SPELLS ALL-STAR 'C-H-O-O-C-H'
The Phillies signed reliever Oscar Villarreal to a minor-league deal on Thursday. Villarreal, who missed the entire 2009 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, will not be invited to spring training.
Villarreal, 28, last pitched in 2008 with Houston when he appeared in 35 games, compiling a 1-3 record with a 5.02 ERA. He was 9-1 with a 3.61 ERA in 58 games for Atlanta in 2006.
The deal was first reported by Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse.
Villarreal, much like the other recent signees by the Phillies, is probably ticketed for triple-A Lehigh Valley. In the last few days, the Phillies have also signed outfielder Freddy Guzman, second baseman Luis Maza and pitchers Brian Gordon and Brian Mazone.
The Phillies also signed catcher John Purdom from the Camden Riversharks.
Bob Brookover and Matt Gelb team up for their third straight season covering the Phillies for the Inquirer and philly.com.
This is Brookover’s second stint writing about the Phillies, having joined the coverage team after seven years as an Eagles beat writer. Brookover was hired by The Inquirer in 2000 as the Phillies beat writer after spending 13 years writing about the team for two suburban newspapers. While on the Eagles beat, Brookover, who had covered just two winning Phillies teams in 15 seasons, saw the Phillies move into a cash-cow new ballpark and begin playing a brand of the game he found unrecognizable. Follow him on Twitter here.
Gelb is in his third season covering the Phillies. He was hired by The Inquirer in August 2009 after graduating from Syracuse University. He has also covered baseball at The Star-Ledger and Cape Cod Times. Born and raised in Bucks County, he attended Central Bucks High School West. Follow him on Twitter here.
To submit a question for Matt Gelb's Phillies mailbag, click here.
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