5/29/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
No one covers the Bengals like ESPN fifty.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Cincinnati nobody sports station. I think we're actually the only
outlet that covers the banits. Anybody else kind of ignores them.
What's up moegor ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you for listening
today and uh love for having an awesome Thursday. It's
our Friday, or at least it's my Friday. So I
got that going for me. Show rundowns available, don't watch

(00:27):
it on Twitter at moegar comes your way thanks to
Emory Federal Credit Union, your credit union with hard since
nineteen thirty nine. Go to Emory FC dot org. Do
that now, do that now? Uh you know, we've we
we have a lot today. I'm excited coming up in
the four o'clock hour Seth Walter h. He is the

(00:52):
guy basically in charge of ESPN's Football Power Index and
ESPN's Football Power Index. This year, at least this offseason
is pretty bullish on the Bengals. So Seth is going
to join us coming up at four h five, and

(01:12):
we are looking forward to that. Well. Head Knoxville on
the five o'clock hour, talk a little college baseball with
both the Bearcats and RedHawks playing in the regional. Cincinnati
takes on Wake Forest. The RedHawks battle Tennessee. That coming
up at five twenty, we may have an MLS guest
to talk FC Cincinnati, which you and I will discuss

(01:35):
here in just a few minutes. The Reds lose last night,
a frustrating night, a night where Hunter Green, I guess
we're gonna say he labored, got through five. Red's offense
tried to come alive late. Rally dowsed in the seventh,
another one in the eighth. My guy Will Benson hate

(01:55):
to say that he's turned into a pumpkin, but I
was ready for it last night. In the eighth inning,
big chance for him with the tying run on base
representing the go ahead run, and he swings at the
first pitch and pops up to third. Tito got thrown
out of the game last night. Nick Martinez got thrown
out of the game last night, and the Reds miss
a chance to sweep the Kansas City Royals. They are

(02:18):
off today. They'll take on the Chicago Cubs tomorrow. Let's
go ahead and do it. Big series, big series against
the Cubs. Got to at least win two out of
three and if you do that, you're only gonna be
six and a half games out of first place with
two teams between you and Chicago. In all likelihood, we
will see You'll hear Terry Franconi here in just a

(02:39):
few minutes. Santiago Espinal came up in a big spot
last night, first and second, one out, one run game
and he bounced into a double play. And one of
the current issues that the Reds are dealing with right now,
and that many Reds fans are talking about, perhaps including yourself,
is Santiago Espinal and his placement in the batting order

(03:03):
and the fact that he is getting such regular playing time. No,
ideally he is not batting second. No, ideally he's not
playing a lot, but he is, and it is interesting.
We had a guy who called the show yesterday. Dude
was like weed whacking and decided in the middle of
his wed whacking to call the show to defend the
honor of Santiago Espanol, which I'm not sure is necessary

(03:27):
because I think most of us who are reasonable like
Santiago Espinol, and we know what he is. I think
utility players in this sport are interesting. Santiago Espanol is
a utility player. He can play a bunch of different positions.
He can play most of them pretty well. He can

(03:49):
fill in in a pinch if he has to start.
It's not ideal, but it's okay. He's a utility guy.
Like utility players are always either overvalued or undervalued. If
a utility player plays here and there and does, okay,

(04:12):
what do we want? We want to see more and
we kind of amplify how good the guy is. If
utility guy ends up playing a lot, chances are, over
the course of time we're going to find out why
he's a utility guy, and because he's playing a lot
and not playing well, he's going to incur public wrath.

(04:34):
It feels like it's never good enough to say what
he is. He's okay, he's not your best player. Probably
shouldn't be starting on a regular basis. If he is,
it should be to kind of bounce around and give
players at different positions a blow. That's what a utility
guy is supposed to do. Utility guys are fine. You

(04:58):
could play for a very long time, make a very
big impact, and make a hell of a lot of money.
Being a utility guy. You have value at a lot
of different positions. Every major league team could use a
Swiss army knife, could use versatility, could use, wait for it,
a guy who can handle the bat well. Every major

(05:20):
League baseball team could use a Santiago Espinal. I'm glad
he's a red Good pickup prior to opening Day last year.
Has one more year of arbitration eligibility. I hope he's
with the Reds next season. I certainly, in a hell
hope he's not batting second, playing every single day. I
feel like, and I've said this often, that in this

(05:42):
day and age, it's not good enough to say that
something's all right decent. As the kids try to say
mid everything is either the greatest thing of all time
or the worst thing of all time. Santiago Espinal is
not a starting caliber player. He's not a guy that
on a ninety two win team would get six hundred

(06:04):
played appearances. He's not a guy that on a ninety
two win team would be playing every single day at
any one position. He's not a bad piece to have.
Chances are you could use a guy like Santiago Espinal
on a ninety two win team or hell, a one
hundred two win team. You always need pin chitters. You

(06:26):
always need guy who could play, guys who could play
multiple positions. You could always use a guy who here
it is again, can handle the bat well. So what's
happening with Santiago Espanal is he's being miscast. And maybe
he's being miscast because Matt McClain failed as the two
hole hitter. And maybe he's being miscast because jam Or

(06:47):
Candelario got hurt and the Reds have had injuries across
their roster. And maybe he's being miscast because the Reds
don't have a great number two hitter that's not Matt McClain,
and Matt McClain right now is not a great number
two hit or hell, he's not a great number nine hitter.
And so he's being forced to play a lot and
hit in a spot in the batting order where you

(07:07):
want one of the best hitters, if not the best
hitter on your team. And so because he's playing a lot,
because he's playing in a role that we don't want
him to be in, now he's going to incur some
public wrath that he really doesn't deserve. Now you'll find
some who will tell you, dude's a really good player.

(07:29):
The game last week in Pittsburgh, where he was left
and a hit in the ninth inning of a one
nothing game with a guy on base. Come on, man,
you gotta be kidding me. There were no shortage of
people that came to Santiago Espinal's defense to tell the
rest of us how good he is. He's not that good.
He's not a starting caliber player. He's not a guy that,

(07:50):
when you have other options than the Reds did that night,
you leave in because he remember handles the bat well.
He's a utility guy, and a really damn good one.
That's what he is. You do not want utility guys
to play the same position every single day, because that
means someone has either gotten hurt or their performance has

(08:12):
been terrible. And you chances are don't want your utility
guy to hit second in the order, which is where
one of your best hitters should be batting, and in
many cases, where your best hitter should be batting. Santiago
Espanal is neither. He's a bench piece, a re liable one,
a good one, a likable one, a valuable one. It's

(08:35):
okay to say that because that's what he is. Unfortunately
for him, he's being miscast. So you have you have
the folks who are rushing to defend him because they
like his work as a utility guy, and you know,
maybe they're a little bit ignorant of what he's being
asked to do, which is not be a utility guy.
And then you have the folks over here who are
going to tell you how bad Santiago Espanal is because

(08:57):
he's being exposed, because he's being miscast, because he's being
thrust into a role where now we're judging him for
things that, frankly are in his faults. What he is,
ideally on a team that's deeper and better constructed, is
what are you supposed to be? A dude who plays,

(09:17):
starts a couple of times a week, maybe gets a
start at third base, maybe gets a start in the outfield,
maybe gets a start at second base, can come in
in a pinch, can be good late inning, defensive help
if you need it, can give the manager options late
in the game. Because he can do a lot of
different things. That's what he is. He's not a two

(09:38):
hole hitter. He's not a scrub. He's not a starting
third baseman. He's not a tripa a player. He's not
a guy that should be getting six hundred at bats.
He's a guy worth keeping on your bench to get
at bats when needed. I could say that. I could
say that because it's true. Unfortunately, nobody's willing to admit

(10:00):
that because of the role he's being forced to play.
Quarter after three ESPN fifteen thirty on Moeger phone, numbers
are five one three, seven four nine fifteen thirty and
eight six six seven h two three seven seven six.
Tito got tossed last night. You'll hear from the Reds
manager from the postgame. Reds are off tonight in Chicago,
first of three against the Cubs beginning tomorrow afternoon. At

(10:23):
halftime last night at the soccer venue in the West
End of Cincinnati, it felt like FC Cincinnati was up
for nothing over Dallas and Lucho Acosta, who was being
booed and it looked to me like he was bothered
by being booed. It felt like a domination by the
home team. That felt like an insurmountable lead to nothing.

(10:46):
Unfortunately it wasn't. FC Cincinnati gives away two points, they
settle for one. I think we would categorize that as
a bad draw. At TQL Stadium. Lucho Acosta maybe to
a degree, gets the last laugh a blown opportunity. Last night,
Pat noon and after the game said, uh, the performance
in the second half was embarrassing. You'll hear that coming

(11:06):
up in just a few minutes at malegger on. Twitter
is how you can reach out as well as five
point three seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty Twitter feeds a
service of Delta Dental. Delta Dental is building healthy, smart,
vibrant communities for all. Gonna Delta Dental, oh dot com,
Seth Walter, ESPN, FPI is gonna join us in the

(11:27):
four o'clock hour. Uh, there's more being written today about
Trey Hendrickson that we have to get to. Chamar Stuart's
dad is speaking out. This has Chamar Stewart got drafted
like a month ago, right, and Shamar Stewart has been
under the Bengals control if you will, for like five
weeks already we have the dad speaking out about the

(11:50):
contract impasse between the two parties.

Speaker 3 (11:53):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
I appreciate what Shamar Stewart's dad has had to say.
I certainly agree with his perspective. I'm still I'm sure
if this is good, we'll spend some time on that
A little bit later on. It is seventeen minutes after
three o'clock. Mom, Moeger, glad you with us today. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC.

Speaker 3 (12:18):
Health Traffic Center. At you see Health, you'll find comprehensive
care that's so personal it makes your best tomorrow possible.
That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect more at u
sehealth dot com. Victory Parkway is closed off for police
activity between Rockdale and Dana Avenue Highway forty eight, both directions.

(12:38):
It's an accident between Baxter and Schlatman Road. Police are
directing traffic around that accident area on that ezelk with traffic.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
This reput Bench players get exposed the more you play them.
I don't think it's a matter if it's baseball or
basketball or football, whatever it is. Right like, if you
play a backup cock, a good backup quarterback will have
his high points. The Bengals have one here, Jake Browning. Right,

(13:08):
he can do some really good things. He can make
the offense function, But do you want the game in
his hands? Fourth and four year down by four forty
two seconds to go and completion extends the game. Probably
not like the longer you play him, the greater the

(13:29):
possibility of his warts being exposed. Same for pretty much
any sports. Santiago Espinal's being hasked to play too much.
The Reds have played what fifty fifty six games now,
seven fifty seven games now Santiago Santiago Espinal has started
forty one of them, like he's on track to start
about one hundred and twenty times this season. That's not

(13:52):
good for him. So the longer he plays, the more
his deficiencies come to the forefront, and then the more
he incurs public wrath. You know, there's a there's a
place on this team for him. There's a place on
this team for him, even if they get better elsewhere.
He just shouldn't be batting second and playing every single day.

(14:16):
Uh five point three seven four nine fifteen thirty frustrating loss.
Terry Francona got chucked out of the game last night.
Here he is with reporters after the game.

Speaker 5 (14:26):
Yeah, I mean it's pretty pretty polished. It pitched kind
of like a veteran left hander and early on first
time through, you know, a lot of times here guys
say he established his fastball. I thought he really established
the off speed and a second time to throw his
fastball a little bit more. But he threw you know,
four different pitches and he had to respect all of them.

(14:48):
Kind of weird playing the game where the guy scores
some first base on was the ground ball to a
second Was it kind of an in between ball for
McLean there? Well, I mean he dove and just you know,
he doesn't come up with it on a dive. It
hits his kind of carams l enough where it slows
it downward. It's like in that triangle out there. And
their runner did a very good job and their third

(15:08):
base gos did a very good job.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Was it one of those nights for May where he
just couldn't find it?

Speaker 5 (15:14):
Yeah, I mean it was just you know, a lot
of balls early. And to his credit, you know, we
had run around third and let him face Passcantino and
he got that ground ball to first and got out
of it. But it's a hard way to pitch and
not give up runs.

Speaker 6 (15:29):
From at the end there in the night.

Speaker 5 (15:32):
Was it more about what was.

Speaker 7 (15:33):
Going on between the empire and your Doug add are
more about what was going on out.

Speaker 5 (15:38):
There on the field when you went when you went
out there, I just wanted to know who he threw out.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
A little bit of everything. What'd you say from Green tonight?

Speaker 5 (15:54):
You know what I thought he They made him work.
I didn't think he had his best command. I think
it's a little bit expected on his second start back.
Now he'll get an extra day this time, and I
think starting with his next outing, we can kind of
take the gloves off and let him be who he
is and don't worry about the pitch council much.

Speaker 7 (16:14):
And I think he'll be okay.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
I mean, got hitting us calf.

Speaker 5 (16:17):
I don't think that's going to be an issue with
that comebacker.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yeah, there you go, Tito, Terry Francona. After the game,
Hunter Green was last night, Reds lose the ballgame. You
heard Jim Day ask the question about the runner scoring
from first on the ball that McLean went after. Freaky
sort of thing that happened last night. You tip your cap, whatever,
but you know the aspinall thing he came up in

(16:42):
the seventh inning last night. You look at social media,
you would think he was the worst player of all time.
He's a guy that shouldn't be up in that situation,
whether it be injury, lack of performance by others, not
enough depth on the roster that the guy is being
just completely miscast. It's not just him playing every single day.
The dude shouldn't be batting Second FC Cincinnati, Look, man, Uh.

(17:04):
We talked about Lucho at Coosa's return, the booing. I
wouldn't have booted him. The fans that did find if
it made you feel good whatever. Uh. The bigger part
to me was they were dominating that game for the
first forty five plus minutes and it legitimately felt like
the score was larger than two nothing, which I guess
is a credit to Dallas. They don't lose, but it

(17:24):
felt like a loss free three draw last night. Here's
pat noonan afterward. Three three disappointing finish for you here tonight?

Speaker 6 (17:38):
How did Dallas make it difficult over the last forty
five minutes?

Speaker 2 (17:42):
We were disgraceful in the second half. We deserved what
we got.

Speaker 5 (17:45):
You know, they kept pushing, but we were in control
of to nothing and some really amateur plays and guys.

Speaker 7 (17:51):
That just don't understand the moment.

Speaker 5 (17:52):
So that was Uh, that was really disappointing.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
All I think that's all right. That is not pulling
punches and you can't blame him. You could feel, you
could feel and sense his anger during that interview, and
you cannot blame him. That is that's a hard draw
at home, leading to ZIP at halftime twenty eight minutes

(18:16):
after three o'clock. Five one, three, seven, four nine fifteen
thirty is our phone number. I'm reading today in multiple
publications about Trey Hendrickson. It's it's May twenty ninth. The
Trey Hendrickson thing lingers. I do want to read a
quote from one NFL executive about the Trey Hendrickson situation,

(18:40):
because I hope he is right, and I think he
can be. You might have to take a slight leap
of faith. Maybe that's what I'm doing, but I'll read
the quote. We'll discuss sports headlines as well on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (18:58):
Station, Cincinnati ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health
Traffic Center.

Speaker 3 (19:06):
At you see Health, you'll find comprehensive care that's so
personal it makes your best tomorrow possible. That's boundless care
for better outcomes. Expect more at U sehealth dot com.
Victory Parkway closed off for police activity between Rockdale and
Dana Avenue, Reading Road your best alternate route. Otherwise, slow
traffic northbound on seventy five between Mitchell and Paddock Road.

(19:29):
You're up to a two minute delay in through there.
I'm at ezelach with traffic.

Speaker 8 (19:34):
This report is sponsored by Rockets, Cincinnati's sports stations.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
Sports at Lines are a service of Kelsey chevrola home
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family the Yours for Life kelseyshev dot Com. Reds are off.
Road trip continues tomorrow in Chicago, first of three against
the Cubs Andrew Abbot, who's having an excellent season. We'll

(19:58):
pitch for Cincinnati. The Cubs pitcher for tomorrow, as well
as their pitchers for Saturday and Sunday listed as TBD.
Reds will go into play tomorrow seven and a half
games at a first place chance to gain ground starting
tomorrow on the current NL Central leader, which has won
four straight games. When they play tomorrow, Luis May won't

(20:19):
be there. The reliever has been sent to Triple A Louisville. Tonight,
Florence takes on Gateway. It feels like they play Gateway
every night. College baseball. Tomorrow, the u SE Bearcats play
in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years.
U See will battle Wake Forest at one o'clock. That
game is in Knoxville. The nightcap of that doubleheader is

(20:40):
at six. The Miami RedHawks in the NCAA Tournament for
the first time in twenty years. They will take on Tennessee.
You See Football News. It was announced today the kickoff
times for UC's first two home games. Obviously, the Bearcats
will open up the season in Kansas City against Nebrall.
Their next two games will be against Terren's Bowling Green

(21:02):
Falcons and then Northwestern State. Those games will kick off
at three thirty. NBA Tonight, Eastern Conference Finals Game five
at Madison Square Garden Pacers can go to the NBA
Finals for the first time in a quarter century. Indiana
up three to one going to Game five tonight, Eiler's
up three to one in their series. In the NHL

(21:23):
Stanley Cup Playoffs, The Western Conference Final shifts to Dallas Stars,
trying to stave off elimination. Trailing three games to one.
There you go. My voice is not working today for
reasons I don't understand, so pardon me if it sounds
like I'm straining to speak. The good news is I
won't be here tomorrow. There you go. There's a good

(21:48):
piece on ESPN dot com by Ben Baby, who covers
the Bengals, and Jeremy Faller, who covers the NFL as
a whole. That's sort of a good prime on the
entire Trey Hendrickson situation. Now, much of what is written
by Ben and Jeremy is pretty common knowledge to most

(22:12):
who follow the Bengals closely, and I don't think there's
anything necessarily newsworthy in it, but it is a good
assessment of where things stand, what may or may not
happen next, and how we got here. And it's worth
your time, nonetheless at ESPN dot com. If for no

(22:33):
other reason you need your Trey Hendrickson content fix, well
I'm about to give it to you because I did
see this. There's a quote here in the piece from
an NFC executive unnamed NFC executive that reads the following quote.
I still think they can come to a compromise getting

(22:56):
him above that thirty million dollar threshold, while themselves the
age Obviously, Trey's age where he's thirty and will be
thirty one by the end of the season, is something
that must be a factor for them, and so this
is what's going to have to happen. But if you

(23:16):
are training camp starts in about two months, if you
are like most of us, and I speak as a
fan here, where you want the Bengals to go through
a serene, almost boring training camp. You want no distractions.
You want there to be no news story about Trey

(23:39):
grandstanding or holding. You want it to go away, and
you want Trey to come to camp, and you want
it to be there on time, and you want to
eliminate the questions about whether or not he's gonna play
the first game or whether or not he's gonna miss
multiple games. You want all that to go away. And
as fans, that's what we all want now. As a
brief aside, is a cut creator, is a talk show host?

(24:02):
Is Trey Hendrickson thing has been gold? Uh? But if
you want this to go away, the only way it
goes away is if there's well the word here used
by this unnamed NFC executive is compromise. If you take
Trey Hendrickson at his word, and if you believe everything

(24:25):
coming from his camp, he is digging in. He is
digging in with where things stand right now in relation
to the Bengals current offer. He is digging in. Is
he going to dig in and continue to dig in
once the games begin? I don't know, None of us do.
I'm not even sure Trey knows, but I do with

(24:47):
him take the threat seriously because I think he is
wired a little bit differently. So he is digging in,
and the Bengals have dug in. You know, this is
something we talked about six seven weeks ago after the
NFL Owners meetings, where Katie Blackburn said, you know, Trey's

(25:08):
just gonna have to decide to be happy with what
we've offered. That to me was a sign that we're
digging in. This is our offer now. Reportedly, Katie obviously
didn't say this, but reportedly the Bengals have offered something
in the twenty eight million dollar range. The upper edge
of the edge rusher market is Garrett Miles Garrett's forty
million dollars. There are other deals I think six edge

(25:31):
rushers right now that are thirty four mill or more
per year. Now, obviously there's language about guarantees, et cetera
that are also a part of this conversation. The only
way this changes in the short term and the short
term meaning heck, if you're holding out hope that he
comes to mini camp and avoids getting fined. The only

(25:53):
way things change if is if there's compromise. And so,
I know how we do this right, We take sides.
It's either the Bengals are screwing Tray or Trey is
being unreasonable. And my take all along has been Chances
are you've heard me say this. I don't think either
side is necessarily wrong, but what everybody wants regardless of

(26:15):
whether you're on Trey side and see it his way,
you're on the Bengal side, you see it their way,
if you're kind of in the middle, we don't want
the same thing with the Bengals to be good this year.
What the Bengals to good, to get off to a
good start, with the defense to improve, and those things
are more likely to happen if Trey plays. So we
want Tray to play. That means there has to be

(26:37):
some compromise. Now that sounds like an obvious statement because
it is, But to me, my thinking evolved as it
relates to this story when I saw the twenty eight
mil reported by Mike Florio, that that's what the Bengals
have offered twenty eight mil. Compromise involves both sides being

(26:57):
reasonable unreasonable. People don't compromise. If two sides are negotiating
and one side's reasonable and the other side isn't, that's
not going to be a compromise either. So the Pegals
are going to have to maybe be kind of reasonable here,
and you could argue that at multiple points during their

(27:20):
history as it relates to player contract negotiation, they have
not and understand that while a seventy five pay raise
is certainly not insignificant, that the market has changed, that
there are a lot of players earning closer to thirty
five mil, that the upper echelon players are making well

(27:40):
above twenty eight million dollars, And you're gonna have to
be reasonable enough to understand why Trey looks at that
twenty eight and says, come on, man, And if you're Trey,
you're also going to have to be reasonable. Number one, dude,
you did sign that contract two years ago, like you did,
and when you when you sign that deal, you who
the market could change, and it has. And look, man,

(28:03):
you are going to be thirty one by the end
of the season, and it is going to be hard
for you to continue to play at the level that
you've played at because you've been so good and so no,
we're not coming to forty we're not even gonna get
to thirty six. But there's a lot of money, a
large amount of money there between where the Bengals are

(28:25):
and where so many of those upper tier edge rushers
are financially. If if you're being reasonable, and I'm talking
about you and I much less the individual party's involved here.
If you and I are being reasonable, I think you
see that there's some middle ground there, some middle ground

(28:45):
there that puts the Bengals at a place above and
beyond where they've gotten to already with Trey. That might
not make him the highest paid edge rusher, not might
make him among the three or four highest paid edge rushers,
but puts him a lot more in the ballpark. And
if you're being reasonable, I think you could make the

(29:08):
assertion that it makes sense for Trey to go ahead
and sign that now. Is Trey reasonable enough to come
to that place? Are the Bengals reasonable enough to come
to that place like this doesn't have to be take sides, right, Like, Okay,
So here's what the Bengals have reportedly offered. Uh, here

(29:29):
are some numbers that might be reflective what Trey is
looking for. You mean to tell me there's no room
for a compromise. Maybe the Bengals have offered and we
don't know. Maybe Trey has offered a compromise and we
don't know, but I actually do hold out hope because
there's room there. There's room there. And so the hope

(29:54):
is that somebody at the venue formerly known as Paul
Brown Stadium comes to their senses and goes all right, like,
is this really worth it? Is it really worth digging
in at twenty eight and having a problem just fester
all throughout the summer, leak into training camp, affect the preseason,
and maybe impact the team once the games actually start.
Let's be reasonable here and understand why are offer pales

(30:17):
in comparison to what trade might be ideally looking for.
And if you're Trey, dude, you are going to be
thirty one. You have had a great career, You've been
awesome in Cincinnati, but a lot of that is past tense. Uh,
And so we're we're not putting you in the even
in the Danielle Hunter range, which he's thirty years old.

(30:39):
But there's a whole bunch of opt outs to that contract,
and you're not Max Crosby in terms of age, and
we're not coming there financially, and we're certainly not going
to where Miles Garrett is. But you know, it's it's
better than what you've gotten. It's better than what you
get if you play under your current contract, and it's
better than you would get if you took the Bengals

(31:01):
offer of twenty eight. Can both sides be reasonable here?
I don't know, you know again, like it there are
times I'm not sure, but I think if both sides
were you know again, compromise requires someone to go, or
both parties to go. All right, you know, I'm gonna

(31:25):
have to I'm gonna have to like take my feet
out of the ground and not dig in and and
instead use use some reason, try to see the other side,
try to understand what the other side is willing to
do and not willing to do and why, and reach
a compromise. I think it's completely reasonable to say that

(31:49):
that is probably not gonna happen, but they do have time,
and as I guess, as long as they have time,
and as long as you see that the Bengals original
offer was twenty eight, I think there's at least some
shred of hope. We'll see your phone calls are coming
up at five one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty

(32:10):
eight six six seven oh two three seven seven six
works as well. Seth water. ESPN Football Power Index joins
us at four h five. My name is Maegar. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (32:21):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from the UC.

Speaker 3 (32:30):
Health Traffic Center at u see Health. You'll find comprehensive
That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect more at ucehealth
dot com. Victory Parkway remains closed off due to police
activity between Rockdale and Dana Avenue. Reading Road right now
your best alternate route. And another accident on Reed Hartman Highway,

(32:53):
this one south of East Kemper Road. And still got
that crash eight mile at Cluff Pike. I'm at Ezelk
with traffic.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
This report. It's sponsored by rocket. Now we love Jennifer
the official meteorologist of The Muegger Show. But you know,
miss a day, miss a lot. That's now two straight days,
Lee Mawan delivering a strong I mean I didn't love
the forecast because you talked about it being soggy and
stuff tomorrow, which I think we're all tired of soggy.

(33:23):
We'll see find out next week. Find out tomorrow, Terry.
Do we know who's doing the show tomorrow? Chad Brindle.
Chad Brenda will be here. Chad is going to be
on during the Bearcat game, so he'll be watching college
baseball as Cincinnati plays in the NCAA tournament while he
hosts this show and the Raids game and the Reds game. Yeah,

(33:48):
let's see our guy. Yes, Seth Water is going to
join us, coming up in just about ten minutes. Mike,
go ahead, you're on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 9 (33:58):
Well, thank you so much more. Appreciate it. I like
it when Chad sit ten. I get a kick out
of Chad. You know, it gives you a break and
you know, a little bit different voice once in a bloom.
I get a kickout Chad. I guess some people don't
care for I think he's fun.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
I think Chad does a very good job. And by
the way, in the coming weeks, Mike, if if you
want to hear a different voice than mine, you're going
to get your wish a lot in the coming weeks,
starting tomorrow. Okay, would you like to elaborate, I'm taking
a bunch of time off.

Speaker 9 (34:32):
Consecutively.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
Let's see tomorrow and then two days next week, one
day the week after that, and the entire week the
week after that.

Speaker 10 (34:43):
Well, good for you, thanks, thanks, But you know how
to work the system real well, but you know you're smart,
you work within the boundaries, and you you're the quintessential
load management man.

Speaker 9 (34:54):
You ought to talk to a Kawhi.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
Leonard June is about load management, Mike June is all
about load management, that's right.

Speaker 9 (35:05):
I know you just got to get that damn weather
to cooperate.

Speaker 1 (35:08):
With you, right, But yes, yes, yeah, I.

Speaker 9 (35:10):
Know you hate. I know you just detested. You want
to be out on the deck, big are fire pit swimming?
Pull the whole deal directly, got it? You've got me paid,
got you down?

Speaker 2 (35:21):
Yes?

Speaker 9 (35:22):
Uh uh? So what do we what do we think
here about? Before I get to the ribs but what
do we think about tonight's game. Do the Knicks have
the desire to try to win three in a row
or or is it just a desire to win the
game in front of the hometown. Do they have a
little glitch of I don't know if we can pull
this off? What do you think?

Speaker 2 (35:43):
I think the first eight minutes are going to tell
us a lot. I was dismayed in reading the comments
from the NIXT players after Game four, where they just
flat out admitted that the Pacers played harder, which I
think is true. The problem is the Pacers also executed
better and they have this entire series, so uh. I
think Indiana's going to try to deliver a knockout blow tonight.
I think the Garden crowd is going to be spirited.

(36:05):
Who emerges, let's just say, at the end of the
first quarter. Who emerges from the first quarter with the lead?
I think is gonna be big tonight. Do the Knicks
have any sort of adjustment for what the Pacers have picked?
Apart with their defense, Karl, Anthony Townsend, Jalen Brunson on
the floor together defensively has been badly exposed. Michale Bridges
was awful in that game. Josh Hart was awful the

(36:25):
other night. Do the Knicks have some sort of answer.
Can they not only slow the game down but keep
the Pacers from scoring in the half court? My guess
is it's they. It's almost hard for me to imagine
they're going to finish the playoffs three and six at home,
and so my guess is the Knicks do win the

(36:47):
game tonight. I find it hard to believe that they'll
get a game seven. So my guess is New York
wins tonight and then Indiana wraps it up at home
on Saturday.

Speaker 9 (36:59):
What's the spreadshine?

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Last I saw four and a half Knicks are four
and a half point favorites.

Speaker 9 (37:04):
Oh boy, I gotta think about that one. Oh, I
might not even play that.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
I think the numbers have been happy. I think the
numbers have been much I'm getting. I'm getting the team
that has been better, that has won two games on
the road, and that has been better I would say
for about seventy five to eighty percent of the minutes played,
and I'm getting four and a half points. Sign me up?

Speaker 9 (37:25):
I think okay?

Speaker 11 (37:26):
See in Indiana is the dawn of the new era
in the NBA.

Speaker 9 (37:29):
Possibly. I love it. It's two small market teams. I
think I don't think you can beat it. I'm excited.
I know the networks probably aren'nhappy, but I think it's wonderful.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
Well, you know, for years, people didn't like the super teams.
They didn't like teams accumulating, you know, the Big three
in free agency, and a lot of people said, you know,
I just I just want to watch some organically built
teams that do it via the draft, make smart signings,
but don't buy a championship. If that's your perspective, then

(38:00):
you will love the two teams we are likely to
get in the finals. If you assume Indiana is gonna
make it, you will love this. I know you're not
a Twitter guy, Mike, but I put this on social
media last night. I think we are in for a
lot of really bad basketball takes because you're gonna have people,
and I mean this, you're gonna have You're gonna have

(38:22):
folks in our business who are used to talking about
basketball simply through the filter of Goat and Mount Rushmore
and who has that dog in them that are wholly
unprepared to learn about the Oklahoma City Thunder and learn
about the Indiana Pacers, and I you know a lot

(38:44):
of those folks pay attention to like four teams. I
think you're gonna hear a lot of complaining about this
this NBA Finals from those sorts of people. Ignore them,
because while I do think Okac is going to win,
there's a part of me that thinks it's fun to
have two teams with different characters, two teams that have

(39:04):
been built, quote the right way, and for what it's worth,
two Midwestern markets. I think it's gonna be a lot
of fun.

Speaker 9 (39:12):
Yeah, I did too, Mo, I'm with you one hundred
and it's something different. For Forget the Lakers, forget the Celtics.
Sometimes you do get tired of stuff. And I love
the Lakers, but actually I have since Kobe's gone my
love for the Lakers. Lebron hasn't done a damn thing
for me in Los Angeles. I've really lost faith in
that organization.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
Well he did when you had title in the bubble. Look,
I mean this was a league that people would complain
for years about how it's it's the same teams every year. Well,
we're about to have our seventh different NBA champion. They
have modified the rules that have created a level of
parody that frankly has not existed in this league in
a very long time. Now, one guy can still make

(39:53):
a world of difference, There's no getting around that. But
I think, well, I think there needs to be some
adjustment to the style of play we often see, especially
in the regular season. I think that league is in
a really good place. Mike, I gotta run, man, Thanks
so much.

Speaker 7 (40:08):
Yep, nice, you got it.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
Seth Walter, ESPN Football Power Index Guru. Next four o'clock,
i'm oegar. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station
Football We are.

Speaker 7 (40:22):
This is Dave Lappo, and you're listening to the Home
of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen to thirty.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
Thank you, lap. Five minutes after four, This is ESPN
fifteen thirty. I'm oegar. Thank you so much for joining
us today. Hopefully you're having an awesome Thursday afternoon. We
reference often on this show during both the pro and
college football season, ESPN's Football Power Index, which I've always

(40:47):
felt is a really good guide for you know, making wagers,
just determining how good or bad the team you root
for might be. And we've talked about it often throughout
the years as it relates pecially to the Bengals, and
you know this offseason, they're kind of a polarizing team
because we can find a lot of people who think, man, defensively,
they haven't done enough, and you can find a whole

(41:08):
lot of people who think, Look, I'm never betting against
Joe Burrow. I'm always interested in things that are a
little bit more analytical. ESPN's Football Power Index certainly fits
that description. And it's actually and we talked about this
a little bit on yesterday's show, pretty bullish on the Bengals,
and so I wanted to learn more from Seth Walter,
who's an ESPN sports analytics writer. I think he is

(41:32):
the guru of the Football Power Index. He has been
kind enough to join us in the past and gracious
enough to give us a few minutes this afternoon. Seth,
I appreciate the time. I enjoyed the projections. Thank you
for joining us. How are you?

Speaker 9 (41:44):
I'm great, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 11 (41:46):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
Happy football season, Happy football season. We're almost there. You're
not allowed to do something like this without someone like
me asking you to explain not only what the Football
Power Index is, but how it's formulated during the preseason.

Speaker 9 (42:03):
Yeah, of course, so the Football Power annext is our ratings.

Speaker 11 (42:07):
And projection system for the NFL. So it's a it's
a fork. It's a forward looking model. We are forecasting
how good we teams think, how good the model thinks
teams will be, how strong they are going forward, and
then therefore what that means for how they will fare
probabilistically throughout the.

Speaker 9 (42:26):
Season in the preseason.

Speaker 11 (42:27):
The way that it's formed is it's mostly driven by
the betting market, So we are taking information from the
betting market, uh, like your seedon win total. But then
we're also marrying that with your schedule.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
Right.

Speaker 9 (42:40):
You can't just say, well, this team is eight and
a half. This team's eight and a half, so therefore
they're the same. Well, who you play.

Speaker 11 (42:46):
Matters too and that, and so you've got to factor
that in there to determine exactly.

Speaker 9 (42:51):
How good we think they are.

Speaker 11 (42:52):
There's other factors that go into it, like the difference
between the starting quarterback and the backup that can that
can play a role. Uh, some things like if you
change coordinators that can affect some variants, or if you're
a quarterback for example, as a rookie, then we might say, well,
here's how good we think they are? Probably not very good,
but maybe they have a wider range of outcomes than

(43:14):
say Joe Burrow, where we feel like, okay, we know
who's this guy yet.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
So the preseason projections according to FPI, the Bengals seventh,
and the question is asked in the piece will the
Bengals make the playoffs? And the answer is probably Now.
I'll let my audience go and read the rest. The
focus for a lot of us is on the defense.
How do you account for a new defensive coordinator?

Speaker 7 (43:39):
Yeah?

Speaker 11 (43:40):
Great question. So I think Sis and Addie has been
maybe the team, one of the teams that's garnered the
most interesting. We released this yesterday.

Speaker 7 (43:47):
They are they ranked seventh.

Speaker 11 (43:49):
We have them as the seventh best team in football,
which I think a lot.

Speaker 9 (43:51):
Of people are, maybe maybe outside of the Sinnatti are saying, wait,
hang on a second, didn't they miss the playoffs last year?

Speaker 2 (44:00):
I wanted to know why, so low I wanted to
know why.

Speaker 9 (44:05):
The Okay, there you go, that's the first time I've
gotten that frame that way. Look, I think that the
two this all relates to your question. I'll get back
to the defense, because I think the key thing to
remember with FI is that it is forward.

Speaker 11 (44:19):
Looking, right. All that matters is how good we think
you are going to be this year. Their failures last year,
their shortcomings last year, they might help predict this year,
but it doesn't. We're not reflecting on who they were
last season. The reason why this matters so much for
Cincinnati and why they're higher than most people think is
because of that defense. Obviously it was a disappointment last season,

(44:43):
but what we've found historically through the years is the
offense is so much more stable year to year, so
much easier to predict. When we feel like there's a
team that has a good offense going into a season,
they're much more likely to actually be good than a defense.
It's so much harder to figure out which defenses will

(45:04):
be good at going into a year. And you mentioned
the coordinator change. I think and that plays the role
here too, where we give more uncertainty. If you've changed coordinators,
that can increase the the degree of issue we're not sure.

Speaker 9 (45:18):
So this is basically positive regression. The Bengals were bad
last year and we're saying, well, okay, you know, our
best bet is not that they're a good defense, but.

Speaker 11 (45:29):
Bad doesn't mean that we think that they will necessarily
be that bad. Again, everyone shrinks towards the middle when
you change year to year, and so that's helped the
team like Cincinnati, who we feel pretty confident will have
a good offense.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
Makes makes total sense. I think when you look at
them on defense, you know their strategy this offseason is
pretty obvious.

Speaker 7 (45:50):
Right.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
They're putting a lot of faith in a new defensive
coordinator and they think they can get an immediate impact
from players they drafted. How do you account for rookie
is when you use FPI to forecast the season.

Speaker 9 (46:04):
Well, the the chief answer is the real answer, which is,
well the better.

Speaker 11 (46:08):
The betty market mostly takes care of that for us.
I think that, like with any rookie, you have to
look at it and say, especially if it's you know,
not a first like a top early early first round pick,
there's always questions, right we go, we go through this
process in April and we talk about how great these

(46:29):
guys are. And every year you have, uh, some players
that never put it together, but you also players who
put it together. But like maybe in years two or
three and they don't always make an impact. There we
other of players who make an impact right away. So like,
what will Shamar Stewart be? I'm not sure that I
can answer that better than anybody else, but we know
that there's a range of outcome where it's like he

(46:50):
could be an instant impact pass rusher or uh, maybe
he doesn't convert a lot of past, convert a lot
of sacks, kind of like in college. So all that
is feasible, and I think that that plays a role.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
In the uncertainty seth Water is with us ESPN Sports Analytics.
ESPN's Football Power Index projections are out. You can go
read them at ESPN dot com. I think one of
the reasons why some maybe sit on their hands when
it comes to this team is their recent history of
starting slow. Now, you talked about how FPI looks ahead,

(47:24):
So what do I do if I'm looking ahead with
a team that has a pretty extensive track record of
stumbling out of the gate?

Speaker 11 (47:33):
Ooh, I don't know, we don't Okay, there's nothing.

Speaker 9 (47:35):
I'll be honest, there's nothing specific here that says like, uh,
you know how it like, oh, there's gonna be a
slow starting team. Let me put this on you if
I can't, Yeah, let's say.

Speaker 11 (47:46):
Let's say it's the fact that Cincinnati is going to
be a slow starting team. Would you rather than play
easy games early or hard games early?

Speaker 9 (47:54):
In that case?

Speaker 2 (47:56):
You know, they've It's funny, they haven't lost a great
teams early, you know. I mean, they lost to Kansas
City week two last year, but they lost them home
to the New England Patriots the first game of the season.
They were awful. So there is a part of me
when the schedule came out, they get Cleveland week one,
Jacksonville week two, and I go, you know, maybe it
would be to their benefit to have like a real tough,

(48:17):
tough tested like play Baltimore week one, that sort of thing, right,
And and I don't know, maybe, and this is not
very analytic, but you know, maybe that causes them to
take the preseason a little bit more seriously and they're
focused a little bit more. I don't know. I'm tired
of seeing them start oh and two. And I think,
you know, again, it's it's it's not very statistically base,
but people will say, well, god, you know what, the

(48:38):
Bengals are always oh and two. Why should I assume
that they're going to get off to a better start,
and those oh and two starts ultimately have come back
to haunt them each of the last two years.

Speaker 9 (48:47):
No, I'm kind of with you.

Speaker 11 (48:48):
I mean, honestly this like I'm generally sort of skeptical
of the idea that like they have to that you know,
just a lot of analytics who haven't say, split happen, right,
which is like things just happen and there's not always
a reason, Like if enough stuff happens, there's going to
be patterns, And so I'm generally skeptical of the idea
to some degree. It's like, oh, the Bengals under Zach

(49:11):
keilor they must touch slow.

Speaker 9 (49:12):
But but it's definitely possible that it is. And so
if they were true, I'm with you, I'd want to
start on a more difficult stretch they if they start
go into this year leaven and Jacksonville, that is, Uh,
that would be that would be a real tough time,
all right.

Speaker 2 (49:28):
One more so, Uh, Football Power Index likes Balts more
and more than Cincinnati to win the AFC North. That
makes sense. Uh, What does FPI do with the Steelers
given the fact that it's I guess seems likely that
Aaron Rodgers is going to be the quarterback, but he's
not officially a Pittsburgh Steeler.

Speaker 11 (49:47):
Yeah, it's it's to some degree kind of compromising. Uh here,
it is going to mostly reflect Rogers. So that's because
the betting market portion will probably I think I think
that Rogers will likely be there. If Rogers does sign,
I would imagine that Pittsburgh's rating will go up because

(50:08):
it's not one hundred percent that he's going there at
this moment, So I think that will improve the betting market.
And then that would you know, right now, it's gonna
that would cause a larger gap between what we would
team them to have a starting quarterback and backup quarterback.
So maybe they're upside goes up a little bit.

Speaker 9 (50:26):
I would not expect, still.

Speaker 11 (50:29):
Think be shocked if in Cincinnati will still be the
second we'll still be the second best team in the
afc R, like with the Rogers signing, I guess I'll
put it that way. Yeah, that's certainly is we got to.

Speaker 2 (50:42):
Change all right, good stuff. I know we asked you
on somewhat short notice. I really enjoy the work you
do and we love having you. Cannot thank you enough.
I appreciate you doing this man. Thanks so much.

Speaker 11 (50:54):
Wow, thanks for having me. Always have you this bug football.

Speaker 2 (50:56):
Love having you. Seth Walter go read ESPN's FPI preseason
projections now at espn dot com. Bullish on the Bengals,
bullish on the defense. There is something about regression to
the mean, and we talked about that often as it
relates to teams, you know, kind of coming back to
the pack, regressing to the middle if they had a

(51:16):
really good year or won a bunch of close games.
The reverse is often true. We're a team that is
awful in one area year to year, regression to the mean,
they just automatically come closer to the middle of the pack.
And I think most of us would agree that if
the Bengals have a middle of the pack defense, they
are at least gonna be a playoff team. Are they

(51:37):
a championship contender? Maybe a different story. I I'll make
it far less scientific. A year ago at this time,
are you going into training camp? My basic take was,
if Joe Burrow plays all the games that matter, which
last year for the Bengals was seventeen, If he plays

(51:57):
all the games that matter, I could not imagine a
world where they miss the playoffs, because that's that's the
it's the bar for that has never been lower. We
have seven playoff teams per conference. Well, it turns out
I was dead wrong. I ain't gonna be wrong in
back to back years again. It may sneak in and

(52:17):
be the seventh seed and have to go on the
road and play the two and get destroyed at whatever.
If Joe Burrow plays every game that counts in the
regular season, hey, I expect him to have an MVP
caliber season like he did last year. Be they're a
playoff team. I worry like hell about the defense, and

(52:41):
you know I need to see it before I believe
with Al Golden, are they gonna keep Joe upright? What's
gonna happen with Trey's Shamar Stewart ever gonna come to
cant like I get it. Joe plays seventeen, He's gonna
play an eighteenth. Simple as that was dead wrong on
that last year. I ain't gonna be wrong at consecutive years.

(53:03):
Eighteen minutes after four o'clock five, one, three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty is our phone number. One more guest added
this hour, Miguel Gallardo MLS season pass, Apple TV FC
Cincinnati a tough draw at home last night, and we'll
go to Knoxville in one hour to preview the NCAA tournament.
Both the Bearcats and the RedHawks are there. Scott Springer

(53:26):
from The Inquirer will join us on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (53:30):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

Speaker 3 (53:37):
UC Health Traffic Center. At uce Health, you'll find comprehensive
Let's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect more at UCHealth
dot com. Southbound seventy five left lane blocked from a
disabled vehicle at Western Avenue on eastbound two seventy five

(53:57):
accident on the entrance ramp from Montcom Road and west
bound seventy four in accident on the exit ramp to
southbound two seventy five on that He's ONNLI Like with traffic.

Speaker 8 (54:07):
This report is sponsored by Staples Steward.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
Multiple segments on Santiago Espinal Today, Brendaman and Jones on
Baseball by the Way coming up in just about twenty
five minutes. That was not the plan at the beginning
of the season. If you're doing multiple segments on your
utility guy, either the season has gone terribly or your
utility guy has dramatically outperformed expectations. I'm not sure either

(54:35):
has happened. And yet we're still talking about Santiago Espinal
a lot. And maybe I'm the only one remember one. A. J.
Mcchern was the Bengals quarterback for those four games at
the end of the twenty fifteen season, and he played
like a backup quarterback. He played like a good backup quarterback.
Now that wasn't enough for a lot of people. You
and I both know the narrative that emerged during those

(54:59):
last few games and in the immediate aftermath of the season.
I remember the phone calls, I remember the social media posts.
I remember hearing from hearing from folks who would make
the assertion that, you know, AJ mcchieron is the kind
of quarterback you win a Super Bowl with. Uh. Probably not,

(55:21):
because he didn't win one when he was given an
opportunity with the Bengals, Like he's a good backup quarterback.
Bengals have a good backup quarterback right now. If Jake
Browning had to play a half a game, or a
couple of games. I think they'd be okay if he

(55:41):
had to play the entire season, forget winning a Lombardi.
The longer you play those guys, the more they get exposed.
I think to a degree that happened with Jake Browning.
It happened with AJ mcchern but because everything's either awesome
or awful, it wasn't good enough to say, yeah, man,

(56:01):
Bengals got a good backup quarterback. Like moving forward, if
you have to put that guy in the game, your
offense can still work. You should still feel like you
can win that game. If you've got to get him
ready to play a game or two, you're probably gonna
be all right, especially if you have a good team
around him, if you have to ask him to do more.
By the way, that year AJ mccieron and I'm not

(56:22):
doing this to pick on AJ mccheran, who we all like,
right Like, if you're a Bengals fan, how do you
not like him? But the more he played, the more
he kind of got exposed. And I remember that game
they played against the Broncos on a Monday night, this
is ten years ago. Were like the first few drives
he was insanely good. The second half of the game,

(56:45):
he could barely complete a pass. Because that's what happens
when you're talking about backups, part timers, role players. Playoff
game came around for three quarters, he was unwatchable, did
some decent stuff in the fourth quarter. Bengals lost that
game for a lot of different reasons. QB play as
a hole didn't help Santiago Espinal's a backup, a good backup,

(57:10):
a good backup. You need good backups. You want good backups.
You should be acquiring good backups and backups that can
like do a lot of different things that if you
are forced to have to play them, you're not panicking.
You're okay. Guy can hold down the fort. The Reds

(57:35):
are asking a backup player to back second almost every
single night, and so over the course of time, he's
gonna be exposed. It doesn't mean he's a bad player.
It's what he is. Not everybody's a starter, not everybody's
a star, Not everybody's a number two hole hitter, not
everybody's a starting quarterback. It doesn't mean they don't have value.

(57:58):
It doesn't mean they can't help, doesn't mean they can't
be a contributor to a good winning team. But the
longer you play those guys, the more likely it is
that at some point they get exposed. That I'm not
sure Santiago Espinal is being exposed per se, but a

(58:19):
dude who should be playing a couple of times a week,
multiple positions. When he starts, he's not batting second, is
being thrust into a role that the Reds earmarked for
a guy that once upon a time they took with
a first round pick and who two years ago was
arguably their best player. You might say that's Terry Francona's fault.

(58:44):
You might think that's the faults of the front office
for constructing the roster the way they are or the
way they have. What it is not is Santiago Espinal's fault.
Acknowledge what he is and you this town wants almost
canonized Ryan Friel, and that's basically what he was.

Speaker 7 (59:05):
Right.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
He was a utility guy. He could play a lot
of different positions, and god rest his soul could do
a lot of different things for you if you had
to play him every single day. At some point, his
weaknesses we're going to rise to the top, and they
often did. Unfortunately, ideally, Santiago Espinal is getting like three
hundred abs per season, splitting playing time among a bunch

(59:27):
of different positions, doing what they ask when he's asked
to play, helping you win some games occasionally, not batting
second every single night. And by the way, we're not
talking about Santiago Espinal. If Matt McClain was as good
as he was supposed to be, Matt McClain may end
up still being a really good big league player. Matt

(59:48):
McLain may end up still having a decent season for
this year's team. We're talking about Santiago Espinal batting second
because Matt McClain couldn't get the job when he was
batting second. It's okay to say, like I watched folks
last night on social media made it sound like Matt

(01:00:10):
McLean or I'm sorry that Santiago espital I had no
business being a big leaguer. That is not true at all.
Acknowledge what he is good utility player. The more good
utility players play, the worst they'll play. Uh, Chamar Stuart's
dead is speaking out about Shamar Stewart's contract situation. You'll

(01:00:31):
hear that next.

Speaker 8 (01:00:34):
Cincinnati's ESPN help traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:00:38):
It's so personal, it makes your best tomorrow possible. Let's
Boules's care for better outcomes. Expect more at ucehealth dot com.
Southbound seventy five left lane blocked from a disabled vehicle
at Western Avenue on eastbound two seventy five, accident on
the entrance ramp from Montgomery Road and westbound seventy four.

(01:00:58):
An accident on the exit ramp to southbound two seventy
five on that he's unlick with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:01:04):
This report is sponsored by Rapid Radios. Rapid Radios are
instant pushed through a service at Kelsey Chevrolet home of
for the lifetime powertrain protection and guarantee credit approval from
their family the Yours for lifekelseyshev dot com. Off day
for the Reds in Chicago, first of three day games
against the Cubs. Andrew Abbott will start Game one for Cincinnati.

(01:01:25):
Luis May has been sent to Triple A Louisville. I
would not be surprised if we saw another Reds transaction
today involving a player who got demoted a few weeks ago.
Would not be surprised. I'll just leave it at that. Florence,
y'all's played Gateway tonight. College baseball tomorrow. Preparations on away

(01:01:46):
in Knoxville for both the Barricats and the Radhawks. U
SE plays wake Forest tomorrow at one double elimination in
the regionals, and Miami will battle Tennessee at six o'clock.
U See football is announced kickoff time for their first
two home games against Bowling Green and Northwestern State. Those
games will both start at three point thirty, not noon kickoff,

(01:02:09):
so nobody's gonna complain. NBA Eastern Conference Finals resumed tonight
in New York. Pacers with a chance to go to
the NBA Finals for the first time since two thousand
India three to one on the Knicks and Game five
tonight NHL Stanley Cup Western Conference Final. It's the Stars
and Oilers in Dallas, with Edmonton leading that series three

(01:02:31):
games to one. What else do we have? Let's get
right to this. Shamar Stewart's dad, Shamar Stewart's dad was
on something called The Fourth and Forever Podcast and talked
about a lot of different things. Shamar Stewart's dad's name
is Moe Marquez, and here is Moe my fellow. Moe

(01:02:52):
explaining his side and I guess Shamar Stewart's side of
the contracts standoff if you will, between the Bengals first
round pick and the team.

Speaker 7 (01:03:04):
So it was it was multiple things.

Speaker 12 (01:03:08):
But I mean, if I could just put it all
in a nutshell, it's that he's not being uh courted
or the language, the verbiage in the contract isn't the
same as past draft picks who were.

Speaker 7 (01:03:22):
Drafted lower than him. Yeah, so that is what's holding
us back.

Speaker 12 (01:03:26):
We don't we This is not a this is not
a now money thing, like this is not this is
not a now money thing. And why when I say
now money thing, I mean this is not Hey, we're
disagreeing over funds that is gonna you know, come in
today or tomorrow. This is these are things that we're

(01:03:46):
disagreeing on that can affect him later on down the road, right,
And I think a lot of people miss out on
that because of that. You know, hey, if I signed
this deal, you know I get this right.

Speaker 7 (01:03:59):
Now, down right.

Speaker 12 (01:04:01):
But this is a longevity game, right he is, he's
a human being. There is a life after football and
down the road. Uh, sometimes a lot more important than what's.

Speaker 7 (01:04:12):
Right in front of your face.

Speaker 12 (01:04:14):
So the verbiage and and and what we want we
don't want any more than anybody else has gotten.

Speaker 7 (01:04:21):
We want the same. We want the.

Speaker 12 (01:04:23):
Exact same that great player Marius MEM's God, we want
the same. We want the exact same that you know,
every every Bengo first round pick has gotten. And for
some reason, they want to choose to change verbiage up
this year.

Speaker 7 (01:04:43):
And we don't think that it's.

Speaker 12 (01:04:44):
The right precedent to set, to set this year because
he was a higher pick than the year's past. So
if you want to set a precedent, let's get on
the field, right, Let's keep the let's keep the verbage
the same this year.

Speaker 7 (01:04:57):
Let's get on the field.

Speaker 12 (01:04:58):
You obviously drafted him because it's a necessity, or he
can play a part in helping you guys get to
where we all want to be, right, which is a
super Bowl. And then when you get the thirty second
pick next year, let's then set the precedent, right. Yeah, no,
so you don't choose to you know, you know, one
guy Boom and it's a guy that's drafted higher to

(01:05:20):
set a precedent. It's just not fair. It's not fair.
At the end of the day.

Speaker 2 (01:05:24):
That's up Mo Marquez, who has an awesome first name.
On the Fourth and Forever podcast about two minutes and
fifteen seconds worth of stuff that I think made Schamar
Stewart's position sound completely and totally reasonable. I don't know
how you can have issue with anything that you just heard.

(01:05:44):
I certainly don't. Miguel Gallardo MLAs Season Pass joins us.

Speaker 4 (01:05:49):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:05:55):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. At u See Health,
You'll find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your
best tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect
more at ucehealth dot com. East found two seventy five
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left shoulder westbound seventy four. There's an accident on the

(01:06:17):
exit ramp to southbound two seventy five and reed Hartman Highway.
Another accident south of East Kemper Road. I'm at Ezelk
with traffic.

Speaker 8 (01:06:26):
This report is sponsored from five o'clock.

Speaker 2 (01:06:29):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty on OEGAR FC Cincinnati. In
the middle of a stretch of three matches in seven days,
the lost to Atlanta started it on Sunday the three
to three draw last night against Dallas. Lucho Acosta continued it.
They are right back at home on Saturday night, DC

(01:06:50):
United in town that match at seven thirty. You can
watch it on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Migueli
Guyardo is an MLS three sixty list for MLS Season Pass.
You see him on the Spanish broadcast of that show
and does a terrific job. Kind enough to join us
this afternoon. Miguel I thought I was going to be
in a better mood about eight thirty last night when

(01:07:12):
FC Cincinnati was up to nothing on Dallas. That is
a bad draw at home. It was too zip and
it felt like it was a much more lopsided game.
To come away with just one point as disappointing.

Speaker 13 (01:07:24):
Hey, Mala, thanks for having me, and I agree with
you one hundred percent. I mean, this was a game
where Secincinnati was highly favorite to win the match, especially
being at home. Yes, you could argue there's a little
bit of that morbid element of Luco a Costa coming
back to where he had so much success, where he
won MVP, where he brought supporter shield after so many

(01:07:46):
years of sadness truly to the Secincinnati supporters. But look,
I think Secincinnati has shunto has some defensive deficiencies. I
think not having Miasga. I don't think Robinson also was
in his best moment. I think that's coming back to
hurt them. And I don't know if you remember last
year when they were one of the candidates to take

(01:08:07):
the whole thing. They suffered some injuries. Ni Oscar was out,
Hagland was out, Robinson was out.

Speaker 7 (01:08:14):
They went out there and.

Speaker 13 (01:08:15):
Got had they be? They went out there and got Awazi,
And I remember Powell was playing as a center back
when he's usually a right back, and all the issues
started to come. I just wonder if those little issues
are starting to creep into uh into Pat Noonan's head.
Just some bad memories of last year. They didn't have

(01:08:36):
any issues going forward, but they had issues defensively. That
seven goals they conceded in the last two games, and
against teams that going into the match, you wouldn't expect
them to score that easily on you.

Speaker 2 (01:08:47):
Yeah, And I think what's frustrating about that is I
think of a lot a lot of us if you
go back just three weeks ago, we were wondering, how
do they get more goals? How do they how do
they generate more offense? And I don't know that they
have solved that problem, but it feels like that's trending
in the right direction. It's like playing the game of
whack a mole. Okay, you're starting to solve this and
now there's a major issue with the defensive side.

Speaker 13 (01:09:10):
Yeah, listen, I think they invested well and Kevin Denk,
You've got a nice, nice quote of goals and obviously
Evander is a proven player. Those guys are going to
get get goals. Are they going to get goals collectively?
Are they going to get goals through combination play or
some nice sequences. I don't think so, Honestly. I think

(01:09:31):
the goal that they get is through individual, individual brilliance.
I think there's a big expectations on Evanders. He has
big shoes to fail. He has to replace Lucia Acosta,
who did some wonderful things there. And I applaud the
front office from Mess Cincinnati because they could have not
made any changes and they were still going to be

(01:09:52):
a competitive team, but they made a big investment in
bringing Evander and Danky, who they believe are going to
be the two players that are going to take them
from a great team to a team that is going
to win a championship. And so I think the entire season,
it doesn't matter where they are on the table, there's
always going to be that pressure in Evanda to be like, Okay,
they invested more than ten million dollars in myself, I

(01:10:15):
have to turn in a trophy. And I don't know
if I'm seeing the best chemistry. I don't know if
I'm seeing an Evanda that plays free. I'm seeing in
Evander that scores great goals. My biggest question with him
is when it gets tough, when the team is up
against the wall, is he going.

Speaker 9 (01:10:31):
To have the leadership?

Speaker 13 (01:10:32):
Is he going to have that know how of taking
the game by the scruff of the neck and changing
the game. Because last year with Portland, he had one
of the best teams in the league, multiple players with
fourteen goals and above, Yet they were humiliated in.

Speaker 9 (01:10:47):
The playoffs and he was nowhere.

Speaker 7 (01:10:48):
To be found.

Speaker 13 (01:10:50):
That is my concern with the SEC Cincinnati team. Is
he going to turn up in the big moment and
get pat Noonan solve the defensive problems through all the
injuries that they're having.

Speaker 2 (01:10:59):
I agree with everything you just said, and I should
because you're the expert. I think the troubling thing is
you could swap out Evander for Luco Acosta. We were
saying the same things last year.

Speaker 13 (01:11:11):
Listen, I don't. I am a believer that when people
say that Evander is a better player than Lucha a Costa,
I say, show me some tangible evidence that he is.
Because Lucha a Costa was in the highest percentile of dribbling.
They had similar number of goals, they had similar number
of assists. Yet Lucha a Costa has accomplished more as

(01:11:34):
as individually and also with his team, and Evander hasn't.
Evander shows flashes of incredible talent, Don't get me wrong.
I think it's one of the most timp to players
that we've come to mrs. But collectively, can he really
put a team on his back and make things happen?
And we won't know the answer to that until the
end of the season, because the only way that this

(01:11:57):
investment is worth it is if they win a champion chip,
because they already did it with the other guy, who,
by the way, was booed in the stadium, which took
me by surprise, to be honest, but then I remember, well,
he said some not so nice things when he left.
I can understand a bit of why the fans may
have booted him.

Speaker 2 (01:12:17):
I could understand that I wouldn't have done it. I
thought the body of work here was too good. But
I can't blame anybody, I guess for feeling that way
from your perspective, because I do think this season he
has played, he has been at his best. We've seen
Roman Sanlatana do some great things in goalkeeper for Cincinnati.

(01:12:37):
Admittedly the recent performances haven't been his best, but I
do think at times this year he has biled out
this team. That being the position you played. Give me
your thoughts on one of the best goalkeepers in Major
League soccer.

Speaker 9 (01:12:53):
Yeah, I would agree.

Speaker 13 (01:12:54):
I think first of all, they did came out of
nowhere right three years ago? Who the hell be and
where did he come from?

Speaker 8 (01:13:00):
Them?

Speaker 13 (01:13:00):
And ironically enough, one of my buddies who was a
goalkeeper coach, he runs an academy out of California and
really he does cams al over the world. I remember
him posting this boy as he thought he was going
to be he was going to be a wonderful player
through his college career and everything, and then I see
him pop up playing with Secincinatum, like that's that's crazy.
And he's had some nods with the US men national team.

(01:13:23):
I do think he's got a lot of talent. I
don't think he's the issue at all. I think he's
a goalkeeper that can listen. I think he'll make a
mistake here and there. That's normal, but I think more
often than not, he'll make a safe to keep you
in the game. I think I don't think he is
the issue.

Speaker 2 (01:13:35):
I think the.

Speaker 9 (01:13:36):
Issue is.

Speaker 13 (01:13:38):
The players in front of him. I don't know if
you agree with me, but even Theyaska coming back from
his injury, I don't I didn't see the same Nyaska
that I saw last year in the beginning.

Speaker 7 (01:13:50):
He lacks a.

Speaker 13 (01:13:50):
Little bit of speed and a little bit of rhythm.
That was manifested in the game against Chicago Fire when
both him and Robinson got absolutely burnt and I was like, WHOA,
that is telling And and like I said, I also
his leadership. I think it's very important in the Aska.
I just don't don't don't see Robinson if he's healthy
and Nyaska is not back soon that he can be

(01:14:13):
the player that can calm things down.

Speaker 7 (01:14:15):
In the back.

Speaker 13 (01:14:16):
I have to think that it has to be an
area of concern for pattern and the other thing I
would say is are they going to find the best
position for Oriano? Because Oriano was incredible last year when
lucher Costa was suspended and he has a couple of injuries,
Odiano was fantastic. I don't know what's happening with him

(01:14:39):
because we saw time him in a double can. We've
started seeing him as a right wing back and he
benched yelling this weekend he started as a left wing back,
which I saw some really nice things. But I also
think both to the goals from Atlanta from FC Dallas
were directly uh you know, he was kind of responsible
for the goals, and one the fullback he completely foss a.

Speaker 6 (01:15:00):
Sleep the guy runs past them.

Speaker 13 (01:15:02):
On the other one he has a really soft tackle
inside the box and then he's static when Petar Mussa
wins the ball. So I don't know that we are
seeing the best version of what Isiano either. I think
Panina has a nice challenge there to make sure that
one he feels important enough because put yourself in on
the yenow shoes. He was Luca Costa and the Jano

(01:15:25):
had a beautiful relationship. There were the two best players.
And suddenly you take away his friend and you bring
the player who you are told is one of the
best players in the league. And then you bring a
record signing. And what's his place?

Speaker 9 (01:15:40):
Now?

Speaker 1 (01:15:41):
How does he feel?

Speaker 13 (01:15:42):
And what you know? What sort of role does he
have within the team, not just in the tactical sense,
but in the leadership sense.

Speaker 2 (01:15:50):
Awesome stuff. Well, we'll be watching Saturday night FC Cincinnati
versus DC United. Hopefully the Orange and Blue can get
three points in whole. Miguel, awesome to have you, great analysis,
love have you soon man, Thanks so much. You got
a ticket that's outstanding. Miguel Gardo. MLS season past. Apple
TV Joel Sherman and John Hayman are reporting that the

(01:16:13):
Dodgers are close to acquiring Alexis Diaz from the Reds.
You heard it here first, Bredenman and Jones on Baseball Next,
what of life's greatest mysteries has finally been solved? The Dogs?

Speaker 1 (01:16:28):
No one covers the Bengals like ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (01:16:33):
Cincinnati's sports station.

Speaker 2 (01:16:34):
Right here we go and see Nikolomultra five o'clock Havy
Hour on ESPN fifteen thirty. Moeger, thank you so much
for joining us. We've got Reds news. Alexis Diaz has
been traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. No, they did
not get a return. Mookie Bets, no show. Hey, Otani

(01:16:56):
is not coming to Cincinnati. Uh not going to be
Freddie Freeman instead. No, we didn't get it. By the way,
Dodger Dogs dramatically overrated. Dodger Stadium's awesome. Dodger Dogs are
not in exchange for Alexis Das. The Reds have acquired
twenty two year old right handed pitcher Mike Vallani. Mike

(01:17:17):
Vallani was drafted by the Dodgers in the thirteenth round
of last year's draft. He pitched at California State University
and Long Beach. He went to four different schools. Nobody
cares about that. This season, Mike Vallani has appeared in
two games for the Dodgers Arizona Complex League team. Two

(01:17:38):
games he didn't give up a run. Two games, two innings,
he got a save. Mike Vallani now a Dodger Alexis
d has gone. Alexis d As we all know in
Cincinnati this year, when he was given a chance to
earn Terry Francona's trust, he failed. An era of twelve
and six games, four homers, and six innings demoted on

(01:17:59):
May first. By all accounts, it was not going great
in Louisville, and era of four point six y one
in fourteen games. I don't think anybody if I would
have said to you or anybody else on May first,
the day that Alexis Daz got demoted, that he is
never going to pitch for the Cincinnati Reads a game again.
That at the time didn't seem that far fetched. And

(01:18:22):
with Alexis d As, it was, you know, obviously the
inability to consistently get hitters out for a guy who
was so so good in twenty twenty three. It was
obviously what he did on the mound and how the
numbers changed dramatically. But I think with Alexis d As,
you heard the word effort a lot, you saw at

(01:18:46):
times lack of effort. You heard and read a lot
about preparedness and showing up in the right shape, showing
up in the right frame, of mind, working hard. This
is the quit essential sell low deal. You're trading away
a guy who two years ago was an All Star
for a guy who's pitched in two games in professional baseball,

(01:19:10):
at the lowest level of professional baseball, and this guy
they've gotten from the Red from the Dodgers might end
up being really good. I have no idea drafted in
the thirteenth round, but this was just go leave. See.
I don't know if something happened while he was at
Louisville that compelled the Reds to throw up their hands
and go, you know what, We're done here. But obviously

(01:19:31):
the Reds are done here. It is a loss from
this perspective. Not that any of us held out hope
that Alexis Dz would regain his prior form, not that
any of us had an appetite to see Alexis d
As pitch in Cincinnati again, but at different points during

(01:19:53):
his time in Cincinnati, including when he was still an
effective reliever, he's been talked about it is a potential
trade ship. Now we've often gotten mad when it's been
brought up that he can be a potential trade ship.
But he has been brought up as a potential trade ship,
because I genuinely believe, and I think this has been reported,

(01:20:15):
that the Reds got legitimate offers for Alexis Daz when
his stock was really high. Now, on one hand, you
can't blame him for going, well, wait a minute, we
got a good closer like and man for a while
he was Alexis Daz. His almost overnight ascension was something
to behold. But they got overtures, they they got offers.
There were teams interested in Alexis Das not that long ago,

(01:20:41):
when his stock was dramatically higher than it obviously is
right now. And so it's it's a loss because a
guy that you kept ended up being terrible, and that's bad.
But also you had a chance to trade him back
when you were being offered more than a guy pitching
in the Arizona Complex League, and you said no. Again. Man,

(01:21:03):
They obviously got to a point of exasperation where it
was like, dude, get me something. Give me some Dodger dogs,
give me any bag of balls, box of helmets, you know,
a couple of fungos, whatever it is, a few bases,
some rods and bags. That thing they used to put
the chalk around the batter's box. Whatever, get us something. Okay, fine,

(01:21:24):
we'll take this random pitcher who got drafted in the
thirteenth round last year. So Alexis Das gone. Mike Vallani
coming to the the Arizona Complex League. The Dodgers are
in Glendale and the Reds are in Goodyear, which is
only about twenty minutes apart from each other, so he
doesn't have to go very far, assuming he stays in
the Arizona Complex League. But that is your Reds news

(01:21:46):
of the day. The Reds are obviously off today, getting
set to play the Cubs tomorrow. Alexis ds gone. What
a what a fall? What a quick I mean if
in twenty twenty three, the summer and the season that
rejuvenated interest in baseball in this town, where Ellie Delacruz

(01:22:09):
comes up, and Matt McClain comes up, and Andrew Abbott
comes up, and the Reds hang in the race for
a while, and they're in first place as late as
like August second. Alexis Diaz was the team's lone all Star,
and understandably so, but he was the He was the

(01:22:31):
All Star on that team, understandably and deservedly so. Less
than two years later traded for a guy the Arizona
Complex League, And again I am I am not at
all blaming or crushing the Reds. I think it's gonna
be interesting to find out did something happen. Well, he

(01:22:53):
was a Louisville where they just said, man, screw this.
I don't know. I think given the timing of this,
given the relative lack of return, it wouldn't be surprising
if that was the case. Plus you add to it
the track record. And again I brought this up just
a few minutes ago. One of the storylines throughout spring

(01:23:16):
training was can Alexis Das get his job back? And
for me, it was not so much can he get
his job back? Like can he pitch effectively? Can he
pitch effectively enough to hold on to a major league
roster spot? And the reasons why we were asking that
were does he show up in shape? Does he show
up ready? Does he work hard? Does he care? Does

(01:23:37):
he show the requisite effort he made the big league
club Watching him pitch was not only frustrating because of
how often hitters hit him and how often base runner
stole bases against him, You just got a sense this
wasn't a guy who really cared all that much, and
the Reds did the right thing by demoting him. I'm

(01:23:57):
gonna reserve judgment on whether they did the right thing
in trading him, But let's be honest, this doesn't feel
that surprising now. Two years ago, if I would have
said that, going into June of twenty twenty five, the
Reds will trade they're one all star from that fun
summer of twenty twenty three, They'll trade him to the

(01:24:20):
Dodgers for a dude at the Arizona Complex League, you
would have thought I was nuts. You would have wondered
what sort of stuff away from the mound happened. Well,
here we are. Reds gave up an Alexis DS and
I cannot blame them. We will see if this ends

(01:24:40):
up being a wake up call for Alexis and he
ends up figuring it out and maybe making the Reds
paid down the road, and one day in the deep,
deep distant future will find out if Mike Vallani is
any good. But that just to me, what a sudden
and quick fall from a guy who was an All
Star two years ago to losing his job as closer,
to then being demoted, to now being traded for barely

(01:25:02):
above cash considerations. Alexis Diaz now a member of the
Los Angeles Dodgers. I have not seen if they're gonna
send him the Triple A or what they're gonna do,
but he is no longer a member of the Reds organization.
Sixteen minutes after five o'clock ESPN fifteen thirty onm Oeger.
Thank you so much for listening today. In addition to
the red stuff, and we've had a lot of Bengal

(01:25:23):
stuff to juggle today as well. We're getting set for
when I think is gonna be a pretty fun day tomorrow.
If you like Area college basketball college basketball, if you
like Aria college basketball too. Area college baseball, you see
is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in
six years, and the Bearcats will play Wake Forest tomorrow
at one o'clock the nightcap of those two games in

(01:25:45):
Knoxville tomorrow, and this is a double elimination event, with
the winner of the regional advancing to the subregional to
take on the winner of the Fayetteville Regional. There'll be
a test later Miami tomorrow night takes on defending national
champ in Tennessee. They'll both be in Knoxville tomorrow. Scott
Springer from the Inquirers there he joins us next, it's

(01:26:06):
the michelob Ultra five o'clock Happy Hour on ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (01:26:11):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

Speaker 3 (01:26:17):
UC Health Traffic Center. At uce Health, you'll find comprehensive
Let's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect more at UCHealth
dot com. There is an accident on Ridge Avenue between
Maple Leaf Avenue and Woodford Road. Slow traffic. He's found
two seventy five between Lebanon and Loveland Madeira Road a

(01:26:40):
ten minute delayed there and more slow traffic northbound seventy
five Mitchell the paddock at Ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 8 (01:26:48):
This report is sponsored by mclock.

Speaker 2 (01:26:50):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty moegar Uh Tomorrow. The UC
baseball team will play in the same regional as the
Miami University RedHawks in the NCAA Baseball Tournament. You see
in for the first time since twenty nineteen, and obviously
the first time in the NCAA tournament. During the Jordan
Bischal regime, which started prior to last year. Scott Springer

(01:27:14):
covers UC athletics for The Inquirer and Cincinnati dot Com,
and he is in knox Knoxville, Knoxville getting said for
tomorrow night's tomorrow afternoons baseball action. I can talk, hopefully
Scott can. He's with us. Now, how's it going.

Speaker 1 (01:27:30):
It's been a little wet down here, and they're expecting
rain tomorrow and the coach has just had a meeting.
Everything's on for now. The upside, it's a turf field
here at Lendsi Nelson Stadium, and they've got a lot
of help here. The weird thing is the sucker's under construction.
I mean they're adding on to Lensi Nelson Stadium, which

(01:27:52):
easily they can because of the fan base. But it's
a little difficult in and out of here. But in
the press comp or the boxes aren't all that much.
But you know, they don't care about the press. They
care about the players. So it'll be a nice atmosphere.
I mean, it'll be packed it it's seat sixty two
ninety eight.

Speaker 2 (01:28:10):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:28:11):
They can probably get ten thousand in here if they
want to, so it's probably what they're working on, and
I would imagine with the SEC money they could get
that done. But uh, pretty cool place. And plus you
know apparently the WWE is in town tonight. So yeah,
I'm looking for Roman Reigns out here or Dustin Rhodes

(01:28:31):
or whoever's on top of these days. John Cena he's
a bad guy, I think now though.

Speaker 2 (01:28:36):
Yeah, he turned he turned heel. We just played his
music for reasons I'm not entirely entirely sure. I understand
when when I watched the NCAA men's basketball tournament and
the women too, it always feels like the coolest part
of the experience is the day before for the players.
Is that the case in baseball?

Speaker 1 (01:28:54):
Well, they came and had to work out, and I
think they brought him by yesterday too. They came down
on the bus. They stopped at Bucky so that had
to have been the highlight on the way down. But yeah,
they let him look around. Because I was teasing Jordan Bishel,
I said, you know, it's just like a hankle Fieldhouse effect.
You know where you got to go look at the
rim and you know, ten feet same as ours. But

(01:29:17):
you know they've played in decent sized stadiums, and there's
some really good venues in the Big twelve. Oklahoma State
really stands out. So and this place now is under construction.
Like I said, it's nice, very nice. It'll be even nicer,
But I have to tell you they've probably played in
nicer thus far. Now when it's packed full of volunteer
fans and crazy Orange people, that's a different story. But

(01:29:41):
first things first, since Anny has to play wake Forest
at one o'clock, they're rated ahead of them in the
RPI at thirty at last check. Last time I looked,
and you see thirty four and Tennessee's are defending national champions.
And you know, Miami's got nothing to lose. They can't
come down and they're on top of the world if
they knock off the volunteers tomorrow. So it's an interesting

(01:30:04):
setup to have both UC and Miami and the same
regional And then the way this works, if they both
were to win, they're the main game on Saturday. If
they both lose, they play Saturday at noon.

Speaker 2 (01:30:18):
Well let's talk about tomorrow. So what I know about
wake Forest baseball is the Reds keep drafting their pitchers
in the first round, so they obviously don't have Rat
Louder or Chase Burns. Nonetheless, they're going to be favored
in the game tomorrow. How monumental of a task is
this for Jordan Bischall's club.

Speaker 1 (01:30:35):
I don't think it's monumental. I think if you follow
the D one baseball guys, a lot of people think
it's not out of the realm of possibility that Cincinnati
can win this regional. They have played the decent competition
all year long. If they're sixteen and fourteen in the
Big twelve, well, wake Forest was sixteen and fourteen in
the ACC, Tennessee was sixteen and fourteen in the SEC.

(01:30:57):
Miami actually has the best conference trucker. They're in the
MAC at twenty three and seven. TCU RPI wise is
maybe six seven spots below Tennessee. Cincinnati played with them
decently in Fort Worth and a year ago swept TCU,
So I don't know if examples oranges or what you know,

(01:31:19):
there's no debate the SEC dominates baseball. They won the
last five national championships, seven of the last ten. But
this is a chance for both schools at Cincinna and
Miami to come down and say, you know, hey, weedl suck,
so why.

Speaker 2 (01:31:35):
Not, which is always nice to be able to say
about yourself. I think what's kind of cool and following
Cincinnati specifically is it does feel like, you know, folks
who maybe pay very close attention to football and basketball
really started to focus in on what the baseball program
was doing down the stretch.

Speaker 1 (01:31:53):
Yeah, and attendance wise, I mean, they don't put in
the fans like they do here, but their attendance was up.
And what I've tried to tell everyone, you know, when
you get into the Big twelve, it's a different animal,
and it's a different animal in every sport. And you're
in a lot of towns where the you know, the
colleges are the only thing in town. So baseball is

(01:32:14):
a thing. Baseball is big in a lot of these places.
And the fact that Jordan Bissell's come in and in
two years has him in the NCAA Tournament and over
thirty wins. Actually baseball has adapted better than football and
basketball at you see thus far.

Speaker 2 (01:32:32):
I would say there's no question about that. As a
follower of UC athletics, is it a surprise to you
that in year two of the Big twelve. The Bearcats
have had such success and are in the NCAA tournament.

Speaker 1 (01:32:46):
Base on one I saw last year, not necessarily, and then
I was able to go to their first pitch dinner
that they had way back in February, and they brought
Brent Souter out to talk to him, and Rents a
great guy. And you know, there's a guy there that was,
you know what, thirtieth round or wasn't supposed to be
in the major leagues, and he's had a decent career.

(01:33:07):
So and all the guys I talked to that night,
they said, you know, well, we think they didn't think
we're gonna be any good last year, and they think
we're gonna be even worse this year. And you know
they took it to heart. You know, everyone has to
have the chip on their shoulder. That's something guys like
me have to write, or guys like you have to say,
because that's just you know, I don't know why everyone

(01:33:27):
needs to say it. Everyone's just motivated. If someone doesn't
think you're any good, you're motivated to prove them wrong. Heck,
even at my age, I try to do that and
some people still say I suck MO, but I keep.

Speaker 2 (01:33:38):
Going, I U, I would never say that, uh are
you there? Like obviously you see as your beat, but
do you have the add of responsibilities of covering the RedHawks?

Speaker 6 (01:33:50):
I did?

Speaker 1 (01:33:51):
I say for their practice. I talked to Brian Smiley,
and you know they've got a nice team. They you
can't discount to Mac ever in any sport. And talking
about chips on the shoulder, the Mac has had that forever,
and all you got to do is look back to
early You know, Marcus Freeman is all the raven football,

(01:34:11):
but you know, Northern Illinois beat them, and the Max
schools come up and beat somebody in football and in
basketball every year and in baseball. And they have played
the u See twice in baseball this season. You see
won both of them. But here's something for you. They
beat Xavier. Well guess who Xavier b twice? You see
the Bearcats didn't beat Xavier two times. And that's things

(01:34:33):
for a lot of people. So you know, Miami's decent.
They've won some games. They have a chance to put
themselves on the map if people don't know already. But
you know, you beat Tennessee tomorrow night and everyone again
finds out where Osford Ohio is you know years ago
Wally Zrbek did that for him and you know maybe
it's a Miami baseball team.

Speaker 2 (01:34:54):
Now, yeah, no, it would be uh. I know what
they're going to have in the stands for that game
tomorrow because of obviously where the game is the following
the tennis Tennessee has so that's going to be a
big task for the RedHawks. But if we could somehow
get the Bearcats in Miami to play on Saturday in
the winner's bracket, I think that would be that would
be pretty old.

Speaker 1 (01:35:13):
That would be crazy. That would that would really be crazy,
to be quite quite the story. And for those that
are wondering, they do have refreshments here and if you're
wondering what kind, they're large ones.

Speaker 2 (01:35:24):
Yeah, you could. You could buy a cold you could go.
You could buy a cold one at the NCAA tournament.
Not not that we know anything about that in recent years,
but but that change has happened. You could buy a
cold one at the NCAA tournament, which means you could
buy a cold one at the n cuba A Baseball tournament.

Speaker 1 (01:35:40):
I've seen the cases and their fall and they're ready
now at the SEC Baseball tournament and Hoover they did
not sell them. I found that I didn't I didn't go.
That's not the reason I didn't go, but I I
just know that's that's a thing there. So But for
n c Double A they do, and uh, you know,

(01:36:00):
it is a thing people like to have a libation
or two, which is hopefully they behave themselves.

Speaker 2 (01:36:05):
Yes, no question about that.

Speaker 1 (01:36:08):
Griffin Merritt from LaSalle High School will be out in
the left field boxes somewhere because he played one year
here for the volunteers and four for the Bearcats and
was quite the hitter and actually was a very good
high school quarterback. So I've talked to him the other
day and that's on Cincinnati dot com and there's a
shameless plug for you.

Speaker 2 (01:36:25):
Well we'll send folks there. Go read what Griffin Merritt
had to say Cincinnati dot Com Scott Springer in Knoxville
covering the College Baseball NCAA Tournament Cincinnati versus Wig Forest
Miami taking on Tennessee. Perhaps both the Bearcats and RedHawks
will play each other later on in this event, and
then if the winner of this goes onto the super

(01:36:48):
Regional and the winner of the Knoxville Regional would play
the winner of the Fayetteville Regional, and then that would
happen at with the highest remaining seed.

Speaker 1 (01:36:59):
Yeah, I mean more than likely. If you're looking a favorites,
they're setting up at Tennessee Arkansas rematch because Arkansas's ranked
what third fourth in the country, I think, so they
would be the odds on favorite there. But if Cincinnati
or Miami were to pull the upset here when the regional,
next stop probably would be Fayetteville.

Speaker 2 (01:37:21):
Very good enjoin Knoxville, and I appreciate you doing this, man,
Thanks so much, Thank you for the time, sir Any
sign Scott Springer covering the college baseball tournament u See
Wake Forest tomorrow one o'clock, Miami Tennessee defending national champs
at six pm, and based on how those two games unfold,

(01:37:42):
they could see each other later. Stay tuned. Nick Crawl's
comments about trading Alexis Das who's gone to the Dodgers.

Speaker 4 (01:37:49):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from.

Speaker 3 (01:37:55):
The UC Health Traffic Center at u See Health. You'll
find comprehensive here. That's so personal it makes your best
tomorrow possible. That's spellmless care for better outcomes, expect more
at ucehealth dot com. Crescentville Road. There's an accident at
Springfield Pike. Another crash Ridge Avenue between Maple Leaf Avenue
and Woodford Road. Traffic stop and go southbound seventy one

(01:38:19):
between Martin Luther King Drive and Fort Washington Way A
ten minutes slow down. I'm at Ezelac with traffic.

Speaker 14 (01:38:26):
This report is sponsored by White Service to Kelsey Chevrolet,
home of lifetime powertrain protection and guarantee credit approval from
their family to yours for life kelseyshew dot com.

Speaker 2 (01:38:37):
Alexis Diaz has been traded by the Reds to the
Los Angeles Dodgers. In exchange, Cincinnati gets righty reliever Mike Vallani,
who was drafted by LA in the thirteenth round last year.
Has pitched in two games in the Arizona Complex League.
But the good news is an era of zero in
two innings struck up five, which is really good. Mike

(01:39:01):
Vaalania read Alexis d as a Dodger. Nick Krawl tells
reporters today that this trade did not come at the
request of Alexis Daz. Here is the quote from Nick
quote where he was two years ago, the first half
of twenty twenty three, and where he is, He's obviously

(01:39:23):
not where he needs to be. He's a great kid.
It's just one of those where a change of scenery
might help him. He's in triple A and we have
other guys we have brought up ahead of him. He
wasn't going to be brought up tomorrow. As a quick aside,
the Reds sent Luis May to Louisville so they have
an opening in the bullpen. Nick continues quote, we felt

(01:39:43):
like it was the right time to make a move.
We ended up clearing a roster spot. We can reallocate
some of the resources. We got a picture back that
we like. That's Nick Krawl. He does also have a
quote about Mike Vallani, the guy the Red's gone to
return here. It is from Nick quote Nick Krawl quote,
he has good arm strength, he can swing a breaking ball.

(01:40:09):
Generic quote Alexis Daz gone. It is abundantly clear they
were just tired of him. He was abundantly clear that
they had no use for him. It was abundantly clear
that Terry Francona and Nick Krawl, maybe others in the
organization just done and again, I don't know if there
was a defining moment something that tipped things out of

(01:40:33):
Alexis's favor as it relates to his standing in the
organization in Louisville. I don't know. But as eyebrow raising
as this might be to outsiders, anybody who has followed
this team kind of read and paid attention and listened,
I don't think anybody surprised that Alexis Daz was blatantly

(01:40:55):
just given away. Reds are off today. They play the
Cubs tomorrow, first to three. Andrew Abbott will start that
game for Cincinnati. Florence. Gateway Florence Yaws played Gateway tonight
for what feels like the one thousandth time of a
season that's barely two weeks old. College baseball Tomorrow NCAA
tournament U See Wake Forest at one Miami and Tennessee

(01:41:15):
at six pm. You See announced today the kick times
for their first two home games, Bowling Green at Northwestern State.
Both those games will start at three thirty. I think
we all like a good three thirty kickoff, right like
we could all. We're in a day and age where
people are like Big Man all the time. If the
games at noon. Three thirty is good. I'd prefer three thirty.

(01:41:42):
Don't have to be there at eight am. Not going
to be there at midnight. NBA Tonight Eastern Conference Finals.
Pacers on the verge of their first NBA Finals in
twenty five years. They're in New York to take on
the Knicks. Indie leading that series three to one. Game
five is tonight and NHL Westerner's Final Stanley Cup Playoffs
Edmonton and Dallas. Game five in Texas, Oilers holding a

(01:42:10):
commanding three to one lead. I also do have to
to work this in as well, and then we'll try
to take a phone call or two. It's the Postman
Law injury Report. It is delivered by Postman Law Injured
Postman Delivers. Austin Hayes came out of last night's game

(01:42:31):
with a left foot contusion. The Red say he's day
to day. Fouled a ball off his foot last night
against Kansas City that occurred in the sixth. He left
the game for a pinch hittert in the eighth. Noelve Marte.
The Reds are getting some encouraging signs from Noelve Marte.
Terry Francona on Tuesday said that Noelve had a follow
up MRI that revealed that he is progressing pretty nicely

(01:42:56):
and he has been given the go ahead to start
doing rotational activities. He can start rotating now. Cees has
been moved to Louisville for his rehab stint as he
comes back from lower back inflammation. Rhet Louder is on
the shelf right now because of that oblique issue. Jake

(01:43:18):
Frayley has started a rehab assignment at Louisville. Five day
assignment which I believe today is the last day. See
if Jake Frayley is back soon. And that's pretty much
all we got. That's today's Postman Law injury report. It
is delivered by Postman Law. If you're injured, call eight

(01:43:40):
four or four Postman. Let's see here. Ian, thank you
so much for your patience, Thank you for holding on.
Good afternoon. How are you.

Speaker 10 (01:43:52):
Hey?

Speaker 2 (01:43:52):
How's it going man? I'm good man, How are you.

Speaker 9 (01:43:56):
Great?

Speaker 6 (01:43:57):
Sorry about that three plug the other week. I don't
really mean to be uh. I figured it was sports
related and I did mention to them at the ownership
that you know that's a great advertisement.

Speaker 2 (01:44:11):
Yeah, we'll call y'all. Yeah, will they be doing that?

Speaker 9 (01:44:14):
Anyway.

Speaker 6 (01:44:17):
I don't know, I just uh won't do that again.
Sorry about that. Yeah, I like to respect your things there,
but uh, all right, I haven't been listening or watching
the games, and I think maybe if I start watching
that suddenly Matt McClean is gonna just turn it on.

Speaker 2 (01:44:37):
Let's go start watching tomorrow two twenty. Cancel all your
plans watch the Reds game. Normal.

Speaker 6 (01:44:43):
I feel guilty, you know what I mean. I think
it's all my fault. But on a serious note, though,
they send him down because like he was already you know,
down working back from a little bit of a injury bug.
And is it just one of those things with like

(01:45:04):
egos like he's prospect board that they just don't want
to wouldn't now be the time if something could jult
mentally they get him back into rhythm Or is it
worse that maybe he's got something going on and I
just don't understand that. I'm trying. Well, why not send

(01:45:25):
him down for like five days or something?

Speaker 2 (01:45:28):
I mean, it would be at least ten to me.
The fact that they moved him from the two spot
to at times the nine spot would tell you that
they are open to other things. As it relates to
Matt McLean and number one, you know, what other options
do you have beyond Matt McLean? You know, are you
replacing him on the roster with somebody who's exponentially better?

(01:45:51):
Fair question number two? And I don't know the answer
to this. Do they think that what's best for his
development is to just play threw it at the major
league level? Or do they see value in sending him
to Louisville where he is gonna face inferior competition, maybe
have more success, perhaps benefit from it from a confidence perspective.

(01:46:14):
I don't know. What I do know is he's not
helping the team, and whenever you have a player who's
not helping the team, you have to think of other options,
both for the position the player is occupying and for
the player, assuming that you think that guy still has
a big that his his his future is still very bright,
and your future is tied to him.

Speaker 6 (01:46:37):
Yeah, I guess it's just one of those things where
it's like, what are you gonna do? You know, you
gotta let this play out. I understand what you're saying.

Speaker 2 (01:46:45):
I mean, like, what is what is interesting to me
is you know, look, he missed all of last year
and so I think to a degree that lengthens his leash.
You know, if if let's say this is last season,
right where Matt is coming off the twenty two three season,
and suddenly his production has fallen off a cliff, I

(01:47:05):
think the Reds would be have already been more inclined
to send him down than they have been. I think
what they want to do is acknowledge, all right, you
missed an entire year. It's hard, especially when you're short
on experience, when you have missed an entire year, to
just come back and hit the ground running. And so
you there's a little bit of a grace period here,

(01:47:26):
and that's fine. I think it's fair to ask how
long should that grace period be? If in two or
three weeks we're still talking about this just stark lack
of production, I don't know how you entertain any option
other than send him to the minor leagues.

Speaker 6 (01:47:43):
And on top of that, it is it could be
like a little bit of sophomore slump because it is
actually his you know what I mean, missing that all
that time.

Speaker 2 (01:47:54):
Just could one other comment.

Speaker 6 (01:47:58):
I agree with you one hundred percent. Like Espinol, I
think he is awesome. If he is in that right
role where he's not pressed to be like filling in
as much.

Speaker 2 (01:48:09):
As he is.

Speaker 6 (01:48:09):
They really do need to get him back into that
and to pivot, just because it angers me so much.
If I wasn't born in Cincinnati and you didn't have
Joe Burrow, I would almost want to just like throw
into town and be like, this ownership pisses me off
so much. Why are you shooting yourself in the foot

(01:48:31):
just to put the stamp down and say no, we
made a change in our language, so we're gonna just
stick to it. We're not going to cater to this.
You know, kid's opinion and all he wants is a
similar contract as previous first rounders and the need to
have that guy develop. What are you doing? I'm so upset, dude.

(01:48:56):
I just don't understand the mentality. I feel like I'm
living in some kind of alternate universe.

Speaker 2 (01:49:02):
Well, you know, we play we can help you. I
don't know that I can help you, but I'll commiserate
with you. We played the audio before of Shamar Stewart's dad,
whose point was essentially like, look, you didn't ask for
the language that you're asking to be included in Shamar
Stewart's contract, with Amarus Mims's contract or Miles Murphy's contract

(01:49:24):
players that were taken later than Shamar Stewart was taken.
So if you want to establish a new president with
how you structure contracts and what language you want to
put in contracts, that's fine. Do it with a guy
that you take thirty first overall or thirty second overall
if you win the whole thing. Don't do it with
a guy who was taken earlier than players with whom

(01:49:47):
you didn't include this contract language with.

Speaker 6 (01:49:52):
Yeah, man to end it, and I know you got
to get going, but I just it's either that, like
you said, regret the mean like where they're just not
sweating it like I am, and they're they or they
think that this kid is just so good that it's
not gonna take much for him to develop. It must

(01:50:14):
be seeing all that pressure that he got on tape
and they're just overwhelmed with confidence and just think it's
gonna work out. But I don't know what else to say. Man,
I think it's important, but I don't know what to say.

Speaker 2 (01:50:27):
I don't think they I think I think they have Ian.
Thank you so much for the call. I think they
have an extraordinary amount of confidence and faith in Al Golden.
That's awesome. Do the players respond, I have no idea,
we have to go. I am off tomorrow. Chad Brendle
fills in. We're back Monday at three ZHO five. Don't

(01:50:49):
forget since he three sixty is tomorrow at noon. Thanks
to Tarren Bland for producing. Thanks to you for listening.
Have the greatest night of your life. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (01:51:00):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

Speaker 3 (01:51:20):
UC Health Traffic Center. At you See Health, you'll find
comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your best tomorrow possible.
That's Bellma's care for better outcomes. Expect more at UCHealth
dot com. Ridge Avenue. There's an accident between Maple Leaf
Avenue and Woodford Road. Another accident at southbound seventy five
approaching two seventy five that went off on the right shoulder,

(01:51:43):
and slow traffic northbound seventy one from Smith Edwards to
Ronald Reagan Highway. I'm Ati Zelik with traffic

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