One Side-Note on the Cincinnati Reds Trade

With shortstop Felipe Lopez being included as part of todays trade - that means that Cincinnati icon and possible Hall of Famer Barry Larkin was forced out of town in order to make way for just a season and a half of Felipe Lopez. Heck - Barry Larkin could still be playing if he wasn't forced out of town by the Reds. Larkin wanted to come back for his 20th year with the Reds in 2005 but he was told to take a hike.

This makes me pretty upset.

In 2004 - these were Larkin's numbers:

Larkin 2004 - 111 G/ 346 AB/ .289 BA/ .352 OBP/ .419 SLG

Those are pretty decent numbers. I do grant that Larkin was 40-years old 2-years ago and that over his last 5 years in Cincinnati he only averaged 95 games per year but that was partly because Felipe was taking some of his playing time (but mostly because of injuries). I'm also convinced that Lopez's trade value must have been higher going into last season that it was today when he was basically just a throw in sidelight to Austin Kearns.

It should also be noted that when Larkin retired - he took a job as Special Assistant to General Manager with the Nationals. That means that Larkin may have just assisted Jim Bowden (his GM with the Reds from 1992 to 2003) to acquire the player who replaced him as shortstop with the Reds. There's a certain irony in the situation.