Chad Brendel in for Mo -- 7/19/24

Chad Brendel of Bearcat Journal steps in for Mo again as he talks about the rest of the Reds' season after the all star break, Bengals, UC basketball with Head Coach Wes Miller and more Reds with Cay Snowden of Justbaseball.com.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
ESPN fifteen thirty and away we go. An outstanding Friday in the Queen City,

(00:21):
a perfect weather weekend at least todayand tomorrow. Can't wait. Chad
Brenda in for mogor mo is.MO is not on the radio today.
I am not filling in for MO, who's filling in for someone else.

(00:42):
Mo's just got a Friday off,which means I am here with you much
as I was yesterday. I'll behere again on Monday, except this time
I will be UH on location coveringthe Cornett golf event for Tony Hike,
so I will be on since hethree to sixty on Monday. Mo Mo

(01:03):
is off for a while, soI'll be in for him a couple times
next week as well as we getready for the start of Bengals training camp
on Wednesday. Bearcat's training camp startsin about a week and a half,
and UH football season is right aroundthe corner, which is is ironic because

(01:25):
baseball season returns tonight as the Redstraveled to Washington to take on the Nationals.
Frankie Montass on the mound for theRed Legs. He is four and
seven with a four thirty eight ERA. Patrick Corbin on the mound for the

(01:46):
Nationals. One to nine, fivefifty seven ERA for Corbin. That's uh,
that's not where they expected him tobe coming into this season. It's
been it's been a rough season andhis last seven starts he is zero to
three with a five to twelve EER. So hasn't been hasn't been a good

(02:09):
year for Corbin for the Nationals.We're still waiting. I have not seen.
I just checked about five minutes ago. I have not seen a Reds
lineup as of yet. But theReds did activate Stuart Fairchild from the injured

(02:30):
list and designated for assignment Edwin Rios, so Fairchild is back. Hopefully he
will not be batting against any righthanded pitching. One final bit of Reds
news yesterday, the Reds inked theirnumber one selection, their first round selection,

(02:53):
the number two pick in the draft, Chase Burns, to contract terms.
He is going to make a lotof money. He gets a record
signing bonus of nine point two fivemillion. That is more than the nine
point two million last year's first overallpick. A guy named Skiing Skiing,

(03:17):
Skiings, Paul Skins. I thinkthat's his name. That guy's probably a
long way from the majors, buthe is. He has slotted in at
at nine point seven to nine milliondollars for the Reds, who paid last

(03:37):
year's number seven overall pick, RedLouder five point seven million dollars, So
I will I will keep an eyeon that Red's lineup as we wait for
that. We did get some goodnews on the MLS front, as Luca
Acosta named the captain for the MLSAll Star Game for the second year in

(04:00):
a row. That is a fanvote. Sean McMahon is in today.
Taron Bland is in Florida. AustinElmore is in Georgia. I don't know
who signed off on the two ofthem having vacation overlap, but Sean is
excellent. So Sean, we arein good hands with him today. I

(04:20):
have not seen anything on Acosta's availabilityfor tomorrow against the New York Red Bulls.
Sean, of you, I haven'tyet, No, Okay, if
you see anything pop up today,that's kind of important news if you're an
FC Cincinnati supporter. They need himright now, especially with the injuries on
defense and absences for the Olympics.Acosta would be very nice to have in

(04:45):
the back pocket against the Red Bullstomorrow seven point thirty in the Big Apple
FC Cincinnati, trying to snap atwo game losing streak. There, we
have a lot to get to today. Hi, Sean, what's up?
You know it's Friday. I wouldI was supposed to be at Ryan Geist,

(05:06):
but I'm missing out on the Sincylight. Man, I'm missing out
on the Sincy light. But that'sokay. Uh. This is, you
know, being the fill in guy. It comes with great responsibility. It
usually means when everybody else is outdoing something fun, I am sitting in
this room staring at the wall.Hey, I know that feeling all too

(05:27):
well. Right, You're you're onthe producer side of what I am on
the host side of exactly. Uhoh, nobody wants to work, Okay,
I guess it's me. Yep.Thanks, Ever someone comes up to
you and says, hey, it'syou. You're in right, Oh,
okay, all right, they giveme an option. But here's something.
This is a valuable piece of informationfor you, Sean. When you're if
you ever get, if you're everin my position, say yes, because

(05:51):
when you say no, like ifyou don't have a legitimate reason, obviously,
there are times I've got you seestuff or I've got dad stuff that
that you know, preclude me frombeing able to sit in this chair.
But you don't want to say notoo much because you know what they do,
They find somebody else, and youdon't want them to find somebody else.
I like my my part time gigas most you know, uh lesser

(06:17):
half lesser one third probably with withload management. So when they when they
ask, I say yes, andand that's why we're here. But we
have a lot of good stuff today. You know what the you know what
the the number one good thing wehave today? What what what Tony Pike
couldn't accomplish from Ryan guys? Today, We've got Wes Miller coming on this

(06:38):
radio show. If if Tony wants, Tony wants to challenge me and you
see content, fine fine. WesMiller, the head coach of the Bearcats,
is gonna pop on. We'll we'lltalk a little TBT tonight. UH
that that I'll be heading to afterI depart from here as uh zip them
up the Xavier team uh to offat six. I won't be there for

(07:01):
that tip off, but I willbe there for most of that game.
And then I will be in attendanceas Nasty Natty takes the court at eight,
and then we will also get someupdates on summer workouts. We'll talk
about the upcoming schedules, specifically themeeting with Dayton downtown at Heritage Bank Arena.

(07:24):
So we will have a great conversationwith Wes Miller coming up at about
four to twenty. We'll talk toin the five o'clock hour, we'll talk
to my guy Klay Snowden from JustBaseball about the Reds in the second half,
and we have a lot of Redstopics. The phone lines are open,
especially three o'clock hour, we arewide open. The phone lines are

(07:46):
wide open, no guests until fouro'clock. So the main thing I want
to get to is we are enteringa ten game sprint. It's wild to
me. We're at ninety seven gamesat the All Star break. There are
only sixty five games remaining. Iknow a lot of people think about the
All Star Game as the halfway point. It is not. It's closer to

(08:07):
the two thirds way point than itis the halfway point. And the Reds
are in a sprint to the tradedeadline, and I have a lot of
thoughts on that, because I thinkwe all can see what is happening now.
They're and I'm going to talk toClay about this in the five o'clock

(08:31):
hour. The first fifty games,the Reds were twenty and thirty, twenty
and thirty. Not great, Bob, not great. The next forty seven
games, the forty seven games sincebeing twenty and thirty, they are twenty
seven and twenty. So they haveshown some life. They have shown a

(08:56):
lot of fight. They had abrutal may we knew based on the schedule
that that was possible. When youadd in the injuries and just underperforming,
not overall not playing well enough,you have a team that slipped to ten
games under five hundred and had amassive hole to crawl out of. They

(09:20):
enter the last sixty seven games ofthe season playing better, not playing I
don't know that I'd say playing well, but playing better. So that is
something that management has to factor in. I personally look at this team and
think, with everything that has happened, this is not a team that I

(09:46):
foresee being a threat to not justmake the playoffs, but but be dangerous
when they do. I don't thinkthey're there yet, and I think there's
there's multiple reasons for that. ButI think you have to enter this trade
deadline differently than maybe any trade deadlinethat that I've experienced, especially since I've

(10:13):
been doing this and talking about itevery year around this time. Remember it's
load management July. I'm in thischair a lot over the past seven years
in July, so I talk aboutthis a lot every year, and I
don't remember a scenario. It's usuallypretty pretty cut and dry. Buyers are

(10:37):
sellers. I don't think it's thatsimple this year, and there's multiple reasons
why, and we'll get into thatas the show progresses. But I think
there has to be even more thisyear than ever. The reliance on your

(10:58):
people in the front office, yourgeneral manager, your scouting department is bigger
than ever this year because the answeris not simple, because of the youth,
because of the young core, becausemost of this team is under control.
Because most of this team, Ithink the front office sees as the

(11:18):
next three four years of what thisfranchise is, a window is going to
be. So that means there's nota lot of guys that that maybe you're
looking to unload. If you're aseller, there's not a lot of guys
really to part with. If you'rea buyer, most of all of your

(11:41):
assets are now in the major leagues, and you know you're you're cultivating a
new crop in the minor leagues.If somebody wants to overpay for one of
those young guys, I think youhave to listen. But I don't think
you need to be in a hurrybecause those guys are you know, many

(12:01):
of them are also going to bea part of what comes next. And
then you have another issue that theythink you have to be very careful with.
And we'll get to this in thefive o'clock hour. You've got a
lot of young pitching still. I'mgonna I'm gonna go pop quiz. You

(12:24):
ready, Sean, I'm ready.Career high innings by Hunter Green innings pitched
career high well in one season.What is his career high? An Innings
pitched seven? No, no,No for a season. Oh, for
a season. Yeah, for aseason. I don't even know. I
have a number on that. Idon't know one. Nick Ladolo one o

(12:48):
three, Andrew Abbott one nine.Here's a scary part about Andrew Abbott.
He's at one oh six this yearalready, he's three in away. Now
some of that last year he pitchedin the Miners before he came up,
so not all of those one ohnine are with the Reds. But you

(13:11):
are looking at a pitching staff that, while they are becoming veterans, have
never really thrown deep into August andSeptember for a team that is playing for
something. And that's where, honestly, it could be a blessing maybe that

(13:33):
this team is not front running ortrying to hold onto a lead or really
you know, they come out ofthe break like two games behind the Brewers
for first in the division, andand they're they're in good shape to make
a wild card race or earn awild card spot, because ultimately, at
some point you have to get theseguys stretched out. And that puts an

(13:54):
interesting onus on Frankie Montas. Let'strade Frankie Montas, who's your innings eater.
All of a sudden, you're goingwith those three guys, Carson Spires,
whoever would be in Montas spot inthe rotation. It's probably not going
to be Graham Ashcraft if they're they'reworried about an arm injury. Now you're

(14:18):
going to rely on those three guysto get up in the one sixty one
fifty one sixty range on innings pitched. I would like to have a little
insurance on that with a guy likeFrankie Montas. Now, somebody wants to
offer something crazy for Frankie Montas,of course, but is the offer really

(14:39):
going to be that big for FrankieMontas, a guy with an e RA
north of four. Is the startingpitching quality at the deadline going to be
that thin that Frankie Montas is goingto get you a king's ransom? I
don't think so. And that allgoes to say, what for their strategy

(15:00):
is twenty twenty five has to bethe first the first thought process when making
any move. What impact is thisgoing to have on our roster in twenty
twenty five. If it improves theroster in twenty twenty four, great,
sure, But the focus has tobe looking forward and you're not giving up

(15:26):
something right now that is going todamage you next year. And that includes
the health of the three guys thatare going to be near at or near
the top of your rotation and theiravailability for twenty twenty five. We'll also
talk some Bengals as Paul Danner Juniorhad an interesting topic that came out this

(15:48):
morning that came from his fan surveyabout what positions are you most worried about
for the Bengals. Three of thosefour positions he addressed today and they were
all on defense. Corner, saythe defensive line. I would argue linebacker
as well. After a year ago. We'll tie that into a topic we

(16:10):
talked about yesterday on the schedule beinga lot softer than what it was last
year. That sounds like a lot. I outlined a lot there. I
think that's enough to get us throughthree hours. Our number one phone lines
are open. West Miller an hourtwo, Brennaman and Jones on baseball,

(16:30):
Klay Snowden an hour three. MeSean and you just take a break since
that he's ESPN fifteen thirty. Okay, okay, Sean's starting strong. Got
to keep your head up. Maybeit's been a rough week. I've had

(16:56):
a rough week. It's been along week. It has been a very
week. At least the weather's nicethough. Look, Kelsey's birthday party is
tomorrow, Big fourteen. I've gota high schooler. Now we are less
than a month from her first dayof high school? How about that?
Oh, I was just talking toJohn John about it. So for people
that don't know, John John andI existed in a different radio universe together

(17:19):
when he got into the business.So I've known John John since he was
like it's like nineteen he had justinBieber hair and he was going to Bible
College. And that's a true story. But John John is John John knew
my dog like you know, whenshe was born. And I said to
him today, you want to feelold. John Kelsey starts high school in
the month and the like we lookedat each other like how did we get

(17:40):
here? How did this happen?That's a long time ago. But her
birthday party is tomorrow, just alittle pool party. Her couple family members,
some friends were doing smash burgers.She loves cheesy mets, So some
smash burgers, some cheese mets.I'm gonna make my macaroni and cheese,
a little broccoli, cauliflower casseroles,some potatoes, uh, some you know,

(18:04):
chips and dip and things of thatsort. It's gonna be a delightful
day going all after the birthday.Man, that's awesome. But it's gonna
be you know. You know whatI've done in the past couple of years,
I've done taco bar, and Ilove doing taco bar. That's fun,
you know, I do. Uhyou want you want to know the
easiest chicken taco recipe ever, I'mhere for it. Listen. I'm listening.
So it's easy. You just geta crockpot, you put in a

(18:25):
couple pounds of chicken breast, Youdump whatever your favorite brand of salsa is
on top of the chicken breast,and then you close it up. You
let it go for about five hourson low, and then you shred up
the chicken into the salsa, andyou've got chicken shredded chicken taco meat that
is like eerily similar to the whitechicken chili I used to make in college.
Yeah, I mean yeah. Youadd a little chicken broth and some

(18:48):
taco seasoning and you've got white chickenchili, some corn, some green chili
beans in there. Yeah, somesome do. I go, great Northern
beans in my white chicken chili.That stuff was a cheek coade for me
in college. Oh yeah, Aclass come back and it was cooked and
dinner was ready well and for acollege kid. That's like ten meals.
Yeah, no, it was you'reeating white chicken chili for two weeks.
Yeah, oh yeah easily. So, uh yeah, that's that's the plan.

(19:11):
Looking forward to it. But theweather's going to be phenomenal. Well,
happy birthday to were for me,Thank you, thank you. She
has she's she's a little sore.She had a volleyball camp all week this
week. They have high school tryouts. High schoolvolleyball tryouts starting Monday, so
they had camp all week this weekto get ready for tryouts. They went
from like four thirty to eight thirtyevery day. That's a long day.

(19:33):
Two hours of camp and two hoursof open gym. She came home last
night and then my kids normally Iknow this is gonna be a shock.
Then my kid's a night owl that'susually up late, and I peeked in
her room. I was yelling forher to take the dogs out as I
was playing NCAA football and uh activity, I mean, somebody's got to take

(19:55):
the dogs out. And I wasbusy. What she acts like, she's
done sixteen hours of volleyball this week, kid, take the dog out.
And she was asleep. She waszonked. So uh yeah, but you
know, big big weekend, bigweekend coming up for the Brendo family.
It's gonna be great. The weather'sgonna be awesome. Let's get into this,

(20:18):
the reds and the trade deadline,and I'll probably break this up into
two parts because I'm already I justspent four minutes talking about me. The
front office is at a very interestingpoint right now because when you go the
route that they did, the onlyreal option you have this early into the

(20:42):
process is to stay the course becauseif not, this is doing it differently.
Is how the Pittsburgh Pirates got intothe trouble. The Pittsburgh Pirates got
into for decades, right, theynever committed to anything. It was always
just draft and develop. And thenwhen the guys got to the big leagues

(21:06):
and the Pirates got the first inklingof this might not work, or this
guy is gonna be too good,or four years from now he's gonna won
one hundred million dollars, they theydumped and started over. And that's how
you end in a perpetual rebuilding cycle. And I say what you will about

(21:27):
this ownership group, and we've saida lot, trust me, sell the
team Bob, I think their intentionsare pure. And I think the the
signing of Hunter Green last year andbuying out his arbitration, uh and not
having to go through that process withthe with the you know what you hope

(21:48):
ends up being a frontline guy andwhich you know looks like he's turning into
a frontline guy. I think thatsignals that they're serious about this. If
if you start selling off some ofthis young corps already and what you're getting
in return are more younger, unprovenminor league players, you are setting yourself

(22:15):
up to constantly be in a cycleof rebuilding because what happens, Okay,
Hunter Green, Nicolodolo. They havethree major league seasons of experience under their
belt, Ellie de la Cruz andSpencer Steer and Matt McLain, who actually
now I believe only have one becausehe isn't playing this year unless he comes

(22:37):
back, which is questionable at best. Christian and Karnaci and strand that those
guys are all at the beginning.So let's say you sell somebody important that
matters to this core. Because youget offered a lot, okay, and
you get two or three you know, pretty good prospects in return, but
those prospects aren't major League Baseball ready. Well by the time that they all

(23:02):
then you're already have had to havemade a decision on Jonathan India and Tyler
Stevenson. You're getting ready to haveto make that same decision on the Lodolo
and Green, Ashcraft and Abbot areright behind them, along with Ellie and
all these other guys. So you'rejust constantly in that same cycle of waiting
for what's in the minor leagues,and then when what's in the minor league

(23:25):
gets here, you don't see himfor long enough to really see any fruit
bloom on the tree that can't bewhere the Reds are at this early in
the process. They have to buyand large stay of the course, does
that mean they can't trade anybody,know, But it means that you're left

(23:47):
selling off if that's what they choose, and I don't think that necessarily they
will. You're left selling off andciliary pieces, pieces that really probably aren't
going to bring you a great dealin return. And then what happens when
you start to look forward to twentytwenty five. This is my fear with

(24:07):
this conversation. That's going around thatthey might sell bullpen pieces. The Reds
have had one of the best bullpensof Major League Baseball. If you move
one guy, I don't think thatsets you back majorly, but you start
to move multiple bullpen pieces, andnow you're looking at a situation next year

(24:29):
where you're retooling the strength of yourbullpen because guess what, the teams that
are in contention aren't calling for yourfourth and fifth relievers. They're calling for
your best guys. So I thinkyou have to be careful there. You
have to make sure. And oneof the good things I heard when they

(24:49):
said that there were teams interested isthat the Red scouts were at major league
games scouting. They were looking atguys that might be able to immediately helped
the major league team, and notnecessarily scouting single A and double A.
You know, guys that are twothree years from really making an impact in
the major leagues. They have tobe smart, they have to be wise

(25:18):
with how they execute whatever it isthat the plan might be. We'll continue
that on the other side. Sincinnati'sESPN fifteen thirty. Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Centerfrom everyday as to the most complex conditions.
The UC classic. You were doingyour homework last night, weren't you.

(25:52):
You were putting a playlist together.I was doing it like literally five
minutes ago. I studied last secondsfor exam. Man, Okay, yeah,
normally, that's I mean, that'sall that matters. I had like
a three eight nine GPA in college. Yeah, I had a philosophical difference
with homework growing up. That's fair. I learned what they taught me in
class, right, Like that's thethat's the contract that is to be executed.

(26:17):
Right. Oh, yeah, youtaught I learned were good. I
don't have to go home and learnit again. I already learned it.
You taught me the first time.Like, that's your job as a teacher.
My job as a student is tolisten and learn. If you give
me a test, I can passit. And I had stuff to do
this busy man, I've got timefor homework, right, come on,

(26:38):
we're in school for like you werein school for like nine hours a day.
How much more time do they expectyou to have? AnyWho back to
the Reds in the trade deadline.Where this takes them is I think they
are in a in a difficult toexecute position if they make moves, because

(27:04):
I think those moves have to bedone with twenty twenty five in mind.
First, not we're trying to winit all in twenty twenty four, because
that's and maybe this is maybe I'mdifferent here, Sean. I'll be interested
if you agree with me. Theonly time you quote unquote go all in.
The only time you buy is ifyou think you have a team that

(27:29):
if you truly believe you have ateam that can win the World Series.
I would have to agree with that, especially if you're an organization like the
Reds, right, they're one ofthose teams that's they're like a window team.
You know, they have a slightlylonger than one year period of time,
maybe two three years, where theyhave a window where they can maybe
win a championship. And yeah,it's like, Okay, we see all
these moves they're making in the offseason, all this money that they're putting into

(27:52):
their players. They're clearly trying todo something right here right now. I'm
not saying this year specifically, butyou know when you see them do those
sorts of things, your impression is, Oh, they're gonna go try to
win it all this year. Idon't think that this is a team that
is position to win it all.No this year. No do I think

(28:15):
that that could maybe be the casenext year. Yeah, with a healthy
Matt McLain, if they get alittle bit better injury luck. Like the
thing, here's the thing that drivesme crazy about injuries and why I don't
love talking about it regularly. Everybodyhas injuries. Some years your luck is
better, some years your luck isworse. But this is a one hundred
and sixty two game season. Guysare gonna, you know, strain and

(28:40):
oblique and miss some time, hopefullynot a year and a half like Matt
McLain. But like, these thingsare gonna happen. Guys are gonna,
you know, get hit with thepitch and break a thumb like you know.
That stuff is part of the process, that is part of playing one
hundred and sixty two games in sixmonths. There are going to be injuries.

(29:03):
So yeah, some years you're thebug, some years you're the windshield.
But you can't rely upon it asa crutch for we think because we
had a couple injuries, what youcan do, I think is look at
it and say, because we've hada rough year, a rough season of

(29:26):
injuries, we need to be cognizantthat next year shapes up potentially better,
that next year might be more ofan opportunity for us at the trade deadline
to be aggressive, to be moreaggressive where this year it might be prudent

(29:49):
to do things that might make sensein the law in the bigger picture.
Okay, if you get if youcan sell a Frankie Montas, let's say,
for a young arm in triple Athat is pretty close to ready where

(30:11):
you know, you find a teamthat says, basically, we need a
number three, like we need aguy in the middle of our rotation.
We've got a one, in atwo, we've got a four and a
five. We need a three,and we're willing to give up a twenty
three year old arm that's been goodin the miners but isn't ready to help
us win a championship this year.That's just a hypothetical. I don't know

(30:33):
if those guys exist. Most teamsdon't want to give up any of their
you know, nearing major league readyarms. But it depends on the team
and where you're at in the process. To win a World series. If
that's the case, if you canfind something of that nature, if you
can find a corner outfielder, Lordknows this franchise UH needs corner outfielders.

(30:56):
They've drafted middle endfielders, you knowwhat, middle endfielders to middle endfielders and
said they're the best athletes on thefield. They project to a lot of
different positions, you know where theygenerally don't project right and left field,
corner outfield, bigger guys, guys, it was some pop you know,
guys that can hit you thirty homeruns. Those guys don't really exist coming

(31:18):
up playing shortstop. So if youcan go get you a controllable young,
middle or corner outfielder. But otherthan that, if you have somebody on
the team that you expect to bea considerable piece of the puzzle going into

(31:40):
twenty twenty five, I think youhold because you're holding on a lot of
stuff. I guess the one nameI've seen that's interesting, Sean. I'm
interested in your thought. Christian andKarnassi and Strand. Would you be willing
if a team made you a prettygood offer on cees to take look at

(32:00):
that? I would definitely look intoit. Now the problem you have is
I don't want to he's injured rightnow, So it's tough to say because
we haven't seen much Low. Probablyyeah, you're probably selling Low. It's
tough to say at this point becausewe haven't seen much of him this year.
You know, That's that's the trickything. But I would probably look
at it just to see what myoptions would be. Yeah, I think

(32:21):
the only thing I would be worriedabout there is what similar what player of
similar projection do you have behind him? Right right? Like you know when
they when they sold what was thefirst baseman's name that came right after Vado?
They had a first basement and acatcher that came right after Vado and

(32:42):
Barnhardt. Ah, dang it,I'm blanking too. But anyhow, he's
in he's he's on TV now,isn't he? M M? I believe
so he is, I know,and I can see his face. I
just can't think of his name.Tweet me his name. Somebody that was
selling, Like, this guy's kindof blocked, and you have that option.

(33:05):
You can either sell the guy that'sblocking, or you can sell the
guy that's coming up. I don'tknow that they have another guy with like
the pop and the you know,the profile of Christian and Karnacian strand,
So I would be hesitant to sellhim unless you're getting something like that in
return. And why would a teamtrade a similar guy that that's what maybe

(33:30):
a year away or whatever for aguy that's got an injury history and let's
be honest, struggled this year beforehe went out, So they just have
a I don't want to say,I guess ultimately, I don't want to
say to hold to just not doanything, because that's I don't know what

(33:54):
exactly is going to be available.But what I'm saying is this isn't a
team that's gonna buy bye bye,bye bye. They're not in a position
to do that right now. Theydon't have all of their organizational depth is
basically in the majors right now,and they're rebuilding restocking that talent in the

(34:15):
minor leagues because all of that talentthat they built, that they stockpiled graduated
to the majors. So you don'thave a great surplus to buy, and
you don't have a lot right nowin your roster that I think either that
you want to sell or is goingto bring you the proper value to sell.

(34:37):
And Mo made a great point,like, this team is what it
is. They've got ten games tothe trade deadline. They're probably not going
to go nine to one. They'reprobably not going to go one to nine.
You know what, They're probably gonnado four and five or five and
four, somewhere in that range.And they're going to be right about in
the same spot. They're not goingto be in a position to win the

(34:59):
division, and they're going to bein a cluster, you know what,
to try to get into the wildcard spot. So with that in mind,
hang on, figure it out.Let's take a break more after this,
since as ESPN fifteen thirty, inseven days, the Paris Olympics begin

(35:20):
with the most stunning opening ceremony.Yeah, as the sun sets over the
City of Lights, a period ofboats will carry the Olympic athletes through one
of the world's most beautiful city.Eh eh, just ah, yeah.
This was a little as right pastmy era. Okay, I mean I

(35:42):
like it. It's not bad.It just wasn't like, it wasn't something
I regularly jammed to. If Ican, if I can maintain a level
of not bad, I'll consider thata successful Yeah, Like I don't dislike
it, Like it doesn't make melike angry, like some of the stuff
Audie plays when he fills in,like he does it on part though he
does. Yeah, he knows itmet like a producer is not supposed to

(36:04):
mess with the mood of the host. I like to have a little something
to jam to before I talk.It gets me in the right the right
spirit, right, I like that. Have fun with Lance's show. You
know, you know what Taren doesa lot. This is something to think
about for the rest of the afternoon. Tarrean does like a lot of like
party tunes on on Fridays. Oh, I like the little Little Michael Jackson,

(36:27):
little little Bobby Brown, you know, like like some some eighties nineties
like you know, dance stuff totake us into the weekend. Just a
thought, a thought, a subtlesuggestion. Yeah, it's just you know,
it's what I'm used to most ofthe time. Like he'll he'll play
some old Michael and I like,I'm just sitting here like I don't even
want to talk, ready to listen. Yonder Alonzo is the name that we

(36:53):
were looking for, Yes, TimThomas Brian my Twitter blew up. Everybody
had it but me and you.It was there like I could see him.
I remember like the look of himplaying first base in other uniforms,
because obviously they would talk about itevery time they came back to town and
played the rets. Real quick,Are you a TBT guy? Have you

(37:15):
been to any of the tbts sincethey've been here? I have not yet.
No. I do want to getto him though, because they look
like fun. It's a lot offun. Last year the year before wasn't
as fun because that team from acrosstown one, so that was loud.
Sheeesh. I guess we gotta goto break out here right now. I

(37:37):
know, just kidding. It's alot of fun. It's a good time.
And getting to see the old guysthat you watched at UC and Xavier
back on the court is is exciting. I'm looking forward in a couple hours
to heading down the highway and gettingback into fifth third Arena and watching the

(37:58):
first round of the TV tonight.Just take a break our two West Miller
after this. Since as ESPN fifteenthirty, this report is sponsored by Staples.
Story. With Staples Hot Deals,you'll find super low prices on hundreds
of items for back to school rightnow twenty four pack craiol at gre Onsen.

(38:25):
Here we go our number two,The Mowagger Show. I Am not
mowegar Chad Brendle. And on thisdelightful Friday that I get to spend inside
all day, that's okay. I'llbe outside all day tomorrow, hopefully a
little warmer for the pool. I'dhow you do a birthday party for a

(38:49):
teenager? You throw a pool party. Thank you for choosing me, Chad
Brendle. Find me on Twitter atChad Brendle. Find me at bearcat journal
dot com, YouTube, Twitch,everywhere else, TikTok, Instagram. All
of those are Bearcat Journal. That'show you can find me if you're If
you're interested, only say nice things. Though, I have a new persona

(39:14):
on Twitter now, Sean, I'mnice. I haven't argued with people in
at least a week. That's adrastic change. Yeah. I you know,
you get a little older and it'sjust not worth it anymore. I
used to argue on social media allthe time, and then I realized it's
just a never ending fight. Yeah. The problem is like for me,
it used to be fun, likeit was a distraction. And I like

(39:37):
to debate, but but nobody reallywants to debate anymore. They just wanted
to argue, and that's there.They're they're different. I like to debate,
I like to to take a stanceand and you know, work through
things. But you know, it'sit doesn't work that way anymore. So
I've I've calmed down, I've turnedover a new leaf. A social media

(40:00):
is just echo chambers. Yeah,just fighting with each other. The difference
is the thing is you realize asyou get older, you're not changing anybody's
mind. Nobody's interested in hearing whatyou actually have to say. They just
know you're on the other side.Correct. So it's it's not as fun
as it used to be unless it'smessing with Xavier fans, and then it's

(40:20):
then it's still fun. For that'sdifferent. Yeah, that's that is that's
a different level of fun. Iappreciate the Xavier fans that that are in
on the joke, but I thriveon the ones that aren't. But that
you know, that's one of thefun things about the TBT is because Xavier
and Cincinnati both have teams and theyboth uh you know, are are playing

(40:42):
in the same bracket. We havethe opportunity for a little summer Crosstown shootout.
Tonight will determine that Xavier kicks offat six, you see plays at
eight. If they both win,they will play on Sunday, and Sunday
we will get our cross Town Shootoutin July, which last year and last

(41:04):
year was so much fun. Maybebecause Cincinnati one at the Arena in Norwood,
first time in two decades. Right, Yeah, that was officially that.
That was an enjoyable night. Yeah, there were a lot of people
there that didn't have as good atime. They were all wearing blue.
They were they were I almost Iwas. I was going through my closet

(41:28):
today and I went to grab apolo and it was like a like a
darker shade of blue. I waslike, Nope, you can't do it.
I can't do it out of goodfaith. Not not gonna do it.
Not gonna show up the dark bluewith the red hat you've got on
today. Yeah, that wouldn't wejust contradict each other. It would have.
It would have sent mixed messages.And I don't want my messages to

(41:49):
be mixed. I like my messagesto be very clear, let's keep going.
Hour number two here on Cincinnati's ESPNfifteen thirty Back in action tonight.
Let's check and see do we havea lineup? We do? Hello,
second half, we have a lineup? How about that first pitch? Six

(42:13):
forty five tonight. I love thepre seven o'clock starts, especially now in
a in a baseball world where gamesare not three and a half hours long,
but you can be done six fortyfive, like nine fifteen, nine
thirty, that bad boy might beover. You can still if I was.

(42:35):
Look, let's be let's make somethingvery clear. This would then I'm
kind of upset with TBT for playingtonight instead of like tomorrow, or you
know some of the games that theyalready are playing in TBT today because today,
at the first day of the tournament, some of these games tipped off
at like three o'clock. Tonight isthe perfect fire pit night, perfect fire
pit night, and I won't getto enjoy, but you know, you

(42:57):
you typically on Friday is through thesummer, in the fall, you start
the fire like as you're listening tothe game, but now like right as
the game is close to the end, you're starting the fire and then you
can get to some music, andthat's the best part of the fire pit.
You throw some music on, youhave some friends over some cold beverages.

(43:19):
You enjoy a fire Not gonna getto do that tonight. I'm not
even gonna get to watch the game. But here's the lineup. Jonathan India
leading off a second, all Star, Elie de la Cruz batting second,
it shortstop, Jamer Candelario the DHbatting third, Spencer Steer at first,
batting clean up, Tyler Stevenson behindthe dish batting fifth, Austin Slater and

(43:44):
left batting six, Noelvie Marte atthird, batting seventh, Reese Hines,
the man of the Week last weekNational League Player of the Week batting eighth
and right field, and Stuart Fairchildre turning to the Reds lineup in center
field and batting ninth. On themound, Frankie Montas takes the bump for

(44:10):
the Reds. As we mentioned,Corbyn Burns on the mound, the lefty
for the Washington Nationals, and againthe number two overall pick for the Reds
has inked his deal. Chase Burns, the number one pitcher in the draft,

(44:36):
signing a signing bonus of nine pointtwo five million dollars. Man,
I wish I could throw a baseballhard. Nine point two five million dollars
your first job out of college.It's not too shabby. You can you
can live for a little bit offof that. That's similar to the signing

(45:00):
bonus you got for signing here asa producer, right, sean, pretty
close to that. The difference beingyours was just nine point twenty five dollars
correct, and for Burns it's ninepoint twenty five million. You think we
could do a trade, I thinka sign and trade. Well, if
I could trade him salaries for likea day, you know, you think

(45:23):
I could convince somebody do that.I mean that's the thing, right,
Like, you wouldn't even need long, just just a day, give me
one day, can I get okay? Can you take my contract for one
day and I will take your contractfor one day? Yes, and you
won't notice. But I will havea much better year, correct, I

(45:44):
will feel much better walking out ofhere today. Amazing. Or you could
be Joe Burrow and have a quarterof a billion dollars. I wish I
was Joe Burrow. All because theyall because they've got a very talented arm.
It's amazing. FC Cincinnati back inaction tomorrow, looking to snap the

(46:06):
rare two game losing skid. Theywill be without their manager, Pat Noonan,
who picked up a red card onWednesday. That's a that's a guy
that's normally pretty calm, cool andcollected for him to get a red he
was clearly not happy with the waythings were going, not only for his
team, where the frustration builds,but uh, officiating, man is we

(46:32):
always talk about where like the poorofficiating in pro sports, MLS might be
the worst, really, right,I I don't know, because you could
say NFL MLB has been pretty badrecently. Yeah, they've been catching a
lot of flak within the last coupleof years, I feel like, yeah,

(46:52):
and a lot of that is generallystrike zone related, Like the one
league I think that that generally getsreplay, right, has been baseball for
the most part, where gosh,there's so many times in the NFL like
they show the replay and you're like, oh, that's that's pretty easy decision,
and then they come back and they'relike, no, the other way,
and you're like, wait, whatdo you mean the other way?

(47:15):
Sometimes their decisions will shock the senses. Yeah, at least in baseball generally,
when you see the play, theyget it right. If they missed
it the first time, they'll getit right second time. Soccer, who
knows what's coming out of the soccerofficiating. That's that's a bad one.
And you know, the NBA,I think is generally pretty good. The

(47:39):
NBA officiating is much better than collegebasketball officiating. They've still grown soft in
the NBA, though, Well,that's the rules like that. That's not
the officiating, that's the rules.They've grown soft in the NFL. The
rules have dictated that because offense sellstickets and those leagues want more offense.
Yep, so that's the rules havedictated that. The officiating part of it.

(48:06):
It's it's still it blows my mind. I talked about this just for
a touch yesterday. But those guysare making hundreds of thousands of dollars.
They are professionals. If you justscrewed up fifteen percent of the time at
your job every day, you wouldn'thave a job for much longer, unless
you're a meteorologist. Yeah, ifyou're only screwing up fifteen percent of the

(48:30):
time, as a meteorologist. You'redoing pretty good. Well, that's I
joked with Austin yesterday. There aresome people that you know the baseball rules
apply. You know what the baseballrules are. I'm not sure I do.
If you hit three hundred, you'rea Hall of Famer. Oh,
you only got to be right thirtypercent of the time in baseball. AnyWho

(48:52):
f c Cincinnati back in action tomorrownight, seven thirty in New York City
against the New York Red Bulls.A big one for them. They've they've
fallen two points back of Miami.After they beat Miami, they take the
lead in the East, then theydrop too in a row. Now Miami
is two points ahead and the Columbuscrew are are stalking, and then the

(49:15):
Red Bulls are in fourth. Sonot a team to take lightly and a
Cincinnati team. We are still workingto find out what the status of Lucho
Acosta is, who missed Wednesday's match, and boy, you're you're at a
real risk of losing three straight ifif Acosta is not out there on Saturday
night. We have LEAs Miller comingup here shortly, so I am just

(49:40):
gonna briefly touch on this and thenwe will. We will come back around
to it in the five o'clock hour. The Bengals position group concern levels where
Paul Dayer did his his annual fansurvey for the Cincinnati Bengals ahead of training
camp, and one of the topicswill the position groups that are areas of

(50:01):
concern for the twenty twenty four season. Three of those position groups are on
defense corner, safety, defensive line, and I would argue, look,
I thought the linebackers struggled mightily lastyear. When you're that bad against the

(50:22):
run and you're that bad against thepass, some of it has to come
down to the guys that are roamingthe middle of the defense. It can't
all be the splash plays, thedeep plays that can be defensive line and
secondary where the linebackers don't have awhole lot of say in that. But
I did not think the linebackers hada good year, and that's evident by

(50:45):
the Bengals being right at the bottomof the NFL in most every defensive metrics
a season ago. So the questionbecomes, which of those three position groups
are you most concerned about? Corner, say, defensive line. For me,

(51:06):
it's a hard decision because I feellike you have to put some of
the run stuff on the defensive line, especially DJ Reader is gone. The
only times they were good against therun was when DJ Reader was there.
But corner especially, you know,a woozy A was not the same last
year. Now you are relying onCam Taylor Britt being your number one corner.

(51:34):
You are relying on DJ Turner takingthat next step in year two.
As Paul notes in the article,Turner was really good at the start of
the season, kind of hit therookie wall and really fell off a cliff
at the end of the year.You're moving Dax Hill to corner. Can
he play outside corner? Is thatin his skill set? Josh Newton dj

(51:58):
Ivy providing some depth there. Butuh, if that corner group doesn't hold
up once again, you're gonna you'regonna really struggle on defense, especially in
this league. So we'll get backto that in the five o'clock hour.
We're gonna take a break now whenwe come back live from the road somewhere
in Georgia. Wes Miller, headcoach for the Cincinnati Bearcats, joins us

(52:22):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Cincinnati's ESPNfifteen thirty traffic from the UC Health Traffic
Center. What is that you'll likebb king? I do like bb king.
It just caught me off guard.I was gonna say, I won't

(52:44):
tell her to any BBK slander.No, I enjoy bb king. That
wasn't the I It's all good.I didn't know if that was Wes specific.
Maybe Wes is a big bb kingguy. Joining us now live from
the road, the head coach ofthe Cincinnati Bearcats, Wes Miller. Wes
are Are you a big bbking guy? Yeah? If I'm a basketball guy,

(53:04):
we're gonna leave it at that today. You're not. You don't like
the blues. It's not a NorthCarolina music. I like music all music,
just spont especially good relaxing, upbeat music. That's good with me.
There you go, all right,coach on the road. How is
how's the new recruiting calendar working outfor you? Well, you know,
it's uh, it's one of thosethings that the NCAA has made so many

(53:29):
changes. Sometimes it doesn't make anysense, uh, but you kind of
take what the calendar is and youyou make the most of it. But
we were, you know, onthe road last weekend with you know,
five days off and back on theroad, and they let us in the
gym at six o'clock tonight through sunthrough Sunday. So we're back on the
road again. And I'm looking forwardto getting through this weekend and getting back

(53:52):
on the floor of our guys nextweek. That's the big thing is is
a summer workouts and progressing the teamtowards the season. We'll get to that.
Uh. And just a little bitfirst, the news of the day
today that the TVT guys are backin town. Uh, that this has
become kind of an annual tradition atCincinnati to have that group back. How
good to see those guys again.And and this year hosting the game at

(54:14):
the Third Arena, it's it's it'sgreat to have them in town. I
uh, you know, I can'ttell you that the TVT has become a
great event for for us because it'sit's just a natural way to get those
guys back in town, back aroundcampus, back around our players. Uh.

(54:35):
Just like good natural interaction. Butit's been great for the last three
years and and this this year isno different. What's what's different about this
year is that we have it infifth third, And you know, I
hope all the all the all theBearcat fans out there come out and support
those guys. I know they playedtonight. If it wasn't a recruiting weekend,
I'd be there. I hate Ican't be there. Uh, but

(54:58):
they they played a night, andif they win a night, they've play
Sunday. And if they went onSunday, they played Tuesday. So I'm
plan on having my butt in theseats on Tuesday supporting them. But the
really good to have all those guysback in town. Speaking of the fan
base, just recently released the teamis going to be traveling back downtown to
the Heritage Bank Center to take ondayton A, A a important game in

(55:22):
the non conference schedule. What didyou learn from this game a year ago?
And and and what would you liketo see coming into the game that's
gonna once again be one of thepivotal non conference games for you. Yeah,
well, certainly we weren't. Weweren't pleased with the outcome a year
ago. It didn't suck. Weplayed well, missed a big opportunity in

(55:45):
non conference play. Uh, it'sa big deal. It's a it's a
local game. It's in our community. I can't stress this enough. We
got to do our job to prepareas a team and as a program,
and I think our guys will beexcited for the opportunity to play against the
quality local opponent. Uh we wewe need it. We need help in

(56:07):
that that arena, you know,we we can. We got to make
sure it's it's not overwhelmed with Daytonfans. Uh we we got and they
came out and drove last year.We appreciate all the Bearcat fans that came
out, but we got we gotto make sure that we're loud and proud,
especially in downtown Cincinnati. It's animportant game because it'll have NC Double
A tournament implications because Dayton will begood again, and then it's just an

(56:30):
important game in our community. SoI really really hope please go out and
buy tickets, Please come out andsupport us, and we're gonna need some
help that night. I think it'sin the December, right before we go
on to Christmas break, so abig game. Need the fans to come
out for that one. I thinkthe thing that surprises people when when learning
about Dayton basketball is how big andpassionate that fan base is and if you're

(56:52):
gonna you know that that's the callto action here. If you're going to
match that, the Cincinnati fan basehas to come just to strong and prepare
and treat it like a game that'sthat's being played at Fifth Third Arena,
because you know, the Dayton fansare coming down, they're going to take
advantage. They're going to spend thenight in the hotel downtown, They're going
to make a night of it andmake a weekend of it. And you

(57:14):
know, that's kind of the challengefor Cincinnati fans is you have to match
that energy that you know the Daytonfans are going to bring. Yeah,
and you know, I think,listen, we have an incredible fan base.
Absolutely, You're here to hear mesay it all the time, Like
that's why I feel like I'm oneof the luckiest coaches in America to coach
somewhere where people care like this.Uh and I wish the game was in

(57:35):
fifth Earth if there's a lot ofimportant reasons that it's it's it's a neutral
game that are important to the program, important to our scheduling. But you
know, obviously that's that's a massivegame Dayton playing against the Big twelve school
and their fans recognize that it's it'sa massive game for us too, and
we just got to kind of getthe word out to everybody that that we

(57:57):
need people in the seats because therewere more Dayton fans there last year.
Now, shoot, that probably wasgood because we didn't deserve to have any
fans the way we played. Butwe'll play better basketball this year and hopefully
we'll have some support there. Let'stake a look at this summer. You've
got a lot you know, whenwe've had this conversation in the summer.
The past couple of years, there'sbeen a lot of unknown about the roster,

(58:19):
a lot of turnover, a lotof a lot of new faces and
new places and new roles. There'snot as much of that this year.
How much different is this offseason becauseyou were able to retain and and continue
forward with a lot of the guysthat we that were so important last year.
I guess the exact opposite is theyear before where you lost you know

(58:40):
what, six of your top sevenscorers. This year you're bringing almost everybody
back. It's different, It's thesame in the sense that we got to
have a great offseason and a greatsummer. You know, like the day
to day approach, what we gotto accomplish every day, that's the same,
that's not going to change. It'sdifferent in the sense from a planning

(59:01):
perspective. As a coach, youjust have so much more awareness of what
you have and what these guys cando and the things that you have to
attack and work on. You know, so much of last summer was just
trying to figure them out right andfigure out who can do what and who
fits where. Certainly we're still doingsome of that in the summertime, but

(59:23):
when you return a lot of thoseimpact guys that we do that you can
get more specific and you have abetter idea what you've got to spend time
on. Dan Skillings made an incrediblejump last year from his freshman to his
sophomore season. Asking him to makethat level of a jump again is asking

(59:44):
a lot, But it's not outof the realm of possibility that Dan takes
another significant step forward because of hownew he still is to the game.
What does he look like for youthis summer? What has his mindset been
like? You know, I thinknot just and that all the returning guys
I've been pleased, right they they'vethey've come in with a consistent work ethic.

(01:00:07):
Today we're not done yet, stilla couple of weeks left a summer
practice. But they've come in witha consistent work ethic. Uh. They
they've all improved from their approach andtheir mindset a summer a summergo. I
think what I'd say though to allof them directly, and I have,
and what I'd say that anybody outthere listening is it's it's been respectable.

(01:00:30):
I still want it to be better, you know. I still think it
can be even greater. And thenthat's not knocking anything that we've done so
far this summer, but I thinkthere's there's still more there for for all
of them, and we'll continue topush for that. Where is C.
J. Frederick at in his hisreturn. I know it was a frustrating
season for him, but he's animportant piece to the puzzle this year.

(01:00:52):
How has he been health wise andhow has he looked on the floor.
He's he worked really hard in Apriland may you know, and a lot
of guys are kind of decompressing fromthe season. I thought he kind of
kicked it up the gear in Apriland May to try to get healthy and
get back in shape. And he'sbeen just that, you know, to

(01:01:15):
today. This summer, he's participatedin everything, have not been limited in
any way. And you know lastyear, you know, we were a
little more cautious with him, evenin the summer, just because some of
the history, you know, we'vewe've made a point not to do that.
This summer that's been important to CJ. And you know, Todate again,

(01:01:35):
he's been healthy and had a nicesummer. Last year, you took
one of the biggest risks in collegebasketball. Some of it was circumstantial,
but I don't think people realize howgutsy it was and maybe risky it was
for you to go into the seasonwith the first season in the Big twelve
with two point guards that had neverdribbled a basketball in a Division one game,
much less than the best conference inAmerica. Both of those guys performed

(01:02:00):
well in that first season, andnow what we were wondering about a season
ago as a potential unknown, yougo into season two with these two guys
as a strength. Talk about pointguard and Gisel James and Daydae Thomas,
who's recovering from the foot injury too. Well, he's back, Chad,

(01:02:21):
Yes, you know, he wascleared. We limited him a little bit
the first two or three weeks inJune. And I say a little bit,
I mean we were trying to protecthim from himself, you know,
because Dada's I'd say, Dada's workethic has been probably as consistent as anybody
in our program over the last yearand a half. It's every single day,
it's multiple times a day. It'sit's extremely admirable. And one thing

(01:02:45):
we wanted to do bringing him backwas just make sure he wasn't on his
feet too much, because he's thetype of guy if you don't say anything,
he'll be out there for three orfour hours a day. So we
limited him a little bit, notbecause we had to just to kind of
protect day day from day day.And then you know, Gizzles obviously gets

(01:03:06):
got such more awareness of what thisis, you know, last year,
making that jump from high school tothis level of college basketball. It was
obvious, you know, from thesummer through the fall, and then you
saw him kind of hit a stridethere at the end of the year.
So he's not a they're not rookiesanymore. And you know, like I
say, we'll say about all ofthem. They've done a nice job so

(01:03:27):
far this summer. I still thinkthere's more there and we're going to demand
that of them. You added threeguys in the transfer portal, Connor Hickman,
Arrington Page, and Dylan Mitchell.They are not It's not like a
season ago where there was so muchbeing placed on these shoulders of the guys
that were coming in because of whatyou lost. Now is it a little

(01:03:50):
bit different this year allowing those guysto kind of get a little bit more
comfortable at their own pace than tryingto speed up the process like you had
to do a year ago. It'sit's I think it's helpful for incoming guys.
Like anytime there's there's a transition,right as a player, you know,
like it's gonna take some time toget up up to speed with terminology

(01:04:13):
and the principles offensively and defensively becausethey're going to be different place to place.
So like every year, guys thatare making the transition, even like
guys that like have played at thelevel that that these guys have played at,
like Dylan Mitchell obviously played at Texasand two tournament teams. It's still
a transition, not because the levelis a transition, because it's a new

(01:04:34):
system, right, and new demands. What's a little different this summer is
that we're not doing that with anentire roster, right, We're not working
on that transition. They can learnfrom people on the floor, right.
So when you have as many returningguys as we do, they help teach
the new guys. And sometimes thenew guys can learn just by watching the

(01:04:58):
guy in front of them in adrill or in something that we're doing on
the floor, So that I thinkthat speeds up the learning curve, not
just for the transfers, but forthe group as a whole. You you've
added a couple of new assistants andTim Buckley and Jalen Stowe. You've added
Bill comer To to your support staff. What has that transition been like with
UH with two guys that are thatare completely new into your way of doing

(01:05:19):
things, and then and then bringingJalen Stowe back UH to to be the
player development guy and that that fifthassistant. Yeah, well, first off,
it was great. You know thatyou got guys on your coaching staff
moving on to be head coaches.You know, that's something that I'm really
proud of. And like Josh Leffleruh getting the Division one head coaching job

(01:05:41):
at Loyal and Baltimore and the PatriotLeague. He's going to be a superstar.
Uh. And so I'm super proudof that. And then Jake Delon,
uh, you know, is goingto take over Cuff Cat his his
his high school and we all know, one of the great programs in the
area. So you lose a coupleof good staff members, but you lose
them, uh because they go onto be head coaches. But then I

(01:06:05):
think we've really gained a lot withthe guys that we've hired. You know,
Tim Buckley just he's experienced a ton, He's seen a ton, so
he has that wisdom and in indifferent ways than I do. Even with
the experience that I have as ahead coach, he's been around it a
long time. But he still hasenergy, you know, he still has

(01:06:28):
energy to be on the floor workingwith the guys. And I'm really excited
about his hire. I think hebrings something to this staff needs. Uh.
And then you know you mentioned BillKomar, who's just the consonment professional.
Everywhere he's worked, you hear thesame things, and he's he's making
us a just a just much morehigh level operation day to day. So

(01:06:51):
I think I think we've done anice job with those two guys. And
then Jalen Stowe, who was withme for three years before I hired him
back to to be our director ofplayer development. He's young, he has
energy and passion for it, andthat's a really big part of our program,
is what we do to develop ourplayers on a day to day basis,
and he'll ever see that. Soyeah, I'm excited about the new

(01:07:12):
staff, and again I feel goodabout the Rash has put together. But
what we got to do now isgo do the work, you know,
And I know that's not the funthing to talk about, but that's the
real thing is we just got tobury ourselves into work every day and getting
better because we do have some opportunities, But what we do with that opportunity
is what's gonna matter from here onout. The thing I will say about

(01:07:34):
Stowe is is the only guy I'veever seen that can that can talk during
like a pickup game or whatever atthe same level as a Troy Copain,
that's a very high level of talking. Well, yeah, well, he's
he's It's interesting because you know,he was a grad assistant at one point
for us, and he's been nowbeen in the Division one assistant coach somewhere

(01:07:58):
else. So if the profession anda lism is at such a different level,
it's like so fun to watch guysgrow and he's he's really grown from
a you know, a guy thatyou know play was on the same level
as the players as a GA ina lot of ways, Like the example
you mentioned to somebody that you knowyou view now as a coach and that
that's been that's been fun. Thetime away was good for him. Well,
you enjoy your your time out onthe road, I know, a

(01:08:23):
brisk forty eight hour trip on theroad and then and then back to campus
and then back on the road.Uh. But the end of July is
almost here, coach, It's almosttime to start getting serious about the start
of practice in October. And Iknow that always keeps you very excited.
And there's nothing that gets me moreexcited than the start of practice in the
fall. Can't wait. But wegot a lot of work left to do

(01:08:45):
this summer. So we're excited aboutthat too. Thanks for having me as
always, all right, appreciated,coach. Have to safe travels and good
luck out there, all right,thank you so much. There you go.
Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Wes Miller joiningus here on Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
Stick a break, Sean and Iwill discuss after this. Cincinnati's ESPN

(01:09:05):
fifteenth thirty. Oh boy, youbetter be lucky. Mo's not here.
I'll go count my lucky stars.For some reason, Mo hates Will Smith.
Yeah, it doesn't like Ude.He doesn't like Will Smith. He
hates Pitbull. I've never I've neverfigured out why either. I don't know.

(01:09:28):
It's just got a good beat toit. You know, it's us.
I mean it's getting jiggy with it. Yeah, like parents just don't
understand. No, summertime. Summertimeis a jam. Oh yeah, Like
I might have to play that tomorrowat the pool party. That's one.
That's the playlist. That's one thatlike in like uh like may like late
may you play Summertime because it's likeit's coming, It's it's right around the

(01:09:51):
corner. Like it gets the mindsetright. Yeah. A reaction Sean Wes
Miller giving us a little a littlesummer update. I know he's not going
to go too far out over hisskis, but that sounds like a coach
that feels pretty good about his roster. Yeah, he sounds really confident going
into this year, which is exactlywhat you want to hear, especially if

(01:10:11):
you're a UC fan. You know, the expectations are always high for this
ball club, and arguably if they'vehaven't been this high in quite some time,
maybe I don't know what four orfive, six years something like that,
you know, probably Troy and well, probably the year after Troy left
with with Jaren and Sees, Garyand Kyle, Yeah, Cain and Cain,

(01:10:34):
Broome and Humo had on yesterday andjustin Jennifer. The expectations were higher
that year even than this year comingin. But the highest sense then for
sure. Yeah. And the thingthat I like too about going into this
year is it feels like Wes reallyfirmly has his culture established within the program.

(01:10:54):
He's got his guys, he's goteverything he needs and that he wants.
Now, we got to remember,too, this is a really tough
conference of basketball to you know,to play. It's really hard to win
in this league. And I knowWes Miller knows that more than anybody,
you know, So I know he'sgonna expect some high level competition. And
I'm looking forward. I think it'sgonna be a good year. I think
it's going to be a really goodyear. I think the Bearcats get revenge

(01:11:15):
on Xavier this year in fifth thirdArena, and if they get that,
I think they're they got a recipefor a good season. Yeah, I
mean, that's the conference thing iswild to me. Yeah, because they're
picked, you know, sixth,seventh, middle of the pack, middle

(01:11:39):
well not in middle of the pack, that's the sixteen team league, so
the middle third, the middle third, but the upper part of that middle
third. But the problem is thefive teams they're thought to be a top
twenty five team or right in thatrange of top twenty five. There are
the five teams ahead of them,could in various outlets are all in the
top ten at some and in someplaces. Yeah, and Houston and Kansas

(01:12:04):
and Iowa State and Baylor and Arizona. You know, some teams are a
little higher on one or a littlelower on the other. But the belief
is You've got five of the topfifteen, let's say teams in the country
in your league. So if you'resixth, sixth, you're still going to

(01:12:26):
you know, be a pretty comfortabletop twenty five team and probably be playing
for a protected scene in the NCAAtournament, which is bananas. Yeah.
And the other thing about the BigTwelve too, is it's not just top
heavy. No, it's very wellbalanced. It's a very good basketball league.
It's top to bottom. It justhas talent everywhere. You cannot count
out any team, you know,even if you have like a team like

(01:12:48):
Texas Tech below, you see they'rea team you don't want to mess with.
Many program I think they're right inthat. I think you see Texas
Tech byu with with what they've donein the offseason, Like those are teams
in that six to ten range thathave acclaimed the top twenty five status,
yeah, and aren't gonna finish probablyin the top five in the league.

(01:13:11):
League. It's insane. Yeah,you can't take anybody lightly in this conference.
You just can't. You can't affordto. And I know Wes knows,
you should never underestimate anybody that youplay, anybody. I don't care
if it's a non conference or not. But well, there's human nature to
it. Yeah. You you comeoff a string of playing like you know,
we haven't seen the schedule, butyou come off a string of playing
like two or three ranked teams ina row, and then you get a

(01:13:33):
team in that bottom third, andhuman nature is to let off the gas
a little bit, but you can't. But the reality is that's still a
good team that in many leagues wouldbe considered a tournament team. Yeah,
and they can jump up and getyou. So you throw some of the
guys in the bottom of the Bigtwelve into like the American Athletic Conference and
they're dominating that conference, they'd beright there for one of the top teams

(01:13:54):
in the league. Correct. Awesomefor Wes to jump on with us from
the road. I think he's inAugusta, Georgia, getting ready for the
second weekend of the Peach Jam.But more after this. But after this
is Brennanman and Jones on Baseball Cincinnati'sESPN fifteen thirty. Call him all tech
gurus, everyone, here we goour number three The Moegar Show, Cincinnati,

(01:14:30):
ESPN fifteen thirty. Chad Brenda sittingin from Eggar. We will be
back in like ten days. Idon't know. He's gone for a while,
some vacation or something. We're gonnamiss him. I'm Chad Brenda filling

(01:14:51):
in today. I'll be in acouple of times next week, once for
Tony and Audie on Monday, andthen I think twice for mo uh and
then I begin my uh my endof July through end of March run of

(01:15:14):
not knowing what day it is,Bearcats camp gets started. I think on
the thirty first is their first day. We will have a media availability with
Scott Saderfield and company on the thirtieth. Get rolling on the thirty first,
head out the higher ground a coupledays later, and get ready for year
two of the Scott's Sadderfield era,hopefully much better than year one. And

(01:15:39):
then before you know it, basketballseason will be here. I'm ready to
go, ready to go, speakingof football season, and we'll get to
that a second. Phone lines areopen five one, three, seven,
four, nine, fifteen thirty.Give me a call, anything you want

(01:16:00):
to talk about. FC Cincinnati isback in action tomorrow night in New York
City, looking to snap a threegame losing skid. They will be doing
so without head coach Pat Noonan,without their skipper. After getting a red
card on Wednesday in the FC,Cincinnati lost their second consecutive loss and looking

(01:16:27):
to snap that streak. That skidagainst the New York Red Bulls on Saturday.
Seven point thirty is when things getunderway. Tommy g will be live
at seven, so there you go. The Reds back in action tonight.
The All Star break has come toa close. The starting lineup is out

(01:16:54):
India Dela Cruz, Candelario, Steer, Stevenson, Slater, Marte Hines and
Fairchild for Rankie Montas on the moundfor the Reds to begin the three game
set against the Washington Nationals. Takea look at the weekend. As we

(01:17:16):
have told you, tonight they willbe facing off against Patrick Corbin, who
is is not having a great yearfor the Nats. He is one and
nine with a five fifty seven ERA, but he's lefty and that has historically
given the Reds issues. First pitchis at six forty five. Nick Lodolo

(01:17:40):
takes the mound for the Reds tomorrowagainst Mackenzie Gore. Lodolo comes into this
one eight and three three point thirtythree ERA Gore six and eight four one
ERA, that's another six forty fivefirst pitch. And then on Sunday close

(01:18:00):
out the series Andrew Abbott on themound against Jake Irvin that game first pitch
at one thirty five Abbot nine andsix three thirty nine ERA Urban seven and
eight three forty nine ERA. Soa big opening series, ten days until
the trade deadline. We will we'llget to that a little bit more in

(01:18:24):
our next segment, and as KlaySnowden joins us from Just Baseball at five
thirty, as we we get throughthe final hour of the day and get
you into the weekend. So alittle earlier, we were looking at an

(01:18:45):
article from Paul Danner, our buddyfrom The Athletic. If you're looking for
the best Bengals coverage, Paul iseasily among the best, if not the
best, out there, and hehad his his Bengals Survey that they do
ever off season, asking the fanbase a multitude of questions, one of
the questions this year being your threeposition group, your level of concern with

(01:19:12):
all the position groups for the Bengals. I believe of his four groups of
concern. Three of them were onthe defensive side of the ball. It'll
have the article on offense out Monday, but three of them on the defensive
side of the ball, and Iwould guess running back would be the offensive
one. Number one in the surveywas defensive line. And it's fair because

(01:19:39):
one their pass rush is almost completelyreliant so far over the past couple of
years on Trey Hendrickson. They havenot been able to draft and develop,
and that's the route that they've goneis trying to backfill that through the draft

(01:20:01):
supplement it through the draft behind avery You could argue, Sean, would
you would you disagree with this?Trey Hendrickson might be the most impactful free
agent signing in recent memory for theCincinnati Bengals. Free agent Yeah, I
mean yeah, I think i'd agreewith that. They got him for and
they've obviously restructured his contract. Theydidn't break the bank to get Trey Hendrickson.

(01:20:25):
And if you remember, there wasa there was a large conversation around
Trey Hendrickson that his sacks in NewOrleans kind of came they they weren't the
type of thing you see from likedominant EDG Rusher's like he got secondary sacks,
like he was the somebody else createdthe pressure and he was the one

(01:20:46):
that that that cleaned up. Therewas a lot of talk when he signed
as a free agent that you know, his numbers don't show his numbers are
not representative of the type of pressurethat he gets, and not in a
good way. Well, he hasbeen worth every penny that the Bengals have
paid him because he has essentially beentheir pass rush and they have been trying

(01:21:10):
to find somebody to to pair withhim to supplement his ability to get to
the quarterback. That has not happenedyet. Now, you hope you in
his contract year, you you hopeJoseph Asai shows the potential he has flashed.
It has not been consistent and hasnot been steady. It has not

(01:21:31):
been something that you can that youcan count on week to week. He
is in a very important year forhis career because if he doesn't show it
this year, his talent will probablykeep him around in the NFL at least
for another contract. But it's notgoing to be a splash, a splashy
deal. He's not gonna get paidif he doesn't show up and have a

(01:21:56):
big performance this year and and andturn that tantalizing potential, those tantalizing flashes
into steady production. The other onebeing Miles Murphy as a pass rusher,
last year's first round pick. Someof his analytics show that he was maybe

(01:22:18):
better than you thought, maybe betterthan you remembered when he was on the
field. But it's gonna have toto even take a larger jump in year
two. And the other thing beingcan they stop the run? DJ Reader
is gone. Sheldon Rankins is in, who is a guy that is very

(01:22:41):
talented, but not necessarily a runstuffer, not necessarily a guy that eats
up a ton of space at thepoint of attack, or at least he
hasn't been to this point in hiscareer. And then you have Chris Jenkins,
McKinley, Jackson camp sample. Youknow, guys that Jenkins is going

(01:23:04):
to have to be really good.I think they are, and Paul points
us out in his article they aregoing to have to rely on him for
a lot of snaps, and ifhe's inconsistent, if he's not somebody that
you can leave out there. Youknow, for a a pretty significant number

(01:23:27):
of snaps came in and game out. But where does this defensive line turn
to stop the run in a ina division where everybody is going to try
to run at you. We knowabout the Browns rushing attack, we know
about the Steelers rushing attack. TheRavens have dominated on the ground and guess
what they just signed Derrick Henry.So if you want to know, like

(01:23:51):
what ails the Bengals when it comesto the AFC North, what do the
Bengals have to do to not goone and five in the division? A
large part of it is going tobe stopping a run and it is not
something that they from the outside lookingin. You lost a guy that was

(01:24:14):
by far your best run stopper,and you didn't you replaced him, but
you replaced him with a different typeof player. You didn't. You didn't
stay in the same mold. Youwent and you know you went and got
a different jello mold for how youreplaced him, And that has to be

(01:24:39):
a massive question. You've also gotcorner Cam Taylor Brett. Is it's time
for him to step into that numberone corner roll. The time is now
for Cam Taylor Brett. He hasflashed some potential that he can be a

(01:25:00):
number one corner in this league.But it has to be more consistent,
snap by snap, every down,and he was doing it a lot of
times alongside a Woozier. Now he'sgoing to be the top guy. And
then as DJ Turner ready to bethe number two, is Dax Hill ready

(01:25:26):
to push and make a play forthat number two spot? Think you feel
We all feel good with Mike Hiltonin the nickel, guarding slot, receivers,
blitzing, doing the things that weknow Mike Kilton is good at.
But there's also a reason that theBengals don't like to have players over thirty
on their roster. They see itas the backside of a career. When

(01:25:51):
they have gone into free agency,when they have spent money, they have
gone out of their way, significantlyout of their way. If you go
look at everything that they've done,they've gone out of their way to make
sure they don't have guys that crossover that thirty plateau. While they're on
the roster. They're banking that theydon't see a dip there, and it's

(01:26:19):
safety. We all kind of knowthe deal. They got it wrong last
year, simple as that they gotit wrong. The knick Scott experiment did
not work. The Dax Hill experimentalongside Nick Scott did not work. They
were bad at safety last year.It is one of those things that I

(01:26:44):
have talked about with this franchise thatcan be tricky because there is a reason
that they do things the way thatthey do in free agency, and it
has been effective over the past threeseasons now that they have dipped their toe
and essentially what they have said isthis is the price threshold and if it
goes over that price that threshold,we're out. But in light of losing

(01:27:09):
Jesse Bates, they allowed von Bellto walk out the door for a little
bit more than they were willing tospend and it resulted in disaster. I
maintain it's not my money. Imaintain there are situations where you have to

(01:27:31):
be flexible with that cut line,that notion that we are not spending over
this. Well, guess what.You have a defense that is heavily reliant
on your safeties being the backbone,the centerpiece, the heartbeat of your defense,

(01:27:54):
and you let both of your safetieswalk because you weren't willing to go
a little above what your bottom linewas for Von Bell. I would argue
you need to be a little bitmore flexible, or else you end up
in a situation where your defense goesfrom good to terrible. And that's exactly
what happened last year. My concernfor safety isn't as much centered around what

(01:28:23):
they're doing, what they did tofix it. It's that how can you
misread that so bad a year ago? And are we sure von Bell a
couple of years older, Jordan Battle, Gino Stone who they brought in from
Baltimore, Tyson Anderson, where certainthose four guys can get the level of

(01:28:44):
play back up too respectable. We'regonna find out in this division. You're
gonna find out pretty quick because thoseguys not only have to play over the
top in the past game, butwith what this looks like at defensive line.
And again, I'm a lot fartherdown on linebackers than I think most

(01:29:04):
people are. Safeties are going tohave to make plays, and you don't
want Tom making them seventeen yards downthe field as Derrick Henry just cruises through
your defense on second down. Thesafeties are going to come up and have
to make plays in the run gameas well. So I think the pieces

(01:29:27):
fit better than last year. Ithink the pieces are better than last year,
but I still have a level ofconcern that how did they get it
so wrong last year? How didthey get so far off track from what
was von Bell and Jesse Bates oneof the top safety duos in the NFL

(01:29:48):
to one of the absolute worst manthis defense. It's such a fascinating question.
It's such a interesting test of louAna Rumo to see if he can

(01:30:08):
get them back where they need tobe and on the right track so that
this offense has a chance to wingames. Let's take a break, get
back to some red stalk. Phonelines are open five fifteen thirty. This
is Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Cincinnati'sESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC

(01:30:31):
Health Traffic Center from everyday aches tothe most complex conditions the uc Health Backneck
and Spine Center fix all right,now a party. Did you know that

(01:31:03):
Andre three thousand wrote this song likefive years before it was released. No,
he took it to the to thethe record people and they were like,
oh, this is They're not readyfor this, Like we're gonna have
to hold onto this until until themusic industry is ready for this to come
out. So yeah, it wassupposed to be on a different record,
but they held on to it fora couple of years. And Andre's a

(01:31:26):
genius, but now he's a geniusflute player. Flute's a good instrument,
it is, that's Did you knowhe released an album that's all him playing
flute? No, yeah, hejust released an album like six months ago.
That's just entirely it's like an hourof him playing the flute. Well,
what did you think? I wanthim to go back to rapping.

(01:31:48):
I mean, look, he's goodat the flute. I get it,
I get it. I would likefor him and Big Boy to get back
together and and and be rappers again. That's what I would I would like
the big Outcast guy. What ifhe brings what if he brings the flute
to the next album? I meanhe definitely will. If he doesn't,

(01:32:08):
I mean I don't know if thereis the next album, like he just
he does features. Oh he doesn'treally like they haven't done an album in
twenty years, over twenty years sincethe last Outcast album. Maybe your reunion's
uh, maybe they're due up fora reunion. They are, but Andre
doesn't want to do it. Hedoesn't want to rap anymore. He's he
said, he's he he's like fifty, and he's like, I don't have

(01:32:31):
anything, Like I don't have anythingto rap about, Like I'm not fifty.
What am I going to talk about? But yeah, klais Snowden coming
up here here in just a fewmoments, and one of the things I
want to talk to him about.It's something to keep an eye on.
We have sixty seven games to go. You have five starters, five divided

(01:32:56):
by sixty seven, about thirteen stars. It's per picture in the rotation.
If you do the math on thatwith let's say, should we say six,
what do you want to do themath on five six per innings per
start, so sixty eighteen like seventyeight more innings for these guys to go

(01:33:28):
to get to the end of theseason. Hunter Green is currently at one
hundred and ten innings. The mosthe has ever thrown in a season is
one hundred and twenty five. Getone hundred and eighty one hundred and ninety
innings for Hunter Green roughly significantly morethan one hundred and twenty five. Niclodolo,

(01:33:49):
the number of major league innings hehas pitched in a season topped out
at one hundred and three. He'sgot another seventy innings the eighty innings to
go, and he has thrown thisyear seventy eight, so his won't be
as drastic because he missed time.But you're still looking at one hundred and

(01:34:10):
forty one hundred and fifty innings.That's a lot more than his previous high.
Andrew Abbott last year threw one hundredand nine innings in the majors.
He did throw some in the minorsbefore being called up this year at one
hundred and six. Add seventy toeighty more to that, again significantly over.
So for those of you thinking theeasy choice here is to dump Frankie

(01:34:32):
montas they're gonna need an older guyto eat some innings going down the stretch
one way or another. That's thejust baseball math that you're really not gonna
want all those guys to be reliedon that heavily without having somebody that can,

(01:34:56):
you know, save the bullpen.And maybe you want to skip a
guy in the a time or twoin the rotation, or you know you're
keeping an eye on things and aguy only goes five innings when he could
have gone seven or eight. Alot of that stress goes to the veteran
on the staff that is going tobe out there with his task of saving
the bullpen. From time to time, Trading Frankie Montas changes the math and

(01:35:18):
a lot of those guys. I'llask Clays knowing about that and more.
Right after this, Sin Sina's hegets PM fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteenth
thirty. Yeah, okay, Cincinnatiis the ESPN fifteen thirty. Chad Branda

(01:35:50):
and from Oweger Final half hour ofthe week and Mike in La on the
line. We're gonna get to himin the final segment, but first we're
going to talk to my buddy KlaySnoden from Just Baseball. Clay. The
second half is upon us. It'smore like the final third because we're ninety

(01:36:11):
seven games at the midway point ofone hundred and sixty two game season,
and I went to public school andI know math. Yeah, man,
it's here, it's here. Welcomein, brother. How are you have
you? Have you enjoyed your AllStar break? I have. I just
got back from Hilton Head, soI've been you know, I was off

(01:36:31):
of this Twitter Aptscape Park during apolitical event that everyone knows that went on.
And the draft, the MLB draft, which I am not a draft
guy whatsoever, and I don't likereading that, you know, opinions of
people that have seen, you know, three games on ESPN ever regional about
some batter. So I avoided twomajor things I always had to go avoid.

(01:36:57):
Yeah, you're not you're no ironLytton, Yeah, exactly. The
Reds. I was just mentioning thisin the previous segment. I know you
weren't listening, but the number ofinnings pitched for this starting rotation, I
know the easy answer on what arethe Reds going to do with the trade

(01:37:18):
deadline or trade Frankie Montas. Youare already almost at the at or above
the number of the career high levelof innings pitched for Hunter Green, Nicolodolo
and Andrew Abbott, and you stillhave roughly thirteen starts to go for each
of them. Does that kind ofpersuade you maybe to hang on to Frankie

(01:37:44):
Montas, because one, I don'tknow that you're going to get a significant
amount of value for him, butyou really need a veteran that can maybe
eat some innings as we're coming downthe stretch here, don't you. Yeah.
And I was actually writing about Montasstoday And the more I look into
it, the more I think aboutit, the more I realize he's probably
gonna stay. He's more of justa back end guy. Well for a

(01:38:11):
true contender. I see him asa you know, he's not gonna he's
not making one of those first threestarts in a playoff series. And those
type of players are still in demand, But how many of them cost in
terms of money as much as Mantasor the Red's gonna eat money to sell
a player that can at least eatany from them for them when they're only

(01:38:33):
three games out of the wild card. I hope not. I don't think
the return would be worth it.So to me, it's just keep a
man, keep like like you said, somebody's got to pitch some of these
innings. I think Carsons Spiders hasbeen better as well than Graham Ashcraft who's
still around like that. They havesome options that can come up and help

(01:38:58):
out. But to me, I'mkeeping Montass. Yeah. I just the
more and more I look at thistrade deadline, I don't want to I
don't want to consider it stand pat, But I but I look at it,
and I say, I don't seethe pieces that that I would consider,
you know, sellable. I don'tsee a significant amount of value in

(01:39:20):
return. And I don't know whatyou would go out and buy and and
what you have to spend on it. Like I can want a Mercedes,
but I don't have the money tobuy a Mercedes. Oh shut up,
yes you do. We know youmake the right right. I have spent

(01:39:40):
hours today doing that exact or researchand writing that exact article. So I
had you on and we didn't evencommunicate this. No we didn't. But
you're right, you're right. Letit boil it down to when I after
I wrote everything, I realized thereis no point in selling because the Reds
just don't have enough that you justfeel like you have to sell. You

(01:40:02):
gotta cash in. They don't havethe expiring contract that you can really cash
in big on. Like, Okay, you do you want to trade Nick
Martini? Like or I'm Martine,Yeah, somebody wants Nick Martini? Do
you want to trade him? Doyou want to trade like a Fernando?

(01:40:23):
Like you know, if you wantto offload some Bolton pieces, I couldn't
care lastly, trade those all dayif you want to like fill them.
I'm not that worried about Bolton piecesin the long term. But other than
that, like, what are youselling? Like we we just covered Montoss,
Like everyone wants to say, cashin on Jonathan India. He's you

(01:40:43):
know, on fire right now,You've got to cash in. Do you
know why they're saying that. It'sbecause they don't believe the performance they're seeing,
right, they are saying we gotto cash in because he's not this
good. GM's are not stupid.They're gonna say, Okay, how about
that player who has averaged the pasttwo years, has said has been really
good for two months. We're interested, but at this return, and the

(01:41:05):
return for India in my eyes,is going to be low because how many
GM's top priority at the deadline isa second baseman who's on a hot street.
That's pretty low. Like to me, he's more valuable to the Reds
than any return that he would get. That's just my opinion. I could
be wrong on that. But also, if you keep him and he has

(01:41:26):
a good second half, that's alarger sample size of Okay, maybe this
is a good player. Come offseason when more teams are kind of in
the running for player upgrades, youcan trade him then too. I don't
think this like he's a piece toa World Series team that is missing.
So to me, it just there'sjust not enough reason to So, okay,

(01:41:48):
you want to add, what canyou add? I look through it
all in the easiest place to upgradenow and for the future, as the
outfield. I think the infield's prettyset regardless, so that you think they're
talented enough, they're all under control, they're all here, they're going to
be here next year. So Iwent to the outfield and there are some

(01:42:10):
options out there. It's just howrich do the Reds want to play?
Like? You know, are theygoing to be targeting a reindeer rose arena
from the Rays or is Austin Slayerthe piece that they're sticking with? Yeah?
I the one name I have heardpeople mention is is Christian and Karnasia
and Strand would would you would youconsider that? My only thing is he

(01:42:31):
didn't. He didn't. He hasn'texactly been a massive uh like power,
you know, cornerstone like corner infieldertype yet and he's been hurt. I
don't know that you would get enoughfor him in return that I'd that I'd
want to sell him. I wouldbe willing to trade him. I'd be

(01:42:53):
willing to trade several I even saidI'd be willing to trade noelb. Marte.
Now he hasn't been good since I'vesaid that. If you're not the
same, you know, trade thatwe're talking about. But to me,
it's how much value do dh slashfirst baseman really have, especially ones that
are quote unquote unproven. Now Ithink he has a good prospect. I

(01:43:15):
think I think long story shortest,I think that you just have to keep
him because he's had too weird ofa year to move him at a good
value. But if the right dealis they're like, yeah, sure,
why not. You know, youcan usually find a first baseman. That's
usually the position that's easiest to find. And you know, we can sit

(01:43:36):
here and say, oh, thisplayer has this red flag or this doesn't
work out. We can't get them, we can't get them, can't get
them. Well, you're the CincinnatiReds. You're not signing the perfect players
and free agency you just know thatto be a fact. So you have
to take a risk and That's whythree names I picked out today. Where

(01:43:57):
Randia Rosarino is having a down year, two years of control left, he's
gonna have a ton of suitors.The Reds are probably not that. It's
a fun discussion to have. Kinghe bounced back, and is that a
guy that maybe you can add tothe outfield. Another name is kind of
boring, but Taylor Ward from theAngels. That is a player with two

(01:44:18):
more years of control as well,and he crushes the ball. I saw
sat today that if he played inGreat American Ballpark he'd have twenty home runs
this year as opposed to as fourteen. And you know, it's kind of
a flaid stack, but it provesmy point. The guy makes good contact,
plays corner outfield. Four and Ithink it was four and a half

(01:44:39):
million this year are eligible the nexttwo years. And the other one was
Jazz Chisholm, who I know you'veprobably talked about or seen plenty of discussion
on. And all of these playershave falls. All of these players have
two more years of control. Soit's a hey, let's show the fans

(01:45:00):
who are willing to compete this yearat an upgrade. Let's show the fans
that we understand. Whatever the needis next year is also right now,
like the outfield is going to bethe same next year. You've got to
bring Somebodey in now. I understandif you want to wait till free agency
and do that. But the moreof the let's sign somebody, let's just

(01:45:20):
the more variables that are out ofyour control. If the Reds like a
player who's available of this deadline,you can go out and get them,
because they probably won't be available thiswinter. A different team will trade form.
So you're looking at something that's outof your control and you're looking at,
oh, well, we'll sign somebody. Technically, you don't know who's

(01:45:42):
going to be available. I thinkit would be awesome just as a fan
to see them add somebody at thedeadline, if it makes sense. There's
not that many options out there.The ones I just listed are gonna have
other teams interested, so that alwaysmakes it a little bit harder. But
wouldn't it be awesome to see themadd a proven player. It would be

(01:46:03):
nice, It would, it would. It would It would signify things are
moving and continuing to move in theright direction, even if that player is
more uh, you know, inthe picture for next year, when when
you hope this team is ready touh to make an actual run instead of
this kind of hovering around five hundred, like staying in contention but not being

(01:46:26):
a contender, I guess is agood way to put it, if that
makes sense. Uh, Before Ilet you go, what what is a
successful second half for this team?Oh? That's a good question. Why
ask I think? I think youjust have to be in it, Like
I don't think you can be ninegames back in the wild cord. Like
you have to have some intrigue.And when the season ends, I want

(01:46:51):
to be able to say I'm reallyexcited because player X, Y and Z
are coming back next year. Thisprosper the audia on of whatever you have
to show the fans and rather thatmeans adding somebody at the deadline or not,
something has to happen where you arestill in it in September. Agreed?

(01:47:12):
Where can they find you? Clayat Clay underscoorse Snow on Twitter and
at just Baseball dot com. Iappreciate you, sir. We will talk
soon. Thank you. I'll callyou next week. We all right,
you're thanks, Clay. Yeah,all right, let's take a break we'll
talk to Mike when we come back, and then we'll get out of here
for the weekend. Since that he'sESPN fifteen thirty. All the sweet feelings

(01:47:36):
of summer. Okay, okay,I like it. I like it.
Let's get a roll in final segmentof the day. What better way to
end it than to talk to ourguy Mike in La Mike, how the

(01:47:59):
heck's a go one? Greetings fromthe Left Coast? How you doing that?
I missed the Left coast? Todayis very Left coast feel it's been.
It feels very beachy here today.It's like eighty two with a nice
little breeze supposed to be down inthe fifties tonight, Mike, it's it's
It's one of the more la likebeach town type days you'll get in Cincinnati

(01:48:20):
in the summer. Nice low humidityonce they diversion leer turns off in the
morning. You got it, bro, You know what you're saying. It's
good, hey man, Yeah,you feel good, Chad. We love
you, brother, Thank you brother. Although you're harder to get a hold
of than the director of the CIA, but but thank god, Sean,

(01:48:44):
he had patience with me. He'sa good man, Sean. I don't
know how old you are, butsure he's old beyond your years. Yeah,
you were talking about bumper music before. Is that what you call it?
Yeah, bumper music. Yeah,dude, we were. I was
on I came back now on theon the transport with some other vets that

(01:49:06):
were getting treated out at Loma.Lenda and Dude diverted and took us over
to pH and we drove all theway down. Dude, I had a
bowl of crab. They got thisnew crab jack out on Huntington Tier.
Dude, I won't tell my ancohologistsbecause they don't need to know. They
don't need to know. Look,you do whatever the hell you want.

(01:49:29):
If you want a bowl of crab, you eat a bowl of crab.
That's it. Before it was goodtoo. I hadn't had a for a
long time. Dude. Yeah,he was playing old Sly in the Family
Stone and War, and I stillmaintained to this day. War was the
greatest African American Hispanic group that everplayed. Put themselves on an LP.

(01:49:49):
But boy, I dug it,I dug it. I think they're flying
the Family Stone man. They wereone of the first with the Incorporated the
horns go ahead. Well, Iwas just going to say, were you
listening a earlier when Shawn drops somebb king on me? I loved it,
as I said, little Sewan's Ishouldn't say little Shawn for ten times

(01:50:10):
my size, olthough, I'm SERItheir home kind of I'm a rail right
now, kind of. Yeah.Do you need to eat more crab Mike?
Yeah, I do. I gotI got about two and a half
minutes before they're going to kick meoff here, so I want you to
get to it if you got something. If not, we'll just sit here
and talk for two and a halfminutes. I don't care. Thanks you,

(01:50:31):
I appreciate you both. Hey,did Chicago and Earth Wind and Fire
play last night or tonight back inthe natty? That I don't know.
I have been so caught up withdoing this stuff, and uh, it's
it's volleyball tryout season for my daughter, So whatever's going on in the social
scene, I am kind of obliviousto it right now. That's cool.

(01:50:53):
I wish I could that with oneshow I would have enjoyed seeing because it's,
you know, back in my home. Yeah. I love Earth Wind
and Fire. Oh the Chicago.They were the first rock band really to
incorporate a big horn section and pullit all. But you know, here's
my question, Cowboy, and Iwas gonna get into some Oh your your
west Miller interview was outstanding. Enjoyedthe hell out of that. If the

(01:51:19):
Reds don't make it, which Idon't think they're going to, I'm gonna
hope they do. I don't seeit. I'm with you as a Cincinnati
and I just remember growing up beforewe had the Bengals, if you lived
in Cincinnati, you rooted for theBrowns. Like hell, you rooted for
the Browns and the Bengals came along. That changed now like if the if

(01:51:42):
the if the Reds don't make it, which we don't think they will.
As an Ohio one, I'm goingto root for Cleveland for the Guardians,
and I don't see why anybody wouldn't. So we'll give give me the devil's
advocate on that. Uh. Itall goes back to one event for me,
Mike, Okay, you don't livein Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati,

(01:52:03):
and that that that for me justkind of solidified that we're not supposed
to like Cleveland under any circumstance.Ever, you tell me if they were
in the World Series, playing someteam in the an L that you hated,
you wouldn't root for the Guardians.Go on, I probably would just
I have an ability Mike doing thisto just watch and not have to root.

(01:52:27):
So uh, brother, it isokay. It has been great hearing
from you. I am back acouple of times next week, so I'll
talk to you then. Okay,thank you so much. There you go.
That's the weekend. Everybody, havea great time. I'm out here.