Brandon Phillips said many time this year that he hoped to not just play the rest of the season with the Braves but finish his career with the hometown team.
But despite his performance, which met or surpassed all expectations, the Braves had made it clear when they got him from the Reds in a trade a week before spring training that he was a place-holder, a stop-gap to handle second base until prospect Ozzie Albies was ready.
General manager John Coppolella put it plainly in the spring when he said that Phillips would not block Albies’ path to the majors when the kid was ready. And Phillips did not.
On Tuesday, Albies was called up from Triple-A and inserted in the lineup at second base, where manager Brian Snitker said he plans to pencil in his name on a regular basis. Phillips, 36, was left to think about a discussion with Snitker on Tueday in which the manager suggested he be willing to play some third base, a position where the 36-year-old former Gold Glover has played a total of one game so long ago that it was when he was still in the Montreal Expos' organization, back in 2001.
"I'm hoping he does" agree to play some third base, Snitker said. "We'll address (the alternative) if he says he won't. I don't know, that's another obstacle we'll (deal with) when we get there."
Snitker said he would talk with Phillips again Wednesday after giving him a night to think about it. He wouldn’t have been in the lineup Tuesday even if Albies hadn’t been called up, Snitker said, because Phillips had a sore ankle after being hit by a ball Monday.
The fact that Phillips didn’t immediately balk at the third-base suggestion at least gave Snitker reason to think he’d consider it.
“I told him, he’s a baseball player. I really think he could go anywhere on the diamond,” Snitker said. “But he’s only played second, and that’s something that…I talked to him, said in some point in time I kind of figured that this was going to happen and we were going to bring Albies up, because we look at him as potential long-term (Braves lineup regular).
“I think (Phillips) could play third. He’s gifted enough, reactions are good, arm’s good, he’s quick. I don’t know, might be less wear and tear on him at third base than there is at second. But it’s something where you hit a guy with it, you need to give him a little space and time to process it a little bit.”
If he's to remain with the Braves, Phillips is almost certainly going to have to play another position or two. Otherwise, the Braves might have little choice but to release him before much longer, unless they can get him through waivers and trade him to a team looking to add a bench bat or fill a need due to injury. Phillips is in the final year of his contract and will be a free agent this winter.
The longtime Stone Mountain resident hit .290 with 35 extra-base hits (eight home runs) and 38 RBIs in 94 games (385 plate appearances) before Tuesday, with nine stolen bases and a .768 OPS. It would be his third consecutive season hitting .290 or higher and his highest OPS since a .750 in 2012.
“He’s been great,” Snitker said. “ told Brandon at one point, if Ozzie hadn’t broke his arm last year (in the Double-A playoffs) we probably wouldn’t be sitting here having that conversation because there was a really good chance that we would’ve broke camp with Ozzie as our second baseman. But he was behind (after the injury). And then we got Sean and he got hurt.
“It’s funny, it’s just weird how things have a way of working out. We got Brandon and he’s been really, really good. But it’s time to see the kid.”
The Braves are paying only $1 million of Phillips’ $14 million salary this season, the Reds agreeing to pay the rest as part of the trade that sent him to Atlanta in the week before spring training. The Braves scrambled to make the deal after finding out the severity of a shoulder injury for veteran Sean Rodriguez, who had signed in November to serve as the Braves second baseman until Albies was ready, at which point Rodriguez was to move to a super-utility role.
Rodriguez returned from the DL two weeks ago, well ahead of schedule after February surgery. He’s being used in a utility role and is signed through next season.
