When I called for Bill Smith’s resignation after the Delmon Young trade and posted my offseason transactions as my resume when applying for his job, I didn’t think I’d be applying today. Bill Smith was fired as general manager of the Twins on Monday, and Terry Ryan was named interim GM, which basically means he can be GM for as long as he wants.
This is good news for Twins fans, surprisingly. I know I wasn’t the only one calling for a change at general manager, but I have been doing it a long time. It’s expected that Smith will rejoin the Twins as an advisor to Ryan. I knew Pohlad didn’t have the balls to simply cut Smith loose, but Ryan also expressed his interest in Smith’s return.
Smith’s era as Twins’ GM was, statistically, a success. He won the division twice, and nearly three times out of four, but his success with trades was God-awful (see JJ Hardy for Jim Hoey, Johan Santana for basically nothing, Wilson Ramos for Matt Capps (mostly nothing), and most recently, Delmon Young for Cole Nelson).
I never gave Smith much of a chance for success after the disastrous Johan Santana trade. In fact, I already wanted him out. But we can thank Mr. Smith for one thing—Joe Mauer. I know it’s not a great time to be in Joe’s corner with the season he had, but Joe signing that contract Bill Smith offered is what built Target Field, and right now he’s the one thing we can hang our hat on and say, “You know what, we still got Joe.” That’s not much, but it’s a start Terry Ryan should appreciate. Now, if we could only pick up Josh Willingham…
