Speaker 1: Hey, very delightful, good evening, and welcome in to the
Speaker 1: Budweiser Reds Hot Stove League presented by UDF. As always,
Speaker 1: we are live at the bet MGM Sportsbook inside Tom's
Speaker 1: Watchbar down to the banks with Jim Day. I'm Tommy Throw.
Speaker 1: Great to be with you. A lot to get to today.
Speaker 1: We have the President of Baseball Operations, Nick Crawl, with
Speaker 1: us in house today live to talk all things Reds
Speaker 1: baseball in this offseason. We'll get to him in a moment. Jim,
Speaker 1: the Red's making a little bit of news yesterday, kind
Speaker 1: of some paperwork moves adding guys the forty man roster
Speaker 1: to protect him from the Rule five draft. No real
Speaker 1: surprises there.
Speaker 2: It didn't seem like no Hector Rodriguez Arroyo, and you
Speaker 2: know those were two guys that obviously other teams would
Speaker 2: be interested in. I imagine the Balcazar who established himself
Speaker 2: a little more here in the Arizona Fall League. Some
Speaker 2: tough decisions always year in and year out, because you
Speaker 2: don't want to someone to just swoop in and take
Speaker 2: one of your top players. Even though those rules are
Speaker 2: tough that they have to be on the posting team's roster, etc.
Speaker 2: But no surprise whatever that those guys were added to
Speaker 2: the forty. Maybe one surprise in on the back end
Speaker 2: of that was Carson Spiers was designated for as sign right.
Speaker 1: We'll talk to Nick about that, because you've got to
Speaker 1: believe there's probably still some thought that he will be
Speaker 1: able to remain within the organization. Of course he could
Speaker 1: get picked up. We'll talk about all that as well.
Speaker 1: Edwin Royo, this is a guy that I feel like
Speaker 1: has a chance of being the big leagues next year.
Speaker 1: We'll start the season at Triple A. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: one of the top prospects in the organization for a reason.
Speaker 1: You certainly can't allow him to get away. So we'll
Speaker 1: talk about all of that as we welcome in the
Speaker 1: Reds President of Baseball Operations, Nick Crawl. Nick, thanks so
Speaker 1: much for taking some time to sit with us and
Speaker 1: talk Reds baseball for a little while. Thanks for how's
Speaker 1: the off season been going. I know you just came
Speaker 1: from the GM meetings. What's kind of the lay of
Speaker 1: the land would you gather from the GM meetings down
Speaker 1: to bake.
Speaker 3: It's just trying to get as much information as you can.
Speaker 3: We met with every club that was there. We talked
Speaker 3: to those guys. We talked a lot of those guys
Speaker 3: before we got there, but you know, the week before
Speaker 3: free agency opened, so we were able to sit down
Speaker 3: with every agent for every player and you know, talk
Speaker 3: through where they are, what their expectations are, and then
Speaker 3: see if we can find some matches.
Speaker 1: You know, there's players that you obviously have a relationship with.
Speaker 1: Do you do you ever negotiate with a player because
Speaker 1: of the personal connection you may have with someone and
Speaker 1: bypass in a way that the agent you could. I don't.
Speaker 3: I don't feel comfortable doing that. You have an agent
Speaker 3: for a reason. That's what you're supposed to do. That's
Speaker 3: you know, you you obviously have hire an agent for
Speaker 3: us to go through the agent. You know, I'll text
Speaker 3: a guy every now and then, but I won't do
Speaker 3: a negotiator. We won't negotiate through the player themselves unless
Speaker 3: they don't have an agent, and that's the way they
Speaker 3: want to do it.
Speaker 2: This process, once free agency opens and the GM beatings,
Speaker 2: not a whole lot happens. It picks up at the
Speaker 2: winter meetings. It's a long process this offseason and free agency.
Speaker 2: Do you wish it was shorter, there were some type
Speaker 2: of deadline that was involved that would get action going
Speaker 2: a little faster.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it, it'd be great if it was
Speaker 3: a condensed and yeah, you know, I was talking to
Speaker 3: somebody the other day, I guess the NFL has six
Speaker 3: weeks off that where nothing really happens in the summer,
Speaker 3: so a lot of facilities shut down, and you know,
Speaker 3: you kind of take some downtime, and you know, obviously
Speaker 3: you like that, but that's not how we work.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean at the trade deadline, a lot of
Speaker 2: deals are done because there's a deadline. So do you
Speaker 2: think that would up the action if there were at
Speaker 2: least one, maybe two deadlines involved.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I mean probably like everybody waits till a deadline when
Speaker 3: they have to submit things. Yeah, you know, when somebody's
Speaker 3: looking for a payment on something, you wait till the
Speaker 3: deadline to give it to them.
Speaker 1: Right, Well, we will look forward to that. Once you
Speaker 1: were commissioner of Major League Baseball, So let's talk about
Speaker 1: this team. Obviously, the Winter Meetings are right on the horizon.
Speaker 1: Following up the GM meetings, were you able to get
Speaker 1: kind of an idea of how teams value their players,
Speaker 1: whether it's prospects or guys in the big league team.
Speaker 1: As far as how you kind of maneuver the offseason
Speaker 1: and the moves you guys may have coming up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you're you're figuring out what their needs
Speaker 3: are and what they have surplus of, and they're doing
Speaker 3: the same for us. So that's what a lot of
Speaker 3: the last couple of weeks have been, and you know
Speaker 3: a lot of teams are still trying to figure it out.
Speaker 3: You know, you got a lot of moves made yesterday,
Speaker 3: whether it's adding guys the roster, handful of guys got
Speaker 3: designated for assignment. You know, you saw players got designated
Speaker 3: for assignent that might have got claimed on waivers two
Speaker 3: weeks ago because they get non tendered on Friday, which
Speaker 3: is another deadline. So you're gonna see players non tendered
Speaker 3: Friday that are you know, you might have a handful
Speaker 3: of guys more that are free agents. So just trying
Speaker 3: to figure out what that market is and what the
Speaker 3: markets are and where to go.
Speaker 2: I know, you were always working within a budget. Everyone
Speaker 2: business works within a budget, and you talk to the
Speaker 2: writers a little bit about this, but clarifying for this
Speaker 2: audience with some of the money that came off the
Speaker 2: books from last year. And I know there's arbitration involved
Speaker 2: in players up their salaries and almost balances out. How
Speaker 2: much financial flexibility do you have as we sit.
Speaker 3: Here, we'll be right around those same amount we had
Speaker 3: last year, just budget wise. You know, it's it'll obviously
Speaker 3: depend on what the arbitration raises are. And you know,
Speaker 3: guys going through arbitration are going to get a little
Speaker 3: bit more salary, and we've got a handful of those guys.
Speaker 3: So I think it's just we're still working to determine
Speaker 3: what we can and can't do within the budget that
Speaker 3: we have based on some of those asks.
Speaker 1: With that being said, do you imagine that the ways
Speaker 1: you'll be able to improve this team will be dipping
Speaker 1: into the free agent market at all? Or is it
Speaker 1: more going to be based on trades dealing from areas
Speaker 1: where you may have a little bit of a surplus.
Speaker 3: It's really hard to answer, and without skirting the question,
Speaker 3: it's you know, sometimes two years ago we spent some
Speaker 3: money in free agency, whereas this year or last year,
Speaker 3: we had a handful of guys that we made trades with.
Speaker 3: Whether it was singer or Travino, and then we signed
Speaker 3: some other guys like Hayes and Barlow who were in
Speaker 3: the free agent market. So I think we're looking at
Speaker 3: both well, we are looking at both markets and trying
Speaker 3: to figure out where the best use of our money is,
Speaker 3: where the best use of or return is. And then obviously,
Speaker 3: if we have to make trades, what are the players
Speaker 3: that player prospects or major league players that we have
Speaker 3: to give up to make the club better.
Speaker 2: I know, obviously you we'd love to add a power
Speaker 2: bat to the middle of the lineup.
Speaker 1: Who wouldn't.
Speaker 2: That's you know, every team is normally looking for that
Speaker 2: at all times. But you have some spots opened in
Speaker 2: the bullpen. I imagine that that might be step number one.
Speaker 2: How are you going to be able to fill those
Speaker 2: spots within your budget?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean it's first off, everybody would like a
Speaker 3: middle of the order power bat, and if you have one,
Speaker 3: you'd like to write like that. That's that's an obvious statement.
Speaker 3: The bullpen is something where we were really have been
Speaker 3: have had a really good bullpen over the last couple
Speaker 3: of years. It's we've gotten some guys via trade, We've
Speaker 3: gotten some guys in sam Maul. We've gotten some guys
Speaker 3: like Tony Santian that have come through the draft. Graham
Speaker 3: Ashcraft moved to you know, from the draft out there.
Speaker 3: We got some guys in Pagan and Barlow from last
Speaker 3: year that that we're from free agency. We're gonna have
Speaker 3: to look at all avenues that we can and figure
Speaker 3: out how to fill those spots. You know, some might
Speaker 3: come from trade and some might come from a free agency,
Speaker 3: and some might come from within. You know, we had
Speaker 3: a handful of guys come up and down last year.
Speaker 3: Connor Phillips ended the year pitching really well as he
Speaker 3: came up and ended the season with the club. Max
Speaker 3: went into the season with the club. He wasn't on
Speaker 3: the postseason roster, but he had some up and down
Speaker 3: spots that he's learning to get in there. Luis May
Speaker 3: same thing. He came up and down, had some really
Speaker 3: good games and struggle at times. You know, if we
Speaker 3: can get those guys more consistency, then they have a
Speaker 3: chance to legitimately win spots in the bullpen and they
Speaker 3: have you know, a couple of those guys have a
Speaker 3: chance to be back legitimate back end guys for a
Speaker 3: long time. So it's trying to balance out whether we're
Speaker 3: going to add a handful of guys to replace the
Speaker 3: guys we lost, or that we need to make sure
Speaker 3: we give chances for the guys we have to win spots,
Speaker 3: but then also supplement those guys with players that can
Speaker 3: take they take on experience roles.
Speaker 1: We're visiting with Red's President of Baseball Operations, Nick Krawl.
Speaker 1: Plenty more to get to with Nick. It's the Budweiser
Speaker 1: Red's Hot Stove League presented by UDF. Live the bet
Speaker 1: MGYM Sportsbook inside Tom's Watch Bar at the Banks on
Speaker 1: the Reds Radio Network. Welcome back in with the Butdwise
Speaker 1: the Red's Hot Stove League presented by UDF. We are
Speaker 1: I have the bet MGAM Sportsbook inside Tom's watch Bar
Speaker 1: at the Banks. Few folks here hanging out with us.
Speaker 1: Larry herms made the trip over from across the road.
Speaker 1: Big show. No, it's a big show and Hermsey's here.
Speaker 1: Only eighteen more of these bad boys to go. It's
Speaker 1: week three of the Hot Stove season. We are visiting
Speaker 1: with Red's President Baseball Operations, Nick Crawl. And Nick. You
Speaker 1: know the headlines that have kind of dominated it. We
Speaker 1: were talking about trades and trying to get this team
Speaker 1: better by trade. We even talked about it on this
Speaker 1: show Week one. Look, if there's an area where you
Speaker 1: kind of have a little bit of a surplus right now,
Speaker 1: it seemed to be starting pitching now. Surplus is kind
Speaker 1: of a tricky word because we all know guys are
Speaker 1: somebody's going to get hurt. Very rarely do you go
Speaker 1: into spring training and the five guys you have planned
Speaker 1: to start the season in the rotation end up starting
Speaker 1: the season in the rotation. It happened last year. Obviously,
Speaker 1: one of the big marquee names, a guy like Hunter Green.
Speaker 1: He didn't pitch for two months last year while he
Speaker 1: was hurt. Some has been made of the severity of
Speaker 1: that injury, and then also is he a trade candidate.
Speaker 1: So when you hear all the stuff that's surrounding Hunter Green,
Speaker 1: what's kind of your reaction to all of that?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, I think first when you look at
Speaker 3: the rotation, it's really it is really hard to say, oh, well,
Speaker 3: we're just going to trade because we have surplus, because
Speaker 3: I don't think anybody has surplus, right if you have
Speaker 3: if you have eight guys, nine guys that are coming
Speaker 3: in to win a spot in the rotation. You've got Green, Abbott, Lodolo,
Speaker 3: and Singer Singer and who have pitched all year in
Speaker 3: the big leagues. Right. You got Burns who came up
Speaker 3: in the middle of the year, and those five guys
Speaker 3: ended the season healthy.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: Of those five guys, the only guy that actually made
Speaker 3: it through the full season without without being injured was Singer,
Speaker 3: And I think everybody has their own Hey, I missed
Speaker 3: time for this, or miss time for this.
Speaker 1: Guys get hurt.
Speaker 3: In the rotation. Three of the other guys are Brandon Williamson,
Speaker 3: Julian Agie Are and Rehet Louder missed all season last
Speaker 3: year with various injuries. So you know, you have to
Speaker 3: have depth in the starting rotation. You just have to.
Speaker 3: I mean getting Lttel last year allowed us to push
Speaker 3: Martinez to the bullpen, and that happened for about a
Speaker 3: week and then he went right back in the starting
Speaker 3: rotation when we had some injuries until he could go
Speaker 3: back in the bullpen. So you really need a group
Speaker 3: of guys, whether it's it's guys that can go to
Speaker 3: the bullpen or guys that can go to Triple A
Speaker 3: that are going to be your death starters because you're
Speaker 3: going to need them all year. Chase Petty made starts
Speaker 3: last year, Wade Miley made a couple of starts last year.
Speaker 3: Burns made a handful of starts last year. So it's
Speaker 3: the average team uses roughly fifteen starters a year. That's
Speaker 3: a ton, and so making sure that you have enough
Speaker 3: starts for you know, whether it's in Triple A or
Speaker 3: the big leagues is going to be really important. So
Speaker 3: saying you have surplus is a really it's a little
Speaker 3: soft there. It's not an easy thing to say, oh, yeah,
Speaker 3: I have surplus because it doesn't usually work out that
Speaker 3: way with trading players though. Look, Hunter's a guy that
Speaker 3: when he when he is healthy, he is a top
Speaker 3: of the rotation starter. Nicolodolo has a chance to be
Speaker 3: a top of the rotation starter. Andre Rabbit was an
Speaker 3: All Star last year because he dominated in the first half.
Speaker 3: So we've got a handful of guys that are established
Speaker 3: guys in the big leagues that are those top of
Speaker 3: the rotation starters. It's really it is really hard for
Speaker 3: us to get those guys to come to our ballpark
Speaker 3: on the free agent market. We have a hitters ballpark, right,
Speaker 3: so we draft, we developed these guys. You know, when
Speaker 3: guy gets injured, though, it's it is also really hard
Speaker 3: to say, oh, well that guy, that guy isn't hurt.
Speaker 3: That guy, this guy, this guy is not hurting, this
Speaker 3: guy is hurt because that's not right.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: I had shoulder surgery six weeks ago, and I can
Speaker 3: tell you there are days when I am really hurting,
Speaker 3: and I can tell you that the same guy the
Speaker 3: head shoulders might not feel the same pain. You can't
Speaker 3: say that, you know, hey, that this is the this
Speaker 3: works here, and this works here. I think that you
Speaker 3: know that that's a that's a tough thing to say.
Speaker 3: I think that you know, guys pitched through a lot
Speaker 3: of different things hunter, you know, grinding through the end
Speaker 3: of the year, and you know, it's it's a it's
Speaker 3: really hard to give up a guy that is a
Speaker 3: top of the rotation starter. You know, Hey, look, I'm
Speaker 3: not ever going to say never, but it's a really
Speaker 3: tough thing to actually do.
Speaker 1: When do you prow your first bullpen coming back from
Speaker 1: shoulders certainly not a.
Speaker 2: Chance when you when you talk about trade, if you
Speaker 2: if you do go the trade route. Is it at
Speaker 2: least safe to say that at this point, where the
Speaker 2: organization is, or where this group of players is, that
Speaker 2: you will not be trading for prospects you would want
Speaker 2: major league ready or at least on the cusp of
Speaker 2: major league ready players.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I ideally you want to add to your club,
Speaker 3: right and maybe there's a deal where you trade this
Speaker 3: player for prospects and then trade prospects for another player
Speaker 3: and it works out. Where it doesn't, it's not perfect fit,
Speaker 3: but it's it's a fit because of how you did
Speaker 3: it right. So I don't want to say that we
Speaker 3: wouldn't ever trade for prospects, but there is there a
Speaker 3: means to an end.
Speaker 1: When you're trying to put a deal together. How important
Speaker 1: is the understanding of not just a team's needs but
Speaker 1: what they value? I mean, is the most coveted thing
Speaker 1: right now on the trade market, established big league position players,
Speaker 1: established big league pitching, or are prospects still among the
Speaker 1: most coveted? And does that change team to team?
Speaker 3: I think it changes team to team. It depends on
Speaker 3: where you are and what you're trying to do. Some
Speaker 3: teams they don't want any part of prospects. Some teams
Speaker 3: they only want prospects. Some teams will only trade prospects,
Speaker 3: and some teams will only trade big league players. So
Speaker 3: I think it just depends on what you're looking at
Speaker 3: and where you are in your cycle.
Speaker 2: Ellie da La Cruz. The defensive problems have been well
Speaker 2: documented the last couple of years, and he had a
Speaker 2: let's just say, a more down year overall defensively, even
Speaker 2: at the plate, certainly with the power numbers. Not sure
Speaker 2: how much defense is getting into his head.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I can't ever read the player on that or get
Speaker 2: into player's mind. But have you entertained the idea of
Speaker 2: him playing other positions at all.
Speaker 3: At this point? No, So if you look at his
Speaker 3: year last year, and I think a lot of people
Speaker 3: don't know this. At the end of the year, like
Speaker 3: towards the end of July, he was dealing with a
Speaker 3: partial torn quad and he has been rehabbing. He's at
Speaker 3: the ballpark, he was at the ballpark today. He's been
Speaker 3: rehabbing over the last this whole off season. To his credit,
Speaker 3: he played every day. He tried to grind through it.
Speaker 3: He tried to play through it. If you look at
Speaker 3: his defensive numbers. He made twelve airs through roughly towards
Speaker 3: the end of July when he got hurt, and then
Speaker 3: he made fourteen from the end of July on. He's
Speaker 3: trying to play through it. He wasn't able to do
Speaker 3: it as successful as possible. I think he had a
Speaker 3: stretch of games where he had nineteen homers and he
Speaker 3: didn't hit one until some point in September. That's gonna
Speaker 3: affect him. That's gonna affect everything he does. But to
Speaker 3: his credit, he was trying to play every single day
Speaker 3: through it. He tried to grind through it, and to
Speaker 3: the detriment of himself, he didn't play up to where
Speaker 3: he was. But a large part of that is because
Speaker 3: he's trying to play through the injury. So I do
Speaker 3: think that you look at where he was up until
Speaker 3: that point where he got hurt, and he was definitely
Speaker 3: better defensively. It's just he he didn't finish the way
Speaker 3: he started.
Speaker 1: We saw a lot of improvement last minute or so
Speaker 1: that we have in Spencer stear at first base. Now
Speaker 1: South Stewart's up here at the big league level, really
Speaker 1: the only defensive spot he can play his first base.
Speaker 1: How realistic is it to expect him to have that
Speaker 1: kind of progress like Spencer Steer had over there.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, I talked to his agent a few
Speaker 3: days ago. He's in better shape, He's worked. That's his
Speaker 3: goal this offseason is to come to camp in good
Speaker 3: baseball shape and just whether it's lose weight, get faster,
Speaker 3: get more agile in the field. You know, he played
Speaker 3: third in the big leagues last year. You know, but
Speaker 3: obviously we've got a Gold Glove defensive player at third,
Speaker 3: so you know, we want to be better both offensively
Speaker 3: and defensively. I said that, you know, part of getting
Speaker 3: better defensively was getting to Brian Hayes and you know,
Speaker 3: being able to turn a below average overall group at
Speaker 3: third base defensively to the guy who won the Gold
Speaker 3: Glove last year. We struggled at first base some and
Speaker 3: Spencer Steer did a great job of going into the
Speaker 3: off season and getting better. And he worked his butt
Speaker 3: off during the season. You know, he had he had
Speaker 3: some he had some injury stuff that he was dealing
Speaker 3: with as he went through spring training, couldn't play the
Speaker 3: field for the first month, and then he just took
Speaker 3: the first base and became a good first base where
Speaker 3: he was a defensive Uh there was goal Glo finals.
Speaker 3: So you know, we've we've definitely gotten better overall in
Speaker 3: that group. It's just how can you get better? South
Speaker 3: Stewart's twenty one years old. There's a lot of baseball
Speaker 3: with that end.
Speaker 1: Nick, really appreciate the time. Thanks so much. Could ask
Speaker 1: you a thousand more questions, but you probably have other
Speaker 1: things you want to do tonight, so let you get
Speaker 1: out of here.
Speaker 3: Thanks.
Speaker 1: It's President of Baseball Operations, Nick Krawl. We're back with
Speaker 1: more of the Buttweiser Red's Hot Stove League presented by UDF.
Speaker 1: Next on the Reds Radio Network. Welcome back in It
Speaker 1: is the Buttweiser Reds Hot Stove League presented by UDF.
Speaker 1: We are live the bet MGM Sportsbook inside Tom's Watch
Speaker 1: Bar at the Banks. Big Things. Again to Nick Krawl
Speaker 1: for stopping by and chatting with us. And you know,
Speaker 1: it was kind of interesting. We were talking about the
Speaker 1: pitching and you and I were talking about a week
Speaker 1: one how that's kind of a quote unquote surplus. But
Speaker 1: it's hard to have a surplus of top end rotation
Speaker 1: starter like ace starters, right, and yah, I mean surplus.
Speaker 2: Is the wrong word. Right, you want to trade from
Speaker 2: a position of strength, that's probably a better way. It
Speaker 2: is their position of strength and what's going to bring
Speaker 2: you the best return of frontline starting pitcher.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: So I don't want to say surplus. You never have enough.
Speaker 2: I do believe you never have enough pitcher.
Speaker 1: There's one hundred percent.
Speaker 2: Especially nowadays. But it's a position of strength. So where
Speaker 2: are you gonna be hurt the least if you trade
Speaker 2: one off of that group?
Speaker 1: Right now? It's starting pitching. And are you truly robbing
Speaker 1: Peter to pay Paul? See that's the other part. If
Speaker 1: you go out and you go get a bat, Okay,
Speaker 1: where are they going to play? You've got to have
Speaker 1: a spot for him to play. So right now, if
Speaker 1: you look at the Reds the way they're set up,
Speaker 1: if you if you truly believe that Sal Stewart's your
Speaker 1: first basement, I want to get into that, then he's
Speaker 1: your first baseman. You have second base, shortstop and third
Speaker 1: are all spoken for. TJ. Friedel at the moment is
Speaker 1: your center fielder. So now you've got to play Spencer
Speaker 1: Steer Moore and left field. Noelbe Marte is your right fielder.
Speaker 1: That's done. So where's your opening? As far as I
Speaker 1: can tell it, Like if I were to look at
Speaker 1: this Reds team, I feel like your biggest opening is
Speaker 1: in center field, and you figure out a way to
Speaker 1: move TJ. Friedel to the left and find a way
Speaker 1: to keep Spencer Steer at first. If you do something
Speaker 1: like that, if you go get a bat, they've got
Speaker 1: to have a spot to play and they've got to
Speaker 1: have some athleticism. Nick talked about the importance of defense
Speaker 1: when you have Steer at first. The infield defense was
Speaker 1: pretty good when Ellie was playing a better shortstop. Now
Speaker 1: he's still got to take a step forward, even if
Speaker 1: he was hurt last year. You don't want to start
Speaker 1: to sacrifice defense on this team. I just don't think
Speaker 1: this is a team that is ever going to have
Speaker 1: enough offense to overcome bad defense.
Speaker 2: But the offense at times was so glaring. Tommy, how
Speaker 2: many yeah, how many games did they score just one
Speaker 2: run or less than two. It's an astronomical number. So
Speaker 2: when your your offense is lacking that much, you better
Speaker 2: address it.
Speaker 1: But are you addressing it to an extent With the
Speaker 1: promotion of a guy like Sal Stewart to the big leagues.
Speaker 1: Does that is that going to be enough?
Speaker 2: Well with an answer, I mean we're in many times,
Speaker 2: especially in the offseason, you're in the land of hope, right,
Speaker 2: they hope that happens.
Speaker 1: Of course.
Speaker 2: He's I mean even asked when he first came up here, Hey,
Speaker 2: what position you play? I play the batter's box, was
Speaker 2: his answer. I never thought he was going to be
Speaker 2: a third baseman long term. I know he played it
Speaker 2: coming up, I just didn't see that happening. First base
Speaker 2: is a different story. I'm not willing to write him
Speaker 2: off that he's just going to be a d H
Speaker 2: from now on. He does need to get into a
Speaker 2: little bit better shape. We're talking about moving to first
Speaker 2: base in the middle of a big league season having
Speaker 2: never done it.
Speaker 1: So let's at least.
Speaker 2: Give him the chance to get his footwork down, to
Speaker 2: get in better condition and learn the position. Because if
Speaker 2: he is just a DH, you better have a roster
Speaker 2: that's set up for that. They have Gavin Lux coming
Speaker 2: back where you're gonna play him on the days Tyler
Speaker 2: Stevenson didn't catch he was DH. Austin Hayes DHD A bunch.
Speaker 2: Someone's gonna get hurt they're going to need the dh
Speaker 2: SO to just slot him in as a dh I'm
Speaker 2: not willing to do that yet.
Speaker 1: No, he's twenty one years old. You don't want a
Speaker 1: twenty one year old dah. You don't want to develop
Speaker 1: guys as a dh SO.
Speaker 2: But he's gonna have to play first are you gonna play?
Speaker 2: You have to make concessions.
Speaker 1: He was a major liability in third He did not
Speaker 1: play second base very well. It really just leaves first
Speaker 1: base now. If he gets in better shape, and from
Speaker 1: what I've heard, he's been working in the offseason to
Speaker 1: get in better shape, and you hope that that also
Speaker 1: means he's gonna be a little more agile, and if
Speaker 1: that's the case, Look, Spencer Steer worked really hard to
Speaker 1: become a good first baseman. He was, he was a
Speaker 1: Gold Glove finalist at first base. That that didn't happen overnight.
Speaker 1: He put in the work to do enough.
Speaker 2: I love Spencer Steers not at all. You're just trying
Speaker 2: to work the best nine out there.
Speaker 1: But we've also seen him be a more than serviceable
Speaker 1: outfielder and left field too, So I don't think that's
Speaker 1: the end of the world. Moving him to left field.
Speaker 1: The reason I bring up Spencer Steer is the Reds
Speaker 1: help develop him into a very good first baseman. If
Speaker 1: they can do the same with Sal Stewart, that I
Speaker 1: think that really opens up the luxury that you have
Speaker 1: to maybe go out and acquire a bat where you're
Speaker 1: not as reliant on that bat being as flexible. Does
Speaker 1: that make sense because from a defensive standpoint, because right now,
Speaker 1: the way this team set up, you can't just go
Speaker 1: get a bat and expect him the DH. There's not
Speaker 1: enough DH slots in the lineup. We don't bat ten datters.
Speaker 1: So you got to figure out a way to make
Speaker 1: room for somebody. And if that means a guy likes
Speaker 1: Al Stewart getting better defensively at first base, it certainly
Speaker 1: creates that opportunity.
Speaker 2: Listen, I think there's there should be some competition on
Speaker 2: this team. I'm not willing to sit here and just
Speaker 2: say second base is filled right now. That's a down
Speaker 2: year there. Yeah, and we're talking about a young guy
Speaker 2: who has man has some promising talent. We've seen it.
Speaker 2: But where's that going?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: Where's that going? Are we just gonna pencil that in?
Speaker 2: Are we gonna have some competition? And light a fire
Speaker 2: on some under some guys. I think there should be
Speaker 2: some competition.
Speaker 1: Well, you talk about competition lighting a fire under a guy,
Speaker 1: I would say it worked out pretty well for a
Speaker 1: guy like noelbe Marte. Sure did. I mean.
Speaker 2: He handled diversity more than I mean a few times
Speaker 2: and some of it was self inflicted, which he just overcame,
Speaker 2: so that he is a glaring example of yes, it
Speaker 2: can be done.
Speaker 1: He's exhibit A Yeah, no doubt. One eight hundred The
Speaker 1: Big One if you want to call into the show.
Speaker 1: Also five one, three, seven, four nine seven one eight
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Speaker 1: chat with us and talks some Reds baseball. We've got
Speaker 1: a few more minutes. Balloting is open now. You can
Speaker 1: vote now and help decide who's going to end up
Speaker 1: in the next Hall of Fame class of twenty twenty
Speaker 1: six for the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. Voting
Speaker 1: goes through November twenty seventh. Go to Redsmuseum dot org
Speaker 1: to go ahead and vote. You can do it right now.
Speaker 1: All the voting has done, all the fan voting has
Speaker 1: done online. Certainly some good candidates we talked about a
Speaker 1: couple last week. We mentioned Brandon Phillips, Homer Bailey certainly
Speaker 1: figures to be a guy that could be a favorite there.
Speaker 1: One guy that we didn't spend a whole lot of
Speaker 1: time talking about last week is Francisco Cordero. Completely undersold him.
Speaker 2: Honestly, he's pretty good chance. Second in Red's history in saves.
Speaker 1: One hundred and fifty of them in a Red use.
Speaker 2: Danny Graves is number one in the Reds Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: Second in career saves with the Reds.
Speaker 1: Pretty good is his career era two hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: three games in Reds uniform, two point nine to six
Speaker 1: ERA out of the Reds bullpen. Not bad there either,
Speaker 1: I mean when he was a Red.
Speaker 2: Member of a Division champion team. He had forty saves
Speaker 2: that year.
Speaker 1: Led the Reds and saves four different years from two
Speaker 1: thousand and eight to twenty eleven. Had as many as
Speaker 1: forty saves in twenty ten, that's the fourth most in
Speaker 1: a single season in team history. I mean, this is
Speaker 1: a guy that certainly deserves a strong consideration.
Speaker 2: I mean, oh, he'll eventually get int your second a
Speaker 2: major category. Granted they back in the day, his position category,
Speaker 2: no doubt, it's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Eventually, it's gonna happen. So he is. You can argue
Speaker 1: he's one of the best Reds closers of all time.
Speaker 1: Well second Red's history, fifty of them. So yeah, he
Speaker 1: was top five of the National League and saves a
Speaker 1: few times as well, Actually more than a few, I
Speaker 1: don't know. Yeah, you gotta give that guy a strong consideration.
Speaker 1: An All Star in two thousand and nine and that
Speaker 1: year he had the forty saves. He was a closer
Speaker 1: on a National League Central Division championship Reds team in
Speaker 1: twenty ten, So Francisco Francisco Cordero certainly deserves strong consideration.
Speaker 1: While you do your voting, out there. Who's somebody else
Speaker 1: that kind of stands out to you on this list
Speaker 1: that you think maybe.
Speaker 2: They should deserve a longer look. Well, the Roland one
Speaker 2: is tough for me just because it was he was
Speaker 2: here such a short amount of time. But he fits
Speaker 2: the criteria he does of the Reds Hall of Fame
Speaker 2: and Museum, and he was You can break down the
Speaker 2: numbers all you want, the accolades and the gold gloves
Speaker 2: he was. If someone said, all who was the heart
Speaker 2: and soul of that team, the one that went through
Speaker 2: the playoffs in twenty ten, twelve, all that.
Speaker 1: Group, it's Roland.
Speaker 2: When he came in here, he changed the culture. Well,
Speaker 2: I mean, so it goes a lot more than the
Speaker 2: stats with him, But I don't know if the voting
Speaker 2: will take that into account. So he's an interesting case
Speaker 2: for me.
Speaker 1: You'd be a perfect person to ask, because you know,
Speaker 1: you look at those teams. They were good teams you
Speaker 1: just look at look at the Rosters, but they couldn't
Speaker 1: get over the hump until Scott Rowland got there. So
Speaker 1: I ask you this, do you do you genuinely believe
Speaker 1: the Reds would have ever got over the hump and
Speaker 1: won those two division titles in twenty ten and twenty twelve.
Speaker 1: If Scott Roland didn't come over.
Speaker 2: It's hard for me to say that it wouldn't have happened.
Speaker 2: In twenty twelve. They had five good starters that made
Speaker 2: every start outside of a doubleheader, which someone had to
Speaker 2: come up and make that one start, and they were good.
Speaker 2: They were good. That was a really good rotation. So
Speaker 2: I can't say, you know that they wouldn't have But man,
Speaker 2: did he really he was the He was the exclamation point.
Speaker 1: He was kind of the final piece of the puzzle. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's it's tough to say. I when you
Speaker 1: look at a guy and his value to a particular team,
Speaker 1: if you guys were more valuable to their team than
Speaker 1: what Scott Roland meant to those Red.
Speaker 2: Seas and he's I mean, he's he's going down as
Speaker 2: a cardinal, right, So that's where I think people were
Speaker 2: probably cringing out there. That's probably the cringe. I'll say it.
Speaker 2: That's probably the cri for rolling. He's known as a cardinal. Okay,
Speaker 2: he played in the Reds on the back end, albeit
Speaker 2: successfully on the back end of his career and winning
Speaker 2: as a cardinal you know, as a as a Reds fan,
Speaker 2: can you stomach putting a player in the Reds Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame?
Speaker 1: That is in the Cardinals Hall of Fame and that
Speaker 1: is in the Major League Baseball lines the Elephant.
Speaker 2: That's tough.
Speaker 1: That's tough. Phone lines open five, one, three, seven, four nine,
Speaker 1: the Big One. If you want to chat with us.
Speaker 1: We got a little time to take your calls when
Speaker 1: we come back and wrap up the show next on
Speaker 1: the Reds Radio Network. Welcome back in to the Budwiser
Speaker 1: Reds Hot Stove League presented by UDF Wrapping things up
Speaker 1: here at that MGM sportsbook inside Tom's watch Bar down
Speaker 1: here at the Banks. Twenty twenty six single game tickets
Speaker 1: are on sale now and for a limited time, you
Speaker 1: can purchase your tickets with no fees euro fees. Pick
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Speaker 1: offer ends soon, so get on it at reds dot com.
Speaker 1: Big thanks to Nick Crawl for joining us today on
Speaker 1: the hot stove. He talked a little bit about Ellie,
Speaker 1: and again the organization seems very reluctant to move him
Speaker 1: off shortstop. I will say this about that, if he
Speaker 1: continues to make errors at the rate that he has
Speaker 1: the last two seasons, you gotta consider it. And even
Speaker 1: if it, if it gets to a point where he's
Speaker 1: making X number of errors by June first, then you
Speaker 1: kind of tell him you put the ball in his court. Hey, look,
Speaker 1: we're gonna give you another chance to play short but
Speaker 1: this is it. You've got to prove that you're better
Speaker 1: if you If we don't see the progress by this date,
Speaker 1: then then you have it out there. Then you say,
Speaker 1: all right, now we're gonna start exploring another spot for you.
Speaker 1: Because I'm still convinced and until I'm proven otherwise, that
Speaker 1: he would make an elite center fielder ague in Major
Speaker 1: League Baseball.
Speaker 2: Well, that's been my point for years. I mean I've
Speaker 2: been on record for several years. This is before all
Speaker 2: the airs happened that in center field. And this is
Speaker 2: just my opinion for someone that watches thousands of baseball games.
Speaker 2: For it seems like a thousand years now and probably
Speaker 2: a thousand years for the people that are listening. He
Speaker 2: can be a good shortstop. I believe he can be a.
Speaker 1: Great center fielder.
Speaker 2: He can be serviceable at shortstop, make great plays, and
Speaker 2: be a difference maker when he's turn into his arm
Speaker 2: as a difference maker. But he can be a difference
Speaker 2: maker in centerfield, like like completely take over the game
Speaker 2: like difference makers. So where I was going with that,
Speaker 2: he's going to be a good for where you put him,
Speaker 2: he will be better. And he talked about hurt way
Speaker 2: more than we let on. He would not go in
Speaker 2: the training room, he would not tell people that he
Speaker 2: was hurt. He didn't want to discuss it. And there
Speaker 2: are certain things that we know behind the scenes that
Speaker 2: we don't talk about either. He had a partially torn
Speaker 2: quad that we didn't talk about. That's tough to play through.
Speaker 2: That's tough to play shortstop when you're especially when you're
Speaker 2: starting and stopping. So I'm gonna give him a little
Speaker 2: break on that. But I do think they need to
Speaker 2: keep him healthy and they need to keep him fresh.
Speaker 2: I think that if he's going to be to shortstop,
Speaker 2: you've got to find a way to keep him fresh.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And I'm not trying to say that he can't
Speaker 1: be a good major league shortstop. I want to believe
Speaker 1: that he can because I think he can be a
Speaker 1: game changer short But he's got to prove that he
Speaker 1: can clean up the air. I mean some of the
Speaker 1: airs he made down the stretch for costly airs.
Speaker 2: Well, there were routine plays. That's that's the frustrating part.
Speaker 2: He'll make those spectacular play, but then the routine ones
Speaker 2: get away from him. And I didn't play the game
Speaker 2: at that level, but those that did say that that's
Speaker 2: a lapse in concentration when that happens. It's not a
Speaker 2: physical thing with him, although I will say he is
Speaker 2: the king bad bounce. He got some bad bounces. You
Speaker 2: can talk about all you want. There are bad bounces
Speaker 2: that happen that stadium, across the street. It happens all
Speaker 2: the time, some stadiums more than others. So I'm willing
Speaker 2: to give a pass on all that. He's still a
Speaker 2: young player, but I think it affected his entire game.
Speaker 2: Last year, we saw his production at the plate go down.
Speaker 2: If that continues, then it is a problem.
Speaker 1: Albe Martine moved to the outfield and the bat came
Speaker 1: around like that. So I'm just.
Speaker 2: Saying, now, those guys are buds too.
Speaker 1: If you need a way to sell them. Some of
Speaker 1: the greatest players that have ever played the game were centerfielders,
Speaker 1: so I don't know. That's all the time we have
Speaker 1: for you today. Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed
Speaker 1: it big. Thanks again to Nick Crawl for stopping by,
Speaker 1: for Jim Day, for Davity arm Brewster, and our studio
Speaker 1: producer Joe Waddell. I'm Tommy throw thanks for listening. One
Speaker 1: more time. Official twenty twenty six Reds Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: Induction fan votes going on right now, presented by p NC,
Speaker 1: now open exclusively online castor velt vote help decide which
Speaker 1: Cincinnati's modern day greats will be enshrine into the Reds
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. Vote down, Reds Museum dot org. Goodnight,