9:21 A.M. UPDATE: Rosenthal now reports that Podsednik is saying he has a deal with a club and that the Royals are saying they have a deal with an outfielder and that we should “put 2 and 2 together!” UPDATE: Now Jerry Crasnick has a source confirming this and that a formal announcement will come tomorrow once the physical is done.
9:00 A.M. Why everyone is talking about some college football game this morning when there’s big news like the Royals thinking about signing Scott Podsednik floating around I’ll have no idea. Priorities people.
Podsednik hit .304/.353/.412 with 30 steals and 75 runs in 132 games after joining the White Sox on May 1. But he hit just .243/.299/.369 in 2007 and .253/.322/.333 in 2008.
His defense is generally below average (Carl Crawford can thank Podsednik for the inside the park home run he hit last July on a truly atrocious jump by Podsednik). He’s fast, but he gets caught stealing a lot. He’s a guy who can be useful if he hits .300, but he’s only done that twice in nine years and he’s going to be 34 this year.
I know I’m guilty of slamming the Royals at the drop of a hat, but I’m not doing that here. Podsednik can be marginally useful if he’s not making much money. But if the Royals give him a lot of money and expect him to be the everyday centerfielder, this would fit the profile of a lot of recent Royals signings: overpaying for a recognized name and a recent statistical bump while ignoring the guy’s overall body of work, his likely production going forward and the fact that it could probably be replicated by any number of cheaper options.