The decision to Shed Smith is sensible and even the key to Seattle's Grand Outfield Experiment. My only surprise is that it cost quite so much to pay his airfare. You'd have thought Smith was worth half his salary, $3-4M, under any circumstances, but at Gallardo's salary the M's paid $9M to get out of Smith's contract. Of course the M's are privy to what the "best deal available is."
As I'm sure you know, most of the Gallardo 'angst' is tongue in cheek. No doubt you gotta swap bad contracts for bad contracts. No doubt any GM has the right to make a call on who is going to have a good season. Yovanni is about to become a 'whipping boy' or else Dr. D is but it's just a little joke.
Merely wondering about the potential willingness to swap him out should things go sideways early ... politics and appearances are part of any Big Bidness org.