His nickname is Dat Dude which rhymes with Nats dude. We reported over 2 hours ago that the Reds and Nats have agreed in principle on a trade of Brandon Phillips to the Nats. It’s complicated by a “no trade” clause that Phillips controls and he is on his way to Washington DC to meet with Mike Rizzo.
513 to 202 ✈️ #PapaPope #OnDeck
— Brandon Phillips (@DatDudeBP) December 18, 2015
Ken Rosenthal saying “talks with Phillips continue,” according to his sources.
Brandon Phillips falls into the category of a veteran player with 10 years of MLB service, 5 consecutive with the same club.
Phillips might not be the perfect fit for the Nats who were certainly looking for lefty bats and young. Phillips will be 35 years old next season and is a righty batter. He has also been plagued with plantar fasciitis.
It’s unclear whether the Nats envision Brandon Phillips at leadoff as we previously noted his poor stats in the leadoff in 2015.
From BaseballReference.com a screengrab:
As you can see, Phillips padded most of his stats batting cleanup in the Reds order in 2015.
We will update as we have more information……….
Many significant issues still unresolved before Brandon Phillips trade is complete: Just bought home in Cincy and his family loves community
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 18, 2015
That is some good caution to the wind as the teams might have agreed but there is still a lot of “subject to” hurdles to jump over because of the “no trade” that Phillips controls. Only he can waive it.
Jim Bowden confirming the trade and saying multiple Minor Leaguers going back in trade to the Reds:
In a strange twist of irony, Brandon Phillips was a part of the worst trade in Expos/Nationals history, and yes, you must add the Nationals because the farm system was raided by Omar Minaya to trade for Bartolo Colon in 2002.
Brandon Phillips was a Minor Leaguer who was blocked by All-Star Jose Vidro and he was part of the deal with Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore and Lee Stevens to the Indians for Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew. Maybe that trade would have made a scintilla of sense if Minaya then didn’t flip Colon after only 17 starts to the White Sox with Jorge Nunez and was fleeced with Rocky Biddle, Orlando Hernandez, and Jeff Liefer. Orlando Hernandez was injured and never pitched an inning for the Expos and became a Free Agent.
What was Minaya thinking? Cliff Lee was 4th in Cy Young in 2005 for the Indians with the best win % in the AL. The Nats could have had a rotation of Cliff Lee, John Patterson and Livan Hernandez in 2005 with Grady Sizemore in CF and Brandon Phillips in the Minors. Grady Sizemore was an All Star 2006 to 2008 for the Indians and a MVP candidate for 4 years in a row.
Brandon Phillips was an original Expo in 2002. Full circle.
