Earlier Thursday, where by "Thursday" I mean "today", our own Grant Brisbee wrote a piece titled "Brandon Phillips, Reds Preparing To Part Amicably". So it is with no small amount of delight that I provide for you the following:

Jocketty told Marty, Brad Johansen that he's confident that Phillips deal will be done in a week. For Walt to say that, ink must be drying.

— John Fay (@johnfayman) April 5, 2012

Grant wrote what he did because the Reds were reportedly offering Phillips four years, while Phillips wanted more. It was perfectly sensible to believe that Phillips would end up becoming a free agent.

But now here we are, and it looks like Phillips and the Reds are close to an agreement. What kind and size of agreement, we can't be sure, but as John Fay notes, we wouldn't hear about this from an executive if the pieces weren't in place. Brandon Phillips and the Cincinnati Reds have evidently found something both sides are comfortable with.

Being that Brandon Phillips is 30 years old and a second baseman, there's reason to be nervous about his long-term future. Given that Brandon Phillips has been a good player for several years in a row, there's reason to be excited about his long-term future. Phillips will come undone at some point, like everybody does, but the Reds can try to protect themselves from only so much risk after committing ten years to Joey Votto, starting two years from now. The Reds accepted a huge amount of risk with him, so they'll probably end up accepting a fair amount of risk with Phillips.

We'll find out more. From the sounds of things, we'll find out more soon. And it would certainly appear that Brandon Phillips is going to stay where he is for quite some time.