If we're purely talking ROTO/WAR value, trading Smith for Gallardo essentially made no sense. But this isn't ROTO. This is real-life team-building which involves maximizing the talent distribution curve, not just the total value presented by our collection of baseball cards (a Seth Smith card is DEFINITELY worth more than a Yovani Gallardo card at this point in their respective careers--but to this real-life TEAM I think it's debatable whether or not that's true from any real-world perspective/position).
So if you think that managers CAN instill a significantly different competitive culture, having a guy like Gallardo around *seems* like the *ideal* type of Example Waiting To Be Made to the rest of the guys.
Obviously I could be looking at this through rose-colored glasses, but to *me* Gallardo was a sublime (if low-direct-impact) maneuver that I would *expect* to see from someone like Beane near the end of the trade season.