Brandon Phillips Has Blocked A Trade For The Third Time In Two Years
For the third time in the last two offseasons, the Cincinnati Reds have attempted to trade Brandon Phillips and were unsuccessful, as the 35-year-old second baseman has once again exercised his 10-5 rights to veto a trade.
This time, it was to the Atlanta Braves. Last winter, the Reds tried to flip Phillips to the Washington Nationals and then again to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Phillips nixed both trades, remained in Cincinnati, and hit .291 with a .736 OPS, which was more or less a prototypical season for him, even in his age-35 season. Last winter, it wasn’t that Phillips was against being traded, but he wanted to be financially compensated for agreeing to waive his 10-5 rights. He was denied on both attempts, thus a trade was never finalized.
I don’t blame Phillips for vetoing both trades last winter, but this time around? It doesn’t seem like a wise choice for a number of reasons, which were illustrated by Ken Rosenthal in his report. In no particular order, Phillips isn’t going to get the same playing time in 2017 that he has in the past. He played in 141 games last year, and has averaged 147 games since 2006. He wouldn’t even sniff that number in 2017, because the Reds are committed to their rebuild, and have 22-year-old infielders Jose Peraza and Dilson Herrera waiting to take over.
2017 is the final year of Phillips’ 6-year, $72.5 million contract that he signed back in 2012, which means that he’ll be a free agent after this season. Why would you want to stay in an organization where you know that your playing time will be limited in a contract year? Not ideal. Also, Rosenthal noted that Phillips owns a home in Atlanta. Be more of a perfect fit. You can’t.
They were discussing this on MLB Network, and Harold Reynolds said that he talked to Phillips, and that Phillips said he was “ticked” about the lack of communication between he and the organization while the trade was being negotiated. The way Reynolds described it made it seem like Phillips blocked the trade out of principle, which would be a stupid move on his part. Reynolds noted that Phillips said, “You think I wouldn’t wanna go to Atlanta?” So, he wants to go, but he blocked the trade because the Reds didn’t let him know what was brewing until it was agreed upon? Who cares? It can’t happen until you say so, anyway. Weird move.
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Rosenthal gave this deal a small chance of still getting done regardless, but called it “unlikely” to happen. I wrote yesterday about Joey Votto and his contract, and how the Reds desperately need to free up some payroll, but this deal ain’t it. Phillips is owed $14 million in 2017, but the report says that the Reds were willing to eat a “significant portion” of that salary in order to move him to Atlanta. It also stated that the Reds were “surprised” when Phillips blocked the deal.
When you consider all the factors involved here, I am, too. He’s like Milton from Office Space. They keep trying to get rid of him, and he keeps showing up for work.