http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/11/c ... stian.html

Justin Christian, 32-year-old outfielder from the Giants (previously Yankees). Here's his major-league stats:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/playe ... ju01.shtml

Went just 7-for-56 with the Giants in 2012; .203/.255/.266 overall major league line in 76 games (143 AB).

However, he hit .343 for the Giants' AAA Fresno team in 2012. Here's his minor-league numbers:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minor ... rist001jus

.297/.363/.438 in more than 3600 PA. His 2012 Fresno season had him at .343/.409/.508, and he hit .338/.428/.574 for them in 2011.

He's done pretty well in the minors, not so much in the majors - he could be one of those Quad-A kind of guys. I know very little about him, except that I notice he started his career as a middle infielder in 2003 before moving to the outfield in 2006. Overall, he's played 274 games in CF, 315 games in LF, 90 games in RF and 192 games at 2B. Not much power (career high in homers is 11) but he is a right-handed hitter who can play some CF, so I suppose he has a shot at making the team since right now, his only righty-hitting competition is Shane Robinson. (Unless, of course, they have Tavarez skip AAA and make *him* the fourth outfielder.)

If Shane Robinson is your only right-handed hitting OF competition, you've got a shot to make the club.

Surely, Mo has a grander plan for the fourth outfielder than this.

Christian is a very fast outfielder but has never hit. I doubt that he will make the team.

SoonerinNC wrote: Christian is a very fast outfielder but has never hit. I doubt that he will make the team.

Never hit in the majors, but his career minor league line and his last two seasons at Fresno imply that he's not a total stiff out there.

What he probably is is AAAA roster insurance in case somebody gets hurt.

Sounds like low hanging fruit to me.

4th outfielder Allen Craig and Matt Carpenter
backup at 1st - Matt Adams


Bench...
Matt Carpenter
Matt Adams
Tony Cruz
Descalso
(SS free agent)
(Tavarez in september)

1st - Craig
2nd - Wong
SS - Furcal
3rd - Freese
C - Molina 
LF - Holliday
CF - Jay
RF - Beltran

You mean 5th outfielder! dron offers great speed and defense in that spot. Above average defense at all 3 spots. I really like this kid. Needs more work,preferably with Smith and Mcgee. I would rate Chambers as already there on the base paths and in the outfield but he must get on base and learn how to steal second base. Small ball is his ticket.

How about this free agent nominee:

Right-handed outfielder, could play CF in an emergency, 32 years old, made just $600,000 in 2012, and as a pinch-hitter, his career line is .273/.419/.414 in 124 plate appearances.

Moreover, this year, he pinch-hit 52 times, and batted .325/.481/.425.

His career line is .254/.351/.415, so there's some pop when he taps into it.

Cheap. Right-handed. Would readily accept a bench role. Experienced. Very patient hitter. (And a solid defender and baserunner.) Truly outstanding pinch-hitter.

And he's never appeared in a post-season game, so he'd likely jump at the chance to be on a contender if they offered him fair money (say, $750,000). Oh, and he grew up in Kentucky, so he may well have been a Redbird fan in his youth.

Any guesses?

Kearns sure looks interesting to me.

Of the 7 or 8 qualifications (RH, experienced, solid pinch-bat, etc.), the only one where Kearns falls short is power. And since he's a big guy, and has hit for very good pop in the past, I think it's entirely possible that Mabry can help Austin tap back into that dormant power, a la Matt Carpenter last year.

But even failing that, he'll be inexpensive, play good defense, and reach base at a good clip -- without griping about playing time (far as I know).

The upside/downside equation seems like just what the Redbirds need. Shoot, based on his recent history, Kearns would likely be worth thrice his modest salary just for his pinch-hitting alone.

He was a River City Rascal at one time.

Kearns could be a useful bench player, but that's about it - he hasn't batted more than 500 times a season since 2007 and has less than 300 AB's over the past two seasons combined.

And I doubt he could "play CF in a pinch" - he's only played a handful of games there since 2003, when he played 40 games in CF for Cincinnati.  He's strictly a LF-RF-DH type now; in fact, in 2012, he only played 34 games in the field - he DH'd twice and pinch-hit in the other 52 games in which he appeared.

However, he excelled as a pinch-hitter, going 13-for-40 (.325) with a .907 OPS.

So, yes, he could be a useful pickup for us - but let's not expect too much out of him.