C. Trent Rosecrans

crosecrans@enquirer.com

As Brandon Phillips cleaned out his locker following Sunday’s season finale against the Cubs, the Reds’ 35-year-old second baseman said he hadn’t thought much about his immediate future.

Phillips is entering the last year of his contract with the Reds, one that will pay him $14 million. Last offseason, Phillips used his full no-trade protection to block at least two trades to stay in Cincinnati, where the Reds finished with a losing record for the third straight season.

The Reds could look to trade him again, but would have to find a taker and then get approval from Phillips for a trade. As of Sunday, Phillips said it wasn’t something he’d thought much about.

“I haven't really thought about it. I just know I have another year here,” he said. “I’ll just be waiting on the what the Reds are going to do and what other teams are going to do. Other than that, I play for the Reds and I'm happy. I can't wait to finish my career or finish my contract out here.”

Phillips said he wants to play for the Reds in 2017.

“This is where I want to be,” he said. “That's why I'm still here, I'm happy. I played great for this city. I proved a lot of people wrong. I love the haters. They motivate me. I prove people wrong - just like I'm going to prove them wrong next year - and hopefully I can be healthy the majority of the season and I can put up numbers like I used to.”

Phillips had a bounce-back season in 2015 and nearly matched those numbers in 2016, hitting .291/.320/.416 with 11 home runs, 64 RBI and 14 stolen bases. In 2015, he hit .294/.328/.395 with 12 home runs, 70 RBI and 23 stolen bases. His WAR fell from 3.5 to 0.8 from 2015 to 2016.

Memories and questions: Reviewing the 2016 Cincinnati Reds

Phillips spent much of the season dealing with a toe injury suffered in late May making a sliding catch into a wall for an out in Milwaukee. He endured a career-long drought of 72 games and 286 at-bats without a home run, but he then put together an excellent second half of the season. While Joey Votto’s historic post-All-Star break production grabbed attention, Phillips blossomed after the break as well, hitting .335/.350/.478 over his final 59 games before a hand injury cut his season short in the last week of the season.

Throughout his career, Phillips has played hurt and played through injuries, but with just a week remaining, he erred on the side of caution this time. Phillips had an MRI on the hand when the team returned to Cincinnati for the season-ending series with the Cubs, and he has been told it should be fine with rest. That helped motivate him to sit out the final games of the season.

“It was hard for me to listen to what (Reds manager Bryan) Price was saying. To be smart, it was hard for me to listen to that,” he said. “But the last thing I wanted to do was do something stupid to my hand and I'd be in a cast during the whole offseason. That's one thing I didn't want to do.”

Even though Phillips’ season started with the team openly trying to trade him, both Price and general manager Dick Williams applauded the way he helped the young team both on the field and in the clubhouse.

Reds GM Dick Williams looks forward to 2017

Williams didn’t rule out another attempt at trading Phillips, who earned full no-trade rights in 2014 by earning 10 years of major-league service time with at least the last five with the same team, the Reds. Last offseason, the Reds reportedly had discussions with the Nationals and Diamondbacks, and Phillips turned down chances to go to either team, both at the time viewed as playoff contenders. The Nationals instead turned to the free-agent market and signed Daniel Murphy from the Mets. All Murphy did was turn himself into an MVP candidate, falling one percentage point from a batting title, but winning the OPS (on-base plus slugging) title over Votto by fractions of a percent.

“We'll talk to him again about where we are in our lifecycle and what he wants to do since he still has the ability to control his destiny, somewhat,” Williams said. “That's an area of depth right now, middle infield, and that's a good thing. We'll see how it plays out with that group of players.”

The Reds have Jose Peraza, who has played shortstop, second base and center field, and Dilson Herrera as ready substitutes in the middle infield. Both Phillips and shortstop Zack Cozart, who was subject to trade talks at the Aug. 1 deadline, are free agents following the 2017 season.

“Of course I feel like I'm going to be here (in 2017), I have a contract to be here,” Phillips said, “but I can't predict the future.”

Even if he can’t predict it, Phillips does control it.

“I just know I play for the Reds. I haven't thought about anything,” he said. “I’m just worried about my health, make sure I can get some rest, go on vacay, get away from baseball. I might watch some World Series and playoffs to see what happens. But other than that, I haven't really thought about anything other than being happy for ending up from where I ended up in the first half to where I ended up now.”