I actually don't think we are that far off in our opinions. I think I value Garcia more than you do, but not by that big of a gulf. I actually do see a lot of Posey in Garcia though. Not saying the two will have identical careers, but put Garcia on last years Celtics shooting wide open 3s and I think he would have been great.
With that said, the one thing that is odd about the situation is why did Petrie do the early extension. I have given this a bit of thought and here's my possible scenarios:
1 - Eliminate distractions - We are trying to develop our young players and show off some veterans to increase their trade value. Having Garcia playing for a contract might have been a big distraction and taken away from those goals.
2 - Saving money - We actually paid Garcia slightly less than the MLE I believe. It's possible that Petrie thought another team would make an absurd offer or that the MLE would increase. It will be interesting to see what kind of money gets thrown around this off season, if we see marginal players getting more than the MLE, this might have been a smart move.
3 - Trade flexibility - Next year Garcia won't be a base year player now, since he signed the extension this season (I believe). With Kenny Thomas and Brad Miller going into "expiring contract" status next season, it's possible that Garcia could be a trade chip.
4 - Agent - I don't know who Garcia's agent is, but is it possible he represents some other potential free agents or draft picks that Geoff covets. Maybe this is part of the master plan to get LeBron and Wade to Sacramento