The budget for 2012 seems like a good guess as to the point of dispute. Presumably Smith would have liked a budget increase to help him right the ship ASAP. On the other hand, Terry Ryan has a history of working within tight payroll constraints, building the roster from the farm, without complaints. I’d take his return to the GM post as a sign of what we can expect of the budget and organizational strategy going forward, too.

Hopefully things work out before too long, but one note of caution: Terry Ryan himself resigned after a losing season in 2007, when it had seemed that he’d been kind of phoning it in for his last 2-3 years on the job. I think I’d be happier about Smith leaving if this “interim” arrangement with TR doesn’t last too long.