Dat Red Dude BP Brandon Phillips A Red Through 2017

Like his hero Barry Larkin, Brandon Phillips aka (#datdudeBP) intends to be a Cincinnati Red for the rest of his career.

Phillips signed a six-year contract in the neighborhood of $72 million that will keep him in a Reds' uniform past his 36th birthday.

He could have tried the free agent market but Cincinnati is where he wanted to be.

"This is the place I wanted to be," Phillips said.  "I didn't want to be a free agent no matter how much the other guys were getting. This is the best day of my life, man."

Phillips went on record the last day of the 2011 season, saying that he wanted fo be a Red but also wanted to be paid what he was worth.  Negotiations were complicated and once the length of the contract was determined the contract began to fall into place.

"It was a complicated negotiation," general manager Walt Jocketty said.  "Seth and Sam Levine (Phillips agents) did a good job with it.  We knew where the market was. It was the length of the contract was what made it complicated.  Once we determined the length it fell into place rather quickly."

Phillips consulted his mother who is in town making him sweet tea.  "My mom told me to follow your heart.  Once I signed it I started to cry."  They were tears of joy for a player who has shown genuine affection for the fans through his twitter account.  He run contests with prizes such as road trip which he pays for.

"I am a man first and a ballplayer second," Phillips said.  "When people follow me on twitter, they see who I really am.  I try to give back to the fans."

The Reds have now locked down its Gold Glove right side of the infield.  Joey Votto signed a long term deal last week. "We have the cornerstone of our franchise in place," owner Bob Castellini said.

The Reds then general manager, Wayne Krivsky, traded for Phillips, who had the star label since the Montreal Expos drafted him in the second round in 1999.  Phillips was traded along with Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore to the Indians for Bartolo Colon.  Phillips, who made his major league debut with Indians as a 21-year old on September 13.

His Indians days were not very happy for Phillips.  He and manager Eric Wedge did not get along.  The team designated Phillips for assignment on April 1, 2006, the last day of spring training.  Krivsky traded Jeff Stevens to Cleveland for Phillips six days later.

"I thank the Reds organization for giving me a second chance," Phillips said.

He has had no such issues with Dusty Baker

"I have been around baseball a long time," Baker said.  "No one works harder or uses as much energy as Brandon does.  He comes to play everyday."

Baker hopes the new contracts don't cause Votto and Phillips to try too hard.

"I intend to have a conversation with them.  I know they are going to try to live up to those big contracts," Baker said.  "I'll tell them you can't eat money like Popeye easts spinach to make you stronger."