By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Reds will trot out most of their regulars Thursday for the exhibition opener against the New York Yankees in Tampa.

Barry Larkin and Sean Casey won't go. But the other six regulars - Aaron Boone, Brandon Larson, Austin Kearns, Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn and Jason LaRue - will play.

Wily Mo Pena, the outfielder-turned-first baseman, will start in Casey's place. Casey is coming off August shoulder surgery.

"(Pena's) shown pretty good aptitude at first," said manager Bob Boone.

Boone wants to get Larson and Dunn plenty of at-bats, and Aaron Boone plenty of time at second base.

In fact, when Aaron is kept out of regular games, he will play in the Minor League Accelerated Program.

"That way he can play four innings of defense for both sides," Bob Boone said. "Sometimes in a regular game, you get three at-bats and no groundballs."

Larkin and Griffey won't be held back, but Boone doesn't think either player needs a lot of at-bats.

"Guys used to need 100 at-bats," Boone said. "Junior can get locked in in four days."

BOONE ON GRIFFEY: A visiting writer asked Boone if he talked to Griffey about the offseason trade proposal in which Griffey nearly was sent to San Diego for Phil Nevin, whom Boone lobbied to accept the trade.

"I don't think he's really happy about it," Boone said. "Nothing Bob Boone can say is going to change that. But I expect him to have a bang-up year.

"Some guys use that kind of thing as motivation. Look at Larson last year. We took him off the roster. Nobody in baseball wanted him. Then he had the big year, and we love him."

BOONE ON LARKIN: The same writer asked Boone about the competition between Barry Larkin and Felipe Lopez at shortstop.

"It's not cut and dried. We might not say, 'You're the guy.' We're going to need more than eight guys to play everyday. I've heard Lopez is a terrific third baseman. He's played second base in the minors. We're going to watch."

Lopez has looked good in camp. But he's going to have to be better than good to unseat Larkin.

"We liked Lopez when we picked him up," Boone said. "We said he's the shortstop of the future, but we don't know when that will be. The reality is he hit .220 in the big leagues last year."

HAYNES UPDATE: Jimmy Haynes still isn't throwing off the mound because of tendinitis in his shoulder.

"I've been long-tossing the last two days with no pain," he said. "I'll probably throw off the mound Thursday. But that's a guess."

Haynes, the front-runner to start Opening Day based on his 15-10 record, is scheduled to make his first start Sunday against Pittsburgh.

HARNISCH HUMOR: Adam Dunn was the victim of Pete Harnisch's sharp tongue Monday.Pete Harnisch has dubbed the 6-foot-6, 270-pound Dunn "Giantor."

"When he plays golf he isn't allowed on the green because he leaves Herman Munster footprints," Harnisch said. "He chips on and it's automatic two-putt."

E-mail jfay@enquirer.com