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Speaker 1: This is Tony Pike Cincy three sixty About Cincinnati from Cincinnati,

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Speaker 1: sponsored in part by Penn Station East Coast Subs. Hand

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Speaker 1: prepped it. I'm grilled subs, fresh cut fries in lemonade.

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Speaker 1: It's all about good taste. Penn Station East Coast Subs

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Speaker 1: order on mine today. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati

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Speaker 1: Sports Station.

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Speaker 2: It is our number three. We think, as you heard right,

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Speaker 2: there are friends at Penn Station. Thank you for listening.

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Speaker 2: Let's get our number three underway. Let's do so by

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Speaker 2: talking to our good friend from the Lockdown Reds podcast

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Speaker 2: and a guy you just got to check in on

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Speaker 2: after what has transpired in the last twenty four or

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Speaker 2: so hours. Jeff Carra is joining us right now.

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Speaker 3: Hi, Jeff, Tony haustin. It's really good to hear your voices.

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Speaker 3: You guys seem like some dudes that know how to

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Speaker 3: spend money outside of Middletown.

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Speaker 2: Jeff, here's my issue. Here's my issue. So on Sunday,

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Speaker 2: the Bengals went up by ten with under nine minutes

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Speaker 2: left in the game, and I allowed myself for a

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Speaker 2: moment to believe. I believe that it would be different

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Speaker 2: on Sunday and then the Bengals broke my heart. And

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Speaker 2: I had heard coming into this week a lot of

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Speaker 2: Kyle Schwarber talk and could this be the domino that

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Speaker 2: finally falls? And I was a little bit on the fence.

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Speaker 2: And then yesterday, as I got into the studio, I

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Speaker 2: watched a video on your ex and it seemed like

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Speaker 2: you were believing. It seemed like with all the conversation

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Speaker 2: that was going on around Kyle Schwarber, that maybe this

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Speaker 2: was more than just a rumor, maybe this was more

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Speaker 2: than just kicking the tires, Maybe this can actually happen.

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Speaker 2: And I did the same thing I did Sunday, and

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Speaker 2: I allowed myself to believe, and it felt as if

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Speaker 2: moments later the world came crashing down again. Your reaction,

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Speaker 2: let's start with that. Your reaction seeing the Swarber deal

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Speaker 2: to the Phillies. What is reported that that deal is worth,

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Speaker 2: and the reports of what the Reds offered Kyle Schwarber.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, the thing that I had come to the conclusion

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Speaker 3: of on that video, Tony, was that it felt like

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Speaker 3: ninety nine percent of this was done, but it's clear

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Speaker 3: that the one percent that was left was one hundred

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Speaker 3: percent of the matter. You know, doing a little bit

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Speaker 3: of John Madden math here for you on this Wednesday.

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Speaker 3: When it comes to the money, the Reds were outbid

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Speaker 3: by twenty five million total dollars, and some people want

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Speaker 3: to say, well, you know, it's thirty million dollars, thirty

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Speaker 3: million dollars per year compared to twenty five million dollars

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Speaker 3: per year. Kind of feels like the Reds were in

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Speaker 3: the ballpark, and it's like, yeah, but that's like saying

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Speaker 3: that they were setting up in the five hundred section

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Speaker 3: and the Phillies were down on the field. Because you're

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Speaker 3: talking about another twenty five million dollars. That's basically an

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Speaker 3: entire year, a year's worth of money that he is

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Speaker 3: going to get from Philadelphia as opposed to Cincinnati. And

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Speaker 3: it's clear that they really felt as though some sort

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Speaker 3: of local drawl, call it the will of the force

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Speaker 3: or something in Middletown was going to cause him to

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Speaker 3: take less money. And I don't know where they got

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Speaker 3: this from, because every reporter I saw was saying thirty million,

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Speaker 3: thirty million, thirty million. Some people said twenty eight, but

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Speaker 3: most people were saying thirty million. And for them to

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Speaker 3: go twenty five just makes me, it makes me wonder

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Speaker 3: how serious they were. But then what they said after

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Speaker 3: that is really what It's really what flattened me. Like

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Speaker 3: I felt like then getting to the playoffs was fun

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Speaker 3: in the way that they lost stunk, but I didn't

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Speaker 3: feel this flattened as I feel right now.

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Speaker 2: Well, I want to get to that comment in just

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Speaker 2: a moment.

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Speaker 3: Let me ask you this first.

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Speaker 2: If you think that the Reds came in with the

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Speaker 2: exact same offer that the Phillies did, do you think

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Speaker 2: Kyle Schwarber would have chosen Cincinnati. I mean, obviously we

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Speaker 2: don't know that, but do you think if the money

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Speaker 2: was the exact same would he be a Red one

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Speaker 2: dred percent?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that there's a lot of folks that

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Speaker 3: are reporting, you know, man, he just didn't want to leave.

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Speaker 3: He was really comfortable in the clubhouse, and he really

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Speaker 3: loves Philadelphia. But that's literally exactly what they were saying

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Speaker 3: about his feelings toward coming home. And I think that

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Speaker 3: they're saying that with hindsight being the determining factor here.

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Speaker 3: I fully believe that he was ready to build something

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Speaker 3: here with the Reds and be a part of his

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Speaker 3: hometown team for the rest of his career if the

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Speaker 3: money made sense, and the fact that they not were

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Speaker 3: only outbid by the Phillies but also outbid by the

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Speaker 3: Orioles is just super telling to me.

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Speaker 2: And then Jeff, we get the Ken Rosenthal piece and

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Speaker 2: the quote was unlike the Orioles, who, by the way,

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Speaker 2: have already signed Pete Alonzo to one hundred and fifty

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Speaker 2: five million dollar deal. Unlike the Orioles, the Reds are

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Speaker 2: not expected to pursue other expensive free agents. They're offered

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Speaker 2: to Schwarber, a native of Middletown, Ohio, was tied to

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Speaker 2: their belief that his addition would help drive ticket sales.

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Speaker 2: That to me, Jeff, is shocking in the sense that,

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Speaker 2: holy cow, they actually admitted it, that it's not truly

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Speaker 2: about winning, it's more about selling tickets. Your reaction to

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Speaker 2: the Rosenthal quote.

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Speaker 3: I was worried throughout this entire process that the main

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Speaker 3: reason that they were ever in on Kyle Schwarber was

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Speaker 3: because he was local. And I thought, well, that's silly.

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Speaker 3: Nobody could truly believe that. But it's clear that that's

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Speaker 3: what they believed. And they said that, well he drive

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Speaker 3: ticket sales and all this other stuff. Pete Alonzo would

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Speaker 3: drive ticket sales. Cody Bellinger would drive ticket sales because

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Speaker 3: they would help the.

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Speaker 2: Team winding drive ticket sales.

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Speaker 3: Yes, that happens. Yes. When they were on streaks in

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty three and when they were on a streak

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Speaker 3: this past year, there were times when you're just like,

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Speaker 3: let's go down to the ballpark and watch this team.

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Speaker 3: I wasn't going, like, obviously you go because you like

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Speaker 3: watching different players, but it's because you know it all

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Speaker 3: comes together in a winning product. That's why people are

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Speaker 3: down at pay Court Stadium every week to watch Joe Burrow.

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Speaker 3: And that's why people show up to Reds games whenever

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Speaker 3: they know that they're going to win. And the thing

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Speaker 3: for me, Tony is that they could have just said,

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Speaker 3: and they do this all the time, they could have

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Speaker 3: just said, we thought that this was a legitimate move

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Speaker 3: to make us a legitimate contender. No, they chose to

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Speaker 3: say we thought this would drive tickets.

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Speaker 4: Unbelievable, Like, isn't it kind of amazing how transparent they

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Speaker 4: have been.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's funny because there's times when Nick

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Speaker 3: Caral gives an answer to a question and it's like, Okay,

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Speaker 3: he's he's holding his cards close to his vest. Here

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Speaker 3: he's got something up asleep. And then there's other times

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Speaker 3: where he tells you that Elie de la Cruz had

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Speaker 3: one leg for two months, and you're like, oh, so

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Speaker 3: you think that we wanted to know that, like tell

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Speaker 3: us something else. Like there's times where I'm just like,

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Speaker 3: thank you for your transparency. You should have told us

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Speaker 3: anything else like that. That's what it feels like. And

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Speaker 3: this is another one of those examples.

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Speaker 4: I think it's also part of it. We obviously know

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Speaker 4: the main issue is that the ownership has a plan

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Speaker 4: that doesn't and doesn't include spending to the best of

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Speaker 4: their abilities to try to win. But do you think

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Speaker 4: it's made worse by the fact that there's not really

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Speaker 4: an adequate spokesperson for the franchise to try to communicate

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Speaker 4: what the plan is because of what you just said.

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Speaker 4: I mean, on one hand, you've got Phil Castellini saying

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Speaker 4: where are you going to go? And on the other

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Speaker 4: hand you've got Nick Krawl. You know, depending on which

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Speaker 4: way the wind is blowing that day.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, we've got a lot of humdingers from

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Speaker 3: Nick Krawl. You know, the peaks in the valley's comment,

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Speaker 3: the break even comment, you know, the kind of things

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Speaker 3: that really drive inspiration around Red's Country. It really really

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Speaker 3: gets people to the ticket booth. No, you're right like that.

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Speaker 3: That seems to be the biggest problem here, and I

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Speaker 3: see that sometimes, like looking at other teams. With the Yankees,

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Speaker 3: anytime Brian Cashman gets in front of a microphone, Yankees

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Speaker 3: fans just collectively grown because he says ever comes to

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Speaker 3: his mind. And that's not necessarily what nitkrawl does, but

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Speaker 3: it feels as though they craft these messages that they think, well,

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Speaker 3: we're being transparent and we're being honest with the fan base.

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Speaker 3: But the honesty that they're giving us is just absolutely

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Speaker 3: depressing because they have told us over this last week

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Speaker 3: that they will try for somebody who grew up here,

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Speaker 3: and if they didn't grow up here, then we're not

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Speaker 3: going to pay that much for him, because for some reason,

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Speaker 3: growing up here is what leads to winning baseball or something.

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Speaker 3: And while I love a local hometown, again, I just

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Speaker 3: want to see some winning baseball. And it feels as

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Speaker 3: though there are three ways that you can build a team.

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Speaker 3: You draft and develop, you sign free agents, and you

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Speaker 3: make trades. And said, we were actively shunning two of

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Speaker 3: those three things.

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Speaker 2: I'm fascinated if they actually believe the stuff they're saying

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Speaker 2: half the time, Like Moe brought this up off air today, Jeff, Like,

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Speaker 2: if you are a fan and you're legitimately thinking about

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Speaker 2: buying tickets or buying a ticket package, and you're that

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Speaker 2: fan and you say, well, I'm in if they get

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Speaker 2: Kyle Schwarber, but I'm not buying that package if they

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Speaker 2: were to land Pee Alonzo, Like, do the Reds actually

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Speaker 2: believe that.

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Speaker 1: That's the thing?

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Speaker 3: To me?

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Speaker 2: Like, if I'm choosing to buy tickets, I'm choosing to

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Speaker 2: buy because I want to go see a winning product,

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Speaker 2: and whether that's Kyle Schwarber, which is a cool story

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Speaker 2: because he's from Middletown, or a guy from Pee Alonzo

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Speaker 2: or anyone else that helps this team win. It's not

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Speaker 2: like I'd be like, yep, I was buying with Schwarber,

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Speaker 2: but now I'm out with Alonzo. Do they believe that?

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Speaker 3: I have a hard time arguing against it, to be

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Speaker 3: honest with you, Like the way that they have presented

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Speaker 3: themselves these last couple of days is just so silly,

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Speaker 3: Like there were so many people you and me and

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Speaker 3: Mo and maybe Austin. I don't know. Sometimes I don't

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Speaker 3: know what Austin's thinking, but I'd like to think that

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Speaker 3: Austin was in on this too. That man at Schwarber's here,

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Speaker 3: I'm buying jersey, I'm buying something from Sensey shirts. I'm

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Speaker 3: buying some kind of couch war but memorabilia. I saw

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Speaker 3: people talking about. Man, I'm signing up for season Dicats,

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Speaker 3: Let's go. There was so much excitement and then immediately

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Speaker 3: it was crushed and now everyone is mad again. And

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Speaker 3: nobody has that kind of ability in Major League Baseball

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Speaker 3: like the Cincinnati Reds to drum up that sort of

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Speaker 3: feeling only to squash it.

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Speaker 4: Now that being said, the reports out about to tell

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Speaker 4: Marte and the Red's interest in that. How much are

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Speaker 4: you buying that?

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Speaker 3: All right? I would like to, And I think if

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Speaker 3: this were a few years ago, I would have. Guys.

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Speaker 3: I love the Reds, I really do. But this whole

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Speaker 3: like super optimism thing has really gotten beaten down over

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Speaker 3: the last couple of years. Man, I'm like, looking at

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Speaker 3: this rumor, it's nice, tell Marte all Star last two years,

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Speaker 3: silver Lugger last two years. Even Brandon lau from the

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Speaker 3: Tampa Bay Rays. He hit thirty bombs last year. These

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Speaker 3: are the kind of guys that the Red should be

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Speaker 3: looking at. But there's a part of me, and there's

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Speaker 3: a question, and I'm not saying that I firmly believe

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Speaker 3: this question, that this question is probably in your minds too.

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Speaker 3: Is this rumor out there to soften the blow from yesterday?

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Speaker 3: Because they did a lot of damage yesterday and I

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Speaker 3: think they know that, and I think they've got to

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Speaker 3: come back with, well, we talked to these guys or

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Speaker 3: these teams about these players, and so maybe that's there,

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Speaker 3: But it feels like if it is there, they're just

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Speaker 3: starting those negotiations and we know how that goes with

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Speaker 3: Nick Crawl and trade negotiations. If it happens, we'll see

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Speaker 3: you in May.

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Speaker 2: That's the thing, like to me, Like and Austin made

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Speaker 2: this point today. Is it legit interest in Marte or

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Speaker 2: is it man we messed up so bad yesterday If

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Speaker 2: we just leaked that we're linked to him, maybe people

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Speaker 2: are thinking that we're now trying to kick the can.

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Speaker 2: But you just told us yesterday that you're not kicking

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Speaker 2: the can on anybody else because you wanted to just

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Speaker 2: put fans in the stands instead of actually win baseball games.

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Speaker 2: If it were to come to fruition, if Marte did

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Speaker 2: work out, Jeff, what would that require in your opinion,

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Speaker 2: the Reds giving.

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Speaker 3: Up That would be a tough one because he is

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Speaker 3: He's thirty two years old, so it's not as if

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Speaker 3: he's like a prospect anymore or somebody who's like just

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Speaker 3: entering his prime. He's in the middle of it, maybe

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Speaker 3: on the twilight of it, but he does have six

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Speaker 3: years left of team control. At just over one hundred

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Speaker 3: million dollars, that's still well within the price range that

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Speaker 3: the Reds presented that they were willing to accept in

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Speaker 3: some cases. So I could see this working out, but

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Speaker 3: you would probably have to give up a decent bit

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Speaker 3: to get him. I don't necessarily know that it would

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Speaker 3: require Hunter Green, but it would require some names that

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Speaker 3: we know. They're not gonna dig down deep in Daytona

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Speaker 3: or the or the Dominican Summer League and grab a

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Speaker 3: few guys and throw them at Arizona's way and get

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Speaker 3: to tell market. But they will have to give up

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Speaker 3: some pieces that you could conceivably see playing next year

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Speaker 3: in order to acquire him. And then on top of that,

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Speaker 3: he plays second base. I don't know about you, but

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Speaker 3: that's not in the outfield, right, and that's not first

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Speaker 3: or third. Like we're pretty bullish about the guy that's

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Speaker 3: currently at second base, sir? Are we talking about moving

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Speaker 3: Matt McClain, Like, you know, we broached this subject this

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Speaker 3: last offseason a little bit tongue in cheek. Matt McClain

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Speaker 3: played center field at UCLA. Is that what we're going

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Speaker 3: to be talking about this offseason? Because it kind of

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Speaker 3: feels like, you quote unquote fill a hole in the lineup,

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Speaker 3: but you also add a question to the outfield.

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Speaker 4: So now that they pivot back to the break even

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Speaker 4: strategy and the same payroll as a year ago strategy,

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Speaker 4: is there any realistic option out there that would make

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Speaker 4: this team better than it was a year ago that

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Speaker 4: either that fills any of those holes?

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Speaker 3: If I base, because you know, well we all know

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Speaker 3: that Charlie Goldsmith is the goat, and so with him

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Speaker 3: saying that, you know, the Reds are going back to

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Speaker 3: their idea of five to ten million dollars and that's

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Speaker 3: what they got to spend, then they need to go

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Speaker 3: give that money to Reece Hoskins right now, because Reece

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Speaker 3: Hoskins has the power that they need, assuming that he's healthy,

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Speaker 3: which once again, this guy falls within the Reds wheelhouse,

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Speaker 3: right of a guy coming off of injury plague seasons

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Speaker 3: who was once good and once really powerful. Let's see

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Speaker 3: if we can get that back. But if that's all

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Speaker 3: that they've got to offer, that's who they're looking at

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Speaker 3: is Reece Hoskins, and so he is available. There's a

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Speaker 3: lot of projections that have his contract being like a

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Speaker 3: one year, ten million dollars thing. Go get him that

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Speaker 3: ten million dollars. We can figure out the bullpen stuff

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Speaker 3: from within. I feel like the Reds have a lot

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Speaker 3: of talent there and there's a lot of guys with

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Speaker 3: unrealized potential, and then you could work with that through

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Speaker 3: the season. If there are holes, you could make a

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Speaker 3: trade here or there. But and it comes to this lineup,

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Speaker 3: you cannot go to Goodyear in February and say that

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Speaker 3: the lineup we had last year is good enough for

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Speaker 3: this year. You've got to add at least one more

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Speaker 3: guy to it. Go get Reese Hoskins right now.

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Speaker 2: Lastly, before we let you go, Jeff, there is growing

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Speaker 2: concern about a lockout for the twenty twenty seven MLB season.

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Speaker 2: How much are the Reds or how much are teams

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Speaker 2: in baseball operating in that sense of understanding that lockout

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Speaker 2: and does that go into any of the decision making

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Speaker 2: coming up for the twenty twenty sixth year.

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Speaker 3: Oh, I think it's prevalent through Major League Baseball right now.

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Speaker 3: The only team that doesn't seem bothered by is, of

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Speaker 3: course the Dodgers because money is not a problem in

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Speaker 3: Los Angeles. But even the Chicago Cubs have said, like

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Speaker 3: Craig Council was talking at the Winter Meetings the other

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Speaker 3: day and said that he is excited about the playing

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Speaker 3: time that young guys are going to get this year

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Speaker 3: on the Chicago Cubs. And I'm like, that's the second

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Speaker 3: biggest or third biggest, however you look at it market

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Speaker 3: in America. So there should be no reason why the

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Speaker 3: Cubs are sitting on their hands and letting guys walk

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Speaker 3: or or letting guys go to other teams that they

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Speaker 3: could be signing. If the Cubs feel this way, that's

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Speaker 3: a feeling amongst all of Major League Baseball that they

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Speaker 3: are worried about what's going to happen next year, and

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Speaker 3: I think that they're posturing their strategy that's going on

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Speaker 3: with this, and there's a really good chance that after

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Speaker 3: we come out of the CBA we do see more spending.

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Speaker 3: But that's what's really had me wondering about this year,

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Speaker 3: and the fact that the Red's even made an offer

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Speaker 3: the guys Schwarber. Actually that's the only part of it

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Speaker 3: that surprises me in a good way that they were

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Speaker 3: in on that, because it really feels like they have

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Speaker 3: been posturing themselves to the point that they don't have

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Speaker 3: guaranteed money on the books after this CBA is over,

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Speaker 3: because all it is right now is Hunter Green and

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Speaker 3: Kee Brian Hayes, and so if they add more to that,

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Speaker 3: it almost feels a little bit surprising. But yeah, I

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Speaker 3: think that that has kind of overshadowed all of this

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Speaker 3: stuff right now because the guys that have the big

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Speaker 3: time contra going to the teams that can print money

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Speaker 3: and just hand it to them ten fifteen years down

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Speaker 3: the road.

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Speaker 2: Certainly an interesting time and an interesting time to be

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Speaker 2: a Cincinnati Reds fan. By the way, first baseball team,

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Speaker 2: A lot of pride here in this fan fan base

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Speaker 2: that's ready to rally around, not any type of winning.

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Speaker 2: Just want to win, and we'll support winning and we'll

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Speaker 2: buy tickets if you're winning.

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Speaker 3: I have one more question for Jeff.

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Speaker 4: Actually, Jeff our friend Chad Dotson posted on Twitter last

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Speaker 4: night that the Reds are not a professional sports franchise.

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Speaker 4: They're a lifestyle brand. What's your reaction to that. It's

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Speaker 4: hard to argue.

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Speaker 3: It kind of feels that way at the moment where

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Speaker 3: it's like, all right, if we're going to focus on

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Speaker 3: guys who are more local, and that's the guys that

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Speaker 3: we really want to stretch for and sort of build

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Speaker 3: on our local brand. I always think of this one team,

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Speaker 3: and I don't know if it's changed. It was years

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Speaker 3: ago that I had read about this, but it was

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Speaker 3: a Spanish league soccer team over in the oh, what

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Speaker 3: do they call the Syria No Laaliga? That's right, Italian

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Speaker 3: La Liga. That was real associatedad and they only filled

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Speaker 3: their roster with players who lived within a fifty mile

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Speaker 3: radius of the stadium. And I'm like, if this is

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Speaker 3: where we are going with Major League, we got some

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Speaker 3: we got some interesting it is It certainly certainly is,

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Speaker 3: and I would yeah, lifestyle brands really hard to argue.

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Speaker 2: Right now, Damn, it's not hard to argue. There's always

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Speaker 2: something going on around the Cincinnati Reds. And for you

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Speaker 2: covering the Reds, what's the easiest way for listeners to

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Speaker 2: follow along with everything you get going on and uh,

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Speaker 2: the enjoyment you take in watching what transpires here with

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Speaker 2: this organization.

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Speaker 3: Hey, I'm all over it on social media. Don't you

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Speaker 3: follow me at Jeff Carr with three ess on X.

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Speaker 3: I'm also on TikTok of that same name, and you

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Speaker 3: can follow the show everywhere you get your podcasts, including

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Speaker 3: the iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Jeff, thank you so much. Man, hang in there, buddy,

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Speaker 2: hang in there, we'll talk, so.

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Speaker 3: We'll get there, guys.

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Speaker 2: Just oh yeah, Christmas is coming soon, Jeff, enjoy the

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Speaker 2: holiday season.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, thanks guys.

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Speaker 2: That is Jeff Carr. Wow, he kept the Go Reds

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Speaker 2: in there, kept the Go Reds man. I appreciate return.

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Speaker 2: I respect that. Let's break, Let's come back. Plenty more

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Speaker 2: still to go and our number three, including an excerpt

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Speaker 2: of what Jimmy V said in his original x SP speech.

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Speaker 2: As it is Jimmy V. Wee happening right now with

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Speaker 2: the V Foundation, the Jimmy V Classic was last night.

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Speaker 2: We'll get to that before Quick Hits. A little bit

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Speaker 2: more on the football side when we come back. ESPN

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Speaker 2: fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station