Justin Christian lands with San Francisco
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Misc on Feb 05, 2011 
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Former Yankees outfielder Justin Christian — once one of the feel-good stories of the Yankees farm system – has signed a minor league deal with the Giants. The deal does not include an invitation to big league camp.
Undrafted out of Southeast Missouri State, Christian slowly built some prospect stock and played his way to the big leagues in 2008, hitting .250 and stealing seven bases during his brief tenure on the Yankees bench. He was non-tendered that winter — and wound up injured in 2009 — but the Yankees brought Christian back last season and he hit 297/.374/.472 in Double-A, with a handful of games in Triple-A.
He went to Mexico this offseason and hit .356/.452/.561 in winter ball, and he’s now Mexico’s center fielder in the Caribbean Series (the team’s first baseman is Jorge Vazquez).
Christian was always easy to dismiss as a prospect, partially because he went undrafted out of a small school and partially because he came through the system with Brett Gardner (a similar but much more highly touted player). Covering minor league ball, I always appreciated guys like Christian — or J-Sizzle, as the guys called him — who had to earn absolutely everything.
He’s a good guy, with a good story. Good luck to him.
Associated Press photo
Good for Justin
An asset no more.
Hmm. Actually, he’s a Giant asset.
I was going to say: No longer part of the Yankees’ inventory.
Nick in SF,
You like to bet on things. If you had to make a bet now, which 2 pitchers make the Opening Day roster as starters?
Breakage in aisle 3?
Right now I’m sweating out a bet on the Harvard-Penn game while I watch Cal-Arizona.
Betting on the Ivy League is not for the meek…go Fighting Quakers!
As for which two pitchers, it’s pretty early to speculate too much, but based on absolutely nothing concrete, my guess today would be Nova and Garcia.
“Betting on the Ivy League is not for the meek…go Fighting Quakers!”
Got a lot tougher when Penn and Princeton came back to the pack.
Penn lost the game, but Penn +3.5 pays out!
My Dad went to Penn. You should have had me rooting earlier.
Thanks Nick. Anyone one else want to fathom a guess as to which 2 pitchers are the opening day starters?
An ex-gf went to Penn; I was okay with them losing but covering.
Looks like Garcia and Nova to me too.
SAS February 5th, 2011 at 9:41 pm
Thanks Nick. Anyone one else want to fathom a guess as to which 2 pitchers are the opening day starters?
—
Opening day, I’ll guess CC -> Mariano
opening day starters will be sabathia and halladay
Oh, “starters”. CC vs. Verlander.
Ok, I think you meant the 4/5 starters for the Yankees. I’ll go with Garcia and Nova.
sorry i was thinkin first game st.
jack…
good job. everyone seems to agree. amazing on here. got to go eat dinner.
Did his shelf life expire?
SAS February 5th, 2011 at 9:41 pm
Thanks Nick. Anyone one else want to fathom a guess as to which 2 pitchers are the opening day starters?
+++++++++++
CC and Hughes
CC will be the opening day starter
Bojo,
My question was: who will be the 4 and 5 pitchers as of opening day?
Christian was a victim of too much inventory.
FIFO.
Overstock.com
I just saw a picture of Alex Rodriguez and Eli Manning and I never realized how big a guy Eli is.
Standing next to 300+ lb linemen is more slimming than pinstripes.
I suspect Garcia and Nova.
pat,
You do have the best goodies on here.
Garcia and Nova, unless something happens in ST. I’d like to see both Garcia and Colon make the rotation and use Nova for spot starts and long relief and if Colon are doing pretty well move one of them to a team in need of starting pitching and pick up a good minor league prospect or a couple of decent ones and move Nova into the rotation. It would buy more time for the youngsters in Scranton and Trenton.
and if Colon ***and Garcia*** are doing pretty well move
Happy to see that Justin Christian is getting a chance somewhere else. He wasn’t going to get it with NYYs. Not sure why he wasn’t offered a ST invite by SF, though. Hopefully, he pushes his way onto the team early and hammers the ball into the gaps and runs wild.
I want to see Brackman win a spot in the rotation in ST.
Justin Christian is a fine young man, hope he does well and gets a chance at a ML career, he has the tools, if he stays healthy.
Soo I’m watching Minka Kelly on Jimmy Fallon from last night. She is really pretty but she’s got a big chin.
SAS February 5th, 2011 at 10:35 pm
Bojo,
My question was: who will be the 4 and 5 pitchers as of opening day?
++++++++++++++
I am going to go out on a limb here and guess Garcia and Nova…But hope it is Nova and Burnett (due to an acquisition)
tyanksfan36 February 5th, 2011 at 11:59 pm
Soo I’m watching Minka Kelly on Jimmy Fallon from last night. She is really pretty but she’s got a big chin.
+++++++++++++++
There are so many ways I could reply to that, but none of them are appropriate for a family blog.
GB, Bojo,
Thanks for answering my question. I would have chosen them too, but I didn’t want to say anything before some of the people I respect said anything.
Everyone who answered said the same thing. Can you imagine agreement on this blog about anything…lol
Watching Dana Carvey on SNL….he would ask me “Well, and just who gave you all those inappropriate thoughts…hmmm….the DEVIL?”
SAS–
I suspect that–as much as I would love a trade for Gio Gonzales and as much as there may be rumors floating around–Cashman won’t make any moves prior to end of ST, to let him see what he has….Then, if no one steps up and Garcia flops and Colon bursts, and the prospects aren’t doing it, he might press for a trade in May. But I get the feeling the real trade will come in July. I suspect Santana will be the guy.
In reality, the only rotation roster to worry about is the play-off rotation…and I’m sure we’ll be fine by then.
A more fun question might be who the play-off rotation would be. That projects who we thin will be the targeted acquisition…or prospect to step up. It would be way cool for example if Betances was so overpowering during season that he pulled a Mel Stottlemyre circa 1964 and played a big role…or a Brackman or Banuelos…
Actually, it could be way cool if at some point Chad had a series of threads devoted to predictions for the season, including:
1) Opening day roster
2) Trade acquisitions
3) Post season roster predictions
4) Awards predictions
5) Standings predictions and play-offs predictions
All the threads would be in a 1 week timeframe so they could be easily found at year end.
Don’t know if he does this, as I don’t recall last year.
Bojo
It was be really messy if Colon bursts if you know what I mean. Wouldn’t wish that on anyone, especially the Yankees
Bojo,
I was at Stottlemyre’s first start.
I don’t even presume to know about who will be in a play off rotation. We have to get there first. I was bored with the conversation so I asked the question.
I look forward to seeing the ‘B’ team at work one of these days. The Yankees have rarely had great rotations with 4 or 5 really good starters at once. GB knows the answers to all those things…not me.
I am just an ‘old’ lady’ on here who has been a fan as long if not longer than anyone else on this blog.
Bojo,
I thought CC should have won the CY award last season, but they gave it King Felix with half the wins or thereabouts. I think the Yankee players have to be so far superior to win these awards that it is silly business.
Jerkface, you’re right about Cash and CC. I do recall CC appreciating that Cashman (despite his desperation) not rushing him to make a decision, recognizing that it was a career-changing decision. Lee was quoted recently as saying the same thing.
Still, treating a player or referring to him as a piece of meat to be bought, sold and traded as if on the stock market is pretty chilly terminology
So I was asked by my friend who knows nothing about baseball to look at her husbands stat line to give my opinion on whether he is a good pitcher or not. He won’t be making any prospect lists anytime soon. I kinda feel sorry for the people who watch those games. He allowed 33 runs on 48 innings. He has a career ERA over 6. Surprisingly he only lost 2 games last year.
Tyanks, that had to have been hard – were you honest with her?
Banuelos looks more the part of a M L pitcher right now than any of the young guns.
What form and control to go along with a good curve and great change.
Could be a combo of Santana-Lester.
Who is this guy? Is it Bobby Bell?
No wait I change my answer to Taylor Lewis
4 NYY February 6th, 2011 at 1:39 am
Banuelos looks more the part of a M L pitcher right now than any of the young guns. What form and control to go along with a good curve and great change.Could be a combo of Santana-Lester.
**************
Don’t you think that’s a bit premature? You’re talking about a AA pitcher.
Don’t you think that’s a bit premature? You’re talking about a AA pitcher.
–
Clayton Kershaw pitched 37 innings as an 18 year old. The next year pitched 122 innings, ending in 20 innings of AA. At the age of 20, he pitched 67 innings in AA and then was called up to the majors.
He struggled in his first season then went on to pitch 2 sub 3 ERA years right after. Is Banuelos Kershaw? Maybe.
Betsy
Know you’re not up anymore but no, I wasn’t totally honest with her. I told her it was pretty bad to allow that many runs in that many innings but he gets a good amount of groundballs(43%) so maybe he just doesn’t have good infielders backing him up. He also walks a ton of guys. When I compared him to other members of his bullpen, he wasn’t the worst so I told her that. She supports him so that’s all that matters.
Jerkface February 6th, 2011 at 5:40 am
Is Banuelos Kershaw? Maybe.
+++++++++++++
Cool!!! We not only get a pitcher who can be 2 places at once, we also get a master of disguise!!!!
Betsy
Also in his 48 innings pitched he only allowed 1 homerun, in his mninor leage career he has only allowed 7. So he doesn’t give up a lot of fly balls, just a lot of hits(but that can be dependent on infielders) and a lot of walks which is all on him. Also, having other bad pitchers in the bullpen can’t help. I looked up one start, he allowed no hits but walked 2 and was replaced and was charged with 2 runs when the next guy allowed a double and his walks to score.
You can also tell her pitchers take time to mature at each level sometimes….they learn new pitches….improve their mechanics…get stronger as they fill out…get better steroids, etc.
Maybe he can learn a trick pitch like the knuckleball as one example of how they adapt
Bojo
Haha, well she did tell me he was learning the sinkerball and was only supposed to use that when he went out to pitch. He definitely isn’t the worst on his team, and he has spent a year at every level. Maybe this year will be better for him. I’m interested if he stays in the same level or gets promoted this year.
Good morning, morning people.
I just read an article in the Wednesday WSJ (my husband brought it home from work, so I’m now catching up before the Sunday papers arrive) about retiring from baseball. FROM FANTASY CAMP.
I had always viewed fantasy camp baseball as something of a one-time special thing to do (if you could afford it). Apparently, there are men who go year after year after year after year. And the article talks about how some of them find it hard to “retire” from fantasy baseball.
I guess it’s no different than going on a yearly golf outing with the guys. Probably costs as much, maybe even less.
I had never thought about the idea of retiring from a hobby.
Morning folks.
I’m ready for the SB. It’s party time.
And P and C’s about a week later.
And by the way, I would have given Justin Christian a ST invite.
I think he would make an excellent 5th OF’er, or even better.
I wish him well. Hope he gets a a chance to show what he’s got.
MTU -
I agree about Justin Christian. I wish him the best of luck. Sometimes a person needs a change, though. There probably was some “stuck in a rut” feeling for him with the Yankees.
Doreen-
Yeah. Maybe so. He looked good in the short time he played for us.
My opening day rotation :
CC
PH
AJ
X
Y
good morning all…nice to see so many people up early
we got a monster snowstorm, so I guess I will be spending my day digging out
Is Z the long man out of the pen?
Bojo-
Not if Mitre doesn’t make the rotation.
If he does, yes.
With X and Y in there we might need 2 long men though.
Kate-
I don’t know how all you people put up with it.
Stay safe.
I wonder if Colon would be interested in working out of the pen as a
swingman ?
He still hits 93-94 on the gun and he might hold up better.
Just a thought.
kate
It sounds like you got it worse than I did.
I haven’t been out yet but I think we got about 7″.
I think we got another one coming during the week too.
MTU
5th outfielders are easy to come by.
I think they have options that are on the 40 man roster.
You know what’s disgusting about this year’s Superbowl.
No cheerleaders for either side.
Next they’ll be removing the great traditions started by the “budweiser frogs”.
What’s this World coming to ?
MTU
I’m not sure what happened but Colon quit on the RS before the season was over a cple of years ago.
I don’t like to see that.
Of course I guess I can’t blame him for not wanting to stay with the RS.
Maine-
Your probably right but I think of JC as an upgraded version of Golson.
He can hit in addition to defend and it would have cost us little or nothing to let him strut his stuff.
He absolutely tore up the Mexican league after a great campaign in the Minors this past season.
C’est La Vie.
MTU
Just watch the lingerie bowl.
Maine-
Thanks for the tip. I’m gonna call up Pat M. and see if I can come over when his pool cleaner shows up.
or the puppy bowl on animal planet
Kate-
Rather see the full monty and go with the Westminster Kennel club
show.
MTU,
I don’t understand why Justin didn’t get an invite to ST. Surely he could have competed well against Golson and Curtis. And not to get an invite to ST for the Giants must really hurt also.
Is the MLB the hardest , most time consuming pro sport to get in?
Statistically I wonder, it seems like a ton of people waste time in minors…
Saint-
Me neither. I think the guy can play. He sure couldn’t cost much.
He’s a little like a MiLB version of Rodney Dangerfield.
One underdog who I am definitely rooting for.
These next 2 seasons for the Yankees are going to be very interesting.
Why didn’t we get anything for Justin Christian? Was he a FA?
Here’s a question.
Recently the Yankees farm system was ranked #5.
That’s near the top and it considers our entire Farm system.
How high would we be if the rankings were based solely upon pitching and catching in the Minors ?
#1 ? #2 ?
KPB-
I believe he was.
What the heck are all you people doing up so early ?
KPB-
I hope you got some rest.
How accurate do you guys think this assessment is?
http://www.minorleagueball.com.....s-for-2011
Would you change anyone around?
MTU
Thanks. That’s what I was leaning towards, since they didn’t get anything in return.
Rest. Strange couple of days. I was awake from 8:00 am Thurs.- around 7:30pm Fri. I would sleep 45 min- an hour, then be up 2-3 more. Finally fell asleep about 1:00 am- about 7:15am. Still dog tired and thinking of going back to bed. Thanks for asking.
KPB-
Not sure I would or that it would make much difference.
One thing I would nitpick on is that I am not sure I would rank Warren higher than Phelps.
And why is Sanchez ranked so high when Marshall isn’t ?
Many think Marshall is one of the best arms in our system.
Both in lower the lower levels despite the obvious talent.
Another guy to keep on your radar would be DePaula.
He has great potential. Super arm. Just starting out though.
Ask GB. He’s our Scouting Director.
KPB-
Christian might also just have been released.
Not sure on which.
KPB-
Good people to ask on farm questions are :
GB, SJ, Phil the Thrill,and Yankeefem among others.
They all have seen some of these guys play. Some on TV. Some live.
MTU
There’s a few things I want to ask GB about MiLB. As far as why Sanchez is ranked higher…I have no idea. I’ve never heard of any of them, except for big names on here. I plan on trying to follow the “kids” this year and learning a little about the MiLB.
Good people to ask on farm questions are :
——————
Scary you wrote that while I was responding about it.
Stay out of my mind!
KPB-
Your timing is good. They are going to play a bigger and bigger role over the next few years.
I look forward to your reports. I may get in on the MiLB viewing this season too.
It’s fun to watch them come along. This is one area where Cashman deserves a world of credit. For rebuilding the Farm.
KPB-
That’s what Blake would say but he’s out of luck as we share a brain at this point.
Perhaps you are part of our “hive mind” too.
We’re just like a grove of Aspen trees. Many individual trees all coming from the same root.
New thread =====>
Not seeing Justin Christian’s name in the previous thread now explains the pickup of Justin Maxwell.
2nd or even 3rd place in their division this year. OLD, OLD, OLD !!!!!!!