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Your case is lucidly stated, but the staff ace of 2000-2001 was a dim memory by 2004.
Freddy was of course throwing well in 2003-04, but in 2000-2001 he was throwing 93-95 mph with a Fister-like swerve on both his FB and change.   His 18-6, 3.05 season in the 116-win year probably did establish him in the league's top 10, albeit briefly.
In both 2002 and 2003, his ERA+'s were below league average, and his W/L's as discouraging.  A 12-14, 4.51 record in 2003 was a long ways from 2001, as was his velocity and movement.
The Garcia of 2004 was throwing 89-91, had no overhand curve, no tail on the change, and dinking around with a stupid little 85 mph slider.  Predictably, by 2006 he was pretty much done, due to early overuse.
Sabermetric niceties like FIP aside, Garcia's market value to GM's was nowhere near what it had been in 2000-2001.   Bavasi was simply lucky that Ozzie Guillen and Freddy Garcia were real tight (Garcia staying at Guillen's house all the time, etc) and that the Sox paid a lot more than anybody else reportedly was willing to.
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The Washburn drama was recent.  We all remember that after Halladay was off the table, there were several bigtime contenders who were hot-and-heavy after Wash.
Got to differ on this one.  Although you know and I know that Garcia was a better pitcher, his actual market value wasn't.