7/16/24 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
I've been broadcasting for twenty six years, and yet there are still days I
forget to turn on my own microphone. That just happened. I like the
Home Run Derby. There's my takeon the Home Run Derby. I like
the I think it's good fun television. I think it is the reality television

(00:24):
show of sports. I don't watch. I'll be honest with you, a
lot of reality TV just not mything. My wife likes certain reality TV
shows, and there are times whereshe'll say to me, like, I'm
gonna go watch one of my stupidshows, and I know what that means.
That means she wants to go layin bed by herself and zone out

(00:44):
and turn on something entertaining but pointless, something that's not gonna require her to
think, something that's not gonna requireher to have a have a take on
anything, something that's that's not gonnamake her sit up when she decides or
stay up one she decides to goto sleep. She's not gonna lose sleep
over it. I get it.I get it. She'll admit those shows

(01:06):
are stupid, she'll admit those showsare pointless. She'll admit there's no real
cultural and there's certainly no, andthere's no educational value to those shows.
But she'll be the first to say, like we have a seven year old,
there are times anybody who's ever hadkids could tell you it could be
more stressful than others. And maybeshe's had a long day and there's a
lot going on and she's got areally hard job, unlike the one that

(01:26):
I have here where I sit andbabble into a microphone. And there are
times where she'll say, I justwant to go watch one of my dumb
shows. I know what that means. She doesn't want to watch the news.
She doesn't want to watch a newsmagazine. She doesn't want to watch
a political convention. She doesn't wantto watch a baseball game. She wants
to watch something stupid. She wantsto watch something that by the time she

(01:48):
consumes it, she's already forgotten it. That's the home run derby for me,
Like I'd love to be able tobreak it down for you. I
barely remember who won. Here's whatI know. Man, there on a
random Monday night in the middle ofthe summer, baseball puts on a pretty
good show. If it's not yourthing, it's not your thing. Uh,
that's okay. If baseball is notyour thing, it's not your thing.

(02:12):
The games themselves, well, youknow these are these these this is
the toy department. I do understandit. But I mean watching your team
and being invested in your team andplaying along with the manager. That requires
thought and some emotional investment, anduh, you gotta think about the strategies
and wonder about the ramifications of everysingle every single thing that happens. With

(02:38):
the home run Derby, there's noneof that. It's the reality television of
baseball. I enjoyed that last night, sat there for three hours. I
like the format. I think itdrags a little bit. I think it's
an awesome gambling event. But that'sall I got for you on the home
run Derby, and it's it's okayto have sporting events like that. The

(03:00):
All Star Game is kind of likethat, kind of Now there's always some
hurt feelings based on who doesn't getinto the game. I frankly cannot imagine
that Elie de la Cruz isn't goingto get into the game tonight. My
guess is that Hunter Green gets intothe game tonight. I can't wait to
watch those guys but there's nothing reallyremotely controversial. We're all gonna complain about

(03:25):
the fact that the players don't weartheir real uniforms, which Baseball should fix
instantly. They frankly should fix itin time for tonight. But beyond that,
there's probably nothing because the game meansnothing because after years of it counting
and determining which league has home fieldadvantage in the World Series. Rob Manfred,

(03:47):
who I don't like, but said, we're not doing that anymore.
That was stupid to begin with.We're we're getting rid of that. And
so it's a simple exhibition game.It's a game where base lets down its
hair a little bit and Fox doesa good job with it, and it's
played and by the next day,chances are you have forgotten if you watched

(04:09):
it, who won. And that'sprobably gonna happen with me in this year's
All Star Game. Good afternoon onMowager. This is ESPN fifteen thirty,
ten minutes after three o'clock. I'mthrilled that you're here. Hope you're having
an unbelievable Tuesday. Typically on Tuesdays, Paul Danner Junior is here with me
in studio, and it's the besthour of the week by far. Paul
is not here today because in acouple of days, and this is the

(04:34):
case for a lot of the peoplewho cover the team, certainly with the
passion and dedication that people like Pauldo, the Bengals are going to become
their life, and their days aregoing to be occupied and their nights are
going to be consumed. And sothis is essentially the last week of Paul's
off season, and so as youmight understand, he had other things to

(04:56):
do today, but he also knowsthat I am off next week, and
so I can't go consecutive weeks withouttalking with Paul about the Bengals. So
we compromised and he's gonna join us, though not in studio and not for
an entire hour, but for onesegment coming up in just about ten minutes.
Looking forward to that as we getcloser and closer to the start of

(05:18):
training camp. And this off seasonto me, has felt like it's lasted
forever, in large part because itstarted earlier than the previous two off seasons,
but also there's really been a lotof nothing Burgers this offseason, like
the stuff that a lot of otherpeople have talked a lot about as it
relates to the Bengals. I thinkhere locally we realize are nothing Burgers.

(05:41):
The t Higgins trade stuff, nothingBurger, the Trey Hendrickson trade stuff,
nothing Burger. Speculation about a newcontract for Jamar Chase, which I think
will happen next off season, butthis offseason nothing Burger. Even some of,
though not all, of the JoeBurrow discussions that have happened elsewhere this

(06:03):
offseason. Nothing Burgers. Next weekwe get substance. Next week we start
to get answers to the questions thatwe have about this team going into training
camp. Paul and I are goingto talk about some of those questions.
In just about ten minutes, Imentioned the home run derby. I have

(06:25):
almost forgotten that to Oscar Hernandez wonit barely edging out Bobby Witt Junior,
who's the guy that I had moneyon. It is an awesome gambling event.
What I have not forgotten was thenational anthem performance. Now excuse me
that that took a place about eighto'clock last night, So we've this is

(06:46):
about nineteen hours old. Every sportstalk radio show in America, every bad
FM morning Zoo show in America.Has replayed this and laughed at it.
I don't know that we need toplay it in its entirety, but Tarn,
just go ahead and give me afew bars of last night's national anthem
performance that preceded the twenty twenty fourMajor League Baseball home run derby. Oh

(07:15):
say, can you see by theduns? What? Sup? Proudlyly okay,
not to be disrespectful. I thinkit's okay if I interrupt this and
say that gave you a taste ofchances are something you've already heard a lot

(07:40):
of. That was Ingrid Andres tryingto perform the national anthem last night in
Arlington before the home run derby.And there were a lot of jokes last
night on social media, and mostof them were funny, including mine,
which I said she sounded like somebodysinging in a jail cell, only to

(08:03):
ignore, only to annoy the otherprisoners. I didn't butcher it on social
media like I did there. Shecame out on social media about an hour
ago and said, look, I'mnot gonna lie. I'm paraphrasing it here
because my computer's not working. Iwas drunk last night and now I'm going
to rehab and if she was drunk, you kind of gotta wonder didn't anybody

(08:26):
detect that maybe she was inebriated likeanybody. I don't know what plan B
is if the national anthem performer istoo drunk to perform, but did anybody?
And also I've wondered what did soundchecksound like and what she drunk during
soundcheck? If she legitimately believes shehas a drinking problem, I hope she

(08:50):
gets the help that she thinks sheneeds, and I hope she takes it
seriously. And I know enough aboutaddiction and have had enough people in my
life that have had to go torehab that I I I don't I don't
take I don't take that subject lightly. But my thought all day long,
as I've listened to everybody make funof her, and I made fun of

(09:11):
her last night, including the jokethat I just butchered, there's a very
good chance that her butchering the nationalanthem at the home run Derby will prove
to be a terrific career move.Because I had never heard of Ingrid Andres
before today, I was curious andI went on because I'm a company guy.

(09:35):
The iHeartRadio app found like four orfive songs, pretty damn good.
I class five or six years,I've become a country music fan, not
saying she's one of my favorites,not saying I want to dive into the
entire catalog or go buy concert tickets, but uh, pretty good. I
wouldn't have done that had she sanga forgettable, totally fine Nash Anthem.

(10:01):
So I don't know what the numberslook like on apps like Apple Music and
Spotify and obviously ours, but Ibet you there are a lot of people
who today did what I did.And while not everybody who did that is
going to like what they hear Idid. And so there's that, and
then there's, well, the sympatheticpart of this, right which is,

(10:26):
for whatever reason, if you believeher, she chose to get drunk right
before this large public performance in frontof whatever the size of the audience was
on TV and fifty thousand people therein Arlington, And so she'll go to
rehab and come out of it.I'm willing to bet you. I'm willing

(10:46):
to bet you that a country artistof at least some level of fame is
going to give her a chance tobe one of the openers, and then
you know it's past fail. Fromthat point, like, there's a surge
of interest in someone who last nightit felt like no one had heard of,

(11:07):
and so because of curiosity, there'sa lot of people who went to
go listen to what she does ona typical basis when she's not drunk trying
to perform the national anthem, andif they're like me, they like what
they heard, and there's going tobe somebody who goes, you know what,
even if just for the good prwe're gonna give her a chance to
open for us and then it's upto her to do well. Those things

(11:28):
don't happen if she sings, andotherwise fine and forgettable national anthem. There.
I did my duty. I didfour minutes on Ingrid Andress, who
I had never heard of twenty fourhours ago, who today is a country
music household name. Are a lotof people who will say there's no such
thing as bad publicity. I don'treally believe that, but there is some

(11:52):
truth to that statement. Perhaps IngridAndress will prove to be an example of
that statement being true, and ifshe does indeed need help, hopefully she
gets the help she needs. Eighteenafter three o'clock show previews available on X
thanks to Emery Federal Credit Union,your credit union with heart since nineteen thirty

(12:15):
nine. Go to EMORYFCU dot org. While you're there. If you're a
golfer, they've got a really coolgolf event coming up. I'm gonna play
in it, so that means you'renot gonna come in last EMORYFCU dot org.
A little bit later on a pairof draft experts. Because all these
opinions on what the Reds did anddidn't do and the players the Reds did

(12:37):
take during the draft, I'm actuallygonna get people on the air who know
something about these guys and have opinions, and so we'll do that. Coming
up. Chris Crawford three forty fivearm late in four twenty but first,
Paul Danner Junior previews Bengals training campnext on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station,
Cincinnatis Flover, Don't worry, twentyfive after three. Paul Danner Junior's

(13:01):
here, not physically here like hetypically is on Tuesdays because he gets busy.
Next week, as the Bengals startedtraining camp, Paul's with US Athletic
or the Athletic and The Growler podcast, the most recent of which involved our
look back at the twenty twenty oneplayoff Bengals playoff win over the Las Vegas
Raiders. Go get that where youget your podcasts? Watch the YouTube video,

(13:22):
which is pretty good. How areyou enjoying your your last week off
so to speak before camp begins?Uh? Yeah, I'm gonna be enjoying
it even more the next couple ofdays. You know, thanks, thanks,
thanks to you for letting us kindof free up a little bit of
time. But yeah, you know, what, what would we do without

(13:43):
one more camp preview? Like whatone more look, one more shot at
the off season of storylines and unknownsuntil we finally get to have something new
to talk about starting next week.Yeah, I mean I this offseason has
felt and I guess because they didn'tmake the playoffs in the previous two years

(14:03):
they did, this offseason has feltparticularly long. And I don't think it's
been a bad off season. Idon't think it's been a great off season
necessarily, but uh, maybe justbecause of the added weeks with them not
making the postseason. Maybe it's becausea lot of us felt like the offseason
began that Thursday night in Baltimore,when Joe Burrow busted his wrist. It

(14:24):
the start of stuff happening next weekcould not be more welcome. No,
it could be you know what thisis, this is t Higgins's fault,
right, course, of course itall has to come down to. No,
it's some of these storylines have justfelt like they've been going on forever.
Yeah, and so I'm joking aboutthat, but it's like you've had

(14:46):
some of these things between Higgins andthe Hendrickson thing popped up and was in
and out. But like just someof these things and because of the Burrough
rehab and houses risk gonna look,it's just these they've been the same storylines
that have just drawn on and onand on. So yes, next week,
mock turtle soup, first training camppractice, how's everybody looking. Maybe

(15:09):
we'll see everybody start talking to peoplethat we haven't talked to. All of
that is more than welcome, becauseit's time for some new storylines right now.
Obviously the answer to this is alwaysJoe Burrow, especially when he's coming
off an injury beyond him. Whenguys start to trickle into town and they
become available, is there somebody thatyou haven't talked to or heard from,

(15:33):
you know, maybe even during OTAsand voluntary workouts and all that that you're
looking forward to hearing from. Well, just you watch Chase. I mean
I think you know, you startat the top with that stuff, and
he's in a really interesting spot.He didn't really want to talk understandably during
the mandatory mini camp, you know, with all the kind of stuff that

(15:56):
was going on, coming off tojustin Jefferson contract and coming into a big
year where I think there's a lotof potential for them to use him differently,
the supporting pieces around him look verydifferent. You still do have the
Jefferson contract to talk about it.You know, he's been very open talking
about his desires in that world foryou know, dating back to last year

(16:18):
he was in Paris with Burrow,Like, there's a lot to cover with
Jamar okay, and he's always aninteresting guy to talk to who's as unfiltered
as it gets. So I'm reallyinterested in in in actually getting some time
to talk to Jamar whenever he isready to, you know, start talking
to us again. And so that'sprobably where it starts. And then you

(16:41):
get into some you know some probablyless celebrated storylines with with on the defensive
side of the ball in particular,we're talking about, I mean, these
people that we've talked to, butI am just gonna be fascinated with the
first few weeks two three weeks reallyof the cornerback room. You know what
exactly is happening there and at whatpoint they might have to make a decision

(17:04):
on these are the guys who aregoing with or maybe it's time to start
talking about veteran band aids. Solet's talk about Dax Hill in that regard,
because it felt like when when youand I first talked about Dax is
going to move to corner, whenthey did what they did at Safety,
I I guess I sort of gearedmyself to think that Dax is going to

(17:26):
be a backup corner. It hasfelt like during the course of the offseason
that he has put himself in agenuine position to win a starting gig.
Am I misreading that, No,I think you're right. I mean when
we had Louen Arumo on podcasts afterthe end of Mini Camp, I mean

(17:48):
that was what he was saying.I mean, he was saying that he
has made all of the right movesand made all the progress and laid all
the foundation really that they kind ofwanted to see from him in the off
season to go into this with itwith their eyes really open. And if
Zach Taylor said it after the draftthat yeah, he believes he can win
a starring spot, They're gonna givehim that chance. And it's a chance

(18:11):
for a guy who's a former firstround pick. The season opportunity and the
fact that he's shown enough that maybehe could do it something that we kind
of thought would be a little bitmore of an uphill battle when you consider
he's never really played outside corner necessarily. I think the fact the positive reviews
that you've heard to this point suggestyeah, I mean, he can go

(18:33):
out there and do it. Andhere's the other thing. I mean,
it's not like he's going up againstprime Derell Reeves. Okay, what do
we know about DJ Turner other thanhe was really good and laid a nice
foundation earlier in the season, andhe was really not so good down the
stretch. We don't know what DJTurner is gonna be in year two.
They hope that he's gonna take thisbig step, but you know, that's

(18:56):
where Dax Hill's primary competition is rightnow, is to go and be out
somebody who was a college teammate ofhis who had an up and down rookie
year. So it's it's certainly therefor the taking, and they're just looking
for answers because you know, that'sthat's a big question mark at that position,
especially considering what happened last year,to not feel like you were betting

(19:19):
on anything other than really projection.And that's why I reference, you know,
the veterans signing, and it justsort of hangs out there where you
get to the first two or threeweeks and both of these guys are making
a lot of the same mistakes.Dax might not really be the answer there,
and you're kind of wondering what's next. Well, I think that's the

(19:40):
point where you would quickly want toturn to some of the veterans, your
your Xavian Howard's and others that areout there and say, hey, maybe
we just think about stop gap.Yeah, And it's interesting because you and
I talked about that with running back. You know, the number of established
players who are out there at thatposition. It applies to cornerback as well,
like, if you want to letyour imagine run wild, there's a
lot of guys in that position whoare out there. I think a guy

(20:03):
who's interesting because he's kind of rightthere in the middle is Jordan Battle.
Right. When we talked about theBengals failures at safety last year, we
talked Dax Hill. All right,he's no longer at that position. Von
Bell's back. They went and gotGeno Stone, but Jordan Battle is still
in the mix. What is hismost likely role in this team. I
think he's probably going to be VonBell's shadow in a lot of ways.

(20:27):
It's like, look, you sawa lot of potential and believe that Jordan
Battle can really be a guy.But I think to grow into that leadership
role, the idea is do everythingthat Von Bell does. Be like Von
Bell. He kind of you know, you just didn't really have that true

(20:48):
veteran leader in the room, guythat shows a rookie the way last year
and Michael Thomas is a legendary humanand is a super successful guy, but
he was on the practice squad.It's a little different when you're when you're
a leader that knows the league isa guy that's playing and doing all the
things out there on the field versussomebody who's who's not even on the fifty
three, and so it's harder toreally learn by example that way, and

(21:14):
so Von Bell is the perfect personfor Jordan Battle to learn from. Now.
I just think Vaughn is going tobe the starter week one, just
because of his knowledge of the systemand the comfort that leuen Arumo wants to
be providing out there for everybody andnot be kind of wondering if another guy
out there is going to take ajump. But I do think it's with

(21:36):
the idea that Battle can quickly takethat over and be the guy at some
point this year, and you know, only take he'll be the first safety
off the bench theoretically, or maybehe's amazing in camp and does beat out
Von Bell like I Only they're notruling that out, but I think certainly
what you know of how they triedto create stability on defense to avoid all

(21:57):
of those explosive plays, you've gotto be looking at, you know,
at Von Bell kind of being theone that's out there early on. So
it would take a big, abig camp from Battle, I think to
beat him another few minutes with PaulDanner Junior covering the Bengals for the Athletic.
Theathletic dot com is where you couldsubscribe to get his work. Do
that before camp begins and also checkout the Growler podcast. Follow Paul on

(22:19):
x at Paul Danner Junior. UH. One of the key story lines to
training camp, and this is thecase every year, is who's gonna win
the Moegger Award. Now we've we'vehandicapped this right and we've we've determined that
andre Yoshabash has a chance to winit in consecutive years. Is Jermaine Burton
eligible? High profile guy, twomajor schools, third round pick, but

(22:42):
the hype for him is snowballing.And you pointed this out in your piece
about UH the fan survey, andI just I feel like we have to
have the conversation about who's really eligiblefor this because he is a rookie,
right, there are a lot ofwide receivers. And I do think there's
a point that we can get wherethe hype is is so it is so

(23:06):
widespread, is so loud, isso unavoidable that it puts him in a
position to win the award. What'syour take this award is not about the
front running possibly projected starters, Okay, this is about this is about the
depth and the nuance that you provide. Your name is on this award.
I understand why I'm asking because youyou are willing to go deep, all

(23:32):
right, and and and and listento the callers that want to talk about
the guy who really theoretically shouldn't havemuch of a chance. I no stretch
of the imagination is that Jermaine burdYeah, but you guys, But like
I take my cue when I'm onthe air, and I looked at what
you guys are tweeting about, likeI already know, like rappine is gonna
sound like eight Jermaine Burton tweets todaylike that's we're gonna go over under.

(23:57):
You're not gonna be that far behind, gonna be a little bit more measured.
I just you know, there's there'ssomething about the like, at face
value, I get it, it'sgot to be low round draft pick,
obscure school college, free agent,that sort of thing. Right. It's
but I don't know, man,I do think there's a world where the

(24:17):
hype gets to a point that youhave to at least give him cursory consideration.
Wouldn't he have to exceed the hypethough, isn't that kind of the
point, Like whatever the conversation ofexpectations is for a player, this is
about exceeding them and creating a nextlevel of hope, Okay, And so
I think that's why that's why Iwould lean to a repeat for yoshibash all

(24:40):
right, because I think you couldsee a next level of hope for him.
Maybe he could be the next KeyHiggins, that could be him,
Like that's what you'll start hearing nowin that conversation. Whereas Burton, like
the hype is already of expectations isalready high. Like I just I think
that all all returns are good,Like he has certainly looked the part,

(25:03):
and they have a lot of hopefor him, and they have the idea
of what his role could look like. A third round rookie is a third
round rookie, and and I justfeel like everybody is going a little overboard.
So to think that we're gonna givethis award to somebody for somehow going
over top of though it's already toohigh expectations, I mean, it would
have to be a pretty spectacular camp. He'd need to be running side by

(25:27):
side with Jamar says at some point. Okay, all right, well we
had to establish the ground rules now, so this this wasn't the sort of
thing that we could just you know, tap into in two weeks. All
right, one more before I letit go. Yeah. Now, I'm
gonna say it's a serious award.I just want to make sure that that
people understand how how important this isn'tjust something that we talk about, oh

(25:47):
minute kind of radio show. Yeah, this is huge. Uh, give
me on each side of the balla candidate to be at least a mildly
surprising cut. I would say,you know, on on offense, is

(26:11):
is anybody surprised that Jackson Carmon gotcut? Is that surprising? I mean,
he's in the last year of hisrookie deal, but that money has
gone up a little bit. Idon't think it would be surprising. Yeah,
probably not not surprising there so.I but that's that's probably one that

(26:33):
would be a name that people knowthat I that has certainly, you know,
got to do something at some point. I don't I don't know what
people are necessarily surprised by there.On on defense, I wonder how the
defensive line room is going to shakeout, you know, at some point

(26:56):
where somebody's got to probably go there. When we were talking at the back
of that room as the battles withif Joseph side, there's a lot of
hope for him, Miles Murphy.These guys are should be safe, but
they really like can sample where thatCarter is a pick that has disappointed,
but he was a third round pickfrom just two years ago. You don't
normally see those guys Jettison are givenup on, but he's out here fighting

(27:19):
for his job and there's really justnot a lot of conversation about him.
So if that maybe that would bea surprise. He's because he was a
recent high pick that they would bebe bailing that quickly on him. That's
probably I mean, those are probablya few of the more names in terms
of recent picks that are fighting morefor their lives than you would have expected

(27:42):
at this point in their career.The name that stood out to me was
Osai just because of you know,it's year four and we keep talking about
that one preseason game three years agoand there just haven't been enough moments and
he's had injuries, but there justhaven't been enough moments. And I wonder
with you know, just the quantityof players they have there that are either

(28:04):
you know, higher draft picks,higher round draft picks, players with a
pedigree. I just I wonder ifif he fits the bill, maybe more
than anybody else. All right,you've got to get to it because it's
your last week of freedom. Iam off next week, and so I
know with practice schedules, our Tuesdayvisits, they get a little bit weird.
But I look forward to talking withyou in some way, shape or

(28:26):
form once training camp gets underway.Thank you as always. Yeah, we
will always make it happen. Iwill always find a way for you,
and we'll have many updates. Youwill be added on X anytime we have
any movement in the Moeger Award votingand discussion. Is it just wide receivers.

(28:48):
I think you could probably throw atight end in there, but I
think it's got to be mostly focusedon somebody who's catching passes, probably at
the point where they're doing it inshorts and no help. Awesome man,
thanks so much, no problem,laybody all it's our guy. Paul Dayner
Junior Theathletic dot Com, The GrowlerPodcast, and on x AT Paul Danner

(29:12):
Junior. I have screwed up theclock royally. Chris Crawford breaks down the
players the Reds took in the draft. Next Sincy three sixty with Tony Pike.
Do we want to move on theDoctor? Keith Gord and Austin Elmore.
I think you should continue. Letme keep going there, Sincy three
sixty Tomorrow Which twelve News on ESPNfifteen thirty, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

(29:37):
Yeah, complete and total wire.I said we were going to talk to
Chris Crawford right now, No we'renot. We're going to talk to him
instead at four oh five. Myapologies, my apologies to you, My
apologies to Chris, My apologies toTaran. Sorry didn't mean for it to
happen. I'm oegar. This isESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you so much

(30:00):
for listening. Good stuff as alwaysfrom Paul Daanner Junior. On the Bengals
as they get closer and closer totraining camp starting and us getting some answers
to questions. I think I thinkJoseph Osai is one of those guys.
That's really really interesting. It feelslike it's put up or shut up time
for him. It feels like it'svery much put up or shut up time

(30:21):
for Jackson Carmen as well. AndI also I kind of feel like Jordan
Battle is slightly forgotten about. Therewere times during his rookie season where you
watched him and thought they're going tohave to go find somebody else better next
year or find somebody else different nextyear, which they have. There were
times watching him where I felt like, that's a guy who really has a

(30:42):
chance to be really good in thisleague. And so as things play out
over the next couple of weeks,I think it's going to be interesting to
see does he have any chance ofpushing for a starting role and how does
lou Anarumo deploy his his safeties.I also think, you know, the
Bengals went out and got Trent Brownand we sort of assumed he was going

(31:04):
to be the guy who starts atright tackle, and it just it feels
like there's a lot of momentum,a lot of momentum for Amarius Mims being
that guy. Whether or not heis, I guess, obviously time will
tell, but it'll be really interestingto start to get some of those answers,
and then obviously all eyes on JoeBurrow and his return. And I
think there's one overarching goal to theentire training camp and preseason stretch of time.

(31:33):
The Bengals have gone out of theirway. And I'm not going to
say that I haven't been a proponentof this, but they have gone out
of their way to as best theycan ensure health and availability for Week one.
And I don't want to see dudeswho matter most playing a lot of
snaps in the preseason, and nobodyreally wants that. But I said this

(32:00):
through two games last year when theywere zero to two, understanding that they
were playing with a compromise quarterback,Understanding that in twenty twenty two at the
beginning of the season, they wereplaying with a quarterback who had just had
an app and dectomy. You haveto figure out, organizationally a way to
strike a balance between ensuring everybody's availabilityto the best that you can and nobody's

(32:24):
ever going to be perfect, butensure everybody's availability to the best that you
can and also being able to functionweek one. Now the NFL has done
the Bengals a huge favor by givingthem three cupcakes in the first four games
and say which one about how toughit's going to be to go to Kansas
City and win. Bengals have donethat before, and they nearly did last

(32:45):
year without Joe Burrow. I thinkthat's I think that's a toss up game.
So what I want to know is, and we don't have this answer
today, what I would like tohave a sense of as the next month
and a half unfolds, is whatare they doing to better strike a balance

(33:07):
between keeping guys healthy, ensuring theiravailability, and being able to function in
Week one? Now the game twoyears ago, if Joe Burrow doesn't throw
five or doesn't throw four picks andturn it over five times, it's a
different story. And they almost wonthat game. What they did in Cleveland
last year, on both sides ofthe ball looked like it was called from

(33:30):
like nineteen ninety eight. If youare too young to remember the Bengals in
the nineties, go watch Bengals Brown'sWeek one. I have thought, and
I have expressed publicly after each ofthe first games of the season in twenty
two and twenty three, I havethought the Bengals looked unprepared. Chances are

(33:52):
you don't have to prepare all thatmuch to find a way to beat the
Patriots week one in your own building. But I think that's I think that's
the task. I mean, there'sfinding out how the pieces are gonna fit
and who's gonna win certain jobs,and obviously the biggest question in the league
all across camp, many camps beginningtoday, how our team's gonna handle the

(34:13):
new kickoff rule, which was gonnamake preseason football really worth watching. But
I want to know what is gonnawhat's going to be done to ensure that
the Bengals not only put as manygood players on the field as possible,
but put a team on the fieldthat looks prepared to play. That wasn't
the case week one last season.It really wasn't the case week one two

(34:35):
years ago. The first two roundsof the MLB Draft were Sunday and yesterday.
Now the other rounds are underway.I want Chris Crawford's thoughts on what
the bank with the Bengals, whatthe Reds did in the first ten picks
of the draft will get them mypromise. Coming up at four h five
on ESPN, fifteen thirty Cincinnati SportsStation. Hey, it's Moeger with my
guy John from Window World. John, I want to talk about I'm fifteen.

(35:00):
I have found this connect them.In thirty minutes, we're gonna give
away more Thomas Rhet tickets. Yesterdaywe played a relatively easy game, and
I think it was easy. Ofknow your Reds home run derby connections,
so you know what we're doing today, Yes, yes, that's right,

(35:21):
your Reds All Star Game connections.If you know a lot about the Reds
and you know a lot about theAll Star Game and the blended history of
the two, and if you wantto go see Thomas Rhett and the Reds
play the A's because Thomas Rhet's playingafter a Red Z's game, We've got
your chance coming up. In justabout thirty minutes, another wide receiver has

(35:42):
asked for a trade. I'll tellyou what I'm not reading. We have
Brendaman and Jones on baseball, andthe All Star Game is tonight. Ellie
and Hunter could have a chance fora big moment. First, Christopher Crawford
is here NBC Sports Rodeo World kJRNC, one of my go to experts
when it comes to the draft whenit comes to prospects. Join me late

(36:08):
last week, so it's good tohave you. As always, The Reds
take Chase Burns from wake Forest.This is not the player you said on
Friday that you thought the Reds wouldtake, or that you would take if
you were running the Reds. Sohow surprised were you that that's what they
chose to do. I was verysurprised when we talked on Friday. I

(36:31):
was less surprised when we talked onMonday. It's started seeming a little more
likely that they were going to gothat route, in part I think because
maybe a little bit dissuayed by thebonus demands of Charlie Condon more than anything
else. But it's still a solidpick. It's surprising, though, for
sure. I mean I really thoughtit was going to be either Condon or

(36:54):
Jack Condon tightly and known that's sucha difficult name today. I'm sorry,
I'll be wonderful Italians out there,maybe just drop a couple syllables, but
no, it's it surprised me forsure when we talked on Friday, But
more and more that I heard itsounded more and more likely that they were
going to go with Burns at numbertwo. All right, so they take

(37:15):
Chase Burns, put the film onfor me. What do we like?
There's a lot to like. Imean, this is a guy who came
just under two hundred strikeouts in justover one hundred innings, a ridiculous strikeouts,
a ratio of something like seventeen pointnine K nine and it's not smoking
meres. This is a guy whohas four plus pitches can get his fastball

(37:36):
up to one hundred and two milesan hour. Goodness gracious, that's fast.
I still remember. I'm old enoughto remember when ninety miles per hour
was pretty fast. It's crazy thatthese are guys throwing change ups and sliders
that fast. And he can dothat with his slider. He's got his
quality curve ball, so the decentchange as well command is a little bit
of a work in progress. ButI think he's going to throw more than

(37:57):
enough strikes to be a quality pitcheror a quality starter is what I meant
to say. Obviously, quality pitcher, but he should be able to stick
in a rotation. He's got theprototypical size that you're looking for from a
starter. I mean, everything hereis there for him to be a frontline
guy. So to get that withthe number two pick is a pretty solid
value, all right. So Ihave seen people whose opinion I value far

(38:19):
less than yours suggest that one dayhe is going to be a back of
the bullpen guy. What do youmake of that? I would disagree with
that. I think some of theconcern is the command, and some of
it is there's a little bit ofeffort in the delivery. But I still
think that he's going to be afrontline starter to begin his like obviously to
begin his career probably admit rotation.For every Paul Schemes, there's lots of

(38:42):
guys who struggles to come out ofthings. I think that there is lots
of reasons to believe that he's goingto be a starting pitcher long term.
My biggest concern with Burns is thefact that his fastball shape is an elite,
and playing a great American ballpark andhaving a fastball shape that is an
elite can lead to some trouble.So that's why the command is going to
have to be at least average forhim to become a strong starting option.

(39:07):
I think there's every reason to believethat he can get there. If things
go well, could I be watchinghim in Cincinnati as soon as next year.
Absolutely? Now, look again,for every poulp schemes that comes up
this quick, there's going to bea guy who takes a little bit longer
to develop. And I would stillguess that he makes his debut sometime in
twenty twenty five, just because thestuff is so readily apparent, Like this

(39:30):
is not smoke again, not smokingmirrors, and it's not well, it's
there one day and it's not therethe next day. His entire season at
Wake Forest, he was just absolutelydominating bats. I think it's absolutely realistic
to see that he'd be in thatrotation by the All Star break of twenty
twenty five, and if not,certainly a guy who's helping him in twenty
twenty six. And you know that'swhat you're really drafting for, right is

(39:52):
you're not really drafting for the help, obviously, not this year twenty twenty
five. You know it'd be nice, but it's not necessarily a misst that
college arm like that helping you intwenty twenty six is what you're really hoping
for. All right, let meask you about the player they took in
the second round, they needed anothershortstop, so they took one. Tyson
Lewis high school kid. What doyou like about him? There's a lot

(40:13):
to like, and I was actuallya little surprised he felt this far.
Scouts just loved this kid. Ithink one thing that hurt him a little
bit is that he's a Nebraska kid, and there's not a ton of history
of these type of guys being successfulplayers. But if you just take on
talent, and this is a guywith a chance for above average hit and
power, really good runner, reallygood arm, and I should be able

(40:34):
to stake a short stop without anyissue. Doesn't turn nineteen until January of
believe, so there's lots of longterm upside with this type of bat.
He's an interesting one because I thinkhe's you don't see this with a lot
of high school players, but Ithink he has a high floor and a
high ceiling. So to be ableto get that at fifty one was a
really strong pick by the Cincinnati Reds. I like this big a lot.

(40:55):
It was one of my favorites ofthe day. You know, they're tapping
into that LSU pipeline that has producedPaul Stein's to take their next guy,
and Louke Coleman another pitcher. Alrighty, talk to me about Luke Coleman.
Yeah, Luke Coleman is. Andby the way, no relation to Brian
Holman for those remember Brian Hellman.But unfortunately, what Luke Coleman was probably

(41:16):
most famous for is a pretty bigbetting scandal. I don't know if you
remember this, but there was anissue where he got scratched and some people
got a lot of money and somepeople lost their job. This update brought
to you by fan Kinks. Thestuff is all here for him to be
a starting pitcher, like he hasa plus slider. Fastball is an elite,

(41:37):
curveball is an elite, change ofis an elite. But all of
those are average. But if youcombine that with the slider and the fact
that he throws everything for strikes,he's ready to be a back end starter.
It wouldn't one hundred percent shot meif the guy who ended up being
the guy who ended up being intothe majors quicker, even quicker than Chase

(41:58):
Burns, because the stuff in thecommand is so ready to go. Now
you're not talking about nearly the sametype of above side, but I think
that Brian, there I go.I do think that Holman has a chance
to be a solid back end starterand one who can get to the big
leagues pretty quickly. All Right,I'm not going to ask you about every
player they have taken through ten rounds. The thing that stands out to me

(42:19):
more than anything is they took threecatchers, the guys below Luke Coleman.
As we talk rounds three through tenfor the Reds, is there a name
that jumps off the board, doyou? Yeah, I'll tell you that
Mike Serad is one of the mostinteresting players that they took, and that's
an outfielder out of Northeastern. Thiswas a guy who, if this draft
would have happened after the season,and it obviously did not, probably would

(42:42):
have been a top fifteen pick.There were people who were really infatuated with
the bat, and to be justcompletely honest with you, he stunk.
He was not good in his junioryear. But the talent is still there
and he's a really good defensive playerwho can play all three outfield positions.
He's a good runner. So you'vegot that floor of a potential fourth or
fifth outfielder, and then you havethe ceiling of maybe he does remember it

(43:05):
back to the player that they sawas a sophomore when he was at and
to be fair, he was atNortheastern, and Northeastern is not exactly a
baseball hotved who plays the strongest schedule. But he was outstanding and that's kind
of one of the reasons why Ithink he fell was because he didn't put
up great numbers and he was playingin a pretty mediocre baseball conference. But
I think he was outstanding value.And I'll also mention Staball out of Arkansas

(43:29):
plus hit tool should be a solidsecond basement. The Reds had my favorite
draft. Even though they've passed onwhat was, in my opinion, the
best player in the draft and Clevelandpasted on him as well, they still
got a top five player in thisdraft and like four guys that would be
in my top fifty. That's apretty dark good draft and helps re establish

(43:49):
that farm system that we were talkingabout on Friday. Awesome stuff. You've
made my day. The trade deadlineis getting closer. If the Reds make
any trades involving players I've never heardof, You're going to get my phone
call. I appreciate it. Asalways, man, thanks so much,
my pleasure, my friend, it'smy guy. Chris Crawford, NBC Sports
Rodeo World also fills in as heis this week on k JR. In

(44:12):
Seattle. Uh. There are alot of experts out there as it relates
to college baseball and high school baseballand the amateur draft. Chris is one
of my favorites. The other isaarm Layton. He's gonna join us on
the five o'clock hour. Uh.Until then, five point three seven nine
fifteen thirty is our phone number.Eight sixty six seven two three seven seven
six works as well. You cansend a tweet thanks to Delta Dental.

(44:36):
Delta Dental is building healthy, smartand vibrant communities for Augna Delta Dental h
dot com. Uh T Higgins.The the deadline passed and they didn't get
a contract done. So he's gonnaplay for the Bengals under the franchise tag,
which is what everybody who followed thissituation closely said was going to be

(44:59):
the outcome. But when he announced, or when we found out, I
should say that he was requesting atrade, which he did. Well.
There was a narrative out there,another wide receiver has reportedly requested a trade
from his team. I don't seethat same narrative. Next on ESPN fifteen

(45:21):
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station, This hasbeen a very good day at work.
Not that it isn't always a goodday at work. If you don't enjoy
your job, go work somewhere else. And we work in the toy department.
But some days are better than others. Today is one of those days.

(45:42):
For a very simple reason, We'vehad delivered to the radio stations Skylines
hot met cheese cony's. If youhaven't tried Skylines Hot Met Cheese conys,
they've turned up the heat this summer. It's a Skyline cony. It's a
Skyline cheese cony, but it's madewith a hut met from Queen City Sausage.
And if you like spicy, andI do, you are absolutely gonna

(46:06):
love the hot Met cheese cony fromSkyline. They're available right now at participating
locations, but only for a limitedtime, so go get one. And
they also dropped off ice cream floats, so there's a lot happening at Skyline
right now. You've got hot metcheese cony's, you've got ice cream floats,

(46:27):
which if you haven't had the redCream Soda float at Skyline, legitimately
I would say, like, youknow, wait till you get off leave
work now and go get one.And they've got their seventy fifth anniversary Coney
Hunt game all happening right now atSkyline, So if you haven't been the
Skyline for a while, there's lotsto catch up on, including hot met

(46:49):
cheese Cony's get them right now atparticipating Skylines. For a limited time,
we're giving away tickets to go seeThomas htt Thomas HTTs playing after a Reds
game on August the twenty ninth,which is gonna be a lot of fun
Reds A's and then Thomas Rhett.If you want to win tickets, you
get you get to go to thegame and you get to go see Thomas

(47:09):
Rhett. If you want to wintickets, we're gonna we're gonna play a
you know, a dumb little triviagame. These are easy, by the
way, not dumb. It's notdumb. No, the games we come
up with are not dumb. Thegame is not dumb. I do believe
yesterday's home run derby questions are Onecontestant went three for three. All you
gotta do is go three for five. I think today's questions, which have

(47:30):
to do with the Reds and theAll Star Game, the shared history of
the two, I think are prettyeasy. There's one that is marginally tough,
but the others are frankly, anyReds fans should get them. So
we'll see, we'll see well solicitcontestants. As we say, coming up

(47:54):
in in just a few minutes.The All Star Game is tonight. Ellie
Dela Cruz. I saw a videoof him walking or being He was just
got off a car, coming offthe red carpet. He was wearing a
cowboy hat. You know how wesay there are certain people who could pull
off sunvisors, but most people cannot. I am not one of those people

(48:14):
who can pull off a sun visor. Some people can pull off cowboy hats.
It's been a while since I've worna cowboy hat. Ellie de other
Cruz can pull off a cowboy hat. I think it's a lot of fun.
Look the All Star Game. Ifit's not your thing, it's not
your thing, no big deal.I do think there are often players in

(48:35):
a given year who in the AllStar Game you really want to see,
and the masses really want to see. I know there are folks who roll
their eyes every time Paul Skeene's nameis mentioned. I think Paul Skeens must
watch television. He did not pitchagainst the Reds at GABP, but when
he does. I have specifically paidto watch a pitcher in Cincinnati twice in

(49:00):
my life, twice where I've boughta ticket and my main motivation was I
want to see this particular pitcher.Twice. Now, there have been times
where I was gonna go anyway,or I had tickets. I'm like Randy
Johnson pitched, which I'll never forgetthe first time watching him. But twice

(49:20):
in my life have I specifically saidI want to go because that guy's pitching.
The first time would be when RogerClemens pitched against the Reds for the
Houston Astros, which would have beentwo thousand and four. He had never
pitched in Cincinnati. I had neverseen him pitch in person, and so

(49:44):
I wanted to go see him pitch. I remember that game very well.
Is is Saturday Night. The otherone was Tim LINCECM. People who know
me well know my affinity for Timlinskem if we ever do the topic again
of favorite players who never played foryour favorite team. Tim Linsgam doesn't lead
that conversation, but he's pretty closeto the top. He is a guy

(50:06):
who, on two different occasions,I looked at the rotation and I'm like,
all right, I want to goto a game this week. I'm
going to the one Linskm's pitching.I don't think I ever saw him pitch
well against the Reds. Though PaulSkeens will be the next talk of baseball
right now. He's pitch at elevenbig league games. He legitimately might be
the best pitcher in baseball, andso I think it's cool as hell that
he is starting the game tonight.I cannot wait to watch him. I

(50:28):
can't wait to watch Hunter Green,And I think it's cool. The Reds
have two of those guys that mightnot make you feel any better about where
they are in the standings, mightnot make you feel any better about their
chances to get to the postseason,might not make you feel any better about
this plan and whether or not it'sgoing to work. But I do think
it's cool. Oftentimes, the Redshave had All Stars because every team has

(50:51):
to have them. They have AllStars, but nobody really cares. I
mean, let's be honest, they'vehad All Star where the players were All
Stars because every team has to haveone. Was anybody really excited to watch
Adam Duvall in the All Star Game? Let's be honest. The answer is
probably no. Was anybody? Andhe had a home run? And it

(51:14):
was anybody excited when Scooter Jenay ScooterJeannette's in the All Star No knock on
those guys. I think, inScooter's case and probably Adam Devall's case,
if my memory serves me correct,those guys deserve to be there, but
they weren't the sort of players thatpeople were tuning in for. I think
there is gonna be a chunk ofthe audience, including in Cincinnati, that

(51:35):
ordinarily wouldn't watch here in town,that are gonna watch specifically to watch Ellie
and Hunter. And I think there'sa chunk of the audience that would watch
no matter what elsewhere that are goingto pay extra close attention when Ellie is
in the game and when Hunter isin the game. And I would imagine
both will I David Bell's there,David Bell is on the staff, I

(52:04):
would be shocked if Ellie Dela Cruzisn't in the game and isn't in the
game soon. And so you know, we've talked about both those guys.
Both those guys are having all starcaliber seasons. Both of those guys.
If we would have said early lastseason, even before Ellie got called up
in twenty twenty four, who arethe two guys if the Reds have two

(52:30):
all stars that you are that youwould say are most likely to be All
Stars? I think we probably wouldhave said Ellie Dela Cruz and Hunter Green
One might have also set Alexis dAs to be fair, So I mean,
to a degree, they're right ontrack. And now the question is

(52:51):
does the rest of the team catchup to them, and do those players
Ellie and Hunter continue to get betterbecause neither I think both would admit neither
are finished product. But I thinkit's cool as hell that they have two
of the guys. Like, ifyou're a casual baseball fan, the Reds
are not showcased on national TV allthat much. I can't tell you the
last time and understandably so excuse me, I can't tay the last time the

(53:13):
Reds were on Sunday night baseball.They've gotten some Saturday night spots. They
had a game earlier this year,I think against the Phillies that was on
FS one. But they're not aThey're not a they haven't won in forever.
Let's be honest. They they've stunkfor the majority of this century.
Most of their players have been relativelyanonymous. I think there are a lot

(53:36):
of casual baseball fans that really nevereven totally watched Joey Vado because when was
he on. And so you're gonnahave some folks that watch Ellie Delacruth night
that typically don't get a chance towatch them. And you're gonna get some
people that watch Paul Skeen tonight thattypically don't get a chance to watch him.
And Hunter Green, assuming he getsin as well, today would be
or tonight would be his typical turnbased on when he last pitched last week.

(53:59):
And so, you know, forme, at least, I cannot
speak to anybody else. I alwayshave the All Star Game on because it's
from a sports perspective, the onlything on. I think Fox's game presentation
is always terrific. I think theydo a great job. You know,
we've seen more and more players getmiked up on national broadcasts. They do

(54:20):
it to a larger degree during theAll Star Game. I think they always
do a really good job of tellingthe story of the season and telling the
story of maybe some guys that arevery good players that you're not quite as
familiar with. It's also the onesporting event that reminds me of being a
kid now. I think if there'sone thing that those of us of a

(54:40):
certain age, and maybe even everybodyelse younger would agree on, it's the
All Star Game is a thousand timescooler when the players are wearing their actual
uniforms, Like it would be cooltonight to watch Ellie Dela Cruz in a
Cincinnati Reds uniform and Hunter Green tonightin a Cincinnati Reds uniform, not some

(55:02):
lame National League uniform, right,But beyond that, you know, always
interested in what the Reds players do, and tonight there's a little extra punch
and and there would be more ifthe team was good. And yeah,
they're in the thick of things.They're forty seven and fifty. They're not
good. But count me among thosewho thinks it's really cool that the Reds

(55:27):
have two guys in the game thatare among the more desired players to watch.
If that's a good way of puttingit compared to everybody else on the
field and in the dugout tonight inArlington. Uh well, I get paid
for that commercial for the All StarGame. All right? If you want
to go see Thomas Rhett, he'scoming to a gabp Red's a's and then

(55:51):
Thomas right. And by the way, it's a full it's a full set
and not one of those deals.Like many many years ago, somebody dragged
me to go see Mandy Moore orwe called her Mandy four. She played
four songs. Thomas Rhet's gonna playa full set, which I know rhymes
Red's a's And it's a benefit concert. We'll talk about where the money goes.
It's gonna be August twenty ninth.If you want to go to this

(56:13):
show, we're gonna give you achance to win tickets. I am looking
for two contestants five point three,seven four nine fifteen thirty and eight six
six seven oh two three seven sevensix can get you in as well.
Want to go see Thomas Rhett callus now you'll get a chance. Hopefully
after sports headlines on ESPN fifteen thirtyCincinnati Sports Station, Cincinnati's ESPN. All

(56:38):
right, we're giving away Thomas Rhettickets in just a few minutes, but
first I have to give you sportsheadlines. There really are nine. The
show Acosta No Go today at FCCincinnati training. If you go, kind
of hit the post on that one. All Star Game is tonight, seven
hundred WLW stole it the game.This is broadcast on ESPN Radio. We're

(57:01):
the ESPN affiliate. What Gary Jeffneeded the night off or something. We
had a derby last night. Wehad the derby last night, which is
a better event. Anyway, thebetter event was on here. So the
All Star Game is tonight. It'sthe National League versus the American League.
I think that's all I got.And Brandon Aiyuk wants to trade from the
forty nine ers, and yet noone is saying that's because the Niners are

(57:22):
cheap. But when two Bengals playersas for trades, it's all the Bengal
cheaper, right, Karen? Arewe ready to do this? Yes?
All, I gotta read the thinghere first. Brandan and Jones on Baseball
by the way is coming up andmore on the draft in the next hour.
Hey join the Reds on Thursday,August twenty ninth for a postgame benefit

(57:44):
concert featuring Thomas Rhett. All fansin attendance are invited to stay after the
Reds play The A's for a fullset from Thomas Rhett. There are a
limited number of pitfield passes available soyou could enjoy the concert on the field,
and a portion of proceeds from eachticket sold benefit love One International,
providing life saving care to families inUganda. Get tickets now at Reds dot

(58:09):
com slash Thomas Rett. Will yoube there? P Probably not. I
don't know. I haven't thought thatfar ahead. You know what. The
next day I am off because they'replaying a Friday twelve thirty game, a
makeup game. So maybe I'll bethere. We'll see. I don't know,

(58:31):
Taran. I'm trying to get toThursday at nine o'clock at night,
know what I mean. I'm withyou Thursday at ten from me Thursday at
nine o'clock at night. Everything thathappens after then is I do not.
I have no idea. I don'tknow. All right, we have people,
we have contestants. Yes, inmy pile of paper. Here,

(58:52):
I have misplaced my There, Ifound my questions. I got best of
five. Here we go, allstar questions, reds, all star questions.
I sound totally disorganized, Taran.Who do we have? We have
John? We have John? Hi? John? What's up? Oh man?
I'm awesome? And then who doelse? Who else do we have?
There? Tarran? We have Will? Will Hi. You're on the

(59:14):
radio right now. How are youdoing? Great? Oh? Me too.
Oh you're very welcome. Thanks forplaying our stupid trivia game. All
right, stupid, Thanks for playingour trivia game of stupid questions. How's
that? Arren? Thank you?Okay? Uh? Who is gonna call
the coin in the air? DoI have to explain this again? Terren?
Do it by now? I'm I'msure John and Will know how this

(59:35):
works? Right? Yes? Okay, good Taran? Who is gonna call
the the virtual coin? Flip it? All right? Well? Heads or
tails? What do you got?Heads? Go ahead? Put that bad
boy? Wow, unbelievable. Didn'tgo very high, but it was powerful.
What'd you have, Terrean? Whatdo we got? Head? It
is? Heads? All right?Uh? So did he win? Yes?

(01:00:00):
We'll get there. Well, youwant to play or do nothing?
Do nothing? All right? Wantsto do nothing? I put will on
hold. John's gonna play Thursday atnine o'clock. Hi, John, you
excited to play? You're just excitedto answer some questions about the Reds in
the All Star Game. I'm gonnatry, all right. Are you a

(01:00:21):
Reds fan? I am, yebaseball fan, big baseball fan. Yes,
all right, here we go.Question number one. You have to
get three out of five correct.There's the music we stole from that nineties
game show with Reaches. The uhit is back Reaches? Isn't Jimmy Jimmy
Kimmel hosts it? Now? Good? He doesn't have enough jobs? Like
every show was hosted by either RyanSeacrest or Jimmy Kimmel? Is that a

(01:00:45):
fair assessment? Or Steve Harvey?Can anybody else work in the game show
or TV hosting business? Ryan Seacrest, all right, can tell you about
the time Ryan Seacrest, producer cameup here to try to tell us how
to do radio shows. That wasa fun John, Question number one.
The nineteen eighty eight All Star Gamewas played in Cincinnati at Riverfront Stadium.

(01:01:08):
The starting pitcher for the National Leaguewas Dwight Gooden who started for the American
League? Was it a Roger Clemens, B. Frank Viola or C.
Mark Goubaza. I'll say B.Was it B Frank Viola? Yes,

(01:01:29):
sweet music. Frank Viola started andI believe won the game. Although we
don't mention pitcher win lost totals,so that doesn't matter. But yes,
you got to correct. You're onefor one. You have to get two
more. Are you excited? Yeah? All right? John? Who was
the last Reds pitcher to start forthe National League in the All Star Game?

(01:01:51):
Was it a Jose Rio, B, Danny Jackson or ce Jack Armstrong?
A? Was it a Hose Tarran? I'm sorry no, it was
Jock Armstrong, the All American Boystarted at Wrigley Field in a raind laid
game in nineteen ninety. Very good, All right, you are one for
two. You've got to get twoof the next three. Correct. Do

(01:02:14):
not be nervous, John. Intwenty eighteen, two Cincinnati Reds players hit
home runs in the All Star Game, Joey Vado and Scooter Janette. Prior
to then, who was the mostrecent Red to go deep in the Midsummer
Classic? Was it a Ken GriffySenior, B. Dave Parker or C.

(01:02:35):
Davey Concepcion Lee. What was theanswer? I'm sorry, I was
making a noise. Dave Conceptsion TarrenYes. Dave Conceptsion nineteen eighty two,
when he was named MVP of theAll Start All right, you've gotten two
of three, correct? You haveto get one of the next two,

(01:02:57):
and if you do, you're gonnago see the Reds in A and Thomas
Rhett after a spectacular evening of sportsand music entertainment. John, Are you
ready? I am yes. Inthe history of the All Star Game,
only two Reds pitchers have recorded asave. One of them was Yule Blackwell
in nineteen fifty one. Who wasthe other? Was it A John Franco

(01:03:21):
B. A. Rold As Chapmanor C. Tom Hume. Let's go
Chapman? Was it E? RoldistChapman? John? It was Tom Hume
nineteen eighty two. Have a specialplace in my heart for the nineteen eighty
two All Star Game. All Right, it all comes down to this,
John, Are you ready? Iam yes. The nineteen seventy All Star

(01:03:46):
Game is one of the most famousAll Star Games. It was played in
Cincinnati. It ended when Jim Hickmansingled in Pete Rose, who scored the
winning run after crashing into American Leaguecatcher Ray Fosse. Which American League pitcher
surrendered that game winning hit? Wasit a Mel Stottlemeyer, B, Fritz

(01:04:09):
Peterson or C. Clyde Wright.I will go be, will go be
Fritz Peterson? Terror what we got? No, John, I am so
sorry. It was actually Clyde Wrightwho gave up that hit to Jim Hickman.
My apologies. I thought you hadhim. What that means is for

(01:04:31):
the first time I think in awhile, someone who did nothing wins.
Will you did absolutely nothing? Kindof like me today. Congratulations, you
were gonna go see Thomas Rhett aswell as the Reds in Asia very well.
Don't thank me, Thank John.Maybe maybe take him to the concert.
I have no idea. Hang tight, Terry, we'll let him know.
You'll get to go, Arrren.We'll get your information, Tarren.

(01:04:51):
I thought the first four of thosewere easy. The last one was kind
of tough. I felt bad whenit got to the last question because I
I thought, this is this isthe one that is marginally difficult. The
other four I thought were pretty easy. We can't make them all easy.
No, we got it. There'sgotta be some degree of difficulty and a

(01:05:12):
good thing. John probably call backtomorrow and John can play tomorrow. That's
right. What theme are we goingto do tomorrow? Good question, it's
a very good question. I haveno idea. I have no I have
no idea. Well, we havetwenty four hours to think about that.
If or you know what John cando is he can get tickets. Just
go to reds dot com slash ThomasRhett r H E T T. Suddenly

(01:05:36):
I sound like my uncle Bob whosmoked a lot. Brendanman and Jones on
Baseball is coming up. It's sixteenfrom five ESPN fifteen thirty neat inspiration see.
Cincinnati plays tomorrow against Chicago Chicago Fire. The Chicago Fire played in the
first Major league soccer game I eversaw in person up in Columbus before we

(01:06:00):
had a team. Also, I'mpulling the sword before the game tomorrow,
which is something that you know peoplelike like Cam Taylor Britt did it on
Saturday, Rose Lavelle, Joe Burrow, and now me Deuce he did it
too. Deuce McBride did it.Yes, Now, Cam Taylor brit did

(01:06:21):
it on Saturday and the crowd wentnuts, but they lost. I'm gonna
imagine the crowd is going to bea little bit more muted when they announced
me. But Deuce did do it, and the crowd went overboard for Deuce.
They know a great New York Nick. You know, the whole town
is jumping on the bandwagon. Twentytwenty five NBA Champs. So what I

(01:06:45):
don't know is when I'm supposed todo like you pull the sword and then
just I mean, I watched DrewLache, who used to be in what
was it eighty six degrees? Whatwas the name of the ninety eight degrees?
Why earths would it be eighty sixthI'm sorry, I'm sorry to the

(01:07:05):
Lache family. And he started liketwirling the thing all over the place and
I'm like, but I can't dothat. And then Cam Taylor brid you
know, it was just running aroundyelling let's go, and brought a level
of energy that if I do it, I'm just gonna look stupid. But
you gotta do something, and I'mthat I'm also just worried. I'm probably

(01:07:28):
just gonna get booed right, Idon't know. These are the things I
wonder about. Twenty five thousand peopleshower me with booze. So anyway,
we have that tomorrow FC Cincinnati withme. Do you get to keep the
sword? Like do they have adifferent sword every game? Or like you

(01:07:50):
get done with it? Like astaffer comes over and says, give me
the sword, thanks Sea. Itcould be kind of cool if I got
to keep the sword. These arequestions for a friend Tommy GM. It's
the Tommys you on the get TommyG on tomorrow. He probably knows a
lot about pulling the sword, andis he is he gonna put me over
on the broadcast like you think TommyG will be like, you know,
pulling the sword before the match wasMoeger And I tell you what, boy,

(01:08:13):
Mo's just great. Here's all thestuff that he does that's cool.
Or is he just gonna sort ofgloss over it or maybe not even mention
it. Yes, to mention it, you think so? Yeah? You
know like Xavier players now when theydo Senior Night they get swords. That's
kind of a cool gift. That'slike the coolest Senior Night gift ever can

(01:08:33):
I keep the sword in the giftshop. I don't know. I might
I mean, you know, Imight need it walking back to my car.
We'll see. All right, whatare we doing now? We wasted
that segment, Brean. That couldbe a whole question what should you do
with sword? All right? Whatare the Okay, that's a good idea,
Taran. What what are the whatare the options here? Well,

(01:08:56):
let's do let's just answer what allthe people didn't pass? So you can
twirl? Twirl? Okay, maybejust hold it air with a fist,
pump hold it in the air likewith like a stoic expression on my face.
Yeah, all right, run aroundand just keep yelling. Let's go
and act like a loon yep,okay, run around or uh. And

(01:09:18):
then someone's going to be a smartsmart elect can say like, well,
why don't you stab yourself with it? Which isn't funny. We don't have
time. We don't have time forthat. I mean, I need to
No one wants to see that.I would delay the game. And you
know we're not going to be ableto play now because you know, Moe
hurt himself with the sword. Allright, we'll try to figure out something
First, it's Brendanman and Jones onBaseball Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from

(01:09:45):
the UCE Health Traffic Center from everydayaches to the most complex conditions. The
uce Health Backneck and Spine Center redefinesthe possibilities for every patient. Learn more
at UCHealth dot com. You're runinto a ten minute slow down on eastbound
two between Mastella Road and Montgomery Road, and watch out for an accident.
If you're on northbound two seventy fiveafter Beachmont Avenue. That's causing some delay

(01:10:09):
there. We also have an accidenton Cold Raine Avenue at West Galbreth Road.
I'm Nicole with traffic. This reportis fourteen thirty. Oh guess what.
Oh, it's at Taco Tuesday.Guess what day it is. It's
you know what it is at ourhouse, teren It's uh skyline drive through

(01:10:36):
Tuesday. I won the vote.It was either gonna be breakfast for dinner
and I was gonna make omelets becauseI make the world's greatest omelets. What
do you put in an omelet?Little ghetta, cheddar cheese, some peppers,
a little onion could substitute the ghettafor Ham because not everybody loves getta

(01:11:01):
and a lot of garlic, littlehot sauce. But uh boy, Skyline
just sounded good. And even thoughthey delivered hot Metchiese Coney's I won the
battle. I won. The argumentwas. We don't argue over we just
we share ideas. So Skyline drivethrough beat out breakfast for dinner, although
I do love breakfast for dinner,one of my favorite things to do.

(01:11:23):
What are we doing now? Oh, it's the Michelo Ultra Happy Hour.
Thanks for our friends at Michelo Ultra. And as you're watching the All Star
Game tonight, as you're watching Elliede la Cruz and Hunter Green and all
those other dudes eating Skyline enjoy andice cool mac culture, you can't beat
it. Mic culture, Perfect forsummer, perfect for pretty much anything.
Make culture. You're welcome. Onemore draft expert, and then I think

(01:11:45):
we're gonna be done with the draft. Arm Layton Jess Baseball. That's his
website. He's awesome. And youknow, I think the draft is interesting
because it's it's something that we reallyits importance and we realize its value.
And I think we realize its importanceand its value for a team like the
Reds, maybe more than others.The Reds have been pretty transparent what their

(01:12:10):
plans going to be. Every teamneeds to draft well, every team needs
a good farm system. But ifyou're going to be a team that prioritizes
not jumping feet first into free agencyand not awarding a whole lot of long
term contracts, you better build apipeline like the Reds. Last year was
a lot of fun, right.Last year was just this non stop influx

(01:12:36):
of talent, and to be fair, you could argue as miserable as twenty
twenty two was, at least that'swhen we start. We saw the launching
of the big league careers of HunterGreen and Nicolodolo and Graham Ashcraft. Graham
Ashcraft's career has hit a speed bump, and one might suspect has hit a

(01:12:59):
very large speed pump, depending onhow things unfold with the injury. But
Reese Hines last week in the bigleagues or first week in the big leagues,
I guess notwithstanding, it feels likethere's a gap. There's all the
players the Reds promoted. There aresome guys to like at the lower part
of the minor league system, butnot a lot of guys that you go,

(01:13:21):
Okay, that dude's big League ready. That's a guy that you could
insert to the roster and expect himto make a contribution for a team that's
still holding out playoff hopes. Andso what we all want here is for
this plan to really work, andfor this plan to really work, there

(01:13:42):
can very rarely be gaps in thepipeline, like there've always got to be
players who are our next, alwaysgot to be players, And it's hard
to realize. Man, It's notlike the Reds have not tried to do
this, but it's hard to do. It's not the first time I've used
this example. I'm not the onlyperson who's used this example. But whenever

(01:14:02):
people get mad about the Cardinal Way, when I think of the Cardinal Way,
I think of it just it feelslike they constantly have guys, and
for forty years, really have constantlyhad like just guys who are next.
Maybe not always all stars, maybenot always guys that they keep for good,
but just someone who's next that canhelp. And so in recent years

(01:14:26):
I've cared more about the draft,in large part because in recent years,
the team just more often than nothasn't been very good, and so to
really engage in Reds Baseball, youkind of have to talk about what's coming,
what's next, and well, there'sthe draft, But also we have
started to see the fruits of somedrafts. Not all these players are very

(01:14:47):
very good. Some of these playersthat we could talk about that they've taken
recently haven't even gotten to the bigleagues yet. But we have seen Tyler
Stevenson. Tyler Stevenson is a finecatcher. He's not an All Star.
I don't know that it'll ever beone. I think relative to my expectations.
You know, things have been alittle bit disappointing. But Tyler steven
said if he's behind the plate forthe next couple of years, I don't

(01:15:10):
know that we would have any majorissue with that. And Hunter Green and
Nick Lodolo and Matt McClain and JonathanIndia. Like Jonathan India, has he
played like a first rounder for theentirety of his big league career. I
don't know. All I can tellyou is a lot of first rounders don't
get to the big leagues. Somebodytoday on social media was trying to make
the case like the Reds front officehas done pretty well in the draft and

(01:15:33):
mentioned a whole lot of guys theReds have drafted over the last ten years
and include the name Nick Senzel.Nick Senzel didn't work out. I don't
love using the word bust when itcomes to the baseball draft. Also,
that was a year that almost everyevaluator agreed was not a very good not

(01:15:55):
a very good year to have thenumber two overall pick. Nick Senzel hasn't
worked out. Look at that draft. Look at the first round. Yous
see a whole lot of guys whohaven't worked out. Will Benson's in there,
and Will Benson I don't know ifhe's going to work out. There
are a lot of dudes in thatdraft now, some guys who have gone
to the big leagues. That awhole laundry list of all stars. Here's

(01:16:16):
what I do think we can hangour hats on. I believe, and
time will tell if I'm proven tobe correct. I believe that over the
last so many years, I'm beingkind of open ended. I think the
Reds have done a good job ofevaluating pieces that can be a part of

(01:16:38):
the future. That's the draft.That's also players that they have acquired in
other deals, and it's also signingguys from Latin America. They have not
batted a thousand. I'm not surethey've batted five hundred, but I I

(01:17:00):
do think like if you look atthe makeup of the club this year and
last, the guys worth being excitedabout the most are younger players. Some
will be better than others. Youknow, we watched the Reds from two
thousand and nine till about twenty thirteen. It was fun, and it really
started in two thousand and seven,but it was kind of a fun time,

(01:17:21):
right like they they they started,you know, really with Vado in
two thousand and seven and continued withBruce in two thousand and eight. But
you know Homer baileyan O seven andJohnny Quato, and you know Drew Stubbs,
and then you know, eventually ToddFrazier and a rolled As Chapman,
I mean, Devin Mezerako for whatit's worth, Billy Hamilton a little bit

(01:17:44):
later on. There was a prettysteady stream of guys that got to the
big leagues and had a hand inthe Reds having some success. Some of
those players ended up being Hall ofFame caliber, like Joey Vados. Some
of them became All Stars, JayBruce, Johnnyquato, Todd Frazier, Devin
Mezeraco, some of them not somuch, Drew Stubbs, Homer Bailey,

(01:18:05):
but still like big league talent,big league talent. I don't know that
you could really make a direct,fair comparison to what the Reds have done
the last two years to that stretchof time. And let's face it,
that stretch of time yielded success,but not the major sort of success we
would all like to still be talkingabout. But I do think that over

(01:18:29):
the last couple of years there havebeen a lot of guys really worth paying
attention to, either as they've movedthrough the Red system, as they've gotten
to the big leagues, as they'vebeen acquired via a trade. Think of
Jake Frayley, and think of MattMcClain, And look, not every player
is a star like Jake Frayley's aguy. I'm really not entirely sure what

(01:18:51):
to make of him. I don'tknow. I don't know if he has
a starring role a starting role ona good team. But he's a useful
big lead and so you know,to me, like I just I want
a steady stream. That's what theword is useful. I want a steady
stream of useful big leaguers, andif I get enough of those, some

(01:19:11):
stars will emerge and some foundational pieceswill emerge. The Rents have two guys
in the All Star Game tonight,Ellie de la Cruz and Hunter Green.
Of all of their young teammates thatwe've sort of lumped in together as being
a core part of what they're tryingto do, not all of them will
be All Stars. Not all ofthem will be here in a couple of
years. Hell, some of themmight not be here this offseason. Hell,

(01:19:36):
maybe some aren't here in two weeks. But I do think, and
I'm kind of moving all over theplace here, but I do think the
front office has done a pretty decentjob understanding. The front office has taken
on different forms over the last eightor nine years. I think it,

(01:19:56):
as a general rule, has donea pretty good job of identifying players that
stand a chance to be a partof a winning baseball team sooner rather than
later. There's still a lot ofwork that has to be done. There
are still a lot of guys whohave to get better. There are players
who's progressed this season has been interruptedeither by injury or suspension that we don't

(01:20:21):
really know about. I still holdout hope for Christian and Carnassi on strand,
but man, what I saw whenhe was healthy, I don't know.
Noelve Marte, I don't know.Matt McClain, I think I know.
Graham Ashcraft, Dude, I don'tknow. But they've done a good
job. Like the players the Redsare drafting this week, can I get

(01:20:45):
just a bunch of useful big leaguersout of it? If the answer is
yes, there'll be some building blocksfor the short term and the long term.
And when I say short term,you know really twenty twenty six,
I think this front office has doneOkay, they haven't done everything right,
they haven't done everything well, butI think they've done a good job of

(01:21:11):
identifying guys, whether they be infarm systems of other teams, their own
farm system, or in the poolof players that you're drafting from. I
think they've done a pretty good jobof identifying and even accumulating guys that could
be a part of what's next.Unfortunately, this year, what has been
exposed is that gap. Right,so when Matt McClain got hurt, there

(01:21:35):
was no one in the offing toreasonably take his place, so they had
to go trade for Santiago Espinal.And when things kind of went down the
way they did in the outfield andinjuries took their toll elsewhere on the team,
that's when we have to see alot of Mike Ford and Connor Caple
and God bless him, Nick Martini, like dudes that just you know,

(01:21:58):
aren't really gonna be by the timethis team is really good. So what
the goal should be now is closethat gap. This offseason. They've got
to build depth. But by andlarge acknowledging that depth. You could tell
me that I'm wrong, you cancall me a homer. I think this

(01:22:19):
front office has done okay when itcomes to talent identification and talent accumulation,
and that's what the draft is allabout. So when they take the picture
from Wake Forest, do I automaticallygive them the benefit of the doubt.
No? Do I at least considerwhat has been as of reason an okay

(01:22:44):
track record. Yeah, seventeen minutesafter five o'clock. Uh, five point
three seven four nine, fifteen thirtyis our phone number since we had nothing
else. Today. We did asktwo poll questions on X thanks to United
Heartland Insurance about pulling this sword tomorrowat the FC Cincinnati game, which I
am looking forward to my friends makingfun of me for what we should what

(01:23:08):
I should do with the sword,and whether or not I should keep it.
Vote now, we'll get to theresults a little bit later on at
Moeger thanks to United Heartland Assurance,your place to buy insurance, home,
auto, boat, motorcycle, someof those things I don't have. I'd
like to have a boat, butevery boat owner tells me, don't get
one. It could be your business. Whatever it is, your life,

(01:23:31):
got to ensure your life. UnitedHeartland Assurance, three offices, Hamilton,
Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, u hiNS dot com. All right, Aaron
Layton is one of my go todraft experts. He joins us next.
Layton's with us, the co founderof Jess Baseball. This guy knows more
about the draft than any human beingalive. He's on Twitter at Aaron Layton

(01:23:56):
eight and good to have you asalways. If you were running the Reds
draft, would you have taken ChaseBurns with the second overall pick? Honestly?
No, but it's not something tobe totally upset about. You get
a guy that throws a hundred witha disgusting slider and a great curveball.
Personally, you know, I thinkwhen you have a pick here at number

(01:24:18):
two, you have an opportunity totake a couple game changing bats. I
think at this stage, where youcould have went with Charlie Condon, you
could have went with Jack kag Leon, could with Weather a couple other guys.
I would have leaned towards the bat, and just that's just kind of
a natural bias for me a littlebit too when it comes to drafting that
high. But I can also understandwhat the Reds saw and the Chase Burns,

(01:24:39):
and you know, I think theycould dream on some of the similarities
to Hunter Green and what could whatthat could look like and not very long
amount of time with how quickly hecould get to the big leagues for them.
So I understand the pick. Butwith a guy that did kind of
struggle at times with getting swings andmissus with the fastball did have a bit
of a home run problem. LakeForest is one of the I think one

(01:25:01):
of the worst bandboxes for a pitcherin college baseball. But at the same
time, I mean, he hada nine hundred ops above, a nine
hundred ops against on the fastball onthe road too, So that's something that
the Reds obviously are aware of andmust feel confident that they can rectify.
But it is something to watch us. Of course, Great American Ballpark's not
the easiest place to keep the ballin the yard either, No, no

(01:25:23):
question, you mentioned Hunter Green,Hunter's kind of mastered the art of doing
that. Most had this kid asthe best pitcher in the draft, if
that's what your evaluation was. Howmuch room was there between him and guy
number two. I had him askind of one B the Hagen Smith's one
akay, just because I felt likeHagen Smith's fastball in terms of just being

(01:25:46):
able to get the swing and misswith that pitch alone. The slider off
of that, that was the bestcombination of pitches in the draft. He
started to really show a feel forthe change up later on. But I
can also understand seeing a big bodyChase Burns, guy that you know from
a durability perspective has not only beenable to just stay on the mound and
eat innings, but holds his velocitylate into starts, holds his velocity late

(01:26:09):
into seasons through one hundred innings thisyear, and was sitting still in the
upper nineties late in the year.For me, it's just more of a
preference. I like the funky leftsthat get the end zone with, but
it really is you know, oneA, one B there. And I
think with the reds though, andyou look at an organizational fit, certain
teams are better at developing the ChaseBurns type. Certain teams are better at

(01:26:30):
developing the Haigen Smith type. Soit would really it's so close with those
guys. It would depend on whatmy organizational infrastructure looked like. But I
think with Burns you alluded to it, they have proof of concepts here of
getting guys like that right, AndI'm just imagining him being able to sit
down and talk to one hundred Green, who they have so many similarities there,
and I could just imagine that thingscould really start to click there.

(01:26:53):
And I do think Chase Burns hasa better chance to find that split if
they ever wanted to try that.Then you know Hunter Green, who did
kind of struggle with it a littlebit as he tried to experiment with that
pitch that over the top delivery.It could work for him. So I
think they may be looking at ChaseBurns and saying, hey, a couple
of weeks here and here and there, and we can make him clearly the
best pitcher in this class. Allright, let's skip a guy. We'll

(01:27:15):
come back to Tyson Lewis. Let'sstay on the pitching side of things.
Luke Coleman break down him for me. Yeah, Well, Coleman's kind of
a great hedge of that in termsof you're getting a higher floor piece here
that I think is just going tobe able to climb the minor leagues relatively
quickly. He throws strikes and tobe honest, kind of outpitch the stuff

(01:27:36):
when it comes to a swing andmiss perspective, strikeout right over thirty percent.
But the slider alone is just afantastic pitch, and that's gonna I
think give him at least the highenough floor to where he can be a
multi ending reliever. But I thinkyou're looking at a guy here that has
a good three almost four pitching mixedin a change up a little bit,
but a good three pitch mix fillsup the zone and off a big frame

(01:27:56):
that maybe they're hoping can grow intoa little bit more velocity. And it
was a really good start to theseason, a little bit of a plateau
in the middle, and then hefinished strong again and seemed to find some
things for him there down the line. But I love the way he's able
to turn over lineups. He mixeshis looks enough. It is someone that
you're probably not, you know,jumping out of your chair to go see
you to go pitch. But I'lltell you what, I love having my

(01:28:17):
organization filled with with guys that youknow, could just throw strikes that mix
it up and get out and turnlineups over. And you know, we're
talking about the seventy first pick inthe draft here, so I thought that
was a pretty good get for them, and a guy that they can push
pretty aggressively. Alarm Latens with thisjust Baseball dot Com. The kid in
the middle. And I've joked theReds needed another shortstop, right They've got

(01:28:39):
a billion of them, but theytake another one high school kid, Tyson
Lewis. What do you like abouthim? Tyson Lewis, I think when
you look at the class, thisis a little bit of the standout in
terms of the wide range of outcomesand excitability because other than of course burns.
But at the end of the day, like that's the number two prospect
or the numbers too pick in thedraft, of course there's going to be

(01:29:00):
massive upside. Lewis is a guythat I think when you compare them to
the other position players that were taken, bring us a little bit more to
the table where you can dream ondifferent outcomes. Here of a guy that
can really motor, I think there'sa little bit more room for strength and
impact there. I think it's afun overall operation in the box where he's
still wanting to get the ball,lift the ball in the air a bit
more consistently, but it's a quickstroke. I think as he starts to

(01:29:24):
find how to sequence the upper affand lower have a bit more, you
might start to see him elevate andtap into more juice with the speed,
with the potential defensively to play adecent shortstop. He kind of moved all
over during the summer circuit, showingthat he can play a little bit of
outfield, show that he could playthird. Like this is just a really
good athlete and I think to beable to add a really good athlete considering

(01:29:45):
the other, you know, higherfor college guys that they got here.
I thought it was a great combinationthere, and I think you got to
be excited about the potential that thatTyson Lewis has, even if there's if
he's a slower burn. I dolove those left daded hitting infielders who can
motor and have some power to allright, focus specifically on the first two
days, which is the first tenrounds. I'm not going to ask you

(01:30:05):
about every player, but of theguys we haven't talked about yet, is
there one name above all that's alittle bit more intriguing. I'd say Mike
Serota, because this is a playerthat was expected to be a first round
pick going in this year, notonly a first round pick, a relatively
early first round pick at a NortheasternAnd there was some concerns for me with

(01:30:27):
with like the swing mechanics and howthat would you know, vote for him
against more advanced competition. But italmost seemed like he was pressing at a
point through the season, and it'spretty easy to do that when you're not
playing in the sec'or not onas big of a stage. Consistently to
be able to prove yourself to youknow, these scouts, you got to
just put up big time numbers ifyou're at some of these more mid major

(01:30:50):
schools, and I think as youstart to slump a little bit, it
starts to mount on you more andmore and more. And that's what I
saw from Serota. But we're talkingabout a guy that can stick in center
field, that has at least averagepower but can grow into a little bit
more, that also has a goodfield to hit, and finish the season
really really well. So I thoughtwith the way that he finished, it

(01:31:12):
would have validated some of the teamsthat were in scouts who are very high
on him to enough to maybe startto look at him maybe as a compensation
round pick. He still ends upsliding. And this is the guy that
over his last fifteen games hit threesixty opp almost at six hundred and slugged
over seven hundred. He walked threelike three to every one time he struck

(01:31:32):
out, Like clearly something click forhim down the stretch. And when you're
looking at a guy that could stealeight bags and hit four homers over his
final fifteen games of his collegiate careerand what looked like at points a lost
season. That's enough for me toget excited and say, Okay, maybe
this guy figured it out a littlebit down the stretch, and maybe we
can help him figure it out inprofessional baseball. But it just was crazy

(01:31:54):
to see him slide so much.If you can go back and look at
some early MOB drafts, you're seeingthis guy go. Sometimes it's early as
the top ten, and now youget him at eighty seven. He's not
a different person. I think there'sa lot to like here, and I
think there's a lot of reasons tobelieve that he can get closer to that
guy. I think maybe it wasa bit of an overestimate there that he

(01:32:14):
would make the leap that maybe peoplewere expecting when they mocked him in the
top ten. But that said,I think he's a lot better than the
eighty seventh pick in this draft.All right, awesome stuff. I have
one more for you, involving somebodywho has nothing to do with this year's
draft. I need what your takeis on Reese signs based on your previous
evaluation of him. Look, he'snot gonna do what he did in his

(01:32:36):
first week in the big leagues,But it's been invigorating as a fan,
It's been a lot of fun towatch. It's been, I think an
exaggerated version of what we all thinkReese can be, which is a guy
who can hit the ball a longway but also strike out a bunch.
What's it been like watching a guythat I know you have scouted do what
he has done in his first weekas a Red I'm just I'm so pumped

(01:32:57):
for resigns the person forced in firstforemost. This guy's been banged up like
crazy and just has had so muchbad injury luck. I mean, there's
no doubting the power, There's nodoubting what he can bring to the table.
And I joked on Twitter that Redsfans deserved another Akino, But I
think heinz. You know, ittranslates a little bit more if he can

(01:33:19):
continue to, you know, Ithink, refine the approach, stay healthy.
And I think the big thing forme, though, is I still
see that length to the swing.I still see a guy that's probably when
pictures start to figure out how togame plan for him. It may be
a little bit more difficult for himto succeed this way, but I think
what he's proving right now is thathe has the ability to hold a big

(01:33:44):
league role. And maybe that's theshort side of a platoon where he's just
facing lefties. Maybe it's it's it'sa bench option. But this guy's proving
that, Hey, I'm not someforgotten guy in the upper miners that strikes
out, you know, forty percentof the time he was with and a
lot. But I think just seeingthis go through and seeing what can happen
when he gets pitches to hit,that can be a short side of the
platoon guy. So I think atthe very least, he's proven that he's

(01:34:06):
worth a big, big roster spotand deserves a little bit more run.
But I think people are also gonnahave to be patient when it gets rough
for him. It gets really roughwhen he's going well, he's going really
well. But this can at leastbe a guy that can get up and
be a spark plug, travel backand forth, or be a short side
of platoon guy. But I'll say, let's enjoy every bit of this stretch
because he deserves it, and Iknow Reds fans deserve it too. Yeah,

(01:34:29):
you got that right, arm.Awesome stuff As always, man,
I always love having you on,and we'll do it if the Reds at
the trade deadline trade for some dudes. I need to know about him calling
you okay, Oh, I wouldlove that. It's nice to be on
the other side of it, potentially, because the first time you and I
got together, man, we weretaking down the return. You were talking
me off the ledge and successfully.So hey, I think I could tell

(01:34:51):
you were like a little bit like, okay, prospect guys, trying to
sell me on these guys our bigleaguers are gone. Spencer Stereer, guy's
not so bad. You know what. You put him on my radar.
You put sem me ces have beenvery good this year and he's been hurt,
but you put him on my radar. So I put a lot of
stock on what you say and havenow for a few years. So I
appreciate it. Man. We'll doit again soon. Thanks for having me

(01:35:13):
on. I'm excited you guys arebuyers now. Yeah, there you go.
That guy is one of the best. Arm Layton. Follow him on
Twitter at arm Layton and get hiswork at jess Baseball dot com. It
is twenty five away from six o'clock. We'll update today's rather pointless poll questions,
and we'll do some Bengals with ourfavorite Bengals person next to ESPN fifteen

(01:35:34):
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station, cincinnatis Ian. All right, because we had almost
nothing else to ask about on Twitterto like what we're gonna do, like
ask who's gonna win the All StarGame? Thanks to United Heartland Insurance.
What should I do with the swordafter I pull it before the FC Cincinnati

(01:35:54):
game tomorrow? Uh? Forty sixpoint three percent of you say I should
run around like a loon yelling let'sgo. Okay, that's what we'll do.
I also asked should I be allowedto keep the sword? And the
only two choices are yes. BecauseI should be allowed to keep the sword.
That'll be tomorrow night. Uh,let's see Paul Danner Junior is here

(01:36:16):
because he's with us every single Tuesday. Are you enjoying your last week of
freedom before camp begins next week?Uh? Yeah, I'm gonna be enjoying
it even more the next couple ofdays. You know, thanks, thanks,
thanks to you for letting us kindof free up a little bit of
time. But you know what,what would we do without one more camp

(01:36:39):
preview? Like what one more look, one more shot at the off season
of storylines and unknowns until we finallyget to have something new to talk about
starting next week. Yeah. Imean, I this offseason has felt and
I guess because they didn't make theplayoffs in the previous two years they did,
this offseason has felt part twoicularly long. And I don't think it's been

(01:37:02):
a bad off season. I don'tthink it's been a great off season necessarily,
but uh, maybe just because ofthe added weeks with them not making
the postseason. Maybe it's because alot of us felt like the off season
began that Thursday night in Baltimore whenJoe Burrow busted his wrist. It the
start of stuff happening next week couldnot be more welcome. No, it

(01:37:25):
could be. You know what thisis, This is t Higgins's fault,
right, of course it all hasto come down to. No, it's
some of these storylines have just feltlike they've been going on forever. Yeah,
and so I'm joking about that,but it's like you've had some of
these things between Higgins and the Hendricksonthing popped up and was in and out.
But like just some of these thingsand because of the Burrough rehab and

(01:37:46):
houses risk gonna look, it's justthese they've been the same storylines that have
just drug on and on and on. So yes, next week, mock
turtle soup, uh, first trainingcamp practice, how's everybody looking. Maybe
we'll see everybody start talking to peoplethat we haven't talked to. All of
that is more than welcome because it'stime for some new storylines right now.

(01:38:12):
Obviously, the answer to this isalways Joe Burrow, especially when he's coming
off an injury beyond him. Whenguys start to trickle into town and they
become available, is there somebody thatyou haven't talked to or heard from,
you know, maybe even during OTAsand voluntary workouts and all that that you're
looking forward to hearing from. Well, Jamar Chase, I mean, I

(01:38:35):
think you know, you start atthe top with that stuff, and he's
in a really interesting spot. Hedidn't really want to talk understandably during the
mandatory mini camp, you know,with all the kind of stuff that was
going on, coming off to justinJefferson contract and coming into a big year
where I think there's a lot ofpotential for them to use him differently.

(01:38:58):
The supporting pieces around him look verydifferent. You still do have the Jefferson
contract to talk about it. Youknow, he's been very open talking about
his desires in that world for youknow who dates back to last year he
was in Paris with Burrow. Like, there's a lot to cover with Jamar,
okay, and he's always an interestingguy to talk to who's as unfiltered

(01:39:21):
as it gets. So I'm reallyinterested in in in actually getting some time
to talk to Jamar whenever he isready to, you know, start talking
to us again. And so that'sprobably where it starts. And then you
get into some you know, someprobably less celebrated storylines with with on the
defensive side of the ball in particular, we're talking about, I mean,

(01:39:44):
these people that we've talked to,but I am just gonna be fascinated with
the first few weeks, two threeweeks really of the cornerback room. You
know, what exactly is happening thereand at what point they might have to
make a decision on these are theguys who are going with or maybe it's
time to start talking about veteran bandaids. So let's talk about Dax Hill

(01:40:06):
in that regard, because it feltlike when when you and I first talked
about Dax is going to move tocorner when they did what they did in
safety. I I guess I sortof geared myself to think that Dax is
going to be a backup corner.It has felt like during the course of
the off season that he has puthimself in a genuine position to win a

(01:40:29):
starting gig am I misreading that.No, I think you're right. I
mean when we had Louen Arumo onpodcasts after the end of Mini Camp,
I mean, that was what hewas saying. I mean, he was
saying that he has made all ofthe right moves and made all the progress

(01:40:49):
and laid all the foundation really thatthey kind of wanted to see from him
in the off season to go intothis with it with their eyes really open.
And if Zach Taylor said it afterthe draft that yeah, he believes
he can win a starting spot,they're gonna give him that chance. And
it's a chance for a guy who'sa former first round pick. The season
opportunity and the fact that he's shownenough that maybe he could do it something

(01:41:12):
that we kind of thought would bea little bit more of an uphill battle
when you consider he's never really playedoutside corner necessarily. I think the fact
the positive reviews that you've heard tothis point suggest yeah, I mean,
he can go out there and doit. And here's you the thing.
I mean, it's not like he'sgoing up against prime Derell Reeves. Okay,

(01:41:34):
what do we know about DJ Turnerother than he was really good and
laid a nice foundation earlier in theseason, and he was really not so
good down the stretch. We don'tknow what DJ Turner is gonna be in
year two. They hope that he'sgonna take this big step, but you
know, that's where Dax Hill's primarycompetition is right now, is to go
and be out somebody who was acollege teammate of his who had an up

(01:41:59):
and down rook So it's it's certainlythere for the taking, and they're just
looking for answers because you know,that's that's a big question mark at that
position, especially considering what happened lastyear, to not feel like you were
betting on anything other than really projection. And that's why I reference, you
know, the veterans signing, andit just sort of hangs out there where

(01:42:20):
you get to the first two orthree weeks and and both of these guys
are making a lot of the samemistakes. Dax might not really be the
answer there, and you're kind ofwondering what's next. Well, I think
that's the point where you would quicklywant to turn to some of the veterans,
your Xavian Howard's and others that areout there and say, hey,

(01:42:40):
maybe we could think about stop gap. Yeah. And it's interesting because you
and I talked about that with runningback. You know the number of established
players who are out there at thatposition. It applies to cornerback as well.
Like if you want to let yourimagination run wild, there's a lot
of guys at that position who areout there. I think a guy who's
interesting because he's kind of right therein the Jordan Battle. Right when we
talked about the Bengals failures at safetylast year, we talked Dax Hill.

(01:43:04):
All right, he's no longer atthat position. Von Bell's back. They
went and got Geno Stone, butJordan Battle is still in the mix.
What is his most likely role inthis team? I think he's probably gonna
be Von Bell's shadow in a lotof ways. It's like, look that
you saw a lot of potential andbelieve that Jordan Battle can really be a

(01:43:28):
guy. But I think to growinto that leadership role the ideas do everything
that Von Bell does. Be likeVon Bell, he kind of you know
you didn't You just didn't really havethat true veteran leader in the room,
guy that shows a rookie the waylast year. And Michael Thomas is a
legendary human and is a super successfulguy, but he was on the practice

(01:43:50):
squad. It's a little different whenyou when you're a leader that knows the
league is a guy that's playing anddoing all the things out there on the
field, versus some buddy who's who'snot even on the fifty three. And
so it's it's harder to really learnby example that way, And so Von
Bell is the perfect person for JordanBattle to learn from. Now, I

(01:44:13):
just think Vaughn is gonna be thestarter week one, just because of his
knowledge of the system and the comfortthat leuen Arumo wants to be providing out
there for everybody and not be kindof wondering if another guy out there is
gonna take a jump. But Ido think it's with the idea that Battle
can quickly take that over and bethe guy at some point this year,

(01:44:34):
and you know, only take he'llbe the first safety off the bench theoretically,
or maybe he's amazing in camp anddoes beat out Von bell like.
I think they're not ruling that out, but I think certainly what you you
know of how they tried to createstability on defense to avoid all those explosive
plays. You've got to be lookingat, you know, at Von Belle

(01:44:56):
kind of being the one that's outthere early on. So it would take
a big, a big can't frombattle, I think, to beat them
all. Right, there you go. Paul Danner Junior training camp starting next
week. I am not here nextweek, so this was our last chance,
uh to talk about camps at inchescloser and then Paul will join me
every single Tuesday in some way,shape or form once camp actually begins,

(01:45:16):
and we are looking forward to that. If you're a card collector, I
have on my social media at MoegerI'll be ripping packs with the folks at
head Seekers tomorrow morning, nine thirtytwo eleven thirty. Bookmark the link and
spend some time tomorrow morning with us. Should be fun, and then back

(01:45:38):
here tomorrow at three oh five.Have a great night, Thank you for
listening, thanks to Taran for producing, and we'll talk to you tomorrow on
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.Hey there, what's for dinner tonight? Take out

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