Barry Larkin talking to ex-teammates to see if they’ll coach with him if he takes over the Reds

Ken Rosenthal’s latest column talks about two Hall of Fame shortstops -- Cal Ripken and Barry Larkin -- who many are speculating could be in line to become managers of the Nationals and Reds, respectively.

It’s mostly just informed supposition on Rosenthal’s part -- Matt Williams is losing his team and will likely be fired if the Nats miss the playoffs and the Reds are a train wreck -- but this little nugget is interesting:

Talk at the All-Star break that Larkin could replace Price before the end of the season proved unfounded. But Larkin in recent months has surveyed former Reds teammates about whether they would join his coaching staff if he became manager, sources said.

I wonder if he does that without someone in the Reds hierarchy at least mentioning the possibility. More importantly, I wonder if that survey Rosenthal reports includes former teammate Pete Rose, from the 1986 Reds. “Rose reinstated and becomes bench coach” would be the most fun and hilarious mess of a thing we’ve ever seen.

I will settle for 1995 Reds pitcher David Wells as pitching coach, though.