Mandy Patinkin leaves "Criminal Minds." Your thoughts on this announcement?

According to E! News Online & msn.com, CBS announced that Mandy Patinkin has left the series "Criminal Minds" after two seasons. Days after news had broke that he was MIA from the third season table read, Pantinkin & the producers of 'Minds' have announced that he left the series at his request & that it was not due to contractual issues or financial reasons, it was due to creative differences between Patinkin & the producers of the show. Patinkin stated that he would like to work with CBS again in the future with other projects in mind. A casting call is now in the works for a new lead character on the show to replace Patinkin as soon as possible. "Criminal Minds" includes the cast of Thomas Gibson, Paget Brewster, A.J. Cook, Shemar Moore, Matthew Gray Gubler, & Kristen Vangsness