. So I do think
he will report it at some pointduring training camp. I don't anticipate him
being in Cincinnati at all this offseason, and I think it'll be kind of
similar to what you saw with JesseBates, where maybe one of those final

(55:32):
weeks of the preseason he'll show up. But the thing to watch here is
he has had some soft tissue injuriesin the past, so you wonder how
long would he want to be away, you know, to make sure he's
ready for Week one. All right, there you go, Kelsey Conway on
the Pat McAfee show. In thatentire time, Ajhawk's out there and stared
into the camera, didn't say aword. So two things about this.

(55:54):
Number One, remember when Kelsey Conwaywrote about a year ago, the T
Higgins is not in the Bengals futureplans, and a lot of folks on
the old X the old Twitter,got mad, called her names. She
was reporting from a place of knowledge, and that's how it's played out.

(56:15):
They've not had him in their futureplans right wrong time will tell A big
part of me wishes they did havehim in their future plans. And then
there's a part of me that understandseverything else they have financially in front of
him why he's maybe not in thefuture plans. But I feel like a
lot of folks who are critical ofKelsey's reporting and her perspective owe her a

(56:38):
pretty big apology because what she reportedhas been reflected by how the last year
or so has played out. Numbertwo, the Bengals are completely comfortable with
how this is going to play out. If they weren't, they wouldn't a
franchise tag them. And so youknow, it was a nothing burger.

(56:59):
I even debated, like, howmuch do we even talk about this?
There's really going to be nothing newthat happens with T for three months,
perhaps maybe even longer. The onlything, the only development now that's significant,
that's going to actually be a developmentis when he shows up. Your
guess is as good as mine asto when that's going to be. But

(57:20):
the Bengals, I can assure youwent into this offseason knowing there's a pretty
good chance he's going to ask fora trade. There's all but a certainty
that we're not going to trade him. And then chances are he's not going
to sign the one year contract untilhe kind of has to. He's not
going to come to OTA's, he'snot going to come to training camp,

(57:42):
he's not going to play in thepreseason. Who knows if we get the
theatrics that we saw from Jesse Bateswhere he comes to a preseason game in
a box, I don't know.But what I think is and by the
way, the Bengals might end uplong term looking really bad for how this
plays out. They also, Ithink they put a lot of stock in
Tea doing everything he can to beready for the season on his own and
to play through things like injuries anddo everything he can to help the team

(58:06):
win. I think they're very comfortablewith the type of player t is in
regards to effort, in regards toavailability, in regards to grinding things out
through aches and pains. I thinkthey're also very comfortable with how the off
season, the remainder of the offseason is almost guaranteed to play out,

(58:28):
like we treat every little morsel that'sout there about T Higgins or any other
player where there's a bit of acontract dispute like it's it's something earth shattering.
Everything that has happened, and Ithink everything that's really likely to happen
and this offseason are scenarios the Bengalshave not only prepared for, but are
comfortable with. More of your phonecalls are coming up five point three,

(58:52):
seven four nine, fifteen thirty andeight six six seven zero two three seven
seven six. Let's learn about JustinWilson and Emelia Pegan and Jake Frayley with
doctor Amelia Wiggins Orthosinci next. SteveSports Headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet
Home of lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteedcredit approval from their family to yours for

(59:12):
live kelseyshef dot Com, Reds andPods, Friars, Dad's Padres Tonight six
point forty at GABP is your firstpitch. Cincinnati looking for consecutive wins,
which would be a bona fide winningstreak. Nick Martinez gets the ball against
righty Michael King. Let's see youtonight's red starting LINEUPI is made well thanks
to our friends at Madewell Restoration.Checkout Madewell Restoration dot com. Not sure

(59:37):
what your home needs? Trust madewell. Herdebies Ellie and Jamer Candelario.
Herd Abes is in left field,Stevenson behind the plate, Forge Dhing steers
at first base. Nick Martini's inright field. Jonathan India is playing second
base in batting eighth. Fortunately heis okay after kind of coming up lame
after trying to score and successfully scoringlast night in the two nothing win.

(01:00:00):
Will Benson, who last night onthe TV post game was referred to as
Cedric Benson and then everybody got abig chuckle out of it. And I've
made that mistake too. What elsedo we have? Florence plays Gateways and
I Bengals Ring of Honor Game isgoing to be on September the twenty third,
Monday Night Football when the Bengals hostthe Washington Commanders on the ballot This

(01:00:22):
year, the nominees are Jim Breech, James Brooks, Chris Collinsworth, Corey
Dylan, David Vulturetim Crumrie, DaveLapham, Max Montoya, Lamar Parrish,
Bob Trumpy, and Reggie Williams.Vote lap If you don't, You're stupid,
might be might be a bit harsh. On Wednesdays, we talk injuries
with one of the experts from Orthossincey what we love about Orthos sincy I

(01:00:45):
have specialists and locations across the TryState offering walk in orthopedic urgent care during
the week from nine a to nineP Saturday's nine eight to one p at
Edgewood and Anderson. Learn more atorthosincy dot com. Remember you never need
an appointment. That's Ortho c In c Y dot com Ortho. Since

(01:01:05):
he uh doctor Amelia Wiggins from Orthos, Since he is with us, it's
good to have you. I appreciateit. Let's talk about Let's start with
Justin Wilson, who is on theinjured list again. This guy has spent
a lot of time in his careeron the IL. He is back on
it after dealing with shoulder tightness.Let's start with that. What are some
of the possible causes of shoulder tightness. Yeah, just pitching in general is

(01:01:30):
the number one cause. You know, I'm so intrigued with his list of
injuries and the fact that he pulledhimself with tightness. That shows how in
tune his body is. Because tightnessis the first thing that can cause other
injuries. So a lot of timeswe will feel tightness in the shoulder.

(01:01:52):
We often just work through that.But at their high level, he knows,
and he knows from personal experience ifhe's been the injured multiple times before.
But if this tightness gets worse andhe loses his rotation, his range
of motion during his pitching, faith, he will end up with a rotator
cup injury, healing up with anelbow injury. Again, he can't afford

(01:02:15):
them. So he he noticed,you know, that his rotation wasn't as
much. It might not have affectedhim when we look at him by the
neck and eye. He was stillpitching quite well, you know, but
he noticed that something was off.So he did the best thing he could
have. He took himself out.They amor did made sure it's not anything

(01:02:37):
worse, and now they'll you know, rehab him before a while here to
hopefully get that rotation back. Whenwe look at pitching, there's different phases
that the arm goes through. Youknow, you wind up, talk,
you accelerate, deaccelerate, and thenyou follow through. So it's the cockies
and the acceleration phase is when werequire the most external rotation of the shoulder.

(01:03:01):
And with pitchers, they tend tohave a lot of external rotation and
then they lose some of that internalrotation. With pitching, it's so important
to maintain that internal rotation so theycan maximize their external rotation because if they
don't have that full rotation, ifduring that talking phase, that their rotator
cuff will start to get pitched,if they can't externally rotate as fully as

(01:03:24):
they should, and then if theycan't externally rotate, then the next place
that takes the force is going tobe the elbow. That Tommy John ligament,
you know that the GCL. So, so I'm very proud of him
for recognizing this and hopefully getting aheadof it so he doesn't add to his
very long list. Well, let'stalk about that long list. So if

(01:03:45):
I'm going back to twenty nineteen,He's had different elbow issues, a hamstring
problem a lot. This is thesecond time he's gone on the injured list
with a shoulder issue, and socould there be some sort of domino effect
here where all of these injuries endup leading us to something that's that's maybe
a larger concern. Yeah, andI think, you know, forget that

(01:04:09):
larger concern with that Tommy Johns thatthe most severe injury that he has had
and he's trying to avoid that.You know, every little thing makes a
huge difference with the pitching biomechanics.You have to be working together from toe
to the top of your head.So hamstring tight knits, you're not going
to get the pelvic rotation, thecore rotation. If your core and your

(01:04:30):
stabular statelizers aren't connected, then you'renot gonna be able to actually rotate your
humorous enough. If you can't dothat enough, then you overstress your rotator
cufs in your your elbow. You'renot going to get your speed, blottyat
and your accuracy. It is soimportant for pitchers to stay healthy their entire
body. Let's talk about another picturewho as of yet hasn't had to go

(01:04:53):
on the injured list. Amelio Peganis dealing with right triceps discomfort. Now.
He did plague catch yesterday and soit feels like, at least for
now he has dodged something a littlebit more severe. Let's talk about the
triceps first, specifically, what isthe triceps and give us an idea of
maybe how the triceps works in relationto some of the other muscles we hear

(01:05:14):
about more frequently. Yeah, youdon't think about it, right, but
the tritep actually starts up in theelbow. It's attached to the scapula or
sorry, you're hitting the shoulder,it's attached to the stabular there. So
the tricep is the muscle in theback of the arm. If your bicep
in the tritep in the back,you know, and it pushes your arm
away, so it pushes your forearmdown the tricep extension you do at the

(01:05:40):
gym. Most people don't think oftheir triceps much more than that, and
even within throwing it's not a hottopic. We don't talk about it as
much. Usually enough of the rotatorcuff or an elbow injury. But the
tricep is actually very important. Sothe two most violent well, there's three
violent stases. Throwing the cocking fitwhere you're pulling your arm back, the

(01:06:01):
acceleration phase where you're whipping your armforward and releasing the ball, and then
the deceleration phase is actually the mosttraumatic part. That's where the most injured
occur. That's when all of yourmuscles have to work together to contract in
an eccentric manner. They have topull back as fast as they can,
so that the tricep is most importantin that acceleration phase when you're whipping the

(01:06:27):
ball forward. In that deceleration phase. When you're in that acceleration phase,
the tricep the long head is holdinginto your humorous and ap decor is holding
your humorous stable away from your body. So if that tricep is injured,
then you're going to have more motionthere and even at the microscopic level,
more motion that the humorous in thatphase can pinch the rotator graphic, can

(01:06:49):
damage the labrum, it can increasestress again on the elbow. So that
tricep is they don't think about it, but it is vital to our pitchers
and so he you know it saidthat his quote was he felt it full
in the middle of his arm.I bet he did that, and that
acceleration and the deceleration page when hewas really relying on that muscle to stabilize

(01:07:13):
his shoulder probably got stretched a littlebit too fart. And again, these
athletes are so in tune with theirbody. It's actutely amazing to me.
But he did the right thing becausethat is something that the rest of us
would probably throw through on the BeerLeague and just say, oh, we'll
just you know, we'll reha thislater. But he can't afford that.
If he is having any instability thatGlenna Huberl joint throughout this growing pace,

(01:07:35):
he's gonna end up with bigger problems. And right now it's an easy problem
to fix. You know, he'swell, get some ice, we'll do
some soft tissing modalities with physical therapy, make sure his strength and range of
motion is full, and he'll hopefullyget back out there in no time.
But absolutely amazing how in tune theyare with their body. Yeah, and

(01:07:56):
it's a very important, yeah,very much. So. It's uh,
it's it's good to see these guysbeing proactive. Doctor Amelia Wiggins from Orthosincia
is with us. Let's talk aboutsomething that went down last night. Jake
Freeley became what feels like the onehundredth Reds player this year to suffer a
hand injury because he got hit bya pitch, came out of the game.
He is going to be evaluated today. The initial X rays were negative.

(01:08:19):
Again, there does seem to besome optimism coming out of this that
this is not going to require astint on the injured list. We'll find
out more. The initial x rayswere negative. Does is there so much
swelling though that maybe you can't entirelytrust the results. How does that work?

(01:08:39):
No, it's I don't know whythat's such a myth. But yeah,
if it's broken, we're gonna seeit. It doesn't matter how much
swelling or soft tissue you've got around. On the X rays, see the
bone. If there's a fracture inthe bone, well we will see it.
The only thing they wouldn't feel thatwould be a stress fracture or something
like that, bone confusion and thatthey I guess they could m RI him,

(01:09:02):
you know, based on his systematology, but hopefully just a terrible hit
of the hand. My god,yeah, it uh, it's not good
having been hit on the hand before, not by a major league pitch.
I can tell you it's not good. If if he is simply dealing with
swelling and bruising, is this thesort of thing that he could play through
if he can manage the pain.Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, yeah,

(01:09:28):
just yeah, keep ice on it. He might. You might see him
with a tape, you know,to to help support the hand, to
stabilize it a little bit. Butas long as there's no ligament or tendon
injury, which again usually that doesn'thappen. It's usually a deep confusion there
to the soft tissue or even tothe bone. But as long as there's
no instability there at that hand andhe's able to play, I would let

(01:09:50):
him play. Awesome insight, terrificexpertise. While you're on the road multitasking,
Doctor Emilia Wiggins from Orthosincy, you'rethe best. Thank you so much,
welcome, Thank you you got adoctor Amelia Wiggins Orthos Sinc. I
say this every single week. Thegreat thing about the people at Orthos Sincy
is they have specialists locations all overthe tri State, including walking orthopedic urgent

(01:10:13):
care during the week from nine amto nine pm and on Saturdays nine am
to one pm at Edgewood and Anderson. It's easier and it's cheaper than going
to an er. Whenever you havean urgent orthopedic injury, go to Orthosinc
dot com. That's orth O ci n cy dot com. Brenneman and
Jones on baseball is next. ESPNfifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station. Lots

(01:10:40):
weird sound effects on that one.Get afternoon. I'm a wager five after
five the ESPN fifteen thirty. Thankyou for joining us today. Hopefully you're
having a the greatest Wednesday of yourlife, greatest ever, the greatest of
all time. Five o'clock happy hourshere. It's a service of our friends
at Michael Ultra. One of thosesounds amazing right now. Might have one

(01:11:02):
of the ballparks on my first chanceto watch Jacob Herdabes in person. You
never. This is why you needcard stock tickets. It's not as debut,
of course, but it's my firstchance to see him in person,
and all I have is a thingon the ballpark ap I could watch Jacob
Herdabese and drinking ice cold Mike Ultraat the ball games, and I might
do that I go to the grailfor one beforehand. You never know,

(01:11:26):
perhaps we'll see you there. Whatwould you do if you were Ellie de
la Cruz. We're going to askthat insanely important question. And I sent
a tweet today and I maybe shouldhave made it a generic sports talk radio
topic, but I answered someone's questionabout what I would do as my first

(01:11:46):
order of business if I was MLBcommissioner, and I kind of cheated because
I answered with a bunch of thingsthat I would do, and then someone
said to me, explain yourself,So I will, because I think that'd
be a fun job. You wouldbe if I was MLB commissioner, the
person running Major League Baseball, theperson in charge of the sport, would

(01:12:09):
actually be something who likes it,as opposed to the clown we have now.
Hopefully the Reds can win another gametonight. If they do that,
it's too straight. It's a winningstreak. And if they do that,
they will have won a series whichhasn't happened in forever. And I am
not pessimistic. I would have ahard time. I have a hard time

(01:12:30):
believing the Reds are gonna make theplayoffs. But you know, before the
season started, I wasn't completely convincedthey were going to make the postseason.
So I don't think that that take, from my standpoint, is a very
sharp departure. I am bullsh ontheir long term. I don't know that

(01:12:51):
I've ever felt like this team wasa playoff team. I'm not giving up
on that being the case. Butif we're doing the same thing in a
month that we've done for the firsttwo months, which is, hey,
at some point, they're gonna turnit around. Hey, at some point,
remember last year they won twelve straightgames. Hey, at some point
remember last year. It's gotta kindof happen here soon. This is roughly

(01:13:14):
when it happened about a year ago. And when they took off. Man,
they took off, but it waslate May early June last year.
If we're gonna keep making the comparisonsbetween last year's Reds and this year's Reds,
oh okay, last year's team kindof took off right around Memorial Day
and started to get reinforcements, andthe Cavalry came with McLean and Abbott and

(01:13:35):
l E and down the road Ceesand the rest is history. Now the
Cavalry is not coming anytime soon,I guess, unless you count Nick Martini,
who came back last night as partof the cavalry. But like,
if this is gonna happen, itkind of has to happen now. If
we're doing this in three weeks wondering, well, what are they gonna turn
it on, then the chances arethey're not gonna or if they do,

(01:13:56):
it's not gonna be enough. Ithas to happen here soon. It cannot
happen until they win consecutive games.So before we talk about, hey,
a twelve game winning streak like lastyear, or hey, look at how
they played. They went twenty nineand twelve starting with game number forty eight
last season during a forty one gamestretch, twenty nine and twelve before we

(01:14:18):
could entertain them doing that. Canyou win consecutive games? Hopefully tonight the
answer is yes, And if theanswer is no, we're just gonna wait
a little bit longer win consecutive gamesin una series and that would be a
step in the right direction. AndrewAbbott was terrific last night. David Bell
was terrific last night throwing that chairin the dugout. Well, let's face

(01:14:44):
it, that was the part ofthe game that I think people remembered the
most. David Bell, This iswhy I love sports for a lot of
different reasons, not the least ofwhich it's one of the few realms where
normally rational, mature adult are allowedto behave like five year olds. And
it's not only allowed, but inmany cases it's encouraged. So if you're

(01:15:06):
one of those fans that has alwayslooked at the manager of a baseball team
through the lens of the managers youwatch when you watch movies about baseball,
and it's somebody who's like storming upand down the dugout, kicking helmets,
yelling at people, throwing temper tantrums. Well you got a little tiny bit
of that with David Bell last night. Did that light a fire underneath the

(01:15:29):
Reds? I don't know, Man, they had three hits last night.
I don't believe this team doesn't playhard. I scoff at the suggestion that
the players don't care or that they'renot playing hard. They just don't have
enough good players. They had threehits last night. It's not a good
offensive team. It's probably not gonnabe a really good offensive team for a

(01:15:50):
while. So if you're making theconnection between a home victory and a game
against the Padres on a random Tuesdayin May, and David throwing a brief
temper tantrum, I don't know,man, you kind of lose me.
But I do think that what wesaw was significant because it occurred. Let's
face it, it occurred at thebeginning of a of a homestand, and

(01:16:14):
the homestand is the first the beginningof the homestand the first game they've played
since a call it what it is, disastrous road trip injuries, tough losses,
walk off losses, one run losses, extra inning losses, losses in
games that could have been won.They go three and seven, They put
two more dudes on the injured list. If it could go wrong, it
did. If it can go wrong, it has over the last couple of

(01:16:39):
weeks. And then you're thinking,okay, start of a nine game homestand
maybe we can get a fresh start. And then Jake Fraley gets hit,
and so now you got to goback to your bench, and now your
depth is being further compromised, andnow there's yet another question about a player's
availability. For what it's worth,David Bell did tell reporters today that the
swelling has gone down in his hand, but he's still dealing with some stiffness

(01:17:00):
TBD on his availability. He isnot in the starting lineup tonight. I'm
sure this situation in a vacuum veryfrustrating for a manager. I'm sure the
cumulative effect of just weeks of badnews, weeks of losses, weeks of
players being hurt, some external criticism, maybe even some internal heat. I'm

(01:17:24):
sure that just got David Bell lastnight to a point that he just boiled
over and started throwing a chair inthe dugout. And I'm here for it
because it was amusing and I canrelate to it. We all get to
a point where it's just like you'refrustrated as hell and you can't control your
emotions anymore. And then happened toDavid Bell, and it was a human
moment and fine, and I'm gladhe didn't get disciplined or chuck. It

(01:17:46):
was really really mad and I getit. But I also think there was
something to this that he isn't goingto say publicly, and if not,
well my issue would be I'm throwingthe chair because I'm so pissed off that
this keeps happening. I keep seeingmy players get hit, we keep having

(01:18:12):
to have the miss games, andwe keep having to put them on the
injured list, and none of ourpitchers are gonna do anything about it.
And so I'm not like your traditionalfrothing at the mouth, frustrated former high
school baseball player that just believes thatyou randomly hit guys. I'm the backflip

(01:18:36):
guy. I'm the guy that thinkit thinks it's asinine to throw a baseball
at somebody because they flipped a bat, or because they stole a base when
they were up by a bunch ofruns, or because they stood and watched
their homer Like I think, Ithink it's stupid, it's childish. But
I also understand like there's something aboutnot being really pushed around, and the

(01:18:57):
Reds have kind of been pushed around. They really also have him pushed back,
and that frustrates me as a fan. You can't tell me that's not
frustrating to some of the guys onthe team. Maybe it's frustrating for David
Bell as well. Andrew Abbott wasterrific in the game last night to not
allow a bunch of hard contact playedfrom ahead god strike one on fifteen to

(01:19:21):
the twenty four hitters that he faced, got the first out of every inning,
was in complete control, and theReds win the ball game. I'm
still a little bit worried about AlexisDiaz Andrew Abbott. I guess on this
particular topic, the Reds having abunch of guys getting hit and not doing
anything about it. Deb's always beenbehind us, So, you know,

(01:19:45):
to show a motion like that,you know, just further, you know,
makes that point known to us,and it really, you know,
it should light a fire under us. You know just how many guys we've
had either get hit in a handthis year or you know, missing time
because of you know, hit bypitch or you know, unfortunate circumstances or
whatever may be. But you know, DB's always had our back, and
he continues to just say, hey, go to your job. You know,

(01:20:08):
we're gonna get out of this funkand we're gonna turn around. Do
we have to call him dB?Now? dB? dB? Is that
is that what we think we do? We have to call him that?
dB? Oh? We don't haveto dB. Anyway, that's a on
dB last night after the game.Maybe it lights a fire out of the

(01:20:33):
staff pictures, will do something aboutit? I don't know, but I
do think there's something about watching thisjust long now stream of Red's batters who
have been hit in the hand andseeing no retribution, seeing nothing done about

(01:20:56):
it, that is frustrating. NowI'm frustrated. I'm not the manager of
the team. If David Bell's frustrated, then the next step is to communicate
that this is something that's not goingto be stood for much longer, and
that is not going to be statedpublicly, of course, but it will
be interesting to me. Andrew Abbottused the term light a fire underneath us

(01:21:19):
with regard to having so many ofhis teammates get hit. Is somebody going
to do something about it? Fivepoint three seven four nine, fifteen thirty.
By the way, we do havethis as a poll question thanks to
United Heartland Insurance. Should Red's pitchersdo something about this? Fifty three point

(01:21:40):
two percent of you say no.Vote now and then check out uhions dot
com. Save mo money on yourhome, personal business insurance whatever it is
auto insurance uhins dot com. UhMeanwhile, there was a piece about Elie
de la Cruz's future in Cincinnati thatwe are going to spend some time on.
I was asked to explain myself whenI responded to a tweet about being

(01:22:03):
the commissioner of Baseball. We'll getto that. And the clock is ticking.
I'll tell you what it's ticking onnext. ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati
Sports Tation, forty eight hours awayfrom announcing the winner of this year's Mow
Youurlawn contest. I think, infact, I'm pretty damn sure of this.
We're closing down the registration after tomorrowbecause we're announcing the winner on Friday.

(01:22:27):
You still have time to sign up, is what I'm trying to say.
It's thanks to Backs of the Tractorin Riverbend Music Center, we're giving
away a brand new lawnmower. Thanksto Baxla, we're giving away tickets to
every Riverbend show in twenty twenty fourand all the stuff goes to the same
person. So that's what you're gonnawin. If you win, you can't
win if you don't sign up.But if you win, you win the
mower, you win all the tickets. I bring the stuff to your house.

(01:22:48):
It's gonna be incredible to mow yourlong contest four thirty three On Friday
afternoon, we will kick off MemorialDay weekend by an hour. The winner
of this year's mow Your Long Contest. Now you might be thinking, God,
that sounds awesome. How do Isign up? Well? Uh,

(01:23:08):
pretty simple. Go to ESPN fifteenthirty dot com. Check out the podcast
page. You could also or notthe podcast page the contest page. You
can go to the podcast page ifyou want ESPN fifteen thirty dot COM's contest
page, and also you could goto my social media look for the mo
your Long link. Sign up today. We'll announce the winner on Friday.
Thanks to Backsla Tractor and Riverbend MusicCenter. I have an email address Moe

(01:23:32):
at ESPN fifteen thirty dot com.I get these emails from the Reds.
Fancam is coming to a Great Americanballpark. At select home games this season,
you'll be able to zoom in andfind your photo in the crowd.
Then you could share it with yourfriends to show you were there. Thank
god this capability now exists, becauseup until now, there was no way

(01:23:59):
that you could prove to people thatyou were at a Reds game. Now
that they have Fancam you could dothat. Prior to this, if you
were at a Reds game, peopleprobably wouldn't believe you. You had no
way of showing them you were there. Now you will thanks to Fancam.
Gordon Wittenmeyer wrote a piece about EllieDelacruz and got quotes from his agent,

(01:24:23):
Scott Boris. Ellie Delacruz is twentytwo years old, and the crux of
the piece was that Ellie is unlikelyto sign a long term contract extension.
Now very natural if your reaction tothat is Dutey hasn't been in the big
leagues for a year. But therehave been a lot of players throughout the

(01:24:43):
sport that have basically signed off forall of their prime years. They have
signed a long, lucrative contract extensionin which the team has basically bought out
all the arbitration years, bought outyears a free agency, and more or
less is going to guarantee that thisplayer is THEIRS for all of his prime
years. Elie de la Cruz seemsunlikely to do this, according to his

(01:25:08):
agent, Scott Boris. Many didnot like the piece because it, you
know, it does seem a littlebit early. I guess at face value,
but it really isn't. In thepiece, it sort of Gordon makes
the point that you know, it'sup to the Reds to win while they
have him. There's something about that, right, you have this elite,
high level talent who is having agood season. Obviously it still has a

(01:25:30):
ways to go, but you gotto win while you have a player like
that. To me, one ofthe more disappointing things, maybe the most
disappointing thing about Joey Evado's contract extension, is the large number of years where
the team was blatantly non competitive whilehe was in his prime. It wasted
Joey Vado. You don't want towaste Elie de la Cruz. This is

(01:25:54):
a ways off. He can't bea free agent until after the twenty twenty
nine season. So if you wantto buy buy out those free agency years,
you want to buy out those earlyseasons post free agency, you want
to pay them deep into the nextdecade. If I'm Elie dela Cruz,
You're going to have to figure outa way to come up with a sum
of money that you're probably not willingto pay. If I'm Ellie, I'm

(01:26:18):
tracking toward in a few years,I'm tracking toward being able to hit free
agency as a player who's not eventwenty eight to twenty nine yet, and
perhaps do so after coming off someincredibly productive years. Or I can sign
a contract now for twenty twenty fourmoney when I haven't yet reached stardom,

(01:26:45):
and I can let the Reds buyout the remainder of my prime years.
That is a no brainer if you'rethe player now. There is something about
the security of a long term dealand what it could do for you financially.
But is there any one of usthat would say, right now to
the Reds, yeah, go ahead, pay me until I'm thirty two to

(01:27:08):
thirty three years old, don't giveme a crack at hitting free agency,
buy out all of my prime yearsand then some now one of us would
do that kind of take a bigbet on yourself if you believe that you're
only going to improve, believe thatyou're trending toward being one of the best
players in the sport. I mean, as a Reds fan, yeah,

(01:27:29):
sign me up for signing Ellie dela Cruz for all of his prime years.
There's also a part of me thatwants to see, like, is
he gonna end up being as goodas we hope. It does put a
premium on winning while you're here,and the one thing the Reds can change
is let's not let him play hisbest seasons amid so much frustration that staying

(01:27:50):
here long term isn't even on hisradar by the time it's worth talking about
because he's so tired of losing.All he wants to do if the money
is the same, and the moneyis going to be ridiculous no matter what.
What the Reds as a franchise cando is do a better job of
building contending teams while they have him, so that that's at least one box

(01:28:12):
one, one item on the listof things that you would consider that you
could check off. Yes, wecould win here. It's imperative to win
while you have a player like thatif you have designs on wanting them to
stay long term. Five thirty morephone calls are coming up five one,
three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty eight sixty six, seven
oh two three seven seven six giveyou a Red starting lineup? And I

(01:28:36):
was asked to explain myself. Somebodywasn't happy with one of my sports opinions
on Twitter today. Explain myself,so I will after sports headlines on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station, Cincinnati'sESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from the UC and

(01:28:56):
fifteen thirty sports headlines. Sorry,here was Kelsey Chevrolet home of a lifetime
power train protection and guarantee credit approvalfrom their family to yours for life.
Kelseyshef dot comrades and padres again tonightat gab P. Nick Martinez, who
was really good in that bullpen Daybullpen game victory over the Dodgers last Thursday,

(01:29:20):
We'll pitch for Cincinnati, writing MichaelKing for San Diego. Jake Fraley
Swelling has gone down in his handafter getting hit last night. I'm reading
Charlie Goldsmith who says the hand isstill stiff according to dB David Bell TBD
on if he'll still be available today. Here are the players in the red

(01:29:43):
starting line of tonight. Are youready start start writing these down? Herdabees
left field, Ellie Short, Jamerthird, Stevenson catching for dhing steer It
first, Martiniz in right field,John India Jonathan India is at second base,
and Will Benson's in center field.At six forty this evening on a
seven hundred WLW Florence. Yawl's aretaking on Gateway tonight. College baseball tournaments

(01:30:11):
in the Big twelve tournament you see, has a one nothing lead over Texas
in an elimination game. That gameis headed to the bottom of the second
inning in Arlington and tonight at PrascoPark. This is a really cool event.
Not everybody in the Big East playsbaseball and so the tournament field is

(01:30:32):
always reasonably small compared to other leagues. But Xavier is playing against Yukon tonight
at Prasco Park. That is acool event. Games going to start at
six thirty. Yukon is the topseed in that tournament. Best of luck
to Billy O'Connor and his club.What else do we have? Bengals Ring
of Honor nominees for the twenty twentyfour class were announced earlier today. The

(01:30:55):
Ring of Honor game is going tobe on Monday night, September the twenty
third and Commanders. If you haveseason tickets or if you are a suite
holder, the Ring of Honor nomineesyou could vote on are Jim Breach,
James Brooks, Chris Collinsworth, CoreyDyllon, David Fulcher, Tim Crumrie,
Dave Lap and Max Montoya, LamarParrish, Bob Trumpy and Reggie Williams,

(01:31:16):
Vote Lap and Pittsburgh's gonna host theNFL Draft in twenty twenty six. There
you go, let's see. Ianswered one of those you'll see occasionally on
Twitter, these sort of open endedquestions from accounts, and sometimes I think

(01:31:40):
they are fun for jogging conversation atBB Great Moments, which I don't think
I actually follow, but Baseball's GreatestMoments wrote if you became MLB commissioner,
what would be your first move?And I quote tweeted it, shared it
with the class and cheated because itsaid first move. My first move would

(01:32:03):
be I would schedule my vacation.But you know, it's one of those
things like what would you like?It becomes what would you do if you
were the czar of baseball? Becauseit's it's not as easy as we make
it seem. You've got to getthe owners on board with your initiatives.
You've got to have some working relationshipwith the players Association, and I would

(01:32:26):
also say the umpires Union, butI wrote, Actually I had two tweets
The first one was I'd end blackoutsfor good. I'd get rid of the
magic runner rule. I'd award thetop pick in the draft to the team
that wins the World Series. I'dreturn the playoff field to ten teams,
and I would eliminate pitcher wins andlosses as an officially recognized stat. And

(01:32:51):
then I followed that up by writingon my second day, I would restore
the affiliations of minor league teams thatwere stripped of them, would pass a
role allowing managers to wear something besidesbaseball pants if they wanted to, and
I would start a dialogue with theumpires union that would help us weed out
bad umpires. I would also getrid of mound visits entirely. I got

(01:33:14):
a tweet here from Derek who said, explain yourself this afternoon. I don't
know which part of that I needto explain, but I'll oblige. Uh.
The blackout thing that's gonna go away, making it difficult to access your
sport is ridiculous. I have noissue with Baseball going after streaming services.

(01:33:36):
They're tapping in a revenue. Fine. I think it is ridiculous that we
still have the number of blackouts inMajor League Baseball that we do. That's
got to go away. You've gotto put your game. You gotta put
your product in front of more eyeballs. Getting rid of the magic runner rule.

(01:33:57):
I hated it from day one.I still hate it. It is
is the eternal solution in search ofa problem. If we had an epidemic
of sixteen inning games prior to therule being instituted, I would say,
do something about it. We didn't. We never have. It's a solution
in search of a problem. Oneof my core beliefs as a sports fan
is in every sport, the teamthat wins the championship should be given the

(01:34:23):
first pick in the draft. Ibelieve that about the NFL. I believe
that about the NBA. I believeit about Major League Baseball. I would
give the team with the worst recordthe last pick in the first round.
I like incentivizing well run businesses.I don't like bailing out bad ones.
That's one of my just core beliefsas a sports fan. For what it's
worth, return the playoff field toten teams actually do like the playoff format.

(01:34:47):
Regular season is two watered down.The playoff field being expanded is a
carrot being dangled, a carrot stick, an olive branch being offered to big
market teams. LA DOT will neverbe one of the will never be outside
the top six in the national league. Expanding the playoff field is it's a

(01:35:08):
hindrance to small market clubs. Also, it incentivizes owners to try to build
eighty five win teams and eliminating pitcherwin losses. As an officially recognized stat,
it's the worst stat we have insports. The rest of them.
Minor league teams in certain cities havesuffered greatly because their MLB affiliations went away.
I would restore that managers wearing baseballpants old men, and baseball pants

(01:35:31):
look stupid. If I was abig league manager, I'd want to put
on a nice pair of golf pantsand a polo. And this sport,
I don't say it has an umpiringproblem. It just has a problem without
being able to get rid of thebad umpires. And so you got to
work with the union and create asystem that better rewards the really good ones

(01:35:54):
and takes your Angel Hernandez types andmake them ex umpires. There you go,
I explain myself. I explained myself. You're free to add to it.
And then I enjoyed some of thereplies to my tweet, and I
enjoyed some of the ideas that peoplehad. Might dive into that a little

(01:36:15):
bit deeper tomorrow. Mike, goahead, you're on ESPN fifteen thirty.
That was very well, very succinct, and very to the point. So
the gentleman that contested your comment shouldbe satisfied, as far as I'm can.
Oh, I don't know that hecontested him. He wanted an explanation,
he said this afternoon. I assumehe was referring to the radio show,
and so I did. I offeredan explanation. Free to disagree with

(01:36:39):
any of it, that's fine,but there's my explanation. That's complimentary.
Can I hit MBA real quick andthen all reds to America? You can
do whatever you want. No,Well, yeah, okay, I got
the Pacers at twenty five to oneto win the championship. I still feel
good about that bet, even moreso based on why Night's game that we

(01:37:01):
know they should have won. Yeah. I think the value is incredible.
I think the value is great.I think you're giving me a team that
offensively was the best in the leaguethat has been incredible in the postseason,
and that right now is healthy.Now, if you said you have to
bet an amount of money that mattersto you on any of these four teams,

(01:37:23):
Indy wouldn't be my first play.I'm with you. I'm with you
for the same reason I felt likeIndiana was gonna win the nixt series.
Uh. Look, losing a gamelike that is is really hard, right
and obviously in the race to four, when you fall behind one that ain't
good. But they were really goodlast night. They were the better team

(01:37:44):
offensively, they are elite. Bostonhas had these lulls that make you believe
like there's a decent chance they stilllose a home game. They're a little
bit overly reliant on the three.Uh. Indiana does have more bodies than
Boston, although not to the samedegree they had against the name. They're
really well coached. They're terrific onoffense. They beat themselves last night.
Rick cry Alisle took and I stillcall them cry Alisle, but Ck cry

(01:38:09):
Elisle took accountability for it. You'vegot to be able to figure out a
way to just inbound the ball andnot give it away. You've got to
do better on Boston's last possession.But I if I'm a Pacers fan,
I walk away from that going Okay, it was a road game Game one.
Can the team that outplayed New Yorkand Boston show up multiple times in
this series? And if so,could I still win this thing? I

(01:38:31):
think the answer is yes. Idon't think they will. My guess is
Boston's going to win this series.But I think those who took last night
and use that as evidence to discountIndiana have not paid attention to how good
that team is offensively, not justin New York in Game seven when they
were unbelievable, but all year long. And I think that the tree the

(01:38:53):
guard, the trio at guard thatAli Burdon and Memhart can both shoot the
lights out, and then you throwdjand there Ooser All League defender. That's
a nice group to have in theback court. Yeah. I like Siakam,
I like Miles Turner. I didn'tlike those guys as much last week.
They they have a lot of playlike health and injuries have dramatically shaped

(01:39:16):
the playoff field. And that's that'sokay. That happens every year in every
sport. We're down to four reasonablyhealthy teams. I think Indiana has the
kind of club that could withstand aninjury, maybe a little bit more so
than Boston, and maybe to adegree. You know, Minnesota and Dallas
have superstars. Neither could afford lossesamong their absolute best players. But if

(01:39:40):
some complimentary guys on Indiana got hurt, which you almost kind of expect,
I think they have just enough depthto be able to overcome it. If
Luca the best offensive player in theNBA, I think he is, maybe,
I don't know. I still likethe joke. I still think the

(01:40:00):
joker. I still think a fullyhealthy Embiid. I think a fully healthy
Joel Embiid, which we did notsee in the postseason, is the most
talented player and best and most skilledguy. He's just not healthy enough.
But I think that series is goingto be a blast. I think Anthony
Edwards and Kyrie Irving, who rightnow might be the most underrated player in

(01:40:21):
the league. I think that's goingto be an absolutely dynamite matchup. I
do too, Okay, and longCookie on the Reds, I don't think
Green and Rodolo are the studs.I mean, they maybe, but we
got to admit Abbott is our studand our reliable starter. He really is.
Mo Well. Hunter Green has recentlybeen really good, though, and

(01:40:44):
I think the idea is to havea lot of reliable guys. Now,
Abbot's been awesome. I mean,he's aside from maybe two bad starts this
year, he's had a really terrificsophomore campaign. But Hunter Green over his
last seven start has been everything thatyou would want. And so if i'm
if I'm clinging to the idea thatthe Reds can contend here over the final

(01:41:08):
three quarters of the season, thatstarts with you might you might argue it
starts with an easier schedule, andthere's certainly something that can be said about
that, but it it really beginswith the fact that the starting pitching has
been good and there's still an expectationthat it it'll be better and and Hunter
Green's a part of that, AndrewAbbott's a part of that. They got

(01:41:28):
to get Lodolo healthy. I needto see more from Graham Ashcraft, but
I'm with you, Andrew Abbit hasbeen about as good as you could expect.
But over his last six to sevenstarts, so is Hunter Green.
Yep, you're it. And onelast one, please, thank you.
I think I think one thing withthe hitting is, as we know,

(01:41:49):
you know, they take the hitterscatch up with pitchers, but pitchers catch
up with hitters, and they wereseeing these guys, these young guys for
the first time off and on lastyear, and I think maybe that's part
of the problem. Then you havethe injuries, of course, but a
good example of this MO is CodyBellinger. Okay, when's the rookie of
the year, he's the MVP.The next year, hurts his shoulder and

(01:42:13):
is in the crapper for three orfour years, and then the Dodgers finally
part with him. But I thinkthat can kind of show you how the
league catches up excluding injury. Well, yeah, I think a good example
of that is Elie de la Cruzbecause if you watched him last season,
one of the knocks on his gamewas well, he's a little bit too

(01:42:34):
impatient, and it was a faircriticism. He's a little bit too impatient,
not selective enough at the plate.And then so what does he do.
I think early this season, reallyearly this season, you saw him
being going the other direction, beingalmost too patient, where he was allowing
pitchers to get ahead of him,oh and two. And it's hard to

(01:42:55):
hit O into. It's really hardwhen you're still developing. And so you
saw him being too paid. Andthen the league itself decided, well,
look man, this guy's not swingingit pitches early in the count, so
just throw strikes and get him Otwo. Then you got him. And
then what have you seen since you'veseen him adjust in turn, and he's
done a better job of attacking pitchesin the zone early in the count.

(01:43:16):
And now we'll see how the leagueadjust to him. Mike, I got
a run, Man, have agood night. Okay, thanks though,
all right, you got it.We're done. We're done. By the
way. Bourbon Brandon Spinner is goingto be here on Friday for the Bourbon
Hour. Friday five o'clock hour.Brandon Spinner Channel nine nine stands for News
WCPO. Do we know if he'sbringing anybody with him? Not it is

(01:43:38):
he bringing any bourbon with him?Can't be called bourbon Brandon Spinner if he
don't bring bourbon. Yeah, makesure he understands like if he doesn't bring
bourbon, like we're excited to seeBrandon and have him here and talk about
bourbon. And meet him in person. We're excited for that, but let's
be honest, he's not the futureattraction. Neither am I. Future attraction

(01:44:00):
is, or maybe more so thanme. But the future attraction comes in
up glass bottle. We're done.Show's over. Anything you might have missed,
go get it on the podcast pageof ESPN fifteen thirty dot com or
the iHeartRadio app. Thanks to along neck sports grill, don't forget on
your way home, pick up asix pack of mic Culture. If you're

(01:44:23):
going to the ballpark tonight, graba Miculture. Have a blast. We
are back at it tomorrow at threeoh five. Have an amazing night and
uh thanks to Teran for producing.Thanks to you for listening. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station isgetting gas at Exon burning a hole in your walle