7/28/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

Shemar Stewart has signed his deal! Preview of the Reds vs Dodgers series and more training camp reports with Tony Pike.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Cincinnati's sports station.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
I have no idea why he felt the need to
repeat himself, but here we are.

Speaker 3 (00:07):
What's up.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty on Molager. Thanks for listening.
I hope you had like the greatest weekend of all time.
Nice and relaxing, nice and hot, hot, I said. Show
previews available on Twitter at Moulager. Thanks to United. Thanks
to Emory Federal Credit Union. Off till a good start.
Emery Federal Credit Union, your credit union with heart since

(00:33):
nineteen thirty nine. Go to EMORYFCU dot org and in
three weeks you should join us for the Emery Federal
Credit Union Golf Outing, which is going to be happening
at four Bridges Country Club. It benefits Cincinnati Children's charities
and it's going to be a lot of fun and
you can have fun if you join us. You'll have
no fun if you don't, so sign up now at
EMORYFCU dot org. We are going to go to the

(00:57):
race and Claire Roofing Hotline coming up in four minutes.
Tony Pike with the first of three live training Camp
reports ESPN fifteen thirties Tony Training Camp Show this morning,
which was abbreviated because of the weather comes your way.
Thanks to a door and window. A door and window,
they sell the best and service the rest. Thanks to
Adam Weber for his support of the Bengals and for

(01:19):
sponsoring are broadcast. There's a lot going on. We got
to get to the reds here in just a second.
First of all, my deep and heartfelt thank you to
Shamar Stuart and his agents. I have no idea how
good of an NFL player he is going to be,
but as far as I'm concerned, he will always be
a first ballot ESPN fifteen thirty Ring of Honor inductee.

(01:44):
This guy helped us get through, let's be honest, that
stretch of time where there's not a ton going on,
Shamar Stuart and his agent were fountains of content. Thank
you very much, Schamar. Thank you very much, Hiller and
my extension, thank you very much to the Cincinnati Bengals.

(02:05):
Shamar Stuart's in camp and practice today and by all
accounts since they moved inside, had a good day of
practice today, his first padded practice, the Bengals first padded practice.
There's no practice tomorrow. They're back at at ten am Wednesday,
Open to the public. Hopefully the rain and thunder and
lightning stay away. I am because these are the sort

(02:30):
of things that I'm into. I am deeply appreciative of
not just Shamar Stuart and his agent giving us endless
hours of content, but also I could appreciate the Friday
Evening news dump. Our show ended at six o'clock on Friday.
I got home at like six twenty five and I
looked at my phone and there was a notification Adam

(02:52):
Schefter tweeting about Shamar Stewart signing.

Speaker 3 (02:54):
His deal the Friday Evening news dump.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Going into the off day for the players on Saturday,
Chef's kiss now more important, though, The question becomes can
he get caught up? Like legitimately h I certainly believe. Well,
it goes without saying. I guess that there's there's a
lot of time on Shamar Stewart's side. Most of training

(03:18):
camp he missed three practices, he missed none of the
padded workouts. All three preseason games still in front of him.
But how much can he get caught up from what
he may have missed? And more than anything else, although
this obviously ties into it more than anything else, As
we start to talk about Shamar Stuart's ability again, which
has not been what we have been discussing. Right as

(03:41):
we start to talk about his fit on the team,
his productivity, his lack of productivity areas where he's been
more productive than the sack total might suggest. Can Shamar
Stewart have the kind of rookie season that the Bengals
drafted him to have? Like, let's hass to side because
it's over right, the guarantees, the contract language. I think

(04:06):
the whole charade ended up being sort of silly. Chamar
basically caved, and for caving, the Bengals gave him a
half million dollars months earlier than he would have gotten it.
I have no clue why this couldn't have happened about
a month ago. But nonetheless, Chamar is back all right.
Now we fling the conversation back to his football bona
fides and his ability to help the team this season.

(04:33):
Many will focus on the one and a half sacks
God knows I have, but I'm actually, and maybe I'm
in the minority here, I am optimistic that Shamar Stewart
is going to be able to help this team this
season because I think with any player at any position.
You could look at any stat and wonder how it

(04:54):
translates to the next level. We want Shamar Stewart to
get sacks. I want Shamar Stewart to have more than
one and a half sacks. We want over the next
three years for Shamar Stewart to have more than four
and a half sacks, which is what he had at
Texas A and M during his college football career. But
the pressures the thirty nine last season among the top

(05:16):
forty in all of FBS college football. If that translates
to this level, if that ends up becoming a big
part of what he does, even if the sacks don't come,
he's gonna prove to be an asset for this football team.
I don't know, but I think to a degree, like

(05:37):
the Bengals are telling you, sacks themselves don't matter as much.
Last year, the reigning NFL sack leader played for them.
Bengals aren't exactly giving Trey Hendrickson what he's looking for.
So can a team that is kind of deemphasizing sacks
get the benefit from a guy who's really good at

(05:59):
pressuring the quarterback even if he isn't good at sacking him.
It's one of the main storylines now at the offseason
or the training camp of training camp. I guess now
that Jamar Stewart has signed his contract. A lot more
on Shamar, and we'll talk about Trey and the day
that was at training camp here in just a bit.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
Be honest with me.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
Last Tuesday night, the night before Bengals training camp, the
Reds had played a game against the Washington Nationals, and frankly,
it was like the worst game they had played all
season long. It felt like a game played between two
teams going nowhere in late September. The Reds lost that
night six to one. In the game, didn't feel like

(06:42):
it was that close at that point, there were two
games over five hundred and fifty two and fifty. It
was the night before Bengals training camp started, and so
many of us had the same reaction. Hey, the Reds
got us to training camp, literally got us to the
doorstep of training camp. And we joked about this on
the Training Camp show on Wednesday morning that it kind

(07:03):
of felt like the Reds handed the rest of the summer,
handed everybody's sports attention, handed it to the Bengals. Less
than a week later, they have yet to lose. They
won the series finale in Washington. They just swept the
Tampa Bay Rays, and they have achieved something that we
had asked them to achieve two months ago. They have

(07:24):
achieved clarity. They're a game out of the last wildcard spot. Yes,
they have a three game series with the LA Dodgers
starting tonight. Yes, if they get swept in that series,
the math could change at least a little bit. But
they're going to go into the final four days before
the trade deadline one game out of a playoff spot.

(07:46):
Back in mid May, you know, folks were kind of
wondering in some corners is it time to sell? Some
were making the argument it's time to prepare to buy.
Most of us, though, we're looking at it going the
Reds have to achieve clarity here. They've either got to

(08:07):
be good enough or bad enough so that we're not
wondering are they buyers or are they sellers? And let's
face it, most of us wanted them to achieve the
kind of clarity that they have achieved, which is to
establish themselves as contenders, to establish themselves as buyers. Some
really important things have happened with this team. Certainly did
this weekend. Brady Singer had a really good start yesterday,

(08:30):
and you talk about somebody who badly needed one. He
got one yesterday. Red scored a couple of early runs
for him and then kind of stopped hitting. Brady Singer
was terrific. Andrew Abbott had a very good start on
Saturday night. Nick Martinez was good enough. They got some
awesome bullpen work this weekend. Matt McClain, look, man, he
was the most disappointing Red of the first half of

(08:50):
the season. If we would have done that topic at
the All Star break, Who's been the biggest surprise, Who's
been the biggest disappointment? I think the biggest surprise is
something that a good discussion could have been had over.
I don't know that there was a bigger disappointment in
the first ninety seven games of the season, which is
how many they played before the All Star Break, than
Matt McClain. And it wasn't just about him. It was

(09:13):
about where he hits in the batting order. The two
hole production from this team needed to be better. Since then,
he has gotten a hit in all but one game.
He's made good contact, hard contact, consistent contact. He's hit
the ball out of the ballpark a little bit. He's
shown some pop, He's been very good with the glove.
This is crucial. It's crucial for two different reasons. One,

(09:36):
the Reds have told you from day one how they
feel about the guy. They've never sent him down. They
hit him second on opening Day. They've pretty much for
the most part, kept him in the two hole for
most of the season. Obviously for a while he has
hit eighth or ninth. You never got the sense he
was in jeopardy of losing his starting job. You never
really got the sense he was in danger of being

(09:57):
sent to Louisville. They were gonna rode or die with
Matt McClain. Right now, they're riding with Matt McClain. It's
also very important for Matt McClain to kind of re
establish himself as one of those key pieces the Reds
are gonna be, you know, building around moving forward. And
maybe you don't make that determination just after a few
games of the second half of the season, but you

(10:20):
probably do feel a little bit more, a little bit
better about that being the case today than you did
three weeks ago. So now the trade deadline is four
days away, we have and We'll continue to discuss the
merits of individual players the Reds could get, or maybe
that the Reds can't get, or maybe that the Reds
would like to get but aren't willing aren't gonna be

(10:41):
willing to pay.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
For to get.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
But what they have done, more than anything else, is
they've they've achieved clarity. You might not believe the Reds
are gonna make the postseason. You might not even believe
the Reds should go all in with the team they
have this year by you know, giving up something for
the future to get some help to make the team
better right now. But I think it goes without saying

(11:06):
that more than anything else, they have achieved clarity. It
is crystal clear what they are. They are in the
thick of things. They are in the hunt, they are
in contention. They should be in by mode. So there's
a lot today. A controversial ending to FC Cincinnati's tilt
a scoreless draw against Miami on Saturday night. We had

(11:29):
the Hall of Fame inductions yesterday in Cooperstown. We'll spend
a few minutes on that, and Rob manfor nearly got
into a fight with Bryce Harper. That, plus Trey Hendrickson
is still on side if he didn't know that. Tony
Pike with Bengals training camp reports and a lot of
ground to cover between now and six o'clock on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (11:49):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic co found.

Speaker 5 (11:56):
Seventy one approaching two seventy five earlier accident now cleared away.
Traffic is stop and go along southbound seventy five between
the Western Hills Viaduct and Fort Washington Way, and getting
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Speaker 2 (12:13):
With anything on this show, I'm only marginally offective. But
if you did miss anything on this show, or perhaps
more optimistically, if there's anything you would like to listen
to again, you could find what you'd missed or what
you'd like to listen to again on the iHeartRadio app.

(12:34):
We put everything on there by the way while you're there,
to make sure you set preset ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
Preset this show, and that way you don't have to work.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
As hard to find our stuff if you missed last week.
We had Phil Steele on the show on Friday. College
football analyst the Bible. As far as I'm concerned of
preseason publications, Phil was awesome. We talked about the Bearcats,
the Buckeyes, TUCKI, Miami, and one other school. It's not

(13:03):
really in the area what we talked about, and that
is so much more. Also, Ice Cube visited us in studio,
which was a lot of fun as well, and in particular,
I enjoyed, enjoyed the story of his most memorable time
in Cincinnati, and that makes sense. If you go listen
to the interview, it's available on the iHeartRadio app. You

(13:23):
could also go to my page at ESPN fifteen thirty
dot com. Podcasts of this show are a service of
Long Necks Sports Grill Tony Pike on the Bengals Live
Training Camp Report today. If you missed us this morning,
if you haven't been paying attention to what happened with

(13:44):
the Bengals of training camp today, Today was the first
full day of pad the first day of padded practice,
so players had pads on and the practice began at
ten o'clock this morning. If you had been paying attention
at all to the weather reports from last night or
this morning, certainly knew that there was a possibility at
least of rain, you know it raining downtown and rain

(14:10):
maybe affecting training camp, which they were on the field
for a bat an hour and then they very quickly
and hurriedly ran over to the indoor practice bubble and
finished the workout. Today, Tony and I do our show
from ten to noon, and because there was lightning and thunder,
it wasn't just because of rain. In fact, when we

(14:30):
were told we had to leave, it had actually stopped raining,
but there started to be lightning in thunder, and so
they cleared the field. By then most fans who had
shown up this morning had cleared the place. They were gone,
but we were told you got to go. So we
had to hit the eject button early and the Bengals

(14:51):
had to go inside to practice. Shamar Stewart knocked down
a couple of Jake Browning practices during today's workout. That
is a step in the right direction. We'll spend some
time on Shamar here in just a bit. So the
Red sweep the Rays over the weekend. Brady Singer, I
got to see the first seven innings and then I

(15:13):
had to go to Kids Bop. But I thought he
was awesome yesterday and by the way. Emilio Pagan pitched
a one two three ninth to get the save. Emelio
Pagan has been better than some would be willing to
give him credit for. They played little ball this weekend.
They got some great relief pitching this weekend, some good
starts this weekend. There were a couple of times I

(15:34):
thought when Tampa Bay tied the score on Saturday, that
just felt like the kind of game the Reds lose. Instead,
they win, they score a couple early Yesterday, Brady Singer
makes them hold up, and the red sweep Tampa Bay.
I think there's room for multiple truths with many things
in life, certainly with the Reds. As we get closer

(15:55):
to the deadline, the Reds could use some help from
the outside, which team couldn't. Teams should always be looking
to get better. Like you wouldn't look at the Reds
this offseason and goo, let's bring back the exact same team.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
You'd be looking for upgrades.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
In some cases, maybe you'd be looking for somebody who's
a little bit younger. In some cases, you'd be looking
for somebody who is a little bit older that at
least gives them an option at a younger player's position.

Speaker 3 (16:22):
You're always looking to get better. So are they in
buy mode?

Speaker 2 (16:26):
Is more a reflection of where they are in the standings,
But a professional sports team should always be looking to improve.
If you're in cell mode, it's, you know, let's improve
for the long term, and if you're in buy mode,
it's let's improve for the short term. It is interesting
ESPN lists, and they've done this for a few weeks

(16:49):
and it has been an evolving list based on teams
that have leapt into contention, or teams that have fallen
out of contention, or trades that have already been made.
But they list the top fifty MLB trade deadline candidates
and they do it in order of value for the
new team if traded, not the likelihood of being dealt.

(17:10):
So number one is how u Haaneus Suarez and that
has been the case. Now feels like the Yankees have
kind of dropped off as a possibility because of trading
for Ryan McMahon. But this list, by the way, put
together by Kylie McDaniel and Jeff Passon. Kylie a friend
of the show, Jeff not so much. They list the
best fits for each guy, So for a u Haaneus

(17:31):
Warez best fits Chicago, Seattle, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, and Philadelphia. And
then you know, you kind of go through the list.
The next three guys are starting pitchers. While you certainly
can make an argument that you can never have enough
starting pitching, it doesn't feel like that's going to be
the biggest priority for the Reds going into the trade deadline.
The fifth best option, second best position player option, Stephen

(17:54):
Kwan and Stephen Kuan would be a big asset to
this team for no other reason. You get him beyond
twenty twenty five for a couple of years. But he's
very good defensively, He's been an All Star for a
couple of times. He's really good at getting on base.
But they list his chances of being traded at ten percent,

(18:18):
and in the caption here written it says Cleveland doesn't
want to deal him, but with a dearth of available bats,
the Guardians at the very least will listen to see
if teams are willing to blow them away with offers.
After him is Jared Duran. Jaron Duran is listed as
having a twenty five percent chance of being traded. And

(18:39):
then you kind of go through here and there are
seven eight nine, ten, eleven, twelve, Those guys are all pitchers.
Thirteen's a pitcher, fourteen's a pitcher. Fifteen Ryan O'Hearn first baseman,
who these guys believe has been an eighty five percent
chance of being traded, kind of having an out of
nowhere year OPS plus of one thirty three, and he's

(19:03):
on pace for a career high of homers. He is
not very good against lefties, and so one of the
Reds bigger issues this season has been, you know, their performance,
collective performance against lefties. This guy's not helping you against lefties.
And then pitcher, pitcher, pitcher, all the way down to
number twenty Taylor Ward, who I think is a really
interesting fit, an additional year of team control, twenty four

(19:28):
homers this season, and he's missed a handful of games.
I think he's a really good fit. But I guess
the point behind me doing this is there just aren't
a lot of really good bats out there, so we
focus on the au Haanio Suarez, who everybody's gonna want,
but whom the people who cover such things say the

(19:48):
Diamondbacks are asking a lot for and they should, and
eu Haaneo Suarez is a little bit talked about a
little bit different here because he's played here and we
know who he is and know what he is. But
still like that dude, it's going to cost a lot,
and Stephen Kuwan, if you trade for him, is gonna
cost a lot. And then you know, and you're using

(20:08):
subjective rankings, you have to go down a list a
while to see the guys position players who could be had,
and frankly, there aren't that many. And so the question
becomes not so much do you want a Uhaneo Suarez
or do you want Stephen Kuan? But are you willing
to overpay? Are you willing to overpay now?

Speaker 5 (20:31):
For me?

Speaker 2 (20:32):
I love the idea of overpaying for Stephen Kuwan because
I'm at least getting him for beyond twenty twenty five,
But it's really the question here, like if you want
the dudes at the top of the list, the best guys,
the players who are having the best years, the players
who just make the most sense. If the answer is
no to them, there's not a ton of other options,

(20:54):
which those teams that will be shopping them Arizona perhaps aggressively,
Cleveland maybe not as much. They're gonna know what else
is out there. They're gonna know that the market is
pretty dry when it comes to position players, so they're
gonna only ask more for four. More question is are

(21:14):
you willing to overpay for players at the top of
that list when there aren't a whole lot of other
better options? Five, one, three, seven, four nine fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
We'll get you in.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
We'll do sports headlines and Tony on Bengals training camp
next actually in ten minutes. The headlines are next Tony's
in ten minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (21:35):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (21:40):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center you see helps
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Call five when three nine three nine two two sixty three.
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(22:02):
Fort Washington Way. On westbound two seventy five got some
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Speaker 1 (22:13):
This report is usirty Wards.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
Headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet, Home of lifetime
powertrain protection and guarantee credit approval from their family to
yours for life, kelseyshef dot Com. Bengals practice today about
midway through got moved indoors because of rain. There is
no practice tomorrow. The next public workout will be Wednesday

(22:36):
morning at ten. That'll be the next Tonian Mode Training
Camp show from Bengals Training Camp. Don't forget a week
from Thursday. Bengals and Eagles in Philadelphia live on ESPN
fifteen thirty. Homestead continues for the Reds. They open up
a three game set with the LA Dodgers. Chase Burns
gets the ball against Yoshinobu Yellamoto. Seven to ten is

(22:58):
tonight's first PITCHI has won four straight seven hundred WLW
has the game.

Speaker 3 (23:03):
Are you ready for the starting lineup tonight? Here we go.
We saw Lance.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
We saw Lance at practice today before it got moved inside.
So in honor of Lance, get out your pencils and scorecards.
Friedol's and Center McLain is playing second base and batting second.
Eli Deler Cruise at shortstop Austin Hayes and left field.
Gavin Lux's Dhing steers at first, Stevenson behind the plate.
Will Benson is playing right field. Noelve Marte is playing

(23:29):
third base and batting ninth. By the way, speaking of catching,
which I was there, I kind of felt like the
tone for that game was set yesterday when Brady's singer
allowed two base runners in the first and still only
threw eight pitches to get out of the inning. And
then the Reds came up and there has to the
half of the first and scored twice. That just felt

(23:52):
like a tone center for me. For what it's worth.
Three days until the trade deadline, I guess four. Let's
see the deadlines at six o'clock on Thursday, so seventy
four hours and nineteen minutes the countdown is on. Yesterday
was the Hall of Fame inductions in Cooperstown, and Dave

(24:14):
Parker went in and look, it's easy to dwell on
the fact that Dave passed away about a month ago.
It wasn't there, and it's easy to dwell on the
fact that many of us believe his induction was overdue.
You can't do anything about that, I thought, his son
Dave the second gave gave a pretty brilliant speech in

(24:36):
terms of how he weaved some of the things that
his dad wanted communicated before he passed in with some
of his own thoughts and memories and recollections and stories,
and that can't be easy to do. I don't know
how much public speaking Dave has done, but I can't
imagine standing up there and there's thousands of people who

(24:59):
have been waiting all day long for the Hall of
Fame induction, which got underway for about about an hour
after it was scheduled because of the rain delay. You
have thousands of fans in front of you, and behind
you you have like fifty Hall of Famers. That can't
be easy. It also can't be easy to speak on
behalf of somebody who's not there, and it's doubly more
difficult I would imagine when that person is your dad.

(25:21):
So I thought, given the circumstances, he did a really,
really nice job. And I listened to the speech and
I watched the induction, and I wish Dave Parker would
have been there, as a huge fan of his. It
kills me that he didn't get a chance to enjoy
that moment, but the event itself felt celebratory. And you

(25:46):
know my take when it comes to Hall of Fame
inductions with the person not there because they have passed,
is they're usually stupid. And I have watched them on
fold and I've used this example before Ron Santo in
twenty twelve when in the same year that Barry Larkin
went in, and I remember feeling like, this isn't celebratory.

(26:06):
Through no one's fault, I got the sense that those
closed to Dave yesterday were filled with joy, and again
a tinge of sadness hovered over the entire thing. I
absolutely positive there was heartbreak that the Cobra wasn't there,
But I thought that I thought that Dave's sun made

(26:28):
the best out of a tough situation and gave a
really nice speech. I am I will admit to you
this baseball, football, and basketball. I am a sucker for
Hall of Fame inductions. I just I think it's so
cool to watch someone who has achieved the absolute pinnacle

(26:50):
tell stories and thank people and reflect upon their life
and speak from the heart. I have no idea why
they bury that at one in the afternoon on a Sunday,
when it's opposite a full slate of MLB.

Speaker 3 (27:04):
Games, and maybe the TV rating wouldn't be through the roof.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
I just it's so cool when you know, before the
inductees make their speeches and they introduce one by one
all of the Hall of Famers who are they are
like Sandy Kofax was there yesterday, Johnny Bench was there yesterday,
Tony Perez was there yesterday, Barry Larkin was there yesterday.

Speaker 3 (27:26):
Uh on top of you know another like four dozen
guys like.

Speaker 5 (27:31):
It.

Speaker 3 (27:31):
Just maybe I'm the only person I watched that.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
Every year I watch footballs, which is this weekend every year,
I watch Springfield every year. I just I think they're
so cool, something so cool about watching people who have
reached the absolute pinnacle get a chance to talk about
reaching the pinnacle. They usually do it with such humility
and in some cases such humor, which Ichiro Suzuki did
with his speech yesterday and Dave Parker the Second did

(27:57):
with his dad speech yesterday as well. Tony Pike Live
Training Camp Report next.

Speaker 6 (28:03):
Uspn fifteen thirty with the latest from Bengals training camp,
brought to you by Camber Credit Union on Europe. The
Shool home of the Cincinnati Bengals ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (28:17):
He's with us on the Ray Saint Clair Roofing Hotline
Tony Pike Live Training Camp reports. Bengals moved today's workout
indoors about midway through, which means Tony had to get
sent back to Kenwood. So but I know he's down
there at the stadium standing by just to bring us
the latest, even though we had to leave early today.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
Hi, Tony, how you doing.

Speaker 7 (28:40):
Yeah, it's much nicer around here than the second time around.
The committee's picked up just a little bit. The sun
is starting to peek through, and you can really feel
not just down here for Bengals, but in anticipation with
the Dodgers coming in town tonight, a big night for
Cincinnati sports.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
Yeah, a lot going on downtown.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
Let's talk about Shamar Stewart, who has now gone through
two NFL practices. What's the learning curve like for him
given the fact that he missed the first few workouts,
really wasn't on the field during OTA's and wasn't practicing
during Mini caamp.

Speaker 7 (29:12):
You know, I think from a drill standpoint, I think
he's going to be fine. You see, very quickly the explosiveness,
the size, the strength that he possesses. What is going
to be interesting and you won't even see it really
in one on ones because you're just tasked to go
get to the quarterback. What I think is going to
be interesting how will they use him and what is
his capabilities from a team drill standpoint, when you got

(29:36):
to know the ins and outs of your role and
everyone else around you, and the mental side of the playbook,
which is just continuing to grow. I think he'll be
fine on the individual stuff. I think he's fine on
the physical side of things. It's the mental side that
is going to be kind of what he can take
as he goes. There are going to be days where
he's going to excel, and I think there's gonna be
days where he struggles a little bit to keep up mentally.

(29:58):
That's just it's it's part of the game. It's part
of the position he plays, and it's one of the
drawbacks when you're not there for all of the offseason
activities on the field.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
Is we've talked about, you know, using him as a
chess piece and moving him up and down the defensive line.
Is that the sort of thing that's less of a
possibility because of the time he has missed.

Speaker 7 (30:18):
Yeah, you're probably looking at more individual aspects of his game.
I think you can move him from the left to
the right side, But I think it's a lot to
ask if you're going to ask him to move inside
and out from a defensive line standpoint, unless it is
a very specific package, a specific third down where they
ask him to move inside and his job is very simple.

(30:40):
I don't think you're going to get very elaborate pass
rush schemes. I don't think you're going to see any
of that with him yet. But there's a difference of
that position to say, hey, go on in there and
you're one on one, go get the quarterback, and that's
what he needs to do, and not just get the
quarterback as we talked about earlier. Can you disrupt the quarterback?
Can you throw off the timing of what the quarterback

(31:01):
is trying to do to help the secondary? I think
all that's going to be fascinating and really something we
missed out on today, MO because we were so looking
forward to seeing one on ones and to see him
in action and maybe see if you can go against
the guard and dealing fairchild and create those matchups that
I think a lot of people now are looking forward
to seeing what he can do.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
I don't know what they have done in situations like
today's in the past, but we hear this year about
like ramping up the intensity and the urgency. We talked
about the first three practices that you and I saw,
they lasted a little bit longer. So today, midway through
the practice they went inside and look, it didn't take
a rocket science to figure out it was probably going
to rain, but that happened very quickly and efficiently. Do

(31:43):
you believe there's a possibility that in previous years that
midway through that practice they just would have bagged it
instead of going inside.

Speaker 7 (31:50):
Yeah, I mean, obviously having the bubble is a big
part of that, but yeah, I do think that there
is a concerted effort happening right now of understanding how
important the preseason is and getting every single valuable rep possible.
They've done that through the practices. We've been able to
see the practices we've been at, and by all accounts,
they did it today. Now. I'm sure that they moved

(32:13):
up some stuff in today's practice. I think they would
have done some more individual stuff. We were out on
the field watching. But I think when the weather started
getting to where it was, I think they wanted to
get at least some eleven on eleven done and they
did that. They moved some things around and we're able
to go into a bubble. It's a luxury of obviously
having an indoor facility, and they were able to utilize
that today. I would expect them to utilize that more

(32:34):
and more, but no, obviously the capabilities that gives you
is not something we've seen a lot of for the
Bengals in the past.

Speaker 3 (32:41):
The training camp awesome stuff, Tony, thanks so much.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
All right, Moll, it's coming up on four o'clock on
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station from the UC Health trip.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
That he's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
All right, you sure have what's up, just as ESPN
fifteen thirty Moeger, thanks so much for joining us.

Speaker 3 (33:01):
Hopefully your week is off to a great start.

Speaker 2 (33:06):
I know ours as even though it's been a hect
to day because we had to bail from training camp early.
A reminder, there is no practice tomorrow morning. There is
gonna be one on Wednesday, open to the public starting
at ten am. Unfortunate thing about today. I was not
there yesterday, but we were there Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

(33:29):
I thought, of the four practices we had been to,
today had the largest crowd. Like the line if you've
been to camp. If you haven't, I'll try to like
outline is for you. So the entrance to go in
is on the corner of Pete Rose in central and
then they you know, they line up and they have

(33:50):
the line going back to the west and it was
wrapped around the complex when I pulled up about ten
after nine this morning and just looked like and felt
like the biggest crowd. And again I was not there yesterday,
but the biggest crowd they had had over the four
days we had been there.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
And it's unfortunate.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
Like one of the cool things about training camp is
if you have kids, especially, they often get a chance
to get autographs, take pictures, that sort of thing. And
my understanding is that not so much the case, because
I don't believe they brought the players back out of
the bubble. They cleared the field because of lightning and thunder,

(34:29):
and so I would imagine first of all, there were
no fans there, like they cleared everybody out, So I
know there are fans who line up in the walkway
or by the walkway between the practice fields and the stadium.
I don't know, but a bummer of a day if
you're a fan and went down today. The next public
workout is going to be on Wednesday morning. The Shamar

(34:51):
Stewart thing, you know, just talking about it with Tony here,
I guess there's a couple of different ways to talk
about it. One is the mechanics of the contract that
was some and how this ended up unfolding, where Chamar
basically caves and the Bengals give him a little bit
more money in his signing bonus upfront, and you just

(35:13):
look at this and you can't help but ask both sides,
why couldn't you do this three weeks ago? And at
the end of the day, like, all right, maybe he's
here in time, it's early in camp, plenty of reps,
plenty of practice in front of him. By all accounts,
the dude has been off working on his own, Like,
you know, there's nothing that says he can't still have

(35:34):
a very good rookie season. But was it worth it?
Was it worth the public back and forth? Was it
worth not having Shamar Stewart there, participating in mini camp,
participating in OTAs.

Speaker 3 (35:50):
Was it worth?

Speaker 2 (35:53):
Was it worth him hurting his reputation, Not that that
can't be repaired and not that that's the biggest deal. Well,
but was it worth him becoming noteworthy for the holdout
and how he's handled himself, And was it worth the
Bengals getting into a public back and forth with the agent?
Was it worth Mike Brown talking about we do these

(36:13):
things because you know, if a player goes to prison,
we don't want to have to pay him like this
legitimately couldn't have.

Speaker 3 (36:20):
Gotten done three weeks ago.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
You know, we talked a lot about how like at
some point Chamar is just gonna have to cave, and
if he does, you hope the Bengals give him something
just to make it feel like he negotiated and didn't cave.
And it appears that that's the case now moving forward.
Number One, the precedent has been set. So if you

(36:47):
are drafted in the first round by the Bengals in
twenty twenty six, whether you go one overall, which isn't
gonna happen, or thirty second overall, which we hope does.
If you get drafted in the first round by the Bengals. Like, dude,
now you know, like that's the president. The president has
been set, so this is going to be what it
looks like moving forward.

Speaker 3 (37:06):
And that's that's okay. Like I did.

Speaker 2 (37:09):
Understand Schamar's basic argument, which was, I don't want you
to set a precedent with me when I'm being drafted
in the first round on a comparable spot to the
last couple of the guys who have come to you
in the first round. But now that president has been set,
all right, there should be no more holdouts, Like we

(37:29):
haven't really had one since twenty eleven with this. You know,
when we the new CBA with rookie contracts being slotted,
there's really no more wiggle room in terms of years
or money. This was the one thing contract language, and
not that there is another contract language, and not that
you can't haggle over when signing bonus is going to

(37:50):
be paid out, that sort of thing, But there should
be no more holdouts moving forward like this, this is
the president. This is how these contracts are going to
be structure and moving forward. Whether you like it or not,
the president has been set. If you're drafted by the
Bengals next year. This is the kind of deal you're
going to have to sign. That said. Could next season's

(38:12):
first round pick again hopefully is taking thirty second overall,
but can next year's first round pick be vetted a
little bit better? Not that Chamar is going to be
a bad player, I hope he's not. Not that he's
a bad guy, There's nothing to suggest that he is.
But there did seem to be an issue in the
working relationship that the Bengals had with the guy representing

(38:33):
Schamar Stewart, which tells me they didn't necessarily do the
greatest job in preparing for who they were going to
be working for or working with. I should say, can
that change? Simple request? Can that change? I'd like to
think the answer is yes. In terms of what this
does for Trey Hendrickson, man, I have no idea. Like

(38:55):
I was thinking about this a lot over the weekend.
I'm almost to the point that I feel like we
should just suspend the rules for Trey hendricks And now
what you're hearing is what Trey and the Bengals are
at odds over is.

Speaker 3 (39:09):
Future guarantees.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
Bengals have this long standing policy of not guaranteeing money
after year one. But they've broken the policy with Jamar
Chase and Joe Burrow. Trey wants him to do it
with him. When we start talking about these things, I
will admit, especially when we get into the football part
of the offseason where they're actually doing stuff on the field,
my eyes begin to glaze over. But that's what they're
haggling over right now. I just I feel like Trey

(39:34):
is a different type of guy, a different enough dude.
I think if there's one thing we've come to learn
about him is that he's wired a little bit different.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
Different is not bad.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
So I've seen some express a belief that Schamar's deal
getting done is going to compel Trey to cave a
little bit here, that it kind.

Speaker 3 (39:56):
Of removes his leverage. Number One.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
If I'm Trey Hendrickson, I go, wait a minute, I
now have no leverage, and you're gonna play hardball with
me because of a rookie and one who can never
get to the quarterback and bring him down.

Speaker 3 (40:09):
Yeah, No, we're not doing that. Number two.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
I just I feel like we're talking about a different
enough guy here that anybody who is predicting what's gonna
happen with Trey Hendrickson is running a fool's errand like
I think anybody who is going to try to predict
what is going what Trey is gonna do to get
what he looks for, I would find it unsurprising if

(40:33):
Trey Hendrickson were to show up this week. I would
find it unsurprising if Trey Hendrickson decides I'm not playing
for the Bengals in twenty twenty five. If there's one
thing this offseason I think has taught us, it's this
is a different type of cat. And again, different is
not bad. Different is different. So we will see. But

(40:54):
I certainly do I think you should feel relieved that
they at least got one, because had we gotten to
the heart of August and now they're playing preseason games
and not only do you still not have a Defensive
Player of the Year finalist, but you don't have your
first round pick who plays the same position in camp.

(41:18):
I think that would have felt like a disaster. To
a degree, they have at least somewhat avoided disaster. We
will see. The Rents over the weekend swept the Tampa
Bay Rays. They host the LA Dodgers tonight a GABP.
I don't know what Nick Crawl is gonna do. You

(41:38):
talk about running a fool's errand here predicting what he
is gonna do is would fit that description.

Speaker 3 (41:44):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
My guess is some sort of trade is made. I
think based on track record, you're being reasonable if you're
not expecting them to go overboard and trying to acquire
the guys we have talked about the most. I think
those sometimes, and I'm guilty of it, and I'll admit that.
I think sometimes we focus so much on the front

(42:07):
office and who they have to go get and being
buyers or sellers, that we almost let the players off
the hook.

Speaker 3 (42:19):
Like the Reds have gotten to this point. It's not great.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
They're in seventh place in the National League, but they're
better positioned now than they were a year ago. Year ago,
at this time, the felt like the franchise was the
team itself was drifting aimlessly. Not so much now, like
they're in contention. You may believe the Reds are not

(42:44):
going to get to the postseason, and that's fine. You
may think it's all going to you know, go into
the dumper. This week against the LA Dodgers, and you know,
there's something to be said about that, I suppose, but
if you look at the standings right now, it is
hard to argue against the suggestion that this team is
that they've got a legitimate playoff shot here. But whether

(43:06):
or not they get over the top, whether or not
they finally, you know, break this string of not making
the postseason, and whether or not they finally advance in
the playoffs, those things are going to hinge a lot
more on guys who are already here and already a
part of the organization more than anybody who's going to
be brought in from outside. That doesn't mean the Red
Shin acquire of help from outside. That they can, and

(43:29):
it certainly doesn't mean that a guy from outside can't
make a big impact, because you know, MLB Network is
running this promo time and again during the Hall of
Fame induction ceremonies yesterday, and it was this montage of
players who were basically hired guns, including one of them
who went into the Hall of Fame yesterday, c see
Sabathia with the Milwaukee Brewers in two thousand and eight.
A long list of guys who ended up making a

(43:51):
huge impact for their new team once they were traded
during the season, and so such a thing can happen
here at the same time, Like the biggest deal for
me so far here early in the second half of
the season has been the fact that Matt McClain has
gotten on base a bunch in the two hole, and

(44:11):
he's hitting the ball hard. There were a fewer at
bats where he looks like he doesn't have a clue,
And I think you're doing if you're like me, at least,
you're doing two different things. You're attributing his struggles of
the first half of the season to the long layoff
last year not playing, and you're also starting to factor
him in more of the conversation about you know what

(44:32):
the Reds are going to look like here after twenty
twenty five, because had the lack of production continued, I
think that would have been a fair question. And by
the way, like this may be just a good like
week and a half for Matt McClain, but based on
what we saw two years ago, based on the the
regard the Reds have held Matt McClain in and the

(44:54):
regard that so many of us have held Matt McClain in,
I think most of us are assuming that Matt about
to take off, and if he does, I think maybe
to a degree, that's going to be a bigger deal
than the the impact of a bat or an arm
or anybody from outside. We'll see sixteen minutes after four

(45:15):
o'clock five point three, seven four nine, fifteen thirty is
our phone number in eight sixty six seven oh two
three seven seven six works as well. There's also something
about messaging, which we'll get to here in just a bit,
and a confrontation inside a big league clubhouse. Will spend
some time on that as well. Brendanman and Jones and
Baseball coming up this hour two on ESPN fifteen thirty

(45:37):
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (45:37):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (45:42):
Traffic in on Beachmont Avenue. That's over at Forest Road.
Traffic is stop and go on southbound seventy five between
the Western Hills Viaduct and Fort Washington Way, and westbound
two seventy five down to one lane for repairs on
the Carrol Cropper Bridge at Xelic with traffic from the
UC Health Traffic Center. You see helps weight loss Sunner.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
Tarren playing the sexy music on a Monday. Is there
a reason why, Terrence?

Speaker 3 (46:13):
No reason, okay, just I feel that's a mellow move.
You're in a mellow mood, mellow Monday. Very good.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
Well I am as well, and now in even more
mellow uh. Twenty two minutes after four, let's talk to
another person. Babbled long enough, Mike.

Speaker 3 (46:33):
Go ahead.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
You're on ESPN fifty. Mike, you're excited the Dodgers are
in town. Red's Dodgers. How many nasty emails will I
get from you if the Dodgers beat Cincinnati tonight?

Speaker 8 (46:43):
Zero?

Speaker 9 (46:44):
I've turned over a newly really okay, good? Yeah, yeah,
I know you hear. That's fine. That's why I thought
we were friends.

Speaker 3 (46:51):
I'm just joking.

Speaker 9 (46:56):
No, I do get a little your I'm sure you do. Like, Hey, Mike,
what now? Negative jackass?

Speaker 3 (47:05):
Let me tell you something, Mike, really really quick. Okay. Uh.

Speaker 2 (47:10):
If if if I were to get mad every time
somebody sent me an email I didn't like, I would.

Speaker 3 (47:15):
Never be happy. So we are good. Don't sweat on
the I'm giving you a hard time.

Speaker 9 (47:20):
Thank you. My friends appreciate that. I only I don't
email anybody. I mean, I so rarely email anybody that's
that's I do. So I'm telling you truth.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
Your your emails, like your phone calls, bring a smile
to my face.

Speaker 9 (47:37):
Yeah, even know half of them are kind of untounded.
But anyway, I uh, excuse me, I take my pardon.
The They call it stormy Monday, but Tuesdays just as bad,
and Wednesday is worse, but Thursday's also sad. That's a
great Blue Salmo. You know that song called Stormy Monday.

(48:00):
I've heard it, yes, yeah, play the Google the Almond
Brothers version of Stormy Monday, the best ever and Muddy
Waters wrote it. But listen to Greg Almonds saying it unbelievable. Okay,
so we've got a three game matchup here. I'm gonna
I'll take Ladola on game two.

Speaker 3 (48:18):
Okay, I'll take you.

Speaker 9 (48:20):
I wish we had a damn lefty boring the night,
but we don't. You know, our problem is our Bullpen's
got a four and a half. The ra that's the
train has been out. Canner Scott's been out. We don't
have anybody in Wolpan. They're whole bunch of jokers. So
hopefully some of them are going to come back soon,
or maybe they'll make them move, but I'm sure they're
hesitant to make them move because they got a lot

(48:41):
of really good relief pitchers, but they're all banged up.

Speaker 3 (48:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:45):
No, I mean what I what I worry about is
are the starting pitching matchups, right, Yamamoto and Glass now
and then we get show hay On on Wednesday.

Speaker 9 (48:54):
Yeah, but they're all right handers, and the reds floris
against right handers. So let's look at the era. So
we got two point five five out of Yamamoto, Big Tyler,
all six foot eight of them. Can't get anybody out,
but his e R as two points so and it's
always hurt. He's like, hey, he's always hurt.

Speaker 3 (49:13):
Yeah, no, he is.

Speaker 9 (49:15):
He is.

Speaker 2 (49:15):
He has made what six seven eight starts this year?
He is, uh, Tyler Glass now has never made more
than twenty two starts in a big league season.

Speaker 9 (49:26):
That's what I'm saying. But I know it's frustrating these
picking coaches like prior they look at him. So this
kind is a stud.

Speaker 10 (49:34):
Yeah, he just because he's.

Speaker 9 (49:35):
An intimidating figure. He's like Randy Johnson. By the time
he releases the ball, it's halfway to the plate, so
you can understand why they value that. And then and
then the Reds fans, we were blessed. We're going to
get to see o Twani and he's one point five oh,
even though he's pitched about one point five Over anything said,

(49:56):
I think it's fun for the fans, and I think
it'll be a lot of fun. But I got the
Reds at least win in one game out.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
Well, you know the Dodgers what, They're three and six
in the second half of the season, just lost the
last two of that series against Boston. I saw a
little bit of the game on Saturday where Garrett Crochet
complained about Fox's coverage of the game where they only
talked about the Dodgers. They're two over five hundred since
June first, they're two over five hundred on the road

(50:25):
this season. Yes, they are at the defending World Series champions.
Yes they have sho hey Otani and Will Smith who
leads the league in batting, and Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts.

Speaker 3 (50:35):
Yes they're a foe to be reckoned.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
With, but they're not exactly world beaters right now, Mike,
and so the Reds have them in their building. They've
made a statement that they are contenders. You can double
down on it by winning this series at home against
la today through Wednesday.

Speaker 9 (50:51):
That would be a big thing. And you know, another
key injury that nobody talks about, but it's a big deal,
Max Munch. He is an integral part of that team.
He's a really good third basement and he's got a
lot of pop. But he's always hurt too. Now, yeah,
so what are you gonna do?

Speaker 3 (51:06):
Well?

Speaker 2 (51:06):
You know again, we'll see how they have heaved Chase
Burns to the wolves at times this year with the
first start against the Yankees. They've had him pitch on
the road against the Phillies, making him pitch at Fenway Park,
and now you get the defending World Series champions in
your building. It's it's not an easy task for Chase Burns.
I think what I like about the way the Reds

(51:27):
are playing right now is the production from the top
of the order and the fact that the bullpen has
mostly been lights out. But I'll acknowledge it's a different
animal playing the Rays versus playing the Dodgers. Even though
LA by I think your own admission, isn't playing great
right now?

Speaker 3 (51:44):
No they're not.

Speaker 9 (51:44):
And you know, really the best player right now, their
most dangerous players. They having a great year that Andy
Potter has center fielder, he's been great. Yeah, we'll see anyway,
thanks for taking my call. Appreciating Mike.

Speaker 2 (51:56):
I hope you enjoy the series as always, twenty seven
after four o'clock. There's something to that though, right, Like,
we've done this thing all season long, where we've played
the schedule game, right like, here are these tough series
they're gonna have. And you know, they took two out
of three in New York against the Mets. This raised
team is very much like them from a win loss

(52:19):
record perspective. But they obviously handled the Tampa Bay Rays,
and you know they went into that stretch where they
were gonna play. You know that the Yankees were gonna
come to town, beat them two out of three, The
Padres were gonna come to town, beat them two out
of three. You know, they had a series against the
Minnesota Twins, who came in playing really well. They went
to Detroit back in early June. We know how good

(52:40):
the Tigers have been this season, beat them two out
of three. You know, the Diamondbacks were expected to compete
for a playoff spot. They came here Red swept them. Meanwhile,
they lose the series to Washington. They split a series
with Miami. Know that the Marlins have played really well
recently and they lost that Friday game to the Colorado Rockies.

Speaker 3 (52:58):
Just get two out of three in this series against LA.

Speaker 2 (53:01):
But tonight's pitching matchup, we'll see if Chase Burns can
rise to the occasion against the defending World Series champions
the same way, at least to a degree, he pitched
against the defending American League champions just about two months ago.
It is twenty eight after four o'clock five one, three, seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty is our number eight sixty six

(53:21):
seven oh two three seven seven six works as well.
I said two months ago the Yankees were here in
late June, so it was about a month ago. Sports
head lines, and you'll hear what Zach Taylor had to
say earlier today. Next on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (53:35):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic still.

Speaker 5 (53:42):
Got that accident on Beachmont Avenue. It is over at
Forest Road with police there on scene. Some slow traffics
southbound seventy one between Martin Luther King and for seventy
one to two minute delay and westbound two seventy five
down to one lane for repairs on the Carrol Cropper Bridge.
I'm at e Zelech with traffic from the UC Health Traffic.

Speaker 1 (54:03):
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati.

Speaker 2 (54:05):
I was working at Team Obile and Zoey's Aldona walked in.

Speaker 3 (54:09):
I'm not sure that I would handle it.

Speaker 8 (54:11):
His calms.

Speaker 2 (54:12):
The ad sports headlines our service of Kelsey chevrolea homov
lifetime powertrain protection and guarantee credit approval from their family
to yours for life, kelseyshev dot Com. Bengals moved today's
workout indoors about midway through Shamar Stewart. By all accounts,
had a good practice today. Bengals put on pads for

(54:35):
the first time during this training camp.

Speaker 3 (54:36):
No practice tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (54:37):
Practice again open to the public on Wednesday at ten am,
and then again on Thursday. And don't forget one week
from this Thursday. It's the Bengals and Eagles in the
preseason opener, live on ESPN fifteen thirty. Tonight, it's the
Reds and Dodgers at GABP, first of a three game
series between Cincinnati and the defending World Series champions Chase

(55:00):
Burns and Yoshi Yamamoto on the hill seven ten tonight
on a seven hundred WLW. I am pulling up as
we speak. The starting lineup. The red starting lineup for
tonight's critical Midsummer battle. Freedo's and center McClain's at second.

(55:21):
Elie de la cruz is playing shortstop. Austin Hayes is
in left field. He is hitting cleanup, Gavin Lux's dhing,
Spencer Steer at first, Stevenson catches Benson and Wright Noelve.

Speaker 3 (55:31):
Marte's playing third and batting ninth. There you go. That's
what I got for the local sports headlines.

Speaker 2 (55:39):
Tony Pike with another Bengals training camp report in just
a few minutes. Zach Taylor did talk today right before
the Bengals took the field for a training camp practice.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
So today padded practice.

Speaker 2 (55:53):
Now, we've talked a lot about the emphasis on more physicality, right,
and uh for practice conditions to be more like a
regular season game. But that does that necessarily mean there's
going to be tackling. Here's Zach Taylor talking about the
importance of working on fundamentals more than actually tackling.

Speaker 11 (56:16):
There's an enormous emphasis without the pads on and with
the pads on. It's for us, it's it's been a
primary focus every day in the defensive insult meetings, the
team meeting this morning. So it's it's been talked about
as much as you can bustle.

Speaker 8 (56:29):
Talk about it. Is it just a matter of.

Speaker 11 (56:32):
It's no, no, no, no, no. It's not about tackling
and practice. You know, we're not gonna rant that up.
It's about the fundamentally sound, understanding the space you're playing with,
understanding the leverage, understanding the fundamentals we want to play with.

Speaker 8 (56:44):
That's all been a point ofmentsis for us, how.

Speaker 3 (56:46):
Much consideration to do any more live stuff?

Speaker 7 (56:49):
You can't?

Speaker 8 (56:49):
Did you have any was it you? No?

Speaker 11 (56:52):
No, no, just we're going to be fundamentally sound. And
that's the focus. And it's something they've worked on every
day on defense with or without the pads on and something.
And we'll start with the team obviously today with the
pads on. But taking guys to the ground isn't isn't
really a big part of what we're doing.

Speaker 8 (57:06):
All right.

Speaker 3 (57:06):
There he goes Zach Taylor talking about tackling.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
Here he is answering the question about when his evaluation
of players really begins.

Speaker 11 (57:14):
Through a couple of games, you know, and those are
just lessons learned from me. Too quick to jump on
a bandwagon or jump off a bandwagon, and you know,
you got to let that thing take time. And sometimes
guys really come on because they really understand maybe some
coaching points better after you get through a game or
two and it's really starts to sink in for him
and you really see truly what that player is about

(57:35):
on the field. And so again it's not rushed at judgment.
Early in training camp, we'd often make the cuts like
we used to, you know, five ten years ago, when
you had to get down to seventy five and sixty five.

Speaker 8 (57:45):
Whatever the numbers were.

Speaker 11 (57:46):
Now you got a ninety man roster until the final cuts,
and so you really get a chance to let all
this stuff takes shape before you have to really form
firm evaluations on guys.

Speaker 2 (57:55):
Zach Taylor. One more from Zach Taylor. Here he is
talking about why they brought Joseph Osai back.

Speaker 11 (58:02):
He's a big part of our locker room. I think
he's really taken on a leadership role as he's been here. Now,
what fifth year and so again I like being around him.
He brings tremendous energy. You know we're getting from Joseph
every single day, There's no doubt about it. You know
what practice habits, you're going to get kind of energy,
you're going.

Speaker 8 (58:18):
To get what is placed that I was going to be.

Speaker 11 (58:20):
He's got the respect of the coaches and the players
in the locker room, and I think he's really picked
up where he left off last season.

Speaker 8 (58:27):
And so again I'm excited to watch Joseph play this year.

Speaker 2 (58:30):
He really didn't talk about any football stuff, right, He
didn't talk about production. He didn't tell you just you
know his locker room culture, okay, and practice and practice habits.
How about in the game, is he any good? And
Joseph Osai had his moments last year and that's why
I think most of us were on board with bringing
him back.

Speaker 3 (58:47):
But Zach Taylor did not mention any of that.

Speaker 2 (58:51):
Tony Pike with the latest from Bengals training camp next
on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (58:57):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 5 (59:01):
Northbound seventy one near two seventy five on the Ohio side.
It's an accident that one off on the left shoulder.
Another crash on Beachmont Avenue at Forest Road and southbound
seventy five stop and go traffic between the Western Hills
Viaduct and Fort Washington Way. I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 6 (59:20):
Then fifteen thirty with the ladist from Bengals Training Camp
brook You by Hollywood Casino, Lawrenceburg, on your official home
of the Cincinnati Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
It's a quarter to five on ESPN fifteen thirty. Tony
Pike has live training camp reports every hour in the afternoon,
on top of the Tony and Mode Training Camp Show
and on top of since e three sixty no one
during training camp, Tony works harder than you.

Speaker 7 (59:50):
Well you know Paddock practices. No, we just we like
to pick up our intensity as well. So as many
training camp reports and conversations as we can have. You
really can't have enough football talk this time of the year.

Speaker 3 (01:00:03):
I don't disagree.

Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
Zach Taylor today shot down the idea that they're going
to bring guys to the ground like full blown tackling.
This team wasn't good at tackling last year. You obviously
want to get through camp as healthy as possible. But
if you're going to be more physical, should or should
that not include actual tackling.

Speaker 7 (01:00:21):
Yeah, I wish. I wish they would use situational tackling
drills during training camp. I don't think you need to
run eleven on eleven full tackle, but short yarded situations,
controlled environments where you can have one on one situations.
I don't think it would be bad to have running
backs and linebackers, but this team defensively under luannar Rumo

(01:00:43):
was just so bad in space making tackles, and teams
utilize that by getting players in one on one situations.
And it's not just a Bengals problem. There is a
league wide tackling early in the season because not a
lot of teams tackle anymore. But there is a physical
brand that you see some of these teams that still
will go down to the ground and make tackles during camp, don't.

(01:01:07):
I agree that you don't do it from an eleven
on eleven standpoint, just because there's too many factors. But
in controlled settings, I think if you're Zach Taylor, you
can get away with some tackling.

Speaker 2 (01:01:16):
I feel like last year, though, when we talked about
them tackling, it was stuff like poor angles being taken
or players not necessarily being in the right position, and
I feel like those things can be corrected without full
on one ran the guy to the ground tackling.

Speaker 7 (01:01:35):
Yeah, I mean, like I said, it's situational. Zach Taylor
talked about spacing and being in the right place. Now,
that could have a roll in it as well. If
you're in a one on one situation but you're getting
to the flats later than what the ball carrier is,
then you're going to be in a disadvantage as well.
So I think all of that adds up. There are
different scenarios that you're going to go through, but whatever

(01:01:56):
it takes, and that might be an Al Golden thing.
Maybe Al Golden can work on different drill Maybe there's
different techniques that they're teaching. We just know that the
way it's been the last couple of years has not
been good enough to this team hasn't tackled well enough
to win meaningful football games.

Speaker 2 (01:02:10):
Yeah, no question about that. Tomorrow is a day of
nothing but meetings. That sounds fun.

Speaker 7 (01:02:17):
Yeah. As a player, it's a little bit of a
reprieve and from other players, I guess Jamar Stewart it's
a chance to maybe play catch up a little bit.
Everything from a install standpoint, your head is spinning. Tomorrow
is a day where you don't get out on the
practice field. I'm sure they'll still get out there and
there's some walkthrough activities, but when you're not going out
there in practice, it's a day that you're not going

(01:02:38):
to install a ton of new stuff. It is Hey,
here's where we're at to this point, this is what
we have in place, this is what we need to
work on and really give an opportunity if there's any
questions or anyone you know needs an understanding of where
they're at, that's where you ask it. That's where you
get it done. And that's what those built in days
throughout training camp can provide for the young players, especially

(01:02:59):
to get caught up on a area, advanced playbook, awesome stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
Tony will chat again coming up at five forty five.
I hope you're ready. Tony joins us on the Ray
Saint Clair Roofing Hotline. Tony NMO Training Camp Show thanks
to a Door and Window returns Wednesday morning at ten am.
We'll be broadcasting from the Airport Painted Body broadcast area
and our show Austin, also a service of Oakley Greens

(01:03:23):
and TOF call five one three five one three t pH,
Breneman and Jones on Baseball is Next.

Speaker 1 (01:03:30):
This report is sponsored by All State in fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati's sports station.

Speaker 2 (01:03:36):
That's US five O five ESPN fifteen thirty. Moeger, thank
you for listening. Hopefully your week is off to a
great start. I hope you had a good weekend, which
I guess you did if you weren't downtown fighting on
Saturday night. A little bit later on tarn Jes asked me,
do I want to hear some audio of Steve and

(01:03:56):
a Smith talking about the Bengals?

Speaker 3 (01:03:58):
You know what? Yeah? I think so.

Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
Maybe we'll have that for you coming up in about
fifteen minutes. There's a non Reds baseball story, actually two
non Reds baseball stories that we have to address, and
so much more.

Speaker 3 (01:04:17):
Reds and Dodgers.

Speaker 2 (01:04:18):
Tonight, Cincinnati with an awesome three game sweep at the
Tampa Bay Rays. I love how they played those three games.
I love the kind of starting and relief pitching they got.
I love that they're getting and I think if you're
a Reds fan you feel the same. Way the production
they're getting from the top of the batting water. Bengals
practice today was interrupted because of rain. Remember back in
the day when we used to pull off the shelf

(01:04:41):
during the dead periods on the calendar. The question as
to whether or not the Bengals should have an indoor
practice facility, which there was never any downside to it
was like who says no, which Bengals fan is like,
now you know what. I don't want them to be
able to better prepare to play teams, them to better
prepare for seasons, we forget the indoor practice facility, so

(01:05:04):
they have one. They quickly went inside. It was the
first padded practice of training camp. Shamar Stewart was out
there and by a few different media accounts, Tony and
I had to leave. Our setup is outdoors for the
two outdoor practice fields, and we have a tent, and

(01:05:26):
so when it's just raining, no big deal. When it
started to lightning and thunder, we were told everybody's got
to go and we couldn't broadcast from inside the practice bubble.
And that's fine, but those who were in there describe
Shamar Stewart.

Speaker 3 (01:05:40):
Having a pretty good day.

Speaker 2 (01:05:41):
So we will see, uh I don't want to make
folks who have been waiting wait any longer. Five point
three seven fifteen thirty is our number. We have talked
a ton about Shamar Stuart, the contract, the hold out,
the ramifications of it, the agent, press and setting, and

(01:06:02):
now it's it's kind of time, it's not even kind
of It is time to shift the conversation a little
bit more toward what he can do on the field.
And we talked about Shamar Stuart. We talked about X
factors last week on day one of tour training camp.

Speaker 3 (01:06:16):
One of them is Shamar Stewart.

Speaker 2 (01:06:18):
Like the skepticism he is getting is fair, and the
skepticism comes from, you know, does he really want to
play for the Bengals? And he has said all the
right things since he signed his contract. But more than
anything else, the lack of sacks at Texas A and M.
They're striking like we do it with every edge rusher
at every level. How many sacks? Where are the sacks?

(01:06:41):
With Schamar? They weren't there. There have been players who
weren't that productive from a sack perspective in college who
have gone on to be terrific at the edge rusher spot.
Danielle Hunter. We've watched him this offseason get paid. Not
a guy who in college had a lot of sacks,
good measurables, has gotten better every single year with Shamar Stewart.

Speaker 3 (01:07:04):
We do this with every player.

Speaker 2 (01:07:06):
We try to figure out what translates from the college
game to the pro game. I think there is something
to the suggestion that the disruptions, the pressures thirty nine
top forty an FBS college football. Maybe not best of
the best type of production, but not all that shabby.
I'm gonna believe that can translate. And if it does. Yes,

(01:07:28):
you want to see sacks, Yes, it'd be great if
he could finish plays.

Speaker 3 (01:07:32):
But if those pressures.

Speaker 2 (01:07:33):
Can add up to somebody else getting the sack or
an incompletion, especially in a big spot or a turnover downfield,
then Shamar Stewart's gonna end up being an asset for
this team, regardless of how many sacks he ends up with.
And I am hopeful and to a large degree optimistic,
that that'll be the case. Uh, Kate, you're on ESPN

(01:07:56):
fifteen thirty Kate, good afternoon.

Speaker 3 (01:07:58):
How are you.

Speaker 12 (01:08:00):
Oh, I'm great. I've been in the car for I've
been in a cart to stake fifteen this morning.

Speaker 3 (01:08:06):
So a lot of traffic on I seventy one here
in Cincinnati.

Speaker 12 (01:08:09):
Yeah, I'm in the middle of nowhere, Missouri and there's
a lot of middle of the nowhere Missouri. So yeah,
it's kind of endless, but hey, it's the best thing.
No on the on the apps out.

Speaker 9 (01:08:22):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:08:23):
I appreciate you have we been with you the entire time,
the entire wow day.

Speaker 12 (01:08:29):
I've tipped into a few of my Bengals podcasts there
some extended app rates, but mostly with you guys. So
thanks for keeping me entertained all day.

Speaker 2 (01:08:40):
Well, that's that's very kind of you to listen, and
I hope you travel sely.

Speaker 3 (01:08:43):
What's on your mind?

Speaker 12 (01:08:44):
Thank you?

Speaker 1 (01:08:45):
Well this is sort of social mood.

Speaker 12 (01:08:48):
But also for next year, why why wouldn't you sign
the practice waiver with that simply leverage? Is that something
we can look forward to again next year with black fires?
Is that just a leverage thing? Like I'm not going
to sign a practice waiver?

Speaker 2 (01:09:05):
I would I would like to think that that's an
isolated thing because if you look at the rest of
the league, if you look at even some of his teammates,
I mean, Demetrius Knight didn't sign his contract until right
before a camp started, and he signed the waiver. You know,
all of those second round picks, right, So it's it's
it's not that uncommon for the deal itself to not
get done until, you know, shortly before a training camp.

(01:09:26):
But players signed the waiver, which protects them, protects the team,
and they go through the workouts.

Speaker 3 (01:09:33):
They're not the most grueling.

Speaker 2 (01:09:34):
They're not you know, like not like today's training camp
padded practice, and they go through the paces and they're
in on meetings and they're doing what's asked and it's
not a big deal. I think what Shamar did with
the waiver not signing it is so uncommon that I'm
going to assume that that ends up being kind of
a one off.

Speaker 12 (01:09:53):
I hope so, because that's what I'm just so kind
of hung up on. I don't understand why he didn't
sign the waiver other than leverage, you know, leverage is
the thing. Sure, Okay, all right, well you're toping next year, Juey,
Please please please please please have no card, no off
the fields or on the field drama next year.

Speaker 9 (01:10:15):
Please.

Speaker 3 (01:10:15):
Well, there's two things about this.

Speaker 2 (01:10:17):
Number One, and moving forward, Yes, you want players to
sign the waiver. What I would tell the Bengals is,
if the guy's not going to sign the waiver, tell
him to not hang around. Because Chamar kind of it
was weird because he didn't sign the waiver, but he
was still there, and so he's there. So what happens
He sits at his locker. Everybody covering the team understandably

(01:10:39):
so goes to get a quote from him, and he
pops off on the Bengals. Now, you might have thought
that what he said was right, You might have thought
that what he said was totally off pace, but that
wasn't helpful, And.

Speaker 3 (01:10:49):
So moving forward, it's all right.

Speaker 2 (01:10:50):
If you don't want to sign the waiver, that's cool,
But until you sign your contract, then we don't want
you here because you open yourself up for the possibility
of of what Shamar did.

Speaker 3 (01:11:01):
Uh kid.

Speaker 2 (01:11:02):
I think we should gear ourselves up for somebody to
be embroiled in some sort of contract dispute with this
team next season, especially if a bunch of guys end
up having good seasons, which we all want and I'm I'm.

Speaker 7 (01:11:14):
Of the go ahead.

Speaker 12 (01:11:17):
If they win, if they wear a Super Bowl want
I don't pay if no one will care if you
win the Super Bowl that there's drama, well please.

Speaker 2 (01:11:31):
You would you would like to see the drama go
away right on some level, But but but when the
when the if you remember, like post twenty fifteen, prior
to Joe Burrow, when the Bengals were pretty bad, there
was never a contract issue because they didn't have enough
good players. And so there's a part of me that
feels like that these are these things are almost inevitable

(01:11:51):
as long as you have good.

Speaker 3 (01:11:52):
Players, but they shouldn't happen every single year.

Speaker 12 (01:11:57):
Thank you for talking me off that list.

Speaker 3 (01:12:00):
I want you to Where are you going? Where are
you in Route two?

Speaker 12 (01:12:03):
I am on my way to Northwest Arkansas to see
my daughter Sonamo and the world's most beautiful baby granddaughter.

Speaker 2 (01:12:09):
Well that's awesome. Well Kate drives safely, enjoy Northwest Arkansas.
Thank you for the phone call. Call again.

Speaker 1 (01:12:16):
I'll be listening.

Speaker 3 (01:12:17):
Thank you. That's very kind of you. I do think
that's a good point, like what made.

Speaker 2 (01:12:22):
Holdouts in this day and age are different, right, because
it's not like for those of us who remember the
nineties and those of us who were even the eighties
and at times life in the two thousands, prior to
twenty eleven, you know, the Bengals would draft a player
and then they would be at odds over everything years
and just.

Speaker 3 (01:12:43):
Overall dollar amount.

Speaker 2 (01:12:45):
And this is back when you know a team can
sign a rookie to a ten year contract, and a
team can make a rookie the highest paid player in
the sport. Before the guy ever played it down, the
twenty eleven lockout achieved, and I think most of us
viewed this as good thing achieved. God is to the

(01:13:06):
goal of those things not happening anymore. So now the
money has slotted. The contracts a four year deal unless
you're a first round or is four a year with
a fifth year option. There's no real negotiating room when
it comes to the dollar amount. There's some negotiating room
when it comes to guarantee structure, and there's been some
negotiating room when it comes to language of the deal.

(01:13:28):
But the holdout itself stood out because we just don't
have holdouts anymore. The last Bengals rookie first round pick
to hold out I think was Andre Smith in two
thousand and nine, and that's pre current CBA but what
made this different is the waiver. Schamar didn't sign the waiver,

(01:13:51):
and you know, he apparently has stated he has no
regrets about how.

Speaker 3 (01:13:55):
He handled things.

Speaker 2 (01:13:57):
I guess, moving forward with the president being said, Okay,
here's what our contracts are going to look like. Make
sure the guys signed the waiver. And as much as
you might argue there's benefit to hey, he's not going
to sign the waiver, but he's still in on meetings,
I don't know. Man, that kind of blew up during camp,
and so what you would hope moving forward is the
player at least signs the waiver, which is pretty standard practice.

(01:14:21):
Demetrius Knight signed his waiver and he worked out just
signed his contract a few last week.

Speaker 3 (01:14:27):
You can do it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:27):
You can sign the waiver and sign the contract later on.
I do think, you know, like I'm watching the situation
with Micah Parsons in Dallas, and I watch with Terry
McLaurin in Washington, and the TJ. Watt thing in Pittsburgh
got resolved before training camp, but kind of took on
a life of its own. I've stated now for a
while that I think as long as you have a good,

(01:14:50):
relevant team, that invariably there's going to be some sort
of contract issue because of the number of players you
have to pay, especially when you have a quarterback making
the kind of coin that Joe Burrow is making. Like,
if you have a lot of good players, invariably there's
gonna be somebody who's just not happy either because of

(01:15:12):
being at an impass when it comes to long term
contract negotiations, their salary paling in comparison to other players
who play the same position. If you have good players,
I feel like contract impasses and contracts stalls and contract
controversies and hold ins and maybe even holdouts are inevitable.

(01:15:38):
But you shouldn't have won every single year. And I
think to a degree, one of the frustrating things is
if the Bengals have a good season this year, which happens,
if a lot of guys who are kind of unknown
quantities end up performing better, then you could all you

(01:16:01):
could almost guarantee that next season there's gonna be something
a hold out, a hold in, And again, like it
doesn't it doesn't have to completely get in the way
of the season. Look, Jesse Bates in twenty twenty two,
that thing kind of took on a life of its own, right,
he didn't show up for training camp, He came to

(01:16:23):
a preseason game and sat in the suite. I mean,
it just it went on and on and on and on,
and it didn't have the resolution that he was looking for.
It didn't have the resolution that so many of us
now wish it would have had, which is Jesse signing
a long term contract and the Bengals that year still
went twelve and four.

Speaker 3 (01:16:40):
Now, they didn't start off great.

Speaker 2 (01:16:42):
Joe Burrow's appedectomy had a lot more to do with
that than anything else. But Jesse had a good season.
The Bengals won twelve games. They won their last eight
in the regular season. He made the AFC Championship Game.
Like these things don't always have to be the kind
of thing that screws up your season. By the way,
had the Bengals found a way over the last couple
of years to win early, I don't think we're talking

(01:17:06):
about the negative impact of contract holdouts or hold ins
nearly as much. Jamar Chase last year was a hold in,
but it still became this thing that took on a
life of its own, and I think it had an
impact in their first game of the season, but if
Joe Burrow played better, which I think he would have
had he felt more comfortable coming off risk surgery, I

(01:17:26):
don't think we would spend as much time talking about
the negative impact of hold ins and holdouts as we
do because they have been so bad early in the season.
But yeah, man, I think it's totally fair to wonder
like next year. I think the player they take in
the first round next season has even less wiggle room
because now the Bengals have made it known, like we're
putting in these clauses that can that could avoid guarantees

(01:17:50):
if you're taken in the first round. We did it
with Shamar Stewart, We're gonna do it with you. It's coming.
So now there's going to be even less to haggle over.
There's not as much to haggle over. Then, at the
very least, there should be fewer sticking points when OTA's
and Mini camp kid here, So the players should go

(01:18:10):
through those things and sign the waiver that enables him
to go through those things if he still hasn't signed
his contract. But I'm gonna guess, like Chase Brown, next year,
you know, Chase Brown's gonna be the guy that we
talk about signing long term. What's with the running back market?
You know, it just it feels almost inevitable for a

(01:18:34):
long stretch of time. Sixteen seventeen, eighteen nineteen, Like, there
were some things that went down with the Bengals that
weren't that popular, letting Andrew Whitworth go. But I don't
recall there being many, like many just contract ordeals. Part
of it is the Bengals had a quarterback who wasn't
making a lot of money and Andy Dalton. Most of it, though,

(01:18:57):
was they don't have any good players, like even like
if you look at twenty twenty, the Joe Mixon thing,
Joe Mixon got a contract that offseason and in the
offseason in twenty twenty, it kind of got lost in
the flood because of drafting Joe Burrow and COVID and
the weirdness of the offseason and there were no preseason games.

(01:19:17):
But like did Joe Mixon hold in became a thing
and became a thing during this time where like very
few people were, you know, banging the drum for running
backs to get signed to a second contract. And my
take then was pay Joe Mixon, pay him, pay him handsomely.
Give him a big raise even though he's.

Speaker 3 (01:19:37):
A running back. Why there's no one else to pay?

Speaker 8 (01:19:42):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:19:42):
There's nobody else And for a long stretch of time,
I would argue, even this offseason, that's kind of been
the case. One of the reasons why you can make
a very good argument is Joe Burrow did for signing
T Higgins is who else are you gonna give the
money to? Who else in this team? And you look
at going we're gonna pay them long term? Now that
could change based on how this season unfolds, but I've

(01:20:06):
almost gotten to the point where I go, Okay, as
long as you have a lot of good players, invariably
there are gonna be contract issues and holdouts and hold
ins and uh leverage plays and controversy. I just don't
think they have to happen every single year, and hopefully
that's not the case. Twenty one minutes after five o'clock, uh,

(01:20:28):
we'll get to the Reds and they're a winning weekend
and a couple of non Reds related baseball issues coming
up on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (01:20:36):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:20:41):
Traffic from the UC Help Traffic Center.

Speaker 5 (01:20:44):
You see Helps Weight Loss Center offers surgical and medical
obesity care and expertise. Called five one three nine three
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Carroll Cropper Bridge. Delays on both ends and northbound seventy
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Speaker 2 (01:21:15):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Moegger. Thank you for listening today.

Speaker 3 (01:21:19):
I hope your week's off to a really good start.

Speaker 2 (01:21:22):
Tomorrow just programming note is the normal twelve to six
block if you've been missing Clinton and Company, which is
actually I think a really good you know, I like
Clinton Yates. Clinton Yates is one of the few people
who does what he does, which is, you know, nationally
syndicated radio who will do baseball. Now, whether or not

(01:21:45):
that works to his advantage for what he's trying to
accomplish in his career, I have no idea, but I
have enjoyed his show on before since he three to
sixty hearing somebody talk about baseball and actually talk about
baseball from the perspective of somebody who actually watches it.
So anyway, Clinton Show is on tomorrow, and then the
A Door and Window Tony and Mo Training Camp Show

(01:22:06):
returns Wednesday at ten am. Since he three sixty tomorrow
at noon, we are on three to six tomorrow Paul
Danner Junior as always in studio because it's Tuesday. Speaking
of baseball, it was a good weekend of baseball for
the Reds. Those were Those were three fun, entertaining, interesting games.
Most importantly, they got really good starting pitching Brady Singer.

(01:22:29):
You know, we were getting to the point where we
were gonna have to have some conversations about Brady Singer
had his recent ineffectiveness continued. Instead, he was really good yesterday.
The bullpen over the weekend, for the most part, was terrific.
They lean on Tony Santee and so much. They got
a couple of clean outings from Amelia Pegan, they got
some clutch hits, They put some pressure on the Rays

(01:22:52):
with the way they ran the bases. And you know,
you can admit it, because I'm guilty of it. Last
Tuesday night kind of felt like, all right, they got
us the training camp, Water's about to find its level.
They lost that second game against Washington. They really played
poorly in that series. They salvaged the final game, but

(01:23:15):
it just there was this feel last Tuesday that just
it was the antithesis of a team that's about to
go in a push to the postseason. Since then, not
only have they not lost, they've achieved clarity. Now we'll
see what Nickkrawl does. We'll see what he's empowered to do.
We'll see what the market may look like. We'll see

(01:23:37):
how much Nickkrawl values what's available. We'll see how creative
he can be. We'll see how willing they are to
part with prized younger players. But what is inarguable is
they have achieved clarity because two months ago, right, you
heard that word a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:23:56):
Can they achieve clarity?

Speaker 2 (01:23:58):
Can they make it very abundantly clear, which is redundant
in late July that they either are or are not contenders?
Now I get it. I'm gonna be accused of getting
ahead of myself. Maybe they lose the next three, maybe
they start a free fall. Maybe on the evening of

(01:24:19):
July thirty first, this team is four games out instead
of one game out. But come on, man, like it's
it's It would be really hard, I think to go
from right now where I believe everybody believes this team
should be in a position to buy, to suddenly on
Thursday night, deadlines at six suddenly on July thirty first,

(01:24:41):
we think they should sell or we think they should stand.
Pat they have, they have achieved clarity, they're contenders. I
still stop short of putting this team in the postseason
right now, because offensively, I just I think they're a
little bit too on evel. But it is as frustrating

(01:25:05):
as they can be man, and god knows, they have
been frustrating at times this season where they just walk
a tight rope, and I'm the first to admit the
more you walk a tight rope, the greater the likelihood
of falling off. On a handful of occasions this season,
it is felt like the season is about to slip away,

(01:25:27):
and pretty much every single time they have found ways
to get the thing back on track and at least
stay afloat and at least stay in it. And now
they're a game out. I think the most encouraging thing
and we've talked about it a few times today. Look, man,
I was asked last week, are you going to apologize
to Matt McClain, And it's like, well, did I did

(01:25:50):
I do something to him? Did I say something about
him personally? No, Matt McClain. I think it would be
the first to admit in the first half of the season,
Matt McLean's production was very disappointing. Now you may use
his recent surge as evidence that the main reason for
his struggles early in the season was the fact that
he didn't play last year, and there's probably something to that.

Speaker 3 (01:26:13):
But the Rets told you.

Speaker 2 (01:26:14):
They thought Matt McClain was going to be really good
when the season started because they win him. They left
him unchallenged at second base. He was the opening day
two hole guy. They never entertained sending him to Louisville.
They did move him down in the batting order for
a bit. But they have done the whole ride or
die thing with Matt McClain. They have told you how
dependent upon him they've been, and in the first ninety

(01:26:37):
seven games or so of the season, there was not
a bigger disappointment.

Speaker 3 (01:26:41):
There was also not a guy who held a bigger.

Speaker 2 (01:26:43):
Key to success over the final two and a half
months of the season than Matt McClain.

Speaker 3 (01:26:48):
They need more production from the two spot.

Speaker 2 (01:26:50):
Since the All Star break, they've gotten really good production
from the two spot.

Speaker 3 (01:26:55):
Hopefully it continues.

Speaker 2 (01:26:57):
You don't have to apologize to a player when you
have a job like this one and you simply criticize
his performance.

Speaker 3 (01:27:05):
That's all we did.

Speaker 2 (01:27:06):
Matt mcclan is smart enough to understand that his performance
was deserving of criticism. His recent performances have been deserving
of praise. Will certainly give it to him. Sports Headlines
and Stephen A. Smith on Trey Hendrickson and the Bengals
Whether you want it or not. Plus two nons related
non Reds related baseball stories on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (01:27:30):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (01:27:35):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. Who See Helps
Weight Loss Center offers surgical and medical obesity care and expertise.
Called five one three nine three nine two two sixty three.
That's nine three nine two two sixty three northbound seventy
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(01:27:56):
between the Western Hills Viaduct and Fort Washington Way and
southbound seventy one slow traffic from Martin Luther King to
Fort Washington Way. I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 1 (01:28:07):
Three fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:28:09):
Sports headlines are service at Kelsey Chevrola home of it
lifetime powertrain protection and guarantee credit approval from their family
to yours for life, kelseychev dot Com. Tarren Pang homage
to our guest on Friday. Ice Cube Bengals practice today.
They had to move it indoors about midway through, which

(01:28:30):
is understandable at stinks for fans. They had a good
crowd down there today. No practice tomorrow. They're back at
it on Wednesday morning, open to the public. A door
and window. Tony and Moe training camp show will be
there Wednesday morning at ten a m. There you go,
still know Trey Hendrickson is Those two sides fight over which.

Speaker 3 (01:28:51):
Years are going to be guaranteed? Reds and Dodgers.

Speaker 2 (01:28:55):
Tonight, Chase Burns pitches against the defending World Series Champions
against Yoshinobu Yamamoto seven ten Tonight on seven hundred WLW
I got an email over the weekend telling me I
am wasting my time when I read the Red starting lineup.

Speaker 3 (01:29:11):
I might be, but.

Speaker 2 (01:29:15):
You know, there could be somebody driving home who doesn't
have time during their workday to look at Twitter see
what the Red starting lineup is, and maybe he or
she is dependent on me to give them that information
that I don't know what they'll do with, but they
still want it.

Speaker 3 (01:29:33):
So here it is.

Speaker 2 (01:29:36):
Friedo McLay and Elie de la Cruz Hayesen left, Lux's
Dhing Steers at first base, Tyler Stevenson catches Will Benson,
and Wright Noelve.

Speaker 3 (01:29:44):
Marte at third base. A story emerged.

Speaker 2 (01:29:50):
Today Philadelphia Philly star Bryce Harper stood nose to nose
with Rob Manford during a meeting between the MLB Commissioner
and the team last week, with Harper telling Manfred to quote,
get the f out of our clubhouse if Manford wanted
to talk about the potential implementation of.

Speaker 3 (01:30:10):
A salary cap.

Speaker 2 (01:30:14):
Cooler heads eventually did prevail, and I guess Bryce Harper
and Rob Manfred eventually shook hands.

Speaker 3 (01:30:20):
The Commissioner of.

Speaker 2 (01:30:21):
Major League Baseball has been going from team to team
and he has talked about needing to do this to
improve his relationship with the players and the players' union.
But more than anything, as has been the case for
decades now, owners and the sport. When a salary cap,
players do not, and so he's going from team to

(01:30:43):
team to kind of make his case. With a lockout
possibly looming at the end of next year, here's why
we should have a salary cap. Now, if you've listened
to this show for any amount of time, you'll know
that I'm not a big Rob Manford guy, because he
just never comes across as somebody who genuine only cares
for or even likes the sport that he governs. That said,

(01:31:06):
I do think he's actually done some really really good things.
The pitch clock has been a smashing success. I think
a lot of the rules that he implemented and and
sort of shoved down the player's throat, I think they've
been good for baseball. I think they've screwed up their
media rights deal. I think him, you know, screwing over
or how should I say? Him putting ESPN on blast

(01:31:29):
and then kind of come crawling back and trying to
get a deal done with them is sort of silly.
But I have softened a little bit when it comes
to Rob Manford. I think, though, this illustrates the biggest
story in the sport right now that nobody really wants.

Speaker 3 (01:31:41):
To talk about.

Speaker 2 (01:31:43):
There's probably gonna be a locket at the end of
next year. And since I was four years old, MLB
owners have been looking for a salary cap, and I
think what this does here is it illustrates exactly how
much of a non starter of this topic is going
to be for so many MLB players, including an influential

(01:32:05):
one like Bryce Harper. The other baseball story really quick
before we play for you Steven A. Smith on Trey
Hendrickson and the Bengals. Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel class is
on leave over a MLB investigation into sports gambling. He
is the second Guardians pitcher to be caught up in

(01:32:26):
an inquiry, the other one being Luis Hortes Ortiz, who
remains on non disciplinary paid leave after being placed on
the same list on July third. I don't know what's
going to become of these I don't know specifically what
they're looking into. Here's what I could tell you. Yes,
gambling is legal. Yes, baseball has a relationship with gambling companies. No,

(01:32:50):
it is not excusable at all for players to be
engaged in gambling when.

Speaker 3 (01:32:55):
There is not a rule in this sport that is.

Speaker 2 (01:33:00):
Less ambiguous where it has stated very clearly you're not
allowed to bet on baseball. Now, maybe they're betting other sports,
but this will come up often, and it has already
that somehow this is the faults of the leagues, and
they're hypocritical for getting into bed with gambling companies.

Speaker 3 (01:33:21):
They're not.

Speaker 2 (01:33:25):
There are certain things you cannot do as part of
every single job that maybe others who don't have that
job can do. If you're a major league baseball player,
one of them is gambling on baseball. All right, Tarren,
give this to me. Is this from first take?

Speaker 3 (01:33:40):
Is this Stephen A. Smith? Or will I hear other people?
Is just Steven A Smith?

Speaker 2 (01:33:47):
Now, America has been kind of given a break from
Steven A. Smith since the end of the NBA Finals,
and so I need to know here. Prepare myself. Descibel
levels zero through ten. How loud is he about to
get here?

Speaker 8 (01:34:04):
Listen.

Speaker 10 (01:34:05):
I don't think it's going to derail their season because
I'm not expecting much from the Cincinnati Bengals anyway. I mean, listen,
if there was a D, if there was a D
in the word Cincinnati, you know what, we'd have to
call the cops crown out loud because somebody's stealing some
letters or whatever. They don't play any defense whatsoever. Trey
Hendrickson is the closest thing they have to defend. The

(01:34:25):
thirty five sacks over the last two years, four and
a half sacks more than anybody else. He's a valuable
commodity to them. But collectively they're not a valuable commodity.
They ranked like twenty fifth Defensively, they were porous. They
lost four games even though they offense generated thirty three
points to more. This is a problem for the Cincinnati Bengals.
That's why the person that I just I cannot express

(01:34:46):
enough how much I love me some Joe Burrow. It
ain't just because the brother can ball. It's because that
brother spoke up. He came on this show, fellas super
Bowl week, on this show right out there, you know,
a only sit right on the set with us, and
he said, Yo, we need to pay Jamar Chase, we
need to pay t Higgins, and we need to pay

(01:35:08):
Tree Hendrickson.

Speaker 8 (01:35:09):
I don't give a damn what we have to do.

Speaker 10 (01:35:11):
Came out and told them they took care to of them,
They took care of Chasing Higgins, and they damn well
that better had because those some bad brothers, make no
mistake about it, You know that, o' choe, those some
special brothers right there, Barry. But in the end, what
the Cincinnati Bengals are saying is that we didn't have
a defense last year, and we don't expect to have
much of a defense this year, So why should we

(01:35:31):
pay the due? All our money is riding on our office,
That's what they're saying. What I'm saying is you take
care of those who produce for you on an elite
level doing their job.

Speaker 2 (01:35:46):
I don't know, man, That makes it sound like they
haven't offered him a significant raise, which they have. What
they're apparently at odds over now is whether or not
the Bengals are gonna guarantee past one, guarantee a salary
past year one. Fair for Trey Hendrickson to obviously want
to be guaranteed every dime he possibly can. I think though,

(01:36:10):
the way this gets positioned and it is completely fair
because I'm doing it like If Trey Hendrickson's not on
your team this year, how's your crappy defense from last
year going to be any better? But I think the
way this gets positioned is the Bengals haven't tried that
they have no interest in paying. Mike Brown and Duke
Tobin both said a week ago that Trey deserves a

(01:36:31):
pay raise. By every account out there, the Bengals have
offered him a significant one. Maybe not a top of
market rays, but a significant one, probably by now, a
one hundred percent pay raise. Again, man, like you may believe,
and I get it. You know, hey, give Trey every

(01:36:51):
dime you know, guarantee every dime that's in that contract. Fine,
break the mold with Trey the way you did with
Burrow and Chase and Geary the money after year one.

Speaker 3 (01:37:01):
Fine. But I believe the way this gets talked about
by a lot of people is that they are just
letting Trey Hendrickson walk. I certainly do.

Speaker 2 (01:37:10):
Believe, and maybe I'm in the minority here, I believe
they want Trey Hendrickson on the team in twenty twenty six.
They just don't want him on the team under the
specific terms that he is looking for. Fair to take
Trey side there. But to suggest that which I think
he's kind of doing there, that they're just letting them
walk and don't value him at all, is I think.

(01:37:33):
I think that's off base. Tony Pike is never off base,
he joins us.

Speaker 4 (01:37:37):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 5 (01:37:43):
An earlier crash has now been cleared out on eastbound
two seventy five, but between Turkey Foot and Madison Pike
still about a ten minute to laid back from seventy
one to seventy five. Northbound seventy one near to seventy five.
It's an accident on the left shoulder at Zelik with traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:38:01):
You see what happen.

Speaker 6 (01:38:02):
Fifteen thirty with the latest from Bengals training camp, brought
you by Skyline. Julie feeling good. It's Skyline time on
your official home of the Cincinnati Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty Tony.

Speaker 2 (01:38:18):
The Bengals had half a workout outdoors. Half a workout
indoors was the first padded practice of training camp.

Speaker 3 (01:38:26):
Schamar Stewart on the field.

Speaker 2 (01:38:27):
Today and by all accounts, had a good workout. I
want to talk about a guy who has a lot
to prove this year, and that's Dax Hill. You know,
as bad as last year's defense was and as much
as Dax represents a huge amount of uncertainty before he
got hurt last season, I think we were starting to
see flashes of him getting it at the cornerback spot.

(01:38:47):
He's back, he's healthy, he's been on the field. He's
been used both on the outside and in the slot.
You and I have talked about X factors this season.
Aren't many more bigger than the team's two thousand two
first round draft pick.

Speaker 7 (01:39:02):
Yeah, the usages is unique because we've seen Al Golden
shuffling everyone, Kam Taylor Britt has taken snaps at inside
corner as well throughout training camp. Not a ton, but
I think Alan Golden and this staff are putting as
many people in as many places as possible just to
see what sticks. And you know, Dax Hill is kind
of the latest on a long line of what ifs
for the Cincinnati Bengals. What if Dax Hill plays to

(01:39:24):
the role of the first round pick that he was
used for. You know, this team has missed on far
too many early picks. And we're having the same conversation
all over the defense, Dax Hill. We've talked about Cam Taylor,
britt we talked about Miles Murphy, Josephosai, players that you
hope come into their own that just really haven't shown
the consistency yet. And that's the word consistency. Dax Hill

(01:39:45):
showed flashes, but they also were times where he was
getting beat. And it's hard in the NFL to switch positions.
It's hard enough to play one position, it's even harder
to switch to a different one.

Speaker 9 (01:39:55):
But if you want to.

Speaker 7 (01:39:56):
Talk about upside, if Dax Hill and the defense can
revolve around what his skill set allows them to do,
whether that's inside or outside, think of the different conversation
we're having. We talked about the secondary. We have questions there.
Dax Hill is athletic, He's very football savy. He obviously
has an understanding of defenses, or else he wouldn't been

(01:40:17):
at with switch positions.

Speaker 9 (01:40:18):
In the first place.

Speaker 7 (01:40:19):
All of that stuff bodes well for a player that
Al Golden can now try to mold into what he
wants his defenders to be. But we're having a completely
different conversation about the Bengals. If Dax Hill is a
key contributor for this defense.

Speaker 2 (01:40:33):
Tony, like all of our guests, with us on the
Race Saint Claire Roofing Hotline. The AE Dorn Window, Tony
and Mode Training Camp show is back Wednesday morning at
ten am. Paul Danner Juniors with us tomorrow and studio.
Have a great night. Thank you for listening. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 5 (01:40:52):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. You see helps win