Nationals, Reds trade talks over Brandon Phillips have advanced

Update, 10:30 P.M. ET: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports that the Nationals and Reds have an agreement in place on a deal that would send Phillips to Washington, however, he still has to approve any trade. This is likely why he is headed to D.C. 

Over the past week, the Washington Nationals and Cincinnati Reds have reportedly been discussing a potential trade that would would send Brandon Phillips east to D.C. 

Chris Cotillo of SB Nation reported Thursday evening that these talks have "indeed advanced," responding to a tweet sent out by Brandon Phillips' verified Twitter account. 

Phillips tweeted out a cryptic message just minutes prior to the report, saying, "513 to 202," with an airplane emoticon. 513 and 202 could be referring to area codes, as Cincinnati's main code is in fact the former and Washington's is the latter. 

Phillips would make sense for the Nationals, as they recently traded 2015 second baseman Yunel Escobar to the Angels. The 34-year-old Phillips is a three-time All-Star at the position, but has begun to decline. 

Last season, Phillips hit for a .294/.328/.395 slash line with 12 home runs and 70 RBIs over 623 plate appearances. He was worth 2.6 Wins Above Replacement, according to FanGraphs. 

--Devan FInk

---