Jim Bowden reported earlier this afternoon that the Reds and Brandon Phillips had a six-year, $72.5 million contract extension in place. Now it appears to be done, says Ken Rosenthal.
That’s just shy of Ian Kinsler money, so it’s probably about right for the market, even if it seems kind of nuts to go that long with a second baseman. They don’t age all that well. Carlos Baerga and Chase Utley told me so.
But what a world we live in: the Cincinnati Reds, inhabitants of one of baseball’s smallest television markets, have now committed over $300 million to two players in the past couple of weeks.