It's a special story. You look at the hometown guys like Kyle Davies, Jeff Francoeur, Blaine Boyer and Brian McCann, and to see the role they're playing on the team right now, there couldn't be a better story in baseball.

I spent some special years in my hometown of El Paso.

Chicago is my hometown and will always have a special place in my heart.

We had to do it up against a very strict salary/payroll guideline, and that meant we had to go young in order to afford the replacements on our roster. And if we have to go young, we always prefer to go young with our own guys because we know we've done our due diligence drafting people, checking character of people, learning about their personalities and watching them grow and mature.

We could not have acquired a more perfect player for us than Edgar Renteria.

We looked at his time in the National League and we believe when he gets back to the N.L. in Atlanta, he will return to the Renteria of old.