Giants sign Justin Christian

He's a fast utility guy. He has ML experience with the Yankees, and IIRC he had a memorable caught stealing, where he slipped about half way between 1st and 2nd.

over 1 year ago Gobroks 12 comments 0 recs |

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Quoth the report:

The contract doesn’t include an invitation to major-league camp, the source said.

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by Bhaakon on Feb 6, 2011 2:31 AM PST reply actions

Anybody have any idea about his defense, especially at SS? FWIW Marcel projections have him with a higher 2011 OBP and SLG than Tejada, with more steals than Tejada in 400 fewer ABs.

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by sam23 on Feb 6, 2011 2:58 AM PST reply actions

I'm guessing if he could handle SS, he would've gotten a ST invite

He’s probably more of an OF

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by Gobroks on Feb 6, 2011 3:40 AM PST up reply actions

I don’t know about his defense, but Marcel makes everyone a league average player on defense if they don’t have enough MLB data. Check the reliability score on the spreadsheet if you’re wondering about that. Christian’s reliability score is 0.10, indicating that he has very little MLB data to go off of. Marcel doesn’t use minor league data in it’s projections.

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by xanthan on Feb 6, 2011 7:56 AM PST up reply actions

LOL MARCEL Projections

by KrazyKrabMeat on Feb 6, 2011 11:35 AM PST up reply actions

Something I thought of that may be part of this signing

The Giants don’t really have anyone as their starting LF at AA, and Peguero & Perez both have awful SB%, but Christian is very fast & smart on the bases, so maybe he’ll help them work on reading pitchers, getting good jumps etc

[Also, I apologize if this reads weirdly, from a grammatical POV-I’ve gotten 0 sleep]

by Gobroks on Feb 6, 2011 6:20 AM PST via mobile reply actions

Yeah, this signing is purely about adding minor league depth. Christian has no chance of seeing PT in SF in 2011.

I have to believe that Kieschnick holds the key to where Christian ends up. If the Giants want him to prove himself in AA before getting any promotion then I think Christian will end up in Fresno. That would leave Pegs, JCP, Kieschy and (probably) Wendell Fairley manning the OF in Richmond. If they do the whole social promotion thing with Kieschy then Christian will probably be the 4th OF in Richmond, and Fresno will have Neal (before Zod), Ford and Kieschy as starters, with one of Borchard, Copeland, or Graham as the 4th OF.

I’m guessing that the Giants will start Kieschy out in Fresno – as long as his back doesn’t act up again in spring training.

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by Fla-Giant on Feb 6, 2011 2:18 PM PST up reply actions

what's the word on Kieschnick?

did he struggle at AA because he wasn’t ready for it or was it because of injuries?

he tore it up in SJ but it’s a hitters league there

by 49erEmpire on Feb 6, 2011 9:13 PM PST via mobile up reply actions

Probably a combo of both

His approach is awful and really hurt him in AA, that said learning a new level while having a bad back is difficult

by Gobroks on Feb 6, 2011 11:46 PM PST via mobile up reply actions

He definitely had a lot of back problems affecting him. But his big year in San Jose had some downsides (like a huge number of strikeouts), and there’s some who think that his performance in Richmond was a manifestation of his inability to make contact on good breaking pitches.

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by BruteSentiment on Feb 8, 2011 12:17 AM PST up reply actions