Cincinnati Reds: What Does Votto's Contract Extension Mean for Brandon Phillips?

By now you've all heard that Joey Votto and the Reds have agreed to terms on a new contract.

According to beat writer Mark Sheldon, that deal is worth $225 million over 10 years. The deal also features a full no-trade clause.

This is a huge move for a franchise generally considered to be a small- to mid-market team. After the initial period of excitement I experienced this morning after reading about a possible extension, I began to wonder what this meant for Brandon Phillips.

If you know about Votto's new extension, then you almost certainly know that Phillips' contract is up at the end of this season. Phillips and the Reds were said to be in negotiations this spring but thus far, there's been no rumor of the two sides being close to any kind of deal.

With Votto's extension complete, a big question has been created: What will happen with Brandon Phillips?

To be honest, I think this is going to be his last year in Cincinnati. It was rumored earlier this spring that Phillips was asking for a raise on his current $12 million dollar salary over a four- to six-year contract.

This doesn't seem like much of a stretch considering the elite level Phillips has played at over the past few seasons with the Reds.

However, the Reds have been in this situation before, and very recently I might add. Remember Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn?

The two were stars in Cincinnati and they sure got paid like it. When Griffey signed with the Reds he averaged $12.5 million per year.

In 2007, Adam Dunn's club option was picked up for $13 million. By 2008, the two players combined to make $21,282,695.

For a team whose payroll was just under $74 million that season, this was a huge commitment to two players—about 29 percent of the team's payroll.

The team's management handcuffed itself from making any moves, other than trades. Oh, and for the record, that 2008 Reds team went just 74-88.

It's not out of the question to think that they don't have this scenario played out in the back of their minds. Walt Jocketty is smart with the money he's given to run a team and to me, resigning Phillips doesn't seem like the type of move they'd make.

Should the Reds sign Phillips to the type of deal he's looking for, they'd sink about $38 million per year into the contracts of Votto and Phillips.

If you total up contracts for this year's team, the Reds' payroll is somewhere in the neighborhood of $85 million.

That would be about 45 percent of the team's payroll going to just two players.

Meanwhile, you have players like Johnny Cueto and Drew Stubbs—not to mention other young players like Devin Mesoraco, Zack Cozart and some promising minor leaguers—who will undoubtedly be looking to ink contracts in the near future.

The money will have to be there to extend these players or the Reds will be stuck in a situation resembling the one they found themselves in in 2008.

As much as I love Brandon Phillips, putting that big of a percentage of a team's payroll on two players just isn't a smart business move. I'm not alone in this assessment: just ask Ken Rosenthal (Ken Rosenthal@Ken_Rosenthal).

There has been no confirmation yet on the @mlbtraderumors report on the Votto deal with #Reds but sources say a Phillips deal is unlikely. The money could go to Votto.

The bottom line is that after inking a deal with Votto, a deal with Phillips is highly unlikely.

I'm not saying it can't happen, but unless the Reds are willing to open up their payroll and go up to about $100 million, it's highly unlikely that it will.

This year will likely be the end of Brandon Phillips in Cincinnati. I for one will miss him, but we Reds fans should enjoy Phillips while we still have him.

Update:

According to ESPN's Jim Bowden, negotiations between Phillips and the Reds are still going on:

JIM BOWDEN‏@JimBowdenESPNxm

Reds continue contract talks with Brandon Phillips even AFTER the pending agreement with Joey Votto...#wantingtowinlongterm

Not quite sure what Bowden was thinking with this hashtag. Does he think the Reds have some other goal in mind besides winning long term?

In any event, this doesn't effect my stance on the possibility of an extension for Phillips. Who knows though, I could be eating my words in the very near future.

Update 2:

I decided something was missing from this article, that being the possibility of a trade.

If the Reds are underperforming at the all-star break then I think there's a strong possibility of a Brandon Phillips trade. In addition to that scenario, if Brodie Greene is tearing up the minors like I think he will, I could certainly see a trade for another front-end pitcher.

Greene, in my opinion, is almost ready to step in and contribute right away. If the organization feels the same way about him then they may call him up and deal Phillips if they either; have no interest in re-signing him, or, if they believe he will test free agency in 2013.

I'm not certain where Phillips would land if he were to be traded, but if he were to go, it would be a monster trade and would certainly bring Cincinnati a good deal of talent in return.

What does everybody think of this option in comparison to him leaving following 2013?