The other difference is that Ryan was straight rebuilding at that point and Smith was rearranging the roster for a future run. The Smith trade acquired a (ahem) limited defense corner of with a brutal bb rate and created holes at sp and ss that were never really filled when they were competing again. I guess I shouldn't argue semantics so much, but I see "praise" as more the admiration side, stronger than mere acceptance and understanding - which is what I saw in the responses at the time. I thought the Span trade was acceptable, the thinking in a context of a rebuild made sense, but I was a little surprised they didn't get a second piece in addition to Meyer to spread out the risk. This proved to be a valid concern. I was never a fan of the Delmon trade - though, like usual, I tried to give the front office the benefit of the doubt for a couple of years.