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Speaker 1: A sixth Centsinnati rad He Bear God ESPN fifteen to

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Speaker 1: thirty Player profile good bar presented by Rookie wished in recycling.

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Speaker 1: Don Wright also brought you by Dunnado's Pizza and Riverside Electric.

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Speaker 2: Now with a name you need to know, Here's Moegger.

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Speaker 2: One of the highlights of last season for the Reds

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Speaker 2: was the big league debut of pitcher Chase Burns. Pitching

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Speaker 2: against the Yankees on June twenty fourth, Burns became the

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Speaker 2: first major league starting pitcher since nineteen sixty one to

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Speaker 2: strike out the first five batters he faced. He struck

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Speaker 2: out eight New York batters that night, becoming just the

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Speaker 2: seventh Threads pitcher since nineteen hundred with at least eight

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Speaker 2: strikeouts in his big league debut. Burns rise to the

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Speaker 2: big leagues was Medea York, having been drafted in the

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Speaker 2: first round of twenty twenty four, and he has absolutely

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Speaker 2: electric stuff. He made me short on experience after repairing

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Speaker 2: just thirteen games last season, but his upside is among

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Speaker 2: the This is why the Reds have one of the

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Speaker 2: deepest collection of starting pitchers in the game. Meet rets

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Speaker 2: writing Chase Burns for more Player profiles. Keep it here

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Speaker 2: on ESPN fifteen thirty. Make sure you do that. What's

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Speaker 2: up five after three? This is ESPN fifteen thirty on moegor.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much for listening. Hope you had an

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Speaker 2: awesome weekend. My thanks to Chad Brendel for pinch hitting

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Speaker 2: late last week. Was kind of him. Was kind of him.

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Speaker 2: I took Thursday off because we did our show at

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Speaker 2: the Holy Grail, and I took Friday off because, let's

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Speaker 2: be honest, Friday afternoon NCAA tournament. Regardless of what field

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Speaker 2: you work in, who really really really wants to work right,

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Speaker 2: let's be let's be honest. Nobody does, so I didn't,

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Speaker 2: but Chad did, which was a very nice of him.

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Speaker 2: Show preview is available right now. Go to Twitter at moegar.

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Speaker 2: Thanks to our friends and yours at share Fax Credit Union.

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Speaker 2: You should become a member of Shareffax Credit Union because

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Speaker 2: it's an amazing financial institution. You can learn about the

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Speaker 2: benefits of membership. All you gotta do is go to

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Speaker 2: sharefacx dot org. We've got the NCAA tournament. The first

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Speaker 2: weekend is done. We're down to the sweet sixteen. We'll

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Speaker 2: talk about what happened this weekend, and maybe some things

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Speaker 2: that lie ahead coming up in just a bit. Plus

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Speaker 2: Wes Miller has a new job. When is uc going

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Speaker 2: to have a new coach? And basically do we like

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Speaker 2: what Jared Calhoun's team did over the weekend at Utah State?

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Speaker 2: Plus some Bengal stuff a little bit later on, and

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Speaker 2: the new head coach of the Cincinnati Slingers. Red's spring

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Speaker 2: training is over. Now they have a couple of fake

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Speaker 2: games to play this week in Milwaukee, one tonight, one

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Speaker 2: late afternoon tomorrow. Brady Singer is gonna make his final

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Speaker 2: Cactus League start, even though I guess we're not really

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Speaker 2: gonna call it the Cactus League because they're playing in

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Speaker 2: Wisconsin and I don't think there are any cacti in Wisconsin.

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Speaker 2: But spring training, the Arizona part of it is over,

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Speaker 2: and barring something unforeseen, barring something unfortunate, it feels like

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Speaker 2: the roster construction portion of the preseason is over. And

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Speaker 2: I think this is a legitimate conclusion to arrive at.

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Speaker 2: We can debate how good or bad the Reds are

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Speaker 2: going to be, and you might argue and I think

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Speaker 2: successfully that judging the Reds and what their roster is

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Speaker 2: going to be on opening day Versus Reds teams of

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Speaker 2: recent vintage. That is maybe not the highest bar to clear,

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Speaker 2: but I think it's interesting JJ Bleday didn't make the team. Now,

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Speaker 2: the explanation from Tito is, well, we have Nathaniel Lowe

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Speaker 2: and he's a bench guy. We want him to be

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Speaker 2: a bench guy JJ Bleday. We don't want him coming

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Speaker 2: off the bench. We want him to play. Same for

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Speaker 2: Reese Hines. We don't want those guys pinch hitting. We

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Speaker 2: want those guys playing every day, but we don't have

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Speaker 2: room for those guys to play every day because we

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Speaker 2: like these other dudes better and you can only carry

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Speaker 2: twenty six guys. I don't know that when the Reds

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Speaker 2: got JJ Bleday that anybody did cartwheels. I didn't. To me,

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Speaker 2: JJ Bleday was a different version of the same type

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Speaker 2: of player the Reds have had, like Will Benson, who

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Speaker 2: has made the team. But it ain't like JJ Bleday had.

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Speaker 2: This just wretched spring. They don't have room on their

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Speaker 2: roster for one of their bigger off season acquisitions. Now,

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Speaker 2: he might not be as big of an off season

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Speaker 2: acquisition as a Uhaneo Suarez. In fact, he's not. We've

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Speaker 2: got Gino and his placement in the batting order to

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Speaker 2: talk about a little bit later on. But I do

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Speaker 2: think you can look at the roster as it stands

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Speaker 2: today and maybe the next couple of weeks will test this.

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Speaker 2: Maybe something happens over the next two days, knock on

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Speaker 2: wood that tests this. It does feel like the deepest

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Speaker 2: team on opening day that they have had in a while.

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Speaker 2: Our friend Charlie Goldsmith and his dad was going to

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Speaker 2: say daily newsletter sometimes it's three or four times a day.

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Speaker 2: He talks about JJ Blede and Reese Hines as guys

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Speaker 2: who in over a number of different recent years might

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Speaker 2: not have just been on the opening day roster. There's

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Speaker 2: a very good chance that both of those players, or

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Speaker 2: at least each one of them, would have been in

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Speaker 2: the opening day lineup. The Reds are weird for a

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Speaker 2: lot of different reasons. The weirdest reason is it's a

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Speaker 2: franchise that hasn't advanced in the postseason in more than

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Speaker 2: three decades. But you think of how the preseason played out,

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Speaker 2: or the Cactus League played out, you think of how

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Speaker 2: Spring training played out, Boy, there was lots of good

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Speaker 2: stuff offensively, right sal Stewart had a great spring. Nathaniel

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Speaker 2: Lowe made the team because of his bat Matt McClain

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Speaker 2: had an amazing spring. They had like legitimate competition at

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Speaker 2: the bottom of the roster. It felt like midway through

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Speaker 2: the spring the light bulb came on for Noel ve Marte.

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Speaker 2: Elie de la Cruz had a good spring. I sat

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Speaker 2: here a lot of days as the Reds were playing

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Speaker 2: day games, and I would look at a box score,

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Speaker 2: I would talk about a game that was being played,

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Speaker 2: and it felt like, on nearly a daily basis, we

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Speaker 2: were talking about another position player who's had a really

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Speaker 2: good spring. South Stewart had a good enough spring that

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Speaker 2: not only is he going to make the team which

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Speaker 2: we expected, Tito is openly flirting with the idea of

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Speaker 2: him batting forth. I think if you judge things based

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Speaker 2: on what happened during the spring, which nobody does that entirely,

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Speaker 2: but if you just look at some of the stuff

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Speaker 2: that happened during the spring, there's reason for optimism with

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Speaker 2: this team. Offensively, I start from here. I start from

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Speaker 2: the fact that as much as the Reds have needed

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Speaker 2: a jolt of production from the middle of the batting order,

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Speaker 2: as much as they've needed pop, It's not like they

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Speaker 2: had a league worse offense last year. They were middle

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Speaker 2: of the pack, I think fourteenth and run scored, fourteenth

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Speaker 2: and runs per game, something like that. Middle of the pack.

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Speaker 2: They're not starting from twenty eighth or twenty ninth or

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Speaker 2: bottom of the pack. But then you add to it

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Speaker 2: who they acquired Auhanius Suarez, you add to it some

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Speaker 2: of the stuff that happened during the spring. I think

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Speaker 2: there's reasons for being encouraged about the Reds offensively, and

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Speaker 2: maybe the ceiling for this team offensively is a little

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Speaker 2: bit higher than one might have imagined two months ago. Conversely,

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Speaker 2: though Hunter Green's going to start the season on the

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Speaker 2: injured list. Nick Lodolo no idea another blister issue. I

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Speaker 2: don't know what causes these blister issues. I have no idea.

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Speaker 2: I do know they seem to be reoccurring. Add that,

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Speaker 2: on top of the Brady Singer issue, which is not

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Speaker 2: going to preclude him from pitching tonight, doesn't feel like

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Speaker 2: it's going to be that big of a deal. Add

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Speaker 2: to that that Andrew Abbott had a very spring, and

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Speaker 2: add to that the fact that the Reds are gonna

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Speaker 2: have three guys in their six man five man rotation

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Speaker 2: who are very short on experience. It's interesting. Two months ago,

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Speaker 2: I think almost every observer would have said that the

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Speaker 2: strength of the Reds this season is going to be

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Speaker 2: the starting pitching. By the way, it's still maybe. There's

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Speaker 2: lots of upside. There's lots of dudes who look like

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Speaker 2: they still have a chance to have excellent careers. Nobody

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Speaker 2: would be stunned if Nicolodolo had a great season. Nobody

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Speaker 2: would be stunned. If Brady Singer had another good season.

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Speaker 2: Nobody would be stunned. If Chase Burns or Brandon Williamson

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Speaker 2: had excellent seasons. Nobody would be surprised by any of that.

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Speaker 2: But there does seem to be you could tell me

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Speaker 2: if I'm wrong. Five point three, seven, four nine, fifteen thirty.

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Speaker 2: There does seem to be reason to hesitate a little

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Speaker 2: bit when it comes to the red starting pitching. But

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Speaker 2: on the other side of it, there do seem to

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Speaker 2: be reasons to belie believe that offensively this team could

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Speaker 2: be a little bit more interesting and perhaps a little

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Speaker 2: bit more productive than any of us would have said

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Speaker 2: just a couple of months ago. You can tell me

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Speaker 2: if you agree at five point three, seven, four nine,

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Speaker 2: fifteen thirty. You could tweet the show too at Moeger

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Speaker 2: Thanks to Delta Dental, Delta Dental is building healthy, smart,

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Speaker 2: vibrant communities for all. Go to Delta dentaloh dot com.

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Speaker 2: Wes Miller is going to be the new head coach

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Speaker 2: at Charlotte. All signs have for over a week now

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Speaker 2: been pointing toward Jared Calhoun being the new head coach

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Speaker 2: at You see his team lost late last night to Arizona.

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Speaker 2: I think if you hadn't watched Utah State play, but

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Speaker 2: you watched them as a UC fan with greater interest,

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Speaker 2: just to see how do they play, how are they coached?

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Speaker 2: I think you walked away from both Utah States win

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Speaker 2: over Villanova and the loss last night to Arizona feeling

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Speaker 2: pretty good about what you saw. The NCAA Tournament this

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Speaker 2: weekend got its highest ratings in fifteen. I keep beating

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Speaker 2: this drum. College basketball is not without its problems. College

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Speaker 2: basketball is not without things that need to be fixed, tweaked, addressed,

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Speaker 2: or discussed. But the college basketball on court product continues

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Speaker 2: to be awesome, and it continues to be something that

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Speaker 2: fans are buying into more than they were buying into

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Speaker 2: the product of ten years ago. The main reason for

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Speaker 2: that is the players are getting paid. The action on

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Speaker 2: the court this weekend was terrific. Yes we got a

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Speaker 2: very chalky first four days of the tournament. Yes we

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Speaker 2: are going to get a very chalky Sweet sixteen, probably

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Speaker 2: very chalky Elite eight. You know what, let's admit something.

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Speaker 2: That's what most of us want. It surely is what

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Speaker 2: I want. It's what we got this weekend. The TV

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Speaker 2: viewership numbers will only get better as the tournament unfolds.

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Speaker 2: Quarter after three at Moegar five point three, seven, four nine,

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Speaker 2: fifteen thirty. We will work you in throughout the course

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Speaker 2: of the afternoon. There is what I think is one

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Speaker 2: of the most amazing Cincinnati sports stories in my lifetime

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Speaker 2: unfolding right now. I'll tell you what it is coming

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Speaker 2: up in thirty minutes. But first, we talked with Jeff

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Speaker 2: Carr locked on Reds at the beginning of spring training

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Speaker 2: for his outlook of the Cactus League and what had

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Speaker 2: to unfold in the coming weeks. We did a check

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Speaker 2: in with him midway through spring training. Spring training is

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Speaker 2: now over. We'll put a bow on it and look

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Speaker 2: ahead of the games to count with Jeff when we

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Speaker 2: come back. Sixteen after three Mouegger ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

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Speaker 3: Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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Speaker 2: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center.

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Speaker 4: The UC Health Women's Sports Medicine Program provides specialized care

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Speaker 4: for female athletes at all levels. Schedule an appointment online

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Speaker 4: at UCHealth dot com. There is still an accident northbound

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Speaker 4: on seventy one after Ronald Reagan Highway has got the

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Speaker 4: right lane blocked off. Right now, there's about a fifteen

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Speaker 4: minute delayed back from Kenwood Road. You're also going to

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Speaker 4: find added delaysuit to a second crash after Montgomery Road.

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Speaker 4: That one's off on the left shoulder on at Ezelic

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Speaker 4: with traffic.

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Speaker 2: This is ESPN fifteen thirty moegg Or opening day three

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Speaker 2: days away. I cannot imagine how excited our next guest is,

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Speaker 2: our guy Jeff Carr locked on Reds podcast. Uh kind

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Speaker 2: enough to join us. We had them on at the

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Speaker 2: beginning of spring training. Midway through spring training, and I

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Speaker 2: promised I would get him again right before the season started,

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Speaker 2: to kind of put a bow in the Cactus League

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Speaker 2: and look ahead of the season. Here he is, Hi, Jeff,

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Speaker 2: what's up?

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Speaker 5: Oh, I'm so stoked. I know I'm going down around

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Speaker 5: nine nine thirty. It looks like probably gonna be posted

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Speaker 5: of different places on the banks, and you know, I

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Speaker 5: keep the weather thing. I think I'm supposed to do

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Speaker 5: that super early. I know, I know, but I mean

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Speaker 5: I have so I'm really excited right now.

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Speaker 2: Well, we know you're going to stop by the banks.

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Speaker 2: Maybe you'll make your way across the river to see

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Speaker 2: your friends Tony, Austen and Mo. That just just a suggestion. Okay,

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Speaker 2: might have to do that.

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Speaker 5: I have to do that.

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Speaker 2: What was your biggest takeaway from what they did with

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Speaker 2: the roster to end the Arizona portion of the preseason?

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Speaker 5: Man? Am I glad that Nate Low was available? I don't.

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Speaker 5: I don't really know why, and I've dug into it

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Speaker 5: and I can swore to see some struggles that he

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Speaker 5: had last season. But Ni Crawl is living right because

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Speaker 5: this dude is going to be an asset for them.

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Speaker 5: I keep telling folks like Santiago Esmanal got three hundred

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Speaker 5: and twenty eight play appearances last year. If you'd have

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Speaker 5: just asked a random Reds fan that they'd be like, yeah,

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Speaker 5: he probably got like I don't know, like a hundred

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Speaker 5: or so. It's like, no, it.

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Speaker 2: Felt like he had six and twenty As far as

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Speaker 2: I'm concerned.

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Speaker 5: Oh there's too many. But those three hundred twenty eight,

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Speaker 5: I mean they're going to go to better players. Gavin

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Speaker 5: Lux's plate appearances are going to go to better players.

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Speaker 5: But like, I just look at the depth of the

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Speaker 5: lineup right now, and I feel like, for once, the

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Speaker 5: bench is full of guys who can actually hit and

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Speaker 5: not just guy who can play in the field when

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Speaker 5: they need them.

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Speaker 2: Matt McClain had an awesome spring. What does it mean.

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Speaker 5: I really liked the plate discipline from him in the spring.

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Speaker 5: I'm not gonna go too crazy about him hitting five

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Speaker 5: hundred and leaving the world in batting average and stuff

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Speaker 5: like that, although I think that's important, you know, get

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Speaker 5: that confidence up and stuff, but not going to all

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Speaker 5: of a sudden pencil him in for three hundred and

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Speaker 5: four hundred, five hundred slash line and you know, MVP votes.

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Speaker 5: But I am encouraged by the different things that I saw.

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Speaker 5: The number that I care about with him, his chase

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Speaker 5: right was down to seventeen percent, which is almost eight

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Speaker 5: percent lower than his career average. So he's seen the

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Speaker 5: ball well and that is something that can translate across

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Speaker 5: all seasons. As we know from Army and Joseph Daniel Vado.

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Speaker 5: In the way that he approached spring training, that's what

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Speaker 5: he did. He tried to see the pitches that he

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Speaker 5: could hit, and he tried to see the pitches that

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Speaker 5: he lay off. And I felt like we saw that

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Speaker 5: a lot with Matt McClain.

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Speaker 2: Tito Francona has publicly flirted with the idea of Sal

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Speaker 2: Stuart batting forth. I love this a I like the idea.

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Speaker 2: Tito acknowledged separating the two high strikeout guys b Sal

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Speaker 2: Stewart at his best is a more multi dimensional offensive

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Speaker 2: player than a Uhaneo Suarez, so I want him getting

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Speaker 2: more at bads. How do you feel about Sal batting fourth.

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Speaker 5: I do like the idea, and I think that he

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Speaker 5: can eventually get there. I'm intrigued that Tito already believes this,

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Speaker 5: and I thought I thought it was cool. Charlie Goldsmith

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Speaker 5: posted a stat that the most at bats that Terry

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Speaker 5: Francona as a manager has ever given to a rookie

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Speaker 5: in a cleanup spot with Scott rolling back in nineteen

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Speaker 5: ninety seven, and that didn't start on opening day, right,

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Speaker 5: And I think that there's a chance that could happen

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Speaker 5: because Sal just looks like a really talented, really confident

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Speaker 5: dude at the plate against any pitch or whatsoever. I mean,

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Speaker 5: his most recent and a lot of folks like to say,

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Speaker 5: well spring training, spring training, Yeah, but like his last

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Speaker 5: that last year was in Los Angeles and he went

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Speaker 5: two for three, you know, with an RBIM. So I

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Speaker 5: think that there's something to this dude, the kind of

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Speaker 5: swagger that you want to see from a big time hitter.

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Speaker 5: And while he's not going to crack the top three

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Speaker 5: because we feel like we know who they are, there's

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Speaker 5: definitely a chance for him to be number four, and

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Speaker 5: I think ultimately a year or two from now, he

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Speaker 5: could be their number two hitter.

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Speaker 2: I feel better about the offense than I did a

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Speaker 2: month and a half ago. I don't feel as good

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Speaker 2: about the pitching as I did a month and a

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Speaker 2: half ago. A. Do you agree, B? What does that

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Speaker 2: mean for this team?

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Speaker 5: I think that ultimately the only thing I'm worried about

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Speaker 5: with the pitching staff is the fact that we've seen

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Speaker 5: injuries crop up already. I'm not too worried about the

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Speaker 5: performance in spring training. I think that spring training went

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Speaker 5: exactly as we could have hoped from the standpoint of

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Speaker 5: how this team is set up. This pitching staff knows

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Speaker 5: what it can do. They've got the confidence of what

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Speaker 5: they have been in years past, and they see where

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Speaker 5: they can go this year, next year, and down the road.

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Speaker 5: This lineup, on the other hand, has been a much

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Speaker 5: maligned group of hitters, where it's like, who are they,

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Speaker 5: where are they going to provide you? What kind of

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Speaker 5: production can they give? They all seem to be going

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Speaker 5: into this season with a lot of confidence with how

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Speaker 5: their spring training has gone. So if you were to

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Speaker 5: ask me how production wise spring training could go, I

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Speaker 5: would want the lineup to have a sort of overinflated

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Speaker 5: confidence like it's going into with all the guys that

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Speaker 5: have just been going off in spring training. And I

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Speaker 5: don't necessarily worry so much about the numbers that we've

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Speaker 5: seen from the pitching staff.

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Speaker 2: I think most of us going into spring training thought

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Speaker 2: they've done a good job of acquiring established relievers to

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Speaker 2: fill specific roles. How much has the been compromised by

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Speaker 2: not having Caleb Burgison.

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Speaker 5: I think it's been compromised a little bit, but I

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Speaker 5: think that the floor is higher than people would expect

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Speaker 5: with Sam Mall because Sam Mall looks like his old self.

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Speaker 5: I feel like his spring training has proven to me

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Speaker 5: that he's gotten the stuff that that we saw in

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Speaker 5: twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four, and that was

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Speaker 5: a guy that did a really good job of every

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Speaker 5: time out limiting base runners and getting strikeouts, and that's

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Speaker 5: something that I would expect to see from him early on. Also,

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Speaker 5: the other part about the Caleb Ferguson injury for me

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Speaker 5: is that I kind of feel like the six man

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Speaker 5: rotation plan is ear marked to end whenever he is

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Speaker 5: healthy and ready to go, and some believe that he

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Speaker 5: will miss the minimum amount of time that you would

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Speaker 5: need to put somebody on the il, So he probably

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Speaker 5: look at just a couple of weeks of the six

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Speaker 5: man rotation thing, and then you send down whoever it

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Speaker 5: is that you feel is the least ready at that point,

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Speaker 5: and you just add Caleb Ferguson to a bullpen that

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Speaker 5: now includes three left handers that could get you the

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Speaker 5: outs that you need late in the ball game. So

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Speaker 5: I think that ultimately, while there is a bit of

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Speaker 5: added stress with the six man rotation to a smaller

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Speaker 5: bullpen early on, that plan is not going to last

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Speaker 5: long enough to really damage the bullpen like I fear

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Speaker 5: it could. And I still think that we will see

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Speaker 5: that improved bullpen that we were so happy about a

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Speaker 5: month ago.

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Speaker 2: If there's one major reason for a concern or one

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Speaker 2: area of concern that stands out above the others, what

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Speaker 2: is it.

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Speaker 5: It's still the outfield for me. I don't know that

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Speaker 5: I feel much better about it. Like I like the

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Speaker 5: fact that they put a lot of confidence on Will Benson,

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Speaker 5: and I like the fact that they added some insurance

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Speaker 5: behind DJ Friedel so that he doesn't have to play

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Speaker 5: one hundred and sixty two ball games for you to

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Speaker 5: feel good about at least one of the outfield spots.

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Speaker 5: But I still need to see noelv Marte be a

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Speaker 5: defensive right fielder. I know he's got the best player

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Speaker 5: of the year last year, but I also remember plenty

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Speaker 5: of bugs bunny moments where he's just scrambling around the

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Speaker 5: outfield trying to find a b and I didn't really

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Speaker 5: see anything in spring training as much as you could

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Speaker 5: see with all the games that were televised. But you know,

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Speaker 5: as you can hear about the different games that noelv

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Speaker 5: Marte played, and I didn't hear a lot of confidence

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Speaker 5: in his game out in right field. So I've still

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Speaker 5: got to see that for me to be super excited

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Speaker 5: about the trajectory of the rezout field.

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Speaker 2: I feel like there's going to be moments where you're like,

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Speaker 2: you know what, this is working, and there's going to

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Speaker 2: be moments where you're like, you know what, they put

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Speaker 2: a guy in right field who had never played right

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Speaker 2: field before, and this is what it's supposed to look.

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Speaker 5: Like, right. I mean, he's got two months under his

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Speaker 5: belt because he really didn't start until the beginning of August.

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Speaker 5: I know, he played like a handful of games out

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Speaker 5: there beforehand. And I mean, my hope it's not as

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Speaker 5: if it's a carbon copy, easy to just copy paste

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Speaker 5: sort of thing for the Cincinnati as to do this.

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Speaker 5: But my hope is that he turns into you know,

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Speaker 5: Fernando Tatis Light, not that he's going to be a

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Speaker 5: platinum glove guy, but that he can take that that

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Speaker 5: athleticism that led him to be a shortstop prospect and

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Speaker 5: use it to his advantage and understand the nuances of

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Speaker 5: playing in the outfield and playing right field. Because it's

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Speaker 5: clear he's got the arm, it's clear he's got the leticism.

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Speaker 5: He's just got to put the game knowledge to work

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Speaker 5: and we will see a good right fielder.

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Speaker 2: I still wish they didn't have a corner infield guy

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Speaker 2: who is expected to be an offensive zero. What does

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Speaker 2: key Brian Hayes have to hit? What do the numbers

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Speaker 2: have to look like to make everybody go, you know what?

404
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Speaker 2: Forget about the bet, take what you can get, and

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Speaker 2: just let the guy do his thing on defense.

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Speaker 5: Give me in the stat that I love to use

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Speaker 5: with this as ops plus, give me a ninety ops plus.

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Speaker 5: I don't think he needs the B league average. He's

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Speaker 5: only done that one time in his career as far

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Speaker 5: as a full season is concerned, and that was a

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Speaker 5: year in which he got MVP votes. I think that

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Speaker 5: is as long as he's just ten percent below league average,

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Speaker 5: which probably translate to somewhere around a two forty batting

414
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Speaker 5: average and maybe like a I don't know, three eighty

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Speaker 5: three ninety slugging percentage like, we're never going to see

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Speaker 5: him hit fifteen home runs. I'm not expecting that we're

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Speaker 5: never going to see him be a twenty twenty guy

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Speaker 5: or anything close to that. I just want to see

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Speaker 5: him hit two forty and not be an absolute negative

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Speaker 5: to the lineup that he was in the month of September,

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Speaker 5: because you know, we talk about the fact that, oh,

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Speaker 5: the Reds acquired him and he was a much better

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Speaker 5: hitter for them. Yeah, he was for a couple of weeks,

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Speaker 5: and then things came back down to earth where they

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Speaker 5: were in Pittsburgh for him in twenty twenty five. So

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Speaker 5: I just want to see a dude that's ten percent

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Speaker 5: of low league average, and then ultimately I kind of

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Speaker 5: want to see Tito manage this almost as if it's

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Speaker 5: the opposite of the defensive a place. But there's a

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Speaker 5: moment in the late ends of the game where you've

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Speaker 5: got to have somebody get a hit. Then he came

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Speaker 5: out and put in that guy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm I'm almost treating him like a picture, you know,

434
00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:50,520
Speaker 2: And look, I get it, you typically put your best

435
00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:52,120
Speaker 2: gloves in the game late in the game. But I'm

436
00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:54,720
Speaker 2: almost treating his spot of the batting order like a picture,

437
00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:57,800
Speaker 2: and it's worth mentioning. He did walk a bunch during

438
00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:00,359
Speaker 2: the spring, but when he wasn't walking, he wasn't making

439
00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:03,679
Speaker 2: hard contact very consistently. I think, I think that. I

440
00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:06,200
Speaker 2: think having a guy at a quarter infield position who's

441
00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:10,560
Speaker 2: an offensive negative by and large doing that is interesting.

442
00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:14,000
Speaker 2: But the glove is amazing. We'll see how it plays out.

443
00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:16,160
Speaker 2: Can thank you enough? I'm sure we'll do it against

444
00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:17,160
Speaker 2: you and man, thanks so much.

445
00:23:18,119 --> 00:23:20,080
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, appreciate you so much.

446
00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:22,680
Speaker 2: Go Rid, that's our guy. Jeff Carr locked on Red's

447
00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:26,240
Speaker 2: podcast twenty seven from four o'clock. One of the most

448
00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:32,360
Speaker 2: amazing Cincinnati sports storylines continues to unfold that in ten

449
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:34,200
Speaker 2: minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty.

450
00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:40,440
Speaker 3: Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

451
00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:44,200
Speaker 4: UC Health Traffic Center. The UCE Health Women's Sports Medicine

452
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:48,000
Speaker 4: Program provides specialized care for female athletes at all levels.

453
00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:51,720
Speaker 4: Schedule and appointment online at ucehealth dot com. There is

454
00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:55,400
Speaker 4: still an accident northbound seventy one at Ronald Reagan Highway.

455
00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:58,560
Speaker 4: Right lane is blocked off. There's about a fifteen minute

456
00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:03,280
Speaker 4: delayback from Stewart Road. Northbound seventy five traffic stopping go

457
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:06,800
Speaker 4: between Mitchell and Paddock right now, there's about a five

458
00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:10,880
Speaker 4: minutes delay as well. Mighty Zelic with traffic you found.

459
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:13,600
Speaker 3: Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

460
00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:17,160
Speaker 2: Sports headlines are a service to Kelsey Chevrolet Homov lifetime

461
00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:21,720
Speaker 2: powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family to

462
00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:26,520
Speaker 2: yours for life kelseyshev dot Com. Red's are playing the

463
00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:30,080
Speaker 2: first of two exhibition games in Milwaukee against the Brewers.

464
00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:35,320
Speaker 2: Tonight's first pitch seven on seven hundred WLW Brady Singer

465
00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:39,520
Speaker 2: will throw for Cincinnati. Opening Day is three days away.

466
00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:43,200
Speaker 2: College basketball news, former UC coach Wes Miller is set

467
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:46,040
Speaker 2: to be hired by Charlotte gets a five year contract.

468
00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:50,479
Speaker 2: Cincinnati is still without a coach, but Jared Calhoun's tenure

469
00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:54,480
Speaker 2: at Utah State this season came to an end. That

470
00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:57,399
Speaker 2: doesn't necessarily mean the tenure is going to come to

471
00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:01,359
Speaker 2: an end. All signs pointing to Cincinnati hiring him. The

472
00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:06,080
Speaker 2: Mark Pope Radio Show is tonight at six on ESPN

473
00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:09,320
Speaker 2: fifteen thirty Kentucky. I had a bad feeling about that

474
00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:11,399
Speaker 2: game when it was twenty to nine in favor of

475
00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:16,399
Speaker 2: the Wildcats, and this happens often in basketball where a

476
00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:19,320
Speaker 2: team has a lead, and in some cases where a

477
00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:22,879
Speaker 2: team has a healthy lead and you just feel like,

478
00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:28,160
Speaker 2: relative to how the opponent has played, it's just not enough.

479
00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:32,280
Speaker 2: Iowa States outside shooting woes from game one in the

480
00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:37,040
Speaker 2: tournament carried over into the early stages of the game yesterday.

481
00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:40,040
Speaker 2: Kentucky was in control of the game for what felt

482
00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:43,359
Speaker 2: like the first I don't know, thirteen fourteen to fifteen minutes,

483
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:48,520
Speaker 2: but way way too many turnovers easy for me to say,

484
00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:51,159
Speaker 2: and I think as the game went on, Iowa States

485
00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:54,639
Speaker 2: defense became a problem, which you suspected it would, but

486
00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:56,879
Speaker 2: I thought early in the game Kentucky was too fast

487
00:25:56,880 --> 00:26:00,440
Speaker 2: and loose with the basketball, turned it over way too

488
00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:05,040
Speaker 2: many times, and instead of being up by sixteen, seventeen,

489
00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:09,360
Speaker 2: eighteen points, I remember saying out loud, twenty to nine.

490
00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:11,280
Speaker 2: It feels like they should be up by a lot more.

491
00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:15,720
Speaker 2: And usually when that's the case against a really good team,

492
00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:19,280
Speaker 2: it comes back to bite you. It did for Mark

493
00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:23,600
Speaker 2: Pope's team last night. A very odd season, a season

494
00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:25,959
Speaker 2: where they had games that they were getting drubbed in

495
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,080
Speaker 2: that they came back and won. A season where it

496
00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:30,120
Speaker 2: felt like a couple of times, in spite of all

497
00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:32,720
Speaker 2: the injuries, like they were really on the verge of

498
00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:36,000
Speaker 2: getting going a season that at times felt like they're

499
00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:38,200
Speaker 2: really gonna have to scratch and clause just to make

500
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:41,800
Speaker 2: the NCAA Tournament and NCAA Tournament's Day, that they were

501
00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:45,960
Speaker 2: obviously this close from getting beaten by Santa Clara before

502
00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:50,240
Speaker 2: the otega Oway miracle shot to end regulation on Friday,

503
00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:54,280
Speaker 2: and then a sort of nondescript, forgettable bow out of

504
00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:57,320
Speaker 2: the tournament, the most lopsided March Madness loss for Kentucky

505
00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:00,920
Speaker 2: since nineteen seventy two. I'm not sure sure that anything

506
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:04,800
Speaker 2: that happened from a positive perspective over the last month

507
00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:07,920
Speaker 2: or so has made anybody who cares about Kentucky basketball

508
00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:11,200
Speaker 2: feel that much better about Mark Pope going into a

509
00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:16,680
Speaker 2: year number three. I talked about this for a few

510
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:21,439
Speaker 2: minutes a little while ago. The tournament never fails to deliver.

511
00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:24,320
Speaker 2: And you know, some years there are more close games

512
00:27:24,359 --> 00:27:27,080
Speaker 2: than other years, and some years there are more upsets

513
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:31,840
Speaker 2: than other years. And it is completely reasonable to conclude

514
00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:36,000
Speaker 2: that with the way college basketball is structured, which basically

515
00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:39,880
Speaker 2: means it has no structure, that upsets are less likely

516
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:42,840
Speaker 2: to happen than at any point in the history of

517
00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:47,320
Speaker 2: this event. But it's still an event that every single

518
00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:53,000
Speaker 2: year continues to deliver. This year was no exception, you know,

519
00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:56,040
Speaker 2: for all of and I talk about TV ratings, and

520
00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:58,639
Speaker 2: I did a segment on this last Wednesday before I

521
00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:02,000
Speaker 2: took off on Thursday or Fry. College basketball ratings by

522
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 2: and large this year have been much much, much much

523
00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:08,400
Speaker 2: higher than not only last year, but at any point

524
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,920
Speaker 2: over the last decade or so. This sport, from an

525
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:16,439
Speaker 2: interest perspective and from a viewership perspective, is on fire.

526
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,840
Speaker 2: The first weekend of the tournament had the highest ratings

527
00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:23,960
Speaker 2: in fifteen years. By the way, in much of the country,

528
00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:27,320
Speaker 2: yesterday it was eighty degrees and sunny, so it wasn't

529
00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:29,639
Speaker 2: like bad weather was keeping his housed in whether this

530
00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:31,320
Speaker 2: weekend for the most part and this part of the

531
00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:36,400
Speaker 2: country was really really nice. So college basketball has all

532
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:39,160
Speaker 2: sorts of different issues, and I'll be the first to

533
00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:41,240
Speaker 2: admit that one of those issues is you have a

534
00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:43,640
Speaker 2: lot of people who don't feel like they have the

535
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:46,640
Speaker 2: same connection to their favorite program that they used to

536
00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:50,080
Speaker 2: because the players don't have the same connection to the

537
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:53,200
Speaker 2: programs that are part of than they used to, and

538
00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:56,680
Speaker 2: there's legitimate, you know, legitimate discussions to be had then,

539
00:28:56,720 --> 00:28:59,760
Speaker 2: I mean like legitimate, not what was done at the

540
00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:02,560
Speaker 2: White House a couple of weeks ago, Like legitimate discussions

541
00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:06,600
Speaker 2: to be had about NIL and athlete compensation and the portal.

542
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:10,080
Speaker 2: Like I'm here for all of those things. But at

543
00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:12,000
Speaker 2: the end of the day, you know what, most of

544
00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,480
Speaker 2: us just want to do. Most of us just want

545
00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:18,960
Speaker 2: to watch high end basketball. This weekend I watched high

546
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:24,360
Speaker 2: end basketball. Tip to finish Nebraska Vanderbilt is one of

547
00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:26,920
Speaker 2: the very best college basketball games you will ever watch.

548
00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:30,840
Speaker 2: The finish of UK Santa Clara, the high end of

549
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:36,920
Speaker 2: Iowa Florida, the finish of Saint John's Kansas, watching Illinois,

550
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:43,400
Speaker 2: watching Houston, watching Michigan, watching great teams thump at times

551
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:47,240
Speaker 2: equal but still outmanned opponents. By the way, the Sweet

552
00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:51,600
Speaker 2: Sixteen sets up as excellent, like for all of the

553
00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:55,440
Speaker 2: different issues that people who really cover college basketball dive

554
00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:59,520
Speaker 2: into and need to dive into, what most people just

555
00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:01,680
Speaker 2: want to watch, which is a very fun, entertaining on

556
00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:06,080
Speaker 2: court product. With the way college basketball is set up now,

557
00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:09,440
Speaker 2: we get that guys are in college longer than they've

558
00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:12,520
Speaker 2: been in quite a while. Great players are playing with

559
00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:16,840
Speaker 2: other great players. We're getting elite talent at the college level.

560
00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:20,480
Speaker 2: We're getting them to stay in college even longer. We're

561
00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:23,680
Speaker 2: getting teams that are fun to watch, games that on

562
00:30:23,720 --> 00:30:27,800
Speaker 2: the back end of the tournament, where viewership has historically suffered,

563
00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:33,440
Speaker 2: our absolutely must watch. I'm never going to be one

564
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:35,160
Speaker 2: of those, and there are many who will who will

565
00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:37,520
Speaker 2: ignore some of the issues that college sports as a

566
00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:40,680
Speaker 2: whole face. But I do feel at times like those

567
00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:43,560
Speaker 2: things are dwelled upon so much that we lose sight

568
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:45,120
Speaker 2: of what people, at the end of the day ultimately

569
00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:47,160
Speaker 2: want to watch. I want to watch great games on

570
00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:49,800
Speaker 2: to watch great teams playing great games. I want to

571
00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:52,720
Speaker 2: watch high end stuff. I get that when I watch

572
00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:56,880
Speaker 2: college hoops. Most who watch would agree. If they didn't,

573
00:30:56,920 --> 00:30:59,080
Speaker 2: the viewership numbers wouldn't be as good as they were.

574
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,720
Speaker 2: Teaen minutes after four o'clock. More on the Reds coming

575
00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:05,920
Speaker 2: up in the four o'clock hour. It is remarkable where

576
00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:08,920
Speaker 2: we are today compared to where we were two weeks ago.

577
00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:17,920
Speaker 3: Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from.

578
00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:21,080
Speaker 4: The UC Health Traffic Center, the UC Health Women's Sports

579
00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:25,440
Speaker 4: Medicine program provides specialized care for female athletes at all levels.

580
00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:30,000
Speaker 4: Schedule and appointment online at UCHealth dot com. Northbound seventy one,

581
00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:33,560
Speaker 4: an accident has now been cleared out at Ronald Reagan Highway.

582
00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:36,560
Speaker 4: That's got traffic slow back from Redbank Road about a

583
00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:40,120
Speaker 4: five minute to late. As well, southbound seventy one. A

584
00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:43,480
Speaker 4: new accident popping up after Kenwood Road. That one is

585
00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:47,360
Speaker 4: off on through the left shoulder. I'm at ezelic with traffic.

586
00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:52,600
Speaker 2: This report is sponsor is ESP fifteen thirty Ongar by

587
00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:55,600
Speaker 2: the Way Opening day. I mentioned this earlier with Jeff Carr.

588
00:31:55,680 --> 00:32:00,560
Speaker 2: We will be broadcasting from Smoke Justice in Comington noon

589
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:06,160
Speaker 2: to three Tony Austin and me. I guess that's technically

590
00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:09,480
Speaker 2: Tony Pike, Sincy three to sixty, which is fine. I'll

591
00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:12,280
Speaker 2: be the third wheel for a day. We have prizes

592
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:14,680
Speaker 2: if you haven't been to Smoke Justice blocking a bridge

593
00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:19,640
Speaker 2: away from GABP and always an awesome time and we

594
00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:23,680
Speaker 2: hope to see you there. Join us Thursday noon to

595
00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:26,840
Speaker 2: three at Smoke Justice before the Reds take on the

596
00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:30,719
Speaker 2: Boston Red Sox. You can get to Smoke Justice and

597
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:34,920
Speaker 2: be at the ballpark in minutes, whether it's walking across

598
00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:38,080
Speaker 2: the bridge or jumping into a cab and uber lyft

599
00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:42,040
Speaker 2: having somebody pick you up, whatever it is, so we

600
00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:43,800
Speaker 2: hope to see you there. More on the Reds. More

601
00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:46,080
Speaker 2: on baseball coming up after the top of the hour.

602
00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:49,680
Speaker 2: Reds play a couple of weird exhibition games tonight and

603
00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:52,400
Speaker 2: tomorrow against the Milwaukee Brewers. We'll try to squeeze in

604
00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:55,680
Speaker 2: a phone call or to next hour. Plus Sean King,

605
00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:59,120
Speaker 2: who is the head coach of the brand new Cincinnati

606
00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:04,240
Speaker 2: Slingers of the International Arena League. They begin play here

607
00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:07,360
Speaker 2: in just a few weeks. Also Brennanman and Jones on

608
00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:11,760
Speaker 2: baseball Try to Believe. Two weeks ago today we found

609
00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:14,600
Speaker 2: out the Bengals had signed boy A Mafe and Brian Cook.

610
00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:22,320
Speaker 2: Good signings, quality signings, signings that give you reason for optimism.

611
00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:25,680
Speaker 2: Dan Horde and I talked about Brian Cook specifically on

612
00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:28,600
Speaker 2: our NCAA tournament preview show on Thursday, which you can

613
00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:33,240
Speaker 2: listen to on the iHeartRadio app. But it is remarkable.

614
00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:36,040
Speaker 2: In fact, I think it's one of the most remarkable

615
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:39,920
Speaker 2: things that has happened in Cincinnati sports in quite a while.

616
00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:44,600
Speaker 2: Two weeks ago, we were asking what are they gonna

617
00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:52,120
Speaker 2: do now at linebacker? Two weeks later, it is amazing

618
00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:59,160
Speaker 2: that the answer is nothing. Nobody. Two weeks later, it

619
00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:01,800
Speaker 2: is remark well. It's one of the most remarkable things

620
00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:04,920
Speaker 2: I think that has ever happened in Cincinnati sports. Two

621
00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:10,160
Speaker 2: weeks later, after everybody was asking what are the Bengals

622
00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:14,680
Speaker 2: gonna do at linebacker, we're still asking the exact same question.

623
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:17,880
Speaker 2: And by the way, we might still have asked that

624
00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:21,640
Speaker 2: question had the Bengals signed a linebacker and free agency,

625
00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:27,200
Speaker 2: because okay, maybe they were gonna draft one. It is remarkable, man,

626
00:34:28,640 --> 00:34:31,120
Speaker 2: And I don't do this too gratuitously beat up on

627
00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:33,520
Speaker 2: the Bengals, because we could talk about the attributes of

628
00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:37,399
Speaker 2: the players at other positions they have signed. But two

629
00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:41,400
Speaker 2: weeks ago, when it was obvious to everybody the next

630
00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:45,640
Speaker 2: step had to be get a linebacker. Isn't it remarkable

631
00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:50,000
Speaker 2: that they still haven't gotten one. Indeed, it is. It's

632
00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:53,320
Speaker 2: coming up on four o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati

633
00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:55,759
Speaker 2: Sports station. Moager here stop letting high