Reds to try to trade Brandon Phillips

The Reds intend to trade Brandon Phillips this offseason, Bob Nightengale of USA Today writes. The Reds will be hard-pressed to get good value for Phillips at this point, since he hit .261/.310/.396 this season and they owe him $50 million over the next four years.

In any case, it's been amusing to watch what seems like a freakout by the Reds this offseason. They won at least 90 games for the third time in four years in 2013, and they've responded by firing their manager and (reportedly, at least) trying to deal their star veteran second baseman. Like most people who like watching intelligently-managed baseball games, I'm no fan of Dusty Baker. I also think Phillips' contract is likely to turn out to be a bad one. But this isn't how a legitimate contender usually behaves. Here's hoping they deal Phillips, for whatever reason, and maybe a couple of their other veterans as well.