Last year, the Reds’ star second baseman signed a new six-year, $72.5 million deal to stay in Cincinnati. He didn’t say anything at the time, but apparently it wasn’t enough.
In a recent interview with Cincinnati Magazine, Phillips sounded off about how he feels about his contract, saying that he was irked about his deal compared to the 10-year, $225 million contract that his teammate, star first baseman Joey Votto received just five days earlier. Phillips called his deal “a slap in the face.”
“I just feel like they didn’t have to sign Joey to that contract. He still had two more years on his,” Phillips said. “And for [the front office] to go out there and sign him before they sign me, and they knew I was going to be a free agent?” Phillips said. “I understand Joey’s a good player. He’s one of the best players in this game. But I feel like I am too. I told them that this is where I wanted to be. I begged them. I told everybody I want to finish my career here. And then they give someone a contract who didn’t ask for nothing?
“To this day, I’m still hurt. Well, I don’t wanna say hurt. I’ll say scarred. I’m still scarred. It just sucks that it happened,” he said. “For [Bob Castellini] to sign somebody for $200 million, there must be a new vegetable or fruit coming out that we don’t know about. For him to do something like that and tell me they didn’t have any more money, that’s a lie. But what can I do? I just feel like it was a slap in my face.”
At the end of the day, Phillips still signed the deal — one he thinks was only made because of how much he means to Cincinnati.
“Number one, the fans love me here. I love it here. It’s a blessing. It shows that [the team] invested a lot of money in me to go out there and do my job and to keep representing the Reds in a positive way,” he said. “I feel like that’s the only reason I got that deal — if they didn’t feel I was important to the city, then I wouldn’t still be here.”
On second thought, there might not be an amount of money in the world big enough for that ego.
