I hope no one can actually feel righteous in blaming Bill Smith for all of the Twin's current woes. Although Bill Smith held the title of General Manager from 2007-2011, my feeling is he was more of a figure head than a voice.

Being that Smith was more of a financial administrator than a field administrator, I believe that Terry Ryan had his hand in the drafting and trades post 2007.

Free agency and contracts: This one is a bit confusing, but after TR resigned, Smith signed Morneau and Cuddyer to contracts that were of fare value or a little above... not much stink there, The Mauer contract is a bit more complicated, but he is coming off of an MVP season and he is a hometown hero (Looking from a PR stance, this needs to get done, especially in the Twin Cities).

Bill Smith relies on his scouts, the same scouts that served under Terry Ryan to make trades or draft certain players. Under Smith's tenure I have no doubts that Ryan was head of scouting, whether that was his title or not and I believe the drafts were his dominion and his ultimate decision from 2008-2011 (under Smith's Tenure).

The trades can be a little more confusing. I cannot see Ryan trading Garza for Delmon Young. I cannot see Ryan Trading Wilson Ramos for Matt Capps. I loved the Gomez for Hardy trade.

Maybe Terry Ryan felt free of the pressure, and in turn pressured his puppet GM Bill Smith to make the trades he did. Ryan did not have to deal with the simpleton MN media anymore and felt he was clear of their scrutiny. He could act like an over sugared child in a toy shop.

Reality: Terry Ryan's good friend, Bill Smith, payed the price for Ryan's futility and was fired. No one that is fired like Bill Smith comes back to an organization so quickly, taking a smaller role in administration, unless it was a smoke screen to protect Terry Ryan. Now Ryan is the White Knight working so fervently to correct all of the mistakes that Billy Smith made... how convenient.

You are right, everybody who advised and worked under Smith is still in place.