Braves trade Brandon Phillips to Angels

The Angels have acquired infielder Brandon Phillips from the Braves for minor-league catcher Tony Sanchez, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and MLB.com’s Mark Bowman.

The deal became official once Phillips waived his no-trade clause, which allowed him to block trades to 12 teams. Phillips has been faced with the decision to waive his no-trade clause before; he scuttled separate deals sending him to the Diamondbacks and Nationals while with the Reds before accepting a trade to Atlanta in February.

Phillips is the second significant addition of the day for the Angels, who already acquired Justin Upton from the Tigers. The Halos currently sit just 1.5 games back of a wild card spot and are being aggressive after being sellers at the non-waiver trade deadline a month ago.

Phillips will likely take over at second for the Angels, giving the team an additional infield option alongside Yunel Escobar, Luis Valbuena and Kaleb Cowart in the infield. Escobar has been sidelined since mid-August with a strained oblique, testing the club’s depth.

Phillips, 36, has posted a solid .291/.329/.423 line with 11 home runs while seeing time at both second base and third base for Atlanta this year. He’s a free agent after the season, so he’d be a pure rental if the Angels were to acquire him.

Sanchez, who was taken by the Pirates as the fourth overall pick in the 2009 draft, owns a .272/.355/.374 line in 70 games for Triple-A Salt Lake this year. He will be considered organizational depth for the Braves.