It's not one or the other. Nobody want's Mookie gone, everyone would love him to stay here the rest of his career (for the right price), but there's been f*** ups which hurt us going forward. And we offered him several contracts which he keeps saying no to. He wants free agency so he had to go. We can be sad that we're losing a great player and still see the logic (as you've just said) and support a hard decision.
The team comes first for me over any one player, even as one as likeable as Mookie.
I do think what they've done has given themselves the opportunity to go for him next year. Whether they will or not is hard to say.