7/9/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

The Reds have been what we expected, so why expect them to be any better from here on in? The Bengals have made a choice. And it's not the right one. Plus, the awesomeness of "Quarterback."

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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You enter it now.

Speaker 3 (00:08):
Thank Hey. Remember, like forty eight hours ago, forty eight
hours ago Monday afternoon, the Reds that night were starting
a huge seven game homestand a home stand against bad teams,
a homestand coming off a losing road trip, and I
think we were all in agreement. Boy, this is a
homestand where the Reds have to make some progress. This

(00:30):
is a homestand where the Reds gotta they gotta achieve
some clarity here. This is a homestand where they need
to make it known. Hey, we are in this thing.
We are contenders, we are buyers at the deadline, right,
this is a Homestand I think the consensus, I was
maybe a little ambitious, maybe a little bit more ambitious
than most, but I think the consensus was they've got

(00:51):
to go. They've got to go five and two. Now
for me, it was six and one. I'm greedy and
perhaps I have actual major league expectations, but fine, I
came back to the consensus, let's do it. Okay, they've
got to go five and two, that they're playing big
league ball clubs, or at least the Marlins are kind
of a big league club. Let's let's just say, you

(01:13):
gotta win the two series, Gotta win three a three
out of four against Miami and then take two out
of three against Colorado. By losing one game to the Rockies,
to me, is almost unforgivable. But that's fine. We are
in an era of lowered expectations, especially here when it
comes to baseball, So fine, fine, five out of seven,
gotta go five and two on this homestand I think
we all agreed it was all but mandatory. I have

(01:36):
asked on social media, on Twitter, specifically thanks to United
Heartland Insurance, do we think after losing Monday night, and
do we think after getting clobbered last night that the
Reds are gonna win the final five games of this series?
And overwhelmingly so, the response has been no. Ninety point
four percent of you you could still vote. I threw

(01:57):
this out there last night. Ninety point four percent of
you say no. So to achieve what we all said
was basically mandatory. I don't recall anybody saying, mo, they
can go four and three, and that's fine, And certainly
nobody was like, dude, if they just go three and
four on this home stand against the bad Marlins and
the wretched Rockies, they're gonna be okay. Well, so they've

(02:18):
got to win all five games. Sandiel Contra pitches tonight,
so does All Star Andrew Abbott. We'll get to that
here in just a bit. Six after three. I'm oegar.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you for listening today
showed previews available on Twitter as well at moegar. Thanks
to Emery Federal Credit Union, the greatest credit union in
the history of credit unions. If you're not a member,

(02:38):
you're doing it wrong. So join me. Become a member
Emery FCU dot Org. Reds get slaughtered last night. You'll
hear Tito Francona talk about Nick Martinez, who he sat
idly by in his captain's chair in the dugout to
watch him pretty much give the Reds no chance of
winning last night. But hey, he ate a lot of
innings and I guess that's all we care about. So
the Rads are back to back to a five hundred team,

(03:01):
back to a five hundred team. Let's be Let's be honest, man,
we always are on this show. This is this is
who they are. This is what and who they are.
We are no longer in April where it's like too
hard to tell. We're no longer in May where it's
like the sample size isn't that big. We're no longer

(03:22):
in June where it's well, let's see what some of
these guys who got off to slow starts are gonna
do in the next third of the season. Or let's
see if some of the guys who were hurt early
in the season can come back. This is who the
It's July, Okay, the All Star break is next week.
They've played ninety two games, pretty good sample size, pretty
representative sample size. They're forty six and forty six. They're

(03:45):
a five hundred team. Before the season started, the consensus
was pretty close to a five hundred team. I said
eighty three and seventy nine. Nobody told me I was wrong.
I couldn't find anybody who thought man ninety wins, couldn't
find anybody who thought ninety losses pretty much close to
five hundred. They're exactly at five hundred, and that's been
pretty much where they've been all year long. Maybe a

(04:08):
game or two over maybe a game or two under
right now through ninety six games exactly at five hundred.
Before the season started, we thought, God, you know what,
their ads will have pretty decent starting pitching. And they
have last night perhaps a notable exception. They have pretty
decent starting pitching. Andrew Abbott is an All Star and

(04:28):
he deserves to be an All Star, and that's great.
He spearheads a rotation that has been all right. They
have pretty decent starting pitching. In fact, better than average
starting pitching. We suspected that coming into the season. Before
the season started, we thought they would have an offense
that at best is average. I just read these stats

(04:48):
on Sincy three to sixty. I'll give them to you again,
and you could find more advanced metrics to make an
argument if you want that this offense is better than
I would suggest. They're seventeenth on Homer's nineteenth and on
base percentage fifteenth in ops fourteenth and stolen bases twentieth
and batting average. If you take away the twenty four
run put a twenty four run output against the Orioles

(05:09):
that game where they won twenty four to two, they
are fifteenth and runs per game if you add in
the twenty four they are tenth and runs per game.
They are the very definition of average offensively. That's not
a huge surprise. That's what we suspected they were going
to be before the season started. So I guess here's
my question. And we can fold in the deadline and

(05:31):
who they may acquire, understanding that the impact of one
player can sometimes be pretty minimal. And that's not to
say the Reds shouldn't be looking for upgrades at every
position at the deadline and then again this offseason. But
if before the season started we thought this team was
going to be okay, If before this season started we

(05:51):
thought they were going to be roughly five hundred with
decent starting pitching and an okay offense, and they've played
ninety two games with decent start pitching and an ok offense,
and they have won as many as they have lost.
Why should anybody believe, why should any of us believe
that over the final seventy games that things are going
to be dramatically better, dramatically better. For this team to

(06:14):
get to eighty six wins, they have to win forty
of their next seventy games, which if you win forty
out of seventy. You're basically playing in a ninety two
win clip over the course of a full one hundred
and sixty two game season. It might sound like I'm
banging on. I'm and I guess to a degree I am, but.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
Man Like, before the season started, we all said it
might make the postseason if they could outperform reasonable expectation
just a hair but reasonable expectation felt like some were
close to five hundred. Well, they've been somewhere close to
five hundred now for over three months. Why should any

(06:55):
of us believe that things are going to change between
now and Game number one six. I don't think this
team is so bad that they're gonna crater. My guess
is this team plays well enough to keep many people
engaged for much of the season. Maybe you've decided to
disengage with the way they have played over the last
week and a half, But my guess is that they're

(07:17):
They're just good enough to be with an arm's length
of a playoff spot for for for you and I
to be able to look at the standings pretty much
any day between now in mid September and go eh,
they're in contention. That's my guess that they're They're just
good enough to hang around, just good enough to stay
in the hunt, but not good enough to win anything meaningful.

(07:40):
So that's what I'm looking for today. It's plain to
me how this gets better? And I know the answer
might be, Well, they're gonna trade for a u Haanio Suarez? Okay?
Are they? First of all, are they gonna be in
buy mode? Number two? They're not the only team that
needs a third baseman. They're certainly not the only team
who could use a guy like a Euhaneoz. They're not

(08:01):
the only team in their own division who could use
a guy like a Euhaneo Suarez. Oh and by the way,
for what it's worth, if we're not yet sure if
the Reds are buyers or sellers, aren't they wondering the
same thing in Phoenix? So that could be the answer,
But maybe not too And god knows what kind of
position they're going to be around July thirty. First, Maybe

(08:24):
it's a bullpen arm. Maybe me think that you get
a starting pitcher. Maybe you believe that there's some sort
of magic elixer that this team is going to consume
while they add upgrades from other teams around July thirty first,
and spend the next two months playing at a clip
that they haven't played at all season long. Perhaps that happens.
My guess is it doesn't. My guess is this team

(08:46):
finishes somewhere between seventy nine and eighty three wins, And
if that's good enough for you, that's fine. I think
I speak for most. I don't think that's good enough.
I don't think that's good enough at all. And so
then the question becomes what then? What then? Like what
if we get to late September early October and the

(09:08):
twenty twenty five Reds have failed to do what every
other Reds team in a full season has failed to
do since twenty fourteen, and that's make the postseason. What
if this doesn't work out? What if another season comes
and goes with the Reds on the outside looking in,
despite the young talent that they brought up to the

(09:29):
big league level two years ago mostly still being intact,
and despite all of their offseason editions, some of which
have turned out to be pretty good. What if this
doesn't work And what if the Reds are at the
end of the season where they are right now, which
is kind of sort of close to the playoffs, but
kind of sort and not by the way, For what

(09:49):
it's worth, they're four and a half out of the
last wildcard. There's two teams between them. They have almost
no prayer of contending in the National League Central, which
we have known for all while. So you know, you
might get mad at me for even going down this
road here in mid July, and that's not my fault.
That's their fault for not exceeding expectation. The expectation was

(10:11):
they'd be pretty much a five hundred team. They're pretty
much a five hundred team. Is that going to be
the expectation next year? And if the answer is no,
the expectation is going to be greater based on what,
based on what? Like These are legitimate questions, I think,
and maybe it's too early to be asking them, but

(10:32):
they have forced us into this corner like in twenty
twenty six. Truly, how many of these dudes are you
running it back with? How many more cracks at it
is Nick kraging to get? And are we ever going
to arrive at a point where on opening day the expectation,
not hope, the expectation is when the division finished somewhere

(10:52):
in the ninety five victory range and legitimately compete for
something meaningful in October, because it still feels like they're
a very very far away from that, very very far
away from that. So I'm kind of curious, Number one,
how does this change between now and the end of
the season, and I mean change for the better? Number two?

(11:15):
If if, if they've played this full season and we're
sitting here in very late September and the playoffs are
about to begin in the regire not a part of them,
then what then? What five point three seven four nine
fifteen thirty is our phone number? Eight sixty six seven
oh two three seven seven six. We'll get you in two.
You can also send a tweet at moegar thanks to

(11:36):
Delta Dental, which is building healthy, smart and vibrant communities
for all good at Delta Dental oh dot com. Sixteen
after three o'clock. They were just destroyed last night. Nick
Martinez got clobbered. You'll hear Terry Francona on him here
in just a second. Andrew Abbot gets the ball tonight.
And we found out against during the game last night
that he was going to be a National League All Star,

(11:57):
and he certainly deserves it. But I'm not concerned learn
about what he does in the All Star Game. I'm
concerned about what he does tonight because if he's truly
a staff as truly an All Star, he stands toe
to toe again Sandy al Contra, who's not having a
Sandy al Contra season, and delivers a win. Now, he
might not get any help from the offense, which broke
out for two big runs last night despite losing by ten.

(12:19):
Andrew Abbott needs to do tonight what an All Star
starting pitcher usually does. We'll see if he does. You'll
hear from him on being an All Star here in
just a little bit. I'm bracing for the inevitable. I'm
prepared for disappointment. I hope I end up being pleasantly surprised.
And I'm not talking about the Reds. I'll tell you
what I am talking about coming up in just about

(12:41):
twenty five minutes. It's seventeen minutes after three o'clock. Glad
you're here today. My name is Mal Egger. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station, Cincinnatis. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty. Bengals has made a choice. It ain't the
right one that coming up in twenty minutes. Good stuff
yesterday from Big twelve media days. We had Gavin Gerhardt

(13:03):
who was terrific. We had Joe Royer who was terrific,
and a good conversation with UCAD John Cunningham. If you
missed any of those, go get him on the iHeartRadio
app or my page at ESPN fifteen thirty dot com.
We podcast the entire show, we podcast interviews, and so
much more. Podcasts of this show are a service of
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(13:26):
It's an awesome place to post up on a beautiful
summer evening, or, by the way, maybe not such a
beautiful summer evening. Go to long Next twenty three. After three,
let's we had Nick Martinez got destroyed last night. And
I understand that two things that I understand. Number One,

(13:47):
Terry Francona didn't want to go too deep into his
bullpen early in the game. Fine, And I also understand
that basically Nick Martinez had one crummy inning and he
ended up giving the Reds at least some length so
they didn't have to completely exhaust their bullpen in a
game that they would lose by ten runs. He got

(14:07):
him through the fifth, which there's something admirable about that.
I kind of felt like early in the third inning
you could tell, just and I'm my amateur analysis from
sitting in the moon deck, you could just tell Dick
Martinez was on the verge of getting racked. And that's
what happened. So Tito sat there in his captain stating

(14:29):
the dugout and watched Nick Martinez pretty much give the chance, no,
give the Reds no chance to win. Here's the Reds
manager talking about Nick Martinez leaving him in his starter's
performance last night.

Speaker 4 (14:40):
Back in fourth fifth, Nick was three up, three down.

Speaker 5 (14:43):
What did you see from him the third that maybe
led to his struggles? Seemed like you're right, like when
he was in his delivery good. When they got him
out of the stretch, things happened in a hurry, And
I don't know if there's significance to that or he
just didn't make pitches, but you're right, he was really

(15:03):
good in most of those innings, even after the damage.
I mean, fortunately he went back out so we didn't
go through a whole bullpen.

Speaker 6 (15:14):
Last week.

Speaker 5 (15:17):
Well, I mean that's why we pitched Trevino in the
because we don't want to or we don't want to
send somebody down and doesn't deserve two things like that.
But I think we're okay and we're trying to manage it.
But here your point, if we can go a little deeper,
it would certainly help.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
All Right, there's Tito who sat on his captain's chair
in the dugout while the Marlin scored seven runs last night.
The good news was Andrew Abbott. They announced this at
the ballpark. You saw, if you were watching on TV.
Saw he was getting hugs and high fives from his teammates.
He's going to be an All Star, deservingly, so I
said on Monday, I feel like there are exclusions and

(15:56):
there are snubs. I think Andrew Abbott was an exclusion.
I think an egregious exclusion is a snub. I could
understand why some would view the criteria being look, pick
pitch more innings. We're going to opt for the guys
who have pitch more innings. But still, the underlying metrics
for Andrew Abbott were better, not even the underlying some
of the basic metrics for Andrew Abbott were better than

(16:17):
many of the guys who are originally taken. He's going
to be on the squad and because he pitches tonight,
he's got a damn good chance to appear in the game.
Here he is on his All Star invite last night.
And what's it mean not only for you to be
going to the All Star Game, but what it means
for your family.

Speaker 7 (16:36):
Means the world. I mean, you know, you grow up,
you want to be an MLB Baseball player, and you
know to get the recognition of being an All Star.
Can't put into words, you know, just excited to represent them,
represent Cincinnati at the game and uh, just go have
some fun.

Speaker 4 (16:53):
How did you find out? Can you take us through that?

Speaker 3 (16:56):
Yeah, we were sitting in a dug out.

Speaker 7 (16:57):
We were just you know, watching the game, what not,
talking the star pictures and mcleaan hits the homer. Tito
brings us in and like a circle thought we were
gonna get yelled at because he he was like doing
his like yelling but like not yelling voice. But anyway,
he brought us all in and he was like, I'll
tell you guys one thing, you know, with some choice

(17:19):
language in there as well. But and he was like
Andre Rabbits an All Star and then it just erupted.
Got showered with ice, bubblegum, everything that guy should get
their hands on. But it was fantastic, you know, just
being around the guys. It felt like I was in
Triple A getting caught up to the big leagues. So
it was definitely a wholesome moment for sure.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
You think of all the guys the Reds have brought
to the big leagues over the last couple of years,
and twenty twenty three, there was obviously a steady stream
of guys who got to Cincinnati and the year before
Nicola Dolo and Graham Ashcraft and Hunter Green who were
for a while considered the Big three. Andrew Abbott came
to Cincinnati with almost no hype and then from the

(18:01):
get go instantly fit in. You remember his first start
against the Brewers, he was awesome. Uh, and then at
the end of last year he goes on the injured list,
misses the last six weeks spring training. This year was
kind of delayed. If I would have said to anybody
back in March, Andrew Abbott is going to be the
Reds starting pitcher who makes an All Star, makes the
All Star team, you would have said, there's no way,
let's make that bet, and maybe things are different of

(18:23):
Hunter Green wouldn't have gotten hurt, but nonetheless awesome for
Andrew Abbott. Even more awesome if he can deliver a
win tonight, because you know, his last outing on Friday
against the Phillies, the game the Reds won, he was
not very good, and so he obviously deserves to be
an All Star. But you want to make an emphatic
case that, yeah, you know what I should have been
picked to begin with, Go beat the Marlins tonight, stop

(18:45):
a losing streak, do what an All Star pitcher is
supposed to do. We will see if that happens. Your
phone calls are coming up five point three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty. We're gonna give away upper deck golf tickets.
I'm actually gonna do it in the next hour. I
haven't yet decided how now I'm gonna do it. We
also have Derk Spentley tickets that coming up in the
five o'clock hour. We are wide open today, so your

(19:07):
phone calls are coming up, and we'd love to hear
from you, even if you're listening to us on a
beach in Delaware. Sports Headlines Next ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (19:17):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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Fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (19:57):
Sports Headlines, Our Service Kelsey Chevroli, Home of lifetime powertrain
protection and guarantee credit approval from their family to yours
the Life. Chelsea Chef dot com reds Marlins again tonight,
game three of four to seven ten to tonight on a
seven hundred wlw Andrew Abbott, the All Star, gets the
ball against Sandy Alcontra, who has not pitched like an

(20:18):
All Star this year. Starting lineup for Cincinnati tonight Freedols
and center, Matt McClain's at second base, Elie de la
Cruz at shortstop, Austin Hayes's and leftfield Tonight patting fourth,
Lux's Dhing Spencer Steer at first, Tyler Stevenson catches and
bat seventh, Will Benson and Wright. Noel ve Marte is
playing third base and hitting ninth. Florence Yawls are home

(20:39):
for the Brockton Rocks. And that's what I got for
local sports headlines, not much else. Bengals training camp starts
two weeks from today. I'm not at Liberty to give
specific details, but we are ramping up our training camp
coverage on this radio station and I am pumped about it.
More details on that coming up later this week. It's
time to take phone calls, because that's what it is.

(21:01):
It's a sports talk radio show. Five fifteen thirty is
our phone number. Nick. You're on ESPN fifteen thirty, Nick,
Good afternoon.

Speaker 9 (21:10):
How are you good afternoon?

Speaker 10 (21:12):
Though?

Speaker 11 (21:13):
Hey, listen, you said for a long time on the show, Uh,
you are what you are until you're not. Yeah, And
I wholeheartedly believe that what we're seeing from the Reds
this is you know they were trending upward in June,
they're trending.

Speaker 12 (21:28):
Downward in July.

Speaker 11 (21:29):
I really think that what we're seeing right now, like
that's this ball club this year. I don't see the
ninety win season. I don't see a ninety lost season.
I put on FanDuel back in March, I put seventy
nine and a half. I don't know, you know, I'm
hoping that it'll go over that. But part of me, though,
and I never want to believe that owners in front

(21:52):
office wants a team to lose, but part of me
really feels like, perhaps is this the where they're trending
right now with are the Castellini, Nick Krawl, is this
kind of where in your estimation where they want to
see the team trending so that they don't have to
spend money at the break?

Speaker 3 (22:10):
I don't think. I don't think Nick Crawl views it
that way. I think if if you said to Nick Krawl,
you know, what do you want to do with the deadline,
he'd say like, well, you know, maybe he doesn't want
to give up a lot of prospects, but I think
he would love to take on as much money. It
ain't his money, right, So Nick Nick Krall, Nick Krawl
would I think if you said, hey to Nick, look,
there's going to be a new owner who comes in

(22:30):
and just you know, funnels you hundreds of millions of
dollars to play with, he'd spend it willingly. I don't
know if he'd spend it well, but he'd spend it willingly.
And so I don't know if there's that to me
that there was a telling quote from him in twenty
twenty two, and this to me wasn't so much reflection
on him as it was the overall philosophy of ownership,

(22:52):
which is, we don't we want to eliminate the peaks
and valleys, and we want something that we can sustain
for a while. And I understand what he's saying, right,
you don't want to have to drag your fans through
multiple ninety loss seasons like they did last decade. At
the same time, who's not up for a peak every
now and then? Right, like, there should be a there
should be a time, and I've been waiting for it
where you go, you know what, screw it, We're going

(23:14):
for it, and we're going for it, maybe with a
prospect that we really don't want to part with but
we have to or screw it. We're going for it,
and we're gonna spend the extra ten to fifteen million dollars.
I wonder how much of that was an indication that,
you know what, this is kind of how we're gonna
operate for a while. We're gonna just try to sneak
into the postseason and not spend as much as we

(23:37):
can to build a ninety five win team. Let's build
an eighty five win team, hope they overachieved by a
game or two, get to the postseason, and then who
knows what happens. I think something like that is closer
to reality than then maybe some would be willing to admit.

Speaker 11 (23:54):
But what we've seen though the last week and a half, though,
is this I hate to say, but is this pretty
much what we're going to get the rest.

Speaker 4 (24:04):
Of the season?

Speaker 11 (24:04):
Where we do you talk about peaks and valleys? Are
we getting these smaller peaks and valleys of the season
for the rest of the season in your estimation?

Speaker 3 (24:12):
Well, I think when you have I think when you
have a low ceiling, you have a low floor. Right
like years ago, people when when the Reds were good
twenty twelve, twenty thirteen. I remember folks complaining about Zach
Cozart's batting, and I'm going, well, if the biggest complaint
is the batting of the eighth place hitter, that's pretty good.

(24:32):
My take was Zach Zach cozart ceiling is not that high,
so his floor is going to be low, meaning when
he goes through an extended slump, it doesn't look like
an extended slump. For Joey Vado, it doesn't look like
an extended slump for Shinsu Chu. Like those are good hitters.
When those guys go through slumps, they still figure out
a way to help the team with the bat. A
bad hitter will not. I think something applies. Something similar

(24:52):
applies here. This team's offensive ceiling is not very high,
so when they go through a collective batting slump, it
looks like it has over the last five games, or
last four games at least, where they've scored one run,
one run, one run in two runs, where they nearly
got no hit the other night or nearly got one
hit the other night and did get one hit on Sunday.
I think what you've seen is the floor. The ceiling

(25:15):
is not that high, so offensively, they're not good enough
to go through these stretches where they can carry the
starting pitching win fifteen out of eighteen games, clearly separate
themselves from the five hundred mark. And when they go
through a collective batting slump, it looks like it has
over the last couple of ball games, and it looks
like it has at various points during the first ninety

(25:36):
two games of the season.

Speaker 11 (25:38):
Well, hopefully they write the ship tonight.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
Thanks for taking my CALLMO.

Speaker 4 (25:41):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (25:41):
I appreciate it, Thank you, and I hope that makes sense.
Like they're I think we most of us agreed on
this when the season started, right They're They're not. They're
not a high ceiling team. We talk about this all
the time as it relates to the Bengals, and sometimes
frustratingly so. Joe burrow ceiling is high, Jamar Chase's ceiling

(26:02):
is high. Their ability to do explosive things in the
air is high. Their ability to be hard to defend
is through the roof because of Chase Brown and all
the different things they can do offensively. But they have
areas of their team where the ceiling is very low,
like with the defense, it's what can they be middle
of the pack, hope so? Or the offensive line can

(26:24):
it be middle of the pack. Well, when you have
a low ceiling, you usually have a low floor. So
what happens with the defense last year low ceiling defense
when the floor ends up being reality, it's terrible. Same
for the offensive line for recent years. I think with
this team it's kind of the same thing. Like there,

(26:44):
their collective ceiling is not very high, which means your
floor is low. So offensively and I get it. I
read all the numbers they're let's just take this number.
They're fifteenth at ops, which isn't terrible. It's not good.
It's not fifth, but it's not twenty fifth. It's middle
of the pack. So to me, a low ceiling offensive

(27:07):
team is prone to these stretches where they simply do
not hit, and they're prone to these stretches where they
lose a lot of games and negate the stretches where
they play well because of their lack of offense. They
could have scored eleven runs last night and it wouldn't
have mattered. So last night is maybe not the best example.

(27:28):
Although let's be honest, when it was seven to one
last night, you knew the game was over. When a
seven to one last night knew the game was over,
you might have thought, well, the marlinser is going to
add on more runs, which they did, but you know
it was over because this team right now, the way
they're swinging the back, collectively, they're not scoring eight. And
so my frustration is every year we talk about the

(27:52):
Reds having a reasonably low ceiling, and every year we
talk about the Reds maybe being able to sneak in
and every Like I said this about David Bell, I
don't think any of his team's really ever underachieved. I
thought they basically achieved. Even the team where they lost
one hundred games, that team would have lost one hundred

(28:13):
games no matter who was managing. You might argue last
year's team underachieved a little, but for the most part,
in recent years, the Reds have kind of played to
what we thought. Even in the shortened season they were
two games over five hundred twenty twenty one, you know,
handful of games over five. They've rarely underachieved because the
expectations aren't very high. Just once. You'd love to go

(28:33):
into a season thinking the ceiling is really high and
the floor is in mid July, were five hundred like
what the Reds are now should be the floor? And
yet what the Reds are now feels like, Eh, that's
kind of what it was supposed to be. I don't
know if that's what Nick Krawl or ownership wants. I'm

(28:53):
guessing Nick Krawl wants a team that's better than five hundred.
But it does feel like, and it did feel this offseason,
like there's a contentment to be okay and be hang
in there and then maybe catch fire at the right
time and get to I don't know, eighty seven wins
and sneak in and get to October and then who

(29:16):
knows what's gonna happen when baseball expanded its postseason, and
we're gonna talk about expansion of the NCAA tournament later on.
When baseball expanded its postseason, one of the reasons why
so many of us were against it was didn't think
it was good for the game to have teams striving

(29:38):
for eighty five wins. It's already a sport. And this
is not necessarily a Reds issue, although you could fold
them into the conversation, but this is already a sport.
We're not spending and not trying to win is not
only commonplace, but at times celebrated, and so my take

(29:59):
on it was, we don't need more owners not trying
to win ninety five games. We don't need more owners
not trying to win one hundred games. We don't need
owners who go, you know what, let's just build an
eighty five win team and maybe we'll just sneak in.
That's not good for the sport. It's not good for players.
I don't think it's good for fans. And it feels
to me like, perhaps because there is the added wild

(30:21):
card spot, it feels like there's a contentment to, hey,
you know what, let's build an eighty three, eighty four,
eighty five win team. Maybe not, maybe not, but I
almost feel like that's permeated its way through the fan base.
I cannot tell you how many times I hear from
folks who are like, well, you know what, if they
could just sneak in, like just once you mentioned that

(30:44):
the over under just once, Man, wouldn't it be cool
if the over under was like eighty eight and a half,
where Vegas was telling you like, this team should be
really good and anything shy of close to ninety wins
is failurest thing for me about this season. They're forty
six and forty six, and it's like, well, they could

(31:06):
just sneak in, Like I don't want to sneak in.
I want a higher ceiling, but I also want to
higher floor. And that applies to individual parts of the team,
it applies to the team and the franchise as a whole.
To like what to me is frustrating about where they

(31:28):
are is it is kind of what we thought they
would be. And that's been the case now for a while.
You know, in fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen, we thought
the Reds were gonna be awful, and they were. In nineteen,
we thought the Reds were gonna be better than awful,
but not quite good. They were. In twenty we thought

(31:48):
the Reds were gonna be okay, and they were. Twenty one,
we thought the Reds were gonna be okay, and they were.
In twenty two, we thought the Reds were gonna be
abysmal and they were. Twenty three, we thought the Reds
were going to be bad, and they were better than bad.
So they overachieved their to doubt at what eighty two
wins yeah, good for them. Last year we thought the
Reds would be eh and they were. This year, we
thought the Reds would be okay, and they were. We

(32:09):
never spend the offseason building toward thinking they're going to
be really good and then judging them on those expectations.
Just once, just once, man, uh, fourteen away from four o'clock.
I think it is completely reasonable to wonder, though, at
the end of this season, like what what now? Let's

(32:32):
just say eighty one and eighty one, fourth place outside
looking in no playoffs. Another year now we extended to
thirty one without advancing in the postseason?

Speaker 4 (32:41):
What then?

Speaker 3 (32:42):
How many guys are they running it back with? What
is the front office going to look like this offseason?
All fair questions. They're on the table at five point
three seven four nine fifteen thirty, We're two weeks away
from Bengals training camp. I'm gonna say something that I
did not think i'd be saying two and a half
months ago. That, plus we have to talk about what

(33:03):
we're all bracing for even if we don't want it,
and so much more on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (33:09):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 8 (33:15):
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expert trauma care focusing on prevention, treating injuries, and supporting
long term recovery and rehabilitation. Learn more at UCHealth dot com.
Soundbound seventy five has got the two right lanes blocked
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(33:38):
five and some slow traffic on northbound seventy one from
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Speaker 3 (33:46):
This report is sponsored by Rapid. The ice is melted.
That's right by the way outside. It looks Falters where
we are here in Kenworth, seven away from four o'clock.
Your phone calls are coming up. I appreciate those who
have chimed in today we have we're guest free today.
It's you and I, You and I between now and
six o'clock. We have some good MLS people later on

(34:09):
this week on the Hell is Real Derby, which is
Saturday night five, one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty.
I mentioned training camp is starting. It's July ninth. Here's
here's your bit of Bengals talk today. Obviously, Trey Hendrickson
is still not yet signed a contract extension, and all
signs are pointing toward him uh not showing up for

(34:30):
the first day of training camp. And I don't know
about you, but I'm gearing up for the Wednesday, Thursday
and Friday before the first game. They're being movement where we're, oh,
you know what, tra Trey, Trey's around the building and
Trey is he's gonna sign the deal and is he
gonna play in the first Maybe maybe not. I have
no idea. It is remarkable, I mean, regardless of which

(34:50):
side you're on, and there's compelling arguments that could be
made both in favor of the Bengals position as it
relates to Shamar Stewart and Shamar Stewart's position, and as
it relates to the Bengals. I think it was last
week and I got some pushback on this where I
just asked, like, from a Bengals perspective, don't you just

(35:10):
have to ask, like is this fight worth it? Is
this battle worth and who knows, there's still time between
now and the start of camp. Maybe they get the
thing done. Shamar shows up, But if I would have
said to you on draft night when they took Schamar
Stewart or really anybody else, that it is not only plausible,

(35:31):
but perhaps likely that the Bengals will start training camp
without their first round pick because he hasn't signed his contract.
You would have said, there's no way, and yet that's
on the table. It's completely on the table, and my

(35:55):
take on it still hasn't changed. If you are an
NFL franchise that is at a bit of a crossroads
right now where you're going to be judged solely by
how super Bowl worthy you are by winning championships. Boy,

(36:17):
is it really worth starting training camp when you're already
going to have one major distraction looming that being Trey Hendrickson?
Is it really worth not having your first round pick
in camp because you insist on certain language being included
in the contract.

Speaker 9 (36:35):
It is.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
As much as we have talked about it, it doesn't
make it any less remarkable. Even after weeks of discussing this,
we are talking about the strong possibility of the Bengals
starting camp without their first round pick in an era
like this, not pre twenty eleven, In an era like this, amazing,

(36:56):
Your phone calls are coming up on the rads and more.
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
That's to win one thousand dollars. Entered this nationwide keyword
on our website, shack.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
That's shack. Enter it now, shack, he said, shack. What's up, Mullegger,
ESPN fifteen thirty. Thanks for joining us, spending part of
your Wednesday afternoon with us. Whether you're listening to us
here in Cincinnati. We're from a beach in Delaware. We're

(37:29):
big in Delaware, big on beaches in Delaware. Inside joke.
I'm going to shut up now and let other people
talk because we have folks waiting, and I've babbled long enough.
I do want to pass along with My daughter said.
I took my eight year old daughter Crosley. We went
to the game last night, was her fifth game of
the season, her Ledgers three and two, just her and

(37:51):
I daddy, daughter night three two, one night, A beautiful evening.
And so we go to the ballpark and the mar
and score seven runs in the third inning. And uh, Mike,
this is the first year where my daughter is like
following the game, right. You know how it is if
you take a six year old, seven year old, they're

(38:12):
not as much into the game, and she's still really
disappointed when a game comes and goes and she's not
shown on the video board, which has happened once in
her life. Uh, but she she likes going and this
is the first time that like, not only does she
watch the game, but you know, when we're at home,
she'll she'll pay attention in between you know, episodes of

(38:33):
Bluie or whatever the hell she's watching on a iPad.
If I've got the Reds on shull Schul, she is
starting to pay attention. She knows some of the players,
she like loves Ellie de la Cruz. So we're sitting
there randomly, it's seven to one and the game is unfolding,
and it's abundantly obvious that the Reds are not going
to come back and win, and she just looks at

(38:55):
me and says, not in a whiny voice, either, are
they ever gonna be good? This is a kid who's
about to enter third grade, who just started following, like
this is the first year that she is like legitimately,
And I'm not like I followed her. You might have
followed when I was in third grade or you were

(39:15):
in third By then, I was already reading box scores
and stuff like that, like us fall in. She's just
starting to get interested, Like the allure of the game
up until now has been hot dogs and cotton candy
and maybe catching a Red Zilla ball. This is the
first year. It's it's you know, we're three and a
half months into her first year, like paying legitimately paying attention,

(39:37):
like asking me the next day did the Reds win?
That sort of thing. It just like looks at me, unprompted.
Are they ever gonna be good? If she's asking that question,
how does somebody with decades of this under her belt,
what do they ask?

Speaker 4 (39:57):
You can tell me.

Speaker 3 (39:59):
Let's see here. Thanks to everybody who has waited patiently.
We'll go in order. The Rock, The Rock. You're on
ESPN fifteen thirty. What's up?

Speaker 9 (40:10):
Finally the Rock has come back to Cincinnati. Good afternoon,
Good afternoon. You're still doing a good job. I know
you do. Man, You're you're consistent. You're consistent. Point about baseball.
People in Cincinnati are spoiled because of the Big Red

(40:31):
Machine era. Back to reality. If people are really baseball fans,
they will realize this. Yes, the Reds have hit a
slight bump in the road since the beginning of this month. However,
there are two teams, one on the East Coast and
one on the West coast. The Yankees and the Dodgers
have had losing streaks. Oh that's right, the Yankees got

(40:53):
their butts whooked by the Reds when they visited here.
I only root for two teams, the Yankees and the Reds,
and the football the Bengals and the Giants, the New
York Giants. But the bottom line is baseball is a
lot harder sport than people realize. If you're playing one
hundred and sixty two game season, Sure, you could start

(41:14):
the season out strong, even up to the middle of
the season, but you're going to hit your low spots.
With the exception mister Judge, and he's no longer hitting
four hundred. He's slumped all the way down to six,
I mean three sixty. But he's not normal. But he
is a Yankee. The Dodgers have a great team. How
they have managed to have such a winning season and

(41:34):
they're injured reserved list it's basically all pitchers. How the
hell have they done it? And then you have a
gentleman like mister Clayton Kershaw who is suddenly an All
Star again. For wait a minute, he's missed most of
the season due to injuries. And then the National League
wanted to keep mister Abbott, who has had one hell

(41:54):
of a fantastic season that's far and then he said, no,
you can't play with us. But then they change reason
came in and they changed their minds. Baseball is a
type of a game where sometimes you can walk up
to the plate, close your eyes and your mama could
be pitching, or no, no, no, no. You could walk
into the plate with your eyes closed no matter who's pitching.

(42:14):
You can hit everything that's thrown. But then they're going
to be times when your mama could be on the
mound throwing a beach ball. You got your eyes wide open,
you're ready to rock that ball, and you know what,
you can't hit Diddley squad. Baseball is a funny game.
It's a very funny and frustrating game. These guys, they're
the professionals. They're the best of the best, but some

(42:35):
of them at least a lot to be desired. But
they're still the best of the best. And when they
go into slumps, it's not a pretty face because they're
not only letting their team down and emotionally, they're letting
themselves down. A fellow like Ellie de la Cruze, what
did he tell his manager the other day? Please don't
make me dh anymore. I'm a short stuff. I want
to play every day. He's right, He's right, but again

(42:59):
he has to do what the manager says, and that
little bit of rest can eventually help him to be
stronger during the season. But baseball is a crazy game.
I love it. It was my first love, my first wife,
the mother, and my two sons. She once said, Vernon
or Scottie, that's my real name. She said, I think
you love baseball more than you love me. And then

(43:20):
I said, why would you think that. I mean, when
it was my senior prom, I didn't go. Why because
I had a state championship baseball game to play in
The Bronx. Yeah, yeah, I love the game. I love baseball. Baseball,
but it takes a whole lot of You have to
be not only be strong physically, but you have to
be strong mentally because there are times you're not going

(43:42):
to be able to be your regular self out there,
maybe a little bit hungover from the night before maybe
a little bit, maybe a little physically tired. And yeah,
but baseball players do drink, they do bend their elbows.
But the thing is that you have to believe in yourselves.
The Reds have a unique team because each and every
one of those they love playing with each other. Not
that way, but far as baseball, it's there. And I

(44:04):
wish them nothing but the best because they have a
lot of parmaraderie. And that means a whole lot because
in some teams one player can't stand another sep least
have a good summer and keep up the good work. Well,
how many kids do you have now too?

Speaker 3 (44:19):
No, I have one. I'm one and done. I have
an eight year old and that's it.

Speaker 9 (44:22):
Well, but you got two arms, Moby blessed they can.
Thanks loving.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (44:29):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (44:29):
I want to say, Rackham, I appreciate the phone call.
That was great, that was entertaining. I don't think baseball
fans in a city where the major league team hasn't
advanced in the postseason and thirty years are spoiled. This
comes up a lot. I think the Big Red Machine
set a standard. I'm forty seven years old. I'm not
spoiled by their success. If you're forty, you're not spoiled

(44:53):
by the big Red Machine success. I think my frustration
with the team this year is that it's just it's
ho hum, it's just another garden variety okay season, Like
I want forty six and forty six to be woefully disappointing.
It's not. It's just, you know, it's just kind of

(45:14):
what they were supposed to be. I want a bad
season to be frustrating because the previous year they were
really good. I want a bad season to be a
dip because the previous season they advanced in the playoffs, hell,
maybe even won a World Series. Like to a degree,
how we feel about this year's team is a reflection

(45:34):
of exhaustion of patients with this franchise. I talk about
this all the time. The Reds are like the mad
or d who constantly tells you it's going to be
another twenty thirty minutes in the Seinfeld episode the Chinese Restaurant.
The Reds are that mayor d five ten minutes and
you never get your table, and after a while, what
do you do? You get up and leave. That's what

(45:57):
they are. Being a Reds fan is is constantly being told,
just gotta wait a little bit longer, just got a
bit even during the season, just wait for them to
be healthy. I mean I even had somebody tell me today,
just wait till they get Jake Frayley back, and I
laughed at him, and then I realized, like, oh, they're
not joking. Nothing against Jake Fraanley. I certainly hope he

(46:18):
can get through the rest of the season and help
the team out, But come on. Being a Reds fan
means constantly being told just gotta wait. You know that's true.
You know that's true. Whether you are my age older
or significantly younger, you know that's true. You're constantly being told,
whether it's by the team or apologists for it, just

(46:39):
gotta wait a little bit longer, Wait till this guy
gets called up, Wait till we have a whole bunch
of early draft choices, Wait till this guy is healthy,
Wait till we hire a Hall of Fame manager. It's exhausting.
And so there's two different things here. There's this particular team.

(46:59):
It's hard for me to get that mad at this
particular team because they are what we suspected. They're a
five hundred team. And again, man, I fully believe the
Reds are gonna have some moments between now and let's
just say the middle of next month where they make
us feel like, you know what, Here they come, and
many of us will buy in. Here they come. Look,
they're not that far out of the wildcard. Like they're

(47:21):
just good enough to do that. They're not good enough
to win anything of substance. Again, I did this last hour.
If before the season, we thought the Reds are gonna
be an okay team, somewhere around five hundred average at best, offense,
above average starting pitching. If what we thought about those
things has turned out to be reality for ninety two games,

(47:42):
why should anybody believe that the next seventy are gonna
unfold any differently. So there's that, But this comes up
every time they go through a lull, and it's understandable
why it does. You're constantly being told to wait. I mean, hell,
just this week it's been well, just just wait, just

(48:03):
wait until the deadline. Okay, so just just I mean
the first two months of the sea you just wait
until they get healthy. Cool, They're pretty damn healthy. Now
what do we got? Just wait till they hit this
portion of the schedule for years, it's unending being told
to wait. And so when they go through a stretch

(48:28):
like this one, which on its face is a four
game losing streak, or I guess what do we do?
They've lost six out of eight, like not the end
of the world. Shouldn't torpedo your season, except that a
they haven't played well enough to really be able to
withstand losing six out of eight. They're wasting opportunities against

(48:49):
bad teams. And it just feels like an extension of
the last three decades where you're constantly being told it's
gonna get better, the future is gonna be bright. Just
bear with us. Just wait. That's all we do with

(49:11):
this club. That's all we do with this franchise is
just wait. Somewhat ironically, if you're on hold, I'm gonna
tell you to wait because we hated to break in
five point three seven, four nine, fifteen thirty. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (49:28):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from.

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The UC Health Traffic Center. You see health as expert
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term Recovery and rehabilitation. Learn more at UCHealth dot com.
Outbound seventy five at two seventy five and Sharonville police
blocking off the right two lanes as they investigate an
earlier accident involving a motorcycle. Also getting reports in of

(49:57):
an overturned truck northbound seventy one after Wilmington use caution,
I'm at Ezelac with traffic.

Speaker 3 (50:04):
This report is sponsored by Indeed Audio Taran. I got
an email here about forty minutes ago and the subject
was City Beat Best of Cincinnati. We were named the
fourth best show according to the readers of that publication

(50:25):
city Beat yep, which like, if you want to read
about bands that nobody else has heard of, I think
you read about them in CityBeat, but eight fourth best.
So I get this email city Beat Best of Cincinnati,
and I click on it and it says, mister Moegger,
your excellence on display twenty dollars discount from show mark
your best of Cincinnati recognition as published in City Beat,

(50:48):
April twenty twenty five. And I'm thinking, wow, twenty dollars off,
all right? So I click on it and it's a
preview of a plaque that if you apply my twenty
dollars discount, would cost me one hundred and sixty seven
dollars to buy. So I now have this opportunity to
buy a plaque that reminds me that I'm not one
of the best three hosts in Cincinnati. I could pay

(51:10):
one hundred and sixty seven dollars for a Best of
Cincinnati fourth place plaque. Does that sound like a good
investment of money to you?

Speaker 4 (51:18):
Tern uh noy for a company, though maybe they can
buy it for you.

Speaker 3 (51:22):
I know, why would they want it? Hey, here, congratulations
on being fourth.

Speaker 4 (51:28):
No, these we're not last.

Speaker 3 (51:30):
We aren't. Well, if you've listened to any of the
broadcasts I've been in charge of over the last week
or so. In next year's voting, we might be in last.
Does the person who finished in first place? Then I
don't have the results in front of me. Does the
person who finished in first place? Do they also have
to pay one hundred and sixty seven dollars for a
plaque like that's your prize? Hey, congrats, here's a plaque

(51:51):
best in the town one sixty seven. Please, but we
applied a twenty dollars discount.

Speaker 4 (51:55):
But if I do remember correctly. I think we were
one in this building.

Speaker 3 (51:58):
We did finish in first place in this building, which
absolutely nobody in this building even mentioned or cared to mention.
And that's fine. I'm gonna stop there. Let's talk to
other people. Paul is calling from Wisconsin, where by the way,
in Milwaukee. This show is ranked fifth. Paul, you're on

(52:19):
ESPN fifteen thirty. What's up?

Speaker 2 (52:22):
You're talking to me?

Speaker 10 (52:23):
Calling from Wisconsin?

Speaker 3 (52:24):
It says Paul from Wisconsin on the screen.

Speaker 10 (52:27):
Oh well, it's definitely not from Wisconsin. I'm calling you
from seventy five here in Evandale.

Speaker 3 (52:32):
All right, Well, have you ever visited the state of
Wisconsin and called the show while you were there?

Speaker 2 (52:37):
The heck?

Speaker 8 (52:37):
No?

Speaker 3 (52:38):
Okay, Well somebody thinks you're in Wisconsin. But that's okay.
That's the important part is you're on the show. Now,
what's up?

Speaker 13 (52:44):
Oh well, I'll tell you.

Speaker 10 (52:45):
If the Reds keep playing the way they are, you're
definitely gonna be in the last place because nobody's gonna
want to listen.

Speaker 3 (52:52):
Well, why take it out on me, you know, why
take it out on We've got the Bengals. We got
the Bengals coming up. Everybody's excited about.

Speaker 10 (53:01):
That report on Hey, you know, my dad went to
high school Cole Raine was Seg and grew up with
the big Red machine. I don't know what that guy's
talking about being spoiled as a Reds fan. Like you
just said, I've been struggling here for three decades now
without any kind of substantial wins. Yeah, I brought I

(53:23):
brought my daughters to their first major league game on
Monday night and had to apologize to them for the
quality of the baseball game. My oldest, she's eleven years
old playing softball. She she's calling them out on their
bad plays.

Speaker 9 (53:42):
As it's happened.

Speaker 10 (53:43):
I couldn't believe it. That Monday night game was about
the worst professional baseball basics that I've seen.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
Yeah, I would imagine, I would imagine you are I
would imagine, Yeah, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
I didn't believe it.

Speaker 10 (54:02):
And uh, and you know, my daughter yells out to
the players go back to a little league.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
It's embarrassing.

Speaker 10 (54:10):
It is so hard to be a Cincinnati Reds fan
these days.

Speaker 9 (54:15):
It is like you said, just.

Speaker 10 (54:17):
Wait another year, just wait, just wait another year.

Speaker 9 (54:20):
Well you know it'll be better.

Speaker 10 (54:22):
I don't know what's going on with the coaching. I
haven't heard any moves with the coaching going on, but
it sure seems like, you know, we lost Charlie Hustle
and our team lost a hustle. Nobody's running in and
running out after the innings. Nobody's got any drive, you know.
Will Benson, I don't know what's up with his leg,
but he not run back to the dugout after the

(54:45):
inning is over. Austin Hayes is beating him from the
opposite side of the field. It's it's embarrassing. Well, it's
embarrassing to bring my kids to a game that I
used to love growing up, to these games, going with
my dad, who got to enjoy the Big Red Machine,
bringing me to see Barry Larkin, bringing me to see

(55:05):
the Boom Brothers come play, you know, and it is
just a year after year.

Speaker 9 (55:11):
It just wait another year.

Speaker 13 (55:12):
Maybe we'll get lucky, maybe they'll actually do something.

Speaker 3 (55:16):
Well, you know, you mentioned something there, Paul. Thank you
for the phone call. And I'm sorry that our screen
says you are in Wisconsin. I don't care so much
about running on and off. I don't care about that
that's eyewash. I care about the results that are achieved.
The results that are achieved are not good enough. But
you mentioned a word there that I think is important, lucky.

Speaker 9 (55:35):
Like.

Speaker 3 (55:36):
I still feel like much of what the Red strategy
is or involves is, here's our team. It's probably not
going to be great, but maybe we can get lucky like.
And by the way, like I asked this, this season ends,

(55:57):
they're on the outside looking in. They finished close to
five hundred, maybe a game or two over. What changes
next year? What changes next year? You know, next year one,
it's another year of Eli de other Cruz, but it's
it's one more year to try to win while you
have them. What changes next year? And I do feel

(56:22):
like it's going to be very fair to examine the
front office. You know, we're by the way, they have
sort of kept it in the family for the last
twenty or so years. I think it would be really
interesting to see if push came to shove, as it
relates to Nick Crawl, if it would be something they
would consider to start looking outside the organization for someone
to make the critical baseball decisions for this team.

Speaker 4 (56:45):
But what changes?

Speaker 3 (56:47):
And by the way, I'm looking on Twitter and I
look at my email, and I hear and I see well,
it's you know, they can't compete with the Dodgers and
Baseball's economics have to change. Baseball's economics aren't going to change,
and if they do, it's not going to be until
after a lockout. Baseball's economics owners have been trying to
change it for forty plus years. I don't expect the

(57:08):
Reds to be the Dodgers or the Yankees or the Mets.
I expect the Reds to be the Milwaukee Brewers, or
the Saint Louis Cardinals, or the Tampa Bay Rays of
the Cleveland Guardians, of the Minnesota Twins. That's it. I mean,
this was a year the Cardinals were supposed to start
a rebuild. This year trade Nolan Aeronato above five hundred.

(57:32):
The Brewers, Willia, Domus Leaves, Corbyn Burns left a couple
of years ago. Years ago, they traded Josh Hater, a
little bit of a reset of Milwaukee twelve over five hundred.
Like when's our turn? And that's when when's our turn?
And what changes for it to be our turn? Because again,

(57:55):
like I go back to two years ago when there
was the influx of talent from the minor leagues and
all these young players like a Ellie's the star? What
is Matt McLain, What is Cees? What is Noel ve Marte?
What are some of these guys? Can you ever count
on Hunter Green to give him thirty starts in a season?

(58:17):
Who you're really building around? Who are the real foundational pieces?
I don't know that we know the answer to that.
Midway through twenty twenty five, and we're talking about players
that made us feel so good two years ago. Any
injuries have been a factor. So this process, this process
that the rebuild what it started really just after the

(58:38):
twenty twenty season, because you know, that was the year
where they gave away Rice e Iglesias and made it
abundantly clear the direction they were going to start to
go in. That they really continued in earnest after the
lockout ended. Prior to the twenty twenty two season, they
trade away Auhanus Warez, Winker, Sonny Gray, et cetera. So
you know, this has been this has been the process

(58:59):
now for a while. This has been ongoing, and it
was supposed to result in something beyond being a five
hundred team close to the middle of the decade. So
the rebuild only works if it pays off with at
least legitimate championship contention, which this team still has to

(59:19):
take a step or two an order to achieve. How
do they take that step? Do you trust the front
office is currently constructed to take that step complete that step?
Do you trust this roster as it's currently constructed, to
be able to take that step? Like man, if I
would have said on July ninth, twenty twenty three, that
on July ninth, twenty twenty five, the Reds would have

(59:41):
as many wins as losses, I think anybody who was
watching what was happening two years ago would have said, well,
then something has gone wrong. So something has gone wrong,
and look, man again, this week, they'll probably win a
couple of games from Miami. They may win their next five.
We'll all feel good about it. We'll start to talk
about what the Reds can buy again. I don't think
this team is awful, but I think that's kind of

(01:00:03):
the problem here. It feels like they're stuck as a franchise,
as an organization, stuck running, stuck in the mud, running
in place. And if you're not frustrated by it, I
h you have you have you have found ways to

(01:00:24):
cope better than me, and you're processing this a lot
better than I am. Uh, what do we got here?
We're gonna give away some tickets upper Deck Golf, which
is happening at GABP next week Thursday, Friday, Saturday. This
event will sell out, and so we have a couple
of openings for you your chance to play around of
golf at GABP. We're gonna make this painfully easy. Uh,

(01:00:46):
Andrew Abbot's an All Star. We're gonna test your and
your knowledge of Andrew Abbot trivia. We need a contestant
if you want to play Upper Deck Golf. Five point
three seven four nine fifteen thirty eight six six seven
oh two three seven seven six can work as well.
These are I think pretty damn easy. We're basically we're
not just giving away that we're handing them to you.

(01:01:07):
We're telling you, if you please win Andrew Abbott Trivia
Upper Deck Golf. After sports Headlines on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 12 (01:01:16):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (01:01:21):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center u see Health
as expert trauma care, focusing on prevention, treating injuries, and
supporting long term recovery and rehabilitation. Learn more at UCHealth
dot com. Westbound nor Would lateral at seventy five left
lane blocked off from an accident three minute to lay
back from Redding Road. Two right lanes are blocked from

(01:01:43):
a crash on southbound seventy five at two seventy five
in Sharonville. Police remaining on scene to investigate. I'm at
ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 4 (01:01:52):
This report a spat.

Speaker 3 (01:01:54):
Expanded training camp coverage. I'm not allowed yet to go
into detail. I even strumble alowed to mention expanded training
camp coverage. Sports headlines are a service at Kelsey Chevrolet,
home of lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from
their family to yours for life. KELSEESHEF dot com, Reds
and Marlins again tonight at GABP, Cincinnati's offense exploding for

(01:02:17):
two runs last night, Andrew Abbit takes the mound against
Sandy Alcontra seven to ten tonight. First pitch, seven hundred WLW.
You're starting lineup this evening. Are you ready? Get out
your pencils and your scorecards. By the way, last night
at the ballpark in the Moondeck, I saw two gentlemen
keeping score, which warms my heart. Now I've tried this

(01:02:40):
as an adult like I was a kid when I
would always keep scoring. As an adult, I just I
don't have the attention span I guess for it. But
it made me so happy to see two guys sitting
and keeping score last night. And by the way, they'll
give you a scorecard at the fan Accommodations booth at GABP.
Your starting lineup tonight, friedol McLain, Dela Cruz, Hayeses and

(01:03:00):
left Lux's Dhing Steers at first base. Stevenson is catching
Benson bats eight and bats eighth. Excuse me in right field,
and Noel V. Marte is playing third base and batting ninth, ninth.
I set, you know, because the Reds are still in
the hunt, we could do some scoreboard watching. Dodgers lead

(01:03:24):
the Brewers two to one. La is trying to break
a five game losing streak. That game is on the
top of the eighth inning. In Milwaukee, Phillies lead the
Giants two zip. Philly coming to the plate in the
top of the second inning. There are your scores. Florence
Yall is hosting Broxton tonight. All right, upper deck Golf,
your chance to play golf at Great American Ballpark, play

(01:03:45):
around of golf at the ballpark, including on the field
next Thursday, Friday, Saturday. You go to Reds dot com
and book a tea time if you want. We have
t times. We have tickets at least to get a
tea time and that's exciting, so you can win them.
And we've given them away every day so far this week,
and we have more to give away on Thursday and Friday.
Tarren who is playing.

Speaker 9 (01:04:09):
Eric?

Speaker 2 (01:04:09):
Eric?

Speaker 3 (01:04:09):
Eric is playing Eric? Are you excited and ready to
do this?

Speaker 9 (01:04:15):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:04:15):
You sound like it? All right? We are going to
ask you five questions about Andrew Abbott, who is the
Reds All Star pitcher. Are you do you know a
lot of you know who Andrew Abbott is?

Speaker 9 (01:04:26):
I do know?

Speaker 3 (01:04:27):
Okay? Do you know a lot about him?

Speaker 4 (01:04:30):
Amount? All right?

Speaker 3 (01:04:31):
Well you have followed his career closely, I'm sure. So
we're going to ask you five questions about Andrew Abbot
are multiple choice. You could throw out a guess, which
is what most people do, and if you get three
of the five correct, you're going to play upper deck
golf at GABP. Are you ready?

Speaker 10 (01:04:44):
To go.

Speaker 3 (01:04:46):
Let's go Andrew Abbott. Question number one, Andrew Abbott, excuse me?
Pitched his college baseball at this institution A Virginia B,
West Virginia C Virginia Tech. A. Is it a Virginia Terran?

Speaker 11 (01:05:03):
It is?

Speaker 3 (01:05:04):
Yes, Andrew Abbot, four year player for the Cavaliers at Virginia.
Very good. One for one, Gotta get two more. Here
is question number two. On June fifth, twenty twenty three,
Andrew Abbott made his big league debut with six shutout
innings against this team. A the Cardinals, be the Pirates
or ce the Brewers?

Speaker 8 (01:05:26):
Who uh Brewers?

Speaker 3 (01:05:31):
Gotta get the Brewers Terran? Yes, told of these were
pretty easy. Two for two, gotta get one more. This
might be the quickest we've ever played. Here we go.
Question number three. Andrew Abbot earlier this season through his
first career complete game shutout. It came against this team.
Was it A the Twins be the Cubs or see

(01:05:52):
the Guardians.

Speaker 13 (01:05:56):
Guardians?

Speaker 3 (01:05:57):
Was it the Guardians? Arrant Eric, You're gonna go play
upper deck golf at Great American Ballpark. Hang tight, We'll
put you on hold, Taran, We'll get your information and
best of luck you can get tea times now for
upper deck Golf at GABP by going to Reds dot com.
That could not have been easier. Andrew Abbot trivia.

Speaker 4 (01:06:19):
Five one of the following his birthday? What's that now?
It was one of the following questions when this is
his birthday?

Speaker 3 (01:06:25):
No?

Speaker 4 (01:06:25):
Okay, do you want the other questions?

Speaker 3 (01:06:27):
Sure, Andrew Abbott, excuse me. Andrew Abbott was drafted by
the Reds in twenty twenty one, but he was originally
drafted in twenty seventeen by this team in the thirty
sixth round. Was it the Yankees, Red Sox or Reds?

Speaker 4 (01:06:41):
Well, see that that would have been a good one.
I'm gonna go.

Speaker 3 (01:06:43):
Hey, Yankees aren't correct? And then this eight time All
Star is the only player to hit multiple home runs
off Andrew Abbott in the same game. Christian Yelich, Andrew
McCutcheon or Nolan Aernato.

Speaker 4 (01:07:00):
Amu Yelch.

Speaker 3 (01:07:01):
Nolan Aeronato the only only player to hit two home
runs against Andrew Abbott in the s.

Speaker 4 (01:07:07):
Got the first three rights, Yeah, if you've got the
last two.

Speaker 3 (01:07:10):
Last two kind of difficult, But anyway, Eric is going
to go play upper deck golf and congratulations to him.
It's at nineteen away from five o'clock. I am embracing
for something none of us want. We'll do that next
on ESPN fifteen to.

Speaker 12 (01:07:24):
Thirty, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (01:07:29):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. U see health
as expert trauma care, focusing on prevention, treating injuries, and
supporting long term recovery and rehabilitation. Learn more at UCHealth
dot com. Northbound seventy one after Wilmington Road, the right
lane blocked off from an overturned semi police or there

(01:07:49):
on scene. Police also investigating an earlier accident on southbound
seventy five at two seventy five and Sharon Bill, They've
got the two right lanes blocked. I'm at ezealek with traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:08:00):
This report is ball is just a few minutes away.
When I say Brendaman and Jones on baseball this year,
our batting average for that show being about baseball is
about nine hundred, which will take That's pretty good that
coming up here in just a few It feels like
this week we're going to get the news that most

(01:08:22):
of us do not want, that the NCAA tournament is
going to expand and may expand to seventy two teams,
may expand to seventy six teams. The overwhelming majority of
college basketball fans, and for what it's worth, Twitter polls
are not very scientific, but I've done two over the
last two years, and in both instances, overwhelmingly so nobody

(01:08:46):
wanted NCAA tournament expansion. I responded to a tweet by
Seth Davis, who is very very much pro NCAA tournament expansion,
and so it has me asking this, and this is
not a Twitter poll, it's sort of a question for you.
We've seen expanded postseasons in Major League Baseball and in

(01:09:10):
the NFL. We've also seen it in the NBA because
they've added a play in tournament, and the basic concept
of the play in tournament I kind of like because
it creates something interesting toward the end of a regular season,
which for years had gotten very very stale. So I
actually do believe that has worked. But in baseball, and

(01:09:30):
we only have a few years of this, obviously, the
regular season has never been more watered down, and the
postseason has never seemed more random, and the added layer
of postseason that has become reality over the last couple
of years has given us a whole bunch of very

(01:09:52):
forgettable games. How many great wildcard series have there been?
Has there been one? I'm not talking about best of
five league division series, I'm not talking about nlcs. I'm
talking about those best of three first round series. How
many have been good? We've added a playoff team in
the NFL, which means we've watered down the regular season

(01:10:17):
a little bit more. We've created another playoff game per conference,
and there is a part of me that enjoys like
two games on Saturday, three on Sunday, one on Monday.
But we have created twos versus sevens and for the
most part, dreadful NFL games. Has there been a postseason expansion,

(01:10:39):
I'll grant you I think it's worked in the NBA,
and I don't think it's flawless in the NBA. But
I think for the most part, it's worked in the NBA.
And I think college football playoff expansion has worked because
more fans feel like their team has access to it.
But let's be honest, the playoff itself last year was

(01:11:02):
a dud for really forgettable first round games, three really
forgettable quarterfinal games. One was good Arizona State versus Texas, Like,
expansion should only be a thing if you are creating
more of a good product. We're not creating more of
a good product, and we're watering things down even more.

(01:11:23):
And I know the idea here is to create more
first four games. Now, the first four I think is
a fun event. I think it's a neat appetizer for
the main course of the NCAA Tournament Thursday and Friday.
Xavier got to play in the first four this year
and one, and that's all well and good. Most of
those games have been incredibly forgettable. Most of them are
terrible games because the teams have had barely any time

(01:11:47):
to prep in a last second travel, get to Dayton,
prepare for an opponent like There have been very few
There have been exceptions, but very few good first four games.
So what I don't understand is why do we want
to create we eate more of a bad product. And
then like in baseball, Baseball and the NCAA Tournament, to me,
are comparable because baseball and expanding the postseason, that is

(01:12:07):
a safety net for big market clubs. The LA Dodgers
are never going to finish with the seventh best record
in the National League. The New York Yankees probably won't either,
So I think the instant nee jerk for a lot
of folks when they did that was, well, this is
better for small market clubs. And I'm like, oh, man, like,
you're just pretty much guaranteeing big market clubs are gonna

(01:12:29):
make the postseason and then they'll be able to take
advantage of their advantages in the postseason, whereas if they
don't make it, they can. I think most of us
would agree that expanding the NCAA Tournament is just going
to be more of a safety net for bad teams,
mediocre teams from high major conferences. You will never talk

(01:12:52):
to a more die hard, more passionate UC basketball fan
than the person you are listening to right now. We
did not need to see the Bearcats last year, that team,
that version of it in the NCAA Tournament. But I'm
bracing for it, and I think most of us are.
But I don't know, and you can tell me if
I'm wrong. If expansion of the postseason, and again I

(01:13:14):
think the NBA is an exception college football, I think
expansion has its merits because again, more fans feel like
their team realistically can make the playoff, and I think
that's good. But by and large, in football and in baseball,
I don't think that expansion of the postseason has worked.

(01:13:36):
Maybe I'm wrong. Tell me if I am five, one, three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty, more of your phone calls are coming up.
Brendanman and Jones on Baseball is.

Speaker 1 (01:13:43):
Next thousand College entered this nationwide keyword on our website.

Speaker 3 (01:13:48):
Money.

Speaker 12 (01:13:49):
That's money.

Speaker 2 (01:13:50):
Enter it now.

Speaker 14 (01:13:51):
You are listening to the fourth best radio show in Cincinnati,
according to the readers a City Bead magazine, The Moeger
Show on ESPN teen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (01:14:02):
Yeah, and I can buy a plaque for one hundred
and sixty seven bucks that will remind me of that.
What's up? It's the Mike a Little Ultra five o'clock
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(01:14:23):
not going to read that text Mike a Little Ultra
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No matter what you're doing tonight, it could be anything
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(01:14:44):
if you're just sitting down bracing for an afternoon at
evening of radio excitement, have an ice cold Mick Ultra
Superior Taste Superior light beer.

Speaker 4 (01:14:54):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (01:14:55):
I've not I've not talked about quarterback yet. Can I
Can we do quarterback now and push off the red
stuff for just a few minutes? Why don't we do that?
I certainly am aware that there's a decent chance you
don't have Netflix, and that's okay. Maybe if you have Netflix,
you like the Bengals, you just don't want to watch
a show that's about three quarterbacks, even if one is

(01:15:15):
the quarterback of the Bengals, And that's okay. I am
a sucker for anything that NFL Films does, and I
have been for my entire life. And so if it's
Hard Knocks and the Bengals are on it, I'm in.
If it's Hard Knocks and it's anybody else, I'm in.
In season, off season and their projects like NFL Films
presents or a football life or what they're doing on

(01:15:39):
Quarterback Season two, I'm in. I love season one. Joe
Burrow wasn't on it. Joe Burrow's on season two. I
love it even more. And I said this, I think yesterday,
or maybe it was Monday. I think it's awesome when
an athlete, a high level athlete, lets you in and
let's you in. And yeah, we're learning about Joe's personal

(01:16:00):
life a little bit. And I've only watched the first
three episodes. I'll watch maybe two more tonight. But this
is a guy who, you know, let's face it, for
as popular as he is, for as good as he
has been, for as much as he has mostly lived
up to all the hype that accompanied him being drafted
number one overall in twenty twenty, for his high profile
as he is and his position is, there's still a

(01:16:23):
lot about him that we just don't know. And I
feel like that's by design, and so I think it's
cool that he's letting people in. I think it's cool
that he's letting people in and allowing some of his
failures to be documented, because there are there are a
lot of people who won't do that. Certainly a lot
of athletes who won't do that. I think part of
what's cool about the show Number one, it's NFL films.

(01:16:45):
It's so beautifully shot, it's so well done. And I'm
neither a Lions or a Falcons fan. But as much
as it would be cool if the entire show was
out about Joe Burrow, I think Jared Goff is likable.
I think Kirk Cousins as kind of weird and quirky
as he is, I think he's likable. Obviously, both have
different stories than Joe Burrow in the in the in

(01:17:08):
the show, but the best part about it to me
is we know that Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase have
amazing chemistry, and we know they're very close off the field.
In fact, and I don't remember if it was episode
two or three. Last night they showed Joe and his
mom and dad having dinner with Jamar and his mom

(01:17:30):
and dad and just just talking about their careers, talking
about the team, and it's really good. But one of
the things the show does, and I'm not here to
tell you that if you don't want to watch it,
you should, and that's not how I operate. And if
you're not a Netflix subscriber, But trust me as somebody
who is exhausted with all the stuff you have to
subscribe to. If you don't want to subscribe, that's fine.

(01:17:51):
Netflix isn't paying me to do this. But I think
part of what makes the show so good is they
they spend some time really boring why Joe and Jamar
have had such great chemistry. They show Joe and Jamar's
first touchdown connection in college. They show them in practice

(01:18:12):
at a Bengals practice, like talking about for that week's game,
here's a play and I'm paraphrasing it here, here's a
play that we used at LSU, and like, let's put
something like that into the game plan. It's just it's
so well done, it's so good. It makes Joe Burrow
look good. There's a segment on him talking about leadership

(01:18:34):
where they you know, the show walks through through the
entire twenty twenty four season, which for the Bengals was
a huge disappointment. Well, Joe Burrow was excellent, the season
was a major disappointment for all parties involved. And I
know the one clip that went viral was of him
in the Titans game last year, like throwing a temper
tantum on the sideline, even though the team was winning,

(01:18:57):
and you get what that was all about, which I
think is really cool. But there's also a segment in
there where it's the Ravens game, the one at home
where they blow a ten point lead. Joe makes a
mistake in that game, a bad pick. McPherson misses a kick,
and Joe's talking about leadership and he's like, you know, leadership,
and I'm paraphrasing him here, leadership isn't, you know, yelling

(01:19:18):
and screaming. He goes, I'm gonna f up, like I
don't want to be yelled and screamed at. I think
sometimes as fans, that's what we view leadership as, right,
Like we see Tom Brady yelling and screaming on the sideline,
that's leadership is I think in sports and in real life,
it's not so much about yelling and screaming. I think
as fans we want it to be about yelling and screaming.

(01:19:39):
You know, we want to see Terry Francota throwing stuff
in the dugout. That's not leading, that's not teaching. And
I thought Joe's words on that were pointing and for
what it's worth man. I thought Jared Goff, who's obviously
traded by the Rams to the Detroit Lions, talked in
the first episode. I think it was the first episode.
It was the first episode where they tell the viewer

(01:20:01):
of the story of like, you know, he was in
La had success taken number one, they trade him to Detroit.
He plays the Rams in the playoffs, Stafford wins the
super Bowl, and he talks about, like I went to
Detroit and I was reinvigorated by the feeling of like
being wanted. And this sounds so hokey, man. So many
of us in our professional lives, and maybe beyond that,

(01:20:22):
we just like want to feel wanted. And you know,
here you have a guy who supermodel wife, all the
money in the world, all the accolades, beloved in the
city of Detroit now just simply talks about like it
felt good to have a team expressed like they wanted me.
And I can relate to that. I think a lot

(01:20:43):
of us can, if we're being honest. So I quarterback.
You can watch the entire season today if you want.
I know many have just binged the entire thing. I
watched episode one yesterday morning and then rewatched it last
night because I had skipped through some of the Golf
and Cousins parts, and then episodes two and three were
equally good. And there's a part and I told Tony

(01:21:04):
this at the beginning of episode three where they combine
Burrow and Golf and Cousins talking about like all the
stuff they have to do pre snap, all the things
they have to diagnose, all the things they have to
identify and study and looking at the opposing defense, and
I think, just in that I don't know sixty second clip,

(01:21:27):
it's a real snapshot from guys who have played the
position at a really high level into just that tiny
part of the job and how difficult it is. So
there's some real nerdy football stuff in it too, which
I think is really good and NFL Films does a
great job with So there you go. There is the
six minute commercial for Quarterback, which is on Netflix, and

(01:21:48):
if you haven't subscribed to Netflix, watch Quarterback and then
watch Manhunt the Search for Osama bin Lunden, which is
one of the best things I've ever watched TV movie. Whatever,
it's awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:22:01):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (01:22:02):
That's you sure, thank you, Tarn. What is not awesome
is a four game losing streak. The Red's got clobbered
last night, and so here they are. They're forty six
and forty six, which ninety two games isn't necessarily one
of those traditional you know polls that we look at.
We'll do like the quarter pole and with forty one
games or forty games, and then fifty four is one third,

(01:22:24):
and then sometimes it's like we'll do eighty one or
we'll do one hundred. They're forty six and forty six.
Ninety two is a random number. So they have given
back a lot of what they picked up when they
were winning all those series and getting above five hundred.
They have given a lot of that back, and now
they are I think it's fair to say the season
feels like it's kind of again, so not the first

(01:22:45):
time we've said this, kind of teetering on the brink
a little bit, where all right, it's just a four
game losing streak. It's not something you can't overcome, but
you know, four and a half back, you don't want
that to turn into five and a half or six
and a half, especially when you're not just chasing down
one team. Right now, between them and the last wildcard

(01:23:06):
are the San Francisco Giants who occupy that position. Padres
were a game out and the Cardinals, who are a
game and a half out, and then four and a
half back is Cincinnati. You don't want to have to
make up more ground. You also don't want to blow
an opportunity to beat really bad teams, which so far
the Reds have done against Miami, losing these last two
games that have largely been non competitive. So now you

(01:23:29):
give the ball to Andrew Abbott. Sandy Alcntra is pitching
for Miami. We will see. But they're forty six and
forty six and it's frustrating. But like I have expressed optimism,
and my optimism has been I don't think this team
is gonna be I don't think they're gonna crater. I
do not believe that they are so bad and so

(01:23:52):
poorly constructed that they're just gonna play out the string
over the last I don't know, forty games dead wrong
about this wouldn't be the first time. I think they're
just good enough to kind of be where they are
for most of the season, which is not totally out
of contention, but maybe not seriously contending. But let's be honest, man, Like,

(01:24:14):
that's not the goal. That's not The idea isn't to
hang around and be in contention and then be nowhere
close to the postseason. The idea is to be in
the postseason. This team is currently constructed, doesn't feel doesn't
seem like it's good enough to do that. That's an opinion,
but it's it's an opinion based on evidence ninety two
games worth. And it's an opinion based on ninety two

(01:24:37):
games worth. That has been confirmation of what we suspected
well before the season started. Like when when we weren't
talking about how the Reds may do back in February
and March during spring training, most of us thought the
Reds would have the pretty decent starting pitching, and this
year the Reds have had frankly better than decent starting pitching.

(01:25:00):
Before the season started, we thought the Reds would have
an offense that was at best average. They've got an
offense that is pretty average. So if what we have
seen for a large sample size, this isn't April where
you take all the results and you kind of don't
pay that close attention to them because hey, small sample size,

(01:25:23):
and it's not May where it's like, ah, you know what,
this seasons still trying to This team is still trying
to figure out who they are and what they are,
and they've got some guys who weren't available when the
season began. This isn't even June. They're approaching the All
Star break, they're closing in on the one hundred game mark.
They have played enough baseball for us to make some
conclusions about them, and those conclusions about them, frankly, to

(01:25:45):
me at least, are confirmation of what we suspected coming
into the season. So if those two things are the case,
if ninety two games of average, of mediocrity, of spinning
their tires, of never being that far away from five hundred,
either above or below, if all of that is the case,
and at the beginning of the season, it's not like

(01:26:06):
we thought these guys were gonna win ninety one games.
Why should any of us believe that over the next
two and a half months they're gonna fare dramatically better.
If if the Reds win forty of their next seventy games,
that'd be pretty good. That get them to eighty six wins.

(01:26:28):
Eighty six ain't gonna win the division. I'm not sure,
eighty six is gonna get him close to the wild card,
but that's forty and thirty the rest of the way.
That's what five five seventy baseball that's playing it a
ninety two win clip over the course of seventy games,
and so like, this isn't pessimism just for the sake
of being pessimistic. I don't do that. It's not even

(01:26:50):
overreacting to four games. I try not to do that.
It's a reflection of over three months, ninety two games.
This is what we thought they were gonna be, and
what we thought that they were gonna be before the season,
the consensus was, yeah, they'll be somewhere around five hundred.

Speaker 10 (01:27:10):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:27:10):
My take went back into a corner leading up to
opening day was my take was they're gonna go eighty
three and seventy nine, which is two more wins than
five hundred. I don't recall there being that much pushback.
I don't recall there being that many or anyone really
who thought, you know what, the win win ninety five.

(01:27:31):
And I frankly didn't hear anybody who thought they'd lose
ninety lose ninety five. I don't think either of those
things is gonna happen right now. But I sort of
feel like the general assessment of the Reds was bet
a five hundred team that if they get lucky, could
maybe sneak in. Okay, we thought that ninety two games ago.
Since then, there's been ninety two games of confirmation. Why

(01:27:56):
should any of us believe this team is gonna perform
better than it had And by the way, offensively, and
I could bore you with the stats again, they are
very much middle of the pack, low ceiling team offensively,
low ceiling team overall. So there's that, And then we've

(01:28:17):
kind of spent some time on this today as well.
What happens on September twenty ninth A the Bengals are
going to play the Broncos in Denver, b the red
season is likely to be over. Playoffs will be beginning.
With the way things stand right now, it feels unlikely
the Reds will be in them. Maybe that perspective changes
by the end of this week, but this is going

(01:28:42):
to be four full seasons since they definitively win in
this direction. In twenty twenty two, it will have been
two full seasons since the end of the promising twenty
twenty three season. If this team is on the outside
looking in, then what then what in terms of roster them?
What in terms of front office? Five one, three, seven, four, nine,

(01:29:07):
fifteen thirty We'll get ship. Uh, we're here till six
at Maleger on Twitter, I have not mentioned our poll question,
which is REDS related, and we'll get to next and
your phone calls on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (01:29:19):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

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Speaker 3 (01:29:58):
This report after five o'clock. If this is ESPN fifty
pole question thanks to United Heartland Insurance. My friends and
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for you at uh i NS dot com. ESPN dot
com has released mid season grades for all thirty Major
League Baseball teams, or as some people call them, teams.

(01:30:43):
In the MLB, the Reds were given a C plus.
This grade is the way I put it is. This
grade either should be higher, should be lower, or is
what it should be.

Speaker 4 (01:30:54):
Vote now.

Speaker 3 (01:30:58):
Let's see here. I go ahead. You've been waiting a while.
Thank you for your patients as always.

Speaker 2 (01:31:02):
How are you come fine? I?

Speaker 3 (01:31:08):
Uh I saw that your Dodgers just I saw your
Dodgers just booted away a game against Milwaukee.

Speaker 2 (01:31:16):
Oh as a Rocky? Where'd he come from? He must
have been one of those pictures of Reds got rid
of somebody. I don't know anyway, uh I got I
gotta bring this up because you non stop cracked me up.
So did you major in philosophy or not major? But

(01:31:37):
did you take a philosophy course or two in college? Uh?

Speaker 3 (01:31:41):
At the University of Dayton, I was. I was forced
to take one. Yes, I hated it.

Speaker 2 (01:31:46):
Did you?

Speaker 4 (01:31:47):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:31:48):
I thought you might have been rather into it, because
there's that guy called in to day and he goes, well,
I just want to reiterate what you always say, that
what what you you are, what you think you are
until you're not. My god, Wow, I've heard you say
that trouble hundred times. Uh, and that's pretty profound. Is
that like Machiavelli or Thomas Paine or Yogi Bearra or

(01:32:11):
Mike Tyson.

Speaker 3 (01:32:12):
Or I have no idea I would I would do
well studying the philosophy of Yogi Bearra more than the
philosophy of the people that I had to study in
philosophy class.

Speaker 2 (01:32:24):
I just had to kind of bush you chup.

Speaker 3 (01:32:27):
What do philosophy majors end up doing for a living?

Speaker 2 (01:32:30):
Do you know the case philosophy at the University of
leve One make good incomes? They are the ones that
can get the job you have one. I don't know.
I know that's a very good question. I may have
to research that, but I won't call you and bor
you with that. I happened to Did you happen to
hear any of Dan Patrick's show this morning?

Speaker 3 (01:32:50):
I did not.

Speaker 2 (01:32:53):
It was so good. He's got at that celebrity golf
turn them out in Lake Tahoe.

Speaker 3 (01:32:56):
One of the most.

Speaker 2 (01:32:57):
Beautiful places in the entire world. By the way, it
really is beautiful. Have you been there? You've got to go.

Speaker 3 (01:33:05):
I don't often spend time in Lake Tahoe, but it's
on my list.

Speaker 2 (01:33:09):
No, yeah, yeah, it's not, you know because right there
is Reno and yeah, tremendous gambling.

Speaker 3 (01:33:14):
You know my mom My mom lives in Nevada, so
maybe I'll go visit her and she'll take me up
to Lake Tahoe.

Speaker 2 (01:33:21):
Oh no, I'm telling your daughter and your wife. I
mean it's christine beautiful. I mean it's a little drive
to Rena. I'm not not too far. I don't know,
maybe a half hour something like that, but it truly
is Christine. So anyway, I got that golf tournament going
up there, so Patrick hit a bunch of guys. I
had small tea on John Smoltz on it. I knew

(01:33:44):
Schmaltz was a good golfer, but he has taken this
celebrity pro amp think extremely important. And he said, if
I don't win it, you know he's dead. He's dead
into it.

Speaker 3 (01:33:56):
Man, is he a better golfer than he is a
television analyst because his television analysis during the World series
rubs a lot of people the wrong way.

Speaker 2 (01:34:08):
Bend what's side of the fence you're on on that? Yeah,
he's a great golfer. He's really good. He's like a two.
It's like a two handicapped. The guy's really good. But anyway,
the best interview he had was with the DeVante Adams.
What a personable guy, this guy. And they was asking
him about coming up there's a kid playing with the

(01:34:29):
Aaron Rodgers, which was really interesting. But then they went
on to ask him a very funny kid, very funny guy.
Moll He really you can't.

Speaker 3 (01:34:37):
Help, but like you guys, I will go and find
the Dan Patrick Show podcast and consume every second.

Speaker 9 (01:34:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:34:44):
So they interviewed Matt Stafford. No, he asked Davante about
has he been working out with Matt Stafford. He said
the two days after he signed with the Rams, he
and Matt had been working out almost five days a
week privately. Wow, And he's said matt looks like he's
the young kid out of Georgia. I mean he was

(01:35:04):
just giving him accalage and couldn't speak highly enough to Stafford.
So that might be a real nice little connection there
with Puka.

Speaker 3 (01:35:12):
I think it will. I think it will. DeVante Adams
is what thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:35:15):
Two, thirty three, thirty maybe thirty one?

Speaker 3 (01:35:20):
A little bit older than that. I'm gonna look it up,
but I think he's a little bit older than that.
But that's okay, could still be productive. Matthew Stafford's good,
so we'll see. But yeah, he's thirty Adams. This will
be his age thirty three season, Mike and Adams.

Speaker 2 (01:35:33):
Has never had a season injury, season ending injury. He hasn't.
He's had injuries, but he's never had a season in
an injury. So he's been a pretty durable guy. He's
in some games of course with Springs and have you.
But now to the Reds real quick? Oh so abats
one tonight now the last time out, and I know

(01:35:53):
Seedak and lark And mentioned it. I have it looked tired,
You look real tired.

Speaker 3 (01:35:58):
I agree, And Garry Larkin it wasn't Barry Larkin, it
was it was Jeff Brantley doing the game on television,
said something to that effect. And because he talked about like,
this is not a lineup against which you can you
could be experiencing and trying to work through fatigue, and
so I agree with you. You know, I wondered on Monday,

(01:36:20):
was that an outing that you know, had any any
impact on the decision making as to whether or not
he was going to be an All Star? But look,
he has. He has emerged as the staff as this year.
He is pitching against a guy who traditionally would fill
that role for the Miami Marlins. They have lost four
consecutive games. They are at home. This is a home

(01:36:41):
stand where the wins have to outweigh the losses. Andrew
Abbott needs to come up big tonight. My money is
on him doing so. But he's got to come up
big tonight. And you are being reasonable if you wonder
if the fatigue that he may have been dealing with
on Friday presents itself as a problem tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:37:00):
Okay, here and here's what I got after a tiny
bit of research. Last two seasons, Abbott is zero one
against the Marlins with an eleven point eight eight e
r A two appearances, eight point one innings pitch with
eleven k's, which is nice. ALC Sandy is two and
four against the Reds in his last two years.

Speaker 3 (01:37:21):
Or pob he didn't pitch last year, so yeah, with a.

Speaker 2 (01:37:26):
Three point two e r A forty nine k's eight appearances.
So I know, I know Alcan Para has been in
a tank this year, but that's what worries me if
you do for an al Can Para gem. But I
think it measures up to be a really, really nice match.

Speaker 3 (01:37:43):
Yeah, So I remember the last time he pitched against
the Reds because they beat him up pretty good. Jake
Frayley hit a home run. I frankly Mike, I'm I'm
worried about the Reds offense on a given night, no
matter who the starting pitcher is, because I you know,
I saw I saw Zach Wheeler sticking to him on Sunday,
and then I saw what Uri Perez did last night

(01:38:05):
with a big lead as a cushion. But then I
saw prior to that what Jansen junkd in on Monday,
and so their issues to me are almost independent of
whoever is on the mound. And I know we make
a big deal about how the Reds have had their
issues against left handed pitching, and that that is irrelevant
to me. Sandy al Contras alrighty, So forget that. Their
offense the way it is, scuffling baseball term now number

(01:38:30):
one demands them Andrew Rabbit pitch well number two like
they can make any pitcher look like Sandy al Contra
before he got hurt. And that's my fear tonight, and
that they extend a losing streak and they enter the
final game of a series against the Marlins needing a
win to not get swept and just to get back
to five hundred. I gotta run, Mike, Thank you as always.

Speaker 2 (01:38:51):
Yes, Oh well, one quick question? So do you think
that I can't remember?

Speaker 9 (01:38:56):
Thanks well, I'll.

Speaker 3 (01:38:58):
See man, Thank you, I got it. Sports headlines are
next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 12 (01:39:04):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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Speaker 3 (01:39:43):
Multiple sports headlines, our service to Kelsea schev line home
on lifetime, power train protection and guaranteed credit approval from
their family to Yours Life kelseyshow dot Com, Rads and
Marlins again Tonight Andrew Avit the All Star agains y
al contrast seven to ten Tonight's first pitch on a

(01:40:03):
seven hundred WYLW Your starting line at this evening Friedel's
and Center McLean's in second base, Elie de la Cruz.
He is playing shortstop. Austin Hayes bats clean up and
left field locks his Dhing Steers at first base. Stevenson
catches Will Benson in right field. Noelve Marte at third base.
Terry Francona tells reporters that Hunter Green is going to

(01:40:25):
go to the spring training facility in Arizona to rehab.
He says there's no new injury, but he is still
dealing with symptoms, and according to our friend Charlie Goldsmith,
he says the green has to feel confident. There's quote
no roadmap for the next step in his progression. Not
exactly encouraging. Florence Yawl's host Broxton Tonight The Broxton Rocks.

(01:40:53):
I believe uh Dave, you're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank
you for your patients. How are you good?

Speaker 13 (01:41:00):
How you doing mo?

Speaker 3 (01:41:01):
Never been better in my life.

Speaker 13 (01:41:04):
That's awesome. Well, I gotta tell you, I'm a replica.
I listen to you all the time. I'm a replica
of you and how you feel about the Reds.

Speaker 3 (01:41:11):
I'm sorry for those in your orbit if you're a
replica of me. But I do appreciate you listening.

Speaker 9 (01:41:16):
Well, I do, and I get you know.

Speaker 13 (01:41:18):
I just watched the game and then I watch a
Lifetime movie afterwards and kind myself to sleep. But my
most important calling I was telling Taran you being fourth.
I have to tell you I would like an investigation
to be uprooted right now. I want Doge, I want
President Trump, I want them all. I don't know how

(01:41:39):
in the hell you are fourth.

Speaker 9 (01:41:41):
I gotta tell you.

Speaker 13 (01:41:43):
I listen to you and I'm really upset and I
am not gonna be I'm not gonna go down, not
swinging on this when.

Speaker 3 (01:41:49):
You are not four, Well, I would say, number one,
that's way too kind of you, Number two. This city
is blessed to have a lot of folks who are
on the radio who do a great job. I don't
consider I'm not the fourth best host. I might not
be the fourth best host in this building. So uh,
it's all, you know, it was it was nice. You

(01:42:10):
know what we could do is we could do a
campaign next year to get folks like yourself to stuff
the ballot box and see if we can get ranked higher.
But it was we we joke about it. We're tongue
in cheek. Anybody who would have voted on that thing
and and checked our name, I am. I am deeply,
deeply grateful for it's very kind, the actual accolade it selfieh, They're.

Speaker 13 (01:42:27):
Gonna get me in trouble and I'll hang out. But
I think Kamala and Wallace voted on that, so I
have a good night.

Speaker 4 (01:42:34):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:42:36):
I didn't I wasn't expecting us to go down that
that road. But anybody who is checks in the mail Dave,
anybody who would have gone to CityBeat dot com to
vote for us, that is very very kind, and that's
that's not something we take lightly. The accolade itself is

(01:42:57):
pretty much irrelevant, and if you finish and fourth, it's
not really an accolade. Although I was offered today on
email a chance to pay for a plaque one hundred
and sixty seven dollars. You're good, pretty excited about that.
I've won three seven, four nine, fifteen thirty and eight
sixty six, seven oh two, three seven seven six. You

(01:43:20):
know I say often. Mike was talking about things that
we say often on this show. Be good or be interesting,
Like you gotta be for what I do, Man, you
gotta be one of the other, not even for what
I do, just as a fan. Be good or be interesting.
Ideally you're both. You can't be neither. The Reds are average.

(01:43:40):
They've been average all season long. We can debate how
interesting this particular team is. I do think, barring some
sort of unforeseen mad dash to and through the postseason,
I think this franchise, once this season is over, is

(01:44:01):
going to be at a crossroads. And I think they're
going to be at a crossroads from two different perspectives. One,
a lot of good things have happened to the Cincinnati
Reads over the last couple of years. The arrival of
Vali deler Cruz would be at the top of the list.
His ascension would be at the top of the list,
I guess. And then a whole series of players that

(01:44:22):
have shown some promise, some that really do look like
like long term pieces. Andrew Rabbit is one of them.
Nick Litolo, I still believe is one of them. Hunter Green,
as frustrating as the injuries hard, is still one of them.
But they haven't been good enough in recent years. And

(01:44:42):
so what happens at the end of this season, if
it continues to go the way it is going and
frankly has gone, what happens this offseason to take what
they have done and what they have accomplished, which frankly
isn't that much, and put the Cincinnati Reds in a

(01:45:04):
position to legitimately content. And like, when I say legitimately contend,
I don't mean sneak in get it as the last
wild car. And I'm like legitimate, Like you look at
the Reds and go. You know, the team win the
whole thing like that is legitimate contention. I look at
the Chicago Cubs, ago that team can win the whole thing, Man,

(01:45:27):
how do they get there? They are in an exponentially
better place right now than they were in twenty twenty two.
They are in an exponentially better place than they were
for like a whole half a decade from twenty fifteen
through twenty nineteen. Exponentially better. We're no longer talking about

(01:45:49):
I think, you know, this could change if the Reds
really go through a losing streak. But if you go
back fifteen, sixteen, seventeen eighteen, that's ninety four losses or
more every year. Those are seasons that were done by
Mother's Day teams that had no chances, and we knew
going into those seasons they had no chances. And since
then twenty and twenty one and twenty three and twenty

(01:46:12):
four and twenty five, well, they haven't lost ninety games.
They've spent some time in the playoff hunt each of
those years. They've pretty much finished close to around five hundred,
sometimes slightly above, sometimes slightly under, so in a better
place than they have been in the middle of year
twenty twenty two, they lost one hundred games. They are
certainly better now. So you acknowledge all that, But then

(01:46:34):
what then what with the roster? Like teams make decisions
about players more quickly than ever, and so you can
look at a guy like Matt McClain, like we were
all rooting for Matt McClain. He hit a home run
last night. God knows over the final seventy games of
the season, it would be awesome for him and for

(01:46:56):
the team if he just started to tear it up.
But if you're gonna go into twenty twenty six saying like,
all right, it's time for us to make a leap,
is that your starting second basement is Christian and Carnassion strain.
You're starting first baseman? Is your outfield as it's currently constructed?
Is that what you're going forward with? What about Tyler Stephen?

(01:47:19):
Like there's a lot of those guys. And then I'm
the first to acknowledge a lot of the really good
things Nick Crawl has done. I think he moved into
the public consciousness while he has worked for the franchise
for a long time, during a really difficult time, he
was gonna be the face and voice of the teardown.
And so the first real impression that anybody got of

(01:47:42):
Nick Krawl being the man he oversaw one hundred lost team.
And since then there have been some productive decisions. There
have been some things that obviously haven't worked out. He's
got to wear the Jamber Candelario thing, But isn't it
gonna be fair at the end of the season to examine,
like is that the guy? And this is also true

(01:48:05):
about this team they have, they've they've stayed in the
family for a very long time. You know, Walt Jockety
was hired as an advisor, and it wasn't a stretch
to suggest they hired Walt Jockety, who, by the way,
should be in the Hall of Fame. They hired Walt Jockety,

(01:48:26):
and he's going to be the GM here soon. And
he wasn't with the club for a year before he
took over for Wayne Chrisky. And since then, you know,
it went from Walt to hiring Dick Williams. And Dick
had his successes and failures, but you know, we'll never
know what would happened with that two thousand team. And
then you know, with with Dick Williams, Nick Krawl gets

(01:48:46):
promoted and he's been with the franchise forever, and then
Dick Williams steps aside, and then Nick Krawl gets promoted,
and so is it gonna make sense to step outside
the family for the first time in quite a while?
This Offsea, I think this is a franchise at a crossroads,
and then I think they're very much at a crossroads.

(01:49:08):
You know, attendance cratered in twenty eighteen, and they had
their lowest attendance that year since nineteen eighty four, which
is saying something because there was a lot of bad
baseball in between. And then they acquired YACILP League and
they got a little bit of a bump in interest,
and then, you know, we'll never know what would have
happened in twenty twenty. It cratered again in twenty twenty two,

(01:49:31):
and then there was a surge of interest in twenty
three because of Eli and all those guys. They had
a bump in attendance, and I think it had a
lot of folks who came back to the party in
twenty three thinking, Okay, this is about to get good.
Where are those people going to go By the end
of this season, and how do you convince them, Hey,

(01:49:51):
what the last two years we've run in place, but
twenty twenty six, that's that's gonna be our year. How
do you do that? This is a franchise. I know
I'm sounding like we're putting a bow on the season
and I don't mean to do that. They may and
you could argue you should win their next five and
then we reignite by versus sell. But this really does

(01:50:14):
seem like a franchise as a whole that is at
a real definitive crossroads. So, you know, the be good
or be interesting thing for this franchise this offseason, especially
if we're sitting there talking on September twenty ninth about
a team that is pretty much five hundred. That's where

(01:50:35):
they are.

Speaker 5 (01:50:35):
What do they do?

Speaker 3 (01:50:36):
It's going to be fascinating. We're done shows over, got
to go. We're back tomorrow at three oh five. Don't
forget since he three to sixty is tomorrow at noon,
and we thank you for listening, have an awesome night.
Thanks to Tarren Bland for producing Back at It tomorrow.
Anything you might have miss go get on the iHeartRadio app.
Thanks to long Nex Sports Grill it's been the michelob

(01:50:56):
Ultra five o'clock Happy Hour on ESPN fifteen thirty. Cincinnati
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Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (01:51:12):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center U see health
as expert trauma care, focusing on prevention, treating injuries, and
supporting long term recovery and rehabilitation. Learn more at UCHealth
dot com. Northbound seventy one after Wilmington Road, the right
lane blocked off from an accident. Traffic backed up from

(01:51:32):
State Route one to twenty three, up to about a
fifteen minute delay. In southbound seventy five, got a disabled
vehicle on the exit ramp to Western Avenue. I'm at
exelic with traffic. This report is sponsored by Staple