Barry Larkin is excited to have Ken Griffey Jr. as a teammate.

Larkin, the future Hall of Fame shortstop who has spent his entire career with the Reds, expressed his enthusiasm about the blockbuster trade in a recent chat with ESPN's Gary Miller on Up Close. Larkin told Miller that despite his mega-superstar status, Griffey will fit right in on the Reds.

"It's just a matter of him feeling comfortable," Larkin said. "We're going to make him feel right at home. I'm sure he's not going to have any problems at all, but we do have a lot of guys on our team that joke. If there's an outsider that comes into our team, I'm sure you can ask Greg Vaughn, we make them feel really good about being in Cincinnati as far as the players are concerned."

An edited transcript of Larkin's Feb. 10 comments follows.

Miller: Barry, down there in Orlando you get to play some golf with Ken Griffey Jr., he doesn't live too far from you. How do you feel about the prospect of him spending summers with you in Cincinnati?

Larkin: Junior and I have talked about it quite often. We're both really excited about it, we've joked with each other, rubbed each other the wrong way a couple of times about my captain seat and him wanting to be the co-captain and all, but I'm very excited about it, happy that it happened. I'm sure he is pleased as well.

Miller: How have you watched him react emotionally to this thing over the course of the winter with all the rumors going on: the name-calling, the contract figures being thrown around. How has that affected him?

Larkin: Well, Griffey has been real cavalier about it. He really doesn't get too uptight about things that he can't control. The thing that started this whole thing was the fact that he just wasn't going to go back. It wasn't that he said he wanted to be traded. It was just that he wasn't going to re-sign and stay in Seattle. He wanted to be close to his family down here. He's got a lot of family up in Cincinnati, where he was born and raised, so it was a perfect fit for him. He just wanted to come back and play at home. Me, being from Cincinnati and having a family still up there as well, I know the feeling. Like I said, we're both very excited about it and, unfortunately, we lost some of the good players that we had on our team last year. But in order to get something great you have to give up something great.

Miller: You and Griffey both attended the same high school, although you were there earlier. When did you first hear about Griffey's legend in Cincinnati?

Larkin: When I left high school and went to the University of Michigan, he was up at Moeller, and at that particular time, I heard about him breaking my records. I knew his dad from the Big Red Machine and I met him a couple of times. I didn't know him too well, but once Senior came back and played in Cincinnati, he would bring Jr. down to the clubhouse occasionally and we would get into it there as well. I knew like, back in high school when he was breaking all my records, that he was going to do some things. To this level, I didn't know it was going to be like that.

Miller: The figures that have been thrown around are astronomical. Here's a guy that turned down $138-140 million from the Mariners over eight years. What we are hearing is $114-115 million over eight years, but spread over 25 years, really over the life of the contract, and that is being considered "below market value." How do you consider that one, when that's the phrase used?

Larkin: Well, everything is relative, but the thing is that Junior said he wanted to come to Cincinnati and play in Cincinnati. He also said it wasn't about money, so I think the proof is in the pudding. He wanted to come back and play in Cincinnati; he's in Cincinnati. He could have gotten more money playing elsewhere, but some players make concessions to play where they are comfortable, and that's what he did.

Miller: How much do you think that will play a part in him fitting in? It's about half of what he could earn. A player of his caliber is worth about $16-17 million a year.

Larkin: (laughing) That's phenomenal. It's funny, I laugh. How is any one particular player worth that, but that's what the market bears for a player of his talent. The important thing, I hate to talk about money, but the important thing is that he wanted to come play in Cincinnati. I think the reason why he wanted to come play in Cincinnati, other than the fact that he would be at home, is the fact that he knows that we have a good group of core players over there, a good group of guys over there, and that's important to him. He's asked me about personnel already. We talked about that. It's just a matter of him fitting in. He's a jokester, just like we have other guys on our team that are jokesters, and he's going to do all right. I'll tell you what. He's not going to get any justice. We'll get on him pretty hard. I'm still the judge of the Kangaroo Court and I'm going to fine him heavily because he's making the most money on the team (laughs).

Miller: So the initial fine is going to be the size of the contract alone?

Larkin: That's right. That's right.

Miller: Is there a percentage figure there? You take just one percent of it and the Kangaroo Court will be set for the season.

Larkin: In our courtroom the judge does take bribes, so he going to have to come pretty correct if he wants to bribe me though.

Miller: What do you see as the lineup for this coming season?

Larkin: We lost our leadoff guy, Mike Cameron, so I really don't know. We've got Deion Sanders there, if he's going to play. We've got Pokey Reese, who came up big last year. He's got some speed. Myself. I'm sure it's just a matter of putting someone out there that can get on base in front of Junior and let him clean up. It's really an interesting lineup: Junior being left-handed, (Dante) Bichette being right-handed, Casey being left-handed, Eddy Taubensee being left-handed. Then you got Dmitri Young or Michael Tucker, a lot of players that you can throw into and mix up the lineup. We've got a good balance of speed and power, so it's going to be really interesting what we're going to do offensively.

Miller: You jumped in the first segment about the captain's seat. I read one place that he wants a "CC" on his uniform, that you were going to make him take two pitches so you can steal. You had 30 steals last year.

Larkin: Like I said, we joke about everything. It's just a matter of him feeling comfortable. We're going to make him feel right at home. I'm sure he's not going to have any problems at all, but we do have a lot of guys on our team that joke. If there's an outsider that comes into our team, I'm sure you can ask Greg Vaughn, we make them feel really good about being in Cincinnati as far as the players are concerned. We're going to do that with Ken and it's going to be fun.

Miller: You mentioned Deion Sanders coming back. What do you expect from him this time around?

Larkin: I talked to Prime this morning as well and I want to send out congratulations to him and his wife. They just had another baby boy, so I'm excited about that. Once again, it's another guy that brings presence to our lineup. Sarasota is going to be a circus because we've got a lot players, two guys in particular, that people want to talk to and talk about. It's going to be interesting and should be fun. Once again, Deion is going to bring presence to our lineup just like Griffey is going to bring presence to our lineup. I know Deion is rehabbing his knee; we'll have to see how that goes. He told me he was two weeks away from being ready to run. He told me he's going to be out there with a trainer so he's very serious about getting it done on the baseball field. Hopefully that will happen for him and hopefully he'll make a big contribution to this team. I just expect both those guys to be out there, first of all to be healthy, and to make major contributions in their own way.

Miller: What was behind his decision? What do you think he fears about coming back after this long layoff?

Larkin: I told Deion he better wear some ankle braces and some knee braces because he's going to get buckled on those sliders from those pitchers because he hasn't played in two years. I just think it's just an unfinished book; it's an unfinished chapter in this book. I think Deion aspires to be the best at whatever he does. I think that it's just unfinished business for him to be the best at baseball. I think that's another challenge. We talked quite often about his aspirations about playing baseball. I think it's just another challenge for him to come back and do well in the game because he has not yet done that.

Miller: How do you think Griffey feels about this thing being done?

Larkin: Actually, when I talked to him this morning, it was not done. He was telling me that it probably was going to get done, but it was not a complete deal or a done deal. He didn't know the parameters of the deal. It was just kind of like, "What's up Lark? How 'ya doing? I think they're closer. I'm out playing golf." Like I said, he's been very cavalier about it?. Junior has been very laid back about the whole thing, and now he's a Red and now I'm sure he's happy. Now I believe he's on his way back up to Cincinnati for a press conference.

Miller: You mentioned some of the guys, Mike Cameron being gone from the leadoff spot. Here's a guy who of course is not going to replace Ken Griffey Jr., but he's going to be in center field in Seattle. You got to know him in his brief stay with the Reds, blossoming into the kind of player we thought he could be. How do you think he'll handle that kind of pressure?

Larkin: Hopefully he won't see it as pressure. Any time that you are compared to a great ball player, in my case Dave Concepcion or Ozzie Smith, you try to do things as they did. If that's not that type of player that you are, that's really going to take you out of the game. It's just a matter of saying, "OK, I'm going out and just play this game." He has gotten better and better; as the months went through the season last year he got better and better, so hopefully he'll continue to make that progression. I really took a liking to him. I hate to see him go, as well as Brett Tomko, but like I said earlier, in order to get something you have to give up something and that's what we had to do.

Miller: So many names have been mentioned in this thing. How do you think it will affect the guys whose names were put into this but didn't get to go?

Larkin: I think, first of all, Pokey Reese, he was a guy that everyone was talking about earlier. I think that automatically boosted his confidence in the fact that Cincinnati didn't want to give him up. He's got to know that he has quite a bit to offer. The other guys, I think once again it's a situation where they feel like, "hey, these guys think so much about me that they didn't want to trade maybe because they think I'll make major contributions." (Travis) Dawkins in particular, he's been out there with me working at shortstop, and he will be the next shortstop of the Cincinnati Reds. I don't know when that will be but he can play, so that's got to help him as well. The other guys, hopefully the other guys that are staying in Cincinnati, Scott Williamson and Denny Neagle and those other guys, hopefully they are saying, "Thank goodness I was able to stay and play in Cincinnati because hopefully I'll be playing for a contender." That's what it's all about. They made this move for one reason: to try to win. I think we should be right there this year.

Miller: What's your contract status and your future with the Reds?

Larkin: I talked to Jim Bowden earlier this year, actually it was before the turn of the new year, and we were talking about the prospects of getting Griffey. He told me, "Let me get this Griffey thing done." He told me this in November, I guess it was. "Let me get this Griffey thing done and then we'll talk about re-signing you." So, I guess I'm up next. Like I said, I've always wanted to play on a competitive team. Hopefully it will be on grass soon and hopefully it will be in Cincinnati, so I've been very consistent with that. We do have a competitive team, and hopefully we'll stay in Cincinnati. We're just very excited. I know I'm very excited. I've had calls from players today and they're very excited. Like I've said, I've talked to Deion this morning. He's excited about it. Jack (McKeon) is going to have his hands full. We'll have to see how he handles all of this.

Miller: How do you think Jack McKeon will handle this, with Ken Senior waiting in the wings and him having to take on what you've described yourself as a circus?

Larkin: I think Jack is just going to sit back and say, "Okay, guys, you all know how to play, so let's just play." Jack won the Manager of the Year award last year, and I think the main reason why he did that was because Jack was very good at putting people in situations where they could be successful, but Jack wasn't trying to tell people what to do other than go out and play and have fun. One of his major attributes I think last year was the fact that he went out there and did nothing at times. He just said, "Okay, you know what you got to do." I think that's going to be the situation again.