The Phillies have signed 30-year old righty swinging infielder Yuniesky Betancourt to a minor league deal.  He played in 57 games for the Royals last year and he was 49 of 215 (.228 avg, .656 OPS) with 21 runs scored, 7 homers and 36 RBIs.  Betancourt has now played in 1,019 games in his first 8 years in the majors and he is 974 of 3,661 (.266 avg, .682 OPS) with 402 runs scored, 67 homers, 411 RBIs and 30 stolen bases.  Betancourt will have a good shot of winning a bench job this spring for the Phillies.

UPDATE:  (3/24/2013) - The Phillies have released Yuniesky Betancourt.  He played in 17 games for the Phillies in spring training and he was 21 of 47 (.447 avg, 1.025 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 1 homer and 14 RBIs.  He won’t be out of work too long with the way he’s swinging the bat this spring.