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Now the reds Hot Stove League.
And hello and welcome, one and all to the Budweiser reds Hot Stove League, presented by UDF Live at the BEDMGM Sportsbook inside Tom's Watchbar. Here at the banks, back once again behind the microphone. I'm Mark Sheldon, the senior beat reporter who covers the Reds for MLB dot com, and I'm joined by Mike Petralia from CLNS since ape dot com, where he covers all Sincy sports, all Cincinnati sports.
Pardon me, Your regular hosts, Tommy Thrall and Jim Day are off again, but guess what, they return to the airwaves next week, so you'll have them back. Our guests tonight are red Starting pitcher Nick Lodolo, and then to talk all things Reds Fest, we will speak with Charlie Frank, the executive director of the Reds Community Fund. As you may know, Redsfest, presented by PNC, is returning this weekend at the Cincinnati Convention Center after a two year hiatus.
Mike.
There was also some free agent news that broke over the weekend. According to sources, the Reds agreed to terms on a one year contract with right handed reliever Pierce Johnson, who was a former Brave setup man. The deal team with a mutual option for twenty twenty seven and has
a total value of six and a half million. Of course, it is not yet official and pending the passing of Johnson's physical later this week, but assuming that is only a formality, Mike, what are your thoughts as the Reds try to further bolster their bullpen.
Mark, I love the move, and as any manager or a pitching coach, and we'll hear from Nicklodolo in a few moments, Derek Johnson will tell you can never have enough quality arms at the back end of the bullpen. And this is somebody who has a wide variety or wealth of major league and professional experience. He spent some time in Japan. He's coming back now into Major League Baseball, I think his third year back in MLB, and he's been I think this matters. He's been with the Atlanta Braves.
And when you talk about an organization that knows its pitching, it's the Atlanta Braves. And I think when you can add a picture from a great organization with great acumen and great reputation of developing pictures and even developing maybe reclamation projects if you will, I think it's a great move.
The price is right, and I think Pierce Johnson is going to probably fit right in with that Reds bullpen, giving them kind of depth that Terry Francona and Derek Johnson are looking for at the end of games.
Yeah, definitely became a priority when Emilia Pigan became a free agent. He came back, but they also lost guys like Scott Barlow, Brent Suter and a few other guys, and they needed to fill that group up. They got Caleb Ferguson, like I said, they got Pegne back. Now they have Pierce Johnson, who is more of a curveball guy. That's his deadly pitch and he'll be a different kind of look maybe, and Graham Ashcraft Tony Santion setting up in the late inning, so we'll see what happens there.
In other news, the Reds also announced that pitchers and catchers and players that are participating in the World Baseball Classic are scheduled to report to spring training in Goodyear on February ninth, and their first workout will be February eleventh. Red's position players report on February fourteenth, with the first full squad workouts set for February sixteenth. As you may have heard already, the Reds earlier today put out a
list of non roster invitees to big league camp. Some of those nine names should be familiar, but there are a few new faces. The list includes right handed pitchers tj Antone, Carson Spires, Lyon Richardson, Hagen Danner, left handed pitcher Joel Valdez, catcher Will Banfield, and infielders Garrett Hampson, Michael Chavis and Michael Tolia.
Mike, what do you think about it?
I mean, can you not root any harder for tj an Town. I mean, look at what he's been through. He's been through multiple Tommy John procedure three three. It's it's just remarkable. And to see him with the will, the desire to want to come back and pitch for the Reds. I think it's a great story to follow in.
Uh.
You know, obviously in spring training we'll see how he does. Everybody has to earn a spot, but it'd be great if tj Antone, uh could follow in the footsteps of other pictures who have been down that road before, battled when they were non roster invites and made it back onto the roster. Obviously, Carson Spires has served the Reds very very well. Again, he is another story where if the right position fits for him, right role fits in the bullpen or even in the starting rotation.
I mean, he's he's got some real hard to do still with Tommy John he probably won't be ready for the start of the season, but he will be on the on the you know, in the organization, which is important.
But just the fact that they want him back in the organization I think is interesting. And I will tell you that one name that sticks out to me, and I covered him from my latter days in Boston is Michael Chavs, first round pick of the Boston Red Sox way back in twenty fourteen. He's got a lot of power, and when I see Michael Chavas, I think of Dustin Pedroia.
Well, we'll see over the coming weeks and months of any of these guys, we'll crack the twenty six man opening day roster. One person who will be on that roster as our first guest. He joined the organization as a first round draft pick in twenty nineteen and has been with Cincinnati in the Big League since twenty twenty two. He will be attending Redsvest this weekend. So let's welcome starting pitcher Nicolodolo Nick. How's your off season been going? Hey, Mark, how you doing?
I'm doing well.
Doing, well, what.
Have you been up to this offseason?
Not much, you know, being a first time dad, just hanging out and you know, doing dad things, and you're just getting ready to get it going.
Here neck gets Mike Patral looking forward to seeing you in a goodyear in a couple of weeks. I'm sure that this is not only a relaxing time for you. But when as Mark and I were just talking about all the moves that the team is making, does that get you excited kind of revved up to meet some new faces and kind of get on with the twenty twenty sixth season.
Yeah, for sure. I mean a lot of the guys they haven't been on the team, but I feel like, you know, they're guys that we've competed against and seen them play and stuff, so you know, you know what they bring to the table, and you know it. Definitely it gets you excited. But I think overall, you start to hit this point just in the offseason and you know, you start you start itching to get going again here.
Obviously we mentioned just a few moments ago Nick about TJ. Anton and Carson Spires. To see those guys being invited to spring training, and especially with TJ's situation. To see what he's battling through, how does that inspire you as someone one who all but he has a spot obviously cemented in the rotation.
Yeah, it's you know, TJ's a great person first of all, so you're always rooting for good people, and you know, for a guy to go through three arm surgeries and continue to get after it and you know, want to keep chasing that dream, it's something you know, you you got to hand it to the guy. It's something that's it's pretty cool. And I mean when TJ's been healthy in the big leagues, He's produced at a high level, so he knows how to do it. You know, we all wish the best of luck for him because we
wanted to we know what he can do. So if he can stay healthy and everything, not only for himself, I personally would just love to see it for him.
Yeah, Nick sent several career highs last season. You had a career highs and innings starts, strikeouts. You were nine to eight with a career best three point three three e r A in twenty nine games. They also two complete games. What was kind of the big key for you to kind of have this relatively strong excellency it.
Uh. You know, I think a lot of things you could probably contribute it to. I would say number one is that I've really had a full off season to worry just about getting my body, like I guess in a spot to be able to do that. The last year and a half before that was just trying to get myself back onto the field and that was a struggle. So you know, having that full off season I think
really helped to chase that. And there's nothing like you when when you're hurting stuff, you go through a lot that you have time and stuff to try to figure out how to like do things to make your body recover better and things like that. So I think throughout the years you've just kind of you learn things and you put it all together, and I think, you know, last year I was just a benefit of that plan coming together.
Excellent, Nick. We got to step aside for a quick break. If you don't mind hanging on, we will pick up the conversation on the other side, But for right now you we are listening to the Budweiser Red's Hot Stove League, presented by UDF here on the REDS Radio Network. REDS fans. Now is the time to get your twenty twenty six season tickets. Members sit in the same seat for every game with their friends and family and enjoy a flexible
ticket exchange program. Visit Reds dot com slash Membership for details. And we are back with the Budweiser Red's Hot Stove League presented by UDF Live at the bed MGM Sportsbook inside Tom's Watch Part at the banks Mark Sheldon along with Mike Petralia, and we're going to continue our conversation with Nick Lodolo. Nick, you've been to Reds Fest a few times now. From the player's point of view, what's that like for you to enjoy and interact with the fans.
It's a lot of fun. You know, I've grown up as a kid. I feel like in California we really never had anything like that. So to see, you know, a community and everything get so excited for the start of baseball season and everything, it's something I thought that was pretty special the first time go into it, So you know, I kind of get that that fel end of time and you feel the excitement and it's always it's good to see your teammates and everything. So looking forward to its coming weekend.
Nick, I'm curious about the rotation and the stability of the rotation and what that means to you as a member of the upper part portion of that rotation. Coming into twenty twenty six, you have the obviously have Hunter Green, yourself, Andrew Abbott, Brady Singer. We'll see how the fifth spot in the rotation works out. But what is it like to know that you guys have that set going into a season.
I mean, it's it's definitely it's nice, for sure. I think the one thing I like is every guy's different we have from a standpoint of how we pitch and everything. So I think it gives us a good, good look just match up to match up day to day. And like you said, I mean we got a lot of options and a lot of good options. So I mean that's definitely exciting, and I think it gives you confidence. You don't matter you know who's going out there, we've got a good shout to win the ball game.
And what kind of sticks out to me, Nick about what you just said is you do have a lot of styles. You do have a lot of different approaches to taking the mound every fifth day in that rotation. Derek Johnson's a big part of that. How how has Derek Johnson helped you and how do you think he has worked his magic throughout the last several years in working with so many different styles in the rotation.
Yeah, DJ, DJ has been great, especially for me personally. I've really enjoyed working with him. He's taught me a lot. The one thing I think that DJ does really well is, like I said, those different styles, DJ doesn't try to
group everybody into the same bucket. It's kind of his thing is always just be good at like, you know, be good at what you're good at, and so he's going to take your strength and try to maximize those and instead of, you know, trying to get everyone to like throw the same pitch or anything like that, it's it's like, all right, you're great at this, and we're going to run with this, and that's what makes you you. So I think that's one thing that really helps.
We're talking with a red starting pitcher, Nick Lodolo. Nick, you guys went through a grind of a season, eighty three wins. You guys were fighting for your playoff lives all the way to the very end, clinched the spot on the last day. Obviously the season ended a little shorter than you guys would have wanted. But what was that experience like for you individually as a starting pitcher? And then what do you think it does for the team to build off this going in the next season.
I think it's good. It's just, you know it, it gives us that little taste of what it's like. I mean, obviously it ended short than we wanted to, but you know, we can say we've experienced it now and everything, so we know what to expect. And you know, I think we'd all love for it to you know, be on our terms on the last day of the season. We're over before that. But you know, I'm excited for it. I think it probably serves a bigger purpose than we even realize right now, getting that experience.
Do you have specific goals coming into twenty twenty six, Nick, And if you do, what are they?
I don't really have any specific ones right now. You know, my main goal right now is to build up and be ready to go and camp and get through camp healthy and you know, be in a good spot when when we get rolling here open day.
Nick, how's your your finger?
Obviously the blister issue kind of popped up on you this season a little bit. Luckily for you, is only a two week absence. You had it also in twenty twenty four you had in the minor leagues. How have you been able to work on getting your fingers ready for basically for pitching a whole season.
Yeah, that's a good question. Yeah, you know, it's it's something that just the way I throw the ball, it's doing something. So I'm trying a couple of different things.
You know.
Obviously I'm trying to toughing up like the skin in that area and everything like that. But at the end of the day, it just comes down to throwing in the middle of the season and everything. So you know, like we said, we're trying some different things and you know, hopefully we can keep that keep up, I guess popping up and keep it rolling in the middle of the year, because believe me, I'm tired of it coming up and stopping me.
So what was the one thing that or two things or several things you learned about pitching and playing for Terry Francona last year.
Uh, you know, Tito is awesome. Tito really he lets you do your your own thing. You know, if you if you want some advice or something, you know he's there to give it, Tia, and there's very few better to get it from. So you know, I really enjoyed playing for him. I know the guys did as well. He just you know, he brings a sense of the confidence in the locker room and get us ready to play. So, like I said, I really enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to doing it again.
I know that Andrew Abbott.
I think a couple of times last year I can remember when he didn't want to come out of a game, would turn the other way and try to avoid making eye contact with Tito. And I remember Andrew in the clubhouse would kind of joke with us the day after and about trying to make avoid making eye contact with Tito. Can you ever remember any moment like that last year when you were like, boy, I'm really pitching well and I don't want to come out of this game. You did have two complete games and a shutout.
Yeah, I think that's probably most of the time. When you see Tito start walking you and you don't want to see that. You want to stay in the game, for sure. But I could tell you what, when Tito starts making that walk, you're not convincing him. He's made up his mind.
Especially when he does the clap break before he gets to the mound. It seems like that's his tell that.
You're coming out.
Uh, he's already before that, he's already pointed the bullpen.
When we get the field, Uh, Nick, when do you start kind of ramping up your throwing program and getting off the mound again? And and then also when do you head out to Goodyear.
Yeah, we're in the middle of that for sure. Some guys are different how many times they've been off the mound. I've been off the mount a couple of times now, So thank you said, Yeah, everyone's different there. I'm gonna head out uh the first week of February, but I said, I feel good and you know, we'll be we'll be ready to roll.
Do you have anything new in your in your toolbox that you're going to be you know, as far as your you're either your pitch selection or just something different that you're going to be doing this spring that you maybe hadn't done.
In pass camps.
As of right now. No, but I'm sure there's be something in camp that when we get there with DJ and stuff that he'll have selling for us, right Like, right now, everyone's main focus is just building up in health and and once you get the spring, I know, is when you know djil have something for you that he feels like we could get better at.
I know a lot of baseball fans enjoyed the watching the World Series, and it was a memorable one.
Obviously.
Did you watch, Yeah, I sure did.
And did you enjoy it? Picture yourself there one day?
Oh yeah, Game seven was awesome. You know, I think that's probably one of the best World Series I've watched in a while. So you know, that's the goal is to be there and win that thing. So I mean, it'd be great if if we could do that, I'll tell you that. And I think, like I said, playing in the playoffs this year is just a glimpse of what I'm sure that's like. But playing in that atmosphere in LA was pretty cool.
Well, Nick, thank you very much for joining us here on the show tonight. We will see you this weekend at Redsfest, so take care and catch you later.
Yep, sounds good. We'll see y'all this weekend.
Thanks Nick, Thanks Nick, and This is the Budweiser Reds Hot Stille League presented by UDF.
Here.
Reds Fest, presented by PNC, benefiting the Reds Community Fund, is this Friday and Saturday at the Cincinnati Convention Center. Enjoy everything Reds Baseball, including photos and autographs with current and former Reds players. For Reds Fest tickets and updates, visit Reds dot com slash Reds Fest. Welcome back to the Budweiser Reds Hot Stove League presented by UDP Live at the bed MGM Sports Book inside Tom's Watchbar at the Banks with Mike Petralia. I'm Mark Sheldon and we're
in again for Tommy and Jim. And that's a great segue. What I read before going into the coming out of the break is Reds Fest. It's a big week for the Reds. It's been two years since we've had Reds Fest, and here to talk about it is Charlie Frank, the executive director of the Reds Community Fund. Charlie, I guess the finishing touches are probably being put on at the Convention Center as we speak.
Yeah, it's been an interesting process here.
You know, we've all been on hard hat tours and obviously been watching very closely. This is a pretty compl located, an involved event to roll out a new building, but everything that we see in here is that they're ready to roll It looks fantastic. I think for fans that come down and see the new venue, they will really enjoy some of these changes, a lot of the new food options. I think a lot of it's going to
be very well received. And you know, this is one of the biggest events that they host all year, so I think it's apropos that Redsfest would be the first one end of the new Convention Center.
How much how much familiarity do you have with the new venue, the new layout, and what the platform is going.
To look like, you know, Mike, this event rolled out in its current format back in two thousand and six, and I remember being scared to death because it's so ambitious. It's really you know, the wavefil Castellini approaches things, whether it was all the All Star Game activities in twenty fifteen or the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary with all the bells and whistles in twenty nineteen.
There's no team that operates a fan festival like this. One.
There's some great ones out there, don't get me wrong, But in terms of the scope of this event, it is just so big and ambitious, you know, And but I think it's you know, it's going to be a great fit with all the new space and all the new technology.
And I'm relieved.
As we've been over there this week that the you know, everything seems to be working well because we rely on an awful lot of Wi Fi and technology.
So this event, to you, must be all about logistics, making sure the logistics run as smoothly as possible. And I see that over eighty current and former players, coaches, alumni, prospects, and broadcasters are scheduled to attend over a two day period. When I see that number, that's a lot to me. And I'm just wondering for you and all of your staff and organizers, how do you make sure that everybody gets their piece of the pie.
Well, you know, we're so fortunate we have this incredible promo events team led by Zach Bonkowski, who's twenty plus years with the Reds. He's been the architect of this event since two thousand and six, working with Phil Castellini. Zach and his staff and All of our scoreboard and productions staffs are over there right now working out all the kinks.
I mean, you've got so much AV in that space.
I mean, we had a conversation today with Prestige AV and Creative Services about the scoreboard down at the whiffle ball fields. You know, down on the west end of the main floor.
There's you know, everything going on in the main stage.
There's activities going on in the second and third floor. But you know, Zach and his staff are just incredible the amount of time and energy and expertise and precision that goes into it.
Red's best on Fridays from three to ten thirty. But I think the big moment is on that main stage at five thirty for player introductions, where player and fans can see like Eli Da La Cruz and Tito Francona Sal Stewart in the gang. What do you think fans can expect from that big, you know production on the stage.
Well, you know, I'll tell you. Mark and Mike just mentioned this a minute ago.
The eighty plus players and former players and future prospects and broadcasters in front office staff. I remember when we hosted the twenty fifteen All Star game with Major League Baseball, and you know, all the fan festivals are really based on the All Star Game fan festival, and you know, every hour they'd roll in two other or two different Hall of Famers. I remember being over at one point gay Lord Perry and Harmon Killerbrew were there, and.
I'm thinking, hey, that's pretty cool.
It's gay Lord Perry and Harmon Killerbrew. But it's a couple guys, and I mean Hall of.
Famers, not just guys.
But you got eighty you know, Red celebrities walking around this place. You can't walk ten feet without bumping into a Reds player or prospect or a Hall of Famer. It's, you know, from a fans perspective, from a young fans perspective, it's incredible. And everyone's wearing the authentic jerseys, so I mean it's hard to miss the staff. But the level of access here is you know, it's absolutely unchallenged at
any other event of this type. Plus Reds leadership and ownership has never dynamically priced for autographs.
This is about the fans. You go to just about any other fan.
Festival, you're going to play different prices based on the you know, the statue of the player of the alumni and here that has never been the rule.
It's been about the fans.
You know, one thing about Reds Fest is everyone gets an autograph. If they get in line, they get photos. But the other thing is you can also get your Reds tickets for the season starting at Redspetz.
Right, Yeah, I mean, this is a huge event for so many Reds departments, whether it's our ticket sales, whether it's our corporate sales, whether it's our outstanding Hall of Fame and Reds Community fund staffs. Of course we'll be selling the outstanding fifty to fifty.
Raffle throughout the facility.
We've got our poker event which caps the event, which is a huge Saturday night fundraiser. So so many cool things happening on the main stage. It's it's really just phenomenal how much a Reds fan can experience two days.
Well, we're gonna step aside for a second, Charlie. We'd love to talk more about Reds Fest in the on the other side, so for now we'll just step aside. This is the Budweiser Red's Hot Stove League, presented by UDF Here on the Red Radio Network. Get access to all thirteen Tuesday Reds home games this season with the three two to one Tuesday Ballpark Pass for as low as forty nine ninety nine. Budweiser three two to one Tuesdays at Great American Ballpark include three dollars beers, two
dollars hot dogs, and one dollar ice cream cups. Get your three two to one Tuesday Ballpark pass right now at Reds dot com slash pass. You are listening to the Budweiser Reds Hot Stove League presented by UDF live at the bed MGM Sportsbook inside Tom's Watch Bar at the Banks with Mike Petralia. I'm Mark Sheldon. We're back with Charlie Frank, the executive director of the Reds Community Fund.
Redsfest is this weekend, but Charlie, tomorrow you have a big day as well with Saint Elizabeth Healthcare and an equipment drive. What's gonna be going on with that?
Yeah, Mark, this is the tenth year in a row that we've teamed up with Saint Elizabeth and with a great national recreation nonprofit called Pitchin for Baseball and Softball.
They're based out of Philadelphia. You know, we have a good fortune in Cincinnati. You know, when you work with Cincinnati Public schools, you're covering fifty two neighborhoods.
You're covering, you know, a school system with sixty six schools, you're really covering the whole footprint of the city. We didn't have anything similar in northern Kentucky until we started working with Saintes and this pitchin.
For baseball and softball.
Now we have twenty four high schools, fourteen youth organizations that are going to be receiving close to seventy thousand dollars worth of youth baseball and softball gear at this event tomorrow.
We literally will have the gear there for.
The teams to pick up, and Rebbitt's going to be there with us to speak with the kids. It's a great way to kind of get the season started. But as you guys know, I mean, our game is expensive to play and it's a healthy game in most places in the suburbs. When you get into some of the lower economic areas, in some of the urban areas.
It's hard and you know, when you get to the end of the.
School year, athletic budgets are strapped, and so we're trying to do our part with these great partners. We also work with the rc dur Foundation to take it even further. They've been with us the last few years, so we're really grateful to them. So, you know, again we have a partnership here that can really dig in and create a level playing field for every high school and not every, but a majority of high schools in northern Kentucky and
southeast Indiana. And now we feel like we've got great connections on both sides of the river and can really help these teams before the seasons get started.
I think I met you a couple of years ago at a very similar event.
Actually it was it was that event. It was that event, and.
I'm curious to when you're talking to the coaches to the players, how critical is this equipment to keeping their programs alive.
It's beyond critical, Mike.
It's the sense of gratitude and partnership is one of the best elements of this job.
We just had the ability yesterday to meet.
With folks in Dayton, Kentucky, so we you know, checked out their new indoor field house and saw their new football field, and they wanted us to see the condition of their baseball and softball fields and they pour a lot of time and energy into those.
They're going to be with us.
They're going to be one of the high schools there tomorrow, and they were telling us just how important it is to get that head start for a lot of the school districts that don't have a lot of cash sitting around, but you still want to give that same love and attention to baseball and softball.
So this really makes an impact.
And you have an upcoming field project coming in April too, right.
We do.
You know, every other year we partner with Seeing Elizabeth. We've been doing this since the twenty nineteen. That one hundred and fiftieth year, we did a big field project in Saint Bernard on the Ohio side that year and in Bellevue, Kentucky. And we've been to Bellevue, We've been to Ludlow, Kentucky, Augusta, Kentucky, and then most recently decided we were going to take our first trip into Southeast Indiana. So we're working with just a fantastic school district and community.
In South Ripley and we're going to be with them as well. They'll be one of the.
Main st age ceremonies that we host on Saturday to tell their story, and we'll be dedicating a beautiful new ballfield that can be used for baseball and softball on a synthetic in field in late April.
I know, obviously Friday is going to be a big day for Reds Fest, but Saturday, I'm just looking at the schedule and the itinerary of events coming up. One thing that stands out to me the Kids only press conference, where you give kids a chance to play our role.
So to speak for a day.
How important is it to get kids involved in baseball? We hear so often that the lifeline, the lifeblood of this sport going forward is getting the kids involved.
You know, it's taken the work of the Community Fund and the other community arms of baseball really to a different level because when I arrived, you know, over twenty years ago, a lot of the community and nonprofit work was.
A nice to have. You know, here we are in twenty twenty six.
You know, you get all the data on you know, who's watching the national telecasts and the playoff telecasts, and we've got an older audience than the NBA and the NFL, and we need to be focused on making the game accessible to every kid, not just kids that come from baseball and softball families and come from affluent communities. So getting them down to this event, Mike putting them on stage, getting them to the mascots, getting them.
To the whiffle ball fields, and just stoking.
Their imagination to why this game matters so much to our region is vitally important and we got to you know, also, we're lucky here. We've got Ellie Dela Cruz that's really ignited a younger fan base.
And Ellie arrived the same year that MLB.
You know, made the changes with the pitch clock and with the bases and with the shifts, so you know, all these things have to work in concert, and we have to do our work to make sure kids really have access to our game.
Charlie only got about a minute left, but I wanted to touch on the celebrity poker tournament. Who do you expect to see it there? And that's also a big fundraiser for the community fund.
Too, right it is, guys, we'll have over five hundred players. We literally had to stop sales. They were supposed to.
Be until midnight tonight, but we're already over five hundred and thirty that will be playing. The cool part about it is that all the Reds players, coaches, broadcasters, front office, they will come up and if they don't plan to hang around, they'll go all in.
And if you knock out one.
Of the players or one of the red celebrities or media celebrities, you win the authentic jersey off their back.
So it's a really cool thing.
We'll give prizes for more than I think the first top twenty three and the winner will take home ten thousand dollars, So it's I can't imagine there's a bigger celebrity Texas hold them event anywhere, and it's a really cool way to wrap up the Reds Fst weekend.
Well a reminder, Reds Fest is on Friday from three to ten thirty Saturday from eleven am to six thirty pm. All proceeds go to the Reds Community Fund Charlie Real Quick. Where and where can fans get tickets?
Yeah, best way to do it is Reds dot com slash Reds Fest. There will be tickets available at the door, but you never know what kind of crowd's gonna be waiting for you, so you can do that, but I would really recommend reds dot com slash Redsfest and if you need more information on the poker event, reds dot Com slash Poker.
Well excellent, Charlie, Thank you so much. Remember everyone turn out for Redsfest. It's a lot of fun. And we'll be back to wrap up the show here on the Budweiser Reds Hot Stove League presented by UDF on the Reds Radio Network. And we're back to wrap up the Budweiser Reds Hot Stove League presented by UDF. I'm Mark Sheldon along with Mike Petralia and Mike. We're in the home stretch of the offseason. Spring training is right around
the corner. As I read Pitchers and Catchers February ninth report. A lot of roster tinkering still left to do, though, isn't there?
There is?
And I don't.
I am not one of those staying awake late at night worried about their power bat.
I'm just not.
I think the Reds are going to find ways to generate more power with the bats that they already have. They just are gonna have to a stay healthy and be take that next step forward. Spencer Steer is somebody I would take a long, close, long hard look at in terms of taking that next step. He had a great, a terrific year in terms of power twenty one home runs and seventy five RBIs last year. But Matt McClain
is another. I don't think Matt McClain is going to have the kind of off season that he had this year that he had last year. And I think that's a big part of the Reds plans. They are counting mark on Matt McClain being that Matt McClain of twenty twenty three and me. You know, the joke is hope is not a plan, but I think they believe this is more than hope. They have seen demonstrated evidence of McClain when he first came up that he can handle big league pitching and then you have noel Ve Marte.
I think with a full year under his belt in the outfield this year, I think his power numbers are going to soar.
And the important one, the most important one is Elida. Sure he only hit four home runs after the All Star break. I think a lot of it was due to the quad injury that he was dealing with. He was also just gonna wear and Terry played all one hundred and sixty two games. Tito Francona has already said that he's going to give him days off, which should help him be fresher and maybe more productive. But I think he has to level up in his production this year.
He does, but I would rather La play a whole year fully healthy and maybe creep up towards that thirty home run number, but play that overall game and the other thing. And we've talked about this last week. He's got to improve his defense, and I think a big part of the focus this spring will be on improving that the fundamentals, the mechanics of the position of playing shortstop, because like it or not, he is going to be your opening day.
Shortstop and it should be a really good infield. If Ellie de la Cruz can improve. You already got a two time goal Glove winner and Keith Brian Hayes at third base. He got McLain who always played solid defense even when he wasn't hitting last year, and then Spencer Steer. If he's at first base, that's a Gold glob finalist. Or it could be South Stewart who has some work to do to improve at first base. He's even said that to us last week, why.
He is a bat that I didn't even really mention it inlisting off bats. That's why I don't think the Reds were overly concerned. They would have loved to have had Kyle Schwarber, we all know that, but that didn't work out, and the Reds have decided to put their racehorses in other places, like Pierce Johnson for instance.
For instance, we'll see if that closes, but that they have Pierce Johnson is a pretty solid bullpen. We already know about the rotation, and then it's just really seeing what the bench can be. You know, what they can put together. You got guys like JJ Bladetta was signed to compete for an every day spot, Dane Myers of course, will Benson's back, and we'll see what they end up doing with that.
I think health is a big, big factor in all of this. Mark If they are healthy, they are going to be competing for the NL Central.
I do believe that well.
I think they'll definitely contend, but that's certainly with the Cubs. With the moves they've made this week, it's gonna be a tough division. We'll see what happens, it's wide open. Before we go, I want to thank Nick Lodolo, Charlie Frank, Mike Bittralia, Davon Ruster, and Drew Wester Heidi back at the studio from MLB dot Com. I'm Mark Sheldon, and this has been the Budweiser Reds Hot Stove League, presented by udf right here on the Reds Radio Network.