6/1/26 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Is it possible?

Speaker 3 (00:07):
Is it possible for both NFL teams in Ohio to
have a winning day in the middle of the off season.
I think the answer is yes. Good afternoon on Moegar.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you so much for listening.
First of all, hope you had an awesome weekend show.
Previews available right now on Twitter at molegar thanks to

(00:30):
a share Fax credit Union you know, sharef facx credit Union.
On Saturday, they'll destroy your personal documents for you, even
if you're not a member. Learn more about Shred Day
having on Saturday at share facts dot org. Ellide la
Cruz is headed to the ten day injured list with
a hamstrings train. Edwin Arroyo is up Reds and Royals tonight.

(00:52):
We have been like many, probably just like you, clamoring, clamoring,
as we say, clamoring for the Reds to call up Edwin.
We're gonna have a guy on in thirteen minutes who
knows more about Edwin Arroyo than maybe anybody on the planet.
Our guy Aaron Layton from jess Baseball. He's actually joining
us from Paris. We are excited to talk to Aaron

(01:15):
about Edwin. More on that and the Red's coming up
here in just a few minutes. Bengals don't have to
worry about Miles Garrett anymore.

Speaker 4 (01:24):
So.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
The Cleveland Browns have made the biggest trade of the offseason.
And that's with all apologies to the Bengals acquiring Dexter Lawrence.
The La Rams clearly and all in mode have agreed
to trade make a trade for Miles Garrett. They are
sending two time Pro Bowl edge Jared Verse, a good player,

(01:48):
a guy who two years ago was a defensive Rookie
of the Year, a guy who's a good, cost controlled player,
dude with a lot of upside. He goes to the
Cleveland Browns in exchange for multiple choices. Cleveland gets a
first round draft pick in twenty twenty seven, a second
round pick in twenty twenty eight, and a third round
pick in twenty twenty nine. One of the biggest trades

(02:11):
in NFL history involving a defensive player. This is a
trade that is one thousand percent, by the way, on
brand for the La Rams. It's not that unlike trading
for Matthew Stafford in twenty twenty one. They are a
franchise defined by and I quote f.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Them picks going all in.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
And by the way, when they drafted Ty Simpson in
the first round this year, there are a lot of
folks who are like, wow, wow, wait, wait a minute,
wait a minute, wait a minute.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Uh, you're all in.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
But you're drafting a guy in round one who's not
gonna play, and he plays the most important position in
all the sports. And I think the way to look
at the trade now is they feel like they've got
their guy for the future, then you could sacrifice some
long term equity that you would otherwise maybe be using
to go find your quarterback in the future and use
it to go get Miles Garrett, one of the top

(03:03):
two or three players in all of football. So good
for the Rams, good for the Bengals. It is quite simple.
Playing the Browns over the last number of years has
been more difficult than it needs to be, primarily because
the Browns have Miles Garrett. Of all of the quarterbacks
that Miles Garrett has hit, he has hit Bengals quarterbacks

(03:25):
more than the quarterbacks of any other team. And part
of that is obviously because they played twice a year
he has sacked Bengals quarterbacks more than he has sacked
quarterbacks of any NFL team. The Bengals don't have to
worry about him. In twenty twenty six, Maybe maybe they'll
play the Rams in the Super Bowl in a rematch
of a game from five years ago in the same

(03:46):
exact stadium, and they'll have to figure out a way
to keep Miles Garrett from doing to them what Aaron
Donald did to the Bengals in the Super Bowl the
last time those two teams played in a Super Bowl.
I will worry about that if the two teams make it.
In the short term. Here's what I could tell you.
Miles Garrett played for the Browns. The Browns are on

(04:06):
the Bengals schedule twice. Miles Garrett is really really hard
to block. He's hard to block if he's coming off
the edge. He's hard to block if he's coming from
the inside. He's done both against the Bengals. The Browns
notoriously hard for the Bengals to beat. The reason why
anybody would give them any chance to beat what we

(04:28):
hope is a good team like the Bengals is Miles Garrett.
The Cleveland Browns have just made beating them this year
to be a lot more difficult. Now, that's not to
say that blocking Jared Versus gonna be easy, and the
Browns have actually done something that I think is for
them quite good. They're punning on twenty twenty six. They're

(04:49):
gonna have either Deshaun Wattson a sure Doris Sanders play quarterback,
and my money is against either one of those guys
being the starting QB in twenty twenty seven. So they've
got to figure that out. But they now have a
little bit extra draft capital for twenty twenty seven. They
have a lot more draft capital if you look at
what they're doing across the course of the next few years.
And they've had what most believe was a really nice draft.

(05:11):
They got Spencer Fano, the tackle from Utah, guy they
would have taken where they were drafting, then traded down
got him. Took Casey conceptsi On the wide receiver from
Texas A and M. They drafted Denzel Boston. A very
nice collection of young players in the Cleveland Browns organization
should give if you're a Browns fan hope for the future.
As a Bengals fan, though if you are one, you

(05:34):
don't care about the future. I don't care about the future.
I know Duke Tobin is paid to care about the future,
and there will be a time when I do care
about the future. But for now, all eyes on twenty
twenty six. The Dexter Lawrence trade, beyond the mechanics of
trading for a guy who can do what Dexter Lawrence
can do, was about a single minded focus on twenty

(05:54):
twenty six. That's all right now any of us should
care about because the Bengals do have a chance. Not
having to play Miles Garrett twice in twenty twenty six
amplifies their chances of winning those games against the Browns.
If they can win those games against the Browns, that
amplifies their chances of winning the division, having the best
possible record, and having the best possible chance of advancing

(06:17):
in the postseason. Today, on the eve of OTAs, today,
if you're a Bengals fan, is a very very good
day because the Browns were just made easier to beat
in twenty twenty six, and right now, the only thing
that matters to the Bengals is twenty twenty six, twelve

(06:39):
minutes after three o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. By
the way, our phone lines are open. I don't know
that we'll have room for phone calls this hour because
we do have two guests, including our guy, Aaron Layton
on Edwin Arroyo. Uh, that's coming up in just about
eight minutes. Five point three seven four nine, fifteen thirty
is our phone number. We have been banging the drum
along with many for weeks. It's time to call up

(07:01):
Edwin Arroyo. He has had a great year at Louisville,
hitting three twenty three on ops of nine to thirty five.
He's obviously mainly a shortstop. He's played some second base recently.
He's played some third base recently. You would imagine in
an effort to get him ready to play those positions
in the short term in Cincinnati. For now, the Reds
need a shortstop, and so Edwin Arroyo is up. Now

(07:25):
you could look at it through this lens. Why did
they need disastro strike before they call it up Edwin Arroyo.
It feels like today is reasonably good news about Elie
Dela Cruz ten day injured list. We'll see if it
goes beyond that, but nobody is talking about a hamstring tear.
Nobody is talking about this threatening his season. It's going

(07:46):
to miss at least the next ten days. But this
is a tough blow, and it's a tough blow when
you couple it with well, the tough blows the Reds
have had to absorb in the bullpen. Graham Ashcraft on Friday,
Pierce Johnson over the weekend. It's also a tough blow
for a team that is really, really, really top heavy.
Charlie Goldsmith writes about this today Charlie's Chalkboard, and I

(08:08):
feel like I quote something that Charlie writes almost every
single day, because he writes something good almost every single day.
But it's a fair question. We can debate who the
Reds best and most valuable player is. We can debate
who the Reds most indispensable player is, and if you
want to do that today, fine, let's have the discussion.
But I don't think what you can argue is that

(08:29):
Elie deler Cruz is among the very best players on
the team. It goes without saying that he is. He's
also one of the most durable. He plays arguably the
most important position in the field. He bats either second
or third. He is top to bottom their best offensive player,
even if it's just for a week and a half,

(08:49):
even if it's just for a couple of weeks. Can
a team with some already baked in issues, can a
team that says top heavy as the Reds afford to
lose one of their guys in that bundle that make
the Reds top heavy, that includes Sal Stewart might say
includes JJ Bleday, certainly includes Chase Burns. Unfortunately, right now

(09:13):
doesn't include any relievers, because to me, that's part of
the that's part of the conversation, right it's not just
losing Elie de la Cruz, who, by the way, leads
the team and wins above replacement, leads the team and
runs above replacement, leads the team and runs from replacement level,
has gotten much much, much, much much more reliable as
a shortstop. He is their top to bottom best player.

(09:35):
I think pretty much, if you combine all the metrics,
you'll arrive at the same conclusion. It's losing him, and
right now on a nightly basis, hell on an inning
by inning basis, if you're Tito Francona, do you have
any idea who you want to use in relief? Now?
That you don't have Amelia Pagan, you don't have Graham Ashcraft,

(09:57):
and now you don't have Pierce Johnson. Yes, they one yesterday. Yes,
the woeful Royals, losers of six straight, are in town
this week. But oh boy, it feels like things are
starting to teeter already and it's just June first. At
Moegger on Twitter. Thanks to Delta Dental, Delta Dental is
building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for all good at Delta

(10:19):
dentalah dot com. Edwin Arroyo, Remember he missed an entire
season a few years ago, and the season he's had
this year Louisville has been one to behold. He's hitting
for power, he's playing multiple positions. We've been yelling and
screaming about how the Reds need to call him up
now for a while. Aaron Layton just baseball dot com,

(10:39):
one of these dudes that we go to whenever we
want some opinion, informed opinion on players we haven't seen yet.
We call him. We'll call him next twenty at three
twenty sixteen, after three uh five, one, three seven, four nine,
fifteen thirty. We are loaded today. Lots to good too.
Glad you're here, hope you had a great weekend. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (11:00):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic after three o'clock.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Moeger, Thank you so much
for listening today. Edwin Arroyo is up. Unfortunately, Ellie de
la Cruz down and out. Our guy. Charlie Goldsmith, reporting
from Tito's office, says Ellie has between a grade one
and two hamstrings train, depending on how he feels, could
get rescanned in a couple of weeks. Two to four weeks,

(11:28):
according to Charlie, is an idea of a timeline.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
So no Ellie for a while.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
But a guy that we have been excited to see
is set to make his big league debut, Edwin Arroyo,
who is having a terrific season for the Louisville Bats.
We call Aaron Layton whenever it's time to talk prospects
or the draft, or maybe if the Reds have acquired
a prospect from another organization and he's been locked in
on Edwin Arroyo. He's so key to on Edwin Arroyo

(11:55):
that he is doing us a huge favor. He is
actually joining us from Paris. This dude is so much
about baseball. He'll even talk baseball when he's in France
on vacation. I can't thank you enough, Aaron, good afternoon.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
How are you.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
I'm doing great, Thanks so much for having me.

Speaker 6 (12:10):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (12:11):
I appreciate you doing this as always and I won't
keep you along. Edwin Arroyo, there have been major improvements
in his game from this year. From last year to
this year. I should say where has he improved the most.

Speaker 7 (12:23):
I would say in the quality of contact department. And
I do think a big part of that right is
going to be getting being another year removed from a
very serious shoulder injury that I think this is more
of a hypothesis for me, but I think if you're
a switch hitter and you have a serious shoulder injury,
I imagine that's gonna affect you a little bit more
because you've got it affecting two different swings in two
different ways.

Speaker 3 (12:43):
But also just cleaning up his stance.

Speaker 7 (12:45):
If you look at the way he swung the bat
and the way he's set up in twenty five, he was,
especially from the left side, super bowed out, like leaning
on his front knee, and he just couldn't really control
the weight shift too much. Now he's just standing out
a little bit more upright, he's allowing himself to move
freely be an athlete. And the average exit velocities are up,
the batter ball angles are improved, and all of a sudden,

(13:06):
you know, he's slugging a lot more than he ever has,
and he's already on pace to I think double his
his career high in homers, and I don't think that's
a coincidence.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
How much of that translates to uh success hitting the
ball along way to the big league level, I think
a lot, especially in Great American.

Speaker 7 (13:20):
You know, if he didn't improve both the exit velocities
and the batted ball angles, I'd say, well, you know,
maybe this is just a guy getting hot in triple A.
But again, when you see him lifting the ball more consistently,
which is something he did in the early going of
his pro career and just got away from him, and
then you also have the raw exit velocity uptick. But
he's not a guy that's going to be hitting thirty homers.
But he's mostly a guy that's gonna be able to

(13:41):
split the gap s aiton and being able to add
a little bit more power on top of that.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
I think that plays.

Speaker 7 (13:45):
Well in Great America and all of a sudden if
you go from a you know, ten home run out
look to maybe fifteen to twenty. I think that makes
a big difference for a guy that you know, you're
going to be getting a ton of value with the
glove and with his legs.

Speaker 3 (13:56):
I want to ask you about the glove and his legs.
But as a hitter, what's your biggest concern the approach?

Speaker 7 (14:02):
You know, and and you know, he seems to feel
like he can get to a lot of pitches, which
he can.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
He is a good field to hit, but you know,
at the.

Speaker 7 (14:08):
Same time, he can get very aggressive, and I think
if that, if there's one thing that's gonna maybe create
a little bit of a challenge in making that leap
up to the big leagues, it's gonna be you pitchers
knowing that and trying to exploit that and kind of
forcing him to get himself out. So just seeing if
he can rein it in and not be so overly aggressive,
I think would be the biggest concern with with the
Royal Our guy.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
Aaron Layton from jess Baseball is with us on Edwin Arroyo.
He is He's played obviously most extensively at shortstop, but
he's played some third, he's played some second base. How
would you rate him overall as a defender.

Speaker 7 (14:42):
I think he's an above average shortstop, may even grade
out better than that. What I love about Arroyo Also
fun fact about him, he's ambidextros. I can throw with
both arms really well, and not that that comes in
much handy hobviously in the infield, but I think just
shows you how like physically gifted he is. What I
think is so amazing about Royal is how well he
move around a diamond already too, which, of course, you
can play a high level shortstop. You assume that a

(15:04):
guy could play a good third or second, but it's
not always that easy. And in the position that he's in,
you know, if he's playing well and Ellie gets back,
he may create an opportunity for himself to stay in
there and be kind of a utility piece for them.
But I think he's an above average shortstop, can play
a really good third base as well, and then of
course it's going to translate into great defense at second.
The arm strength is absolutely there and the footworks there,

(15:25):
and you know, for a guy that may have some
growing pains as he gets acclimated to the big leagues.
But you're not expecting somebody to come in and replace
Elie de la Cruz's production. But if he can go
in there and play a good shortstop and you know,
put the ball in play and do the little things
and steal some bags, you're just looking for someone that's
going to hold it down at that at the premium position.

Speaker 3 (15:41):
His call up to the big leagues is a response
to Elie dela Cruz going on the injured list. But
we have been wondering if it's time to call him
up now for a while and maybe play him at
third a little bit, maybe play him at second base
a little bit. If if he was if the Ellie
Dela Cruz injury didn't happen, would you make the case
that it would have been time for the Reds to
call up Edwin Royal regardless.

Speaker 7 (16:01):
I thought so, And you know, with something we alluded
to a little bit on our Prospect podcast to call
up because you know, when you look at the deficiencies
here with the Reds where I mean, obviously you've got
some struggles with Hayes at the third base, and McLean's not,
you know, really holding up his end of the bargain
at second you don't clearly they don't want to make
like a definitive, definitive decision and just totally bouncing those
guys out of their roles. Royal is the perfect player

(16:24):
where you can eat into each of their playing time
a little bit without you know fully kicking somebody to
the curb. And I think that's what makes Arroyo the
perfect fit to be able to play three four times
a week. But again not totally compromising. You know, guys
that clearly Nick Crawl and the Reds are are a
little bit stubborn with and you know I can understand
and for some reasons, but also for a team that's
you know, trying to keep pace here, I think at

(16:47):
a certain point here it's about time.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
Anyways, can't thank you enough.

Speaker 3 (16:51):
I know you're on vacation, enjoy Paris, and I will
bother you as we get closer to the draft. Man,
thank you as always, can't wait. It's never a bother.
Thanks so much for having me. It is the great
Aaron Layton one of the absolute best joining us. He
was kind enough. When I texted him, He's like, yeah,
I'm in Paris, but I could talk Edwin Arroyo, Like, dude, really, yes,
I want to talk Edwin roy By the way, Edwin
Edwin Arroyo is in the starting lineup tonight. He is

(17:15):
playing second base and batting eighth. Matt McClain moves over
to shortstop. Edwin Arroyo will be playing second. We'll give
you the full red starting lineup here in just a bit.
Lion Richardson is going to start the game for Cincinnati.
This was supposed to be Chase Burns turns in the rotation.
He is apparently dealing with a fever, and so they
have moved his start to Wednesday, the series finale against

(17:38):
the Royals. Instead Lion Richardson, who just got called up.
He is going to start in place of Chase Burns.
Lion Richardson got dfa'ed by the Reds this offseason, but
because of the litany of either relievers getting hurt or
guys underperforming, lion Richardson is back with the team and

(17:58):
tonight he starts via series opener against Kansas City twenty
nine after three o'clock. So big NFL News big baseball
news here at least with Edwin Royal being called up. Unfortunately,
he's called up because Elie Dela Cruz is gonna be
on the injury list for a while. And we've got
to talk a little bit about the fact that Ellie

(18:20):
plays every single day. Now playing the day obviously, but
he plays every single day, and he is as durable
as they come, and they have insisted on playing him
every single day. Do we really believe that Ellie Dela
Cruz got hurt yesterday because he plays every single day
and he never gets a day off. I think the

(18:41):
answer is no. But tell you what that butt is
a little bit later on. Sports headlines are next. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (18:50):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (18:55):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center at.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
The ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati's Sports.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
Sports headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet, Home of
lifetime powertrain protection and guarantee credit approval from their family
to yours for life at kelseyshev dot Com, Reds and Royals.
Tonight at GABP, Chase Burns is not going to start.
He's got a fever, so Lyon Richardson is going to

(19:25):
pitch for Cincinnati against righty Luwinder Avila seven to ten tonight.
Remember we're back to seven ten games during the week.
Here the action on seven hundred WLW. These are all
three night games against Kansas City today, Tomorrow, and Wednesday.
That is a little bit rare, a little bit rare,
I believe. Let's see, let's see what else do we have?

(19:47):
Ellie Dela Cruz right hamstrings train. The sort of guest
timeline is two to four weeks between a grade one
and grade two strain. Edward Arroyo was up. He will
make his big league debut to Cincinnati. Also calling up
from Louisville lefty Brandon Leebrand and they have dfaed Junior Marte,
who was the first arm out of the bullpen on Friday.

(20:11):
You'll hear from Edwin Arroyo as he chatted with reporters
at GABP just a few minutes ago. In just a second,
first though, it's time for the Red starting lineup.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
Are you ready?

Speaker 3 (20:20):
The unsponsored Red starting lineup? Blake Donnison, center, Jay j
Blade and left Sal Stewart plays third and bats third.
Euhaneo Suarez DHS. Nathaniel Lowe is at first base. He
is batting fifth. Spencer Steer moves to right field. Tonight
he will bats six. Tyler Stevenson behind the plate, Arroyo
at second, Matt McClain moves over to shortstop.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
He bats ninth.

Speaker 3 (20:44):
After losing two out of three over the weekend, including
a win yesterday and what was a solid start by
Nick Lodolo, Cincinnati heads into play this week six games
at a first place in the National League Central. Everybody
in the division still has a winning record. Milwaukee's the pace,
four and a half games ahead in the division. Tonight,

(21:05):
Milwaukee is hosting San Francisco and Saint Louis has a
home series that begins tonight against the Texas Rangers. Major
major NFL news impacting the AFC North. The Cleveland Browns
have traded Miles Garrett to the La Rams in exchange
for two time Pro Bowl pass rusher Jared Verse and

(21:26):
multiple draft picks, including a first rounder in twenty twenty seven,
a second rounder in twenty twenty eight, and a third
rounder in two thousand. In twenty nine.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
More on that.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
Coming up here very shortly, Plus the Big Injunction hearing
was held down there in Lubbock, Texas, where Brendan Sorosby
who there was a lot of reporting this week about
the extent of his gambling while he was an active
college football player at both IU and at UC and
for that matter, even during his brief time at Texas Tech.

(21:59):
His big junction hearing was today, where he is making
the case that he should still get to play college
football because it's better for his mental health. Basically, in
the NCAA's cases, well, you know, we have a rule
that says you're not allowed to do it. Brendan admits
to doing so, he's not eligible. Apparently a ruling is
going to be held within the next week. The injunction

(22:20):
hearing was today. Justin Williamson, the athletic, has been all
over this and I want to ask him about a
few different things. One is, I see people on social
media who continue to allege that somehow you see is
guilty of something here, and maybe they are. I don't
see what they're guilty of. Justin joins us. In just
a few minutes, Edward Arroyo up playing second, batting eighth,

(22:41):
making his big league debut. Just a few minutes ago,
he chatted with the local professional baseball media at GABP.

Speaker 8 (22:52):
Good.

Speaker 6 (22:54):
It was really early in the morning. I also slippy,
but I'm glad it woke me up.

Speaker 8 (23:00):
Morning. It's her prey K called me. Uh. I didn't
answer the first time.

Speaker 6 (23:06):
He was like, well, if you want to go to
the bigs, you better answer your phone.

Speaker 9 (23:09):
I'm like, oh, I'm here now, yeah, yeah, yeah, I
know he got me, but I got him to.

Speaker 7 (23:22):
How well have you been swimming the bad as your house?

Speaker 3 (23:23):
It's in a pretty good spot right now.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (23:25):
I feel good, you know, trying to be consistent, bring
it up here, trying to help the team.

Speaker 8 (23:31):
I'll just do my best for sure.

Speaker 1 (23:33):
How has it been for you to not just play
short stop, but if you can playing second base?

Speaker 6 (23:37):
They integrated third base this year, housing you've end up
moving around the field.

Speaker 8 (23:40):
Good.

Speaker 6 (23:41):
I think it was a great opportunity. I'm starting today
at second, not even at short so that's the opportunity
right there.

Speaker 8 (23:49):
I feel good playing anywhere.

Speaker 6 (23:50):
You know, I played some third, first time in my
career that I played third, but excited. That was a
good opportunity. I think I did well. So if you
need me there, I'm more than I have to help them.

Speaker 8 (24:02):
With Terry's Mas six sheet.

Speaker 4 (24:04):
As you know, started an major league career.

Speaker 6 (24:06):
He just told me to be me. So that's all
I'm going to try to do.

Speaker 8 (24:10):
Be me. Any questions I'll ask, so Yeah.

Speaker 3 (24:14):
Edward Royo chatting with reporters at GABP just a short
while ago. Edwin comes to town after hitting three twenty
three with an ops of nine forty five and fifty
three games at Louisville this season. That includes eleven homers,
nine doubles, and five triples to go along with nine
stolen bases against zero times clod stealing mentioned and he

(24:36):
heard him talk about playing second base. He has been
primarily a shortstop and he has still logged a nearly
two hundred and eighty triple eight innings at shortstop this season,
but he's gotten extensive work at second base, playing eighteen games,
one hundred and forty six innings, and he's played thirty
two innings at third base as well. He is playing
second for the Reds, batting eighth against Kansas City. This

(25:00):
is a great opportunity for Edwin Arroyo. It also feels
like a bit of a tryout for Matt McClain. We'll
expand on that coming up in the four o'clock hour.
Maybe take some phone calls after the top of the
hour as well. When Justin Williams writes about anything related
to any of the area college sports programs, it's a

(25:21):
must read, and then we have to get him on.
So Justin wrote about Brendan Sorosby in the extent of
his gambling this weekend, and now we're going to have
him on next on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (25:33):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
The UC Health Traffic Brian Richardson got cut months ago
and he's starting tonight. So there's that thirteen from four.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty m Oegger on a busy day.
There was some really good reporting done by our friend
Justin Williams of The Athletic, who obviously covers college sports
clearly with a football and basketball focus for the Athletic

(25:58):
dot Com, and he has kind of done a deep
dive into the extent of Brendan Sorosby's gambling while he
was at Indiana, while he was at UC and even
some attempts to make wagers while at Texas Tech. You
should read his piece at the Athletic dot Com and
you know, whenever Justin covers anything that's even remotely related
to any of the area programs. It's my excuse to

(26:21):
get him on the show because he's one of my
favorite guests and it's been a while since we've had him.
So it's good to have you. What's going on, Well.

Speaker 10 (26:28):
It's great to hear from you. I hope you're doing well.

Speaker 3 (26:30):
Everything is everything is is good. So Brendan Soorsby is
suing the NCUBLEA. There has been this injunction that he
has filed that apparently it's going to be a few
days before the judge down there in Lubbock rules on
at the NCUBA has had such a hard time being
able to enforce its own rules, what would allowing him

(26:50):
to play college football due to the NCAA's ability to
do any self governing.

Speaker 4 (26:56):
Yeah, I mean the NCAA has you know, lost a
number of.

Speaker 10 (27:00):
High profile court cases here in recent years, including some
of these eligibility cases. Never one like this that's involved gambling,
and honestly, never one where you know Brendan Sourby has
now admitted to essentially committing thousands of gambling violations against
the NCAA, including betting on his own team when he
was in Indiana. So if a judge decides like, that's okay,

(27:24):
you know, I'm overrolling, he can play like that's just
I feel like there have been a million death blows
of the NCAA in recent years. It's hard to think
of something worse than that happening, because this is a
pretty clear cut gambling rule that the NCAA has, and honestly,
one of the only rules that the NCAA has really enforced,
you know, consistently.

Speaker 4 (27:42):
That's kind of where.

Speaker 10 (27:43):
They've gotten in trouble in court before and lost in
these cases is you can point to saying, well, hey,
you gave this player a waiver, or these people can
make money and these people can't. In this case, the
nca has been very consistent in terms of if you
gamble on your own team, you're permanently ineligible. That is
what Brenden Sorosby has admitting to doing. And so I
would be surprised if a judge overruled that. And if

(28:05):
he did, then, yeah, the NCAA is already probably feeling
pretty exasperated and beaten down by all this, and this
to me would be kind of just the worst example
of them not being able to enforce anything.

Speaker 3 (28:16):
I can't really think of anything that's more black and
white than this in terms of recent cases where the
NCAA's authority has been challenged, I can't think of anything
that is more crystal clear. Here you have a guy
who in his own lawsuit is admitting that he broke
very clearly established and articulated rules. So can you outline
for me what Brendan's case, what Brendan Sorosby's case for

(28:37):
eligibility actually is.

Speaker 10 (28:39):
Yeah, Like, as you mentioned, he's kind of admitted to everything.
There's no one claiming Brenden Thorsby didn't break NCAA rules.
His legal team's defense that they put in court documents
and kind of laid out in the hearing today, A
big part of it is essentially saying Brenden Throsby.

Speaker 4 (28:55):
Had the gambling addiction.

Speaker 10 (28:56):
You know, we know he went into a residential treatment facility,
completed a program recently, and as part of the court
docs they've included like a clinical diagnosis for a gambling
disorder and anxiety, and so they're arguing, you know, this
is someone that's struggling with mental health. This is someone
that's struggled with an addiction, and basically the NCAA's own

(29:19):
constitution states that you need to take student athletes well
being into consideration when you know, making any kind of
punitive decisions. So their argument is saying you shouldn't make
him permanently ineligible because he has an addiction, he's come
forth with that, he's sought treatment with that, he's you know,
kind of willing to be an advocate for it moving forward.

(29:39):
But they don't argue, well, he never gambled or didn't
break any rules, And on the NCAA's point of view,
they're basically saying, Okay, you know, we're glad that he's
getting help, obviously feel for a situation, but being an
addict does not eliminate the consequences of the violations that
he committed. So the NCAA is basics, you know, I
think I saw Pete Samill referred to it as the

(30:00):
goodwill hunting rule, where like he had a cop, you're
going to jail. The NCAA is basically saying the same thing,
like you gabled on your own team, you can't play
college sports. And so it'll be interesting to see if
if Sorosby's argument about the addiction holds any water.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
There's a fail safe here that's supposed to prevent student
athletes from from wagering. It's an at prohibit. Right, did
the fail safe while he was betting? Did it not work?
Was he using workarounds? How was he able to make
so many wagers as an active NCAA student athlete.

Speaker 10 (30:31):
Yeah, So the most recent court filings laid out that
Brennan Thorsby has made at least ninety at wagered at
least ninety thousand dollars on more than nine thousand.

Speaker 4 (30:40):
Bets in his college career, and.

Speaker 10 (30:42):
Kind of based on all the language they put in it, it's.

Speaker 4 (30:43):
Probably more than that in both cases.

Speaker 10 (30:46):
So there's a bunch of different apps that programs use
or different you know, monitoring services. The Big twelve has
a partnership.

Speaker 4 (30:54):
With this thing called Prohibit and it.

Speaker 10 (30:56):
Actually, you know, the court documents showed that when Sorsby
was at Cincinnati, this Prohibit monitoring system caught him like
trying to go on a gambling service I believe it
was Prize Picks, and before he could even get on
and log on it, you know, locked him out, sent
something to the Cincinnati Compliance Department.

Speaker 4 (31:15):
There are other.

Speaker 10 (31:16):
Versions of this, however, they don't capture everything. I think
Kirby Hocut the Texas Tech ad said that maybe there's
a third of the gambling apps that like prohibet you know,
kind of registers.

Speaker 4 (31:27):
It might even be fewer than that.

Speaker 10 (31:29):
And then also it's reported that he's used kind of
proxy accounts where he's like has friends or family members
set up accounts and he's betting on those and sending
them money. It's kind of one of those things like
if you're an underage college athlete and you want to
get into a bar, you can probably figure out a
way to do that.

Speaker 4 (31:46):
Similar with the gambling. If you really want to figure.

Speaker 10 (31:48):
Out a way to gamble, even if it's a legaler
against the rules, you can probably find some ways around that.

Speaker 4 (31:52):
And it's it's clear that.

Speaker 10 (31:53):
Brennan Soursby has found multiple ways around that over the
course of.

Speaker 4 (31:56):
His college career.

Speaker 3 (31:57):
Justin Williams from Theeathletic dot Com writing extensively about Brendan Soresby,
So you mentioned the prohibat sending up a red flag
in the compliance office that you see what you outlined
for me would would suggest that all right, you see
did its part here right that, Hey, there's a possible
compliance issue. Red flag goes up. People in compliance talk

(32:19):
to Brendan, Hey, you're you're not allowed to do that.
Some may say, well, at that point, maybe maybe it
should have been a red flag that perhaps you're dealing
with somebody here who is is is addicted, or you're
dealing with somebody here who you know what, Maybe you
want to make sure he's not finding proxies or finding
ways to make wagers. It doesn't feel though to me,

(32:40):
and you could correct this if if you want. It
doesn't feel to me like there has been anything out
there to suggest that the that the NCAA should do
serious sniffing around the University of Cincinnati as it relates
to a compliance issue. Would you agree with that?

Speaker 10 (32:56):
Yeah, at least based on what we know now, you
know from the beginning versus close to the program at
Cincinnati tell me like they had no knowledge of illegal
gambling or gambling.

Speaker 4 (33:06):
That violated NCAA rules.

Speaker 10 (33:08):
By Brendan Sorsby, and then also, at least to this point,
the investigation has been focused in the NCAA's investigation has
been focused just on Brendan's Horsby the individual hasn't been
focused on any schools or anything like that, and so
at this point, I don't think that there's you know,
Cincinnati would necessarily be involved in this investigation at all.

Speaker 4 (33:27):
The prohibit thing.

Speaker 10 (33:27):
We just talked about, it was in twenty twenty four,
and like I said, it actually caught him before he
could even log into the app.

Speaker 4 (33:34):
And so based on the court filing.

Speaker 10 (33:37):
Cincinati Compliance Office gets an alert, they interviewed sores Be
they you know, administered some some gambling education, which honestly
all these schools to extensively kind of explaining this is
what you can't bet on. There are some things you
can bet on. And this is something I've reported on
in the past too that I think Brendan Sorsby was
at some point probably gambling on like UFC and NASCAR,

(33:58):
those things are allowable under NCA rules. It's kind of
this weird loophole because there's no NASCAR racing or UFC
fighting in college sports, and so.

Speaker 4 (34:07):
They're allowed to gamble on it as long as you're
of age in your state.

Speaker 10 (34:10):
So, you know, I think that was going on, which
is why you've seen these reports a few weeks ago
about Cincinnati being aware of Brennan Soresby's gambling in some capacity,
and I've confirmed that too, but I think that doesn't
mean that they were aware, certainly not that he had
any kind of an addiction or that he was doing
kind of rampant, extensive gambling. You know that violet NCAA rules.

(34:31):
So it's this weird kind of like gray area. But
you know, I think Cincinnati followed the letter of the law,
especially when they got that prohibit alert, and I don't
think there's been any indication that they were aware of
the extent of his gambling while he was a member
of the Bear Cast.

Speaker 3 (34:45):
Is there any indication that, beyond being in very clear
NCAA hot water, that he could be subject to criminal prosecution?

Speaker 4 (34:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 10 (34:55):
So that was the other thing that came out of
these filings on Friday is there has been a question
about how the NCAA kind of got tipped off to this,
And according to these court documents, a law enforcement agency
tipped off a online sports book that there was kind
of like, you know, something sorts Be had triggered it
in some way and recognized him, and so then the

(35:16):
sports book told the NCAA about this, and that's how
this all got started. The court documents do not specify
which law enforcement is law enforcement agency, you know, notified
the sports book, and it doesn't say whether law enforcement
is pursuing criminal charges.

Speaker 4 (35:31):
We do know that some of these state.

Speaker 10 (35:33):
Gambling commissions, the Ohio Commission, Indiana Commission, that they have.

Speaker 4 (35:37):
Been investigating him.

Speaker 10 (35:38):
There hasn't been any news thus far of like criminal
charges being pursued or pressed, but it's certainly one of
these things.

Speaker 4 (35:45):
That even no matter what.

Speaker 10 (35:46):
Happens in this lawsuit, you know, it could be a
potential fallout for him of are there criminal you know charges,
is there something else that in addition to the NCAA's
investigation he's going to have to deal with. We don't
know that yet. And then obviously on top of that,
there's also these pt ongoing lawsuit that Cincinnati has filed
against them, which doesn't even do with fambiling. But there's
still kind of a lot of balls up in the

(36:07):
air for this sourcy situation.

Speaker 3 (36:09):
Between this and then covering legislation aimed bipartisan legislation aimed
at cleaning up college sports. How much of an expert
have you turned into as it relates to how a
bill gets passed and how the courts work.

Speaker 10 (36:23):
Yeah, it's been a lot of legal documents, especially for
some reason, these these Friday documents for Sorsby got you know,
sent to filed at like eleven pm on Friday night,
which you know, I'm not a hit person, but that
wasn't how I was planning to spend the evening, for sure,
a lot of legal document reading, a lot of like
government legal ease. I don't think I could have become

(36:45):
a lawyer, but there's definitely some some points when I'm
like doing all the supporting where I wonder if maybe
I should have just, you know, given law school a.

Speaker 4 (36:52):
Shot or something like that.

Speaker 3 (36:53):
I think you're a very hip person, just for what
it's worth. Kind of you to say, I appreciate the
time as always. Man, thanks so much.

Speaker 10 (37:03):
Hey, good to hear from you anytime. I appreciate you.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
Mom aren't any better than him. Justin Williams covering Brendan
Soresby in so much more for the Athletic dot Com.
So Miles Garrett is no longer a Bengals problem, at
least not until the super Bowl. This is awesome. He's
been traded to the La Rams. Now, the Browns have
done the right thing because ain't winning this year, weren't

(37:26):
winning with Miles Garrett. They've gotten a good young player
in Justin Vers a lot more draft capital. Their draft
this year got rave reviews. But forget the Browns. Let's
talk about the Rams, because what makes the Rams awesome
is what makes the Bengals offseason this year awesome. That
incredible sports take.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
Is next E's sports station.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
That's US three after four, ESPN fifteen three while you're
gonna get like a minute fifteen seconds for free.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
How about that?

Speaker 3 (37:57):
I'm Meleegor. Thank you for listening. Hopefully you're having an
awesome Monday. Brentiman and Jones on baseball coming up later
this hour. Ellie de la Cruz is injured. He's on
the injured list. He's gonna miss We're guessing two to
four weeks, which is very, very very very less than ideal.
I do not believe, I do not believe that you

(38:19):
could blame Tito Francona for this, because you know, Tito
plays Ellie every single day. But there is at least
one question worth asking. I will ask it a little
bit later on, and boy, the Reds have some massive
bullpen issues that we have to discuss. If you're wondering
Chase Burns not starting tonight, the issue is apparently he's

(38:40):
got a fever, he's got the flu, he's got some
intestinal issues. I don't know. He ain't pitching tonight, but
he's not hurt. He's gonna throw on Wednesday instead. Miles
Garrett traded by the Browns to the Rams. And this
is the biggest trade of the offseason. Jared Verse, a
really good young player goes from LA to Cleveland. There's

(39:02):
draft capital. But the takeaway here is Miles Garrett is
not the Bengals problem anymore. I mean, you know, when
you think of all of these games in the division
with Baltimore, it's Lamar Jackson, and it's the difficulties in
defending an offense that when it is cooking and I'm
not entirely sure they have enough weaponry, but it's Derrick Henry,

(39:25):
it's Lamar Jackson, and it's an offense that when it's
at its best, can still be something to behold. I
have no idea. It feels like you could show up
in Baltimore and raise your hand and say I'll play center.
They've got to fix that position. You also, you do
think about the DNA of the Ravens being the defense,
and maybe they're kind of leaning back into that a
little bit this year with Jesse Minner being the head coach.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
With the Steelers. You know it's been TJ. Watt.

Speaker 3 (39:50):
But I also think, like we talk about the Steelers sometimes,
the brand the football team this season, the football team
over the last couple of years, I don't think has
matched the brand with the Browns. It's one thing, how
do you keep Miles Garrett off of Joe Burrow? Now
I get it, they have sticky corners. They've been a
tough matchup for the Bengals in recent years. They struggled

(40:12):
to beat them. Week one of the season. They lost
to them in a game head to head that really
didn't mean anything. But when you think of the Browns,
when that schedule came out this year, you saw the
two Browns games, and the first thing you think of
is Miles Garrett playing against the Browns in twenty twenty
six just became easier. The La Rams, the Ultimate FM

(40:34):
Picks team, though a franchise that has often shown a
willingness and a desire to go all in at the
expense of what's coming up down the road. Have done
it again. I love this, and I think if you're
a sports fan, you should love this. My takeaway when
it comes to going all in has always been if

(40:56):
you go all in and you're supposed to go all in,
if it doesn't work, I can't crush you. You tried.
Once upon a time, the Reds went all in twenty
twelve and it nearly worked. They won ninety seven games.
They choked in the playoffs. I would do what the
Reds did in trading away three future All Stars Edinson

(41:18):
Volcez for a guy who was pretty damn close to
a staff ace for two seasons. I would make that
trade ten times out of ten. Ten times out of ten.
You take on some risk, you acknowledge you're giving up
a lot, but you are going for it because it's
time to go for it. The admirable thing about the
Rams is they go for it. And by the way,
they won the Super Bowl the last time they really

(41:40):
went for it, and they paid for it by having
one down season where they went five and twelve. Since then,
they've been postseason mainstays. You could argue should be the
favorite to win the NFC. You could argue should be
the favorite to win the Super Bowl. What is great
about the Rams, though, is is why I'm excited about

(42:02):
the Bengals this offseason. It's why you should be too,
because it's not just the mechanics of getting Dexter Lawrence
and the ripple effect of acquiring him throughout your defense
and what he can mean for Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight.
By the way, as a quick aside, terrific piece Today
and The Athletic from Paul Danner Junior about the Bengals
offseason approach at linebacker. It's not just though about the

(42:24):
nuts and bolts and the x's and o's. It's about
a team that is historically just clung to draft capital,
that has historically not gone all in, throwing some caution
to the wind, taking on some risk, mortgaging some future
because it's time now. I'm not yet here to tell

(42:47):
you that the Bengals are as good as the La Rams.
The Rams were an NFC Championship Game participant last year.
Matthew Stafford was the MVP. They have a great coach
and Sean McVay. They have a terrific top to bottom organization.
If they, on paper have you could argue the best
team in the NFL. And the one clearing weakness from
this past offseason they've addressed this offseason and that was

(43:09):
that corner. But what you love about the Rams, at
least from AFAR, is a franchise that's willing to say
screw it when it's time to go for it. We're
going for it and yeah, man, we're taking on some
risk and we're we're maybe compromising our chances of winning
later on, but it's worth going for it now. That
mentality was here this offseason and that's what's made this

(43:31):
offseason fun. Yes, from a player acquisition perspective, it's been productive.
Boye Mafe, Brian Cook, Kyle Dugger, who's exactly the type
of player I wish the Bengals would have had last year.
Jonathan Allen obviously, Dexter Lawrence. A good offseason feels like
a draft that made sense. But man, more than anything,
and this was the key to the Dexter Lawrence thing.

(43:52):
Bill Barnwell wrote last week a move he liked in
a movie he disliked for every NFL team, and for
the Bengals, it was he disliked the Dexter Lawrence trade
and he outlines the risk. The risk is exactly why
you should love the deal if you're a fan of
this franchise, because sometimes it makes sense.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
Sometimes it makes sense to.

Speaker 3 (44:11):
Go for it. If you're the Rams, of course, it
makes sense to go for it. Right you came this
close this past season. They have a very good roster,
you have a coach who was openly flirted with retiring
to go do TV. You've got an aging quarterback who's
still really good. It makes sense to go for it.
It's obviously not guaranteed to work, by the way, that

(44:31):
division last year had three teams that won at least
twelve games. But still there are times when it makes
sense to go for it. What is so fun about
the Bengals this offseason is they finally said, Effitt, it's
time to go for it, and they did you acknowledge
the risk. With the Rams, they just gave up a

(44:51):
good cost controlled player, the guy who had made a
couple of Pro Bowls, a player who seems like he's
this close to being a legitimate sty. He also gave
up significant draft capital day one or two picks in
each of the next three drafts. That's a lot to
give up. Now, you might argue, and I think successfully

(45:13):
that Miles Garrett is that good. He's worth giving up
that haul. But they're taking on some risk. And Miles
Garrett also seems like the kind of guy. Say what
you want about him. Maybe he didn't like him because
he was a Cleveland Brown, but it feels like that
dude is going to do everything he can to continue
to play at a really really really really really really
high level. We'll see, but it was worth taking on
some risk. And I think that's what makes the Rams fun.

(45:38):
I think it's what's made the Bengals fun this offseason. Yeah, man,
there's a lot of risk involved giving up the tenth
overall pick, the cost controlled nature of it, sacrificing some
of the future, not nearly as much as the Rams
just did, but sacrificing a good, chunkier future, sacrificing maybe
a guy who for the next four or five years
could be a cornerstone at a very cheap rate.

Speaker 4 (46:00):
Eight.

Speaker 3 (46:00):
They're taking on some risk, but it was time for
them to do exactly that. It was time to throw
caution to the wind. It was time to go for it.
We'll see if it works. It's not guaranteed too, and
I think most of us would agree. There's probably at
least a few more questions about the Bengals in the
La Rams because the Rams have a more proven, established roster.

(46:21):
But still what makes the Rams awesome is the same
thing that has made the Bengals awesomeness offseason, the willingness
and desire to say, screw it, We're going for it.
We're taking on some risk. Twelve minutes after four o'clock,
Ellie Taylor Cruz did the injured list gonna miss We

(46:42):
think anywhere from two to four weeks. Edwin Arroyo is up,
by the way. Tremendous stuff last hour from our guy
Aaron Layton just Baseball dot Com. We'll have that podcast
if it's not already on the iHeartRadio app. A dude
who has studied Edwin Arroyo and in fact on Twitter
last week did a very good side by side comparison

(47:02):
of Edwin Arroyo's swing last season held up against his
swing this season, where he's hitting the ball a lot harder,
he's making better contact, and he's having more balls leave
the ballpark. How much of that is going to translate
We will see. There is the Matt McClain portion of
this that we have to talk about, and we'll do
that a little bit later on. Right now, though, here's

(47:23):
a more pressing question. Who do you trust in this bullpen?
I mean, on on Friday, they called up Junior Marte
when they had to put Graham Ashcraft on the injury
list for two months. Junior Marte on Friday because Chris
Pattick can't give him more than five innings. Junior Marte

(47:44):
was the first guy out of the bullpen in a
four to three game on Friday. Now, I think it's
reasonable to wonder did Terry Franconer really believe he was
the best option. For what it's worth, Junior Marte is
has already been DFA, so there's a very good chance
he has pitched his last inning for the Cincinnati Reds.
If so, he'll leave with an ERA above one hundred.

(48:08):
But we've talked about this bullpen having issues issues with
guys throwing strikes, depth issues, developmental issues. And that's while
Graham Ashcraft and Peers Johnson have have been healthy, you
don't have your clos Un Amilio Pagan. You don't have
a reliable reliever in Graham Ashcraft, you don't have a

(48:29):
pseudo reliable veteran reliever in Pierce Johnson. How else can
Tito be expected to on a nightly basis navigate the
last three to four innings of a close game. Connor
Phillips not being able to throw strikes hasn't hurt or
hasn't helped, And like there's something there too, where it's like,

(48:53):
you know, they went and got brock Burke, and they
went and got Caleb Ferguson and still have Sam Mall.
And Sam Mall has done a nice job this year,
but like there's a lot of guys the Reds had
to acquire from other teams. They've even and the tj
antone story is an awesome story, but like there was
room for tj antone four Tommy John Surgery's in to

(49:13):
make the club and they had to go get a
bunch of established relievers from other teams, And you're wondering
about this, This team's bullpen in a year where they're
supposed to be challenging for a playoff spot, in large
part because they haven't developed their own relief pitchers. Like
I think of just the last couple of years, how

(49:36):
many quality relief pitchers have come through the RED system?
How many quality of relief pitchers have the Reds had
that you could say that this organization successfully developed. Li
O Pagan didn't come up through this system. Connor Phillips
still may end up being really, really good, But like,

(49:57):
there's there's a gap now right between the guys, guys
who aren't available and the guys who are and in between.
You'd like to think that you could fill that gap
a little bit with dudes they've developed.

Speaker 2 (50:10):
Who have they developed? And until that.

Speaker 3 (50:14):
Changes, can this franchise his overall fortunes change? At Moleger
on Twitter, Brendanman and Jones on baseball is coming up.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
Elie Dela Cruz.

Speaker 3 (50:28):
Is not hurt because Tito Francona insists that he plays
every single day. But I do have a question, so
I'll ask it next. On ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 5 (50:39):
Thirty, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 3 (50:45):
From the UC Health Traffic Center being traded to the
LA Rams. The long rumored deal that's going to send
aj Brown to the Patriots from Philadelphia is happening. According
to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Philly trading AJ Brown of the past.
That's for a twenty twenty eight first round pick, so
worth noting, not twenty twenty seven twenty twenty eight first

(51:06):
round pick and a twenty twenty seven to fifth round
pick that'll be the better of New England's two fifths.
This deal has been speculated on for weeks, finally happening,
AJ Brown to the New England Patriots from Philadelphia twenty
three after four o'clock, Ellie Dela Cruz goes on the
injury list with a hamstring injury, and it's gonna snap

(51:30):
his consecutive games played streak, which is what two point
fifty six. Many on social media in the immediate aftermath
of the injury wondered, is Ellie Dela Cruz hurt? Because
Tito plays him every single day? And I'm the first
to admit, like, what they've done with Ellie this year

(51:52):
is not what they said they were going to do
with Ellie this year, which they acknowledge.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
Maybe maybe he.

Speaker 3 (51:58):
Could have used an off day or two last season.
They haven't given him one yet this year now, Ellie
has been terrific he's had a good season. The Reds
have a top heavy team, so there have been a
lot of games where you're like, you know, you take
Ellie de la Cruz out, their chances of winning that
night aren't as good. He also hasn't been dealing with
any like reoccurring quad issues. Like the reason we talked

(52:20):
about it making sense to give him off days in
the second half of the season last year were because
they were acknowledging he was dealing with something in his legs.
And I remember we did the whole like hamster wheel
thing of like, all right, well, you know, Ellie's not
as good this year, they should give him a day off.
And it's like, well they can't. Well why not, Well

(52:41):
because they need him. Well, okay, but he's not being
very he's not hitting at the level that we expect.
Well that's because he's he's hurt. Okay, well give him
a day off. Well you can't. And we just went
around and around and around and around and around. But
it was fair to wonder as last season came to
a halt where Ellie was over the final two months
just not very good. Remember he had a long home

(53:03):
run draught. What it makes sense to give him an
occasional off day. Up until yesterday, none of us had
watched Ellie Dela Cruz thinking that he was dealing with
something physically, wondering what is wrong with him, or hearing
that he has been dealing with something in his lower
body that would require a rest. So I think we

(53:26):
should stop short of claiming that Ellie got hurt because
they've played him every single day. That being said, I
do think it is fair to ask this now. Ellie said,
like he's running on a ball that he hit that
should have been a double. And in real time, if
I was at the ballpark yesterday and I thought, like, boy, Ellie,

(53:48):
it would, you know, be cool if you actually ran
that out. Then you saw that they took him out
of the game as soon as the play ended, and
all right, so he did something there, He tweaked something,
he felt something. What's that going to mean, MRI scans
all that sort of stuff. Ellie insists that the first
time he felt that pain was when he was jogging

(54:09):
to first base. And maybe that is the case, but
we do acknowledge here that you have a player who
has stated a desire to play every single day. It's
one of the things you love most about Ellie de
la Cruz is he does post up, he does answer
the bell. He has been durable, He's also indispensable. But

(54:29):
you acknowledge, like we know he wants to play every
single day? Cool was there? And I'm not sure we're
ever gonna get the answer to this. Was there something
that he was dealing with that might have been a
little poll, might have been a little nagging, could have

(54:51):
been a little tightness that he decided he's not going
to inform anybody about. He's not gonna reveal because he
is dead set on playing every single day no matter what.
I don't know that the answer is yes. I don't
know that he is going to say anything to make
anybody completely and totally convinced that the answer is no.

(55:16):
You can't help. But wonder not so much? Should Tito
have given him a day off?

Speaker 2 (55:22):
I think you do.

Speaker 3 (55:23):
Wonder like was there something here that maybe he didn't
even like consciously know about, but just like felt it, tug,
felt it pull and he's probably gonna say no. And
he was very optimistic after the game yesterday. And you know,
I'll take his explanation at phase value. Hey, I felt
it while I was running, and so I slowed down

(55:44):
and then you know, got attention and they took me
out of the ballgame. And I'm paraphrasing Ellie here. But
with it being so established that he has a desire
to play every single day, maybe even it was maybe
it wasn't even yesterday. But with a state of desire
to play every single day, is there at least a

(56:07):
chance that he felt some sort of discomfort and decided
to not say anything because he didn't want to ride
the bench for a day. Don't know that the answer
is yes or no. I do know that it's something
that you can't help. But wonder we will see Matt
McLain is playing shortstop tonight. Edwin Arroyo is playing second base.

(56:31):
So when Edwin Arroyo gets a chance, whether it's at
second or at short or at third, he's got a
chance to prove that he should stick. When Elie de
la Cruz comes back, he's gonna stick. He's gonna get
his job back. It's probably still gonna play shortstop every
single day. And then you know, it's up to the
Reds to find out what Edwin Arroyo was gonna do.

(56:53):
And maybe he plays second base. The guy who's really
on notice here is Matt McLain. I'll spend some time
on that a little bit later on your phone calls
are welcome. Five point three seven four nine, fifteen thirty.
I guess the bigger question I have a bet the
Reds is who do you trust in that bullpen? Who
do you trust in a game like tonight? Well, let's
face it, Lion Richardson is not likely to pitch into

(57:15):
the seventh inning and they're playing against a bad Kansas
City team. Who do you trust in that bullpen to
help get you those last nine outs? With it as
currently constructed, which is without Graham Ashcraft and without Pierce Johnson,
and as it's been for weeks without Amelia Pagan. Sports

(57:36):
headlines and uh A pseudo last minute plea next on ESPN.

Speaker 5 (57:41):
Fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 1 (57:47):
From the UC Help Traffic Center.

Speaker 3 (57:50):
WCKY, Cincinnati and iHeartRadio Station Guaranteed Human ESPN fifteen thirty
Radio Who sports headlines are service of Kelsey Chevrolet, home
of lifetime power train protection and guaranteed credit approval from
their family to yours for life kelseyshev dot Com, Reds

(58:12):
and Royals. Tonight, Edwin Arroyo is said to make his
big league debut. He is playing second base. He takes
the roster spot of Ellie De la Cruz, who goes
to the ten day injured list with a right hamstrings train.
The estimates out of the managerial chat with reporters today
had Ellie's absence being anywhere from two to four weeks. Meanwhile,

(58:35):
Cincinnati calling up lefty Brandon Lee Brandt and designated for
assignment righty Junior Marte. Also, Chase Burns is not going
to start tonight he is sick, so Cincinnati will turn
to Lyon Richardson. He'll throw against Kansas City writer lou
Weender iv Law, I don't know why I said it
that way, Lowinder Avila, Thank you, Luen de Ravila. See

(59:03):
sometimes I write things out phonetically and then I screw
myself up. Seven to ten is tonight's first pitch. You
got night games tonight, tomorrow and on Wednesday, all of
them down the hall on a seven hundred WLW your
Reds starting lineup for it tonight. I will give it
to you stand by here. It is duns and center

(59:24):
blades and left Salle Stewart plays third base, wherez dhs
and bats clean up. Nathaniel low is playing first base.
Spencer Steerson Wright, Tyler Stevenson catches Arroyo is playing second
base in batting eighth. Matt McClean is playing shortstop and
batting ninth. Meanwhile, Kentucky, after an absolutely heartbreaking loss to

(59:46):
West Virginia, giving up five runs in the top of
the ninth inning in what would have been a closeout
game for the Wildcats, they do it again tonight, six o'clock.
Kentucky and West Virginia, and the Morgantown Regional winner advances
to the Super Regional. Big NFL trades, one of them
impacting the Bengals more than the other. I'll say Miles

(01:00:07):
Garrett has been traded to the La Rams and a
blockbuster deal that sends edge rusher Jared Verse two time
Pro Bowl pass rusher Jared Verse to Cleveland along with
a twenty twenty seven first round pick, a twenty twenty
eighth second round pick, and a twenty twenty nine third
round pick. Miles Garrett no longer the Bengals problem. Twice

(01:00:27):
a year, traded to the La Rams. Also, the long
rumored and speculated a J. Brown trade has been consummated.
The Wide Receiver reunites with his former head coach in Tennessee,
Mike Rabel. He is now a New England Patriot in
exchange for draft compensation. We were lucky enough on Friday

(01:00:49):
to do our show from Smoke Justice, which was awesome.
If you missed the show, it's available on the iHeartRadio app.
Sam LeCure joined us. He was terrific as always. He
was really really good about Chase Burns, who unfortunately is
not going to pitch tonight. We were at Smoke Justice
because it's a great place and because they were nice
enough to have us, but we were there to support

(01:01:12):
some of these ALS initiatives that Smoke Justice as an
organization as a restaurant has gotten involved in. And we
launched this on Friday, and I'm pretty stoked about it
because it's going to be a lot of fun. But
more than anything, it's my own, very very very small
way of helping out these three organizations that do so

(01:01:34):
much to help people who have als. And there's a
lot of organizations that are aimed at research, and God
knows we need research. We need to find a way
to cure als and then one day eliminate it, and
not enough money can be spent toward making that happen.
But the reality is, we have a lot of folks

(01:01:54):
living with us who have als, and we have families
of people who have als, and those folks need to live.
And so these three organizations at the heart of what
we're doing. They go out of their way to make
life easier for people who have als. And one of
them is called Always Lifting Spirits, and they simply provide
tools needed to improve the quality of life for ALS

(01:02:17):
patients here in Greater Cincinnati. And there's the Chair Force
One Foundation, which provides wheelchair accessible vans and mobility equipment
to families in our area who are combating ALS. And
then there's Operation Ramping Up. And this started as a
veterans initiative and it's still very much is a veterans initiative,

(01:02:38):
but these folks build custom wheelchair ramps for people in
our area who are living with als. We're talking about
small organizations, and so the folks that's most justice said,
let's put together something that could be a lot of fun,
but something that could help. These three organizations and so
we came up with this giveaway and we're gonna pick

(01:03:00):
the winners tomorrow night. And I will tell you I
have nothing to do with picking the winners. But what
we're gonna do is we're gonna go on a tour
of Augusta Distillery in Augusta, Kentucky, and we're gonna get
in a van, me and five winners and we're gonna
go to Augusta, Kentucky, and we're gonna do a bourbon tasting.
We're gonna do a tour and we're gonna have a

(01:03:21):
great dinner in Augusta and it's gonna be awesome. And
transportation to and from and so if you love bourbon,
this is gonna be an amazing, amazing day. And all
you have to do is what we're doing is we're
taking donations online. If you donate twenty five dollars, you
get an entry. We're gonna pick the winners tomorrow night

(01:03:41):
after the Reds Royals game tomorrow is lou gerrig Day
across Baseball. Then we'll be commemorated at a great American
ballpark and that's gonna be a lot of fun. But
at nine o'clock, nine thirty maybe ten o'clock tomorrow. When
that game ends, five winners will be drawn and we'll
have to come together on a date that works forbody.
But what I encourage you to do, and I don't

(01:04:02):
do many of these because I don't love begging people
for money, but you find folks who are deserving of it,
and then you're a little bit more comfortable with it.
So if you go to my social media and I've
put this on Twitter, I've put this on Facebook, and
I've put it in an Instagram story as well. If

(01:04:23):
you go to any of those, you'll see my post
about this and there's a link. And if you donate
twenty five dollars, you get an entry into our little
giveaway here. And if you donate fifty bucks, well then
you get two entries and seventy five bucks. It's twenty
five bucks an entry. And I know times are tight
for a lot of folks, you know, I know what's

(01:04:46):
going on in the world economically may have caused problems
for people. And there's a lot of places that are
asking for your money. But these three organizations, which are grassroots,
they're based here in Cincinnati, and they help a patients
in Cincinnati. I've learned a lot about them over the
last number of days, and I admire extraordinarily, extraordinarily admire

(01:05:11):
the work that they do. And so this is gonna
be a fun day and if you love bourbon, it's
going to be a blast. But more than anything, I
want to do this to help out these three organizations
and the people they help. So if you don't mind,
donate twenty five bucks and we'll go drink bourbon together
if you win, and even if you don't, you're going

(01:05:31):
to be just donating a tiny little bit here to
these awesome organizations. And you could also go right to
smoke Justice dot com. They've got a link since they
helped put this together. I don't do many things where
we ask people for money, but I believe in this
and it's gonna be a lot of fun. So again,

(01:05:51):
I'm not going to beat people over the head with
this much longer I have on social media and.

Speaker 2 (01:05:57):
You know, we have contests, we do mow your All.

Speaker 3 (01:06:00):
That stuff is really really great, but the best ones
are the ones where you can have an impact on people.
And if you take part in this contest, I could
assure you you're gonna have a positive impact on people.
So again, go to my social media look for the
link sign up. If you win, we're gonna go drink
bourbon and have a great meal together and it's gonna

(01:06:20):
be awesome. So I'll thank you in advance. If you
already have signed up, thanks so much. And I appreciate
everybody's consideration. And if you don't mind, you know, share
my post with others. And yes, it'll maybe lessen your
chances of winning, but it will raise more money and
at the end of the day, that's frankly the most
important thing. So thank you for listening to my shmiel

(01:06:42):
about this. And again we announce the winners tomorrow night,
so I won't be badgering you with this for days
on end. But twenty five bucks is not a ton
of money, but it can go a long way toward
helping Cincinnati area als patients and their families. And you
can drink a bunch of free bourbon, so think about
It's a good investment if you like burden.

Speaker 4 (01:07:01):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:07:03):
Seventeen away from five o'clock. All right, we are going
to take some phone calls more on Edwin Arroyo, who
is up. But there really now is a spotlight on
one Cincinnati Red and we'll talk about him coming up
at five oh five on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (01:07:19):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC.

Speaker 3 (01:07:25):
Help time that trek school. That's what's going on at baseball,
on top of Elie de la Cruz going on the
injury list, which is no fun. Brendanman and Jones on
Baseball is about ten minutes away. I have babbled long enough.
I'm sure Mike would agree.

Speaker 8 (01:07:41):
Hi, Mike.

Speaker 11 (01:07:44):
Came on with tick.

Speaker 2 (01:07:45):
I'm sitting here doing a talk show. How about yourself?

Speaker 11 (01:07:48):
Hey, if I wanted to ask off the air, can
I get the address of the station so I can
send the AOS people fifty bucks?

Speaker 3 (01:07:58):
I will give you the address to the radio station
right now.

Speaker 11 (01:08:02):
Okay, hold on, let me get my penets right here,
and then I'll just send a cashier's check that way.
They don't have any problem with a personal check and
all that crap. It's uh, who do I make it
out to?

Speaker 3 (01:08:14):
Well, if you make it, leave it, leave it blank
and let me fill it out. How about that?

Speaker 4 (01:08:23):
Okay?

Speaker 3 (01:08:24):
Go ahead, Buddy, eight zero four four Montgomery Road, Sweet
six five oh, Cincinnati four five two three six.

Speaker 11 (01:08:33):
Pull down, tell we have I actually Montgomery Road eight
zero four four Montgomery Road.

Speaker 3 (01:08:40):
Sweet what Sweet six?

Speaker 4 (01:08:41):
Five?

Speaker 11 (01:08:42):
Oh, I don't know, I've been up there Sweet six. Okay,
so I'll go ahead.

Speaker 3 (01:08:47):
We're five two three six or.

Speaker 11 (01:08:50):
Buds Sweet six.

Speaker 2 (01:08:52):
I had it very kind of you.

Speaker 11 (01:08:56):
I'm sorry, good, I'm good. I'm good. Eight hundred Montgomery
Road Sweet six fifty four five two three six.

Speaker 2 (01:09:01):
Eighty four eight zero four four Montgomery Road.

Speaker 11 (01:09:05):
Yeah that's what I wrote down. Whatever, Okay, thank you mom. Yeah,
i'll do that tomorrow firston. Yeah, I'm in that. I'd
get to acquitted securities in it. Since I can't physically help,
it makes me feel good to do something instead of
just sewing your button nothing doing. Oh i'd be nice
to help somebody, but I'm not going to do it.

Speaker 3 (01:09:25):
Well, I appreciate you. I appreciate you doing what you're doing.
What's on your mind, Mike.

Speaker 11 (01:09:30):
Well, yeah, I can relate just because of my own
damn disease. Well, I want to you know, I want
to talk to the NBA. But before that, I'm just
I don't see. I mean, out of catastrophic injuries are
really strange happening. I just don't see the Dodgers in
the Braids when I'm playing for the NLS the ANL Championship,

(01:09:52):
because you know, they keep being one in two or
one in three and hitting and pitching. It's just as
week after a week after week after week. And on
the other side, I think this race team might be real.
So I put a little wager down yesterday on the
Yanks and the Yankees and the Rays plan in the
ALE Ale Least Championship. So we'll see you get any

(01:10:17):
thoughts on either one of those at this point. I
know it's a little.

Speaker 3 (01:10:21):
Early, but well, it's hard to argue with your logic
about the Dodgers and Braves, right, you have to the
best two teams in the National League, the best two
the teams have the best two winning percentages, and that's
apologies to the Milwaukee Brewers. I think Milwaukee's going to
invite a lot of skepticism if they win the division
when it comes to October. And I still believe the
Chicago Cubs are going to have something to say about that.

(01:10:43):
I keep waiting for the Cardinals to drop off. Hasn't
happened yet. I keep waiting for the Pirates to play
like the Pirates. That hasn't happened yet. They just swept
free this weekend over over Minnesota. I mean, if it's
a wager, if it's LA and Atlanta versus the field,
I'll take LA or Atlanta.

Speaker 2 (01:11:03):
The American League, I don't.

Speaker 3 (01:11:04):
Know if I quite feel the same way, although that
side of the league has been so top to bottom uninspiring.
The Yankees are good, The Rays are good. I think
the Guardians are pretty good. I don't know who else
is good. The Mariners are playing better and are playing
a lot more like last year's team, but they've had
to dig themselves out of a hole. That division top

(01:11:25):
to bottom stinks so like if it's not the Rays,
I guess many would say it's still going to be
the Yankees. If it's not one of those two teams,
who would you feel comfortable on wagering on right now?
The answer is nobody when you look at that side.
I think they're right now coming into play today, five
teams that are above five hundred, one of them in
Seattle just got to above five hundred by winning their

(01:11:48):
last six. I think they're what two over. The Rays
keep finding market inefficiencies, and they're one of the model
organizations when it comes to player development in the entire sport.
I will certainly grant you that.

Speaker 11 (01:12:02):
And Martinez seems to like being down there. I mean,
he he liked being here too. He's just a positive
does he's he's been, he's been a real shot in Okay.
He likes the fact that he's just a bona fide
starter now, not a you know, not knowing what his
job is.

Speaker 2 (01:12:17):
They're not yo yoeing him back and forth.

Speaker 11 (01:12:19):
Yes, yeah, yeah, And it's kind of an ego thing
a little bit, That's what I said. But our red's
got to be better than twenty fifth and twenty seventh
in pitching and hitting. Otherwise we're just never But I
am praying to God that Edwin Arroyo comes up and
just tears it up, aren't you, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:12:36):
One hundred percent, because then when Ellie comes back, a
guy that we thought should be here already adds to
uh you know, adds to their team. Right now, if
he tears it up, he's basically accounting for the loss
of Ellie Dela Cruz. What you would like for is
for hopefully Ellie to come back and by then Edwin
Arroyo has it figured out, and then you could you
can move on from a Matt McLean. You can decide,

(01:12:57):
you know, maybe down the road we're going to dfa
key Bryan Hayes. That's sort of thing. But the bigger
pressing issue for me right now, Mike, is that bullpen.
Because Graham Ashcraft was one of their more reliable pitchers.
He ain't gonna pitch anytime soon. Pierce Johnson, you know,
it feels like they've gotten the best case scenario for him.
He's gotten a courtazone shot, so you know, maybe he'll

(01:13:17):
be okay, but he's still two weeks away from pitching.
They've they've tried Unior Marte, they've tried Luis May, they've
tried Jose Franco. Connor Phillips can't throw a strike. They've
now called up Lion Richardson, who they dfade this offseason,
to try to fortify that pen. That is very quickly,
Mike gone from an area that I think a lot

(01:13:38):
of us thought might be a strength to one that
has been a huge weakness. And I just wonder how
much staying power you can really have when you're trying
to leap frog four teams and you're already six games
out when your bullpen is in tatters the way the
Reds is right now.

Speaker 11 (01:13:53):
Yeah, I keep thinking I wish Marware was still here.

Speaker 3 (01:13:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (01:13:58):
I don't know how he's about it, but it doesn't
matter how he feels about it, But I wish we
had him back because he he truly was the guy
that was a pen last year without a doubt.

Speaker 3 (01:14:08):
Yeah and yeah, and he's he's having a nice season
for the for the A's, so you know, very he
was a workhorse for the Reds last season. But I mean,
like Mike, thanks for the phone call. I appreciate the
call and your your desire and willingness to help our als.
Cause I don't recall anybody this offseason screaming and screaming
and yelling that they didn't re sign Scott Barlow. But

(01:14:31):
it's easy to look at he's pitching for the A's
right now and conclude that this team would be better
if he was here.

Speaker 4 (01:14:36):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:14:37):
Brendanman to Jones on Baseball's Next loupis is it?

Speaker 1 (01:14:41):
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station.

Speaker 2 (01:14:44):
Cald have a very good day.

Speaker 4 (01:14:46):
Even when he.

Speaker 3 (01:14:47):
Don't really do anything, which is sort of the story
of my life.

Speaker 2 (01:14:51):
What's up, bulegg Or.

Speaker 3 (01:14:52):
ESPN fifteen thirty, Thanks for listening today. We're having awesome
Monday so far Red's and Royals tonight. Chase Burns is ill,
so he's not gonna pitch. Lion Richardson. Will Edwin Royo
is going to play for the Reds tonight. Ellie deler
Cruz will not. He's on the injured list with a
Grade one or two hamstring string. It's like, I guess,

(01:15:14):
right in between the two. But there's really one guy
now who I think takes center stage. More on him
coming up in just a few minutes. The big NFL news.
It's been a big NFL news day, but the biggest
NFL news comes from Cleveland and Los Angeles, where the
Browns and Rams have partnered on I think what everybody

(01:15:35):
would say is the biggest deal of the offseason. The
Dexter Lawrence trade was big, all due respect to him
and the Bengals and the Giants. This is bigger. Miles
Garrett traded by the Cleveland Browns to the La Rams
in exchange for Jared Verse at multiple draft picks. The
first rounder in twenty twenty seven, a second rounder in

(01:15:57):
twenty twenty eight, and a third round in twenty twenty nine.
This is a good deal for the Cleveland Browns, who
are not going to win this year and probably aren't
going to win until they figure out their quarterback situation.
And I'm of the belief that neither of the dudes
who are competing to be the starter in twenty twenty
six are going to be the starter in twenty twenty seven.
The starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns in twenty twenty

(01:16:19):
seven is probably playing somewhere else, either in college or
somewhere else in the NFL. That said, after a couple
of drafts that a lot of people seem to really like,
they continue to accumulate draft assets. They got a good
young player in Jared Verts who is not going to
be easy to block, all while moving on from Miles Garrett.
Good deal, good trade for the Cleveland Browns, understanding where

(01:16:43):
they are, understanding the direction their franchise is going in,
and understanding the unlikelihood of them winning in twenty twenty six.
It's a great deal for the La Rams, the ultimate
all in organization should perhaps be considered odds on favorites
to win the NFC a quarterback coming off an MVP season.

(01:17:03):
They've been aggressive and addressing their biggest weakness at corner
last year, and now they add one of the best
two or three players in football. What they've lost in
not having Aaron Donald since he retired, maybe they get
by having Miles Garrett. But as far as you and
I are concerned, the big winner today, yes, the Cincinnati Bengals.
What do we wonder about the Bengals this year? Well,

(01:17:25):
the first thing is can they keep Joe Burrow healthy?
Their odds of keeping Joe Burrow healthy have gone up,
maybe just a little bit, but still they've gone up
because a dude who has sacked him a bunch, a
guy who has hit him a bunch is.

Speaker 2 (01:17:40):
No longer in the AFC North.

Speaker 3 (01:17:43):
If you have forgotten, the Bengals and Rams don't play
against each other. Maybe they meet in the Super Bowl,
who knows. But what we do know is this, Bengals
and Browns play twice. Usually when the Bengals play the Browns,
the thing you think about most is how can Miles
Garrett destroy the Bengals offensive game plan? How can he

(01:18:05):
wreck whatever schemes the Bengals have drawn up to pass protect.
How can they keep him off of Joe Burrow? How
can they keep him from hurting Joe Burrow. I don't
say that from the perspective of someone who believes that
Miles Garrett is a dirty player goes out of his
way to injure people. But you have a better chance
of keeping your quarterback healthy the more you can keep

(01:18:25):
guys off of Miles Garrett. There is maybe no one
in football more difficult to keep off your quarterback than
Miles Garrett. Maybe those Browns games were going to be
Bengals wins anyway, they were going to be favored in
all likelihood in both. But now not only are the
Browns easier to beat, but you don't have to worry

(01:18:46):
about blocking Miles Garrett.

Speaker 2 (01:18:49):
That is a win. That is a major win.

Speaker 3 (01:18:53):
Now, blocking Jared Versu is not going to be easy,
and they still have. If you look at the of
edge rushers and interior defenders they play against this year,
it's a pretty formidable list, including inside the AFC North.
But I hated watching the Bengals play against Miles Garrett.
I gotta think on some level, Joe Burrow hated playing

(01:19:16):
against Miles Garrett. It's been scary to watch the Bengals
try to block Miles Garrett in an off season that
has been defined by there being no excuses for twenty
twenty six and the runway being kind of cleared for him.
This falls in line with that. Think about it, man,

(01:19:36):
there's a very good chance Jesse Minner is a good
head coach, and the Browns, I'm sorry, the Ravens are
the odds on favor to win the AFC North Cincinnati
is behind him. Baltimore has minus odds, Cincinnati has plus odds.
But there's still a new head coach, still a rookie
head coach, and there's likely to be even though I
think the Ravens have a pretty soft runway to have

(01:19:57):
some instant success. Because of the schedule, there is maybe
gonna be some growing pains. There's maybe gonna be an
adjustment period. And the same holds true in Pittsburgh and
maybe the same holds true in Baltimore. It's a wide
open division, It's a wide open AFC. The conditions around
the Bengals are favorable to the Bengals. Add to it,
the schedule providing no major obstacles, and not that all

(01:20:20):
the teams are easy to beat, but the schedule itself
didn't provide any disadvantages when it comes to travel or
playing a bunch of games in a small window of time.
And now one of the jankier opponents the Bengals have
on their schedule. And I put it that way because
Bengals Browns games are never easy, even though you could
argue they should be. But the biggest reason why they're

(01:20:43):
not easy just moved about twenty two hundred miles west.
An off season has been defined. This offseason has been
defined by the path being cleared. You got a period
of transition in Pittsburgh, a transition in Baltimore rebuild that,

(01:21:03):
by the way, I think is going pretty well long
term for the Browns. A still wide open AFC. For
what it's worth, The long speculated trade of AJ Brown
to the Patriots has been finished today, but in an
off season that has been defined in part by things
being cleared out for the Bengals, the Cleveland Browns just
made things a little bit easier for them. Maybe down

(01:21:26):
the road there better. But if you're a Bengals fan
right now, the only thing you should care about is
twenty twenty six, because that's the year they've gone all
in for the clearing out the runway. However you put it,
might not be there in twenty twenty seven, might not
be there in twenty twenty eight. There is a very
good chance that a lot of the things the Browns
have done over the last couple of years are going
to pay dividends in twenty seven and twenty eight, and

(01:21:48):
weren't going to pay dividends in twenty twenty six. But
they were still going to be difficult to play, and
maybe they still are. They're not as difficult to play
without Miles Garrett, who's now in La ran Today, if
you're a Bengals fan today, if you're Joe Burrow, was
and is a very very good day. Yesterday was. It

(01:22:12):
was a good day from the perspective of the Reds
winning the baseball game and avoiding a sweep. Can you
imagine how yesterday would have felt had the day that
Ellie Dela Cruz landed on the injured list, they lost
a game and got finished off in a three game
sweep by the Atlanta Braves, at the very least behind
a pretty strong pitching performance by Nicoldolo at the very

(01:22:35):
least on what was an otherwise bad day. The Reds
did win the baseball game, but it was still a
bad day. Reds have other good players. Chase Burns, by
the way, Chase Burns is not going to pitch the
night he is ill Sal Stewart. Ellie dela Cruz is
their best player. Elli dela Cruz has been their most
durable player. Elli dela Cruz has made strides defensively, and

(01:22:59):
he has been a better hitter this season, certainly than
he was in the final two and a half months
of the season last year. He has hit for power,
He's hid for a decent average. He maybe hasn't quite
had the impact on the game with his legs that
we would like, but he was still unpaced to steal
about thirty bags like. He is capable of doing things
physically that nobody else on the team. Very few in

(01:23:20):
the sport are capable of doing. This team is top heavy.
Our buddy Charlie Goldsmith has a good newsletter on this
exact topic about how top heavy the Reds have been.
They've got a handful of players who are having good seasons.
Elie de la Cruz JJ Pleday has been awesome. Nathaniel

(01:23:41):
low has been a nice pickup Sal Stewart obviously, Chase
Burns is really good.

Speaker 2 (01:23:45):
Beyond that, you.

Speaker 3 (01:23:48):
Know, Andrew Rabbit had a nice month of May, and
I would still include him among that top. But beyond that,
like the drop off from the top dudes to like
the next wave of guys pretty significant. We have spent
most of the seas and lamenting the poor production from
a whole bunch of positions third base, center field, catcher,
second base, oftentimes right field. It's a top heavy team

(01:24:14):
you cannot help, but wonder can an already top heavy
team withstand a loss at the top. That's where Ellie
Dela Cruz is. It's easier to withstand a loss at
the top if you have some depth. The Reds bullpen
depth has been severely tested, and this right now is
the bigger issue beyond Elie Dela Cruz, beyond what Edwin

(01:24:37):
Arroyo is going to bring to the table. How can
you trust this group of relievers and how can this
team navigate not having its best player, having to play
a young guy in Edwin Arroyo, still having a starting
staff that as a whole, as a question. Chris Paddick
is still getting starts for this team. We'll see if
that changes when Rhet Lauder comes back. Can this bullpen

(01:25:00):
hold up enough without already right now, Emilio Pagan, for
the foreseeable future, without Graham Ashcraft, now for at least
two weeks, without Pierce Johnson. Can they win games with
their bullpen being an asset when it's constructed as it
currently is, with either guys that are hard to trust

(01:25:22):
or not enough guys who are easy to trust. Sam
Mall's had a nice season, but by and large, for
the most part, there are way too many times where
when that bullpen gate fling's open, you don't feel good
about who's going to emerge. You could have said that
when Graham Ashcraft was healthy. You could have said that
when Pierce Johnson was healthy. What about now? And I

(01:25:43):
guess along with that is, if you look at the
current construction of the bullpen, there's a lot of guys
who are acquired from other teams, and there's a little
bit of a gap right when guys start to get hurt.
It's hard to look at anybody in Louisville and go, boy,
that dude should be here This team's going to have
to get better at developing relievers. We've talked for years

(01:26:04):
about the difficulty, the overall difficulty in developing starting pitchers.
Gonna have to get better at developing relievers. Gonna have
to get better at developing guys who can come in
and pitch the seventh, eighth, and ninth inning. That's not
gonna happen in the short term. Can the bullpen is
currently constructed help them overcome what they're not, what they

(01:26:28):
don't have, the players that they have on the injured list.
I hope the answer is yes. I'm very, very fearful
that the answer is no. The other night, the first
guy out of the bullpen was Nior Marte. That didn't work.
He's been dfaid. Speaking of being DFAD, Lion Richardson is

(01:26:52):
probably gonna pitch in some high leverage situations. He's gonna
start the game tonight because Chase Burns is sick. Lion Richardson,
the Reds thoughts so highly of him this offseason they
designated him for assignment. Like that's the biggest issue right now,
and it's exacerbated by not having Elie Dela Cruz. But
you could look at the team and go okay, fine,

(01:27:12):
maybe they can outscore people well what their offense is
currently constructed. That was going to be hard to do.
It's now even more difficult without Elie Dela Cruz. Your
thoughts are welcome at five win, three, seven, four nine,
fifteen thirty. There's another kind of guy in this mix
that we have to talk about who is very, very

(01:27:35):
squarely at least should be very squarely in the organization's crosshairs.
We'll talk about him next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station.

Speaker 5 (01:27:46):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 1 (01:27:52):
Etcenter at the UC guard is to know.

Speaker 3 (01:27:54):
About Edwin Arroyo coming up in twenty five minutes. He's
being called up. Was having an excellent season at Louisville,
hitting for power, hitting for average, playing different positions. He
is playing second days tonight and batting eighth. Matt McClain
moves to shortstop he bats ninth. It is a little

(01:28:18):
bit of a stay of execution from a public perspective
from Matt McClain. Now many will make the case that
they should still call up Noel de Marte and maybe
have him play third and move things around on the infield.
A little bit, or bring him back and have him
played in the outfield. I don't know, but for almost
a year and a half we have been wondering about

(01:28:38):
Matt McClain, when the production is going to return, if
he's ever going to be anything close to resembling the
player he was in twenty twenty three, and how long
the rope or leash should be for him. They've moved
him down in the batting order. This was a thing
they did last year when they had him batting second,
then suddenly he was batting ninth. Earlier this year he

(01:29:00):
was batting second. Today he's batting ninth. Edwin Arroyo, a rookie,
is hitting in front of him. So now we're not
going to be talking about calling up Edwin Arroyo to
replace Matt McClain for a while. Because Edwin is up
to replace Ellie dela Cruz. This is an opportunity for

(01:29:21):
Matt McClain to, maybe not once and for all, but
perhaps for a while, squash any chatter that this team
is better with Matt McClain and not him. Because when
Ellie Delacruz is healthy whenever that is, when Ellie Delacruz
is healthy, he's going to be the starting shortstop. Even

(01:29:43):
if Edwin Arroyo plays some shortstop and is excellent. I
find it hard to believe, and I think you would
agree that they're going to just take Ellie Dela Cruz
and move him.

Speaker 2 (01:29:51):
Ellie Dela Cruz is coming back. That is indisputable.

Speaker 3 (01:29:55):
Now we could wonder and worry about when he is
going to come back, but when he does, maybe Edwin
Arroyo is not hitting, and we go, Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:30:03):
He's got to go back to Louisville.

Speaker 3 (01:30:05):
He needs a little bit more time. There's obviously a
long list of players who haven't been very productive when
they first got called up, and then they got sent
back down. Then they got called up again and they
were pretty good. But it will be fascinating to see
what happens if Edwin Arroyo produces and produces at a
higher level offensively than Matt McClain was, and then Elie

(01:30:29):
Dela Cruz comes back. Matt McClain still hasn't figured it out.
Saw somebody on social media late last night post that
Edwin Arroyo Ellie Dela Cruz's hamstring injuries maybe saved Matt
McClain's job. I don't know that I go that far,
because your guess is as good as mine as to

(01:30:49):
when they actually would have called up Edwin Arroyo. But
we've talked about it for two weeks, even longer than that. Actually,
we've talked about it for weeks, like isn't it time
to call him up? Find out what the role is
for him? Can he play some self? Can he play
some third And if you want to see Edwin Arroyo,
there's a long list of guys you could argue he
should replace. But maybe at the top of that list
was Matt McClain. Okay, Matt Well, Edwin is here. We

(01:31:13):
wanted to see him here, and we were willing to
see him here at the expense of your job. Edwin
Arroyo is here. Not at the expense of your job.
You do not want to tempt fate. You do not
want And let's not get to ahead of ourselves when
it comes to Edwin's production. He's got to actually play
in a big league baseball game first, I guess. But

(01:31:36):
can you imagine what the discourse from the outside is
going to sound like if Edwin is hitting? Ellie comes back.
Matt McClain's production hasn't increased. Maybe the Reds still don't
budge and they keep waiting for Matt McClain from twenty
twenty three to show up, or they lean into the

(01:31:57):
fact that he's a good defensive player at second bag.
I don't know, but this does feel like, in some
respects a little bit of a stay of execution for
Matt McLean.

Speaker 2 (01:32:08):
Doesn't it.

Speaker 3 (01:32:09):
It feels like a little bit of Okay, well, Arroyo
is here. That's what everybody wanted. Arroyo is here, all right.
They had to bring him up. And Ellie's not here,
so you know, we have to have twenty six and
we have to have some of the infielders, and all right,
Edwin's here, Ellie's not, so Mac gets to stay. And

(01:32:32):
by the way, there's other guys we've included in the
Edwin Royo discussion. Key Brian Hayes is one of them.
Let's go down that road for a second and imagine
a world where Key Brian Hayes is physically where he
wants to be. Edwin Arroyo is hitting Ellie Dela Cruz
is still going to come back. Maybe Matt McLain figures

(01:32:55):
it out, or maybe he doesn't, But there are a
lot of us who wanted to see them cut loose,
Key Brian Hayes, eat the money, eat the contract. Whether
or not the Reds would be willing to do that
with another guy, Your guess is as good as mine.
But imagine those conversations. Right, maybe McClain plays better, or

(01:33:15):
Royo proves that he deserves to stick. Ellie de la
Cruz comes back, Key Brian Hayes, it ain't like we're
expecting him to hit when he does come back and
when he's healthy. Even when he's healthy, he's a below
average hitter. That great defense at third base only goes
so far. Like the cool thing about this is with

(01:33:36):
Edwin Arroyo when he was in Louisville. You can always,
you know, use the well, you know, the triple A
success is no guarantee, certainly doesn't guarantee that a guy
is gonna have big league success. And so let's stay
with the guys who are already here. Now Edwin is here.
What happens if he hits, what happens if he plays well?

(01:33:59):
He already he was at Louisville, and it wasn't compelling
the Reds to do anything. I would find it really
hard to believe that he puts up great numbers and
the Reds send him down when Ellie comes back. And
by the way, that part of it should not be
glossed over, like Ellie's going to go through whatever he's
going to go through over the next two weeks, three weeks,
four weeks, whatever it is, and hopefully comes back and

(01:34:20):
he's one hundred percent and you know, there are no
issues moving forward. But if we believe that Ellie is
going to come back and maybe do so before the
All Star break, hell, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:34:36):
And Arroyo is hitting, and that's a big if.

Speaker 3 (01:34:41):
I'm gonna have a tough decision to make about some
guys that they have given a very, very very long
leash to. By the way, today is June first, so
there is a chance that Ellie de la Cruz isn't
physically ready to come off the injured list until early
July mid July. The t deadline is July thirty first.

(01:35:03):
Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves because it's
still two months away. But could the Rats have multiple candidates,
multiple high profile candidates to be the latest hurt guy
coming back? Is going to be the latest trade deadline
acquisition guy. You know, that's one of my favorite tropes, right,

(01:35:26):
hurt guy coming back. You know, people make the case, hey,
don't make a trade because a guy who's hurt is
going to come back and that's better than trading for anybody.
And I think that strategy is flawed. The Reds tried
it in twenty twenty three. It did not work. It
blew up in their face. Remember at that year, they
were in first place at the deadline, had all sorts
of starting pitching issues, and we were told, well, Hunter
Green's going to come back, and all these other starting

(01:35:48):
pitchers are going to come back, and that's going to
be better than any trade deadline acquisition. And my take,
the sensible take, was well, you could still get those
guys back and still benefit from having them back, but
you could still be proactive and making the team better,
which the Reds that season were not. Could they have
two guys Ellie and Hunter Green, be hurt guys who
come back to be the best hat of trade deadline acquisition.

(01:36:12):
We'll see. But Arroyo's here and he didn't have to
come at the expense of Matt McLain or Key Brian Hayes.
If Arroyo hits and Ellie comes back, well, and it's
gonna be somebody they have to say goodbye to, it
would be Whove. Matt McClain will start with him to

(01:36:33):
turn things on. Starting tonight, five thirty sports headlines are next.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (01:36:39):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

Speaker 3 (01:36:45):
UC Health Trap knes are a service to Kelsey Chevrolet
home of lifetime power train protection and guarantee credit approval
from their family to yours for life Kelseyshove dot com.
Reds will play the Royals tonight with Ellie de la
Cruz not available. He is on the injured list with
a right hamstrings train. They have called up from Louisville

(01:37:06):
Edwin Arroyo. He will wear number two. By the way,
Cincinnati has also called up lefty Brandon Lee Brand and
they have dfad Junior Marte. The long and illustrious Red's
tenure of Junior Marte is likely over seven to ten. Tonight,
Reds and Royals on seven hundred Wow, first of a
three game series, all of them, all of them night games.

(01:37:28):
Chase Burns was gonna pitch for Cincinnati. He is sick,
and so Cincinnati will hand the ball to Lion Richardson.
He'll pitch you, Lion Richardson, who is a DFAD this
all season. He'll pitch against luindar Avilla. Avilla, luindar Avilla,

(01:37:49):
thank you. Starting lineup for the Reds tonight. Here we go.
Stand by, get ready, here it is. You've been waiting
all day for this. Blake Dunson center, Jay j. Bledaiesen left,
South Stewart plays third.

Speaker 11 (01:38:04):
You.

Speaker 3 (01:38:04):
Hennio Suarez is dhing. Nathaniel Lowe is at first, Spencer
Steers and right he bats fifth. Tyler Stevenson, I'm sorry
about six. Tyler Stevenson catches. Edwin or Royal makes his
big league debut at second base tonight. He bats eighth.
Matt McLean playing shortstop and batty ninth. As the best
ninety seconds of radio you will hear this week? What

(01:38:25):
else do we have? College baseball? Tonight? Kentucky and West
Virginia in the Morgantown Regional elimination game. After last night's
West Virginia comeback, scoring five in the top of the ninth,
ending the College Baseball UC's brief stay. Notwithstanding, the college
baseball has been outstanding. Outstanding news if you're a Bengals fans.

(01:38:47):
The Cleveland Browns have traded two time NFL Defensive Player
of the Year Miles Garrett to the La Rams. He's
out of the Bengals division. Cleveland gets a two time
Pro Bowl pass rusher Jared Verse and multiple draft picks,
including first rounder in twenty twenty seven, a second round
pick in twenty twenty eight, and a third round pick

(01:39:09):
in twenty twenty nine. One of the biggest trades in
NFL history, at least involving a defensive player. Also one
other NFL tidbit item trade aj Brown long rumored deal done,
he goes from Philadelphia to play with his former head
coach with the Titans, Mike Vrabel and the New England Patriots.

(01:39:32):
I believe, excuse me, that is it as far as
local sports headlines. I'm watching NFL Live on ESPN ESPN
two and I'm watching him with the sounddown. They've obviously
been all over the Miles Garrett trade. When at the
top of the show they talked about the deal and

(01:39:54):
sort of informed the audience. Here's what's happened, Here's what
Cleveland's getting. Here's what LA is getting. Here are the
terms of the trade. Here's how this unfolded. They were
showing a montage of Miles Garrett highlights. It felt like
nearly every great play came against the Bengals. He's hit

(01:40:18):
Bengals quarterbacks more than quarterbacks on any other team, and
this makes sense because the Browns and Bengals play played
twice a year. He has sacked Bengals quarterbacks more than
he has sacked qbs of any NFL team. Part of
that is a statement of Miles Garrett's greatness. Part of
it is an indictment against some of the offensive lines
that have been tasked with figuring out a way to
keep Miles Garrett from getting to their quarterback. This has

(01:40:42):
been an offseason, and I do not mean to undermine
the difficulty in winning. And I'm not trying to tell
you that, you know the Bengals, all they've got to
do is show up and they're going to win the
AFC North. I think the exact opposite is the case.
There are still lots of things worth wondering about this team.
But in terms of, like the environment around you being favorable,

(01:41:05):
I don't know that you could have asked for a
better offseason, like you could laugh at the fact that
the Pittsburgh Steelers kind of felt stuck with Mike Tomlin
toward the end. Their quarterback is still going to be
a dude who's going to turn forty three by the
end of the season, and a franchise known for stability
and continuity with head coach three guys my lifetime, there's

(01:41:29):
probably going to be a little bit of an adjustment period.
And I don't believe anybody looks at the Pittsburgh Steelers
roster in twenty twenty six and believes it's dramatically better
than the one that almost won the AFC North by
default in twenty twenty five. The Ravens have a new
head coach, Jesse Minner, may end up being terrific, but

(01:41:51):
it's still a new head coach for a franchise that
has had two head coaches this century. They still haven't
seemingly filled their biggest vacancy, left by Tyler Lindebaum leaving.
It's fair to wonder if they've given Lamar Jackson enough weapons.
But the very least you do expect for that franchise

(01:42:13):
further to be some adjustment period having a new head coach.
Cleveland Browns are still involved in this quarterback battle if
you want to call it that, between Deshaun Watson and
Shador Sanders. But the one thing that made them viable,
specifically in hard games in the division was Miles Garrett

(01:42:36):
being on their team. The Browns have gotten him out
of the way. You know, we talked at great length
two weeks ago about the schedule, and I love what
the schedule presents because it presents a lot of teams
early on that have new head coaches. Six of the
first nine teams they play have new head coaches for
the upcoming season. Love the you know, one o'clock repetitive,

(01:42:59):
you know, one o'clock games on Sundays, just allows them
to get into a rhythm. No major scheduling challenges. If
and again, like what the Bengals can control. Maybe you
think they've done enough, maybe you don't. I am whole
holly worried about linebacker and slock corner, but in terms

(01:43:21):
of like the environment around them, boy, you couldn't ask
for much better. Eighteen away from six o'clock. Edwin Arroyo
has been awesome this season in Louisville. What improvements has
he made? Why is he so much better? We'll find

(01:43:42):
out from somebody in the know.

Speaker 5 (01:43:43):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:43:50):
Thirteen from six. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Moegger. Aaron
Layton from a Just Baseball and the Call Up podcast
is with us to talk about Edwin Arroyo, who will
make his big league debut tonight for the Reds, playing
second base and batting second. Aaron, I appreciate the time
joining us from Paris. By the way, on vacation, Edwin Arroyo,

(01:44:10):
I could look at the numbers and I see a
guy who's having a good season. He has made dramatic improvements.
Where's he improved the most, I would say in the
quality of contact department? And I do think a big
part of that right is going to be getting being
another year removed from a very serious shoulder injury that
I think this is more of a hypothesis for me,
but I think if you're a switch hitter and you

(01:44:31):
have a serious shoulder injury, imagine that's gonna affect you
a little bit more because you got it affecting two
different swings in two different ways, but also just cleaning
up his stance.

Speaker 7 (01:44:39):
If you look at the way he swung the bat
and the way he's set up. In twenty five, he was,
especially from the left side, super bowed out, like leaning
on his front knee, and he.

Speaker 3 (01:44:48):
Just couldn't really control the weight shift too much.

Speaker 7 (01:44:50):
Now he's just standing out a little bit more upright,
he's allowing himself to move freely be an athlete, and
the average X velocities are up, the bat of ball
angles are improved, and all of a sudden, and you know,
he's slugging a lot more than he ever has, and
he's already on pace to I think double his his
career high in homers, and I don't think that's a coincidence.

Speaker 3 (01:45:07):
How much of that translates to uh success hitting the
ball along way to the big league.

Speaker 7 (01:45:11):
Level, I think a lot, especially in Great American You know,
if you didn't improve both the exit velocities and the
batted ball angles, I'd say, well, you know, maybe this
is just a guy getting hot in triple A. But again,
when you see him lifting the ball more consistently, which
is something he did in the early going of his
pro career, just got away from him, and then you
also have the raw exit velocity uptick.

Speaker 3 (01:45:31):
But he's not a guy that's going to be hitting
thirty homers.

Speaker 7 (01:45:33):
But he's mostly a guy that's gonna be able to
split the gaps aton and being able to add a
little bit more power on top of that. I think
that plays well in Great America and all of a sudden,
if you go from a you know, ten home run
out look to maybe fifteen to twenty. I think that
makes a big difference for a guy that you know,
you're going to be getting a ton of value with
the glove and with his legs.

Speaker 3 (01:45:51):
I want to ask you about the glove and his legs,
But as a hitter, what's your biggest concern you approach.

Speaker 7 (01:45:56):
You know, and and you know, he seems to feel
like you can get to a lot of pitchers, which
he can. He is a good field to hit, but
you know, at the same time, he can get very aggressive.
And I think if that, if there's one thing that's
gonna maybe create a little bit of a challenge in
making that leap up to the big leagues, it's gonna
be yeah, pitchers knowing that and trying to exploit that
and kind of forcing him to get himself out. So

(01:46:17):
just seeing if he can rein it in and not
be so overly aggressive, I think would be the biggest concern.

Speaker 4 (01:46:22):
With with the Royal.

Speaker 3 (01:46:23):
Our guy. Aaron Layton from jess Baseball is with us
on Edwin Arroyo. He is he's played obviously most extensively
in shortstop, but he's played some third, he's played some
second base. How would you rate him overall as a defender?

Speaker 7 (01:46:36):
I think he's an above average shortstop, may even great
out better than that. What I love about Arroyo Also
fun fact about him, he's ambidextrous. I can throw with
both of hims really well, and not that that comes
in much handy obviously in the infield, but I think
just shows you how like physically gifted he is. What
I think is so amazing about Royal is how well
he can move around a diamond already.

Speaker 3 (01:46:55):
Too, which, of course, you can play a high level shortstop.

Speaker 7 (01:46:57):
You assume that guy could play a good third or second,
but it's not always that easy. And in the position
that he's in, you know, if he's playing well and
Ellie gets back, he may create an opportunity for himself
to stay in there and be kind of a utility
piece for them. But I think he's an above average shortstop,
can play a really good third base as well, and
then of course it's going to translate into great defense
at second. The arm strength is absolutely there, and the

(01:47:18):
footworks there, and you know, for a guy that may
have some growing pains as he gets acclimated to the
big leagues, but you're not expecting somebody to come.

Speaker 3 (01:47:24):
In and replace Elie de la Cruz's production.

Speaker 7 (01:47:26):
But if he can go in there and play a
good shortstop and you know, put the ball in play
and do the little things and steal some bags, you're
just looking for someone that's going to hold it down
at that at.

Speaker 3 (01:47:34):
The premium position. His call up to the big leagues
is a response to Elie dela Cruz going on the
injured list. But we have been wondering if it's time
to call him up now for a while and maybe
play him at third a little bit, maybe play him
at second base a little bit. If if he was
if the Ellie dela Cruz injury didn't happen, would you
make the case that it would have been time for
the Rights to call up Edwin Roya regardless.

Speaker 7 (01:47:56):
I thought so, and you know, with something we alluded
to a little bit on our Prospect podcast to call
up because you know, when you look at the deficiencies
here with the Reds where I mean, obviously you've got
some struggles with Hayes at the third base, and McLean's not,
you know, really holding up his end of the bargain
at second, you don't clearly they don't want to make
like a definitive, definitive decision and just totally bouncing those
guys out of their roles. Royal is the perfect player

(01:48:19):
where you can eat into each of their playing time
a little bit without you know, fully kicking somebody to
the curb. And I think that's what makes Royo the
perfect fit to be able to play three four times
a week. But again not totally compromising. You know, guys
that clearly Nick Crawl and the Reds are are a
little bit stubborn with and you know, I can understand
and for some reasons, but also for a team that's
you know, trying to keep pace here, I think at

(01:48:41):
a certain point here it's about time.

Speaker 3 (01:48:43):
Anyways, can't thank you enough. I know you're on vacation.
Enjoy Paris. And I will bother you as we get
closer to the draft. Man, thank you as always, can't wait.
It's never a bother. Thanks so much for having me
Aaron Layton from a Just Baseball dot Com and the
Call Up podcast is terrific. Joining us from Harris Tomorrow,
Zach Taylor's gonna speak, Paul Dayner Junior is gonna stop by.

(01:49:05):
We've got the Reds and Royals to talk about, and
so much more so. Have an unbelievable night and we'll
talk to you tomorrow at three oh five. Anything you
might have missed go find on the iHeartRadio amp APP.
I should say, and thanks to Tarren Bland for producing,
and thanks to you for listening. Have an awesome night.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati sports station

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