“We’ve seen glimpses of what we feel we’re capable of.”

Prior to Tuesday’s game against the Rangers, Chris Antonetti, the Indians’ president of baseball operations, met with reporters for a wide-ranging Q&A that lasting nearly 20 minutes. Here are the highlights from the session.

Update on manager Terry Francona:

“He’s back at his apartment now resting. He was seen at the Clinic last night and this morning. He went through a battery of tests that have ruled out any sense of major health issue, which is obviously a big relief to all of us. Now, it’s a question of him being monitored over the next couple of weeks to try to get a better understanding of what might be causing some of the things he’s been experiencing. I’m not sure I can provide a ton more detail than that.”

On the concern level, given Francona has left two games within the past two weeks due to similar health issues:

“As a friend, you’re always concerned anytime anyone has to [leave like that]. Especially someone like Tito, who has an exceedingly high pain tolerance. For him to leave a game raises a flag. Thankfully we’ve got some great doctors that are coordinating his care at the clinic. They’ve done every test they can possible imagine. They’ve all come back clean. They’re now working to try to figure out what are some of those things that are causing him to not feel so well.

“Tito wanted me to share that the working diagnosis is an allergy to Millsy. I’ll make sure I pass that along.”

Asked if Francona will return on Wednesday:

“Tito actually wanted to come back to the ballpark today. I told him he can’t come back to the ballpark today. He only got a couple hours of sleep last night, so, despite his desire to want to be here, I thought it was best that he gets some rest tonight and just come back tomorrow. His plan when he was getting released from the hospital was to come over here. I don’t think he was exceedingly happy with me. That’s OK.”

On the job the coaching staff did Monday night without Francona:

“Obviously, we were working through a lot of things last night, but when the dust settled, that was one of the things Millsy highlighted, was just how cool it was to see everybody come together. From the coaching staff to the players, to pick each other up. That’s what we try to be about organizationally, to be about that collective group and working together to try to accomplish something. There was a lot going on last night — a lot of adversity. To see our coaches and players respond the way they did was really encouraging and cool to see.”

Update on Austin Jackson:

“It’s a mild strain. The MRI revealed a mild strain. He’ll be out a few weeks. I think our best guess at this point before he’s back into Major League games is probably three-to-four weeks. He’ll be back on a rehab assignment sooner than that, hopefully.”

Update on Danny Salazar:

“Danny threw a sim game yesterday. Threw really well. Felt good today reporting to the park. The next step for him will be a rehab game on [Saturday]. That’s the plan.”

On if Salazar might come back as a reliever:

“Not right now. We’ve had two primary goals with Danny. First and foremost is to get him healthy. The second is making sure he’s got consistent mechanics and consistent intensity every time he picks up a baseball. If we can do that and help him get back to those places and being healthy and in a good spot mechanically, hopefully that’ll translate into success as a starter. We’re going to condition him back as a starter.”

On the team’s play so far this season:

“I think we’ve seen glimpses of what we feel we’re capable of. We had that stretch on the road trip where we played really well and were clicking on all cylinders, but there were other times where we haven’t been as consistent. I’m hopeful that we’ll find our stride and run off more wins than losses here in the next couple weeks.”

On the importance of the rotation to improving the team’s play:

“It is. For us, all aspects o the team are important. I think we’ve had different stretches where the rotation has pitched well and maybe other aspects of the team haven’t, and then there have been times where the rotation has faltered while other parts have clicked well. I think what we’re trying to do is what we experienced over the course of the last road trip, where the rotation was doing a good job, the bullpen did a great job of closing out games, the offense was, as Tito likes to say, keeping the line moving, creating opportunities and capitalizing on those opportunities. We feel we have a team that’s capable of doing that and capable of performing in all those areas. And when we do, we’ve proven to be a good team but we, to date, have maybe not been as consistent as we’d like to be.”

On whether getting a healthy Salazar back can be just as good or better than adding as starter via trade:

“I think what we’ve seen with Danny specifically, what he’s capable of doing when he’s healthy and pitching the way he’s capable of, he made the All-Star team in the first half of last year. And he’s pitched in a very meaningful playoff game for us in 2013 and was dominant in that stretch there. So, he’s had periods of time where he’s been among the best pitchers in baseball. So, if we can get him back at the level he’s capable of pitching, that would be a huge boost for our team. But, this is the time of year when you’re looking at all alternatives — both internal alternatives and external alternatives. Hopefully, Danny can be one of those boosts among our internal alternatives.”

On Corey Kluber’s strong return from the DL:

“I don’t think we had any doubt that if Corey’s healthy he was going to be effective. So, I think that’s what led to the decision to ultimately place him on the DL. While the injury itself may not have been debilitating, it was clearly affecting his performance. And we wanted to take kind of the longer view and rather than him try to scuffle through it and pitch with it, we wanted to give him the time off. Corey being the competitor that he is, it took him a while to kind of buy into that, because he always wants to be there for the team and contributing. But I think we’ve now seen the benefit of giving him that time, and that he’s come back and pitched like he’s capable of pitching, which is to be among the best starting pitchers in all of baseball.”

On the time off potentially being a blessing in disguise:

“Absolutely, yeah. We asked a lot of Corey last year. He threw close to 250 innings, I think, over the course of the season, including the postseason. That’s a lot to ask of anyone. Not only did he pitch that volume, but towards the end he was doing it on short rest consistently.”

On Josh Tomlin’s troubles this season:

“I think with Josh it’s a question of execution. We’ve seen those days where he’s had his best command and executed pitches in good sequences and has been really effective. But there’s other times when he’s maybe not executing quite as consistently and, when he’s off a little bit, other teams have hit him. He’s a guy that never beats himself. I know he walked a couple of guys the other day, but even that’s atypical. So, you’re going to have to hit him to beat him. He’s had sometimes over the last few starts where he maybe hasn’t executed his pitches the way he usually does.”

On the impact the next few weeks can have on planning for Trade Deadline:

“I think we try to take maybe a little bit of a longer view, and not react to anything over a short timeframe. But, it will help clarify maybe some things a little bit more than as we sit here today. We’ve talked about it before. There have been different periods and different trade deadlines, where there may be an obvious need for our team, where you can go and maybe it’s getting a particular player at a particular position or a particular spot. I think with the way our team has taken shape this year is there’s a pretty high bar for the guys that we have internally and what we feel they’re capable of producing. So, going out externally to the trade market to try to acquire players, it’s a high threshold to clear, because we do feel like we have some quality alternatives internally.”

On the success on the road and troubles at home:

“If you could figure it out, please tell me. Last year, I think we were the reverse of that. And this last year, with largely the same group, it’s been the opposite. So, I’m not sure we can read too much into that. We’ve talked a lot about it, but it’s hard to come up with any sort of concrete explanation.”

On Jose Ramirez’s strong season:

“It’s been a lot of fun to see Jose’s continued progression, his development. It’s funny to think about that he’s now an All-Star caliber third baseman when he hadn’t play third base at all until he arrived at the Major Leagues. We’ve asked a lot of him and his career hasn’t been that smooth arc of a guy that just came to the Major Leagues, had success and ran with it. He had some adversity, bounced back and forth, up and down in the Minor Leagues, switched positions, multiple positions a couple times. For him to get through all that and solidify himself as one of the better third baseman in the American League, I think is a testament to his mindset and his work.”

On Bradley Zimmer’s transition to the Majors:

“Bradley’s done a really good job of acclimating himself to the Major League level. I think he’s tried to stay consistent with some of the adjustments he made back in the Arizona Fall League that he carried forward in Spring Training and stayed consistent with those. Stayed consistent with his routines, offensively and defensively. I think we’re seeing the benefit of that, of all the work he’s put in because he’s found a way to contribute in all facets of the game. Both offensively, defensively, base running. He’s really impacted the team in a variety of ways and we’ve needed it.”

On Francisco Lindor’s inconsistent season offensively:

“I think very few players are going to go through their careers where they don’t have a dip in something in their performance. With Frankie, I think we all saw certainly in the first part of the season what he was capable of doing when he’s locked in, consistently using the middle of the field. He’s one of those players where the power comes as a result of him making consistent, hard contact. When he tries to generate it, that’s when sometimes he can fall into bad habits. I know Tito referenced it, I think he used ‘when he can get pull-conscious’ or ‘pull-happy.’ That’s when he’s no longer using the middle of the field, which for Frankie, is one of his keys to having success. When he’s line-drive oriented, middle of the field, make hard contact, that’s when he has consistently good at-bats and that’s actually when some of the power comes as well.”

On Trevor Bauer’s season:

“I think Trevor has actually pitched better than maybe his surface numbers show. I think he’s talked about that a few times. I think you guys may have written about it once or twice. But I actually, to some extent, I do agree with some of those. Maybe not in every instance, but I think on balance, he has pitched better than his ERA might reflect. He is that guy that is constantly searching and thinking about ways that can get better. If he was 10–3 with a 3.20 ERA, he would still be thinking about, ‘Hey, how can I get better in the second half than I am right now.’ That thirst, that desire to improve, and the work he is willing to put in to make that happen, I think is one of Trevor’s strong points. What we’re hopeful [of] is that that all that work will translate into some consistency in performance, and hopefully that is right around the corner.”

On some Indians fans crying for catching prospect Francisco Mejia to be called up from Double-A every time Yan Gomes and/or Roberto Perez go into an offensive slump:

“We’re all emotional. We all react to the games that happen and what happens in those moments in games, when guys have success and when they may not. I think to make decisions based on those emotional decisions, that’s not the best way to have long-term success. As Tito said, players more often than not find ways to get to their level, and when you give them enough time, they’ll play and perform to the level that you would expect most of the time. I think that’s where the danger is in reacting to any short-term things.

“I think what we’ve seen with Yan and Roberto, they’re both very capable Major League catchers. Yan has been a Silver Slugger, and elite defender. Roberto led us to Game 7 of the World Series last year, so he did a pretty good job with that. This year both guys continue to do a great job defensively. They continue to lead the pitching staff. They continue to control the running game exceedingly well, control the strike zone well. They still do all of those things well, though their batting averages or their offensive output may not be where they hope or where we think they might be at the end of the year.

“With respect to Francisco [Mejia] specifically, he continues to make great strides in his development. He only has a half season at Double-A at this point, and he has some things he continues to work through developmentally and is continuing to work on. Hopefully he can continue on the path, because if he is, he’s on the path to being a very good Major League player. But, it is not as easy as calling a guy up and expecting him to perform at the Major Leagues the same as he is in the Minor Leagues.”

On Indians fans booing Jonathan Lucroy on Monday night:

“I actually didn’t hear a lot of it, because we had a few things going on. That’s one thing I don’t get too caught up with. However our fans choose to respond to players is really up to them. I don’t think anything that I say about it would really influence it one way or the other. I’m not sure I have much reaction to it.”

On presenting Mike Napoli with his AL championship ring:

“That was a cool moment with Nap. I think that we’ve talked about it, he made an incredible contribution and lasting contribution to the organization, to the team, and in fact, a lot of our players carry forward a lot of those things they learned from Nap last year.

“I think maybe the best part might have been when I turned around and looked at our dugout and see all of our players outside of the dugout tipping their caps to Nap. I think that says all that needs to be said about the impact that he had, because it’s clear the universal respect he had from everyone in the organization.

“I mean, we had in the dugout last night, I’m not sure if you guys could see, but our chefs were out there, our clubhouse staff was out there. Everybody related to our team and organization that could find a way onto the field was out there to watch Nap get a well-deserved ring.”

— JB