The Brian Lawrence debacle

Earlier this offseason, the Nationals acquired Brian Lawrence from the San Diego Padres in a trade. A couple days ago, it was discovered that Lawrence has a potentially career-ending arm injury. As Jim Bowden and Frank Robinson disagree over whether the Nats should have done an MRI as part of the pre-trade physical, I think they are missing one very important element of this trade that makes it a win for the Nats even if Lawrence never pitches again: they got rid of Vinna Castilla in the trade. You can’t put a dollar value on that.