Brandon Phillips Signs Six-Year Extension with Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Reds and All-Star second baseman Brandon Phillips have reached an agreement on a six-year contract extension.  Phillips’s new deal, which is reportedly worth $72.5 million, will keep the 30-year-old in Cincinnati through 2017.

Yesterday afternoon a Reds source told Jim Bowden of ESPN that the team “agreed in principal” to a six-year deal with Phillips “pending ownership approval”.  Soon after this initial report, Bowden tweeted that the agreement had been confirmed.

Phillips’s extension represents the second significant contract handed out by the Reds in the span of eight days.  Cincinnati was able to lock up first baseman Joey Votto just before their regular season began.

Phillips is not the only second baseman to receive a lucrative contract extension this week.  Yesterday morning we looked at Ian Kinsler’s $75 million pact with the Texas Rangers.  Phillips’s contract becomes the third highest paid to a second baseman behind Kinsler’s and Chase Utley’s $85 million deal.

Phillips, who was set to hit the free agent market this winter, has developed into one of the league’s top second basemen.  Since joining the Reds in 2006, Phillips has won three Gold Gloves, a Silver Slugger and has been named to a pair of All-Star games.

Over his seven seasons in Cincinnati, Phillips has maintained a line of .280/.331/.448.  Last season Phillips hit at a clip of .300/.353/.457 with 18 home runs, 38 doubles, 94 runs scored, 82 RBIs and 14 stolen bases.

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