According to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports on Twitter, the Nationals are now “moving on” from Brandon Phillips and will pursue other options, including Howie Kendrick and former Met Daniel Murphy to a lower degree.
Phillips reportedly wanted an extension as part of a condition to him accepting the trade to Washington, according to Jon Heyman via Twitter, so it makes sense the Nationals balked, as Phillips is already owed $27 million over the two years left on his contract, and is also going into his age 35 season.
Another option the Nationals could consider is trading for one-time top MLB prospect Jurickson Profar of the Rangers, according to Jim Bowden of ESPN. Profar was ranked the No. 1 prospect in baseball heading into the 2013 season by Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, and MLB.com. He had an outstanding AFL season and is attempting to comeback from shoulder surgery. The Rangers will wait until Spring Training to deal him to show teams he is healthy.
December 18:
The Nationals and Reds are in agreement on a trade that would send Brandon Phillips to Washington, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports via Twitter.
However, Phillips has yet to agree to waive his full no-trade protection, and has accepted deferrals in his contract to remain in Cincinnati for the duration of the deal, so talks with him are ongoing, Rosenthal also tweets.
Phillips, 34, made his major league debut with the Indians in 2002, but it wasn’t until he was traded to the Reds in 2006 that he developed into the player he is today.
In fourteen major league seasons, Phillips is a career .273/.320/.421 hitter, and comes with four Gold Glove awards under his belt.
The three-time all-star is coming off a season that saw him hit .294/.328/.395, with 12 home runs and 70 RBI’s, his best season in several years.
The Nationals had been linked to former Met Daniel Murphy earlier this week, but if this deal comes into fruition, it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing Daniel in our division this season.
