Juan Soto & New York Mets CRUSH Cincinnati Reds’ NL Wild Card Dreams! | MLB Playoff Chase 2025
pizza. All right, Mike. Reds looking for their first lead of the night. They trail five to four in the bottom of the ninth against the New York Mets, looking to avoid dropping even further out of the wildcard race. For the Mets, they turned to Edwin Diaz, his 52nd appearance on the year, 6-2 with a 187 erra, striking out 81 across 53 innings. Saves 25 of 27. How we doing tonight, buddy? Oh man, we’re doing all right. This team showed some heart. Come back into it. This is uh season on the line right here is what it feels like. Uh and you’re going to have to do it against arguably the best closer in the game right now. So I guess the world is Chapman maybe now is the best has that mantle, but uh Diaz is pretty been pretty dang good. So gonna have to indeed gonna have to do something amazing here to uh hopefully lift the spirits of everybody watching. We appreciate everyone watching. KBrian Hayes starts it off with a single right back up the middle right over Edwin Diaz’s head. And the Reds have their leadoff hitter on base. Just such a breath of fresh air, man. Puts together good at bats. He had an at bat earlier this game where he was down 02 and he worked a walk. just man feels like a steal, you know, that we got getting him from Pittsburgh. Yep. That’ll bring up Matt Mlan who looks at ball one inside. Mlan for three on the day. Single and a run scored in the third. Two strikeouts. Extended his hit streak to eight earlier in the day as that one is up and in as well. 2 and0 now to the red second baseman. All right, that’s his that is Edwin Diaz’s his calling card. Can be wild. Very similar to his brother Lexus Diaz. Uh but unlike his brother, uh has is able to find it what seems like mid at bat sometimes. So, um, throws fast ball slider, but hopefully some of this wildness we can Reds can take advantage of. Throws a middle middle slider on that 20 for strike one and back up and inside. And that one is tipped by Mlan on the check swing. Homeplayed umpire on the call. Replay shows it definitively. Tipped off the bat. Two and two now. Oh man, that’s tough. Three and one is so different than two and two. Yep. Fredel on deck as Mlan fouls this one down the first baseline. I think we’re seeing slider away now. He’s been pounding him up and in. He been dropping the slider out. So Alvarez sets up outside. It is a fast ball right back up and in again. Doesn’t throw it to the spot at all. Fouled away again by Mlan. It’s that riding fast ball tailing inside on righty’s there. All right. Come on. The 22 is yet again inside full count. Oh, got out of the way of that one. Are is if you’re MLAN, do you just look slider here? He’s like he hasn’t thrown any fast balls. Hasn’t thrown a fast ball for a strike yet besides foul balls. You just sit slider and hope you can 32 is up and in. Ball four. Tying run at second base, winning run at first. All right, time for the top of the lineup to uh hold their weight today because they haven’t done it so far. Yep. We’ll get a pitching mound visit and I will close my door and be right back. Come on. I hope uh everyone who’s watching along is also getting loud getting loud in their in their bedroom or in their their uh basement pumping up the reds. Need all the help they can get. TJ Friedel so far in this game, one for four, doubled in the third. That was a line drive to left field that Brandon NMO decided to try to make a sliding grab at. It bounced over top of NMO, allowed Fredo to get to second and allowed Mlean to score. Oh no, McClean didn’t score on it because he had uh he had waited to see it get down. Fred squares to bunt, pulls it back. Oh, please don’t bunt. Please don’t bunt. showed it late. One of those bunt to hit situations where you know if you get out so be it. But if you, you know, if you move the runners in that situation and you now have the winning run at second base, it’s a different situation. But Fredo’s been swinging a decent bat. Did strike out in the fifth, ground out in the seventh. Yeah. At this point, two 0 though. You don’t get in the way of Diaz struggles right now. Nope. And that is down low for ball three. He has 14 pitches on the inning. Eight of them for balls. I don’t think you’re swinging here. The three 0 to Fredo looks at it up and away. Four pitch walk to the leadoff hitter. Now the question becomes, what do you do with Noel Vi Marte? Uh, what what the Reds do with Marte? Well, oh, I don’t think there’s really much of an option. You don’t have a left-handed belt on the bench at this point. I think you just uh No, I mean, you’re not going to bump with bases loaded. You just Marte is exactly who I want at the plate right now. Just had his walk-off. Has been, you know, has been over the past month our hottest hitter. 0 for four tonight. 0 for three, I apologize. Uh does have an RBI sack fly in the second. Swings at a slider out of the zone for strike one. Slider on the inside corner for strike two. Well, base is loaded, nobody out. Bottom of the ninth. Noelvie Marte at the plate. 02. Edwin Diaz on the mound. Base hit might win it for the Reds. Matt Mlan at second base. Just make contact. Just serve the ball out in right field. All right. All right. Good. Ball one down and out. Marte career with bases loaded. 267 one grand slam in 15 at bats. Mets have the infield playing tight. Looking for a ground ball force out at the plate as Marte looks down and out yet again. Ball two. I don’t know about you, but when I get nervous, I like to bounce my knees and I can’t do that. Shake my whole desk. Oh man, here we go. Alvarez gonna take some time. Check the pitch com. Of course. Boo. Boo. Oh, of course the pitch com doesn’t work. Yeah, how convenient. Oh my gosh, my guy is gassed and can’t throw a strike. I’m going to delay for 30 seconds while I pretend to fix my pitch count. Come on, Marte. Reset it here. Two and two. Bases loaded, nobody out. Edwin Diaz on the mound. Pitch number 20 coming. Noelvie Marte at the plate. The 2-2 is outside. Ball three. Full count. A walk ties it. Mike. Oh, got to bring it in. He’s got to He’s got to bring it in. I don’t think he’s thrown a fast ball for a strike still. So, you got to be watching slider. The full count is swung on and swung through. It was a slider. It was out of the zone. Marte swings at what could have been ball four. Oh man, we’re out number one. I mean, that’s I tell you what, Mike. Yeah, I mean, it’s tough. Full count. I mean, we just saw this issue last night with Jazz Chisum struck out on a full count. Bases uh I don’t think it was bases loaded necessarily, but uh full count, struck out looking on a pitch that was out of the zone. Just tough to take balls that are super close to the zone when you got a full count. Ellie de la Cruz stands in now and looks at strike number one. That’s got you I don’t know. You got to swing at that man. I don’t know. He is you go up look slider. You can’t can’t locate the fast ball. Yep. Speaking of which, fast ball outside one and one. Am I way ahead of you now? Uh you’re like maybe like a two seconds ahead of me. So, we’re fine. Potentially the first fast ball for a strike that Diaz has thrown all night. That one catches the bottom outside corner against Dea Cruz who stands in from the left-handed side of the plate. Can we just make contact, please? Just just just make contact. And here we go again. Another pitchcom delay. I think this is just I know he’s pitching to his cleat. He lost a cleat. One of his metal cleats broke or is loose. What is What in the world is happening? Yeah, the front metal cleat on his left shoe came off it looks like. Which I’m gonna be honest here, Mike. Like how do you even notice that? Like can we play baseball? What are we doing? These are Diaz will cleat. Yeah. Yeah. Diaz will completely change his cleats. Goes from the blue and orange to the black and orange now. Tell you what, he’s focused on anything but the right thing right now. That’s what it seems like to me, man. Here’s Ellie’s chance. This is Ellie’s chance to be the hero here. Yep. Ellie one for four. Had a broken bat single into the right side in the first. Ground out. Ground out strikeout. A chance here to be the hero as I do not disturb on my phone because I don’t want to be ruined. You think uh think they take those cleats and put them in a uh baseball card? They probably do. You might as well take it now. You’re not going to reuse that that shoe. You might as well throw it in a box of diamond icons in a giant relic. And even a shoe without the metal thing and be like, tr this was the game where the metal of course he gets warm-up pitches, too. And take some warm-up pitches. He’s already thrown 24 pitches this inning, not counting any warm-up pitches, obviously. And uh so he’s, you know, you’re thinking he’s got to be getting a little worn down now. Closers don’t typically throw this many pitches. Ellie now stands back in one two. The fast ball is outside. Two and two now to the Red’s shorts stop again. Base is loaded. A base hit will win it. Matt Mlan at second. A fly to third. the three, the 2, two, and Ellie just looks at a fast ball, thigh high right down the middle. Just a situation of looking for one thing and getting another. Knew Diaz had struggled to locate that fast ball and was expecting a slider. Expected the slider to fall out of the zone. It doesn’t. Instead, it is out number two. And Edwin Diaz will face Gavin Lux. Also has a walk-off this year. Lux looks at the first pitch, a fast ball outside. The righty Diaz against the lefty Lux. Not a bad matchup if you’re the Reds here with two outs. Lux puts the ball in play fairly often. He swings and hits it down the line. Foul. Wow. Gavin Lux just ahead of that slider. Hit it down the first baseline. Just foul. That would have won it for the Reds. The replay. That ball. Maybe a foot foul. Oh no. Wow man. One. The pitch way up and out. That fast ball is a struggle for Diaz tonight. Of course, the only one he throws in there is strike. Yep. All right. 2-1 now to Lux. The pitch swung on and grounded to the right side. Can the pitcher get over in time? He does. And Couna throws it to Diaz. The Reds load the bases in the ninth with nobody out and they can’t get the run across. Getting over deep in that hole and Diaz does his job and covers for the out. Tough break of your Gavin Lux, man. All right, Mike, let’s do a show. The bench to bench change in the air to deep field and def. Oh my god, can you believe it? Johnny B has tried it out. The Cincinnati Reds win the World Series in force rate. It was a sweep in the dirt. Ohio clock and won the game. That ball is fair. Cincinnati’s ahead. Two games to mount. Welcome Joe to Cincinnati. Adam Dun has done it again. Benzinger backing and calling. And the 1990 World Championship belongs to the Cincinnati Red. Marty. Yes. This is Adam from Milwaukee. Hey Adam, how you doing? I’m good. How are you? Okay, you think that a good player done up there with the bases loaded the outfield deep and around toward right in the 10 on the way to the plate. Swung on long drive right field and this one do their best and a high drive back into deep right field. Junior has just knocked the door down to the 500 scores winner. That ball had a family. And DA Cruz is Oh my goodness. Look at this kid run. My oh my. That is a triple. Then Mlan’s first big league bomb. Spencer Steer’s first big league hit is a home run to straightaway center field. Joey Botto again. The pitch. Botto swings high in the air right field. Yes, he pointed to the dugout to say I told you. That is Joey B’s 315th career. Go ahead, Revy. Only Johnny Bench had more as a Red. And I can’t tell you how much it means to play in front of everyone here in Cincinnati as a Red. What a gift. What a tremendous gift. So, thank you. Thank you. I think I can speak for all of Red’s country. Joey B, thank you. High five. Left center field. Racing back to BA. The Reds are National League Central Division champions. In the air, left center field. He is he red. Fin you believe it. Down the right field line for a three run home. Big day by Ramon Hernandez. Strike away and out away is Homer Bailey. Round ball to third. Frasier gloves throw to first and Homer Bing for the second time in his major league career. Are you kidding me? in the first half game in the air in the West. What an extreme beginning to career Bruce. Well, Mike, it was a pivotal pivotal matchup, pivotable pivotal series for the Reds. Unfortunately, unable to come away with the ninth inning rally. load the bases in the ninth with nobody out. But unfortunately, strikeout by Noelby Marte, strikeout by Ellie de la Cruz, and a tough ground out by Gavin Lux ends it for the Reds. They fall to the New York Mets five-4. Mike, this was a little bit of a heartbreaker. You got your hopes up there in the ninth. You, you know, the pitching staff did its job and kind of buckled down after a a tough start. I mean, this is one of those games that feels like as you look back on it now, like kind of feels like the Reds could have, should have, and needed to have this one. Yeah. Anytime you get bases loaded, nobody out on a guy who’s struggling to throw strikes, and you can’t push across even one run, it Yeah. I You can’t chalk that up to anything else other than a missed opportunity there. I you know, I’m sure we’ll get to it, but boy, that just really feels like a gut punch. It feels like a the kod on the end of the season. It just feels like everything that the Reds fans have been frustrated about, annoyed about, can’t stand comes to fruition there. And they can’t even make contact. They can’t even push the ball to try. And you know, Noelvi Marte grounds into a double play. We still score that run there and he can’t we just can’t do it. And it uh you know, it’s been something that we’ve struggled with all year and unfortunately comes back to bite us in the game that we probably needed most. And it’s pretty uh pretty sad, pretty frustrating. Absolutely. We’ll get into the ninth inning more and break it down for everybody that maybe didn’t see it. But first, let’s talk through the entire game. and give a little box score recap, Mike. Yeah, we got a box score recap brought to you, of course, by our fearless leader, Nick Kirby, who gets a well-deserved night off tonight. Um, but tonight was a must-win game for the Reds against the Mets. Five entering today five games back uh in the wild card race and in fact was a rematch of a game in July 20th where Andrew Abbott and David Peterson were actually both great. Uh but that would not be the case tonight. Top of the first, the Mets jumped on Abbott with Lindor walking. Sodto singling and then after a strike out of Alonzo, Mark Ventos drove in Lindor with a 55.3 mph dribbler to third base that Krian Hayes can only hope would go foul. And then after Juan Solo Sodto stole third, Brandon NMO hit a ball to deep center field and TJ Fredo brought it back into the park, robbing him and saying no no to NMO. But Togo uh Juanoto tagged and no to NMO. Huh. I like that one. Yeah, I wrote that when we were in better spirits for tonight. Uh Bud Sodtos tagged up and scored and made it uh two nothing. Then Fredo uh or and then Starling Marte hit a 65 mph bloop to score Vientos and that made it 3-0 in the first before the Reds even got to take it at bat. Abbott held the Mets scoreless in the second, but the Reds were sent down in by Peterson in the first two innings with just 17 pitches. And then in the third, Mark Ventos led off with a blast that Fredle couldn’t bring back, making it four- nothing and all seem lost at this point. But the Reds were able to claw one more back in the third with a single by the all of a sudden hot Matt Mlan and then a double by TJ Fredo and a sack fly by Noel Vi Marte to make it four to one. But backtoback doubles by Lindor and Sodto in the top of the fourth climb the lead back to four. And now it was the Red’s turn to social fight and to have a rally. Austin Hayes and Spencer Steer both had one out hits. And Tyler Stevenson, fresh off his rehab assignment, breaks his 0 for 17 slump in the big leagues and doubles to left, scoring. Hayes and Steer, making it five to three. And then Tyler Stevenson advanced to third on the throw, which was crucial because Kebran Hayes drove him in with a sack fly to leave it at 5 to four Mets. Then in the fifth, Abbott let two men reach with two outs and Connor Phillips had to enter the game in the bullpen and got a popup from Francisco Alvarez. That ended Abbott’s night and his line was four and two/3 innings, nine hits, five earned runs, one walk and five strikeouts. The Reds top of the order went quietly in the fifth and Connor Phillips remained in the game in the sixth where he walked Lindor and Sodto bringing up Alonzo with one out. But on a two- count kind of got a little bit of a gift as Alonzo grounded the ball to Ellie and he turned two with Matt Mlan and um Alonzo not really hustling the lumbering polar bear was just kind of walking down the line to end the threat. And then in the bottom of the sixth and Duhar had an 11 pitch at bat and then steer walked to chase Peterson but Ryan Stannic entered and struck out Stevenson looking. Keep Ryan Hayes walked but Matt Mlan struck out to leave the bases loaded. Both teams went quietly in the seventh and in the top of the eighth. Martinez allowed a single to the nine-hole hitter and then a walk to Lindor to bring up Sodto but after going down 3 got Sodo to ground out second base to end the threat. Bottom of the eighth. Lux had an infield hit but was left standing at first. And then Bean came in to pitch a perfect ninth inning. And that brought us to the bottom of the ninth where the Reds had one last chance for romance. Kebrian Hayes the probably the MVP of the last month and a half. Singled to right and then Matt Mlan and TJ Fredel both walked to load the bases with nobody out. But unfortunately Noelby Marte and Ellie de la Cruz can’t even make contact and both strike out. and Gavin Lux grounded out to second base on a good play by Luis Anel Akuna, but uh it sealed the Red’s fate for this 2025 season as the Reds lose five to four, falling six back of the wildard race, almost effectively putting them out of reach. And well, in case you didn’t get it there, we did not have a deep drive of the game in this one. So, we go all the way down to Daytona Beach where Alfredo Duno homerred for the 17th time on the season. This one out to left field to make it 3-3 in the top of the third. Win probability for Daytona. 50% an 11.7% increase. This one hit at 104.8 22° launch angle 341 ft off the bat. DSC is a leader in renewable commodities for bofuel production, specializing in used cooking oil collection, aggregation, and sales. Visit www.deepsouthcommodities.com for more information. Thanks as always to our friends at DSC. And look, Mike, I think we have to pick it up right there in the ninth inning and that blown opportunity for the Reds. You mentioned it in the box score recap, but we’ll run it down one more time. Key Brian Hayes starts the inning off with a hard-hit ball right back up the middle for a single and then backto back walks to Matt Mlan and TJ Fredel load the bases with nobody out. Unfortunately, Noelvie Marte and Ellie de la Cruz then strike out. De La Cruz was looking Marte of the swinging variety. And then Gavin Lux comes up with a chance to be the hero. Hits a ground ball to the right side. got past first baseman Pete Alonzo, but a nice play by Luis Analunia and a smart cover by Edwin Diaz gets it for out number three. Reds can’t score, can’t tie it up. It feels like for the last honestly like three weeks, the story of this Reds team has been missed opportunities. And we’ve talked about it a million times at this point, Mark. or Mike. So, I’m probably beating uh a dead horse over the head right now, but this this Red’s approach and this Red’s philosophy of stringing together enough hits to kind of put together this rally and not being able to hit the ball out of the park ever just feels like a death nail. And as much as we want to act like this is a great opportunity and yeah, we got the hit, but then you got gifted two bases uh with the walks, like realistically uh not to take anything away from Key Brian Hayes, as you mentioned, probably been the MVP of this team for the last month and a half, two months, I guess month plus, like this team has continually not been able to hit the ball out of Great American small. And it shows every single time. And you look at tonight and the amount of opportunities they had, it’s just not realistic in this day and age with baseball for you to be able to string together the types of hits that are needed. And feels like quite honestly, Mike, that they continually get your hopes up and they put themselves in situations to score. Um they had bases loaded in the sixth inning as well and didn’t score a run in that situation. And it’s just, you know, frustrating time and time again to have to watch this team threaten but not be able to push a run across this all across the board. Yeah. It’s I think part of the frustration is because you’d like to think that if you’re going to your focus and you the people that you’ve built your team around are not power hitters that they would be able to do something like get a runner over or maybe hit a ball to the outfield, you know, with bases loaded, nobody out. uh to potentially score the tying run. So I think that is the added frustration behind this where it’s like we have opportunities and opportunities that get squandered during the game where you know if we could just you know have a deep drive of the day. We could we you know we we’re not in we’re not in the situation that we do have. But then when we do get in the situation where it’s like we don’t need the home run, we just need contact. It’s like this is what you’ve been trying to mold our hitters into being able to do and they can’t get it done. Uh so I think that I think that adds insult to injury injury to what you know what you’re talking about is just like we can’t seem to have the best of what we would be expecting. It’s like either hit the ball out of the ballpark or you know try to place some some good small ball here and we can’t seem to do either. And that I think that aspect in and of itself is what is so frustrating to so many of the Reds fans because it’s just like you know how many times have we left a guy in third base with no with less than two outs. Uh you know it feels like I don’t I don’t know where I would look that stat up. Maybe somewhere on uh baseball reference I can do some digging but I would imagine the Reds are pretty high on that list of not being able to do that. So um you know that’s the frustration that I feel out of it. Yes. Do I wish they hit more home runs? Do I wish Ellie would have hit a home run in August? Yeah, I do. Do I wish that, you know, when we come up with a runner on and two outs, we can just, you know, scrape together a two-run inning by hitting one out of the ballpark? Yeah, I do. But in the situation that we find ourselves into, we can’t even take advantage of what we’re trying to, you know, what we’re trying to build being a, you know, a line drive hitting team. And and boy, that that that’s frustrating. That’s that’s what it just feels you just feel defeated because it’s like we can’t do either of these things. Well, yeah. If I’m reading this correctly, somewhat surprising if I’m being honest here, Mike, uh the Reds are 15th in Major League Baseball in runners left in scoring position per game. But that doesn’t necessarily account for their batting average, right? um because they’re not getting men in scoring position a whole lot. So, I guess that’s part of the part of the concern is obviously if you’re not getting guys in running in batting uh excuse me, if you’re not getting guys in scoring position, then of course you’re not going to leave a ton of guys on base, but the Reds so far this year in 2025, 3.45 men left in scoring position um on the year. And the Reds at this point in the season, at least according to Stat Muse, they are 12th in Major League Baseball with a 248 average with men in scoring position. So, maybe not as bad as we feel it sounds, but again, when you’re not getting as many opportunities as, you know, you’re you’re hoping for, um, you know, I think that’s that’s the tough part. And um you know when you do get those runners in scoring position then that’s when you you know kind of get to this position where you got to make things happen and the Reds continually don’t make things happen. And when you have the limited opportunities that the Reds have night in and night out to be able to get those guys in scoring positions when you don’t take advantage of it then it makes it extremely difficult to score. And obviously if you’re not going to hit the ball out of the park and you’re not going to get guys in scoring position a whole lot then you’re not going to score a whole lot of runs. Mike. Yeah. And yeah, it’s it’s just interesting because they’ve explained I feel like Nick Crawl has explained his he’s just like, “Hey, because of our small park, we want line drive hitters so we can kind of, you know, luck into some home runs, more home runs than we would if we had an expansive park.” Is is that’s his mindset. At what point does he just say, “Hey, this isn’t working.” When when do they change course? Is that something that they could do into 2026? Is that is that not something that Tito is going to allow under his watch or is it because it it feels like this was I I I feel like it was accentuated this year, but it felt like there was this was also an issue last year, too. So, you know, feels like an issue that potentially predated Tito and just kind of was accentuated once we brought this old school manager who still manages like 1996 uh into into the fold here. So, I guess my question is, is it too late to change course on here? We got we got evidence now that shows that it’s like maybe if we had the hitters to do it, we could get that way, but we don’t, you know, why don’t we try developing bringing in with free agents, uh, you know, people that can hit the ball out of the ballpark. Um, so at what point are they able to reverse course here? And is that do you even think that that’s a possibility? not as long as this leadership is in place, which is tough because we I talked about it last week. Like Tito Franka feels so opposite of what Nick Crawl is, right? And so you’ve got a front office who’s building a team a certain way and then you’ve got a manager who’s managing a different way and it just leads to to terrible situations like we’re seeing right now. And so if Terry is going to continue to have Chris Valica as his hitting coach and Chris Valleica is going to continue to preach that he wants to hit the ball on the ground and hit line drives, then no. I mean, nothing’s really going to change unless the players basically ignore the message, which isn’t going to really happen either. And you know the I’m going to bring it up later, but this Red’s team doesn’t have a ton, and by a ton, I mean any offensive free agents after this year. Austin Hayes is the only player on the entire offensive side of the ball scheduled to be a free agent this off season. And so you’re either talking about guys who have been at the major league level that aren’t going to be on the major league roster next year because you go out and sign guys or what they’re saying in the chat, they’re just going to run it back next year with basically the same roster minus Austin Hayes and you’re going to be stuck in the same situation. And the question is, do you trust Nick Crawl? Do you trust Terry Francona to go out and address this need of the offensive firepower that this team is very drastically missing? I mean, Ellie de la Cruz hasn’t hit a home run in 62 games now. Yeah. Uh, and Duhar, I think, is also a free agent, but, you know, at that point, it’s just like those are the same. To me, they’re interchangeable. You know, one hits lefties, one hits righties. They play left field marginally well. I guess Hayes had a pretty good play today, but yeah, I I’m with you. That’s still it’s still not much of a not you know unless they are willing to make some kind of wholesale changes that maybe like personnel-wise and I mean like that things like uh you know getting rid of somebody like maybe trading Spencer Steer or uh TJ Fredel something like that which may mix things up and allow for some some um you know some playing time which I which by the way I don’t expect them to do that but The only way that I think something like this changes unless they, you know, you know, do something crazy like that is if they are willing to, you know, admit that they were wrong, you know, and I I just I don’t see that that’s the case. It’s like you still have a chance to update. We we’ve seen teams turn around lack of power to power in in an offseason. like that’s that’s that’s something that nowadays in baseball with you know what we you know the technology that’s out there and you can turn that type of thing around but I think I’m with you I don’t I don’t see that happening with you know the lack of turnover you know and you know we we talk about go out and sign a big free agent you know part of the problem as well is that power is expensive right if you want power you are going to have to pay a pretty penny right uh that’s why Kyle Schber is going to be probably too expensive for the Reds. You know, that’s why Ta or Taycar Hernandez was too too expensive for the Reds. That’s why um uh the guy who um Anthony Santandere Yeah, Anthony Santandere was too expensive for the Reds. It’s because power is expensive. And so the Reds, if they’re sitting on this budget that they’re at, they, you know, they think, hey, we’re going to have to, you know, we’re going to build this using line drive and singles hitters and um and move accordingly. And I guess, you know, we’ve seen proof positive this year that that’s not good enough. That’s not going to be good enough to get you with the players that you have. That approach is not good enough to get you to the playoffs. So, um it’s pretty disappointing. Um because, you know, sometimes you can look and see, well, okay, this person’s getting well, getting better. It’s like we’ll get these back people back healthy and maybe we could do that. I I don’t know. I I just like we just you go into next year and hope that Matt Mlan and uh Ellie de la Cruz’s second half is they have a bounceback and go from there. And that that seems like that doesn’t seem like an awesome strategy going into it. So, you know, I understand why Red’s fans are not enthu enthused about next year even that much either because I don’t I don’t know. I don’t know how much of this changes. We we just kind of sit and watch the same thing over and over again. Yeah. I mean, we can look at some of the top offensive free agents that are expected to hit the market this off seasonason. Guys like Kyle Tucker are expected to get a deal north of $400 million this offseason. Certainly, the Reds are not going to be players in that. Alex Bregman plays third base. You’re certainly not going to expect to see that kind of a deal and especially for a guy who plays a position that you seem to be set at with KBrian Hayes. Obviously, Kyle Schwarber is the big question mark. Many people in this chat love to think that he’ll give the Reds a home team discount, but he’s going to hit 50 home runs this year and 150 RBI’s. And um the likelihood of him taking a deal with the Reds is certainly unlikely even if the Reds did decide to give an offer. And I think that’s the question that has to be asked of whether or not the Reds would even make an offer to that. Bo Bashette is unlikely to be a fit for the for the Reds given his position is shortstop. Pete Alonzo might make sense if you thought that you could afford him, but again, he’s going to opt out of a $24 million a year deal. So, I don’t necessarily know that that’s something that I would expect the Reds to be competitive in as you’re looking ahead to this off season. Cody Bellinger is going to be 30 and he’s in the second year of a three-year $80 million contract. So, if he’s going to opt out of $25 million in test free agency, he’s going to expect a deal between 25 and 30 plus million. So, the likelihood of the Reds signing him seems unlikely as well. And so now you have to start looking at the, you know, the lower level quote unquote free agents and who’s going to be available. And quite frankly, I just don’t know that there’s a fit that will make sense that the Reds are going to be willing to pay because yeah, I think all of us can sit here and act like it would be great for the Reds to go out and get Kyle Schwarper. I just don’t know that it’s realistic that he’s going to find a deal here in Cincinnati that makes sense for him to forego a deal anywhere else, whether that be in Philly or somewhere else. You know, you’re you’re you’re talking about guys like Gino Suarez, who again, you just went out and traded for KBrian Hayes, so unlikely that he would be a fit for you. Josh Naylor is a free agent from the Mariners. Uh maybe you feel like he’s a a fit. Um, there’s a a free agent from Tokyo, Munitaka Murakami, who’s expected to hit the MLB uh free agency, but he’s, you know, he’s a he’s a power he’s a power hitter. Um, I just don’t know if that I he he’s a little bit of a utility guy. First base, third base, and outfield. He’s your new Spencer Steer if you want to get rid of Spencer Steer. Um, you know, so I mean, the list goes on and on. Just the realist the realism in me is that you know the Reds and I’ve thrown this out before realistically the Reds might go out and sign Luisa Rise and call it a day. He he is at this point not necessarily a fit from what we’re talking about, but when you think about what the Reds are trying to do and what Chris Valco wants to build, Luis Arise is like the perfect leadoff hitter for this offense whether you like it or not. And so you’ve got Luis Arise, you’ve got then you look at Noel Vi Marte or Ellie de la Cruz batting in the two-hole or three hole even and then from there it’s anybody’s question. Um, nobody really knows. So, um, I don’t I don’t know. It’s uh it’s very interesting and uh a lot of questions to be answered this off season. Um, I have it on the back half, so I don’t want to get into the rest of this season just yet, Mike. But, um, there are a lot of questions for the remainder of this season and this off seasonason in terms of what this front office is going to do. And it all all stems from a philosophy that I don’t think is aligned from top to bottom of this organization. And I’ve said it before, I’ve said it a million times. If you’re not aligned from the top to bottom, there is zero chance of you being successful in the Major League Baseball. Yeah. I think that was, if you like look back at the history of the Reds, I think that was part of the issue pitching wise. And it took Derrick Johnson becoming the person who was in charge top to bottom pitching uh in charge of Red’s pitching to start to see a turnaround in what the Reds were able to do and produce on the major league level uh pitching wise. And we we’ve seen that come to fruition because, you know, all the way down to Arizona Complex leaving all the way up has the same philosophy for how Derrick Johnson wants to go about uh approaching pitching and that’s clearly not there hitting wise. Um and uh yeah, I’m with you. I It’s hard to see that there would be any um you know, any real sustained success if if you can’t get on the same page there. And it’s tough to think why they couldn’t see what happened with the pitching and how that alignment helped and how you couldn’t do, you know, why you wouldn’t want to try to do something as well hitting wise. So, I don’t know. It’s it’s tough. Another thing you read off all those free agents, I think one of those people were an outfielder. It was one outfielder and Schwarber doesn’t really count as an outfielder even though he could play outfield. He’s your DH and then a utility guy. Like all the other ones are infielders. It’s third baseman, first basement, places where we’re already got log jams and um yeah, it’s it’s just it’s unfortunate. So, I mean, obviously, you know, you talk about Luis Arise, I’m you know, I’m talk I’m thinking, you know, maybe they can go make some trades for outfielders or something like that, but um yeah, I don’t know. We we we I ventured too far off of uh off of this season, I think, for you know, tonight’s tonight’s um post game here. But it’s uh yeah, it’s just frustrating to see how offense can go out and um and just uh frankly be pretty disappointing for the majority of the year and and not make it feel like it’s going to get much better next year. Yeah. Um, here’s what I’m going to say and and I I pulled up a list from from Spo. So, you know, you look ahead to the free agency class from this year and you want to talk about outfielders specifically. There’s a couple names on here that might make sense, but they’re certainly not some of the top names. But, you know, we mentioned Cody Bellinger and take this number for what it’s worth, but Smrak assigns what they view as a market value AAV to all of these free agents, right? So they have Kyle Tucker at 41 million a year, Cody Bellinger at 30 million, Kyle Schwarber at 25 million. Then it goes to Lewis Robert. He’s got a club option for $20 million this year. They have his market value right around 22. Uh Jiren Durant, who I know uh many people love, has a club option for only $8 million. That’s going to get picked up by the Boston Red Sox without a question in my mind. Um Lordis Guriel Jr. has a player option for 13 million. you might see him test the water. Um, but that’s right around his market value and he seems to like being in Arizona. I think he just tore his ACL. Oh, did he tear his ACL? I didn’t see that. He just tore his ACL, too. So, well, that’s going to certainly affect his his value. And if if that’s the case, then he’s probably out for at least the first half of next year anyway. So, uh, take him off the list. Then you go into guys like Trent Gisham, um, who I don’t know that he really moves the needle for you. He’s expected to make in the 12 million range. Um, many people like Ryan O’Harn, he’s expected to make in the 11 to12 million range. So maybe his one makes sense. I like the idea of Mic Stressky. Uh, his market value is is in the 10 million range. I’d love to see him, but I don’t know if that makes sense or not for you. Um, kind of a lefty platoon guy though, right? To me, yeah, 100%. He’s Will Benson with less power. I guess maybe makes more contact, you know, which I don’t know the way things are going, maybe maybe that’s what they want. But yeah, I know I know the obviously the conversation is the ideal is a is a right-handed power bat, but I just went through that list and in terms of actual right-handed batters, you’re looking at Lewis Robert and everybody else, you know, it’s like Yeah. Yeah. Who Raone Lauraniano moved the needle for you? I don’t think so. No. Right. He’s got a half Yeah, I don’t Yeah, it’s going to be tough. It’s going to be tough. And uh I think that’s why a lot of Reds fans, you know, feel so down because it’s like it’s hard. Obviously, this season feeling over is is tough, but like the outlook doesn’t look great for the, you know, for the future either. Yeah. Do you want to read some of these super chats that we got in here? We got a couple of them. Well, yeah. Uh let’s let’s hold it for a second. We we’ll touch on the next couple topics real quick. I think they’ll be a little bit quicker, but um T Tyler Stevenson uh back in the lineup for the first time since August 15th. Um you know, he hit that that uh that double in the in the fourth. Uh pretty hard hit ball down the left field line. Um and then grounded out and and struck out. Um, I think if nothing else, just being honest, like having seen José Trevvinho catch for the last seemingly two and a half weeks non-stop with with no real end in sight and no rest for him. If nothing else, I’m excited for Trevvinho to be able to get some rest and and try to get him healthy. Again, Will Banfield did what he was asked to do, but doesn’t necessarily move the needle. So, you know, what does Tyler Stevenson being back in this lineup mean for you? Um, if anything at this point in the season, no, I think it it actually raises the floor for both of the catchers. I think if that, you know, before uh Stevenson got hurt, I think they were in a pretty good rhythm of who was playing when. And I think just not having to catch every day, we saw what it did to Trovinho, right? It it just like by the end it felt like he was running on fumes, especially how it was affecting him offensively. So, I think that, you know, ha having a good rhythm and and um getting each some time playing behind the plate is uh is going to be helpful in uh and hopefully raising their floor offensively. So, I you know, it’d be great obviously we’re looking for anything positive coming out of the end of this year. It would be great to see Tyler Stevenson who’s kind of been uh plagued with injuries this year, him to kind of settle in for a last good month here so that we can, you know, have a good taste in our mouth going into next year because with Trovinho signing that extension, it’s going to be Trevinho and Stevenson. I mean, barring a trade, but it’s going to be Stevenson and Trovinho again next year. So, you know, I’d like there to be some sort of, you know, we’re settling into a rhythm of how we can do these and how we can um, you know, use these guys to help get spell each other and give them each other rests. So, um, yeah, I think that that is a good thing and if we can avoid injury for the rest of the month, hope it would be great to see a uh, you know, a hot hitting Tyler Stevenson uh, finishing out the year and hopefully carrying it into next year. Yeah, I I think all of that is is a good point. I thought what was really what’s interesting to me at least and if you agree or not, I don’t know. But Tyler Stevenson made a rehab uh assignment, if I’m not mistaken, a total of one game and he hit a home run in that game, but he was not down on that rehab assignment very long. Pulling it up right now just to confirm. Um, three games. Apologize. Uh, nope. Two games. Two games. Uh, one of these days I’ll get my I’ll get my numbers right. Two games. Uh, on a rehab assignment. So, clearly uh he must feel good if he’s back. He was on a very long rehab assignment earlier in the year with his back injury. So, this thumb must be something that he felt like he could deal with. Uh, they talked about the uh the little guard that he built um for catching. But yeah, good to have him back. Certainly uh good to be able to spell uh Jose Trevino and if nothing else literally just another option so that Trevvinho which I think we saw in the last couple games Trovinho is certainly worn out and uh it was showing with the effort in certain situations. So um welcome back Tyler Stevenson and you know certainly glad he was able to get that double and score a run. Um, I did want to talk real quick about Sal Stewart and I think this plays into a little bit of a conversation on the back half. So, I don’t, you know, we’ll figure out how we uh how we address this in an appropriate manner, but he’s your number one prospect and you call him up and he’s now sat for back-to-back games, including tonight against a left-handed pitcher. What’s the point? Why is he even here if he’s just going to sit on the bench? I mean it. Aren’t there other options? If you’re just going to have to sit on the bench, wouldn’t you rather him be down in Louisville getting consistent at bats rather than sitting up here not doing anything? Yeah. Uh I completely agree. I you know, I touched on this during the pregame show. Um I think I understood why Tito did it because the places that he would be putting it. I’m not saying I agree with it, but I understood Tito’s thinking. He’s just like, you know, I want Steer’s glove at first and then the places that I could slot him in, whether it’s second base or third base or DH are, you know, we just have players that are have, you know, been pretty hot recently. And at this point, six games out or Yeah, six games out. I don’t even It’s just like I don’t I don’t care about that anymore. It’s just like we need to this guy needs to be back playing every day. Like they said when they called him up, too, which is also crazy. They said, “Oh, yeah, he’s playing every day.” And then he doesn’t play them every day. It’s just like, you know, with this season being pretty much a wash now, it’s like, I want to see South Stewart in the lineup every day, whether it’s and and maybe you use it to mix mix and match. Give give Hayes a day off. Give uh the other Hayes, Austin Hayes, a day off and let somebody play left field and have him DH. Or, you know, give Matt Mlan a day off. Give Spencer Steer a day. You can mix things. or maybe give Ellie a day off and move move to shortstop and put uh Stewart at second base. I think that you at this point we need to see what he’s got. We and it’s only going to I think benefit him for his uh development to play every day. And if you and if you’re going to be committed to not doing that, just send him back down. It’s just like with the season lost, let him get at bats because that’s what I think he, you know, I still think he can add to and and and produce in the major leagues. I don’t think anybody doubts that aspect of it. I just think now’s the chance. Now’s the chance with not meaningless, but not as meaningful games like get him in the lineup and let him do it and see what he can do because, you know, we we see what he can do and then he hits the ground running in spring training in 20ou in 2026. Then it’s like boom, now he’s now he’s found a spot for him and and we have to um you know, we’re gonna have somebody who’s got power that can really contribute to hopefully turning around an offense that was pretty mediocre this year. Yeah, absolutely. Look, South Stewart Stewart against left-handed pitching this year in the minors. 123 played appearances. He hit 311 with an OPS of 968, including 15 extra base hits. I I don’t really care where. I don’t care who, but he’s got to be in the lineup in that situation. And whether that means he’s playing first base for Spencer Seir, whether it means he’s playing second base for Matt Mlan, who you’re batting in the nine hole consistently at this point. And again, Matt Mlan’s been playing better baseball. He’s had an eightgame hitting streak now. Had a single and a run scored today, walked in the ninth. But you have to get this guy into the lineup if he’s going to be here. Otherwise, send him back down and bring up a left-handed bat or somebody else that fits into the platoon better for what you’re trying to do. Because bringing him up here and having him sit and do absolutely nothing at the major league level is going to do nothing but frustrate him and frustrate the rest of the team watching him sit there and do nothing. So, you know, I don’t I don’t know looking at the at the depth chart in the 40man roster who that is. And I think that’s part of the frustration is literally every man in the minor leagues that’s on the 40man roster is also a right-handed bat. So the question becomes, would you rather Sal Stewart be sitting there and not getting at bats or would you rather guys like CES, Blake Dunn, Reese Hines, or Ryan Valade be up here also not getting at bats? And for me, Ryan Valade’s not part of your future. Like yeah, he’s a fine baseball player, but there’s no expectation for him to be a major league contributor in the near-term future. So just bring him up and let him sit around. But I’d much rather the other guys spend the time at Triple A and Louisville working on getting better and trying to improve their game so that when we do need them down the road that they’re actually ready for this. And unfortunately at this point I don’t feel like um they’re utilizing him in in a way that makes sense to have back-to-back games off now for South Stewart. Yeah, I agree. I mean, we’re going to get to the point, too, like if we if we lose two out of three to the Mets, like I’m almost at the point where it’s just like, okay, put Steer back on put Steer on the IIL. He’s dealing with something and uh and I don’t even know if we need to see much more from Induar and Hayes. And it’s just like Platoon Benson and Hines, bring up CES, have him play first base, work in uh South Stewart where you need to, and let’s just let’s give let’s give an extended audition for some of these young guys. That’s I you know I that’s almost where I feel with the whole thing where it’s just like hey let’s you know if if we’re if we are punting on the rest of the year because we’re too far out of it. Let’s let’s see what they got. Let’s see what the young guys got and maybe one maybe two of them run with that opportunity and and can build on on what frankly what they’ve been mashing in Triple A. You know what I’m saying? uh Ben or uh Benson was before he came up, but Hines and Stewart and um and Blake Dunn and Blake Dunn are just are are mashing in Triple A. And at at that point, it’s just like, all right, well, how how much of that is real and how much is not? Um, I know we’ve we’ve already gotten an a look at Hayes and done, but I’d like to give them an extended uh maybe give them an extended look, something where it’s just like they don’t have to worry that if they go over for four, they’re not in the lineup tomorrow. They just say, “Okay, here you go. Um, compete for the rest of the year.” So, that’s that’s almost where I’m at uh with with it. Uh, but I definitely feel that, you know, the guys that are up here, the young guys that are up here, S aka Sal Stewart, find a way to put them in the lineup. I’m with you. Just I don’t care how you mix and match things. Get creative. Um, I know Ellie wants to play all 162, but like at this point, uh, maybe mix it up so that, you know, you can get some of these young guys in so that you can see what you got for the future. Yeah, South Stewart called up on September 1st. The Reds have played four games. Stewart started the first two, had a hit in each of those games. Uh did not start in the game on the third, was called on to pinch hit. Uh did not record a hit, and then obviously was not in the starting lineup again tonight. If you’re going to call up your number one prospect, at least in my eyes, the opportunity to give him opportunity at the major league level is what he’s there for. And if you’re not going to give him opportunities to to get at bats in the major league level regardless of how he performs, then what’s the point of having him up there? He’s either got to play every day or he’s got to go back to to Louisville uh and let him, you know, get consistent at bats down there because at this point, you know, at the end of the day, I think here’s here’s the main thing. You had to get him on the 40man because you needed him to be available for the playoffs if that was something that ended up happening. So, that’s all fine and dandy, but just being on the 40man roster doesn’t mean he has to be on the major league roster and be here and sit on the bench every single night. He either needs to be in the starting lineup 75 plus% of the time, if not more, or he needs to be in Louisville where he’s starting every single night. And uh right now at least, the Reds are not doing that. And uh I’m not sure I completely understand why. Now’s a good time. We want to remind you that you can call or text 988 anytime, day or night. The 988 suicide and crisis lifeline is a place to get support for anything related to mental health. Whether it’s an immediate crisis, simply wanting to find out how to connect with care, or anything in between. It’s a 100% confidential, secure, and anonymous way to reach out for help when you don’t know where else to turn. To connect, call or text 988 or visit mantherapy.org to get help. It’s okay not to be okay. And Mike, as you mentioned before, we do have a number of super chats we got to get to. Uh we start with Noah Downing 499 super chat. I have a deep hatred for Mlan and the Reds. Not really sure why you have a deep hatred for MLAN. I can understand the hatred for the Reds right now though. Yeah. Uh, Mlan, while underperforming, I I mentioned I believe yesterday with Nick or two days ago with Nick, that I haven’t sold all my Matt Mlan stock. I think there’s still a productive uh baseball player in here. I think that in like in there one that can play some good defense and one that can you know maybe not be the two hitter that we thought he would be at the end of 2023 but be a contributor at the bottom of the lineup like we’ve seen for this past uh what do you say eight day eight game hitting streak you know it’s about a week that he’s starting to you know really start to get it we saw him hit a couple homers and all that kind of stuff so um yeah he’s been frustrating for the majority of the year it has been and people were calling for him to go down to Triple A. But I think that, you know, if we can see something positive out of him for the rest of the season, um I’m not, you know, the list of people that I’m frustrated with on the Reds, uh he wouldn’t quite be the near the top if we can see something good um out of him just because I think that I I still believe that he can bounce back. Yeah. Alex Banayas Harris, $2 super chat. Tito and staff ruined Ellie. Hope he retires. Well, um I don’t to say ruined feels like there’s a finality about a guy who’s 23 years old. Um do I think that this iteration of Ellie de la Cruz is what I want to see? Guy that hits singles and doesn’t run and hasn’t hit a home run in, you know, a month and a half. No, that’s not what I want to see. Now, Ruined to me feels like he’s never gonna be the same. I I I still similar to Matt Mlan, I still feel that that there’s still all kinds of talent that is left in there that we can still see and can win us a bunch of baseball games in Cincinnati. Now, uh this this this version of it is not what I think he can be. So, I you know, I’m not sure I’m not sure if it’s completely ruined him, but this year has been kind of a frustration, uh, especially in the second half of what he’s been able to or or the lack of what he’s been able to do. Yeah. Um, LLJw999 with a $10 super chat that I can’t put on screen due to children’s show regulations. Uh, but that was the cherry on top of the something cake. It’s probably not going to be much different next year unless we go and get someone fired. Chris or DJ? I don’t know that DJ’s got to go. I mean, the starting pitching staff’s been solid. The bullpen, which we’ll talk about on the back half, was really good again tonight. I don’t necessarily know that DJ needs to go, but certainly this approach and the idea of Chris Valas trying to implant right now into the start into the uh to the lineup doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. But um I don’t know that DJ’s on my list. No, I don’t think DJ would be on my list either. Uh I think if DJ’s gone, there’s a list of 15 teams looking to try to hire Derek Johnson. Um I think like I mentioned earlier, there’s been a change in philosophy and how they handle pitching and it’s led to the Reds showing that they can develop and bring pitchers up. whether it’s, you know, Hunter Green was at the beginning of that, but Andrew Abbott and Chase Burns and Rhett Louder and, you know, obviously those are high draft picks, but getting guys that have come in and shown success in the big leagues, to me, that’s that’s the how you judge that type of thing. Now, bullpen, uh, as of recently, I think has run out of gas, but overall, I can’t I don’t know how you can look at this season and pin it on the pitching. past couple games, I guess they’ve had some some poor starts. But, you know, our issue seems to really be, if anything with the pitching is just health, right? Keeping people healthy, but that’s not I don’t think that’s on DJ. Uh, and the issues for me mostly been offensive. Yeah. Justin Edgel’s been a member for 23 months. If Bell got fired last year, Frank Cona should this year. Well, um, that’s a compelling argument, but there’s there’s no way there’s no way that that’s happening. I mean, the only way that Terry Frankona is not the manager of the Reds next year is if he chooses to step away. There’s no I I don’t think there’s any way that that they fire him. I don’t know if you agree with that, but that’s I I think the Reds have to be sincerely hoping for Terry Francona to realize he needs to be re-retired and to step away because they’re not going to they’re not going to fire him. He’s got two years left on the contract that I believe pays him $8 million a year. They’ve already fired David Bell. I find it hard to believe that they’re going to fire Terry Francona as well, but maybe he realizes that he needs to step away again. And uh I don’t think it would be the worst thing if I’m being honest. Ellie seems to take called third strikes a lot. Not okay. Mike Dean with a $2 super chat. And I’ve I’ve given my opinion on this, Mike. I think that Ellie is in a a mode right now where he’s just overthinking everything. I think he’s trying to guess along with the pitcher. And quite frankly, he’s not guessing very well. Um, we saw it again tonight obviously in that final ninth inning where he struck out looking on a fast ball that was right down the middle. Um, I just think it’s a situation where me and you both we watched Edwin Diaz and we saw that he hadn’t been throwing fast balls for a strike. We expected him to try to go back to that slider to get Ellie to strike out in that situation. And instead he drops a 99 mph fast ball um that didn’t move out of the zone at all and Ellie’s stuck looking at it. And I think it a lot of it comes down to trusting yourself. I don’t know that he’s trusting himself and being able to just read the pitch in the moment and react to it. And um instead he’s trying to guess and it’s left him kind of in that situation where he’s looking at a strike three a lot. And it was happening a lot at the beginning of the year, Mike, where he was striking out on balls on the inside part of the plate because he was expecting them to continue to move inside and even like hit him where he was moving out of the way on balls that were very clearly strikes. Um, I just think that he’s in a position right now where he’s not guessing along with the pitchers very well. And quite frankly, he’s too good of a player to really be trying to do that at this point. I think you just trust your hands, trust your instincts. and um try to pick up the ball out of the hand of the pitcher as well as you can and react to that rather than trying to um to guess and understand what the pitcher is thinking and know where he’s going to go. Yeah. To me, he looks like a guy who’s pressing and but this is going to sound weird, but he looks like a guy that’s trying to strike out less is what he looks like. He looks like somebody who’s really he’s heard the hey this guy, you know, whether it’s heard the noise or just, you know, realizes by looking at his numbers is like this is a guy in the past that has struck out a bunch and he’s actively trying to bring down his strikeout percentage, which it that’s what it seems like to me. And then in the process, you can get really in between, you know, looking for this pitch and and and you want to try to think along with the pitcher and stuff like that. But I think you can get too in your head and two pressing too much trying to do that. And that’s what it looks like to me. You know, I’m with you. I think he has take had a lot of called third strikes, especially it feels like in in in big situations. Obviously, we remember the big situations far more than we remember the the the ones that were in lower leverage. But yeah, it’s it it is it is tough. It is frustrating. He looks like a guy in between. hopefully that and I just I I mentioned earlier I just I just want Ellie to get back to being that free free swinging hitter, you know, the guy who’s a joy like loving being able to you just hit bombs and is and open up around the bases and and and run and it just feels like that may be take away the hitting approach like that aspect is something that seems to, you know, just be absent a little bit here. And maybe that’s because he’s struggling. And maybe that’s because, you know, uh, you have a certain manager that doesn’t, you know, that’s actively being like, “We’re not running as much or we’re not, you know, I I, you know, I want you to try to get the runner over.” You know, there there’s there’s I I don’t know. It’s hard to place blame on on what what that is, but yeah, it is it is unfortunate. And and if you’re going to have a guy, you know, you want this guy to be your superstar, striking out, looking in big spots, boy, that’s tough to watch. I I’m in, like I said earlier, I’m in no way uh giving up on Ellie. I still think that there are still great things to come in Red’s uniform, but yeah, this year, especially in the second half, uh feels like it’s been a disappointment from what we’ve been able to get out of Ellie. Yeah, without a doubt. Ned Flanders with a $5 super chat. We were told Tito would hold players accountable. I guess that means we start with South Stewart. Hope he’s learned his lesson. Flanders classic man. Oh, Ned. Yeah, we need a smile about Yeah. And I brought a smile. I don’t know that Tito’s held a single guy accountable uh at least publicly. Um, doesn’t mean that he hasn’t behind the scenes, but yeah, for all that all that talk about holding guys accountable, all he’s done is bench Will Benson for hitting the ball hard and bench Sal Stewart now for going two for his first eight. Yeah, that was what I was going to say. You know, Benson looking at that that triple a little bit too long. Got him benched and sent right back down to TripleA. I don’t know if you call that accountability, but um yeah, I I don’t I don’t think I actually don’t think S Stewart was benched because he wasn’t doing well. I think he he genuinely was just like, “Hey, I’m falling back to what I I prefer and feel comfortable in that is, you know, playing for defense and not for offensive upside.” And that’s why Steer was in the game. And we see how that has worked its way out. don’t really need a whole lot of defense when guys are hitting the ball out of the park like the Blue Jays were. Uh Josh Codle with a $10 super chat. No message in there, but appreciate you, Josh. Thanks, Josh. And then, uh Mike, I see your second super chat, but I’m going to hold it and we’ll get to it in just a couple minutes. But first, Mike, we got to talk about Andrew Abbott. Um rough night again tonight for uh the Red’s lefty. Final line on this evening. four and two/3 innings pitched, nine hits, five runs, all of them earned, one walk, five strikeouts did give up the one home run to the Mets. Um, that one off the bat of uh Mark Ventos in the third inning. Look, I mean, it’s tough because part of me wants to immediately turn to the struggles that Andrew Abbott has had late in the season over the last couple years and wants to, you know, immediately go back to that’s the same struggles that he’s falling into now. Um, I don’t know if that’s the case or not. I mean, it felt like tonight there were a lot of balls that fell in there that weren’t necessarily hard hit balls. Um, which has always been kind of his his thing. He doesn’t necessarily give up a ton of hard hit balls, but just balls seemed to find their way to find grass tonight. Um there were definitely hard hit balls as well. So I don’t want to downplay that. But um ultimately I think the conversation is going to be asked in terms of what what needs to be done for Andrew Abbott at this point. And um I don’t know the answer, but you look at his career and you know May over the course of his career he’s got a 1.87 erra. In June it’s 2.33. In July even it’s 3.26. But then in August it balloons up 5.28 and then in September and October and limited outings obviously 6.10 one zero erra and you know I I have thoughts on this obviously um but you know you look at at Abbott over the course of of this of August and this isn’t even counting tonight but you know he was 0 and4 in August with a 4.45 four five erra um in 30 innings pitch. Reds were one and four in his starts. Um gave up earned runs of 430 six and two and then obviously tonight gave up five. Um I won’t jump ahead. Just let’s start with Andrew Abbott tonight and your thoughts on Andrew Rabbit in general. Yeah, I it’s hard for us to say come in here and say, “Oh, this is absolutely him just wearing down like he does every every year that he’s shown in the big leagues.” You know, there’s I think there’s levels to all of that. I mean, he’s he still had a no earned run outing in there as well. And then he had that was it the one where he went into the eighth against the Phillies as well. I guess that was a little bit further back. But, um, yeah, it is it is tough because we’ve leaned on him so much this year, just like, oh, he’s our stopper. He’ll get it done for us. And don’t get me wrong, this this Mets lineup is also very good. I I think it’s it may the the hiccup with starting pitching with the Reds recently, I think, is both, you know, we have guys kind of running running on empty near the end, but I think also we just faced some really good offenses as well. you know, Arizona, the Dodgers, the Blue Jays, the Mets, all, you know, very good offenses. So, I think there’s that level of it as well. But, um, yeah, it’s hard not to see what’s happening. Obviously, it happened a little bit sooner last year. So you like to think maybe there was some progression here that you know he was able to build up and then next year because you know we go into a year trying to go to the playoffs and if you you know you you’re going to need somebody like an Andrew Abbott basically pitching you not only to get there but pitching good innings in the playoffs. And so I think there needs to be obviously overall this year for Andrew Abbott is a a huge success. Like he was an all-star. He pitched extremely well before the break and even after the break, he pitched well as well. But you know, you got to wonder. It’s just like how do you work it so that this staff can not only have it in September, but then if you’re going to do anything in October, you need them. you need th this team’s gonna need the starting rotation to do that too. So I don’t you know I don’t know what the answer is for Andrew Abbott. Hopefully he just continues to build on this year and we’ll be able to make it to the end of the year next year. Um so I guess you know maybe that’s your solution for this specific thing. But it’s hard to look at what’s going on and be like maybe there’s some fatigue here. Maybe it’s just, you know, a guy that is starting to run on empty, which is unfortunate uh for a guy that’s pitched so well earlier in the year and um you know, I think still has under a three RA even with those starts that you were talking about. Like it still pitched so well. Um yeah, so his RA after tonight sits at 2.88. He came into today already in a careerhigh in innings pitched at 139 innings. Um last year he pitched 138 innings. So, uh, now on the season sitting at 143 and 2/3 innings pitched a 2.88 erra. His record sits at 8 and6. But again, when you look at the last four games in an ERA approaching five, he’s 0 and5 in his last seven starts. Um, you know, not not necessarily getting it done the way that he had been. Um, so my question to you, and and maybe this isn’t much of a question as much as it a statement, but Chase Burns is ready to come back, and I don’t I don’t care what anybody says, he’s ready. Does Andrew Abbott get one of those quote unquote arm fatigue IIL stints? Let Chase Burns take a couple starts, and then they figure out what to do with him in in two and a half weeks. You’ve got an opportunity to kind of evaluate where Zack Latell is at at that point. You’ve got an opportunity to evaluate how Chase Burns performs over those uh three or so starts during that time period. Um realistically, you could get Andrew Abbott to the end of the year or close to the end of the year with that IIL stent. Um and he could just go on a rehab to to Louisville and just not pitch in the majors again this year. Um if you do decide you want him to throw at all. But Chase Burns obviously looked decent in his uh live BP the other day when they put him in there. Um seems like maybe an opportunity for Chase Burns to to get another shot at this starting rotation and give Andrew Abbott a well-deserved rest. Yeah, I to be honest, I don’t think Chase Burns gets more than one one or maybe two starts in the bigs to end this season. I think that he was probably nearing his his innings limit anyway. I they’ve never announced what it is, but they clearly have some cap that they I don’t know if it’s like a hard cap or something like that, but um I guess I my guess is that I I don’t know, maybe one more start for Chase Burns. Um just because they’re trying to manage his innings. That would be my guess. I don’t know. I’m not necessarily agree with that. I think that this would be the perfect time to let this guy after getting some after getting some uh, you know, time off and and and nipping whatever may have been an issue in his uh in his elbow, nipping that in the bud and making it sound good and getting getting a good start to end the year. So, that’s my guess is that’s what they’re going to do. Um, now maybe they skip a start or two. Uh, another thing that they could do is kind of just play basically bring Martinez back, maybe skip Abbott or do one of these IIL stints, bring Martinez back into the starting rotation and then bring another guy up, uh, uh, Luis May or whoever into the bullpen, you know, as we’re just trying to give people shots for what we’re doing. So, I that’s another option that something they could do to try to stretch out. My question was gonna be, do you think that Abbott makes all of the starts that he would be, you know, slated to for the rest of the year? Do you think so? Do you don’t you don’t think so? If they, especially if they fall out of it, you think that they’re going to kind of pull back the reigns a little bit there? What’s the point at that, you know, at that point you especially if you fall out of it? He’s very clearly fatigued, at least in my eyes. Um, you know, I I I don’t imagine a world where he makes every start. That doesn’t mean that I’m right. But if I’m managing this team and I’m in this front office, I’m certainly thinking right now about even giving him a little bit of time off and letting him kind of rest up for for, you know, 15 days and see what happens from there. Um, you know, I I I would like to think that um that it is just fatigue, but you know, someone mentioned in the chat, too, it could just be something with, you know, hitters starting to better scout him and understand what he’s trying to do. I mean, his velocities were in line tonight with his season average. Um, you know, his fast ball even slightly above his season average. So, you I don’t know how much of it is fatigue, how much of it is just facing really good offenses like you like you mentioned. But, you know, I think Hunter Green’s gotten time off, Nicolola’s gotten time off. I don’t think there’s anything negative about giving Andrew Abbott some time off, even if it is unfortunate that it comes here down the stretch of a playoff run. Um, or what may have been left of a playoff run, I guess. Um, but no, if it if it’s me, I I don’t I don’t anticipate him making every start the rest of the season. Yeah, I I think I tend to agree with you. I think they’ll just kind of get creative with young guys. I don’t know how close Rhett Lauder is and maybe at this point it’s just like Yeah, I don’t think he’s considered a lost season. Yeah. So, it just But maybe maybe you just bring Chase Burns back and you go with a six-man rotation. I mean, there’s nothing stopping you from just spacing guys out better. I mean, yeah, you give them an extra day of rest every time out. I mean, that might be enough. Um, but I I don’t know. I We’re obviously you have to trust your players to give you honest feedback about how they’re feeling. And if Abbott says, “Yeah, I’m I’m worn down.” Then maybe you give him a couple weeks off. And if he says, “No, I feel good. They just, you know, they didn’t hit the ball hard tonight. They just uh fell into the to the right spots.” and unfortunately that meant that they scored more runs than we would have liked them to then then that’s a different story. But um you know when I look at guys hitting the ball 110.9 107 106.9 105.6 6 105.3 um and you look at the exit vos and the top five are all Mets then you know you start to get questioning and um unfortunately it just means that you know you got to evaluate kind of where things are and 10 hard hit balls 10 for Abbott today yep yeah 40 43.3% % hard hit percentage for the Red’s pitching staff today and the back end of the bullpen only gave up three total. So that tells you anything. Yeah. Uh speaking of the bullpen, Mike, I think we have to give credit where credit is due. Connor Phillips, Nick Martinez, and Amelio Pagan tonight. Four and a third innings of one hit, no run baseball. Um didn’t feel that clean. It didn’t feel that clean. But when you look at the box score and you kind of run it all down, you know, Connor Phillips comes in in the fifth, gets a strike out, gives up a single, then gets a 106 mph line out to Austin Hayes where Hayes kind of went full extension. Gives up an infield single before getting uh Francisco Alvarez to fly out to end the inning in the six. Uh gave up two walks but got the ground into a double play from Pete Alonzo to end the threat there. Nick Martinez uh worked a perfect seventh and then gave up a single and a walk in the eighth and then obviously Pagan worked a perfect ninth with two strikeouts. Um I for for a unit that has at least felt like it has struggled over the last week or two. Um, it was good to see them get back on track and obviously Alio Pagan as your closer being able to come in and and work a perfect inning too, I think is is really good for kind of this stretch run here. Yeah, I I agree. I think it was interesting too because that uh the the Connor Phillips, what is it the seventh inning that he that he was in or I guess it was the sixth Connor Phillips the sixth inning. He obviously came and got Francisco Alvarez, but man, it looked like like he got the two outs, but then he or he got the out, but then he walked Lindor and Sodto and uh I thought there was a good there was a good mound visit there because it was just one of those things that he he kind of looked like the moment was getting to him a little bit. Um well and he had that throwing error on the pickoff attempt on Lindor that allowed him to get the second two but then you know bowed up and even on a two- pitch was able to get that ground ball double play from Alonzo and and you know it from a spot where it looked like the moment might be too big for him he was able to get out of it and I think you know I think that only does that only that’s only positive for his confidence showing that it’s like hey man I can get good players in the major leagues out with my stuff. uh I don’t need to nibble. I can I can attack them and they can make outs. So hopefully that’s just something that Connor Phillips can can build upon. I think he’s been pretty good. Uh I’d say there’d be pretty positive for what he’s shown so far since being called back up. Um you know, and if he can be somebody that you know is can be you we can be relied on not to walk people and maybe r start rising to that moment against some of these uh top hitters. Man, that’s that’s a great addition to the bullpen. And then obviously Nick Martinez comes and gets two innings, you know, walked a few people and but then got Juan Stoodto uh to, you know, worked back from 3 0 to get Wanoto to ground out to second base. So it’s uh you know, we kind of had the bend but don’t break uh scenarios, but when faced with some of these tough at bats, the Reds won them. So, you know, it’s good to see the bullpen uh being able to hold in there and give ours give us a chance in the ninth. Um, but yeah, I I agree. It’s one thing I also mentioned I I started to mention, but just like see Amelia Bean pitch on on uh you know, a decent amount of rest and then you you see this with Santion too. I remember Santion like his first uh outing after the All-Star break. It just like these guys are good. they just feel like they’ve been overused. Um, you know, when when they have their stuff and they, you know, aren’t feeling like they’re running on fumes, I think those guys can be very good. Uh, but they just been seriously overused this year because they’ve kind of had to be due to the lack of faith of some of the back end, other people in the in the bullpen and the offense’s inability to, you know, really extend leads or or anything like that. So, uh, it’s just an unfortunate truth about this year that, you know, we’ve had some pretty good bullpen people, but have kind of been mired in some some overuse, I think, by the end of the year. Yeah, I think that’s a good point. All right, but that leads us to now what, Mike. And as we sit here at 11:00 Eastern time on on Friday night, Reds officially fallen to ninth in the NL. Uh they have now the Giants and about to be the Diamondbacks between them and the final uh wildcard spot. Those Diamondbacks are currently leading uh the Boston Red Sox 5 to1 in the top of the fourth in Arizona. Uh as it stands right now, Reds and Diamondbacks in a virtual tie at 70 and 71, but again a 5-1 lead over the Red Sox there in the fourth. Uh the San Francisco Giants have a two-game lead over the Reds and uh the Diamondbacks then would have a halfame lead over them as well. And then of course the St. Louis Cardinals only a half a game back of the Cincinnati Reds at this point as well. Is there still hope? Is it time to start thinking about the future? And to get to Mike’s uh super chat from earlier, who from TripleA would you call up for a look now if not for Sal Stewart? Yeah, I I I I don’t know. It seems pretty bleak. I think we’ve talked about it, touched about it earlier here. I think I think the time’s now to start seeing what you got in the in Triple A. Um, so I guess I I mentioned earlier I put I think this is this is how I would I would approach things. First, South Stewart’s playing every day. I don’t care where he plays. I don’t care how you get him in the lineup, who you got to give a rest. I’m every day. South Stewart, show me what you got, kid. You’re the number one prospect. You You’ve hit everywhere you’ve been. Let’s see if you can do it in the big leagues. Then I think I’m probably putting Steer on the IIL and maybe bringing CES up. Uh see if we can get some uh something there. And then um you know, Reese Hines, Blake Dunn, also two people that I would uh you know, would like to see extended. Obviously, we saw some of Blake Dunn and we’ve seen the highs of Reese Hines as well, but I think Blake Dunn and they’ve just really torn the cover off the ball and in Triple A and there’s only there’s only so much that you know you could do holding these guys back. So whether that means you know you IN Duhar at this point and Duhar and Hayes unless you’re trying to bring it in and Duhar back which maybe you can convince me that it’s a possibility. It’s just like Hayes is not going to be a part of this year of next year’s team. Austin Hayes that is just like I don’t I don’t need to see any more of that. Let’s let’s get somebody out there that you know from Triple A whether it’s uh Dunn or Hines to you know play maybe platoon with Benson out in left field and uh let’s let’s go to the end of the year and see hey uh what can we do? What what can we have? Let’s Let’s give some of these guys some runway, a good chance to prove whether they got it or not. I don’t know. Do you have any Do you have any thoughts on on people you’d like to see? I I mean, I don’t think people are going to like my answer. I Here’s my here’s my challenge, Mike, is that you have to figure out I first and foremost, I still think that the window is open for this team to be competitive. like the starting pitching is still going to be there next year, there’s still an opportunity in my eyes for this team to be a playoff contender next year. And so you have to figure out who’s going to be a part of that because if Spencer Steer is going to be a part of that and I have no reason to believe that he won’t be, then it’s hard for me to sit him down and say that you’re not going to play. Now Austin Hayes, I’m totally behind. That’s an easy one. You Blake Dunn or or Ree Hines can play most days in in left field. Um, that’s fine. But you’re, you know, when you talk about Sal Stewart, he’s gonna have to play first base. I think he’s your first baseman of the future if I’m being honest. Spencer Steer becomes kind of a utility guy in my eyes. Um, Sal Stewart becomes your first baseman, everyday first baseman moving forward. Um, so Spencer Steer is used along with Gavin Lux to move around and give guys days off, but uh, Sal Stewart is playing at first base most days. Um, you know, I’d like to see Will Benson get more opportunities. And if you’re talking about bringing up guys like uh Ree Hines and and Blake Dunn, well, Hayes is going to sit down. That’s easy. But are you going to sit TJ Fedel? Is he part of your future? I I don’t know. Um, he’s 30 years old as it is, but you know, he’s he’s under team control still for a while and um at least gives you something. Um, but that doesn’t mean that Blake Dutton can’t give you more. Um, I know I’m being a little non-committal here, but like I I think it’s really hard when quite frankly this team is seemingly riddled with quad A guys. Um, and do I want to spend time letting guys who are currently on my major league roster trying to continue to develop or do I want to bring up some of these guys who may or may not be quad A and see what they can do for the for the next couple weeks. And um you know I I think I think realistically as I laugh at WTI traders comment in the chat about being undecided um I I think there’s very few if I’m being honest I think there’s very few at bats left for Austin Hayes in this year if it’s me. Um I think he’s probably uh not part of the future as you mentioned. So that opens up a spot in left field for uh one of those guys. um along with Will Benson, but Noelvie Marte has to play every day in right field in order to continue to to progress. So if you’re looking across the outfield in terms of your defensive alignment in your future, obviously you’ve got Blake Dunn or Reese Hines out in left field, you’ve got to make a decision of whether TJ Fredel is your center fielder of the future. And if he is, then he continues to play. And if not, then you give Will Benson and Blake Dunn run there. Uh but Noel Marte has to play every single day in right field. Uh Kebran Hayes isn’t going anywhere. He’s your third baseman of the future, so he stays there. Ellie de la Cruz stays at shortstop every day. Matt Mlan maybe gets spelled every once in a while with Gavin Lux in a platoon style role. Um, but those two are kind of splitting time at second base most of the time. And then Sal Stewart’s playing most of the time at first base, which means Spencer Tier is, you know, maybe spelling some guys in the outfield who need a day off, but probably not playing a whole lot. And um you know that might be a tough pill for some people to swallow but at the end of the day when you look across this lineup at least in my eyes like there’s maybe maybe four guys I would say probably three guys who are like irreplaceable and should absolutely be playing every day that are currently playing every day and that’s Marte Ellie de la Cruz and Krian Hayes and then from there you figure it out. Um, I still believe Sal Stewart should be in that mix as an everyday first baseman, but um, yeah, it’s it’s not a great situation right now. And, um, unfortunately, I I look at Triple A personally at least, and I don’t know that there’s a whole lot of answers um, that I’m ready to commit to in 2026. Yeah, I I guess you’re right. I would what I name CES Hines and Blake Dunn have had some time up in the majors and have not not shown that they have done very well. Now, an argument could be made that wasn’t the greatest runway allowed to them to for success, right? Um, yep. Whether it’s extended at bats, whether it’s uh, you know, just basically the Tito special of the I guess the Will Benson special of just sitting on the bench and getting a at bat once a week or so. Um, so that I guess that’s kind of why I I’m with you. I we need to find out whether resigns Blake Dunn and CES are quad A guys or are contributors. You know what I mean? Uh I have my ideas on which ones are which. But like that’s that’s kind of why I feel like we need to do something to to just like figure that out because I’m I don’t know like I’m not willing to like I don’t want to give up on somebody like a CES who has had some unfortunate injuries and um you know has shown predigious power. You know, we’ve seen a turnaround from somebody like Noel Vi Marte in a year, right? But there’s also, you know, you start getting to a point where it’s just like if you if you can’t not swing, you know, you’re just never going to make it as a major league player because they’re just all you’re going to do is get chased out of the zone constantly. And if you do make contact, you’re just going to not hit the ball well, which is CS’s issue, right? So, it’s just like, is that something that he can improve upon? Is that something that he needs to improve upon in the majors that he could continue to work on in the minors? I I don’t know. I I agree with you that we have these players that really is starting to come up as like maybe these are quad A players and I just would really like to at the end of the season have a little bit better idea of who actually is that versus who is somebody that could potentially be a contributor on the next great red team. Yeah, I think the other piece here is that you got to think about Hector Rodriguez. He’s a guy who I think quite frankly has to be on your 40man roster come this off seasonason. He’s rule five eligible in December and I think you have to protect him at this point. Seems like a guy who’s going to be part of your your future. Um the rule five is going to be interesting, you know, coming up and figuring out who’s part of it and who isn’t. Uh who you protect. Um you know, Edwin Aoyo is eligible. Leo Balazar is eligible this year. Jay Allen II is eligible. all guys at Chattanooga who you look at them and you think, “God, those guys could be possible pieces in the future, but certainly not in 2025.” And so, what does that leave you with? And um I don’t I don’t know the answer. And you know, a majority of unfortunately a majority of your kind of highlevel prospects in terms of guys that you have faith in long term or think that you have faith in long term are outfielders. Um, and as I look up and down and I look at the guys who are are rule five eligible, a lot of them are exactly that. They’re, you know, 2025 rule five eligible and they’re outfielders that you think might be part of the the the answers, but like are you going to protect Edwin Aoyo this off season because he’s available? He’s rule five eligible and I don’t see a path for him to get to the major league roster next year. I I think part of it part of it though is you know along with the rule five you need to one get picked two then be on the major league roster for the entire rest of the year otherwise you’re sent back. So besides maybe Hector Rodriguez I would say would be the closest to it. I’m not obviously Edwin A Royal has the potential to it, but is not anywhere like there’s no major league team that is taking a double A shortstop and saying you get to sit on our bench the rest of the year just so we can keep you and maybe you know you develop into something. So there’s I think there’s I I know we I’m sure this will be an offseason discussion that we have about rule five eligibility and things like that, but um you know I I I would be surprised, you know, I I think Hector Rodriguez potentially does. I think maybe Ryan Valade is your easy one for one there. Um but uh those other ones that you expect that you mentioned, do I think they could turn into major leagues? Yes. Do I think that there’s, you know, a pathway to be losing them in the rule five draft? I feel a little less convinced about that. Sure, makes sense. Um, all right, got a couple more super chats to get to real quick. Josh Codle followed up his last super chat. The last super chat without comment was my small contribution. You guys have got me through a lot of lawnmowing and morning commute since 2023 as a podcast listener. Let’s go Mountaineers and Reds. Josh, we appreciate you tuning in every morning to the podcast and appreciate you tuning in tonight to the live show. Uh definitely been a a tough year and uh appreciate you listening all the way through. And then Noah Downing, $5 super chat. How much is Matt Mlan paying this podcast to run propaganda for him? Um, I think we were we were very quick to to throw shade at Matt Mlan when it was deserved, but he’s also got an eightgame hitting, excuse me, an eightgame hitting streak right now. He was on base twice tonight. Gave a good appat in the in the ninth to to get on base as the winning run. G had some nice defensive plays again tonight and has for for a while. I look, I’m as frustrated as anybody with Matt Mlan’s season and I don’t think anybody came into this year expecting him to be the Matt Mlan that he has been this year, especially after two years ago. But um you know coming back from a soldier surgery we’ve heard from plenty of experts who have said that this is a very difficult injury to come back from and it often take time takes a full year to come back from it and um so you know it’s tough because you know as a team who had playoff aspirations to to run Matt Mlan out there you know nearly every night for as long as they did that hurt their their playoff chances probably it really did and um you know but at the same time your your other options were Santiago Espanol and Gavin Lux. So, I similar situation to the conversation I had with Ellie uh last week where okay, let’s say you want to get Ellie out of shortstop and you want to give him days off or you want to give him uh move him to the center field or whatever. Like, then what? You’re moving Matt McClean to shortstop because how’s he been hitting this year? And then you’re moving Gavin Lux to second base along with Santiago Espanol. How’s that going to work out for you? like unfortunately and you know we’re going off on on rants and and sidebars here and everything else and I I apologize but it’s just who I am as a person. I can’t help it. But the construction of this team is terrible. And as much as there’s guys that I I like and and want to be part of the the future plans, like this team really has got to be you got to get a new GM in here and you just got to tear it down and start over, man. And um that’s really hard as a Reds fan to say out loud after giving the last 30 plus years of terrible baseball the attention that we’ve given it. But if we really do want to become an annual contender, unfortunately the answer right now is that you move on from Nick Crawl. You get a new GM in here and you tear this puppy down and really start from the ground up. And um I I don’t know that the the Red’s front office or the Red’s ownership are going to be willing to do that, but that’s where I’m at, Mike. Yeah. I to be honest, I think there’s a lot of people in the chat that agree with you. Um, yeah. It at this point, at what point do you just say, “Hey, let’s let’s scrub the decks and say we keep a couple people and I I mean players, maybe not necessarily uh front office people, and then we we start a fresh and we we we try to we try to do something else.” Uh, so I don’t know when it comes to Matt Mlan, I think two things can be true at once, right? I know I I just wanted to respond. I you I think that it’s it’s if you put up the things that maybe you’re most disappointed about from this year, I think Matt Mlan’s either one or two, right? Uh the his performance what would even be competitive with it. Exactly. Just because of his last of power. Like I think Matt Mlan is far and away the most disappointing part of the Red season so far this year. Exactly. And so I think that that can be true and we can still be encouraged that he can get back to his old ways or at least some close to not 75 WRC plus maybe like above 100 W wrc plus next year uh with you know it would be nice to be able to see some semblance of life. So I think two things can be true at once. Matt Mlan had a bad year. It was very disappointing. And when you look back at a season that was lost with a as great a starting pitching as he got, I think that’s, you know, one of the main reasons why they weren’t able to live up to the expectation, but he also can do well next year. So that’s that’s kind of where I stand with Mlan. I just I I want maybe I want it too much, but it’s just like I still believe that there is a good productive baseball player in there and we can uh hopefully we’ll able to get some of it next year. Now, if he doesn’t come out uh and produce next year, you know, South Stewart’s breathing down your neck and uh you know, maybe we haven’t maybe we have uh further discussion, but I you know, I still think I still believe in in Matt Mlan at least for next year. Yeah, we mentioned his eightame hitting streak. He’s hitting 385 during that time period. He’s got, you know, two home runs over the last eight games. OPS over 1,200 or right around 1,200 after tonight, I guess. Um, look, I I again, this show has not held back from from, you know, addressing the Matt Mlan issue, but um, we can also sit here and acknowledge that things are turning around hopefully. And we can also acknowledge that just like we did this past offseason, that Matt Mlan absolutely can be a part of a winning solution for the Cincinnati Reds, even despite the way that this year played out for him. So, um, with that being said, you got any any final thoughts on, uh, on tonight or on, uh, what the Reds do now before we look ahead? I just looked up at how long we’ve gone and I, you know, we’ve been really simmering in our misery for a while now. So, I think it’s time to to look at the minor leagues where at least there’ll be some positive things. I heard this Alfredo Duno guy hit a home run. This is This is that funeral that Trace has been talking about for so long. We finally got it. Yeah. All right, let’s let’s do it. Reds MLB uh Louisville, they win five-4 in 10 innings. Edwin Rios with a walk-off single in the 10th inning. He was three for five with two RBI’s. Blake Dunn two for four with a triple and two RBI’s. He also walked and scored twice. Hector Rodriguez one for four. CES two for four. Uh Sam Maul pitched a scoreless inning after being optioned down uh earlier this week. Buck Farmer one and two/3 innings of scoreless baseball. Had one walk and one strikeout and Luis May a scoreless inning with two strikeouts. Heading down to double A Chattanooga. They fall to Birmingham 11 to8. Leo Balazar walked three times and scored twice but was 0 for two in his other at bats. Cam Collier finally coming on a little bit it feels like. Two for five with two RBI’s and a run scored. Ethan O’Donnell one for four with an RBI and a walk. Ruben Abara two for five with a solo home run and three RBI’s. Uh high a Dayton after their winning streak was ended last night. They bounced back tonight. They win six-2. Peyton Stovall one for four with a double and a run scored. Jack Moss four for four with an RBI and a run scored. John Michael Fail two for four with a double, two RBI’s and two runs scored. Uh Eith Paneda one for four. Ariel Alonte 0 for four. Carlos Jorge 0 for four. Jonathan Harmon pitched five innings, gave up three hits, one walk, and four strikeouts. Then you head down to Daytona low A. They lose 12-7 to Palm Beach. Kyle Henley was three for five with an RBI, three stolen bases, and two runs scored. Henley now 55 stolen bases on the year. A name to watch for sure. Ken View, the rookie out of or I guess not rookie, but the first year player out of Arizona State was one for five with two RBI’s and a run scored. And you mentioned Alfredo Duno. He hit a home run tonight. Two RBI’s, a stolen base and a run scored. Oh yeah, four for four at the dish for the reigning league player of the month. Tyson Lewis was one for five. Alfredo Alcantara three for four with a stolen base. Mason Neville 0 for four. Mason Morris pitched two innings, gave up two hits, three earned runs uh with a walk and three strikeouts. Uh that is your Reds MLB. And then we look ahead, Mike, to Saturday and the Reds and Mets back at it. 6:40 first pitch time at Great American Ballpark on FanDuel Sports Network Ohio. Reds will turn to Brady Singer. Brady Singer 27 starts on the year. He’s 12-9 now with a 4.0. 08 erra. Finished August 4-1 with a 241 erra over six starts. Last time out was against the Cardinals. Went six innings, five hits, three earned runs, eight walk or I’m sorry, eight strikeouts. Uh allowed all of the damage early before settling in and allowing zero hits over the final 13 batters he faced. Singer is 1 and0 in his career with one start against the Mets, facing them as a Royal back in 2023. In that outing, eight innings pitched, three hits, no runs, no walks, four strikeouts. Active Mets hitters. Pete Alonzo is two for three. Cedric Mullins one for two with a double. Juan Sodto three for seven with a double and two walks. Mark Vantos is one for three. Francisco Lindor, Brett Batty, Jeff McNeel, and Luis Torrren all combined 0 for 17 with eight strikeouts. Lindor four of those strikeouts by himself in just eight at bats. For the Mets though, they turn to Jonah Tong. Making his second major league start, 1 and0 with a 1.80 erra. Made his major league debut on August 29th against the Marlins through five innings, six hits, four runs. Only one of them earned no walks, six strikeouts. Tong had gone four scoreless before two Mets errors allowed Miami to plate four in the fifth inning of that one. Tong was a seventh round draft pick of the Mets back in 2022. In 22 minor league starts this year across double A and AAA. Tong was 10 and five with a 1.43 erra. Made just two AAA starts before being called up. Went 2 and 0 in those two starts allowing just eight hits over 11 and 2/3 of scoreless baseball. Tong doesn’t give up homers at all. In fact, in 247 and 2/3 mining innings pitched across the minor leagues over 57 games in those three years, allowed just eight total home runs at all minor league levels. Good for just.3 home runs per nine for his minor league career. He’s been compared to Tim Lindum to his severe over-the-top delivery and his long extension. Throws four pitches. The fast ball 91 to 94 miles an hour with 20 plus inches of induced vertical break. That curveball on the other hand, 74 to 76 miles an hour with 65 inches of vertical drop. The slider drops in there 82 to 84 miles per hour. And the change up 84 to 86 milesPH. Big one for the Reds tomorrow. Oops. And uh they’ll be back at it tomorrow night just like we will. Mike, I’ll be back on it tomorrow night with Corey. Any final thoughts before we wrap this one up tonight, my friend? Yeah, I was just thinking, oh, Jonah Tong doesn’t give up home runs. It’s a good thing that Reds don’t hit home runs. So, it’s nothing we have to really worry about, is it? Yeah. It’s not like it’s he’s like, okay, he limits us to hitting singles. Well, that’s what we do anyway. So, uh yeah, hopefully we can get to a young guy in his second start that’s got nasty stuff. But, uh you know, it’s the Marty Brenamman um statue reveal down there at the at Great American. So, I’d imagine they’ll probably be pretty packed and I hope that it will be. Um, but yeah, it’s uh it’s starting to look bleak. Feel like I should have come on here playing taps um as we got ready for the funeral. But um like you said, we’ll still be on every single every single game postame. We’ll still be on all the way to the end of the year. No matter how uh poor the Reds look or how sad we get, we will uh there will be a show here where they’re Nick and Trace, myself and Craig, whoever, uh Corey T. Um we’ll be on covering that. I even saw some uh I even saw some Mets fans join the uh join the chat just to uh dance in the grave a little bit, but I think they came in and saw how sad we were and felt bad for us. So uh you know, we appreciate you watching. You can come back again tomorrow. you probably, you know, the way things are going, you’ll probably, you know, be able to talk smack again. But, you know, we got a broken fan base here. And, uh, you know, just kind of accepting our fate that we kind of saw coming and, uh, here we are, another unsuccessful year of Red’s baseball. Story of our life, isn’t it, Mike? That’s right. But, hey, literally, literally the story of my life. I was born immediately after they won and nothing has happened since. Yeah, as as everybody has said in the chat multiple times over the course of the last couple weeks, hey, at least the Reds got us to Bengals season and the Bengals kick off their season week number one on Sunday against the Browns. Chatterbox Bengals, your home for live coverage for the the Bengals versus the Browns on Sunday. We’ll start at 12:30 Eastern time with a pregame show. Brand new format this year to Chatterbox Bengals. We’ll be doing a pregame show starting half an hour before the game. Reed Mouse will be live to take you through with live reaction and playby-play calls uh during the game. I’ll rejoin at halftime for a little halftime uh show. And then uh we’ll do the postgame show as we always do afterwards as well. And we hope to see you all there. But until then for Mike Hart, I’m Craig Sandlin. This has been Chatterbox Reds. Rest in peace. Heat. Heat. Heat.
0:00 Watch the 9th inning
20:36 Full Game Recap
1:47:07 Reds MiLB
1:49:29 UP NEXT
On Friday, September 5, 2025, the Cincinnati Reds (70-70, third in NL Central) host the New York Mets (75-65, second in NL East) at Great American Ball Park for the first of a three-game series, starting at 6:40 p.m. EDT. This matchup, the fourth between the teams this season, pits two squads with postseason aspirations against each other in a critical late-season clash. The Reds, five games back of the third NL wild card spot, aim to snap a recent skid (3-7 in their last 10), while the Mets look to bolster their playoff position after a 6-4 stretch.
The pitching matchup features Mets’ left-hander David Peterson (8-5, 3.61 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 136 K’s) against Reds’ southpaw Andrew Abbott (8-5, 2.65 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 125 K’s). Peterson, a 2025 All-Star, has been steady, though right-handed hitters have found more success against him. Abbott, also an All-Star, boasts a stellar 2.65 ERA and even splits against lefties and righties, making him a tough matchup for the Mets’ balanced lineup. The natural grass surface at Great American Ball Park could favor both pitchers if they keep the ball down, but the park’s hitter-friendly reputation (Reds rank 6th with 193 HRs) suggests runs could come.
Offensively, the Mets rely on Juan Soto (37 HRs, .259 AVG, 91 RBIs) and Pete Alonso (.271 AVG, 113 RBIs), both in top form, with Soto on a six-game hitting streak (.371, 5 HRs in last 10). The Reds counter with Elly De La Cruz (19 HRs, 78 RBIs, 28 doubles) and a lineup that ranks 7th in batting average (.251) and 3rd in on-base percentage (.329). However, Cincinnati’s bullpen has struggled, allowing 6.3 runs per game recently, which could be a liability against the Mets’ .330 on-base percentage (2nd in NL).
Injuries loom large: the Reds get back Tyler Stephenson (thumb) who will make his first start since August 15, while the Mets miss Francisco Alvarez (thumb) and Tyrone Taylor (hamstring). Betting odds slightly favor the Mets (-126 moneyline) with a 1.5-run spread (+136) and an over/under of 9 runs. Given the Reds’ home strength (38-33) and Abbott’s edge on the mound, expect a tight game, but the Mets’ offensive depth might tilt it in their favor.
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Andrew Abbott, Julian Aguiar, Graham Ashcraft, Scott Barlow, Emilio Pagán, Fernando Cruz, Alexis Díaz, Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Nick Martinez, Tony Santillan, Carson Spiers, Brent Suter, Rhett Lowder, Brandon Williamson, Tyler Stephenson, José Trevino, Jeimer Candelario, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz, Santiago Espinal, Jonathan India, Noelvi Marte, Edwin Ríos, Will Benson, TJ Friedl, Jake Fraley, Stuart Fairchild, Austin Hays, Spencer Steer, Jacob Hurtubise, Blake Dunn, Cooper Bowman
Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals
16 comments
Much respect to the Reds from a Mets fan. What a wild 9th inning. It went our way but it could've gone either way. Im still recovering another Diaz special
Always bad news. It may get to a point to where people shouldn’t follow the team anymore.
We, as Reds fans, can debate, get upset about manager decisions, management, and owner decisions until the end of time, but the fact is; trying to win with the 22nd ranked payroll out of 30 teams is very difficult. Say Brewers, we'll in 55 years the Brew Crew has never won a World Series.
Look at the recent series of games
LAD: 4 Hall of Famers
Toronto: Bichette, Springer and Vlad Jr.
Mets: Lindor, Soto, Alonso
I mean really, what are the odds the Reds can win those? What is the Reds counter to those type players?
Love the Reds, but this current situation is rather hopeless to really think they can win versus the big boys of the league.
At least they got us to the NFL season much better than many past seasons
If I were a Reds fan I’d be loving this channel. Great episode boys. LGM 🍎
Marte needs to play 1B. EDLC could be traded. Marte at 1B, McLain at 2B, Hayes at 3B, Freidl in CF– that's the core now. Scwarber needs to be signed to be DH. Singer needs to be extended. Lively and Junis should be brought back to add depth to the rotation and/or pen. 2 of Abbott, Greene, and Lodolo could be traded to get a corner OFer and a SS or for 2 corner OFers (Wood and Adell?)
Stephenson, Steer, CES, Benson, Hinds, Lux need to go.
EDLC has no idea what the strike zone is.
And the reds are officially done
Wonder what the Expected % was for #44 to take 3 Strikes Looking in that Situation?
Did the folks who overuse analytics project that Elly would have swung the bat in that situation if the played in the 1980's?
Perhaps # 44 wouldn't have struck out looking if that game was played at Citi Field.
However Nowadays Hard To hold my head up!!
Bases loaded and no out into the ninth and didn't score is simply 😷
Time for 🏈 and hope that the Bengals Will become better TO see period!!
We HAVE reached the "where ya gonna go?" point. The storied history of this franchise is fading into the mist of the past. Obviously ownership rustling together any handful of guys to root for just doesn't cut it any more.