In our ballpark, the emphasis is as much on defense as it is on offense with our outfield, ... We saw it. We got out-doubled and out-tripled in our park. We really have to have somebody really go out and get the ball.

In talking to him, he's got me excited.

In talking to him, he's got me excited. He really wants to show the rest of baseball he can be a real force. Certainly, he's going to be a presence in the middle of our lineup.

The middle of our order has been non-existent.

Any time you lose a player the caliber of a Mark Loretta, it's a big blow. However we are encouraged that Mark did not need to have a full reconstruction of the thumb and that he will make a full recovery to be back on the field before too long.

Any time you lose exclusivity on a player, there's always that chance you'll lose him. But he's a guy who loves this organization and means so much to the city. As he's often said, he's one of the few guys who plays for the name on the front of his jersey, not the one on the back.

Any time you get a chance to get your hands on a first-round pick, you're interested, because there was enough talent there at one point for the player to be drafted highly.

Once I see the team healthy, then we can begin to make some calls about where we stand,

Once I was able to get a pitcher who was more affordable and who we liked as good or better, the deal happened rather quickly.

There've been times when I said, 'Who are we?'  ... But right when I started to wonder who we really were, we'd put together a streak that was not too bad.