Major League Baseball

Report: Reds lock down Phillips for six years

Updated Oct. 20, 2022 2:13 p.m. ET

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The Reds, locking up another of their core players, have reached agreement on a six-year, $72.5 million contract with second baseman Brandon Phillips, according to a major-league source.

The deal will replace Phillips’ current one-year, $12.5 million contract, and extend from 2012 to ’17, the source said.

The sixth guaranteed year was important to Phillips, who turns 31 on June 28. He will become the first second baseman to earn at least $12 million at age 36. Middle infielders in their mid 30s generally do not command multi-year deals.

The Reds, by back-loading first baseman Joey Votto’s 10-year, $225 million extension, left themselves the flexibility to sign Phillips. Votto will earn $9.5 million and $17 million in the final two years of his current deal, then $12 million in 2014 and $15 million in ’15.

Phillips, meanwhile, accepted less than the Rangers gave second baseman Ian Kinsler, who reached agreement Monday on a five-year, $75 million extension – a deal that likely will grow to six years and $80 million if Texas exercises a club option for a sixth year.

Kinsler, who turns 30 on June 22, has played in two World Series and is a more productive hitter than Phillips, who nonetheless won both the Silver Slugger and Gold Glove in the National League last season.

Phillips, an immensely popular player in Cincinnati, also knew that he needed to accept a lesser contract to remain with the Reds.

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