The Royals traded Scott Podsednik to the Dodgers at the perfect time. Podsednik was an ideal trade candidate for a numbers of reasons.
Number one was his contract. Podsednik has about $1.6 million remaining on his deal with an option for 2011. He will soon be in position to void that so he was essentially entering the final year of his deal.
Number two is that he was playing so well at the time his value was at a high.
Indeed, Will McDonald noted just today that Podsednik's value was looking good.
He's insanely hot at the moment. On June 20th he was hitting .282. Today, he's hitting .310. And batting average is relevant here because that's basically his entire game and the foundation of half of his reputation, along with steals. Since June 20th, he's hit .366/.397/.492.
Plus the Royals now have a AAA pitcher and an A catcher.