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Giants acquire LHP Christiansen
Updated: Tuesday July 31, 2001 9:38 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The San Francisco Giants made their fourth deal before baseball's trade deadline, acquiring left-hander Jason Christiansen from the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday. The Cardinals got minor league right-hander Kevin Joseph and a player to be named or cash from San Francisco. With the NL West race heating up, the defending division champion Giants have added first baseman Andres Galarraga, starter Jason Schmidt, outfielder John Vander Wal and reliever Wayne Gomes in the past week as general manager Brian Sabean retooled his roster for the stretch run. "Any team is a work in progress, but I think we're more experienced, and we're deeper," Sabean said. "The pitching staff is as formidable as we've hoped to be. I feel good about the way the manager, the staff and the players feel about what we've done." San Francisco, coming off a four-game sweep in Arizona, opened a three-game series against Pittsburgh on Tuesday four games behind first-place Los Angeles in the NL West. In Christiansen, they got a left-handed spot reliever with more major league experience than Chad Zerbe, who was optioned to Class AAA Fresno on Tuesday. Christiansen, 31, was 1-1 with three saves and a 4.66 ERA in 30 appearances for the Cardinals this season. He has held opponents to a .211 average. "Jason is a bona fide left-handed specialist," Sabean said. "He will give us another proven option out of the bullpen." Sabean's flurry of trades stand in marked contrast to last season, when the Giants acquired only reliever Doug Henry at the trade deadline. San Francisco then streaked through the last two months, finishing with the majors' best record before losing to the Mets in the division series. Sabean shook off any suggestion the Giants were sacrificing their future to make another run at the wide-open NL. San Francisco moved seven players under 30 -- but only one of their most promising minor-league prospects in right-hander Ryan Vogelsong -- to make their acquisitions. "There's no dominant team out there, and if you can get in (the playoffs), it's all about getting past the first round," Sabean said. "You take your chances with deals like this, but it's the price of doing business. You have to trade somebody in this situation if you want to make your ballclub better." The deal for Christiansen came together on Monday, and Sabean outbid a contending AL team for his services. The Cardinals acquired Christiansen at the deadline last year. "We were glad when we got him last year about this time," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "That's one of the problems with not playing better than we have. They've made some great moves and he's one of them." Christiansen is eligible to become a free agent after the season and wouldn't mind returning to St. Louis. "I would have considered re-signing here two months ago," he said. "You never know what things will come up this winter." Christiansen said he had a "weird feeling" general manager Walt Jocketty might be trading him, but thought he'd be staying when the clock in the clubhouse read 3:02 p.m. CDT -- two minutes after the deadline passed. "It must have been 2:58 in Walt's office," Christiansen said. "At 3:03 I got a call into the office." Joseph, who turns 25 Wednesday, was 2-2 with four saves and a 3.44 ERA in 38 relief appearances in three levels of the minor leagues this season. "I can't predict how it will turn out," Sabean said. "I just know we're in a better position to do what we want to do this season."
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