6/23/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

The Reds are behaving the way a contender should and do they know the meaning of "aggressive." Plus Mo reacts to Chase Burns being called up and we hear from Chase as well. UC Basketball GM and newly-minted NBA Champion Corey Evans and a rational Shemar Stewart take.

Episode Transcript

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Taron blem with the over the top productions for my return.
What's up, Mamma Legger. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank
you for listening. Uh, I appreciate I appreciate you doing
as much. Hope you had a great weekend. My thanks.
This is the first time I've been on this show
in nearly two weeks. I was off last week and

(00:57):
the two days the week prior Thursday Friday, so it
feels like it's been forever. My thanks to Mike Petrelia
Trags and Chad Rendle for pinchitting while I was away.
It is awesome to be here. Show preview is available
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(01:20):
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In just about forty minutes, UC basketball GM Corey Evans

(01:41):
is going to be on the show, and we're gonna
talk some UC hoops. But if you remember when the
Bearcats hired him, when Wes Miller hired him to be
the program's first ever general manager, he came from the
Oklahoma City Thunder, And chances are, even if you're not
a big NBA fan, you know that the OKC Thunder
one Game seven of the NBA Finals last night, a

(02:02):
game that unfortunately played up against the backdrop of the
Tyrese Haliburton injury. Nonetheless, Okasee seems poised to be really, really,
really good for a long time, and so I want
to talk with Corey about the experience of watching his team.
He still gets a ring, I think watching his team
play last night, the way that team was built, his role,

(02:23):
and then we'll talk some UC stuff coming up in
just about forty minutes. If you missed it, and Austin
mentioned this to me just before we got on the air.
Jamer Candelario, they have dfaight him now. The official way
they have put this is they have reinstated him from
the ten day injured list and they have designated him
for assignment. I guess you can't DFAA guy if he's

(02:45):
on the injured list. So the Jamer Candelario era is over.
The Chase Burns era is going to begin tomorrow. I
don't know how you're not stoked about this for a
couple of different reasons. First, from MLB Network Radio just
a short while ago, here's Red's manager Terry Francona on
Chase Burns.

Speaker 5 (03:08):
Yeah. I mean we saw him pitch one inning in
spring training and it was a pretty good inning. I
mean that because we sent him down after that game,
and we were all kind of laughing on the way over, like,
you know, hey, are we going to tell me made
the club or we really send him down? Because it's
just it's pretty special, and we've tried to challenge him
at three levels and he's kind of flown through it.

(03:31):
And we tried when we talked about bringing him up
because it is quick and we kind of tried to
poke holes in it, and it's just hard to do
because he he just hasn't, you know, I mean, he
just he just has done everything you've asked at every level.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Terry Francona, we stole that from MLB Network Radio. I'm
sure he'll talk more about him on tonight's pregame show.
And first things first, they have a game tonight against
the New York Yankees, with Nicolodolo pitching. Game two of
the series. Tomorrow night will feature the major League debut
of a pitcher of the Reds took just last year
last year, last summer, right around this time last year,
with the second overall pick in the draft, and chances

(04:09):
are to channel my George grand you know his story.
But Chase Burns pitch last season for Wake Forest. The
Reds drafted him and then they shut him down, basically
didn't have him pitching games. In fact, Chase was in
studio with us right around the time of the Reds
caravan to talk about, you know the fact that they
they held him back, didn't have him pitching games. And
so when he finally took them out for the Dayton

(04:30):
Dragons this year at High A, that was his professional debut.
His ascension through the system has been rapid. Three games
at Dayton, eight mostly dominant performances for Chattanooga, and then
two really good ones for Louisville. He will make his
major league debut. The twenty two year old wake Forest
Alum will pitch the righty pitches Tomorrow night against the

(04:51):
New York Yankees, and that adds a little buzz to
a series that should already have a little bit more
pomp to it just because of who they're playing, and
because the Reds during this series will arrive at the
midway point of the season, and it feels like they'll
hit the midway point of the season. In contention, Chase
Burns is up. This is a really, really good thing.

(05:13):
And it's a really good thing because we all want
to see the guy right, want to satisfy our curiosity.
But it's a really good thing because not just because
he's a top prospect with seemingly limitless potential. And by
the way, on tomorrow's show, the great Jonathan Mayo mlbpipeline
dot Com, who has written extensively about Chase Burns because

(05:34):
he has seen him more than maybe pretty much anybody,
he is going to join us at five oh five.
But the best thing about this, the best thing about
what they're doing tomorrow with Chase Burns, is that they're
not screwing around. They're going with the best option and
they're worrying about what's next later. Now, to a degree,

(05:54):
they are where they are with Chase Burns because of
a series of bad circumstances. Hunter Green is not active
right now. Looks like it's going to be after the
All Star break before he pitches. That's not good. Wade
Miley's comeback has been thwarted by another injury. It feels
like his big league career is at a crossroads. You
wish for nothing but the best for him, but that's unfortunate.

(06:17):
And the fact that Rhet Louder has had a set
back is unfortunate. And the fact that what we thought
for a while during the offseason was going to be
a really deep reds rotation suddenly has gotten very, very shallow.
So to a degree, yes, they are where they are
and kind of being forced. You might argue to use
Chase Burns because of a bunch of bad things happening.

(06:39):
But man, more than anything else, this is how a
team and a playoff race should act. The great Charlie Goldsmith,
whose newsletter is a must, outlines the Reds options to
fill the vacated spot left by Wade Miley's injury. Number
one on the list, Chase Byern, number two, Chase Petty.

(07:01):
Now Chase Petty has I think the Reds believe a
really promising big league future. First of all, they did
kind of tip their hand this weekend as to what
they were gonna do with him, because they used him
in relief in Saint Louis, and when he's had a
chance to start, the results frankly haven't been very encouraging.
They also could have inserted into the starting rotations someone

(07:22):
by the name of Brian van Bell, who, and by
the way, this totally escape mind notice, was acquired recently
in a cash deal from the Red Sox. Yes he
has stretched out to start, Yes he has experienced, but well,
he has no big league experience. He's twenty eight years old,
career minor league guy. Hard pass on that one. Kyle Gibson,

(07:45):
Charlie writes, thirty seven year old for twenty four ERA
with the Cardinals and thirty starts began this season with
the Orioles ERA and four starts sixteen point seven eight.
Then got dfaed had a cup of coffee with the
Tampa Bay Triple A team. He's looking for a gig. Yeah,
hard pass on that one, or trade for a big
league starter. And let's be honest, whoever they're trading for

(08:08):
to fill a spot in the rotation at this stage
in the season, probably not that good. I think this
is good. This is good. They're going with the best option.
They're not playing it slow, they're not playing the long game.
They're not well, you know, he's not quite ready or
you know what, we can't put him out there against
the New York Yankees. We can't have him out there

(08:30):
pitching to Aaron Judge. Dude, try it. If it doesn't work,
that doesn't mean the Chase Burns still isn't going to
be really really really good. If it doesn't work, Okay,
back to the drawing board. If it does work, oh boy,
what then like they're they're using the best option. They're
they're also and I don't know that we have associated

(08:54):
the Reds with doing this sort of thing in recent years.
They're trying to win now, like, all right, you know
we're not gonna run him out there. He's not gonna
throw one hundred and thirty five pitches. We're not gonna
earmark him for eight innings. Heck, they might not know
what the plan for Chase Burns is gonna be after tomorrow.
But we're trying to get to the postseason. We're in

(09:16):
the middle of the season. We've played ourselves into contention.
You might argue pseudo contention. I would argue contention. They've
got a lot of things on the team that are
trending upward, despite the fact that they lost two of
three in Saint Louis this weekend. We're trying to get
to the postseason. We're trying to win now. We're not
worried about Chase Burns twenty twenty six. And by the way,

(09:38):
it's not like, well, wait a minute, they could screw
up the plan for his innings this year. He's pitched
in sixty six professional innings. It's not like they were
gonna shut him down. He was gonna be either pitching
in Louisville or pitching in Cincinnati. So far, the way
he's pitched to places like Louisville and Chattanooga and up
the road in Dayton would suggest he's ready to pitch
in Cincinnati. If it doesn't work, Okay, it doesn't work,

(10:01):
there's no harm. There is harm in not using the
best possible option. And I think we would agree that,
while we do not know if this is gonna work tomorrow,
among all the different options out there, somebody who's already
at Louisville trading for a guy who's not that good.
Given a dude a job who got cut by two
other teams this year, the best option is a guy

(10:24):
who back in February we wondered about whether or not
he could actually pitch in Cincinnati this year. Very few
of us thought it would happen in June, but because
of circumstance, it is. And the Reds are picking the
best option, and they're not gonna play the long game
and they're not gonna sit on their hands. Well, he
needs a little bit more experience, has to cut his teeth. God,
is he ready? He has to ride. But no, dude,

(10:45):
we're trying to win now. We think this guy can
help us win. Now, our best laid plans haven't worked out,
so you know what we're going with the next best
possible option. The next best possible option is Chase burns.
This This is how a teen, even a playoff race,
should act. The question is will that be mirrored in

(11:07):
about a month? That coming up here in just a bit.
Phone lines are open five one, three, seven, four nine,
fifteen thirty and eight six six seven two three seven
seven six. You could also send a tweet at Moegger
and uh, if it's not totally anonymous, you might get
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(11:29):
oh dot com. Reds won a game yesterday. We have
warned and been cautious against putting too much emphasis on
any one game over the first seventy eight that they
have played this year, but yesterday felt like a must win.
Yesterday felt like maybe the biggest win of the season,

(11:51):
and it came on the strength of another outstanding starting
pitching performance by Andrew Abbott. We'll get to that. You'll
hear a talking head talking about the Reds being maybe
more aggressive than anybody else would have suspected as we
get closer to the deadline. And man, how that conversation
has changed, because just a few weeks ago many were

(12:13):
saying well, they should go ahead and just prepare to
be sellers right now they're neither. But I like the
word aggressive. I like hearing it and reading it applied
to the Reds. We'll get to that coming up here
in just a bit. There's also something that I guarantee
you that I guarantee you that nobody in my audience

(12:34):
right now has done. It is at least somewhat Reds related.
Since I last sat behind this microphone, there has been
no real news involving Trey Hendrickson. I guess the two
sides have talked. I guess Trey has been working out
at a workout facility in Blue Ash, which is cool.
There have been some would say trade rumors. I don't

(12:58):
think there are any tray and trade rumors. I think
there's Trey hendricks in trade discussion, but those discussions are
not happening inside the halls of the venue originally known
as Paul Brown Stadium. We might have to make a distinction,
not that we think that Trey is going to be traded,
but we might need to make a distinction just in

(13:19):
case the two sides don't come to an agreement, and
just in case trade doesn't show up. For training camp,
which starts one month from today. Five point three seven
four nine fifteen thirty is the phone number, So the
front office is being aggressive with Chase Burns. Will that
continue next? On ESPN fifteen.

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Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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(14:37):
of this show or a service of Long Neck Sports Grill.
It's hot outside, it's nice and cool at long Necks.
I love the hot weather. I mean, you know, obviously
there are folks for who from a health perspective, this
isn't good for and you certainly want them to be
taken care of and to take care of themselves. It
cannot get hot enough for me. I just I like

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sit inside it's nice and cool, enjoy some wings and
have a grand time at long Nex sports Girl. Three locations,
Wilder Hebron and rich Wood. Corey Evans, the UCGM who's

(15:23):
now an NBA champion, is going to join us coming
up in about twenty minutes. I'm getting emails about BUCkies.
People love people love BUCkies really quick. On the NBA
Finals last night, I was so stowd for a Game
seven and I was rooting for Indy because I was

(15:45):
rooting for Obi Top because I don't root for franchises
and less Steph Curry plays for him that have changed cities.
So I was rooting for Indy last night. More than anything,
I was just hoping for just a great sports event,
great sporting event at the end of what has been
kind of an up and down NBA season, at the
end of what has been I think a really good playoff,
and at the end of what I think has been

(16:05):
a really interesting NBA Final. It would have been awesome
to have a great game between two really good teams
at close to full strength, to a degree that would
be so good that it would obscure all the criticism
that ESPN and the NBA have gotten and have deserved
for how the finals have been presented. And for a

(16:28):
stretch in the first quarter last night, I thought we
were going to get it, and I thought we were
going to get shake Gilgess Alexander versus Tyrese Haliburton, and
we did not. And unfortunately, as we all know, Tyrese
Haliburton suffered that achilles injury last night.

Speaker 8 (16:40):
And there's.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
Just as a sports fan, not even an Indiana Pacers fan,
And again I was rooting for Indy last night, but
I'm hardly a Pacers fan. As a sports fan, you
look forward to that game so much, and you're so
excited to watch a Game seven, which we just we
don't get enough of in championship series. We don't get
enough Game sevens of the World Series, we don't get
enough Game sevens of the NBA Finals. To have not

(17:07):
just any player, but one team's best player, and a
guy who has been at times so good, so transcendent,
and so clutch in so many big moments, to have
him get injured and not be available to play is
very deflating. And all credit to OKC. They're certainly a
deserving champion. My guess is they would have won the
game anyway, but you don't know, and give Indiana credit

(17:31):
for showing enough guts to take a one point halftime
lead and kind of be in the thing until about
four minutes we're left in the third quarter. But the
worst kind of injury, I think, at least the worst
kind of injury is the kind of injury which has
a devastating immediate impact and then has not even a

(17:55):
secondary impact. But already the the shape of next season
has changed because of an injury in the final game
of this season, and that's unfortunate, and you feel bad
for the guy, Like you're gonna play in Game seven
of the NBA Finals and they got up to a
great start. Last night, you're playing Game seven of the
NBA Finals, which you know how many of us have

(18:18):
dreamt of that, and it's taken away from you. And
I certainly hope Tyrese Haliburton goes on to recover and
get back to health and can play as well as
he was playing, if not better than he was before
the injury. But you don't know when you're gonna get
back to that moment, man, And the moment was setting

(18:39):
him up to I don't know, author perhaps another awesome
moment for himself and maybe an iconic moment in NBA history,
and that was taken from him. So that again, credit
to the Oklahoma City Thunder for winning. Good for them.
I'm excited to talk with Corey Evans, But just as
a basketball fan and a sports fan, you don't want
a game that you look forward to like that be

(19:02):
so dramatically shaped by an injury like that, and then
as you start to think ahead to next year, I
don't want to say Indiana season has already done before
it even you know, ended last night, but pretty damn
good chance he's gonna be all out of all of
next season. And so that sucks. So the Chase Burns
thing with the Reds is great. And we were talking

(19:26):
about this last segment because instead of waiting around or
coming up with excuses why he's not ready or and like,
they've done this before, and I've heard I've heard some
Reds apologists do this in the past where it's like, well,
what if he gets called up and he's not very
good and it just ruins his psyche. It's like, then,
why did you use the second overall pick on him

(19:47):
last year? If you think he's that fragile, he may
get his brains beaten in tomorrow. Okay, fine, they're using
the best option. They're not going to call up somebody
who's a four A pitcher. They're not go to go
get somebody and not going to do another bullpen game. Look,
we've got this weapon at our disposal. It's kind of
breaking the glass in case of emergency. We're gonna go

(20:08):
ahead and do it. Good for them, it's aggressive. So
we've talked a lot already about what the Reds approach
may or may not be at the deadline, which, by
the way, is still more than a month away. And
the Reds still have a lot of hard work to
do and a bunch of really good teams in front
of them, including the two teams they play on this
Homestand as frustrating as the Yankees have been to their

(20:31):
fans offensively, they're still the defending American League champions who
come to Cincinnati having won two straight games. So they
have a lot of hard work and a lot of
heavy lifting in front of them before we can ever
really talk concretely about the trade deadline. But this is
what they're doing with Chase Burns. How a playoff contender behaves.

(20:52):
A playoff contender also does what it can, perhaps acting
within certain params, to give itself a better chance to
make the postseason. This is aggressive. What I wonder is,
does this tell us a little bit about how aggressive

(21:15):
the Reds may be If let's just say four weeks
from now, four and a half weeks from now, five
weeks from now, the Reds are at a similar place
to what they're in right now, I think it's going
to be not almost impossible, But it's going to be really, really,
really hard for them to catch the Cubs and leap
frog Saint Louis and Milwaukee. But there's still only three
games out of a playoff spot. They were the opposite

(21:38):
of aggressive two years ago when they were in first
place at the deadline. They were also the opposite of
aggressive in twenty twenty one when they were in contention
at the deadline. Does being aggressive with Chase Burns tell
us that they plan to be aggressive on July thirty first,

(22:04):
as long as they remain in contention. I don't have
the answer to that. Ken Rosenthal, Mey, you'll hear that
coming up in the next hour. Five point three, seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty. UH is our phone number.

Speaker 9 (22:17):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
Corey Evan's coming up in just about fifteen minutes on
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

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Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

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Six game homestand starts tonight for the Reds, first of
three this evening against the defending American League champion New

(23:21):
York Yankees. Nico Lodolo to the Hill against Alan Winans.
Winans making his twenty twenty five Big League debut. Your
starting lineup against him, TJ Friedels and center, Matt McClain
sweet swinging Matt McClain a ten game hitting streak. He
is playing second and batting second. Ellie Deayla Cruz at short,
Spencer Steers at first, Gavin Lux and leftfield batting fifth.

(23:42):
Stevenson is dging tonight, hitting sixth. Jose Travigno is a
catching and batting seventh freelian right and for the first
time in his big league career, Christian and Karnassi on
Strand is batting ninth. He is playing first base. Seven
to ten is tonight's first pitch on seven hundred w
l W all three games against New York are night games.

(24:04):
The Jamer Candelario era in Cincinnati is over. He was
reinstated off the injured list and that immediately designated for assignment.
Jamer Candelario goes down as a pretty big bust. I
think that's I think that's pretty fair to say. Correct.

(24:26):
We're not gonna have any arguments about that. Signed as
a free agent who made sixteen I'm sorry, thirteen million
dollars this last year, was on the hook for sixteen
mil this year, so they basically owe him the remaining
eight million dollars of his salary this season and thirteen
mil next year. Maybe Jamer Candelario somewhere around twenty one

(24:51):
twenty two million dollars to go away. Earlier this season,
it felt like he was on the verge of being cut.
Before he went on the injured list, he batted one
thirteen in ninety one played appearances. That after a season
last year where he at two twenty five with twenty
home runs. So see you later to a jam Er Candelario.

(25:12):
Chase Burns has been added to the Reds Taxi Squad.

Speaker 5 (25:15):
MLB.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
Major League Baseball has released its latest All Star balloting results. Obviously,
these aren't final. The only Red who has a prayer
is Ellie Taylor Cruz, who is currently third among shortstops,
and quite frankly, the distance is pretty big between he
and the guy in second place, Mookie Betts and Francisco Lindor.

(25:36):
The Mets is the current leading vote getter among shortstops,
with about one million more than Ellie, and again, he's
pretty much the only guy who has a chance to
get voted in, even though there will obviously be other
Reds who are considered as reserves. I'm gonna guarantee that
nobody in my audience has voted for an All Star

(25:59):
this year. We might make dot a pole question, and
we might have one about BUCkies too. I have no idea,
but first, UCGM and NBA World champion Corey Evans next,
ESPN fifteen.

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Speaker 2 (26:47):
This report is sponsored group. So back in late in March,
the University of Cincinnati men's basketball program hired its first
ever general manager, Corey Evans, who comes to you see
from the Oklahoma City Thunder, where Corey had served as
an amateur evaluation scout over the last four years. And
so the move occurred during the season. The Oklahoma City

(27:11):
Thunder win the NBA title last night in a seventh game,
and so that makes Corey, as far as I'm concerned,
and I'm sure he'll agree an NBA World champion UCGM
kind enough to join us this afternoon. Congratulations Corey, thank
you for joining us. How are you.

Speaker 5 (27:28):
Great?

Speaker 8 (27:28):
I'm great to I appreciate you having me on here.

Speaker 2 (27:30):
I appreciate you doing that. So how what was last
night like? Your How are you watching the game? Are
you able to watch it as a fan?

Speaker 8 (27:38):
Like?

Speaker 2 (27:38):
What was last night like?

Speaker 8 (27:40):
Yeah, there's no fandom anymore. I would say nervous energy
all alone. I kind of wanted to know one around
me there, And yeah, the first half I was kind
of on pins and nels there. I didn't know how
things would kind of pull out down one at halftime.
But that defense is just it just suffocates you. So

(28:03):
it fell little bit better going into the fourth quarter
of twenty they may have close to the end, but super,
super proud of those guys.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
Have you talked with and I'm sure you have over
the course of the last couple of weeks, but since
last night, have you talked with anybody from the organization
about what it's been like to win the organization's first
championship since moving from Seattle?

Speaker 10 (28:24):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (28:25):
Yeah, A couple of the scallops of front office members.
I mean, it's pandemonium down there. The fan base of
Oklahoma City is pretty unique as far as a professional
fan base. So you have a collection of crazy fans
and a city that's just kind of yearning for a
championship with I mean, they're the second youngest team in

(28:48):
the NBA history to win an NBA title. They're like,
i'most kids in the sense with their personalities, which is
a kind way of saying it. They're unbelievable people through
and through data. Dale Williams. Yet, so I think you
give a question of all that intertwined, and it had
to be a hell of a night last night.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
It's an organization that gets a lot of credit for
quote building the right way, with Sam Prestys as the
general managers, as somebody who was involved in evaluating talent,
involved in the draft process. You mentioned Jalen Williams, who
I want to talk about here specifically in a minute.
What is it about that franchise that is so well run,

(29:33):
is so enviable, and is so set up to have
long term success well beyond after this season.

Speaker 8 (29:41):
I think the one thing that Sam Presty is amazing
at is in its dense delayed gratification. I think it's
about not making the quick stick. It's about having an
ideal in mind and sacrificing and being patient with it,
especially in today's society and today's sports, where it's about

(30:05):
when now, When now, when now? And sometimes it's based
off maybe your contract or how much leverage you have.
But Sam really empowered the staff, I think, with finding
the right individuals with the right makeup that hit the
city but also would fit the organization and fit the

(30:27):
other players for bringing in. And I think it's why
you have guys like lou Dorton, case On Wallas and
Kendrick Williams and Throwing Alf Crusso and those guys are
just it's it's one heart beat and it's it's it's true.
It's but when you have the head of Snake like
Jay Gilgist, who is maybe the most humble supertar that

(30:49):
I've I could have come across over the past several years,
it kind of reverberates through and through VA Kresty and
VSJA Guilders and uh just to make them so unique.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
Are are there parts of that? And I'm sure there
are so, so I'll ask it this way, what parts
of how the Thunder are run would you like to
implement at the University of Cincinnati, understanding that while the
line has never been more blurred between the NBA and
college there are differences.

Speaker 8 (31:20):
Yeah, I think from a from a intangible perspective and organizationally,
it's really being thorough with our gouring of prospects and
recruiting via the portal and be in high school. It's
what I've learned really fast here is at the NBA,

(31:43):
you make a decision and you have months on months
to decide, and in college basketball, especially with the portal,
you have a few hours sometimes, so it's it's way
more hectic, which means you got to be on the ball.
But I would say thorough and as far as who

(32:03):
the person is and can they impact the program in
a positive manner. We want energy givers and we want
to bring the right people onto the bus. And one
bad apple can really upset the whole litter and I
think we saw that in Olahoma City with those guys

(32:24):
love each other, and how do we find a way
to bring in thirteen, fourteen, fifteen young men with the
staff as well that all coaliates. That's probably the most
difficult part because it's all intangible, it's all you can't
really put a number on it. It's not finite. But

(32:45):
came did an amazing job of that, and we're going
to do our very best to continue to got to
create that here at.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
Cincinnati, all right. One more specifically on the thunder. So
I'm a big Jalen Williams guy, and I'm sure you
so you guys get him in the twenty twenty two draft.
I'm also a big Knicks fan. So New York was
picking twelve that year, you guys, I'm sorry, New York
was picking twelve that year. You guys are New York
was picking eleventh. You guys were picking twelfth. I'll get

(33:12):
this right. At some point, Uh, we don't take Jalen Williams,
you guys do. I'd belne to you if I told
you I thought he was going to be a superstar.
But if he's not there yet, he's certainly on the verge.
Walk me through the evaluation process and ultimately what made
you guys to decide to take him and and obviously
a move that has turned out to work out better

(33:34):
than I think anybody ever could have imagined.

Speaker 8 (33:37):
Yeah, he kind of snucked up on any everyone in
the NBA, right he his stories background, It's pretty impressive
how he grew from six to sixth three to six seven.
So we were all playing ketch up. And it happened
during COVID as well. I remember going to see him
Plague in San Diego in February of the COVID the

(34:00):
year and there's twenty people in the stands out on
the West coast, of course, with the regulations they had
going on, and but every every month or two, even
in that small space of time, he was getting better
and he was checking the boxes, whether it was the
background with the family, whether it was the the physical tangible,

(34:24):
and then you meet the person, it just adds to it.
And when you have all that in one prospect, who
has the first to get better and improve and win
and it's about the team, which he is. It was
not clear as day, but it was. It was pretty

(34:46):
You can you can imagine it's much better with a
guy like that, or I mean, we're so lucky. Sam
is amazing at having the foresight. You know, the draft
a guy like Set Holmgren, Jali Williams and Olergy of
the Lanes in the same draft, which could go down
with one of the Bear drafts. Of all time, at
least in franchise history.

Speaker 5 (35:07):
But I think the.

Speaker 8 (35:10):
Mental makeup of Dalen and then the progressive nature of
his development, along with the physical tangibles and domensions, it
just made for too much of an intoxicating prospect the
draft that wasn't a top ten guy going into the draft.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
Corey Evans is with us, the general manager of the
UC men's basketball program and newly minted NBA World Champion.
What have the last two and a half months been
like since you moved to Cincinnati from Oklahoma City?

Speaker 8 (35:42):
It's been a sprint every day. It's the first, I
would say, the first. You know, I have four or
five straight years of knowing what to expect every March
to every August, and you're working your butt off for
eight nine months of the year. But you work to
a point where you know you're gonna have a couple
of months off. And it went right from laid Mark

(36:05):
through the portal, which was one of the most crazy,
technic periods of days that I've ever encountered. I hope
that does not happen again next year. I think that
I can I can safely say I believe that everyone
else industry is still the same way. But I'm blessed
and lucky this place is. It's pretty impressive what I

(36:28):
thought it was. It's even better times ten as far
as the resources and support. And I'm really really excited
about the people in the building, whether it's supports staff,
the coaching staff, the administration, and better you get the players.
So yeah, it's been crazy. I feel like I'm finally
getting my feet on the ground here a bit. And

(36:51):
but man, I'm just ravey to season the star. I'm
realated to get these guys better. And Coach Miller and
those guys have done a great job so far having
any organized and planned out. So I think we're gonna
I'm patiently optimistic to hear about what we can't really have.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
Yeah, and you mentioned the season getting here. From my standpoint,
I can't get here soon enough. Your role, the role
of general manager in college basketball is becoming more and
more commonplace, but it is still relatively new and so
for those who here GM and college basketball, and it
doesn't necessarily make sense walk people through a what you

(37:31):
do and then b what your working relationship is like
with the head coach, who obviously in this case is
West Miller.

Speaker 8 (37:39):
Yeah, I'll take I'll take Aten b first West and
I have no E Shi for about twelve thirteen, fourteen years,
and he's been a big fan of myself the past
twelve thirteen years, and I've been a massive fan of
him of course from any Greensborough days and.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
To here now.

Speaker 8 (37:56):
So it's kind of like we're tied to hip. It's
great that we believe in very comparable similar dynamics and
virtues as far as how things to be run and
the people in the building and our value on character.
So it's been awesome so far, just having giving a

(38:17):
different lens to things as far as his coaching style
to my way of organizational and then DM role, it's
it's still ambiguous right now. I think everyone has a
different role and list of roles for that DM. Where
you look, some are going the former NBA player that

(38:38):
it's kind of like an ambassador from Afar, and some
are going the scouting role, and others are going the
front office NIL role. And it's what really drove me
here at Cincinnati was I can I can cut practically
every part of the program and help these guys hopefully

(38:58):
alleviate some of the X stuff that's pile up on
their plates. These coaches have gone from being basketball coaches
to now being CEOs or conciers of the stores. It's crazy.
So but the good thing is I love that stuff.
Like I don't want to be a coach. I want
to be the best general manager since name is basketball,

(39:21):
and that means helping these guys eat the burdens of
what's kind of added up over the past few years
to whether it's nil, whether it's the impact of the
brand as a whole, whether it is recruiting and scouting,
whether it is player relations, booster relations, it's whatever you

(39:43):
think that goes on to it in basketball program and
then some I'm touching various parts of that every day,
which really excites me. It's it's reinvigorated me to the
sense to a different degree as far as direct impact
and helping these guys achieve their goal as far as
a team and individuals. So I'm excited about it, man,

(40:04):
I really am.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
I am too, and I know a lot of other
Bearcat fans are as well. I can't thank you enough
for doing this. Congratulate. I assume you get a ring, right,
I mean, you're you got to give him your ring.
Size and okay, see now right.

Speaker 8 (40:17):
I so, manad we got league Garie Air, I'll say this,
we got de league hearts your ring last year and
hopefully the NBA won this year. And uh so we
we can't leave the third finger there, so let's let's
see the thing rolling, man. So it's a day by
day approach, sacrifice the right intent. But uh I'm very
really excited about plama see, but even more excited about

(40:39):
what we can do here since Tonati.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
No question about that. Thank you so much, congratulations, and
I hope we can do it again. Man, Thank you.

Speaker 8 (40:46):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
Thanks man. That's Corey Evans, the general manager at the
University of Cincinnati, joining west Miller's program in late March
by way of the Oklahoma City Thunder, which makes Corey
a newly minted NBA champion. Good stuff from him. We
are late five point three seven four nine, fifteen thirty.
Chase Burns is at Great American Ballpark. We'll have audio

(41:08):
of him for you coming up here in just a bit.
It's four o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (41:15):
This is sports set up.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
I'm Doug Brown. ESPN.

Speaker 11 (41:22):
Shan Scharania reports Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton does have.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
A torn right achilles.

Speaker 11 (41:28):
The non contact injury came in the first quarter of
Game seven Sunday against the Thunder. Haliburton's availability for next
season is in jeopardy. Shay Gilgess Alexander of the Thunder
is the second youngest player to win the scoring title,
the MVP and the Finals MVP in the same season,
behind only Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

Speaker 12 (41:48):
It's hard to believe that I'm I'm part of that group.
It's hard to even fathom that I'm that type of
basketball player. Sometimes as a kid, you dream, and every
kid dreams, but you don't ever really know if it's
gonna come true.

Speaker 2 (42:04):
Shake Gilges Alexander. At age thirty.

Speaker 11 (42:06):
Nine, Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley is the youngest US
captain since Arnold Palmer was a playing captain in nineteen
sixty three. Bradley tells Golf Channel the door is at
least open for him to play in September after winning
the Travelers Championship in Connecticut on Sunday.

Speaker 6 (42:26):
Your summer drink is here.

Speaker 13 (42:28):
Twisted Tea is a smooth, refreshing, hard iced tea with
five percent alcohol, making it the perfect drink to take
any day this summer to the next level. Twisted Tea
Brewing Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. Please drink responsibly.

Speaker 7 (42:43):
You see what I say.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
This show is also a raider m from ature. If
I sound distracted, it's because I'm trying to untangle myself
on my headphone. Court Here we go, Hi six after
four ESPN fifteen thirty Mowager. Thank you for listening today.
Hope you had a great weekend. Hope you're staying cool.
It's hot outs. By the way, the Reds have sent

(43:11):
some tips. This is a real thing the Reds earlier
today they start a homestand tonight it's obviously very very
very very very very high. How to stay cool at
GABP Item number one bring water. Yes, you can bring
an unopened plastic bottle of water, in fact, as many
as you would like into the ballpark, or use the
missing stations, or visit a cool room. They have cool

(43:34):
rooms with TVs, or get help if you feel sick,
and many many others that will perhaps share with you
across the course of the afternoon. Reds are getting set
to play the Yankees tonight. We have that to look
forward to. The defending America League champions are in. The
Yankees have offensively at times over the last month or so,

(43:55):
looked a lot like the Reds have various points this year.
By the way, Andrew abby yes, was terrific. I think
that was the biggest win of the season. And I
know we've attached that label to a few different wins,
but you know, they lost the last game of that
Minnesota series. They had the bullpen melt down on Friday,
a bigger bullpen melt down on Saturday. That was I

(44:16):
think you could argue the biggest gut punch loss of
the season. It's a million degrees out. It's getaway day
in Saint Louis. And Andrew Abbot absolutely delivered and it
couldn't come at a better time. He's you know, we've talked,
I'm a huge Hunter Green fan, and I think when healthy,
you know, you go a Hunter Green's one of the
best pitchers in baseball. He's the ace of the staff.

(44:38):
Well right now, he's hurt, and he's hurt all the time,
Andrew Abbitt. It's not like he's you know, been clear
and free of injury issues before. But and right now,
Andrew Rabbit's the ace of this staff and it's really
not even debatable. Hopefully, hopefully we see something Andrew Abbot
esque with at Chase Burns tomorrow. Chase just talked a

(44:58):
few minutes ago at GABP. Get some of that audio
for you.

Speaker 1 (45:02):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (45:02):
The other news of the day, Jamer Candelario, that sunk
cost is gone DFA today. The Red's gonna eat close
to twenty two twenty two and a half million dollars
the rest of the way. There's there's two different ways
to talk about this. There's this was a bad signing
and goes down as one of the worst free agency
signings in the history of the franchise, and relative to

(45:24):
the salary, the lack of production, the lack of any
sort of positive impact. Jamer Candelario, which was what three years,
forty three million dollars, goes down as one of the
worst free agent signings in recent Reds history, and Nick
Krawl should be held accountable for that. That doesn't mean
Nickkrawl should lose his job because of it, but is

(45:45):
you know, we're always assessing the job of the person,
the job the person in charge is doing. Nickkral runs
the Baseball Operations Department. Nick Krawl is the guy that said, yes,
earmark more than forty million dollars for Jamer Candelario. And
I to be honest with you, because I always am,
I don't recall anybody who thought that was a good idea.

(46:07):
It's not that you wouldn't want Jamer Candelario on your
team or didn't recognize some of the things he could
bring to the table. But I remember the offseason of
twenty three to twenty four. I recall it this way.
Most people wondering, really that kind of coin for Jamer Candelario.

(46:31):
So that's one way of looking at it. The other
way of looking at it is good move on sunk cost.
You might as well just light the money on fire.
It's not worth worrying about. You've paid the guy. He's
getting the money. You can't get out of the contract.

Speaker 3 (46:51):
Now.

Speaker 2 (46:51):
Just keep the best players. So you hate to give
them credit for moving on from Jamer Candelario because what
sticks in your cross the fact that they signed him
to begin with. But you and I both know, whether
it's the Reds or other teams, there are a lot
of Jamber Candelarios out there who are lost causes, sunk costs,

(47:16):
not worth keeping around. And yet the franchise, the organization
will exhaust every conceivable possibility with the player solely because
of the money they're paying him. And so to a degree,
you can credit the Reds for not doing that. Eating
the money for Jamer Candelario tough pill to swallow. And

(47:41):
if I'm the Phil Castellania, I'm going, okay, Nick, so uh,
here's twenty two point five million dollars that we've got
to pay to a guy to not play for us.
That looks bad on Jamer Candelario. It really looks bad
on you. But credit to them for at least not

(48:04):
allowing that to compel them to keep him on. The
Chase Burns thing here, this to me is a short
term thing, and who who knows how the rest of
the season is going to unfold. Chase Burns is being
called up because the Reds are not sixteen games under
five hundred. They're not the Pittsburgh Pirates. If the Reds

(48:26):
were the Pittsburgh Pirates, or if the Reds were what
they were three years ago, or if the Reds were
what they were for any number of years from twenty
thirteen to the present day, It would make very little
sense to call up Chase Burns at that point. Who
cares who starts? Who cares If it's Chase Burns, who

(48:47):
cares who it is? You're just playing out the string.
So they're calling him up, and I think this is important.
They're calling him up because they're in it, because these
games matter. There's still a little bit of a long
shot to make the postseason. They still need a lot
of help. I think it is completely reasonable to look

(49:08):
at their needs and go, oh man, can they fill
them all at the deadline? Because bullpen needs help, the
outfield needs help. I'm not sure what's going to be
out there for them. The starting staff could use some help,
could use some depth. They've got to get Hunter Green back.
But I don't I don't think we have to think

(49:30):
too long into the future when we talk about Chase
Burns like they're trying to win, trying to win tonight's game,
but they already have a pitcher for tonight's game. They're
trying to win tomorrow night's game. Get through this series
against the Yankees. See how Chase Burns pitches. Gauge the
progress of Hunter Green. Take a deep breath, and okay,

(49:52):
and then if it works out well tomorrow, give them
another start. And you know what, even if it doesn't
work out well tomorrow, give them another start. I'm gonna
be willing to bet that they they do not have
a concrete plan right now for how they're gonna handle
Chase Burn's innings limitations in a month or in two months.

(50:12):
And I think that's kind of refreshing. I think it's
kind of refreshing to let's worry about right now, the
way Miley injury, the rhet Louder's absence, if you want
to make it a Brandon Williams's absence, a hundred Green's absence,
Carson Spire's absence. Like, we have a whole, we have
an opening, we're going with our best guy. We're gonna
fill that opening now. Hopefully this guy does a good

(50:34):
enough job, and then we'll worry about down the road,
down the road. This feels like very Unread's type of thinking.
This feels like very Unread's sort of operating, so to speak,
Let's get through now. Let's win now, and we'll worry
about tomorrow tomorrow. Let's win now, and then you know,

(50:58):
let's see how he pitches and if Hunter Green comes back, okay,
maybe Chase Burns goes to the bullpen. Maybe he goes
back to Louisville. Maybe the Reds have a pretty formidable
six man rotation which enables Chase Burns to pitch and start,
but with one more day between starts, he doesn't have
to make as many starts. Who knows, uh? And I'm

(51:21):
sure Terry Francona and Derek Johnson and Nick Krawl have discussed,
you know, hey, down the road, there might there might
be some adjustments we have to make based on where
we are in the standings, who's healthy, who's not healthy,
how Chase Burns is pitching. That makes sense, I will
very strongly and maybe you disagree, but I will very
strongly defer to Tito Francona and Derek Johnson and to

(51:44):
a degree to Nick Krawl when it comes to how
they're going to handle Chase Burns. I haven't seen anything
to suggest what the actual number of pitches he's going
to be allowed to throw is gonna be. Chances are
they're not going to divulge that publicly, but if if
the concern is well, they could they could blow his
arm out early come on, man, the team second overall pick.

(52:07):
He's in his first professional season. Do we really believe
that Terry Francona and Derek Johnson and Nick Crawl was
so much riding on Chase Burns that they're going to
be irresponsible with them. They're not. They're just they're they're
using the best possible option to get through this week
and to get through the next couple of weeks and
to just get them maybe to the All Star break

(52:28):
where they could take a breadth and figure out what's next.
And I think that's refreshing. I think emphasizing this game right,
the one they have in front of them tonight and
then the one they have in front of them tomorrow,
is you know, two years ago at the trade deadline,
the Reds didn't really do anything. They added Sam Mall,
who you know, was pretty good, but their starting pitching

(52:50):
was atrocious and they didn't address it. And at the
time I hated it. I hate it now. I will
always wonder what could have happened had the Reds added
to their starting pitching, What could have happened had the
Reds gotten into the postseason. We'll never know. I think
there was value to getting to the playoffs two years ago,
even if they didn't win a game in the playoffs,

(53:11):
but you know it was well, forget about now, worry
about later. We're too worried about later to fix now.
That was the message two years ago. We're too worried
about later to fix now. With this, this is the opposite.
We're going to fix now, worry about later later, and

(53:33):
do so in a way that's not irresponsible. I get
the Reds lose I don't know thirteen of their next
fifteen and fall once and for all out of contention.
You know, re examine what you're doing with jayse Burns.
If he pitches three games and gets you know, his
head beat in, then you know, re examine what you're
doing with Jase Burns. If he's pitching fine and yet
the team is cretered and you still think there's value

(53:56):
in running him out there to the degree that it
makes sense, then keep him at the big league level.
But when now worry about later later, that is that
is not what you're doing. If they're eighteen hunder five hundred,
and it's not what they did two years ago when
they were in first place on July thirty first, seventeen
after four o'clock, Ken Rosenthal talked about the Reds being aggressive,

(54:21):
maybe more aggressive than many expect. That coming up here
later on this hour. There's no real Trey hendrickson news. Well,
I was on vacation. I guess the Bengals in tray
discussed some stuff but really didn't in ch any closer
to a deal being done. Meanwhile, Trey is in Cincinnati,
He's working out at a facility in Blue ash And

(54:43):
maybe that means something, maybe it does not. I I've
heard and looked at a lot of Trey hendricks in
trade rumors or people wondering about are talking about Trey
Hendricks in trade. There are no Trey Hendricks in trade rumors.
There's Trey hendrickson trade talk. I think there's a difference

(55:04):
between the two. We'll get to that. And uh, I
do have a couple of poll questions we have to
sift through as well. We'll throw them out there on
Twitter during the break on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (55:14):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from the.

Speaker 7 (55:20):
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Traffic on seventy five southbound Hopple to the Brent Spence Bridge.
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Speaker 4 (55:51):
Cincinnati's sports station ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (55:54):
You're gonna hear Chase Burns in twelve minutes. Chase Burns
is a name and a sentence. Chase Burns, you kind
of forget. There's a game tonight. Nicolodolo is going to
pitch against Alan Winen's Brandanman and Jones on baseball coming
up here in a bit. A couple of pole questions
out there on Twitter thanks to United Heartland Insurance. We'll

(56:16):
get to them momentarily, but first, for like the first
time in weeks, Mike, go ahead, you're on ESPN fifteen thirty.
Where have you been, Mike? Mike, He's not there, he's
not ready. Maybe it's me. Let's do this maybe I

(56:37):
think button Mike you there? Oh man? We hadn't heard
from Mike, you know, I think before we before I
went on vacation, he was a wall for a while,
dealing with some medical stuff. And I got a bunch
of emails from him over the weekend and I hadn't
heard from him in a while, and I was getting worried.
And I looked on the screen and there he was,
and as it is, no Mike, no Mike at all,

(56:58):
We'll move on. It's funny. Mike underwent I think a
medical procedure a few weeks ago. I think he disclosed
that to the guys on since he three sixty and
I've gotten text about Mike. How's he doing? Have you
heard from him? What's going on? And I was about
to find out and then lo and behold the not
Oh wait a minute, wait a minute, is he there? Mike?

Speaker 3 (57:22):
Yeah, guy's sorry. They had to I'm going to change something.
How are you doing, Mike?

Speaker 2 (57:30):
Vacation was was nice. It's great to hear your voice.
How are you.

Speaker 3 (57:37):
Uh trying to adapting to be an empty tee?

Speaker 2 (57:42):
Really?

Speaker 3 (57:44):
Yep? The only way you can look at well? All right,
I'm I'm over at the initial ye know, like I
don't know how to describe it, but I'm over that now.
I think okay, And so it's just weird. But you know,
I guess when you get to be seventy two, seventy
three years old, you stuff starts crapping out. Yeah, you

(58:07):
got to deal with it.

Speaker 2 (58:07):
Yeah, Well, look you're still with us, and it's nice
to hear your voice. And I'm sure you have called
this show to talk about things beyond that. So the
floors yours.

Speaker 3 (58:18):
Yeah, I've got so many things, and they got me
on some you know, kind of these meds. So I'm
going to try to be as cogent as I possibly can.

Speaker 2 (58:28):
But do you have any that you can share with me?

Speaker 3 (58:32):
Do I have anyone?

Speaker 2 (58:33):
Do you have any of those meds that you would
be willing to share with me?

Speaker 3 (58:37):
Yeah, but I would probably both go to jail.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
I can't afford that. Mich nohing with Karen.

Speaker 3 (58:44):
Could be the Karen, can you beat a middleman and
make this deal happen? Don't.

Speaker 2 (58:49):
We don't want Taren to go to jail either. I
don't want to go to jail. You don't want to
go to jail. I just want you to take care
of yourself. And I've had people reach out to me
because you know, you haven't called the show in a while.
And then I I you know, I was off for
a week and a half. I don't know if you
check your email anymore, but I actually email agent said, hey, man,
how's it going. Everything okay, how the procedure going.

Speaker 1 (59:09):
Yeah, I was.

Speaker 2 (59:09):
I didn't hear from you, and so I was a
little bit worried.

Speaker 3 (59:13):
Yeah, I was shocked. I got that email from you,
and I send you one hundred and you send me one.
Of course I go over the top of it, all right.

Speaker 2 (59:20):
The ratio is off, I will admit that. But when
I didn't hear from you, I was a little concerned.
So when I got one from you last night during
the basketball game, it made me feel really good because
I was concerned, and I've had other people ask me.
So I'm glad you're okay. Now beyond that, Mike, beyond you,
what is on your mind?

Speaker 11 (59:41):
Ah?

Speaker 3 (59:41):
Gee? Where I want to start? You want to talk? Okay?
Last night? Now I want to do baseball and basketball.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
I got.

Speaker 3 (59:46):
I got some very good content because I've had a
lot of time to say, well, let's hear it, let's go.
It's on football questions, but we'll save that for another night. Hey,
huh regarding basketball night Tyree terrible summer, it's interesting, have
you heard this?

Speaker 4 (01:00:05):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (01:00:06):
And you know how I thought of right away? Well,
I thought of Carson, but yeah, that passed quickly, and
then I just thought a Kenyon. I went white to
Kenyon Marts when that happened to Tyree's last night.

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
Yeah, I understand. I don't think it's necessarily apples and apples,
But I mean, if you're going to ask me and
many many others about the most as a fan at
least devastating basketball injury, you could recall. I mean, for
me it was Kenny Martin. You know when when Tyrese
Haliburton got hurt last night, I still felt like Indiana
had a chance. Hey, they have a good deep team,

(01:00:40):
they have guys who can shoot from outside. They still
hung in there in the first half. They had a
one point lead at halftime, and I thought, they can
figure out a way Rick Carlile can figure out a
way to keep this game close in the in the
fourth quarter, and then you know, get a stop or
two and maybe make the game play and play the
game a little bit up and down. He has a
good backup guard. Like I still felt like the Pacers

(01:01:03):
could win the game. Uh, obviously that wasn't the case.
And at the end of the third quarter you kind
of knew Okayse was gonna win. When Kenyon Martin got
hurt in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA tournament in
two thousand, I knew UC was not going to win
the national championship. And I think if anybody at the
time was being honest with themselves, they would tell you
the same thing. Now, you might have thought, well, they

(01:01:24):
can still make a run get to the Sweet sixteen.

Speaker 3 (01:01:27):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
They lost in the second round of Tulsa that year,
but I knew their their national title hopes were up
up in smoke. I did feel like when Halliburton got
hurt last night, I felt for him because, especially after
the start that he got off to, he was, you know,
deprived of a chance to play in Game seven of
an NBA finals. But I still felt like his team

(01:01:48):
could win, And so to me, that's the difference.

Speaker 8 (01:01:52):
I too.

Speaker 3 (01:01:52):
And then the really sad part of that was Tyreeves
came out and he was on fire.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
It was awesome. He was awesome. He's best on the floor,
and when he has been at his best in the postseason,
he has controlled the game. Uh you know, he he
runs that attack, he plays fast. I felt for him personally,
and I still you know, the way the game played out,
my guess is Okaysee still would have won. But when
he got hurt, I thought, I'm not ruling out Indiana

(01:02:21):
winning this game. When Keny Hear and I rolled out
their chances of winning.

Speaker 3 (01:02:25):
The title, yeah, absolutely. It's really funny with those achilles
injuries because every time a guy gets one, they automatically
look back. And I heard him talking about that last night,
and they say that to a man, when you blow
an achilles, it feels like somebody came up behind you
and kicked you in the back of your shin and

(01:02:47):
you know, in the back of your opposite your shinbone.
And and that's why guys look back, because they don't
automatically think it's their achilles. They think somebody kicked them.
Interesting phenomenon. I thought you might want to ask your
guys at the orthopedics about that. Why guys do that?

Speaker 5 (01:03:05):
This week?

Speaker 3 (01:03:06):
Thank you on this day. That's it for basketball.

Speaker 2 (01:03:11):
On this day.

Speaker 3 (01:03:14):
And on June twenty, No, June might have been this
date in nineteen sixty three. This is a good trivia
for you month. Well, no, I can't put in a
trivia for him. There was a kind of a whack
job ballplayer named Jimmy Pearsall you've heard of him. They
wrote a couple of books about him, and the mayde
a movie about.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
It, Fear Strikes Out. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:03:36):
Yeah, And in June of nineteen sixty three, when he
was with the Mets, when he hit his one hundred
home run versus the Phillies, he ran the bass pass backwards.
He did the home plate. I think that is the
coolest thing I've ever heard of.

Speaker 5 (01:03:53):
In my life.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
Yeah, he did that. Now they ruled him out right
like they did not after he did that, he did
not count as a home run, correct, No, it did.

Speaker 3 (01:04:05):
It was his one hundredth home run.

Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
So he hits the ball out of the ballpark, runs
around the bases backwards, and they still count it.

Speaker 3 (01:04:13):
They count it because the only thing they said was
different was that he was face in the outfield instead
of face in the infield. Wait, seriously, check it out,
Google it, because that was just one hundredth home run.

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
Yeah, no, I believe you. I believe you.

Speaker 3 (01:04:29):
That's the coolest, the most bizarre thing, Ellie. I think,
poor Elie, maybe instead of taking the sliding gloves, you
might want to take a.

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
Barf back the ultimate puke and rally Mike he Homer's
They clean it up and then he hits a big,
go ahead home run on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (01:04:46):
Is that unreal? Or I was so proud of that guy.
I couldn't stand it. I thought it was great.

Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
I thought for a second that we're going to have
to take him out of the game. You know, Hunter
Green did that a couple of times last year where
he threw up on the mound and then can continued.
And Ellie did that on Saturday, and I thought they
were going to have to take him out and he
ends up hitting the two run Homer.

Speaker 3 (01:05:04):
Yeah, they took that picture out for whoever it was yesterday,
because he definitely had a heat had a heat stroke
or heat exhaust. And I for at which seam it was.
But that's dangerous stuff in that kind of heat. But
you must be in your realm right now with the heat.
This is your stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:05:17):
I love it now. I understand there are folks who,
you know, underlying health issues may be compromised because of
the heat. And I certainly understand there are folks who
might not have access to you know, air conditioning and
stuff like that. But me personally, if you said, you know,
you could have ninety five degree weather or twenty five

(01:05:41):
degree weather or fifty five degree what I like the hot?
I like the heat, So sign me up for this.

Speaker 3 (01:05:51):
Shoot. There was another thing, baseball thing. Well, I got
some good football stuff, but we'll wait. The most home
run hit in the stadium this year? What two stadiums.

Speaker 2 (01:06:04):
Of all the ballparks in baseball?

Speaker 3 (01:06:07):
Yes, so far this year.

Speaker 2 (01:06:09):
It's a not great American ballpark. No, I know that
Corsfield obviously would be number one.

Speaker 3 (01:06:19):
Nope, no, nope. Check it out Dodgers Stadium with one
hundred and twenty. Okay, well, because it's a lot of
home runs Yankee Stadium. I believe that, because they hit
a lot of home runs, especially with that right field porch.
They got one hundred and eleven. But the third and
fourteens that they're tied for third, the Los Angeles Angels

(01:06:41):
and the Arizona d Backs with one hundred and ten
is that crazy. It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:06:47):
Where's Where's great American Ballpark?

Speaker 3 (01:06:51):
I didn't, I didn't. I can't remember.

Speaker 9 (01:06:53):
Mother.

Speaker 3 (01:06:54):
I think I threw a list away by accident. But
it was up there, but it wasn't and it wasn't
in the top ten. It was not in the top ten.
What's surprising. Okay, I'm boring everybody now. I guess they
should shut up.

Speaker 2 (01:07:05):
You're not boring me at all, Mike. It's nice to
hear your voice hanging there. We're all thinking of you.

Speaker 3 (01:07:09):
Okay, Thanks, And it is amazing that the Tampa Bay Rays,
with an eighty eight million dollars payroll, fourth from the bottom,
are two and a half games out of first place.

Speaker 5 (01:07:22):
My game.

Speaker 2 (01:07:24):
Terrific organization. Terrific organization in a in a division fill
of big spenders. Mike, thank you very much. Chase Burns,
you'll hear from him next. And sports headlines on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 4 (01:07:35):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (01:07:39):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center at u See Health.

Speaker 7 (01:07:43):
You'll find comprehensive care, so precinal that makes your best
tomorrow possible. That's bombless care forfender outcomes. Expect more at
UC health dot com traffic sewing seventy five southbound from
Hoppele to the Brent Spence Bridge overturn vehicle I reported
on Finley at Winch with police on the scene. In
seventy five northbound at Buttermilk Pike in Kentucky, crash on

(01:08:04):
the shoulder by'm rich shrimp with traffic.

Speaker 6 (01:08:08):
This report is sponsored by it from College for the summer.

Speaker 2 (01:08:12):
Doesn't start talking to mom about her supplements. Sports headlines
are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet. So you're taking that
vitamin D mom, very good home of lifetime power train
protection and guaranteed credit approval. But mom, you're still taking
that folic acid pill. Mom from their family to yours
for life. Kelseychev dot Com. Reds and Yankees tonight at

(01:08:36):
GABP seven to ten Tonight's first pitch on seven hundred WLW.
Cincinnati lost a two out of three over the weekend
of Saint Louis, but they won yesterday, so they're trying
to extend their current winning streak to two. Your starting
line up against Alan Winan tonight, Nicolodolo's on the mound
for Cincinnati. I think I already mentioned that Freido's and center,
McLean's at second, Ellie's had short steers at first, Gavin

(01:08:58):
Lux and leftfield Tyler's Stevenson is dhing. Travino is catching
against his former team. Jake frelian Wright. Cees is batting
nine for the first time in his big league career.
First of three night game Tonight, night game, Tomorrow, night
game on Wednesday, all at seven ten, every pitch on
seven hundred WLW JM or Candelario has been designated for assignment.

(01:09:19):
Red's gonna eat roughly twenty two and a half million
dollars of his remaining salary. Chase Burns MLB pipeline has
him ranked as the eleventh best prospect in baseball. He
is with the team, He is going to start tomorrow.
He talked with the media just a short while ago.

Speaker 13 (01:09:35):
What are your emotions right now as you sit here,
everything been told or plus a couple days and now
the Big Lee club house.

Speaker 10 (01:09:43):
I'm just excited, I mean said dream country, qualk in
here and see some familiar faces and actually be a
big leader. So it's a lot of hallworks paid off.
So I'm excited to be here.

Speaker 3 (01:09:53):
Con did only thirteen minor league starts.

Speaker 12 (01:09:56):
How fast is the world had been in your first
pro season to be here already.

Speaker 10 (01:10:00):
Yeah, I mean I talked about it a lot, you know,
wanting to move up quick and make an impact, but
when it actually happens and you're actually here, it's just
it's surreal. So, I mean, just the other day I
felt like I was in Dayton making my first professional start,
and now I'm here, So I'm excited.

Speaker 13 (01:10:16):
What tells yourself that you were riding on this long?

Speaker 10 (01:10:20):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:10:20):
I guess we'll find out.

Speaker 10 (01:10:22):
You never really know, honestly, but just going out there
and give him a hundred percent and see what how
it goes from there. How did you get a call?

Speaker 13 (01:10:31):
Uh?

Speaker 10 (01:10:31):
So I was actually leaving Louisville Stadium with uh my
roommates like done, and uh PK, our manager at Louisville,
actually called me twice and uh I didn't feel it,
And then he called me back there and I was
wearing UH shorts and a T shirt and I asked
Done before the game. I was like, hey, man, can
I wear this to the field. He's like, yeah, man,
you're fine, And uh PK didn't know that, but he

(01:10:53):
was like, this is totally unacceptable. M you wearing this,
and I was like, heart dropped and I was like, oh, man,
do I look that bad?

Speaker 5 (01:11:00):
And he was like yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:11:02):
He's like, they're not gonna let you wear this in
the big leagues. And from there it's just all smiles
and emotions.

Speaker 12 (01:11:07):
So it was awesome.

Speaker 10 (01:11:08):
Issu Drain and Chase about pressure of being the first
round pick, and Dans.

Speaker 3 (01:11:12):
Tried and he's I'm dealing with that.

Speaker 5 (01:11:15):
Eye you're build for.

Speaker 10 (01:11:18):
Uh, there's gonna be a pressure or anything you do
in life. So that's what my dad stood to me.
And of course being the number two overall pick, you're
gonna have a lot of pressure. But at the end
of the day, it's a game.

Speaker 2 (01:11:29):
You gotta go out there and have fun.

Speaker 11 (01:11:31):
So did you get a chance to talk to the
old Chase about pitch individually?

Speaker 10 (01:11:36):
Yeah, me and Petty we've kind of got a little
bit closer now that I'm actually playing next to him,
so I've asked him a lot of questions and he's
been a great support group.

Speaker 2 (01:11:46):
So Chase Burns talking with the media apparently no microphones
for the mediat GABP either are gonna make his major
league debut tomorrow. He was awaiting to find out who
was gonna draft him about ten and a half months ago,
and he's going to take a big league mound tomorrow
against the defending American League champion New York Yankees. This

(01:12:09):
is an earned debut. Made three starts for Dayton and
was good, then went to Chattanooga and was pretty much otherworldly.
Eight starts, forty two innings, fifty five punchouts, four walks,
and then made two starts for Louisville in a combined

(01:12:31):
twelve and a third innings, had an ERA of two
point one nine with fourteen strikeouts four walks, did not
allow a homer. Chase Burns make his big league debut tomorrow.
I find some of that audio from his in studio
appearance with us and play that tomorrow along with our
conversation with Jonathan Mayo of MLB Pipeline. Can you just like,

(01:12:57):
if you allow yourself to go to a place filled
with optimism, you can envision a starting rotation that includes
a healthy Hunter Green, perhaps twenty twenty five, perhaps twenty
twenty five n L All Star, Andrew Abbott, Nicolodolo, and

(01:13:23):
Chase Burns, you know, plus obviously Brady Singer and Nick
Martinez it's not beyond the realm of possibility, at least
shouldn't be that. Maybe the way the Reds navigate this
is by using a six man rotation. We'll see then
you just you know, you add you know. I still
feel like the Reds are high on Chase Petty, still

(01:13:43):
feel like there's reasons to be high on rhet Louder
like there is. It's a nice collection of arms. It'd
be great to have them all healthy at once. One
other note I mentioned, Jamber Candelario has been dfaed. Ellie
Dela Cruz is the only Red who's anywhere close to
contending to be the National League starter in his respective position. Obviously,

(01:14:08):
Ellie plays short. He's about a million votes behind Francisco
Lindor and a few hundred thousand votes behind Mookie Betts
where one and two, Ellie is third. I think twenty
three percent of the people who have voted on one
of my poll questions are lying. I say this as
somebody who can romanticize over what it was like as

(01:14:28):
a kid to go to Riverfront Stadium, and even not
so much as a kid the first few years of
Great American Ballpark and sit down in your seat and
you know, at some point, like in the third or
fourth inning, the usher would come over with a stack
of ballots for the All Star Game, and then like

(01:14:49):
somebody had to have something sharp, or you would like
use a key, or if somebody had the right, you know,
proper fingernail, do the punch card thing and vote for
your favorite All Stars or not your favorite vote for
the stars. And if you were a total nerd like me,
like actually have a conversation with the person that you
were with about, you know, the merits of voting for
this player over this player. Those days are long gone.

(01:15:12):
We now do it on MLB dot com. I haven't
voted for an All Star in fifteen years, I could
say you. The last time I did it was when
Joey Vado was originally snubbed in twenty ten. If you remember,
the initial ballot came out and Joey Evado led the
National League and maybe all of baseball at ops and
he wasn't on the team, and MLB was doing a

(01:15:34):
thing at the time where they had like one more
spot the last ballot, I forget what they called it,
and they had like three or four people on the ballot.
Joey was one of them, and I'm like, I'm voting,
and it was kind of a cool social media thing
back when Twitter was, you know, a lot more fun
than it is now. And so I voted a lot
for Joe Evado. It's the last time i've I don't
think I know people have voted because I see the

(01:15:56):
vote totals. I have not met one person in the
last five day, six years who currently votes for All Stars.
So I've I put a poll on the thing on
Twitter at Moulager thanks to United Heartland Insurance. Do you
vote for All Stars? Twenty two point nine of you
say yes. I don't know that twenty two point nine percent.

(01:16:19):
Eighty five percent of that twenty two point nine percent
is lying. The other pole question is how do you
feel about BUCkies? I told Austin on since three sixty
I went to BUCkies for the first time on my
way back from Florida and it was fine. It was fine,
good sandwich, clean restroom, UH filled my tank. Guess, wasn't

(01:16:44):
overly expensive compared to the other places I could have gone,
wasn't dramatically more inexpensive, Still little much, but I mention
people love BUCkies. I put on my Instagram you know,
a series of photos. Not that anybody cares about your

(01:17:04):
vacation photos, but you know, I like to share what
was going on. I got a cute kid picture of
my family. There's a couple of my daughter, there's my wife.
There's a silhouette of my daughter. There's a picture of
me rolling around on the beach like a beach well,
there's a picture of me sleeping. There's one of the
dinner table, me and my cousins, a bunch more of
my family, and then the very last one is at

(01:17:26):
me at BUCkies. Took a picture myself at BUCkies, and
within about fifteen minutes of posting this, I got three
text messages from people, not how was the beach, how
was the drive? Or did Crosley enjoy Florida? It was
how is BUCkies? I went to BUCkies? Which ones you
go to? People love the BUCkies? So again, good sandwich

(01:17:50):
for a gas station sandwich, very good. I just I
don't need a tourist stop when I'm in the middle
of a twelve hour drive. I'm just I'm looking to
go to the bathroom and get some than to drink,
maybe something to eat, and move on. And especially when
you have an eight year old, and you stop in
a place the size of BUCkies, which is the size
of like a Walmart. You're not getting in and out

(01:18:10):
in just a couple of minutes. So vote now, how
do you feel about BUCkies? At Mullager right over the
Jones on Baseball's.

Speaker 4 (01:18:17):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (01:18:22):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center at UCEE Health.

Speaker 7 (01:18:26):
You'll find comprehensive care so presental it makes your best
tomorrow possible. That's bondless care for pender outcomes. Expect more
at ucehealth dot com. Traffic heavy on seventy five South
boond Hopple to the Brent Spence Bridge. Overturned vehicle findling
a winch will being cleaned up seventy five South after
shephard the accident is off on the left shoulder and

(01:18:47):
reading at Northcut. Accident with police on the scene. My
brick shrunk with traffic.

Speaker 1 (01:18:53):
This report is sponsored by winn Now your chance to
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five O five es. Then fifteen thirty. It is the
Mikeelo Ultra five.

Speaker 2 (01:19:10):
O'clock Happy Hour. Thanks to michelob Ultra Superior Taste. I
may have had a few Mick Ultras last week, I
may not have waited till five o'clock to have them.
Superior taste, superior light beer, perfect summertime dranking, make culture.
If you're going to the ball game tonight, if you're
gonna go watch the Reds and Yanks enjoying ice cold

(01:19:33):
mid Ultra new Walk Lasso Klahoma City Thunder. Last night,
the Oklahoma City Thunder had miculture in the locker room. Correct. Yes,
none of them seemed to know how to open up
a bottle of champagne, which they took some heat for.
Only Alex Caruso, who is over thirty, showed them. Stepped
up and showed them how to open up a bottle

(01:19:54):
of champagne. I probably didn't open a bottle of champagne
until I was thirty years old. So I'm I'm giving
the guys on the OKC Thunder a little bit of
a pass for not knowing how to break open a
bottle of Bubbly last night. It's probably when you're you know,
twenty two to twenty three years old. How open? How
often are you opening up bottles of champagne? So instead
enjoy a bottle of michelob Ultra. See what I did there?

(01:20:17):
Rads do play the Yankees tonight. They'll do it without
Jamer Candelario, who has been DFA. Nick Crawl says, quote,
it just didn't work out. That is the understatement of
the season. Jamer Candelario wasn't very good last year. Remember
remember spring training, Remember February the jamber Candelario the subject
of a lot of those He's in the best shape

(01:20:38):
of his life pieces or he is he We're seeing
a renewed dedication to his craft from Jamber Candelario. Well,
that renewed dedication to his craft did not yield good
results once the game started. Then he got hurt and
they put him on the injured list. Then he went
on a rehab assignment. He wasn't very good there. They've
cut him loose. They have to eat twenty two and
a half million dollars. Yesterday's game was big, big, and

(01:21:04):
you don't want to make it to be bigger than
it is. But you know they had cooled off a
little bit after winning five straight. They lose the series
finale against Minnesota. They lose the game on Friday, where
Singer pitch as well. They lose the game on Saturday,
where the bullpen implodes in the eighth and ninth inning

(01:21:26):
and the statistical oddity of all statistical oddities continues where
they continue to not score an extra innings and they
lose the game and eleven. It was hot yesterday. The
Cardinals have been playing a little bit better. It was
getaway day. You're losing, you fall back to five hundred
and instead, thankfully Andrew Abbott delivered. So now they give

(01:21:48):
the ball to Nicko Lodolo tonight and tomorrow it's Chase Burns,
who we heard from just about thirty minutes ago. This
is exciting. This is I think the Reds are acting
like a playoff contender because they're prioritizing winning. Now. They're
using the best available option. They're not sliding into an

(01:22:09):
open spot some guy at Louisville. Well, you know what,
we could take this guy who was supposed to pitch
on Tuesday and slide him in. Maybe Chase Burns was
supposed to pitch on Tuesday. I do not know, nor
do I care. What I do know is he was
the best available option, and the Reds needed a spot
filled in the rotation. They didn't call on some four

(01:22:30):
A guy. They didn't call on some guy who had
dfa'd by a couple of teams earlier this year. They're
not going to try to get cute. They went with
their best pitching prospect whose stuff appears to be big
league ready, and don't worry about the rest later. It's
refreshing to see the Reds worrying about the rest later.

(01:22:52):
They're behaving like a contending team. A contending team uses
the best guy, and that doesn't mean they're gonna act
irresponsibly with Chase Burns. I'd be willing to bet that
they don't. In fact, i'd be willing to bet that
if Chase Burns ends up being really good and sticks
and holds down a spot in the rotation, that there
are times when we want Terry Francona and Derek Johnson

(01:23:16):
to push it a little bit. So I'm gonna guess
they behave very responsibly with Chase Burns, and you know,
what they do will be a reflection of how he pitches,
who else is available, how well the team is playing,
where they are in the standings. They're trying to stack
wins now, and you do that by using your best guys.
Right now, Chase Burns is one of their best five guys.

(01:23:37):
This is how contending teams behave. Contending teams also respond
when their best players are playing better. So Matt McClain
took a lot of criticism for months man and understandably so.
And it wasn't criticism against him the person. It was
criticism of his lack of performance. It's undeniable. Matt McClain

(01:24:04):
over the first two months of the season represented perhaps
the team's biggest disappointment. But he is swinging a good
bat ten game hitting streak his last fifteen games. His
OPS is nine to eighty one. He's getting on base
at a forty two percent clip. This team needs the
guys who are supposed to be their best players to

(01:24:25):
be their best players. Ellie Dela Cruz. Ellie Dela Cruz,
for the first two months of the season month and
a half of the season, was having an ok year.
Over his last twenty six games, the ops is above
a thousand. He's hit nine home runs. He's hitting it
a three to sixteen clip. I still have no idea
what's going to happen when he catches the baseball at shortstop,

(01:24:45):
but offensively and oftentimes defensively. The throw he made on
that Saturday in Detroit was something he's been really, really good.
This team needs Ellie Delacruz to make a leap, and
maybe he is starting to do so. They need Matt
McLain to be a positive offensive contributor, and maybe he
is starting to do so. If you believe that those
things will continue, and if you believe that this team

(01:25:08):
has a legitimate, bonafide top end rotation, and if you
believe that the players who are coming off the injured
list are gonna be positive contributors, if you believe that
the core of players that you have right now has
its best baseball in front of them, then you've got

(01:25:28):
to be aggressive in making the team better when you
can now. Yes, trades can happen in June, most notably
the Red Sox and Giants just made one last Monday
when Rafael Dever's got dealt by Boston to San Francisco
and then homeward against his old team this weekend. But
as we talk about the Reds getting better via trades,

(01:25:49):
chances are those deals are going to happen close to
July thirty first, In what shape will the Reds be?
I have no idea. They have a bunch of games
against really good teams in front of them, three starting tonight,
then three more this weekend. They've got a really forgiving
stretch right before the All Star break where they play
Miami and Colorado. But there's they still have a lot
of ball to play and a lot to prove, and

(01:26:12):
maybe some positioning to take care of between now and
around July thirty first. But I thought this was interesting.
This is from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and Fox Sports,
talking about the Reds and the trade deadline on his
Fair Territory podcast.

Speaker 9 (01:26:32):
I'll give you one team that I do expect to
be aggressive, more aggressive than maybe we would expect. That's
the Cincinnati Reds.

Speaker 3 (01:26:40):
They've invested a lot in this team.

Speaker 9 (01:26:42):
Already, They've got really good pitching, They've got more pitching coming,
and they're a team that seems to be at least
one bad way, but a team with some promise, and
with Terry Francona, you've invested in him as a manager,
I would expect they're going to do some things.

Speaker 2 (01:26:59):
That's Kenhal on his Fair Territory podcast. Now, a couple
of things about that. You might sort of snicker at
the suggestion that the uh that they've invested a lot
in this team, and you you might, you might you
might say, well, wait a minute, for the Reds to
be more aggressive than we expected would mean that they're
simply somewhat aggressive, because we typically don't, you know, expect

(01:27:19):
the Reds to be that aggressive at the trade deadline.
And to be fair, the last time they were serious
contenders at the deadline was two years ago. Reds didn't
really do anything relative to their biggest weakness because they
did acquire Sam Mall, but their starting pitching was awful
and Sam mal is not a starting pitcher. In twenty
twenty one, that team was in the hunt around the

(01:27:40):
trade deadline and they acquired a couple of relievers, but
really didn't make their team dramatically better. Now I know,
my favorite trope is, well, hurt guy coming back is
going to be our best deadline acquisition. And maybe they
do that with Hunter Green again. I hope not.

Speaker 7 (01:27:55):
To me.

Speaker 2 (01:27:56):
It's pretty simple. When you wanted him to be aggressive,
that doesn't mean that the team stinks. That means that
you believe in the players the Reds have. And if
you're a believer in Ellie de la Cruz, and if
you're a believer in Matt McClain, and if you're you're
a believer in the Reds starting pitching, and you're a
believer in Andrew Abbott, you're a believer in Tyler Stevenson

(01:28:16):
and Jose Travino and TJ Friedel, who's having a very
good season. If you believe in those players, and if
you believe that their good performances will continue, then don't
you want to supplement them with something that can assist
them in their goal of getting to the postseason. We

(01:28:39):
talk all the time about gotta pay Ellie, Pay Ellie,
which I'm here for, or you gotta you know who's next,
Who's gonna get paid next? Is it Matt McLean? Is
it Nick? Gonna pay these guys? Got to keep these guys.
Let's make it about Ellie here for a second. I
don't know if he's gonna be Baseball's first one billion

(01:29:01):
dollar player. The market's going to determine that, maybe the
new CBA is going to determine that his own play
is going to go a long way toward determining that.
But one of the things you could do to compel
him to want to continue to play here is to
win while he's here. Is to give him a chance
to play on baseball's biggest stages, like the postseason. The

(01:29:30):
best way to do that is to build the best
possible team right now. Again, it's June twenty third, There's
weeks of ball in front of this team. They're two
over five hundred. This could creter almost instantly get swept
by the Yankees, lose to out of three to the Padres,
and it's a different conversation. But what I want to
know is, and I think what you want to know

(01:29:52):
is this Rets are being aggressive with this Chase Burns thing.
We've got an opening. He's our best guy. That's the
guy we're using, and we'll worry about later or later.
They're three out of the wildcard. I think it's gonna
be hard for them to catch the Cubs. But they're
right now, I think not even on the fringes of contention,

(01:30:15):
you can consider them playoff hopefuls. Let's do that hopefuls.
If on July twenty third, a little bit more than
a week away from the deadline, they're still playoff hopefuls.
Will they be as aggressive? I remember two years ago
and we I tried to do this exercise. The Reds

(01:30:36):
were in first place at the deadline despite having awful
starting pitching, and they had this real fun summer you
remember it, where a lot of guys got to the
big leagues, joined the team and made an almost instant impact,
and they won in a stretch where they won twelve
games in a row. But they were doing this despite
having awful starting pitching. Getting by every night with David

(01:30:59):
Bell having to go was bullpen in the third or
fourth inning, and many of us said, go get a
starting pitcher. The counter to that was, come on, now,
they're ahead of schedule. Don't want to mortgage the future.
And my question, and I think what a lot of
us wondered, was what move is out there that would
have mortgaged the future? Like, being aggressive doesn't mean that

(01:31:24):
you have to give up any chance you have of
winning next season. Being aggressive doesn't have to mean dramatically overpaying.
It means looking at your team and deciding you're giving
it a chance now with the willingness to give up
something of value that can help you later, not damaging

(01:31:47):
your chances of winning down the road. I bought something
recently on eBay. I'm not going to talk about what
it was. I was pretty aggressive with my bidding. I
had a limit, I had a limit that I was
going to spend, but I was pretty aggressive with my bidding.

(01:32:09):
I bid a dollar amount that was significantly higher than
what the current bid was. Had the bidding gotten any higher,
I was going to say no. But I was pretty
aggressive with my bidding and happy with what I paid.
Being aggressive doesn't have to mean that you just here,
here's our system, here's our farm system, here's all our prospects.

(01:32:31):
Plunge and take whatever ones you want. It means. It means,
you know, just putting a little bit more into the
hearing now, with a little bit less concern for what
may happen if you get rid of somebody who can
help you down the road. It could also involve trading

(01:32:51):
big league players for big league players. Being aggressive, at
least when it comes to the trade deadline. To me,
and again we're not quite there yet, means looking at
your team right now, the collections of players, the collection
of players you have right now, and giving it a
little bit more of a chance, and it also involves

(01:33:18):
in putting a little bit more stock in what you
have right now. Let's just say, for the sake of argument,
that over the next I don't know, twenty or so games,
a bunch of players who are hot stay hot, a
bunch of players who aren't hot get hot, and this
team plays well enough that you look at the standings

(01:33:41):
and there's no argument about it. Close to July thirty, first,
this team is in the hunt, maybe for a wild
card spot. You're not going to give those guys a
little bit more now. I think what's interesting, and you
can have these discussions, is what do you target first,
or if you can only make one deal, what do
you do? Because they can use starting pitching help, they

(01:34:05):
could use bullpen help, they obviously could use any number
of position players. There's a very good chance they're not
going to be able to upgrade every area where they
have a need. But can you imagine how deflating it
would feel if this team is in a position where
you could legitimately say they're in contention, and the deadline

(01:34:27):
comes and the deadline goes and they have done nothing. Again,
this whole thing blows up if they lose a whole
bunch of games. If they lose sixteen of their next twenty,
well shelvet move on. Talk about next year. So there's
the curiosity. There's the question. Reds are being aggressive with
Chase Burns because this is how a contending team behaves.

(01:34:50):
We're using our best guy. We'll worry about later later.
Will that continue if this team is in it in
five weeks? It should? It should, But the recent track
record leaves you at least a little bit skeptical, doesn't it.
Five one, three, seven, four nine, fifteen thirty is our

(01:35:13):
phone number. I just read a few minutes ago, a
very level headed take from Shamar Stewart's camp. I'll share
that with you. And we have yet to make the
distinction between conjecture and rumor. We have to do that
as well. And many of you are taking really bad
road trips. I'll explain coming up on ESPN fifteen thirty

(01:35:35):
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (01:35:36):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

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Speaker 2 (01:36:19):
Dot It is twenty eight minutes after five o'clock. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty m Oeggar Tomorrow on the show.
Paul Danner Junior is going to join us in the
first out because it's Tuesday, and that's what he does.
We are one month away from Bengals training camp, first
public workout a month from today, which, by the way,

(01:36:41):
no real trade Hendrickson news. I know he's in town,
which is you know, at least somewhat notable. He's working out,
which you would expect him to be working out. He's
an NFL player who's under contract. It would be newsworthy
to me if he was sitting around doing nothing. Uh,
it's funny. I'll look on the internet and I'll see
the references to Trey Hendrickson trade rumors. Maybe it's just me.

(01:37:07):
I think there's a sharp difference between a trade rumor
and someone just talking about how this team should trade
for Trey, like it has been suggested on Sports talk
radio in Chicago, Hey, the Bears should try to trade
for Trey Hendrickson. That's not a trade rumor. That's somebody

(01:37:29):
or maybe many, opining that it would make sense for
the Bears to try to trade for Trey Hendrickson. Daniel
Jeremiah mentioned the highly respected and very good NFL analysts
for the NFL Network, Hey, the Seahawks would be a
good fit for Trey Hendrickson. Frankly, I think there's a
lot of teams that will be a really good fit

(01:37:49):
for Trey Hendrickson. Somebody saying this player would be a
good fit here. I don't think those are trade rumors.
I think that's speculation about fit. I think that's speculation
about how things may unfold if there was a trade.
I think trade rumors are more to the effect of Hey,
what I'm hearing is the Bengals are shopping Trey Hendrickson,

(01:38:09):
or what I'm hearing is this is what this team
has offered the Bengals in exchange for Trey Hendrickson. I
think the way a lot of this stuff gets framed.
In fact, one article even referred to the Trey Hendrickson
sweepstakes could be dead wrong about This wouldn't be the
first time, but I think most who cover the team
would agree that it is highly unlikely that the Bengals

(01:38:32):
trade Trey Hendrickson. That that's gonna happen. It was going
to happen before the draft. Now you can make the
argument that they should trade him. That doesn't mean that
they will. Making the argument that they should trade him
is not creating a rumor. It's stating an opinion. And
you can make the argument where they should trade him
to Team X because it would be the best fit

(01:38:53):
and this team could give the Bengals. This also not
a trade rumor. There's no sweepstakes. Here are a lot
of people who believe the Bengals should tray Trey Hendrickson.
I'm not really among them. A lot of people who
believe that, you know this team, or this team would
be a good place, a good trading partner, a good
fit for Trey Hendrickson saying that is not creating a rumor,

(01:39:16):
it's just throwing out there an opinion about this team
would be a good place for him to go, where
this team could make it work. Or this team badly
needs an edge rusher and that's what Trey is Also tomorrow,
Jonathan Mayo, who is outstanding mlbpipeline dot com on Chase Burns.

(01:39:36):
One other Bengals thing, Mike Petrelliu, who filled in on
this show a few times while I was out puts
on social media and I'm gonna read this verbatim here
because we don't have the audio. But Mike Petrellia writes
that Zach Hiller, who is the agent for Schamar Stewart,
was on Sirius XM today and Trags has transcri for

(01:40:00):
all of us, so I'll read it for you. Hiller says, quote, Obviously,
my job in all agents job is to protect the player.
Simply put, Schamar would of course love for his contract
to be as protective as the rest of his Bengals
teammates in the past, and simply put, the way the
contract currently reads is not as protective.

Speaker 8 (01:40:22):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:40:22):
He was asked by our buddy Solomon Wilcotts, who was
one of the hosts of the show that Zach Hiller
was on. Quote, in what way is he not protected?
And Shamar's agent says, quote in the way that when
you sign the contract and your money is guaranteed. Let's
say it should be guaranteed, and if there's ways to
get out of that, it would not be as beneficial
to the player. Contracts are based on precedent, So when

(01:40:44):
Schamar has never asked for anything more or less protective
than any of his teammates, it's a simple fix. It's
just say, hey, this is the precedent. Let's keep the precedent.
He continues, quote, It's essentially that when a player signs
his contract and it's guaranteed, it should be completely, fully guaranteed.
I agree. By the way, obviously, if there are certain

(01:41:05):
circumstances that happen, the team should be able to avoid. However, again,
if you want to make changes to your precedent, it
should be a negotiation. It should be a give and take.
It shouldn't just be hey, we're changing this and sign
it or go scratch. That's a long winded Zach Hiller
on Sirius XM. Zach is Shamar Stewart's agent. Now, you

(01:41:27):
may believe that Shamar Stewart should sign whatever the Bengals
put in front of him, and you may believe the
Bengals are being completely unreasonable. I think there's two things here.
Number One, you know, if you go to court, if
you're in trouble, if there's a legal issue, you have
an attorney who represents you. Now, you could represent yourself

(01:41:48):
and say this as somebody who's never really had to
hire an attorney to represent me in court, but if
I ever had to, I would want somebody capable of
speaking on my behalf because I don't want I have
to do that. That's what an agent's there for. It's
what an attorney's there for. It's what an agent's there
for when it comes to an NFL player. So Shamar
Stewart a few weeks ago, sat at his locker, sounded

(01:42:09):
off on the Bengals, and then left before the final
day of Mini camp. I don't know how productive that was.
I don't know how much that made sense for him
to do. What comes from the agent is very reasonable
and very level headed. You may disagree with the general stance,
but it is reasonable, and it is level headed, and

(01:42:32):
it is far better than the players saying what Shamar
Stewart said number two. You know, I think here's the rub,
and I think it's it's kind of been the rub
with the Trey Hendrickson thing as well, that it sort
of feels like the Bengals have made their offer and
you could take it or leave it with no wiggle

(01:42:53):
room whatsoever. Now I don't think that's entirely true when
it comes to Schamar Stewart. Kelsey Conway and I talked
about that on this show before I went on a
which feels like eons ago. But there does seem to
be an inflexibility here, an unwillingness to budge with either guy,
the experienced player who has one year left on his

(01:43:15):
deal or the dude you just drafted. That is deeply frustrating.
But I do think the general point by the agent here,
which doesn't include some of the language that we heard
from Shamar Stewart where he outed people and spoke emotionally,
this is a lot more level headed and frankly, it's
a stance and a position that is very easy to

(01:43:37):
reckon with twenty five away from six o'clock. Sports headlines
are next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (01:43:43):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from the.

Speaker 7 (01:43:49):
UC Health Traffic Center at u See Health, you'll find
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five from US forty two and Kentucky to the Brent
Spence that's about a half hour trip and two seventy

(01:44:11):
five eastpawn mostel there two loved one, my dear, seventeen
minute drive by make surep with traffic.

Speaker 4 (01:44:17):
ESPN fifteen thirty nine.

Speaker 2 (01:44:19):
Sports headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet Home of
Lifetime Power, trained protection and guaranteed credit approval from their
family New Yours for Life, kelseyshev dot Com, Reds and
Yankees six game homestand starts tonight for Cincinnati, first of
three against New York uh Nicoldolo versus Alan Winans who

(01:44:42):
is making his major league twenty twenty five major league debut.
He has pitched in a handful of games at the
big league level before seven ten tonight on seven hundred.
Wlw's starting lineup this evening? Are you ready unsponsored starting lineup?
If it matters? Freedo's Matt McClain is playing second base
and batting second, Elie Dela Cruz at short Spencer Steer

(01:45:06):
is at first base, Gavin Lux's dhing, Tyler Stevenson is dhing.
Jose Travino is catching Jake Freley in right field. Cees
at first base and batting ninth. Jamer Candelario has been
DFAD Reds are gonna eat about twenty two and a
half million dollars worth of his remaining salary in Elie
Dela Cruz third among shortstops in the voting for National

(01:45:28):
League All Stars, the only read anywhere close to the
top three or five at his respective position. The Jamer
Candelario thing. I don't know who the worst Reds free
agent signing is. You know, Eric Milton jumps to the
top of the list, top of mind, at least because
it was just an ill conceived decision. The year before

(01:45:51):
Eric Milton this is back in the mid two thousands,
was signed by the Reds. He led the league in
gopher balls, and they signed him to a three year
I think it was a three year, twenty seven million
dollar contract. And he was a, you know, just a
home run machine, and he was awful. Mike Mustakis, Mike

(01:46:13):
Mustakas had a moment or two. Shogo Akayama had like
a good two weeks in the shortened season where he
got on base a lot. Jamer Candelario hit a very
forgettable twenty two home runs in a Reds uniform. Like
I'm sure I saw at least most of them, if

(01:46:33):
not all, I forget every single one of them. I
can't I legitimately, and I'm I'm I'm sure the guy
had a moment or two where he got a big
hit or did something in a big spot or whatever.
I can't think of anybody more forgettable over the last
couple of years than Jamer Candelario. Sunk costs, they moved on.

(01:46:57):
They get some degree of credit for that. If look,
if you're Nick Krawl, you only get so many of those,
You only get so many of those decisions that ownership
ends up having to eat. Uh, it's it's not a
fireable offense. Not every decision works, not every free agent's
gonna work. Nick Krawl did some some things this offseason

(01:47:18):
that have paid, you know, decent dividends. I think you know,
if you look at some of the moves the Reds
made involving players some other teams, I think you would
you would give Nick Krawl more than passing grades for
each of them, which means in the aggregate you would
give him a passing grade as well. But a general
manager or a president of baseball operations in a market

(01:47:38):
like this is only gonna get so many jam or
candelario type deals where it doesn't work and you're gonna
pay the guy a whole lot of money just to
go away. You're only gonna get a few that you
ran the business, if you ran the Reds, if you
were Phil Castellini and you're looking at your spreadsheet, you're going, Okay,
how many more guys are we gonna have to pay
to not play here? So from a base perspective, you know, look,

(01:48:02):
I they're prioritizing putting together the best possible team. Jay
mccandelario is not part of the best possible team. They're
prioritizing using the best picture for the open spot in
their rotation. Chase Burns represents that guy, but a big
picture man, how many more contracts like that are you're
gonna get? And it's what I would be wondering if

(01:48:24):
I was Nick Crawl Like you know, despite all the
decent things he did this offseason, and despite a handful
of pretty good things he's done, you know, during the
course of this rebuild, how many more opportunities is he
going to get a chance to It's one thing to
have a free agent not produced to the level that
you expected when you signed him. It's one thing to

(01:48:45):
have a free agent who doesn't produce to the level
that he produced before he got here. It's something else
when he is so bad you just decide you'd rather
eat the twenty two and a half mil than to
find a fit for him. By the way, this team
offensively needs help. And look they I'm not saying they
got it wrong with Jamer Candelario. This was the right

(01:49:07):
thing to do, But think about that for a second.
The Reds are dying for one more bat. Jamer Candelario
is a position player. Ideally, he helps solve the need
for a bat. They would rather continue to search for
a bat or play with what they have plus hopefully

(01:49:28):
soon Austin Hayes. Then give one more chance to Jamer Candelario.
They would rather pay Jamer Candelario twenty two and a
half million dollars to not play for them than to
give him a chance to be the bat that they
should be looking for. So, if you're Nick Kraman, like,

(01:49:48):
how many how many more of those opportunities are you
gonna get? Quarter to six On ESPN fifteen thirty, the
updated Paul questions, we have two. So we were talking
about to All Star Game voting, and I like the
All Star Game itself. I have no problem with what
All Star voting has become, but I'm willing to acknowledge

(01:50:10):
what it has become. Major League Baseball has all been
told you. I was listening to one of the radio
broadcasts while I was in Florida, and I don't remember
which one, but Tommy Thraw was, you know, reading the
thing for vote rents. It might not even been Tommy
could have been yet in the pregames, I don't remember,
but it was. The message was vote reds, and that's

(01:50:31):
what MLB teams do They want you to vote for
their guys as often as possible and stuff, and that's fine,
that's fine, And the reason they want you to do
that is so that you go to their website sign
up for their newsletters and stay on the website and
buy tickets and buy hats and engage with the website,
and all of that is fine. Nothing about the messaging
surrounding the All Star Game involves vote for the best players,

(01:50:52):
vote for your favorite players, vote for the players that
you want to watch. MLB dot Com wants you to
create as many fake email addresses as possible. They want
you to come back to the website every single day
because they think that while you're there, you're eventually going
to buy something. And maybe you will. And by the way,
all of this is okay, But none of this, for
a long time now has been about voting for the
best players. So when we get close to the All

(01:51:16):
Star Game, if there's somebody who's on the outside looking in,
or somebody who didn't make it as a starter, and
someone complains, I always ask, well, did you vote? I
haven't voted for an All Star in fifteen years, and
that was only because Joey Evada was on the outside
looking in, and he led the National League in OPS
and it made no sense to have the OPS leader

(01:51:37):
in the National League now of the All Star Game.
So when they went to the final vote, it was
him versus like two or three other guys. I voted
for Joe Evada. Now, I didn't spend every waking moment
creating new email addresses to vote for Joe Evado. And
it was also a fun social media movement around it,
and Joey ultimately got to the All Star Game, which
was cool. It's been fifteen years, so I don't know

(01:51:58):
anybody who's actually voted for an All Star of this season.
So there's one of my pole questions. You vote for
All Stars, and right now about nineteen percent of you
say no, which earlier it was like close to twenty
six percent. I don't believe for a second the twenty
six percent of the people who either follow on social
media or listen to this show have voted for an

(01:52:20):
All Star. And the other I asked about your feelings
about BUCkies because I mentioned to Austin on Sincy three
sixty that I drove to Florida with my family. We
left last Friday night and came back on Saturday, and
a way back I stopped at BUCkies. BUCkies is this
large travel center gas station with like two hundred pumps,

(01:52:42):
and they serve sandwiches and it's something to behold. But
I mentioned that, Like when I went to BUCkies and I,
you know, put a picture on social media, you would
have thought, like I got a chance to get a
Disney World for free. Like, oh man, you've got to
have the sandwich. And it's a good sandwich at BUCkies.

(01:53:04):
It's a good sandwich for a gas station sandwich. It's
okay to call it that. It's also okay to say that,
like when I'm driving twelve hours, I just want to
get to where I'm going, and so I'll stop, relieve myself,
fill the tank, grab something quick to go, and get
out of there. I'm not looking for a shopping center experience.
I don't need to be perusing clothes. I see some

(01:53:28):
folks like referring to BUCkies as the best part of
any road trip. How bad your road trip when that's
the best part, and how limited is your brisket sandwich
or pulled pork sandwich experiences that that's the best one.
So how do you feel about BUCkies. Vote now at

(01:53:48):
my leger. Like I got a text from somebody, I
posted the photo and it was like you were at BUCkies. Jealous.
It's like I spent a week at the beach two BUCkies.
It's eleven away from six o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 4 (01:54:08):
Thirty, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 6 (01:54:15):
Center.

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At you see Health, you'll find comprehensive care so personal
it makes your best tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for
bender outcomes. Expect more at ucehealth dot com. Traffic on
seventy one southbound after five for crash on your shoulder,
right children taking up on seventy five southbound a Dixie
Highway in Kentucky. So down Sikyle's lane. And we have

(01:54:37):
seventy five southbound from Hopper to the Brent Spence Bridge
with about a ten minute trip by'm rick shrimp with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:54:44):
This reporting spot the only time of year where you
could say, legitimately nothing, show is over.

Speaker 10 (01:54:48):
Got to go.

Speaker 2 (01:54:49):
Anything you might have missed go find on the iHeartRadio app.
Paul Danner Junior joins us Tomorrow. We'll look ahead to
a Chase Burn's Big League debut, and so much more.
Have an awesome night. Thank you for listening. Think thanks
to Terran Bland for producing. This is ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (01:55:13):
I have heart failure.