The Buzz

The perpetually payroll-slashing Reds are shopping their most expensive and valuable asset, shortstop Barry Larkin , though neither Larkin nor Reds management is taking responsibility for that decision. Larkin , who has spent his entire 13-year career in Cincinnati , claims that he has not asked to be traded. But Reds general manager Jim Bowden insists that he received a call two weeks ago during which Larkin 's agent, Eric Goldschmidt, submitted a list of four teams—Los Angeles, St. Louis , San Diego and San Francisco—for whom Larkin would waive his no-trade rights as a 10-and-5 player. Larkin will admit that he's frustrated by the Reds' penny-pinching style and fears that the team won't get back to a World Series during his career However, because he will earn $5.3 million in each of the next two seasons and is off to a slower-than-usual start (five homers and 29 RBIs at week's end) following surgery in March to correct a bulging disk in his neck, it may be difficult for the Reds to get fair value for him in a trade.