Two months ago, on a marvelous spring day, a Red Sox fan sat under a tree. A gentle, warm breeze blew by. He or she opened up a copy of Baseball Prospectus, or some other baseball annual, read it for a bit, looked up, and thought, "You know what? I think the Sox could be alright this year."

On May 22, every last outfielder is broken, and Ken Rosenthal is reporting that Scott Podsednik is being called up by the Red Sox. And it's almost certainly the team's best option. It's raining a little bit in Boston today.

The 36-year-old Podsednik last appeared in the majors in 2010, hitting .297/.342/.382 in 539 at-bats between the Royals and Dodgers. But injuries limited him to 34 games in the Phillies' and Blue Jays' organizations in 2011. He started this season with the Phillies in competition with Juan Pierre, which has some sort of cosmic significance if you squint, but he was traded to the Red Sox for cash.

Podsednik was drafted in the third round of the 1994 draft by the Texas Rangers, playing eight minor-league seasons before reaching the majors with the Mariners. He's not scared to ride a bus or two, and now he's going to get playing time for a team that fancies itself a contender.