It is eerily similar to what happened to Nomar in Boston this year. Former fan favorite. But, the team was crapping out after high expectations, he was not having a good year based on previous performance, he was injured. His fielding gaffes were getting amplified, and they had someone on the bench with "better hands." He was clearly unhappy about the Sox gunning for A-Rod in the off-season. The team let out how much the contract was that he turned down, and the fans and talk radio basically ran the dude out of town. The Sox had no choice but to get him out of there because team chemistry was tanking.
In the end, though, getting rid of him may have contributed to the Sox' run into the playoffs (only to get annhililated by the good guys from the Bronx).