Scotty Pods Back On South Side

There are a lot of dangerous jobs in the United States in which people risk life and limb on a daily basis.  There are firefighters, those guys on that show Deadliest Catch, and loggers.  All those who work that job take the risk that when they leave the house in the morning, they may not be coming back.

Well, there's a new job to throw in the pile with those guys: White Sox centerfielder.

There was a lot of talk about who would win the centerfield job for the White Sox this season, and eventually Dewayne Wise won the job.  Then a week into the season he separated his shoulder making a diving grab during a game in Detroit.  That's when Brian Anderson took the job over, and he was finally starting to live up to the promise the Sox always saw in him until he strained an oblique muscle on Wednesday.

Now Anderson is out, and the guy everyone thought would replace him, Jerry Owens, has been shown the door by the White Sox.  So that means we're not even a full month into the season and the south siders have already gone through three centerfielders.  You'd have to be an idiot to want to take the job at this point.

Which is where former White Sox Scott Podsednik comes in.  Scotty Pods signed a minor-league deal with the team a few weeks ago and now he's in Dallas waiting for the Sox to arrive for their three game series with the Rangers this weekend, where he'll rejoin the team.

Which, when you think about it, doesn't really make all that much sense.  Now, sure, Jerry Owens hasn't exactly been lighting the world on fire with the Sox with his .083 batting average, but how much better can Podsednik be?  After all, the Sox parted ways with Pods after the 2007 season because he couldn't stay healthy and kept battling through groin problems.

That's the guy they're hoping can put an end to the injury problems in center?  Pods hasn't even been a centerfielder since joining the Sox in 2005, instead being relegated to left field.  Then there's the fact that he hasn't done much hitting lately, and according to scouts, he's not as fast as he used to be either.

So wouldn't Owens have made more sense?  Couldn't the Sox at least given him a week of regular playing time to see if he could get the job done?  Or if they're convinced he can't do the job, why couldn't they consider moving Alexei Ramirez to centerfield and calling up rookie Gordon Beckham to play shortstop?

Beckham lit up Major League pitching during the spring, and he's been just as hot down in Double-A Birmingham where he's hitting .280 with two homers, eight doubles and nine RBI.  Sure, he may not be completely ready to get the job done in the Majors day in and day out, but he's probably a lot more capable than Scott Podsednik at this point.

Along with writing for NBCCHICAGO.com, Tom Fornelli can also be found contributing at FanHouse, SPORTSbyBROOKS, and his own Chicago sports blog Foul Balls.

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