Giants closing in on Podsednik?

Pods may make the leap back to the NL very soon.

According to my sources, the San Francisco Giants are close to a deal that would fetch Royals’ outfielder Scott Podsednik for a couple of minor league players.

The Giants had already worked out the details for sending two prospects to Kansas City for David DeJesus before he was injured and would presumably package them again for Podsednik.

Podsednik, 34, is batting .308/.352/.400 with 5 HR and 43 RBI and has a current 13-game hitting streak. During the streak he is 21-for-56 (.375) with a .607 slugging percentage.

More importantly, Podsednik has 30 stolen bases, more than anyone on the Giants’ current roster. The speedy outfielder would make an immediate impact to a Giants’ lineup that has grounded into a league-leading 108 double plays this season. (Read more about why I think the Giants need to trade for speed here.)

The Giants have been connected to Podsednik before, according to MLB Trade Rumors. The team was interested in Podsednik back in December, before they ended up settling on Mark DeRosa.

Podsednik, who stole 70 bases for the Milwaukee Brewers back in 2004, was teammates with Juan Uribe and Aaron Rowand in 2005 when the three of them won a World Series together with the Chicago White Sox. He finished second in NL Rookie-of-the-Year voting in 2003 behind Dontrelle Willis, another recent pick up by the Gigantes.