On new catching call-up Eric Fryer's offensive ability:
"He's made strides offensively. Had a real good campaign for the amount of at-bats in AA. Was up to AAA and definitely holding his own. The combination of his skill set at this time gives us a better option at catcher than Dusty's. Dusty gave us everything he had. Offensively there wasn't much he was able to put forward, and we had some challenges on defense. So as we continue to evaluate this moving forward we're going to look internally. We're going to keep giving guys opportunities, keep getting a look at these people and giving the opportunities to play."
On the dangers of calling up a player too soon:
"If a kid can play in a minor league system now, there's an HOV lane. Just the way it is. Then we've got to finish him off up here, finish their skill set. Back in the old days you almost had to be a finished product before you got to the majors. Because they didn't want to mess with any coaching up, the coaching staff and the manager wanted guys who were ready to play. But that whole dynamic has flipped. And we're very comfortable… if you have trust in your minor league organization, and they tell you a guy can do X, Y, and Z, you bring him up and you let him show you that he can do X, Y, or Z and if he doesn't then you re-adjust."
On how careful he is not to overuse bullpen arms:
"If a guy gets up and gets ready to pitch, he has gotten hot. His arm has gotten prepared to pitch in a game. I've had managers that said 'that don't mean anything.' But you start counting those times, along with the times they pitch, and there's a reason guys blow out out there. Knock on wood we haven't had that situation. It's something that I learned probably from watching other managers. I've seen some of them do it very very well, and some of them pretty much didn't seem like them being tied to pitcher's arms and it cost. And the cost was dramatic at the end of the season. I've just never believed in pitching guys three days in a row; I never have and I never will."
On if he expects to add another bat for road interleague games (i.e. Alex Presley):
"We're still having that conversation. It's kind of nice that the other bats have picked up, though, isn't it? You know, Jones has picked up, Overbay has picked up. So that's a conversation we will continue to have."
On if Hurdle feels he's "hot" right now as a manager with the moves he's made:
"I've never looked at it like I'm hot. There's two kind of people in life: those that are humble, and those that are about to be. I try to make the best move I can make for the team at the particular day. Whether it be Cleveland, Pittsburgh, in Houston, in Cincinnati. The manager more often that not is at the mercy of his bullpen. You go to the bullpen and guys get outs you look smart. You go to the bullpen and guys don't get outs, you don't look smart. That's just the way the game is. I do think there's times when you're getting real good reads on your players and your decision making can become more acute. You might roll the dice in some situations, case being the other night [Friday] with Ortiz and Veras. I also thought that was an opportunity for a defining moment for our club. And I was willing to risk it. And take the brunt of whatever didn't work out. You've got to go out and play with risk, and I think there's times for a manger to take some risk for his club to show them where he is also, what he believes in."
On if there is a Pedro Alvarez update:
"Nothing. He feels better. I just got the report this morning. We are gearing him up to play here I believe some time at the beginning of this week."