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Cincinnati Reds (2026 Season Thread)

So at the trade deadline lets step back and contemplate just how truly fucked this organization is.

The 26 man MLB roster has 5-6 legit good players to build on as a core. Greene, Burns and Abbott make a quality top 3. Good as anyone. Position players you have Elly, Sal Stewart and maybe JJ Bleday. So call it 6. The rest are not going to help you win. A good team may be able to carry a Steer but he isn't making a bad team better.

So where does the help come from? How do you build out the other 20 or so spots on the MLB roster that need upgraded? The minors are barren, everyone has been promoted. Anyone that could be any good is below AA except for 3 guys; The catcher at AA, Duno, is a legit stud. The other two are AAA outfielders (Rodriguez and Jorge).

Now, here is the easiest scouting set up in the world-the Reds MLB OF options all suck balls and yet these two "prospects" haven't seen even a whiff of a rumor of being called up. I'm no Sherlock Holmes but I am going to deduce that these two suck balls as well. More likely, they REALLY suck balls and the organization knows it.

So we still need talent and when we go to the minor league cupboard we are Old Mother Hubbard. Where else do you go to acquire talent in MLB? Free Agents and trades.
-Free Agents; once you stop laughing just move on. I simply mentioned the theoretical existence of them to be thorough.
-So then trade for it; except...who the fuck you going to trade? We have 6 guys and we have no farm system.

An MLB roster devoid of talent, a barren farm system and never any money for free agents. This is why there should be relegation in MLB. If you run a team this poorly for this long you should be stripped of ownership.

QB1 Julian Sayin (All B1G, B1G Frosh of Year, All American, National Frosh of Year, National Champion)

I think we all agree that not putting more on Sayin as the year progressed cost us in the playoffs?

No doubt. The question is that because Day/Hartline just didn't coach him up well enough or is it because Day knew what he was doing and kept the training wheels on, purposfully?

I have a lot of faith in Day the OC/QB coach so I lean to the side of; he knew the kid just wasn't ready so let's dumb it way down on offense and lean on the best defense on earth.

They came within 10 points of a NC on that strategy if my guess is even close.
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2027 tOSU Recruiting Discussion

He would've gotten us closer for the FG after Stroud took Day's turtle time offense in his own hands and scrambled into game winning territory.
We have no clue if he would’ve gotten the offense any closer. OSU didnt lose solely because of a RB. And honestly OSU nor UGA had much of a run game going and OSU was on RB3 at that point
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QB1 Julian Sayin (All B1G, B1G Frosh of Year, All American, National Frosh of Year, National Champion)

I can definitely see the view the analyst sees where he's partially successful because of what he has to throw to. I thought Justin Fields was going to be a good to great QB in the NFL.....his game just looked perfect for it. Sometimes that doesn't show up in the NFL, and the obvious question is "how did it work SO WELL in college but not at all in the pros?"

IF Sayin is just throwing to a first or maybe second read, that would translate to failure in the NFL. We saw it last year where sometimes players would be open down field and he would throw underneath.

He's obviously accurate as hell. He mostly makes really good decisions. None of us know if he's reading defenses at an elite level or just throwing to players who are likely going to be open about 90+% of the time. I really hope it's the first option.
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QB1 Julian Sayin (All B1G, B1G Frosh of Year, All American, National Frosh of Year, National Champion)

I understand the polar opposite scouting reports to be honest.

Part of me really wonders if the whole , slow vs fast thing last year was because Day knew from the jump he had to really over protect his QB. He didn't go faster because his QB couldn't go faster.

Then I see him be hyper accurate and I just don't know.

This year will tell us.
I think we all agree that not putting more on Sayin as the year progressed cost us in the playoffs?
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CG LJ Smith (Official Thread)

LJ Smith Ready to Play College Basketball, Confident He’ll Make Immediate Impact at Ohio State After Reclassification

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LJ Smith is looking to accelerate his development by enrolling at Ohio State one year early.

The five-star guard was originally a member of the 2027 recruiting class when he committed to the Buckeyes in November. Last month, however, Smith decided to reclassify into the 2026 class and become a Buckeye this year after completing his high school education early.

Smith, who played for one of the nation’s top high school basketball programs at Oak Hill Academy last season, felt like he would gain more by starting his Ohio State career this season rather than playing another year of high school basketball.

“I was just ready to come get better at the college level and develop my game,” Smith said last week in his first interview session since arriving at Ohio State. “During the winter, I was just worried about school ball at the time at Oak Hill, just staying in ’27. Spring came around, playing AAU ball, I felt like I was done with high school, ready to go to college. So I'm hoping to get better there.”

Ohio State coach Jake Diebler said conversations with Smith about a potential reclassification started at the end of his junior season at Oak Hill, but the Buckeyes felt at the time that Smith would benefit from staying in high school for his senior year. After a strong AAU season this spring, however, Ohio State decided that Smith would be able to help the team in 2026-27 and reinitiated those conversations.

“There had been some conversations even going back to, I'll call it, towards the end of his high school season that, ‘Hey, this could be a possibility.’ It was initiated by them. We had some initial conversations. Then it really kind of shifted to, ‘Hey, we think maybe that's not best right now,’” Diebler said after Smith’s reclassification in June. “So those conversations started happening again later in the spring, and we watched him in Memphis with his AAU team and felt like he could come in, have an impact, add value to the roster as it had formed.

“In order for this to work, everybody had to be on the same page. And so it just took kind of a transparent dialogue to get to that point. And once we realized everybody was on the same page, ‘Hey, this is good for him, it's good for us,’ then it was, ‘All right, how do we get this done?’”

“I was just ready to come get better at the college level and develop my game.”– LJ Smith on enrolling at Ohio State a year early
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