7/2/24 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

Let's stop stalking our favorite ex and can we give some credit to Elly? Plus A sideways Bengals season with a healthy Joe Burrow looks like what?

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
On Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Ijust got the show off to a very
I think the word is inauspicious start. I just sat down and right before

(00:22):
the music hit, Tarren said tome, here we go, and then
I went to grab the microphone andI smacked myself in the face. So
that's how things are going to beget good at Nana Mowegger. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty. I love whatEllie Delacruz did, even though I wish
you would have done something different.I love the fact that he said no

(00:44):
to the home run Derby. Iselfishly for me, I'm the Ellie guy,
right. I think Ellie Delacruzes mustwatch. I think him and the
Home Run Derby would be a lotof fun to watch. I think it
would be interesting. I believe EllieDelacruz should be an All Star, even
if statistically he is maybe a littleless than deserving, because it's a pointless,
meaningless exhibition game and it really shouldserve the purpose of putting the guys

(01:07):
that fans want to see most.And you might argue, well, if
fans wanted to see him most,they would have voted him in, and
that's a fair point. But thecounterpoint to that would be what fan doesn't
want to watch Ellie de la Cruzeven if they want to watch other guys
more. But I like the factthat he did this, and I'm gonna
spend some time on this here injust a few minutes, there is a
Reds player who did something that Ibet you he regrets, but it might

(01:37):
give the Reds a chance to dosomething that could really help them. We'll
get to that a little bit lateron. We're gonna quit something cold Turkey
today as well, and I wantto revisit yesterday's guarantee and I've got us
men's soccer fans mad at me.Plus, Exavier Scruggs is going to be
on the show. And yes,that's how he says his name, Xavier.

(02:00):
He pronounces it Exavier. Why onexav I E R is Xavier and
the other is Xavier. I haveno idea. If we're talking about the
school on Victory Parkway, well thenit's Xavier. But if we have Exavier
Scruggs on the show, same spelling, then it's Exavier. Xavier Scruggs,

(02:23):
former major leaguer. Now he's witha bunch of different Outlets. He's calling
Friday Nights Reds game at GABP,and he also got his first major league
hit at GABP. So he returnsto the place where he is one for
one lifetime. He is going tojoin us to talk a little Reds baseball.
Coming up at five thirty three,we'll have poll questions. Show preview

(02:46):
video is up and running right now. Go find it on X at Moeger
thanks to Emery Federal Credit Union,your credit Union with Heart since nineteen thirty
nine. If you've listened to thisshow the last year and half, you
know I love talking about Elie DelaCruz because I love watching Ellie Dela Cruz.
I will admit there are some deficienciesand shortcomings in his game. He

(03:09):
took charge in a ball on Fridaythat he caught that he shouldn't have caught,
and because he caught it, theReds lost the game. But the
good outweighs the bad, and I'mthrilled that the Reds didn't send him to
Triple A when there was a loudchorus of people, not a majority,
but a loud chorus of voices suggestingthat he be banished to the minor leagues,

(03:31):
and I'm willing to put up withhis rough stretches. They're getting shorter
and shorter. I think in theif we were at a job a line
down the middle of a piece ofpaper and talk about the first half of
the season, things that have gonewell, things that have gone not so
well, Elie Dela Cruz's development,for my money, would be under the

(03:51):
column of things that have gone well, haven't gone as well as maybe we
all would like. But I thinkhave gone well. I don't understand and
I don't think this represents the majorityeither. I've never understood this. I'll
hear people and granted they don't theydon't call this show, but like I've

(04:14):
listened to a fair amount of extrainnings with Lance and with Austin and with
with Chick this year, and I'veI've heard people they get mad at Elie
dela Cruz because they don't like howhe plays them Like he plays hard.
He doesn't always play well, buthe plays hard, you know, he

(04:35):
just he plays with a little bittoo much flair. Will where's gold chains?
Or you know what. He's atalented guy, but I like to
see him mature. Where's the immaturity? I've heard those things, and I've
wondered those things, and so youknow, there is the fan part of

(04:57):
me, the part of me thatall right, home Run Derby is gonna
be on with a new format,which I think is better than the previous
format, which, as good asit was when it was introduced in Cincinnati
in twenty fifteen, did kind offeel like it ran its course. And
it's still to me, the Homerun Derby is really the central event the
All Star Week, right, Imean, it's I know, more people

(05:19):
to pay attention to the home RunDerby than the All Star Game itself.
I can tell you next to nothingabout last year's MLB All Star Game,
but I remember vividly watching the homerun Derby. And so to make it
even cooler, give me a guylike Ellie de la Cruz who might not
hit the most, but that guyteen off against batting practice pitches from a

(05:40):
batting practice pitcher of his choosing.That could be a lot of fun.
And you know, let's face it, an event like that, you're a
little bit more drawn to it ifsomebody on the team you root for or
the team that you're interested in isparticipating. And Ellie's not going to participate.
And so the pure fan me,the guy who in thirteen days wants

(06:02):
to watch that event with somebody thatI care about participating in it, is
disappointed. But then there's the otherpart of me that can appreciate somebody making
a prudent decision. So Ellie says, it's not my time, He's not
going to participate. He says,it's his call. He's gotten some input

(06:25):
from his agents. I like this. I like this from a guy that
some and again it's not the majority, but that some have I guess,
wondered about his maturity. This ismajority, This is measured. This is
a guy prioritizing his health. Thisis a guy prioritizing his availability to the

(06:48):
team. This is a guy whohas played every day. Like of all
the different things that have gone wrongthis year, all the injuries, all
the little Nickson bruises and long terminjuries, of all the injury controversies that
the Reds have have gone through thisyear, man, the one constant has

(07:09):
been Elie Dela Cruz every single game. And I'm I'm sure, especially given
the fact that he may be anAll Star, I'm I'm sure there's a
part of him that can't wait toslow down for a couple of days,
or at least slow down within thecontext of participating in the All Star Game,

(07:32):
if ultimately he ends up being init. And I'm sure there's a
part of him like this is aburgeoning star. This is one of the
most talked about players in the sport. I think you go around the country
and you mentioned Cincinnati Reds, likethey're not mentioning jam or Candelario. They're

(07:55):
not spitting out the name as muchas maybe they should, Nick Lodolo.
They're not talking about Jake Frayley.They're not gonna hit you up with Stuart
Fairchild. I'm gonna say Elie dela Cruz. And so he's a marketable
guy, and he would have alot to gain by being in this event,
a lot to gain. Maybe hesucceeds in it and then get some

(08:16):
sort of endorsement contract out of it. I don't know the fact that he
is willing to say, you knowwhat, it could be a cool opportunity,
but not now, not at thisstage of my career. I'll do
it one day. My time willcome, and I'm I'm kind of putting
words in Ellie's mouth here, butwhat I've read from him would suggest that
this is where his school of thinkingis coming from. I got to be

(08:41):
there for my team. I've playedin every game. I don't want to
screw myself up. Maybe it doesn'twant to use the home run derby to
get into bad habits. He's talkedwith players who have been in it before.
I don't want to wear I don'twant it to wear me out,
especially if I am playing in theAll Star Game or participating in the All
Star Game on Tuesday. I'm ifif we're going to make a big deal
out of everything that Ellie does thatothers don't like, I'll make a big

(09:05):
deal out of something that in thegrand scheme of things is not a huge
deal. That's not a huge dealthat a player says no thanks, but
no thanks to the home run derby. That happens every single year. But
I wouldn't have been surprised heed hesaid yes, and I wouldn't have had
an issue with him saying yes.But I love not so much that he
said no. But I love whathe said no about I love how what

(09:31):
he said in saying no. Ilove what that says about him. I
could not have butchered that even more. I love what him saying no says
about him. Him saying no saysa lot. Have I made myself clear?
Him saying no says a lot tome about his priorities, his maturity,

(09:54):
his understanding of his importance to theteam, him understanding that he's going
to get plenty of opportunities to dothis, him sort of looking at the
big picture here and going, look, man, don't I don't want to
get into bad habits. I don'twant to wear myself out. I don't
want to not be available to myteam in the second half. If the
Reds are gonna make any kind ofrun, Let's be honest. If they're

(10:16):
gonna make any kind of run,Ellie Dela Cruz on the second half of
the season is gonna have to beeven better than he was in the first
half. I mean, you mightsnicker at that because the numbers don't jump
off the page. Can you imaginewhere this team would be more than midway
through the season if Ellie Dela Cruzwasn't as good as he has been.
And again, I know he's hadhuge slumps and he's had a billion strikeouts

(10:41):
and a thousand errors. Take theproduction, slice it by a third.
Where is this team with that?If the Reds are gonna go on the
run, on any kind of runin the second half of the season,
and obviously there's thirteen games to gobetween now and the All Star break,
if they're gonna go on any kindof run in the second half of the

(11:01):
season, Eli daylor Cruz is gonnahave to answer the bell every single day.
He's gonna have to play better thanhe already has. He's gonna have
to do the little things better.He's got to be available. I like
him prioritizing his availability ahead of somethingthat he could gain from individually, and
that I would like to see himdo individually. Uh. Your thoughts on

(11:28):
that amazing sports talk radio topic inearly July are a welcome at five one,
three seven four nine, fifteen thirtyand UH eight six six seven oh
two three seven seven six works aswell. We are broadcasting today from the
ESPN fifteen thirty studios, powered byGreater Cincinnati's roofing and exterior restoration experts,

(11:48):
Madewell Restoration dot com. Be readyfor severe weather with a Madewell pre inspection.
Madewell Restoration dot Com. Uh,the Reds you months ago did something
really smart, something that I betone of their players regrets them doing.
Let's talk about what could be nextnext on ESPN fifteen thirty, and we

(12:13):
did it. I think it wasa transaction, but I think we did
it thinking that the verbiage might suggestthat things were worse than they were,
but hoping for a good outcome.Nonetheless, Tyler Stevenson, his back obviously
was on the paternity list after findingout just before our first pitch of a

(12:35):
game on Thursday, that is,his wife was about to give birth,
and they put him yesterday on thefamily medical leave list. And not that
any of us not that that wasreally any of our business, but I
think we were just looking at thatverbage hoping, okay, hopefully this is
nothing more than maybe Tyler and needinganother day or perhaps anticipating difficulties and getting

(13:00):
New York. And the good newsis he's back with the Reds. He
is in the starting line of tonight, which is a terrific catching and batting
fifth. Austin Wins has been dFA. Tyler Stevenson back with the Reds
in New York, first of athree game series, tonight in the Bronx,
So that's good news. Speaking ofyesterday, very very quickly, we
started the show yesterday not talking aboutsports. I spent forty minutes or so

(13:26):
discussing Jim Scott's passing and talking ata great length and blowing past the break
about what he meant to me,what he meant to so many people here,
his impact in the city, hisexcellence as a broadcaster, and we
tear into the great job and weput it out there on social media.
It's long winded. I don't expectanybody to really sit to the whole thing

(13:48):
because it's long. But it's somethingthat I felt like I had to do,
and this was somebody that I wantedto talk about at great length.
And I've heard from a lot ofyou, and I've gotten a lot of
nice tweets and some text messages andemails, and we put it on Instagram
and folks have said nice things,and I really do appreciate all the nice

(14:11):
words about it. Was I wassort of sifting through all of it this
morning and I made I made apledge to myself because I was I was
texting very briefly with one of Jim'sSun's last night. And you know,
I said to talk about Jim wasthe least that I could do, and

(14:33):
uh, you know, I feelsort of helpless here. And what he
said to me was, well,you know, conduct yourself basically conduct yourself
in the man of the gym wouldhave. And I was thinking about all
those years I worked with him andhow good he was at getting back to
people. And then I was thinkingabout how long I've been doing this and
how terrible I am at getting backto people. And I'm not going to

(14:58):
bat a thousand. It might takea while, but I'm gonna be better
at that. And so if you'vereached out and haven't heard back, I'm
gonna try to make a point tobe better about responding. So thanks to
all of you who have said somethingnice about are the beginning of our show

(15:18):
yesterday, Moron Ellie Dela Cruz.Here in a bit, I'm gonna do
something that you probably don't like.Trade deadline. Trade deadline is it's on
the thirtieth this year, so fourweeks from today, the Reds have twenty
four games between now and the tradedeadline. Now, we all want the

(15:39):
Reds to use the deadline to getbetter, And by the way, use
the deadline to get better can meanmore than just get better this year.
Use the deadline to get better formy money at least should mean find players
who could help you now and downthe road. You're not gonna love this
example because of because of a lotof the all field stuff that happened with

(16:02):
him, But think Trevor Bauer.When the Reds traded for Trevor Bauer,
let's be honest, they were notreally in the race. They got him
at the deadline in twenty nineteen.They didn't get a two month rental.
He came back and was on theteam the next year, and the next
year was obviously weird because of COVID. They only played sixty games, but
they got to the playoffs because ofTrevor Bauer. Now, say what you

(16:25):
want about Trevor Bauer as a humanbeing, but that's sort of the profile
of the type of guy that Iwould like the Reds to get. Somebody
who could help you in the shortterm, whether you're really in it or
not, but also a guy whoat the end of the season you still
have. Now, everybody wants thoseguys, everybody covets those guys. There

(16:45):
are only so many of them outthere, especially in a market where there's
probably going to be more buyers thansellers. We all want the Reds to
get better, but nobody wants togive up anything. A year ago this
time, one of the names thatwas brought up often, and to the

(17:07):
dismay of many, including if mymemory serves me correct, ESPN college football
analyst Kirk kurb Street, it wasJonathan India. You were here a year
ago, you heard. By thatpoint, Matt McClain had been called up.
Jonathan wasn't having a great year.He was due to make more money,

(17:27):
first year arbitration eligible, and soobviously they kept him. A lot
of us thought they might trade inthis offseason, and they did end but
it was it was a talking point, and for a lot of folks,
you could add Jonathan India's name tothe long list of players that nobody wanted
to trade. So what has happenedsince? Well, two things. First

(17:52):
of all, Jonathan India was broughtback by the Reds on a two year
contract, now not a free agentcontract, a two year contract. They
essentially well, he had first yearof arbitration eligibility. They didn't go to
arbitration. They agreed on a contractfor twenty twenty four, but they also
agreed on a contract for twenty twentyfive, even though Jonathan India had two

(18:15):
more years of team control, andso next year Jonathan India is set to
make about five million dollars. Theother thing that has happened is Jonathan India,
certainly recently, has been on fire. He's been a doubles machine,
National League Player of the Week,bats five thirty eight during the week,

(18:37):
ops over fifteen hundred, ten doubles. He's been awesome and he's having a
good season in part because of that, but also in part because of what
the Reds did with him financially.Shouldn't we talk more about what the Reds

(18:57):
could maybe get for a guy likeJonathan India or discuss what his role on
the team should be moving forward?I mean, to a degree, excuse
me, not much has changed,right, Like Matt McClain is still a
part of the organization, hasn't playedthis year, but he's still I got

(19:18):
to think a big part of theirplans moving forward. Elie de la Cruz
is going nowhere. They still havea ton of infielders. What's changed is
Jonathan India, and the recent surgehas certainly amplified the numbers, but he's
he's having an okay year ops pushingup against eight hundred good looking numbers.

(19:45):
Red's did something smart. Let's goahead and pay him for twenty twenty five,
which means, if Jonathan India endsup over the next three months having
an even better season that he's hadso far, five million bucks next year
is going to be a bargain.And if you're Jonathan India, you gotta

(20:07):
be going huh. I kind ofwish I wouldn't have agreed to terms on
twenty twenty five. But also ifyou're trying to get talent from other teams,
the Reds badly need outfield help.They have one of the worst offensive
outfields in all of baseball. Theygot dudes playing the outfield who frankly defensively

(20:27):
have no business. Will Benson's turnedinto a pumpkin. Stuart Fairchild's a bench
guy who's playing too much. They'veused Santiago Espanol out there. TJ Friedel,
as much as we love him,can't stay healthy. Jake Fraley never
hits the ball hard. They badlyneed outfield help. Me he might go,
well, hey, hang on,weren't they going to make Jonathan Indian

(20:48):
outfield or they were going to andthey still may. But wouldn't the fact
that a guy who's having a goodseason, that has a contract next year
that's only going to pay him fivemillion bucks and that has another year of
team control after it, wouldn't thatbe a really attractive trade ship to a

(21:17):
contender, to a non contender,or to a team that, like the
Reds, is kind of in themiddle. Now, what could you get
for him that you would really want? I don't know, but we have
these conversations all the time about well, the Reds need to be more aggressive,
and I this this frustrated me somuch last summer. Reds took a
lot of heat for not being aggressivefrom the same people who every time you

(21:41):
brought up somebody they could trade,shook their heads. Well, if you
want them to be aggressive, andif you want them to do what I
want them to do and what Ithink most want them to do, which
is find some guys that can helpyou now but also later, you gotta
be willing to give up something now. It's fair, Indy, the way
he's playing right now might be ableto help you now but also later because

(22:03):
he is under team control. Butif you're looking for outfield help down the
road, and by the way,if you really believe that there's a chance
that Matta McLean comes back, thisis also something worth talking about. Jonathan
India. If you if you takethe uber young stars or potential stars out
of the conversation, isn't he yourbest trading chip? I know there's gonna

(22:29):
be I know right now, there'sa good chance you're shaking your head.
You're getting mad at me, andI understand, man, It's it's it's
hard. It's hard to talk aboutplayers that we all really like. I
like Jonathan India a lot. Andby the way, if he's a Red
the rest of this season, great, and if he's a Red next year,
cool. But if we start talkingabout possible trade chips, under like
nobody wants Stuart Fairchild and and nobodywants Will Benson, and nobody wants or

(22:53):
you're not gonna get a lot inexchange for some random relief pitcher that there's
and we're not trading Hunter, etcetera. We're not trading Rent Louder,
who's gonna be in the future's gameor can call. You're like, there's
probably only a limited pool of playersthat you could realistically get anything for.
Isn't Jonathan India the name at thetop of that list of those players?

(23:21):
Five point three seven four nine,fifteen thirty eight six six seven oh two
three seven seven six twenty nine awayfrom four o'clock, Your phone calls are
coming up. Plus so is ExavierScruggs, former Big League or calling the
game Friday Reds Tigers for Apple Alot to get to between now and six.
I'm Alegar. This is ESPN fifteenthirty Cincinnati Sports Station Sincy three sixty

(23:45):
with Tony Pike. If we wantto move on, they'd have to keep
going and Boston Elmore. I thinkyou should continue to Let me keep going
then Sincy three sixty Tomorrow which twelveNews on ESPN fifteen thirty. Cincinnati's Kelsey
Chevrolet Home of lifetime power train protectionand guarantee credit approval from their family to

(24:06):
yours for life Kelsey Chef dot Com. Reds are in the Bronx first of
three against the Yankees. Graham Ashcraftand Luis Heel seven h five tonight on
seven hundred w l W. TylerStevenson is back. Austin Wins has been
DFA, so today Austin Wins loses. Sorry, your starting lineup thanks to

(24:30):
a Madewell restoration. India leading offat second base, Elliott short Candelario's dhing
Steers at first, Stevenson catching Martinizin left field. Noelve Marte at third
base, Stuart Fairchild in center fieldfor some reason, Will Benson in right
field and he is batting ninth.What else do we have? Reds are
going to have a couple of theirtop prospects participating in the All Star Futures

(24:52):
Game in Arlington, which is obviouslywhere the All Star Game is going to
be this year. Cam Collier,who is the reds third rated prospect according
to MLB Pipeline, is going toparticipate so well Rat Louder, who according
to MLB Pipeline is their number oneprospect. Congratulations to both. What else

(25:18):
do we have? Florence Yawls areon the road against Washington. You sees
Dante Corleon and Luke Candra named onTuesday to the preseason All Big Twelve Team.
Candra, Cincinnati native elder product Friendof the Show, is returns.
He's one of the highest graded returningoffensive linemen in all of college football.

(25:41):
And we all know how good DanteCorleone is, and we're all rooting like
hell for him to get back onthe field as soon as possible. Luchawa
Costa name a finalist for the twentytwenty four MLS All Star Captain Fan Vote.
He is joined by Christian Orango ofReal Salt of Real Salt Lake,

(26:03):
Sorryje Couco Hernandez of the Columbus Crewat Lionel MESSI there you go, there
you go, twenty one away fromfour o'clock. I was kind of riffing
on US soccer. I root forthe United States in every international competition,

(26:25):
every single one. I'm as goodof an American and as big a Patriot
as anybody. And I've always foundUS soccer fandom on the men's side in
particular, to be interesting and funbecause in so many of these other team
sports, not all, but inso many of these other team sports were

(26:47):
one of the favorites. US Olympicbasketball this year is going to face a
stiff test in Paris in repeating asgold medalists. Olympic basketball this year should
be awesome, but we are goingto be even though the gap has narrowed
considerably over the last thirty years betweenUS and the rest of the world.

(27:07):
We are the favorite, and theUS women's basketball team, which should have
Caitlin Clark but does not, alsobig, big favorite and not in every
team sport, hockey, we're obviouslyin the Winter Olympics. We're never really
considered the favorite team. Handball forsome reason, we're no good at which
is a travesty. But you know, we love to be an underdog,

(27:30):
right. We love because it's theUnited States, right, We're a superpower.
We're not off in the underdog andso what I think we oftentimes channel
that into is interest and passion forUS men's soccer. And I'm very casual
soccer fan, very casual soccer fan, but I get caught up when the

(27:55):
US is in the World Cup.It's a lot of fun. They've gone
down to watch games on out Square. Wanted like hell for US to get
the World Cup played here in Cincinnati. That would have been phenomenal. But
it's kind of making fun of this. On Sincy three sixty and I looked
at social media and I got peopleangry at me. I, you know,

(28:18):
I don't know that there's anything thatgenerates more cynicism from me than when
I hear about how good we're goingto be in men's soccer, and we
are better than we used to be, and at the top of the roster
there are better players and there's moredepth than we had twenty five thirty years
ago. I know enough to knowthat. But like every time I'm told

(28:44):
to get excited, every time it'syou might say, it's kind of like
being a Reds fan. Every timeI'm told to get excited, carpit gets
pulled out from underneath and I goback to feeling like I'm essentially essentially rooting
for my generations vers version of theWashington Generals. Just yeah, I watched

(29:07):
that tilt last night in Kansas Citywith the weirdest camera angle I've ever seen.
It looked like watching the game theold configuration at UDI Arena, where
they would basically felt like put thecamera on the like at mid court on
the ceiling. That camera angle lastnight, I guess was chosen by the
officials, which it made for apainful viewing experience. I don't get mad

(29:30):
at me for saying it, LikeI wish we were better. I wish
I wish we weren't. It justit's again. I'm kind of watching this
from afar, but like there's thisunending cycle of coaches and blame and I
don't know, I don't get that. With f C Cincinnati Orange and Blue
back on the field tomorrow. Imade a bit of a guarantee about the

(29:53):
Bengals yesterday. There are some JoeBurrow over under numbers that are out right
now which we're gonna tap into upin the four o'clock hour. I essentially
guarantee the Bengals are gonna make theplayoffs. And I'll be honest, like,
I'm not a hot take artist,and so I don't say things for
effect. I don't say things becauseI want you to be just, you

(30:17):
know, bowled over by some crazyopinion. I think maybe the least controversial
thing I've ever said in my life, in particular doing this show, is
that if Joe Burrow plays fifteen ormore games, the Bengals will make the
postseason. And the reason I broughtthis up yesterday was Connor Orr's piece Sports
Illustrated, where he has six teamsthat didn't make the playoffs last year that

(30:41):
he believes will make the playoffs thisseason and the team they will replace.
So what he is saying is Bengalsare gonna make it. Cleveland Browns he
has on the outside looking in,so he has the Bengals replacing the Cleveland
Browns. I think the Browns arefascinating, said the same thing a year
ago. They're fascinating for mainly thesame reasons as a year ago. I
still have no idea how good DeshaunWatson is. I find it as what's

(31:07):
the opposite of bold, whatever thatword is. I find saying that the
Bengals will make the playoffs if JoeBurrow plays fifteen games. Whatever that word
is, it applies to that predictionslash guarantee. What I want to know
is if I'm proven wrong. Andagain, like the threshold we're talking about

(31:30):
here isn't win the division. It'snot win thirteen games, it's not be
the number one seed. It's notget to the super Bowl or win the
super Bowl, it's make the playoffs. And again, like this this all
the math, the calculus changes ifJoe Burrow misses a lot of games,
if he misses last season, ifyou include the Ravens game, which is

(31:52):
the game that he got hurt in. He played ten games, which means,
if you count that game against gameshe didn't play in, he missed
seven and a half games. JoeBurrow misses seven and a half games.
The conversation is entirely different. Andthat's understanding that Jake Browning really played well
last year. But let's say,hypothetically, Joe plays sixteen games. We'll

(32:16):
even give him a game off forwhatever reason. We'll put him in the
protocol, or we'll say he doesn'tplay Week seventeen because they're or Week eighteen,
I should say, the seventeenth gamebecause their playoff positioning is wrapped up.
Joe Burrow plays sixteen games, whichwould suggest he's healthy for the overwhelming

(32:39):
majority of those sixteen games, thathe is as healthy as he was when
the Bengals were beating the San Franciscoforty nine ers and the Buffalo Bills in
the middle part of the season lastyear before he got hurt. He plays
all those games and they missed theplayoff. What went wrong? Imagine it's

(33:02):
January and somehow I'm having thrown backin my face my bold prediction. What
went wrong? We'll spend some timeon that coming up in the four o'clock
hour. You are more than awelcome the jump on board at five point
three seven nine, fifteen thirty.There is something that we are going to

(33:23):
quit cold Turkey today. Chances areyou know what that means. We are
going to quit someone cold turkey today, and it ain't going to be easy,
but I think we have to doit. That coming up in the
four o'clock hour as well. Anduh, what David, what Jeff Brantley

(33:46):
said about TJ. TJ. Friedel'sabsence to this team. There are certain
players you can measure statistically and thensome other guys that you have to simply
watch. A missing red is oneof them. What Jeff Brantley said about
TJ. Friedel during Sunday's broadcast.Coming up in the next hour as well,
we'll have a poll question two.It's thirteen from four and this is

(34:07):
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station. Hey, nobody, b has anybody
ever said that to Alexa? Wewe have Alexa in my house. I've
asked a lot of questions. Idon't know that anybody has ever in the
history of that particular device, saidhey, Alexa, who's been traded?

(34:30):
Now, they might have said,hey, Alexa, who was in the
fill in the blank trade? Oryou know, hey, who did the
who did the cavaliers get in thetrue that sort of thing, But I
don't think anybody's ever asked who gottraded? I don't know. Let's see
here, Mike, go ahead,you're on ESPN fifteen thirty. What's up?

(34:52):
Cut off? Thank you? Well? Sure? Hey? Regarding the
maturity, then did you write andit could text from maturity? No?
No, okay, I am Iam the I am the last person to
uh to write the definitive text onmaturity. Me too. You know,
I love it when you do whatyou did earlier, and you've been doing

(35:16):
it for a while, which isvery tongue chungue and cheek sarcasm about when
okay, we'll see how these thirteengames go, and then after that,
let's see how that stretch after Joeblow him to hurt his thumbnail, and
then let's see what that is.Hilarious. It's subtle, but it's freaking

(35:37):
hilarious. Well, I would,I would counter, I would, I
would shoot back on the suggestion thatit was hilarious, but It reflects my
frustration with with being a Reds fanright now, which it feels like we're
always doing this right, We're alwaysokay, and it's like there are certain
times in the schedule where there aremore wins that might present themselves than others.

(36:01):
And I can certainly understand wanting tohit a certain point where you go,
okay, by then we should havethese players back, and as long
as we can tread water will befine. But it feels like we have
done this so often over the lastcouple of seasons, including when they were
really bad, but even back beyondthat, we did this in twenty twenty

(36:23):
one, in twenty twenty and godknows we did it in twenty nineteen.
There's this constant desire to fragment theschedule and take these chunks of games where
we go, god, you knowwhat, if they just turn it on
here, then they'll take off.And then that chunk of games comes and

(36:44):
goes, and well, they didn'twin as many games as we would have
thought, but well then it's andwe're gonna do it this month. I've
already heard it, right, likethirteen games between now and the All Star
break, they go to New York. The Yankees have been in a tailspin,
right they've lost eleven to sixteen,But then they come home when they
play a bunch of bad teams rightuntil the All Star break and then but
whatever the outcome of these next thirteengames is, then, Mike, it's

(37:07):
gonna be I think, twelve gamesbefore the trade deadline and as soon as
the All Star break ends. Youknow what we're gonna do? Right Well,
you know what if these twelve gamesright here, this is gonna be
what determines the season. And thenthose twelve games are gonna come and go,
and then guess what chances are they'llstill be within at least arm's length
of the last wild card spot becausebaseball's never been more watered down. Then

(37:27):
what are we gonna do in August? Well, you know, it's August,
and McClain might come back at somepoint, but it's these next twenty
games here we just we never stoppeddoing. How about this? Just get
to ninety wins at one point,play one hundred and sixty two, get
to ninety and you'll be in thepostseason, guarantee. It's just funny the
way you put it, because it'sso damn true. That's what's beautiful that

(37:51):
it's very true. I say,if you can trade India now you're trading
now, well and you can findit. And if you were making him
untouchable, okay, you can't haveit both ways. You can't yell and
scream. They should be aggressive.And then every time someone mentions, well,

(38:13):
let's trade this guy, the answerbe no. And we did this
last summer. It reminded me oflike, my kid doesn't do this as
much, but when my daughter waslike four years old, every morning it
was like, you want cheerios,No, you want those little muffins we
got at the store. No,okay, you gotta eat breakfast. I've

(38:35):
got a breakfast sandwich. No,how about some fruit? No. And
so last year you would mention anyany number of guys that the Reds could
get something for, and it wasconstantly, now, you can't trade him,
No, you can't trade him.Now, you can't trade him.
Now, you can't trade him.And then the same people who had an
endless list of untouchables would then getmad that the Reds weren't aggressive at the

(38:59):
deadline. You can't have it bothways, and so at some point there
have to be assets slash commodities thatyou're willing to move on from that you
know you can get a lot inexchange for. I think Jonathan India might
be one of those assets. Isit easy to trade him? No?
Just trading him come with potential risk. Absolutely. Is the guy having a

(39:20):
good season, Is he a goodguy? Yes? And yes. But
if the answer to Jonathan India isno, and the answer to all of
these good young players is no,and the answer to their best prospects is
no, who are we saying yesto that you could get something in exchange
for Yeah, Will Benson, Idon't think so. Right for him,

(39:45):
nobody wants him. Nobody wants him, and if they, they might take
him, but they're not going togive you anything. The idea is to
use the deadline to get better bothfor this year and next. How do
you not go, Look, JonathanIndia is having a good season, He's
not making that much money next year, and you get him in team control
for one more season and just seewhat that can fetch you. I'm not

(40:07):
looking to give him away. There'sno reason to give him away. I'm
not looking to unload him for thesake of unloading him. I'm looking to
make the team better. There areonly so many assets. If you want
to use the trade deadline to makethe team better, there are only so
many assets you can do that with. Yep and red stands, you know,
and which I am one. Youknow, we're all upset about the

(40:30):
Klein's injury and a couple of otherguys, you know, looked all those
in and out and whatever airscrap is. But you can relate this to all
the other team, to Dodgers's havinga Kershall pitched him. He hasn't putched
a game this year. The greatestregular season picked left hander in the history
of base hasn't pitched all year.Minkie bets Is go out for six more
weeks and months. He hasn't playedin a month. And when he went

(40:52):
out he had ten Hong runs andthirty RBIs. So everybody goes through this,
right, well, everybody, sure, everybody goes through injury. And
that's fine, Mike, you soundgreat. I get a run, man,
Thank you. Thanks though. Youknow, I just if we're gonna
do trade deadline talk, and Iwould imagine we'll do it a lot over
the next four weeks. You canyou can demand the Reds be aggressive.

(41:15):
That's one thing. Okay, Nowwhat does aggressive look like aggressive for me?
Again? In twenty nineteen, theReds were not in the hunt,
but they acquired a guy who madethem better in the short term, but
also made them much better in twentytwenty, it was Trevor Bauer. So
what can I How can I geta guy like that? It's give up

(41:37):
something of value? Okay, well, where are the players of value?
Where are the surpluses? It's stillin field India is still in infielder And
because his salary next year is guaranteedand reasonably low, you mean to tell
me that's not a prime asset.But again, if you love Jonathan India

(41:57):
so much that you cannot imagine partwith him, and I heard from those
folks last year and now that he'son a hot stretch, probably a lot
of those folks right now. Ifyou do not want to trade him,
fine, I love Jonathan India.I'm more than happy to watch that guy
play his contract out with the Reds. They're not going to sign him long
term at all likelihood, right,But then you're crossing him off an already

(42:20):
short list of guys you could getsomething of value for in a trade.
Now you might go look, sitout the trade deadline and worry about it
this offseason. Fine, but Iwould imagine if the Reds do nothing on
July thirtieth, I will come inhere on July thirty first and hear from
any number of people pissed off thatthe Reds did nothing. If you want

(42:45):
them to do something, you've gotto be willing to let them deal from
a place of strength. Five pointthree seven four nine, fifteen thirty is
our phone number. We're going toquit something cold Turkey today. But first
a Bengals question on ESPN fifteen thirtyCincinnati Sports Station. This is Sports Center.

(43:08):
I'm Christine Leasy, Utah States andformed football coach Blake Anderson. It
intends to fire him for actions takenin spring twenty twenty three that violated his
employment agreement and university policy. Theviolation related to promptly reporting issues related to
sexual assault and domestic violence. GuardDonovan Mitchell staying in Cleveland a little longer.
ESPN's Adrian Warzanowski reports he and theCavaliers agreed on a three year,

(43:31):
one hundred and fifty million dollar maxextension. Has a player option for the
twenty twenty seven twenty twenty eight season, Mitchell could have the chance to pursue
a five year extension worth over threehundred and eighty million. In twenty twenty
seven, a day after Clay Thompsonagreed to sign with the Mavericks over the
Lakers as an NBA free agent,his dad, Michael, former Lakers star
and Lakers radio analyst, admitted notfeeling in much of a congratulatory moved.

(43:53):
He obviously has Clay's decision. It'shis life. He's a glown man.
But I'm really disappointed. I washoping, hoping, as you can assess,
that he would be a Laker,and it was close. It came
down to the Lakers and the MAVs, but the MAVs went out. But
you know me, I was hopingand praying he'd finished his career with the
Lakers. Michael Thompson on Series XMNBA Radio. Here's one stat that's super

(44:16):
simple to remember. Discover automatically doublesthe cash back on your credit card at
the end of your first year withcash back Match. With Discover, you
could turn one hundred and fifty dollarscash back to three hundred dollars. See
terms at discover dot com slash creditcard HURDI, Oh, guess what day
it is? Guess what day itis? Doc dudesday, It's up.

(44:47):
It's uh success for four tarn itis Taco Tuesday in my house. Now
you love Taco Tuesday, don't you? That's all right? Can I tell
you what I have fallen in lovewith doing this is nothing to do with
sports. Pick a tequila and tacos. I do like tequila and tacos.

(45:12):
You know I love smoking food,right, smoked meats. Yes. Over
the last year, my uh,I'm trying to think of the best way
to put this. I do thisalmost every week. I smoke cream cheese
because because it's awesome and because itdoesn't take that much time. And every

(45:39):
time I've I've had people over orI've I've brought it to parties, people
look at me sideways and like,what is it? Smoked cream cheese?
And you could you could do alot of stuff with it. But what
I like to do is get goodtaco seasoning and you you, you just
you slather the entire block of creamcheese in taco seasoning. First Japan on

(46:00):
a coat of oil like olive oil, and then just taco season if you
love taco seasoning, if you lovetacos, and then you put it all
over. I will bring in ablock of smoke cream cheese for you,
Tara, and it's something you useas a dip friedos or tortilla chips or
something, and you just you coatthe thing in taco seasoning. And for

(46:22):
my money, I like a combinationof mild and hot, and then you
smoke the thing. For I liketo go about three hours, three and
a half hours, but you coulddo as few as two hours, and
then you could serve it hot rightout of the smoker. You could put
it in the refrigerator, bring itback the next day and it is awesome.

(46:42):
So like our Taco Tuesdays now involvea block of taco seasoning on smoked
cream cheese. I wake up mostmornings thinking about the next time I'm gonna
smoke a block of cream cheese.I like smoking meats, like smoking a
York shoulder, chicken wings, youname it that stuff. Wings not so

(47:02):
much takes a very long time.You can roll out of bed, put
that bad boy in the smoker.At nine am. You got a nice
lunch snack. So there you go. I'll bring one in. I know
you're listening to this going you're outof your mind. You're probably like looking
up on YouTube right now. Isitting there during the pandemic, there's nothing
going on, and I'm watching someguy on like Food Network, and he

(47:25):
was talking about smoking cream cheese andI'm like, that's kind of interesting.
And then two years later, Ifinally did it. I smoke a block
of cream cheese off into every singleweekend. We went down to Cumberland this
weekend with another couple in their kids. I brought two smoked two blocks of
smoke cream cheese, the absolute best, and they all looked at me weird

(47:46):
when I got it out, andthen they crushed it. Their kids crushed
it too. So there you go, smoked cream cheese. You will thank
me. We're gonna have some Lade la Cruz for you. That Tarren
just sent me a few minutes ago. That coming up here in just a
bit. Xavier Scruggs, the formerBig leaguer, And I feel like I

(48:07):
have to say this every time Isay his name. Yes, his name
is pronounced Xavier. He is goingto join us at five point thirty three.
He's calling the Reds Tigers game onFriday, so I look forward to
that. He does a good job. He's across a thousand different platforms.
We're also going to quit something coldturkey, I asked. I asked this

(48:30):
before about the Bengals, and Ibrought up the Connor worthing yesterday and said,
look, man, to say thatthey're going to the playoffs. If
if you lead the conversation with,I don't think Burrow's gonna stay healthy,
and then you say, and theBengals are going to make the playoffs,
that's a pretty bold prediction, right, if you're leading the conversation with,

(48:53):
I don't think Burrow's gonna stay healthy, and so the Bengals aren't gonna make
the playoffs. I don't know howyou can necessarily predict injury, but the
reality is injuries and illness and allsorts of things. They've all been a
big part of his NFL story.That's inescapable. And he's played four NFL
seasons. Three of them have endedwith him either suffering a season ending injury

(49:17):
or him limping off the field becausehe's hurt. And that's frankly what happened
at the end of the Super Bowl. The counter to that for me is,
I know what the Bengals can bewhen he's healthy. Joe Burrow if
you take away his rookie season,and this even includes last year, and
it includes the game in which hegot hurt against Baltimore, is twenty seven

(49:39):
and fifteen. I hate quarterback winsand losses. So the better way to
put it is the Bengals are twentyseven and fifteen with Joe Burrow as a
starting quarterback since twenty twenty one.So take that winning percentage and cast it
over seventeen games. That's just undereleven victories. A healthy Joe Burrow across

(50:00):
a seventeen game season means Bengals wineleven games. And you know, just
take the average. If you oneof twenty twenty one to twenty twenty two,
they won ten games one year,twelve games the next year. That's
that averages out to eleven wins andthey go to the AFC Championship Game.
And so what I want to knowis if if you're if you're like me,

(50:22):
and let's be honest, for themost part, be glad you're not
if you're not. But if you'relike me and you feel like, all
right, they're gonna go to thepostseason as long as Joe gets through the
season healthy. And again you mightthink that's a big, big if it
is, I mean, I hateto say, but it is, because
it really hasn't happened all that much. But if he does, and I'll

(50:45):
even allow for you know, theoccasional Nick or Bruce or maybe he has
to miss a half of a gamebecause of the protocol, but he plays
fifteen to sixteen to seventeen games,somewhere in that ballpark, they're a playoff
team because I think we all knowwhen Joe is healthy the level at which
he plays, and I think weall expect that to only get better.

(51:07):
His last full healthy season, hewas an MVP finalist. The year before
that, he should have been anMVP finalist. He's also won a lot
of games despite there being some prettymajor team deficiencies. Right The offensive line
is stunk. The offensive line hasbeen league average depending on the year.

(51:29):
They've been good defensively with some verygood players. They haven't been elite by
any stretch. And so it's notlike the circumstances around Joe have been perfect
in years where he has won adouble digit number of games. So if
I say Burrow plays fifteen, sixteen, seventeen games and they make the playoffs

(51:53):
and that ends up not being true, what's gone wrong? Like what's gone
wrong to the degree that it keepsthem on the outside looking in once the
playoffs begin, you know, inone more time, this isn't they If

(52:14):
he plays all the games, theygo fourteen and three, or he plays
sixteen games out of seventeen, thatthey win the division, They clear the
bar and make the playoffs. Maybethey're in as a seven seed. Maybe
they're in with a relatively uninspiring nineand eight record just like last year,
but they're in the playoffs. Thereare very few things since I've been following

(52:37):
the Bengals, very few things thatfrom a positive perspective, I feel confident
in saying to the degree that italmost sounds like I'm trying to make a
bold prediction when it's not very fewthings that I'm confident in saying as much
as proclaiming that the Bengals will bea playoff team as long as Joe Burrow

(53:00):
plays fifteen, sixteen or seventeen games, even if they're not as good defensively
as we hope they are. Theycan't really be any worse, at least
in terms of giving up explosive plays. And if they're bad against the run
but better against explosive plays, that'sa trade off. All take. The

(53:22):
turnover on the defense over the lastcouple of years has yielded a lot of
good young talent, and they've gottenbetter because they've gotten older at a position
where their youth was badly exposed lastyear. Are the Bengals going to have
an elite defense, top five defense, a top ten defense and probably not?

(53:44):
Could they be league average? Couldthey be league averaged by kind of
doing what used to define them defensively, which was give up yards not points.
And if the answers to those questionsare yes, for a playoff team,
And like, you know, we'regetting to the time of season where

(54:05):
publications are going to release predictions forthe season and all that kind of stuff
and who's gonna win the Super Bowl? And I sort of stopped short of
that because I just I'm a littlebit more interested in, like, let's
try to forecast the regular season,which is hard enough to do, and
then the playoffs, you know,it's about matchups and who's healthy, and
who do you have and where arethe games and a bunch of different circumstances

(54:27):
that you really can't quantify in August. When you're talking about games in January.
It's hard enough to talk about gamesbeing played in October. So I'm
I'm a bigger fan of just talkingabout the regular season as a whole.
I'll even go a step further,and I as as formidable as this division
is, Joe Burrow has gotten throughtwo full seasons and in both years they

(54:50):
won the AFC North. Now,I think you're being reasonable as you go.
Well, in those years the AFCNorth wasn't quite as good as it
was last year, not quite asgood as it might be this year.
That's fine. If he plays fifteento seventeen games, aren't they probably winning
the AFC North. That's a littlebit more extreme than saying they make the

(55:14):
playoffs. I just I thought aboutthis this morning. I was trying to
envision scenarios where I have this thrownback at me and they don't make the
playoffs. Is Joe's performance going todrop off to the degree that they're not
a playoff team? Is the offense, and look, they got some questions
to answer on offense. While Joehas been the quarterback of the team,

(55:34):
they've also they've also had these longlulls that they can't continue to go through
here. But would things bottom outto the degree offensively that it kept them
from the postseason. I don't knowwhat it looks like. I know what
it looks like if the Bengals don'tmake the playoffs. Joe's hurt, Joe

(55:54):
don't play a lot. I alsocan't even wrap my brain around Joe playing
the full season and then not playingan eighteenth game in January. So I'm
kind of curious if he does whatwe hope and they're still on the outside

(56:20):
looking in, what will have gonewrong to the degree that it takes a
team that has a preseason over underof ten and a half and it's kept
him on the outside looking in.Your phone calls are coming up at five
point three, seven, four,nine, fifteen thirty more Elie de la
Cruz, And we're gonna do somethingtoday that is not gonna be easy.

(56:46):
It ain't gonna be easy. It'sI got two emails about this. This
is not gonna be easy. Butwe've got to do it. Coming up
in fifteen minutes on ESPN fifteen thirtyCincinnati Sports Station, Brendan and Jones on
baseball. Here's that coming up.It's might be about baseball today. I

(57:10):
have no idea Exavier Scrugs be onthis show as well, five thirty three
Apple TV MLB. Let's see,I have yet to construct a poll question.
I'm like, I got like Ineed an assistant a lot going a

(57:30):
lot of paperwork when you do atalk show. Let's see here, Ken,
thanks for hanging on. You're onESPN fifteen thirty. What's up?
Well, No, I was.I'm calling from games South Kentucky. Okay.
Since I since I've retired, I'vehad the privilege of watching a lot
more Reds games on TV. Ibelieve that we should. While I lament

(57:57):
the fact that we haven't made theplayoffs, I also am very honored to
watch what may be come one ofthe best best players that I've ever seen
in the Red uniform. And uhand that goes back to Wade Hoy.
Wow, so you referring to NickMartini. Pardon you're referring to Nick Martini,

(58:19):
of course, of course, butI look at these statistics that they
gather on de la cruz uh Inin a short time and when they compare
those, they they are in theballpark with some of the with maybe twenty
five or or thirty the best playersin the history of the game when they're

(58:42):
comparing his statistics. And I thinkwe have to remember with his uh what
we call errors in the out youknow, by not yielding to the outfielders,
he's only years out of minor leagueball. In the minor leagues,
he had to make those plays becausehe didn't have major league outfielders to depend
on. I'm not sure he hasmajor league outfielders right now to depend on.

(59:04):
I can't argue that either. Butthat gets a lot better. And
I think if you watch the game, you see him yielding more to the
outfielders. Also, I feel thathe is swinging at a lot less pitches
out of the strike zone this year. And it may be a minor point,
but he's learning English, yes,and yes, I think it shows

(59:29):
a dedication to the game, andI think he wants to be He wants
to be a great and he certainlyhas the tools to do it. So,
you know, I just revel inthe idea that I can have the
opportunity to see a player like thisperform on the field. Yeah. I
mean, look, I'm always goingto side with talent. I'm always going

(59:51):
to side with raw talent and thenhope that it gets smoothed out. And
I understand that at this stage inhis career where he is, he has
been to the plate as a majorleaguer fewer than eight hundred times, and
he has barely played over one hundredand sixty two big league games. That
we're not there yet, right,there are some some rough edges to be

(01:00:12):
smoothed out. You are accurate insaying, look, he is he is
striking out less frequently than he didlast year, not by a lot.
He still strikes out basically thirty onepercent of the time. Last year was
close to thirty four percent. Heis walking more frequently, he is hitting
the ball out of the ballpark alittle bit more frequently. And then,
if you really want to dive intomore advanced metrics, is batting average on

(01:00:37):
balls and play is higher, Hisisolated number is higher. He is a
better player, and the rough stretchesdon't seem to be as long as maybe
they were last season. And thereare some things you would like to see
him improve upon. But god,I've watched I've watched longtime major league shortstops

(01:00:59):
cut off that ball in the endoutfield the way he did on Friday in
real time. It was maddening.Right, Like, Ellie, let the
center fielder company's in a better positionto throw. But okay, does he
do that a year from now?Can that be a teachable moment? Can
that be the sort of thing thatyou go, Okay, look in that
situation, appreciate you trying to makea play. And maybe that's not something
you do if TJ. Friedel isout there, But next time, let's

(01:01:20):
let the center fielder take it.Like, I'm always going to side with
the talent, and I'm always goingto side with the guy that statistically and
otherwise is showing improvement, and that'shappening with Ellie. I think he's showing
tremendous improvement. And he's on Likesome of the players who have had in
the past that don't seem to payattention to their coaches, he is definitely
paying attention and learning. And Ihave great hope. I mean, I

(01:01:44):
want to see the Reds win aWorld Series while I'm still around. But
the talent that you're seeing on thefield with this guy and the durability.
I mean, he's playing the toughestposition on the field, maybe besides catcher,
but he is playing a very difficultposition to stay healthy in. And
he's proven and he's durable, andI am I am just so excited watching

(01:02:07):
him play because the whole the defensiveteam is on their toes. He forces
perfect plays to get him up andevery team is going to make perfect plays.
I think we're seeing that it's adifferent defense out there when he's on
base. He had the game lastweek. I didn't mean interruption. He

(01:02:27):
had the game last week where youknow, we all marveled at the fact
that he hit the home run underthe river boat, and that was cool.
The cooler thing was the previous atbat when he hits a double on
a ball up the middle that's stoppedby the second basement. Now that's a
single for everybody else. That wasa double for him and a double with
ease. And you know, Igrew up Cannim. I'm a little bit

(01:02:49):
younger than you, but you knowI grew up watching those Cardinals teams in
the eighties where if if you're afan of the team that's in the field,
you're nervous because are they on theirtoes and Willie McGee puts one in
the gap and might go for three, or Vince Coleman chomps one off the
turf, or they're running on everyball hit to the outfield and and you
know, look that there are thereare certain times this season where I wish

(01:03:10):
the base running would be a littlebit better. But the Reds have a
guy like that who can put suchintense pressure on the defense to make a
perfect play. Where that ball upthe middle last week, you have to
smother it. You can't let itgo off your body and then you know,
stumble out there ten feet and gopick it up or he's going to
be on second base. It's sucha weapon to have, and yeah,

(01:03:35):
it is and it's fun to watch. So I I just I really echo
your your comments of Daila Cruise.I'm also a huge India fan. But
you make a good case for asmart move. Now if the red are
stupid, okay, but but butbut what they did with what they did

(01:03:58):
with India, you know, waswas pretty smart. Right, Like,
we we're gonna guarantee here's what youyour salary is gonna be for twenty twenty
four and twenty twenty five, andthat might make it easier to move you,
because like a team that trades forJonathan India, they know what that's
gonna cost next season. Now theyhave to figure out what it's gonna cost

(01:04:18):
for twenty twenty six. But atleast they get the guy into team control.
And I mean the first to tellyou, I don't want them to
trade him, but but I dowant them to address deficiencies. They need
to be better in the outfield.They also need natural outfielders out there.
You can never have enough established startingpitching. You can never have enough good

(01:04:40):
bullpen arms. And so if youif you start to look at what they're
gonna have to go get, andyou want to go get it via trade,
then a guy who's having a goodyear, whose salary is locked in
for next season and that you canget for one more year would be I
think someone that a lot of teamswould be willing to discuss. Those are

(01:05:01):
tremendous points. Again, if they'resmart about what they do, because you
can't measure the effect that Josh Nandyhas in the locker room. You're right,
Yeah, I would hate, Iwould dearly hate to see him be
traded. But if you're going tomove forward, something, something has got
something needs to happen, uh,you know, to make all this effort

(01:05:26):
by day La Cruz come to fruition, you know, with a playoff in
the World Series. No, you'reyou're right, Ken, Thank you for
the phone call, and I appreciateyou. You chiming in like I love
I love Jonathan India. Like heplays hard, he seems to get it.
He I think very much, waswilling to sort of take on the

(01:05:47):
role of team leader when it feltlike they didn't have one. He's swinging
the back great right now. Iguess you could. You could choose to
do it one of two ways.You might think, look, regardless of
where they are in the standings,stand pat and let's make the team better

(01:06:09):
via players coming back from injury,continued development and acquiring free agents. There's
probably some validity to that approach.Or hey, look they've got some areas
to address within the season. They'vegot basically four weeks to get something done.

(01:06:35):
After the season, they might haveto they might need to make a
trade to really get better where theyneed to get better. And then you
have to start talking about who areyou willing to give up. If it's
stand pat, don't make a trade, okay, But if it's like make

(01:06:56):
a trade, get some guys fromother teams that can help four to five
year roster with players from the outside, use whatever capital you have, well,
then you have to talk about whois the capitol, what does the
capital look like, who are thecommodities? And you know, again it

(01:07:16):
has to be players of value.And if I'm an opposing GM and Brad
Meter or Nick Crawl, say tome, well, I've got Jonathan India.
That's really attractive to me. He'sa guy in his twenties. I

(01:07:38):
know what I have to pay himnext year. I get him for twenty
twenty six. I get that guybetween now in twenty twenty six. He's
having a good season. I'm notgonna have to break the bank. I'm
not getting him past his prime.That's a pretty valuable piece. That doesn't

(01:07:58):
mean where you want to trade him. But excuse me, if you want
to use the deadline, if youwant to use trades to make the team
better, you gotta be willing togive something up, and chances are that
list of players that nobody wanted totalk about giving up last year is the
same, and it might even includemore guys. And the guys that have

(01:08:21):
probably come off that list are offthat list because they've been hurt or haven't
developed. And then there's Jonathan India. I'm Wayley and I sound like I'm
losing my voice. It is twentyseven away from five o'clock. You're gonna
hear Elie Dela Cruz next ESPN fifteenthirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from the

(01:08:45):
UC Health Traffic Center the University ofCincinnati Sports stations like alarm sounding in the
background. Sports headlines are a serviceof Kelsey Chevroline, home of lifetime power
train protection and guaranteed he had ofapprovol from their family to yours for life,
Kelsey CHEVT, com Reds and Yankees. Tonight in the Bronx, Tyler

(01:09:09):
Stevenson is back. Austin Wins hasbeen dfaight seven h five tonight from New
York on seven hundred WLW. Yourstarting lineup tonight against Luis Heel, India's
leading off its second Dela Cruz atshort Jamer is a dhing, Spencer Steer
at first, Tyler Stevenson catching NickMartinez and left Noelve Martez at third base,

(01:09:31):
batting seventh, Stu Fairchild in center, and Will Benson is batting ninth
in right field, Graham Ashcraft onthe mound. Four Cincinnati Rads are eighteen
and nine this season in series openers. Keep that in mind tonight as the
Reds and Yanks play Game one ofthree in the third version of Yankee Stadium.

(01:09:54):
Rhet Lauder, who is the Red'stop prospect according to MLB Pipeline,
and Camp Collier, who is theRed's number three rank prospect according to MLB
Pipeline, will both be representing theReds in the Futures Game wrapped around All
Star Week in Arlington, Florence.Y All is on the road against Washington
and a couple of Bearcats named preseasonAll Big twelve elders Luke Candra and col

(01:10:19):
Raine's Dante Corleone, who we arewishing nothing but the best for. There
you go. Previous caller Ken mentionedElie de la Cruz, and one of
the things we found out when springtraining started was Ellie learned how to speak
English. Now let me be abundantlyclear about this. There are a lot

(01:10:44):
of Latin players who learn how tospeak English, but they're not comfortable doing
it publicly. And there are Latinplayers who have tried to learn how to
speak English and for whatever reason,they just can't. I've had people try
to teach me how to drive astick shift. I just can't. And
then there are some who, forwhatever reason, have chosen not to learn

(01:11:06):
how to speak English. And Idon't think any one of them is wrong,
but I could certainly appreciate somebody whoacquires a new skill and from his
perspective, learns how to speak alanguage that can help him communicate more with
his teammates, and let's face itmakes him a little bit more marketable and

(01:11:26):
allows him to speak better with themedia. And so this is not an
interview that I think a year agohe would have been able to do on
his own, But he was onMLB Network with Alana Rizzo, and here
is a part of that conversation.This aired earlier today. Go ahead,

(01:11:46):
you're such a dynamic player, Ellie. What do you enjoy the most about
playing this game? Because you playit with such joy? I mean,
I enjoy everything everything I do inthe field, I enjoy. I enjoy
playing the game, and I meanI enjoy running the basis, you know,

(01:12:12):
running the bases with that speed.You've been described as a five tool
player. In fact, Eric Davissays that you're a sixth tool player because
you're a switch hitter. What isthe one part of your game and you're
in your toolkit that you think you'rethe best at. What's your biggest strength?
My biggest strength, I mean Ihave I have a lot, but

(01:12:32):
uh speed, speed, I likethe most speed. Okay, so running
those base pass What's the one thingyou want to work on the most?
Is it hitting for average? Hittingfor power? Your arm? You know,
what do you want to work onthe most? What I want to
work the most is I mean,like on my body, like be able

(01:12:55):
to play every day and being healthythe whole season. Okay, how do
you do that? What types ofthings do you do in training to make
sure that you're ready to play onehundred and sixty two games in the regular
season. I mean, I doa lot of routine in the gym and
a lot of Koto Hotel and that'show I'll take care of my buddy there's

(01:13:19):
Ellie Delacruz with Alana Rizzo on MLBNetwork. He would also go on to
talk extensively about the impact of JonathanIndia in his development. Ellie dela Cruz,
We've talked about him a lot morethan any other Red this year,
and that's because to me, whetherthe Reds have been playing well or whether

(01:13:41):
they haven't been playing well, orwhether Ellie's been playing well or whether he
hasn't been playing well, he stillmust watch every single night, every single
night in a season that has attimes been really tough to watch, turning
the game on or going and knowingthat he do something really cool. Look
one day. We want all ofthat to be accompanied by there being a

(01:14:06):
better than average chance that every daythe Reds as a team are gonna do
something really cool. And we're notthere yet, but with Ellie, we
are sixteen away from five o'clock.This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports
Station. We believe everyone deserves accessto Fred. I haven't yet found out
how much money we get or whenwe get it, but I'm owed some
money by the NFL, and Iknow they're gonna appeal, but I'll take

(01:14:32):
it as an advance. I sentRod to Goodell on Twitter. I sent
them my venmo. I want mymoney. I want my piece of that
four hundred billion dollars or whatever thecost was. I'm not gonna be holding
my breath. We have an hourago Brendan and Jones on baseball. In
just a bit, there's something We'vegot a quick cold turkey and one more

(01:14:54):
thing on Ellie de la Cruz thatwe have to spend some time on.
Coming up at five oh five.We have a show tomorrow. Also,
Exavier Scrugs is gonna be on thisshow Former Big Leaguer now with Apple TV
at five thirty three. Looking forwardto that tomorrow night. If you are
a card collector, I am gonnabe starting at eight o'clock on the Hit

(01:15:19):
Seekers Fanatic stream. This starts ateight o'clock. We're gonna be opening up
twenty twenty four Tops Tier one cards, which gets released tomorrow. We're gonna
be opening them up and it's gonnabe a blast. We're gonna be a
hanging out talking sports, talking baseball, ripping Tier one. If you go

(01:15:39):
to my social media, there isa link that you could bookmark. Now
this is gonna be streamed tomorrow ateight o'clock. If you're not familiar with
hit Seekers, you've heard me talkabout them here. They have a shop
in Fort Mitchell on Dixie Highway,which is terrific. If you're a baseball,
card collector, football, basketball,whatever, you will their store.

(01:16:00):
And if you're going to the ballparkthis weekend, they've got a shop set
up inside GABP and it's a moderncard store. Are a lot of card
stores that are cool, but likeyou walk in, it's like the place
hasn't been cleaned in fifty years.Hit Seekers is the exact opposite. If
you're a card collector, you'll lovethis place. And if you're a card
collector and you want to see us, rip open tops tire one tomorrow at

(01:16:23):
eight o'clock. Go to my Twitter, go to my Instagram. We'll have
it on Facebook. Two bookmark delink and we'll see you tomorrow at eight
o'clock. I'm looking forward to it. Brentiman and Jones on Baseball Next Cincinnati's
ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from theUC Health Traffic Center. The University of

(01:16:43):
Cincinnati Cancer Center is opening the mostcomprehensive blood center in the nation. The
future of cancer is here. Callfive one three five eighty five UCCC on
westbound seventy four after North Bend Road. An accident there that's off on the
right shoulder, and keep it upfor an accident on the left shoulder southbound
I seventy one, that's after fieldsIrdle. I'm at Ezelac with traffic.

(01:17:06):
This report is he's ESPN fifteen thirty. I'll do that, sir. Thank
you. Hi. My name's Mollegarand this is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank
you. Thank you for listening.Everyone. One of those days you just

(01:17:27):
feel like you're constantly swimming upstream againstthe current, so to speak. That'd
be my day to day. Ihope you're having an awesome Tuesday afternoon.
My name is Maegar. This isthe michelob Ultra of five o'clock Happy Hour,
which is a service of michelob Ultra, which man, it's hot out
and for me, like we're combininga couple of things tonight, we got

(01:17:51):
the ball game Reds and Yankees.I also, I haven't cut my grass
in like two weeks, and Igotta cut it. And nothing better than
kicking back listening to the ball gamewe're watching the ball game with an ice
cold Mick Ultra. But let's behonest. You cut the grass, you
need a cold one Micultra is perfect. Stop by, pick up a six

(01:18:13):
pack or or even more on yourway home. Tonight, Exavier Scruggs is
going to be on our show.He is a former big leaguer who got
his first hit in his big leaguecareer at GABP, played for the Cardinals,
played for the Marlins, played overseas. He's now with Apple TV.
He's got Reds Tigers on Friday,and so we're going to chat with him

(01:18:34):
in just about thirty minutes and we'relooking forward to that. He does a
nice job Reds and Yankees tonight.The good news is Tyler Stevenson his back.
I know, I don't want tosay there was a scare or a
concern, but the verbiage of whatthe Reds did with him from a transactional
standpoint, I think made some ofus feel like, Okay, maybe this

(01:18:56):
is not going as well as everybodywould have hoped. And what I'm referring
to here is obviously the Tyler's wifegave birth. He was on the paternity
list. Yes, they placed himon the fedical fedical huh, on the
on the medical emergency leave list,and and and now he's back, and

(01:19:16):
so everything's apparently cool, which isawesome news. Tyler is back. Red's
play tonight against the Yankees. GrahamAshcraft, New York Man. For for
about a month and a half,there hasn't been a team in this sport
that played as well as the Yankeeswere. They have leveled off significantly.
And you know, this is thepart of me that that hates what we

(01:19:41):
do in baseball now. Now theplayoff structure now is better than it was
from this standpoint. There's clear incentiveto win the division, and there's clear
incentive to get the highest possible seed. But the Orioles and Yankees, Baltimore
has effectively caught New York. Theyhave a higher winning percentage, they're essentially

(01:20:02):
tied. Baltimore has one more loss, I'm sorry, one fewer loss,
but they also have one fewer win. And so there was a time where
like you would be thinking, likethis is going to be an awesome Pennant
race, and instead it's sort offadea complete. Both teams are going to
make the postseason. That doesn't meanthere's non incentive to win the division.
Clearly there is, but still anyway, New York has lost eleven of sixteen,

(01:20:27):
and so the Reds aren't getting theYankee club that was dominating about a
month and a half ago, butstill a formidable opponent with a good lineup.
Nonetheless, though a chance if theReds can win a series to have
some momentum for these final thirteen games. I was joking about this before with
our buddy Mike from LA that itdoes feel and I think we did this

(01:20:53):
last year, and we enjoyed lastyear. We even kind of did it
the year before when they lost onehundred games. It feels like we've done
this a lot, and I willacknowledge and even admit to to doing this.
Sometimes you look at a schedule whenit comes out, or at the
beginning of the season at least,and you try to find areas where it's
like, all right, here thiscould be some smooth sailing relative to the

(01:21:15):
rest of the season, and here'swhere there could be some rough waters relative
to the rest of the season.And so sometimes we sort of fragment the
season and go, boy, here'sa really rough stretch where they're gonna have
to figure out how to survive.And then here here's a stretch where the
schedule gets a little bit easier,and here's where they can really make up
some ground or separate themselves a littlebit. And then you add injuries to

(01:21:40):
the mix, and it feels likewe do this all the time. And
so then the current narrative for alot of people is, well, these
next thirteen games, the Reds aregonna play a Yankees team that's struggling.
And then and then the schedule beforethe All Star break, you know,
it's the Detroit Tigers, who arekind of the definition of mediocrity, and

(01:22:01):
the Rockies are awful, and theMarlins are awful. And so here's these
thirteen games. These are going todefine the season until after the All Star
Break, when we say the exactsame things about the twelve games or so
that the Reds will play coming rightout of the All Star Break, which
begin with a three game road seriesagainst the rather mediocre Washington Nationals. I

(01:22:27):
get doing that, and the Redsclearly have to start playing better, and
they've got to take advantage of badopponents. But they've got to start playing
better. Is a true statement.Regardless of who's on the schedule, and
they've got to start making up someground as a true statement regardless of schedule.
We've talked a little bit about thetrade deadline, trade deadlines in four

(01:22:47):
weeks, and so to a largedegree, what happens on the field could
determine what the Reds ultimately decide todo. I've said a few times on
this show so that I believe,I believe. We talked about buying and
selling in pretty limited terms. Abuyer in traditional terms makes you think of

(01:23:10):
a team that is in the huntthat's going to give away a prospect in
exchange for an older player whose contractis expiring, and a seller is going
to give away a player whose contractis expiring in exchange for a young guy
or a prospect. I think,in terms of adding to the team,
the Red should be looking for playerslike and I'm not saying it should be

(01:23:30):
Trevor Bauer, but like Trevor Bauerin twenty nineteen, the kind of guy
you got for the rest of theseason and then the following year, and
even more ideal, the year afterthat. Those players are going to cost
a lot. I think that's theappropriate strategy. Really regardless of what happens
over the next couple of weeks.I also think if you want them to

(01:23:51):
be aggressive, then you have tobe willing to talk about players that other
teams are gonna want. I've broughtup the name Jonathan India, and look,
man, if Jonathan India is aRed in twenty twenty five, that's
good. That's even if he wasn'treally hitting right now, which he's obviously
on fire at the moment, butnot literally. If he's a Red next

(01:24:12):
season, who's opposed to that?So this isn't about getting rid of him
for the sake of getting rid ofhim. It's about kind of coming up
with a list of players that couldget you something in return. What something
looks like is is up for debate. With Jonathan India. I think the
Reds did something pretty smart with himthis offseason. They didn't go to arbitration,

(01:24:33):
they agreed to terms. They paidhim this year a little bit more
than a little bit less than threemillion dollars. Now he gets a pay
raise next year, but we alreadyknow what that dollar amount is going to
be. Five million bucks. Andif I'm making a trade, if I'm
making a trade for a guy thatI get beyond this season. It can
It can help my decision making processif I know what he's going to be

(01:24:57):
making, and that might make hima more attractive trade chip. Could you
get a lot for him? Ifthe answer is no, don't trade him.
But if we're gonna do the thingwhere we talk about the Reds needing
to use the deadline to get betterand look, man, their outfield,
call it what it is. Itstinks. It's got to be better.
If you want to make it betterat the deadline, maybe a guy like

(01:25:18):
Jonathan India is someone you'd have tobe willing to part with. Joey Vado
came back and in a game fora Blue Jays minor league team, got
a hit and stole a base Neat. I'm rooting like hell for Joey Vada.

(01:25:40):
I want him to have a fantasticfinal chapter as a big leaguer.
And he signed with the Blue Jays. If you recall, he had a
home run in his first spring traininggame and then spent three months not playing,
and then when he came back andplayed, he played in a game
and then his back tightened up andso he had to miss more time and
he has since come back, andof course when that happens, you know,

(01:26:08):
could you bring back Joey Vado?What it cost? Blue Jays aren't
very good. They're in dead lastplace. They're not climbing out of the
cellar in the American League. EastReds have lacked veteran presence. They're not
gonna have Christian and Karnassi on strandLet's do this. Let's do this.

(01:26:29):
You're not gonna want to do it, but we're going to do it.
They might not do it on theother shows, We're going to do it.
Okay, this is hard. Thisis hard for a lot of us
because we all love Joey Evado,one of my five all time favorite Reds.

(01:26:50):
I will go to Cooperstown for hisHall of Fame induction. I will
be there for his Reds Hall ofFame induction. I hope, like hell
he joins the Blue Jays and killsit. But we're gonna have to go
cold Turkey here and move on fromJoey Vado. That is it's hard to

(01:27:16):
quit anything cold Turkey. I don'thave anything I've really tried to quit.
That's a huge vice. I havevices, but it's hard to quit cold
Turkey. I've watched people try toquit smoking cold turke. It's hard to
do. We're gonna have to doit here. He's forty years old,

(01:27:38):
he's hurt all the time. Iwant players who are young, who are
closer to their prime, who areless likely to get injured. Let's do
this now before July really gets underway, before we get close to the deadline.
If you want the sentimental homecoming,okay, fine. If you're looking

(01:28:02):
for additions that can legitimately improve theteam's chances, legitimately improve the team's chances,
the first move that comes to mindcan't be let's go get the forty
year old guy who's always hurt.It was about to be forty one.
We're not gonna do it here.So Tony and Austin, I don't know

(01:28:26):
that they're gonna make it. Quitcold Turkey. I think we all should
do it together, But on thisshow, we're gonna quit cold Turkey.
The next time we talk about JoeyVado as he relates to the Reds will
be either when he retires or comesback and plays against the Reds specifically here,

(01:28:49):
or is in the news for areason that makes sense to talk about.
We're not going to discuss adding himto the team. I'm the guy
who said I think maybe this teamcould use some sort of veteran presence.
To be honest with you, I'mkind of cool with just letting these guys
figure it out right now. Iwant players who are in their prime,

(01:29:13):
or players who are about to entertheir prime, and younger dudes who are
less likely to get hurt. Idon't want the fun reunion story. I
have no use for the neat sentimentalityof Joey coming. We've got to quit
it. We've got like every timethe guy takes a rounding batting practice,
I get people throwing on me tweets. Look, Joey got throw around a

(01:29:39):
batting practice and didn't pull anything.I love Joey Vadu like I'm the guy
who basically created a career out oftrying to talk to people who were fascinated
with RBIs and hitters, not walking. How good of a player Joey was
eleven years ago. I will arguehis Hall of Fame bona fides until I

(01:30:04):
can't speak anymore. That can't bethe end. Like every time what about
Joey Vana, I don't know,man, Can he can he go through
a week of doing baseball stuff withouthurting himself? Can we see if you
can play anymore? Can we watchhim play in a Major League baseball game?
Like I just we've got to quithim. We've we've we've got We've

(01:30:27):
got to move on. We've gotto quit. This is like obsessing over
your ex. It's not healthy.She's moved on. You've got to move
on. Stop you delete her Instagram, stop Facebook stalking her, stop asking
her friends what she's it's it's quitit pull the band aid off cold turkey,
it's it's tough. It's not healthyto dwell on an X. It

(01:30:49):
isn't I'm not interested in in oldplayers who are hurt all the time,
who haven't been good. While thatsounds really harsh, it's just it's it's
who he is. Like legitimately,man, there's there's no Joey Vado spent
all of his career with the Padresor the opland A's or the uh I

(01:31:13):
don't know, the the Miami Marlins. Nobody spends their entire career with that
team. But let's say he did, and then he went somewhere else.
Would you be remotely interested in bringinghim back. No, like it's it's
time to quit. It's it's time. We have a hard time doing that
in this town. I I understandit, Like there's there's always a desire
to like bring back old player whoused to be good, Like we we

(01:31:35):
do that, well here, let'smove on, like it'll feel good.
Let's move on, just like ifit feels if if you say to yourself,
I'm done asking if the Reds canbring back Joey Vado, You'll you'll

(01:31:56):
feel You'll feel lighter, you'll feelrelieved, you'll feel better, And then
you can maybe take a look atplayers who are closer to their prime,
who have upside, who aren't injuredas often, and then the conversations can
be a little bit more productive.The conversation cease when the first name brought

(01:32:19):
up is soon to be forty oneyear old Joey Vado. I know this
will piss off Joey Vado fans.I am a joe Evado fan. And
if he joins the Blue Jays thisyear, I hope the dude hits four
to sixty. I hope he crushesit. Plays so well in such a

(01:32:40):
short amount of time, as acomeback Player of the Year, be awesome
for the purposes of discussing moves thatcould make the Reds better now and down
the road. The first name webring up cannot be Joey Vado. We
are quitting Cold Turkey. Nineteen minutesafter five o'clock, Exavier Scruggs is going

(01:33:08):
to join US Apple TV, MLBNetwork ESPN. He's been all over the
place, and he played for DavidBell kinda kinda David Bell was a coach
with the Cardinals, and I'm kindof interested in what it was like playing
for David Bell when he was thecoach, not the manager. We'll do
that coming up in fifteen minutes andtalk Ellie and Hunter and so much more

(01:33:30):
on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati SportsStation, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty, and
iHeartRadio Station, the exclusive audio homeof NBC's coverage of the twenty twenty four
Paris Olympics. I started the showby smacking myself in the face with the

(01:33:51):
microphone. That was two hours andtwenty minutes ago. I just rolled over
my foot with the chair. Andwho says this is not a physically demanding
job? Five point three seven fournine, fifteen thirty is our phone number,

(01:34:12):
John and Finley, You're on ESPNfifteen thirty. Good afternoon, heay
mo, Good afternoon to you.What's going on? Well, first of
all, I just wanted to saythat that first h half hour and change
of yesterday's show was just absolutely fantastic. I can't imagine someone being able to

(01:34:34):
verbalize all that he meant to you, and that was just that was really
cool to hear. Pat. Ithought that was fantastic. Well, thank
you for sitting through it. Iknow it was long winded. I could
have kept going, but you know, when you have people in your life,
no matter what you do, whojust mean more uh and mean a

(01:34:55):
lot to you, And if you'vehad any success, are the main reasons
why? And there there's more thanone, but but jim Is is at
the top of that list for me. I could have listened to that for
hours. I mean, there's everyonehas forks in the road in their life
and and you think about those thingswhen things like that come about. But
anyway, to my point with aboutJoey Vado, I just I'm with you.

(01:35:18):
I really really really wish he wouldhave hung it up last year I
just it's it's kind of rough tosee him struggle the last couple of years,
just with performance and injuries and allthat. I mean, this,
this city would have just embraced himso much if you'd have just called it

(01:35:40):
quits last year. And and Ijust, I mean I do. I
mean, I hope he has ashot with the Blue Jays. I don't
know if that's actually gonna happen,but I don't have any Like I said,
I'm I'm a big Batto fan.I always will be his his time
in Cincinnati, with some of thosetough years, it was really one of

(01:36:01):
the only reasons I stuck with someseasons just just to watch him play and
watch him grind out on batts inSeptember when the team had nothing else to
play for. That was such athrill to watch a guy that dedicated to
his craft that man, I wishhe would have just decided that was it
last year. Yeah, I mean, look, I don't love if anybody

(01:36:28):
wants to continue doing something they lovewhere there's there's obviously a finite amount of
time where they could do it.Far be it from me or anyone else
to tell them that they shouldn't keepdoing something as long as they would like.
And I could certainly understand not wantingto go out the way Joey did
an injury filled season the year kindof petering out him not being productive.
I could get that now as afan, purely as a fan, you

(01:36:53):
hate to see guys. You hateto see guys play as shell of themselves
or as shadows of themselves, andwhere it just it lasts so long that
you start to you start to almostthink of them as that shell of the
player that they used to be,if that makes sense. And I didn't
want to see that with Joey Vado. But I mean, look, yeah,

(01:37:14):
I'm rooting for him in Toronto,but I'm also reasonable enough to understand
that what he is likely to beat this stage in his career is either
a non productive player as a regular, a part time player, a player
who's often hurt and at the endof the day, nothing even close to
replicating the guy that you just talkedabout that we fell in love with.

(01:37:38):
And if you're looking for guys whocan make the team better, I'm not
interested in players like that now.If you're looking for hood ornaments or you're
looking for somebody who's going to comeback and make everybody feel good independent of
what happens with the team. Well, then trying to get Joey Vado back
is is your thing? It feltto me like that ship sailed last September.

(01:37:58):
But if we're gonna lead conversations aboutlet's make the team better, if
the first suggestion is forty year oldguy who's always hurt and hasn't been good
in a while, you're gonna loseme. Yep, absolutely, John,
I appreciate it, man, thankyou, thank you. All right,
I appreciate the phone call. Redsare in New York tonight to take on

(01:38:21):
the Yankees. They're home on Fridayto take on the Detroit Tigers. That's
one of those Apple TV games,and part of the coverage is a guy
who got his first career hit inGABP. Exavier Scruggs does a nice job
MLB Network, Apple TV. Hejoins us next since an Audults get away

(01:38:42):
from six. This is ESPN fifteenthirty on Loeger. The Reds are in
New York tonight, first of threeagainst the Yankees. They will come home
on Friday, open up a firsthalf ending homestand with three games against the
Detroit Tigers. Reds will get theFriday Night Baseball treatment on Apple TV the
Friday Night Baseball lineup. The productionof those games has been terrific. The

(01:39:08):
Reds have been on a few timesever since Apple TV started covering Major League
Baseball. They've partnered with MLB Networkto produce the games. They look great.
It's a different perspective and alongside manymany others, including our friend Lauren
Gardner is a former big leaguer whoactually got his first major league hit at

(01:39:29):
Great American Ballpark ten years ago.You'll see him on Friday Night Reds and
Tigers. Exavier Scruggs is with us. It is good to have you.
Thank you for joining us. Doyou remember your first hit at gabp oh
first and foremost, thank you forhaving me. Of course, I can
never forget that first swing where theball actually drops in. There was a

(01:39:49):
double off the right field wall.I remember round in first base and not
even feeling myself getting to second baseand just feeling like that, How was
the time when I knew I wasultimately a big leaguer. That was all
the weight off my shoulders. I'mlike, man, I can actually do
this. I think I can.I think I belong here. So that
was pretty cool. Uh, correctme if I'm wrong against JJ Hoover.

(01:40:12):
Correct, Yeah, that is correct. JJ Hoover, which is which is
a friend of mine too, Soit's cool to do it. And you
have the ball. I have theball. I gave it to my dad.
My dad has been, you know, a huge support of me obviously
since when I was small, andhe kept asking me when I was going
to get my first major league hit. So I basically threw it in his

(01:40:33):
face to say, year, yougot it. Do you throw it in
JJ Hoover's face. No, Idon't throw it in his face. I
never saw it in his face.Very good, Uh you. The Reds
get the Apple TV treatment on Friday, which means Ellie Dela Cruz gets the
Apple TV treatment, which I thinkis a special treat for people around the

(01:40:54):
country. Look, the Reds,they're not having a great year win loss
record wise, obviously, lots oftime to go. So there are a
few players in the sport as talkedabout as Ellie, and there are gonna
be some folks who watch him aroundthe country on Friday who maybe haven't had
a chance to watch them all thatmuch. You've seen him a bunch,
and I know you're a fan.When you watch him, what's the first
thing that stands out? I mean, just the electricity, right, like

(01:41:17):
the speed that comes off the bases, the how hard he hits the baseball,
the passion that he plays the gamewith. A lot of times we
hype these guys up and they don'tend up living up to expectations. But
Elie de la Cruz has seemed tolive up to those expectations on almost every
aspect of the ball. And Ithink it's very rare for us to see

(01:41:40):
that at such a young age thatsomebody possesses the tools that he has but
knows how to harness it as aplayer on a consistent basis. And I
think that's what's going to make himdangerous, right is maybe the bat isn't
there one day, but he couldsteal four bases. Right. Maybe he's
not feeling good from a running standpoint, but he's going to go make a
play the hole and throw you outwith one hundred mile an hour of velocity

(01:42:03):
going over the first base. Thereare so many ways that he can impact
the game, and I think thatthat's rare in today's game, and one
of the reasons why everybody loves watchingEllie de la Cruz Right now. I'm
in I'm in CSD Key in Florida, and I walked past this kid and
he was wearing an Elie de laCruz shirt. I'm here in Florida and

(01:42:24):
I said, I said, doyou know who that is? And he
said, yeah, he's my favoriteplayer. I said, why is he
your favorite player? He says,because he's the best young player in the
game. And he may not andhe may not be lying about that.
He might be the best young playerwe have in the game. Uh,
he must watch And what I lovemost about watching him is if if you're
if you're a defensive player, ifyou're in the outfield, if you're in

(01:42:46):
the infield, you've you've got tobe on your toes right and you can't.
You can't make a mistake. Youcan't lollygag to a ball. You
can't throw a ball you know,you can't miss the cutoff guy. You
can't throw the ball off the base, you can't overrun a ball. What
is it like as a defensive playerwhen there's a guy either add played or
on the basis, who does thatto you? Yeah, I mean it's

(01:43:12):
just it's what the manager of Alade la Cruz wants in David Bell,
you want to put pressure on theopposing defense. We talk about that a
lot in our game and how wecan apply pressure instead of receiving that pressure.
And that's how you do it isbeing able to take an extra base
right, being able to make surethat if it's a stolen based opportunity,

(01:43:34):
I'm gonna look to take second,but I'm also gonna look to take thirds,
and then I'm gonna be able tosacrifice flyde and go home easy or
I can steal home. So ifyou can put pressure on the posing defense,
it makes them be that much morealert, but also it allows them
to maybe make more mistakes. Andthat's what you're looking to do as an
offense is see what you can doto make the other team make the mistakes

(01:43:57):
and keep the pressure on them offensively. Exavier Scruggs is with this Apple TV
Friday Night, Red's hosting the DetroitTigers. Another young guy, and I
kind of wish he was throwing onFriday. We've watched here in a season
that has often been frustrating it feelslike we have watched the light bulb really
come on for Hunter Green to theextent that you've watched him, what do

(01:44:17):
you see? Yeah, I thinkwe're starting to see him develop really into
a pitcher who understands his arsenal.I think we get guys that come up
that can throw hard and don't reallyunderstand how to use it the best way,
And I think that's what we've seenfrom him as a recent is,
Hey, how do I use thisone hundred mile an hour fastball to tunnel

(01:44:41):
it off of my off speed?How do I set guys up to where
I can use this fastball up inthe zone and also be able to go
deeper into some ball games? Right? I think one of the issues with
him was giving up the home runearly on in the game, and now
he's kind of learned how to beable to navigate those situations to where if
I'm giving up a home run,it's going to be a solo job.

(01:45:02):
It's not going to be when guysare on base, and I become predictable
as a pitcher. No, he'sdone a great job of being unpredictable,
which allows him to have a lotof success. I look at Also the
split finger that's come into play ina major way for him too. He's
using a pitch to that can kindof go away from lefties, and I
think he'll continue to use that ashe continues to develop that curveball as well.

(01:45:25):
So you see him developing pitches.He's been unpredictable, his arsenal looks
better, and it's tougher for hittersto adjust to his pitches. Obviously you
weren't a pitcher, but it feelsto me like it's not that uncommon.
You know, we've we've been followingHunter's career now for a while, and
we've often heard about, well,he's learning a splitter or he's learning a
change up. And it's one thingto learn those pitches. It's something else

(01:45:46):
entirely to trust them, and itfeels like he's trusting them this season.
Is a commonplace in your experience fora pitcher to take a while to not
develop the pitch, but once hehas it trusted and at any point in
the count, well absolutely. Imean, you think about a pitcher like
him who's let's remember he's still twentyfour years old, so he's learning and

(01:46:10):
developing at the big league level aswell. His fastball has always blown everybody
away. Even at the big leaguelevel. It still blows guys away at
times, but you're now facing majorleague hitters who understand how to get to
that pitch in certain counts. Soyou have to learn how to use other
pitches to be able to set thatpitch up. And I think he's learning

(01:46:30):
more so how to develop those mechanicsin which he can repeat as well to
where his command is on point withthose secondary pitches. To me, you
can have the fastball velocity all youwant, you can have even great secondary
stuff, but if you can't commandit, then hitters are always going to
be up in the count two ohthree one, and then they know that

(01:46:50):
one hundred miles in our fastball's comingand all major league hitters can hit it.
Now, we were talking about ElieDelacruz and you reference David Bell.
You spend time with the Cardinals infourteen and fifteen. David was on the
coaching staff as a bench coach.What do you remember about being a part
of the same team as him.Yeah, I just remember him having a

(01:47:12):
great mind and a great understanding forthe in game analysis. What's going on
in between the lines during the gameand understanding, hey, be ready in
this situation because this is probably goingto happen. He saw the game innings
ahead of time, and as abench coach that that's a lot of what
you're looking for. Also, you'regreat at communication. Most of the bench

(01:47:34):
guys are great with communication with theplayers. That's another thing that really stuck
out to me is his ability tohave conversation but also relate because he's been
there, done that right. Hedid it for a long time and he
understands the frustrations that players go through. So when you have a coach that
can relate in those ways, acoach that knows how to communicate, but

(01:47:55):
a coach that in game analysis isat the top of the line. I
mean, he's got all the righttools, and I'm hoping this team he
has gets to turn it around alittle bit this season. Yeah, you
and me both. And look,there's a lot of season in front of
us. The Reds don't have agreat record, but there are a lot
of teams in the National League thatdon't have a great record that still harbor

(01:48:16):
legitimate playoff hopes. So if youlook at that large pack of teams,
in the NL that has maybe underwhelmedto this point but could still get to
the postseason. How do you handicapthat race? Yeah, I think you
have to look at the Cincinnati Redsbeing in a position where they're four and
a half games back, right,and there's been a lot of inconsistency with

(01:48:38):
the teams in front of them.Think about the Mets that started off so
rough this season and now they're startingto play better baseball and have the best
record since May thirtieth. They didn'tlook very good in the beginning. The
same thing with the Cardinals, right, we were like, where's this Cardinal
offense? And now of a suddenthey find themselves in a wild card position.
The same exact thing can happen forthe Reds four and a half back

(01:49:00):
from a wildcard spot. I thinkall they need to do is give that
offense a little bit more of achance with some better starts, which we
know they can do because they haveguys with some good stuff, and just
continue to go out there and playthe offense. It will be all right
if you can get some good startsand good good boltpen corps as well to
be able to keep games close lateand also lock them up. Then you're

(01:49:24):
talking about a team that can finda run here pretty soon. It's been
fun to watch your post playing careergrow. We have you on all the
time here in our studio when you'reon MLB Network and we'll be watching on
Friday Night. I appreciate the time, man, thanks so much, thanks
for having me. You got it. Exavier Scruggs Friday Night Apple TV,
Reds and Tigers. He is apart of that coverage. Also, MLB

(01:49:48):
Network has done some work for ESPNas well. They'll get mad at me
if I don't also mention the gameon Fridays on seven hundred WLW. So
there I covered my bases there.But Exavier Scrugs good stuff from him.
First big league, his only onlyto he played against the Reds. He
got to hit against him September twentyfourteen against JJ Hoover. If I'm not

(01:50:10):
mistaken, JJ Hoover gave up alot of hits to a lot of people
that year. It is seventeen awayfrom six. This is ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station. Hey, it'sMoweger. There's only one way to save
mo money on your personal business andlife. Insurance. It's with my friends
at United Hot Speaking of old playerswho used to be here who are in

(01:50:33):
my top five all time favorite Reds, Johnny Cuato opted out of his minor
league deal with the Texas Rangers.He was pitching for Round Rock, where
in eight games he had an ERAfive point nine two. So he is
looking for a big league gig.Johnny Cuato is thirty eight years old.

(01:50:57):
He has I hate to say bouncedaround, but he sort of has.
He last pitching the big leagues lastyear for the Marlins were in thirteen games.
He had an earn run average ofsix point zero two. Johnny Quoto
looking for a gig, So good, Johnny Quato, Get Joey Vado,
just to just see if Jay Bruceis around, Drew Stubbs and just round

(01:51:18):
the band back together. Just tryto recapture the magic of the twenty twelve
Rads with as many guys as youcould possibly get from the twenty twelve Rads.
I love those guys. I lovethose teams. I really do love

(01:51:40):
the players on them. The solutionfor a current problem can't always be a
dude from the past. Speaking ofwedge Pole question, Thanks to our friends,
that United Heartland Insurance. They willhelp you save mo money. Now
it's a holiday week. We gotfourth of July. I bet no one's
working tomorrow. So insurance is notat the top of your mind right now,

(01:52:04):
and that's fine. Maybe insurance isnever at the top of your mind.
Unlike me, I think about insuranceall the time. What insurance is
at the top of your mind?You need to get a hold of the
folks at United Heartland Insurance. They'llhelp you save more money. Could be
your car insurance, could be yourhome insurance, could be your your business
insurance, whatever it is homeowners uhisdot com and they get an office in

(01:52:30):
Burlington right there in Route eighteen.They got an office in Cincinnati, they
got an office in Hamilton, gotoffice everywhere, and they sponsor our poll
question and they are awesome question todaythe voting is early, but I am
looking at mathematically a fifty to fiftysplit. Should the reds shop Jonathan India,

(01:52:54):
two very obvious answers, yes orno? Vote now at Moeger right
now is I look at it.It's changed slightly, but a few minutes
ago it was a dead even fiftyfifty split. There you go. There

(01:53:16):
you go. I just I don't. There's not much in the realm of
sports conversation that aggravates me like thisis this is the toy department, this
is fun in games. But Ijust found last summer so funny because for
weeks we had these conversations about,well, do you do you want the

(01:53:39):
Reds to make an addition at thetrade deadline? And there were these unending
discussions about how well they're ahead ofschedule, they'll be fine, and well,
they're not fine. I mean,they're maybe not doomed, but but
they're not fine and so and youknow, they were on the outside looking
into the postseason, and some triedto against that being the case and how

(01:54:00):
unfulfilling it would feel if they barelymissed the postseason but also didn't make a
major move. But what I wasamused by more than anything else was and
to a degree aggravated, was youwould you would have these conversations that would
effectively be like this, Hey,do you want the Reds to make a

(01:54:21):
trade? Yeah? Do you wantthe Reds to go forward and try to
make the postseason? Yeah? Okay, how about trading this guy? No,
how about trading this guy? No, and I could be more specific,
but you would provide this endless listof young players or guys they can

(01:54:44):
move on from, and the playerswho would get you something in return.
I mean, I eventually came onthe air one day and said, like,
all who are we willing to sayis not untouchable? And don't mention
some you know, scrub who downan a ball is never getting any playing
time, It's never going to playin the big leagues. You got to
give up something of value. Andthen it felt to me like some of
the the exact same folks who weredead set against trading anybody would then get

(01:55:12):
mad when they weren't more aggressive,like you can't have it both ways.
I was aggrevated. Again, notmuch about sports conversation aggravates me. That
aggravated me, And then so didthe Remember they don't make a deal.
The Reds were in Chicago at thetime, they're in first place, didn't

(01:55:33):
make a trade that they traded forSam Maul, which is actually a pretty
good move, but they're in Chicago, and the narrative is, well,
they didn't make a trade, butthat the players in the clubhouse, they're
really happy, they're relieved, they'reenergized, and then they went out there
and like lost their next eight games, and like, I get it,

(01:55:53):
that's what the players are gonna say, and that's how it's gonna be spun.
But there were fans, maybe you, who kind of took that and
that was their argument as to whythe approach the Reds took was the correct
one. See, the players wereexcited, and the counter to that for
me was, so, let's saythey would have made a trade and they
would have gone and gotten a startingpitcher, but the player's been pissed off.

(01:56:16):
No, Like, so, like, what we can do it again
this year and talk about how theReds might get better at the deadline and
what possibilities there are and are therereally any legitimate possibilities and what's the market
gonna look like? All interesting conversations, But if we're gonna say no to
every player who might be good,then the Reds have no chance of being

(01:56:39):
aggressive. Being aggressive involves if you'reif you're gonna go buy something, if
you're gonna be one of those peoplethat go on Black Friday and try to
beat everybody that's aggressive, Like that'saggressive, or you know, you just
you want to go to an auctionor do something on eBay, and you
want to make sure you outbitody.That's aggressive. Giving away your junk is

(01:57:02):
not aggressive. Trading away your playerswho aren't good not aggressive. Trading away
your guys who have no real future, not aggressive. Trading away players you
have no room for because they stink. Not aggressive. So I think if
we do this over the next fourweeks, we should we should we should
define what aggressive means and what itlooks like. It doesn't look like holding

(01:57:28):
onto every player, and for mymoney, it doesn't look like just shaking
her head and saying no about maybeshopping a player like Jonathan India who will
get four hits tonight. And thiswill be thrown back at me tomorrow,
and I hope that's the case.We have to go. We're back at
it tomorrow. It's our last showof the week. Thanks to Tarren Bland
for producing, Thanks to you forlistening. Have a great night. This

(01:57:53):
is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. In part sim SI