Tuesday, April 25, 2006

The Brandon Phillips Debacle

So the Indians trade Phillips (the key part of the Fatolo Colon trade) to Cinci and he's gone bonkers. He's starting at 2B and hitting .375, with 3 HR and 17 RBI. Oiy.

Some people are kinda freaking out, but I am sorta resigned to the fact that Phillips wasn't going to produce here.

Pluto has a nice column on the trade (Tribe recieves a Player to be Named Later!) and how the Indians justified the deal.

By all accounts, Phillips wouldn't have been a good canidate to be a bench player. He needs to play everyday and that wasn't going to happen on the big league club. Plus he was out of options and wouldn't get through waivers, so he couldn't play everday in Buffalo.

So they trade him to Cinci and he goes nuts. I'm not really surprised or pissed.

Phillips was a classic change-of-scenery guy. He had huge expectations coming into Cleveland and failed. He could never get it going here. Now he goes to Cinci where he doesn't really have a whole expected of him. If he does well, its gravy, if not, well, they didn't give up much.

Phillips is thriving cause he's getting a chance and no one expects him (or ever expected him) to be the face of the franchise. He can just do his thing. Do I think he'll keep raking like he is? No. But would I be surpirsed if he around .300 and hit 20 HRs? Nope.

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