Phillies sign reliever Rheal Cormier.

Byline: Jim Salisbury

PHILADELPHIA _ The Phillies continued to address their most glaring deficiency on Wednesday and in doing so remained one of baseball's most active free-agent shoppers.

Hoping to improve what was the National League's worst bullpen last season, the Phils signed veteran reliever Rheal Cormier to a three-year contract worth a guaranteed $8.75 million.

Cormier, a 33-year-old lefthander, is the second free-agent reliever signed by the Phils this month. The other is veteran righthander Jose Mesa, who probably will be the team's closer when the season begins in April.

Mesa became the frontrunner for that job when John Franco …