7-9-26 - The Mo Egger Radio Show Hr 3

7-9-26 - The Mo Egger Radio Show Hr 3

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
No one covers the Bengals. One covers the Bengals R station.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
How you doing, ma Agar, ESPN fifteen thirty, Good afternoon, Thanks,
thanks for listening today. Hopefully you're having like the greatest
Thursday afternoon of all time, the greatest Thursday afternoon of
all time.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
A World Cup game on in here.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Look, this is this is not something I would have said,
uh sixteen years ago, which would have been the first
time the World Cup was happening while we had a show.
I am watching a World Cup game in studio France
and Morocco. The United States played Morocco in a friendly
at the Soccer Venue on the West End of Cincinnati

(00:44):
a few years ago, and uh, the fans from and
of Morocco were awesome.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
So I am. I'm rooting for them for what it's worth.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Mike Odam is the new director of athletics at Northern
Kentucky University. He is going to join us in just
about fifteen minutes. We are looking forward to that Reds
and Phillies tonight after the five home run barrage, after
a night where Chase Burns was not good but they
still win. Big night for sal Stewart, Big night for

(01:15):
Ellie Delacruz I almost forgot Ellie Dela Cruz's name, and
a big night for Noelve Marte. Hopefully the Rats can
take the rubber match tonight. We will see. Oh and
by the way, keep Brian Hayes with a big night
for Louisville last night as he inches closer to returning.
And I know we're all so excited for that. I've

(01:35):
We've talked a lot about all the different issues the
Reds have, and they have a bunch, and the trade
deadline is inching closer, and last night's victory doesn't do
anything to I think make anybody feel any better about
the fact that here we are in mid July and
it feels like we're engaged in a countdown to a

(01:56):
teardown or a countdown to the start of a rebuild.
And many of us, I'm far from the only one,
many of us have focused on Nick Crawl and his
job performance and his job security, how much he should have,
whether or not it's time to move on, and I'm
I'm just looking for things the Reds as an organization,

(02:16):
baseball wise, and I need to make sure I clarify
that baseball wise, I'm looking for something they're good at.
Here they are nineteen games under five hundred. I had
a social media post early yesterday morning because three years ago, yesterday,
the Reds reached their high water mark of the twenty

(02:37):
twenty three season ten games over five hundred, two game
lead in the division.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Excuse me.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
They won a game that night that sent him to
fifty to forty. Going into last night's game, the Reds
since that date had played four hundred and eighty six
regular season games, which, if you divide that by one
sixty two is three. That's three full season since then
going into last night, in that stretch, twenty under five hundred,

(03:08):
one playoff appearance, no playoff wins. It's a staggering failure.
It is a staggering failure, and I think more than
anything for you and I, what it has created is
this sense of hopelessness, helplessness that Okay, fine, do another rebuild, Okay, fine,
have a sell off, Okay, fine, tell us to keep waiting.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
But I don't.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
I don't trust you anymore. And maybe you decide, you
know what, I'm not waiting anymore.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
I'm out. I'm done.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
There is a real sense of helplessness and hopelessness among
so many of us, isn't there?

Speaker 1 (03:43):
But when you ask what are the Reds good at?

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Organizationally, and I've beaten this drum now for weeks, I
haven't gotten the answer, because there is none. They're not
good at anything baseball wise. They're not really, really, really
good at roster building. They're not great at fleecing other
teams for trades, not that you make a trade with
the idea to fleece the team. They're certainly not great
at player development and drafting. They're not great at turning

(04:07):
over consistently hidden gems to find guys who could be
a long term, short term part of the solution.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Like what are they good at?

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Are they good at having a farm system that's just
chalk full of big leaguers? What are they good at?
And when you do that, you're asking Nick Krawl what are.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
You good at?

Speaker 2 (04:22):
And I don't know how much his job is in jeopardy,
but I would be willing to bet that they will
let him go before they let Tito Francona go. Now,
some wonder if Tito isn't just going to say screw it,
I'm out. Maybe he does that there's a lockout they
start the season late, and he's like, dude, I'm going
to Cooperstown.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
I don't need this, and he moves on. Maybe dude's
going to be seventy years old.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Perhaps that happens, but I would be willing to bet
that if ownership decides we got to let somebody go,
it ain't going to be the manager. Chances are then
it's going to be the guy in charge of the
baseball ops. I've asked you to pretend you're Phil cast
and I think this is a good way of phrasing
it right.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
Like you could.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
You could throw a lot of different criticisms of Phil Castellini.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Many of them will stick.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
The Castellini family has had the controlling ownership shares of
this franchise for twenty years and they have achieved almost
nothing baseball wise. But he does own the club. They're
not selling the club anytime soon. Nick Crawl does work
for him. He was installed six seasons ago as president
of baseball Operations. He oversees the entire thing. And if

(05:30):
you're Phil Castellini, you're watching a team that's seven hundred
five hundred, You're watching a team that's in last place.
You're hearing and reading about him maybe signing off on
a fire sale. You're listening to fair debates, and I
think the debates are good, and I could see both
sides of it, quite frankly, fair debates about whether or
not Elie de la Cruz should be untouchable. You are

(05:52):
watching this core that you thought you had in place
in twenty twenty three become smaller and now is in
jeopardy of being torn apart a little bit. Nick Lidola
was a part of that corp. He may be dealt.
Hunter Green was a part of that corps this offseason.
I don't think it's impossible to believe that he's gonna
be delt.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
Who knows.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
And I've got Nick Krawl in my office and I'm
asking him the same question like my guy, like why
are we winning? The answer from Nick might be, well,
you don't give me enough to win, And then I
would say, well, how about when you wasted my money
with Jamer Candelario or Mike Mustakus. And I know he
Nick Krawl wasn't in charge of signing Mike Mustakus, but

(06:32):
he was in place when they said, hey, we got
to eat the rest of his salary. Hell Nick Krawl
may want Phil Castellini to eat the rest of Kee
Brian Hayes's salary, and okay, cool, but like, here's another
guy I'm gonna pay hey to non play?

Speaker 1 (06:45):
Like how many of those do you get? Nick? Why
isn't this working?

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Were you were put in charge of a rebuild and
thus given a very long rope that came with the
start of the rebuild, you were given the opportunity to
build the team from basically scratch. This is the results
of your work seven under five hundred going into the
final weekend of July or the final weekend before the
All Star break.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
Really, so, okay?

Speaker 2 (07:10):
I would sit across from them, and I would imagine
you would too, and go, how's our minor league system?

Speaker 3 (07:18):
Now?

Speaker 2 (07:18):
Nick Krawl would be better equipped to answer that than me,
or you would probably Phil Castellini, But I would ask, okay,
our major league team's not very good.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
How is our farm system?

Speaker 2 (07:30):
And then right before Nick Krawl answered, I would go,
because I'm reading today USA Today, Baseball America, not USA Today.
Baseball America ranks all the farm systems this week. This
is out today. The Reds ranked twenty fifth. This is subjective,

(07:52):
and it doesn't mean there aren't good players in the
farm system. They have a terrific catcher who's going to
be in the futures game, Alfredo Dunio, and he may
be the starting catcher, the primary catcher next year. But
twenty fifth, Nick, twenty fifth. Others will say it's a
little bit better. Keith law I think HadAM in seventeen
prior to the season. Kylie McDaniel fifteenth. Nobody has him elite.

(08:14):
By the way, for what it's worth, I'd be looking
at Nick Krawl going, we can't beat the Milwaukee Brewers, right,
We can't beat him head to head. God knows we
can never finish ahead of them in the standings. But
I'm looking at Baseball America number one farm system in
the sport Milwaukee Brewers.

Speaker 4 (08:30):
We're twenty fifth, one twenty five with all the other
teams in the middle. Nick like, okay, cool, we're not
good this year, but what's in the pipeline doesn't seem
to be all that good. Then I would pull up
redleg Nation dot com, our buddy Doug Gray, who writes
a piece about this.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
Now, I will admit to.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
You, I do not subscribe to Baseball America it's a
paid article. I can't give you the background because I
don't have a subscription, but I do read Red's Minor
Leagues Died, where Doug Gray writes about how bear the
cupboard is among pitchers, how the farm system just there's

(09:13):
there's not a lot of there there when it comes
to the arms, and like Nick, like, Okay, we're not
good this year. That's fine. But my guy, if we're
not good up here, we better be good down there.
We're not good at either. So not only can I help,
but ask what are we good at? When it comes

(09:34):
to major league roster construction? You're gonna have to do
a lot of talking to convince me that what we
have in the pipeline is better. We're gonna accelerate our
rebuild or put us in a position to win next year.
When I'm reading how Barren and how Barren, how bad
our farm system is, Nick, what are you good at?

Speaker 1 (09:55):
What are you good at?

Speaker 2 (09:59):
The major league results have been limited. You've had a
chance to install a Hall of Fame manager. You've got
a corp of guys that are quite good. Two of
them are all stars. One of them could be. During
your six season overseeing baseball operations. You've had a chance
to rebuild the roster however you want. We've given you

(10:20):
a chance to spend some money on some guys that
we've had to pay to not play for us anymore.
And now I'm reading about how bad our farm system is. Nick,
What as a baseball organization are we good at?

Speaker 1 (10:33):
Nick? You're in charge of the.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
Baseball operations, So I can't help but ask what are
you good at? Baseball America might have it wrong, Baseball
America might be off base, their evaluators may stink fine, whatever,
But I can't find anybody who thinks they have a
great farm system. I look at the major league standings.
I know we don't have a good major league team, Nick,

(10:59):
Why should I allow you to see us through whatever's next?
Like we're making the we're doing the debate about buying
and selling and who are they gonna move on from?
And do you make Ellie Dela Cruz untouchable? Nick Crawl's
gonna have a say in how those decisions are made
and what they do with the players they move on from.

(11:22):
I don't know, Man, not great you should feel about that?
Twenty fifth best farm system? Look, you're not always gonna
rank number one, and when you lose highly touted prospects
to the big leagues, you're gonna come down a couple
of pegs. We get that there was a time when
the Reds farm system was ranked very high because you know,

(11:42):
Hunter Green was in it and Ellie Dela Cruz was in it,
and those guys got promoted. But here's the reality, man, Okay,
if the Reds aren't going to do what they've set
out to do, which is build teams without being major
players in free agency, though there was a pursuit of
Kyle Schwarber, which I listened to them talk about it
the twelve broadcasters they had on ESPN last night for

(12:02):
about fifteen minutes per inning. If we're going to do
what we set out to do, which has build something
sustainable and maybe not re sign guys to second contracts,
maybe trade them away before they even approach free agency,
not be the first to jump into the free agency waters.
If we're going to do that, then we need a

(12:23):
minor league system that is every single year one of the.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
Best in baseball.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Right now, according to a highly respected publication, it's ranked
twenty fifth. Nick, what are you and your staff good
at according to Baseball America, not overseeing a good farm system.
Mike Odam will oversee NKU athletics. He's the new AD.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
He'll join us next.

Speaker 5 (12:50):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from the Dingleger.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you so much for
listening today. Earlier this afternoon, Northern Kentucky University formally introduced
the new Director of Athletics at mk You Mike Odham,
who comes to MKU from Creighton University, where he most
recently served as Deputy Athletic Director for External Operations and

(13:17):
now is in charge of NORSE Athletics and on what
I'm sure has been a very busy afternoon for him,
kind enough to give us a few minutes. Congratulations, Welcome
to the greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky area.

Speaker 1 (13:29):
Thank you so much for joining us. Mike. How are you.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
I'm doing great, mo.

Speaker 6 (13:33):
Thank you for having me and for the warm welcome.
And yeah, look forward to meeting you and everybody in.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
Town looking forward to it. What about this opportunity to
you was most enticing?

Speaker 3 (13:45):
Well, there were a handful of things.

Speaker 6 (13:47):
First of all, certainly the vision and momentum of our president,
Katie Short Thompson. She is passionate about this place. And
as I started to look into it, certainly the alignment
and the opportunity to do some great things with her
was a big part of it. Uh. Certainly the mission
of Northern Kentucky to build student success. You know, we're

(14:09):
in this industry to help student athletes and to help
them get their you know, degrees, but also help them
compete and win championships. So all of that that part,
you know, in the classroom competitively and in the community
to help Northern Kentucky. And just the opportunity to grow
Norse athletics across the region.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
Uh, what was something I was excited about. And then lastly,
but but certainly not least, Uh, I've got.

Speaker 6 (14:36):
Some friends that lived in the area and and and
that some additional friends that live in the area now. Uh,
and this we thought this would be a great place
for our family. So when you look at these types
of opportunities across the country, you vote that all of
the right stars aligned and the boxes are checked and
all that stuff, and this one did for us. And
H's fortunate and fortunate to be here and and extremely

(14:59):
grateful for the the confidence and belief in me to
help Norse Athletics moving.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Forward, from the moment when the opportunity first appeared on
your radar until you accepted the position. Give me an
idea of some of the things you learned about MKU
during the process.

Speaker 3 (15:14):
Well, I'll tell you a story.

Speaker 6 (15:15):
So I was in town for the Big East Baseball
tournament there at Prasco Park in late May, and we
had a rain day.

Speaker 3 (15:26):
I don't know if you remember a Memorial weekend. It
was a lot of rain and stuff. So we took
a ride. My six year old was with me, my
dad was with me.

Speaker 6 (15:34):
And I said, Hey, we're going to go down to
Northern Kentucky's campus and let's just drive around. You know,
the jobs open, you know it kind of interested and
I've heard great things about it and stuff like that.
So I first drove around campus and I was like, man,
there are some really good things already in place, great facilities,
you know, truest Arena, the soccer stadium, baseball, they were
building tennis at the time and that's nearing completion, so

(15:56):
just a lot of So I saw it with my
two eyes, like there's really good potential here to build
something special.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Give me an idea of what the top couple of
to do list items are on your list.

Speaker 6 (16:14):
I think it's too one. I'd say there's three buckets, right.
There's the internal bucket of working with our coaches and
student athletes and getting a getting to know everybody. So
that's kind of on the internal side, you know, being
a part of this position, is serving on our president's
cabinet and so being a valuable member of the cabinet,

(16:38):
and being a campus partner with various initiatives. And I'd
say the third thing and one that I feel like
matches my skill set and experiences really well, is getting
out in the community and getting to know our alums
and our fans and and you know, telling the story
of our student athletes and are giving the vision of
the department and trying to get folks to come to

(17:00):
come back and come see us and support our great
student athletes and talented student athletes. So I think those
three pieces, a little bit of internal, a little bit
on campus, and a little bit in the community. You know,
those three things are going to be vital to our success.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
From from your perspective as somebody who has been involved
in college athletics since you were a student, because you
were a basketball manager, if not mistaken correct at NC
State under herb Centric.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
Yeah, we've done a lot of pre thros and made
a lot of.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
Gator So so I mean you've you've made a you know,
you've you've had a carved down a living in college
athletics going back to when you were in school. This
is an incredibly weird time in college athletics for all
of us who love it and care about it, and
there's lots of challenges facing schools, athletics, directors, coaches, athletes,

(17:50):
people who care about college sports. People you know, lament
that college sports are broken. I don't ever go that far.
I think that's overstated. But from your perspective, where do
things need to go in the coming years?

Speaker 3 (18:05):
You know, it's it. There's there's a lot that's a
very very big, open ending question. You know. I think
for us at Northern Kentucky, we want to figure out
and I think you've got to.

Speaker 6 (18:19):
I as the as the leader of the department, need
to certainly keep my finger on the pulse of what's
going on. You know, our commissioner was here today from
the Horizon League. I think she's going to be a
great resource for uh, for me and for us.

Speaker 3 (18:30):
Is as you know, we navigate all.

Speaker 6 (18:33):
Of the changes and i'll call them curve balls that
have come the way of college athletics the last couple
of years. But we've got to be able to be
nimble and and you know, continue to be creative and
how this thing evolves. I would say overall, and maybe
this is a cliche answer, but I want us to
be the best version of Northern Kentucky that we can

(18:55):
be within the landscape and the changes that are happening,
and it'll be my.

Speaker 3 (19:00):
Job to kind of figure out what that looks like.

Speaker 6 (19:01):
So I hope I answered your question there, but I
think it'll be on me to certainly help God guide
the courses as this world changes so fast.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yeah, what I mean, No, it's it's a good answer.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
What has it been like from your perspective of, you know,
a college athletics lifer, having watched what what college sports
looked like when you were at a student at a
at NC State compared to what it is right now?
What has it been like watching us go from what
it used to be to what we have today?

Speaker 6 (19:35):
You know, I certainly I certainly think there are issues,
but I also think if you sit and dwell on
the issues, you're going to get left behind. You know,
you need to figure out what the issues are and
how you can fix them, and how you can be
creative to do what's best for your institution. You know,

(19:56):
at at Creighton, we we had to we have had
to continue to adjust, We've had to continue to look
for new revenues, which which will be a big part
of what what you know, we're.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
Charged with here and I'll be charged with here.

Speaker 6 (20:12):
And so you've got to continue to evolve and be
ready to evolve. So I think that, you know, I
think before COVID, maybe college athletics operated where things would
change maybe like every two to five years, and now
it seems like it's every two months. And so you
just gotta be you got to you got to have
a plan for the plan sometimes and and that's not

(20:34):
always easy.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
So but I also will go back to and especially at.

Speaker 6 (20:39):
A place at North of Kentucky, the main thing is
still the main thing, and that's our student athletes and
our coaches, and how can we prepare our student athletes
to be great in the classroom, competitively and in the community,
and somebody asked me today, like, hey, what's.

Speaker 3 (20:53):
Your dream here?

Speaker 6 (20:55):
My dream would be for for our teams to hoist
a trophy. But then I may when the student athletes,
you know, when the semesters over, they all go and
get their diplomas. So that's still the main thing, which
is which is to provide.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
An education that can help change the lives of young people.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
And I feel like in the discourse that that gets lost,
and you know, being around in student athletes, I'm always taken.
I'm always impressed by the fact that so many of
them still have the rise on that prize, right Like,
I'm I can make money as a student athlete, that's
that's great. I have opportunities you know that are are
maybe different and better than those that came before me.

(21:35):
But at the end of the day, I want to
use college to put myself in the position to do
something even bigger and better. And the best way to
do that is in the classroom. And I feel like
that that's still that gets lost more than ever before
in the discourse.

Speaker 6 (21:47):
No question and the you know, it's the saying of
you know, a forty year investment for the next forty
forty years of your life still holds true, still rings true.
And I still think at the very core of college
athletics that can still be one of the main points.

Speaker 3 (22:04):
And I think for us here at Northern Kentucky that'll
be you know that that that matters, and you.

Speaker 6 (22:10):
Know, I'm excited to to keep that the main thing.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
Mike otamis with us.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
He is the new vice president and director of Athletics
at NKU, coming to Highland Heights from Creighton University.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
During the process, do you get to know coaches as
you're interviewing? Is this something obviously you want to get
to know them more, But have you had a chance
to get to know some of the people that will
be working for you in the run up to you
actually getting hired.

Speaker 6 (22:38):
I did not, and and and and do not. So
I'm still I've met everybody today. I met a handful.
I met all the head coaches when I was here
on my interview, But but today was really the first
day where it's like, all right, hey, let's uh, let's
talk next week or let's you know, text me when
you have a minute. Uh, Like, now's the time where

(22:58):
I guess those relationships will begin certainly the folks on
the search committee and some of the folks this week
that have helped with all the logistics that coming here
to campus and my family coming to campus. So we're
starting to starting to get to other folks a little bit.
But I'm looking forward to getting to know all our coaches.
And I told them today in the press conference, in
our meeting that we had like I'm here for them.

(23:19):
I'm here to serve them and try to help tee
them up to do the best they can when they
get you know.

Speaker 3 (23:24):
Between the lines. That's that's kind of what I'm here for.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
Makes sense to me. Can't thank you enough for doing this.
I'm sure it's been a crazy last few days. Lot
going on, but again, welcome to the area. Looking forward
to meeting in person, and thanks for joining us today.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
You got it.

Speaker 6 (23:42):
Thank you for the time, and look forward to meeting
you and having you out here on campus and go north.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
I'll be there. I'll be there, Mike, Thanks so much.

Speaker 3 (23:52):
All right, thank you.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
Mike odam is the new director of Athletics at Northern
Kentucky University, formally introduced today twenty seven away from I'm
six o'clock Sports headlines are next on ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (24:06):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty, Traffic.

Speaker 2 (24:11):
From the UC Health Traffic Cuacinnaties Sports Station, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
Sports headlines are a service of.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
Kelsey Chevrolet, Home of Lifetime powertrain protection and guarantee credit
approval from their family to yours for life, KELSEYSHEV dot Com,
Reds and Phillies. Tonight at GAVP the rare getaway day
night game. I'm guessing it's because they had the John
Party concert last night after the game, which I'm sure

(24:47):
was a lot of fun.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
John Party's pretty good tonight.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
Brady Singer, who was really good last August, will pitch
against Haes, who's Lozardos. Seven to ten is tonight's first pitch.
The game is on seven hundred WLW and here is
the Red starting lineup. Get Ready Elliott short Sal Stewart's
playing third, JJ Bledaize and left field, Spencer Steers at

(25:11):
first base, Hugh Haaneo Suarez is dhing, Tyler Stevenson catches
he bats six, Noel ve Martes in right field, Edwin
Arroyo is playing second base, and TJ. Friedel who was
a little bit banged up on that really nice running
catch he made last night. Nonetheless, still in the lineup,
he is playing center field and batting ninth Deflorence Yaw's

(25:34):
take on the Washington Wild Things tonight. There's my sports
headlines the World Cup right now, quarterfinal. France a two
nothing lead over Morocco. They are in the seventy seventh minute.
Game is being played in Foxboro. Lots of college basketball news.
By the way, credit to our friend Rick Browing, who,
to the best of my knowledge, had this days ago

(25:56):
on musketeer report dot com. Javior, Dayton, Ohio State, and
Xavier are gonna play in a exhibition double header at
Theer Tennis Center.

Speaker 1 (26:07):
I tried.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
They're gonna play at the Lender Tennis Center. It's the
care Source Invitational. So there have been a handful of
exhibition games involving these schools. Cincinnati has played Ohio State,
Xavier and Dayton have played against each other, and obviously
that the pairings here are a little bit limited because
you see and UD play a regular season game against
each other.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
You see in Xavier obviously play a regular season game
against each other.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
So it'll be Cincinnati versus Ohio State, U D and Xavier.
That is gonna be on Wednesday, October the seventh. They
will transform Theer Tennis Center into a basketball arena. According
to our friend Keegan Nickoson of Bearkat Journal, UC in
Minnesota gonna play home and home series beginning this year.
The story I read from a Kegan did not indicate

(26:48):
whether or not the first game will be in Cincinnati
or Minneapolis, but a big twelve slash Big ten home
and home in the offing. Also this course, excuse me,
this course course court case. You know, knowing the English
language and how to speak it is typically a prerequisite
to be a broadcaster. This case, which we talked about

(27:12):
a week and a half ago with our buddy attorney
Stewart W. Penrose, held in Cincinnati, in which a bunch
of college basketball players sued to get an extra year
of eligibility. A judge, Chris Wagner in Hamilton County Court
granted a preliminary injunction to a class of college athletes.
I'm reading here from Rickstorybercat Journal dot com. Among the players, MJ.
Collins and Colby King will benefit from this preliminary injunction

(27:36):
to be able to play.

Speaker 3 (27:37):
MJ.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
Collins led Jared Calhoun's Utah State team in scoring last year.
I've also read that Philip Borovichenen, who played at Xavier
last year, was among the players involved in this suit.
I don't know if he will play for the Musketeers
next year, but apparently he gets an extra year of eligibility.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
There. There are your local sports headlines.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
Among the things that happened last night, Key Brian Hayes
had a good night for the Louisville Bats. He had
a double, he had a homer, and that's good for
Key Brian Hayes. A lot of folks have wondered, like
Key Brian Hayes will come back, and then what's gonna happen?
And chances are, my guess is what's gonna happen is,

(28:23):
assuming he's healthy, they're gonna move on from Euhaneosuarez and
maybe Nathaniel Lowe, and third base is gonna open up
to be.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
Key Brian Hayes is. And the trade deadline is still
a little bit more than a month away. But Euhaneo
Suarez plays a lot of third base.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
When Noel Vay, I'm sorry, when Nathaniel Lowe plays first base.
They have Sal Stewart play third Both have had their
moments in the field, Sal more than Auhaneo. But obviously
if you don't have Soarez and you don't have Low,
there's more of a need for somebody else to play
third base, and Key Brian Hayes's only position is third base,

(29:06):
although you know, you never know if Tito and Nick
Crawl are going to put their heads together and decide
to have him play center field, because they're always looking
for people to play center field. And so my guess
is Key Brian Hayes gets two months to show that
some of the bad luck narratives that kind of followed

(29:29):
him before he got hurt or went on the injured
list are going to turn into him having some success
at the plate. When they acquired him, I'm sure they
thought that there's something that their coaches, Chris of h
Lake and the hitting coach could do with him to
get more out of him as a hitter, and then
maybe you have to make a decision on him by
the end of the year. I do think for those

(29:50):
who have looked at Key Brian Hayes through the lens
of well, he's going to come back and they have
other guys who could play third base, and he's a
bad hitter, and so they're going to cut loose and
just eat his salary. That doesn't seem to me, at
least in the short term, to be likely. Could it
happen at some point, sure, but let's be honest. What

(30:13):
we know about Key Brian Hayes now is the same
thing we knew about him when they traded for him.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
Now.

Speaker 2 (30:20):
I guess there were two schools of thought when the
Reds traded for him. My school of thought was, this
doesn't make any sense. Why are they adding a guy
with a bad back, who's not a good hitter, who
they're on the hook for for the next four years,
especially at the time the Reds needed offense. And then
there was the school of thought that said, hey, lean
into defense, lean into defense, and just take whatever you're

(30:40):
getting from him offensively. Okay, fine, that's how the Reds
looked at it. That's how the Reds looked at it.
They knew he was a bad hitter. They have access
to Baseball Reference, they played against him, they.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Know it is.

Speaker 2 (30:54):
His overall shortcomings are he is not a good hitter.
He has been statistically one of the words hitters in
baseball for quite a while. That was true when they
traded for him. That has been confirmed since he's been
a red last two months of last season and up
until he got hurt this year. It doesn't seem likely.

(31:16):
It doesn't seem likely that if you trade for a
guy knowing what he is, and then he gets here
and he is what you knew he was, that you suddenly,
after less than a year, reverse course and just move
on from him and just eat his salary. Would they
like to trade him?

Speaker 1 (31:37):
Maybe?

Speaker 2 (31:37):
I'm guessing the answer is yes. Would they like for
a better offensive option at third base to emerge?

Speaker 1 (31:44):
Of course they would.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
I'd be willing to bet they were really hoping A
they would stay in contention and b that while keep
Brian Hayes was out, somebody just killed it defensively and
raked at third base. That hasn't happened. But you're really
going to cut a guy loose and heat the remainder
of his salary if all he has done is confirm

(32:06):
what you already knew about him, And that, to me
is the frustrating part. You made an acquisition for a
guy who is woefully deficient in one area of the
game woefully, and so the fact that he hasn't hit,
and frankly, the fact that he's entered on the el
with a back issue, those are not surprising.

Speaker 1 (32:27):
And trust me, man, I'm among them. I'm probably just
like you.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
I would love it if they just moved on, because
I want them to move on from bad players and
key Brian Hayes is a bad offensive player for all
of his talents in the field, But I just don't
think it's all that likely that if you knew he
can't hit, and he's not hit, and you knew he
was great defensively and he has been wonderful on defense,
and you knew he had a bad back and he
still has a bad back, that within a year of

(32:53):
him being exactly what you knew he was going to be,
that you suddenly let him go with years left on
his contract and money to owe him that you have
to pay. We will see twelve minutes away from six o'clock.
This is ESPN fifteen to thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (33:10):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
From the UC Health Traffic Center, final of a three
game series.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
Earlier today, it was the Pirates doubled up by the
Braves in Pittsburgh ten to five. Mets beat the Royals
seven to three New York. The Yankees hammered the Rays
ten to four of that game in Saint Petersburg. Cubs
lost in Baltimore three to two, Cleveland five to two,
winners over the Twins. Boston beat the White Sox in
Chicago by a score of two to one. Elsewhere, tonight,

(33:39):
Tigers are home for the A's Seattle's at Miami.

Speaker 1 (33:42):
By the way, speaking of the A's, I finished a book.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
I think it was written five years ago, the Biography
of Ricky Henderson by Howard Bryant. I finished it this morning.
That is a that's a top ten all time baseball book. Elsewhere,
the Brewers are in St. Lewis, Angels take on the
Rangers in Arlington. Padres hosting the Diamondbacks, and the Colorado

(34:05):
Rockies visit San Francisco at Oracle Park. You talk about
a season that has spiraled out of control, the San
Francisco Giants, and there were some pretty lofty hopes for
them eighteen under five hundred. As we get set for
play tonight, Hey, the dude asked, what's happening in baseball.

(34:26):
I told him what's happening in baseball. Also, Bryce Harper
is just announced here in Cincinnati that he is going
to participate in his team's home ballpark in this year's
home run Derby Witch. I wish Ellie Dela Cruz would
have been an All Star so he could have participated
in it, because he sounded like he was open to
the idea. Perhaps next year, maybe still in a Reds uniform.

(34:46):
And you know what I say, hopefully so, because there
surely have to be other ways to improve upon that
twenty fifth best farm system according to Baseball America. Music
means the show is I don't make the rules, Taran
does tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
Oh boy, oh goodie.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
The Baseball Draft is this weekend, so more players we
can get excited about playing for the Reds in four years.
We have an expert on to talk about that and
so much more. Anything you may have missgo finding the
iHeartRadio app podcast of this show service of long next
Sports Grill. We will talk to you tomorrow at three
oh five. My thanks to Tarn Bland for producing, and
of course my thanks to you for listening. Have an

(35:28):
unbelievable night and we'll talk to you tomorrow. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station,