Francona underwent surgery for blood clots

CLEVELAND — It may take manager Terry Francona a little longer than he’d like to rejoin the Indians, but according to president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti, the outlook is bright. The Indians released more details regarding Francona’s condition on Tuesday, explaining that doctors at the Cleveland Clinic found clots

CLEVELAND — It may take manager Terry Francona a little longer than he’d like to rejoin the Indians, but according to president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti, the outlook is bright.

The Indians released more details regarding Francona’s condition on Tuesday, explaining that doctors at the Cleveland Clinic found clots in his blood that required a last-minute procedure on Friday to insert a stent to help his blood flow.

“Tito is in the process of recovering from that,” Antonetti said. “The outlook is obviously very good, but he’s banged up from the procedure.”

Francona has been battling minor gastrointestinal issues over the past 11 months, which was the reason for his first absence from the Tribe from Aug. 2-9. After the team’s road series to Detroit (Aug. 14-16), he returned for more evaluations at the clinic. In that process, they realized he had some clotting in his veins.

The Indians had been updating Francona’s status on a series-by-series basis and didn’t speculate on a potential return date, but now the team has stated that it may take a while before Francona is able to get back to the ballpark.

“He’s in the process of recovering, but he’s still pretty sore — in fact, very sore,” Antonetti said. “That’s not unexpected, but it will just take him a little while to feel better. So he’s on the path to recovery, but it may take a little bit of time for him to get back into the dugout.”

No days off for José
Temporary skipper Sandy Alomar Jr. noted last week that José Ramírez has been battling a left thumb injury while simultaneously trying to pull himself out of the offensive skid he slipped into once the calendar flipped to August. But, despite his struggles, Alomar said that a day off for Ramírez’s thumb will not be the answer.

“He doesn’t want days off,” Alomar said. “He can manage that. He said he’s fine, he’s just in a funk right now. José gets hot real quick, and like I said before, 50 or 60 percent of José Ramírez can really help you a lot. Right now, he’s struggling, but he can get it going pretty fast.”