My feelings towards what Brandon Phillips has done since his departure down Route 71 couldn’t be more apparent over the course of the last several weeks.  For the last few years, I’ve sat back and hoped that the kid that never seemed to progress in Cleveland was just a fluke in Cincinnati.  I mean, he was once one of the top prospects in the bigs and was the key compensation in the trade of Bartolo Colon - you know, the one that also brought along Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore?  Yes, that one.

But Phillips, how could he do so well in Triple-A but not at the next level?  In 2004, Phillips hit .303 with 34 doubles, and eight home runs while stealing 14 bases.  But when he came up to Cleveland for the end of the season, we barely saw an average over .200 with six total home runs in three separate stints.  He obviously wasn’t going to mature into the player everyone had assumed. 

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