Barry Larkin Critical of Reds' Mediocrity, Current Expectations 'Unacceptable'

Hall of Fame Shortstop and Cincinnati native Barry Larkin gave his opinion on the Reds during Tuesday night's telecast.

Austin Elmore | Aug 14, 2024

Cincinnati Reds special assistant Barry Larkin talks with infielder Jonathan India during spring training workouts, Monday, Feb. 19, 2024, at the team's spring training facility in Goodyear, Ariz. / Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Cincinnati Reds

CINCINNATI — Barry Larkin is Cincinnati baseball royalty. He's from here, he played here, and he won a World Series here. Heck, when the All-Star game was held at Great American Ball Park in 2015, Larkin was named one of the four greatest Reds of all time.

He is a National Baseball Hall of Fame player, and as accomplished as any player in Reds history. For years, Larkin has been an advisor in the Reds organization. He has coached at different levels in the minor league system, been an instructor at Major League Spring Training, and more.

Long story short: Larkin's words carry weight. So when Larkin, the color analyst alongside John Sadak in the Bally Sports Ohio booth on Tuesday night, offered his opinion on the state of the franchise, it raised some eyebrows.

"But listen, there's expectation, and there should be expectation in this city with this amount of talent that we have," Larkin said. "We have a superstar talented pitcher. We have superstar talented players, right? And there has to be something in someone that just cannot accept mediocrity if you will, .500 baseball is .500 baseball. You don't win playing .500 baseball."

Message delivered. There's been a shift in expectations over the years since Larkin and the 1990 Reds won the World Series. The club has been mediocre for a long time. So long, in fact, that it seems the expectation from fans has changed. There's excitement over a team that can float around the .500 mark. Fans are so starved for a winner, they'll take anything.

In the last 34 seasons, including 2024, the Reds have made five postseason appearances. They have not won a playoff series since 1995. They have eclipsed the 90-win mark five times. They have failed to reach 80 wins 21 times. They have finished .500 just one time, in 1996. No wonder that mark seems so desirable.

Larkin wasn't done, though. He kept going.

"You have dominant players, and they have to figure out how to dominate. And I think these guys, they need to be pushed. I know that," Larkin said. "I'm sitting here just thinking about myself and Eric Davis, and what he did for me in my career. What he did is he challenged me. He didn't let me just go out there and just be OK. He told me it is unacceptable for you to be a .500 ballplayer. It's unacceptable."

That is tremendous insight from one of the great players in Reds history about how his fellow teammate, another Reds legend, held him accountable and demanded greatness from him. Larkin went on to talk about the standard that was set for his Reds teams. They had a standard to meet every time they took the field.

"Lou Piniella went out there and said, 'We're going to win.' There's not an expectation to compete. There's an expectation to win. And we felt that as players. You know what we did? We won."

There aren't a lot of Lou Piniella's growing on trees these days, but that doesn't mean his mindset shouldn't be replicated. The Reds are one of the most historic and important franchises in the history of baseball.

They were the first professional team, the first to play night game, they've won five World Series championships, put together the team many consider to be the best ever with the Big Red Machine of the 70's, and countless other influential accomplishments have been achieved by the club.

That sort of success is supposed to set a standard. It's supposed to create a culture of winning, of excellence, and certainly not one of mediocrity. Reds fans deserve better than what they've gotten for the last 30+ years.

How many times over the last 30 years would Reds fans say that their team is aggressively pursuing a championship? Probably not many. They sat idly by at the trade deadline in 2023, did a whole bunch of nothing in 2024, and haven't done much to convince the fan base that they are committed to the excellent standard that was set all those years ago.

I give my kudos to Larkin. Somebody had to say it, and he did. His words carry weight, and I hope the Reds are listening.

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