This is one thing that sucks about sports. So many of the common fans are total idiots who know very little about the sport and team they follow, but those idiots make up the largest chunk of the fanbase, so their idiotic wishes play some part, however small, in the FO's moves, in order to keep these morons paying for tickets. Thus you get overpaying for the sake of having a TD/offseason transaction to show for the period in question, and overdue releases for longtime members of the team who clearly just aren't any good now. Although Boston and the Red Sox are certainly among the posterboys for this, it applies to just about every team in every team. Pisses me off.
To a knowledgeable person who isn't hung up on drama and sentimental ********, how bad could a team possibly look if they release a player who has blown ass this year, blew ass for much of last year, and blew ass the year before that, and is getting paid like a motherf***er for all this non-production?
/rant
They're getting nothing of value by keeping him on the team, either. What team in their right mind would trade for him?