7/1/26 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

The Reds keep getting dog-walked by the Brewers. Searching for what Nick Krall has been really good at. An NFL analyst give the Bengals a C and Mo understands why. And what do you know, the World Cup hasn't been a disaster.

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Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:04):
All right, here we go five minutes after three. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
I'm Oeger.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Thank you so much for listening, hook for having an
awesome Wednesday afternoon.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
It is.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
It is nice to be back. I was out yesterday,
I was out Monday. My thanks to Austin Elmore for
pinch hitting. I went to Milwaukee, and I didn't go
to Milwaukee Milwaukee strictly for Reds Brewers. A very good
friend of mine celebrated his fiftieth birthday. He lives here,
but he's from Milwaukee. And we did golf, checked out Summerfest,

(00:38):
which is their big music festival, and went to two
Reds Brewers games. And the only thing I didn't see
in Milwaukee at the ballpark yesterday or Monday was like,
I don't know, Christian Yelich pulling down the pants about
Juhanio Suarez, because when the Reds play the Brewers, it

(00:59):
is very much like the Washington Generals playing the Harlem Globetrotters.
By the way, show preview is available right now. Watch
it on Twitter at Muleger. Thanks to share Fax Credit Union,
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There are tons of membership benefits, learn about share facts,

(01:21):
good to sharefacs, dot org. I have been driving this
train for a while, and I don't think I have
been the only one.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
But I have been driving this train for a while.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
This has been my take for a very long time,
and it feels like now everyone's on board. After the
Brewers won five consecutive games against the Reds, the three
at GABP last week, the two to start this four
game series in Milwaukee this week, the Brewers have won
what is it forty forty four of the last like

(01:55):
fifty nine games against the Reds.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
I had this stat in front of me.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
It does not matter, but this has been my take
for a very long time now, and it feels like
everybody has jumped on board. Reds can't compete with the Dodgers. Fine, fine,
And there are some some parts of that argument I
would push back against, but as a general rule, I
want to say, well, look, they can't compete with the Dodgers. Okay,

(02:20):
can't spend like the Mets, that the Mets don't get
a lot of bang for their buck, But okay, fine,
Maybe it's an issue of can versus won't. But fine,
let's make it about can't. That's cool, can't spend like
the Mets. There's like some of the other bigger market clubs,
like the Phillies. Oh okay, don't think it's fair that

(02:41):
bigger market teams can spend what the Reds either can't
or won't. Fine, all right, fine, I'll.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Listen to that.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Beat the Milwaukee Brewers, a team with a smaller payroll,
no big market financial advantages. I mean, that was just
a mill for four days, and I listened to a
lot of local sports talk radio because there's some great
hosts up there, and they and I went and had
beers with one of them, and actually two of them,

(03:11):
and we talked about like, you know, Brewers fans are
always lamenting the fact that, well, we lose guys and
players leave, and we get Corbin Burns and we have
to move on from him, and Willie Adamas and we
move on from him, and Willie Pearlton, we move on
from him. And you know, it'd be great if if
there was a salary cap, and it would be cool
at somehow there was some level financial playing field between
the Brewers and the Dodgers. But you know what, they're

(03:33):
still good every single year. They're gonna be in the
playoffs this year for the eighth time in nine years.
They are obviously the odds on favorite to win the
National League Central because they have a healthy lead five
and a half games over the red hot Chicago Cubs
in the National League Central. When the Rets played the

(03:55):
Brewers head to head, it is striking. The Rets get
dog walked by the Brewers. Milwaukee puts a clown suit
on Cincinnati. Here, you have a team that finds ways
to score. They can score in a variety of ways.
They play crisp sound, fundamental baseball. They don't make a
lot of mistakes. They have you know, second basement playing

(04:17):
second base, and centerfielders playing center field, and third basement
playing third base. It's night and day forty five and
eighteen since the start of the twenty twenty two season.
Like when the Reds and Brewers play, the Brewers like
almost literally put a clown suit on every Reds player, coach,
and manager.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
It is remarkable.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Now watch the Reds win tonight and I'll have somebody
who pops in my mentions to tell me, so, hey, hey,
what about now like as a general rule, dude, these
two organizations are night and day. And this is a
bus that I have been driving for a while. If
I were Phil Castellini, and I wish I was, my
life would be a lot different. But if I were

(04:58):
Phil Castellini, I would be asking Nick Krawl every single day, Ay,
why can't we beat them? B why can't we be them?
And until you have the answer for me, you know,
nothing else really matters. And the longer you go without
being able to give me an answer, the more I
think maybe you shouldn't be the guy Nick Krawl oversees

(05:23):
baseball operations. This is a capacity that he has been
in since the start of the twenty twenty one season.
He's not anymore the general manager. He is the president
of baseball operations. I asked on this show last week,
the one day that I was here, what are the
Reds organizationally good at? I don't mean the non baseball stuff,

(05:47):
ballpark experience, community fund, alumni, broadcast, Hall of Fame, any
of that. They're They're awesome at all of that stuff.
You will find no bigger fan of the Reds when
it comes to all that stuff I just listed. But
the baseball part of it. What are the Reds good
at as a baseball organization?

Speaker 1 (06:08):
What are they good at?

Speaker 2 (06:11):
Nick Krawl oversees baseball operations, So when you ask that
question about the Reds, you're really asking it about him.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
What is Nick Krawl good at?

Speaker 2 (06:23):
Like in his job as president of Baseball Operations or
maybe it's vice president, I don't care. He's in charge
of baseball operations.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
What's he good at?

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Development? Overseeing a well run farm system? Development, drafting. They've
had draft successes. The most notable ones or guys that
were relatively obvious picks in the very very very first round.

(06:58):
Is the awesome at flipping established players for quality, younger guys. Like,
there's this big conversation right now about buy or sell,
and frankly, I'm not sure buy or sell is that
much of a conversation. I cannot imagine there's a world
right now where anybody looks at the Reds as buyers

(07:18):
and so it's sell and then it's like, all right, well.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
What can they get? And not just what can they get.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
Given the I don't know the relative value of the
players the Reds may be willing to move on from,
but like, what can the Reds get Who can the
Reds get that, Nick Kral can I successfully identify as
somebody that's worth getting that can be a piece moving forward?
Like that's something that organizations can get good at. The
Rays are good at this, The Guardians are good at this.

(07:45):
I think the Brewers are good at this. You know what,
We're gonna lose guys, and so we flip them and
we get other players established, maybe not quite established players,
but dudes who quickly establish themselves as like core foundational
pieces of the organization and you have them for three
or four years and then you trade them and you
get more guys. Are the Reads good at that? Are

(08:07):
they good at exploiting market inefficiencies? Are they good at
fleecing other teams in trades? Are they good at continually
finding value in free agency? And we can make it
a vague question, but for today, let's make it a
heat question. Is he, meaning Nick Crawl, good at any

(08:30):
of that stuff? Look, he's had a really good career
based on his rise within the ranks and being basically
a lifelong member of the Cincinnati Reds, and he's a
swell guy. And it's not like his ledger doesn't have
some successes, we've gone out of our way to talk
about them. But your job performance is I think reflected

(08:53):
by the results. We keep scoring baseball, it's what makes
it great. We keep track of who wins and who loses.
We keep standings well. Since the start of the twenty
twenty one season, if you look at the standings, you're
not going to see a finish higher than third place.
You're only going to see one playoff appearance. That playoff

(09:13):
appearance was very brief. And now and I know I've
gone down this road before, did so last week, but now,
which is what is supposed to be at least close
to the apex of this rebuild that feels like it
started when I was twelve years old, but but really
got started in earnest. In twenty twenty two, they're getting

(09:35):
dog walked by the Milwaukee Brewers, a smaller market team
with a smaller payroll that does everything well that you don't.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
And we are entering the month of July.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
This is staggering to me relative to where we were
three years ago. We are entering the month of July
with the Reds six games under five hundred. They have
the second worst run differential in the National League. They
are almost as close to having the worst record of
the National League, which is currently owned by the Colorado Rockies.
There's seven behind the Colorado Rockies. They're three out of

(10:11):
the last I'm sorry, they're six out of the last wildcard.
So there's a lot of different questions I can throw
at you here. One is, why should any of us,
and I know I asked this last week, why should
any of us believe that in the short term significant
improvement is in the offing? Hunter Green is going to
come back and pitch this weekend, which is awesome. Emelio
Pegan is back, which is a good thing, and hopefully

(10:33):
both those guys can stay healthy and pitch. Well, come on, man,
what is to make any of us believe that in
the short term this is gonna get fixed and long
term with Nick Krawl helming the ship moving forward if
you believe that his job is safe, and that is
maybe an entirely different conversation. If I ask you all

(10:56):
those questions and I go, well, is Nick Krawl good
at And I just listed like six or seven things
and the answer is no to all of them, well,
then you're acknowledging he's not really good at any one thing?
How can you have much faith in an organization that
is being run by a guy who's not good at
any one thing? Five point three seven four nine fifteen
thirty is my phone number? Eight six six seven oh

(11:17):
two three seven seven six will get you in as well.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
And I think that's what's frustrating.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
I said this, you know again, and it feels like
we're on a little bit of a hamster wheel saying
a lot of the same things. But the frustrating thing
about this where we are right now is it's not
just an isolated disappointing season. It's not just well, you
know what, things didn't go their way this year. Disappointing

(11:43):
seasons happened in sports. You just you know, the older
you get, the more you kind of understand, like, all right,
sometimes best laid plans don't work. Sometimes there's bad luck.
Sometimes players that you thought were going to be really
good underperformed. Like, there's a lot of different things. This
is not the frustration that I think you feel, And
certainly the frustration that I feel and the sort of
hopelessness that I think most of us feel is not

(12:06):
necessarily a reflection of the twenty twenty six season, it's
a reflection of well decades or at least multiple years,
multiple rebuilds, in a genuine sense that the folks who
have overseen this over the last couple of years are
very likely to be in charge of what's next. And

(12:31):
that would be a less sobering proposition if you felt
like the person in charge of baseball operations was good
at anything. And this is not meant to make it
personal about Nick Krawl. It's a reflection of performance. If
I ask it about the organization, If I ask it
about baseball operations, are they good at drafting? Are they

(12:52):
good at developing? Are they good at having a really
well run, good farm system that's constantly cranking out really
good big league players? Are they good at winning? Are
they good at getting to the postseason? Are they good
at flipping established players for really good young guys? Are
they good at exploiting market and efficiencies? Are they good
at fleecing other teams in trades? If the answers are.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
No, no, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
No about baseball operations, then the answers are no, no, no,
no no about the person in charge of baseball operations.
And we all know who that is. So yeah, man.
The longer this goes, the closer we inch to Bengals
training camp, which cannot get here soon enough. The less
we talked about twenty twenty six, and the more we

(13:35):
talk about twenty twenty seven, And yeah, man, maybe that's
the trade deadline and they can find a team that's
willing to take some of these dudes and give them
something in return. But the person in charge of executing
the trade deadline and the person in charge of flipping
the page to twenty twenty seven and beyond has overseen
a team that, since the start of the twenty twenty
one season, has achieved very very limited results, and is

(14:01):
overseeing a baseball organization that seemingly has no identity, that
is frustratingly and seemingly not good at anything. How could you,
if you're a Reds fan, come close to feeling good
about any of that? Uh lines are open. Five one, three, seven,
four nine fifteen thirty. We're guests free until four thirty.

(14:22):
We got a bunch of guests a little bit later
on five one, three, seven, four nine fifteen thirty is
our number at Molegger on Twitter too, thanks to Delta Dental.
Delta Dental is building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for all
good to Delta dentaloh dot com. Seth Water of ESPN,
who is a friend of the show, issued off season
grades for all thirty two NFL teams and has given

(14:44):
the Bengals a C.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
Think about that for a second.

Speaker 4 (14:50):
A C.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
I don't agree, but I do understand. I'll explain why.
Coming up in fifteen minutes. You know the other really
frustrating thing about the Reds. I'll tell you what it
is next on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (15:05):
Cincinnati's EESBC WCKY Cincinnati and iHeartRadio Station Guaranteed Human ESPN
fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
I heard twenty five after three. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Moeger,
thanks for listening today and pretty much thanks for listening
any day.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
And it's it's nice to be here.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
I've it's been load management season, and load management season,
we'll say, is halfway over. The frustrating thing is and
I was was was thinking about this on the on
the ride back from Milwaukee. There's lots of things that
should frustrate you if you're a fan about the Reds.
ORR at least that frustrate me about the Reds and

(15:52):
one of them is this, like, we're we're gonna spend
a lot of time in the coming months talking about
the Bengals and it being Super Bowl or bust. And
I don't love to compare pro football or any level
of football to baseball, because a quarterback can make such
a bigger difference in football than any one baseball player can.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
But like for the.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Bengals this year, I don't know what super Bowl or
bust means, but there is a real sense of like
kind of an hour never right, Like it's it's kind
of feels like their time. And I know that's weird
given how few games they won last season and what's
happened with the Bengals over the last three years, but
we talk about them in big boy terms. To me,

(16:33):
the greatest thing about beating the Raiders in the twenty
twenty one playoffs was we no longer had to talk
about can they win one playoff game?

Speaker 1 (16:40):
With the Reds, that's still what we're stuck doing. We
don't even do that.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
Like part of what is to me at least so
frustrating about the Reds is they can't clear a relatively
low bar, I mean, at any point even last year
which they made the postseason. I think, on its own
merits was a successful year. They won eighty three games.
At no point going into last season was anybody saying, God,

(17:07):
they gotta win ninety this year.

Speaker 1 (17:09):
They should win ninety this year.

Speaker 2 (17:11):
This offseason, even with last year's playoff experience as short
lived as it was, was anybody talking about really talking
about the Reds winning ninety to ninety two games. It
was all, well, you know what, the division might not
be very good and so maybe eighty seven wins will
do it. What's frustrating about the Reds is they can't
clear a very low bar. To me, I said that

(17:33):
about Wes Miller at you see these last couple of years, right,
it was just make the NCAA Tournament, not win the
Big twelve, not get a top four seed in the
NCAA tournament, not advance in the NCAA Tournament. But dude,
play in Dayton, be team number sixty eight. It's frustrating

(17:53):
when you can't clear a low bar. Nobody talks about
the Reds winning the World Series. Nobody really talks about
them winning the division. Nobody says NL Central Champs or
bust advance in the postseason or bust. I tried really
hard one day this offseason February or March to see
if I can get a general sense of what is

(18:15):
the expectation this season for the Reds and I couldn't
get one.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
And that's not your fault. It's not my fault, it's
their fault.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
So we just because there's no real consensus, I feel
like we set the expectations pretty low. How many times
have you heard, well, you know, if they could just
sneak in, Well, they could just sneak in. Heh ever, know, like,
how about instead of sneaking in, like, go in emphatically,
go in with a head of steam, go in with

(18:45):
room to spare. We don't even talk about playoff advancement.
If they could just sneak in. It's one thing when
you have a disappointing season and you fall short of
mass of expectations. We will say that about the Bengals
if they fall short of massive expectations, and chances are

(19:07):
there will be hell to pay somewhere. With the Reds,
they fall short of meager expectations. You know, if they
could just maybe find a way to slide into eighty
six wins and be the six and then you got
Hunter Green.

Speaker 1 (19:25):
It's like, oh, for the love of God, it's.

Speaker 2 (19:28):
Frustrating, but it's what comes with never winning. It's it's
what comes with unending mediocrity.

Speaker 1 (19:33):
We lower. It's like me as a as a student.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
Right when I got to like junior high, my mom
and dad stopped asking for straight a's and they were
just happy I passed classes. Right, It's it's what comes
with unending mediocrity. We lower the expectation. This year's team
can't clear a very low bar, can't exceed meager expectations.

(20:00):
Do the Bengals deserve a C for their offseason? I
think the answer is no, but I could understand why
one analysts answer is yes. I'll explain after sports Headlines
on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 6 (20:12):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
The headlines are a service to Kelsey Chevali hom of
lifetime power train.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
Protection and guaranteed credit approval.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
From their family to yours for life, kelseyshev dot Com, Reds,
and Brewers again tonight in Milwaukee, Cincinnati looking for their
first win of the season against the Crew and try
to improve to a five games under five hundred. They
will send Andrew Abbott to the hill tonight. He'll throw
against Shane Trohan tonight's first pitch a little bit later

(20:46):
than the last couple of nights because it's an ESPN
National game eight pm, eight pm. Obviously you could also
listen on seven hundred WLW. I have not yet seen
a lineup from Milwaukee. It is still, I guess a
little bit early for that. Alfredo Duno is going to
represent the Reds in the twenty twenty six Futures Game
for a second consecutive year. Congratulations and best of luck

(21:09):
to him. Meanwhile, the Florence Yaws failed to a Windy
City today by a score of seven to four. In
the World Cup, England advances to the round of sixteen.
Harry Kane with a dramatic goal to give England a
two to one victory over the Congo. Later tonight, the
United States, huh, the United States, not Stakes States. It's

(21:35):
going to battle Bosnia Herzegovina for the right to advance
to the round of thirty two. Also getting underway in
about twenty five minutes, it'll be Belgium and Senegal. Oh
and Connor Barwin top five all time favorite Bearcat. University
of Cincinnati today announced that Connor who played tight end,

(22:00):
defensive end, and power forward for the UC Bearcats, will
be inducted into the James P. Kelly University of Cincinnati
Athletics Hall of Fame this fall. I like the fact
they've done that obviously, starting with Bob Huggins, but they've
announced different Hall of famers from their class and I
don't have some of the others in front of me.

(22:22):
But over the last few weeks they have slowly announced
each individual athlete that is going in. I don't know
if there's more to come. I don't know if they're done,
but nonetheless, congratulations to a Connor Barwin, who at UC
did a lot and went on for to have a
terrific NFL career. People forget he started as a tight

(22:42):
end and then excelled on the defensive side of the ball,
and I will never forget Mick Cronin's first season, UC
played a terrific Ohio State team that played in the
National title Game, and Connor Barwin was a task was
assigned the task of guarding Greg Odin. Congratulations to Connor

(23:05):
more on the Reds. A little bit later on we're
inching closer to training camp. I cannot wait, cannot wait
to broadcast from Bengals training camp. Seth Walder, who's one
of the analytics dudes for ESPN, has been kind enough
to join our show whenever we have asked. He joined
us a few weeks ago to talk about the Football
Power Index and the Bengals relatively easy schedule, which he

(23:28):
has as the easiest in the NFL. He has assigned
letter grades to every team's off season, so this includes
obviously free agency trades, players that have leafed, players that
have come the draft.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
Gives the Bengals a C. A C.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
Now, hold that up against the way we've talked about
this offseason kind of flies in the face of it, right,
because the offseason has re energized us. It's re energized
Joe Burrow, it's it's heightened expectations. I think it's injected
an infusion of optimism and excitement into us as fans

(24:11):
that was sorely lacking for much of last season, really
all of last season. And so I would be willing
to bet that if you asked, most Bengals fans that
you know assign a letter grade to the Bengals off season.
They're not gonna say C. It's probably gonna be pretty
close to an A. If it's not an A or
an A plus, I would give the Bengals off season

(24:36):
an A minus. And the only reason there's a minus
is the linebacker thing. I'm not entirely trusting what they're
doing at linebacker, but in terms of who they've acquired,
what they've added, the type of people they've seemingly added,
a minus.

Speaker 1 (24:54):
Off season.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
Seth Walter gives them a C. I'm not gonna give
away all his content, you can go read it, but
one paragraph reads like this. The Bengals made a high
profile trade, sending the tenth overall pick to the Giants
in exchange for Dexter Lawrence. The move was both uncharacteristic
and unwise. Yes, Cincinnati needs to invest resources into its defense,

(25:19):
but this was not the way to do it. Lawrence
is a good player who has been a lead in
the past, but he's coming off a down season, just
an eight point four percent pass rush win rate and
just a half a sack. He also writes there's also
a big difference between sending the tenth pick and say,
a late first rounder and that's why this was too

(25:40):
pricey a trade. So there's two things to acknowledge there. One,
Dexter Lawrence did have a down season last year. I
think it's fair to wonder, like, all right, what was
that all about? And I think we're gonna get more
answers about what that was all about based on his
performance here. If he ends up having the sort of
season we're all hoping for, we're gonna say, well, combination

(26:01):
of team that he was on, environment and the elbow
issue added up to a down season with the Giants,
change of scenery, better health, better season this year. But
the other part of this is, and this is why
I understand the letter grade being a C. I don't
agree I give him an A minus. Why am I

(26:21):
giving them an a minus? Because all I care about
is twenty twenty six from Seth. From Seth's perspective, he's
looking at the value of the tenth overall pick, and
he sees immense value in twenty twenty six, but also
well beyond, I do think it is reasonable if you
are looking at that trade from the perspective of twenty

(26:45):
twenty six and beyond, to wonder did they give up
a little bit too much, given who was available, given
the value of the tenth overall pick, given the fact
that the tenth overall pick is if the guy is
any good five years of gearan cheap labor, when Dexter
Lawrence is not cheap labor, if you are looking at

(27:07):
the deal, and if you're looking at the off season.
But by the way, he says a lot of really
nice things about some of the things the Bengals have done.
He's big on Boye Mafe, which most of us are
as well. I think here we're all giving it really
high grades because all that matters to you, and I
understandably so is twenty twenty six.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
I can only speak for myself.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
I said this back in April twenty twenty seven, twenty
twenty eight, twenty twenty nine, twenty thirty. I've never cared
less about anything. They need to be good this year.
They need to save the head coach's job this year.
They need to make the quarterback happier this year. They
need to win with the quarterback and the core they

(27:48):
have this year. If you are solely looking at the
deal through the lens of how does it impact winning
in twenty twenty six, I don't know how you give
the offseason a C, but I don't have any reservations
about the trade because I'm not that concerned about twenty

(28:09):
twenty seven. If the Dexter Lawrence trade works out and
the rest of the other offseason moves work out, the
Bengals are going to be really good this year and
at least be in a position to contend for something meaningful.
Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine. Then
it's up to matchups and health and a lot of
different factors and variables. But if you're looking at the
deal through the lens of okay, let's talk about the

(28:32):
long term impact of what they did. I'm still not
sure i'd go see, but I could understand expressing the
reservations you may have, which would then bring the grade
down from what I have it at, which is an aus.
I'm I'm handing out my imaginary grade, which I'm sure
the Bengals are really concerned about, by the way, I'm
handing out my imaginary grade, because I care about one thing,

(28:55):
how do they get closer to winning this season? And
Duke Tobin was obviously willing to do this, But as
a fan, I think most of us are willing to
do this as well. If winning in twenty twenty six
comes at the expense of something down the road, cool,
But you do have to acknowledge there's something down the
road that this trade could affect negatively. And that's why

(29:21):
the letter grade is for Seth a little bit lower.
And while I don't agree, I understand where he's coming from.
He's looking at the the value of the trade and
what the trade made do to the team this year,
but also beyond, and a lot of us and I'm
raising my hand, I'm looking at this trade simply from
the perspective of how does it make him better?

Speaker 1 (29:42):
Right now?

Speaker 2 (29:43):
Dexter Lawrence, in my opinion, at least has a better
chance of making the twenty twenty six Bengals better than
anybody they could have taken with a tenth overall pick.
And there were players obviously, including Caleb Downs, that so
many of us loved. So like seth perspective, He's doing
it with every team differently, right every off season, like
how does this offseason effect next year? The year after

(30:04):
the year after. That's trade, it's signings, it's obviously the draft.
When the Bengals traded for Dexter Lawrence. It was a
move aimed at one thing, frankly, and one thing only
twenty twenty six. If you only care about twenty twenty six,
and right now, for me, all I care about is

(30:25):
twenty twenty six. The trade and the off season get
much much higher marks than the c quote to four
ESPN fifteen thirty, Elie de la Cruz batted leadoff the
last couple of nights, which is where he should bat
lead off. But Terry Francona, when talking about Ellie, kind
of said the quiet part out loud. We'll get to

(30:45):
that coming up in the four o'clock hour, and something
that I never believed. Because I've learned my lesson, I'll
explain next on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (30:54):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 7 (31:00):
See Health Traffic Center. The uc Health Brain Tumor Center
is changing the game and brain tumor care with the
research and advanced treatments for brain tumor patients. Learn more
at UCHealth dot com. Good news the West.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
From not the DL anymore, of course, nine away from
four o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Your phone calls
are well in the four o'clock hour. We do have
our sports legal expert, attorney Steward W. Penrose from the
Manilo Law Group, coming up at four thirty five. You now,
America is celebrating its two hundred and fiftieth birthday this summer,

(31:35):
and Skyline is celebrating appropriately with something they have dropped
off here to the radio station, their new firecracker fries.
These are awesome. So Skyline has had chili cheese fries
on the menu since before I can remember, but these
have a special firecracker topping which is a blend of
buffalo sauce and chili ranch along with habbanaro cheese. And

(32:00):
you can get the firecracker topping by the way on
a three way or four way or five way Toledo's
obviously Cheeze Cony's, but these these kind of bring a
little extra punch. These are really good. So when you
swing by Skyline at participating locations, by the way, this
is just for a limited time, make sure you ask
about their firecracker fries. They are terrific and we thank

(32:23):
the folks that Skyline for dropping some off to us.
Firecracker Fries available now at participating Skyline locations for a
limited time. That's one way to celebrate two fifty. Speaking
of America, the US men's soccer team plays tonight against
Bosni or Herzegovina. And you know, I've watched over the

(32:44):
last few days more World Cup matches, especially now that
we've gotten to the knockout round where there's just a
lot more riding on the matches than I did the
first week or so of the World Cup. I've watched
all three US games, and it felt to me in
the weeks leading up to the World Cup that there
were almost NonStop complaints or warnings that the World Cup

(33:10):
in North America was going to be a disaster. Ticket
price is exorbitant, which for the most part they have been.
Stadiums were going to be empty, nobody was going to
go The political climates too hot, people don't like coming
to the US. Americans aren't going to be nice too,
like I mean, there were some versions of these all
over the place. And if there's one thing I've learned

(33:34):
in the time that I've been doing this, it's this
that you gotta be careful when you hear about how
much of a disaster something is going to be. The
World Cup has been fine, have there been snags, I'm
sure they have been. Are there fair discussions to be
had about how the Iranian soccer team was treated while

(33:57):
competing in the World Cup? Yeah, I think there are
fair conversations to be had about what was appropriate there.
But by and large, it does feel like and I'm
sure there have been exceptions, like the people who have
gone to these games have had a good time. Everybody
has gotten along. I'm sure there have been some travel snaffoos,
because you can't escape travel snaffoos in the United States,

(34:19):
especially in big cities when you have large events like
the World Cup.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
But it has felt to me, and I'm watching it on.

Speaker 2 (34:26):
TV like the World Cup has been fine, and I
just over a certain number of years, I've come to like,
I've come to take warnings about how something is going
to be a disaster with large grains of salts. You know,
for the last few years, I've heard it time and again,
how oh my god, the portal and nil conference realignment

(34:49):
runing college sports. College sports have issues, of course, it does.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
Guess what.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
The TV ratings are great, the stadiums are full, fans
are engaged, everybody's getting paid.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
College sports are still really, really good.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
You know, ten years ago, if you go back and
read a lot of things that were written about the
future of pro football, really the future of the sport
of football in this country, all the player safety issues.
Nobody's gonna want their kid to play football. And then
you have the intersection of that with the players kneeling
for the anthem. Nobody's gonna watch the NFL. Everybody's gonna
be turned off. The league has never been bigger or

(35:25):
more popular. You know a number of years ago the
pitch clock is gonna ruin baseball. We're gonna have postseason
games that end on a pitchclock violation. That may still happen.
If it does, it won't be a big deal. The
pitch clock hasn't ruined baseball. In fact, it's made it better.

(35:45):
And so I watched and I consumed a lot of
his content from people, and honestly, I don't think most
of these folks were soccer people, but they were commenting
on what was gonna happen when FIFA came and brought
the World Cup and you brought all these people from
other parts of the world, and the ticket prices and
it was gonna be an absolute mass disaster. They're gonna
be large scale travel issues, and again I'm sure there
have been some. I think those are almost impossible to

(36:07):
avoid in this day and age. But I feel like,
relative to all the warnings that this was going to
be a train wreck of an event, it feels like
people who have gone have had a really good time.
The competition, the quality of play, I think has been
really good. And obviously the opinion here might be amplified
by the fact that the US has played so well

(36:28):
and has a chance to advance to the Round of
sixteen by winning tonight. But whenever the discourse is unendingly
about how something's going to be a disaster, this is
the beginning of the end.

Speaker 1 (36:40):
This is the death.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
Now, this is going to be awful, that usually ends
up not being the case. And none of these comparisons
are apples to apples. But still, like for the first
like two days of the pitch clock, how many times
did you hear somebody talk about how this was going
to be the death of the sport. It breathed life

(37:02):
into the sport. Football's endangered, It's gonna go away here soon.
College football and professional football have never been bigger, better,
more profitable, and more popular. The World Cup has been
fine and hopefully it continues for the US based on
their result tonight. So Ellie dela Cruz has been batting leadoff,

(37:26):
which is good. He should be batting leadoff. But Tita
Francona earlier this week said the quiet part out loud
with being asked about Tito when being asked about Ellie
de la Cruz. We'll get to the quiet part next
on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
Fourth or July Savings are happening.

Speaker 6 (37:44):
With ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (37:50):
Four minutes after three.

Speaker 2 (37:51):
This is excuse me, excuse me, ESPN fifteen thirty mo Ager.

Speaker 1 (37:56):
Thanks for listening today.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
Brindiman and Jones on baseball later on this hour, plus
our sports legal expert a day later than the usual,
attorney Stewart W.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
Penrose at four thirty five on.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
Soresby, Brendan Soorsby took a step in the right direction,
by the way over the last couple of days, at
least acknowledging that Hey, I am where I am because
of what I did. I still haven't heard from his
agent or his representatives exactly what evidence they have to
suggest that UC did something wrong. But at least Brendan
is making some statements that reflect at least some responsibility

(38:33):
and accountability. More on that and a few other sports
legal issues, with Stewart coming up in just about thirty
minutes your phone calls, welcome this hour as well. Red's
just dog walked by the Brewers the last couple of
nights and no not beaten all that decisively yet still
by the way, no lineup out for the Reds for

(38:55):
tonight's game, which does start a little bit later than
the last couple of nights. Deaila Cruz has bat at
leadoff in the last few nights, which has been where
he should beat, at least on this team. And I've
never really understood the pushback to the suggestion that a
team's best hitter should get the most amount of at

(39:16):
bats and over the course of a season.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
And I haven't done this in a while. I think
I did this two years ago.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
Over the course of a season, a team's leadoff hitter
is gonna bat. I think it's like close to ninety
times more than a team's third place batter. And that
number might be a little bit inflated, but I remember
I actually gave it to Tony and Austin one day
when they were talking about Ellie batting leadoff, and I
went and I looked it up and it was not
an insignificant number of plate appearances that a team's leadoff

(39:43):
hitter is gonna make more frequently than a team's number
three hitter. So why don't you want your best hitter
batting leadoff? So Ellie won Sal Stewart two. Those are
their best two hitters right now. They should be batting
first and second. Charlie Goldsmith, in his outstanding Charlie's Chalkboard newsletter,

(40:06):
wrote about this earlier this week. By the way he is,
his latest newsletter does a really deep dive into what
the Brewers do well that the Reds don't. You should
go read it. But here's Charlie writing about Terry Francona
and Ellie Dela Cruz, where Charlie writes about a month
ago Francona was asked why Ellie Dela Cruz hadn't been

(40:27):
in the leadoff spot all along? Around baseball, you see
stars like show Hey Otani, James wood Byron Buxton, can
Tell Marte and Pete Crow Armstrong getting regular starts in
the top of the order. Here's Tito's response to that quote.
I have a feeling if you go back and look
at those lineups, they're pretty lengthy. There are reasons teams

(40:48):
can do it. I get it, you want to get
your best hitters more times to hit. I'm not sure
we're quite at that length in our lineup, which is
a nice way of saying we don't have enough good hitters. Look,
you might want to argue that Tito is right in
not jumping to wanting Ellie to bat lead off all

(41:09):
the time. That's fine, But maybe a bigger issue is
if you don't want Ellie de la Cruz to bat
lead off at least right now, there's no viable other
option that you can make the case for, is there
five point three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty. I also
feel like this if you remove twenty thirteen from the equation.

(41:35):
Twenty thirteen, the Reds had Shinsu Chew bat leadoff and
he was terrific. Doesn't it feel to you like the
Reds needing a leadoff hitter is like their version of
the Bengals needing an upgraded offensive line. Now, to be
fair to the Bengals, we didn't spend a lot of
time this offseason talking about their offensive line because it

(41:58):
played very well at the end of the season, and
I think most of us we're excited about that group
coming back, especially once they resigned Dalton Reisner. But I'm
sure I'm missing somebody, and I know there have been
players who have, in certain bursts, provided some productivity batting
leadoff Jonathan India for about five minutes, maybe Drew Stubbs
here and there. You certainly had no shortage of people

(42:20):
who just held out hope that Billy Hamilton was one
day going to be able to bat lead off. But
I feel like, for basically my adult life, which goes
back to the late nineteen.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
Nineties, year in and year out.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
Whether the Reds are good, expected to be good, bad,
or expected to be bad almost every single year, what
the Reds are looking for is a prototypical leadoff hitter. Now,
the fact that they haven't found one could be a
reflection of two things.

Speaker 1 (42:52):
One might be.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
Their own inaptitude where they can't either identify or dive
a guy who's got the right skill set you're looking
for to be a prototypical, quintessential leadoff hitter, or that
skill set being possessed by one individual player is actually
something that's pretty scarce.

Speaker 1 (43:18):
The answer is probably a combination of the two.

Speaker 2 (43:21):
But doesn't it feel to you like every single year,
whether the Reds have a lot of really good players,
only a handful of really good players, or no good players,
like whatever they are, they don't have a leadoff guy.
And there was a time early last season where TJ.
Friedel fit the description. He was getting on base a lot,

(43:44):
was having a good season, was you know, just statistically
the first fifty to sixty seventy games last year in
the leadoff spot, putting together a nice year.

Speaker 1 (43:53):
The way TJ.

Speaker 2 (43:54):
Friedel has hit since period of time that has included
a stint in the minor leagues, there has been nothing
about his game that makes you feel like he is
a good leadoff hitter.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
I mean, it's just it's been. It's been forever.

Speaker 2 (44:07):
It's and I remember, most notably, Shin su Chow batted
leadoff in twenty thirteen, had a terrific season. Red's made
the playoffs that year. Shin su Chow's production in the
lead off spot was a reason why after that it
was Billy Hamilton for a number of years. Jonathan India
got a few shots at it beyond that, before or
after Shin su Chew in twenty thirteen. It feels like

(44:30):
the Reds can never find a true leadoff guy. It
also feels like they're having a really hard time finding,
you know, actual outfielders, including outfielders who actually uh play
the outfield. Like the latest topic is, is Matt McClain
gonna play the outfield at a level that makes you
feel comfortable with putting him out there as much as

(44:52):
possible if you're not good at getting leadoff guys, or
if you want to say like that skill set that
like just skill of getting on base, drawing walks, it
is really rare. It's really rare to find a prototypical

(45:13):
leadoff hitter. And then you acknowledge like our team doesn't
have a ton of lineup depth, then what argument is
there against Ellie Delacruz batting leadoff there? Frankly is none.
So you could argue he's kind of there by default
because there's nobody else. And you know, with the injuries

(45:33):
the Reds have had, with the lack of performance the
Reds have had, that if somebody's got a bad first
so why not Elie Dela Cruz. But number one, how
many years this century have we been okay with with
who the Reds have had batting leadoff?

Speaker 1 (45:47):
I think the answer is exactly one.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
Number two, if you don't have a guy, or you
can't find a guy, or you can't develop a guy
who possesses quote quintessential leadoff hitter skills, isn't the next
best thing? Ellie Dela Cruz. I think the answer is yes.
Five fifteen thirty is our phone number. I had something

(46:15):
else that I was gonna get to before the break.
I have misplaced it. I have not misplaced the money
orders sent to us from our friend Mike Hi.

Speaker 4 (46:22):
Mike ah Hi, thank you appreciate that. Yes, I was
glad to see you finally got that dog on money
Orderstride me nuts and uh.

Speaker 1 (46:34):
Well it's gonna go.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
It's gonna go to the right place, helping out three
organizations that do wonders for folks who are living with als.

Speaker 4 (46:42):
Yeah, well, it just shouldn't have been that much of
a hassle. That's not our fault, that's the USPS. So
how was the Milwaukee Ballpark experience awesome?

Speaker 2 (46:54):
It's uh, it's one of my favorite places to uh
to see a game. Sitelines are great, fans are awesome.
They tailgate before the games. There is a lack of
stuff to do near the ballpark before or after a game,
but every tavern worth It Salt to Milwaukee has a shuttle.
The shuttle is free in most In most cases, you
gotta get an appetizer, grab a beer.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
You can take it on the bus.

Speaker 2 (47:18):
The ballpark itself is one of my favorites, and, aside
from the results of the games themselves, had an absolute blast.

Speaker 4 (47:27):
Did you get to go out to the lake?

Speaker 2 (47:29):
I did not have time to go out to the lake.
I went to Summer Fast and I played around of golf.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
What we scratched absolutely not. I was terrible.

Speaker 4 (47:42):
Well, since you've been going, there's been a plethora of
weird calls, in my opinion, like, you know, like Ellie's
gonna stay in Cincinnati. No, he's not. People Ellie, Ellie
will not be in Cincinnati. Just get that in your head.
He's gone. When the time comes, he's gone. He's not
stay here. That's the question.

Speaker 2 (48:02):
Yes, So the bigger, the bigger issue for me is
how do you win while you have him?

Speaker 4 (48:07):
Yes, the same thing with Borrow, like if.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
You're if you're if you're Elie Dela Cruz, are you
looking at this going I want this to continue?

Speaker 1 (48:17):
Right like?

Speaker 2 (48:18):
I mean, if if the money and you know the
money is going to be greater somewhere else, though, what
has to compel him to want to stay in Cincinnati
is the opportunity to play in the biggest stage, to win,
and to maximize his brand by enjoying team success. If
you're Elie Dela Cruz, do you feel like that's going.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
To happen here right? Correct? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (48:42):
I mean, I just I view Ellie through a very
simple lens. It's great that they have him. They have
him for a number of years. He's a terrific player.
I think he's only going to get better. Find a
way to win while you have him. Don't waste Eli
Dela Cruz the way you wasted Joey Vado.

Speaker 8 (49:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (49:00):
And he's always a low key guy. He's no problem,
no issues, That's what you know. I always very grown
up for his age. I think he's wonderful. I'm not
that excited about the Gon coming back because when he left,
his era was pretty much seven, So I don't know
that that's a big upgrade.

Speaker 2 (49:15):
Yeah, I think you have to acknowledge he was he was,
you know, he he was trying to pitch through some
hamstring issues and that may have compromised him a little bit.
But look, he's he's better cast on a better team
and a better bullpen is not the ninth inning guy.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
I think we would agree with that.

Speaker 4 (49:34):
Yeah, I agree, And you have this guest coming on
the lawyer fellow. I'm just curious. This is maybe fortuitous.
I don't know what he's about as far as contract lawgoes,
but uh well, I'm curious from that standpoint what it
would take. How difficult is it for all the owners

(49:57):
I guess who are subordinate to Ca Stellini and the
team ownership. How tough is it to break that up
because of the minor owners versus their.

Speaker 2 (50:09):
Well, the Castellini family owns the controlling shares.

Speaker 1 (50:15):
Something like that.

Speaker 4 (50:16):
Yes, yeah, okay, well, there's got to be a way
more because I think until that happens, you can change
all kinds of stuff. I just don't know if it's
gonna matter. I just don't well, but I.

Speaker 2 (50:28):
Mean, like, if it's just about spending money on the team,
it can it can change the Brewers don't spend as
much as the Reds do.

Speaker 4 (50:38):
No, they don't. The race certainly don't. Maybe just a
new GM would do it. But I don't know. It's
a farm system. Evidently it's not. You know, they kind
of shout there, you know what with the with the
farm system now, it sounds pretty depleted. So and that

(50:58):
thing's got to be robust all the time. It has to.

Speaker 1 (51:02):
Yes, you're one hundred percent right.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
I mean, the comparison that I've made for years is
to the Saint Louis Cardinals of the mid two thousands,
and even to a degree now where it just it
feels like there is a steady churn, and sometimes it's
it's stockpiled through a trade that might you know, you know,
fill some holes in the farm system. But there's this
steady churn of guys who when they get to the

(51:25):
big leagues there's no need to send them back.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
And they're not all stars.

Speaker 2 (51:29):
That they're not all all stars, but they they they're
here and they could play and they can help. And
the Reds have not been good at consistently producing those
types of players.

Speaker 4 (51:42):
No, And so anyway, I'm anxious for the Bengals to
start so I'll let you go. Welcome back and good
to hear you.

Speaker 1 (51:48):
Thank you, Mike.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
You know I brought this up at the top of
the show. What are they good at organizationally? Like, what
is the thing they do really really well. I don't
know that it's that hard to articulate all the different
things that the Milwaukee Brewers as an organization do really well.
But it's impossible, I feel like when it comes to

(52:13):
the Reds to articulate from a baseball perspective what they
do really well. And that points to Nick Krawl, the
guy in charge of baseball operations, in charge of all
the baseball stuff. If it's hard to identify the things
that from a baseball perspective they do well, then by extension,
it's hard to kind of pinpoint the things that Nick

(52:35):
Krawl does well. Eighteen minutes after four o'clock five point
three seven four nine, fifteen thirty is our phone number.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (52:47):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
Now we're talking today. This song is appropriate.

Speaker 2 (52:58):
By the way, Taren, you were out the one day
last week that I worked and Austin Elmore and your
chair played a Will Smith, so I know he played
a pit bull song and we had to have a
little chat with him.

Speaker 1 (53:12):
Is he writing him up? I did, demarret, it's in
his personnel file.

Speaker 2 (53:17):
This, however, you can play anytime during the summer every
break as far as I'm concerned, Brandaman and Jones on
Baseball is just about twenty five minutes away. And our
sports legal expert attorney Steward Tubey Penrose from the Manila
Log Group on a handful of sports legal topics coming
up in just about ten minutes. The other thing that

(53:39):
came up and this sort of popped up on Monday
night while I was out of town, where I guess
Jorge Posada, the ex Yankee catcher, says he doesn't watch
this brand of baseball anymore. And then Kirk Kerbstreet goes
on social media. And I love following Kirk Kurbstreet because
dude will say what's on his mind and he'll go

(54:00):
off on the Reds. And he went off on the
Reds on social media, but he also sort of glombed
onto what Hornete Pasada had to say about how this
version of baseball is so unwatchable relative to the game.
We all grew up watching and you can go find
the Hornete Pisada podcast or look at Kirk kirk Street
on social media. He wanted to know where all the
athleticism in the game was. And obviously, of course, you know,

(54:23):
more bunts gonna have more buns in baseball. Look, here's
what I've come to understand about washed up athletes across sports.
They will go out of their way to tell anybody
who will listen how much better.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
The sport used to be.

Speaker 2 (54:41):
There is an entire television franchise based on this construct.
It's called Inside the NBA. A beloved show, a show
that I love, but a large amount of airtime on
Inside the NBA has been devoted to how much worse
today's versus yesterday. I feel like about every two years

(55:05):
I would read a story about the Hall of Fame
closer Goose Gossage talking about how he doesn't like the
modern version of the game. I think, pretty much for
my entire life, that has been a thing older player,
retired player, successful, retired player, washed up player telling anybody

(55:28):
who would listen how much inferior the current product is
versus when they played. I watched an interview done this
was like something I stumbled upon last summer. It was
an interview that Pete Rose did in nineteen sixty nine.
He did it with a television reporter in Saint Louis,

(55:50):
and it's really good. It's fn't on you the Google,
like Pete Rose Saint Louis, nineteen sixty nine, maybe sixty eight,
sixty nine, somewhere in there, and he's in the reds
dugout in Saint Louis and he's doing an interview with
this TV guy. This TV guy throws to Pete Rose
a questioned about how, like a lot of people say,
today's game lax what it had in the forties and fifties.
Players don't hustle anymore, they don't do exit, they don't

(56:13):
execute the fundamental this is in the sixties.

Speaker 1 (56:18):
God knows. In football we have this fair share of this, right.

Speaker 2 (56:23):
Well, the game's not as tough and as hard hitting
as it used to be, and the product isn't as
good because we don't do two a days in this
unlook sports change. There is a part of me, as
a football fan that would love to see players get
away with a little bit more on the field. There
is there's not much about the NBA of my youth
that I want to see come back, because we had

(56:44):
a lot of really bad teams with bad player like
NBA now like everybody can score. Everybody's basically an offensive threat.
There are some exceptions. The game is so much better.
There's better shooting, there's more skill, there's more guys who
could do more things. There's fewer specialists. Is there a
part of me that would love to see some elements

(57:04):
of the baseball that I grew up watching incorporated into
today's game. Absolutely, But should we take it with a
gigantic grain of salt whenever we hear an athlete from
yesteryear go on about how bad the product is now
compared to when they played. Yes, because it's something we

(57:26):
have been listening to for probably well over a century.
When I was a kid growing up in the eighties
and early nineties, we obviously didn't have podcasts, and maybe
there weren't as many former players, you know, expressing opinions,
but you could find them, and when you found them,
they would tell you that the players in the eighties

(57:47):
didn't play as hard, and they were baby and the
money was too good. And now we have a dage
and that's kind of stupid. And even then, pitchers aren't
pitching as deep into games, even though pictures were pitching
much deeper into games then than they do now. So
like we're gonna do this in twenty years. Players who
are playing now across all the major sports, when asked
about the modern version of the game, maybe not all,

(58:10):
maybe not most, but many won't go on about how
much worse whatever we're watching in the moment now is.

Speaker 1 (58:17):
Versus when they played.

Speaker 2 (58:21):
Times change, sports change games change, sometimes for the better
and sometimes maybe not for the better, and oftentimes both
are happening at the exact same time. Also, for what
it's worth, there's never been more athleticism in baseball than
there is right now. And so like, all of this
has caused me to become a pretty staunch defender of

(58:44):
what we're watching right now, because I think what we're
watching right now is actually pretty damn good. So is
Attorney Stewart Tubedy Penrose from the Manila Law Group. He'll
join us in a few sports legal issues.

Speaker 6 (58:57):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN in fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (59:02):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center the UC Health.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
Plus Brendaman and Jones on baseball is about fifteen minutes away.

Speaker 1 (59:10):
My name is Moegar. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (59:13):
We normally do this on Tuesdays, but I was out
yesterday and so he was kind enough to move his
segment to this afternoon. Our sports legal analyst, Attorney Stuart W.
Penrose from the Manila Law Group, on a whole bunch
of sports legal issues, which we've we've sort of and
maybe we're coming out of this right now, but in

(59:34):
recent weeks it's been the Brendan Soresby segment.

Speaker 1 (59:38):
Stuart, how we doing.

Speaker 8 (59:40):
I'm doing great. Mo How about yourself?

Speaker 2 (59:43):
I'm doing well and I appreciate you adjusting your calendar
for mine. We do have to start by talking about
Brendan Soresby. So he's not gonna pursue, it looks like
any legal action against the NFL for not having a
supplemental draft. He's not going to pursue any legal action
I guess against the Canadian Football League. He's going to

(01:00:03):
focus on the NFL draft in twenty twenty seven, and
that seems like the right move. Did he have against
the NFL any real legal recourse to force them to
give him a shot to play in the league?

Speaker 1 (01:00:16):
This year.

Speaker 8 (01:00:18):
On the surf on the surface of it, very unlikely.
You know, he's not a he's not an NFL player,
and you know, therefore he's not a member of the
NFL Players Association. There's nothing on the face of it
that says that he's entitled to any protections or that,
or that they could even provide him any protections if
they wanted to. So, I know, his lawyer went out

(01:00:41):
there initially and you know, made some comments to try
to say that the NFL, you know, violently they're collecting.

Speaker 4 (01:00:47):
Bargaining agreement with it.

Speaker 8 (01:00:48):
But even if they did, I mean, he's not a
member of the NFLPA, and he might not even be
the right person to have standing to bring that forward
in court. And you know, congratulations to him. I'm finally
getting some good advice somewhere, you know, focusing on you know,
going next season and you know, hopeing earn a healthier
life for himself and and being a really really ugly saga.

Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
Yeah, and and look, I I genuinely hope that uh
he he figures life out, gets a real crack in
the NFL and can be judged on how he performs
on the field. It never made sense to him, and
you just touched on this. You know, you have a
collective bargaining agreement which is designed to be an agreement.
It's it's basically an employment agreement right for en mass
for and large for a large group of people. And

(01:01:31):
so what legal argument would one have that a CBA
that's designed to provide certain rules, for lack of a
better way of putting it, for these employees should cover
me when I'm not an employee of an NFL team
and thus not a union member.

Speaker 8 (01:01:47):
I don't see what the argument would be if he's not.
If he's not an employee and he's not a member
of the union, I don't see how the union could
could protect him here. And you know that was probably
part of his rationale and drop them the whole thing
and move on with it. You know, the bucks got
to stop somewhere, and you know this is where it
finally stopped.

Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
We had the story this week involving now former Alliance
quarterback Terry and Arnold, who I guess faces life in prison.
He has been arrested on the accusation of being the
primary conspirator in a kidnapping and armed robbery scheme against
three individuals that I guess he believes previously robbed him.
He's accused of putting together a scheme where he and

(01:02:27):
his co conspirators lured the victims into an apartment and
they were allegedly viciously beaten beaten.

Speaker 1 (01:02:34):
So I guess start with this.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
Describe for me the charges he is facing and the
sort of hot water he is potentially dealing with.

Speaker 8 (01:02:43):
Well, mean, the allegations are obviously as serious as they get,
you know, short of murder. You know, he's facing four
to kidnapping and four counts of armed robbery. You know,
he did get bond, He was granted and posting a
million dollar bond with some conditions. Here prosecutors are trying
to force the court to swap an ankle monitor on him,

(01:03:04):
but for right now, he doesn't have an ankle monitor
on him.

Speaker 4 (01:03:07):
But they're extremely serious allegations.

Speaker 8 (01:03:10):
MO, he's facing life in prison right now if he's
convicted of everything.

Speaker 2 (01:03:13):
What goes into determining whether someone is released or kept
behind bars while they await trial.

Speaker 8 (01:03:20):
There's a lot that goes into it. You can go
to Room A the Hamilton County Justice Center every day
and watch people get bombpo you know put on them
by the magics, by the judges. They're going to look
at how much of a dangerous this person in the
community if they're out, are they a flight risk? How
serious are the allegations? Does this person have a prior

(01:03:40):
criminal record. That's predominantly what they're looking at when when
setting bond in an individual.

Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
When when they assess flight risk, they do they factor
in the the notoriety that someone may have. If you're
a professional athleting grand Granted, Rian Arnold might not be
a household name and phase for a lot of folks,
but he's he's less anonymous than I hate to pay
put it this way, but at the garden variety person
facing criminal charges, do they factor in, Hey, it's going

(01:04:08):
to be harder for this person to leave or bolt
the country or go into hiding because they're relatively well known.

Speaker 4 (01:04:16):
It just so extent.

Speaker 8 (01:04:17):
But at the same another end of the coin, mo,
someone like him has the means to do it if
he were to choose to do it. I understand he's
had to surrender his passport is as part of this,
so certainly that helps. But you know, if somebody has
the means to do it, that can certainly lead to
a much higher bond.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
Our guy or sports legal expert attorney Stewart W. Penrose
from the Manila Law Group describe the Chargers facing former
NBA players Malik Beasley and Ed Davis.

Speaker 8 (01:04:46):
Well, first off, Ed Davis went to my high school,
Benedictine back on Virginia. Oh, he's the best athlete to
come from Benedictine High School, my alma mater.

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
Oh man, Okay, all right, Well he's got that going
for him.

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
What else.

Speaker 8 (01:05:00):
He's got that going from? Well, he's faced in a
federal wiring and uh uh you know, a federal wire
fault and sports betting charges here. So it's not looking
good for him or for or for Malik Beasley. You know.
My understanding is that, uh, Malik Beasley allegedly had wracked
up serious amounts of debts. It sounds like Ed Davis

(01:05:22):
was retired from the NBA at the time of this
scheme was carried on, but allegedly he he acted as
the bank for Malik Beasley to bail him out of
some of these these debts. And they used Malik Beasley
to work off his debt, allegedly by manipulating prop Betsy
by getting certain amounts of rebounds or points or whatnot.

(01:05:46):
And when he, you know, did something to appease Davis
and these sports betters, they would wipe off portions of
his debt. And that's what this all stems from.

Speaker 1 (01:05:57):
All Right, one more to ask you about.

Speaker 2 (01:05:58):
So we have the NCUBLEA crafting some rules regarding eligibility
that is going to allow athletes five seasons of competition
over a five year period that begins with their full
time enrollment or the academic year following their nineteenth birthday,
or whichever comes first. And if it sounds like I'm
reading that, it's because I am. But there are fifteen

(01:06:21):
college basketball players who have filed suit here in Cincinnati
who are seeking an injunction that would allow a fifth
year of competition for athletes who graduated from high school
in twenty twenty two and who began their college careers
that fall and never read shirted. I gave you sort
of the the outline there. Dive in if you can
to the nuts and bolts of their case and how

(01:06:43):
legit it is.

Speaker 4 (01:06:45):
Sure, well, it's a legitimate case.

Speaker 8 (01:06:46):
I mean, you know, essentially the NCUBLEA drew that line,
and you know any I'm sure this is going to
be the argument. Anytime you draw a line, there's going
to be winners and losers of that. And here, you know,
we've got a group of folks that you know, effectively
have run out of eligibility because of this new rule
and they otherwise weren't and you know they're they're filing

(01:07:07):
for injunctive relief to allow a fifth year of competition
UH next season. And you're going to see a lot
more litigation on the matter. You know, this goes for
to a hearing next week, so it's going to be
really interesting to see how the courts, the courts fall
on this. But you knew there was going to be
a string of litigation on this as soon as the

(01:07:27):
n C double A made new rules, and you know,
and here it is, so we'll see how it all
comes down. I mean, the crust of their argument is, hey,
we're not saying you can't make rules, we're not saying
you can't draw a line. But this is not fair
to us because it wasn't applied equally to UH, to
our peers that you know graduated you know, in the
years you know, prior you know or or after us.

(01:07:51):
Here and furthermore, you know, allow was allowing pros to
come back and you know play at some low college basketball.
So they're throwing intaa's hypocrisy back in their face. This
is not going to get This is not going to
go away overnight. But it was always going to be
this way. A line has to be drawn and there's
going to be people that are negatively affected by it,

(01:08:13):
and here they are.

Speaker 2 (01:08:14):
So Lebron James isn't going to play for the Lakers?
Should he sue for college eligibility? And can he play
for the Bearcats?

Speaker 8 (01:08:23):
Last year?

Speaker 4 (01:08:23):
It would have been Last year would have been a
year to try it.

Speaker 8 (01:08:25):
I would seemed like anybody could get into.

Speaker 1 (01:08:27):
Anything, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:08:28):
If if someone's like Ed Davis and they need an attorney,
how do folks get a hold of you?

Speaker 8 (01:08:34):
Well, Ed Davis should call the Manila Law Group at
five one three seven two three sixteen hundred and talk
to my colleague Rob Heally about this.

Speaker 7 (01:08:43):
MO.

Speaker 8 (01:08:43):
We've got the fourth of July holiday coming up, some
of the busiest UH travel days of the year on
the roads out there, Everyone be careful out there, and
if somebody isn't careful and hits you, I want you
to call me Stuart W. Penrose at the Manila Law
Group at five to one, three three, sixteen hundred. When
it's their fault, it's our fight.

Speaker 2 (01:09:04):
That is our sports legal expert, the Great Stewart W. D.
Penrose from the Manila Law Group. I appreciate you moving
things back to day. We'll talk next week at the
normal time. Thanks so much. You love having him on.
Attorney Stewart WD. Penrose from the Manilo Law Group. Sports
Headlines and Service at Kelsey Chevrolet, Home of lifetime powertrain.

Speaker 1 (01:09:24):
Protection and guarantee credit approval from.

Speaker 2 (01:09:25):
Their family to yours for life, Kelsey chev dot Com,
Reds and Brewers again tonight in Milwaukee, eight o'clock, first pitch,
eight o'clock first pitch on a seven hundred WL. It's
an ESPN game, but you want to listen to Tommy Thrall,
not the ESPN broadcasters. Andrew Abbott gets the ball for Cincinnati.

(01:09:47):
He'll be opposed by Shane Trohan. You're starting lineup for
Cincinnati tonight, Ellie Dela Cruz. By the way, I went
to the game on Monday in Milwaukee, and and when
I walked in, they had scorecards and pencils, and I thought,
you know what, I'm gonna keep score and that lasted

(01:10:09):
exactly one hitter. Ellie is leading off in short sALS
at third, steers at first wherez DH Stevenson catches Marte
is in right. Ivan Johnson had left. Matt McLean's in centerfield.
Edwin Arroyo plays second base in bat's ninth. That's right,
you're starting outfield for the Reds tonight left to right,
Ivan Johnson, Matt McClain, and Noel Ve Marte.

Speaker 1 (01:10:39):
Oh Man.

Speaker 2 (01:10:39):
By the way, in the National League Central, the Chicago
Cubs offense has been absurdly good recently. Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:10:49):
Right now the Cubs lead the Padres twenty two to three.

Speaker 2 (01:10:54):
Uh. Michael Confordo is homer twice. Dansby Swanson I think
this is his third multi home run game in ten days.
He has three today, Crow Armstrong is homered. Saya Suzuki
is homered. Twenty two to three, now twenty three to three.
They just added to it at Wrigley Field. I would imagine,

(01:11:17):
like last night, the wind is blowing. There are nine
homers in the Cubs Padres game. Last night, Florence lost
to a Windy City by a score of seven to
four today. World Cup Tonight, the United States takes on
Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first knockout stage match for
the US. If they win, it will be it will

(01:11:37):
not be their only knockout stage match. That's at eight o'clock.
You can listen to it on Fox Sports thirteen sixty.
Senegal leads Belgium one nil. They are an extra time
in the first half and England a winner. Harry Kane
with a brace. England beat Congo two to one. It

(01:12:01):
is eleven away from five o'clock. Uh, We've got some
good World Cup stuff in the five o'clock hour. Lots
more on the Reds and a preview of a big
baseball event coming to Northern Kentucky. All between now and
six o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (01:12:18):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 1 (01:12:23):
Hee keyword, go for it.

Speaker 7 (01:12:27):
What's up?

Speaker 1 (01:12:27):
Five oh five, ESPN fifteen thirty moeggar.

Speaker 2 (01:12:29):
Thanks for listening, and hopefully you're having like an unbelievable Wednesday.
I know it's a billion degrees out, so stay hydrated,
take hydration breaks. Even like the anger over the hydration
breaks lasted like I don't know, like about thirty six hours.
Then it's like, that's that's cool. There they're selling commercials

(01:12:50):
during a break in the action. That's that's kind of
that's kind of what we do here.

Speaker 1 (01:12:54):
Will you and Tony have hydration breaks when you're donna camp?

Speaker 2 (01:12:57):
Yes, when we're a training camp, we are going to
have hydration break. I don't know if the hydration breaks.
I don't know if what we're gonna hydrate with is
what I want to hydrate with. But yes, we will
have hydration breaks. You know, sometimes you find like these
little fireworks shows, and it's like things that people get
mad about for about five minutes.

Speaker 1 (01:13:17):
I was on a guys trip this weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:13:19):
We went to Milwaukee to watch the Reds and what
would trust me, We're gonna talk about more about them
here in a second, But somebody said, remember the torpedo bats. Remember,
for like a day and a half, everybody was big
mad at the Yankees because they had torpedo bats, And
then a whole bunch of players around the sport were like,

(01:13:40):
I use a torpedo bat like Elie de la Cruz.
And then people moved on to whatever is next mini fireworks.
Same with the the anger over. Well, we missed ten
seconds of game time because of the hydration break. Okay, okay, anyway,
because it's like one hundred and fifty nine degrees out outside,
hopefully you are staying hydrated and when appropriate taking a

(01:14:05):
hydration break. Speaking of the World Cup, the US plays tonight,
chances are you know this the Americans looking to advance
in the knockout round.

Speaker 1 (01:14:14):
And we have a guy on.

Speaker 2 (01:14:15):
The show who I actually he hosts a Chicago fire podcast,
but I listened to him on a podcast about FC
Cincinnati and he is going to join us to talk
about tonight's tilts against Bosnia Herzegovina. Coming up in just
about fifteen minutes. Also, the Florence Yawls are hosting an

(01:14:36):
All Star game in a couple of weeks. We'll preview
the festivities and the game and so much more. Coming
up in just about thirty minutes. By the way, the
Big Bengals News of the day, if you care, And
I cannot imagine anybody would really care about this, but
it's it's becoming a thing on social media right now.
T Higgins is signing with under Armour, so good for

(01:14:59):
t Higgins he was with Nike. Now under Armour has
some cool gear. Not a bad athlete to replace Steph
Curry with. That's right, yeah, you replace Steph Curry with
T Higgins. I found Under Armour's shoes to be uncomfortable,
but I like their gear, So.

Speaker 1 (01:15:16):
There you go. Reds.

Speaker 2 (01:15:19):
When the Reds play the Milwaukee Brewers, it's it's quite
simple to me. When the Reds play the Brewers, it
feels like the globe trotter's playing the Washington Generals, and
obviously the Reds are playing the part of the Washington Generals.

Speaker 1 (01:15:32):
All that's missing.

Speaker 2 (01:15:34):
Is like Sal Freelick pulling down Sal Stewart's pants, which
is a Harlem globe trotter's move. For those who don't know,
like there is this sense of like the Brewers almost
clowning them, just waiting for the inevitable play that they're
gonna make that the Reds don't. It's startling how much

(01:15:58):
success the Brewers have had against the Reds head to
head in recent years. They have won forty five of
the last sixty three games played between the Reds and Brewers.
Milwaukee has startling, startling. This has been my take for

(01:16:19):
years now and now it feels like everybody's on board.
Can't compete with the Dodgers, fine, can't spend with teams
like the Phillies and Mets spend cool. Don't think it's
fair that big market teams can spend with the Reds.
Either can't or won't.

Speaker 1 (01:16:37):
Got it?

Speaker 2 (01:16:38):
Beat the Brewers. Beat the Brewers, or at least do
what the Brewers do. Go to the playoffs every year,
challenge for division titles, make an LCS. It's so frustrating,
so frustrating. It's the conversation. And I know I said

(01:16:58):
this a couple of weeks ago. I said last week
when the Brewers were here. If I was Phil Castellini,
it'd be the phone call that I'd be making every
single day to Nick Crawl. Why can't we beat them?
And why can't we beat them? What do they do
there that we can't do here? By the way, our
guy Charlie Goldsmith has a great newsletter that came out

(01:17:21):
late last night on this exact topic. It feels like
not so much right now that it's a matter of
with the Reds. It's a matter of them salvaging the
season or getting the thing back on track or treading water.
I mean, I just forget all that right now. It's
a question about, like, how how much worse may this get?
By the way, the homestand they have coming up, Philly

(01:17:43):
is playing great right now, and the Chicago Cubs were
here the weekend before the All Star Break under the Orioles,
are here this weekend. The Chicago Cubs offense right now offensively,
There's not a hotter team in the sport. Plus I
have two more with the Milwaukee Brewers, and you get
Jacob Mezerski tomorrow. Like, we're now to the point where
we're wondering how much worse is this going to get?

(01:18:04):
How bad could it get? And how bad does it
have to get for there to be some fallout. I've
asked this question a bunch. What are the Reds good at.
I don't mean from a fan perspective, fan experience, ballpark experience,
community relations, the Hall of Fame, alumni, broadcast giveaways. The

(01:18:29):
Reds get straight a's across the board with that stuff.
I genuinely believe that you will not find a bigger
fan of that stuff with the Reds than me. The
baseball stuff, though, what are they good at? What part
of their baseball operations is good development, drafting, amateur scouting,

(01:18:57):
big league scouting, big league development. Are they good at
established flipping established players for quality younger guys, you know,
trading away players as sellers at the deadline and getting
good value and dudes who can help you for years
to come? Are they good at that? Are they good

(01:19:18):
at fleecing other teams in trades? Are they good at
continually finding good value in free agency? And the word
there that matters is continually not here and there, not
occasionally continually? What are they good at? And that's a
baseball operations question. We've documented how shaky the drafting record is.

(01:19:39):
Are they Are they good at having a farm system
that is constantly churning out quality big leaguers?

Speaker 1 (01:19:47):
What are they good at?

Speaker 2 (01:19:51):
And as long as the answers are nothing, then this
has no chance of getting any better. And I'm not
talking about getting better for this season. That you hate
to wave the white flag this early. It's just July first,
But what hope are any of us supposed to have
for this season? But really, I asked this question about

(01:20:11):
what's next? If you're not good at anything, how do
you expect to achieve significantly better results. And more importantly,
how are any of us supposed to expect that you're
going to achieve significantly and dramatically better results?

Speaker 1 (01:20:27):
What are you good at? And if I'm asking that about.

Speaker 2 (01:20:28):
Baseball operations, then ultimately I'm asking it about the person
in charge of baseball operations, Nick Krawl?

Speaker 1 (01:20:38):
What's he good at?

Speaker 4 (01:20:41):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:20:41):
That's his job, right, He's the president of Baseball operation.
So everything is under his umbrella. Not bobbleheads, not giveaways,
not Hall of Fame. He's not excuse me, He's not
in charge of the broadcasters. He's not in charge of
which Jersey numbers get retired. He doesn't do any of that.
He's mascots are not under his The baseball stuff, baseball operations,

(01:21:03):
the person in charge of baseball operations.

Speaker 1 (01:21:06):
If your operations aren't good at anything, well.

Speaker 2 (01:21:08):
That I can't help but say, then you're not good
at anything, at least in your current capacity. And that's
no knock on how Nick Krawl has gotten to his position.
He has earned it, and he has had some successes.
And even in his current role, there are some things
here and there that you can point to as solid moves.

Speaker 1 (01:21:24):
But man you.

Speaker 2 (01:21:26):
Your job performance is reflected by where you are in
the standings, especially now, Like nobody held it against Nick
Krawl when they lost one hundred games in twenty twenty two.

Speaker 1 (01:21:37):
Nobody held that against Nick Krawl.

Speaker 2 (01:21:39):
That was a byproduct of the direction that ownership told
him to go in. But in twenty twenty two, it
was Okay, Nick, you gotta do what you gotta do.
But within the framework that ownership has given you, you're
gonna be asked to deliver results. And while we might
not have said it, I think we all thought that
we're expecting Nick to deliver certain results by now, take

(01:22:03):
a look at the results, Look at the scoreboard, look
at the standings, watch last night's game, watching a game
against the Brewers, watching a game against a team in
the central. The results speak for themselves, and the results
are ultimately what we use to determine your job performance.
So we have all that, and then just asking, like organizationally,

(01:22:25):
what is their identity?

Speaker 1 (01:22:26):
I know this is not the first time I've talked
about this, but.

Speaker 2 (01:22:29):
What are they good at? You're having a hard time
coming up with something. I know you are. You're having
a hard time giving me an answer. So we can
ask the same question about Nick Crow Are you good at?

Speaker 1 (01:22:44):
Like what under your influence, under your direction?

Speaker 2 (01:22:50):
It is It is really hard to articulate what the
Reds as a baseball franchise are good at. From a
baseball perspective. Nick Carleton not just start in his current capacity.
This is the sixth season that he has been in
his current capacity, the guy at the top of the
flow chart. When you look at the Reds and baseball operations,

(01:23:15):
what are they good at? What is he good at?
What does the United States have to be good at?
Tonight we'll find out.

Speaker 6 (01:23:25):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 7 (01:23:31):
From the ucla'clock.

Speaker 2 (01:23:32):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty down the hall they'd got
on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. The tilt between the US
and Bosnia Herzegovina. The United States very very successful in
group play. I discovered this guy actually listening to the
Cincinnati Soccer Talk podcast, and typically, you know, he and

(01:23:53):
I would would maybe be on opposite ends of a
conversation like this because he does a Chicago Fire podcast,
and well, well, you know, we're FC Cincinnati fans and
it'd be great to have the Orange and Blue back
here in just a couple of weeks. As the US,
though gets said to play tonight and try to advance
to the ground of sixteen, I wanted to have on

(01:24:15):
from the Feed the Fire podcast a guy who I
think does a really nice job and somebody who, again
I said, I discovered on the Cincinnati Soccer Talk podcast,
Nick Poderis. Nick, it's awesome to have you. My apologies
for my long winded introduction. Good afternoon, how are you.

Speaker 3 (01:24:30):
I'm doing well more, Thanks for having me and always
happy to have some good words ahead of our conversation.

Speaker 1 (01:24:35):
So thank you for that intro.

Speaker 2 (01:24:36):
No problem, I appreciate you doing this. What were your
expectations pre tournament for the US.

Speaker 3 (01:24:42):
Pre tournament for the US, I was expecting them to
win at least one knockout round game, and then it
was going to kind of look at the matchup in
that round of sixteen to see if I should raise
or lower my expectations. But the way they have come
out in those first two group stage games, the way
they played, the way they scored goals, my expectations are up,

(01:25:03):
and I think everyone around the country has higher expectations
that they got to win at least two knockout round games.

Speaker 2 (01:25:09):
So you've recalibrated how you feel about this team in
the knockout stage based on how they played and group play.

Speaker 3 (01:25:16):
Absolutely, Also, it does help that they're not facing any
sort of traditional powerhouse in Bosnia in the first round
of the knockouts.

Speaker 2 (01:25:24):
What should we do with that match? They lost basically
at the buzzer to Turkey.

Speaker 3 (01:25:30):
So you don't want to read too much into it.
You had nine new starters that played that game, including
goalkeeper Matt Turner, who just did not seem to have
a very good performance as well, So you really can't
take too much of it. I think you need to
look back at that opening match against Paraguay and if
the team comes out with that same kind of intensity,

(01:25:52):
that same kind of precision, and can keep Bosnia and
Erzogovina pinned in their defensive third, you're going to see
a few more goal and you're going to see another
US win.

Speaker 2 (01:26:02):
What sort of challenge is specific to Bosnia Herzegovina do
we have to pay attention to tonight?

Speaker 3 (01:26:09):
So they are a big, physical team. They will body
you off the ball, they will play hard, they will
follow you, and similar to kind of the US back
in the early nineties. You know, they have to take
advantage of those equalizing factors in the game, on free kicks,
on set pieces, and they have scored three goals in
the tournament already off of set pieces, So the US

(01:26:31):
is going to really have to limit those opportunities for
Bosnia play smart, solid defense, and I think they got
to score early just to keep the pressure on their opposition.

Speaker 2 (01:26:43):
What has been from a US perspective from where you
said the most surprising thing about the way they've played.

Speaker 1 (01:26:50):
In group.

Speaker 3 (01:26:52):
The way the US has played you're saying, ah, wow,
I think it really is that intensity from the opening whistle.
We saw in their friendlies against Senegal and Germany right
before the World Cup that you know, they kind of
came out and had to ease their way into the game,
and they gave up some early goals and early opportunities.

(01:27:12):
But to see how quickly they jumped on Paraguay, to
see how quickly they jumped on Australia, having them commit
own goals even like that was so very encouraging for me,
and I think that is going to be key for
the US if they're going to make a run in
this tournament.

Speaker 2 (01:27:30):
Right now as you and I talk, Senegal leads Belgium
by a two nothing margin.

Speaker 1 (01:27:36):
Is that the team I want to play in the
next round.

Speaker 3 (01:27:41):
So that would have been my thinking, you know coming
into this, you know Belgium, is that Belgium is the
higher ranked team. They have the star power, they've got,
you know, the European experience, which typically they're facing higher
quality teams. So yeah, I would think you'd want to
play Senegal over Belgium if you're a fan. But as

(01:28:01):
we know, it's a single elimination tournament from here on out.
We saw Congo take England almost down to the wire.
We see Senegal now upsetting a Belgium team that was
supposed to win. Is the better team on paper, And
I think a lot of American fans can look at
the NCAA tournament and say, when you get into a
situation like this, you got top players, you got talent,

(01:28:23):
you got situations that you know, one bounce goes the
other way, you could be sent home. So yes, I'd
rather play Senegal on paper. But when it really comes
down to it, the US has to play their game,
has to have their stars shining, and then they'll beat Senegal.
Or Belgium and move on to what's likely Spain.

Speaker 2 (01:28:42):
Talk to me about Mauricio Pocatino, because I feel like
year or every four years, or I guess every year
eight years given the fact I didn't qualify in twenty eighteen,
I watch people gripe about the role of coaching with
the US men's soccer team. Would you you would have
to you would have to characterize the way he has
worked with this team as a success. What where have

(01:29:03):
where do you see his fingerprints on this team? And
as success at least through the group stage.

Speaker 4 (01:29:10):
Yeah, I think you're right.

Speaker 3 (01:29:11):
I think you have to consider his at least the
World Cup run and success to this point. They still
got a lot of unfinished work to do. But really,
you know, he has given these guys that sense of
confidence and camaraderie, and he has really helped focus them
on playing their matches. There has been so much talk

(01:29:32):
in the press and in media internationally as well, that
you know, Pochattino might not be the guy, despite all
of his accolades at the club level, might not be
the guy to take the United States to the next step.
We saw how themselves in the friendlies over this last
year we saw how they handled themselves in Gold Cup
competition last year, you know, most notably that Tim Way

(01:29:54):
or red card, Like, how does a coach let his players.

Speaker 4 (01:29:57):
Do that kind of a thing.

Speaker 3 (01:29:59):
But he has had the entire team focused on this moment.
Everything over the last three years has brought them to
this moment in the World Cup, and I think that's
probably been his strongest suit. And he's letting his players
have the freedom to kind of play the way they
want to and not tok not Greg Burhalter, the prior

(01:30:21):
coach and now the head coach of My Fire who's
doing great things here in Chicago. He had a very
set style of play that he wanted his guys to play,
and it was hard to break away from that and
have some of that individual flare.

Speaker 2 (01:30:34):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:30:35):
I think that was a necessary building step for this team.
But Poachattino has really got his guys geared in playing
their best individual soccer and their best team soccer at
this particular moment in time.

Speaker 1 (01:30:46):
It should be a lot of fun tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:30:49):
I know we're all watching with great anticipation, and I
feel like with you, the way they played in group
has heightened everybody's expectations for the remainder of the tournament
for the US.

Speaker 1 (01:30:59):
I appreciate Nick, nice having you on. Thanks so much.

Speaker 3 (01:31:02):
Yeah, my pleasure. Mole will have to talk Lewandowski next time.

Speaker 1 (01:31:05):
I look forward to that. You got it. Nick paneris
the Feed.

Speaker 2 (01:31:09):
The Fire podcast is the Chicago Fire podcast, but is
doing a lot of World Cup stuff as well.

Speaker 1 (01:31:17):
Twenty nine after.

Speaker 2 (01:31:19):
Five o'clock, the Florence Y'alls are hosting the Frontier League
All Star Week festivities and the GM of the team
joins US.

Speaker 6 (01:31:25):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:31:31):
From the USA NI twenty seven away from six. This
is ESPN fifteen to thirty. Molegger Sports headlines are moments away.
The Florence y'alls are going to be hosting the Frontier
League All Star Game here in just a couple of weeks.
The game is going to be on the fifteenth, which
is two weeks from today. The night before is going

(01:31:53):
to be the home Run Derby. This is a huge
event for the Florence y'alls, it's a huge event for
Northern Kentucky. And to preview the festivities, the GM of
the Florence Yaws, Max Johnson, is with US Max, it's
awesome to have you.

Speaker 1 (01:32:06):
Good afternoon. Well, thanks for having me, great appreciate I
appreciate you doing this.

Speaker 2 (01:32:11):
Tell me what went into getting the Frontier League All
Star Game?

Speaker 9 (01:32:15):
Yeah, so pretty much this time last year. You know,
teams get to submit their pitch to the Frontier League
on why they deserve the opportunity to have this prestigious
honor of hosting the league's.

Speaker 4 (01:32:29):
All Star Game.

Speaker 9 (01:32:30):
And we've been working tiresly to upgrade the facility and
showcase Northern Kentucky in Greater Cincinnati and.

Speaker 4 (01:32:36):
The best it possible.

Speaker 9 (01:32:37):
And we felt that it was it was time to
make that bid and we kind of showcase you know
what we've done, the growth that we've had in the
facility that we we have to you know, be that
representative for twenty twenty six.

Speaker 2 (01:32:51):
This is enormous for Northern Kentucky. It's huge for the
Florence y'alls and that goes without saying. But beyond the
surface level stuff, what does this do for your organization?

Speaker 9 (01:33:01):
Yeah, I think this puts us on a different shelf
in in the sense of like showing that we're not
only are we, you know, a professional baseball team and
we're so much more than baseball. But we're we're here,
and we're here to make an impact. We're here to
be of value to Northern Kentucky and to the greater
Cincinnati area and showcase what we're all about. You know,

(01:33:24):
a lot of our fans come out to games for
more than just the baseball. But we do have some
of these baseball peurists at park who would like to
come out and they actually like to see, you know,
the y'alls put on a show and you know, the team's.

Speaker 4 (01:33:36):
Doing pretty well this season, and I think that just.

Speaker 9 (01:33:40):
Goes in hand in hand with seeing some good baseball
being brought to the Northern Kentucky and greater SINCINNTI community
at the professional level that we're at, and you know,
just kind of showcasing you know that the league is,
you know, well deserving of you.

Speaker 4 (01:33:56):
Know, this event as well.

Speaker 2 (01:33:58):
Maybe a stupid question, not the first one that I
have asked, but how are the All Stars in the
Frontier League selected?

Speaker 8 (01:34:04):
Yeah?

Speaker 9 (01:34:05):
So each organization gets eight votes and you know, myself,
our field manager Toby Hall, as well as three of
our coaches, our radio broadcaster, and two esteem media members
get those votes and we vote for our division, which
is the Midwest Division. So I'm I'm voting on uh,

(01:34:28):
you know, teams from Mississippi to Saint Louis Chicago, as
well as you know, across the Midwest over to the
Pittsburgh area Washington to be exact.

Speaker 4 (01:34:40):
So there's eight teams on our side that you know.

Speaker 9 (01:34:42):
I'm voting art for our players and other players in
the league, whether it's you know, X number per position.
And I just casted my ballot about an hour ago.

Speaker 1 (01:34:52):
Wow, all right, are you allowed to tell me who
you voted for?

Speaker 4 (01:34:56):
Yeah?

Speaker 9 (01:34:57):
Yeah, voted for you know, definitely some y'alls if you're
not familiar. Two guys in in the league right now
from the Yalls are represented, as you know on the
stat boards for top top ten hitters in the league
as Hank.

Speaker 4 (01:35:11):
Zeisler, who is a multi year All Star.

Speaker 9 (01:35:15):
If he gets the nod this year, this would be
his third consecutive year being an All Star with the team.
And then Zaide Richardson. Zade Richardson is actually a local
local athlete. He's from the New Richmond area, had a
short scent and with the with the Saint Louis Cardinals
in the Atlanta Braves. But he's back here in Florence.
He's been here for a couple of years now, and

(01:35:37):
he's in the d H kind of role. So I
put my nod in for those two gentlemen, as well
as two of our pitchers, I mean, our shortstop, our catcher,
our you know, our defense, and our hitting. We have
number one offense in the league right now, so from
a handing standpoint, I think all of our guys should
be in. So that's kind of what we're all about.
That's the kind of show that we like to put on.

Speaker 2 (01:35:58):
His offensive heavy Max Sahnson is with us the GM
of the Florence. You also are hosting the Frontier League
All Star Game two weeks from today. Let's backtrack and
go back a day the home run Derby. Tell me
about everything happening on Tuesday night, July fourteenth.

Speaker 9 (01:36:13):
Yeah, so Tuesday night will be the All Star Game
home run Derby.

Speaker 4 (01:36:17):
We're gonna have a lot going on.

Speaker 9 (01:36:18):
It's a two dollars Tuesday, so two dollar tickets, hot dogs, popcorn, soda,
as well as they'll be wrestling. They'll be a youth
home run Little League home run derby. Some from some
of our youth organizations. We'll have all your favorite mascots
out here, from Woday to Benny the Barrow, from Runkey
to you know, you know, just other professional teams in

(01:36:39):
the area. They'll be putting on god a Vet with
some of our youth individuals as well. All capped off
by the Frontier League Home run Derby. So the managers
from the Atlantic Division in the Midwest Division decide who
gets to be the hitters for that, and it'll all
be capped off with a final finale of a fireworks

(01:37:00):
drone show presented by Ronsey's Fireworks.

Speaker 2 (01:37:03):
And then on Wednesday night everything obviously the game itself,
are their rules unique to the Frontier League All Star Game.
That might separated a little bit from the Major League
All Star Game. That and give me an idea of
everything that happens around the game itself.

Speaker 9 (01:37:18):
Yeah, so no, it's it's still you know, it's still
a professional baseball game at heart. You know, we we
got the same We have the same pitchclock, we got
you know, our field dimensions are the same. There's nothing
to outside of the norm. But you know, everyone kind
of gets their opportunity to showcase themselves. There'll be plenty
of scouts and attendance that night. That's what these guys

(01:37:39):
are all about. That's what this league is all about,
is developing young talent and moving them up into the
affiliated system in the Frontier League. You know, all Star
game is. You know, there's no better place to be
on Wednesday night than in attendance for this event to
kind of showcase yourself, you know, within the league or
you know scouts in the area to come in and

(01:38:00):
and you know, scout some young talent.

Speaker 1 (01:38:04):
And tickets are available for both nights, correct they.

Speaker 9 (01:38:08):
Are yep, So tickets are available at Florence Yaws dot
com for both Tuesday and Wednesday, so you can get
your tickets now.

Speaker 1 (01:38:17):
Awesome stuff. Great to have you, congratulations.

Speaker 2 (01:38:19):
I know this is a huge night for the Florence
Yaws and big for Northern Kentucky as well. I appreciate
the time, Max, thanks so much.

Speaker 4 (01:38:26):
Thank you appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:38:27):
You've got it, Max Johnson, the general manager of the
Florence Yaws. That is a really really big deal for
that franchise. They have done such a good job in
recent years sort of establishing itself as a brand. They
are such a family friendly alternative to Big League Baseball.
And I don't say that disparagingly of the Reds. I'm
a Red season ticket holder, but man, especially for young kids.

(01:38:52):
Florence Yaws are awesome and love the folks there, and
they got the Frontier League All Star Game and that
is really really cool. We'll do sports headlines. This is
maybe astounding to only me and only me, and I'll
give it to you next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 6 (01:39:07):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 7 (01:39:13):
From the U See Health trip.

Speaker 1 (01:39:15):
All right, we are late for this this. Maybe it's
because I've barely worked over the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (01:39:20):
Sports headlines are a service on kelse Chevin lah Holme
up lifetime power train protection, guaranteed credit approval from their family,
the Yours for Life, kelseyshow dot com, rats and Brewers
again tonight in Milwaukee. They've played the Brewers a ton
here recently. Cincinnati is trying to break a three game
losing skid. They give the ball to Andrew Abbot tonight.

(01:39:41):
Eight o'clock is tonight's first pitch on seven hundred WLW,
Cincinnati's starting lineup tonight. Standby be ready, Are you ready?
By the way they're opposing lefties. Shane Drohan. The starting
lineup tonight, I think is interesting not because of who
bats where, but because of who plays where. So Ellie

(01:40:03):
Dela Cruz is leading off and playing shortstop. Sal Stewart
is batting second, he is playing third base. Spencer Steer
is playing first base and batting third. A Uhanio Suarez
DHS and bats fourth. Tyler Stevenson catches Noelve. Marte is
in right field. Ivan Johnson's in left field. Got on

(01:40:25):
at bat last night, just got called up. Matt McClain
is in center field tonight, batting eighth. Edwin Arroyo is
playing second and hitting night now. McLain got into the
game last night in the eighth inning, caught a fly ball.
He has now one one inning of big league outfield

(01:40:47):
experience one inning. Spencer Steer in the outfield has fifteen
hundred and twenty seven innings of big league outfield experience.
Matt McClain has won. Matt McClain played a little center
field in college. Tonight's red starting first basement has fifteen

(01:41:09):
hundred and twenty seven innings of big league outfield experience.
Tonight's starting center fielder and left fielder have combined one.
I understand they're desperate. Blake Dun's hurt, Dane Myers is hurt.

(01:41:31):
By the way, it really does feel like they dodged
a bullet with Dane Myers because I think on Monday
Night and Dane Myers, I think it's been a nice
addition as the utility guy. Certainly seems like an easy
guy to root for. I think relative to a lot
of his feared on Monday Night when he crashed into
the wall and held out to the ball by the
way that the best case scenario has seen, it seemed

(01:41:53):
like that's unfolded, which is really good. And so yeah,
when you have the domino effect, like you know, you
lose Blake, done, you lose Dane Myers, and consecutive days
like all right, you got to do some things you
might not like to do. But Matt McLean's primary contributions
to this team for two years now have been on defense.
He is a good defensive second baseman, and in the

(01:42:15):
games where he's had to play shortstop, he's not Elie
de la Cruz can't cover as much ground, doesn't have
as good of a throwing arm, but he has been fine.
He may hold up well in center field.

Speaker 1 (01:42:28):
I just I don't like this. I don't like this.

Speaker 2 (01:42:35):
Look, they're not a great offensive team. That goes without
saying their bullpen is wholly unreliable. If you're not a
if you're not a very good team on the mound,
and you're not a very good offensive team, and you
have a small margin for error, I would be a

(01:42:59):
little bit more inclined to play players at positions that
they either naturally play.

Speaker 1 (01:43:07):
Or or they've got some experience. TJ. Friedel has not
had a very good season. TJ.

Speaker 2 (01:43:16):
Friedel's defense before he got sent down to Louisville had slipped.

Speaker 1 (01:43:20):
But TJ.

Speaker 2 (01:43:20):
Friedel is a big league outfielder. Ivan Johnson's he's an outfielder.
It's just with him. The lack of experience. Isn't that
he's been playing somewhere else. It's that he just got
called up. And maybe they really want Matt McLean's bad
in the lineup they are playing against the lefty. I
understand all that, But isn't there an argument that can

(01:43:45):
be made that what they should lean into is putting
the best defensive team on the field. Given the fact
that we are talking about so many guys who just
offensively are low ceiling dudes. Does your best defensive team
have a shortstop slash second baseman who, prior to last

(01:44:06):
night is most recent game action in the outfield was
when he was nineteen years old in college. And it
may work out like by there's nothing that we've come
to know about Matt McClain that would suggest that he's
not gonna work hard at it. I just and part
of this is a reflection of underperformance by a lot
of guys. Obviously part of it is a reflection of injuries.

(01:44:29):
But man, it does feel like, and I say this
without having examined every other team, but it does feel like,
more so than the average team, the Reds are.

Speaker 1 (01:44:43):
Often not maybe not.

Speaker 2 (01:44:45):
Constantly, but often trying to shoehorn guys into positions that
they're just not used to playing. I don't know, we'll
see if it works out. The aforementioned Florence he always
lost to Windy City by a score of seven to four. Tonight,
Fox Sports thirteen sixty has the US men's national soccer
team taking on Bosnia Herzegovina, a game we'll start at

(01:45:09):
eight o'clock. By the way, I jinxed, I jinxed Senegal.
Belgium has scored two goals in the last four minutes.
They're now in stock. They're now an extra time and
Belgium and Senegal are tied at two. And I didn't
turn the volume down on my computer, so you hear
an ad in the background. It's a two wall between
Belgium and Senegal. England beat Congo the Congo today Harry

(01:45:34):
Kane had a brace which is two goals. Tonight US
versus Bosnia Herzegovina in Santa Clara, California, at the Stadium
of the forty nine Ers play in games on Fox Sports
thirteen sixty. Connor Barwin will enter UC's Hall of Fame.
And that aforementioned case that we talked about with our
guy Stewart W. Penrose, filed in Cincinnati by all these

(01:45:56):
college basketball players under oath. Richard Pattin says Xavier's men's
basketball team will have a fourteen million dollar roster, which
is believed to be way more than double what last
year's roster cost. That is good news if you're a
Xavier basketball fan. Hey, I'm gonna work again tomorrow. We'll
talk to you then three oh five. Thank you for listening.
Thanks to Taran Plan for producing. Have a great night,

(01:46:20):
Stay cool. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports

Speaker 1 (01:46:23):
Station America's two hundred and fiftieth Anniverse