As a 10-and-5 guy (a player with at least 10 years of big-league experience and at least five straight seasons with his current team), Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips has veto rights to any agreed-upon trade. He's not bashful when it comes to exercising said rights, either, because for the second straight year he's vetoed a potential trade.
This time around, the Reds' deal was with the Braves, reports Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports. Rosenthal reports that this happened back in November and the Braves' signing of Sean Rodriguez was being negotiated at the same time (simply: The Braves were likely to grab one or the other and Phillips made the decision easy).
Again, this is the second straight offseason Phillips has vetoed a deal, but he actually did so twice last offseason: Once to the Nationals -- and they signed Daniel Murphy afterward -- and once to the Diamondbacks.
Phillips, 35, has one year and $14 million left on his six-year, $72 million extension that he signed before the 2012 season. He's gotten to the point where he doesn't have much, if any, value left for the Reds and yet they can't get rid of him.
Though a fan favorite through the Reds making the playoffs three of four years from 2010-13, the vetoes here might start to wear a bit on the Cincy faithful as the club looks to get younger and move forward. Even if veteran shortstop Zack Cozart is traded, the Reds need to see what they have at second base with Dilson Herrera (who came over from the Mets in the Jay Bruce trade) and Jose Peraza. There's also post-hype utility man Arismendy Alcantara for depth.
Apparently, there's also going to be Phillips, because he's not getting an extension in a trade and the Reds surely aren't going to just eat $14 million by releasing him.
