Saturday, July 08, 2000
Reds can't afford to re-sign Larkin
One of Carl Lindner's companies is spending $75 million to put its name on Carl Lindner's next ballpark. It sounds like a wondrous windfall for the home team until you start studying the fine print.
The rights fee that has spawned the Great American Ball Park is to be paid to the Reds in installments, over 30 years, as opposed to a lump sum that might be spent on Barry Larkin.
Lindner is an octogenarian who invests for the long term. Larkin is a 36-year-old shortstop in need of more immediate returns. Both men have become local institutions, one as a captain of industry, the other as captain of the Cincinnati Reds.
They are not, however, inseparable. And it is beginning to look as if they are bound for a breakup. Several club sources indicated Friday that the club is inclined to let Larkin leave rather than commit the funds necessary to sign him to a new contract.
Still small market
Lindner himself sounded a pessimistic note following Friday's news conference about the new ballpark.
“What they have to realize is that this is the 23rd biggest city of the 30 teams,” Lindner said when asked about the signability of his shortstop. “You can only do so much.”
Lindner went the extra mile to get Ken Griffey Jr. for his small-market franchise, but his heels may be dug in this time around. Griffey has sold so many tickets, moved so much merchandise, and created so much excitement that his hefty salary carries more rewards than risk.
Because he does not put so many people in the seats, Barry Larkin is a tougher sell. Though he is still the best shortstop in the National League — and an increasingly strong candidate for the Baseball Hall of Fame — Larkin is not quite what he was four or five years ago. He has lost some range in the field, some power at the plate and some fans in the front office because of his purported politicking for a new manager.
Pitching priorities
More to the point, perhaps, the Reds are hard-pressed to balance Larkin's salary expectations against their need for upgraded (read pricier) pitching. Denny Neagle was brilliant again Friday night, and the Reds have still gotten fewer innings out of their starting pitchers than any National League team except Montreal. Jack McKeon is still waiting for his first complete game.
Essentially, it's not so much a question of whether Pokey Reese or Gookie Dawkins is an adequate substitute for the finest shortstop the Reds have ever employed, but whether paying Larkin is the best possible allocation of finite funds.
“That's not my call,” McKeon said Friday afternoon. “But let's face it: The only way you're going to win today is you've got to get pitching. Basically, there's not that much out there that you can get and what is out there is expensive.”
If the Reds are low balling Neagle — offering him roughly half of what the ever-so-humble Minnesota Twins will pay Brad Radke — it would suggest upper management is either out of touch with the realities of the arms race or already resigned to losing their best pitcher as a free agent. It might even be read as an indication that the Reds are managing their payroll with Larkin in mind. The evidence, however, suggests otherwise.
Asked what it would cost to sign Larkin, one Reds official made a quick calculation.
“Two pitchers,” he said.
Tim Sullivan welcomes your email at tsullivan@enquirer.com.
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SULLIVAN: Reds can't afford to re-sign Larkin
