Sad, sad news about a good, good kid, but Mike Ashmore is reporting via Chad Jennings at LoHud.com that oft-injured Yankees prospect Christian Garcia has been released to make room for right-handed pitcher Shane Lindsay, who was signed today.

Whether this marks the end of Garcia's career with the Yankees remains to be seen -- this same scenario played out with Humberto Sanchez around this time last year -- but if it does, here's hoping he catches on with another team and finds his way to the show someday.

Garcia was the winner on Opening Day, and was 17-18 over the course of his minor league career.

Here are some quotes from Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, via Scranton Yankees beat writer Donnie Collins, about Garcia and Lindsay.

On Lindsay:

“He has a big arm. He has a major, major tool in terms of that gifted arm. We took a flier on it,” he said. “He’s a lesser version of Brian Bruney. Brian Bruney had a lot more development time than Lindsay. But they have similar characteristics. He has a big arm, and maybe someday, he can figure it out. … If he does, he can jump up a couple of prospect lists, because (his arm) is that kind of tool.”

On Garcia:

“No, not really,” he said about whether it was a tough call to release him. “I mean, he’s got a history of injury. He’s on his second Tommy John surgery now. When he declared himself as having Tommy John surgery a month ago, I knew that at some point, if I got in a roster crunch, he’d be released. It’s too bad, too. Tool-wise, he was one of our better-ability players. But physically, he couldn’t hold it together.”