Q: You guys announced that Danny Salazar was going to have exploratory surgery on his right shoulder on Monday. Is there anything else you can say about that yet?

TF: “I don’t know anything more than what I kind of told you. What was put out is all we know. It’s not like we’re hiding anything. It’s just, how do you know? Until you actually go into somebody’s shoulder… And that’s the hard thing when somebody says they hurt. One, some guys can pitch with the same exact thing somebody else has and it’s not always just pain threshold. We’ve all heard the stories, guys pitching without a ligament and it calcifies over and they pitch for 15 years. Some guys have the same thing and it hurts. So, again, until you actually get in there and find it… So, we’ll find out. I just think that’s the last thing you do, because when you go inside somebody’s shoulder, that in itself is difficult.”

Q: How frustrating has it been to have Salazar struggle to stay on the field over the past two years and not realize his potential?

TF: “There’s been a handful of times where we’ve tried to corral Danny, because his frame isn’t very big. And to pitch with that velocity he throws at and to hold it and to not get hurt… that’s why we used to talk to him so much. But, let’s just see what comes of it. We’ll have time to talk about it more and see what the prognosis is and all those types of things.”

Q: Will Carlos Carrasco start on Friday against the A’s?

TF: “Yes. He came through everything real well last night [in his rehab start with Double-A Akron]. He threw 65 pitches. I think he went out in the bullpen and threw a few more. He touched 97. They said he was pretty good. He picked off a couple guys. He was good. He texted me this morning and said he’s ready to go. So, that’s good. So, what we did is we optioned [Adam] Plutko and we got Zep [Marc Rzepczynwki] here. So, we’ll have to make a move when Carrasco pitches, but for [at least four games] we have an extra bullpen arm and getting the lefty here should help.”

Q: This means Shane Bieber stays on as the fifth starter. He’s clearly impressed you guys in a short period of time…

TF: “We’ve actually been impressed with both the kids, with Plutko, too. Plutko’s done a pretty good job here. Bieber’s done an outstanding job. But, we told Adam he wasn’t being demoted because of how he pitched or because he gave up runs in the sixth [on Saturday]. It’s just, we’ve got Carrasco coming back. Like he said, yeah, it sucks a little bit. But, I said, ‘You’re career is going [up].’ And I think he’s smart enough to understand that.”

Q: Zep said he’s happy to come to a team that is familiar with him. How much does it help from your end that there’s familiarity with his personality, what he does and how to use him?

TF: “It’s so fun. He walked down the hallway and I broke out in a big smile. And I’ve been kind of going back and forth with him while we were signing him and stuff. And he said, he goes, ‘I had so much fun in Cleveland.’ We enjoyed Zep. Just because a guy signs somewhere else doesn’t mean you cut ties or you lose fondness. Hopefully, sometimes, we’ve all seen with relievers, how volatile it can get. You get a guy on a roll… You’ve seen what happened with [Neil] Ramirez here and Oliver [Perez]. Shoot, they’ve changed our bullpen. But, even just this week, not having to get Perez up every [game]. I’ve been fighting that the last couple games. We’re down a run and you’re trying to stay in a game. When you only have one [lefty], it can get a little hard.”

Q: Well, it helps with Perez throws zero pitches…

TF: [laughing] “But, he still had to warm up. But, I know what you’re saying. If I would’ve known that was going to happen, I wouldn’t have had him warm up.”

Q: How’s Tyler Olson doing?

TF: “He’s doing really well.”

Q: After his bullpen session today, what’s the next step? A simulated game or a Minor League rehab?

TF: “One or the other here coming pretty soon.”

Q: What has been your take on the offense’s production on the road trip?

TF: “You know, everybody asks and I understand it. The home-away thing, I still fall back on game to game. I just feel like I’ll always look at it that way. We get a little impatient. Like the other day, the first game, we had 50 pitches the first two innings. We didn’t have anything to show for it, but we had good patience. And then we lost patience. When we’re at our strength, in my opinion, we get a line moving and we run the bases real well, we create some energy. You force teams into mistakes. Yesterday, we had the two solo homers. That’s what I was trying to say last night. After a game, how many times do you hear me say, ‘Kluber gave up two solos, but pitched his [butt] off.’ That’s what it ended up being. You don’t look at it like that during the game, but we’ve got to create some traffic and make guys pitch out of the stretch and put some stress on them.”

Q: The hitters seem to have been chasing more pitches out of the zone…

TF: “Sometimes, yeah. And that’s human nature. You want to do it, but you get a little long and what you end up doing is playing right into their hands.”

Q: This season, you guys have seen one of the lowest percentages of fastballs in baseball…

TF: “I think that’s also what I was saying last night. You’ve got to earn it. If you keep chasing, they’re not going to throw it. And we’ve chased a number of pitches out of the zone these last four or five days.”

Q: On the road trip, it’s almost been 50/50, fastballs and other pitches, from the starters you’ve faced…

TF: “And it looks like it. I didn’t know that, but I would’ve guessed that it was close.”

Q: Might Andrew Miller get back on a mound during the upcoming homestand?

TF: “Yeah.”

Q: In talking to Rajai Davis today, he mentioned again how good first-base coach Sandy Alomar Jr. is when it comes to reading pitchers in order to help the running game. How much can that help some of the younger guys who are still developing their skills as baserunners?

TF: “If guys are willing to listen, which most of them are, Sandy really can help them. So, what it does is that frees me up to think, ‘OK, is this a good time to go?’ And, if it is, then Sandy can kind of help take over. It works pretty well. there’s very seldom that somebody will run and I’ll be like, ‘Damn.’ And, when it happens, we talk about it right away. But, I like the idea. I want our coaches to have freedom to coach. I think it helps them. I think it makes them feel like they’re doing something. But, you have to be able to carry your load. In Sandy’s case, he’s taken that and run with it, which is exactly what you want to see. You see somebody get excited about an area. This is back a few years, but we were thinking of putting him at third and he said, ‘I love being at first.’ He doesn’t view it as being somebody that stands there. He does things to help us win games. And I know when things don’t go well, he comes in and he gets upset, because he cares.”

Q: That seems like it can be a real advantage to have someone who’s good at picking up on tendencies of pitchers…

TF: “And Sandy’s really good. He spends a lot of time. He’s just got a good eye for that stuff. Everybody kind of sees things a little differently. And I don’t know if it’s maybe from catching all those years, but he sees things pretty good.”

Q: Will Rzepczynski just be a left-on-left guy for you?

TF: “We’ll see, it depends on the score and the game. He’s been different in his career. Like, he came up as a starter with Toronto, so he could sink it and he could go obviously multiple innings. Then, when he kind of came to us from St. Louis, we kind of had him as left-on-left. It kind of depends on how he’s throwing the ball. We told him before he came that we know we have to make a move in like six days, so it might not be perfect. But, we have such good history with him. It just seemed like a good time to get him here rather than he could sit in Triple-A and keep throwing. It just seems like sometimes you use your past relationships to help your future performance.”

Q: He had some struggles with Seattle this season…

TF: “And we talked about that a little bit. He said, he goes, ‘When you struggle, sometimes you don’t pitch as much as you want.’ And he goes, ‘I need to.’ And I get it, but I also get their point, too. [Expletive], the guys they have are dealing.”

Q: As a manager, how hard is it on you when you’re dealing with an entire bullpen struggling?

TF: “It’s really hard. That’s like what happened in May. That’s the first time in a long time for me where… I didn’t like that feeling. Whether it worked or not, we always had a reason. And, hoo boy, we were all spinning a little bit. That’s hard. I went back to my Philly days where you just don’t know. But, they start to kind of reel it in and Oliver came and he helped and Neil started pitching the way he could. So, that really helps.”

Q: Carrasco hit 97 mph in his rehab start?

TF: “Yeah, he did well. He did. It seems like his spirits are good. You know what? Last time, remember he had the hammy and he came out [expletive] firing. This might end up — not that we didn’t miss him — but maybe he can come back and have a little [something extra]. I think once he got [past the swelling], it’s like the rest kicked in. And, you know what? It ends up giving Bieber or Plutko, or both, they end up getting starts, which is good for them. We tried to tell Plutko it was not an indictment on him giving up runs in the sixth.”

Q: We’ve seen a few times with Plutko where he will start off great and then kind of hit a wall. What have you seen there?

TF: “You know, [pitchinng coach Carl Willis said something ]interesting. [Plutko] is so long-waisted that he’s kind of got to work to leverage the ball down. And it’s a little harder for him, so when he starts to get a little fatigued, it starts to creep up.”

— JB