Red Sox Sign Brandon Phillips To Minor-League Deal
The Boston Red Sox have signed second baseman Brandon Phillips to a minor-league deal, the team announced Wednesday.
A veteran of 1,893 over the course of his 16-year career, Phillips most recently played for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, where he hit .255 and contributed two home runs and eight RBIs in 24 games in 2017. Phillips began the 2017 season with the Atlanta Braves, however, where he far more productive behind a .291 average to go with 11 homers and 52 RBIs.
Phillips, of course, is most known for his 11-year run with the Cincinnati Reds.
A four-time Gold Glove winner and three-time National League All-Star during his run with the Reds, Phillips also ranks seventh all time on the club’s games played list (1,614), ninth in hits (1,774), and ninth in doubles (311).
Potentially adding Phillips to the MLB ranks comes with Red Sox leader Dustin Pedroia still on the shelf due to a knee injury.
Out of action for the first two months of the season due to offseason knee surgery, Pedroia returned for three games in May, going just 1-for-11 before a flare-up forced him back on the shelf. Red Sox manager Alex Cora noted that Pedroia has yet to do any ‘baseball activities’ since then, meaning that there’s been little progress in terms of a comeback for No. 15.
With Pedroia out, the Red Sox have had a year-long (and limitedly impactful) revolving door at second base, led by 54 appearances at second base for Eduardo Nunez.
