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Speaker 1: The following takes place between six pm and seven pm.

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Speaker 2: You want answers. I think I'm entitled, Joe one answer

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Speaker 2: the truth.

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Speaker 1: You can't handle the truth?

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Speaker 2: True true, All right, let's get to it.

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Speaker 1: No time to waste. Welcome in RNL Carrier Sports Talk,

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Speaker 1: presented by Kelsey Chevallet. I'm Lancemcallister Tomorrow Reds Guardian spring

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Speaker 1: training opener, the first of thirty two in the Desert,

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Speaker 1: my first guest on the call Tomorrow two forty five

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Speaker 1: airtime on Fox Sports thirteen sixty, then Sunday here on

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Speaker 1: seven hundred WLW. A pleasure to welcome in the voice

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Speaker 1: of your Cincinnati Reds Tommy Thrall, how are you.

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Speaker 2: I'm great, Lance, how are you doing?

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Speaker 1: I am well and excited to talk with you because

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Speaker 1: we're that means we're talking Reds baseball and Chase Burns

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Speaker 1: gets the ball tomorrow. That fifth spot battle is gonna

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Speaker 1: be really fun to watch, and ultimately, I mean it's

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Speaker 1: probably safe to say it's going to take more than

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Speaker 1: one person in that spot throughout the course of one

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Speaker 1: hundred and sixty two games.

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Speaker 2: I think it is. I mean, there's no doubt. I mean,

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Speaker 2: the days of getting through a season with five starters

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Speaker 2: seem to be long, long in the past. So all

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Speaker 2: the guys that are really buying for that last spot,

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Speaker 2: I think are going to make an impact one way

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Speaker 2: or another throughout the course of the season this year,

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Speaker 2: and I would venture to say they're all going to

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Speaker 2: make a pretty sizable impact. The good news for the

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Speaker 2: Reds is they're all very much capable of being impact

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Speaker 2: pitchers for this team. I don't know if you can

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Speaker 2: go wrong with any of the three guys that are

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Speaker 2: really in the nick for that spot. Chase Burns is

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Speaker 2: one of the best young arms in the game right now,

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Speaker 2: let's be honest. I mean, his fastball is explosive. He's

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Speaker 2: worked on the change up a little bit. I'm curious

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Speaker 2: to see what that looks like. I would imagine we'll

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Speaker 2: see it quite a bit in the spring as he

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Speaker 2: tries to get comfortable with that. But you know, that's

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Speaker 2: one of those things where if your Chase Burns, that

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Speaker 2: picks doesn't have to be great, it just has to

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Speaker 2: be good enough that you can throw it for a

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Speaker 2: strike from time to time, because just heading it in

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Speaker 2: your arsenal makes everything else better. And we already know

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Speaker 2: how good.

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Speaker 1: His other stuff is we're going to start to see

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Speaker 1: the impact and feel the impact of au Ao Swarez

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Speaker 1: in the lineup next week, starting tomorrow, give us a

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Speaker 1: sense of the vibe and the impact he's had just

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Speaker 1: around Goodyear, the clubhouse and the complex.

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Speaker 2: That's awesome. I mean, he's just his presence, like you said,

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Speaker 2: there is noticeable. I saw him today. I don't know

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Speaker 2: what the conversation was, but just seeing him interact with

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Speaker 2: a guy like Matt McClain that they were out there

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Speaker 2: on the field during a live atting practice session and

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Speaker 2: he just walked by him and said something. You could

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Speaker 2: see that he's already bonding with guys that he didn't

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Speaker 2: play with before. But he's just one of those guys

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Speaker 2: that his presence just lifts everybody up because he's such

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Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's not fake, the you know, the

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Speaker 2: attitude that he has, it's it's real and it's contagious,

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Speaker 2: and I just I think the presence of him in

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Speaker 2: the lineup is going to be awesome. I think the

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Speaker 2: presence of him in the clubhouse is going to be

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Speaker 2: just as big you mentioned Matt McClain.

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Speaker 1: I recall a year ago, right about this time we

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Speaker 1: were talking and you expressed some hesitation about him coming

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Speaker 1: off the shoulder surgery, and we saw the impact it

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Speaker 1: appeared to have one year later, a year removed. Do

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Speaker 1: you think there's a chance we see more of the

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty three version of Matt McClain.

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Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, I think that's that's definitely going to be

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Speaker 2: the case. First of all, he's he's on a mission.

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Speaker 2: I mean, this is a guy that I'm sure, no doubt,

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Speaker 2: feels like he has something to prove. He's an intense competitor,

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Speaker 2: and like we talked about last year, at this time,

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Speaker 2: that's not an easy thing to come back from a

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Speaker 2: shoulder surgery, especially that early in your career, and miss

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Speaker 2: an entire season. I just didn't think it was fair

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Speaker 2: to expect him to be a Rookie of the Year

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Speaker 2: caliber player last year. I figured he would struggle. I

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Speaker 2: wasn't surprised that he did. I did kind of think

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Speaker 2: by the end of the year he'd start to come

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Speaker 2: out of it a little bit more than he did.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 2: We saw some flashes at times towards the end. I

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Speaker 2: fully expected he'll be back, and if he's not in

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Speaker 2: the two hole on opening day. He will be back

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Speaker 2: in that spot, probably by the end of the or

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Speaker 2: by the All Star break at the very latest. I

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Speaker 2: just think he's too good of a player not to

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Speaker 2: play his way back into being a top of the

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Speaker 2: order type hitter. And I'll be honest, I think this

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Speaker 2: team is in a really good spot with Matt McClain

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Speaker 2: hitting second, especially if he's playing the way he's capable

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Speaker 2: of the rest of the line up, especially now get

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Speaker 2: Suarez in there kind of falls into place that too,

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Speaker 2: hole I feel like is kind of a big spot

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Speaker 2: in this lineup.

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Speaker 1: Tell me, it's hard to believe. And I still don't

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Speaker 1: have a reason or an understanding of how a week

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Speaker 1: ago right now and Nathaniel Lowe was finally finding a gig,

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Speaker 1: But he seems like a wild card for this team.

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Speaker 1: It's awful, a nice card for Nick Crawl to play,

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Speaker 1: for Terry Francono to figure out.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty good wildcard to have in your back pocket.

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Speaker 2: I agree with that. Look, I think there's a way

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Speaker 2: for him to make this team and still get at bats,

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Speaker 2: you know, even with south Stewart likely to get the

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Speaker 2: majority of the starts at first base this year, just

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Speaker 2: having him I think kind of pushes some of these

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Speaker 2: guys to which is very much a good thing. Especially

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Speaker 2: the guy pushes the most I think is south Stewart,

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Speaker 2: who came into camp, by the way, in tremendous shape.

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Speaker 2: It's been talked about, I know already quite a bit,

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Speaker 2: but he really does look good. Everybody I've talked to

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Speaker 2: has been blown away with his ability to move defensively.

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Speaker 2: He's already a guy that has good instincts defensively, so

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Speaker 2: now his body in a little better shape. I think

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Speaker 2: that's just going to help this team out immensely because

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Speaker 2: now you can probably be a little more comfortable playing

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Speaker 2: him some at second base. Terry Francona has talked about

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Speaker 2: giving Ellie day La Cruz to day off, and the

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Speaker 2: way that all connects with Nathaniel Low is now you

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Speaker 2: slide McClean over to short. You're comfortable putting south Stewart

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Speaker 2: at second base. Now you can get Nathaniel Low some

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Speaker 2: some advats over at first base, and you know you can.

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Speaker 2: You can mix in Suarez a little bit too, and

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Speaker 2: d eights Low some. So I think there's a way

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Speaker 2: that he can still get some advats if he's the

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Speaker 2: player he was a couple of years ago. You want

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Speaker 2: to get him as many advats as possible. Uh, he

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Speaker 2: didn't have a good first half the season. The second

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Speaker 2: half was a little more Nathaniel Low like. But this

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Speaker 2: is a guy that is kind of one of those

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Speaker 2: guys that Threads have had in the past that's certainly

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Speaker 2: poised for a bounce back year. And if the Reds

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Speaker 2: hit on another one like they have so many of

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Speaker 2: these guys in the past, he could be another one

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Speaker 2: that makes a pretty big impact in this lineup.

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Speaker 1: The curtain has been raised on ABS the Automated ball

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Speaker 1: Strike System. You'll get a look at it tomorrow, of course.

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Speaker 1: Do you any thoughts on it and do you get

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Speaker 1: a general sense of how players around the complex feel

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Speaker 1: about it?

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Speaker 2: I think I think everybody's kind of on board with it.

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Speaker 2: The reason I say that is so many of these

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Speaker 2: guys have seen it coming up through the minor league,

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Speaker 2: because they've had it in the higher levels the minor

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Speaker 2: leagues for a while now. We saw it a little

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Speaker 2: bit last year in spring training. Look, I accept it.

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Speaker 2: I guess I'm I don't know when it happened, but

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Speaker 2: somewhere along the way I became the old guy shot

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Speaker 2: at the clouds. So I joke with others, I guess

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Speaker 2: you got a problem. They start yelling back at you.

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Speaker 2: But the thing about it is, I look, I get

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Speaker 2: umpires make mistakes, but you look at their old all accuracy.

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Speaker 2: They're incredibly I mean incredibly accurate at a very very,

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Speaker 2: very difficult job. And I've told anybody that to pay

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Speaker 2: any attention that if the box wasn't on the TV,

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Speaker 2: you'd think these guys are right probably ninety nine point

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Speaker 2: nine percent of the time because when they do miss one,

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Speaker 2: they're missing by such a small margin. But when you

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Speaker 2: have the box up there, it looks like a lot

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Speaker 2: more than what it probably is. So to me it's

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Speaker 2: it's maybe the solution to a problem that didn't really exist,

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Speaker 2: But at the same time, you got to evolve with

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Speaker 2: the times. I think there is an example of baseball

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Speaker 2: doing that, embracing the technology that's available. I guess the

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Speaker 2: thing my biggest thought of at LANCE is I'm leary

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Speaker 2: of unintended consequences from having this. I don't think we

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Speaker 2: want to see walk rates jump up. I don't think

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Speaker 2: we want fewer balls put in play. Those those would

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Speaker 2: be fortunate instances that that could come out of this.

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Speaker 2: I hope not, and that that might be something we

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Speaker 2: see down the road. I'm just curious to see if

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Speaker 2: you see pictures figure out a way to manipulate this

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Speaker 2: a little bit and where it becomes a situation that

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Speaker 2: that kind of I guess drags the game a little bit,

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Speaker 2: and I don't think we want to see that because

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Speaker 2: I think, to me, the way the game is played

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Speaker 2: on the field right now is in a pretty good spot.

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Speaker 2: So I'm cautiously optimistic. I like the interactive side of it,

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Speaker 2: where it goes on the board and on TV screens immediately,

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Speaker 2: and it looks good. It's a good visual, it's quick,

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Speaker 2: the way it's implemented is really nice. So overall, I

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Speaker 2: think it'll be really good for the game. I'm just

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Speaker 2: really curious to see how how it plays out. All right.

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Speaker 1: Last question, are you I forget I've probably asked you

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Speaker 1: this in the past. Are you a scorebook guy or

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Speaker 1: a one sheet game to game guy?

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Speaker 2: I am a one sheet game to game. Put it

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Speaker 2: in a binder and make a scorebook out of it

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Speaker 2: so the believe it or not. I actually switched to

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Speaker 2: an iPad oh last year. We actually I keep score

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Speaker 2: on my iPad using the same sheet I've always used

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Speaker 2: that went into the binder. Now it's just instead of

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Speaker 2: it being an actual physical binder that weighed a thousand

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Speaker 2: pounds by the end of the years, it's a digital

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Speaker 2: iPad book. So it works out really well. Still the

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Speaker 2: same pretty much. I can still navigate the same way.

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Speaker 2: But yes, I like having a quote unquote physical copy.

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Speaker 1: Excellent. All right, airtime tomorrow two forty five, Fox Sports

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Speaker 1: thirteen sixty, then Sunday here on seven hundred WLW.

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Speaker 2: Who are you with Tomorrow? It'll be Jim Day tomorrow,

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Speaker 2: so Jim will be on for the first couple of games.

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Speaker 2: Cowboy will make his spring debut on Tuesday.

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Speaker 1: You're gonna work on Cowboy learning how to keep scoring

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Speaker 1: on an iPad?

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Speaker 2: He you know what, last year he kind of looked

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Speaker 2: at it a few times of us. I don't think

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Speaker 2: I could do that, But if it was fifteen years ago,

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Speaker 2: I might have a shot.

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Speaker 1: He always good, catching up great, he and your voice

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Speaker 1: have a great broadcast tomorrow and can't wait for the.

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Speaker 2: Season ahead, Thanks so much, laughing.

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Speaker 1: All right, there you go, Tommy Thrill, Voice of your

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Speaker 1: Cincinnati Red still ahead. Some headlines, some REDS, conversation and

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Speaker 1: off the beaten pat topic in the eight o'clock hour

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Speaker 1: and more. It's the weekend and this is our NOL

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Speaker 1: Carrier Sports Talk, presented by Kelsey Chevrolet seven hundred WLW