Pretty young? Check.
Good bat? Check.
Plays 2B? Check.
Pretty good defense? Check.
Cheap? Check.

So there you go. He’s already too expensive for us. Barring Rasmus and maybe Anderson, too, Brandon Phillips isn’t coming to the Cardinals. I think we all know that Jocketty isn’t a complete moron. But wait, there’s more! Checklist #2:

In the division? Check.
Plays with a flair that borders on arrogance? Check.

Jocketty won’t be trading a premiere 2B to us. Not happening. The Reds consider themselves in competition for the next several years with their youngsters hitting the show (Bruce, Votto, Volquez, Bailey, et al), so they’re not going to swing Phillips to us. That would be silly. As for Phillips’ flair—TLR just would not handle that well. TLR likes the hard-nosed guys and Phillips is not one of those guys.

Basically, there’s zero reason to think we would want to (due to price) or even could (due to intradivisional rivalry) get Phillips from the Reds. It’s not even worth discussing.

this is a basic misunderstanding of how intelligent teams rebuild. Phillips is young, cheap, cost controlled, talented in the field and at the plate…....so why would the Reds trade him to anyone? How would that help a team trying to rebuild?

Phillips is the type of asset bad teams should be trying to acquire, not giving away.

Ownership has slotted a specific salary range for 2B(it was $3-4MM last I read), and that wouldn’t be enough to keep Phillips.

The Reds are trying to build for the future.

1B – Votto 24
2B – Phillips 27
SS – Keppinger 28
3B – Encarnacion 25
OF- Bruce 21
OF- Dunn 28
OF- Stubbs 23

SP – Volquez 24
SP – Cueto 22
SP – Thompson 22
SP – Bailey 22

They can get 2 years of 40/40 or 30/30 potential out of Phillips for dirt cheap before he starts costing a lot of money.

“Jocketty reportedly named five untouchable Reds players: Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Edinson Volquez, Johnny Cueto, and Edwin Encarnacion.”

It was odd to not see Phillips’ name on that list, but maybe his upcoming salary increases are causing him to not be on the list (4.75 in ‘09, 6.75 in ‘10, 11 in ‘11, 12 in ‘12). It will take a truckload of prospects to get a deal done, and I really doubt that the Cardinals-Jocketty Relationship is on such good terms that a deal would get done. It’s not like Jocketty loved to keep any of the farm hands when he was here, so why would he want them now?

Would Ryan Freel be a better option for 2B for next season? He will be a lot cheaper then other options (3 mil this season and 4 mil next) and the guy just plays hard all the time (when he’s healthy-biggest issue). And since the Cardinals seem reluctant to DFA AK, he would provide a nice platoon since he has been hitting lefties at a .339 clip. He is versatile as well (plays all 3 OF, 3B, 2B), and he has good speed and is capable of swiping some bases.

Contract info from Cot’s Baseball Contracts.

Rasmus and Anderson for Phillips and Harang?

But still very unlikely. Although the Reds may be better trade partners then people are giving them credit. Walt may harbor some ill will toward the team but Mo is his prodigy so I think he’ll take the call. It was the friction with Luhnow that forced Walt out the door. He does know our players as well as anyone outside the team, likes mid-season trades and has shown in the past he doesn’t mind trading within the division. Maybe we have some prospects he loved and wants to get into the Reds system. All that being said I still don’t see it happening.