Speaker 1: Guys here on a Thursday afternoon on seven hundred double
Speaker 1: d well w Happy New Year. Hope you're enjoying a
Speaker 1: day off. Hope you got to watch a little bit
Speaker 1: of football today. Oregon and Texas Tech meeting in the
Speaker 1: Orange Bowl as we speak. Starting at four o'clock here
Speaker 1: on the Big One, we will have number nine Alabama
Speaker 1: going up against number one Indiana in the Rose Bowl,
Speaker 1: and then immediately after that we'll be carrying the Sugar
Speaker 1: Bowl between Old Miss and Georgia. Of course, one team
Speaker 1: has already punched their ticket to the college football semi Final,
Speaker 1: the Miami Hurricanes, with an absolutely dominating performance against the
Speaker 1: Ohio State Buckeyes last night. That game was not as
Speaker 1: close as the twenty four to fourteen final score would indicate.
Speaker 1: We will get your college football fix after the bottom
Speaker 1: of the hour news when Keegan nickoson a Bearcat journal
Speaker 1: dot Com joins me here, we'll get you ready for
Speaker 1: the games tonight and for the monumental showdown between UC
Speaker 1: and Navy and the Liberty Bowl tomorrow. But whenever I
Speaker 1: get the opportunity to host here on seven hundred WIW,
Speaker 1: especially this time of the year, I always like to
Speaker 1: bring in Jeff Carr from the Lockdown Reds podcast and
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Reds on SI, because I I honestly, I just
Speaker 1: don't know how many chances I'll get to speak to
Speaker 1: him on air before opening Day, which is not that
Speaker 1: far away.
Speaker 2: And you may be thinking, well, wait a minute.
Speaker 1: Rick, there's not a whole lot going on with the
Speaker 1: Reds right now.
Speaker 2: Exactly.
Speaker 1: That's my concern, Jeff, welcome back into the big one.
Speaker 1: Happy New Year. Hopefully you're feeling good. You didn't overdo it.
Speaker 3: Last night, Rick, Happy New Year. Yeah. No, I was
Speaker 3: kind of like keeping one eye on the buck Eys
Speaker 3: and the and the Hurricanes. I know that everybody was
Speaker 3: talking about Michael Irvin on the sidelines. I'm sure somewhere
Speaker 3: Ken Dorsey and Willis mcgahey were cracking a smile as well.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I have no bet that uh that game.
Speaker 3: Notwithstanding that has been a bit of a quiet off season.
Speaker 3: I know that the Reds just made a couple of
Speaker 3: moves for some outfielders, but that's like saying that you
Speaker 3: and I just went and got a meal, but we
Speaker 3: went to Nick don I don't necessarily know that it's
Speaker 3: going to fulfill us in the way that most nutritionists
Speaker 3: would expect it to.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Look, I don't want to spend a whole lot of
Speaker 1: time talking about what could have been with this team,
Speaker 1: But for a brief, shining moment, this club had the
Speaker 1: chance to really own this town. Man, with the Bengals
Speaker 1: and Bearcats having down years. FC Cincinnati with a disappointing
Speaker 1: finish to their season, they jump into the Kyle Schwarber
Speaker 1: sweepstakes with a strong offer, but ultimately they came up
Speaker 1: about five million dollars short per year. He goes back
Speaker 1: to the Phillies, and I think it was at that
Speaker 1: moment that the disgust with this organization hit an all
Speaker 1: time high in this city. Even after a playoff appearance,
Speaker 1: this just seemed like the right time to make a major,
Speaker 1: impactful move that would galvanize the fan base heading into
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. It certainly it would have sold season tickets,
Speaker 1: would have sold a crapload of jerseys. They balked at
Speaker 1: the price tag given the circumstances, you know, taking everything
Speaker 1: into consideration here, Jeff, If now wasn't the right time,
Speaker 1: when will it ever be for this front office?
Speaker 3: Right? And that's where everybody's so frustrated with I think
Speaker 3: that there's a tendency to want to be sarcastic about
Speaker 3: the bit from him being from Middletown and that's the
Speaker 3: only reason anybody was excited about him because he's a
Speaker 3: local guy. But really we were excited about the fact
Speaker 3: that the Reds were finally in on a legitimate move
Speaker 3: and the chance that they can make a legitimate ad
Speaker 3: to this lineup, because they consistently do the moves like
Speaker 3: JJ Bleda and Dane Myers where it's like, let's get
Speaker 3: some dude who was really good long time ago or
Speaker 3: a couple of years ago, and he's had a lot
Speaker 3: of junk since then, and we got a script really
Speaker 3: hard to figure out exactly how he's going to be
Speaker 3: good for this team. Again, where kylege whatever, you didn't
Speaker 3: have to do that, like immediately he would have showed up.
Speaker 3: We would have had discussions about whose jersey's going to
Speaker 3: sell most next year between Ellie Delacruz and Kyle Schwarber,
Speaker 3: and there would be so many people that would just be,
Speaker 3: you know, lining up the buy season tickets. But it's
Speaker 3: not just because Kyle Schwarber. We want this team to
Speaker 3: make a legitimate look at us, this is a good move,
Speaker 3: rather than the moves where you know, I know that
Speaker 3: you've got like Ben Verlanders out there in the world
Speaker 3: that are going like, you know, these were kind of savvy,
Speaker 3: smart moves. But it's like you got to look at
Speaker 3: it from so many different angles. Just look at the
Speaker 3: straight forward facts. Can the Reds make a move like this?
Speaker 3: That's what we wanted to see.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And like, the thing that irritated me about the
Speaker 1: entire situation was the middletown thing. They went after him. Like,
Speaker 1: think about this. They paid Nick Martinez last year twenty
Speaker 1: one million dollars for one season, right, but somehow they
Speaker 1: could only find an additional four million dollars in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six to give to a legitimate MVP candidate, and
Speaker 1: then that money suddenly disappeared. They were only going to
Speaker 1: bend over backward for Schwarber because he happened to be
Speaker 1: born here, which to me, I know a lot of
Speaker 1: people want to give the Reds credit for making a
Speaker 1: strong offer, and sure, we can give them some credit
Speaker 1: for that, I guess, but I read between the lines
Speaker 1: and I look at this and I go, yeah, they
Speaker 1: tried because they thought maybe Schwarber would accept a low
Speaker 1: ball offer to come be the hometown hero, and he
Speaker 1: rightfully told.
Speaker 3: Them, no, they were focusing on the wrong things, you know,
Speaker 3: that whole thing where like you can explain the plot
Speaker 3: of a movie badly, well, they were like explaining the
Speaker 3: scouting report of a player badly. They're like, oh, fifty
Speaker 3: home runs, could probably hit sixty seventy home runs a
Speaker 3: great American ballpark. He's got, you know, career marks that
Speaker 3: he's shooting for. No, no, no, he's vocal. That's what we're
Speaker 3: worried about. That's what we really are focused on here.
Speaker 3: And I think it's interesting because it was reporting after
Speaker 3: the fact, well, they were going to have to get
Speaker 3: creative with financials, whether that was trading of the players
Speaker 3: to free up money, or they were going to backload
Speaker 3: the contract or what have you. And so obviously early
Speaker 3: on in the off season, if the guy at signing
Speaker 3: a guy is not taking that kind of a deal, now,
Speaker 3: that gives me a little bit of hope for what
Speaker 3: they could possibly do with that quote unquote creativity financially.
Speaker 3: As the off season moves along and guys continue to
Speaker 3: remain unsigned, but as of you know, Kyle Schwarber. That
Speaker 3: was just far too early in the off season to
Speaker 3: be offering backloaded, inciniblated deals and all that other stuff.
Speaker 3: So that's really where more frustration can come into it, because,
Speaker 3: as we've said before, few people are as good at
Speaker 3: torped torpedoing their own momentum completely unforced than the Cincinnati
Speaker 3: read because they're coming off a playoff year and then
Speaker 3: you do this and then not only do you not
Speaker 3: come out after you miss on Kyle Schwarber and just say, well, gosh,
Speaker 3: golly gee, we'll try and get him again with the
Speaker 3: next offer that we make to the next guy. No,
Speaker 3: they try to convince us that there's basically not going
Speaker 3: to be another offer. And so that was the most
Speaker 3: confusing part out of all of this, is that they
Speaker 3: somehow decided to rub salt in the wound after you know,
Speaker 3: the thing fell through. So I'm hopeful that they can
Speaker 3: take what they did with Kyle Schwarber, and maybe I
Speaker 3: don't know, go talk to au Haanio Suarez, but it
Speaker 3: makes me feel as though I am, you know, just
Speaker 3: really really hoping out a left field when I say
Speaker 3: something like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, he's not from Cincinnati. But he did
Speaker 1: play here, so there's you know, some familiar familiarity there.
Speaker 1: So no Kyle Schwarber, no Kyle Tucker, no Cody Bellinger
Speaker 1: or Boba shed or anybody like that, you know, a
Speaker 1: legitimate threat in the middle of this lineup to protect
Speaker 1: Ellie and some of the other young hitters.
Speaker 2: Instead of you.
Speaker 1: Know, trading for someone who could be an everyday starter
Speaker 1: in the outfield, they trade for Dane Meyers. In the
Speaker 1: Mia Marlins, they signed JJ Blode to a one year deal,
Speaker 1: a guy who you know, no disrespect, wasn't good enough
Speaker 1: to finish the season on the A's last year. Are
Speaker 1: these just the next two guys that we have to
Speaker 1: talk ourselves into buying their potential upside? Or do these
Speaker 1: guys legitimately have a chance to help the club in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six?
Speaker 3: You know, for one Sprick, I'm going to give Nick
Speaker 3: Carol a little bit of credit here because what he
Speaker 3: did with these moves is that he came out and
Speaker 3: he said exactly what he needed to say. Following that,
Speaker 3: he didn't come out and say, well, JJ Blede's are
Speaker 3: clean up hitter. Dane Myers is going to take over
Speaker 3: for TJ. Friedel. He didn't say it.
Speaker 1: There would have been torches and pitch forks at the
Speaker 1: Great American Ballpark.
Speaker 3: Had he said that, I think we'd be printing t
Speaker 3: shirts like make me the GM or whatever, you know,
Speaker 3: things like that. But no, he said that JJ Bleda
Speaker 3: is basically making what he would have made in arbitration
Speaker 3: with the A's. We just gave him that number instead
Speaker 3: of the a's giving him that number, and they're going
Speaker 3: to give him an opportunity to earn an everyday spot,
Speaker 3: but he's not being penciled in. And then he also
Speaker 3: correctly cast Dane Myers and that he is a depth
Speaker 3: piece for the outfield that is going to hit pretty
Speaker 3: much exclusively against left handed pitching because he really can't
Speaker 3: hit right handed pitching at all his career has shown.
Speaker 3: But he's really good against left handed pitching and he
Speaker 3: can play well defensively in all three parts of the outfield.
Speaker 3: So you put him on the bench for the outfield,
Speaker 3: you put JJ Bleda against Will Benson to see if
Speaker 3: they can earn a spot. And then he also said
Speaker 3: the right thing after all of that, by saying, we
Speaker 3: are still going to look for opportunities to improve this team,
Speaker 3: So I'm like, Okay, good, they're not done. And reportedly
Speaker 3: they have more money. Whatever that looks like, because we
Speaker 3: heard at the beginning of the season they don't have
Speaker 3: any money, and now we hear that they do have money,
Speaker 3: and they gave money to Kyles however, and that they
Speaker 3: don't have that money because they told us after that
Speaker 3: they don't have that money. But now they have more money,
Speaker 3: So something is going to happen soon. I think.
Speaker 1: The name that keeps getting thrown out there for the
Speaker 1: better part of three years now has been Luise Robert
Speaker 1: from the Chicago White Sox. They have reportedly been in
Speaker 1: on him again every offseason for the past three years.
Speaker 1: These two sides are apparently talking. Let's just say he's
Speaker 1: ultimately the guy, because that's who they have been connected to.
Speaker 1: I can't remember, you know, to tell Marte maybe, I
Speaker 1: don't think there was much smoke there. That was just
Speaker 1: kind of a name that was tossed out there during
Speaker 1: the winter meetings. Let's just say, ultimately it is Luis
Speaker 1: Robert that comes here. Is there any confidence that he
Speaker 1: can find his all star form from a few years ago,
Speaker 1: because it almost feels like the Reds have been staying
Speaker 1: in constant contact with the White Sox, hoping that the
Speaker 1: asking price for him would come down, and it has,
Speaker 1: but so is his production, and he's just not been
Speaker 1: able to stay healthy.
Speaker 3: I think so, and it's mostly based on the fact
Speaker 3: that every other part of his game has been really good.
Speaker 3: His hitting obviously has not been, but his shielding, his
Speaker 3: base running has still been, you know, at a very
Speaker 3: good level. And we're talking about a dude that finished
Speaker 3: well into the MVP race in the American League in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty three. Of course, these last two years have
Speaker 3: not been great, and so he falls under that category
Speaker 3: that the Reds continually seem to put themselves in, is
Speaker 3: that we get these guys that were once good but
Speaker 3: haven't been good since, and so there's a lot of
Speaker 3: folks that are just like great basically Louise Roberts JJ Blade.
Speaker 3: I don't go that far. I think that the scouting
Speaker 3: report on Luise Robert is so glowy and we have
Speaker 3: seen that like top one percent of Major League Baseball
Speaker 3: athleticism that he has. But I believe he could tap
Speaker 3: back into it. I think a change of scenery would
Speaker 3: be perfect for him. It all comes down to what
Speaker 3: it costs, and we continually hear different things that, Okay, well,
Speaker 3: maybe Chris Getz, the White Sox president of baseball Operations,
Speaker 3: is starting to come down on his asking offer. Most
Speaker 3: recently we have heard that is not the case. And
Speaker 3: there are some unsubstantiated reports that they wanted Chase Petty,
Speaker 3: Hector Rodriguez and a compensatory draft pick. And I think
Speaker 3: everyone in Cincinnati would collectively just cringe if that were
Speaker 3: the trade. But at the same time, like I feel like,
Speaker 3: at some point you got to take a risk. Is
Speaker 3: that risk best put on Luis Robert? I don't think so.
Speaker 3: But at the same time, if you're not ever going
Speaker 3: to take a risk, I just don't think you can
Speaker 3: expect big time results because that's been them for Nick
Speaker 3: Cross's strategy for adding talent to this team is low risk,
Speaker 3: some kind of reward. At some point, you got to
Speaker 3: take a high risk for a high reward because it
Speaker 3: feels like the amount of risk you take is commensurate
Speaker 3: with the amount of reward you're going to get.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you know, we gotta we don't want peaks
Speaker 1: or valleys, remember that, you know, we're trying to stay
Speaker 1: somewhere in the middle, somewhere around eighty four or eighty
Speaker 1: five wins, maybe sneak in to the playoffs, give a
Speaker 1: chance to possibly advance for the first time in thirty years.
Speaker 1: You know, that's where this team really hits home, and
Speaker 1: that's what they're trying to do here ultimately, at least
Speaker 1: that's what I'm reading into the moves that they have
Speaker 1: made thus far. Jeff Carr from the Locked On Reds
Speaker 1: podcast joining me here for a few more minutes here
Speaker 1: on seven hundredw Ricky Chino leading you guys into the
Speaker 1: Rose Bowl at four pm. It's not all bad with
Speaker 1: this team, Jeff. I'm look, I'm down on them, but
Speaker 1: there's still a lot to like. I think they have
Speaker 1: done a heck of a job drafting and developing this
Speaker 1: starting rotation. They do still have Brady Singer for another
Speaker 1: year unless they trade them. Have they done enough to
Speaker 1: show up the bullpen?
Speaker 3: Though? I think they could probably make one more move.
Speaker 3: Ideally you would be able to add somebody that's really
Speaker 3: solid both in the bullpen and in the lineup. But
Speaker 3: we know how this team works. They're gonna do one
Speaker 3: or the other, right and I think it's more likely
Speaker 3: that they do that with the bullpen than with the lineup,
Speaker 3: which is the most frustrating part of going back to
Speaker 3: all of this. But I do like what they've done
Speaker 3: with the bullpen. I mean bringing back Emilio Pagan, as
Speaker 3: boring as it might seem, to stay status quote to
Speaker 3: close a role, at least you're not betting that Tony
Speaker 3: Santion can take this over. I think he can, but
Speaker 3: he hasn't shown it yet because he hasn't really gotten
Speaker 3: that opportunity. So if Emilio Pagan can just carbon copy
Speaker 3: what he did last year for twenty twenty six, then
Speaker 3: we feel really good about the closer spot. Tony Santion
Speaker 3: has pressure taken off of him, and then hopefully you
Speaker 3: see a little bit of a bounce back from Sam Mall,
Speaker 3: because if that happens, then they have two good leftees
Speaker 3: since they added Caleb Ferguson, because until they added Caleb Ferguson,
Speaker 3: it felt like they were going to bet on a
Speaker 3: bounce back from Sam Mall after such a horrible season
Speaker 3: that he had last year. But overall, I'm I'm fine
Speaker 3: with the bull I feel like, you know, obviously the
Speaker 3: most confidence that you have in any position group on
Speaker 3: this team is with the starting rotation, but I think
Speaker 3: that the bullpen is probably it's probably second. Then it's
Speaker 3: not closer with the infield based on if some guys
Speaker 3: bounce back there as well.
Speaker 1: MLB dot Com this week picked their breakout player candidates
Speaker 1: for each team at twenty twenty six, Mark Sheldon went
Speaker 1: with Noelvie Marte for the Reds. Do you agree or
Speaker 1: is there someone else here expecting big things from this year?
Speaker 3: I think it's it's interesting how you turn this because
Speaker 3: I think you can make the argument for Matt McClain
Speaker 3: so long as you understand what it is you're saying,
Speaker 3: because she barely played in twenty twenty three, but what
Speaker 3: we saw in twenty twenty three was amazing. Missed all
Speaker 3: of twenty twenty four, played all last year and really
Speaker 3: struggled to the point that he had zero war So
Speaker 3: he wasn't a negative, but he wasn't a positive either.
Speaker 3: But at the same time, I feel like, as long
Speaker 3: as you are saying that it's a breakout, I think
Speaker 3: that Matt McClain has yet to break out, and so
Speaker 3: he would be my pick. There's still like projection systems
Speaker 3: like zips from fangrafts dot com to project them to
Speaker 3: be a three war player based on what they already know.
Speaker 3: A lot of what a breakout is is a player
Speaker 3: presenting to you something that you do not already know
Speaker 3: about them. So I would argue that Matt McClain would
Speaker 3: be a good pick with Noel V. Marte. But I
Speaker 3: agree with you, like if I agree with what Mark
Speaker 3: Sheldon said about Noel V. Marte, like as fun as
Speaker 3: he can get more comfortable in right field. We saw
Speaker 3: plenty of hard hit contact from him. He has good
Speaker 3: swing speed, which means that what we see from his
Speaker 3: hard hit contact metrics are not a fluke. And so
Speaker 3: I think that will just continue to get better for him.
Speaker 3: And how fun a story that is. Where we were
Speaker 3: giving up on him before last year, he began and
Speaker 3: he was just like, YO, pay attention. I think Matt
Speaker 3: McLain's in that same realm next year, let's hope.
Speaker 1: So, Jeff, well, hopefully we'll have time to talk again
Speaker 1: before the season starts. Where can people check out your
Speaker 1: excellent work? As always, sir, hey, you.
Speaker 3: Can always follow the Lockdown Reds podcast everywhere you get
Speaker 3: your podcast, including the iHeartRadio app. You can also follow
Speaker 3: me on social media at Jeff Carr with three fs
Speaker 3: on Twitter and TikTok. Can you flipped that username around
Speaker 3: a little bit for Instagram as well. But always talking,
Speaker 3: Red's always happy to do.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you, Jeff, I have a good one, man, Hey.
Speaker 3: Rick, appreciate you too, man. Happy New Year. You can
Speaker 3: go Red.
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, there you go, Jeff Carlocked on Reds Podcast.
Speaker 2: We'll get into football next after the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 3: News.
Speaker 1: Kegan nickoson Bearcat Journal dot com. Getting ready for the
Speaker 1: Liberty Bowl tomorrow plus the games tonight.
Speaker 2: I'm Ricky Chino. What's I have? One hundred w WELWLD.
Speaker 3: I'm John Decker. Join me weekdays for fifteen minutes of notes.
Speaker 1: How we will take you out to Pasadena. We're number
Speaker 1: one Indiana and number nine Alabama meet in the Rose Bowl.
Speaker 1: That will be followed by Georgia and Ole miss in
Speaker 1: the Sugar Bowl down in New Orleans. We'll talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about those matchups here, just a few in
Speaker 1: just a few moments. But first tomorrow it is the
Speaker 1: AutoZone Liberty Bowl at four point thirty. As you see
Speaker 1: takes on Navy. Keegan Nickoson covers the Bearcats football and
Speaker 1: basketball for Bearcat Journal dot Com. Great time to be
Speaker 1: him right now, Keegan, Happy New Year. I appreciate the time.
Speaker 1: How's everything going on.
Speaker 4: It's going great. I'm really looking forward to covering the game.
Speaker 4: The whole country has been waiting to watch tomorrow and
Speaker 4: Memphis at the Liberty Bowl, So I'm excited and I
Speaker 4: can't wait to see you going.
Speaker 1: It's been at tumultuous few weeks for the Bearcats football
Speaker 1: program following what was look it was an extremely disappointing
Speaker 1: finish to the twenty twenty five season, which started out
Speaker 1: with such promise. Now quarterback Brendon Soaresby has entered the
Speaker 1: transfer portal, so let's start there. Who the heck is
Speaker 1: going to be under center tomorrow and what's the game
Speaker 1: plan going to be against the midshipman.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Last time we talked to coach Saderfield before they left town,
Speaker 4: he said that both Brady Lichtenberg and Soamage Jones would play.
Speaker 4: I think it's going to be a case where Brady
Speaker 4: Lichtenberg is getting the majority of the snaps as kind
Speaker 4: of a Hey, you've stuck around for six years, you've
Speaker 4: been our guy. You've competed for a starting job and
Speaker 4: haven't gotten it. I think three times, maybe two times.
Speaker 1: Let's finally take a look at the guy, see what
Speaker 1: he can do.
Speaker 2: You know, we.
Speaker 4: Haven't seen enough reps in practice. So yeah, they're gonna
Speaker 4: they're gonna give him the ball and he's gonna try
Speaker 4: to lead the team. And then I don't know if
Speaker 4: it's gonna be kind of a split where they they
Speaker 4: want to see what Samas Jones can do, or it's
Speaker 4: a case where they they used his they use his
Speaker 4: legs and the running game and in kind of certain situations.
Speaker 4: But I think it would be mainly Brady Lichtenburg, and
Speaker 4: then they'll try to make something happen on offensive them.
Speaker 1: Evan Pryor is not going to be on the field tomorrow.
Speaker 1: He entered the transfer portal this week. Any surprise there.
Speaker 4: A little bit actually when he talked to me and
Speaker 4: Chad Brendel, my boss, after a practice and at the
Speaker 4: end of the season, he had told us, hey, I
Speaker 4: know it says I'm a red shirt senior on my profile,
Speaker 4: but I've got another year of eligibility. And he actually
Speaker 4: says that he has planned to come back, and it's
Speaker 4: kind of like a, Hey, I've moved around a lot,
Speaker 4: Like I'm from North Carolina, I was out of High Estate,
Speaker 4: got hurt there, and then came to Cincinnati had success.
Speaker 4: So I kind of if you would have asked me money,
Speaker 4: wanted to be committed to Evan Pryor, he might have
Speaker 4: been asking for a little bit more than hec was
Speaker 4: willing to give, especially for running back who you know,
Speaker 4: it's tough for him to play a full season. He
Speaker 4: has the injury struggles, and they kind of their margin
Speaker 4: of air there it's very very thin, so they're going
Speaker 4: to go in a different direction. But it's a tough loss.
Speaker 4: He had a really good year. He kind of showed
Speaker 4: the strength and weight that he had gained and kind
Speaker 4: of paired that with the speed that he had already
Speaker 4: had and was proven to be a really full and
Speaker 4: rounded running back. And now he's going to be playing
Speaker 4: somewhere else.
Speaker 1: With all the changes to college football, has you see
Speaker 1: now suddenly kind of found themselves in this same category
Speaker 1: as the Bengals and the Reds where it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: we're a small market team, we just can't afford to
Speaker 1: pay guys like Brendan Soorsby and Evan pryor anymore. And
Speaker 1: we have to find a way to be competitive within
Speaker 1: our budget. And if that's the case, you know, how
Speaker 1: do the Bearcats, even in the Big twelve, ever really
Speaker 1: find themselves being legitimate contenders for a national championship.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's uh, it's tough. I'm not going to try
Speaker 4: to beat her hum the bush at all. Like they're
Speaker 4: they're not ever going to be in a spot where
Speaker 4: they're going to be like Georgia or Alabama or LSU
Speaker 4: because they're just gonna get like they're gonna get outbid
Speaker 4: by people, like they can't afford the best quarterbacks on
Speaker 4: the market. One thing that I've kind of realized is
Speaker 4: it's kind of a two year process for Cincinnati to
Speaker 4: build a really competitive football team. You have to put
Speaker 4: together the pieces in one year and then you have
Speaker 4: to convince them to come back and take that kind
Speaker 4: of hometown.
Speaker 3: Hey, come back.
Speaker 4: To the team discount like they did after the twenty
Speaker 4: twenty four season, Like Joe Royer could have made more
Speaker 4: money somewhere else, Brinton Towardsby, Dante Corleon, Jake Golde, some
Speaker 4: offensive linemen, they all could have made more money somewhere else,
Speaker 4: but they were bought into what.
Speaker 3: You See was doing.
Speaker 4: They were bought into their assistant coaches and the Scott
Speaker 4: dadderfield and the culture that was being built, and they
Speaker 4: came back and tried to build something. And that's why
Speaker 4: the end of the season in twenty twenty five is
Speaker 4: so disappointing because the odds that you're going to do
Speaker 4: that and feld a more competitive team in twenty twenty
Speaker 4: six is very low, just giving the landscape of everything,
Speaker 4: so they can do it, but the pressure on talent
Speaker 4: evaluation and hitting on the portal guys is so much
Speaker 4: higher than it is at other schools where they have
Speaker 4: that Martina bear because they can pay their roster twenty
Speaker 4: five thirty million dollars. U See just doesn't have that.
Speaker 4: So you have to convince people to come back and
Speaker 4: really develop them within your program. It's not going to
Speaker 4: be you build a Day ten or a Big twelve
Speaker 4: championship level team in one year of the portal. It's
Speaker 4: going to be a multi year process.
Speaker 1: Well, the transfer portal window does open tomorrow. What are
Speaker 1: you expecting the plan to be for UC here? Where
Speaker 1: should they be looking to add to bolster the roster quarterback,
Speaker 1: you know, being the obvious need first and foremost.
Speaker 3: Yeah, when they.
Speaker 4: Got Brendan Sorosby, they got them quickly after the twenty
Speaker 4: twenty three season. So I would expect them to be
Speaker 4: very aggressive after a quarterback and try to get that
Speaker 4: one out of the way early and then you can
Speaker 4: knock out everything else because no other position really matters
Speaker 4: on the team if you don't have a good quarterback
Speaker 4: and if you miss on quarterbacks. So look for them
Speaker 4: to be really aggressive at quarterback. And then you've got
Speaker 4: to look at the defensive backfield, safety and corners specifically,
Speaker 4: which is the entire defensive backfield no present. Yeah, they've
Speaker 4: missed on corners multiple times on safetyes, so they've got
Speaker 4: to fill a lot of holes of guys who left
Speaker 4: and they haven't really had success in the guys that
Speaker 4: have been here a ton. And then you've got to
Speaker 4: look at the defensive line as well. You're not gonna
Speaker 4: get You're not gonna have a defensive line who's gonna
Speaker 4: get like a ton of sacks and lead the Big
Speaker 4: Twelve in that statistical category. Just because of the nature
Speaker 4: of the scheme with the three down lineman but again,
Speaker 4: you lost doctor Troleon and Jalen Hunt and Micah Coleman,
Speaker 4: So you're gonna have to replace a lot of veteran guys.
Speaker 4: Mark west Parker's guy who's gonna come back and he's
Speaker 4: gonna have success, But you've got to backfill some of
Speaker 4: the other deaths, and that's in that room too.
Speaker 1: Ricky Chino in for Eddie and Rocky here on seven
Speaker 1: hundred WLW, leading you right up to the Rose Bowl coverage,
Speaker 1: which gets underway at four o'clock. Kegan Nikos and Bearcat
Speaker 1: Journal dot Com joins me here for a few more minutes.
Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about what we saw last night,
Speaker 1: Julian saying did not look comfortable for much of that
Speaker 1: game for the buck guys, especially after Ohio State went
Speaker 1: down by two scores against Miami. Then I'm watching that
Speaker 1: final drive for the Hurricanes when OSU had to get
Speaker 1: a stop, Miami bullied them in the run game capped
Speaker 1: off that drive with a game winning touchdown. Were you
Speaker 1: surprised how badly Ohio State got bullied in the trenches
Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I have to say yeah, because it's Ohio State.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's one of the most talented rosters in
Speaker 4: the entire country. But if I'm going to look at
Speaker 4: another program that's going to have justice Gonna athletes, it's
Speaker 4: a blue blood program out of Florida like Miami. So
Speaker 4: I in a way, I'm not just because I don't
Speaker 4: think the talent level and athleticism level is that different.
Speaker 4: But I just think the twenty five days off is
Speaker 4: really inhibiting these teams a lot, and it's making me
Speaker 4: nervous to watch my Hoosiers here in a little bit
Speaker 4: and how they're going to play against Alabama. Miami just
Speaker 4: looked more season and more ready and more comfortable, and
Speaker 4: then they kind of much o higher state in the face.
Speaker 4: He has a big pick six pick six with Julians Saan,
Speaker 4: But like you said, they controlled the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 4: especially on offense, and then you've got one of the
Speaker 4: best pass rushers in the country and Ruben Bain also,
Speaker 4: I think he pulled down a couple of sacks. So
Speaker 4: in big spots, Miami really delivered. And it's a shame
Speaker 4: to see Ohio State loose. I still don't think a
Speaker 4: team that's gotten up bye has won a CFP game.
Speaker 1: What are your Hoosiers need to do against Alabama today
Speaker 1: to win?
Speaker 4: Holy Craft controlled the line of scrimmage and run the
Speaker 4: football because it's raining for the first time in like
Speaker 4: ten decades in Pasadena, So like whoever was playing on
Speaker 4: coming into this game and airing it out, it doesn't
Speaker 4: look like it's gonna work. But I mean, fortunately for
Speaker 4: both teams, it looks like the forecast has been out
Speaker 4: there for a week or a week and a half,
Speaker 4: so it's kind of known, so they can prepare. But
Speaker 4: if Indiana can run over Ohio State, then I'm pretty
Speaker 4: confident be able to do that against Alabama. So look
Speaker 4: for room in Indy, a couple couple touchdowns, then Frenanda
Speaker 4: Mendoza makes it just one or two big throws to
Speaker 4: extend drives and for explosive plays, and I'm gonna say
Speaker 4: Indiana wins seventeen.
Speaker 1: To ten with the Buckeyes now out, you know, trying
Speaker 1: to put bias aside, Do you think Indiana is the
Speaker 1: favorite right now to win the national Championship?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 4: Absolutely. I think that they're the team that's shown that
Speaker 4: they can win every game in different types of games.
Speaker 4: They've gone up against good defenses, They've gone up against
Speaker 4: good defensive on the road, They've had comeback drives. I
Speaker 4: think that they're definitely the favorite. Some of some of
Speaker 4: the other teams just have too many flaws and too
Speaker 4: many kind of exposedble aspects of their team. And you
Speaker 4: look at this Indiana team and I don't really see
Speaker 4: a lot of flalls all over the place. Like the
Speaker 4: defense is really good. They got the first round d
Speaker 4: d Indiangelo Mons, and then you got a Heisman and
Speaker 4: potential first overall pick and random Mendoza. You've got three
Speaker 4: really really good wide receivers. So I think Indiana is
Speaker 4: definitely the favorite. And I think they're gonna showtaint Alabama.
Speaker 3: Hopefully.
Speaker 4: I'm not eating my hat after this radio interview.
Speaker 1: Real quick, how competitive are we anticipating the UC Bearcat
Speaker 1: basketball team to be against Houston on Saturday?
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, I have I thought I was going
Speaker 4: to escape this phone call without talking about this. I've
Speaker 4: learned because Wes Miller's O and nine against Houston in
Speaker 4: his career at you see, and this is the he's
Speaker 4: been due for us five years. This is the worst
Speaker 4: his team has looked. I just don't I don't see
Speaker 4: a path. I think that they're gonna be more physical
Speaker 4: down low. I think that Houston's gonna out rebound them.
Speaker 4: They're gonna outshoot them. They've got a manual sharp and
Speaker 4: Kingston flaming like they have really good players on both
Speaker 4: offense and defense. I just really really don't see a
Speaker 4: path unless like current Creasa makes eight threes and giggle
Speaker 4: games that doesn't miss the shot. Other than that, like
Speaker 4: Houston is just going to control this game like they
Speaker 4: have in large part for most of the games where
Speaker 4: they played against Snati.
Speaker 1: It does seem like U see does play up to
Speaker 1: the level of competition this year and down to it.
Speaker 1: So we'll see. I'll try to stay optimistic for you.
Speaker 1: Of course, people can read all about it Bearcat Journal.
Speaker 1: Your great work is always working. People find your stuff, sir.
Speaker 4: Yeah, follow me on x at knickus in forty two
Speaker 4: and then subscribe to Bearcut Journal. Gonna have a ton
Speaker 4: of transfer portal stuff coming soon. It's a big time
Speaker 4: of year for that, so get.
Speaker 1: Involved, all right, Kee can enjoy the game tomorrow. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be a barn burner.
Speaker 3: I'm sure absolutely take you over.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's see.
Speaker 1: There you go, Keegan nickoson Bearcat journal dot com. Of
Speaker 1: course we will have UC and Navy in the Liberty
Speaker 1: Ball tomorrow starting at four thirty. We got the Rose
Speaker 1: Ball next covered starts at four o'clock. I was Ricky
Speaker 1: Chino in for Eddian Rocky here on seven hundred w welawle.
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