April 18, 2025 • 17 mins
Tony and Austin check in with Charlie and talk Reds and more, on ESPN 1530!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Cincy three sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati, sponsored in part
by Cincy Shirts. Cincy Shirts, All Cincy, all Day. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Our two is here thanks to Cincy Shirts. Let's kick
it off the only way we know how to do
on a Friday. Our good friend Charlie Goldsmith joining us
right now. Charlie, how are you?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
What's up, Tony?
Speaker 4 (00:30):
What's going on.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Over at Charlie's chalkboard right now?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
What did I published yesterday? I kind of took a
fun angle. It was the Casey Legomina Revenge game, which
I still had sack, and I wrote about that because
he's a cool guy that had a fun story. But
next week we'll be full go.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
At the draft, Charlie, before we dive into the meat
of all this year. Cody Rhoades, John Cena, Who do
you like in the main event of WrestleMania on Sunday
night is?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Cody wrote, No a sena. The guy who Pegan has.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
His song Cody Rhodes.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
So that's all I've got. That is the only.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Yes. I love it.
Speaker 5 (01:11):
Will you be asking Emilio Pegan about WrestleMania at all?
In the coming future.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
You know what I will be talking to Emilio Pegan
extensively about in the NFL draft. He is a huge
Jalen Walker guy.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
He's a big Okay, very good, very good Charlie. Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yesterday a gut punch of a loss. They battle back,
they find a way to get on top. They lose it,
uh in the ninth, they lose it in the tenth
and Uh. Ellie is taking a lot of the criticism
leading Major League Baseball and airs a couple band strikeouts yesterday.
How do you how do you walk the line of
(01:51):
understanding that Ellie is still young, but also understanding he's
a superstar. He's viewed as that he's a player that
a lot of guys on this team look to. How
do you walk that line when he does have a
series where he struggles of the accountability and then seeing
how he bounces back.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
So first he's even more than hears he's got to
take the bat off his shoulder yesterday and to the
biggest at bats of the game. The Reds have put
a lot of weight on Ellie Dylan Cruise and it's
not spoken, it's unspoken, but Ellie recognizes the presence and
the power and the responsibility and the impact that he
has with the whole organization, and for someone who's still
(02:30):
ironing out the edges of their game, that's tough. It
reminds me a lot kind of how Hunter Green started
last season. Like I talked to Derrick Johnson a few
days ago just about Hunter in this leap, and he said,
the only thing is that the consistency every single day
from Hunter and his ability to know exactly what to
do maybe when things aren't going perfect, that's the only
(02:50):
difference between twenty twenty five hundred and twenty twenty four hundred.
Like last April, Hunter was was kind of rocky, and
obviously he had a great season, so like Ellie's kind
of having one of those stretches now a reminder that
he's not a finished product yet bolting in his defense
as a whole. I mean, all right, I'll take McClain
a second over Elliott's short if you're just looking at
raw defensive impact. But other than that, I'm looking at
(03:12):
this roster right now, like, I don't think there's a
single player who's more valuable defensively at their position than
Ellie Della Cruz, even Espinal like still we all have
espinal but but it's not range, it's consistency. He's not
saving runs, he's not allowing runs. So when you look
at the like that's literally what what defensive runs saved is?
(03:33):
How many runs do you save? When you look the
impact he's still making there. I do still think that
Ellie is one of the reds best defenses.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
How can the Reds help him through this rough patch
defensively or offensively all together?
Speaker 5 (03:47):
I mean getting the bat off his shoulder, maybe having
the yips in the field, whatever it might be.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
How can they help him?
Speaker 3 (03:53):
So there's a I don't know, I think it's roulette
or a roulette wheel in the in the clubhouse and
they're play games. And right there the quote got out
from Jim David Terry Francona said, the team that gambles together,
the team that wins together. There's a lot of history
of Caer Francona, and the player is kind of a
like a not a crux point because Ellie's not going anywhere,
(04:14):
but like, is that one of these kind of awkward
moments where car Francona will let things loose and they'll
play games, and and Elie's a part of that definitely,
and and Francona said before, when you know you're playing
whatever game or whatnot, or if it's cards or whatever,
those are the best moments to bring something up that
happened the day before, the best moments to have a
tough conversation, the best moments to talk about hey, you know,
(04:36):
like like you know we're this offense is you can
be the biggest thing that changes that by not trying
to be too much, by doing X, Y Z. And Francona,
I get this, you know. I would expect he'll set
that message and then it'll kind of get very in
the weeds details with fielding form and two strike approach
with Freddy Benevidez and Chris Balaka, but that in general
(04:58):
seems to be the support the support system around him
in a moment.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Like this, I asked Charlie Rob Dibble early in the week,
when a new manager comes in, how many games does
it usually take for that manager to get a feel
of the club and the decisions on batting order maybe,
or or how long a pitcher is able to go.
How much more difficult does that become for Terry Francona
when we've seen injuries and injury less stints to some
(05:22):
of the major contributors on this team. How hard of
a juggling act has this early part of the season
been with so many key guys not available at times?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Well, on Tuesday he set a plan forth the lineup
was going to be going forward, kind of what roles
were going to be. And then Strang goes on the
al two days later and you change it all again.
Oh and by the way, you call it the lovely Marque,
who's not a guy you call up to sit on
the bench. I think that's an interesting one to look
at too, Like they very very very easily just could
have brought back up Jacob Herdaby Blake Dun's actually their
(05:52):
only back up outfielder right now on the Rosser or
you know, Lux and esperall can play the outfield as well.
But you guys know what I mean, You know I'm
saying here, And they picked Marte, who look very comfortable
and very smooth. So that's an added wrinkle when he
was up. So that's an added wrinkle that you add
into this mix. You get to a tier of this
lineup like I don't see Freedomclain Hayes Luck's going anywhere,
(06:15):
and I think Stear is gonna be fine. And actually
Stear's ramping up more than there would be any discussion
of scaling him back. But because he's struggling, you look
at a tier that's like Steer, Candelario, Freely Marte and
then also you know esmol who's had a nice season,
Like two of those guys won't be in the lineup.
How do you balance those? How does maybe an injury
(06:35):
we're not thinking of right now change that. You know,
I don't know, you know, at the front office has
been around the scene forever. I don't know that there's
a clear answer from anyone's perspective on who's the real
best guys of that bunch all right now? And you know,
let's make some decisions. Let's try to find the right combination.
Let's try to make the right adjustment with those specific hitters.
I mean, that's what's going to make or break this
(06:57):
Red season more than anything wise.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Does it feel you mentioned Spencer Steeer, We've seen him
ramping up. Does it feel like Tyler Stevenson is closed
for this club?
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Yeah, Stevenson's going to start playing on Tuesday. I would
expect you would get at least a week of games,
maybe more, certainly more. I mean this is his spring training.
He lost about half of his spring training Strand. Frank
Cone went out of his way to say there was
like no timeline short or long term on that, Like
he's getting an injection and they'll see how that settles
(07:29):
before that determines the next step. It's worth noting that
Strand had a lot of these back issues in twenty
twenty three related to his disc but again yesterday, it
was too early to have any sort of indication or
answer there. And uh and under the radar one too
waye Biley's about to start his rehab assignment, so he
would still probably need three, four or five rehab starts
(07:50):
before he comes back, considering you know, that's Tommy John surgery.
But that's been an interesting one to think about as well.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Is he is he ahead of schedule Miley?
Speaker 3 (07:59):
It's believable, Like I talked to Miley and Milwaukee, and
I mean his whole thing all along is I'm ready now,
I'm ready now. I think you get three innings today,
but then I might need a week. It's really part
of it helps that, I mean, he doesn't throw hard.
He's waved Miley, but to do it at that age,
to attack the rehat the way he has he has
(08:19):
read I know it for a fact. He has blown
people in sortanization away with how he's done this. He
almost retired by the way before he got Tommy John surgery,
so it be where he is now. It's honestly a
lot of people's like favorite story in the whole organization.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
What Aboutrhet Louder.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
We we haven't heard a ton from Rhet Louder, but
we've seen Nick Martinez at times in the last couple
of starts struggle a little bit. How close are we
to Reht Louder at this point?
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Rhet Louder, I believe through like an inning plus an
inning and a half of the simulated game the other day.
I forget which game that which day that was specifically,
but he'll probably do another one of those to you know,
ramp up to two innings or so, and then he
probably will go through a longer, more extensive rehab assignment
before they would make that final decision there. This has
(09:06):
gone longer than I expected when had happened in spring training.
But obviously the fact that he has always been progressing forward.
It's just they've been taking it incredibly slow. You know,
it's positive for it. It's not like his elbow has
been in any jeopardy, you know, with no structural damage
showing up in those MRIs. But I do see Martinez
(09:26):
saying in the rotation at the very least until Ladder returns,
and Ladder's return isn't even on the on the horizon
right now.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
How do you explain or how do you go about
how do you address the Jamber Candelario situation if you're
the Reds.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Jamer Candelaria is a very unique hitter. He's more like feel,
you know what I mean. They're they' supposed to like
science pinkering a protch. He's more feel than any here
that I've been around. A lot of managers would approach
this very differently. You know. It's funny like we are
at the time of year where you look around baseball
and you see guys start to be getting fanchter. Obviously
(10:04):
this wouldn't apply to Candelario, but option stuff like that.
Care Francona has said that like one of his like
one of his philosophy's principles, he believes that guys get
just as hot as they get cold, and that he
puts more stock into the back of people's baseball cards
when you've played in the league for a few years
than other managers would. That leads me to believe that
(10:25):
they are giving Candelario, you know, a significant amount of
leeway here, and you know he did heat up around
May last year. But when you look at the backside
of this, like, all right, he's giving him this leeway
up front. I also know about Francona that he's more
willing to make tough decisions that land unpopularly with players
than most managers would be. So like, while there would
(10:48):
be a lot of managers because you're paying Candelario and
because he has been good, and let's say it's June
and he's sitting two hundred, like Frank Cono will put
that guy on the betch, not saying that's Candelaira. But
there are examples and there are conversations that like, that's
the way he approaches stuff like this. But he does
give those guys maybe a lot more leeway on the
(11:08):
front end than a lot of managers do.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
We've seen a couple now rough starts in a row
from a starting rotation standpoint with uh, with the last three,
is there any concern there or do you have any
concern with maybe one of those more than the other
With what you've seen, I think Brady Singer could have
been helped by a couple of pop ups that Feil
that that added to the pitch count. But when you
look at Lodolo or maybe the struggles of Martinez, is
(11:33):
any one of these last three starts more worrisome for you?
Speaker 3 (11:37):
They all could have been helped better defense. No, I
think those guys are some of the best guys on
the team. Martinez just needs to kind of find that
next year. In terms of like that next I call
it like twitch, quick putch athleticism, but it's for a pitcher,
so that doesn't really apply. Like he kind of just
needs a pen of years back with sin swing and
miss stuff, with some change up to really make guys miss.
(11:59):
But Hobby Fines you mentioned the defense, Lodola is just
kind of a grimy night that pitchers have every now
and then. We know who this Red team is. It's
a team with a great rotation. It's a team with
a few great options in the bullpen that needs more
and It's a team with so far a top heavy
lineup with the bottom half that they're really counting on production,
(12:19):
and that'll probably shape.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
This season obviously a big series coming up with Baltimore.
You get Abbott, Green and Lodolo. You love the way
that that stacks up, Charlie. Before the next time we speak,
the Bengals will have made a pick next Thursday in
the NFL Draft. Do you have at this point a
leader in the clubhouse on which direction the Bengals go
(12:40):
at seventeen, I've.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Got it down to three, and that's linebacker Johan Campbell,
that safety Malachi Starts, and that defensive tackle Derek Carmen.
And I actually think at least one of those guys
will be off the board. I have Campbell first on
my board with this draft, and what this year is
all about for me is finding one level of playmaking
on this defense and two filling up and soaking up
(13:04):
so many snaps, so many roles on the depth chart
that just have nothing right now and as clean as
Derek Harmon is and he could easily be the fit.
Especially Campbell, and then also to an extend, Starts have
won the playmaking to the range three the versatility and
with that the ability to contribute in multiple ways in
multiple roles. Campbell, especially the sideline to sideline athleticism, the
(13:27):
aggressive athletic style, plus the ability to also give you
some real opportunity and upside as a pass rusher. Maybe
not truly lined up putting his hand off the dirt
on the edge, but they've already done a lot of
three defensive line stuff on third down anyway with their
blitzing linebackers. So his ability to add to that taking
up kind of two needs at once and then also
(13:47):
add to your pass rush taking advantage of the death
of the class, specifically in the third and fourth round.
I like that structure of the draft. The most so
defensive playmaker in round one, Guarden round to need at
round three, that would be linebacker safety. You know, maybe
it's one of those round two defensive end drops to
(14:09):
just because that pocket of players is so great, and
then their defensive tackle like Ty Robinson, and then kind
of you're filling those needs the rest of the way,
adding running backs in round five.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Charlie.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
We had this conversation between Austin and I earlier in
the week, and we went through some of the AFC
teams and kind of identified them as contenders or competitive
with where they are as currently constructed. When you look
at the Bengals and the star power and the money
spent a wide receiver, are you looking at them currently
(14:40):
as a team contending to win a Super Bowl? Are
they still at that competitive level but still a ways
to go to make that jump to a super Bowl team.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
So Burrows now like light years better than he even
was in twenty twenty one, and so is chased, and
so it's taking But the roster actually feels a lot
like it did entering twenty twenty one. Like entering that year,
we had no idea what to expect from their corners.
They brought back three new corners. Von Bell had a
flawed twenty twenty season. They were counting on a step
Logan Wilson had never started before, and I believe linebacker
(15:12):
was like a four man position battle for two spots
in training camp that year. I mean, the pass rush
was still bad outside of a Trey Hendrickson, who they
obviously brought in the offensive line was it was too.
The guard competition was two career backups around two pick
and a returning Day three pick who had played before.
(15:32):
That's literally exactly what the Bengals twenty twenty five guard
competition is going to be. So it reminds me a
lot of their roster entering twenty twenty one. Now, the
story of that year was every single decision they made click.
And you know they've taken some chances by not making
moves so far this year they'll need like four draft
picks to click, which is a lot to ask for
a team that's maybe had four draft picks click on
(15:53):
defense in the last five years. So again, it's a
lot to do. Obviously, they made the Super Bowl that season,
so they they've certainly got a chance. I would frame
them as contenders, but no matter what happens, that will
have major questions about this team.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
And every week one, Charlie, before I let you go,
a lot of money is being thrown around right now
at the college level, especially college basketball. For a young
Charlie Goldsmith at Seven Hills, what kind of money are
you looking for? From an nil standpoint with your hoop game.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
I'd stay four years at a place I really would.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Says just says everything we need to know about your character, Charlie.
Never anything I would question appreciate your time, Charlie, thanks
so much, look forward to catching up again. See there
he is, Charlie Goldsmith, Charlie's chalkboard man. You got to
go check out everything that he's got going on. Check
him out on X. But he's contributing now, Austin, in
(16:49):
so many places he is. He's raising the bar everywhere
he goes, and we certainly appreciate him here as we
appreciate our listeners, as we appreciate our talkbackers, which we
will get to next. Thanks to Cincy three sixty CINCI
shirts on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station
Cincy three sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati, sponsored in part
by Cincy Shirts. Cincy Shirts, All Cincy, all Day. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Our two is here thanks to Cincy Shirts. Let's kick
it off the only way we know how to do
on a Friday. Our good friend Charlie Goldsmith joining us
right now. Charlie, how are you?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
What's up, Tony?
Speaker 4 (00:30):
What's going on.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Over at Charlie's chalkboard right now?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
What did I published yesterday? I kind of took a
fun angle. It was the Casey Legomina Revenge game, which
I still had sack, and I wrote about that because
he's a cool guy that had a fun story. But
next week we'll be full go.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
At the draft, Charlie, before we dive into the meat
of all this year. Cody Rhoades, John Cena, Who do
you like in the main event of WrestleMania on Sunday
night is?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Cody wrote, No a sena. The guy who Pegan has.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
His song Cody Rhodes.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
So that's all I've got. That is the only.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Yes. I love it.
Speaker 5 (01:11):
Will you be asking Emilio Pegan about WrestleMania at all?
In the coming future.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
You know what I will be talking to Emilio Pegan
extensively about in the NFL draft. He is a huge
Jalen Walker guy.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
He's a big Okay, very good, very good Charlie. Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yesterday a gut punch of a loss. They battle back,
they find a way to get on top. They lose it,
uh in the ninth, they lose it in the tenth
and Uh. Ellie is taking a lot of the criticism
leading Major League Baseball and airs a couple band strikeouts yesterday.
How do you how do you walk the line of
(01:51):
understanding that Ellie is still young, but also understanding he's
a superstar. He's viewed as that he's a player that
a lot of guys on this team look to. How
do you walk that line when he does have a
series where he struggles of the accountability and then seeing
how he bounces back.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
So first he's even more than hears he's got to
take the bat off his shoulder yesterday and to the
biggest at bats of the game. The Reds have put
a lot of weight on Ellie Dylan Cruise and it's
not spoken, it's unspoken, but Ellie recognizes the presence and
the power and the responsibility and the impact that he
has with the whole organization, and for someone who's still
(02:30):
ironing out the edges of their game, that's tough. It
reminds me a lot kind of how Hunter Green started
last season. Like I talked to Derrick Johnson a few
days ago just about Hunter in this leap, and he said,
the only thing is that the consistency every single day
from Hunter and his ability to know exactly what to
do maybe when things aren't going perfect, that's the only
(02:50):
difference between twenty twenty five hundred and twenty twenty four hundred.
Like last April, Hunter was was kind of rocky, and
obviously he had a great season, so like Ellie's kind
of having one of those stretches now a reminder that
he's not a finished product yet bolting in his defense
as a whole. I mean, all right, I'll take McClain
a second over Elliott's short if you're just looking at
raw defensive impact. But other than that, I'm looking at
(03:12):
this roster right now, like, I don't think there's a
single player who's more valuable defensively at their position than
Ellie Della Cruz, even Espinal like still we all have
espinal but but it's not range, it's consistency. He's not
saving runs, he's not allowing runs. So when you look
at the like that's literally what what defensive runs saved is?
(03:33):
How many runs do you save? When you look the
impact he's still making there. I do still think that
Ellie is one of the reds best defenses.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
How can the Reds help him through this rough patch
defensively or offensively all together?
Speaker 5 (03:47):
I mean getting the bat off his shoulder, maybe having
the yips in the field, whatever it might be.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
How can they help him?
Speaker 3 (03:53):
So there's a I don't know, I think it's roulette
or a roulette wheel in the in the clubhouse and
they're play games. And right there the quote got out
from Jim David Terry Francona said, the team that gambles together,
the team that wins together. There's a lot of history
of Caer Francona, and the player is kind of a
like a not a crux point because Ellie's not going anywhere,
(04:14):
but like, is that one of these kind of awkward
moments where car Francona will let things loose and they'll
play games, and and Elie's a part of that definitely,
and and Francona said before, when you know you're playing
whatever game or whatnot, or if it's cards or whatever,
those are the best moments to bring something up that
happened the day before, the best moments to have a
tough conversation, the best moments to talk about hey, you know,
(04:36):
like like you know we're this offense is you can
be the biggest thing that changes that by not trying
to be too much, by doing X, Y Z. And Francona,
I get this, you know. I would expect he'll set
that message and then it'll kind of get very in
the weeds details with fielding form and two strike approach
with Freddy Benevidez and Chris Balaka, but that in general
(04:58):
seems to be the support the support system around him
in a moment.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Like this, I asked Charlie Rob Dibble early in the week,
when a new manager comes in, how many games does
it usually take for that manager to get a feel
of the club and the decisions on batting order maybe,
or or how long a pitcher is able to go.
How much more difficult does that become for Terry Francona
when we've seen injuries and injury less stints to some
(05:22):
of the major contributors on this team. How hard of
a juggling act has this early part of the season
been with so many key guys not available at times?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Well, on Tuesday he set a plan forth the lineup
was going to be going forward, kind of what roles
were going to be. And then Strang goes on the
al two days later and you change it all again.
Oh and by the way, you call it the lovely Marque,
who's not a guy you call up to sit on
the bench. I think that's an interesting one to look
at too, Like they very very very easily just could
have brought back up Jacob Herdaby Blake Dun's actually their
(05:52):
only back up outfielder right now on the Rosser or
you know, Lux and esperall can play the outfield as well.
But you guys know what I mean, You know I'm
saying here, And they picked Marte, who look very comfortable
and very smooth. So that's an added wrinkle when he
was up. So that's an added wrinkle that you add
into this mix. You get to a tier of this
lineup like I don't see Freedomclain Hayes Luck's going anywhere,
(06:15):
and I think Stear is gonna be fine. And actually
Stear's ramping up more than there would be any discussion
of scaling him back. But because he's struggling, you look
at a tier that's like Steer, Candelario, Freely Marte and
then also you know esmol who's had a nice season,
Like two of those guys won't be in the lineup.
How do you balance those? How does maybe an injury
(06:35):
we're not thinking of right now change that. You know,
I don't know, you know, at the front office has
been around the scene forever. I don't know that there's
a clear answer from anyone's perspective on who's the real
best guys of that bunch all right now? And you know,
let's make some decisions. Let's try to find the right combination.
Let's try to make the right adjustment with those specific hitters.
I mean, that's what's going to make or break this
(06:57):
Red season more than anything wise.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Does it feel you mentioned Spencer Steeer, We've seen him
ramping up. Does it feel like Tyler Stevenson is closed
for this club?
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Yeah, Stevenson's going to start playing on Tuesday. I would
expect you would get at least a week of games,
maybe more, certainly more. I mean this is his spring training.
He lost about half of his spring training Strand. Frank
Cone went out of his way to say there was
like no timeline short or long term on that, Like
he's getting an injection and they'll see how that settles
(07:29):
before that determines the next step. It's worth noting that
Strand had a lot of these back issues in twenty
twenty three related to his disc but again yesterday, it
was too early to have any sort of indication or
answer there. And uh and under the radar one too
waye Biley's about to start his rehab assignment, so he
would still probably need three, four or five rehab starts
(07:50):
before he comes back, considering you know, that's Tommy John surgery.
But that's been an interesting one to think about as well.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Is he is he ahead of schedule Miley?
Speaker 3 (07:59):
It's believable, Like I talked to Miley and Milwaukee, and
I mean his whole thing all along is I'm ready now,
I'm ready now. I think you get three innings today,
but then I might need a week. It's really part
of it helps that, I mean, he doesn't throw hard.
He's waved Miley, but to do it at that age,
to attack the rehat the way he has he has
(08:19):
read I know it for a fact. He has blown
people in sortanization away with how he's done this. He
almost retired by the way before he got Tommy John surgery,
so it be where he is now. It's honestly a
lot of people's like favorite story in the whole organization.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
What Aboutrhet Louder.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
We we haven't heard a ton from Rhet Louder, but
we've seen Nick Martinez at times in the last couple
of starts struggle a little bit. How close are we
to Reht Louder at this point?
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Rhet Louder, I believe through like an inning plus an
inning and a half of the simulated game the other day.
I forget which game that which day that was specifically,
but he'll probably do another one of those to you know,
ramp up to two innings or so, and then he
probably will go through a longer, more extensive rehab assignment
before they would make that final decision there. This has
(09:06):
gone longer than I expected when had happened in spring training.
But obviously the fact that he has always been progressing forward.
It's just they've been taking it incredibly slow. You know,
it's positive for it. It's not like his elbow has
been in any jeopardy, you know, with no structural damage
showing up in those MRIs. But I do see Martinez
(09:26):
saying in the rotation at the very least until Ladder returns,
and Ladder's return isn't even on the on the horizon
right now.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
How do you explain or how do you go about
how do you address the Jamber Candelario situation if you're
the Reds.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Jamer Candelaria is a very unique hitter. He's more like feel,
you know what I mean. They're they' supposed to like
science pinkering a protch. He's more feel than any here
that I've been around. A lot of managers would approach
this very differently. You know. It's funny like we are
at the time of year where you look around baseball
and you see guys start to be getting fanchter. Obviously
(10:04):
this wouldn't apply to Candelario, but option stuff like that.
Care Francona has said that like one of his like
one of his philosophy's principles, he believes that guys get
just as hot as they get cold, and that he
puts more stock into the back of people's baseball cards
when you've played in the league for a few years
than other managers would. That leads me to believe that
(10:25):
they are giving Candelario, you know, a significant amount of
leeway here, and you know he did heat up around
May last year. But when you look at the backside
of this, like, all right, he's giving him this leeway
up front. I also know about Francona that he's more
willing to make tough decisions that land unpopularly with players
than most managers would be. So like, while there would
(10:48):
be a lot of managers because you're paying Candelario and
because he has been good, and let's say it's June
and he's sitting two hundred, like Frank Cono will put
that guy on the betch, not saying that's Candelaira. But
there are examples and there are conversations that like, that's
the way he approaches stuff like this. But he does
give those guys maybe a lot more leeway on the
(11:08):
front end than a lot of managers do.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
We've seen a couple now rough starts in a row
from a starting rotation standpoint with uh, with the last three,
is there any concern there or do you have any
concern with maybe one of those more than the other
With what you've seen, I think Brady Singer could have
been helped by a couple of pop ups that Feil
that that added to the pitch count. But when you
look at Lodolo or maybe the struggles of Martinez, is
(11:33):
any one of these last three starts more worrisome for you?
Speaker 3 (11:37):
They all could have been helped better defense. No, I
think those guys are some of the best guys on
the team. Martinez just needs to kind of find that
next year. In terms of like that next I call
it like twitch, quick putch athleticism, but it's for a pitcher,
so that doesn't really apply. Like he kind of just
needs a pen of years back with sin swing and
miss stuff, with some change up to really make guys miss.
(11:59):
But Hobby Fines you mentioned the defense, Lodola is just
kind of a grimy night that pitchers have every now
and then. We know who this Red team is. It's
a team with a great rotation. It's a team with
a few great options in the bullpen that needs more
and It's a team with so far a top heavy
lineup with the bottom half that they're really counting on production,
(12:19):
and that'll probably shape.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
This season obviously a big series coming up with Baltimore.
You get Abbott, Green and Lodolo. You love the way
that that stacks up, Charlie. Before the next time we speak,
the Bengals will have made a pick next Thursday in
the NFL Draft. Do you have at this point a
leader in the clubhouse on which direction the Bengals go
(12:40):
at seventeen, I've.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Got it down to three, and that's linebacker Johan Campbell,
that safety Malachi Starts, and that defensive tackle Derek Carmen.
And I actually think at least one of those guys
will be off the board. I have Campbell first on
my board with this draft, and what this year is
all about for me is finding one level of playmaking
on this defense and two filling up and soaking up
(13:04):
so many snaps, so many roles on the depth chart
that just have nothing right now and as clean as
Derek Harmon is and he could easily be the fit.
Especially Campbell, and then also to an extend, Starts have
won the playmaking to the range three the versatility and
with that the ability to contribute in multiple ways in
multiple roles. Campbell, especially the sideline to sideline athleticism, the
(13:27):
aggressive athletic style, plus the ability to also give you
some real opportunity and upside as a pass rusher. Maybe
not truly lined up putting his hand off the dirt
on the edge, but they've already done a lot of
three defensive line stuff on third down anyway with their
blitzing linebackers. So his ability to add to that taking
up kind of two needs at once and then also
(13:47):
add to your pass rush taking advantage of the death
of the class, specifically in the third and fourth round.
I like that structure of the draft. The most so
defensive playmaker in round one, Guarden round to need at
round three, that would be linebacker safety. You know, maybe
it's one of those round two defensive end drops to
(14:09):
just because that pocket of players is so great, and
then their defensive tackle like Ty Robinson, and then kind
of you're filling those needs the rest of the way,
adding running backs in round five.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Charlie.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
We had this conversation between Austin and I earlier in
the week, and we went through some of the AFC
teams and kind of identified them as contenders or competitive
with where they are as currently constructed. When you look
at the Bengals and the star power and the money
spent a wide receiver, are you looking at them currently
(14:40):
as a team contending to win a Super Bowl? Are
they still at that competitive level but still a ways
to go to make that jump to a super Bowl team.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
So Burrows now like light years better than he even
was in twenty twenty one, and so is chased, and
so it's taking But the roster actually feels a lot
like it did entering twenty twenty one. Like entering that year,
we had no idea what to expect from their corners.
They brought back three new corners. Von Bell had a
flawed twenty twenty season. They were counting on a step
Logan Wilson had never started before, and I believe linebacker
(15:12):
was like a four man position battle for two spots
in training camp that year. I mean, the pass rush
was still bad outside of a Trey Hendrickson, who they
obviously brought in the offensive line was it was too.
The guard competition was two career backups around two pick
and a returning Day three pick who had played before.
(15:32):
That's literally exactly what the Bengals twenty twenty five guard
competition is going to be. So it reminds me a
lot of their roster entering twenty twenty one. Now, the
story of that year was every single decision they made click.
And you know they've taken some chances by not making
moves so far this year they'll need like four draft
picks to click, which is a lot to ask for
a team that's maybe had four draft picks click on
(15:53):
defense in the last five years. So again, it's a
lot to do. Obviously, they made the Super Bowl that season,
so they they've certainly got a chance. I would frame
them as contenders, but no matter what happens, that will
have major questions about this team.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
And every week one, Charlie, before I let you go,
a lot of money is being thrown around right now
at the college level, especially college basketball. For a young
Charlie Goldsmith at Seven Hills, what kind of money are
you looking for? From an nil standpoint with your hoop game.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
I'd stay four years at a place I really would.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Says just says everything we need to know about your character, Charlie.
Never anything I would question appreciate your time, Charlie, thanks
so much, look forward to catching up again. See there
he is, Charlie Goldsmith, Charlie's chalkboard man. You got to
go check out everything that he's got going on. Check
him out on X. But he's contributing now, Austin, in
(16:49):
so many places he is. He's raising the bar everywhere
he goes, and we certainly appreciate him here as we
appreciate our listeners, as we appreciate our talkbackers, which we
will get to next. Thanks to Cincy three sixty CINCI
shirts on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station
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