For everyone who thinks/thought Larkin would work well as a backup and would be fine doing it, here's a little snippet from the Post...

If Larkin knew the Reds were committed to starting Lopez and Machado every day at shortstop next season, could he play an entire year in the same role he held this September?

"No, I couldn't," Larkin said, "because I think once I started playing that the manager would see that I could make more contributions to the team than that. If I get a chance to go out there and play, with my track record when I'm healthy, everybody knows that I can play. So, no, I couldn't see myself in that position, especially in Cincinnati."