I'm trying to see it from their perspective (as Bowden tried to do). Not that I have any insight into their thinking, but it is reasonable to conjecture that they said, we won 64 games with this roster, so there is no reason to assume we would win more than 64 games next season with the same roster. (And of course, the other side of that argument is, without Ozzie, but with a real manager, they might have won 95.)
It would not be fair to the fans to stand pat if it meant another 64 win season. If by trading those guy it meant (1) with the new makeup including the prospects, it could mean 80 wins in 2012; and (2) by spending the money recovered by the salary dump on more prospects and on new and younger free agents, it could pave the way to build a winner for many years. That, rather than letting those guys age in a couple of year and leave the team not only without decent players but also without funds.
It all depends on how they spend the recovered money. If they pocket it, then they will have perpetrated a crime on baseball. If they spend it to improve the team, that's a different story.
That's a reasonable position to have, but I think to accept the premise, you have to ignore a lot of things. A few years back, after trading Uggla to Atlanta rather than go to arbitration, the Union complained. The Marlins signed Josh Johnson to a deal to assuage the Union. Fast forward a few years, the Marlins finally get their new park and go on a spending spree to prove to fans that they will be fielding a winner, that the days of the penurious Marlins are gone. Great, during the season, they traded Anibal Sanchez, Infante and Hanley and Heath Bell after the season.
Then this last trade, To unload last year's crop of free agents and Johnson, it makes you think that the Marlins have no plan. Loria spent a bunch of money and got nothing to show for it, so, like an impetuous child, he throws it all out.
At least during the lean LAC years, the Lerners and Nats stuck by their plan to rebuild from within and would spend when the time was right, which they are now doing.